180 A TREATISE OF SELF-DENIAL. [BoOK T.
the occasion of this excellent lesson, which Christ by this means hath for ever consigned to the use and profit of the church — ' If any man will come after me, let him deny himself.' I shall a little open the words.
Christ saith, ' If any man,' to show that the duty is of an unlimited concernment ; it involveth all, whosoever will enterthemselves in Christ's school, or list themselves in his flock or company ; it doth not only concern a few which are called out to be champions for his cause, and to expose their bodies to the cruel flames, but ' if any will come after me.' Will, OekeL ; the word is emphatical, it noteth the full purpose and consent of the will. Whosoever is firmly resolved. ' Come after me ; ' as a scholar after his teacher, as a sheep after his shepherd, as a soldier after his centurion. Coming after, it is a phrase proper to scholars. The phrase showeth the necessity of the duty, unless you will be dis- claimed as none of my followers. Here Christ would give us the main character of his own disciples. Christianity is a school and sect of men that deny themselves and their own conveniences for Christ's sake.
'Let him deny himself; ' these are the words which I shall insist upon. And in them there are two things to be observed : the act — ' Let him deny ; ' the object — ' Himself.^
1. For the act, airapvr^a-dadw ; the word being a compound is the more emphatical ; it signifieth prorsus negare — Let him utterly deny himself. Denial properly belongeth to speeches, but by a metaphor it may be also applied to things. To speeches it is proper, as to pro- positions or requests. In propositions we are said to deny when we contradict that which is affirmed ; in requests we deny when we refuse to grant what is desired of us. Now by an easy traduction it may also be applied to things, which we are said to deny when we neglect, slight, or oppose them ; as denying the power of godliness, neglecting or opposing it ; though with propriety enough the word may retain its original sense, because all things are managed in the heart of man by rational debates, counsels, and suggestions, and we are said to deny when we refuse to give assent to fleshly dictates and counsels. The flesh, or corrupt self, hath its propositions, its motions in the soul ; it speaks to us by our own thoughts, and puts us upon this or that work. Envy, lust, and corrupt motion have a voice, and an imperious voice, too, that grace is much put to it to give a strong negative. Envy bids Cain, Go kill thy brother ; ambition bids Absalom rebel against his father ; covetousness bids Judas betray his Lord and Master ; so worldly affection bids us pursue present things with all our might. Now because we are wedded to our opinions, and these are the sugges- tions of our own hearts, therefore they are called self ; and we are said to deny when we enter our dissent, and deny the motion. Flesh, what have I to do with thee ? I am not ' a debtor to the flesh,' Kom. viii. 12. I will hazard all for Christ, and make it my work to get into covenant with God. This for the act — ' Let him deny.'
2. The object is the next word to be opened — kavrov, ' Himself,' a capacious word, that doth not only involve our persons, but whatever is ours, so far as it standeth in opposition to God, or cometh in competi- tion with him. A man and all his lusts, a man and all his relations ; a, man and all his interests ; life, and all the appendages of life, is one
Book I.] a treatise of sllf-denial. 181
aggregate thing which in scripture is called self. In short, whatsoever is of himself, in himself, helonging to himself, as a corrupt or carnal man, all that is to be denied. And indeed, every man hath many a self within himself ; his lusts are himself ; his life is himself ; his name is himself; his wealth, liberty, ease, favour, lands, father, mother, and all relations, they are comprised within the term of self. As when our Lord explaineth it, Luke xiv. 26, ' If any man will come after me, and hate not his father and mother, and wife and children, and brethren, and sisters, nay, and his own life, he cannot be my disciple ; ' ficaelu is the same with arrapveladat,, hating, it is the same with denying or neglecting his duty to them for God's sake, when a higher duty is to take place. I confess, among the things which are called self there is a difference.
[1.] Some are absolutely evil, and must be denied without limitation ; as lusts and carnal affections, Tit. ii. 12, which are very properly called self, because we are as tender of them as of our own souls ; and there- fore they are expressed by the terms of the ' right hand,' and the ' right eye,' Mat. v. 29, 30. A sinner will as soon part with his eyes as with his lusts, or the pleasure of his senses. And so they are called ' members : ' Col. iii. 5, * Mortify your members, which are on the earth.' Sin is riveted in the soul, and it is as irksome to a natural heart, to part with any lust, as with a member or joint of the body ; we are willing to hold them by as fast and close a tenure as we hold our- selves ; we startle at a reproof, as if a joint were pricked or touched.