[5.] When men care not how it goeth with the public so they may promote their private interest. I mention this because, as self is to be denied for God's sake, so it is to be denied for the good of others. There is self in opposition to God, and self in opposition to the good of others : 1 Cor. X. 14, ' Let no man seek his own, but every one the good of others ;' as we are bound to promote the glory of God, so the good of one another too, especially the public good. Therefore the children of God have no heart or regard to their private conveniences with the loss of the public. Moses, when God promiseth to prefer him, Exod. xxxii. 10, 11, ' Let me alone, do not beseech me for this people, and 1 will make of thee a great nation.' God ofters him a composition, if he would cease his prayers, and tells him the holy seed should be continued in his line, instead of the line of Abraham, and all the rest of the tribes should be abolished ; yet it is said, Moses besought the Lord, and desired mercy for the people, 0 Lord, let not thine anger kindle against thy heritage ; it is no matter what becometh of me, so the people be safe. So Neh. v. 18, 'I took not the bread of the governor, because the bon- dage was heavy on the people;' he would not take the necessnry sup- port and maintenance whereby the greatness of his place might be boine
Book I.] a treatise of self-denial. 195
out, because there was affliction upon the chikh'en of God. But now carnal men care not how they embroil a nation, nor how it goes with the public affairs, so they may promote their own interest, and set up self in place and honour. The children of God are wont to yield up all their own interest for a public good : Jonah i. 10, ' Cast me into the sea ; ' so the tempest may be still, no matter what becomes of me. So Nazianzeu, when there was a great trouble and contest about his place — ' Doth my honour trouble you ? Let me go aside in obscure silence, and live neglected, and die, and my bones be thrown into the dark, where they may not be found nor known.'
2. As there are exclusive marks, so there are inclusive also. I shall name but three.
[1.] When a man in all his purposes, in every actual choice, is swayed l)y reasons of conscience rather than by reasons of interest ; when he is contented to be anything, so as he may be serviceable to God's glory, and Jesus Christ may be all in all. Thus Paul, when he was in a strait whether to be dissolved or stay in the flesh, it is no matter which * it be, so Christ be magnified, whether it be by life or death, Phil. i. 23. If my body be spent with labour, or fall as a burnt-offering in martyr- dom, it is no matter, so Christ still be magnified ; when we are con- tented that self should vanish, so as Christ may appear, and shine in all his glory. As when the sun displays its beams the stars vanish ; when we are put upon any choice of life, whether we shall do this or that, still we are to measure it, not by self-interest, but with respect to God's glory. Seneca saith, A magnanimous man cares not, doth not look, where he may live most safely, but most honestly. A child of GJod looks, in the disposal of his affairs, where he may have most work, and do most service, and not merely to provide for ease and safety. As a traveller, when two ways are proposed to him, one pleasant, the other very craggy and dangerous, he doth not look which way is most pleas- ant, but which way conduceth to his journey's end ; so a chihl of God doth not look to what is most grateful to the flesh, but how he may do most work and service, and glorify God upon earth.
[2.] By an humble submission to God's will. It is a great conquest over ourselves when we can conquer our own will. Now the children of God speak as if they had no will of their own at all. Before provi- dence is past, they absolutely give up themselves to God's disposal, either for deliverance or trouble. In 2 Sam. xv. 25, 26, ' The king said unto Zadock, Carry back the ark of God into the city ; if I shall find favour in the eyes of the Lord, he will bring me again, and show me both it and his habitation ; but if he thus say, I have no deliglit in thee, behold, here am I, let him do to me, as seemeth good unto liim.' David speaks as if he had no will of his own, and gives up himself to the disposal of God. So also after the event, when God hath declared his will, they silence all the murmuring of their spirits: 1 Sam. iii. 18, ' It is the Lord, let him do what seemeth him good.' There is enough to calm all the discontent of their mind, there is God in the providence. A child of God can lose nothing by force. Men may take away his estate by violence, but he resigns it to God. God may take away his friends, but he resigns them, they are taken away by the con- sent and resignation of a sanctified will. So for their lives, they resign