1st. We must deny ourselves in charity, and in a constant improve- ment of our substance to God's glory. Charity, it is the constant vent of christian affection, a holy emptying out of self in liberal and charit- able distributions, and it is the only ciu'e and preservative we can have against self-seeking, if done out of sincere aims : Mark x. 31, ' Go sell all that thou hast,' saith Christ to the young man, and 'give to the poor, and come and follow me, taking up thy cross,' but lie was sad at that saying. There is somewhat extraordinary in that trial, ' Go, sell all that thou hast, and give to the poor.' This is the self-denial Christ calleth for. Can we trust him upon a bill of exchange to be paid in heaven ? How much is to be given is hard to define, some- what must be done worthy of the gospel, and that you may have more
204 A TiiEATISE OF SELF-DENIAL. [BoOK I.
;omfort witliin yourselves, otlierwise you may be as great a self-seeker as those that get goods by rapine, when' you possess them with avarice. He is not only a covetous self-seeker that takes away other men's goods, but he that penuriously keeps his own, if he holdeth more than is meet ; we are to go back some degrees in pomp and pleasure. Take the ex- ample of Jesus Chi'ist, how many degrees he went back: 2 Cor. viii. 9, ' When he was rich, he became ])Oor, that we might l)e rich.'
2d. In obedience to the word in the strictest inward duties. Many duties go against the l^ent of a carnal heart, as inward mortification, meditation, self-examination. There is no outward glory in these things, and they are painful and distasteful to flesh and blood. Now in this case you must deny yourselves, for the free practice of these holy duties. Cornelius, when he came to Peter, he and his family, say they. Acts x. 33, ' Here we are all before the Lord, to hear all thingf* that are commanded thee of God ; ' we are contented to hear wliatever God will be pleased to t^ach. The ministers of the gospel are factor* for heaven, they drive God's bargain and covenant with the world. Now the Lord cannot endin-e any reservation, and withdrawing the shoulder from any known duties ; how contrary and distasteful soever they are to flesh and blood, you must pi-actise them. We are all afraid of sins against conscience, and certainly they \w\\\ be very clam- orous. But now the world is mistaken in sins against light and con- science; we think that sins of commission are only sins against conscience; as when a man commits adultery, tells a lie against a check of conscience ; but, oh ! let me tell you, sins of omission may be sins against conscience too : James iv. 17, mark, the apostle doth not say. To him that knows- it is evil, it is sin ; but ' He that knoweth to do good, and doth it not, to him it is sin;' when you are convinced of any duty, and do not practise it ; you are not come up to Christ's rules. Sins of omission are sins against knowledge, as well as sins of commission. • ?>d. In the uprightness of our aims, to see that we be not guided by aims that flow from self-love. A man had moj-e need to fear his heart in prosperous times than in times of pensecution. that he be not led Avith perverse respects, with the outw\ard countenance of religion , with respect to his own interest, tiiat you be not lov^ers of yourselves, under ' a form of godliness,' as the ajjostle speaks, 2 Tim. iii. 1. That you do not merely hold out a pretence of religion, upon those undue motives. There are no greater enemies to Christ than those that pro- fess Christ upon self-interest, Phil. iii. 18, 19. The apostle speaks of some that preached Christ crucified, whose God is their belly, and who minded earthly things , all their aim was to flow in abundance of wealth and pleasure. They really 0])pose the virtue and power of his cross, as much as those that openly do call him a seducer.
4/A. In prosperous times you are to deny yourselves, in mortifying earthly pleasures and carnal desires, how dear soever they be to the soul, thougli our lusts be as near and dear as the right hand and the riglit eye. In times of danger God takes away the fuel of our lusts ; but in times of peace we are to take away the desires and lusts them- selves ; and indeed that is hardest. It is easier to quit life than one lust for Christ; these being more rooted in our nature, are more hardly overcome , enduring of hardships is nothing ti; the overcoming of lusts.
Book I.] a treatise of self-denial. 205
We are to crucify and deaden these desires to tlie world, how sweet soever they be. Meu thmk there can be no pleasure, but in the ac- complishment of their carnal desires. It is pleasant, no doubt, to a woman with child, to have what she longs for , but yet it is more pleasant not to be troubled with those longings ; so when these lusts are gone, it will be exceeding })leasant and comfortable to the soul. Your great work then is to take heed that you do not live as those that are debtors to the flesh, Kora. viii. 12. You owe no suit and ser- vice to your carnal desires. We are l)oundto clothe and feed the body, that it may be an instrument to serve Grod, but no I'arLher ; you are not debtors to it, you owe it nothing ; and therefore if those desires encroach upon you, you must renounce them. The conveniences of the present life, these things serve only as ballast to a ship in the passage, we are bound for a city whose commodities cannot be purchased for gold or silver. You cannot buy repentance, faith, pardon, or gior}^ with gold or silver,