(2.) Act faith, partly upon the blessed recompenses. What is the reason men dote upon the creature ? Because they are not acquainted with a higher glory. Carnal men are purblind, they cannot ' see afar oflf,' 2 Peter i. 9 ; they look upon the things of heaven as golden dreams, as pleasing delusions ; therefore cannot be divorced, nor separate their affections from present comforts. It is notable, when Christ said to Zaccheus, ' Salvation is come to thy house,' presently he saith, ' Half of my goods I give to the poor.' As good almost bid men pluck them- selves asunder, as press them to such a thing ; it is as to rend the body from itself ; yet the sight of heaven will do this.
(3.) Then faith must be employed to judge aright of present sufferings and encumbrances : faith must count losses to be savings. As we are not to believe reason, so not sense, against the articles of faith. Why do we believe the glorious mystery of the trinity, three in one ? Because Christ hath revealed it to us. The same Jesus hath revealed, ' Blessed are they that suffer persecution ; and he that loseth shall save.' Why should we count that grievous which Christ hath called blessedness ? Why should we count that loss which indeed is the greatest gain ? We are as much bound to believe persecutions will make us blessed, and losing will be saving, as we are bound to believe that God is three in one, and that there is a union of the two natures in the person of Christ. Faith is as much seen in practicals as it is in speculative principles ; there it is oftener tried ; the other is but in special temptations.
(4.) Let us love ourselves, and all things else, in God, and for God's sake. When God is made ours, we love ourselves in loving God. We should love nothing but for God's sake ; do all to his glory, and with aims and ends of religion. Certainly God doth all things for himself. We should not love any other, no, not ourselves, but for God's sake, and the accomplishing of his holy will. If we love the godly, we should love them because ihey bear his image. Our enemies we should love, because of God's command, and our relations and comforts as they are God's gifts to us. God must have all the heart ; and in those affections that are carried out to other things, the supreme reason must be taken from God. That is the law still in force : Deut. vi. 5, ' Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy might. The Lord our God is but one.' And it is often repeated in the new testament. We are to reserve no part for idols, for creatures ; all is too little for so great a God, though it be more than we can per- form. When a great prince in his progress comes to an inn, he takes up all the rooms in the house, not holding it to stand with his state to have a stranger to be sharer with him. All our respect must either be
Book I.] a treatise of self-denial. 279
carried out to God, or to other things for God's sake. Certainly this will be a means to keep ourselves from such a degree of affection to them, as may alienate and divide our souls from God ; yea, in whatever we love, it will make us tend to the service and glory of God. Look, as when one foot of the compass is fixed in the centre, it gives strength and direction to the other part that moves about the circumference ; so when the heart is fixed in God, resolved to love God alone, we shall receive strength and direction from him, our love will be rightly set The saints and angels above love God with all their hearts and all their souls, therefore they cannot sin. Love is all the rule and guide they have, they can do nothing inordinately ; so should we, in our measures, labour to come up to this, and it would be an exceeding great regulation of our love. Self-interest may come in as accessory, but the principal and original cause of all is God alone. We should love our- selves united with God by Jesus Christ ; love God's servants as those that are dignified and beautified with his image ; our relations, as they may be tokens to us of God's love.
The fourth branch is against self-seeking, by which I mean a denial of our own ends, for God must be the utmost end of all the creatures actings.
Here I shall show —
1. What this self-seeking is.
2. The evidences how it bewrays itself.
3. How necessary it is to handle it.
4. How difficult it is to deny this part of self
5. Some remedies by way of consideration and practice.
First, What it is. SeK-seeking is a sin, by which men refer all they do or can do, to their own glory and advancement. There is a double self-seeking, contrary to the double end of the creature's being and operation ; one, by which we aim at our own profit ; and another, by which we aim at our own glory. For the two great ends of the crea- ture's being are, that we may enjoy God ; and then that we mav glorify God.