Book I.] a treatise of self-denial. 281
nay, be doth remember us, as if lie bad forgotten all otbers, and bad none else to care for in the world. There is not a good thought of thine forgotten. The spiritual life seemeth to be as asleep when we do not think of God. In gratitude we seem to be obliged. And consider again, certainly an actual elevation of the soul is of no great labour and trouble, because thoughts are quick and sudden ; and it will not hinder us, or be a burden to us, to look up with the eye of our soul, but it would be of great profit, it would make the actions of the mind more acceptable to God ; and the soul will the better be kept upright ; this will be as a golden crown upon the head of every action, and will be an excellent means to prevent carnal injections. However, because of our infirmities in the lesser actions of life, the habitual intention sufficeth ; as an arrow may fly to the mark, though the archer hath ceased to think of it ; or rather, as a man travelling homeward may not always think of home, yet he is journeying thither ; so a christian may not always actually think of heaven, yet his heart is set that way. We should at least renew this every morning. And in the noble actions of life that require more labour and difficulty, there our thoughts should be explicit, and the reason is, because Satan is ready to blast every serious duty with the injection of carnal thoughts. The devil is not only with you in the shop, but in the closet, and at duty ; and many times, though we ' begin in the spirit,' yet we are apt ' to end in the flesh,' Self recoils upon us : Gen. xv. Abraham when he had quartered the sacrifices — ' The fowls came down, but he drove them away.' So when we think of offering duty to God, carnal thoughts are apt to rush into the mind ; so that without this actual intention we may easily begin for God, and yet end for self-interest notwithstanding.
[2.] In actions sacred, and in the higher operations of the soul, be they either internal or external, the utmost end must be the glory of God. (1.) In internal actions, in desires of grace and salvation, our end must not be self. Our motions are then regular, when they are conformed to God, when we have the same end and aim as God hath. Now whatsoever God dotb, both within and without, in creation and grace, it is for himself : Prov. xvi. 4, ' The Lord hath made all things for himself.' Well then, we should seek grace and glory with the sam3 aim that God gives it : Eph. i. 6, ' He hath accepted us in the Beloved, to the praise of the glory of his grace ; ' that is God's aim, that grace maybe glorified in thy salvation, and in thy acceptance of Jesus Cbrist. I desire my salvation, but I should not rest there ; but this should be my utmost aim, that God may be glorified in my salvation. Some make a question whether or no we may look to the reward ; but those that make it seem to mistake heaven, and they have a carnal notion of the reward of the gospel, and dream of the heaven of the alcaron, and not the heaven of the gospel. What is the heaven of the gospel, but to enjoy God for ever, in the way of a blessed and holy communion ? Now can any man be so irrational to conceive I should not aim at the inheritance of the saints in light, as well as at the vision and fruition of God ? This must needs be a high act of grace, to seek my own happiness in the highest way of communion with God. They mistake the nature of the covenant, or the way with which God would deal with men, for God hath invested his precept with a promise, and men would
282 A TEEATISE OF SELF-DENIAL. [BoOK I.
seem wiser than God. We may use the Spirit's motives without sin, as the saints have done. It was a foolish modesty in Ahaz, when God ' bade him ask,' and ' he would not ask a sign,' Isa. vii. 10-12 ; so it is a foolish modesty, when men will not act their faith upon the reward and the blessed recompenses. Christ used this way : Heb. xii. 2, It is said, ' for the joy that was set before him he endured the cross, and despised the shame,' &c. And truly all creatures, as they are now made, must needs take this course, look to the glory, that they may discharge the duty and endure the cross. No created agent can rest merely in the beauty and goodness of his own action. It is a folly to say that virtue is a reward to itself, if you speak of eternal reward ; it is God's covenant way. We are not only to regard duty, but the encouragement of duty. But then the reward must not be the chief cause, but the encouragement ; the ultimate reason must be the glory of God. When we make the reward the ultimate end of all we desire, this is to respect self above God ; the glory of God must be the main- spring of all our desires and hopes. To look after happiness is an innocent aim of nature, but to glorify God is the aim of grace. Now only to aim at happiness is the mere motion of nature, and of our own will ; but it is our duty to have a further aim at the glory of God. By the law of our creation we were bound to aim at the glory of God, though our happiness were not subordinate to it, for ' God made all things for himself.' (2.) In external actions, and in duties of worship, we must have a good aim. It is dangerous in sacred things to look a-squint, and by the temple to serve the concernments of the shop ; this is to put dung in God's own cup ; this is to make God serve with our iniquities ; and to use worship as a pretence and cover to interest. When we pervert things from their proper use, we do them an injury.. If a cup were made for a king to drink in, and we should use it as a vessel to keep dung and excrements, it were a high affront ; yet nature doth not design such things to such an use, but art, and the will of man. Duty is made for the special honour of God, by his appointment, therefore it should have no end beneath itself