Heresies and Church-divisions as any Sensualist hath in his way And hence it is that a zeal for selfish opinions is easily got and easily maintained when zeal for the saving truths of God is hardly kindled and hardly kept alive Yea multitudes in the world do make the very truth to be the matter of their carnal interest in it while they some way get a seeming peculiar interest and promote it but as an opinion of their own or of their party and use it for selfish carnal ends And hence it is that many that are called Orthodox can easily get and keep a burning zeal for their Orthodox opinions when Practical Christians do find it a very hard matter to be zealous for the same truths in a Practical way Many ungodly men will be hot in Disputing for the truth and crying down all that are against it and perhaps so far exceed their bounds that the godly dare not follow them And the reason is clear Whether it be Truth or Error that a man holds if he hold it but as a conceit of his Own or as the opinion of his party or to be noted in the world as one that hath found out more truth than others or any way make it but the matter of his selfish interest nature and corruption will furnish him with a zeal for it It 's easie to go where sin and Satan drives and to be zelous where zeal hath so small resistance and to swim down the stream of corrupted nature But it is not so easie to be zealous in the practical saving entertainment of the truth and exercising that faith and love to God and holy obedience which truth is sent to work in us A schismatical or Opinionative use of truth it self is but an using it for self against the God of truth and it is no more wonder to see men zealous in this than to see men forward and hot in any evil We cannot tell how to quench or restrain this selfish carnal kind of zeal But when men should use the truth for God and their salvation against Satan and sin and self then it 's hard to make them zealous They are like green wood or wet fuel on the fire that will not burn without much blowing and soon goeth out when it seemed to be kindled if once you leave it to it self Paul spoke not non-sense when he said For ye are yet Carnal for whereas there is among you envying and strife and divisions are ye not carnal and walk as men For while one saith I am of Paul and another I am of Apollo are ye not Carnal 1 Cor. 3. 3 4 5. How secretly soever it may lurk there is doubtless much of self and flesh in Heresies and unjust Divisions I know that most of them little perceive it James and John in their zeal which would have called for fire from heaven did not know what spirit they were of But God would not have spoke it if it were not true Rom. 16. 17. Now I beseech you brethren mark them which cause Divisions and offences contrary to the Doctrine which ye have learned and avoid them For they that are such serve not our Lord Jesus Christ but their own belly and by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple Though they little believe that that there is any such wickedness in them as this yet the Spirit of God that is the searcher of hearts is acquainted with it and assureth us that both at the bottom and the End Church-dividing courses have a carnal selfish nature It is some secret interest of self though scarce discerned that kindleth the zeal and carrieth on the work It is not God that is served by the divisions of his Church Many Sects now among us do put a face of Truth and Zeal upon their cause But self is the more dangerously powerful with them by how much the less suspected or observed The Papists under the pretence of the Churches Union are the great dividers of the Christian world unchurching the far greatest part of the Church and separating from all that be not Subjects of the Pope of Rome And do you think it is self and flesh that is the Principle and Life and End of this their Schism were it not for the upholding of this usurped power and worldly immunities and greatness of the Clergy it is morally impossible that so many men of reason and learning could concur in such a schism and in so many gross conceits as go along with it It is not the Pope that they are principally united in For the far greatest part of them it it too evident that it is selfish and fleshly interest that is their Center to which the Pope is but a means Hence it is that many of their Jesuits and Fryars are carried abroad the world with such a fire of zeal to promote their cause that they will compass sea and land for it and day and night are busie at the work to plot and contrive and insinuate and deceive and think no cost or pains too great For a selfish sinful zeal and diligence hath so many friends and so little hindrance that it 's easily maintained but so is not the healing peaceable practical and holy zeal of true believers Well! Consider what I say to you from the Word of the Lord There is a selfish dividing Zeal in Religion which must be denied as well as whoredom or drunkenness If you ask me how it 's known Briefly now I shallonly tell you this much of it 1. That it is usually for either an Error or a particular Truth against the interest and advantage of the body of unquestionable Christian verities They can let Religion suffer by it so their opinion do but thrive 2. It is usually for an Opinion by reason of some special endearment or interest of their own in it 3. They cry up that opinion with a zeal and diligence much exceeding that which they bestow upon other opinions of equal weight and lay a greater stress upon it than any shew of reason will allow them 4. They usually are zealous for a party and division against the Unity of the Catholick Church 5. Their Zeal is most commonly turned against the faithful Pastors of the Church For it 's hard to keep in with schism and with faithful Pastors too And if the Ministers will not own their sin and error they will disown the Ministers The Anabaptists and other Sects of late would never have been so much against Christ's Ministers if the Ministers had not been against their way 6. Their course doth in the conclusion bring down Religion and hinder the thriving of the Gospel and of Godliness Mark what is the issue of most of those ways that these men are so hot for Doth it go better or worse with the Church and cause of Christ in general where they are than it did before Is Religion in more strength and beauty and life and honour or doth real
If selfish interest led them not to this and if they were more tender of the Interest of Christ than of their own and of mens souls than of their flesh it would not be thus But the same argument that tempts the sensual to Hell doth tempt such Magistrates to set up Liberty for drawing men to Hell The wicked sell their souls to spare their flesh and let go Heaven to enjoy the Liberty of sinning and run into Hell to scape the trouble of an holy life And such Magistrates sell the peoples souls to spare the flesh of the deceivers and in tenderness and mercy to their bodies they dare not restrain men from seeking their damnation Is faith and holiness propagated by perswasion and not by force Surely then Infidelity Popery and Ungodliness are propagated by perswasion too Again I tell you self-love doth make such Rulers wiser than to grant Commission or Liberty to all that will to tice their souldiers to mutinies or rebellion their wives to Adultery their children to prodigality or their servants to thievery But the love of Christ and mens salvation is not so strong as to satisfie them whether men should be hindred from raising mutinies in his Church and from destroying souls Forsooth they tell us that Christ is sufficient to look to his own cause Very true and they shall one day know it But must he not therefore teach or rule by men Is not Adultery Murder Theft Rebellion against the Cause of Christ and his Laws as well as Popery and Infidelity And must they therefore be let alone by man Christ is sufficient to Teach the world as well as to Govern But doth it follow that men must be no Teachers under him Nothing but selfishness could cause this blindness And because I know that this stream proceeds from the Roman spring and it is their great design to perswade the world that it belongs not to Magistrates to meddle with Religion but only to cherish them that the Pope approveth of and to punish those whom the Pope condemns and that Christ must Govern and judge of matters of Religion himself that is by his pretended Roman Vicechrist I shall only now say this that if Rome were acquainted with self-denial and if the selfish carnal interest of Riches and Rule and worldly greatness had not blinded them they could never have believed themselves that Christ did appoint the Pope of Rome to be his Universal Vicar and that Princes and Magistrates in their own Dominions have not more Power to judge who is to be tolerated or punished by the sword than the Pope of Rome when no Priest or Prelate upon earth as such hath any thing to do with such a judgement no not in the places where they live All that they have to do herein is to judge who is the Heretick or offendor in order to his censure and excommunication But it's Magistrates only that must judge who is the Heretick or effendor in order to corporal punishment or restraint And this I undertake to make good against all the Papists in the world much more that the Roman Tyrant hath no such Power at the Antipodes and in all the Christian Nations on earth Remember in all this that I speak not against a Toleration of Godly tolerable men Episcopal Presbyterian Independent Anabaptist c. that will walk in Charity Peace and Concord ☞ we shall never be well till these are closed But do we not know that Papists have Italy and Spain and Germany and France at hand to help them And that if we grant them such a liberty as shall strengthen them and make way for their power we give away our own liberty and are preparing faggots for our martyrdom and giving away the Gospel that by wonders of mercy hath been till now preserved and I hope shall be preserved in despite of Rome and Hell Nor yet do I plead for any cruelty against a Papist but for a necessary Defence of the interest of Christ and the souls of men and the hopes of our posterity True Humanity abhorreth cruelty Did Magistrates well know their dependence upon God and that they are his officers and must make him their end they would not take their flocks to be their masters though they may take them for their charge nor would they set up a carnal interest of the multitude against the pleasing of God and mens salvation nor would they think so highly of mens conceits and wills as to judge it a matter of so much moment to allow them in Religion to say or do what they list If allowing a mans self in the practice of Known sin is inconsistent with a state of grace and a sign of a miserable slave of Satan I leave it to you to consider what it will prove to allow others even Countries and Nations in Known sin And if Rulers know not that setting up an Universal Vice-christ and worshipping bread though they think there is no bread with Divine worshp and serving God in an unknown tongue with other points of Popery are sin and that opposing and reproaching the holy Scriptures Ordinances and Ministry are sin wo to such Rulers and wo to the Nations that are Ruled by such O what a blessing is a holy self-denying Magistracy to a Nation If one could have told you twenty years ago that you and such as you should be Rulers in this Land how confidently would you have promised an universal encouragement to godliness and a vigorous promoting the cause of Christ and a zealous suppressing of all that is against it Little would you or I have thought that after Professors of godliness were in power so many years should have been spent in destroying Charity and Unity and cherishing almost all that will stand up for the Devil and plead his cause against the Doctrine and Discipline and Worship and Churches and Officers of Jesus Christ And that in their dayes it should have been put to the Question whether the Ministry it self should be taken down And that men in power should write for Liberty for all that will call it self Religion even Popery not excepted nor I think Infidelity or Mahumetism it self and that those that write so should be men in Power My heart would have risen against him as an odious calumniator that should have presumed to tell me that such men as have attempted this would ever have come to such a pass and I should have encountred them with Hazaels question Are they dogs that they should do so vile a thing and exercise such cruelty on souls and seek to bring back the people of God to the Romish vomit and set up the greatest tyranny on earth and all under pretence of a Religious Liberty But alas it is not Magistrates only that are so wanting in self-denial Ministers also are guilty of this crime Or else we should not have been so forward to divisions and so backward to the cure nor would men of this profession for
say were it not that these step in and cross self and hinder its designs you might fore-see in self-interest the changes that are made in humane affairs Consect 3 And so Potent and common is the Dominion of self that it may warrant an honest moderate incredulity and jealousie of almost all men in cases where the interest of self is much concerned Let him be never so ingenuous let his parts and profession be never so promising let his former engagements to you be never so great let him be your own Brother yet be not too confident of him if his carnal self be concerned or engaged against you For you shall see by experience as long as you live that self will still bear Dominion in the most Consect 4. Above all every wise and godly man should herein maintain the greatest Jealousie of his own heart Keep the heart above all keepings and keep out self above all sins whatever Take heed of selfishness as ever you would be Christians and live as Christians and have the Peace of Christians And to that end be alwayes suspicious of every cause opinion controversie or practice where self is much concerned The very names of SELF and OWN should sound in a watchful Christians ears as very terrible wakening words that are next to the names of Sin and Satan and at least carry in them much cause of suspition And this hath led me up to the next Use of the Point CHAP. XI Use 2. To try our self-denial the sincerity of the least degree Use 2. Of Exhortation BEloved hearers I have now before me as great a sin and danger to deter you from even selfishness and its effects and as great a Duty to offer to your entertainment even self-denial as any save one that I am acquainnted with in the world The raising up the soul to God is indeed the greatest work But the mortifying of the flesh and the Denying of self is surely the next to it being a real part of the change You hear Ministers tell you of the odiousness and danger and sad effects of sin but of all the sins that ever you heard of there is scarce any more odious and dangerous than this and yet I doubt there are many that never were much troubled at it nor sensible of its malignity My principal request therefore to you is that as ever you would prove Christians indeed and be saved from sin and damnation that follows it take heed of this deadly sin of selfishness and be sure you be possessed with true self-denial and if you have it see that you use and live upon it And for your help herein I shall 1. Tell you how your self-denial must be tried and 2. How it must be exercised and 3. I shall give you some further Reasons to perswade you to it and 4. Some Directions for the procuring and strengthening it 1. The trial of your self-denial may be performed by the help of the Signs that have been given you before In the ten particulars mentioned in the beginning you may see what is selfishness and what is self-denial But for your further satisfaction I shall only tell you in a few words how the least measure of true self-denial may be known And in one word that is thus Wherever the Interest of Carnal self is stronger and more predominant habitually than the Interest of God of Christ of everlasting life there is no true self-denial or saving grace But where Gods Interest is the strongest there self-denial is sincere If you further ask me How this may be known Briefly thus 1. What is it that you Live for what is that Good which your mind is principally set to obtain and what is that End which you principally design and endeavour to obtain and which you set your heart on and lay out your hopes upon Is it the Pleasing and glorifying of God and the everlasting fruition of him Or is it the Pleasing of your fleshly mind in the fruition of any inferiour thing Know this and you may know whether Self or God have the greatest interest in you For that is your God which you Love most and Please best and would do most for 2. Which d◠you set most by the means of your Salvation and of the Glory of God or the Means of providing for Self and Flesh Do you set more by Christ and Holiness which are the way to God or by Riches Honour and Pleasures which gratifie the flesh Know this and you may know whether you have true Self-denial 3. If you are truly self-denying you are ordinarily Ruled by God and his word and spirit and not by Carnal Self Which is the Rule and Master of your lives whose Word and Will is it ordinarily that prevails When God draws and self draws which do you follow in the tenor of your life Know this and you may know whether you have true Self-denial 4. If you have true Self-denial the drift of your lives is carried on in a successful opposition to carnal Self so that you not only refuse to be ruled by it and love it as your God but you fight against it and tread it down as your enemy So that you go armed against Self in the course of your lives and are striving against Self in every duty and as others think it then goes best with them when Self is highest and pleased best so you will know that it then goeth best with you when Self is lowest and most effectually subdued 5. If you have true Self-denial there is nothing in this world so dear to you but on deliberation you would leave it for God He that hath any thing which he loveth so well that he cannot spare it for God is a selfish and unsanctified wretch And therefore God hath still put men to it in the trial of their sincerity to part with that which was dearest to the flesh Abraham must be tried by parting with his only Son And Christ makes it his standing rule He that forsaketh not all that he hath cannot be my Disciple Luke 14. 33. Yet it is true that flesh and blood may make much resistance in a gracious heart and many a striving thought there may be before with Abraham we can part with à Son or before we can part with wealth or life But yet on deliberation self-denial will prevail and there is nothing so dear to a gracious soul which he cannot spare at the will of God and the hope of everlasting life If with Peter we should flinch in a temptation we should return with Peter in weeping bitterly and give Christ those lives that in a temptation we denied him For Habitually God is dearest to the soul 6. In a word true self-denial is procured by the Knowledge and Love of God advancing him in the soul to the debasing of self The illuminated soul is so much taken with the Glory and Goodness of the Lord that it carrieth him out of himself to God and as