another mans case they could tell him that its better displease men than God and that its better venture a short life than an endless life and that it is little profit to win all the world and lose his own soul and that it is the wisest way to make sure work for eternity and not to venture on endless misery And they could consent that another should rather suffer than sin Why else do they commend the Martyrs for it And what is the reason of this strange partiality Why Self is the great Ruler and God hath but the name Self is partial in their own cause but not in another mans and therefore they can consent to his suffering without self-denial And hence comes the difference 15. Moreover when Offenders murmur at their punishment ask but the standers by and they are of another mind When the Ale-seller thinks he is wronged if he be put down ask but the poor women whose Husbands use to be drunk there and whose children lack meat and drink and clothes because the Alehouse devours that which should buy them and they will be quite of another judgment and think you love not God nor the Country if you will not suppress them 16. Also when you hear men extenuating their sin and excusing it put but the case as another mans and let them not understand that it is their own and you shall hear another judgment So Nathan came about David and put but a far lower case as anothers about the robbing a poor man of his only Sheep and he could presently say and swear As the Lord liveth the man that hath done this thing shall surely die because he had no pity and his anger was greatly kindled against the man 2 Sam. 12. 5 6. But why was he not as angry with himself for a greater sin O self had got the better in that grievous fall till grace broke his heart by true repentance So when Judah heard of Thamars fornication he commandeth Bring her out that she may be burnt Gen. 38. 24. But when he understood that it was by himself the case was altered 17. Let a man that his provoked by injuries and ill words have as bad by himself done or spoken against another and he can make but a small matter of them or think they should be easily put up or pardoned when yet the same words spoken against him do seem intolerable 18. Let a man speak with others in poverty sickness or any affliction and what good counsel can he give him to submit to God and take all patiently But let the suffering be his own and he cannot take the counsel that he gives 19. Nay more men are not only partial for themselves but for any that are neer themselves or that self is related to Let another mans Son or Servant do evil and you can be content that he be rebuked or corrected But if it be a Son or Kinsman or Servant of your Own the case is altered it s then a wrong to punish him because of his relation to you Let a Stranger do amiss and you can give way to Justice But if the Drunkard or Ale-seller or Swearer be your friend then he must be born with and forgiven and the justice must be intreated for him Let a scandalous or insufficient Minister or Schoolmaster be offered to any place If he be a Stranger you can be content that he be rejected but if he be a Kinsman or Child or Friend of yours what an alteration doth this make in the case then he must be born with or tried and you hope he will mend and his faults are made the least of his virtues more than indeed they are Nay any man that doth but love your selves and honour you and think highly of you shall have a favourabler construction for all his words and actions and intentions than one that you imagine is against you or hath low thoughts of you or is against your interest or your opinion Sirs I have run into abundance of instances but not a quarter so many as might be given and all is to meet with the turnings and windings of this Serpent self and to let you see if light it self can make you see against the blinding power of self how rare self-denial is in the the world and what a large Dominion self obtaineth I would here have added some more Discoveries as 6. From the excessive care and cost and labour that almost all the world is at for self and the little they are at for God or the good of others 7. The large proportion that is expended on self in comparison of God and others 8. The Zeal of men to vindicate self but the little Zeal for God or others 9. The rigorous Laws that are made in the cause of self Thieves and Traitors must die and the remissness of Law-givers in the cause of God Blasphemy Malignity and Impiety is not so roughly handled 10. The firmness of men to carnal self and their great mutability and unfaithfulness to God But I had rather omit somewhat than to be too tedious and therefore I go no further in these Discoveries save only to add a few of those Aggravations that shew you the extent of selfs Dominion as you have seen the sad discoveries of the reality of it CHAP. IX The great Power and prevalency of selfishness discovered ANd that you may see what cause we have for our Lamentation Consider the greatness of selfish Tyranny in these Particulars 1. Consider what a Power it is that self beareth down in the world The Commands of the God of heaven are overcome by it The promises of eternal life are trod under foot by it The threatnings of endless torments are nothing to it It casts by Heaven it ventures upon Hell It tramples upon the precious blood of Christ It will not hear the voice of wisdom it self Nor the voice of goodness and mercy it self It refuseth him that speaks from heaven Love it self is not lovely where self is Judge It quencheth all the motions of the Spirit it despiseth Ministers It turneth mercies into wantonness and sin Like Sampson it breaks all bonds that are laid on it and till it be weakned it self there is no holding no ruling no saving the soul that 's ruled by it 2. Consider also the exceeding Number of its Subjects Truly if there were no other proof that the sanctified and the saved are very few this one is so full and sad a proof that it tempteth me sometime to think them much fewer than willingly I would do Alas how few self-denying persons do you meet with in the world yea in the Church yea among the stricter Professors Look over all the world and see how few you can find at work for any one but for carnal self If you observe the Courts and see whose work is done most there and look into the Armies of the world and see who it is that ruleth there if you look
quiet the mind when it cannot abate the pain of the body and must use to submit to a lesser evil to avoid a greater or to obtain a greater good than it depriveth us of Paul and Silas could sing with their bodies sore and their feet in the stocks To be joyful in tribulation should be no strange matter to a Saint much more with a patient submission to undergo it We may not thrust our selves into the fire nor choose suffering without a call but we must suffer rather than sin and choose the wounds and hurts of the body before the wounds and losses of the soul But because flesh and blood will draw back and make too great a matter of sufferings I shall briefly give you ten Considerations that may perswade you herein to deny your selves and in two cases I desire you to make use of them First in case you have no way to escape suffering but by sinning then deny your selves and choose to suffer Secondly in case of Gods afflictions which unavoidably lie upon you then deny your selves by a quiet and patient submission And for both consider 1. That is the best condition for us in which we may be most serviceable to God And if we suffer for Righteousness we may serve God as well in such suffering as in a prosperous state Or if God himself afflict us we may serve him in our affliction Our patience then is the service that we are called to The sufferings of the Saints have done very much to the promoting of the Gospel and building of the Church Men will see that there is somewhat worth the suffering for in the Christian Religion and see that Heaven is taken by believers for a certain thing when they can let go earth for it They will be moved to enquire what it is that moves you to such constancy and patience And why should we not be willing of that condition in which we do our Master the best service what ever the doing of it shall cost us The commodity of our end is the chiefest commodity 2. That is the best condition for us in which we may have most of God But certainly we may have as much and usually more of God in suffering especially for his cause than we can have in prosperity especially when we sin to escape these sufferings Is it bodily ease or God that you set most by It will be seen by your choice If you prefer your ease before him you must expect to have no better than you choose If you prefer him before your ease and prosperity you must be gladder of God with adversity and pain than of prosperity and ease without him A beast hath health and ease as well as you and yet you will not think him as happy If you are tormented or lose your health for Christ you lose nothing but what a Turk or Infidel hath yea but what a beast hath as well as you But you may have that of God by the advantage of your suffering that none but Saints have And God's presence can make a suffering state as sweet as a prosperous And he hath given you ground in his promises to expect it Isa 43. 1 2 3. When thou passest through the fire I will be with thee 1 Cor. 10. 13. There hath no temptation taken you but what is common to man but God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that your able but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that you may be able to bear it 1 Pet. 4. 14. If ye be reproached for the name of Christ happy are ye for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you On their part he is evil spoken of but on your part he is glorified ver 16. If any man suffer as a Christian let him not be ashamed but let him glorifie God on this behalf What is the Scripture fuller of than comforting promises to the sufferers for Christ To fly from such sufferings then is but to fly from the presence of God and our own consolations 3. At least these sufferings further our sanctification and make us better And is not that our best condition that makes us best Common experience as well as Scripture may satisfie us that a suffering state doth very much further humiliation and mortification and bring men to a deeper sense of sin help all the truths of God to work and make them more sensible and serious than in prosperity Then we do not only hear but feel that sin is evil and that the world is vain and that the threatnings of God are true Why Christian if thou didst but know that thou shouldst have more of the spirit and its graces and less of sin in a suffering estate than in ease and plenty wouldst thou not even choose it and be glad of it Is not sin worse than suffering to thee and holiness better than ease and peace Alas what senseless careless persons should we be if it were not for the help of suffering Grace useth to work by means and this is the common means 4. Consider that pain and suffering we shall have whether for Christ or not The worst men undergo almost as much by ordinary sicknesses and losses and crosses as the Martyrs do that suffer for Christ sin will bring suffering and it 's better have that which is sanctified by the interest of Christ than that which is not 5. And a Christian that hath so much ado to curb and rule the flesh in prosperity me thinks should the more patiently bear adversity because God sets in by it and helps him to subdue the flesh and tame the body and bring it in subjection And as it is but this burdensome flesh that suffereth which hath been the cause of so much suffering to our minds so our warfare against this flesh which we mannage through the course of our lives goes on more prosperously in the time of its sufferings than in prosperity A weakned enemy is easilier conquered Do not therefore too much take part with the suffering flesh but self-denyingly justifie the proceedings of the Lord. 6. And consider that the pains and suffering will be but short It is but a little while and you shall feel no more than if you had felt nothing And that which shortly will not be is next to that which is not As it makes all the pleasures and glory of the world to be a dream and next to nothing because it 's but a while and they are gone and never return again So it makes our sufferings next to nothing that they are passing away and almost over And then all tears will be wiped from your eyes and pain will be forgotten or remembred only to encrease your joy When you are past the brunt and safe with Christ you will never repent of your sufferings on earth nor will it trouble you then to think of the shame or sickness or pain and torment that here you were put
according as their self-interest commandeth them more than according to the Interest of Christ Let a man be never so eminent in holiness and never so useful and serviceable in the Church and one that hath proved faithful in the greatest tryals if he do but oppose a selfish man and be thought by him to be against him he hateth him at the heart or hath as base contemptuous thoughts of him as malice can suggest He can as easily nullifie all his graces and multiply his smallest infirmities into a swarm of crimes by a censorious mind and a slanderous tongue as if vertue and vice received their form and denominations from the respect of mens minds and waies to him and all men were so far good or evil as they please him or displease him and he expects that others should esteem men such as he is pleased to describe or call them Let all the Countrey be the witnesses of a mans upright and holy life yea let the multitude of the ungodly themselves be convinced of it so far as that their consciences are forced to bear witness of him as Herod did of John Mark 6. 20. that he was a just man and an holy yet can the selfish hypocrite that is against him blot out his uprightness with a word and make him to be Proud or False or Covetous or what his malice please yea make him an Hypocrite as he is indeed himself No man can be good in their eyes that is against them or if he be acknowledged honest in the main it is mixt with exceptions and charges enough to make him seem vile while they confess him honest and if they acknowledge him a man they will withal describe him to be so plaguy or leprous that he shall be thought not fit for humane converse Such a man is an honest man say they but he is a peevish humorous self-conceited fellow And why so Because he is against some opinion or interest of theirs He is proud because he presumeth to dissent from them or reprehend them He raileth every time he openeth their errours or telleth them of their mis-doings He is a Lyar if he do but contradict them and discover their sins though it be with words of truth and soberness In a word no person no speeches or writings no actions can be just that are against a selfish man In differences at Law his cause is good because it is his and his adversaries is alwaies bad because it is against him In publick differences the side that he is on that is for him is alwaies right let it be never so wrong in the eyes of all impartial men The cause is good that he is for which is alway that which seems for him though it be undoubted Treason and perfidious Rebellion accompanied with perjury murder and oppression And the cause must be alwaies bad that is against him and they are the Traytors and Rebels and Oppressors that resist him His own murders are honourable Victories and other mens Victories are cruel and barbarous murders All is naught that is against themselves They are Affected to men according to their self-interest they judge of them and their actions according as they do Affect them they speak of them and deal by them according to this corrupted judgement But as for any that they imagine do Love and Honour them they can Love them and speak tenderly of them be they what they will A little grace or vertue in them seemeth much And their parts seem excellent that indeed are mean If they drop into Perjury Fornication Treason or such like scandalous sins they have alwayes a mantle of Love to cover them or if they blame them a little they are easily reconciled and quickly receive them to their former honour If they have any thing like Grace it 's easily believed to be Grace indeed if they be but on their side If they have nothing like Grace they can Love them for their good natures but indeed it is for themselves When this self-love describeth any person when it writeth Histories or Controversies about any cause or person that they are concerned in how little credit do they deserve Whence is it else that we have such contrary descriptions of Persons and Actions in the writings of the several Parties as we find How holy and temperate and exceedingly industrious a man was Calvin if the whole multitude of sober godly men that knew him may be credited or if we may believe his most constant intimate acquaintance or if we may judge by his judicious pious numerous writings And yet if the Papists may be believed contrary to the witness of a Popish City where he was bred he was a stigmatized Sodomite he was a glutton that eat but once a day and that sparingly he was an idle fleshly man that preached usually every day and wrote so many excellent Volumes and he dyed blaspheming and calling on the Devil that is in longing and praying for his remove to Christ crying daily How long lord how long and how comes all this inhumane forgery about Why one lying Pelagian Apostate Bolsecke wrote it whom Calvin had shamed for his errours and a peevish Lutheran Schlusselburgius hath related part of it from him and this is sufficient warrant for the Papists ordinarily to perswade their followers it is true and with seared Consciences to publish it in their writings though Massonius and some other of the soberer sort among themselves do â—â—ame them for the forgery So do they by Luther Beza and many more Among our selves here how certainly and commonly is it known to all impartial men acquainted with them that the persons nick-named Puritans in England have been for the most part a people fearing God and studying an holy life and of an upright conversation so that the impartial did bear them witness that in the scorners mouth a Puritan was one that was Integervitae scelerisque purus and this was the reason of their suffered-scorn and that the name was the Devils common engine in this Land to shame people from reading and hearing Sermons and praying and avoiding the common sins and seriously seeking their salvation A Puritan was one that Believeth unfeignedly that God is and that he is a Rewarder of them that diligently seek him Heb. 12. 6. that strives to enter in at the strait gate and lives as men that believe that Heaven is worth their labour and that Gods Kingdom and its Righteousness should be first sought Mat. 6. 33. And yet if Fitz Simon and other Jesuits and Bishop Bancroft Dr. P. Heylin Mr. Tho. Pierce and other such among us are to be believed what an abominable odious sort of people are they and especially the Presbyterians who are the greatest part of them what intolerable hypocritical bloody men And what 's the reason of these accusations Much is pretended but the sum of all is that they were in some things against the Opinions or Interests of the persons that abuse
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
sometime all is comprehended in the term world and selfishness in the word flesh the world being that harlot with which the flesh commits adultery So 1 Joh. 2. 15 16. Love not the world nor the things that are in the world If any man Love the world the Love of the Father is not in him For all that is in the world the Lust of the flesh the Lust of the eyes and the Pride of Life is not of the Father but is of the world and the world passeth away and the Lust thereof but he that doth th will of God abideth for ever To these three heads therefore we shall reduce all that we have to say of this matter I. The selfish fleshy Pleasure that must be denied consisteth in these particulars following which I shall but briefly touch because they are so many 1. One Principal part of Sensuality or Self-interest consisteth in meats and drinks to please the Appetite So far as these are taken to fit us for Gods service and used to his Glory so far they are sanctified as before was said but when they are meerly to please the appetite they are offered to an enemy and are the fuel of lust Do you see any thing that your Appetite desireth whether meats or drinks whether for quality or quantity Take it not touch it not meerly upon that account but enquire whether it tend to the strengthning and fitting your bodies or minds for the service of God and if so take it if not let alone If your appetite had rather have Wine than Beer or strong Beer than small take it not meerly upon that account If your appetite would fain have one cup more when nature hath as much as is profitable deny that appetite If your appetite would fain be tasting of any thing that is not for your health deny that appetite If it would fain have one bit more when you have as much before as is wholesom or useful to you deny that appetite Or else you are guilty of flesh pleasing and plain Gluttony Quest But is it not lawful at a feast to taste of another dish or eat another bit when I think that nature needs no more what perplexities then will you cast men into to know just how many morsels they may eat Answ It is gluttony and no beter to take the creatures of God in vain and sacrifice them to a devouring throat which should be used only for his service That which is a mans ultimate end is his God What would you have plainer than express words of Scripture that tell you that whether you eat or drink it must be all to the glory of God 1 Cor. 10. 31. and that the fleshly do make their bellies their Gods Phil. 3. 18. And therefore when you have taken as much as suiteth with your end the service and glory of God you must not take more for another end the pleasing of your fleshly desires But for the scruples that you mention about the just proportion we need not be disquieted with them For God hath given us sufficient means to direct us to know what is for our good and what is superfluous and it is our duty in an even and constant way to use our Reason and keep as near the due proportion as we can and when we know that this is our desire and endeavour it were a sin against God to trouble our selves with continual or causless scruples or fears lest we do exceed or miss the rule For what can we do more than go according to the best skill we have and if for want of skill we should a little mistake it is pardoned with the rest of our daily infirmities and to trouble and distract our selves with causeless fears would more unfit us for Gods service than some degree of mistake in the proportion would do and so would be as great a sin as that which we feared And therefore our way is quietly and comfortably without distracting fears or scruples to do our best and use our prudence with self-denial and remember that we have to do with a Father that knows the flesh is weak when the spirit is willing But yet wilfully to cast away one cup or one morsel on the pleasing of our appetites when it no way fits us for the service of God and will do us no other good this is not self-denial but sensuality Quest But nature knows best what 's good for it self and therefore that which it desireth is to be judged best A Beast liveth as healthfully as a man that obeyeth his appetite only Is it not lawful to take either meat or drink on this account that the Appetite is pleased with it Answ 1. Some Beasts would presently kill themselves in pleasing their appetites if man that is Rational did not rule restrain and moderate them A Swine will burst himself with whey in half an hour A Beast in new after-grass will surfeit if he be suffered No Beast knows poyson from food but would soon perish by it in obeying his appetite 2. And yet as a Bâ—â—st hath no Reason so he is better provided to live without Reason than man is His appetite is not so corrupted by sin as ours is Original sin hath depraved and enraged our appetites And if man had not more use for his reason than a Beast even in ordering his natural actions God would not have given him reason to rule his appetite and commanded him to use it herein And who knows not that if a man did follow his appetite alone as Beasts do he were like to murder himself the next day or week or at least in a very little space The appetite would presently carry us to that for quality or quantity or both that would cast us into mortal diseases and soon make an end of us And in those diseases the pleasing it usually would be certain death And indeed this is a beastly doctrine that man that hath reason to rule his sensual inclinations should lay it by and please his appetite without it like a brute what more do all Gluttons Drunkards and Whoremongers but follow ther fleshly desires And if the desires of the flesh might be followed who would not be such as they in some measure That which is no sin in a Beast is a hainous sin in a man because man hath reason to rule his appetite and a Beast hath none and therefore is not capable of sin And for the body it 's certain that most of the diseases in the world are bred and fed by the pleasing of the appetite and I think that there 's few that are laid in their graves but this was the cause of it though the ignorant know it not and the sensual are loth to believe it And for the question whether we may not take any meat or drink purposely to please the appetite I answer yes as a means to fit us for duty but not as your chief end 1. Sometimes especially in weak bodies the
because you are idle that should use them Every hour that you lose in idleness what noble faculties and large provisions are all laid by As much as in you lieth you make the whole creation to be and work in vain Why should the Sun shine an hour or minute for you in vain Why should the Earth bear you an hour in vain why should the springs and rivers run for you an hour in vain why should the air refresh you an hour in vain why should your pulse beat one stroke in vain or your lungs once breathe a breath in vain shall all be at work for you to further your work and will you think that idleness is no sin 3. Moreover Laziness and sloth is a sin that loseth you much precious time All the time is lost that you are idle in Yea when you are at work if you do it slothfully you are losing much of your time A diligent person will go further and do more in an hour than the lazy flesh-pleaser will do in two When the slothful is praying or reading and working in his calling he is but losing half his time which diligence would redeem And is our time so â—…ort and precious and yet is idleness an excusable sin what loiter so near night so near eternity when we have but a little time to work O work while it is day for the night is coming when none can work Were it but for this that sloth doth steal so much of our time I must think it no better than an hainous Thievery 4. And by this means we rob our selves We might be getting some good all the time that we are idle or doubly advantage our selves if sloth did not keep us company in our work The slothful is brother to him that is a great waster Pro. 18. 9. slothfulness is self-murdering men die while they lie still and wish It 's a sin that famisheth soul and body Prov. 21. 25. The desire of the slothful killeth him because his hands refuse to labour It 's the common cause of beggery and want and what comfort can you have under such afflictions which you bring upon your selves If you want food or rayment if your wives and children are in want how can you think that God should take care of you and afford you relief when you bring this on your selves by pleasing your flesh which is his enemy If a Souldier get hurt by trucking with the enemy he may rather look that his General should hang him than relieve him And how should good men be moved to compassionate you If God do improveriâ—h you and you come to want by innocency or a righteous cause they must needs be ready to relieve you But if Sloth or Pride or Gluttony or Drunkenness bring you to it till you repent I see not how they should relieve you at least any further than to keep you alive For if you are set toplease your flesh by idleness must I joyn with you to please it by such supplies as shall cheriâ—â— you in your sin No one flesh-pleaser is enough for one man If you will please it either by Idleness or by Luxury your selves expect not that others should please it by your relief and make provision for your sin If I may not make provision for my own flesh to satisfie its lusts neither must I do it for another But that 's not the worst slothfulness is the common cause of mens damnation when they see a temptation and danger before them slothfulness hindereth them from resisting it When Heaven is offered them slothfulness makes them sit still and lose it They must Run and Strive and Fight and Conquer and these are not works for a slothful person especially when they must be continued to the death So that it 's manifest that most men in the world are undone soul and body by the sin of sloth 5. And by this you rob others as well as your selves You owe the world the fruit of your labours You rob the souls of men to whom you should do good You rob the Church that should be bettered by you You rob the Commonwealth of which you are a member and should have benefit by you You owe your labours to Church and Commonwealth and the souls of men and will you not pay so great a debt You deserve no room in the Church or Commonwealth but to be cut off as an unprofitable member if you bring no advantage to them They say the Bees will not suffer a drone in the Hive Nay if you be hired servants you plainly rob your Masters if you are slothful as much as if you stole their money or goods If you buy an hundred sheep of a man and he let you have but fourscore doth he not rob or cheat you And if a man buy a years or a days labour of you and you let him have but half a years labour or half a days labour because of your sloth do you not defraud or rob him of the other half So that the idle are thieves to themselves to the Church and the souls of men to the Commonwealth and those that they are related to even to their wives and children for whom they should provide due maintenance by their labour 6. And you are injurious to the honest poor in that you disable your selves from relieving them when God commandeth you to work with your hands not only for your selves but that you may have to give to them that need Eph. 4. 28. What if all men should do as you do how would the poor be maintained and the Church and Commonwealth served 7. Yea worst of all you are guilty of robbing God himself It is him that you owe your labours to and the improvement of all the talents which he lendeth you And idleness is unsaithfulness to the God of Heaven that setteth you on work Even in working for men you must do it ultimately for God Col. 3. 22 23. Not with eye-service as men-pleasers but in singleness of heart fearing God and whatsoever ye do do it heartily as to the Lord and not unto men knowing that of the Lord you shall receive the reward of the inheritance for ye serve the Lord But he that doth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done If it be an offence to wrong man what is it to wrong God and if you may not be slothful in the work of a man what a crime is it to be slothful in the work of the God of Heaven The greater your Master is the more hainous it is to be lazy in his service Remember the curse on them that do the work of the Lord deceitfully Jer. 48. 10. All work that you have to do is the work of the Lord. 8. And consider That the Idle forfeit the protection and provision of God even their daily bread For must he support and feed you to do nothing His own rule is that if any man will not work neither should he
comfort it will be to your soul in Hell to be extolled and well spoken of on earth Will you cast away your souls to leave a Name of renown behind you And how unsutable will such Honor be to your condition surely if you be there acquainted with it you must needs be more tormented both to remember that you were seeking the fame of the world instead of the eternal glory and to consider what a miserable wretch it is that men are praising and magnifying on earth Ah then you will think with your selves Little do the poor inhabitants of the earth know what I am suffering while they are extolling me Is the applause of mortals sutable to a poor tormented soul Alas that at one and the same time men should be extolling me and Devils tormenting me How little ease do all their acclamations afford this poor distressed soul How honorable are the names of Alexander the Great Caesar Aristotle here on earth but alas what cause have we to fear that they are lamenting their misery while we are speaking of their glory 5. And the sin is much the greater because it is not a mis-chosen means but a mistaken end that your souls have fastened on For it seems your very hearts are set upon your Honours and deeply and desperately set upon them when you dare contrive the continuation of them when you are dead Were it not a matter exceeding dear to you undoubtedly you durst not lay such a design for it 6. And consider whether there be not a Love of the deadly sin of Pride and a final impenitency implyed in this ambition of a surviving name For you â—â—a design that is supposed to be executed after death And as if you desired an eternity of wickedness because your Pride it self can live no where but with your self you would have it leave those tokens behind it by which the world may know that you are Proud and the effects of it you would have perpetuated on earth And had not the world enough of your Pride while you were alive and had not you enough of it Is this your Repentance that you would leave the Monuments of your Pride unto Posterity as if you were afraid there would be no surviving witness against you to condemn you This is a certain transcendency of sin The common wicked ones would fain die the death of the Righteous and wish their last end were like to his But these men would have their Pride to live for ever and when they themselves are in another world they would have the demonstrations of their iniquity survive them 7. And I beseech you consider what a fearful thing it is to die in contrived beloved sin when men have none but a death-bed Repentance we have much cause to fear lest it be but fear that is the life of their Repentance But when they have not this much but are desirous to leave the Monuments of their vice to all Generations from whence then shall we fetch our hopes of their forgiveness And O what a power hath Pride in that soul where the thoughts of Death it self will give no stop to it but still they are desirous that Pride may over-live them One would think that the serious thoughts of a grave much more of our passage into another world should level all such thoughts of a surviving honour even in an unsanctified soul But I much fear lest it be infidelity it self that is the root of all and that men do not soundly believe an everlasting life with â—…d which makes them desire to have somewhat like 〈…〉 Immortality here on earth 8. And consider what a silly immortality you desire The honour can be no greater than the persons are that honour you nor no longer And it is but poor mortals that will magnifie your Names and what can they add to you and it will be but a very little while for it is not long that the world is to continue 9. And consider what a wickedness is here commonly included Proud men desire to be thought better than they are and spoken of accordingly They limit not mens estimation to the truth of their deserts Otherwise if the best and greatest of you all were thought no better or greater than you are alas how far would men be from admiring you what would you be thought but worms and sinners and such as after all your glory cannot forbid a crawling worm to feed upon your face or heart and such as deserve no less than hell and have many a secret sin that the world was unacquainted with But it is not a true but false Esteem that the Proud desire They care not how great or how good or how wise and learned the world and succeeding ages think them And thus they desire to cheat mens understandings and to leave a false History of themselves on earth and to have all men believe and report untruths to magnifie men whose souls it 's much to be doubted are in hell or if they be not must needs abhor such doings And thus every Proud and selfish man would be a false Historian and cheater of the world 10. Yea which is yet the worst of all they would continue sacrilegiously to rob the Lord of his honour even when they are dead It is an undue honour which is stoln from God which they so much seek for For were it but such as is a useful means to his honour he would not be offended with them And when the Saints say Not unto us Lord but unto thy name give the glory these sinners are not content to rob God of his honour as long as they live but they would do it even after death If we had not certainly known the truth of it we should have thought it an incredible thing that ever any man should come to that impiety pride and madness as to desire to be worshipped as a God when he was dead Much more that the most of the world should be so far distracted as to do it And yet so it hath been and so it is in too great a measure And truly the wicked or Proud disposition that is predominant in the hearts of all the unsanctified doth take up no snorter where it hath but hopes of success to actuate it Not a man of them but would be honoured as Gods when they are dead Though I know those of them that feel not this much in themselves will hardly believe it Consider what an hainous injury this is to God and to the souls of men that you should leave your Names as Idols to the world to entice so many thousand men to sin and to be a standing enemy to the honour of God by encroaching on his right and turning the eye of mens observation and admiration from him to you 11. Consider also how that by these desires of earthly honour to your selves and making this the End of your endeavours you corrupt abundance of excellent works materially considered and
Cross despising the shame and is set down at the right hand of the Throne of God Consider him that endured such contradictions of sinners against himself lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds Heb. 12. 2 3 4. Direct 10. But the greatest help to self-denial is To retire from the Creature into God and live in the love of him and employ the soul continually upon him Men will not be frightned from self love It must be another more powerful Love that must draw them from it And that can be none but the Love of God When you have soundly discerned a surer friend than self a wiser a better an abler Governour and Defender and one that much more deserveth all your Love and Care then you will turn away from self and never till then See therefore that you espouse no Interest but God's and then you wil have nothing to call you from him Let love so close you with him and unite you to him that you may know no Happiness but his Love and Glory and see with no other Light than his and know no will but the will of God nor meddle with any work which for matter and end you cannot call the work of God Then you have indeed denyed your selves when you are nothing have nothing and do nothing but as from God and by him and for him Own not any self but in and for God and then you may love and seek it freely or this is to be called a loving and seeking of God and not of self Own not any Knowledge but that which is from the Light of God by his word works Spirit and Ordinances and which leadeth you to God in Holiness and Peace and guideth you in his service and then you need not condemn your selves of self-conceitedness or a selfish understanding Know not any will in your selves but that which is caused by the will of God and directed by it and intended to sulfil it So that you maybe able to say of every desire of your soul I desiâ—e this because that God would have me desire it and I am resolved to follow his will in the seeking of it and the end of my desire is that I may please him and his will may be done and then you may say you have conquered self-will O see then that you be more with God and study his Mind and Will his Excellency Sufficiency and Love and remember that you are a dependent being that are nothing but in and by him and therefore should know no interest but him and his interest nor possess any thing but for him nor know any will or way but his will and way and so let his be yours and yours be his by a holy resignation conformity and subserviency unto his and this is the true rectitude and holiness of man this is a finding our selves by losing our selves and the only saving and exalting of our selves by denying our selves Nothing but the Light of God will master self-conceitedness and nothing but the love of God will overcome self-love and nothing but an union and closure with the will of God will overcome self-will and nothing but an espousing and intending God and his interest will cause a true denial of carnal self-interest and nothing but a seeking of God conversing as with him and living to him will cure the soul of self-seeking and an ungodly and unprofitable living to our selves One other Direction I should add which is to be always jealous and suspicious of self but this will fall in the Conclusion The Conclusion I Have now finished what I had to say to you on this great and needful subject And I have stayed the longer on it that I might occasion your own thoughts to be the longer on it For it is not a few hasty running thoughts that will make any great impression on the soul And now Christian friends whoever you are that hear or read these words I earnestly intreat you in the name of God that you will set your hearts to the deep consideration of the nature and odiousness of this sin of selfishness and of the nature and necessity of self-denial You will never effectually hate and resist the sin which you think lightly of and is not in any great discredit with you nor will you fly from it with fear and care and vigilancy till you apprehend the dangerousness of it I have not only told you but proved it to you that this is one of the most odious and dangerous sins in the world even the sum of all iniquity that containeth a thousand sins in the bowels of it This is it that generateth all other vices and fills the world with swarms of mischief It is this selfishness that corrupteth all estates and distracteth all Societies and disturbeth all affairs Never look further for the cause of our calamities It is self that causeth the miscarriages and negligence of the Princes Governours and â—…istrates of the world while they look all at their â—…nterest and little at the things of Jesus Christ or at least prefer themselves before him It is self that causeth the disobedience of subjects while they judge themselves capable of censuring their Rulers for matters that are beyond their reach and grudge at all necessary burdens for the common good because they are a little pinched by them It is self that hath kindled the miserable Wars that are laying waste so many Countrys and that makes such woful havock in the World It is self that hath so lamentably abused Religion and introduced so many fantastical self-conceits under the name of high Scholastical subtilties and that hath let in so many errors in Doctrine and Worship and defiled Gods Ordinances and corrupted and almost extinguished the Discipline of Christ in the Church It is self that hath caused the Leaders of the Assemblies that should be exemplary in Unity and Holiness and Industry to be some of them idle and negligent and some of them carnal and vicious and so many of them in discord and fierce opposition of one another So that every man that is grown up to a high degree of wisdom in his own eyes and such Degrees are soon attained is presently venting his own conceits and perhaps publishing them to the world and seeking out an Adversary to shew his Manhood upon and reviling all that are not of his Opinion as if there were no difficulty in the matter but he is Learned and Wise and they are are all unlearned and ignorant he is Orthodox and they are Hereticks or what his Pride and self-conceitedness is pleased to call them It is this selfishness that makes even Godly Ministers the Dividers of the Church the reproach of their Holy Calling the occasion of the increase of triumph of the Adversaries and the causes of no small part of all our unreformedness distractions and calamity and the refusers and resisters of the Remedies that are tendred for Healing and Reformation I dare boldly say if this
one sin were but rooted out of the hears of the Ministers themselves that are the Preachers of self-denial it would make so sudden and wonderful a change in the Church as would be the glory of our Profession the Joy of the godly and the admiration of all O happy and honourable Magistrates at Court and Country if self were but throughly conquered and denyed O happy and Reverend Ministry the pillars of Religion the honour of the Church if it were not for the shameful prevalency of self O happy Churches happy Cities Corporations Societies and Countrys were it not for self But alas this is it that saddeth our hearts and makes us look for more and more sad tidings concerning the affairs of the Church from all parts of the world or frustrates our hopes when we look for better For we know on the one side that without self-denial there will never be true Reformation or Unity neither sin nor division will ever be overcome and on the other side we see that selfishness is so natural and common and obstinate that so many men as are born into the world so many enemies are there to Holiness and Peace till grace â—â— all change them and that all endeavours perswasions convictions do little prevail against this deadly rooted sin so that men will preach against it and yet most shamefully live in it and after all rebukes chastisements and heavy judgements of God the Church is still bleeding and Princes Pastors and People are self-conceited self-willed and self-seekers still Alas for the cause and Church of Christ Must we give it up to the lusts of self Must we sit down and look on its miserable torn condition with lamentation and despair and shall we deliver down this despair to our Posterity Were not our hope only in the Omnipotent God it must be so When we look at men at Magistrates or Ministers we see no hope What higher professions can be made by those in succeeding Ages than have now been made And yet what negligence of Magistrates and what contentiousness of Ministers destroy all hopes So that we look at the Restauration of the Church as at the Resurrection that must be done by Omnipotency God must raise up another Generation of more self-denying prudent zealous Magistrates and of more self-studying peaceable Humble Zealous Industristous Ministers before the Healing work be done The selfish spirit that prevaileth now in the most is neither fit to be the Matter or Instrument of the Reformed Peaceable state which we expect While the enemies are destroying us by secret fraud and open force we stand at a distance and unite not against them yea we are calling each other Heretick and Deceivers and teaching them how to revile us and putting such words into their mouth against us as may help our people to despise us and reject us and warrant them from our own mouths or pens to rail at us and forsake us One part of us being Hereticks or Deceivers by the testimony of the other part and the other part by the testimony of too many of them Dear Brethren if selfishness shall not now be left when we are in the sight of the havock it hath made and stand in the field among those that it hath slain and see the Church of God so horribly abused by it when then shall it be forsaken I here intreat every man that loveth his present or everlasting Peace and the Peace of the Church or Commonwealth that he will resolve upon a deadly enmity with this selfishness in himself and others And that you will suspect it and watch against it in every work you have to do Are you upon any imployment spiritual or secular Presently enquire when you set upon it Is there no self-interest and selfish disposition lurking here How far is my own worldly fleshly ends or prosperity concerned in it And if you discover that self is any way concerned in it I beseech you suspect it and follow self with an exceeding watchful eye and when you have done your best it is ten to one but it will over-reach you O look to it that you be not ensnared before you are aware Take heed of it especially you that are great and honourable and have so much self-interest to tempt you in the world How hardly will you escape When all other enemies are conquered you have yet self the greatest enemy to overcome Take heed of it you that have any rising thriving project little know you on what a precipice you stand Take heed of it you that are in deep and pinching wants lest self make them seem more grievous than they are and provoke you to venture upon sin for your relief Take heed all you that have raging appetites or passions or lustful inclinations and remember your enemy is now discovered and you have him to deal with before your face and therefore see that you be resolute and vigilant Take heed all you that have Learning Parts or fame and honour or any thing that self hath to glory in and to abuse lest the noblest gifts should by this deadly principle be turned into a plague to the Church and to your souls Suspect self in the choice of your parties and opinions Suspect it in your publick labours yea and in your private duties and greatest diligence in Religious Works lest when your eyes are open'd at last it should appear that you preached or prayed or professed or wrote or lived for self and not for God I do but transcribe the counsel to you that God is daily giving in to my own soul as I feel exceeding great use of it to my self so I am sure there is to others and wo to me and you if we take it not and be not found among the self-denying Doubtless God will put you to the tryal and find you frequent use for this grace Let me take the boldness to tell you from my own though alas too small experience that as it is meer selfishness that is the perplexer and disquieter of the mind without which nothing that befalls us could discompose it so it is God only that quiets it and gives it rest And I bless the Lord I can truly say that I have found that content in loving and closing with the will of God and endeavouring to know no interest but his to disquiet or quiet me which I never could find in any other way When God is enough for us and his will is in our eyes the will of a Father infinitely good it may satisfie the soul in the darkest condition when we understand not the particular meaning of his providence nor what he is doing with us yet still we may be sure that he is doing us good And therefore a child may not only submit to the will of God because it cannot be resisted as enemies must be forced to do but he may Rest in that will as the Center of his desires and the very felicity and Heaven of