Unworthiness by reason of this sin But self is not easily so far abased as to be heavy-laden and sick of sin nor is it easily drawn to value Grace or feel how much you are unworthy of it or need it nor easily driven to renounce all sufficiency and conceits of a Righteousness of your own and wholly to go out of your selves to Christ for life Self cannot spare sin for it is its darling and play-fellow its food its recreation and its life You must daily pray to be saved from temptation and delivered from Evil even the Evil of sin as well as of punishment But self doth Love the sin and therefore cannot long to be delivered from it and therefore Loveth the temptation that leadeth to it indeed is a continual tempter to it self Would the Covetous worldling be delivered from his worldliness Would the Ambitious Proud person be delivered from his Pride or Honours or the sensual person from his sensual delights No they do not Love the Preacher or people that are against them in these ways nor the holy self-denial that is contrary to them nor the Scripture that condemneth them nor indeed the Lord himself that forbids them and is the author of all these Laws and holy ways which they abhor So that you see how self is an enemy to every Petition in the Lords Prayer 3. And it is a violation of all the ten Commandments The first and second it is most directly against and is the very thing forbidden in them and all the rest it is against consequentially and is the virtual breach of them as disposing and drawing the soul thereunto The two Tables have two Great Commands which are the sum of the whole Law and all the other Commandments are consequents or particulars from these The sum of the first Table is Thou shalt Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart or above all This is the first Commandment Thou shalt have none other Gods before me which is put first as being the Fundamental Law commanding subjection it self to the soveraign Power of God which necessarily goes before all actual obedience to particular precepts But self is directly against this and sets up man as a God to himself And all the unsanctified Love themselves better than God and therefore cannot Love him above all And therefore neither second third or fourth command can be sincerely kept by such For when self is set up and God denied in stead of the right worshipping of God they are worshipping themselves or suiting God worship to the conceit and will of self Instead of the Reverent use of his name they are setting up their own names and will venture on the grossest abuse of Gods name rather than self shall suffer or be crossed And instead of hallowing the Lords day they devote both that and every day to themselves The sum of the second Table is Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thy self and this is the meaning of the tenth Commandment which forbiddeth us to covet any thing from him to our selves that is that we set not up self and its interest against our neighbour and his good and be not like a bruised or inflamed part of the body that draweth the blood or humors to it self or like a Wen or other Tumor that is sucking from the body for its own nutrition so that it is but plainly this Be not selfish or drawing or desiring any thing to thy self which is not thy due but belongeth to another but let Love run by even proportions between thy neighbour and thy self in order to God and the publick good And this Commandment brings up the rear that it may summarily comprehend and gather up all other particulars that be not instanced in in the foregoing Commandments Now selfishness being the very sin that is here forbidden I need to say no more to tell you that self is the breaker of this Law Next to this summary concluding Precept the greatest in the second Table if not one of the first is the fifth Commandment which requireth the preservation of Relations and Societies and the duties of those Relations especially of inferiors to superiors for the Honour of God and the Common good And this is set before the rest because the publick good is preferred to the personal good of any and Magistrates and Superiors being Gods Officers and for the Publick good are to be prefered before the subjects But what an enemy selfishness is to this Commandment I intend anon to shew you distinctly and therefore now pass it by And for the following Commandments who ever murdered another but out of some inordinate respect to himself either to remove that other 〈…〉 of his selfish Ends or to be revenged on â—…riving self of profit or honour or somâ—… it would have had or in some way or other â—…in your Own Ends by anothers blood And what is it but the satisfaction of your Own â—â—â—thy lusts that causeth Adultery and all uncleanness And what is it but the furnishing and providing for self that provoketh any man to Rob another And what is it but some selfish End that causeth any man to pervert Justice or slander or bear false witness against his neighbour so that nothing is more plain than that selfishness is all sin and villany against God and man comprized in one word And therefore you need not ask me which Commandment it is that doth forbid it For it is forbidden in every one of the ten Commandments The first condemneth self as it is the Idol set up and Loved trusted and served before God the second condemneth it as the Enemy of his worship and the third condemneth it as the Prophaner of his Name and the fourth as the Prophaner of his Hallowed time The second Table in the tenth Commandment condemneth self as it is the Tumor and gulf that is contrary to the Love of our neighbour and would draw all to it self The fifth Commandment condemneth it as the Enemy of Authority and Society the sixth as the Enemy to our Neighbours life the seventh eighth and ninth condemn it as the enemy to our neighbours chastity Estates and Cause or Name So that if you see any mischief done in Persons Families Towns Countrys Courts Armies or any where in the world you need not send out Hue and Cry to find out and apprehend the actor It is selfishness that is the Author of all If the poor be oppressed by the rich and their lives made almost like the life of a labouring Ox or Horse till the Cry of the oppressed reach to heaven who is it that doth all this but self The Landlords and rich men must Rule and be served by them I warrant you they would not do thus by themselves If the poor be discontented and murmur at their condition and steal from others who is it that is the cause of this but self If another were in poverty they would not murmur nor steal for him It is selfishness
that use it not for the fashion of this world passeth away 1 Cor. 7. 29 30 31. And when the soul of the worldly fool is required of him then whose shall all their Dignities and Honours and Riches be In the mean time God judgeth not by outward appearance as man judgeth nor honoureth any for being honoured of men Solus honor merito qui datur ille datur These Truths well known to you I thought meet here to set before your eyes not knowing whether I shall any more converse with you in the flesh and also to desire you seriously to read over these popular Sermons perswaded to the Press by the importunity of some faithful Brethren that love a mean Discourse on so necessary a subject Watch and pray that you enter not into temptation I rest Your Friend Richard Baxter Sept 12. 1659. THE PRFFACE Readers I Here present to your serious consideration a Subject of such Necessity and Consequence that the Peace and safety of Churches Nations Families and souls do lie upon it The Eternal God was the Beginning and the End the Interest the attractive the confidence the desire the delight the All of man in his upright uncorrupted State Though the Creator planted in mans Nature the principle of Natural Self-love as the spring of his endeavours for Self-preservation and a notable part of the engine by which he governeth the world yet were the parts subservient to the Whole and the whole to God And Self-love did subserve the Love of the Universe and of God and man desired his own Preservation for these higher Ends. When sia stept in it broke this order and taking advantage from the natural innocent principle of Self-love it turned man from the Love of God and much abated his Love to his neighbour and the publick good and turned him to Himself by an inordinate self-love which terminateth in himself and principally in his Carnal-self instead of God and the Common good so that Self is become All to Corrupted nature as God was All to Nature in its integrity Selfishness is the souls Idolatry and Adultery the sum of its Original and increased Pravity the Beginning and End the life and strength of actual sin even as the Love of God is the Rectitude and Fidelity of the soul and the sum of all our special Grace and the Heart of the new Creature and the life and strength of actual holiness Selfishness in one word expresseth all our Aversion Positively as the want of the Love of God expresseth it Privatively and all our sin is summarily in these two Even as all our Holiness is summarily in the Love of God and in self-denial It is the work of the Holy Ghost by sanctifying grace to bring off the soul again from Self to God Self-denial therefore is half the essence of Sanctification No man hath any more Holiness than he hath Self-denial And therefore the Law which the Sanctifying Spirit writeth on the heart doth set up God in the first Table and our neighbour in the second against the usurpation and encroachment of this Self It saith nothing of Love or Duty to our selves as such expresly In seeking the Honour and Pleasing of God and the Good of our neighbour we shall most certainly find our own Felicity which nature teacheth us to desire So that all the Law is Fulfilled in Love which includeth Self-denial as Light includeth the expulsion of darkness oâ— rather as Loyalty includeth a Cessation of Rebellion and a rejection of the Leaders of it and as conjugal fidelity includeth the rejection of Harlots The very meaning of the first Commandment is Thou shalt Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart c. which is the sum of the first Table and the Commandment that animateth all the rest The very meaning of the last Commandment is Thou shalt Love thy neighbour as thy self which is the summary of the second Table and in General forbiddeth all particular injuries to others not enumerated in the fore-going precepts and secondarily animateth the four antecedent precepts The fifth Commandment looking to both Tables and conjoyning them commandeth us to Honour our Superiours in Authority both as they are the Officers of God and so paticipatively Divine and as they are the Heads of humane Societies and our subjection necessary to Common good so that self-denial is principally required in the first Commandment that is The denying of self as opposite to God and his Interest And self-denial is required in the Last Commandment that is The denying of self as it is an enemy to our neighbours Right and welfare and would draw from him unto our selves Self-love and self-seeking as opposite to our neighbours good is the thing forbidden in that Commandment and Charity or Loving our neighbour as our selves and desiring his Welfare as our own is the thing commanded Self-denial is required in the fifth Commandment in a double respect according to the double respect of the Commandment 1. In respect to God whose Governing Authority is exercised by Governours their Power being a beam of his Majesty the fifth Commandment requireth us to deny our selves by due subjection and by honouring our Superiours that is to deny our own aspiring desires and our refractory minds and disobedient self-willedness and to take heed that we suffer not within us any proud or rebellious dispositions or thoughts that would lift us up above our Rulers or exempt us from subjection to them 2. In respect to humane Societies for whose Good Authority and Government is appointed the fifth Commandment obligeth us to deny our Private interest and in all competitions to prefer the publick good and maketh a promise of temporal peace and welfare in a special manner to those that in obedience to this Law do prefer the Honour of Government and the Publick Peace and welfare before their Own Thus Charity as opposed to selfishness and including self-denial is the very sum and fulfilling of the Law And selfishness is the radical comprehensive sin containing uncharitableness which breaks it all And as the Law so also the Redeemer in his Example and his Doctrine doth teach us and that more plainly and urgently this lesson of self-denial The life of Christ is the pattern which the Church must labour to imitate And Love and self-denial were the summary of his life Though yet he had no sinful self to deny but only natural self He denyed himself in avoiding sin but we must deny our selves in returning from it He loved not his Life in comparison of his love to his Father and to his Church He appeared without desirable form or comeliness He was despised and rejected of men a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief he bore our griefs and carryed our sorrows and was esteemed stricken smitten of God and afflicted he was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was laid upon him the Lord laid upon him the iniquity of
upon the affairs of Nations and the wars of Princes and their confederacies and see who it is that rules in all how little will you see save here and there but carnal self It is self that makes the cause and manageth it It is self that maketh Wars and Peace Come down into our Courts of Justice and whose voice is loudest at the bar but selfs and who is it commonly else that brings in the Verdict at least who is it else that made and followeth on the quarrel How many causes hath self at an Assize for one that God hath Come lower into the Country and who is it that plows and sows who is it that keeeps House or Shop but self I mean what else but carnal self is the Principle what else but carnal self is the End what else but the will of self is the Rule and what else but selfish commodity or pleasure or honour are the matter or some provision that is made for these and consequently what else but self-respect is the form For the End informeth the means as means and therefore all that is done for self is self-service and self-seeking In a word as God is all in all to the sanctified so self is as all in all to the ungodly And alas how great a number are all these 3. Consider that it is a sin that is nearer us objectively than any other sin And the nearer the more dangerous Alas that a man should turn his own substance into poison feed upon it to his own destruction If you have drunk poyson you may cast it up again or nature may do much to work it out but if your own blood and humours and spirits be turned into venom that should nourish and preserve your life what then shall expell this venom and deliver you 4. Moreover it is the most obstinate disease in the world No duty harder except the Love of God than self-denial O how many wounds will self carry away and yet keep life and heal them all How commonly do we convince some carnal Gentlemen that One thing is needful and that its a better part than Earth and honour and sensuality that must be chosen or else they are undone and that the more they have the more they must forsake and the more self-denial is required to their salvation and that all their lands and wealth and honours and all their wit and parts and interest must be at the service of their Maker and Redeemer and that when they have all in the world that they can get that all must become Nothing and God must become all their treasure must become the dross and dung and Christ must become their treasure or they are lost I say how oft do we convince men of all estates of these important evident truths And yet this self is still alive and keeps the garrison of the heart and all that we can have from most of them is as the rich man Luk. 18. 23 24. to be very sorrowful that they cannot have heaven at easier rates and that Christ will not be a servant unto Self or they cannot have two Masters They go away sorrowful but away they go because they are rich which makes Christ say upon this observation How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the Kingdom of God But when the Disciples were troubled at his observation he lets them know that it is Self and not Riches that is indeed the deadly enemy It is the selfish that trust in Riches and love and use them for themselves and deny not themselves and devote not all to God that will be kept out of Heaven by them Or in Christs own words Luk. 12. It is he that layeth up treasure for Himself and is not rich towards God Conquer self and Conquer all 5. Moreover self is the most constant malady the sin that doth most constantly attend us Many actual sins may be laid by and we may for the time be free from them But selfishness is at the heart and lives with us continually It parteth not from us sleeping or waking It goes to the worship of God with us it will not stay behind in the holiest ordinance It will not forbear intermixing it self in the purest duties but will defile them all So that above all sins in the world it s this that must have the strictest constantest watch or else we shall never have any peace for it 6. Yea this self doth lamentably survive even in the sanctified soul among the special graces of the Spirit and lamentably distempereth the hearts and lives of too many of the godly themselves Not that any godly man is selfish in a predominant sense or that self is higher or more powerful in his heart than God for that 's a contradiction such a man cannot be a godly man without Conversion But yet the very remnants of conquered Self what a smoak do they make in our Assemblies and what noisom scent in the lives of many godly men what a stir have we sometimes with those that we hope are godly before we can get them to an impartial judgment to lament their own fowl words or other miscarriages and to humble themselves or freely to forgive another that hath wronged them especially to confess disgraceful sins in any self-denying manner How close stick they to their own conceits how lamentably do they improve them to the contempt of Ministers trouble and division of the Church How wise are they in their own eyes and how hardly yield they to any advice that crosseth Self How hardly are they brought to any dear and costly duty How much do they indulge their appetites and passions and how cheap a Religion do many think to come to heaven with we can scarce please some of them they are so selfish either because we cross them in their opinions or in their wayes or because we allow them not so much special countenance and respect as self would have or deny them somewhat which self desires If they have any use for us if we leave not more publick or greater work which god hath set us on and allow them not that part in our time or labours or other helps which God and Conscience will not allow them they are offended take it ill that self is not preferred before God and the publick service Their selves are so dear to themselves that they think we should neglect all to serve them Let the most useful Minister live in a place that hath the plague or other contagious mortal sickness and most that are visited will take it ill if the Minister come not to them though they know that his life is hazarded by it and that his loss to the whole Church is more to be regarded than the content or benefit of particular persons and it is not the pleasing of them nor their benefit by him then that will countervail the Churches loss of him What is this but too much preferring self I
to God by sanctification doth with himself devote all that he hath and virtually all that ever he shall have And if he understand himself he will do it actually And hence it is that the Seed of Believers yea of one Believer are said to be Holy Not only or chiefly because they are yours born of your bodies nor meerly from a promise of God that hath no presupposed reason from the subject But because they are the children of one that hath devoted himself and all that he hath to God and if he understand himself doth actually offer devote and dedicate his child to God in the solemn Baptism Ordinance and Covenant And God will sure accept all that upon his own invitation is consecrated and offered to him 5. See that you submit them heartily to the dispose of God So that whatever he do with them for sickness or health for poverty or riches for honour or dishonour for life or death you can patiently bear it and say as Eli It is the Lord let him do as seemeth him good 1 Sam. 3. 18. Murmur not if God afflict and take them away even at once as he did the sons of Job or if he should afflict you in them as he did David in Amnon and Absalom Remember that as the Resignation of Life it self is the point by which Christ under the Gospel doth try mens faith so it was the resignation of an only son which was next to life by which he would try Abraham the Father of the faithful before the Incarnation of Christ If therefore you will be children of Abraham you must walk in the steps of faithful Abraham and remember that your children are not your own and be content that God do with his own as he pleases 6. Make God their portion as much as in you lieth and seek more for a spiritual than temporal felicity for them and acquaint them with their Creator in the days of their youth as believing that those of them that are the Holiest are the Happiest 7. Devote your children to such callings and imployments in which they are likeliest to be most serviceable to God Consider their dispositions and parts and then never ask what kind of life is the most honourable or gainful for them but in what way and course of life they may most serve God and be most useful to his Church And to that let them be devoted 8. Favour them not in sin and suffer them not to dishonour God that they are devoted to Remember Eli's example Gentle reproofs instead of necessary severe correction is called by God A despising him and preferring his sons before him 1 Sam. 2. 29 30. even because his sons made themselves vile and he restrained them not 1 Sam. 3. 13. Take heed as you love your selves or them of taking their parts against God or against correction and excusing the sins by which they do dishonour him 9. Give them not for their carnal advancement in the world that part of your estate which is due to God You owe it all to him and in the disposing of it he hath limited you to begin at home provide so for your children that they may have their daily bread and so much more as they are in likelyhood the fittest stewards to improve for God But if you see the publick state of the Church or Commonweal to stand in need of your assistance and you shall then give almost all to your children to make them rich and great in the world and put off the works of greater moment with some poor inconsiderable alms or Legacy this is to prefer self before the Lord even as it is imagined to survive in your progeny even when natural self can no longer enjoy it It 's a wonder how so many men seeming holy and devoted to God can quiet their consciences in such a palpable sin as this If one of them have two hundred or three hundred pound a year it 's a wonder if he leave an hundred a year of it to any pious or charitable use but if he leave forty or fifty pound to the poor or build some small Almes-house he thinks he hath done well all the rest must go to leave his son in equal dignity and riches in the world as himself But of this I spoke before 10. Lastly be sure that you be very suspicious of self when the case of your children or any dear Relation is before you For self is near you and will stick close and will not easily be thrust out of your Counsels nor â—â—aken off And therefore in your own case and your Childrens case or the case of your near friends you will have much ado to overcome the cunning and strong temptations to Partiality if you were the holiest Saint on earth though overcome them you will in the main if you have true grace But if you are dead professors it 's twenty to one but they will overcome you and you will shew the world that you are selfish hypocrites and more for your Children and Friends than God Let me here give a few instances in this warning 1. How oft have we seen it here and elsewhere that people that make some shew of Religion and are forward to have vice punished and discipline exercised yet when it falls on any children or near relations of their own they are as much against it as they are for it on others yea rise up with passion and bitter reproaches of Officers Ministers or others that are the causes of it As one Hypocrite is tried when he denieth to suffer for Christ himself so others shew themselves Hypocrites sooner by preferring their children yea their sinful children yea the present ease or profit or credit of their children before their duty and the honour of God And they will rather have God provoked sin unpunished and their childrens own salvation hazarded than they will have them justly and regularly chastised yea some of them rise up as malignant enemies against them that do it 2. Again When God hath convinced you of duty if a carnal friend a husband or a parent do but contradict it and perswade you from a known duty or a holy life how commonly do men obey because forsooth they are their friends that do perswade them 3. Moreover When the case falls out that a man cannot follow God and his duty and be true to his soul but he is like to lose his friends how commonly is God denied that friends may not be denied and conscience wounded and duty bawk'd that the favour of friends may not be lost O saith one they are the friends that I live by my livelihood is in their hands I am undone if they cast me off Well! take them and make thy best of them and keep them as long as thou canst if thou canst live better without God than them or canst spare Gods favour better than theirs and they are better friends to thee than Christ is and would be take
and have you sought first to get in a fitter man what can they for shame say to it If they say No they proclaim themselves notorious self-seekers For it 's very seldom that an humble man is allowed to judge himself the fittest 4. And he that seeketh Dignities for God and not for himself will use them for God and not for himself For the Intention will command the use He will deny himself in his superiority as well as if he were in the lowest place and will contrive how he may most serve and honour God and this will be easily seen in his endeavours whether it be God or self that he serves and liveth to And now I advise all that love their souls to take heed of this aspiring act of selfishness If you will needs seek your selves and be your own Exalters you must trust to your selves and be your own defenders And then you will find that the lowest condition in the hand of God is more safe and comfortable than the highest in your own hand If God should lift you up to the top of the highest mountains you may expect either a calm or his protection in the storm and to be as safe as those below but if you lift up your selves and Satan carry you to the pinacle of the Temple take heed lest you thence cast down your selves by his temptations that did lift you up Dignities and Honours are not indeed the things that they seem to be to carnal eyes that see not the inside but judge by the outward glittering shew There is most holy Duty and work to be done where is the greatest dignity And certainly the life of greatest work labour is not the life of greatest ease or carnal pleasure especially when it is the work of God that you must do a work which all the world is against and which Satan and all his power will resist and which must meet with enmity and abundance of enmity when ever you set about it Though you are Commanders yet you are Souldiers and you that are Leaders have the hottest standing and must expect the sharpest conflicts Do you think of your Dignities and Offices as places of meer superiority and honour and accommodation to your carnal selves then are you Carnal men and enter upon you know not what and make your selves Traitors and Enemies to God whom he is engaged to bring down and be avenged on at last you debase the sacred coin which bears the stamp and name of God Magistracy is holy and the Image of God and you basely turn it into the Image of the flesh and blot out Gods name from it and stamp upon it the name of self and traiterously make it your own which was eminently his Believe it whoever you are if you seek for places of Rule and Dignity with carnal selfish expectations you must either use them accordingly when you have them which is the readiest way to damnation in the world or else you must find your expectations crost and mifs of all your carnal Ends and find that the greatest toil and burden which you expected should have been your chief content God hath annexed the Honour and outward greatness partly to encourage you to so hard a work lest the burden should be too heavy and partly to enable you to perform it and give you some advantages against opposition But though the cloathing of Authority and Rule be splendid the substance thus covered is extraordinary Labour and duty and suffering It is Honourable but it 's an honourable burden and an honourable painful difficult work So that if men understood what Office and Authority is in Church or Common-wealth and look'd after the substance as well as the ornaments the work as well as the Honour and Greatness it would be an eminent piece of self-denial for a man to submit to the call of God to be a Prince a Judge a Justice or but a Constable and men would as hardly be drawn to take the Office as they are now to do the work of the Office in faithfulness and with courage and zeal for God and that is almost as hard as an offendor is drawn to the stocks Offices and high places are not intended to accommodate the flesh nor are they things to be ambitiously desired and sought for by such as understand the Ends and use of them but they are such laborious hazardous ways of serving God which a wise man knows must cost him more than the honour will repay and which a Good man will not run away from when God calleth him thereto but will so far Deny himself as to submit to them but not thrust himself into them as the Proud and selfish do It is a work of Patience to a Godly man to be thus exalted but it is a work of Pride and self-seeking in others Deny your selves so far as to submit to Government dignity bear it patiently if it be cast upon you as being an excellent opportunity of serving God But wiâ—â— not for it because of the Honour and advantages to the flesh much less contend for it or set your hearts on it He that seeketh an Office or Honour for himself must have another heart before he will use it for God It 's better with Saul to hide our selves from honour than with Absalom to contrive and seek it but best of all with David to stay till God call us and then obey CHAP. XLII The Love and good Word of others denied 2. ANother part of selfish Interest to be Denied is the Love and good Will and Word of others This is a thing that may and must be desired to good ends but not for carnal self When Paul look'd at Gods honour and the good of souls he became all things to all men that he might by all means save some and this he did not for self but for the Gospels sake and yet for himself in subordination to God that he might be partaker of it with them He would give no offence to Jew or Gentile or the Church of God but pleased all men in all things that tended to their good not seeking his own profit but the profit of many that they may be saved 1 Cor. 10. 32 33. And he hath left it as the duty of the strongest Christians not to please themselves but every one to please his neighbour for his good to edification But when Paul look'd at himself and his esteem among men then he saith With me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you or of mans judgment 1 Cor. 4. 3. And Gal. 1. 10. Do I seek to please men For if I yet pleased men I should not be the Servant of Christ Good natures are loth to provoke others to displeasure and Grace moveth us to Please men for the saving of their souls But it 's Pride and Self-seeking to desire to set up our selves in mens esteem and to endear our selves for our selves into their
or within them as to see that which may take them down from being proud of any comeliness of the flesh One would think this should be so easie a part of self-denial as any graceless one might reach by a little use of the Reason that is left them CHAP. XLV Strength and Valour to be denied 5. ANother piece of Vain-glory to be Denied is in the Reputation of strength and valour The witless part of men especially in their procacious humours do use to be carried away with this as witless women with the former Hence commonly are their matches of Running and Wrestling and many exercises of activity and strength yea and hence commonly are their duels and murders It seems such a dishonourable thing to them to be thought a Coward or unable to defend themselves and to be crow'd over by their enemy that they will venture body and soul upon it rather than they will put up such indignities or lie under the dishonour of being Cowards Yea and would one think it some Jesuits are such Carnal Doctors that they teâ—ch men that if they be challenged and their honour lie upon it they may meet the challenger there in a defensive posture and fight with him to defend their honour yea and in many other cases they may kill another for their Honour seeing their honour is more to them than their lives O miserable Teachers and miserable souls that do obey them Christ hath taught you another lesson even to despise the shame Heb. 12. 2 3. â—nd to humble your selves intimateth that such cannot be believers which receive honour of one another and seek not the honour that cometh from God only Joh. 5. 44. It 's more Honor to obey God in suffering than be so valiant as to murder another man The day is near when he will appear the Honourable man that was likest to Jesus Christ that when he was reviled reviled not again when he suffered he threatned not but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously 1 Pet. 2. 23. Blind sinners do you think it more honourable to do hurt than to suffer hurt yea to be like the Devil who is a murderer than to Christ that was a sufferer and came not to destroy mens lives but to save them and lay down his own Can any thing be more Honourable than to be the children of the heavenly Father and if you be such you must Love your enemies bless them that curse you do good to them that hate you and pray for them that despightfully use you and persecute you Mat. 5. 44. What a Case are those mens understandings in that think it their Honour to revenge themselves when God hath so forbidden it Rom. 12. 19. CHAP. XLVI Wisdom and Learning to be denied 6. ANother piece of Vain-glory to be denied is in the Reputation of Wisdom and Learning The things themselves are very excellent and to be desired and much sought after but not for our own Honour but the Service and Honour of the Lord. And the greater is the worth of the thing the greater is the temptation to vain-glory in them that have it and the harder it is to deny themselves herein This part of self-denial consisteth not in a contempt of Learning or Wisdom nor a neglect of it for this were a sin but in a neglect of self that would make an advantage of it for its own carnal exaltation and in a contempt of the Honour and vain-glory which may redound by it to our selves further than such honour is serviceable to God O how sinful and miserable a liâ—e do abundance of Learned men live in the world Their whole life is but one continued vice and that a sin of a most hainous nature even the exercise of Pride and Self-seeking when yet they take themselves for Saints because they are not such as are accounted scandalous sinners in the world They sacrifice their precious time and studies to their Pride Phansies and not to God Too many hours and years are spent to gain the Reputation of being Learned men Too many disputations are managed yea odious sacriledge too many Sermons are preached and too many learned Books are written to gain the Reputation of being Learned men Ah miserable low unworthy studies Prophane Sermons ungodly labours and poor reward O how it netleth some Proud spirits if they hear that they are taken to be no Scholars And how many take their University Degrees to be meerly the wings of this part of their vain-glory Learning and Degrees and the Reputation of it are all good if they be valued and used but for God But they are so much the worse when they are sacrificed to self and and made the food and fuel of Pride Learn therefore this part of self-denial CHAP. XLVII Reputation of Gifts and spiritual Abilities c. 7. ANother piece of vain-glory to be denied is The Reputation of our Gifts and spiritual Abilities I mean such as Praying and Preaching and Disputing and good Conference to have readiness for words and liveliness of expression and exactness of method to be esteemed in all these a very able man by others is an high part of self-interest to be denied The duties themselves must be denied by none for they are the service of God commanded us by his word But it is the Honour that self presumeth to hunt after in these holy things And it is a double sin here to seek our selves when we are specially commanded to seek God! and where the work is instituted for that end and when we pretend to seek God and to deny our selves The greater are our abilities to do God service the more resolutely and thankfully we should improve them in his service But we must remember that they are given us to save others by our improvement and not to destroy our selves by our Pride Get as great abilities as you can and when you have them thank God for them and use them for him to the uttermost of your Power but take heed lest Pride should sacrifice them to your selves and pervert them from your Masters service The persons that have most need of this advice are especially these following 1. Young unexperienced Professors that are but lately turned to a Profession of a Godly life that have so much illumination as sheweth them much that before they knew not and raiseth them above the vulgar measure but yet hath made them but smatterers and half-knowing men These are they that the Apostle requireth should not be made Bishops or Pastors of the Church because of their pronenefs to this very sin that now we are speaking of 1 Tim. 3. 6. Not a Novice lest being lifted up with Pride he fall into the condemnation of the Devil the spirit of God here intimateth to us that Novices are the likest to be lifted up with Pride and that this Pride is the way to the Condemnation of the Devil 2. And men of great abilities natural or acquired that have
sentence of your judge will dispel all the unjust reproaches that were on you and wash off all the blots that were falsly laid on your good name and he will bring forth your righteousness as the light and your judgment as the noon-day for there is nothing hid that shall not be then revealed 8. In the mean time God will take care of your name He will make the very tongues that slander you to honour you in the blindness of their reproaches crossing themselves As the Papists by the poor Waldenses saying they were the more dangerous hereticks because they held all the Articles of faith and lived godly and honestly and were reputed holy but only that they were against the Church of Rome As you trust God with your health and wealth so must you do with your Reputation even in point of Honesty and be satisfied that he can clear you when he pleases 9. And it is not Gods ordinary way to leave the Reputation of his servants wholly uncleared even in this world If one condemn them another shall Justifie them and commonly the wisest and best men Justifie them and the most foolish and ungodly are they that condemn them And cannot you bear the words of fools and children The proudest man can pass by a contempt or slander from a drunken man an ideot or a mad man as being no dishonour to him and cannot you bear the censures of the distracted world Or if they are better men that slander you it 's two to one but it is the more foolish or passionate sort of them and that the judgment of the more wise and sober is against them and vindicateth your Reputation Or if at the present they do not it 's ten to one but Providence shall work to the clearing of your Reputation either in your life-time or when you are dead Most of the Servants of God that were most hated and slandered while they lived on earth are cleared and honoured now they are dead God is not dis-regardful of his Servants names 10. But however it go you are secured of the main that which you expected or covenanted for with God you shall be sure of If you have the Thing you may easily bear the want of the name Hath the Spirit of God renewed and sanctified you are you made the living members of Christ and the Sons of God and the heirs of Heaven I hope you may well spare then the applause of men and easily bear it if you be reputed to be destitute of what you have If you are in health it will not much trouble you if it be reported that you are sick And if you are alive you can bear it if the report go that you are dead For as long as you have the thing you can spare the name And if you have Christ and Grace and Pardon and Justification and Title to eternal life cannot you endure to have men think that you are without them How basely do you undervalue thâ—se inestimable things when the thoughts of a mans mind or the words of a mans mouth can blast the comforts of them all As if you said to the world It is not Christ and Grace and Pardon and Salvation that will serve me without the applause of men How basely think you of God and how highly of men if this be your mind It is more excusable for a Haman to say of all his honour and wealth that they satisfie him not or do him no good as long as he wants but Mordecai's obeysance than for a Christian to say of God of Christ of Glory All this will not serve my turn as long as men take me for an hypocrite or ungodly For there is not a satisfying sufficiency in Honors and wealth as there is in God and glory As long as you have the precious treasure methinks you may give losers leave to talk It was not for the good words of men that you became Christians and Covenanted with God but for pardon and salvation and these you shall have God will perform his Covenant to you and give you both his Kingdom and so much of worldly things as overplus as is truly good for you and what would you have more You shall have the Inheritance and Crown of blessedness and will not that serve your turn without a few good words from silly man I hope you would be loth to change Rewards with the Hypocrite Why then do you so much desire his Reward and so much undervalue your own Though his be present and yours be future I hope you think it but a doleful hearing to have Christ say Verily they have their Reward in comparison of his promise to his reproached servants Verily great is your Reward in Heaven Mat. 6. 2. Mat. 5. 12. And now I hope in all these ten particular considerations you may see reason enough for self-denial in the very Reputation of your Godliness and Honesty and why you should endure joyfully to be esteemed ungodly and dishonest rather than to be so CHAP. L. A Renowned and Perpetuated Name to be denied 10. THe last point of Honour which self must be denied in is A Renowed and Perpetuated Name For to that height doth Pride aspire that no less will satisfie where there is any apparent hope of this though in those that sit so low that they see no ground to hope for such a thing the desires after it are not so kindled as they be in others that think the prey is within their reach Fain men would be famous and talk'd of through the world They would have their real and supposed worth made known as far as may be And when they die they would fain have their names survive that they may be great in the estimation of posterity and magnified by all that mention them And so deeply are men possessed with this dangerous sin that they account this perpetuated fame for their felicity And there was nothing that most of the Heathens did prefer before it but when they seemed to be most vertuous heroical and patient it was but to be thus esteemed of after they were dead If you ask me How far a surviving reputation may be regarded I answer 1. So far as the interest of God or his Gospel Church or Cause or the publick good or the good of our posterity is concerned in it and may be promoted by it thus far it is lawful and a duty to value it desire it and seek it For if we have throughly searched our hearts and can say unfeignedly that it is God and his cause and honour that we principally intend and desire our own honour but as a Means to his and therefore desire it no further than it is such a means then we may justly desire both the extension and surviving of our reputation if we are groundedly perswaded that it 's like to conduce to these happy ends As for example A Prince that owns the cause of God and makes such Laws for the
common good as may exceedingly promote it if they be observed by posterity must have a great regard to his present and surviving fame because the honour of his Laws will depend much upon the honour of his name and if once the people vilifie him they will be likely to vilifie and cast off his Laws to the hurt of Church and Common-wealth and their own undoing And even as to the success of their present Government they should be very careful of their fame so also a Minister of the Gospel must be very careful of his present and future reputation For at present the saving good of his auditors doth much depend upon it For if they have a base esteem of the Pastor they will be unlikely to give diligent intention to his Doctrine but disesteem it as they do the speaker and it is not likely to go to their hearts Nor will they seek his advice in the great matters of salvation and the difficult cases and dangers that they meet with but to the great hazard of their souls will slight the necessary assistance of him that is appointed to be their guide to heaven and will set light by all the Ordinances of God And therefore the Pastors Reputation is ten thousand times more beneficial and necessary to the people than to himself For alas it is but their good thoughts and words that he receiveth which add little to his happiness but it 's everlasting life which they may receive by that Word of God and help from him which is furthered by his Reputation And therefore as Ministers should be exceeding watchful against Pride that they desire not Honor for themselves so when they are sure that God is their end they must be exceeding careful of their own Reputation and avoid all occasions appearances of evil and purchase it by all just means For though honour be worth little yet the Cause of God and the souls of men are worth much and we must not be prodigal of our Masters Talents and such as are very useful to his service Our Reputation is Gods and the Churches due and to be cherished for their use Especially those Ministers must be careful of their Reputation that by Reformation or Publick useful writings are capable of profiting Posterity and they may desire the surviving of their honours which for it self might not be desired because their works and writings and Doctrine are like to be much blasted by their own defamations and do little good to any that come after Nay the precious truths and cause of God may be most dangerously wronged and disadvantaged by it and get such a blot and dishonour by their dishonour that any that shall seek the promoting of it hereafter may be greatly hindered and disadvantaged thereby For it will seem enough to cast off such a Doctrine for ever that by the dishonour of the maintainers it was once dishonourable and rejected as an error And doubtless some things have been thus made Heresies and so will be long rejected as Heresies in many parts of the Christian world because they were once called by that name and that was because the Person that did own them had some such dishonour or disadvantage as left his Doctrine open to this reproach And therefore you may here see what a Potent instrument Reputation is in the Devils hand to do his work and what abundance of advantage he gets by defaming Gods servants Principally by this means did he long keep the world from the entertainment of the Gospel the servants of Christ being contemptible in their eyes and the preaching of the cross but foolishness to them By this means did the Pharisees hinder the Jews from believing in Christ And by this means is Heathenism Infidelity and Mahometanism continued in possession of most of the world to this day By this means it is that Popery keeps the common people in thraldom as the voluminous lies of Cochlaeus Bolsecus and many others concerning Luther Calvin Zuinglius and other of our Reformers and Writers do fully testifie And by personal reproaches and dishonours it is that the Doctrine of the Reformed Divines is made so odious among the Lutherans and the like instances might be given in others If now any weighty Christian Verity should be asserted by any Pastor of the Church in a sounder and clearer manner than is commonly known or owned if the person that doth it should but fall under any reproach which he shall be sure of if the Devil can procure it it 's two to one but for his sake his Doctine will be stigmatized with the name of error and so lie buried for ever till Divine Omnipotency commands its Resurrection And hence it is that there is not one Instrument that ever God raiseth up to vindicate any truth or ordinance or do him any special service but Satan raiseth up tongues and pens if not hands and swords against him and an Army of reproachers will presently be on the back of him Now in all such cases as these it is a great duty for any servant of Christ to be very regardful of his Reputation even with Posterity For his good name may much promote the Truth as we know the Name of Austin Calvin and many another doth at this day And if it be our great duty to extend our service of God as far as we can to all Countries and to all posterity to do them good then is it our duty to endeavour that a good Reputation should go along with our labours to further the success or remove impediments And thus while we are sincere and intend all for God we may and must regard our honour and yet in so doing we Deny our selves because we do it not for our selves but for God and his Church 2. And if honour be given in to us this way even as we partake of it our selves as a Means to Gods honour we must thankfully accept it esteem it and rejoyce in it And therefore it is made the matter of many promises and spoken of in Scripture as a blessing Prov. 22. 1. A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches and 10. 7. The memory of the Just is blessed but the name of the wicked shall rot Eccles 7. 1. A good name is better than precious oyntment with many the like Thus much I have said to prevent a mis-application of that which followeth and to help you so to understand me on this point of Honour as not to run from extream into extream and to sin by seeking to avoid sin But alas this kind of seeking our Honour for God and his Church and not for our selves and as our own I doubt is more rare than the neglect of honour The sin that I disswade you from is in these two points 1. That you do not Affect and seek after Extending or surviving Reputation for your selves and out of a Proud desire to be still some body in the estimation of the world 2.
turn them into mortal sins If Princes rule fight for themselves I have told you already what they do but if this were done for God it would have another form and another reward as it had another End What a doleful case is it that such excellent works as alms-deeds and acts of bounty to Church or poor or Commonwealth in buildings lands or any the like works should be all turned into sin and death by such a selfish vain-glorious intent And that their souls should be suffering for those works that others receive much good by What a sad case is it that Historians Lawyers Physicians Philosophers Linguists and the Professors of all the Sciences should undo themselves for ever by those excellent works that edifie the world Nay what can be more lamentable to think of than that able and learned Divines themselves should lose their own souls in the studying and preaching those precious truths that are saving unto others and that such excellent writings as remain a standing blessing to the Church should be the Authors of mortal sin And yet so it is if the renown and immortality of a name on Earth be the End that all this work is done for 12. Lastly Consider that if Honour be good for you it is better attained by minding your duty for the Honour of God and denying your own Honour than by seeking it For Honour is the shadow that will follow you if you fly from it and fly from you if you follow it What Christ here saith of Life is true of Honor He that seeketh and saveth it shall lose it and he that loseth it for Christ shall find it The greatest Honour is to deny our selves and our own honour and to do most for the Honour of God and to be contented to be nothing that God may be all For you have his promise that them that honour him he will honour but they that despise him shall be lightly esteemed THough I have endeavoured by a right limitation and exposition of the foregoing parts of self-denial to prevent mistakes and give you those grounds by which objections may be answered yet the stir that is made in the world about this point by Papists and many other mistaking Sects doth perswade me to give a more distinct Resolution of some of the principal doubts that are before us and therein to shew you that self-denial consisteth not in all things that by some are pretended to be parts of it but that there is a great deal of sin that goes under the name of self-denial among many of these sorts of mistaken persons CHAP. LI. Q. Whether Self-denial lie in renouncing Propriety Quest 1. WHether doth self-denial require us to renounce Propriety and to know nothing as our own as the Monks among the Papists swear to do as part of their state of perfection a book called The way to the Sabbath of Rest dothteach us Answ 1. That there should be no Propriety in goods or estate among men is contrary to the will of God who hath made men his Stewards and trusted several persons with several talents and forbidden stealing and commanded men to labour that they may have to give to him that needeth and he that hath this worlds goods and seeth his brother have need must not shut up the bowels of his compassion It is a standing duty to give to the poor and we shall therefore have the poor always with us for this exercise of our Charity And he that hath nothing can give nothing nor use it for God Why did Paul require them to give to the distressed Saints and maintain the Ministry and gather for such uses every first day of the week if he would have men have nothing to give This therefore is a conceit that needs nothing but Reason and the reading and belief of Scripture to confute it 2. But as no man is a Proprietary or hath any thing of his Own in the strict and Absolute sense because all is Gods and we are but Stewards so no man may retain his humane analogical propriety when God calleth him to give it up No man may retain any thing from Gods Use and service which he hath a propriety in We have so much Propriety as that no man must rob us and so much as our works of charity are rewardable though it be but giving a cup of cold water which could not be without propriety for who will reward him that gives that which is none of his own yea it is made the matter of the last judgement I was hungry and ye fed me I was naked and ye cloathed me c. Which they could not have done if they had not had food and cloathing to bestow So that the denial of propriety would destroy all exercise of charity in such kinds and destroy all Societies and orderly converse and industry in the world But yet when God calls for any thing from us we must presently obey and quit all title to it and resign it freely and gladly to his will And 3. There must be so much vigour of charity and sense of our neighbours wants as that no man must shut up the bowels of compassion but as we must love our neighbours as our selves so must we relieve them as a second self yea and before our selves if Gods service or honour should require it If we must lay down our lives for the brethren much more our estates So that Levelling Community is abominable but Charitable Community is a Christian duty and the great Character of sincere Love to Christ in his members And therefore in the Primitive Church there was no forbidding of Propriety but there was 1. A resignation of all to God to signifie that they were contented to forsake all for him and did prefer Christ and the Kingdom of God before all and 2. There was so great vigor of true Charity as that all men voluntarily supplied the wants of the Church and poor and voluntarily made all things as common that is Common by voluntary Communication for use though not common in primary title And so no man took any thing as his Own when God and his Churches and his Brethrens wants did call for it O that we had more of that Christian Love that should cause a Charitable Community which is the true Mean between the Monkish Community and the selfish tenacious Propriety Levelling hath not destroyed one soul for ten thousand that an inordinate love of Propriety hath destroyed CHAP. LII Q. Whether it lie in renouncing Marriage Quest 2. WHether Self-denial consists in the forswearing or renouncing of Marriage or the natural use of it by those that are marryed Answ. To forbid Marriage simply is called by the holy Ghost a Doctrine of Devils 1 Tim. 4. 1 3 and was one of the Heresies that the Apostles were called out to encounter in their own days But yet a Married state doth ordinarily not always call men off from that free attendance on the
to Hell if you run not your selves thither Never will you be shut out of Heaven if you run not from it by your own neglect and prefer not the prosperity of the world before it And therefore you see that we are nowhere more unsafe than in our own hands Gods Will is good and would make a good choice for us but our wills are bad and will make a bad choice for themselves God is unchangeable and the same for ever but we are giddy and uncertain and if we are in a good mind to day are in danger of being in a bad to morrow God is able to secure us against all the subtilty and rage and power of Earth or Hell but we are silly impotent worms and unable to defend our selves or to accomplish our own desires So that our safety consisteth in forsaking our selves and cleaving to the Lord. The more of your happiness lieth on your own hands the greater is your danger and the more of it is on the hands of God the greater is your safety Fly therefore from your selves to God as you would fly out of a torn or sinking Vessel into the strongest ship or as you would haste away from a tottering House that is ready to fall upon your heads so haste away from self to God Study his Love and fall in Love with him and that will be more gainful to you than studying and carnally Loving your selves Forget your selves and remember him and he will remember you to your greater advantage than if you had remembred your selves When any interest of your Own riseth up against the Interest or will of God care not then for your selves or for your own set as light by it as if it were nothing worth and say as the three witnesses of God in Dan. 3. 16 17. when they were ready to be cast into a flaming furnace We are not careful to answer thee in this matter If it be so the God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace and he will deliver us out of thy hand O King But if not be it known unto thee O King that we will not serve thy gods or worship the golden Image which thou hast set up Care you for your Duty and God will care for your safety better than you can do you are safer under Gods care in the midst of a flaming fire than under your own care in the greatest prosperity or honour in the world While Abraham and Isaac depended upon God they were safe though in the midst of dangers but when they fell upon carnal shifting for themselves to say their Wives were their Sisters they brought themselves but into a snare and double danger when you have cared and contrived and shifted for your selves as long as you can it 's God that must do the deed and defend and deliver you and provide for you when all is done Is it wise or safe or profitable for your child to be casting for provision of meat and drink and clothes for it self Cannot you do it better and is it not your work and had you not rather your child would trust you with it and meddle with his own business and be careful to please you and then to depend on your care and love What good will it do a simple patient to know the ingredients of every medicine compounded for him and given by his Physician or to desire to be acquainted with his Physick himself that so he may be tampering with his own body and have the doing of the business himself till by his unskilfulness he hath undone himself when he had a wise and faithful Physician that he might have trusted to O that men knew how ready a way it is to their undoing when they must be satisfied of all the Reasons of the ways of God! and when they must have their own wills and ways and must see a ground of safety in the creature and must take that course that self tells them is the best when they are resolved to look to their estates and honours and lives and dare not cast them on the wisdom and care and will of God! O that men knew how sure and near a way it is to their felicity to be contented to be Nothing that God may be all and then they would be More in God than they could have been in themselves and to be contented to Die that they may Live in God and to lose their lives that they may find them in him Let go your Reputation with men and you will find it made up a thousand-fold in the approbation of God Let men condemn you so that God may but Justifie you Let Riches go and see whether you will not find more in God than you could possibly lose for him Can any man be a loser by God or can he make an ill bargain that makes sure of Heaven Do you think there is any want of Riches or Honour there O Sirs win God and win all win Heaven and never fear being losers It seems a great loss to flesh and blood to lay down your estates and honour and life for Christ and the hopes of a life to come But it is because the flesh is blind and cannot see so far off as everlasting is The loss is not so great as to exchange your brass your dirt for gold and jewels or to exchange your sickness for health It is the most profitable Usury to make God your debtor by putting all your stock into his hand and venturing it all on his service upon the confidence of his promise But if you will go about to shift for your selves you will lose your selves and if you will save your selves you will undo your selves and if you will keep your Riches or Honours you do but cast them away For all is lost that is saved from God and that is best saved that is lost for God CHAP. LXVII Selfishness the powerful Enemy of all Ordinances 5. MOreover it is self that is the most powerful resister of all the Ordinances of God and it is self-denial that boweth the soul to that holy complyance with them which wonderfully furthereth their success Were it not for this one prevailing eneny what work would the Gospel make in the world O with what confidence should we come into the Pulpit and speak the word of God to our hearers had we any to deal with but this Carnal self God can overcome it by his victorious grace but it 's so blind so wilful so near men and so constant with them that it will overcome us and all that we can say or do till God set in When I come to convince a sinner of his guilt and shew him the hainous nature of his sin because it is his Own he will be convinced of it when I tell them of their misery they will not be convinced of it because it is their own Were I to speak all this to another and tell another of his