I shall add, of many, one example more, and that is from the fidelity of Daniel; a holy and wise young man, who when his external advantages came in competition with his duty to Almighty God, relinquished them all; and instead of being solicitous how to secure himself, as one minding nothing less, he was, to the utmost hazard of himself, most careful how to preserve the honour of God, by his fidelity to his will. And though at the first it exposed him to ruin, yet, as an instance of great encouragement to all that like him will choose to keep a good conscience in an evil time, at last it advanced him greatly in the world; and the God of Daniel was made famous and terrible through his perseverance even in the eyes of heathen kings.
XX. What shall I say of all the rest, who counted nothing dear that they might do the will of God, abandoned their worldly comforts, and exposed their ease and safety, as often as the heavenly vision called them,[2] to the wrath and malice of degenerate princes and an apostate church? More especially Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Micah, who after they had denied themselves, in obedience to the divine voice, sealed their testimony with their blood.
Thus was self-denial the practice and glory of the ancients, that were predecessors to the coming of Christ in the flesh: and shall we hope to go to heaven without it now, when our Saviour himself is become the most excellent example of it? and that not as some would fain have it, viz. for us, that we need not; (1 Peter, ii. 21;) but for us, that we might deny ourselves, and so be the true followers of his blessed example.
XXI. Whoever therefore thou art that wouldst do the will of God, but faintest in thy desires, from the opposition of worldly considerations, remember I tell thee, in the name of Christ, that he that prefers father or mother, sister or brother, wife or child, house or land, reputation, honour, office, liberty, or life, before the testimony of the light of Jesus, in his own conscience, shall be rejected of him in the solemn and general inquest upon the world, when all shall be judged, and receive according to the deeds done, not the profession made, in this life. It was the doctrine of Jesus, that if thy right hand offend thee, thou must cut it off; and if thy right eye offend thee, thou must pluck it out: (Matt. v. 29, 30:) that is, if the most dear, the most useful and tender comforts thou enjoyest, stand in thy soul's way, and interrupt thy obedience to the voice of God, and thy conformity to his holy will revealed in thy soul, thou art engaged, under the penalty of damnation, to part with them.
XXII. The way of God is a way of faith, as dark to sense, as mortal to self. It is the children of obedience, who count, with holy Paul, all things dross and dung, that they may win Christ, and know and walk in this narrow way. Speculation will not do, nor can refined notions enter; the obedient only eat the good of this land. (Isaiah, i. 19.) They that do his will, says the blessed Jesus, shall know of my doctrine; (John, vii. 17;) them He will instruct. There is no room for instruction, where lawful self is lord, and not servant. For self cannot receive it; that which should is oppressed by self, fearful, and dare not. O! what will my father or mother say? How will my husband use me? or finally, what will the magistrate do with me? For though I have a most powerful persuasion, and clear conviction upon my soul, of this or that thing, yet considering how unmodish it is, what enemies it has, and how strange and singular I shall seem to them, I hope God will pity my weakness: if I sink, I am but flesh and blood; it may be hereafter He may better enable me; and there is time enough. Thus selfish, fearful man.
But deliberating is ever worst; for the soul loses in parley: the manifestation brings power with it. Never did God convince people, but, upon submission, he empowered them. He requires nothing without giving ability to perform it: that were mocking, not saving men. It is enough for thee to do thy duty, that God shows thee thy duty; provided thou closest with that light and spirit by which he gives thee that knowledge. They that want power, are such as do not receive Christ in his convictions upon the soul, and such will always want it; but such as do, they receive power, like those of old, to become the children of God, through the pure obedience of faith.
XXIII. Wherefore, let me beseech you, by the love and mercy of God, by the life and death of Christ, by the power of his Spirit, and the hope of immortality, that you, whose hearts are established in your temporal comforts, and so lovers of self, more than of these heavenly things, would let the time past suffice: that you would not think it enough to be clear of such impieties, as too many are found in, whilst your inordinate love of lawful things has defiled your enjoyment of them, and drawn your hearts from the fear, love, obedience, and self-denial of a true disciple of Jesus. Turn about then, and hearken to the still voice in thy conscience; it tells thee thy sins, and thy misery in them; it gives a lively discovery of the very vanity of the world, and opens to the soul some prospect of eternity, and the comforts of the just that are at rest. If thou adhere to this, it will divorce thee from sin and self: thou wilt soon find, that the power of its charms exceeds that of wealth, honour, and beauty of the world, and finally will give thee that tranquillity which the storms of time can never shipwreck nor disorder. Here all thy enjoyments are blest, though small, yet great by that presence that is within them.
Even in this world the righteous have the better of it, for they use the world without rebuke, because they do not abuse it. They see and bless the hand that feeds, and clothes, and preserves them. And as by beholding him in all his works, they do not adore them, but him; so the sweetness of his blessings that gives them, is an advantage such have upon those that see him not. Besides, in their increase, they are not lifted up, nor in their adversities are they cast down: and why? Because they are moderated in the one, and comforted in the other, by his divine presence.
In short, heaven is the throne, and the earth but the footstool of that man that hath self under foot. And those that know that station will not easily be moved; such learn to number their days, that they may not be surprised with their dissolution; and to redeem their time, because their days are evil; (Ephes. v. 16;) remembering they are stewards, and must deliver up their accounts to an impartial judge. Therefore not to self but to him they live, and in him die, and are blessed with them that die in the Lord. And thus I conclude my discourse on the right use of lawful self.
CHAPTER V.
1. Of unlawful self; it is two-fold: 1st, in religion; 2nd, in morality.—2. Of those that are most formal, superstitious, and pompous in worship.—3. God's rebuke of carnal apprehensions.—4. Christ drew off his disciples from the Jewish exterior worship, and instituted a more spiritual one.—5. Stephen is full and plain in this matter.—6. Paul refers the temple of God twice to man.—7. Of the cross of these worldly worshippers.—8. Flesh and blood make their cross, therefore cannot be crucified by it.—9. They are yokes without restraint.—10. Of the gaudiness of their cross, and their respect to it.—11. A recluse life no true gospel abnegation.—12. Comparison between Christ's self-denial and theirs: his leads to purity in the world, theirs to voluntary imprisonment, that they might not be tempted of the world. The mischief which that example, if followed, would do to the world. It destroys useful society and honest labour. A lazy life the usual refuge of idleness, poverty, and guilty age.—13. Of Christ's cross in this case. The impossibility that such an external application can remove an internal cause.—14. An exhortation to the men of this belief, not to deceive themselves.
I. I am now come to unlawful self, which, more or less, is the immediate concern of much the greater part of mankind. This unlawful self is two-fold. First, that which relates to religious worship: secondly, that which concerns moral and civil conversation in the world. And they are both of infinite consequence to be considered by us. In which I shall be as brief as I may, with ease to my conscience, and no injury to the matter.
II. That unlawful self in religion that ought to be mortified by the cross of Christ, is man's invention and performance of worship to God as divine, which is not so, either in its institution or performance. In this great error those people have the van of all that attribute to themselves the name
