A Treatise of Self-Denial, Treatise · Chapter 42 – Chapter 46
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 affections. It is Gods higheſt honour to be highlieſt eſteemed, and dearlieſt beloved, as being the moſt perfect and tranſcendent Good. And Proud men in this world aſpire to his Prerogative; and much affect to be beloved of all: and fain they would ſit near mens hearts, and be the darlings of the world. This is a fine, but dangerous ſin: and I doubt many that are guilty of it, never well conſidered that it is a ſin, and ſo great a ſin as indeed it is. Deny your ſelves in this. It is God that muſt be Loved of all, and not you: You muſt be content to be hated of all men for his name ſake, that he may be beloved. Mens hearts were not made to be your throne, but Gods. Your work is to Love, and not ambitiouſly to ſeek for love. So far as your intereſt in mens affections doth conduce to Gods honour, and ſervice, and their good, deſire it, and ſpare not: But ſee that theſe be really your ends. But for your ſelves take heed of deſiring or ſeeking for mens Love. They are apt enough to have inordinate affections to the creature without your temptations. To Love God in you, and Love you for God, is their duty which you may provoke them to in ſeaſon: But ſeek not for any nearer intereſt in them, nor for ſuch a love as terminateth in your ſelves. Nature is exceeding ambitious of being beloved: but ſteal not Gods due. You are to be ſutors and ſollicitors for him, to win the hearts of as many as you can: and not to ſpeak for your ſelves in his ſtead. Thankfully accept of mens Ordinate Love to you, if you have it: but if they deny it for you, or for the ſake of Chriſt, and turn it into hatred, do you deny your ſelves herein, and remember that it's no more than you were forewarned of; and no more than your Lord and his worthieſt ſervants have endured: What a Pattern is Paul that tells his converts, he ſeeks not theirs but them, as parents lay up for the children, and not children for the parents, and would gladly ſpend, and be ſpent for them, though the more he love, the leſs he were beloved] 2 Cor. 12. 14, 15. See that you Love God and them, and that is your duty: do that and you need not take care for the Love of men to you. Their Love is none of your felicity, and therefore their hatred depriveth you not of your felicity: for that lieth only in the Love of God. Here therefore ſelf muſt be denied.
CHAP. XLIII. The Reputation of Riches to be denied.
3 ANother part of the Honour which ſelf muſt be denied in, is, The Reputation of your Riches. For wealth is one thing that men are proud of. Some deſire to be eſteemed richer than they are; and therefore go in the beſt apparel they can get, that they may not be thought to be perſons of the loweſt pooreſt ſort. And ſome that are Rich, do glory in their Riches, and think they are much more to be honoured than the poor. But alas, if they had well read and conſidered what Chriſt hath ſaid of the danger of the rich, particularly in Luke 12. & 16. & 18. & 8. 14. Mat. 13. 22. Mark 10. 23. and what James ſaith to them, James 5. 1, 2. &c. they would ſee that Riches is not a thing to be Proud of. Not many great and noble are called. God hath choſen the poor of this world, Rich in faith, to be heirs of the Kingdom. The talents for which we muſt give ſuch an account at the bar of Chriſt, ſhould be rather the matter of our fear and trembling than of our Pride. That which makes our paſſage to heaven to be as the Camels through a needle's eye, I think ſhould not much lift us up. All the Riches of the world do make you never the better thought of with God, or any wiſe man: Nor will they cauſe you to live a monethmonth the longer, or quiet your Conſciences, or ſave you from death, or the wrath of God. The only worth of Riches, is, that you are better furniſhed than others to do God ſome good ſervice, by relieving the poor, and helping the Church, and furthering many ſuch good works: And for the ſake of theſe good ends, you muſt patiently bear a ſtate of Riches, yea, and thankfully receive them, if they are given you by God; though the care and labour in a faithful diſtribution of them, and the danger of abuſing them, and the reckoning to be made for them, are ſo great, as may deter a wiſe man from a greedy ſeeking them, or glorying in them.
CHAP. XLIV. Comelineſs and Beauty to be denied.
4. ANother part of the Honour that ſelf muſt be denied in, is, The Reputation of your perſonal comelineſs or beauty: For ſuch fools and children ſin hath made folks, that many much ſet by the Reputation of theſe. And hence is moſt commonly the abuſe of Apparel. Every proud perſon is deſirous of that which will make them ſeem the handſomeſt or beautifulleſt perſons unto others; and make it their care to ſet forth themſelves to the eyes of beholders. What they indeed are, we can ſee as well in the meaneſt attire: but what they would be thought to be, we may beſt ſee in this. But of this I ſpoke before; yea ſome think that they are not Proud of their comelineſs, yet cannot endure to be eſteemed ill-favoured or uncomely, and ſo ſhew that Pride which they would deny. I confeſs theſe are commonly but the temptations of women, and procacious youth. But one would think it ſhould be eaſie for a few ſober thoughts to cut their combs, and let them ſee how little cauſe they have to be proud of beauty or comelineſs of the fleſh. Alas what is that body that you are proud of! Filth and corruption covered with a cleaner skin than ſome of your neighbours. Ah, but the skin is thin, and if that be all you have to glory in, it is as frail, as contemptible. There's many a pretty flower in the common field that's trodden down by the feet of beaſts, that have a gloſs and hue incomparably beyond your beauty. I asked you before, what beauty you will have to glory of, when you have dwelt but a few moneths in the grave; or if the ſmall Pox, or Leproſie, ſhould clothe you with another coloured skin: or if a Cancer ſhould but ſeize upon your face, and turn it into ſuch an ugly ſhape, as makes men tremble to behold it: or when wrinkled age hath made you as another perſon: or when death hath deprived you of that ſoul, which was your beauty, and laid you out as a prey and ſacrifice to corruption. Ah that ever ſuch a skin full of dirt, ſuch a bag of filth, ſhould yet be proud, that's carried about by a living ſoul, and by it kept a little while from falling down as a ſenſleſs clod, and turning into a ſtinking corpſe! They are ſhort-ſighted, and ſhort-witted as well as graceleſs, that cannot look ſo far before them 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 ſelfdenial 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 te…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. …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 li…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.