Means of Self-denial

Fourthly, To give you the means of self-denial, whereby this work may be made more easy.

1. If you would deny yourselves, lessen your esteem and your affection to worldly things.
I join them together because affection follows esteem. If you would deny yourself for Christ, you must prize the worst of Christ before the best of the world, See Ps. 84.10, 'I had rather,' saith David, 'be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness.' When an earthen pitcher is broken, a man is not troubled at it, because he hath not set his esteem and heart upon it, being but a trifle. What made Moses so eminent for self-denial that he could refuse all the honours of Pharaoh's court, and choose rather 'to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season'? It is said, 'He esteemed the reproach of Christ to be greater riches, than the treasures of Egypt,' Heb. 11.25. Moses' esteem was set right. Again, lessen the affection; the greatness of our affection causeth the greatness of our affliction. Therefore we are so troubled to part with things, because our hearts are too much set upon them. We greaten the things of the world in our esteem and affection; then it is a trouble to part with them for Christ's sake. Alas! all these outward things, they serve but to prop up a tabernacle that is always falling. But how shall we lessen our esteem and affection; is that in our power? I answer, You may do much, deny lusts in their first motion, ere they grow upon your esteem and affection, and prevail by delight in the soul. When anything begins to sit too close and too near the heart, it is good for a christian then to be wary, and ask this question, How shall I deny this for God? I Cor. 6.12, 'I would not he brought under the power of anything.' Though the objects you converse withal be lawful, yet when they encroach upon thy spirit, then deny them. And then take heed what thou dost account thyself. It is a great part of christian prudence to know what is ourselves. Do not count sin thyself. See how the apostle parts it, Rom. 7.17, 'It is no more I, but sin that dwelleth in me.' Thou shouldest be able to say concerning all carnal desires, It is not I, but sin. There is an old and corrupt self. So thou shouldst not count the world thyself, that is none of thee: Luke 12.15, 'Take heed, and beware of covetousness.' What is the reason? 'For man's life consisteth not in the abundance of what he possesseth.' It is not thyself, thou are neither further from the grave nor the nearer to true contentment; I may be happy without this.

2. Seek self in God, this is an innocent diversion. When we cannot weaken the affection, let us change the object. What is it that is so near to thee? Is it honour? seek honour in God. Do but change vain glory for eternal glory. That is a lawful seeking of self when we seek it in God: John 5.44, 'How can ye believe that receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God?' You may change your desires from vain glory into everlasting glory: John 12.43, 'For they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.' If a man did desire praise, where can we have better than to be praised with God's own mouth, in the face of all the world, at the great day of accounts, when Christ shall proclaim you to be an heir of the crown of heaven? So for pleasure; if thy soul be drawn out to it, oh! remember, there are no pleasures like to those chaste delights thou mightest enjoy by communion with God, the pleasures which are at his right hand for evermore. Affections are not abrogated, but preferred; and we transplant our desires, that they may flourish in a better soil, if thou desirest riches, turn out thy heart toward the good treasure God hath opened in the covenant, to be rich in grace, rich towards God.

3. If thou wouldst deny thyself, resolve upon the worst, to please God, though it be with the displeasure of yourselves and all the world. Usually we do not sit down and count the charges, we do not make our resolution large enough. When we take up the profession of religion, we look for but little trouble, therefore are soon discouraged. Usually we give God but small allowance; we do not carry our lives and our estates in our hands, as we should do, when we take religion upon us. A man never comes to Christ rightly, unless he gives up himself and friends, and bids Christ take all. Till it comes to such a resolution as Nazianzen had concerning his human learning - I never affected riches, nor greatness in the world, only I have affected a little eloquence, and I will tell you how far I have affected it, that I have something of value to esteem as nothing for Christ. So men should give Christ liberal allowance; then when it comes to trial, thou wilt not be grudging; it is that thou didst count upon, to part with for Christ's sake.

4. Take heed of confining thy welfare to outward means, as if thou couldst not be happy without such an estate, without so many hundreds in the world; beware of binding up thy life and contentment with the creature, for when we come to part with it, we can as soon part with our lives. The children of God resolve, 'Though the fig-tree do not blossom, and the labour of the olive fail, yet to rejoice in the Lord,' Hab. 3.17, 18. This should be a Christian's resolution, not to trust to the creatures, but in God, though all these things are gone. This is a holy independency, when our hearts are taken off from the creature. The men of the world have only a candle which is soon blown out, an estate that may easily be blasted: but the children of God have the sun, which can stead them without a candle. The Lord saith, Hosea 2.11,12, 'I will cause their mirth to cease,' speaking of the carnal Jews. Why? 'I will destroy her vines and her fig-trees.' All the wicked man's happiness is bound up with the vine and fig-tree, with his estate. Consider, your happiness doth not lie within yourselves, nor in any other creature, but in God alone. God in himself is much better than God in the creature; now carnal men, they prize God in the creature, but not God in himself. And therefore the first thing we must depend upon is that God is an all-sufficient God in himself; not God in friends, not God in wealth, but God in himself. We cannot see how it can be well without friends, and wealth, and liberty, therefore our hearts are glued to them. Oh, take heed of this. All these things are but several pipes to deliver and convey to us the influence of the supreme cause; therefore still prize God in himself before God in the creature.

5. Direction: often act faith, and look within the veil. Send thy thoughts as spies and messengers into the land of promise. A man will better quit that he hath upon earth when he hath strong expectations of heaven, Rom. 8.18. When a man seeth that God hath laid up a more excellent glory for him, he will reckon these things are not to be named the same day: 2 Cor. 4.16, 'For which cause we faint not: but thought our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen.' The apostle gives an account of his valour and resolution; how he was able to withstand the discouragements of the world - 'We look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are unseen.' Heaven will satisfy all losses and then the world is quitted with ease. Look, as the woman left her pitcher when she was acquainted with Christ; so when a man is acquainted with better things, his heart is taken off from these outward things. When Christ said to Zaccheus, salvation is come to thy house, then he presently added, 'Half of my goods I give to the poor.' When the heart is much in heaven, the earth will seem a small thing. When we look upon the stars, they seem but as so many sparks and spangles; but if we were above the earth, the world would seem but like a little black spot.

6. In all debates between conscience and interest, be sure to observe God's special providence to thyself. When conscience and interest are a struggling, consider, whence hadst thou that which thou art so unwilling to part withal, but from the Lord? Distrust is the ground of self-seeking. We do not consider the providence of God to us, and that all changes are in his hands, and therefore we cannot deny our-selves. Who is that which gave thee such an estate that thou art loth to lose? or such a comfort thou art unwilling to part withal? When Amaziah the king of Judah was admonished by the prophet not to let the army of Israel go with him, 'What shall I do,' saith he, 'for the hundred talents? ' 2 Chron. 25.9, the sum for which he had hired them; and the man of God answered, 'The Lord is able to give thee much more than this.' So when thou art troubled, How shall I do to live? what shall I do for an estate? The Lord is able to give thee more than this. It is God's blessing that maketh rich, and he can supply thee with a great deal more if he see fit. Men think it is their own providence that doth all, and so they are loth to part with what they have. Consider, thou couldst not have this if God had not given it thee. So when men are loth to lose their friends, when, by the profession of religion, they may be in danger thereof, remember who brought them to be thy friends. Prov. 15.7, 'When a man's ways please the Lord, he makes his very enemies to be his friends.' Piety will do more than carnal compliance. Thou mayst by this hazard God and thy friends too.

7. Consider the right God hath in all that is thine; he hath a natural right, and a right by contract. A natural right to all thou hast: he made it, and he gave it thee. No creature can be sui juris, at his own power and disposal. Riches are not thy own, but God's bounty to thee. Foolish men account all that they have their own, they think they may do with it as they list: Ps. 12.4, 'Our tongues are our own, who is Lord over us?' Consider, thy tongue is not thy own, for it was not made by thee; and when it is blasted, thou canst not repair it. A prodigal that is not able to deny his pleasure, speak to him about it, and he will answer, I hope that which I spend is my own. Thy estate is not thy own, to spend it as thou pleasest. So covetous men think they are absolute lords of what they have: 1 Sam. 25.11, 'Shall I take my bread, and my drink, and give it to strangers?' Goods must be laid out according to the owner's will, else it is robbery. Now all that thou hast is God's, therefore thou art to part with every interest and concernment of thine, as it may be for his glory. God hath a right also by contract: thou hast given up thyself, and all that is thine, to God, Rom. 12.1; and do but consider the danger of alienating things that are once consecrated. Consider, what was the end of Ananias and Sapphira.

Before I come to the particular kinds of self-denial, take some observations concerning this duty.

If you would deny yourselves,
[1.] Every one must observe his temper, and the particular constitution of his own soul. There are several ways of sinning; let every one look to his own way, Isa. 53.6. God knows, we are all out of the way, but usually there is some particular way of sin into which our hearts do wander and digress. Now when God tries any man, he tries him in his Isaac; therefore self-denial must be considered according to the kind of self-love. Which way doth self-love most of all bend and incline your souls. The observation is necessary, because there may be some kind of shadow of self-denial in carnal men. Lusts are obstinate, and because their contrariety will not give way one to the other, therefore, for the convenience of the grand lust, a man may deny himself in something. A covetous man bereaves his soul of good, and may be rigid and sullen to his nature, yet he may not deny himself. He may deny himself of pleasure, but not of worldly profit. Others, that are of a dreggy and voluptuous constitution of spirit, they may be slight as to worldly profit, when their hearts are caught by another snare: Ps. 18.23, 'I kept myself from mine iniquity.' Usually there is some special sin, which, by the frequency of temptation that often occurs, and our desires that way, we may call our sin. Now herein is our uprightness tried, when we can deny our sin.

[2.] Many may deny themselves in purpose, that yet fail when they come to act. Certainly, in purpose we must deny ourselves. Whenever we come to Christ, we must bring our lives and our comforts in our hands; we must come with a resolution to part with all. Though every Christian be not a martyr in effect and act, yet he must be in vow and purpose, and resolve to renounce all upon the just and convenient reasons of religion. Now the trial is when we are put upon these particular cases. We cannot so well judge of an affection by its single exercise, as when it is brought to a direct conflict and trial, The things of religion, in the absence of a temptation, may seem best to the soul; but the spirit is never discovered till we come to an actual choice, and particulars are compared with particulars; then desires, which before lay hid and dormant, rouse themselves and oppugn grace in the civil wars of the soul. When there is a conflict between conscience and interest, then are we tried. Now you need not wish for these cases, for before you go out of the world you will find they will come fast enough. Many cases will happen when duty is without encouragement, and all self-respects fail; nay, when for conscience' sake you are put upon visible disadvantage, Rev. 12.11. It is said of the children of God, that 'they loved not their lives to the death.' When it came to this pinch, that either they must deny life or deny Christ, then they loved not their lives. Many may in a prodigality of resolution, seem to lay all at Christ's feet, as Peter in his confidence talked high - 'I will not deny thee,' but yet afterward they may fail, when they come to resist unto blood: Heb. 12.4, 'Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.' When you must make choice of the world or Christ, then are the best discoveries made.

[3.] They are nothing in religion that cannot deny pleasure and the delicacy of life. For this is the constant and private self-denial of a Christian, which is always necessary. All sin is rooted in a love of pleasure more than of God; for therefore do we sin, because of the contentment we do imagine to be in sin, that draws on the heart to the practice of it. Now he that cannot abjure his contentment is nothing: Prov. 25.28, 'He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down, and without walls.' The meaning is, he that cannot subdue his inclination to pleasure, doth lie open to every temptation. As an unwalled town in time of war receives every army that comes; so is his soul, it lies obvious to temptation. And besides, pleasures will necessarily bring a brawn upon the heart, they are so contrary to the severity of religion. Seneca said, Certainly, it is necessary that he should have low thoughts of duty that hath high thoughts of pleasure, and to gratify his senses. If God had required nothing of us but the perfection of reason, if we were only to show ourselves men, there must be a bridle upon appetite and sensual desires. There is an old quarrel between appetite and reason. Nature itself would suggest such arguments to us as would put us upon the mortification of the senses.

[4.] We must deny ourselves in point of desire as well as in point of enjoyment: Titus 2.12, 'Denying ungodliness and worldly lusts.' The great part of this duty consists in mortifying and subduing worldly lusts, that we may be content with our portion, though but a little of the world, if God seeth us fit for no more. It is a high point of self-denial, not only to part with what we have, but to be content with what we have; when the soul comes to this, to say, I have enough, because I have as much as God allotteth me, and because God seeth it fit I should have no more. To be content with a little of the world, and not to desire more, it is the poor man's duty as well as the rich. As a rich man is to quit his possessions when God calls him, so a poor man is to quit, mortify, and subdue his desires. Covetousness, when once it prevails upon the heart, it desires, it grasps, it aims at the whole world; therefore Christ saith, Mat. 16.26, If a man should gain the whole world,' implying, that is in the aims of men. When a man's corruptions break out that way, he will never be satisfied. Solomon saith Eccles. 5.10, 'He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver.' The heart of man is largely drawn out, so that like the grave, we shall never be able to say, It is enough. To enjoy complacency in our portion, it is a great part of self-denial. To desire more, it is but to desire more snares. If I had more, I should have more trouble, more snares, more duty; greater gates do but open to more care; I should have more to account for, more time, and more opportunity; and alas! I cannot answer for what I have already. If a plant be starved in the valleys, it will never thrive on the mountains; so if in a low condition we are not able to conquer the temptation of it, what shall we do if we had more, if we cannot be responsible to God for what we have?

[5.] Vainglory is as sordid a piece of self, and as much to be denied, as affectation of riches and worldly greatness. Covetousness, that carries a man to another object, but vainglory to another end; the one makes us idolaters, and the other hypocrites; an idolater sets up another God, and a hypocrite denies the true God. For mark, God, by reason of the excellency of his being, is to be the highest object of our respect; and because he is the supreme cause, he is to be the ultimate end of all our actions; and when we set up another end, we deny God his prerogative.

[6.] We are to deny ourselves, not only in case of temptation to direct sin, when either we must thus deny ourselves or actually sin, but also for the general advantage of duty and obedience, and the conveniency of a holy life; for instance, I am to deny my pleasure, not only when reason may be grossly discomposed, not only by refusing such works of the flesh as stink in the nostrils of nature, but lest I be unfitted for duty, lest insensibly I contract a distemper and brawn upon my heart. And so I am to deny riches, not only not to seek them by unlawful means, and when I cannot keep them with a good conscience, but not to lay out the strength of my spirits in the pursuit of the world, that it may not intercept the vigour and strength of my soul, which should be reserved for communion with God. So I am to deny honours, that is, not only ambitious affectation of them, but when they will make me to lose the pleasant opportunity of devout retirement, and a religious privacy with God. And riches are to be denied, not only when they choke conscience, but when they choke the word.

[7.] In the work of self-denial there must special regard be had to the seasons wherein we live, in several cases.

(1.) In doubtful times when God seems to threaten judgment, then our heart must be more loose from worldly comforts than at other times, and we must deny ourselves of those comforts which at other times a man may take. Our Saviour reproacheth the scribes and pharisees for not discerning the seasons. It is a great fault of Christians when they do not regard the season and time of God's displeasure; for instance Jer. 45.4,5, 'That which I have built will I break down, and that which I have planted I will pluck up, even this whole land. And seekest thou great things for thyself? Seek them not.' I am pulling down, saith God, and plucking up, and for men to mind worldly greatness, and honours, and the conveniences of the outward life, when the face of the times looks towards a judgment, when we may see a storm in the black clouds, then to think of building, planting, and advancing ourselves, it is most unseasonable and horrid security. This the Spirit of God takes notice of in the men that lived in the days of Noah: it is said, 'They ate and drank, and married.' All these things, you know, are necessary for the supportation of mankind; but when they minded these things, and had no regard to the season, did not see the storm in the clouds, at such a time when God seems to begin his controversy with a nation, whatever we do, we should do it with caution and fear; for the more we busy ourselves in the world, the more snares do we draw upon ourselves. God looketh, that we should be observant of the season, and not seek after honours, and ease, and plenty. When judgments are coming, our hearts should be most weaned then, when the face of the sky doth begin to lower and thicken towards a storm.
(2.) When we are like to put a stumbling-block in the way of a new convert, 2 Kings 5.26. The prophet speaking to Gehazi, when he ran after Naaman for a gift - 'Is this a time,' saith the prophet, 'to receive money, and to think of vineyards and olive-yards, and sheep and oxen, and men-servants and maid-servants?' Simply to receive a gift had not been unlawful, but Elisha was resolved to take none, to show he did not make a trade of miracles for his private gain, but it was God's honour he aimed at; it was enough for him that the God of Israel was acknowledged by Naaman the Syrian to be the true God, he would allure him by the freeness of the gift. The prophet doth not so much rebuke Gehazi for the lie, as for the unseasonableness of the motion, that it might bring disgrace upon the honour and high calling of the prophet, and dishonour the God of Israel. We must depart from our own conveniency in such cases; it is a great stumbling-block to the world when they that pretend to reformation seek honours, profits, great places, and preferments for themselves and their families. All pious designs must have a suitable carriage. In Austin's time it was a scandal against the Christians, and the heathens soon took up that reproach, that they overturned the idols, not out of any piety or devotion, but covetousness, that they might have the gold. Reformers of all men should be content with the goodness of the action.
(3.) In prosperous times of the church there is much self-denial to be practised. I confess, self-denial is chiefly for suffering times, for so it is in the text - 'Let him deny himself, and take up the cross;' these two are coupled together, that when a cross meets us in our way, which we cannot avoid without some hazard of conscience, then we must deny ourselves. But, however, it is a duty that is always in season. I shall show you wherein this self-denial is to be practised in prosperous times.
1st. We must deny ourselves in charity, and in a constant improvement of our substance to God's glory. Charity, it is the constant vent of christian affection, a holy emptying out of self in liberal and charitable distributions, and it is the only cure and preservative we can have against self-seeking, if done out of sincere aims: Mark 10.31, 'Go sell all that thou hast,' saith Christ to the young man, and 'give to the poor, and come and follow me, taking up thy cross,' but he was sad at that saying. There is somewhat extraordinary in that trial, 'Go, sell all that thou hast, and give to the poor.' This is the self-denial Christ calleth for. Can we trust him upon a bill of exchange to be paid in heaven? How much is to be given is hard to define, somewhat must be done worthy of the gospel, and that you may have more comfort within yourselves, otherwise you may be as great a self-seeker as those that get goods by rapine, when you possess them with avarice. He is not only a covetous self-seeker that takes away other men's goods, but he that penuriously keeps his own, if he holdeth more than is meet; we are to go back some degrees in pomp and pleasure. Take the example of Jesus Christ, how many degrees he went back: 2 Cor. 8.9, 'When he was rich, he became poor, that we might be rich.'
2d. In obedience to the word in the strictest inward duties. Many duties go against the bent of a carnal heart, as inward mortification, meditation, self-examination. There is no outward glory in these things, and they are painful and distasteful to flesh and blood. Now in this case you must deny yourselves, for the free practice of these holy duties. Cornelius, when he came to Peter, he and his family, say they, Acts 10.33, 'Here we are all before the Lord, to hear all things that are commanded thee of God;' we are contented to hear whatever God will be pleased to teach. The ministers of the gospel are factors for heaven, they drive God's bargain and covenant with the world. Now the Lord cannot endure any reservation, and withdrawing the shoulder from any known duties; how contrary and distasteful soever they are to flesh and blood, you must practise them. We are all afraid of sins against conscience, and certainly they will be very clamorous. But now the world is mistaken in sins against light and conscience; we think that sins of commission are only sins against conscience; as when a man commits adultery, tells a lie against a check of conscience; but, oh! let me tell you, sins of omission may be sins against conscience too: James 4.17, mark, the apostle doth not say, To him that knows it is evil, it is sin; but 'he that knoweth to do good, and doth it not, to him it is sin;' when you are convinced of any duty, and do not practise it; you are not come up to Christ's rules. Sins of omission are sins against knowledge, as well as sins of commission.
3d. In the uprightness of our aims, to see that we be not guided by aims that flow from self-love. A man had more need to fear his heart in prosperous times than in times of persecution, that he be not led with perverse respects, with the outward countenance of religion, with respect to his own interest, that you be not lovers of yourselves, under 'a form of godliness,' as the apostle speaks, 2 Tim. 3.1. That you do not merely hold out a pretence of religion, upon those undue motives. There are no greater enemies to Christ than those that profess Christ upon self-interest, Phil. 3.18,19. The apostle speaks of some that preached Christ crucified, whose God is their belly, and who minded earthly things; all their aim was to flow in abundance of wealth and pleasure. They really oppose the virtue and power of his cross, as much as those that openly do call him a seducer.
4th. In prosperous times you are to deny yourselves, in mortifying earthly pleasures and carnal desires, how dear soever they be to the soul, though our lusts be as near and dear as the right hand and the right eye. In times of danger God takes away the fuel of our lusts; but in times of peace we are to take away the desires and lusts themselves; and indeed that is hardest. It is easier to quit life than one lust for Christ; these being more rooted in our nature, are more hardly overcome; enduring of hardships is nothing to the overcoming of lusts. We are to crucify and deaden these desires to the world, how sweet soever they be. Men think there can be no pleasure, but in the accomplishment of their carnal desires. It is pleasant, no doubt, to a woman with child, to have what she longs for; but yet it is more pleasant not to be troubled with those longings; so when these lusts are gone, it will be exceeding pleasant and comfortable to the soul. Your great work then is to take heed that you do not live as those that are debtors to the flesh, Rom. 8.12. You owe no suit, and service to your carnal desires. We are bound to clothe and feed the body, that it may be an instrument to serve God, but no further; you are not debtors to it, you owe it nothing and therefore if those desires encroach upon you, you must renounce them. The conveniences of the present life, these things serve only as ballast to a ship in the passage, we are bound for a city whose commodities cannot be purchased for gold or silver. You can not buy repentance, faith, pardon, or glory, with gold or silver.
5th. This public self-denial is required of you in seeking to promote the common salvation and public benefit of the saints, without any partial respect to your own interest and opinion. Usually this is the fault of the children of God, saith Nazianzen, when they begin to grow well, then they are factious and divided, as green timber that lies in the sunshine is apt to warp; so when we enjoy the sunshine of prosperity, we are apt to divide and grow turbulent: Rom. 15. 2, the apostle saith, Let every one of us please his neighbour for his good, to edification.' We are not to please ourselves, not to look to the gratification of our own opinions, not to be privately urging our own opinions to the tormenting of interests and the breach of christian charity; it is a most spiritual kind of self-denial to be ever ruled by respects to the general interests of religion more than by private affection to our own party. Look, as the elements leave their proper motion; the water will ascend, and the air descend, to conserve the universe, and that there may be no vacuum and emptiness in the world; so it is good not to be partial to our own private interest, and at least to forbear censures and exasperations, and drawing everything to the height.

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