siness; he hath no honour to regard but God's honour; he hath none to exalt but the King of kings; he knows no gain but the pleasing of God; he knows no content or pleasure but God's pleasure: for the life that he now lives in the flesh, he lives by faith of the Son of God, that hath loved him and given himself for him; and thereby hath drawn him out of himself to the fountain and end of love and so it is not he that lives, but Christ liveth in him: Gal. ii. 20.

10. Lastly, it is the high prerogative of God, to have the honour, and power, and glory ascribed to him, and be praised as the author of all good to the world: and his glory he will not give to another. Man and all things are created, and preserved, and ordered for his glory: nor shall man have any glory but in the glorifying of his Lord: when we fell short of glorifying the Lord, we also fell short of the glory which we expected by him.

But when sin turned man from God to himself, he became regardless of the honour of God, and his mind was bent on his own honour, so that he would have every knee bow to himself, and every eye observe him, and every mind think highly of him, and every tongue to praise and magnify him. It doth him good at the heart, to have virtue, and wisdom, and greatness ascribed to him, and an excellency in all; and to have all the good that is done ascribed to him, and to be taken to be as the sun in the firmament that all must eye, and none can live without, and to be esteemed the benefactor of all. When he hears that men extol him and speak nothing of him but well, and great things; and when he sees them all observe and reverence him, and take him as an oracle for wisdom, or as an angel of God, O how this pleaseth his unsanctified, selfish mind! Now he hath his end, even that which he would have; and "verily," saith Christ, "they have their reward."

But when sanctification hath taught men to deny themselves, they see then that they are vile and miserable sinners, and loathe themselves for all their abominations; and are base in their own eyes, and humble themselves before the Lord, and abhor themselves in dust and ashes, and say, "To us belongeth shame and confusion of face; not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but to thy name give the glory;" Dan.ix. 7,8. Psal. cxv. 1. The holy, self-denying soul desireth no glory and honour, but what may conduce to the glory and

honour of his Lord: his heart riseth against base, flattering worldlings, that would rob God and give the honour to him; nor can they do him a greater displeasure than to ascribe that to him which belongeth only to God, or to bring to him or any creature, his Maker's due. If God be honoured, he takes himself as honoured, if he be never so low; if God be dishonoured, he is troubled, and his own honour will not make him reparation. As he liveth himself to the glory of God, and doth all that he doth in the world to that end; so would he have all others do so too. And if God be most honoured by his disgrace and shame, he can submit.

And thus I have shewed you the true nature both of selfishness and of self-denial. But observe that I describe it as it is in itself; but yet there is too much selfishness in the best, which may hinder the fulness of these effects. But self-denial is predominant in all the sanctified, though it be not perfect.

CHAPTER II.

Reasons of the Necessity of Self-denial to Salvation.

III. AND now you have seen the true description of self-denial, and I hope, if you have studied it, you know what it is that is required; I shall next shew you some of the reasons of its necessity, and prove it to you beyond dispute, that it is no indifferent thing, nor the high attainment of some few of the saints, but a thing that all must have that will be saved, being of the very essence of holiness itself; so that it is as possible to live without life, as to be holy without self-denial; and as possible to be saved whether God will or no, as to be saved without self-denial in a predominant degree. And if any of you think it strange that salvation should be laid on so high a duty, and that no man can be a true disciple that denieth not himself, even to the forsaking of his life, and all, when God requireth it, I shall shew you that reason that should easily satisfy you.

Reason 1. Till a man deny himself, he denieth God, and doth not indeed believe in him, and love him, and take him to be his God.' And I hope you will grant that no man can be saved that believes not in God, nor loveth him, nor takes

him for his God. He that will deny God and yet think to be saved, must think to be saved in despite of God. The first article of our faith, and of our baptismal Christian covenant is, to believe in God the Father, and take him for our God, and give up ourselves to be his people.' But this no man can do without self-denial. For by all that I have said in the description of it, you may see that selfishness is most contrary to God, and would rob him of all his high prerogatives, and God should be no God, if the selfish sinner had his will: and he doth not heartily consent that he shall be God to him. I have formerly told you, that self is the God of wicked men, or the world's great idol; and that the inordinate love of pleasure, profits and honour, in trinity, is all but this self-love in unity; and that in the malignant trinity of God's enemies, the flesh is the first and foundation, the world the second, and the devil the third. Every man is an idolater so far as he is selfish. God is not a bare name : he that takes away his essence, or attributes and prerogatives, and yet thinks he believeth in him, because he leaveth him his names and titles, doth as bad as they that set up an image, and worship that instead of God, or that worship the sun or moon as gods, because they somewhat represent his glory; for sure a bare name hath as little substance as an image; much less can you say it hath more than the sun. Now selfish, ungodly men do all of them rob God, and give his honour and prerogatives to themselves, and put him off with empty titles: they call him their God, but will not have him for their end, their portion and felicity, nor give him the strongest love of their hearts: they will not take him as their absolute Owner; and devote themselves and all they have to him, and stand with a willing mind to his disposal. They will not take him for their sovereign, and be ruled by him, nor deny themselves for him, nor seek his honour and interest above their own. They call him their Father, but deny him his honour; and their master, but give him not his fear; Mal. i. 6. They depend not on his hand, and live not by his law, and to his glory; and therefore they do not take him for their God. And can you expect that God should save those that deny him, and would dethrone him, that is, his very enemies?

Reason 2. Yea, more than so; God will not save those that make themselves their own gods, when they have re

jected him. But all these unsanctified selfish men do make themselves their own gods; for in all the ten particulars before mentioned, they take to themselves the prerogatives of God. 1. They would be their own end, and look no further. 2. They use all creatures but as means to this end; yea, God himself is esteemed but for themselves. 3. They love their present life and prosperity better than God. 4. They would be their own, and live as their own, and not as those that are none of their own. 5. They would have the creatures to be their own, and use them as their own, and not as God's. 6. They must care for themselves, and shift for themselves, and dare not trust themselves wholly upon God. 7. They would dispose of themselves and their own conditions, and of all things else. 8. They would rule themselves, and be from under the laws and government of God. 9. They would be the rulers of all others, and have all men do their wills. 10. And they would be honoured and admired by all, and have the praise ascribed to them. And if all this be not to set up themselves as gods or idols in the world, I know not what is. Certainly God is so far from having a thought of saving such vile idolaters (in this condition), that they are the principal objects of his high displeasure, and the fairest marks for his justice to shoot at: and he is engaged to pull them down, and tread them into hell. Should God stand by and see a company of rebellious sinners sit down in his throne, or usurp his sovereignty and divine prerogatives, and let them alone, yea, and advance them to his glory? No, he hath resolved that "he that humbleth himself shall be exalted, and he that exalteth himself shall be brought low." And what higher self-exaltation can there be, than to make ourselves as gods to ourselves? And therefore who should be brought lower than such?

Reason 3. No man can be a Christian that takes not Christ for his Lord and Saviour; but no man without this self-denial can take Christ for his Lord and Saviour, and therefore no man without self-denial can be a Christian and so be saved.' He that makes himself his end, cannot make Christ, as Christ his way; for Christ is the way to the Father, and not to carnal self. Nay, the business that Christ came upon into the world, was to pull down and subdue this self. Moreover, whoever taketh Christ for his Saviour,

must know from what it is that he must save him; and that is principally from self: and no man can take Christ for his Saviour that renounceth not self-confidence, and is not willing to be saved from the idolatry of self-exaltation. No man can take Christ for his Master or Teacher, that comes not into his school as a little child, renouncing the guidance of carnal self, and sensible of his need of a heavenly teacher. No man can take Christ for his King and Lord, and give up himself as his own, and as his subject, that hath not learned to deny that self that claims property and sovereignty in his stead. There is no antichrist, nor false Christ, that ever was in the world, that doth more truly oppose Christ, and resist him in all the parts of his office, than carnal self. It is this that will not stoop to his righteousness, or to his guidance, and to his teaching and holy government. Self is the false Christ or saviour of the world, as well as the false god. And therefore there can be no salvation where self is not denied and taken down.

Reason 4. He that believeth not in the Holy Ghost, and taketh him not for his Sanctifier, cannot be a true Christian, or be saved. But no man without this self-denial believeth in the Holy Ghost, and taketh him for his Sanctifier.' And therefore without this self-denial no man can be a true Christian, or be saved. The very nature of sanctification consisteth in the turning a man from himself to God: in destroying selfishness, and devoting the soul to God by Christ. And therefore it is past dispute, that none but the self-denying are sanctified; and therefore none but they do truly take the Holy Ghost for their Sanctifier, and truly believe in him. So far as men are in love with the disease, it is certain they will not use the physician.

Reason 5. No man is a true Christian and in a state of salvation, that denieth, renounceth or rejecteth the word of God.' But all men that have not self-denial (that hear the word of God) do renounce, deny it, or reject it; and therefore no man without self-denial is a true Christian, or can be saved.' In the Scriptures it is that we have eternal life: it is they that mnst make us wise to salvation; the man that will be blessed, must meditate in them day and night (Psal. i. 2.); and it is not the hearers but the doers of them that are blessed. But nothing is more clear, than that the voice of Scripture calleth aloud on all men to deny them