An Extract from Mr. Law’s TREATISE On CHRISTIAN PERFECTION.

Chap. I.

THE wisdom of mankind has, for several ages, been enquiring into the nature of man, and the nature of the world in which he is placed.

The wants and miseries of human nature, and the vanity of worldly enjoyments, have made it difficult for the wisest men to tell, what human happiness was, or wherein it consisted.

It has pleased the infinite goodness of God to satisfy our enquiries, by a revelation made to the world by his Son Jesus Christ.

This revelation has laid open the great secrets of providence from the creation of the world. It has explained the present state of things, and given man all the information that is necessary, both to give him rest here, and to lead him safely to everlasting happiness.

It is now only necessary that the poor wisdom of man do not exalt itself against God, that we suffer our eyes to be opened by him that made them, and our lives to be conducted by him, in whom we live, move and have our being.

II. As happiness is the sole end of all our labours, so this revelation aims at nothing else.

It gives us right notions of ourselves, of our true good and real evil; it shews us our true condition, both our greatness and meanness, our happiness and misery.

*Before this, man was a mere riddle to himself, and his condition full of darkness and perplexity; a restless inhabitant of a miserable disordered world, walking in a vain shadow and disquieting himself in vain.

*But this light has dispersed the anxiety of his vain conjectures. It has, by adding heaven to earth, and eternity to time, opened such a glorious view of things, as leads men, even in this world, to a peace of God which passeth all understanding.

III. *This revelation acquaints us, that we have a spirit within us, which was created after the divine image; that this spirit is now in a fallen condition; that the body in which it is placed is its sepulchre, where it is enslaved to fleshly thoughts, blinded with false notions of good and evil, and dead to all taste of its true happiness.

It teaches us, that the world in which we live, is also in a disordered, irregular state, and cursed for the sake of man; that it is no longer the paradise that God made it, but the remains of a drowned world, full of marks of God’s displeasure, and the sin of its inhabitants.

That it is a mere wilderness, a state of darkness, a vale of misery, where vice and madness, dreams and shadows, variously please and torment the short, miserable lives of men.

Devils also, and evil spirits have here their residence, promoting the works of darkness, and wandering up and down, seeking whom they may devour.

So that man, in his natural state, is like a person sick of variety of diseases, knowing neither his distemper nor his cure, and inclosed in a place where he can hear or see, or feel, or taste of nothing but what tends to enflame his disorders.

IV. *But Christianity puts an end to this state of things, blots out all the ideas of worldly wisdom, brings the world itself to ashes, and creates all anew. It calls man from an animal life and earthly societies, to be born again of the Holy Ghost, and be made a member of the kingdom of God.

It crushes into nothing the concerns of this life, condemns it as a state of vanity and darkness, and leads man to a happiness with God in the realms of light.

It proposes the purifying of our souls, enlivened with the divine spirit: it sets before us new goods and evils, and forms us to a glorious participation of the divine nature.

This is the one end of Christianity. It does not leave us to grovel on in the desires of the flesh, to cast about for worldly happiness, and wander in darkness and exile from God: but the sole design of it is, to lead us from all thoughts of rest here, to separate us from worldly tempers, to deliver us from the folly of our passions, the slavery of our own natures, the power of evil spirits, and unite us to God, the true fountain of real good. This is the mighty change which Christianity aims at, to reform our whole natures, renew our souls in the image of God, and make them the inhabitants of heavenly and immortal bodies.

V. The manner by which it changes our whole state is equally great and wonderful.

I am the way, the truth, and the life, saith our blessed Lord, no man cometh unto the Father but by me.

As all things were created by the Son of God, and without him was not any thing made that was made, so are all things redeemed and restored by the same divine person.

As nothing could come into being without him, so nothing can enter into a state of happiness but by him.

The dignity of this redemption at once confounds the pride, and relieves the misery of man. How fallen must he be from God, that should need so great a mediator! And, on the other hand, how full of comfort is the thought that so high a method, so stupendous a means should be taken to restore him to a state of peace and favour with God!

VI. *This is the true point of view, in which every Christian is to behold himself. He is to overlook the poor projects of this life, and consider himself as a creature, thro’ his natural corruption, falling into a state of endless misery; but by the mercy of God, redeemed to a condition of everlasting happiness.

All the precepts and doctrines of the gospel are founded on these two great truths, the deplorable corruption of human nature, and its new birth in Christ Jesus.

The one includes all the misery, the other all the happiness of man.

It is on these that the whole frame of Christianity is built, forbidding only such things as fasten us to the disorders of sin, and commanding only those duties which lead us into the liberty of the Sons of God.

So that if we think and act as Christians, we act suitably to these terms of our condition, fearing and avoiding all the motions of our corrupted nature, cherishing the secret inspirations of the Holy Spirit, opening our minds for the reception of the divine light, and pressing after all the perfections of our new birth.

All Christians are continually to behave themselves conformable to this double capacity. We are to fear and watch and pray, like men that are always on the brink of eternal death; and to believe and hope, labour and aspire, like Christians that are called to fight the good fight of faith, and lay hold on eternal life.

VII. This knowledge of ourselves makes human life a state of infinite importance, placed upon so dreadful a point betwixt two such eternities.

Well might our Saviour say to one that begged first to go and bury his father, Follow me, and let the dead bury their dead.

For what is all the bustle and hurry of the world but dead shew, and its greatest actors but dead men, when compared with that real life to which the followers of Christ are redeemed?

Had we been made only for this world, worldly wisdom had been our highest wisdom; but seeing we are redeemed to an intirely contrary state, worldly wisdom is now our greatest foolishness.

It is now our only wisdom, to understand our new state, and conduct ourselves by the principles of our redemption.

VIII. The nature of our Christian calling is of that concern, as to deserve all our thoughts, and is indeed only to be perceived by great seriousness and attention of mind.

The Christian state is an invisible life, supported, not by sensible goods, but the spiritual graces of faith and hope: so that a man busied in earthly cares and enjoyments, perceives nothing of this great and heavenly calling.

The changes which Christianity make in the present state of things, are all invisible: its goods and evils, which are the only true standards of our actions, are not subject to the knowledge of our senses.

In God we live and move and have our being; but how unseen, how unfelt is all this!

Christ is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, the true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end of all things. The whole creation subsists in him and by him. No person is in any favour with God, but by this great Mediator. But how invisible, how unknown to all our senses is this state of things!

Christians are temples of the Holy Ghost, consecrated to God, members of Christ’s mystical body, of his flesh and his bones, receiving life, spirit and motion, from him their head.

But our senses see no farther than our parents and kindred according to the flesh, and fix our hearts to earthly friendships and relations. Well then may this life be deemed a state of darkness, since it thus clouds and covers all the true appearances of things, and keeps our minds insensible and unaffected with matters of such infinite moment.

IX. *Would we therefore know our true condition, we must search after a life that is hid with Christ in God. We must consider ourselves as parts of Christ’s mystical body, and as members of the kingdom of heaven. In vain do we consider the beauty and strength of our bodies, our alliances with men, and the distinctions of this world; for these things no more constitute the state of human life, than rich coffins or beautiful monuments constitute the state of the dead.

We justly pity the last poor efforts of human greatness, when we see a breathless carcase lying in state. It appears so far from any real honour, that it rather looks like ridiculing the misery of our nature. But were religion to form our judgments, the life of a proud, voluptuous, sensual man, tho’ shining in all the splendour of the world, would give us no higher an idea of human dignity, than a poor corpse laid in state.

For a sinner, when glorying in the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life, is a more shocking sight of misery ridiculed, than any pageantry that can expose the dead.

X. We have an apostle’s authority to say, that he who liveth in pleasure is dead whilst he liveth.

This shews us, that when we enquire what our life is, we must think of something higher than the vigour of our blood, the gaiety of our spirits, or the enjoyment of sensual pleasures: since these, tho’ the allowed signs of living men, are often undeniable proofs of dead Christians.

When therefore we would truly know what our life or happiness is, we must look at nothing that is sensible or temporal. We may as well dig in the earth for wisdom as look at flesh and blood to see what we are, or at worldly enjoyments to find what we want, or at temporal evils to see what we have to fear.

We must therefore, if we would conceive our true state, our real good and evil, look farther than these dim eyes of flesh can carry our views. We must, with the eyes of faith, penetrate into the invisible world, the world of spirits, and consider our order and condition among them; a world which, as St. John speaks, hath no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it; for the glory of God doth lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. For it is there, among eternal beings, that we must take an eternal fellowship, or fall into a kingdom of darkness and everlasting misery.

XI. *Christianity is so noble in its ends, so extensive in its views, that it has no less subjects than these to entertain our thoughts.

It buries our bodies, burns the present world, triumphs over death by a general resurrection, and opens all into an eternal state.

It never considers us in any other respect than as fallen spirits, it disregards worldly distinctions, and proposes nothing to our fears but eternal misery, nothing to our hopes but an endless enjoyment of God.

This is the great, the important condition, in which Christianity has placed us, above our bodies, above the world, above death, to be present at the dissolution of all things, to see the earth in flames, and the heavens wrapt up like a scroll, to stand at the general resurrection, to appear at the universal judgment, and to live for ever, when all that our eyes have seen is passed away and gone.

XII. *Take therefore upon thee a temper suitable to this greatness of thy condition. Remember that thou art an eternal spirit; that thou art but for a few months or years in a state of flesh and blood, only to try whether thou shalt be for ever happy with God, or for ever miserable with the devil.

Thou wilt hear of other concerns and other greatness in this world. Thou wilt see every order of men, every family, every person pursuing some fancied happiness, as if the world had not only happiness, but a particular kind of happiness for all its inhabitants.

But when thou seest this, fancy thou sawest all the world asleep: the prince no longer a prince: the beggar no longer begging, but every man sleeping out of his proper state; some happy, others tormented, and all changing their condition, as fast as one foolish dream could succeed another.

When thou hast seen this, if thou wilt, thou mayst go to sleep too, thou mayst lie down and dream. And this is all; for be as happy as the world can make thee, all is but sleeping and dreaming: and what is still worse, it ♦is like sleeping in a ship, when thou shouldst be pumping for life, or dreaming thou art a prince, when thou shouldst be redeeming thyself from slavery.

XIII. This is no imaginary flight of a melancholy fancy, but the real nature of things.

*For if thou art that immortal nature, that fallen spirit which religion teaches us; if thou art to meet death, resurrection, and judgment, as the forerunners of an eternal state, what are all the little flashes of pleasure, the changing appearances of worldly happiness, but so many sorts of dreams?

*How canst thou talk of the advantage of fortune, the pleasures of food or apparel, without being in a dream?

Is the beggar asleep, when he fancies he is building himself fine houses? Is the prisoner in a dream, when he imagines himself in open fields and fine groves? And canst thou think thy immortal spirit is awake, while it is delighting itself in the shadows and bubbles of worldly happiness?

For if it be true, that man is upon his trial, if the trial is for eternity, if life is but a vapour, what is there that deserves a serious thought, but how to get well out of the world, and make it a right passage to our eternal state?

XIV. *It is the manner of some countries, in the burial of their dead, to put a staff and shoes and money in the sepulchre along with the corpse.

We see the folly and ignorance of such a poor contrivance to assist the dead: but if we did but understand what is life, we should see as much folly in the poor contrivances to assist the living.

For how many things do people labour after, break their rest and peace to get, which yet when gotten are of just as much real use to them, as a staff and shoes to a corpse under ground? They are always adding something to their life, which is only like adding another pair of shoes to a body in the grave.

Thou mayst hire more servants, new paint thy rooms, and put on richer apparel: and these will help thee to be happy, as golden staffs or painted shoes will help a dead man to walk.

XV. *If thou rememberest, that the whole race of mankind are a race of fallen spirits, that pass thro’ this world, as an arrow passeth thro’ the air, thou wilt soon perceive, that there is no wisdom or happiness, but in getting away to the best advantage.

If thou rememberest, that this life is but a vapour, that thou art in the body, only to be holy, humble, and heavenly-minded; that thou standest upon the brink of death, resurrection, and judgment, and that these great things will suddenly come upon thee like a thief in the night, thou wilt see a vanity in the things of this world, greater than any words can express.

Do but therefore know thyself as religion hath made thee known; do but see thyself in the light which Christ has brought into the world, and then thou wilt see that nothing concerns thee, but what concerns an everlasting spirit that is going to God; and that there are no enjoyments here that are worth a thought, but such as may adorn thee with that holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord.

XVI. *This is the end of Christianity. It is not a school for the teaching of moral virtue. It is deeper and more divine in its designs: it implies an entire change of heart, a full dedication of ourselves, our souls and bodies unto God.

Our blessed Saviour came into the world, not to make any composition with it, but to put an end to the designs of flesh and blood, and to shew us, we must either renounce this world to become Sons of God, or by enjoying it, take our portion among damned spirits.

Christianity is a state of things that wholly regards eternity: it knows of no other goods and evils, but such as relate to another life.

It is a kingdom of heaven that has no other interests in this world, than as it takes its members out of it; and when the number of the elect is compleat, this world will be consumed with fire, as having no other reason for its existence, than the furnishing members for that blessed society, which is to last for ever.

I cannot here omit observing the folly of human wisdom, which, full of imaginary projects, pleases itself with its lasting establishments in a world doomed to destruction, and which is to last no longer than till a sufficient number is redeemed out of it.

Did we see a number of animals hastening to take up their apartments, and contending for the best places in a building that was to be beat down as soon as its old inhabitants were got safe out, we should see a contention full as wise as the wisdom of worldly ambition.

XVII. That Christianity implies a change of nature, is plain from the whole tenor of the gospel.

The Saviour of the world saith, That except a man be born again of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. We are told, that to as many as received him, to them he gave power to become the Sons of God; which were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

These words plainly teach us, that Christianity implies an entire change of nature: that as our birth was to us the beginning of a new life, and brought us into a society of earthly enjoyments, so Christianity is another birth, that brings us into a condition as new as when we first saw the light.

We begin again to be, when we enter upon fresh terms of life, have new tempers, new hopes and fears, and an entire change of every thing that can be called good or evil.

This new birth is the very essence and soul of Christianity; it is the seal of the promises, the mark of our sonship, the earnest of our inheritance, and the sure proof of our acceptance with God.

XVIII. If we would know what a change our new life in Christ implies, let us consider what it is to be born of God.

Whosoever is born of God, saith the apostle, doth not commit sin. For his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil. And again, We know, that whosoever is born of God sinneth not, but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and the wicked one toucheth him not. 1 John iii. 10, v. 18.

The same apostle tells us, Whosoever is born of God overcometh the world. He overcometh all worldly desires and worldly fears. He is crucified unto the world and the world crucified unto him. He is dead to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life. And he feareth not them that can kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do.

We must therefore examine into the state of our minds, and see whether we are thus changed in our natures, thus born again: whether we are so spiritual, as to have overcome the world: so holy, as that we cannot commit sin; since it is the undeniable doctrine of scripture, that this new birth is as necessary to salvation, as the believing in Jesus Christ.

♦XX. There is perhaps no duty more contrary to flesh and blood than the loving our enemies. But this is easy to those that are born of God.

For take but away earthly goods and evils, and you take away all hatred and malice. For they are the only causes of those base tempers.

He therefore that hath overcome the world, hath overcome all the occasions of envy and ill nature, and can pity, pray for and forgive all his enemies, who want less forgiveness from him than he hath received from his heavenly Father.

Let us here awhile contemplate the height and depth of Christian holiness, and that godlike spirit which it implies! And this alone might convince us, that to be Christians, we must be born again: we must so change our very natures, as to have no desire in our souls, but that of being like God.

And till we rejoice and delight only in God, we cannot have this love to our fellow-creatures.

We may therefore learn from this, as well as from what was observed before, that Christianity does not consist in doing no harm, nor in doing good, (as it is called) nor yet in any particular moral virtues, as some idly suppose; but in an entire change of our hearts, of all our natural tempers, and a life wholly devoted to God.

XXI. The same doctrine is farther taught by our blessed Saviour, when speaking of little children, he saith, Suffer them to come unto me; for of such is the kingdom of God. Luke xviii. 16.

Now the peculiar condition of infants is such, that they have every thing to learn; they are to be taught by others what they are to hope and fear, and wherein their proper happiness consists.

And in this sense first we are to become as little children, to be as tho’ we had every thing to learn, and suffer ourselves to be taught, what we are to chuse, and what we are to avoid; to pretend to no wisdom of our own, but be ready to be taught of God, the only way of pursuing that happiness, which God in Christ proposes to us; and to accept it with such simplicity of mind as little children, who have nothing of their own to oppose to it.

XXII. But is this infant temper essential to Christianity? Does the kingdom of God consist only of those that have it? This is another undeniable proof that Christianity implies a new nature; such as having renounced the prejudices of life, the maxims of human wisdom, gives itself with a child-like submission and simplicity, to be entirely governed by the doctrines and Spirit of Christ.

Craft and policy, selfish cunning, proud abilities and vain endowments, have no admittance into this holy state of society with Christ in God.

The wisdom of this world, the intrigues of life, the designs of greatness and ambition, lead to another kingdom. He that follows Christ must be emptied of this vain furniture, and put on the meek ornament of infant and undesigning simplicity.

Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?

If we will partake of the wisdom of God, we must judge of this world and its most boasted gifts, as the wisdom of God judgeth of them; we must deem them foolishness, and with undivided hearts labour after one wisdom, one happiness, in being entirely devoted to God.

XXIII. This comparison of Christians to little children, may also remind us of a certain simplicity of behaviour, which is always the effect of a heart truly and entirely devoted to God.

As worldly men are therefore reserved, artful and deceitful, because they have many and secret ends to bring about; so they whose heart is wholly devoted to God, being wholly taken up with one great design, and having no little successes that they labour after, have no need of artifice or disguise; and so are naturally open, simple and undesigning in all the affairs of life.

XXIV. From all these considerations it appears, that Christianity implies a new nature, and a life entirely devoted to God.

Now if this be Christianity, it may serve to instruct two sorts of people:

First, Those who are content with an outward religion; whose Christianity lies in outward decency and regularity of life.

I don’t mean those that are insincere or hypocritical: but all those who are content with outward religion, with any thing short of that inward holiness, that newness of spirit which the gospel describes.

They should consider that charity, chastity, sobriety and justice may be practised without Christianity. A Jew, a Heathen may be (what you call) charitable and temperate: but to make these parts of Christianity, they must proceed from a heart truly turned to God, that is full of an infant simplicity, that is crucified with Christ, that is born again of the Spirit, that has overcome the world. Temperance or justice without this, may be the temperance of a Jew or a Heathen: but it is not Christian temperance or justice, till it proceeds from a Christian spirit. Could we do and suffer all that Christ himself did or suffered, yet if it was not all done in the same temper, in the Spirit of Christ, it would profit us nothing.

XXV. A Christian is sober, charitable and just, upon the same principles and with the same spirit that he receives the Holy communion; as acts of obedience to God, and as so many instances of a heart truly devoted to God.

A Christian is sober, not only so far as suits with a regular life, but so as becomes one who is born of the Holy Spirit, who dwelleth in God and God in him.

He is charitable, not only so far as suits with his natural temper, and with good esteem among men; but in such a measure as is suitable to the doctrines and spirit of the gospel.

For indeed, neither charity, nor temperance, nor justice, nor any other virtues (as they are called) are parts of Christian holiness, till they spring from holiness of heart, from the mind that was in Christ.

This is what cannot be too much considered by those whose religion has made no change in their hearts; who fancy themselves Christians, only because of the regularity of their lives, altho’ they have never experienced a renewal in the spirit of their minds, who pray without devotion, give alms without charity, and are Christians without the Spirit of Christianity.

XXVI. Secondly, This doctrine may serve to instruct those who are convinced, they have been hitherto strangers to religion.

Some people who begin to look toward religion, think they have done enough, when they have reformed the outward course of their lives; when they have left off their gross vices and follies, or are grown careful of some particular duties.

Thus a man who has been a drunkard many years, thinks he has made a sufficient change by becoming temperate: another imagines, he is in a very good and safe state, because he does not neglect the public worship, as he used to do: a lady fancies she lives enough to God because she has left off plays, and lives more at home than formerly.

But such people should consider, that Christianity does not consist in the fewness of our vices; no nor in any one particular virtue, nor yet in the outward amendment of our lives: but in such a thorough change of heart, as makes the love of God the spring and measure and rule of all our tempers and actions.

XXVII. It is a miserable error, to think we are Christians, because we are less vain or covetous, more sober and decent in our behaviour than we used to be. Yet this is the case with many, who think they are well, because they are not so bad as they were, because they are reformed from outward wickedness; not considering how entire a reformation of heart, as well as life, Christianity implies.

But let such people remember, that they who thus measure themselves by themselves are not wise. Let them remember that they are not disciples of Christ, till they have, like him, offered their whole soul and body as a reasonable living sacrifice to God; that they are not members of Christ’s mystical body, till they are united unto him by a new spirit; that they have not entered into the kingdom of God, till they have entered into an infant simplicity of heart, till they are so born of God as not to commit sin, so full of an heavenly Spirit as to have overcome the world.

Let them remember, He that is in Christ is a new creature, and that nothing short of this will avail before God, nothing less than the entire renewal of the soul in righteousness and all true holiness. Let them remember, that there is no religion that will stand us in any stead, but that which is the conversion of the heart to God, when all our tempers are holy, heavenly, divine, springing from a soul that is born again of the Spirit, and tends with one full bent to a perfection and happiness in the enjoyment of God.

XXVIII. Let us therefore look carefully to ourselves, and consider what manner of spirit we are of: let us not think our condition safe, because we are of this or that church or persuasion, or because we are strict observers of the outward offices of religion. For we can’t but see, these are marks that belong to more than belong to Christ. All are not his that prophesy, or even cast out devils, and work miracles in his name. Much less those who, with corrupt minds and worldly hearts, are only baptized in his name.

*If religion has raised us into a new world; if it has filled us with new ends of life; if it has taken possession of our hearts, altered the whole turn of our minds, and changed the whole stream of our affections: if it has given us new joys and griefs, new hopes and fears; if all things in us are become new: if the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts, by the Holy Ghost given unto us, and this Spirit beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God: then are we Christians, not in name only, but in truth; then we do believe in the Holy Jesus, and we shall rejoice in the day of Christ, that we have not run in vain, neither laboured in vain.

CHAP. II.

CHRISTIANITY requires a renouncing of the world, and all worldly tempers.

I. The Christian religion being to raise a new, spiritual, and, as yet, invisible world, and to place man among thrones, principalities and spiritual beings, is at entire enmity with this present corrupt state of flesh and blood.

It ranks the world, with the flesh and the devil, as an equal enemy to those glorious ends which it proposes.

Accordingly the gospel lays its foundation, in utterly renouncing those false goods and enjoyments, which feed the vanity and corruption of our nature, fill our hearts with foolish and wicked passions, and keep us separate from God, the only happiness of all spirits.

II. For not only the vices, the wickedness, and vanity of this world, but even its most lawful concerns, if unduly pursued, make men unable to enter into the true state of Christianity.

He who is busied in an honest calling, may, on that account, be finally rejected of God.

*For it is no more pardonable to be less affected to the things of God, for the sake of any worldly business, than for the indulgence of our pride, or any other sinful passion: every business of life being equally trifling, when compared with the one thing needful.

III. Men of serious business indeed generally censure those, who trifle away their time in vain and impertinent pleasures.

But they don’t consider that their own employments also are as vain as vanity itself: they don’t consider that any business or employment, if it has got hold of the heart, renders men as vain and odious in the sight of God, as any sensual gratification.

They may call it an honest care, a wise industry, or by any other plausible name. But it is a wisdom which can no more recommend itself to the eyes of God than the wisdom of an epicure.

*For it shews as wrong a turn of mind, and as great a contempt of the true good, to neglect any degrees of piety for the sake of business, as for any the most trifling pleasures of life.

IV. *The wisdom of this world indeed gives an importance and air of greatness to several ways of life, and ridicules others as vain and contemptible, which differ only in their kind of vanity. But the wisdom from above condemns all labour as equally fruitless, which hinders our labouring after everlasting life. For what can it signify whether a man forgets God in his farm, or in a shop, or at a gaming table? The world is full as important in its pleasures as in its cares; there is no more wisdom in the one than in the other. And the man who, by the cares and business of the world is made less affected to the things of God, is no wiser than he who takes his delight in running foxes and hares out of breath.

For there is no wisdom in any thing but religion. Nor is any way of life less vain than another, but as it is made serviceable to piety, and conspires with the designs of religion, to raise mankind to a participation and enjoyment of the divine nature.

V. Let those who are not at all ashamed to be devoted to the cares and business of the world, consider those states of life, which they own to be vain and foolish, and contrary to religion.

Some people have no other care, than how to give their palate fresh pleasure, and enlarge the happiness of tasting.

Others live to no other purpose, than to breed dogs, and attend the sports of the field.

Men of sober business, who seem to act the grave part of life, generally condemn these ways of life.

But why are they to be condemned? Produce but the true reason why any of these are vain and sinful, and the same reason will conclude against every way of life which is not wholly devoted to God.

VI. Let the man who is deep in worldly business, but shew the vanity and shame of a life devoted to pleasures, and the same reasons will shew the vanity and shame of a life filled with worldly cares. So that whosoever can condemn sensuality, ambition, or any way of life upon the principles of reason and religion, carries his own condemnation within his own breast, unless his life be entirely devoted to God.

VII. It is granted that some cares are made necessary by the necessities of nature. And the same also may be observed of some pleasures, as the pleasures of eating, drinking and rest. But if reason and religion do not limit these pleasures by the necessities of nature, we fall from rational creatures into drones, sots, gluttons, and epicures.

*In like manner our care after some worldly things is necessary. But if this care is not bounded by the just wants of nature, if it wanders into unnecessary pursuits, and fills the mind with false desires and cravings; if it wants to add an imaginary splendour to the plain demands of nature, it is vain and irregular; it is the care of an epicure, a longing for sauces and ragous, and corrupts the soul like any other sensual indulgence.

For this reason our Lord points so many of his doctrines at the common allowed employments of life, to teach us, that they may employ our minds as falsely and dangerously as any trifles whatever.

He teaches us, that even the necessaries of life should be sought with a kind of indifference, that so our souls may be truly sensible of greater wants, and disposed to hunger and thirst after enjoyments that will make us happy for ever.

VIII. But how unlike are Christians to Christianity! It commands us to take no thought, saying, what shall we eat, or what shall we drink? Yet Christians are restless and laborious, till they can eat in plate.

It commands us to be indifferent about raiment. But Christians are full of care and concern, to be cloathed in purple and fine linen. It enjoins us to take no thought for the morrow. Yet Christians think they have lived in vain, if they don’t leave estates at their death. And these call themselves disciples of that Lord, who saith, He that forsaketh not all that he hath, cannot be my disciple.

IX. It must not be said that these doctrines are not plainly enough taught in scripture, because the lives and behaviour of Christians are so contrary to them. For if the lives of Christians might be alledged against the doctrines of scripture, none of them would have lasted to this day.

It is one of the ten commandments, Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. And our Saviour has forbid swearing, yea, in the most solemn manner. Yet where more swearing than among Christians, and among such Christians as would think it hard to be reckoned a reproach to the Christian name?

The scripture says of Christians, that they are born of God, and have overcome the world. Can they then be reckoned of that number, who have not so much as overcome that flagrant sin, to which they have no temptation in nature?

Well therefore may the doctrines of heavenly-mindedness, and contempt of the world be disregarded, since they run counter to all the corruptions of flesh and blood, to all the pride and vanity of our nature.

X. But let those who are startled at these doctrines, deal faithfully with their own hearts, and ask themselves whether they should not have had the same dislike to them, had they lived in our Saviour’s days? Or whether they can find any one reason, why they should have been so spiritual and heavenly then, which is not as good and as strong a reason for their being as spiritual and heavenly now?

*Hath heaven or earth suffered any change since that time? Is the world become now more worth our notice, or heavenly treasure of less value than it was then? Or have we had another Saviour since, that has compounded things with this world, and helped us to an easier way to the next?

Yet, if an apostle was to raise from the dead, calling rich and great men to these doctrines, they would drive their coaches from such a preacher, rather than be saved at such a price.

XI. To set this great truth in a still clearer light, I will appeal a little even to the imagination of the reader.

Let it be supposed, that rich men are now enjoying their riches, and taking all the usual delights of plenty; that they are labouring for the meat that perisheth, contriving scenes of pleasure, and spending their estates in proud expences.

After this supposition let it be imagined, that we saw the Holy Jesus, who had not where to lay his head, with his twelve apostles, that had left all to follow him. Let us imagine, that we heard him call all the world, to take up the cross and follow him, promising, a treasure in heaven to such as would quit all for his sake, and rejecting all that would not comply therewith: denouncing woe and eternal death to all that lived in fulness, pomp and worldly delights. Let it be imagined, that we heard him commanding his disciples, to take no thought, saying, What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or wherewithal shall we be cloathed? And giving this reason for it, After all these things do the Gentiles seek.

Let it be imagined, that we saw the first Christians taking up the cross, renouncing the world, and counting all things but dung that they might win Christ.

I do not now so immediately appeal to the judgment or reason of the reader. I leave it even with his imagination, that wild faculty, to determine, whether it be possible for these two different sorts of men, to be true disciples of the same Lord?

XII. *To proceed; Let us suppose that a rich man was to put up such a prayer as this to God:

“O Lord, I thy sinful creature, whom thou hast called to a lively hope of glory in Christ Jesus, beg of thee to grant me a thousand times more riches than I need, that I may be able to gratify myself and family in the delights of eating and drinking, state and grandeur. Grant that as the little span of life wears out, I may abound more and more in wealth; and that I may see and perceive all the best and surest ways of growing richer than any of my neighbours. This I humbly and fervently beg, in the name, &c.”

Such a prayer as this should have had no place in this treatise; but in hope that proportionably as it offends the ear, it may amend the heart.

XIII. There is no one, I believe, but would be ashamed to put up such a prayer as this to God. Yet let it be well observed, that all are of the temper of this prayer, but those who have renounced the world.

We need not go among villains, and people of scandalous characters, to find those who desire a thousand times more than they want, who have an eagerness to be every day richer and richer, who catch at still new ways of gain; and scarce think any thing enough, except it equals or exceeds the estate of their neighbours.

I beg of such that they would heartily condemn the profane and unchristian spirit of the foregoing prayer, and that they would satisfy themselves, nothing can be more odious and contrary to religion.

But let them be assured also of this, that the same things which make an unchristian prayer, make an unchristian life.

For the reason why these things appear so odious in a prayer, is because they are so contrary to the spirit of religion. But is it not as bad to live contrary to the spirit of religion, as to pray contrary to it?

At least, must not that way of life be highly blameable, which is so shocking when put into the form of a prayer?

XIV. Need we any other conviction, that this manner of life is contrary to the spirit of Christianity, than this, that the praying according to it in Christ’s name, comes near to blasphemy?

Let it be considered how we should abominate a person, whom we knew to use such a prayer: and let that teach us, how abominable such a life must appear in the eyes of God! And with this addition of folly, that we call the prayer profane, but think the life that answers to it to be Christian.

From all this it is plain, that the present followers of Jesus Christ, have no more to do with worldly enjoyments, than those he chose while he himself was on earth; and that we are to have the same heavenly devotion to God, the same affection, as any of those he conversed with in the days of his flesh.

XV. Yet notwithstanding the scriptures are so express, men will not give up their pre-conceived opinions.

It will still be asked, Where can be the harm of getting or enjoying an estate?

Whether it be not a commendable thing, to provide an estate for one’s family?

And what people of birth and fortune are to do with themselves, if they are not to live up to their estates and qualities?

To the first question let it be answered, Take no thought, saying, what shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or wherewithal shall we be cloathed? For after all these things do the Gentiles seek.

Now, if to be careful and thoughtful, even about the necessaries of life, be a care that is here forbidden, and that because it is such a care as only becomes Heathens; surely to be careful and thoughtful how to raise an estate, and enrich one’s family, is a care that is sufficiently forbidden in Christians. And he that can yet think it lawful, to make this the care and design of his life, is too blind to be convinced by arguments. Our Saviour saith, Labour not for the meat that perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life. He commands us not to lay up for ourselves treasures on earth; he assures us that we cannot serve God and mammon.

Now these places have no meaning, if it is still lawful for Christians to heap up treasures, to labour for estates, and pursue designs of enriching their families.

XVI. I know it is easy to evade the force of these texts, and to make plausible harangues, upon the innocency of labouring to be rich, and the consistency of serving God and mammon.

I don’t question but the rich young man in the gospel could have made a very good apology for himself, and have shewn how reasonable and innocent a thing it was, for so good and so young a man to enjoy an estate.

The rich man in torments could have alledged how much good he did with his fortune; how many trades he encouraged with his purple and fine linen, and faring sumptuously every day; and how he conformed to the ends of society, by so spending his estate.

XVII. *But still the word of God shall not pass away. Having food and raiment, let us be therewith content. For they who will be rich fall into a temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition. 1 Tim. vi. 8.

We may, perhaps, by some acuteness of reasoning, find out, that this still leaves us at our liberty, whether we will labour to be rich or not: that notwithstanding what the apostle says, of a snare, a temptation, and foolish lusts, yet we can pursue the means and desire the happiness of riches, without any danger to our virtue.

But if so, we are as prudent as those Christians, who think they can secure their virtue without watching and prayer, tho’ our Saviour has said, Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation.

And he that neglects watching and prayer, tho’ the appointed means of avoiding temptation, lives as much according to scripture, as he that is careful and desirous of riches, tho’ the declared occasions of sin, snares and destruction.

XVIII. If we could submit to the plain doctrines of scripture, it would never be asked what people of fortune are to do with themselves, if they are not to live up to the splendour and plenty of their estates?

The rich man in the gospel was a ruler, a young man, and a good man: if therefore there are any of his rank who are neither young nor good, it can hardly be thought, they have less to do to inherit eternal life.

And as for those who, like him, have kept the commandments of God from their youth, I dare not tell them, that they are not under a necessity of offering all their wealth to God, and of making their estates, however acquired, not the support of vain indulgences, but the relief of their brethren.

XIX. Suppose great people, by means of their wealth, could throw themselves into a deep sleep of pleasant dreams, which would last till death awaked them, would any one think it lawful for them to make such use of their riches?

And yet he that had done nothing but sleep and dream to the time of his death, might as well say, that he had been working out his salvation with fear and trembling, as he that has been living in luxury, splendour, and sensual gratifications.

The gospel has made no exception for dignity of birth, or difference in fortune; but has appointed the same straight gate, the common passage for all persons to enter into glory.

The distinctions of civil life have their use; but if any one thinks he may be less devoted to God, less afraid of the corruptions of pleasure and pride, because he is born of a rich family, he is as much mistaken as he that fancies he has a privilege to steal, because he was born of a Father that was poor.

XX. If the rich or great man can find out a course of pleasures, that support no wrong turn of mind, an indulgence which does not gratify sensuality, entertainments which feed no vain passions: if they can find out such instances of splendour and greatness, as shew they love God with all their hearts, and as gratify neither the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, nor the pride of life, religion has no command against such enjoyments.

But if this cannot be done, then the rich have no more permission to live in vain indulgences than the poor have to steal.

*And let it be always remembered, that if any distinction of life makes men forget that sin is their only baseness, and holiness their only honour; if any condition makes them less disposed to imitate the low, humble estate of their suffering Master; instead of being any real advantage, it is their curse, their snare and destruction.

XXI. I know it will still be objected, that a man is not necessarily proud, because he lives in shew and figure, any more than another is necessarily humble, because he lives in a low estate.

It is granted, that men may be of a temper contrary to the estate in which they live. But this is only true, of such as are in any state by force, and contrary to their desires and endeavours.

A man in a low estate may be proud, because he is in such a state by force; and is uneasy till he can raise himself out of it. If the same is true of him that lives in figure and pomp, that he is in this state by force, and is restless till he can lay it all aside, then we grant he may be humble.

But nothing is weaker than to say, because a man may be in a low estate per force, without lowliness of mind, therefore another may chuse to live in all the height of grandeur and vanity, without any height or vanity of mind.

A man may be an epicure in his temper, tho’ he is forced to live upon bread and water. But will you therefore say, another who lives on all sorts of dainties, and that by choice, may be no epicure?

If therefore they that live in pomp and shew, live therein out of choice, and are not willing to live otherwise, we must talk nonsense if we do not say their minds are as vain as the vanity of their state.

XXII. The necessity of renouncing the world, in whatever state of life we are, may be yet farther proved from those divine tempers which Christianity requires.

Christians are to love God with all their heart, with all their soul, with all their mind, and with all their strength.

Now it is absolutely impossible we should do this, unless we have renounced the world.

A man that has his head and his heart full of worldly concerns, can no more love God with all his strength, than a man, who has his eyes on the ground, can be looking towards heaven with all the strength of his sight.

XXIII. It is certain, that we unavoidably love every thing in proportion as it appears to be our happiness: if it appears to be half our happiness, it will necessarily have half the strength of our love: and if it appears to be all our happiness, we shall love it with all our strength.

The Christian religion therefore, which requires the whole strength of our nature to love God, lays a just foundation in requiring us absolutely to renounce the happiness of the world; seeing it is impossible to have two happinesses, and but one love.

And indeed what can be more ridiculous than to fancy, that a man who is taken up with the enjoyments of the world, is at the same time loving God with all his soul and with all his strength?

Is it not as absurd as to suppose that a man, who is devoted to, and taken up with the sports of the field, is at the same time contemplating mathematical speculations, with the whole ardour of his mind?

XXIV. Another duty which proves the absolute necessity of thus renouncing the world, is, The love of our neighbour.

Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: if a man would know what this implies, let him look impartially into his own heart, and see what it is that he wishes to himself. Then let him turn all the same wishes to his neighbour, and he will feel the just measure of his duty.

This will also teach him, that the true love of his neighbour is as inconsistent with the love of the world, as duelling is inconsistent with meekness and the forgiveness of injuries.

XXV. *This love is a temper that suits only such beings as have one common undivided happiness, wherein they cannot be rivals to one another. Now this is the state of all Christians, who have as truly one common happiness as they have one common God. But if we put ourselves out of this state, and seek for happiness in the enjoyments of this life, we are as incapable of this love, as wolves and bears that live upon prey.

One common undivided happiness, being the only possible foundation for this love, if we seek any other happiness, if we don’t renounce all other pretensions, we cannot keep clear of such tempers as are utterly inconsistent with the loving our neighbour as ourselves.

But when we are governed by a happiness wherein none can make himself our rival, it will be no harder to love all men as ourselves, than to wish them the enjoyment of the same light, or the common air: which being goods that may be equally enjoyed by all, are not the occasions of envy.

XXVI. *It is plain our Saviour intended this brotherly love, to be the governing principle of our lives. But it cannot be so, unless we are content to make no more of this world, than a supply of our necessities, and to look for one only happiness in the enjoyment of God.

I don’t appeal to niggards and worldlings, to the proud and ambitious: let those who think themselves moderate in their worldly desires and enjoyments, deal faithfully with themselves and see whether their prosecution of their worldly affairs, permits them to love all men as themselves.

Perhaps they have not those bitter envyings and hatreds to which ambitious worldlings are subject. But still they have as certainly, in their degree, and in proportion to their love of the world, their envyings and hatreds, and want of sincere love, as other men.

XXVII. For a further proof of this, we need only look into the world, and see the spirit that appears among almost all Christians.

We need not go to wicked and loose people. Let us go into any virtuous family, and we shall find it has its particular friendships and hatreds, its envyings and evil speakings, and all founded in the interests of the world.

And this necessarily springs from hence, that all Christians are busy in attending to their worldly interests, intending only to keep clear of dishonest practices: that is, they use the world as far as honest Heathens or Jews would do, and consequently have such tempers as Jews and Heathens have.

For it is not only cheating and dishonesty, but the bare desire of worldly things, and the placing happiness in them, that lays the foundation of all these unchristian tempers; and divides Christians into more parties than there are families among them.

So that it is purely the engaging so far in the world as sober Christians do: it is their false satisfaction in so many things that they ought to renounce; it is their being too much alive to the world, that makes all, even those who are called religious, subject to tempers so contrary to the love of their neighbour.

Let this therefore teach us that we must renounce the world, if we would live and love like Christians.

XXVIII. By renouncing the world, I do not mean, retiring into a cloister. This would be like laying aside all use of cloaths, to avoid the vanity of dress.

There is a reasonable use of the world, which is as lawful as it is to eat and drink.

We may buy and sell; we may labour; we may provide for ourselves and our families; that is, so far as is needful for life and godliness. But farther we may not go.

The first step our desires take beyond things of necessity, ranks us among worldlings, and raises in our minds all those tempers, which disturb the minds of worldly men.

XXIX. You think yourself conformable to Christianity, because you are moderate in your desires. You don’t desire a large estate; you desire only a little finery, a little state, and to have things genteel about you.

Imagine now, that what you say, of moderate desires, and little fineries, had been said to our blessed Saviour when he was upon earth, calling men to renounce the world and deny themselves.

Your own conscience tells you, he would have rebuked the author of such a pretence with as much indignation as he rebuked Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan, for thou savourest not the things that be of God.

Now the spirit of Christianity is the same spirit that was in Christ when he was upon earth. And if we have reason to think that such a pretence would have been severely condemned by Christ, we have the same reason to be sure, it is as severely condemned by Christianity.

XXX. Had our blessed Saviour a little before he left the world, given estates to his apostles, with a permission for them to enjoy little fineries, and a moderate state in a genteel manner, he had undone all that he had said of the contempt of the world, and heavenly-mindedness. Such a permission had been a contradiction to the main doctrines which he had taught.

Had the apostles lived in a little state, and in moderate worldly delights, how could they have said, the world is crucified to me, and I unto the world?

And how blind and weak must we be, if we can think that we may live in a spirit and temper, which could not possibly be the spirit and temper of Christ and his apostles?

XXXI. *Another pretence for worldly care and labour after riches, is to provide for our families.

You want to leave fortunes to your children, that they may have their share in the figure and shew of the world. Now consider, do you do this on principles of religion, as the best thing you can do, either for yourself or them?

Can you then be said, to have chosen the one thing needful for yourself, or the one thing needful for them, who take such care to put them in a state of life, that is a snare and a temptation, and the most likely of all others, to fill their minds with foolish and hurtful lusts?

Is it your kindness toward them that puts you upon this labour? Consider therefore what this kindness is founded upon? Perhaps it is such a kindness as when tender mothers carry their daughters to plays and balls: such a kindness as when indulgent fathers support their sons in all the expence of their follies. Such kind parents may more properly be called the betrayers and murderers of their children.

You love your children, and therefore you would have them rich. It is said of our blessed Saviour, that he loved the young rich man that came unto him, and therefore he bid him sell all that he had. What a contrariety is here? The love which dwelleth in you, is as contrary to the love which dwelt in Christ as darkness is to light.

We have our Saviour’s express command, to love one another, as he loved us. And can you think you are following this love, when you are giving those things to your children, which he took away from his friends, and which he could not possibly have given them without contradicting the greatest part of his doctrines?

XXXII. *But suppose you succeed in your designs, and leave your children rich, what must you say to them when you are dying? Will you then tell them that you have the same opinion of the value of riches you ever had; that you feel the pleasure of remembring how much thought and care you have taken to acquire them? Will you tell them that you have provided for their ease and softness, their pleasure and indulgence and figure in the world; and that they cannot do better than to eat and drink and take their fill of such enjoyments as riches afford? This would be dying like an Atheist.

If you would die like a Christian, must you not endeavour to fill their minds with your dying thoughts? Must you not tell them that very soon the world will signify no more to them than it does to you? And that there is a vanity, a littleness in the things of this life, which only dying men feel as they ought?

Will you not tell them, that all your own failings, the irregularity of your life, the folly of your tempers, and your failure of Christian perfection, has been owing to wrong opinions of the value of worldly things? And that if you had always seen the world in the same light that you see it now, your life had been devoted to God, and you would have lived in all those holy tempers and heavenly affections in which you now desire to die?

Will you not tell them, that riches spent upon ourselves, either in the pleasures of ease and indulgence, in the vanity of dress, or in state and grandeur, are the bane and destruction of our souls, making us blindly content with dreams of happiness, till death awakes us into real misery?

From all this therefore it appears, that your kindness for your children is so far from being a good reason why you should so carefully labour to leave them rich, and in the enjoyment of the state and shew of the world; that if you die in a spirit of piety, if you love them as Christ loved his disciples, your kindness will oblige you to exhort them to renounce all such enjoyment of riches, as is contrary to those holy tempers and that heavenly affection which you now find to be the only good and happiness of human nature.

CHAP. III.

CHRISTIANITY calleth all men to a state of self-denial and mortification.

I. It would be strange to suppose, that mankind were redeemed by the sufferings of the Son of God, to live in ease and softness themselves, without any suffering or cross at all!

Are we not all to die? Does God then unmake and dash our very form into pieces; and can we think that a life of pleasure and self-indulgence can become us under such a sentence?

II. *If any man will come after me, saith Christ, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me.

To shew that this belongs to all Christians, St. Luke saith, He said unto them All: St. Mark hath it thus; and when he had called the people unto him, with his disciples also, he said unto them.

Let us now suppose that Christian churches are full of fine, gay people, who spend their time in all the pleasures and indulgences which the spirit of the world can invent.

Can it be said of such, that they are denying themselves, and taking up their cross daily? May they not with as much regard to truth be said, to live in sackcloth and ashes? Or can they who live in all the scenes of pleasure be said, to be working out their salvation with fear and trembling? May they not as justly be said, to be walking bare-foot to Jerusalem?

III. Several instances of this self-denial and daily cross, are to be seen in the following words.

Ye have heard that it hath been said, an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth. But I say unto you, that you resist not evil; but whosoever will smite thee on the right cheek, turn to him the other also; and if any man will sue thee at the law and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also: and whosoever shall compell thee to go with him a mile, go with him twain.

We are to deny ourselves then in not demanding an eye for an eye, or a tooth for a tooth. We are to take up our daily cross, by turning our cheek to the smiter, and suffering such ill usage as we could prevent by resistance.

We are to take up the cross of one injury after another, rather than revenge ourselves.

The words that deliver this doctrine are so plain and express, that they need no illustration: And it is as plain, that they equally belong to all Christians of all ages. The manner of our Saviour’s delivering them, puts it out of all question, that these were to be the perpetual marks of his followers.

Ye have heard that it hath been said, an eye for an eye, &c. But I say unto you that ye resist not evil.

It was not possible for our Lord to express himself in a more authoritative manner, or to shew us more plainly, that he was here acting as the great lawgiver of Christians, and delivering perpetual laws to all his disciples. Nor is it possible for any one to evade the literal meaning of these doctrines, but by such a way as must destroy the sense of any other part of scripture.

IV. If it could be shewn that we are not obliged by the plain doctrine of these passages, it might as well be shewn that the next doctrine, But I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, does not oblige us in the plain and literal sense of the words.

For both the passages are supported by the same authority expressed in the same manner, I say unto you. These virtues are likewise necessary to one another: we cannot thus love and do good to our enemy, unless we are thus patient under sufferings, and deny ourselves all instances of anger and resentment at them.

V. If these doctrines seem grievous, they can only seem so to such as have wrong notions of human life.

Too many imagine this life to be something that is valuable for its own goods; and look upon religion as something that is added to it, to make a worldly life more easy, regular and happy: And so embrace religion only as it complies with the ease and order of that way of life in which they live.

Our Saviour has fully confuted this opinion, by teaching us, that there is but one thing needful. If then we can take his word, the grievousness of self-denial is struck off at once.

For what though meekness and patience may make us sufferers; yet if by such sufferings we lose only such things as are not needful for us, where is any ground for complaint?

VI. But farther, such sufferings not only do us no real hurt, but they are blessings and matter of solid joy.

Blessed are ye when men shall revile you and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil of you ♦falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad; for great is your reward in heaven.

Christ does not comfort us in this, as if it were an hard or melancholy state, which we must bear, because it is made easier by patience. But he looks at it in quite another view, not as needing comfort, but affording matter of congratulation.

What Christians then are they, who reckon those things among the hardships of religion, which Christ recommends to us as reasons of rejoicing, yea of being exceeding glad?

VII. The whole of the matter is this: if our sufferings, our injuries or hardships be such as we undergo, because we dare not depart from that meekness and patience, and charity, which Christ hath taught; because we had rather love our enemies than be revenged on them; rather suffer like Christ, and be full of his Spirit, than avoid sufferings by a contrary temper; such sufferings are our greatest gains.

Now, be these sufferings what they will, if they make us more like Christ, they have done more for us than all the prosperity in the world can do. And he that defends himself at the expence of any temper, that was the temper of Christ, has done himself an injury greater than the most powerful of his enemies can bring upon him.

And all this turns on one point, that there is but one thing needful, the salvation of our souls. It is this that changes the nature of all human things, and makes every thing good or evil, only so far as it promotes or hinders this one end of life. The salvation of the world is the only happiness of the world: and he that has secured his share in that, has secured to himself all the joy and gladness that can befal human nature.

A Christian therefore that is not content with salvation, that would add a worldly joy to the great things of religion, is more senseless than a man that would not be content to be saved from a shipwreck, unless he was carried off upon a cedar plank.

VIII. Before I proceed to other instances of self-denial, it may be proper to shew the reasonableness of it.

God is reason and wisdom itself. As sure therefore as there is a God, so sure it is that a religion from God has only reasonable commands. God can only will that reasonable creatures should be more reasonable, more perfect and like himself: and consequently can enjoin no duties but such as have this tendency; all his commands are founded on the necessities of our natures, and are only so many instructions to become more happy than we could be without them.

IX. *Now let us apply this. If a person were to walk upon a rope across some great river, and he was bid to deny himself the pleasure of walking in silver shoes, or looking about at the beauty of the waves, or listening to the noise of sailors: if he was commanded to deny himself the advantage of fishing by the way, would there be any thing unreasonable in such self-denial?

Straight is the gate, saith our Lord, and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life. Now, if Christians are to walk in a narrow way that leadeth to eternal life, it must be the part of a Christian to deny himself all those things which may stop him in, or lead him out of this narrow way. And if they think that pleasing their senses, and worldly indulgences, are consistent with their keeping in this narrow way, they think as reasonably as if the man upon the rope should think that he might safely use silver shoes, or stop in his way to catch fish.

X. The plain case is this: Christians are called from a state of sin and disorder, to a state of holiness and resemblance of the divine nature. If therefore there are any things or ways of life, that corrupt our minds, support our vanity, increase the disorder of our souls, or nourish sinful affections; all these are as necessarily to be avoided, as it is necessary to be holy.

If indeed (to instance in one point only) there are no indulgences in eating, that do us harm, then it might be said, fasting is of no use: But if there are, if all indulgences of this sort, inslave the soul, and give it a sensual taste, then we are as much obliged to abstain from what does us this harm, as we are obliged to pray for any thing which can do us good.

XI. Eating and drinking are the common supports of life. But as they are the supports of a corrupt life, the nourishment of a disordered body that weighs down the soul; whose appetites are in a state of enmity with the life and purity of the soul; it is necessary that we take care so to support the life of the body, as not to occasion the sickness and death of the soul.

The difference between the same man full and fasting, is often almost the difference of two persons; a man that in the morning finds himself fit for any meditation, is after a full meal changed into another creature, fit only for idle amusements or the yawnings of an animal.

He has not only created a dulness in his soul, but has perverted its taste: for he can be pleased with a romance, or impertinent history, while he has no relish for a book of devotion.

This shews, that fasting has a nearer relation to all religious tempers than is generally thought; and that full feeding not only dulls the mind, but more particularly gives it a dulness towards the things of religion.

XII. *Indeed every indulgence of the body in eating and drinking, is adding to its power over the soul.

A man that makes every day a day of full and chearful meals, will by degrees make the happiness of every day depend upon it, and consider every thing with regard to it.

He will go to church or stay at home, as it suits with his dinner, and not scruple to tell you, that he generally eats too heartily to go to afternoon service.

Now such people are under a worse disorder than the jaundice, and have their sight more perverted than he that sees all things yellow.

For what discernment have they, who have more taste for the preparations of the kitchen, than for the comforts of the house of God: who chuse rather to make themselves unfit for divine service, than to baulk the pleasure of a full meal?

Can they think they have the Spirit of Christ who are thus enslaved to gluttony? Or can they be said, to have forsaken all to follow him, who will not so much as forsake half a meal for the worship of God?

XIII. I know it will be thought too severe to call that gluttony, because it is the practice of numbers of people of worth and reputation. But I hope they will turn their dislike of the name into a dislike of the thing: for ’tis as certainly gluttony as picking of pockets is stealing.

The sin of gluttony is the sin of over-eating. Now this may be difficult to state exactly in some cases. But he that owns he eats so much as renders him indisposed for the public worship of God, has determined against himself, and put his own case out of all question.

Men may fancy, they are only guilty of gluttony, who eat till they surfeit their bodies. They may think those only guilty of drunkenness, who drink till they have lost their senses. But there is a much surer rule to go by; whether ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God. All therefore in eating and drinking that is not to the glory of God, is offered to something that is not the glory of God; it is offered to the corruption and sensuality of our natures. It is the sin of intemperance; and is indevotion too, when indulged at a time that keeps us from the public worship of God.

XIV. *Indeed a constant course of full feeding is the death of the soul, and every day that is a day of such happiness, is a day lost to religion.

When a man has rejoiced himself with full eating and drinking, he is like any other animal, disposed only to play or idleness. He has no more feeling of sin than he has of hunger, and can no more perceive himself to be a miserable fallen creature, than he can perceive himself to be a beggar.

For this course of sensual enjoyments, is as contrary to a true sense of sin, as it is contrary to a state of beggary and want; and a man in such happiness, can no more feel the weight of sin, than he can feel himself in the misery of poverty.

XV. I know some object, that fasting is not an universal duty; but fit for some particular cases, and particular constitutions.

To this I answer, if by fasting you mean an entire abstinence from food, for such a space of time, in this sense it is not an universal duty.

But this is quite a wrong notion of it. For the fasting whereof I speak is not any fixed degree of abstinence from all food: but, such an exercise of abstinence and self-denial as is proper to every one’s particular state.

Now in this sense fasting is as constant and universal a duty as repentance.

For as repentance is an universal duty, because the reason of it is common to all men; so is fasting, because sensuality, and fleshly lusts, is the universal corruption of all men.

It is no fixed degree of sorrow that is the common repentance of all men. It is no fixed form or length or hour of prayer, that is the common devotion of all men. Yet are these constant and universal duties.

In like manner, though fasting be subject to all the same variations, yet is it a constant and universal duty.

XVI. *Justus is a grave, sober man. He is very angry at those who neglect fasting. He thinks they know nothing of religion.

But presently after, Justus will tell you, that he never fasts but on Good Friday, and the 30th of January.

If Justus had lived before the murder of King Charles, he had had but one fast in the year. Yet in all likelihood he would then have stood up for the doctrine of fasting.

If a man was to be angry at those who neglect the service of the church, as people that know nothing of religion, and then tell you, that he himself never goes thither but on Good Friday, and the 30th of January, you would say, that he knew nothing of the nature of church service.

Now Justus shews the same ignorance of the nature of fasting.

If prayer and repentance and the service of the church, were not common acts of devotion, and necessary ways of worshipping God, they would not be necessary on Good Friday.

In like manner, unless fasting was a common and necessary part of religion, it would neither be necessary nor acceptable on those particular days.

For it is not the day that makes the duty to be necessary. But the day happens to be a proper occasion of exercising a necessary duty.

XVII. If Justus was to say, that he never repents but on those public days, he might as easily defend himself as when he says, he only fasts but at those times.

For, is there any benefit in fasting at those times? Does it add any thing to your piety and devotion? Does it calm your mind and put you into a better state for prayer, than when you take your usual meals? If it has not something of this effect, where is the use of it at any time? And if it has this effect, how comes it that you will have but one or two such days in the year? Why will you not thus assist your devotions, thus calm your mind, thus raise your heart, ’till the day comes on which King Charles was murdered? Is not this like staying till then before you repent?

XVIII. Farther; when the disciples of our Lord could not cast the evil spirit out of a man that was a lunatic, he not only tells them, it was for want of faith, but also gives them a very important instruction in those words, Howbeit this kind goeth not out, but by prayer and fasting. Matt. xvii. 21.

Now, does this look as if fasting were designed only for a day or two in the year? Is it ranked with prayer, as being equally prevalent with God? And is not this sufficient to teach us, that we must think of fasting as we think of prayer; that it is a proper way of devotion, a right method of applying to God? And if that prayer is most prevailing which is attended with fasting, it is proof enough surely, that fasting is to be a common part of our devotion.

Is it powerful enough, by the blessing of God, to cast out devils, and cure lunatics? And shall we neglect it, when we pray against the evil tempers which possess our hearts? Shall we not then pray to God in the most powerful prevailing manner that we can?

*If we were to fast without praying, would not this be a way of worship of our own invention? And if we pray and neglect fasting, is it not equally chusing a worship of our own? For he that has taught us the use and advantage of prayer, has also taught us the use and advantage of fasting. And has likewise joined them together, as having the same power with God.

XIX. *We may also observe, that the reason of self-denial and abstinence is perpetual, because we are perpetually united to a body, that is more or less fit to join with the soul in acts of holiness, according to the state it is in.

It is therefore absolutely necessary that we avoid every degree of indulgence, every kind of irregularity, that may make our bodies less active or less fit for the purpose of a holy life.

Christian temperance is no more that which passes for temperance in the sight of men, than Christian charity is that which passes for charity in the world.

A worldly man may think himself temperate, when he only abstains from such excesses as may make him fitter to enjoy a healthful sensuality.

But Christian temperance is of quite another kind, and for other ends. It is to keep the body in a state of purity and submission, and to preserve in the soul a divine and heavenly taste.

XX. It is out of all question, that there are some states of body fitter for virtue than others.

This is as certain as that gluttony and drunkenness dispose men to all sorts of sins, and give them a disrelish for all sorts of holiness. For as these vices have the utmost contrariety to religion, so every approach towards them is, in a certain degree, partaking of them.

A man that lives so as not to be called either a glutton or a drunkard, may yet be so near them, as to partake of those tempers which are the effects of gluttony and drunkenness.

*As a man may be vain and uncharitable, yet not so as to be remarkable for his vanity and uncharitableness, so he may be under the guilt and evil effects of eating and drinking, though not so as to be esteemed either a glutton or intemperate.

*So that a wise Christian will constantly practise such abstinence, as may not only secure him from sensuality in the sight of the world, but as best suits with a body which is the holy habitation of a soul devoted to God.

XXI. St. Paul saith, I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air. But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection, lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway. 1 Cor. ix.

Let it be observed, that the apostle practised this self-denial, not only as a good and advisable thing, but as of the last necessity. It was not, as he was an apostle, and that he might be fitter for the miraculous gifts of the Holy Ghost: but it was, to secure his salvation, and lest when he had preached to others, he should himself be a castaway.

*Let it be considered, that this apostle, who lived in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake, who was also full of signs and wonders, and mighty deeds, and who had been caught up into the third heavens; yet reckons all his virtues as insecure, and his salvation in danger, without this constantly continued course of universal self-denial. Nay he thought all his advancements in piety, without this, to be as vain a labour as beating the air.

So run I, says he, not as uncertainly; by which he plainly teacheth us, that he who does not thus run, who does not thus continually keep the body under, does run uncertainly, and fighteth to as little purpose as he that beateth the air.

An apostle preaching the gospel with signs and wonders, in the midst of distress and persecution, thought his own salvation in danger, without this subjection of his body. And shall we think it safe to feed to the full, and indulge our bodies in ease and plenty?

XXII. *There are no truths more plainly delivered in scripture than these two, the general corruption of human nature, and the absolute necessity of divine grace. Now these make the necessity of a continual self-denial plain and obvious to the meanest capacity; and extend it to all those things and enjoyments which either strengthen the corruption of our nature, or grieve the Holy Spirit of God, and cause him to depart from us.

Whoever reflects on these, will soon be convinced, that all those enjoyments are to be abstained from, which either support our natural corruption, or hinder the inspirations of the Holy Spirit.

He will find also, that this self-denial must extend itself to every day of our lives, unless he can find a day, which offers nothing suitable to the corruption of his nature, or nothing contrary to the good motions of the Holy Ghost.

XXIII. Most people acknowledge this in general: that we ought to avoid what strengthens our corruptions and grieves the Spirit of God: but then they think to abstain from gross sin is sufficient for this.

But let such consider, that a dropsy or a gangrene, is not only increased by drunkenness, but by every little indulgence that suits with it.

Now the corruption of our nature is an inbred distemper that possesses us in the manner of a dropsy or gangrene. If we give into notorious sins, it quite overcomes us, and we are straightway dead in sin.

*But tho’ we keep clear of great offences, yet if we indulge ourselves in little things that suit with the corruption of our nature, we certainly nourish a slow death, and destroy ourselves by degrees.

Our self-denial therefore must be as universal as the means of our corruption. It is to last as long as our disorder, and to extend itself to every thing that might increase it. And this for as plain a reason as a man in a dropsy is not only to abstain from drunkenness, but from every indulgence that increases his disorder.

XXIV. *Let it be farther considered, that the corruption of our nature is but faintly represented by comparing it to these distempers. For one in these distempers may have only some part affected; but the corruption of our nature is as extensive as our nature. It is the corruption of every faculty and every power. It is blindness in our understandings; it is self-love and perverseness in our wills, intemperance in our ♦appetites. It is anger, lust, pride and revenge in our passions; it is falseness, hypocrisy, malice and hatred in our hearts. Now all this, and far more than this, makes the miserable corruption of human nature.

So that it is as necessary that our lives be a state of regimen, contrary to this variety of disorders, as it is necessary for a man under a complication of distempers, to observe a course of regularity.

For seeing all ill tempers are increased by indulgence, and the more we yield to any, the stronger it grows, ’tis plain we must practise as many sorts of self-denial as we have ill tempers to contend with.

XXV. *When we speak of self-denial, we are apt to confine it to eating and drinking: but we ought to consider, that these are the easiest and smallest instances of it. Pride, vanity, self-love, covetousness, envy, and other inclinations of the like nature, call for a more constant and watchful self-denial, than the appetites of hunger and thirst.

*’Till therefore our self-denial is as universal as our corruption; ’till we deny ourselves all degrees of vanity and folly, as earnestly as we deny ourselves all degrees of drunkenness; till we reject all sorts of pride and envy, as we abhor all kinds of gluttony; till we watch and deny all irregular tempers, as we avoid all sorts of sensuality, we can no more be said to practise self-denial, that he can be said to be just, who only denies himself the liberty of stealing.

And till we do thus universally deny ourselves, our lives will be a ridiculous mixture of I know not what; sober and covetous, proud and devout, temperate and vain, regular in our forms of prayer, and irregular in our passions, circumspect in little modes of behaviour, and careless of tempers the most essential to piety.

XXVI. A little attention to that great principle of reason and religion, that God is our only good, will convince us still farther of the necessity of universal self-denial.

For what can be a greater self-denial, or more contradictory to all our natural sentiments, than to live and govern ourselves by a happiness that is to be had in God alone? A happiness which our senses, our old guides, neither see, nor feel, nor taste, nor perceive: a happiness which gives us neither figure, nor dignity, nor power, nor glory, among one another?

Look at man in his natural state, acting by the judgment of his senses, following the motions of his nature; and you will see him acting as if the world was full of infinite sorts of happiness.

He has not only a thousand imaginary pleasures, but has found out as many vexations; all which shew, that he thinks happiness is every where to be found. For no one is vexed at any thing, unless he thinks he is disappointed of some possible happiness.

A happiness therefore in God alone, is the greatest contradiction to all our natural tempers. Not only as it proposes a good which our senses cannot relish, but as it leads us from all those imaginary enjoyments on which our senses have fixed our hearts.

XXVII. If then we think of religion, without self-denial, we know nothing at all of it. For its whole nature is, to direct us by a light and knowledge and wisdom from God, which is all contrary to the darkness, ignorance and folly of our natures.

It is therefore altogether impossible for any man to enter into the spirit of religion, but by denying himself, by being divested of all his natural tempers and judgments, which have been formed by the blind motions of flesh and blood, and strengthened by the example and authority of the world. He cannot walk in the light of God, unless he reject the dreams of his senses, and the darkness of worldly wisdom.

*We may let our senses tell us, what we are to eat and drink, or when we are to sleep. We may let them teach us, how near we may draw to a fire, how great a burden we may carry, or into how deep a water we may go. In these things they are our proper guides.