A treatise of self-denial. By Richard Baxter, pastor of the church at KidderminsterA treatise of self-denial. By Richard Baxter, pastor of the church at Kederminster

CHAP. XIX. Self-interest, And 1. Pleasure, And 1. Of the Taste to be denied.

2. I Have told you what the selfish Disposition is that must be mortified and denied; and now I must tell you what is the selfish Interest that must be denied: Having described self-denial from the Faculties, I must now describe it by its Objects.

The selfish Interest consisteth in this Trinity of Objects, Pleasure, Profit, and Honour, not spiritual, but carnal; not heavenly, but worldly Pleasure, Profit, and Honour: sometime all these are comprehended in the word [Pleasure] alone; and then it is taken more comprehensively, and not only for sensual Pleasure, called voluptuousness, as it is here in this distribution. And sometime all is comprehended in the term [world] and selfishness in the word [flesh] the world being that harlot with which the flesh commits adultery. So 1 Joh. 2. 15, 16. [Love not the world, nor the things that are in the world. If any man Love the world, the Love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the Lust of the flesh, the Lust of the eyes, and the Pride of Life, is not of the Father, but is of the world: and the world passeth away, and the Lust thereof: but he that doth the will of God abideth for ever.] To these three heads therefore we shall reduce all that we have to say of this matter.

The selfish Interest consisteth in this Trinity of Objects, Pleasure, Profit, and Honour, not spiritual, but carnal; not heavenly, but worldly Pleasure, Profit, and Honour: sometime all these are comprehended in the word [Pleasure] alone; and then it is taken more comprehensively, and not only for sensual Pleasure, called voluptuousness, as it is here in this distribution. And sometime all is comprehended in the term [world] and selfishness in the word [flesh] the world being that harlot with which the flesh commits adultery. So