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

Direct. 3. Deny your selves first in the carnal and worldly comforts of this life, or else you are unlikely to deny your selves in the matter of Life it self. Disuse your selves from unnecessary pleasures of the flesh: And learn to endure dishonour, contempt and reproach from the world, and sickness and poverty when it's inflicted on you by the hand of God. Till you can deny your ease, and profit, and appetite, and honour, and all the delight of this present world, you are never likely to deny your lives sincerely. To deny your lives doth contain the denying of all these and more; and therefore you must learn the lesser, if you would do the greater. These are the parts of life as it were; and it's easier thus to overcome it in its parts than in the whole; when particular Soldiers are destroyed, the Army is the weaker.

Direct. 3. Deny your selves first in the carnal and worldly comforts of this life, or else you are unlikely to deny your selves in the matter of Life it self. Disuse your selves from unnecessary pleasures of the flesh: And learn to endure dishonour, contempt and reproach from the world, and sickness and poverty when it's inflicted on you by the hand of God. Till you can deny your ease, and profit, and appetite, and honour, and all the delight of this present world, you are never likely to deny your lives sincerely. To deny your lives doth contain the denying of all these and more; and therefore you must learn the lesser, if you would do the greater. These are the parts of life as it were; and it's easier thus to overcome it in its parts than in the whole; when particular Souldiers are destroyed, the Army is the weaker.

And the use of suffering the Afflictions of this life, will make you hardy, and make death seem a smaller matter. For when you thus Die Daily, you will the more easily die once.

Besides, Death is half disarmed when the Pleasures & Interests of the flesh are first denied. For the leaving of fleshly contents and pleasures, is much of the reason of mens unwillingness to die. And therefore when these are denied before-hand, the Reasons of your unwillingness are taken away. If you pull down the Nest, the Birds will be gone. Men that are loth to leave their Country, would willingly be gone, if their houses were fired, or they were turned out of doors, and their