Self-denial openeth the heart to Christ, and giveth the Ordinances leave to work: It taketh down all opposition and contradiction; so that though the soul may stay to search the Scripture, and see whether the things that are taught be so, yet it searcheth with a childlike charitableness, and willingness to learn, and know, and obey. It hath no mind to quarrel with God; how easily will a self-denying man submit to those duties which another man abhors? How easily will he be persuaded to forgive a wrong, to part with his right for a greater good to others, to let go a gainful Trade that is unlawful, or any sinful way of thriving: How easily is he brought to ask forgiveness of those that he hath wronged, to make a public confession of his sins, if the greatness of them, or his duty to God, or the good of others, do require it; to make restitution of all that he hath gotten wrongfully; to bear a plain and sharp reproof; to part with his own for the relief of the poor; to lay out his estate to the best advantage of the Cause and Church of God, and the common good; to let go any unlawful vanity; any excess in meat, and drink, or sport, or sleep, or any vanity in apparel or other work of Pride: How easily can he bear all rebukes, reproaches, and neglects, and undervaluing ingratitude from others! But what ado shall we have with ⟨p. 380⟩carnal, unsanctified wretches to persuade them to all or any of this? From them a Preacher hath such a work to pull their beloved profitable sins (they seem profitable to them till the reckoning comes) as a man hath to pull the prey from the jaws of a hungry Wolf, or meat from the mouth of a greedy Dog: But when we require the self-denying to do the same thing, it is but as to bid a child obey his Father whom he loveth and honoureth. The doing of these duties, and forsaking these sins, is to an ungodly man as the parting with a right hand, or a right eye, or the skin from his back, or the flesh from his bones, as we see by the rarity, and the unsuccessfulness of the plainest reasons, and great Authority of God himself, and the few works of Piety, charity, or self-denial that are done by such at any great cost. But to the self-denying, it is but as the casting away a handful of earth, or casting off an upper garment, for the doing of their work.
Self-denial openeth the heart to Christ, and giveth the Ordinances leave to work: It taketh down all opposition and contradiction; so that though the soul may stay to search the Scripture, and see whether the things that are taught be so, yet it searcheth with a childlike charitableness, and willingness to learn, and know, and obey. It hath no mind to quarrel with God; how easily will a self-denying man submit to those duties which another man abhors? How easily will he be perswaded to forgive a wrong, to part with his right for a greater good to others, to let go a gainful Trade that is unlawful, or any sinful way of thriving: How easily is he brought to ask forgiveness of those that he hath wronged, to make a publick confession of his sins, if the greatness of them, or his duty to God, or the good of others, do require it; to make restitution of all that he hath gotten wrongfully; to bear a plain and sharp reproof; to part with his own for the relief of the poor; to lay out his estate to the best advantage of the Cause and Church of God, and the common good; to let go any unlawful vanity; any excess in meat, and drink, or sport, or sleep, or any vanity in apparel or other work of Pride: How easily can he bear all rebukes, reproaches, and neglects, and undervaluing ingratitude from others! But what ado shall we have with ⟨p. 380⟩carnal, unsanctified wretches to perswade them to all or any of this? From them a Preacher hath such a work to pull their beloved profitable sins (they seem profitable to them till the reckoning comes) as a man hath to pull the prey from the jaws of a hungry Wolf, or meat from the mouth of a greedy Dog: But when we require the self-denying to do the same thing, it is but as to bid a child obey his Father whom he loveth and honoureth. The doing of these duties, and forsaking these sins, is to an ungodly man as the parting with a right hand, or a right eye, or the skin from his back, or the flesh from his bones, as we see by the rarity, and the unsuccessfulness of the plainest reasons, and great Authority of God himself, and the few works of Piety, charity, or self-denyal that are done by such at any great cost. But to the self-denying, it is but as the casting away a handful of earth, or casting off an upper garment, for the doing of their work.
