The duty of self-denial briefly opened and urged. By Thomas Watson, minister of the…

IN the next place we may sadly lay to heart the want of Self-denial. O Self-denial, Whither art thou gone? —Terras Astraea reliquit— We live in a knowing Age, yet few know how to deny themselves. Selfishness is the reigning sin of the World. This makes the times have a bad aspect. 2 Tim. 3.1, 2, Perilous times shall come, for men shall be [Greek or Hebrew], lovers of themselves. Self may have ⟨p. 52⟩divers Actions brought against it. It is an enemy to the public. Whence come wars? Jam. 4.1. Whence is robbery and bribery? Whence is oppression and circumvention, but from those selfish lusts which men cannot conquer? When Lentulus had in his Will declared Tiberius Cesar to be his Heir, so basely selfish was Cesar, that he sent and killed Lentulus, that he might have present possession of his Goods. Self-denial lodgeth but in a few breasts. It is, Rara herba, a Sacred exotic herb which is grown very scarce. Luke 18.8, When the son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth? May it not be said, Shall he find Self-denial on the earth? Self-denial is gone a long Pilgrimage, and who can tell when it will return?

IN the next place we may sadly lay to heart the want of Self-denial. O Self-denial, Whither art thou gone? —Terras Astraea reliquit— We live in a knowing Age, yet few know how to deny themselves. Selfishness is the reigning sin of the World. This makes the times have a bad aspect.