A86527:160
Heautonaparnumenos
Heautonaparnumenos: or A treatise of self-denial. Intended for the pulpit; but now committed to the press for the public benefit.Heautonaparnumenos: or A treatise of self-denyall. Intended for the pulpit; but now committed to the presse for the publike benefit.
London: printed by W. Wilson for Richard Royston, 1646
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
But to the first, I ans. That even in this it appears, they are not Self-denied men, that they take upon them to prescribe to God Almighty: As if he knew not, by calling them to what Sufferings, they should glorify Him, and benefit themselves most. For in true Self-denial we ever part with our own Election, our own Will, and submit it to another's: Now this he cannot do, that will bear no other Cross, but what is of his own choosing.
But to the first, I ans. That even in this it appears, they are not Self-denyed men, that they take upon them to prescribe to God Almighty: As if he knew not, by calling them to what Sufferings, they should glorifie Him, and benefit themselves most. For in true Self-denyall we ever part with our own Election, our own Will, and submit it to anothers: Now this he cannot do, that will beare no other Crosse, but what is of his owne choosing.
But then especially does this Election fight with our Self-denial, when it pitches upon such Crosses only, as are more Glorious, such as were those of the Primitive Martyrs; For in such Sufferings we seek our own Things, not the Things of God, we seek our own Repute, our own Reward: not our own Abjection, Vileness, Contempt, and Nothing. But this, in some degree, must be done in the true Denial of our Selves: and this, we must know, may be done as well, if not better, by Suffering for small as greater matters. For the less Motive our Sufferings have from without themselves, 'tis a sign, they have the more from within, that they proceed merely from a Conscience of our own Duty and Abjection. But now, the Meaner ⟨p. 66⟩that is we suffer for, if we suffer for it with equal Patience, as for a Greater matter, the less is our Motive from without, and and so must argue the greater Conscience of Duty from within, which is so far from disparaging, it sets a Price upon our Self-denial. Again, what we shall suffer for, when and where, is not in our Election, but in God's Providence calling us thereunto: So is not our Willingness and Cheerfulness in suffering, for that, by the Grace of God, is; this therefore is to be reckoned to our Praise, that rather to our Recompense.