preached by Christ himself, to be good tidings to the meek; and when these are cast down, through the prevalence of sin, the force of temptation and divine desertions, whereby they are humbled, the Lord raises them up again; The Lord lifteth up the meek, Psalm cxlvii. 6, and there is a gracious promise, that The meek shall increase their joy in the Lord, Isa. xxix. 19.-5. When they are hungry and in want of food, the Lord feeds them to satisfaction; The meek shall eat and be satisfied, yea, when they are in distress God will work miracles for them, rather than they shall want. -6. When they want direction and instruction he will guide and teach them; The meek will he guide in judgment; the meek will he teach his way, Psalm xxv. 9; guide them into all truth as it is in Jesus; and teach them the ways and methods of his grace towards them; and the ways of duty, in which he would have them to walk. 7. Humility is the way to preferment, to honour, grandeur, and happiness; Before honour is humility: yea, by humility and the fear of the Lord are riches, and honour, and life, Prov. xvi. 18: and this is God's usual way, to abase those that exalt themselves, and to exalt them that are humble, Luke xviii. 14.-8. An inheritance is promised to the meek and humble; The meek shall inherit the earth, Psalm xxxvii. 11; the same is promised by Christ, Matt. v. 5; not the present earth and the things of it, though good men have the promise of the life that now is, and are heirs of the world, and the world is theirs; but the new earth, in which none but righteous men will dwell with Christ a thousand years, 2 Pet. iii. 13.-9. Such are and shall be saved; And God shall save the humble person, both temporally and eternally, Job xxii. 29 he saves such in time, in a time of temporal judgments on the earth, God then arises to save all the meek of the earth; and when Christ comes to judgment with righteousness, he will judge the poor, and reprove with equity, for the meek of the earth, Isa. xi. 4, and he will save them eternally; for they are the same with the poor in spirit, whose is the kingdom of heaven. OF SELF-DENIAL. SELF-DENIAL accompanies humility; where the one is, the other is: a self-denying man is a humble man, and a humble man is a self-denying man. Proud boasters are lovers of their own selves, and cannot by any means deny themselves; but the meek and humble, the followers of the lowly Jesus, deny themselves, and go after him: If any man will come after me, says Christ, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me, Matt. xvi. 24; this is one of the hardest lessons to bo learnt by his disciples, and no man can be a disciple of Christ without learning it. I. It will be proper to inquire what self-denial is, or what it is for a man to deny himself. 1. It is not to deny what a man is or has; what he truly is, and what he really has; for that would be a falsehood; in this sense God cannot deny himself, not his nature, and the perfections of it; or do, or affirm any thing contrary thereunto. So a man ought not to deny himself as a man, nor the rational powers which he is possessed of; one may indeed, speaking in the language of another, and as expressing the meanness and contempt in which he is held by such, say, I am a worm and no man, as David the type, and Christ his antitype, did; a man may also, in a comparative sense, with respect to others, and as exaggerating his own folly, ignorance, and stupidity, say, as Asaph did, So foolish was I and ignorant, I was as a beast before thee; and so Agur, Surely, I am more brutish than any man, and have not the understanding of a man, in comparison of others, and having a very low share of it, in his own opinion, Psalm lxxiii. 22, Prov. xxx. 2; in these senses such phrases may be admitted; otherwise it would not be true of a man, nor doing justice to himself, to say that he was no other than a horse and a mule, which have no understanding. Nor should a man deny what he has of the external benefits and blessings of providence ; if God bestows riches and honour upon a man, as he did on David, he should own them as coming to him from God, as David did, and bless God for such benefits, and make use of them for the glory of God, and the good of his interest; and if God has bestowed internal endowments on men, gifts and talents, qualifying for public service and usefulness, some way or another, they are to own them, and use them, and not wrap them up in a napkin, or hide them in the earth, which is interpretatively to deny that they have them. Nor should a truly good and gracious man deny what he is and has; but acknowledge it, and how by grace he came by it; and say with the apostle, By the grace of God I am what I am; if a man is a believer in Christ, he should confess his faith in him, Rom. x. 10; there were some among the Jews in the times of Christ, who believed he was the Messiah, and yet confessed him not, because they loved the praise of men, were lovers of themselves, and could not deny themselves of praise from men; yet such non-confession of Christ is tacitly a denial of him, and is so interpreted by Christ, Matt. x. 31, 32; but especially when a man has true faith in Christ, has spiritual knowledge of him, and is a real disciple of his, to deny this is very criminal; this was the sin of Peter, when challenged with being acquainted with Jesus, and being a disciple of his, denied that he knew him, and that he was one of them that belonged to him. And so if a man has faith in Christ, and good hope through grace, and the grace of God has been exceeding abundant, with faith and love, which is in Christ, he ought to be careful that he does not deny these things. There is in some weaker Christians, I do not know well what name to call it by, it is an over-modesty, a thinking and speaking over meanly of themselves; and which they affect to do, and carry things to too great a length very much this way, as if they had no faith, nor love, and scarce any hope; and are ready to express themselves in such sort as seems to border, at least, upon a denial of the work of grace upon their souls; and is like a tearing up by the roots, as much as in them lies, the very principles of grace in them, which should never be encouraged, but discountenanced; the least measure of grace should be owned, and men should be thankful for it, and pray for an increase of it. 11. To deny a man's self, is not to refuse favours conferred on him in a course of providence, nor to neglect a lawful use of them, nor to take no care of himself and of his affairs. —1. Self-denial does not require that a man should refuse temporal honours and riches bestowed on him in a providential way; so Joseph, though a self-denying man, did not refuse the honours and the tokens of them Pharaoh gave him, when he made him ruler over the land of Egypt; nor David, when the tribes made him king over all Israel; nor Daniel, when he was advanced in Nebuchadnezzar's court, and was honoured by Belshazzar, and prospered in the reigns of Darius and Cyrus; but these good men improved them all to the glory of God and the good of others. 2. Nor are the creatures of God, and the use of them, to be rejected; Every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, 1 Tim. iv. 4; nor ought a man to debar himself of the free and lawful use of them: we are told there is nothing better for a man than to enjoy the fruit of his labour, and that it is his portion and the gift of God; and that to withhold it from himself is a sore evil under the sun, vanity, and an evil disease, Eccles. ii. 24, and v. 19, and vi. 1, 2; only care should be taken in using the world and worldly things, that they are not abused, this is all with respect to worldly things that self-denial requires, even a non-gratification of the carnal and sensual appetite to excess, which branch of self-denial the wise man expresses by putting a knife to the throat. 3. Nor should a man be careless of his life, and health, and family, though he should not be anxiously careful for life, for food, and raiment, to support and secure it; yet he may be lawfully careful for life, which is better than them; and so likewise for his health, to preserve it by proper means, as the apostle Paul advised the mariners. with him to take meat for their health's sake; and Timothy to the use of wine for his often infirmities, 1 Tim. v. 23; and in like manner a man should be careful for his family; which should he not, it would be so far from being reckoned self-denial, in a good sense, that it might be justly treated as a denial of the faith, 1 Tim. v. 8. 4. There is a self-love which is not criminal, nor contrary to the grace of self-denial, For no man ever yet hated his own flesh, Eph. v. 29, himself; which he is not obliged to by, yea, would be contrary to, the law of nature, and the law of God; to take care of a man's self, and to preserve his life, is the first principle and law of nature; and it is commanded by the law of God that a man should love himself, for, according to that, he is to love his neighbour as himself, and therefore must first love himself to love his neighbour as himself: there is a pıλavria, an inordinate love of man's self, which is the source of all sin, of covetousness, pride, blasphemy, disobedience to parents, ingratitude, &c., which is carefully to be avoided, 2 Tim. iii. 2-4.-5. Nor is it self-denial, or any part of it, to abuse the body in any respect, and even on religious accounts, by cutting it with knives and lances, as Baal's priests; or by lashing it with whips and scourges, as the papists, for penance; or by severe fastings and abstinence, by neglecting it, not in any honour to the satisfying of the flesh, as some ancient heretics in the apostle's days, Col. ii. 23; nor should any thing be done that endangers life, and - much less should any, under whatsoever pretence, lay violent hands on themselves, to which sometimes the temptations of Satan lead. III. Self-denial lies in a man's renouncing, foregoing, and postponing all his pleasures, profits, relations, interest, and whatever he enjoys, which may be in competition with Christ, from love to him, and to bo given up at his command: a self-denying man seeks first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and leaves all other things with God to bestow upon him as he thinks fit; and what he has given him, he is ready to give back again when called for, preferring Christ to all things in heaven and earth; he is ready at command to bring all he has and lay it at his feet, as the first Christians brought all they had and laid at the feet of the apostles. This is self-denial. The common distribution of it is not amiss, into natural or civil self, sinful self, and righteous self, all which a self-denying Christian is made willing to part with. First, With natural and civil self, with things relative both to soul and body, of which a man's self consists. 1. The soul, with its powers and faculties of understanding, will, and affections; and there are self-denying acts, which respect each of these. 1. The understanding; and it is a self-denying act in a man, to lean not to his own understanding, which is natural to him, but give it up to God, to be instructed, guided, and directed by him in all religious matters, according to his word and the influences of his grace and Spirit; thus Saul, when called by grace, conferred not with flesh and blood, with the carnal reasonings of his mind, whether he should profoss and preach Christ the Son of God, or no; but immediately set about it, following the divine light and supernatural instructions given him; and this is the case of all self-denying Christians, when their reason is brought to stoop to divine revelation: and their carnal reasonings, and vain imaginations, and their high towering and exalted thoughts of themselves, and of their own understandings, are cast down, and brought into the obedience of Christ.-2. The will; and then does a man deny himself, when his will becomes subject to the will of God; when, with good old Eli, he says, It is the Lord, let him do what seemeth him good, though ever so disagreeable to himself, and the interests of his family; and so the friends of the apostle Paul, when they were so desirous of his continuance, and found that all intreaties prevailed not, said, The will of the Lord be done! and when, in all cases, the will of a man is brought to this, then may he be said to deny himself, of which Christ is a pattern to him, Not my will, but thine be done! 3. The affections; these are sometimes called inordinate affections, Col. iii. 5, as when they are out of due course and order; when the world, and the things of it, are loved with an immoderate love, in a manner inconsistent with the love of God; and when friends and relations are loved more than Christ. Now self-denial checks and restrains the affections, and reduces them to proper order, and forbids such a love of the world, and the things of it; and will not suffer a man to love father or mother, son or daughter, more than Christ; but will declare such unworthy of him. 11. The body, and its members, and things relative to that, and all external things: about these self-denial is exercised;-1. When the members of the body are restrained from the service of sin; when sin is not suffered to reign in the mortal body, and the members thereof are not yielded as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin; but the deeds of it are mortified, and no provision is made for the flesh to fulfil the lusts thereof, Rom. vi. 12, 13.-2. When external honours from men are not sought for, only the honour which comes from God; when a man is content to suffer the loss of fame, name, and credit among men for Christ's sake; to be defamed, made the filth of the world, and the off-scouring of all things; to pass through honour and dishonour, good report and bad report, and suffer all indignities for the sake of religion. This is selfdenial; an instance of this we have in Moses, who for forty years lived in the court of Pharaoh, and enjoyed the honours, pleasures, and riches of that court; yet denied himself of them all, chose to visit and rank himself among his brethren the Israelites, then in a low and despicable condition, and refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, and reproach for Christ's sake, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin and the riches of Egypt.-3. When worldly profits and emoluments are left for the sake of Christ, and the interest of religion; this is self-denial: as when the disciples, one and another of them, left their fishing nets and boats, and worldly employments, and followed Christ; yea, Peter, in the name of them all, could say, Behold, we have forsaken all, and followed thee, Matt. iv. 20, 22. So Matthew, at the receipt of custom, which, perhaps, was a lucrative and profitable employment; yet, called by Christ, left it and followed him, Matt. ix. 9. And so many a gospel minister has given up himself to the ministry of the word, when worldly offers and views have directed him another way; and many private Christians have joyfully suffered the confiscation of goods and even imprisonment of the body, for the sake of religion and a good conscience; this is selfdenial. An instance to the contrary of all this we have in a young man, who could not part with his worldly substance and follow Christ, of whom he asked, what good thing he must do to have eternal life; and was answered, Keep the commandments; these he thought an easy task, and what he had been always used to, and seemed highly delighted with it; All these things I have kept from my youth; what lack I yet? a hard lesson is then set him to learn; Sell that thou hast, and give to the poor; and though he was promised treasure in heaven, it did not countervail; He went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions, which he could not part with, and deny himself of, Matt.xix. 16—22.-4. The nearest and dearest friends and relations, which are a part of a man's self, these are to be left, when God calls for it; so Abraham was commanded to come out from his country and kindred, and his father's house, which, though a self-denying order, he was obedient to; and so the people of God, when called by grace, are directed to forsake their own people, and their father's house, and when these attempt to obstruct them in the ways of God, they are not to be obeyed, but resisted; yea, even to be hated, comparatively, that is, less love and respect are to be shown them than to Christ, Luke xiv. 26; a great instance of self-denial of this kind we have in Abraham, who was called to part with his son, his only son, his beloved |