Ser. 66. In the handling of these words, I fhall do these four things.

1. I fhall confider the way and method which our Saviour useth in making profelytes, and gaining men over to his religion. He offers no manner of force and violence to compel them to the profeffion of his religion; but fairly offers it to their confideration and choice; and tells them plainly upon what terms they must be his difciples and if they be contented and refolved to fubmit to these terms, well; if not, it is in vain to follow him any longer; for they cannot be his difciples.

2. I fhall endeavour to explain this duty of felf-denial, expreffed in these words, Let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

3. I fhall confider the strict and indispensable obligation of it, whenever we are called to it. Without this we cannot be Chrift's difciples: If any man will come after me, or be my difciple, let him deny himself.

4. I fhall endeavour to vindicate the reafonableness of this precept of felf-denial, and fuffering for Christ, which at first appearance may feem to be fo very harsh and difficult. And I fhall go over these particulars as

briefly as I can.

I. We will confider the way and method which our Saviour here useth in making profelytes, and gaining men over to his religion. He offers no manner of force and violence to compel men to the profeffion of his religion; but fairly propofeth it to their confideration and choice; telling them plainly upon what terms they must be his difciples: if they like them, and are content and refolved to fubmit to them, well; he is willing to receive them, and own them for his difciples: if not, it is in vain to follow him any longer; for they cannot be his difciples. As, on the one hand, he offers them no worldly preferment and advantage to intice them into his religion, and to tempt them outwardly to profess what they do not inwardly believe; fo, on the other hand, he does not hale and drag them by force, and awe them by the terrors of torture and death to fign the Christian faith, though moft undoubtedly true, and to confefs with their mouths, and fubfcribe with their hands, what they do not believe in their hearts. He

did not obtrude his facraments upon them, and plunge them into the water to baptize them, whether they would or no, and thrust the facrament of bread into their mouths; as if men might be worthy receivers of that bleffed facrament, whether they receive it willingly

or no.

Our bleffed Saviour, the author and founder of our religion, made ufe of none of thefe ways of violence, fo contrary to the nature of man, and of all religion, and especially of Christianity, and fitted only to make men hypocrites, but not converts; he only fays, If any man will be my difciple. He useth no arguments, but fuch as are fpiritual, and proper to work upon the minds and confciences of men: for as his kingdom was not of this world, fo neither are the motives and arguments to induce men to be his fubjects taken from this world, but from the endless rewards and punishments of another. The weapons which he made ufe of to fubdue men to the obedience of faith, were not carnal; and yet they were mighty through God to conquer the obftinacy and infidelity of men. This great and infallible teacher, who certainly came from God, all that he does, is, to propose his religion to men, with fuch evidence and fuch arguments as are proper to convince men of the truth and goodness of it, and to perfuade men to embrace it; and he acquaints them likewife with all the worldly dif advantages of it, and the hazards and fufferings that would attend it: and now, if upon full confideration they will make his religion their free choice, and become his disciples, he is willing to receive them; if they will not, he understands the nature of religion better, than to go about to force it upon men, whether they will or no.

II. I shall endeavour to explain this duty or precept of felf-denial, expreffed in these words, Let him deny himfelf, and take up his crofs. Thefe are difficult terms, for a man to deny himself, and take up his own cross; that is, willingly to fubmit to all thofe fufferings which the malice of men may inflict for the fake of Christ and his religion. For this expreffion of taking up one's cross, is an allufion to the Roman custom; which was this, that he that was condemned to be cru

cified,

cified, was to take his cross upon his fhoulders, and to carry it to the place of execution. This the Jews made eur Saviour to do, as we read John xix. 17. till that being ready to faint under it, and left he should die away before he was nailed to the crofs, they compelled Simon of Cyrene to carry it for him, as is declared by the other Evangelifts: and yet he tells them, they that will be his difciples, muft follow him, bearing their own cross; that is, being ready, if God call them to it, to fubmit to the like fufferings for him and his truth, which he was fhortly to undergo for the truth, and for their fakes.

But though thefe terms feem very hard; yet they are not unreasonable; as I fhall fhew in the conclufion of this difcourfe. Some indeed have made them fo, by extending this felf-denial too far; attending more to the latitude of the words, than to the meaning and scope of our Saviour's difcourfe: for there is no doubt, but that there are a great many things which may properly enough be called felf-denial, which yet our Saviour ne ver intended to oblige Christians to. It is, no doubt, great felf-denial, for a man, without any neceffity, to deny himself the neceffary fupports of life; for a man to starve and make away himself: but no man certainly ever imagined, that our Saviour ever intended by this precept to injoin this kind of felf-denial.

It is plain then, that there is no reafon or neceffity to extend this precept of our Saviour concerning felf-denial to every thing that may properly enough be called by that name; and therefore this precept must be limited by the plain fcope and intendment of our Saviour's dif course. And no man can argue thus: Such a thing is felf-denial, therefore our Saviour requires it of his difciples. For our Saviour doth not here require all kinds of felf-denial, but limits it by his difcourfe to one certain kind, beyond which felf-denial is no duty by virtue of this text. And therefore, for our clearer understanding of this precept of felf-denial, I shall do these two things.

1. Remove fome forts of felf-denial, which are inftanced in by fome as intended in this precept.

2. I fhall fhew what kind of felf-denial that is which our Saviour here intends.

1. There

1. There are several things brought under this precept of felf-denial which were never intended by our Saviour. I shall instance in two or three things which are most frequently infifted upon, and fome of them by very devout and well-meaning men: as, that in matters of faith we should deny and renounce our own fenfes and our reafon; nay, that we should be content to renounce our own eternal happiness, and be willing to be damned for the glory of God, and the good of our brethren. But all thefe are fo apparently and grofsly unreafonable, that it is a wonder that any one should ever take them for inftances of that felf-denial which our Saviour requires ; efpecially confidering, that, in all his difcourfe of felfdenial, he does not fo much as glance at any of thefe inftances, or any thing like to them.

ft, Some comprehend under felf-denial the denying and renouncing our own fenfes in matters of faith. And if this could be made out to be intended by our Saviour in this precept, we needed not difpute any of the other inftances. For he that renounceth the certainty of fenfe, fo as not to believe what he fees, may, after this, renounce and deny any thing. For the evidence of fenfe is more clear and unquestionable than that of faith; as the fcripture frequently intimates; as John xx. 29. where our Saviour reproves Thomas, for refufing to believe his refurrection, upon any lefs evidence than that of fenfe: Because thou hast feen, thou hast believed: blessed are they that have not feen, and yet have believed; which plainly fuppofeth the evidence of fenfe to be the higheft and cleareft degree of evidence. So likewife that of St. Paul, 2 Cor. v. 7. We walk by faith, and not by fight; where the evidence of faith, as that which is more imperfect and obfcure, is opposed to that of fight, as more clear and certain. So that to believe any article of faith, in contradiction to the clear evidence of fenfe, is contrary to the very nature of affent, which always yields to the greatest and clearest evidence.

Befides that our belief of religion is at last refolved into the certainty of fenfe: fo that by renouncing that, we destroy and undermine the very foundation of our faith. One of the plainest and principal proofs of the being of God, which is the first and fundamental article VOL. IV.

Р

of

of all religion, relies upon the certainty of sense, namely, the frame of this vifible world; by the contemplation whereof we are led to the acknowledgment of the invifible author of it. So St. Paul tells us, Rom. i. 20. that the invifible things of God from the creation of the world are clearly feen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead.

And the great external evidence of the Christian religion, I mean miracles, is at laft refolved into the certainty of fenfe, without which we can have no affurance that any miracle was wrought for the confirmation of it.

And the knowledge likewife of the Chriftian faith is conveyed to us by our fenfes; the evidence whereof, if it be uncertain, takes away all certainty of faith. How fhall they believe, (faith St. Paul, Rom. x. 14.), how shall they believe in him, of whom they have not heard? and,

17. So then, faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. So that to deny and renounce our fenfes in matters of faith, is to take away the main pillar and foundation of it.

2dly, Others, almoft with equal abfurdity, would comprehend, under our Saviour's precept of felf-denial, the denying and renouncing of our reafon in matters of faith. And this is felf-denial with a witness, for a man to deny his own reafon; for it is to deny himself to be a man. This furely is avery great mistake; and though the ground of it may be innocent, yet the confequences of it, and the difcourfes upon it, are very abfurd.

The ground of the mistake is this: Men think they deny their own reafon, when they affent to the revelation of God in fuch things as their own reafon could neither have discovered, nor is able to give the reafon of: whereas in this cafe, a man is fo far from denying his own reafon, that he does that which is most agreeable to it. For what more reasonable, than to believe whatever we are fufficiently affured is revealed to us by God, who can neither be deceived himself, nor deceive us ?

But though the ground of this mistake may be innocent, yet the confequences of it are most abfurd and dangerous. For if we are to renounce our reafon in matters of faith, then are we bound to believe without rea

fon;