there never was any kind of pain, mortification, grief, or sorrow, felt by mortal man, in mind, body or spirit, which the son of God did not feel, at some period of his passion, when he suffered for our sins: he bore our griefs, when he was visited for our iniquities: all the sorrows of a sinful world were assembled together in his single person; and others were added, which were peculiar to himself-felt by him, but never to be known by us. The sum of his sufferings is an abyss, which we cannot fathom. Men may hear of it, and coldly regard it; but principalities and

abashed at it.

powers stand

Such was the example set before us by the great Captain of our salvation; who denied himself in his life, and took up the cross at his death; that we, his followers and soldiers, might be encouraged to undertake and endure all the hardships and dangers of our militant state here upon earth. Let the same mind, then, be in us, which was also in Christ Jesus, who humbled himself, that he might be exalted, and became obedient unto death, that every knee might bow at his name. Take it as we will, the followers of Christ can find no other way to glory and happiness, but this of self-denial and patient suffering.

Our self-denial, as in the case of our blessed Master, must extend to our minds, our bodies, and our estates. In our minds, we are, first, to conform ourselves to the will of God; and, secondly, to be obedient to the law of God. The hardest of all Christian duties is that of resignation: no trial is like that of contradicting our own stubborn wills. Every man has a plan of his own, in which he has proposed to himself some objects which will make him happy; and without which, he concludes it impossible for him to be so. It pleases God so to order events, as to dis

appoint him, and force his thoughts into some other channel: then, if he believes that all events are di-, rected by God's providence, he will give up his own schemes, and conclude that to be best, which God ordains; though it may not at present appear to be so. It is the proper act of faith to look forward to things invisible, and to see future good through present evil. Miserable is the man, who sets up his own will against that power which governs the world, and has promised to make all things work together for good in the end to those that love him.

In his body, he is to deny himself by mortification and abstinence, as his Saviour did; without which, the will and the appetites can never be reduced to order. There is something remarkable in the words, where Christ gives instruction how to cast out devils : this kind, saith he, goeth not out, but by prayer and fasting. The rule extends to every thing of that, kind, whether evil spirits, or evil passions, which possess men to their destruction: all are to be cast out by prayer and fasting, and not without it. All men, by nature, are possessed with evil passions, which agitate and torment them; driving them to extravagance, outrage, despair, madness, and even death itself. All that an evil spirit could do, a man's own unmortified passions will do, to destroy him. And how are these enemies to be cast out? Will reason conquer them? No: let the body be indulged, and reason will soon be blinded and baffled. Even religion itself, with all its motives, will not avail, without positive mortification. So salutary is the habit of self-denial, and so necessary to man in his present situation, that he should deny himself even in the smallest things, that the habit may extend to things of greater consequence. And there is a refined plea

sure in this conquest of the mind over the body, which the voluptuary neither knows, nor understands; and which, indeed, very few, in this age of professed selfindulgence, can relish or receive. I may add too, that the Christian religion, while it seems, in this doctrine, only to keep us down and punish us for our sins, does really admonish us for our safety, and consult our present happiness. For this practice of selfdenial is conducive to health, peace and godliness; the only true riches on this side the grave. So that, upon the terms of Christianity, we gain more than we lose even in this world.

In his worldly estate, the follower of Christ must deny himself in what relates to his outward appearance and conversation with the world. It is our great misfortune, early in life, when we have little or no judgment, to be cheated with false ideas of pleasure and greatness, and a fanciful notion of our own importance. To himself, every man, on some principle or other, is the first personage in the world; and it is the labour of some people's lives to keep up and secure this visionary idea of their own importance. They affect distinction and superiority; and there is nothing they are so much afraid of upon earth, as of losing it, or seeming to lose it, in the eyes of other people. To prevent which, they study all the little artifices of pride; and often flatter their own vanity, by meanly transgressing the rules of common sense, and exposing the littleness of their minds to contempt and ridicule. So long as this temper has possession how is it possible to be a follower of that Master, who, though the richest upon earth, threw off all superiority, and made himself poor and of no reputation, for our sakes? The children of the world are eagerly

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running into higher company, to borrow some consequence, which does not belong to them: but he associated with fishermen, and preferred the company and conversation of an obscure, godly family in Bethany: he chose the little things of this world to confound the great, and foolish things to confound the wise. But alas! Look at those who are called by his name, and see what stirring there is for precedence: What mean, servile endeavours, to procure honour from men, even from people of no judgment; while they neglect the only true honour which cometh from God who hath far other notions of greatness and importance than those which the fashion of this world hath introduced and established.

And now, having considered the doctrine of selfdenial, so far as the time will permit, I have only farther to observe, that the follower of Christ must be ready to imitate his Master in taking up the Cross: and we may assure ourselves, that the divine providence, with a fatherly attention, never fails to correct those of whose reformation there is any hope. Some, indeed, are left to themselves, little interrupted in the enjoyment of the world: They come into no misfortune like other folk, neither are they plagued like other men. God deliver us from being of that number! For such an exemption, while it seems to be a privilege, is the greatest curse under heaven. Let no good man ever wish to have his portion in this life on the terms of the rich man in the Gospel. Besides this, the best and the wisest have their sins and their follies, which nothing but their own sufferings can cure; and as the Cross of Christ was the remedy for the sins of the world, so every individual must take that Cross from the appointment of God, which

As the occa

is adapted to his own particular case. sion may require, we are visited with bodily pain and sickness, loss of wealth or reputation, unmerited neglect and dishonour, inconstancy of friends, who often stand at a distance, and are least useful, when they are most wanted. And, when God pleases even the refreshments and comforts of the divine presence are withdrawn: the saint complains, like his Saviour on the Cross, that his God hath forsaken him. Such things are necessary for a time, to make us sensible of our own weakness and misery; to punish our past unprofitableness under the means of grace; and to mortify those who have neglected to mortify themselves.

The Cross of Christ was fore-ordained of God, with infinite wisdom, as the proper instrument of his death and with the like wisdom he appoints the Cross, by which every particular man is to suffer. The precept directs every one to take up his Cross; not the trouble of another man, but that, which is sent for his own trial, and adapted to his own case. The God, who made him, knows his wants and his feelings, and applies the trial to the proper part.— Monastics may whip and scourge themselves, and wear horse-hair garments to afflict their skin: but these are crosses of their own making. The question is, whether a man will take in Faith and Patience, as absolutely necessary to his own good, that Cross, which God's wisdom hath ordained for him, and laid upon him. How common is it for people to complain, that they could have borne any thing else but that present evil under which they are suffering! God knew that, and therefore he sent it; to punish their sin; to teach them patience; and to make them fly to him for help and support under