than with Absalom to contrive and seek it; but best of all with David to stay till God call us, and then obey.

CHAPTER XLII.

The Love and good Word of others Denied,

2. ANOTHER part of selfish interest to be denied, is the love, and good will, and word of others. This is a thing that may and must be desired to good ends; but not for carnal self. When Paul looked at God's honour and the good of souls, he "became all things to all men that he might by all means save some;" and this he did, not for self but for the Gospel's sake, and yet for himself in subordination to God, that he "might be partaker of it with them." He would "give no offence to Jew or Gentile, or the church of God; but pleased all men in all things (that tended to their good), not seeking his own profit, but the profit of many that they may be saved;" 1 Cor. x. 32, 33. And he hath left it as the duty of the strongest Christians, "not to please themselves, but every one to please his neighbour for his good to edification." But when Paul looked at himself, and his esteem among men, then he saith, "With me it is a very small thing, that I should be judged of you, or of man's judgment;" 1 Cor. iv. 3. And " Do I seek to please men? For if I yet pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ;" Gal. i. 10. Good natures are loath to provoke others to displeasure; and grace moveth us to please men for the saving of their souls. But it is pride and self-seeking to desire to set up ourselves in men's esteem; and to endear ourselves for ourselves into their affections. is God's highest honour to be most highly esteemed, and most dearly beloved, as being the most perfect and transcendent good. And proud men in this would aspire to his prerogative; and much affect to be beloved of all; and fain they would sit near men's hearts, and be the darlings of the world. This is a fine, but dangerous sin; and I doubt many that are guilty of it, never well considered that it is a sin, and so great a sin as indeed it is. Deny yourselves in this. It is God that must be loved of all, and not you; you must

It

be content to "be hated of all men for his sake," that he may be loved. Men's hearts were not made to be your throne, but God's. Your work is to love, and not ambitiously to seek for love. So far as your interest in men's affections doth conduce to God's honour and service, and their good, desire it, and spare not; but see that these be really your ends. But for yourselves, take heed of desiring or seeking for men's love. They are apt enough to have inordinate affections to the creature without your temptations. To love God in you, and love you for God, is their duty which you may provoke them to in season; but seek not for any nearer interest in them, nor for such a love as terminateth in yourselves. Nature is exceeding ambitious of being beloved; but steal not God's due. You are to be suitors and solicitors for him, to win the hearts of as many to him as you can; and not to speak for yourselves in his stead. Thankfully accept of men's ordinate love to you, if you have it; but if they deny it to you, for the sake of Christ, and turn it into hatred, do you deny yourselves herein, and remember that it is no more than you were forewarned of; and no more than your Lord, and his worthiest servants have endured. What a pattern is Paul, that tells his converts, he "seeks not theirs but them, as parents lay up for their children, and not children for the parents, and would gladly spend, and be spent for them, though the more he love, the less he were beloved;" 2 Cor. xii. 14, 15. See that you love God and them, and that is your duty; do that and you need not take care for the love of men to you. Their love is none of your felicity, and therefore their hatred depriveth you not of your felicity; for that lieth only in the love of God. Here therefore self must be denied. #

CHAPTER XLIII.

The Reputation of Riches to be Denied.

3. ANOTHER part of the honour which self must be denied in, is the reputation of your riches; for wealth is one thing that men are proud of. Some desire to be esteemed richer than they are, and therefore go in the best apparel they can

get, that they may not be thought to be persons of the lowest, poorest sort. And some that are rich do glory in their riches, and think they are much more to be honoured than the poor; but alas, if they had well read and considered what Christ hath said of the danger of the rich, particularly in Luke xii. xvi. xviii. and viii. 14. Matt. xiii. 22. Mark x. 23. and what James saith to them, James v. 1, 2, &c. they would see that riches is not a thing to be proud of; "Not many great and noble are called. God hath chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith, to be heirs of the kingdom." The talents for which we must give an account at the bar of Christ, should be rather the matter of our fear and trembling than of our pride. That which makes our passage to heaven to be as the camel's through a needle's eye, I think should not much lift us up. All the riches of the world do make you never the better thought of with God, or any wise man; nor will they cause you to live a month the longer, or quiet your consciences, or save you from death, or the wrath of God. The only worth of riches is, that you are better furnished than others to do God some kind of service, by relieving the poor, and helping the church, and furthering many such good works; and for the sake of these good ends, you must patiently bear a state of riches, yea, and thankfully receive them, if they are given you by God: though the care and labour in a faithful distribution of them, and the danger of abusing them, and the reckoning to be made for them, are so great, as may deter a wise man from a greedy seeking them, or glorying in them.

CHAPTER XLIV.

Comeliness and Beauty to be Denied.

4. ANOTHER part of the honour that self must be denied in, is the reputation of your personal comeliness or beauty; for such fools and children sin hath made folks, that many much set by the reputation of these: and hence is most commonly the abuse of apparel. Every proud person is desirous of that which will make them seem the most handsome or beautiful persons unto others, and make it their

care to set forth themselves to the eyes of beholders. What they indeed are, we can see as well in the meanest attire ; but what they would be thought to be, we may best see in this but of this I spoke before. Yea, some that think they are not proud of their comeliness, yet cannot endure to be esteemed ill-favoured or uncomely, and so shew that pride which they would deny. I confess these are commonly but the temptations of women, and procacious youth; but one would think it should be easy for a few sober thoughts to cut their combs, and let them see how little cause they have to be proud of beauty or comeliness of the flesh. Alas, what is that body that you are proud of? Filth and corruption, covered with a cleaner skin than some of your neighbours. Ah, but the skin is thin and if that be all you have to glory in, it is as frail as contemptible. There is many a pretty flower in the common field that is trodden down by the feet of beasts, that have a gloss and hue incomparably beyond your beauty. I asked you before, what beauty you will have to glory of when you have dwelt but a few months in the grave; or if the small-pox, or leprosy, should clothe you with another coloured skin; or if a cancer should but seize upon your face, and turn it into such an ugly shape, as makes men tremble to behold it; or when wrinkled age hath made you as another person; or when death hath deprived you of that soul, which was your beauty, and laid you out as a prey and sacrifice to corruption. Ah, that ever such a skin full of dirt, such a bag of filth, should yet be proud, that is carried about by a living soul, and by it kept a little while from falling down as a senseless clod, and turning into a stinking corpse! They are shortsighted, and short witted, as well as graceless, that cannot look so far before them, or within them, as to see that which may take them down from being proud of any comeliness of the flesh. One would think this should be so easy a part of self-denial, as any graceless one might reach by a little use of the reason that is left them.

CHAPTER XLV.

Strength and Valour to be Denied.

5. ANOTHER piece of vainglory to be denied, is in the reputation of strength and valour. The witless part of men, especially in their procacious humours, do use to be carried away with this, as witless women with the former. Hence commonly are their matches of running and wrestling, and many exercises of activity and strength; yea, and hence commonly are their duels and murders. It seems such a dishonourable. thing to them to be thought a coward, or unable to defend themselves, and to be crowed over by their enemy, that they will venture body and soul upon it rather than they will put up such indignities, or lie under the dishonour of being cowards. Yea, and (would one think it) some Jesuits are such carnal doctors, that they teach men that if they be challenged, and their honour do lie upon it, they may meet the challenger there in a defensive posture, and fight with him to defend their honour: yea, and in many other cases, they may kill another for their honour, seeing their honour is more to them than their lives. 0, miserable teachers, and miserable souls that do obey them! Christ hath taught you another lesson, even " to despise the shame," Heb. xii. 2, 3, and to humble yourselves, and intimateth that such cannot be believers which "receive honour of one another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only;" John v. 44. It is more honour to obey God in suffering, than to be so valiant as to murder another The day is near, when he will appear the honourable man that was most like to Jesus Christ, that when he " reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not, but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously;" 1 Pet. ii. 23. Blind sinners! do you think it more honourable to do hurt than to suffer hurt? Yea, to be like the devil, who is a murderer, than to Christ, that was a sufferer, and came not to destroy men's lives, but to save them and lay down his own. Can any thing be more honourable than to be the children of the heavenly Father? And if you be such, you must "love your enemies, bless them that

man.

was