CHAPTER LXVII – 5. It is the powerful enemy of all ordinances
God? or can he make an ill bargain that makes sure of heaven? Do you think there is any want of riches or honour there? O sirs, win
God and win all: win heaven and never fear being losers. It seems a great loss to flesh and blood to lay down your estates, and honour, and life, for Christ, and the hopes of a life to come; but it is because the flesh is blind, and cannot see so far off as everlasting is. The loss is not so great as to exchange your brass, your dirt, for gold and jewels; or to exchange your sickness for health. It is the most profitable usury to make God your debtor, by putting all your stock into his hand, and venturing all on his service upon the confidence of his promise.
But if you will go about to shift for yourselves, you will lose yourselves: and if you will save yourselves, you will undo yourselves; and if you keep your riches or honours, you do but cast them away: for all is lost that is saved from God; and that is best saved that is lost for God.
CHAPTER LXVII
Selfishness the powerful Enemy of all Ordinances 5. MOREOVER, it is self that is the most powerful resister of all the ordinances of God; and it is self-denial that boweth the soul to that holy compliance with them, which wonderfully furthereth their success.
Were it not for this one prevailing enemy, what work would the Gospel make in the world! O with what confidence should we come into the pulpit, and speak the word of God to our hearers, had we any
to deal with but this carnal self! God can overcome it by his victorious grace; but it is so blind, so wilful, so near men, and so constant with them, that it will overcome us, and all that we can say or do, till God set in. When I come to convince a sinner of his guilt, and shew him the heinous nature of his sin, because it is his own, he will not be convinced of it: when I tell them of their misery, they will not be convinced of it, because it is their own. Were I to speak all this to another, and tell another of his sin and misery, I might have these men consent, so it reflected not upon themselves. Were I to wring the unlawful gains out of the hands of another, I might have their consent: or were I to persuade another from his pride, or lust, or passion, they would give me free leave, because it is not self that is concerned in it, nor self-denial that is necessary to it in them. But when we come to themselves, there is no dealing with them, till God by grace or judgment deal with them. They cannot endure to know the worst by themselves; much less to come out of it. If we tell them of their sin and danger, they say, we speak against them! And therefore they say, It is out of malice, or humour, or pride. And as well might all diseased persons say so of their physicians, that when they tell them of their disease and danger, they speak against them, and speak out of malice or ill-will. It is natural for men to think well of all them that they love, and of all that they do; and whom do they love better than themselves? Pride will not let men think so meanly and hardly of themselves as the Scripture speaks of them, and ministers must plainly tell them. The prophet wept that foresaw the cruelty of Hazael; but he had so good a conceit of himself that he would not believe he should be so cruel: "Is thy servant a dog, that he should do thus?" 2 Kings 8:13. The false prophet, Zedekiah, could not forbear, but struck Micaiah, when he made it known that he was a
lying prophet; 1 Kings 22:24. And Ahab hated him, "because he prophesied not good of him, but evil." It was all the proud men that rose up against Jeremiah, and contradicted his prophecy, and rejected his word; Jer. 43:2. The word of God is quick and powerful, and a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart; and it is the plain word of that God, that feareth not the faces of the proudest sinners on earth, and will not flatter, nor daub with any of them all, but will tell them to their faces what they are, and what will become of them if they do not turn, and what they must trust to. This is the word that God hath put into our mouths, and commanded us to preach to them; not the flattering words of an inferior, nor the tender language of a man-pleaser, but the commanding words of the God of heaven, and the peremptory threatnings of everlasting fire, against all unconverted, unsanctified men, denounced from him that feareth none of them all, but will make them all stoop at last to him, and fear, and tremble before his Majesty. And is it any wonder if proud and selfish sinners are displeased with such a word as this? They stand all the while they are hearing a plain and powerful preacher, as prisoners arraigned at the bar; and sometimes are ready to tremble as Felix did, when he heard Paul dilating of righteousness, and temperance and the judgment to come; Acts 24:25. And can self endure to be thus used and arraigned for its life? especially when they think it is but by a man? For they have not the understanding to know that it is Christ that owneth all that his messengers speak by his commission. Hence it is that men hate those ministers that they feel thus to judge them in their doctrine, and take them for their enemies for telling them the truth; Gal. 4:16. and think they are but the troublers of the country, as Ahah called Elijah the troubler of Israel, which he had troubled himself; 1 Kings 18:17.: and meet them
as he did the same prophet. "Hast thou found me, O mine enemy?" 1
Kings 21:20. They meet not a minister as the messenger of God that calls them to repentance, but as an enemy in the field, to strive against him, and raise up all the reasonings and passions of their souls against him, because he condemneth their unregenerate state, tells them but what God hath charged him to tell them; when the poor sinners consider not, that before God hath done with them, as sure as they breathe, he will make them either by grace or judgment, condemn themselves as much as any of his ministers condemned them (from the word of God), at whom they were most offended. Ah! little do these proud worms, that rage at us now for faithful dealing, and for telling them that which they will shortly find true, little do they think that they shall shortly say the very same against themselves, which they hated us for saying: nay, with a hundred times more bitterness and self-revenge will they speak these things against themselves, than ever we spoke them. Hence it is that faithful plain-dealing ministers are commonly hated and persecuted by the ungodly, especially by the great ones and honourable sinners. For their message is against self, and therefore self will rise up against them, and so many selfish unmortified persons as there be in the congregation, so many enemies usually hath such a minister. And therefore the lords of Israel petition the king that Jeremy may be put to death; Jer. 38:4. And Amaziah, the priest, calls Amos a conspirator against the king, and tells the king that the land was not able to bear his words, and commands him to preach no more at the king's CHAPTERl or his court; Amos 7:10–13. And what was the matter that deserved all this, yea, and the death of almost all the prophets and apostles of Christ? Why, it was for speaking against self and its carnal interest; but was it not a truth that was spoken? True
or false, if it be against self, it cannot be borne! As the bishop of Ments that Luther speaks of, meeting with a Bible, and reading an hour in it, 'I know not,' saith he, 'what book this is, but I am sure it is against us:' meaning the Popish clergy. So these men say by our preaching and by the word of God itself, 'Be it never so true, we are sure it is against us:' or, rather, we will not believe it, because it is against us.' But if these men had their wits about them, they would see that this is for them, which they think is against them. It is for their healing and salvation, had they hearts to entertain it, though it be for the troubling of them at the present by humiliation. O how tender are carnal persons of this self! How quickly do they feel, if a minister do but touch them! How impatiently do they smart, if he meddle with the galled place, and plainly open their most disgraceful sins, and most dangerous courses, as one that had rather be guilty of displeasing them, than of silently permitting them to displease God, and undo their souls! They fret and fume at the sermon, and go home with passion in their hearts and reproaches in their mouths against the minister: and are of the mind of the desperate Sodomites, that said to Lot when he exhorted them, "Stand back: this one fellow came in to sojourn, and he will needs be a judge: now will we deal worse with thee than with them; Gen. 19:9. What, say they, 'can he not preach and let me alone? hath he none to rebuke before the congregation but me!' And thus will every ungodly person reject the word as they are selfish, and self must be let alone in all. But why must you be let alone? will you be ever the safer or better for that? will God let you alone if we should let you alone? No, he will not be frightened from dealing with you as you are; whatever his word hath said against you, he will certainly make good, though you should never more be told of it by ministers. You have not silenced your
Judge, when you have silenced his messengers. He will handle you in another manner than ministers do. O how easy is it to hear a preacher threatening the everlasting wrath, in comparison of hearing the sentence of the Judge and feeling the execution! If we should yield to your desires, and let you alone, God would neither let you nor us alone; you would but go the more quietly to hell; and your blood will be required also at our hands; Ezek. 33:6–9. and then what would become both of us and you?
O were it not for the powerful resistance of this selfishness, what work would every sermon make that we preach to you! O what abundance would be converted at a sermon! for what should hinder it? I should make no doubt of persuading you all to close with the Lord upon his reasonable terms, and to become a holy and heavenly people, and presently to forsake your former sin, even this hour. Nay, some ordinances there are that selfishness hath almost shut out of the church; as most of the exercise of the ancient discipline, in open and personal admonitions, and public confessions and lamentation of sin, with rejection of the impenitent, and the absolution of the penitent; besides most of that private address to pastors for their advice in case of falls, and spiritual decays, or weaknesses, and difficulties that meet them in doctrine or duty. Self will not suffer men to stoop to most of these! What, will they be brought to open confessions and lamentations of sin, and to follow the guidance and persuasions of a priest? No, all the priests in England shall not make such fools of them; so wise are these selfish men for a little while!
But how long will this hold! and how long will madness go for wisdom! when they are dying, then they will send for the minister and confess; and when some of them come to the gallows, they will confess: and every one of them shall confess at last whether they will
or no; and God will indite their confession for them, and open their shame to all the world in another manner than ministers required them to open it: but then confession will do nothing for remission, and the preventing of execution, as now it might have done.
So also the duty of brotherly reproof and admonition of offenders, is almost quite cast out by selfishness; and especially, the patient and thankful receiving of it. And those ordinances that are continued, are very much frustrated by the opposition of selfishness. It is a very hard task that Scripture and good books, and preachers have to do; when we speak every word to enemies of the doctrine which we preach, and we can do them no good but by their own consent; and who will consent to that which he is an enemy to? Our work is to subdue their flesh and carnal wills to Christ; and this flesh is so dear to them that it is themselves; so that they take all that doctrine to be against them which should save them: and we have as many enemies as unconverted hearers in our assembly; no wonder, therefore, if they carp and quarrel, and strive, when the self-denying humbly submit and obey.
Self-denial openeth the heart to Christ, and giveth the ordinances leave to work; it taketh down all opposition and contradiction; so that though the soul may stay to search the Scripture, and see whether the things that are taught be so, yet it 'searcheth with a childlike teachableness, and willingness to learn, and know and obey.
It hath no mind to quarrel with God; how easily will a self-denying man submit to those duties which another man abhors? How easily will he be persuaded to forgive a wrong, to part with his right for a greater good to others, to let go a gainful trade that is unlawful, or any sinful way of thriving: how easily is he brought to ask forgiveness