6 Of Self-Denial. S.a R M. for the fafety of the animal ; but often carried I. beyond the bounds which that end prefcribes. But, betides the inftinas originally planted in us for the prefervation of the animal life, and which terminate there, there are other defires and propenfities contracted from our knowledge of the world, and the common courfe of things in it, which are alfo a part of the fef to be denied. When we have be- gun to tread the path of life, and are capable of obferving the conditions of men, we ob7 vioufly difcern a difparity in them ; fome have much greater meafures of power, ho- nour, and wealth than others ; and the ad- vantage of fuperiority in thefe refpefcs is as eafily feen, for it furnifhesmore abundantly the means of various enjoyment. Hence arifes, though without any previous excitations in na- ture, ftrong delires, and an eager purfuit of riches and grandeur ; which having no con - ne Lion with the higheft ends of our being, are to be retrench'd by the law of the mind ; for, when they are indulg'd, they grow up to the pernicious vices of covetoufnefs and ambition ; or what the apoffle fohn Calls the lulls of the eyes, and "the pride of life ; eminent branches of the love of the world, which he pronounces . utterly incontinent with the love of the Fa- ther, or true religion, A
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