Of Self- Denial. 2j fprc'd it with peculiar motives. It will always S E R tz. have great weight with every fincere difciple of I, Chrift, that this is, by his own exprefs decla- ration, an effential part of that charaEter, and an indifpenfible condition, without which we cannot expert his approbation: If any man will come after me let him deny him( i Whatever you do in compliance with the chriftian iníti- tution, mull pafs for nothing, if this one duty be negledted. Tho' you believe the gofpel, and profefs it zealoufly, contend for the faith, and be ever fo affiduous in attending all the po, fitive appointments of religion ; what will all avail unlefs you learn to deny yourfelves ? Farther we may obferve, that as divine wif- 'dom fhnnes in all our Saviour's inftrudions, fu particularly his enforcement of this duty is adapted in the belt manner to our fiate of in- firmity and temptation. When men are vehe . mently urg'd to indulge their appetites and palons, as in the cafe of bad habits, or of fume peculiarly ftrong worldly attachments, as when the interéft of a tenderly beloved friend comes in competition with our duty ; fo that the foliciting affection is dear as a right hand or an eye, in that cafe the mind under a violent hurry and perturbation, cannot calmly attend to more ingenuous con fiderations, and therefore a ftronger remedy is applied ; the terrors of the 3 Lord
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=