8 What Selflihneft And Self-denial are; at the Root. Steward ,and therefore inufl ufe all that he bath for him that he received it from. If he have Children his defire is to know which way they may be moll ferviceable to God: and to that he wilidevote them. If he have Wealth,or Honor, and Power among men,his care is to knowwhich way he may employ them for his Mafters ufe, and fo he will imploy them. if he have Wit and Learning,his care is to ferve God by it. If he have firength and time, he is thinking which way to improve them for his Lord. , And if vain Companions, or the World, or flethly De- lights would draw him to lay them' out for them, he remembers that this were to wane his Mailers flock upon his enemies. So that though the fanaiflecl man bath all things, yet he knows that he bath nothing. All things arehis as Gods Steward : but nothing is properly and ultimately his own. All things are his for God but nothing is his for his Carnal.felf, nor ultimately for his perfonal or natural felf. Upon this ground he gives the Devil, the World , and the 'Flefh a Denyal , when they would have his Time,his Tongiie, his Wit,his Wealth,or any thing that he pofieffeth : he telleth them [They are none of mine, but Goes: I received them,and Imufl be accountablefor them. Ihad them not from you, and therefore I may not ufe them for you : Imull give to God the things that are God's : that which ityours Iwill readily yieldyou. yoflice requireth that every one havehis own.] And thus Self-denial doth take off the fandified from giving that which is God's unto themfelves. °hied. But do we not lawfully ufe hi, .Merciesfor our [elves ? Is not our Meat, and Drink, andCloatbsondHoules,andGoods our own, andmaywe not ufe themfor ourfelves? Anfw. Improperly they are our own: fo far our own ,as that our Fellow. fervants may not take them from us without our Lords confent : asevery fervant may have a peculiar flock en- truffed in his hands, or may havehis tools to do his work with which indeed are his Mailers, but are his to ufe. But as to a Chia Propriety they are noneof ours, but God is the onlyProprie- taryof the world. - And for theufe of them, it may be for our felves in fubor_ dination to God, but never ultimately for our felves. , We may not rife one Creature, but ultimately and principally for God. When 47: '
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