90 Of Self - denial, and Suffering for Ghrif's Sake. Vol. 1. Our Bleffed Saviour, the Author and Founder of our Religion, made ufe of none of thefe ways of Violence, fo contrary to the Nature of Man, and ofall Religion, and efpecially of Chriftianity, and fitted onlyto make Men Hypocrites, but not Converts ; he only Pays, If any Man will be my Difciple ; he ufeth no Arguments, but fuch as are Spiritual, and proper to work upon the Minds and C6nfciences ofMen. For as his Kingdom was not of this World, fo neither are the Motives and Arguments to induce Men to be his Subje&s, taken from this World ; but from the endlefs Rewards and Punifhments ofanother. The Weapons which he made ufe ofto fubdue Men to the Obedience of Faith, were not carnal; and yet they were mighty through God, to conquer the Obftinacy and Infidelity of Men. This great and infallible Teacher, who certainly came from God, all that he does, is topropofe his Religion to Men, with fuch Evidence and fuck Arguments as are proper to convince Men of the Truth and Goodnefs of it, and to petfwade Men to embrace it ; and he acquaints them likewife with all the worldly Dif- advantages of it, and the Hazards and Sufferings that would attend it ; and now, if upon full Confideration they will make his Religion their free Choice, and be- come his Difciples, he is willing to receive them ; if they will not, he under- Rands the Nature ofReligion better, than to go about to force it upon Men, whe- ther they will or no. II. ' I than endeavour to explain this Duty or Precept ofSelf-denial, exprefs'd in thefe Words, Let him deny himfelf,' and take up bis Croft. Thefe are difficult Terms, for a Man to deny himfelf; and take up his own Croft, that is, willingly to fubmit to all thofe Sufferings which the Malice of Men may inflict for theSake of Chrift and his Religion. For this Expre(fion of taking up one's Croft, is a plain ABM-ion to the RomanCuftom, which was this, That he that was condemned to be crucified, was to take his Grofs upon iris Shoulders, and to carry it to the Place of Execution ; this the Jews made our Saviour to do, as we read John J9. 17. till that being ready to faint under it, and left he Ihould die away before he was nailed to the Crofs, they compelled Simon of Cyrene to carry it for him, as is declared by the other Evangelifts ; and yet he tells them, they that will be bis Difciples, mu/f follow him, bearing their own Craft, that is, being ready (if God call them to it to fubmit to the like Sufferings for Him and his Truth, which he was Ihortly to undergo for the Truth, and for their Sakes. But tho' thefe Terms feem very hard ; yet they are not unreafonable, as I (hall fhew in the Conclufion of this Difcourfe. Some indeed have made them fo by extending this Self-denial too far, attending more to the Latitude of the Words, than to the Meaning and Scopeof our Saviour's Difcourfe : For there is no doubt, but that there are a great many Things, which may properly enough be called Self-denial, which yet our Saviour never intended to oblige Chriftians to. It is, no doubt, great Self-denial, for a Man, without anyNeceflity, to deny himfelf the neceffary Supports ofLife ; for a Man to ftarve and make away himfelf: But no Man certainly ever imagined, that our Saviour ever intended by this Precept to enjoyn this kind of Self-denial. It is plain then, that there is no Reafon or Neceffity to extend this Precept of our Saviour, concerning Self-denial, to every thing that may properly enough be called by that Name ; and therefore this Precept muff be limited by the plain Scope and Intendment of our Saviour's Difcourfe; and no Man can argue thus; Such a thing is Self -denial, therefore our Saviour requires it ofhis Difciples For our Saviour doth not here require all kinds of Self -denial ; but limits it by his Difcourfe to one certain kind, beyond which, Self-denial is no Duty by virtue of this Text ; and therefore, for our clearer underftanding of this Precept of Self - denial, I (hall do thefe two things: Firl, Remove force forts of Self -denial, which are inftanced in by force, as in- tended in this Precept. Secondly, I (hall fhewwhat kindof Self-denial that is, which our Saviour here intends. Firf, There are feveral things brought under this Precept ofSelf -denial, which were never intended by our Saviour. I (hall inftance in two or three Things, which
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