Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/d_500.lzh/D_586.TXT

Text File | 1994-08-25 | 7KB | 127 lines

586                                                    OF SELF-DENIAL.                                                        BoOK I.

nor Daniel, when he was advanced in Nebuchadnez-
zar's court, and was honoured by Belshazzar, and
prospered in the reigns of Darius and Cyrus; but these
good men improved them all to the glory of God and
the good of others.--(2.) Nor are the creatures of
God, and the use of them, to be rejected; Every crea-
ture of God 'is good, and nothing to be refused, t Tim.
iv. 4. nor ought a man to debar himself of the free
and lawful use of them; we are told there is nothing
better for a man than to enjoy the fruit of his labour,
and that it is his portion, and the gift of God; and
that to withhold it from himself is a sore evil under
the sun, vanity, and an evil disease, Eccles. ii. 24. and
v. 19. and vi. 1, 2. only care should be taken in using
the world, and worldly things, that they are not abused,
I Cor. vii. 3 I. this is all with respect to worldly things
that self-denial requires; even a non-gratification of
the carnal and sensual appetite to excess; which
branch of self-denial the wise-man expresses by putting
a knife to the throat; seeProy. xxiii. 2.--(9.) Nor
should a man be careless of his life, and health, and
family, though he should not be anxiously careful for
life, for food, and raiment to support and secure it;
yet he may be lawfully careful for life, which is better
than them; and so likewise for his health, to preserve
it by proper means; as the apostle Paul advised the
mariners with him, to take meat for their health's sake;
and Timothy to the use of wine for his often infirmi-
ties, Acts xxvii. 33, 34. 1 Tim. v. 23. and in like
manner a man should be careful for his family; which
should he not, it would be so far from being reckoned
self-denial, in a good sense, that it might be justly
treated as a denial of the faith, 1 Tim. v. 8.--(4.) There
is a self-love which is not criminal, nor contrary to the
grace of self-denial; For no man ever yet hated his own
.flesh, Eph. v. 29. himself, Which he is not obliged to
by, yea, would be contrary to, the law ef nature, and
the law of God; to take care of a man's self, and to
preserve his life, is the first principle and law of na-
ture {}; and it is commanded by the law of God, that a
man should love himself; for according to that, he is
to love his neighbour as himself, and therefore must
first love himself to love his neighbout as himself;
there is a \~filautia\~, an inordinate love of a man's self,
which is the source of all sin, of covetousness, pride,
blasphemy, disobedience to parents, ingratitude, &c.
which is carefully to be avoided, 2 Tim. iii. 2, 3, 4.--
(5.) Nor is it self-denial, or any part of it, to abuse
the body in any respect, and even on religious ac-
counts, by cutting it with knives and lances, as Baal's
priests; or by lashing it with w'hips and scourges, as
the papists for penance; or by severe fastlugs and ab-
stinence, by neglecting it, not in any honour to the sa-
ti.sfying of the flesh, as some ancient heretics in the
apostle's days, Col. ii. 23. nor sho?.ld any thingnbe
done that endangers life, and much less should a y,
under whatsoever pretence, lay violent hands on them-
selves, to which sometimes the temptations of Satan
lead, Matt. iv. 6. But,

3. Self-denial lies in a man's renounci,,g, fore-
going, and postponing all his pleasures, profits, rela-
tions, interest, and whatever he enjoys, which may be
in competition with Christ froin love to him, and to be
given up at his command; a self-denying man seeks
first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, aud
leaves all other things with God, to bestow upon him
as he thinks fit; and what he has given him he is ready
to give back again when called for, preferring Christ
to all things in heaven and earth; he is ready at com-
mand to bring all he has, and lay it at his feet; as the
first Christians brought. all they had and laid at the feet
of the apostles. This is serf-denial. The common dis-
tribution of it is not amiss, into natural or civil self,
sinful self, and righteous self; all which a self-deny-
ing Christian is made willing to part with.
First, With natural and civil self, with things rela-
tive both to soul and body, of which a man's self con-
sists.
1. The soul, with its powers and faculties of under-
standing, will, and affections; and there are self-deny-
ing acts, which respect each of these.----(1.) The
nnderstanding; and it is a self-denying act in a man,
to lean not to his own understanding, which is natural to
him; but give it up to God, to be mstrueted, guided,
and directed by him in all religious matters, according
to his word, and the influence8 of his grace and Spirit;
thus Saul, when called by grace, conferred not with
.flesh and blood, with the carnal reasonings of his mind,
whether he should profess and preach Christ the Sou
of God, or no; but immediately set about it, following
the divine light and supernatural instructions given-
him: and this is the case of all self denying Christians,
when their reason is. brought to stoop to divine reve-
lation; and t[,eir carnal reasonings, and vain imagina-
t. ions, and their high towering and exalted thoughts of
themselves, and ottheir own understandings, are cast
down, and brought into the obedience of Christ.-
(2.) The will; and then does a man deny himself,
when his will becomes subject to the will of God;
when, with good old Eli, he says, It is the Lord, let
him do what seerherb him good, though ever so dis-
agreeable to himself, and the interests of his family;
and so the friends of the apostle Paul, when they were
so desirous of his continuance, and found that all en-
treaties prevailed not, said, The will of the Lord be
done/and wheu in all cases, the Will of a man is brought
to this, then may he be said to deny himself, of which
Christ is a pattern to him; Not my will, but thine be
done/see 1 Sam. iii. 18. Acts xxi. 14. Luke xxii. 42.
--(3.) The affections; these are sometimes called
inordinate affections, Col. iii. 5. as when they are out
of due conrse and order; when the world, and the
things of it, are loved with an immoderate love, in a
manner inconsistent with the love of God, and when
friends and relations are loved more than Christ; now
self-denial checks and restrains the affections, and re-
duces them to proper order, and forbids such a love of
the world, and the things of it; and will not stiffer a

~ Principio, generi animantium omni est a natura tributum, ut se, vitam co~pusque tueatur, dcclinetque ea qu~e nocitura videantur. Cicero
de Officiis, 1.1. c. 4.