Parochial and Plain Sermons

" Surely I have heJiaved and quieted myself, as a child that is toeaned of his mother: my soul is even as a weaned child."

OELF-DENIAL of some kind or other is involved, as is evident, in the very notion of renewal and holy obedience. To change our hearts is to learn to love things which we do not naturally love — to unlearn the ■ love of this world; but this involves, of course, a thwar ing of our natural wishes and tastes. To be righteoi and obedient implies self-command; but to possess" power we must have gained it; nor can we gain it without a vigorous struggle, a persevering warfare against ourselves. The very notion of being religiouajl implies self-denial, because by nature we do not love religion.

Self-denial, then, is a subject never out of place in Christian teaching; still more appropriate is it at a time like this, when we have entered upon the forty, days of Lent, the season of the year set apart for fasting and humiliation.

This indeed is not all that is meant by self-denial; Hit before proceeding- with the subject, I would ask whether the generality of mankind go as far as this: it i - ])lain that they do not. They do not g-o so far as to valize to themselves that religious obedience involves a thwarting of those wishes and inclinations which are n;;tural to them. They do not like to be convinced, much less will they act upon the notion, that religion is difficult. You may hear men of the world say plainly, and as if in the way of argument, "that God will not i punish us for indulging the passions with which we are bom; that it is no praise to be unnatural; and no crime to be a man.^^ This, however, may seem an extreme f case; yet are there not a great many decent and respectable men, as far as outward character goes, who at least fix their thoughts on worldly comfort, ae the greatest of goods, and who labour to place themselves in easy circumstances, under the notion that, when they can retire I from the business of their temporal calling-, then they j may (in a quiet, unexceptionable way of course) consult \ their own tastes and likings, take their pleasure, and [ indulge themselves in self-importance and self-satisfaction, in the enjoyment of wealth, power, distinction, popularity, and credit? I am not at this moment asking whether such indulgences are in themselves allowable or not, but whether the life which centres in them does not imply the absence of any very deep views of sanctification as a process, a change, a painful toil, of working out our own salvation with fear and trembling, of preparing to meet our God, and waiting for the judgment? You may go into mixed society; you will hear men conversing on their friend's prospects, openings in trade, or realized wealth, on his advantageous situation, the pleasant connexions he has formed, the land he has purchased, the house he has built; then they amuse themselves with conjecturing what this or that man's property may be, where he lost, where he gained, his shrewdness, or his rashness, or his good fortune in this or that speculation. Observe, I do not say that such conversation is wrong; I do not say that we must always have on our lips the very thoughts which are deepest in our hearts, or that it is safe to judge of individuals by such speeches; but when this sort of con versation is the customary standard conversation of t world, and when a line of conduct answering to it is t prevalent conduct of the world (and this is the case), is it not a grave question for each of us, as living in the world, to ask himself what abiding notion we have of the necessity of self-denial, and how far we are clear the danger of resembling that evil generation which " ate and drank, which married wives, and were given in marriage, which l^ought and sold, planted, and builded, till it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all ^ V las faith he will have works without his trouble, so that le need be at no pains about performing them. Such

^Ifche notion of self-denial, or the effort and warfare of faith against our corrupt natural will, whether they

; But let it be observed, I have hithei'to spoken of selfdenial not as a distinct duty actually commanded in j Scripture, but merely as it is involved in the very notion • of sanctification, as necessarily attendant on that change of nature which God the Holy Spii-it vouchsafes to work within us. But now let us consider it in the light of the Scripture precepts concerning it, and we shall come to a still more serious view of it, serious (I mean) to I those who are living to the world; it is this, — that it isi our duty, not only to deny ourselves in what is sinful, hut even, in a certain measure, in lawful things, to keep a restraint over ourselves even in innocent pleasures and enjoyments.

Now the first proof I shall give of this will at the* same time explain what I mean.

Fasting is clearly a Christian duty, as our Saviour implies in His Sermon on the Mount. Now what is fastim but a refraining from what is lawful; not merely from what is sinful, but what is innocent? — fi*om that bread which we might lawfully take and eat with thanksgiving, but which at certain times we do not take, in order to deny ourselves. Such is Christian self-denial,lU not merely a mortification of what is sinful, but an abstinence even from God's blessings.

Again: consider the following declaration of oui Saviour: He first tells us, " Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and few ther( be that find it."" And again: " Strive to enter in, foi many, I say unto you, will seek (only seek) to enter in and shall not be able." Then He explains to us whai this peculiar difficulty of a Christian's life consists \i " If any man come to Me, and hate not his father, aii mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisteH jea, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple ^." fow whatever is precisely meant by this (which I will |ot here stop to inquire), so far is evident, that our Lord ajoins a certain refraining, not merely from sin, but pom innocent comforts and enjoyments of this life, or a glf-denial in things lawful.

;[ Again, He says, "If any man will come after Me, it him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and L)llow Me ^/^ Here He shows us from His own example I'hat Christian self-denial is. It is taking on us a cross jifter His pattern, not a mere refraining from sin, for He ad no sin, but a giving up what we might lawfully se. This was the peculiar character in which Christ [ame on earth. It was this spontaneous and exuberant ielf-denial which brought Him down. He who was one S(rith God, took upon Him our nature, and suffered ileath^ — and why? to save us whom He needed not jtave. Thus He denied Himself, and took up His cross, fhis is the very aspect, in which God, as revealed in pcripture, is distinguished from that exhibition of His [^lory, which nature gives us: power, wisdom, love, percy, long-suifering — these attributes, though far more t'ully and clearly displayed in Scripture than in nature, jtill are in their degree seen on the face of the visible i3reation; but self-denial, if it may be said, this incomprehensible attribute of Divine Providence, is disclosed to us only in Scripture. " God so loved the world that

He gave His Son ^" Here is self-denial. And the Son of God so loved us, that " though He was rich yet foi; our sakes He became poor ^/' Here is our Saviour's^ self-denial. " He pleased not Himself.''

And what Christ did when He came on earth, thai have all His saints done both before and since His coming. Even the saints of the Old Testament so con-j ducted themselves, to whom a temporal promise was made, and who, if any, might have surrendered them, selves to the enjoyment of it. They had a tempera promise, they had a present reward; yet, with a nobL faith, and a largeness of soul (how they put us to sliami who have so much higher privileges!) the Jewish be.j lie vers grudged themselves the milk and honey o Canaan, as seeking a better country, that is a heavenly- Elijah, how unlike is he to one who had a temporal proi, mise! Or take again the instance of Daniel, which i still more striking, — " They that wear soft clothing ar in kings' houses." Daniel was first in power in tli palace of the greatest monarchs of his time. Yet wh; do we read of him? First of his living upon pulse an water, afterwards of his fasting in sackcloth and ash( at another time of his mourning three full weeks, catiu no pleasant bread, neither flesh nor wine coming in li mouth, nor anointing himself at all, till those thrc weeks were fulfilled. Can any thing more clearly she the duty of self-denial, even in lawful things, in tl so of Christians^ when even God^s servants, before hrist came and commanded it, in proportion as they id evangelical gifts, observed it?

Or again, consider the words of the text spoken byavid, who, if any, had riches and power poured upon m by the hand of God. He says, he has " behaved \\\ quieted " himself lest he should be proud, and made iinself " as a weaned child/' What an impressive word ■■. " weaned V David had put away the unreserved;)ve and the use of this world. We naturally love the ^orld, and innocently; it is before us, and meets our y-es and hands first; its pleasures are dear to us, and lany of them not in themselves sinful, only in their xcess, and some of them not sinful at all; — those, for Qstance, which we derive from our home, our friends,.nd our prospects, are the first and natural food of our laind. But as children are weaned from th^ir first Uurishment, so must our souls put away childish things, md be turned from the pleasures of earth to those of fieaven; we must learn to compose and quiet ourselves •ks a weaned child, to put up with the loss of what is' flear to us, nay, voluntarily to give it up for Christ's sake.

[ Much more after Christ came does St. Paul give us this same lesson in the ninth chapter of his first Epistle to the Corinthians: " Every one that striveth for the biastery is temperate in all things,"" i. e. has power over himself, and keeps himself in subjection, as he presently says. Again, in the seventh chapter, " The time i short; it remaineth that both they that have wives 1 as though they had none, and they that weep as thougl they wept not, and they that rejoice as though they rejoiced not, and they that buy as though they possessednot, and they that use this world as not abusing it."' Here the same doctrine of moderation or temperance in' lawful indulgences is strongly enforced; to weep, to; rejoice, to buy, to possess, to marry, to use this worli' are not unlawful, yet we must not use God^s earthl\ gifts to the full, but in all things we must be selfdenying.

Such is Christian self-denial, and it is incumbent upon!] us for many reasons. The Christian denies himself ii) things lawful because he is aware of his own weakness and liability to sin; he dares not walk on the edge of n precipice; instead of going to the extreme of what i allowable, he keeps at a distance from evil, that he ma} be safe. He abstains lest he should not be temperate he fasts lest he should eat and drink with the drunken As is evident, many things are in themselves right ant unexceptionable which are inexpedient in the case of: weak and sinful creature: his case is like that of a sicl> person; many kinds of food, good for a man in healtli are hurtful when he is ill — wine is poison to a man in; fierce fever. And just so, many acts, thoughts, am feelings, which would have been allowable in Adam before his fall, are prejudicial or dangerous in man

So, again, love of power is commonly attendant on a ^reat mind; but he is the greatest of a sinful race who fefrains himself, and turns from the temptation of it; or it is at once unbecoming and dangerous in a son of jVdam. '' Whosoever will be great among you, let him j)e your minister,^' says our Lord; " and whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant'." His reward will be hereafter; to reign with Christ, to sit down with Him on His throne, to judge angels, — yet without pride.

Again, even in affection towards our relations and friends, we must be watchful over ourselves, lest it seduce us from the path of duty. Many a father, from a kind wish to provide well for his family, neglects his own soul. Here, then, is a fault; not that we can love our relations too well, but that that strong and most praiseworthy affection for them may, accidentally, ensnan and corrupt our weak nature.

These considerations will show us the meaning of ou Saviour^s words already cited, about the duty of hating our friends. To hate is to feel that perfect [distaste fo an object, that you wish it put away and got rid of it is to turn away from it, and to blot out the though of it from your mind. Now this is just the feeling w must cherish towards all earthly blessings, so far n Christ does not cast His light upon them. He (blesse be His name) has sanctioned and enjoined love and car for our relations and friends. Such love is a great duty but should at any time His guidance lead us by a stran<! way, and the light of His providence pass on, and ca; these objects of our earthly affection into the shade, tho they must be at once in the shade to tis, — they mus for the time, disappear from our hearts. " He th;

pveth father or mother more than Me, is not worthy of)re/' So He says; and at such times, though still loving -hem, we shall seem to hate them; for we shall put iside the thought of them, and act as if they did not ixist. And in this sense an ancient and harsh proverb;S true: we must always so love our friends as feeling;,hat one day or other we may perchance be called upon to hate them, — that is, forget them in the pursuit of higher duties.

I Here, again, then, is an instance of self-denial in jlawful things; and if a person says it is painful thus to feel, and that it checks the spontaneous and continual ilow of love towards our friends to have this memento

|it is painful. It is a sad thought, not that we can ever be called upon actually to put away the love of them,;but to have to act as if we did not love them, — as.Abraham when called on to slay his son. And this, thought of the uncertainty of the future, doubtless, does J tinge all our brightest affections (as far as this world is ^concerned) with a grave and melancholy hue. We need not shrink from this confession, remembering that this I life is not our rest or happiness; — ''that remaineth'^ to. come. This sober chastised feeling is the very temper i of David, when he speaks of having composed and quieted his soul, and weaned it from the babels nourishment which this world supplies.

I hope I have made it clear, by these instances, what is meant by Christian self-denial. If we have good health, and are in easy circumstances, let us beware of high-mindedness, self-sufficiency, self-conceit, arrogance; of delicacy of living, indulgences, luxuries^ comforts. Nothing is so likely to corrupt our hearts, and to seduce us from God, as to surroxmd ourselves with comforts, — to have things our own way, — to b( the centre of a sort of world, whether of things animat* or inanimate, which minister to us. For then, in turn we shall depend on them; they will become necessary tc us; their very service and adulation will lead us t(. trust ourselves to them, and to idolize them. "V\Tia examples are there in Scripture of soft luxurious men Was it Abraham before the Law, who wandered througl his days, without a home? or Moses, who gave th' Law, and died in the wilderness? or David under tli Law, who " had no proud looks,'' and was '' as a weane( child?•" or the Prophets, in the latter days of the Law who wandered in sheep-skins and goat-skins? or th Baptist, when the Gospel was superseding it, who wa clad in raiment of camel's hair, and ate the food of tli wilderness? or the Apostles, who were "the offscourir of all things"? or our blessed Saviour, who " had not place to lay His head"? Who are the soft luxurion men in Scripture? There was the rich man, wh " fared sumptuously every day," and then " lifted u his eyes in hell, being in torments." There was thf other, whose "ground brought forth plentifully," an

[ k^ho said, " Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for Itaany years/' and his soul was required of him that mght. There was Demas, who forsook St. Paul, ^'having loved this present world/' And, alas! there Was that highly-favoured, that divinely-inspired king, rich and wise Solomon, whom it availed nothing to have measured the earth, and numbered its inhabitants, when 'in his old age he "loved many strange women,'' and worshipped their gods.

Far be it from us, soldiers of Christ, thus to perplex ourselves with this world, who are making our way towards the world to come. "No man that warreth, cntangleth himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please Him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. If a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully." This is St. Paul's rule, as has already been referred to: accordingly, in another place, he bears witness of himself that he " died daily." Day by day he got more and more dead to this world; he had fewer ties to earth, a larger treasure in heaven. Nor let us think that it is over-difficult to imitate him, though we be not Apostles, nor are called to any extraordinary work, nor are enriched with any miraculous gifts: he would have all men like himself, and all may be like him, according to their place and measure of grace. If we would be followers of the great Apostle, first let us with him fix our eyes upon Christ our Saviour; consider the splendour and glory of His holiness, and try to love it. Let us strive and pray that the love of holiness may be created within our hearts; and then acts will follow, such as befit us and our circumstances, in due time, without our distressing ourselves to find what they should be. You need not attempt to draw any precise line between what is sinful and what is only allowable: look up to Christ, and deny yourselves every thing, whatever its character, which you think He would have you relinquish. You need not calculate and measure, if you love much: you need not perplex yourselves with points of curiosity, if you have a heart to venture after Him. True, difficulties will sometimes arise, but they will be seldom. He bids you take up your cross; therefore accept the daily opportunities which occur of yielding- to others, when you need not yield, and of doing impleasant services, which you might avoid. He bids those who would be highest, live as the lowest: theral fore, turn from ambitious thoughts, and (as far as you religiously may) make resolves against taking on you authority and rule. He bids you sell and give alms therefore, hate to spend money on yourself. Shut yoi ears to praise, when it grows loud: set your face like a flint, when the world ridicules, and smile at its threats. Learn to master your heart, when it would burst forth, into vehemence, or prolong a barren sorrow, or dissolvei into unseasonable tenderness. Curb your tongue, and^ turn away your eye, lest you fall into temptation. Avoid the dangerous air which relaxes you, and brace yourself upon the heig-hts. Be up at prayer ^^a great while Ijefore day/^ and seek the true, your only Bridegroom, /'by night on your bed/' So shall self-denial become natural to you, and a change come over you, gently and imperceptibly; and, like Jacob, you will lie down in the waste, and will soon see Angels, and a way opened for ■\-ou into heaven.