No Cross, No Crown E-Book

William Penn

• Herausgeber: Charles River Editors
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2018

Seitenzahl: 599

Beschreibung

No Cross, No Crown is perhaps the most famous of patriot William Penn's treatises.

Das E-Book No Cross, No Crown wird angeboten von Charles River Editors und wurde mit folgenden Begriffen kategorisiert:
thomas paine; treatise; pamphlet; the age of reason; common sense; revolution

Leseprobe

NO CROSS, NO CROWN.

PART I.

CHAPTER I.

I. Of the necessity of the Cross of Christ in general; yet the little regard Christians have to it.—2. The degeneracy of Christendom from purity to lust, and moderation to excess.—3. That worldly lusts and pleasures are become the care and study of Christians, so that they have advanced upon the impiety of infidels.—4. This defection a second part to the Jewish tragedy, and worse than the first: the scorn Christians have cast on their Saviour.—5. Sin is of one nature all the world over; sinners are of the same church, the devil’s children: profession of religion in wicked men makes them but the worse.—6. A wolf is not a lamb; a sinner cannot be, whilst such, a saint.—7. The wicked will persecute the good; this, false Christians have done to the true, for non-compliance with their superstitions; the strange carnal measures false Christians have taken of Christianity; the danger of that self-seduction.—8. The sense of that has obliged me to make this discourse for a dissuasive against the world’s lusts, and an invitation to take up the daily cross of Christ as the way left us by him to blessedness.—9. Of the self-condemnation of the wicked; that religion and worship are comprised in doing the will of God. The advantage good men have over bad men in the last judgment.—10. A supplication for Christendom, that she may not be rejected in that great assize of the world. She is exhorted to consider what relation she bears to Christ; if her Saviour, how saved, and from what: what her experience is of that great work. That Christ came to save from sin and wrath by consequence; not to save men in sin, but from it, and so from the wages of it.

I. Though the knowledge and obedience of the doctrine of the cross of Christ be of infinite moment to the souls of men, for that is the only door to true Christianity, and that path the ancients ever trod to blessedness; yet, with extreme affliction let me say, it is so little understood, so much neglected, and what is worse, so bitterly contradicted by the vanity, superstition, and intemperance of professed Christians, that we must either renounce to believe what the Lord Jesus hath told us, that whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after him, cannot be his disciple; (Luke, xiv. 27;) or, admitting that for truth, conclude, that the generality of Christendom do miserably deceive and disappoint themselves in the great business of Christianity, and their own salvation.

II. For, let us be never so tender and charitable in the survey of those nations that entitle themselves to any interest in the holy name of Christ, if we will but be just too, we must needs acknowledge, that after all the gracious advantages of light, and obligations to fidelity, which these latter ages of the world have received by the coming, life, doctrine, miracles, death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ, with the gifts of his Holy Spirit; to which add the writings, labours, and martyrdom of his dear followers in all times, there seems very little left of Christianity but the name; which being now usurped by the old heathen nature and life, makes the professors of it but true heathens in disguise. For though they worship not the same idols, they worship Christ with the same heart: and they can never do otherwise, whilst they live in the same lusts. So that the unmortified Christian and the heathen are of the same religion. For though they have different objects to which they do direct their prayers, that adoration in both is but forced and ceremonious, and the deity they truly worship is the god of the world, the great lord of lusts: to him they bow with the whole powers of soul and sense. What shall we eat? What shall we drink? What shall we wear? And how shall we pass away our time? Which way may we gather wealth, increase our power, enlarge our territories, and dignify and perpetuate our names and families in the earth? Which base sensuality is most pathetically expressed and comprised by the beloved Apostle John, in these words: “The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life,” which, says he, “are not of the Father, but of the world, that lieth in wickedness.” (1 John, ii. 16.)

III. It is a mournful reflection, but a truth no confidence can be great enough to deny, that these worldly lusts fill up the study, care, and conversation of wretched Christendom! and, which aggravates the misery, they have grown with time. For as the world is older, it is worse; and the examples of former lewd ages, and their miserable conclusions, have not deterred, but excited ours; so that the people of this seem improvers of the old stock of impiety, and have carried it so much further than example, that instead of advancing in virtue upon better times, they are scandalously fallen below the life of heathens. Their high-mindedness, lasciviousness, uncleanness, drunkenness, swearing, lying, envy, backbiting, cruelty, treachery, covetousness, injustice, and oppression, are so common, and committed with such invention and excess, that they have stumbled and embittered infidels to a degree of scorning that holy religion, to which their good example should have won their affections.

IV. This miserable defection from primitive times, when the glory of Christianity was the purity of its professors, I cannot but call the second and worst part of the Jewish tragedy upon the blessed Saviour of mankind. For the Jews, from the power of ignorance, and the extreme prejudice they were under to the unworldly way of his appearance, would not acknowledge him when he came, but for two or three years persecuted, and finally crucified him in one day. But the false Christians’ cruelty lasts longer: they have first, with Judas, professed him, and then, for these many ages, most basely betrayed, persecuted, and crucified him, by a perpetual apostasy in manners, from the self-denial and holiness of his doctrine; their lives giving the lie to their faith. These are they that the author of the epistle to the Hebrews tells us, “Crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to open shame:” (Heb. vi. 6:) whose defiled hearts John in his Revelation styles, “The streets of Sodom and Egypt, spiritually so called, where also our Lord was crucified.” (Rev. xi. 8.) And as Christ said of old, a man’s enemies are those of his own house, so Christ’s enemies now are chiefly those of his own profession; they spit upon him, they nail and pierce him, they crown him with thorns, and give him gall and vinegar to drink. (Matt. xxvii. 34.) Nor is it hard to apprehend; for they that live in the same evil nature and principle the Jews did, that crucified him outwardly, must needs crucify him inwardly; since they that reject the grace now in their own hearts, are one in stock and generation with the hard-hearted Jews, that resisted the grace that then appeared in and by Christ.

V. Sin is of one nature all the world over; for though a liar is not a drunkard, nor a swearer a whoremonger, nor either properly a murderer, yet they are all of a church; all branches of the one wicked root; all of kin. They have but one father, the devil, as Christ said to the professing Jews, the visible church of that age: he slighted their claims to Abraham and Moses, and plainly told them “That he that committed sin, was the servant of sin.” (John, viii. 34, 35.) They did the devil’s works, and therefore were the devil’s children. The argument will always hold upon the same reasons, and therefore good still: “His servants ye are,” saith Paul, “whom ye obey:” (Rom. vi. 16:) and saith John to the church of old,] “Let no man deceive you; he that committeth sin is of the devil.” (1 John, iii. 7, 8.) Was Judas ever the better Christian for crying, Hail, Master, and kissing Christ? By no means; they were the signal of his treachery; the tokens given by which the bloody Jews should know and take him. He called him Master, but betrayed him; he kissed, but sold him to be killed; this is the upshot of the false Christians’ religion. If a man ask them, Is Christ your Lord? they will cry, God forbid else: yes, he is our Lord. Very well; but do you keep his commandments? No, how should we? How then are you his disciples? It is impossible, say they. What! would you have us keep his commandments? No man can. What! impossible to do that without which Christ hath made it impossible to be a Christian? Is Christ unreasonable? Does he reap where he has not sown? Require where he has not enabled? Thus it is, that with Judas they call him Master, but take part with the evil of the world to betray him; and kiss and embrace him as far as a specious profession goes; and then sell him, to gratify the passion that they most indulge. Thus as God said of old, they make him serve with their sins and for their sins too. (Isa. xliii. 24.)

VI. Let no man deceive his own soul; “grapes are not gathered of thorns, nor figs of thistles:” (Matt. vii. 16:) a wolf is not a sheep, nor is a vulture a dove. What form, people, or church soever thou art of, it is the truth of God to mankind, that they which have even the form of godliness, but by their unmortified lives, deny the power thereof, make not the true, but false church: which, though she entitle herself the Lamb’s bride, or church of Christ, (Rev. xvii. 5,) she is that mystery, or mysterious Babylon, fitly called by the Holy Ghost, the mother of harlots and all abominations: because degenerated from Christian chastity and purity, into all the enormities of heathen Babylon; a sumptuous city of old time, much noted for the seat of the kings of Babylon, and at that time the place in the world of the greatest pride and luxury. As she was then, so mystical Babylon is now the great enemy of God’s people.

VII. True it is, They that are born of the flesh, hate and persecute them that are born of the spirit, who are the circumcision in heart. It seems they cannot own nor worship God after her inventions, methods, and prescriptions, nor receive for doctrine her vain traditions, any more than they can comply with her corrupt fashions and customs in their conversation. The case being thus, from an apostate she becomes a persecutor. It is not enough that she herself declines from ancient purity, others must do so too. She will give them no rest that will not partake with her in that degeneracy, or receive her mark. Are any wiser than she, than mother church? No, no: nor can any make war with the beast she rides upon, those worldly powers that protect her, and vow their maintenance against the cries of her dissenters. Apostasy and superstition are ever proud and impatient of dissent: all must conform or perish. Therefore the slain witnesses, and blood of the souls under the altar, (Rev. vi. 9,) are found within the walls of this mystical Babylon, this great city of false Christians, and are charged upon her, by the Holy Ghost in the Revelation. Nor is it strange that she should slay the servants who first crucified the Lord: but strange and barbarous too, that she should kill her husband and murder her Saviour; titles she seems so fond of, and that have been so profitable to her; and that she would recommend herself by, though without all justice. But her children are reduced so entirely under the dominion of darkness, by means of their continued disobedience to the manifestation of the divine light in their souls, that they forget what man once was, or they should now be; and know not true and pure Christianity when they meet it; yet pride themselves upon professing it. Their measures are so carnal and false about salvation, they call good evil, and evil good; they make a devil a Christian, and a saint a devil. So that though the unrighteous latitude of their lives be matter of lamentation, as to themselves it is of destruction; yet that common apprehension, that they may be children of God, while in a state of disobedience to his holy commandments; and disciples of Jesus, though they revolt from his cross, and members of his true church, which is without spot or wrinkle, notwithstanding their lives are full of spots and wrinkles; is, of all other deceptions upon themselves, the most pernicious to their eternal condition. For they are at peace in sin, and under a security in their transgression. Their vain hope silences their convictions, and overlays all tender motions to repentance; so that their mistake about their duty to God is as mischievous as their rebellion against him.

Thus they walk on precipices, and flatter themselves, till the grave swallows them up, and the judgments of the great God break their lethargy, and undeceive their poor wretched souls with the anguish of the wicked, as the reward of their work.

VIII. This has been, is, and will be the doom of all worldly Christians: an end so dreadful, that if there were nothing of duty to God, or obligation to men, being a man, and one acquainted with the terrors of the Lord in the way and work of my own salvation, compassion alone were sufficient to excite me to this dissuasive against the world’s superstitions and lusts, and to invite the professors of Christianity to the knowledge and obedience of the daily cross of Christ, as the alone way, left by him, and appointed us to blessedness; that they who now do but usurp the name may have the thing; and by the power of the cross, to which they are now dead, instead of being dead to the world by it, may be made partakers of the resurrection that is in Christ Jesus, unto newness of life. For they that are truly in Christ, that is, redeemed by, and interested in him, are new creatures. (Gal. vi. 15.) They have received a new will; such as does the will of God, not their own. They pray in truth, and do not mock God, when they say, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. They have new affections; such as are set on things above, (Col. iii. 1, 2, 3,) and make Christ their eternal treasure. New faith; (1 John, 4, 5;) such as overcomes the snares and temptations of the world’s spirit in themselves, or as it appears through others: and lastly, new works; not of a superstitious contrivance, or of human invention, but the pure fruits of the Spirit of Christ working in them, as love, joy, peace, meekness, long-suffering, temperance, brotherly-kindness, faith, patience, gentleness, and goodness, against which there is no law; and they that have not the Spirit of Christ, and walk not in it, the apostle Paul has told us, are none of his; (Rom. viii. 9;) but the wrath of God, and condemnation of the law, will lie upon them. For if there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ; who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit, which is Paul’s doctrine; they that walk not according to that Holy Spirit, by his doctrine, are not in Christ: that is, have no interest in him, nor just claim to salvation by him: and consequently there is condemnation to such.

IX. And the truth is, the religion of the wicked is a lie: “there is no peace, saith the prophet, to the wicked.” (Isaiah, xlviii. 22.) Indeed there can be none; they are reproved in their own consciences, and condemned in their own hearts, in all their disobedience. Go where they will, rebukes go with them, and oftentimes terrors too: for it is an offended God that pricks them, and who, by his light, sets their sins in order before them. Sometimes they strive to appease him by their corporeal framed devotion and worship, but in vain; for true worshipping of God is doing his will, which they transgress. The rest is a false compliment, like him that said he would go, and did not. (Matt. xxi. 30.) Sometimes they fly to sports and company, to drown the reprover’s voice, and blunt his arrows, to chase away troubled thoughts, and secure themselves out of the reach of the disquieter of their pleasures; but the Almighty, first or last, is sure to overtake them. There is no flying his final justice, for those that reject the terms of his mercy. Impenitent rebels to his law may then call to the mountains, and run to the caves of the earth for protection, but in vain. His all-searching eye will penetrate their thickest coverings, and strike up a light in that obscurity, which shall terrify their guilty souls; and which they shall never be able to extinguish. Indeed, their accuser is with them, they can no more be rid of him than of themselves; he is in the midst of them, and will stick close to them. That spirit which bears witness with the spirits of the just will bear witness against theirs. Nay, their own hearts will abundantly come in against them; and, “if our hearts condemn us,” saith the apostle John, “God is greater, and knows all things;” (1 John iii. 20;) that is, there is no escaping the judgments of God, whose power is infinite, if a man is not able to escape the condemnation of himself. It is at that day proud and luxurious Christians shall learn that God is no respecter of persons; that all sects and names shall be swallowed up in these two kinds, sheep and goats, just and unjust: and the very righteous must have a trial for it; which made that holy man cry out, “If the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?” (1 Pet. iv. 18.) If their thoughts, words, and works must stand the test, and come under scrutiny before the impartial Judge of heaven and earth, how then should the ungodly be exempted? No; we are told by him that cannot lie, many shall then even cry, Lord, Lord! set forth their profession, and recount the works that they have done in his name, to make him propitious, and yet be rejected with this direful sentence, “Depart from me, ye workers of iniquity; I know you not.” (Matt. vii. 23.) As if he had said, Get you gone, you evil doers; though you have professed me, I will not know you; your vain and evil lives have made you unfit for my holy kingdom: get you hence, and go to the gods whom you have served; your beloved lusts which you have worshipped, and the evil world that you have so much coveted and adored: let them save you now, if they can, from the wrath to come upon you, which is the wages of the deeds you have done. Here is the end of their work that build upon the sand; the breath of the Judge will blow it down, and woful will the fall thereof be. Oh, it is now that the righteous have the better of the wicked! which made an apostate cry, in old time, “Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like unto his.” (Numb. xxiii. 10.) For the sentence is changed, and the Judge smiles; he casts the eye of love upon his own sheep, and invites them with “Come, ye blessed of my Father,” (Matt. xxv. 34,) that through patient continuance in well-doing have long waited for immortality; you have been the true companions of my tribulation and cross, and, with unwearied faithfulness, in obedience to my holy will, valiantly endured to the end, looking to me, the Author of your precious faith, for the recompense of reward that I have promised to them that love me, and faint not: O, enter ye into the joy of your Lord, and inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

X. O Christendom! my soul most fervently prays, that after all thy lofty profession of Christ, and his meek and holy religion, thy unsuitable and un-Christ-like life may not cast thee at that great assize of the world, and lose thee so great salvation at last. Hear me once, I beseech thee: can Christ be thy Lord, and thou not obey him? or, canst thou be his servant, and never serve him? “Be not deceived, such as thou sowest shalt thou reap.” (Gal. vi. 7.) He is none of thy Saviour whilst thou rejectest his grace in thy heart, by which he should save thee. Come, what has he saved thee from? Has he saved thee from thy sinful lusts, thy worldly affections, and vain conversations? If not, then he is none of thy Saviour. For, though he be offered a Saviour to all, yet he is actually a Saviour to those only that are saved by him; and none are saved by him that live in those evils by which they are lost from God, and which he came to save them from.

It is sin that Christ is come to save man from, and death and wrath, as the wages of it; but those that are not saved, that is delivered, by the power of Christ in their souls, from the power that sin has had over them, can never be saved from the death and wrath, that are the assured wages of the sin they live in.

So that look how far people obtain victory over those evil dispositions and fleshly lusts, they have been addicted to, so far they are truly saved, and are witnesses of the redemption that comes by Jesus Christ. His name shows his work: “And thou shalt call his name JESUS, for he shall save his people from their sin.” (Matt. i. 21.) “Behold,” said John, of Christ, “the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world.” (John, i. 29.) That is, behold him whom God hath given to enlighten people, and for salvation to as many as receive him, and his light and grace in their hearts, and take up their daily cross and follow him; such as rather deny themselves the pleasure of fulfilling their lusts than sin against the knowledge he has given them of his will, or do that they know they ought not to do.

CHAPTER II.

1. By this Christendom may see her lapse, how foul it is, and next, the worse for her pretence to Christianity.—2. But there is mercy with God upon repentance, and propitiation in the blood of Jesus.—3. He is the light of the world that reproves the darkness, that is, the evil of the world; and he is to be known within.—4. Christendom, like the inn of old, is full of other guests: she is advised to believe in, receive, and apply to Christ.—5. Of the nature of true faith; it brings power to overcome every appearance of evil: this leads to consider the Cross of Christ, which has been so much wanted.—6. The apostolic ministry, and end of it; its blessed effect; the character of apostolic times.—7. The glory of the cross, and its triumph over the heathen world. A measure to Christendom, what she is not, and should be.—8. Her declension, and cause of it.—9. The miserable effects that followed.—10. From the consideration of the cause the cure may be more easily known, viz., Not faithfully taking up the daily cross; then, faithfully taking it daily up must be the remedy.

I. By all which has been said, O Christendom! and by that better help, if thou wouldst use it, the lamp the Lord has lighted in thee, not utterly extinct, it may evidently appear, first, how great and full thy backsliding has been, who, from the temple of the Lord, art become a cage of unclean birds; and of a house of prayer, a den of thieves, a synagogue of Satan, and the receptacle of every defiled spirit. Next, that under all this manifest defection, thou hast nevertheless valued thy corrupt self upon thy profession of Christianity, and fearfully deluded thyself with the hopes of salvation. The first makes thy disease dangerous, but the last almost incurable.

II. Yet, because there is mercy with God that he may be feared, and that he takes no delight in the eternal death of poor sinners, no, though backsliders themselves, (Ezek. xviii. 20, 23, 24,) but is willing all should come to the knowledge and obedience of the Truth, and be saved, he hath set forth his Son a propitiation, and given him as a Saviour to take away the sins of the whole world, that those that believe and follow him may feel the righteousness of God in the remission of their sins, and blotting out their transgressions for ever. (Matt. i. 21; Luke i. 77; Rom. iii. 25; Heb. ix. 24 to 28; 1 John ii. 1, 2.) Now, behold the remedy! an infallible cure, one of God’s appointing; a precious elixir, indeed, that never fails; and that universal medicine which no malady could ever escape.

III. But thou wilt say, What is Christ? and where is he to be found? and how received and applied, in order to this mighty cure? I tell thee then, first, he is the great spiritual light of the world that enlightens every one that comes into the world; by which he manifests to them their deeds of darkness and wickedness, and reproves them for committing them. Secondly, he is not far away from thee, (Acts, xvii. 27.) as the apostle Paul said of God to the Athenians. “Behold,” says Christ himself, “I stand at the door and knock; if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and sup with him, and he with me.” (Rev. iii. 20.) What door can this be but that of the heart of man?

IV. Thou, like the inn of old, hast been full of guests; thy affections have entertained other lovers; there has been no room for thy Saviour in thy soul. Wherefore salvation is not yet come into thy house, though it is come to thy door, and thou hast been often proffered it, and hast professed it long. But if he calls, if he knocks still, that is, if his light yet shines, if it reproves thee still, there is hope thy day is not over, and that repentance is not yet hid from thine eyes; but his love is after thee still, and his holy invitation continues to save thee.

Wherefore, O Christendom! believe, receive, and apply him rightly; this is of absolute necessity, that thy soul may live for ever with him. He told the Jews, “If you believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins; and whither I go ye cannot come.” (John, viii. 21, 24.) And because they believed him not, they did not receive him, nor any benefit by him. But they that believed him received him; and as many as received him, his own beloved disciple tells us, “to them gave he power to become the sons of God, which are born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” (John, i. 12, 13.) That is, who are not children of God after the fashions, prescriptions, and traditions of men, that call themselves his church and people, which is not after the will of flesh and blood, and the invention of carnal man, unacquainted with the regeneration and power of the Holy Ghost, but of God; that is, according to his will and the working and sanctification of his Spirit and word of life in them. And such were ever well versed in the right application of Christ, for he was made to them indeed propitiation, reconciliation, salvation, righteousness, redemption, and justification.

So I say to thee, unless thou believest that he that stands at the door of thy heart and knocks, and sets thy sins in order before thee, and calls thee to repentance, be the Saviour of the world, thou wilt die in thy sins, and where he is gone thou wilt never come. For, if thou believest not in him, it is impossible that he should do thee good, or effect thy salvation: Christ works not against faith, but by it. It is said of old, “He did not many mighty works in some places, because the people believed not in him.” (John, i. 12, 13.) So that, if thou truly believest in him, thine ear will be attentive to his voice in thee, and the door of thine heart open to his knocks. Thou wilt yield to the discoveries of his light, and the teachings of his grace will be very dear to thee.

V. It is the nature of true faith to beget a holy fear of offending God, a deep reverence to his precepts, and a most tender regard to the inward testimony of his Spirit, as that by which his children in all ages have been safely led to glory. For, as they that truly believe receive Christ in all his tenders to the soul, so as true it is that those who receive him thus, with him receive power to become the sons of God: that is, an inward force and ability to do whatever he requires; strength to mortify their lusts, controul their affections, resist evil motions, deny themselves, and overcome the world in its most enticing appearances. This is the life of the blessed Cross of Christ, which is the subject of the following discourse, and what thou, O man, must take up, if thou intendest to be the disciple of Jesus. Nor canst thou be said to receive Christ, or to believe in him, whilst thou rejectest his cross. For, as receiving of Christ is the means appointed of God to salvation, so bearing the daily cross after him is the only true testimony of receiving him, and therefore it is enjoined by him as the great token of discipleship, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” (Matt. xvi. 24.)

This, Christendom, is that thou hast so much wanted, and the want of which has proved the only cause of thy miserable declension from pure Christianity. To consider which well, as it is thy duty, so it is of great use to thy restoration.

For as the knowledge of the cause of any distemper guides the physician to make a right and safe judgment in the application of his medicine, so it will much enlighten thee in the way of thy recovery, to know and weigh the first cause of this spiritual lapse and malady that has befallen thee. To do which, a general view of thy primitive estate, and consequently of their work that first laboured in the Christian vineyard, will be needful; and if therein something be repeated, the weight and dignity of the subject will bear it, without the need of an apology.

VI. The work of apostleship, we are told by a prime labourer in it, was to turn people “from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God.” (Acts, xxvi. 18.) That is, instead of yielding to the temptations and motions of Satan, who is the prince of darkness or wickedness, the one being a metaphor to the other, by whose power their understandings were obscured, and their souls held in the service of sin, they should turn their minds to the appearance of Christ, the Light and Saviour of the world; who by his light shines in their souls, and thereby gives them a sight of their sins, and discovers every temptation and motion in them unto evil, and reproves them when they give way thereunto; that so they might become the children of light, and walk in the path of righteousness. And for this blessed work of reformation did Christ endue his apostles with his spirit and power, that so men might not longer sleep in a security of sin and ignorance of God, but awake to righteousness, that the Lord Jesus might give them life; that is, that they might leave off sinning, deny themselves the pleasure of wickedness, and, by true repentance, turn their hearts to God in well doing, in which is peace. And truly God so blessed the faithful labours of these poor mechanics, yet his great ambassadors to mankind, that in a few years many thousands that had lived without God in the world, without a sense or fear of him, lawlessly, very strangers to the work of his Spirit in their hearts, being captivated by fleshly lusts, were inwardly struck and quickened by the word of life, and made sensible of the coming and power of the Lord Jesus Christ as a judge and lawgiver in their souls, by whose holy light and spirit the hidden things of darkness were brought to light and condemned, and pure repentance from those dead works begotten in them, that they might serve the living God in newness of spirit. So that thenceforward they lived not to themselves, neither were they carried away of those former divers lusts, by which they had been seduced from the true fear of God; but “the law of the spirit of life,” (Rom. viii. 2,) by which they overcame the law of sin and death, was their delight, and therein did they meditate day and night. Their regard towards God was not taught by the precepts of men any longer, (Isaiah, xxix. 13,) but from the knowledge they had received by his own work and impressions in their souls. They had quitted their old masters, the world, the flesh, and the devil, and delivered up themselves to the holy guidance of the grace of Christ, that taught them to “deny ungodliness and the world’s lusts, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present life:” (Tit. ii. 11, 12:) this is the cross of Christ indeed, and here is the victory it gives to them that take it up; by this cross they died daily to the old life they had lived, and by holy watchfulness against the secret motions of evil in their hearts they crushed sin in its conceptions, yea in its temptations. So that they, as the apostle John advised them, “kept themselves, that the evil one touched them not.” (1 John, v. 18.)

For the light, which Satan cannot endure, and with which Christ had enlightened them, discovered him in all his approaches and assaults upon the mind; and the power they received through their inward obedience to the manifestations of that blessed light, enabled them to resist and vanquish him in all his stratagems. And thus it was that, where once nothing was examined, nothing went unexamined; every thought must come to judgment,] and the rise and tendency of it be also well approved, before they allowed it any room in their minds. There was no fear of entertaining enemies for friends, whilst this strict guard was kept upon the very wicket of the soul. Now the old heavens and earth, that is, the old earthly conversation, and old carnal, that is Jewish or shadowy worship, passed away apace, and every day all things became new. He was no more a Jew that was one outwardly, nor that circumcision that was in the flesh; but he was the Jew that was one inwardly, and that circumcision which was of the heart, in the Spirit, and not in the letter, whose praise is not of man, but of God. (Rom. ii. 28, 29.)

VII. Indeed, the glory of the cross shined so conspicuously through the self-denial of their lives who daily bore it, that it struck the heathen with astonishment; and in a small time so shook their altars, discredited their oracles, struck the multitude, invaded the court, and overcame their armies, that it led priests, magistrates, and generals in triumph after it, as the trophies of its power and victory.

And, while this integrity dwelt with Christians, mighty was the presence, and invincible that power that attended them; it quenched fire, daunted lions, turned the edge of the sword, outfaced instruments of cruelty, convicted judges, and converted executioners. (Heb. xi. 32, to the end; Isaiah, xliii. 2; Daniel, iii. 12, to the end.) In fine, the way their enemies took to destroy, increased them; and, by the deep wisdom of God, they who in all their designs endeavoured to extinguish the truth were made great promoters of it. (Dan. vi. 16, to the end.) Now, not a vain thought, not an idle word, not an unseemly action was permitted; no, not an immodest look, no courtly dress, gay apparel, complimental respects, or personal honours: much less those lewd immoralities and scandalous vices, now in vogue with Christians, could find either example or connivance among them. Their care was not how to sport away their precious time, but how to redeem it, (Eph. v. 15, 16,) that they might have enough to work out their great salvation, which they carefully did, with fear and trembling: not with balls and masks, with playhouses, dancing, feasting, and gaming; no, no; to make sure of their heavenly calling and election was much dearer to them than the poor and trifling joys of mortality. For they having, with Moses, seen him that is invisible, and found that his loving-kindness was better than life, the peace of his Spirit than the favour of princes,—as they feared not Cæsar’s wrath,—so they chose rather to sustain the afflictions of Christ’s true pilgrims than enjoy the pleasures of sin that were but for a season; esteeming his reproaches of more value than the perishing treasures of the earth. And if the tribulations of Christianity were more eligible than the comforts of the world, and the reproaches of one than all the honour of the other, there was then surely no temptations in it that could shake the integrity of Christendom.

VIII. By this short draught of what Christendom was, thou mayest see, O Christendom, what thou are not, and consequently what thou oughtest to be. But how comes it that from a Christendom that was thus meek, merciful, self-denying, suffering, temperate, holy, just, and good, so like to Christ, whose name she bore, we find a Christendom now that is superstitious, idolatrous, persecuting, proud, passionate, envious, malicious, selfish, drunken, lascivious, unclean, lying, swearing, cursing, covetous, oppressing, defrauding, with all other abominations known in the earth?

I lay this down as the undoubted reason of this degeneracy, to wit, the inward disregard of thy mind to the light of Christ shining in thee, that first showed thee thy sins and reproved them, and that taught and enabled thee to deny and resist them. For as thy fear towards God, and holy abstinence from unrighteousness, was, at first, not taught by the precepts of men, but by that light and grace which revealed the most secret thoughts and purposes of thine heart, and searched the most inward parts, setting thy sins in order before thee, and reproving thee for them, not suffering one unfruitful thought, word, or work of darkness to go unjudged; so when thou didst begin to disregard that light and grace, to be careless of that holy watch that was once set up in thine heart, and didst not keep sentinel there, as formerly, for God’s glory and thy own peace, the restless enemy of man’s good quickly took advantage of this slackness, and often surprised thee with temptations, whose suitableness to thy inclinations made his conquest over thee not difficult.

In short, thou didst omit to take up Christ’s holy yoke, to bear thy daily cross; thou wast careless of thy affections, and kept no journal or check upon thy actions; but didst decline to audit accounts in thy own conscience, with Christ thy light, the great Bishop of thy soul and Judge of thy works, whereby the holy fear decayed and love waxed cold, vanity abounded, and duty became burdensome. Then up came formality, instead of the power of godliness; superstition, in place of Christ’s institution: and whereas Christ’s business was to draw on the minds of his disciples from an outward temple, and carnal rites and services, to the inward and spiritual worship of God, suitable to the nature of divinity, a worldly, human, pompous worship is brought in again, and a worldly priesthood, temple, and altar, are re-established. Now it was that the sons of God once more saw the daughters of men were fair, (Gen. vi. 2,) that is, the pure eye grew dim, which repentance had opened, that saw no comeliness out of Christ, and the eye of lust became unclosed again by the god of the world; and those worldly pleasures that make such as love them forget God, though once despised for the sake of Christ, began now to recover their old beauty and interest in thy affections, and from liking them, to be the study, care, and pleasure of thy life.

True, there still remained the exterior forms of worship and a nominal and oral reverence to God and Christ, but that was all; for the offence of the holy cross ceased, the power of godliness was denied, self-denial lost, and, though fruitful in the invention of ceremonious ornaments, yet barren in the blessed fruits of the Spirit. And a thousand shells cannot make one kernel, or many dead corpses one living man.

IX. Thus religion fell from experience to tradition, and worship from power to form, from life to letter; and, instead of putting up lively and powerful requests, animated by a deep sense of want and the assistance of the Holy Spirit,—by which the ancients prayed, wrestled, and prevailed with God,—behold a by-rote mumpsimus, a dull and insipid formality, made up of corporeal bowings and cringings, garments and furnitures, perfumes, voices, and music, fitter for the reception of some earthly prince than the heavenly worship of the one true and immortal God, who is an eternal, invisible Spirit.

But thy heart growing carnal, thy religion did so too; and, not liking it as it was, thou fashionedst it to thy liking: forgetting what the holy prophet said, “The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord,” (Prov. xv. 8,) and what St. James saith, “Ye ask, and receive not.” (James, iv. 3.) Why? “Because ye ask amiss;” that is, with a heart that is not right, but insincere, unmortified, not in the faith that purifies the soul, and therefore can never receive what is asked: so that a man may say with truth, thy condition is worse by thy religion, because thou art tempted to think thyself better for it, and art not.

X. Well; by this prospect that is given thee of thy foul fall from primitive Christianity, and the true cause of it,—to wit, a neglect of the daily cross of Christ,—it may be easy for thee to inform thyself of the way of thy recovery.

For, look, at what door thou wentest out, at that door thou must come in; and, as letting fall and forbearing the daily cross lost thee, so taking up and enduring the daily cross must recover thee. It is the same way by which the sinners and apostates become the disciples of Jesus. “Whosoever,” says Christ, “will come after me and be my disciple, let him deny himself, and take up his daily cross and follow me.” (Matthew, xvi. 24; Mark, viii. 34; Luke, xiv. 27.) Nothing short of this will do; mark that! for, as it is sufficient, so it is indispensable; no crown but by the cross, no life eternal but through death; and it is but just that those evil and barbarous affections that crucified Christ afresh, should, by his holy cross, be crucified.

CHAPTER III.

1. What the cross of Christ is. A figurative speech, but truly the Divine power that mortifies the world.—2. It is so called by the apostle Paul to the Corinthians.—3. Where it is the cross appears, and must be borne? Within; where the lusts are, there they must be crucified.—4. Experience teaches every one this; to be sure Christ asserts it, from within comes murder, &c., and that is the house where the strong man must be bound.—5. How is the cross to be borne? The way is spiritual, a denial of self, of the pleasure of sin; to please God, and obey his will as manifested to the soul by the light He gives it.—6. This shows the difficulty, yet the necessity of the cross.

The daily cross being then, and still, O Christendom! the way to glory, that the succeeding matter, which wholly relates to the doctrine of it, may come with most evidence and advantage upon thy conscience it is most seriously to be considered by thee,—

First, What the cross of Christ is?

Secondly, Where the cross of Christ is to be taken up?

Thirdly, How, and after what manner it is to be borne?

Fourthly, What is the great work and business of the cross? In which, the sins it crucifies, with the mischiefs that attend them, will be at large expressed.

Fifthly and lastly, I shall add many testimonies from living and dying persons of great reputation, either for their quality, learning, or piety, as a general confirmation of the whole tract.

To the first, What is the cross of Christ?

I. The cross of Christ is a figurative speech, borrowed from the outward tree, or wooden cross, on which Christ submitted to the will of God, suffering death at the hands of evil men. So that the cross mystical is that Divine grace and power which crosseth the carnal wills of men, and gives a contradiction to their corrupt affections, and that constantly opposeth itself to the inordinate and fleshly appetite of their minds, and so may be justly termed the instrument of man’s wholly dying to the world, and being made conformable to the will of God. For nothing else can mortify sin, or make it easy for us to submit to the Divine will in things otherwise very contrary to their own.

II. The preaching of the cross, therefore, in primitive times was fitly called by Paul, that famous and skilful apostle in spiritual things, “the power of God,” though to them that perish, then, as now, “foolishness.” That is, to those that were truly weary and heavy laden, and needed a deliverer, to whom sin was burdensome and odious, the preaching of the cross, by which sin was to be mortified, was, as to them, the power of God, or a preaching of the Divine power by which they were made disciples of Christ and children of God; and it wrought so powerfully upon them that no proud nor licentious mockers could put them out of love with it. But to those that walked in the broad way, in the full latitude of their lusts, and dedicated their time and care to the pleasure of their corrupt appetites, to whom all yoke and bridle were and are intolerable, the preaching of the cross was and is foolishness.

III. Well: but then where does this cross appear, and where must it be taken up?

I answer, within: that is, in the heart and soul; for where the sin is, the cross must be. Now all evil comes from within: this Christ taught: “From within,” saith Christ, “out of the heart of man proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: all these evils come from within, and defile the man.” (Mark, vii. 21, 22, 23.)

The heart of man is the seat of sin, and where he is defiled he must be sanctified; and where sin lives, there it must die: it must be crucified. Custom in evil hath made it natural to men to do evil; and as the soul rules the body, so the corrupt nature sways the whole man: but still, it is all from within.

IV. Experience teaches every son and daughter of Adam to assent to this; for the enemy’s temptations are ever directed to the mind, which is within: if they take not, the soul sins not; if they are embraced, lust is presently conceived, that is, inordinate desires; lust conceived, brings forth sin; and sin finished, that is, acted, brings forth death. (James, v. 15.) Here is both the cause and the effect, the very genealogy of sin, its rise and end.

In all this, the heart of evil man is the devil’s mint, his work-house, the place of his residence, where he exercises his power and art. And therefore the redemption of the soul is aptly called the destruction of the works of the devil, and bringing in of everlasting righteousness. (1 John, iii. 8.; Dan. ix. 24.) When the Jews would have defamed Christ’s miracle of casting out devils, by a blasphemous imputation of it to the power of Beelzebub, he says that “no man can enter into a strong man’s house, and spoil his goods, till he first bind the strong man.” (Matt. xii. 29.) Which, as it shows the contrariety that was between Beelzebub and the power by which he dispossessed him, so it teaches us to know that the souls of the wicked are the devil’s house, and that his goods, his evil works, can never be destroyed till first he that wrought them, and keeps the house, be bound. All which makes it easy to know where the cross must be taken up, by which alone the strong man must be bound, his goods spoiled, and his temptations resisted, that is, within, in the heart of man.

V. But in the next place, how and in what manner is the cross to be daily borne?

The way, like the cross, is spiritual: that is an inward submission of the soul to the will of God, as it is manifested by the light of Christ in the consciences of men, though it be contrary to their own inclinations. For example: when evil presents, that which shows the evil does also tell them they should not yield to it; and if they close with its counsel, it gives them power to escape it. But they that look and gaze upon the temptation, at last fall in with it, and are overcome by it; the consequence of which is guilt and judgment. Therefore, as the cross of Christ is that spirit and power in men, though not of men, but of God, which crosseth and reproveth their fleshly lusts and affections; so the way of taking up the cross is an entire resignation of soul to the discoveries and requirings of it: not to consult their worldly pleasure, or carnal ease, or interest, for such are captivated in a moment, but continually to watch against the very appearances of evil, and by the obedience of faith, that is, of true love to, and confidence in God, cheerfully to offer up to the death of the cross, that evil part, that Judas in themselves, which, not enduring the heat of the siege, and being impatient in the hour of temptation, would, by its near relation to the tempter, more easily betray their souls into his hands.

VI. O this shows to every one’s experience how hard it is to be a true disciple of Jesus! the way is narrow indeed, and the gate very strait, where not a word, no not a thought must slip the watch, or escape judgment; such circumspection, such caution, such patience, such constancy, such holy fear and trembling. This gives an easy interpretation to that hard saying, “Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God;” (Matt. xxiv. 42; xxv. 13; xxvi. 38, 42;) those that are captivated with fleshly lusts and affections: for they cannot bear the cross; and they that cannot endure the cross must never have the crown. To reign, it is necessary first to suffer. (Phil. ii. 12; 1 Cor. xv. 50.)

CHAPTER IV.

1. What is the great work of the cross? The answer to this is of great moment.—2. The work of the cross is self-denial.—3. What was the cup and cross of Christ?—4. What is our cup and cross?—5. Our duty is to follow Christ as our captain.—6. Of the distinction in self, a lawful and unlawful self.—7. What the lawful self is.—8. That it is to be denied in some cases by Christ’s doctrine and example.—9. By the Apostle’s pattern.—10. The danger of preferring lawful self above our duty to God.—11. The reward of self-denial an excitement to it.—12. This doctrine as old as Abraham.—13. His obedience of faith memorable.—14. Job a great instance of self-denial, his contentment.—15. Moses also a mighty example, his neglect of Pharaoh’s court.—16. His choice.—17. The reason of it, viz. the recompense of reward.—18. Isaiah no inconsiderable instance, who of a courtier, became a holy prophet.—19. These instances concluded with that of holy Daniel, his patience and integrity, and the success they had upon the king.—20. There might be many mentioned to confirm this blessed doctrine.—21. All must be left for Christ, as men would be saved.—22. The way of God is a way of faith and self-denial.—23. An earnest supplication and exhortation to all, to attend upon these things.

But fourthly, What is the great work and business of the cross respecting man?

Answ. I. This indeed is of that mighty moment to be truly, plainly, and thoroughly answered, that all that went before seems only to serve for preface to it; and miscarrying in it to be no less than a misguidance of the soul about its way to blessedness. I shall therefore pursue the question, with God’s help, and the best knowledge He hath given me in the experience of several years’ discipleship.

II. The great work and business of the cross of Christ in man is self-denial; a word of as much depth in itself as of sore contradiction to the world, little understood but less embraced by it, yet it must be borne for all that. The Son of God is gone before us, and, by the bitter cup He drank and the baptism He suffered, has left us an example that we should follow in his steps; which made him put that hard question to the wife of Zebedee and her two sons, upon her soliciting that one might sit at his right and the other at his left hand in his kingdom, “Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with?” It seems their faith was strong; they answered, “We are able.” Upon which he replied, “Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism I am baptized with;” but their reward he left to his Father. (Matt. xx. 21, 22, 23.)

III. What was his cup he drank, and baptism he suffered? I answer, they were the denial and offering up of himself by the eternal Spirit to the will of God, undergoing the tribulations of his life and agonies of his death upon the cross for man’s salvation.

IV. What is our cup and cross that we should drink and suffer? They are the denial and offering up of ourselves, by the same Spirit, to do or suffer the will of God for his service and glory, which is the true life and obedience of the cross of Jesus; narrow still, but before an unbeaten way. For when there was none to help, not one to open the seals, to give knowledge, to direct the course of poor man’s recovery, He came in the greatness of his love and strength; and though clothed with the infirmities of a mortal man, being within fortified with the almightiness of an immortal God, He travelled through all the straits and difficulties of humanity, and first, of all others, trod the untrodden path to blessedness.

V. O come! let us follow Him, the most unwearied, the most victorious captain of our salvation; to whom all the great Alexanders and mighty Cæsars of the world are less than the poorest soldier of their camps could be to them. True, they were all great princes of their kind, and conquerors too, but on very different principles. For Christ made himself of no reputation, to save mankind; but these plentifully ruined people to augment theirs. They vanquished others, not themselves; Christ conquered self, that ever vanquished them; of merit therefore the most excellent Prince and Conqueror. Besides, they advanced their empire by rapine and blood, but He by suffering and persuasion; He never by compulsion, they always by force prevailed. Misery and slavery followed all their victories, his brought greater freedom and felicity to those he overcame. In all they did they sought to please themselves; in all He did he aimed to please his Father, who is King of kings and Lord of lords.

It is this most perfect pattern of self-denial we must follow, if ever we will come to glory; to do which let us consider self-denial in its true distinction and extent.

VI. There is a lawful and unlawful self: and both must be denied for the sake of him, who in submission to the will of God counted nothing dear that he might save us. And, though the world be scarcely in any part of it at that pass as yet to need that lesson of the denial of lawful self, that every day most greedily sacrifices to the pleasure of unlawful self; yet to take the whole thing before me, and for that it may possibly meet with some that are so far advanced in this spiritual warfare as to receive some service from it, I shall at least touch upon it.

VII. The lawful self which we are to deny, is that conveniency, ease, enjoyment, and plenty, which in themselves are so far from being evil, that they are the bounty and blessings of God to us, as husband, wife, child, house, land, reputation, liberty, and life itself; these are God’s favours, which we may enjoy with lawful pleasure and justly improve as our honest interest. But when God requires them, at what time soever the lender calls for them or is pleased to try our affections by our parting with them; I say, when they are brought in competition with him, they must not be preferred, they must be denied. Christ himself descended from the glory of his Father, and willingly made himself of no reputation among men, that he might make us of some with God; and, from the quality of thinking it no robbery to be equal with God, he humbled himself to the poor form of a servant; yea, the ignominious death of the cross. (Phil. ii. 5, 6, 7, 8.)