A Practical Treatise Upon Christian Perfection 6Chap. III

Christianity requireth a Renunciation of the World; and all worldly Tempers.

The Christian religion being to raise a new, spiritual, and as yet invisible world, and to place man in a certain order amongst thrones, principalities, and spiritual beings, is at entire enmity with this present corrupt state of flesh and blood.

It ranks the present world along with the flesh and the devil, as an equal enemy to those glorious ends, and that perfection of human nature, which our redemption proposes.

It pleased the wisdom of God to indulge the Jews in worldly hopes and fears.

It was then said,

Therefore shall ye keep all the commandments, which I command you this day, that ye may be strong, and go in and possess the land, whither you go to possess it.

The Gospel is quite of another nature, and is a call to a very different state, it lays its first foundation in the renunciation of the world, as a state of false goods and enjoyments, which feed the vanity and corruption of our nature, fill our hearts with foolish and wicked passions, and keep us separate from God the only happiness of all spirits.

"My kingdom," saith our blessed Saviour, "is not of this world;" by which we may be assured that no worldlings are of his kingdom.

We have a farther representation of the contrariety that there is betwixt this kingdom and the concerns of this world. "A certain man," saith our Lord, "made a great supper, and bade many, and sent his servants at supper-time to say to them that were bidden, Come, for all things are now ready; and they all, with one consent, began to make excuse. The first said, I have bought a piece of ground, and I must needs go and see it: another said, I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I go to prove them: I pray thee have me excused; another said, I have married a wife, and therefore I cannot come."

We find that the master of the house was angry, and said, "None of those men which were bidden shall taste of my supper." Luke xiv. 16 .

Our Saviour, a little afterwards, applies it all in this manner, "Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple." We are told, that when the chief priests and Pharisees heard our Saviour's parables, they perceived that he spake of them. Matt. xxi. 45 .

If Christians, hearing the above-recited parable, are not pricked in their hearts, and do not feel that our Saviour speaks of them, it must be owned that they are more hardened than Jews, and more insincere than Pharisees.

This parable teaches us, that not only the vices, the wickedness and vanity of this world, but even its most lawful and allowed concerns, render men unable to enter, and unworthy to be received into the true state of Christianity.

That he who is busied in an honest and lawful calling, may, on that account, be as well rejected by God, as he who is vainly employed in foolish and idle pursuits.

That it is no more pardonable to be less affected to the things of religion, for the sake of any worldly business, than for the indulgence of our pride, or any other passion: it farther teaches us, that Christianity is a calling that puts an end to all other callings; that we are no longer to consider it as our proper state or employment to take care of oxen, look after an estate, or attend the most plausible affairs of life; but to reckon every condition equally trifling, and fit to be neglected, for the sake of the one thing needful .

Men of serious business and management generally censure those who trifle away their time in idle and impertinent pleasures, as vain and foolish, and unworthy of the Christian profession.

But they do not consider that the business of the world, where they think they show such a manly skill and address, is as vain as vanity itself; they do not consider that the cares of an employment, an attention to business, if it has got hold of the heart, renders men as vain and odious in the sight of God as any other gratification.

For though they may call it an honest care, a creditable industry; or by any other plausible name; yet it is their particular gratification, and a wisdom that can no more recommend itself to the eyes of God than the wisdom of an epicure.

For it shows as wrong a turn of mind, as false a judgment, and as great a contempt of the true goods, to neglect any degrees of piety for the sake of business, as for any of the most trifling pleasures of life.

The wisdom of this world gives an importance, an air of greatness to several ways of life, and ridicules others as vain and contemptible, which differ only in their kind of vanity; but the wisdom from above condemns all labour as equally fruitless, but that which labours after everlasting life. Let but religion determine the point, and what can it signify, whether a man forgets God in his farm, or a shop, or at a gaming-table? For the world is full as great and important in its pleasures, as in its cares; there is no more wisdom in the one than in the other; and the Christian that is governed by either, and made less affected to things of God by them, is equally odious and contemptible in the sight of God.

And though we distinguish betwixt cares and pleasures, yet if we would speak exactly, it is pleasure alone that governs and moves us in every state of life. And the man who, in the business of the world, would be thought to pursue it, because of its use and importance, is as much governed by his temper and taste for pleasures as he who studies the gratification of his palate, or takes his delight in running foxes and hares out of breath.

For there is no wisdom or reason in any thing but religion, nor is any way of life less vain than another, but as it is made serviceable to piety, and conspires with the designs of religion, to raise mankind to a participation and enjoyment of the divine nature.

Therefore does our Saviour equally call men from the cares of employments, as from the pleasures of their senses; because they are equally wrong turns of mind, equally nourish the corruption of our nature, and are equally nothing, when compared with that high state of glory, which, by his sufferings and death, he has merited for us.

Perhaps Christians, who are not at all ashamed to be devoted to the cares and business of the world, cannot better perceive the weakness and folly of their designs, than by comparing them with such states of life as they own to be vain and foolish, and contrary to the temper of religion.

Some people have no other care than how to give their palate some fresh pleasure, and enlarge the happiness of tasting. I desire to know now wherein consists the sin or baseness of this care!

Others live to no other purpose than to breed dogs, and attend the sports of the field. Others think all their time dull and heavy which is not spent in the pleasures and diversions of the town.

Men of sober business, who seem to act the grave part of life, generally condemn these ways of life.

Now I desire to know upon what account they are to be condemned? For produce but the true reason why any of these ways of life are vain and sinful, and the same reason will conclude with the same strength against every state of life, but that which is entirely devoted to God.

Let the ambitious man but show the folly and irregularity of covetousness, and the same reasons will show the folly and irregularity of ambition.

Let the man who is deep in worldly business but show the vanity and shame of a life that is devoted to pleasures, and the same reasons will as fully set forth the vanity and shame of worldly cares. So that whoever can condemn sensuality, ambition, or any way of life, upon the principles of reason and religion, carries his own condemnation within his own breast, and is that very person which he despises, unless his life be entirely devoted to God.

For worldly cares are no more holy or virtuous than worldly pleasures: they are as great a mistake in life, and when they equally divide or possess the heart, are equally vain and shameful as any sensual gratifications.

It is granted that some cares are made necessary by the necessities of nature; and the same also may be observed of some pleasures; the pleasures of eating, drinking, and rest, are equally necessary; but yet if reason and religion do not limit these pleasures by the necessities of nature, we fall from rational creatures into drones, sots, gluttons, and epicures.

In like manner our care after some worldl things is necessary; but if this care is not bounded by the just wants of nature: if it wanders into unnecessary pursuits, and fills the mind with false desires and cravings; if it wants to add an imaginary splendour to the plain demands of nature, it is vain and irregular; it is the care of the epicure, a longing for sauces and ragouts, and corrupts the soul like any other sensual indulgence.

For this reason our Lord points his doctrines at the most common and allowed employments of life, to teach us that they may employ our minds as falsely, and distract us as far from our true good, as any trifles and vanity.

He calls us from such cares, to convince us that even the necessities of life must be sought with a kind of indifference, that so our souls may be truly sensible of greater wants, and disposed to hunger and thirst after enjoyments that will make us happy for ever.

But how unlike are Christians to Christianity! It commands us to take no thought, saying, what shall we eat, or what shall we drink? Yet Christians are restless and laborious till they can eat in plate.

It commands us to be indifferent about raiment; but Christians are full of care and concern to be clothed in purple and fine linen; it enjoins us to take no thought for the morrow, yet Christians think they have lived in vain, if they do not leave estates at their death. Yet these are the disciples of that Lord, who saith, Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.

It must not be said, that there is some defect in these doctrines, or that they are not plainly enough taught in Scripture, because the lives and behaviour of Christians is so contrary to them; for if the spirit of the world, and the temper of Christians, might be alleged against the doctrines of Scripture, none of them would have lasted to this day.

It is one of the ten commandments, Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; our Saviour has, in the most solemn manner, forbid swearing, yet where is more swearing than amongst Christians, and among such Christians as would think it hard to be reckoned a reproach to the Christian name?

The Scripture says of Christians, that they are born of God, and have overcome the world; can they be reckoned of that number who have not so much as overcome this flagrant sin, and to which they have no temptation in nature?

Well therefore may the doctrines of humility, heavenly-mindedness, and contempt of the world be disregarded, since they have all the corruptions of flesh and blood, all the innate and acquired pride, and vanity of our nature to conquer before they can be admitted.

To proceed. I know it is pretended by some, that these doctrines of our Saviour concerning forsaking all, and the like, related only to his first followers, who could be his disciples upon no other terms, and who were to suffer with him for the propagation of the Gospel.

It is readily owned, that there are different states of the church, and that such different states may call Christians to some particular duties, not common to every age.

It is owned also, that this was the case of the first Christians; they differed from us in many respects.

They were personally called to follow Christ; they received particular commissions from his mouth; they were empowered to work miracles, and called to a certain expectation of hatred and sufferings from almost all the world.

These are particulars in which the state of the first church differed from the present, But then it is carefully to be observed, that this difference in the state of the church is a difference in the external state of the church, and not in the inward state of Christians. It is a difference that relates to the affairs and condition of the world, and not to the personal holiness and purity of Christians.

The world may sometimes favour Christianity, at other times it may oppose it with persecution: now this change of the world makes two different states of the church, but without making any difference in the inward personal holiness of Christians, which is to be always the same, whether the world smiles or frowns upon it.

Whatever measure, therefore, of personal holiness, or inward perfection, was required of the first followers of Christ, is still in the same degree, and for the same reasons required of all Christians to the end of the world.

Humility, meekness, heavenly affection, devotion, charity, and a contempt of the world, are all internal qualities of personal holiness; they constitute that spirit and temper of religion which is required for its own excellence, and is therefore of constant and eternal obligation. There is always the same fitness and reasonableness in them, the same perfection in practising them, and the same rewards always due to them.

We must, therefore, look carefully into the nature of the things, which we find were required of the first Christians; if we find that they were called to sufferings from other people, this may perhaps not be our case; but if we see they are called to sufferings from themselves, to voluntary self-denials , and renouncing their own rights, we may judge amiss, if we think this was their particular duty as the first disciples of Christ.

For it is undeniable that these instances of making themselves sufferers from themselves, of voluntary self-denial, and renunciation of all worldly enjoyments, are as truly parts of personal holiness and devotion to God as any instances of charity, humility, and love to God that can possibly be supposed.

And it will be difficult to show why all Christians are now obliged, in imitation of Christ, to be meek and lowly in heart , if they, like the first Christians, are not obliged to these instances of lowliness and meekness; or if they are obliged still to imitate Christ, how can they be said to do it if they excuse themselves from these plain and required ways of showing it.

If, therefore, Christians will show that they are not obliged to those renunciations of the world which Christ required of his first followers, they must show that such renunciations, such voluntary self-denials, were not instances of personal holiness and devotion, did not enter into the spirit of Christianity, or constitute that death to the world, that new birth in Christ, which the Gospel requireth. But this is as absurd to imagine, as to suppose that praying for our enemies is no part of charity.

Let us, therefore, not deceive ourselves, the Gospel preaches the same doctrines to us that our Saviour taught his first disciples, and though it may not call us to the same external state of the church, yet it infallibly calls us to the same inward state of holiness and newness of life.

It is out of question that this renunciation of the world was then required, because of the excellency of such a temper, because of its suitableness to the spirit of Christianity, because of its being, in some degree, like to the temper of Christ, because it was a temper that became such as were born again of God, and were made heirs of eternal glory, because it was a right instance of their loving God with all their heart, and with all their soul, and with all their strength, and with all their mind, because it was a proper way of showing their disregard to the vanity of earthly comforts, and their resolution to attend only to the one thing needful.

If, therefore, we are not obliged to be like them in these respects, if we may be less holy and heavenly in our tempers, if we need not act upon such high principles of devotion to God, and disregard of earthly goods as they did, we must preach a new Gospel of our own; we must say that we need not be meek and lowly as the first Christians were, and that those high doctrines of charity, of blessing, and doing good to our worst enemies, were duties only for the first state of the church.

For this is undeniable, that if any heights of piety, any degrees of devotion to God, of heavenly affection, were necessary, for the first Christians, which are not so now, that the same may be said of every other virtue and grace of the Christian life.

All our Saviour's divine Sermon upon the Mount may as well be confined to his first disciples as these doctrines; and it is as sound in divinity, as well founded in reason, to assert, that our Saviour had only regard to his first disciples, when he said, "Ye cannot serve God and mammon," as when he saith, "Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple."

For let any one think, if he can find the least shadow of a reason, why Christians should, at first, be called to higher degrees of heavenly affection, devotion to God, and disregard of the world, than they are now.

It will be as easy to show that they were obliged to a stronger faith, a more lively hope, than we are now.

But if faith and hope are graces of too excellent a nature, too essential to the life and spirit of a Christian, to admit of any abatements in any age of the church, I should think that heavenly affection, devotion to God, and dying to the world, are tempers equally essential to the spirit of religion, and too necessary to the perfection of the soul, to be less required in one age than in another.

Besides it is to be considered, that these tempers are the natural and genuine effects of faith and hope; so that if they are changed or abated, faith and hope must have so far suffered abatements, and failed in their most proper and excellent effects.

All men will readily grant that it would be very absurd to suppose, that more articles of faith should have been necessary to be believed by our Saviour's first followers than by Christians of after ages.

Let it then be considered why this would be absurd, and it will plainly appear that the same reason which makes it absurd to suppose that anything which was once necessary to be believed should ever lose that necessity, will equally show that it is alike absurd to suppose that anything that was once necessary to be done should ever be lawful to be left undone.

For it is absurd to suppose that articles of faith should not have always the same relation to salvation. And is it not equally absurd to suppose the same of any graces or virtues of the soul? That the kingdom of heaven should, at such a time, be only open to such degrees of piety, of heavenly affection, and dying to the world, and at other times make no demand of them.

Again, I believe all men will readily grant, that whenever the church falls into such a state of persecution as was in the beginning, that we are then to suffer for the faith as the first Christians did.

Now I ask, Why we are to do as they did when we fall into the like circumstances?

Is it because what they did was right and fit to be done? Is it because their example is safe and agreeable to the doctrines of Christ? Is it because we must value our lives at no higher rate than they valued theirs? Is it because suffering for the faith is always that same excellent temper, and always entitled to the same reward?

If these are the reasons, as undoubtedly they are, why we must suffer as they did, if we fall into such a state of the church as they were in; do not all the same reasons equally prove that we must use the world as they did, because we are in the same world that they were in?

For let us here put all the same questions in relation to their self-denials and renunciations of riches; was not what they did in this respect right and fit to be done? Is not their example safe and agreeable to the doctrines of Christ? Are we to value our worldly goods more than they valued theirs? Is not the renouncing earthly enjoyments for the sake of Christ, always that same excellent temper, and always entitled to the same reward?

Thus we see that every reason for suffering as the first disciples of Christ did, when we fall into the same state of persecution that they were in, is as strong and necessary a reason for our contemning and forsaking the world as they did, because we are still in the same world that they were in.

If it can be shown that the world is changed, that its enjoyments have not that contrariety to the spirit of Christianity that they had in the apostles' day, there may be some grounds for us Christians to take other methods than they did. But if the world is the same enemy it was at the first, if its wisdom is still foolishness, its friendship still enmity with God, we are as much obliged to treat this enemy as the first disciples of Christ did, as we are obliged to imitate their behaviour towards any other enemies and persecutors of the common Christianity.

And it would be very absurd to suppose that we ...were to follow the doctrines of Christ in renouncing the flesh and the devil, but might abate of their enmity in regard to the world, when it is by our use of worldly goods that both the flesh and the devil gain almost all their power over us.

Having said thus much to show that the Gospel belongs to us in all its doctrines of holiness and piety, I shall proceed to enquire what heavenly affection, what renunciation of the world, and devotion to God, is required of Christians in the Holy Scriptures.

We find in the passage already quoted, with several others to the like purpose, that our Saviour saith, as a common term of Christianity, that whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple.

St. Mark tells us, There came one running and kneeled to him, and asked him, good Master, What shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? And Jesus said unto him, Thou knowest the commandments, do not commit adultery, do not kill, do not steal, do not bear false witness, defraud not, honour thy father and mother. Chap. x. 17.

And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth.

Then Jesus beholding him, loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest; go thy way, and sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven, and come take up the cross, and follow me.

And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved, for he had great possessions.

In St. Matthew it is thus, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, amp;c.

Some have imagined, that from our Saviour's using the expression, If thou wilt be perfect, that this was only a condition of some high uncommon perfection, which Christians, as such, were r ...obliged to aspire after; but the weakness of this imagination will soon appear, if it be considered, that the young man's question plainly showed what perfection it was that he aimed at; he only asked what he should do that he might inherit eternal life ; and it was in answer to this question that our Saviour told him, that though he had kept the commandments, yet one thing he lacked.

So that when our Saviour saith, if thou wilt be perfect , it is the same thing as when he said, if thou wilt not be lacking in one thing, that is, if thou wilt practice all that duty which will make thee inherit eternal life , thou must not only keep the commandments but sell that thou hast, and give to the poor .

It plainly, therefore, appears, that what is here commanded, is not in order to some exalted uncommon height of perfection, but as a condition of his being a Christian, and securing an inheritance of eternal life.

This same thing is farther proved from our Saviour's general remark upon it; How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God?

By which it appears, that it was the bare entering into the state of Christianity, and not any extraordinary height of perfection, that was the matter in question.

This remark, and the other following one, where our Saviour saith, It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God , undeniably show us thus much, that what is here required of this young man is also required of all rich men in all ages of the church, in order to their being true members of the kingdom of God.

For how could this be said of rich men, that they can hardly, and with more difficulty, enter into the kingdom of God, if they were not obliged to the same that this rich man was obliged to?

For if they may enjoy their estates, and yet enter into the kingdom of God, the difficulty is vanished, and they may enter with ease, though this young man was put upon much harder terms.

If, therefore, we will but use common sense in understanding these words of our Saviour, we must allow that they relate to all rich men; and that the same renunciation of all self-enjoyment is required of them, that was required of this young man.

His disciples plainly understood him in this sense, by their saying, Who then can be saved? And it appears by our Saviour's answer, that he did not think they understood him amiss, for he seems to allow their remark upon the difficulty of the thing, and only answers, That with God all things are possible; implying, that it was possible for the grace of God to work this great change in the hearts of men.

Those who will still be fancying, for there is nothing but fancy to support it, that this command related only to this young man, ought to observe, that this young man was very virtuous; that he was so eager after eternal life, as to run to our Saviour, and put the question to him upon his knees; and that for these things our Saviour loved him.

Now can it be imagined, that our Saviour would make salvation more difficult to one who was thus disposed than to others?

That he would impose particularly hard terms upon one whose virtues had already gained his love.

And such hard terms as for their difficulty might justly be compared to a camel going through the eye of a needle. Would he make him lacking in one thing, which other men might lack in all ages, without any hinderance of their salvation? Would he send him away sorrowful on the account of such terms, as are no longer terms to the Christian world.

As this cannot be supposed, we must allow what our Saviour required of that young man, was not upon any particular account, or to show his authority of demanding what he pleased; but that he required this of the young man for the sake of the excellency of the duty, because it was a temper necessary for Christianity, and always to be required of all Christians; it being as easy to conceive that our Saviour should allow of less restitution and repentance in some sinners than in others, as that he should make more denial of the world, more affections for heaven, necessary to some than to others.

I suppose it cannot be denied, that an obedience to this doctrine had shown an excellent temper, that it was one of the most noble virtues of the soul, that it was a right judgment of the vanity of earthly riches, that it was a right judgment of the value of heavenly treasures, that it was a proper instance of true devotion to God.

But if this was a temper so absolutely, so excellently right, then I desire to know why it has not the same degree of excellency still?

Hath heaven on earth suffered any change since that time? Is the world become now more worth our notice, or heavenly treasure of less value, than it was in our Saviour's time? Have we had another Saviour since, that has compounded things with this world, and helped us to an easier way to the next?

Farther; it ought to be observed, that when our Saviour commanded the young man to sell all and give to the poor; he gives this reason for it, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven.

This manifestly extends the duty to all rich men, since the reason that is given for it, either equally obliges all, or obliges none, unless a treasure in heaven can be said to be a valuable consideration to some but not to others.

The matter, therefore, evidently comes to this; either we must say, that our Saviour did not make a reasonable proposal to the young man, that what he required of him, was not sufficiently excellent in itself, and advantageous to him; or we must allow that the same proposal is as reasonable for us to accept of now, as it was in the first ages of the church.

We must observe too, that if all the reasons which pressed this duty upon the young man equally recommend it to us; if we neglect it, we are equally unreasonable with him who went away sorrowful.

Let those who are startled at this doctrine, and think it unnecessary now, deal faithfully with their own hearts, and ask themselves, whether they should not have had the same dislike of it had they lived in our Saviour's days? or whether they can find any one reason why they should have been so spiritual and heavenly then, which is not as good and as strong a reason for their being as spiritual and heavenly now.

Let them consider whether if an apostle was to rise from the dead, calling all rich men to this doctrine, they would not drive their coaches from such a preacher rather than be saved at such a price.

To proceed: If this selling all, this renunciation of worldly wealth, was not required for the excellency of the duty, and its suitableness to the spirit of Christianity, it will be hard to show a reason why such voluntary self-denial, such renunciation of one's own enjoyments, such persecutions of one's self, should be required at a time when Christianity exposed its members to such uncommon hatred and persecution from other people.

Our Saviour allowed his disciples when they should fall under persecution, to flee from one city to another; though they were to be as harmless as doves, yet he commanded them to be as wise as serpents.

If therefore the enjoyment of riches had been a thing that had suited with his religion, was not a renunciation of all worldly wealth, a temper necessary, and never to be dispensed with; one would suppose that it would least of all have been imposed at a time when there were so many other unavoidable burdens to be undergone.

Since therefore this forsaking and renouncing all, by our own act and deed; since this degree of self-denial and self-persecution was commanded at a time when all the world were enemies to Christians; since they were not then spared or indulged in any pleasurable enjoyments of their worldly wealth, but were to add this instance of suffering to all the sufferings from their enemies; we may be sure that it was required because it was a necessary duty; because it was a proper behaviour of such as were born of God, and made heirs of eternal glory.

If this be true, then it must be owned, that it is still the same necessary duty, and is now as well that proper behaviour of those who are the sons of God, as ever it was.

For Christianity is just that same spiritual heavenly state that it was then; the dignity of Christians has suffered no alteration since that time, and a treasure in heaven, an eternal happiness, are still the same great and important things.