Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typ...os. Excerpt from book: SELF-DENIAL. Matthew xvi. 24: " Then said Jesus unto his disciples, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me." This passage is an example of our Saviour's mode of teaching. He has given us his truth in the costume of the age; and this style is so common in the New Testament, that an acquaintance with the usages of those times is necessary to the understanding of a large part of his instructions. The cross was then a mode of punishment reserved for the greatest criminals, and was intended to inflict the deepest disgrace as well as sorest pain. " To take up the cross " had therefore become a proverbial expression of the most dreaded suffering and shame. By this phrase in the text, Jesus intended to teach, that no man could become his disciple without such a deep conviction of the truth and excellence of his religion, as would fortify the mind against persecution, reproach, and death. The command " to deny ourselves " is more literal, but is an instance of what is very common in our Saviour's teaching, I mean, of the use of unlimited expressions, which require to be restrained by the good sense of the hearer, and which, if taken without considerable modification, may lead into pernicious error. We know that this precept, for want of a wise caution, has driven men to self-inflicted penance and to the austerities of the cloister and wilderness; and it is one among many proofs of the necessity of a calm and sober judgment to a beneficial use of Christianity. In this discourse I shall offer remarks on the limits or just extent of Christian Self-denial, and on the design of Providence in so constituting us, as to make self-denial necessary; and in discussing these topics I shall set before you its obligation, necessity, and exc...Detailed info »« Brief info