Christianity Requireth a Renunciation of the World, and All Worldly Tempers.
By Law
CHAPTER V.
THE subject of the two preceding chapters is of such importance that I cannot leave it without adding some further considerations upon it.
For, notwithstanding the Scriptures are so clear and express on the side of the doctrine there delivered, yet I must expect to encounter the prejudices of men who are settled in other opinions.
I know it will be asked, where can be the impiety of getting or enjoying an estate?
Whether it be not honorable, and matter of just praise, to provide an estate for one's family?
It will also be asked, what people of birth and fortune are to do with themselves if they are not to live suitably to their estates and qualities?
Any one that has taken the trouble to read this treatise, must have found that the doctrine here taught is none of mine, and that therefore I have no occasion to support it against such questions as these.
The same persons may as well ask, why the little span of life is made a state of trial and probation, in which men of all conditions are to work out their salvation with fear and trembling?
But, however, to the first question let it be answered:
Take no thought, saying, What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or wherewithal shall we be clothed; for after all these things do the Gentiles seek.
If to be careful and thoughtful about the necessaries of life, be a care that is here forbidden, and that because it is such a care as only becomes heathens; surely, to be careful and thoughtful how to raise an estate, and enrich one's family, is a care that is sufficiently forbidden Christians. And he that can yet think it lawful and creditable to make it the care and design of his life to get an estate, is too blind to be convinced by arguments. He may, with as much regard to Scripture, say, that it is lawful to swear falsely, though it forbids him to speak falsely.
Our Saviour saith, Labor not for the meat that perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life.John vi, 27. He commands us not to lay up for ourselves treasures on earth; he assures us that we cannot serve God and mammon.
Now these places have no meaning, if it is still lawful for Christians to heap up treasures, to labor for great estates, and pursue designs of enriching their families.
I know it is easy to evade the force of these texts, and to make plausible harangues upon the innocency of laboring to be rich, and the consistency of serving God and mammon.
I do not question but the rich young man in the Gospel, who had kept the commandments of God from his youth, could have made a very good apology for himself, and have shown how reasonable and innocent a thing it was for so good and so young a man to enjoy an estate.
The rich man in torments could have alleged how much good he did with his fortune, how many trades he encouraged by his purple and fine linen, and faring sumptuously every day; and how he conformed to the ends and advantages of society by so spending his estate.
But to return: the apostle saith, Having food and raiment, let us therewith be content; that they who will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.1 Tim. vi, 8, 9.
We may perhaps by some acuteness of reasoning, find out that this doctrine still leaves us at our liberty, whether we will labor to be rich or not; and if we do, we are as much enlightened as the quakers, who find themselves at liberty from the use of the sacraments.
We may pretend, that notwithstanding what the apostle here says of a snare, a temptation and foolish lusts; yet that we can pursue the means, and desire the happiness of riches, without any danger to our virtue.
But if so, we are as prudent as those Christians who think they can secure their virtue without watching and prayer; though our Saviour has said, Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation.
He therefore, that neglects watching and prayer, though the appointed means of avoiding temptation, may show that he lives as much according to Scripture as he that is careful and desirous of riches and wealth, though they are the declared occasions of sin, snares and destruction.
If we will not be so humble and teachable as to conform to the Scriptures in the simplicity and plainness of its doctrines, there will be no end of our errors; but we shall be in as much darkness as when the light of Scripture never appeared.
For if we could submit to its plain and repeated doctrines, it would never be asked, what people of birth and fortune are to do with themselves, if they are not to live up to the splendor and plenty of their estates.
The rich man in the Gospel was a ruler, a young man, and a good man; if therefore, there are any among us that are neither young nor good, it can hardly be thought that they have less to do to inherit eternal life than the young man in the Gospel.
And as for those who, like him, have kept the commandments of God from their youth, I dare not tell them that they are not under a necessity of offering all their wealth to God, and of making their estates, however acquired, not the support of any foolish, vain indulgences, but the relief of their distressed brethren.
Suppose great people by means of their wealth could throw themselves into a deep sleep of pleasant dreams, which would last till death awaked them; would any one think it lawful to make such use of their riches?
But if it was asked, why this is not as lawful as a life of high living, vain indulgences, and worldly pleasures, it could not be easily told.
For such a life as this is no more like a state of probation than such a sleep is like it; and he that has done nothing but sleep and dream to the time of his death, may as well say that he has been working out his salvation with fear and trembling, as he that has been living in such luxury, splendor and vain gratifications, as his estate could procure him.
The gospel has made no provision for dignity of birth, or difference in fortune; but has appointed the same straight gate, the common passage for all persons to enter into glory.
The distinctions of civil life have their use, and are, in some degree, necessary to society; but if any one thinks he may be less devoted to God, less afraid of the corruptions of pleasures, the vanities of pride, because he was born of one family rather than another, he is as much mistaken as he that fancies he has a privilege to steal, because he was born of a father that was poor.
Why may not poor people give themselves up to discontent, to impatience, and repining? Is it not because Christianity requires the same virtues in all states of life? Is it not because the rewards of religion are sufficient to make us thankful in every condition.
But who sees not that these same reasons equally condemn the gratifications, the sensual indulgences of the rich, as the discontents and repinings of the poor.
So that a great man taking his swing in worldly pleasures, in the various gratifications which his plenty can furnish, is as good a Christian, as careful of his duty to God, as the poor man who resigns himself up to discontent, and spends his time and spirits in restless complaints and repinings.
And if the joys of religion, our hopes in Christ, are sufficient to make us rejoice in tribulation, and be thankful to God in the hardships of poverty; surely the same hopes in Christ must be equally sufficient to make us forbear the luxury and softness, and all other pleasures of imaginary greatness.
If, therefore, the rich and great man can find out a course of pleasures, that support no wrong turn of mind; luxury and indulgence, which do not gratify sensuality; delights and entertainment which indulge no vain and weak passions; if they can find out such self-enjoyments of their riches as show that they98love God with all their strength, and their neighbors as themselves; if they can find out such instances of splendor and greatness, as gratify neither the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, nor the pride of life; religion has no command against such enjoyments.
But if this cannot be done, let it be remembered that the rich have no more permission to live in sensual pleasures, and vain indulgences, than the poor have to spend their time in anxious complaints and unthankful repinings.
Let it also be remembered, that if any distinctions of life make men forget that sin is their only baseness, and holiness their only honor; if any condition makes them less disposed to imitate the low, humble estate of their suffering Master, or forget that they are to return to God by humiliation, repentance and self-denial; instead of being any real advantage, it is their curse, their snare and destruction.
Had there been any other lawful way of employing our wealth, than in the assistance of the poor, our Saviour would not have confined the young man in the Gospel to that one way of employing all that he had.
Was there no sin in pampering ourselves with our riches, our Saviour had not said, Woe unto you that are rich, for ye have received your consolation!
Had a delight in the splendor and greatness of this life been an innocent delight for people of birth and fortune, he had never said, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Had worldly mirth, and the noisy joys of splendor and equipage, been any part of the happiness of Christians, he had never said, Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Thus does it appear, from almost every part of Scripture, that a renunciation of the world, and all worldly enjoyments, either of pleasure or pride, is the necessary temper of all Christians of every state and condition.
I know, that to all this it will still be objected, that the different states of life are things indifferent in themselves, and are made good or evil by the tempers of the persons who enjoy them. That a man is not necessarily vain and proud, because he lives in great show and figure, any more than another is necessarily humble and lowly in mind, because he lives in low estate.
It is granted that men may be of a temper contrary to the state in which they live, but then this is only true of such as are in any state by force, and contrary to their desires and endeavors.
A man in a low estate may be very vain and proud, because he is in such a state by force, and is restless and uneasy till he can raise himself out of it. If the same can be said of any man that lives in all the splendor and figure of life, that he is in it by force, and is restless and uneasy till he can lay all aside, and live in a humble, lowly state, it may be granted, that such a man, though in the height of figure, may be as humble as another in starving circumstances may be proud.
But nothing can be more false than to conclude that because a man may be in a low estate, without having lowliness of mind, which estate he is in by force; that, therefore, another may live in all the height of grandeur, the vanity of figure, which his fortune will allow, without having any height or vanity of mind, though the state of life be according to his mind, and such as he chooses before another that has less of figure and show in it.
Nothing can be more absurd than such a conclusion as that; it is as if one should say, that because a man may be an epicure in his temper, though he is forced to live upon bread and water; therefore another, who seeks all sorts of delicacies, and lives upon delicacies out of choice, may be no epicure.
Again, Who does not know that a man may give all his goods to feed the poor, and yet want charity? But will any one therefore conclude that another may keep all his goods to himself, and yet have charity?
Yet this is as well argued as to say, that because a man has nothing to spend he may yet be proud; therefore, though another may lay out his estate in vain expenses, he may yet have true humility of mind.
For as the man in a low estate would be truly what his estate is, if he liked it, and had no desires that it should be otherwise than it is; so for the same reason, if those who live in pleasure, in show and vain expenses, live in such a state out of choice; we must talk nonsense, if we not say that their minds are as vain as the vanity of their estate.
Again, Those who talk of people's being humble in a state, that has all the appearance of pride and vanity, do not enough consider the nature of virtue. Humility and every other virtue is never in as complete state, so that a man can say, that he has finished his task in such or such a virtue.
No virtues have any existence of this kind in human minds; they are rather continual struggles with contrary vices, than any finished habits of mind.
A man is humble, not for what he has already done, but because it is his continual disposition to oppose and reject every temptation to pride. Charity is a continual struggle with the contrary qualities of self-love and envy.
And this is the state of every virtue; it is a progressive temper of mind, and always equally laboring to preserve itself.
Those therefore who suppose that people may be so finished in the virtue of humility, that they can be truly humble in the enjoyments of splendor and vanity, do not consider that humility is never finished, and that it ceases to exist, when it ceases to oppose and reject every appearance of pride.
This is the true state of every virtue, a resisting and opposing all the temptations to the contrary vice.
To suppose therefore a man so truly humble, that he may live in all the appearances of pride and vanity, is as absurd, as to suppose a man so inwardly sober that he need refuse no strong liquors; so inwardly charitable, that he need not avoid quarrels; or so holy that he need not resist temptations to sin.
Lastly, The necessity of renouncing the world in whatever condition of life we are, besides what appears from particular commands, may be proved from those great degrees of holiness, those divine tempers, which Christianity requires.
Christians are to love God with all their heart, with all their soul, with all their mind, and with all their strength, and their neighbor as themselves.
Now it is absolutely impossible in the nature of the thing, that we should practice either of these duties in any Christian sense, unless we are so born of God as to have overcome the world.
A man that has his head and his heart taken up with worldly concerns, can no more love God with all his soul, and with all his strength, than a man who will have his eyes upon the ground, can be looking towards heaven with all the strength of his sight.
If therefore we are to love God with all our heart, and with all our soul, it is absolutely necessary that we be first persuaded, that we have no happiness but in him alone; and that we are capable of no other good, but what arises from our enjoyment of the divine nature.
But we may be assured, that we never believe this truth, till we resign or renounce all pretensions to any other happiness. For to desire the happiness of riches, at the same time that we know that all happiness is in God, is as impossible as to desire the happiness of sickness, when we are assured that no bodily state is happy but that of health.
It is therefore certain, in an absolute degree, that we are as much obliged to renounce the world with all our heart, and all our strength, as we are obliged to love God with all our heart, and all our strength.
It being as impossible to do one without the other, as to exert all our strength two different ways at the same time.
It is also certain, in the same absolute degree, that we unavoidably love everything in proportion as it appears to be our happiness; if it appears to be half of our happiness, it will necessarily have half the strength of our love; and if it appears to be all of our happiness we shall naturally love it with all our strength.
The Christian religion, therefore, which requires the whole strength of our nature to aspire after God, lays this just foundation of our performing this duty, by commanding us to renounce the happiness of the world, knowing it impossible to have two happinesses, and but one love.
And indeed what can be more ridiculous than to fancy that a man who is laboring after schemes of felicity, that is taken up in the enjoyments of the world, is loving God with all his soul, and all his strength?
Is it not as absurd as to suppose a man that is devoted to the sports of the field is at the same time contemplating mathematical speculations with all the ardor of his mind.
Let any one but deal faithfully with himself, consult his own experience, the inward feelings of his mind, and consider whether, whilst his soul is taken up with the enjoyments of this life, he feels that his soul is loving God with all its force and strength; let any man say that he feels this strong tendency of his soul towards God, whilst it tends towards earthly goods, and I may venture to depart from all that I have said.
Nothing therefore can be more plain than this, that if we are to fill our soul with a new love, we must empty it of all other affections, and this by as great a necessity as any in nature.
The love of God, as I have said of every other virtue, is never in any complete state, but is to preserve and improve itself by a continual opposition and resistance of other affections.
It is as necessary therefore continually to renounce the world and all its objects of our affections, in order to form the love of God in our hearts, as it is necessary to renounce and resist all motives of self-love and envy, to beget the habit of charity.
And a man may as well pretend that little envies are consistent with true charity, as that little desires after the vanities of the world are consistent with an entire love of God with all our hearts.
It may be said that though this appears true in the reason of the thing, as considered in speculation; yet that this is a love for angels, and not suited to the state of man.
I answer, it is what God has required, and the same objection may be made against all other Christian virtues, for they are all required in a perfect degree.
Secondly, if it is a degree of perfection hardly attainable, this makes for the doctrine which I have delivered, and shows the absolute necessity of having no more enjoyments in the world than such as necessity requires.
For if it is so hard to raise the soul to this degree of love, surely it must be stupid to add to the difficulty by foolish and contrary affections.
Thirdly, If this is the proper love of angels, this proves that it is proper for us, who are taught by God to pray, that his will may be done on earth as it is in heaven.
At least, if this is the love of angels, it shows us that we are to imitate it as far as our nature will allow, and to stop at no degrees short of it, but such as we cannot possibly reach.
But can he be said to be doing his utmost to love like an angel, that is building schemes of felicity on earth, and seeking satisfaction in its imaginary enjoyments.
As sure therefore as this is the love of angels, as sure as we are called to an angelical state of life with God; so surely are we obliged to lay aside every hindrance, to part with every enjoyment that may stop or retard the soul in its rise and affections towards God.
We differ from angels, as we are in a state of probation, and bound with flesh; and though till the trial be over, we must bear with infirmities and necessities, to which they are not subject; yet we must no more choose follies, or find out false delights for ourselves, than if we were, like them, free from all infirmities.
The love of enemies is said to be a love that becomes the perfection of God; but yet we see that we are so far from being excused from this manner of love, because it is divine, and suits the nature of God, that we are, 'for that reason, expressly called to it, that we may be children of our Father which is in heaven.99
If therefore we are called to that spirit of love which becomes the perfection of God, surely the manner of angelic love is not too high for us to aspire after.
All therefore that we are to learn from this matter is this, that a renunciation of the world is necessary, that this holy love cannot be attained, unless we only use the world so far as our needs and infirmities require, and think of no happiness but what is prepared for us at the right hand of God.—Law.