sure! To a worldly man, that sets not his heart and hopes above, the face of death is unspeakably dreadful. But if we could kill the world before us, and be dead to it now, and alive to God, and with Paul, die daily, it would be a powerful means to abate the terrors, and a certain way to take out the sting, that death might be a sanctified passages into life. So much of the benefits of mortification.

And now what remains, but that you that are mortified believers, receive your consolation, and consider what the Lord hath done for your souls, and give him the praise of so great a mercy. Believe it, it is a thousandfold better to be crucified to the world, than to be advanced to prosperity in it; and to have a heart that is above the world, than to be made the possessor of the world.

And for you that yet are strangers to this mercy, O that the Lord would open your hearts to consider where you are, and what you are doing, and whither you are going, and how the world will use you, and how you are like to come off at last, before you go any further, that you may not make so mad a bargain, as to gain the world and lose your souls. O that you did but thoroughly believe, that it is the only wise and gainful choice to deny your carnal selves, and forsake all and follow Christ, in hope of the heavenly treasure which he hath promised. And let me tell you again, as the way to this, That though melancholy may make you weary of the world, and stoical precepts may restrain your lusts; yet it is only the power of the Holy Ghost, the cross of Christ, the belief of the promise, the love of God, and the hopes of the everlasting invisible glory, that will effectually and savingly crucify you to the world, and the world to you. It is a lesson that never was well taught by any other master but Christ, and you must learn it from him, by his words, ministers, and Spirit in his school, or you will never learn or practise it aright.

THE SECOND PART:

OF THE CHRISTIAN'S GLORYING.

HAVING thus dispatched the first part of my subject, concerning a Christian's Crucifixion to the World, by Christ and his Cross, I come to the second part, concerning the Glorying of a Christian. The Judaizing teachers did glory carnally, even in a carnal worship, and carnal privileges, and in the carnal effects of their doctrine on their proselytes; but Paul, that had more to glory in than they, doth disclaim and renounce all such glorying as theirs, and owneth, and professeth a contrary glorying, even in the cross of Christ and his mortification. The observation to be handled is, that

'True Christians must with abhorrency renounce all Carnal Glorying, and must glory only in the Cross of Christ, by whom the world is crucified to them, and they unto the world.'

In handling this, I shall briefly shew

you,

I. What is included, or what we may glory in.

II. What is excluded, or what we may not glory in.

For the former, here are two things expressed in the text, in which a Christian may and must glory.

I. The cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.

II. Our crucifixion to the world hereby. So that the positive part of the doctrine containeth these two branches, which I shall handle distinctly, before I speak to the negative part.

1. True Christians that are crucified to the world and the world to them, by the cross of Christ, may and must glory therein.

2. Yet so, as that their glorying must be principally in Christ, and their own mortification must be gloried in but as the fruit of his cross.

For the first part, it must be understood with these necessary limitations.

1. As Glorying signifieth a self-ascribing and proud conceit of our own mortification, and is contrary to Christian

self-denial and humility, and glorying in God, so we mus take heed of it and abhor it.

2. As Glorying signifieth any outward expression of this inward pride, either by words or deeds, we must also avoid it with abhorrence.

3. So must we also do by all unseasonable, offensive ostentation, which may seem to others to savour of pride, though indeed it proceed from a better cause.

4. But as Glorying signifieth the apprehension of the good of the thing, and our benefit by it, and the due affections of content and joy, and exultation of mind that follow thereupon, thus must a Christian glory in his mortification by the cross of Christ. We commonly call this act a blessing of ourselves in the apprehension of our case. As the carnal, ungodly world do bless themselves in their possessing worldly things, so may a Christian bless himself that he is crucified to them. That is, he may rejoice in it as a great blessing of God, that tendeth to further blessedness.

5. And when we are called .to it, we may express to others our glorying herein. But so as that we give the glory to God, and not to our own corrupted wills.

6. And when we are called hereto, we must do it very cautiously, as Paul doth, 1 Cor. iv. 4., "I know nothing by myself, yet am I not hereby justified." Signifying that we do it with holy intentions for the good of the hearers, and the honour of God, as he doth, ver. 1, 2. 6. 8. to the end. And 2 Cor. ii. 5, 6, &c. 1 Cor. ix. throughout. 2 Cor. iii. 1,2, &c. And we must so do it as to confess it is like to folly, it being the custom of proud fools to be boasters of themselves. And so Paul when he is called to mention his privileges, calls it his folly in this sense, 2 Cor. xi. 1. 17. 19.23. lest others should be encouraged to sinful boasting by his example, if he did not brand it by the way with the note of folly; though it was materially so in him (being the matter that folly is by others expressed in), but formally in the proud.

2. Having told you how we may glory in our own mortification, I shall next give you the proof of the point, that we may so do.

And first it is proved by the example of Paul himself, both here in my text, and in many other places. 2 Cor. v. 11-13. xi. throughout. xii. throughout. ver. 5, 6. "Of such an one will I glory; yet of myself I will not glory, but

in mine infirmities." That is, not in any thing that seemeth to advance me in the eyes of the world, lest it should seem a carnal glorying, or men should be drawn thereby to overvalue me; but in such things as men rather pity or vilify for, even my worldly meanness, and contemptibleness, and sufferings for Christ, though before God these are honourable, and therefore I will not glory in them openly, but secretly as I may do in all other graces. So it followeth : "For though I would desire to glory, I shall not be a fool; for I will say the truth. But now I forbear, lest any man should think of me above that which he seeth me to be, or that he heareth of me." And so ver. 9-11. "Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me" (that is, that my glorying may magnify that power of Christ that is manifest in sustaining me, and not myself); "therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake; for when I am weak (that is, in the flesh, and the eye of the world), then I am strong (that is, in the Spirit and the work of Christ). I am become a fool (that is, like a fool) in glorying: ye have compelled me: for I ought to have been commended of you; for in nothing am I behind the very chiefest apostles, though I be nothing." Yea, 1 Cor. ix. 15. he saith, he had rather die, than any should make his glorying void," concerning his self-denial for the advantage of the Gospel.

2. I also prove it thus. We may and must glory in the blessed effects of the blood of Christ; or else we shall not give him his honour. But our own mortification is one of the blessed effects of the blood or cross of Christ; therefore. we may and must glory in it.

3. We may and must glory in the certain tokens of the love of God. But our mortification is one of the certain tokens of the love of God; therefore we may and must glory in it.

4. We may and must glory in Christ dwelling in us; and the effects of his indwelling. For if we may glory in Christ crucified, then also in Christ as our head, to whom we are united, and from whom we receive continual influence and communication of graces; but our own mortification is the certain fruit of Christ dwelling in us; therefore we may glory in it.

5. We may glory in the image of God upon our souls. For as it is our glory, so it is the liveliest representation of

God himself. But our mortification is part of God's image upon us; therefore we may glory in it.

6. We may glory that we are the temples of the Holy Ghost, and that the Spirit of Christ is in us, and we may glory in his fruits and works. But our mortification is a principal fruit of the Spirit, which sheweth that he dwelleth in us; therefore we may glory in it.

7. There is no doubt but Christians may glory in the cessation of their sin against God, and that as to the dominion of sin, they do not dishonour him by breaking his laws, abusing his Son, his Spirit, and his mercies, as formerly they did. But all this is contained in our mortification; therefore we may glory in it.

8. No doubt but we may glory in the honour of God, when his wisdom, and goodness, and power are demonstrated, to the confusion of his foes, and the encouragement of his people; but this is done in the mortification of his saints; in them he conquereth, and in him that loveth them they are supervictors; Rom. viii. 37. If we must glorify the workman, as such, then must we also glorify the work. If Moses and all Israel must sing such a song of praise to God for overthrowing Pharaoh and his host in the Red sea, much more must we sing his praise that conquereth satan and all our corruptions. And the work itself must be magnified in order to the conqueror's praise. If Deborah must sing God's praises for the conquests of weak men, much more must we for the conquest of the world by faith, and for subduing the powers of darkness to us. There is more of God's love and power seen in the spiritual victories of a poor mortified Christian, that is taken no notice of, or despised in the world, than in the bodily conquests of the famous princes in the world, who most of them perish everlastingly after all, because they are conquered by the world and their own flesh.

Though it be the design of the devil, and the slanderous world, to obscure or vilify the work of grace on the souls of the sanctified, yet must it be the care of believers to counterwork them, and maintain and manifest the lustre of that grace, to the glory of the author. He that magnifieth the cure doth honour the physician; but he that slighteth or disregardeth it, doth dishonour him. To debase the work of creation is a reproach to the Creator; yea, to overlook it and not admire and magnify it, is an injury to him; to vili