“except men martyr and slay the body of sin, in sanctified self-denial, they shall never be Christ’s martyrs and faithful witnesses. o if i could be master of that house-idol, myself, mine own, mine own wit, will, credit, and ease, how blessed were i! o but we have need to be redeemed from ourselves, rather than from the devil and the world. learn to put out yourselves, and to put in Christ for yourselves. i should make a sweet bargain, and give old for new, if i could shuffle out self, and substitute Christ my Lord in its place; to say, not i, but Christ; not my will, but Christ’s; not my ease, not my lusts, not my credit, but Christ, Christ! - o wretched idol, when shall i see thee wholly decourted, and Christ wholly put in thy stead? o that Christ would have full place and room, that all aims, purposes, thoughts and desires would coast and land upon Christ, and never upon myself.”
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my own self idolatry is too wretched by far to even be compared to the infinite glory and beauty of Christ.
stab, kill, destroy the one. savor, cling, adore the other.
