by Anthony Burgess

Let us now consider the proper means to overthrow those strongholds into which the carnally confident man retreats, and what way may be taken to undeceive such a one and set him in the path of salvation.

First, a powerful and soul-searching ministry—one that penetrates and exposes the hidden things of the heart—may cause him to come to a true knowledge of himself. The ministry of the Word is like the sun in the firmament, from whose light nothing is hidden. Thus, the prophets and the apostles were called lights in their generation. What conviction the Jews might have had concerning their self-righteousness and hypocrisy, had they not willfully shut their eyes against the light! The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds, casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God (2 Corinthians 10:4-5). By this is meant all kinds of opposition. Just as the woman of Samaria testified that Christ had told her all things that ever she did (John 4:29), so may many say after hearing a sermon that lays open all the vileness and inward filthiness, all the poverty and wretchedness within them.

A second remedy is a clear and searching exposition of the Law in all its purity and strictness. What an excellent course did our Savior take in Matthew 5 to make His hearers afraid of themselves, revealing more sin in them than they ever perceived! He makes the Law so spiritual, so penetrating into the very motions and lusts of the soul, that they who admired their own righteousness must now acknowledge themselves as foul as an Ethiopian in God's sight. You bless yourself because of your outward morality and your freedom from gross sins, but no dunghill is fuller of snakes and worms than your heart is of vile lusts. Thus, Romans 7 describes Paul, who, as good as he once thought himself, when he looked into the mirror of God's holy Law, found so many blemishes in himself that he lost all confidence in his own righteousness. Hence, men who would maintain their self-righteousness narrow the sense of the Law, as if it were not so strict as it truly is—just as the elephant stirs up the water with its feet so that it may not see its own deformity.

The third remedy is a discovery of the fullness and necessity of Christ. If Christ be as necessary as Scripture declares, and if His righteousness must be all in all, then by that very truth, all that we possess in ourselves is nothing but sin and weakness. If Christ is set forth to us as a Savior, Physician, and Redeemer, then surely we are sick, in bondage, and utterly undone in ourselves. Why then, O vain man, do you boast in your own sufficiency? Why are you so strongly persuaded of your own worth? If it is as you think, why is there need of Christ? Was He incarnate? Did He suffer in vain? If a single star could give sufficient light to the world and dispel all darkness, what need would there be for the sun? If the stream has enough to refresh, what need is there of the ocean? Would you then come to see yourself as poor and miserable? Consider in what glory, riches, fullness, and absolute necessity the Scripture sets forth Christ, and then you will quickly abhor yourself.

A fourth remedy is outward and grievous afflictions accompanying the Word. When God thunders in a man’s ears and heart by His Word, and when He also outwardly scourges and afflicts him, he is often driven to abandon his lofty imaginations. Just as we deal with madmen who have delusions of their own greatness—casting them into dungeons and treating them harshly to bring them to a right mind—so does God, when He would strip a man of all carnal presumption and bring him to reject all high thoughts of himself. He lays heavy burdens upon him and thrusts many thorns into his side. How much better would it be for many men to be kept by God in darkness and distress of spirit than to be set, as it were, always upon the pinnacle of the temple! Be therefore awakened out of thy security. Fear lest thou hast lived many years in a mere dream of holiness and an imaginary interest in Christ.

Fifthly, the examples of those who seemed to make great progress in religion—who had high thoughts of themselves, yet whose end was dreadful and terrible—should serve as a special warning against false presumption. How should that passage strike us with fear: "For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift... if they shall fall away, to renew them again unto repentance" (Hebrews 6:4-6). Some had illumination and even a savor of the goodness of God and His Word, yet lacked the things that accompany salvation. Likewise, consider the foolish virgins, who were bold and confident in their preparation for the Bridegroom—yet how woefully were they deceived! Examine these examples again and again. Lest their case be yours, tremble lest the time come when you shall cry for oil because yours is spent, and there is none to supply you. Christ, by many parables, teaches us how prone all men are to this self-deception.

Sixthly, let the presumptuous man consider how prone he is to mistake in other things, and therefore fear lest he do so in this matter of greatest concernment. Every man is full of blindness, ignorance, and self-deception. How often is he misled in natural and moral matters? How much more in spiritual truths? And how much more in the workings of his own heart, wherein self-love guides him? If a natural man does not perceive many things in nature, how can he perceive the things of God? As Christ said, "If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?" (John 3:12). If even the godly man, in whom guile and hypocrisy are in great measure removed, still cries out, "Who can understand his errors? Cleanse thou me from secret faults" (Psalm 19:12), how much more is this true of one who is wholly leavened with hypocrisy? If David had unknown pride and corruption in his heart, how much more has a Pharisee or an unregenerate man?

It is a good saying of Ames: Praesumentes sunt eo magis desperati, quo minus sunt desperantes—"Presumers are in a more desperate condition, the less they fear their own presumption."

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Excerpt from Containing Remedies Against Carnal Confidence with Directions to the Godly Who Mourn Under the Sense of God's Favor, "Spiritual Refining", Chapter 7