Alterius ne sit, qui suus esse potest.
Alterius ne sit, qui suus esse potest.
But yet man is a sociable creature; and we are made to be helpful to each other: we are like the wheels of a watch, that can none of them do their work alone, without the concurrence of the rest. And therefore a proud man that would live wholly on himself, and scorneth to be beholden, would break himself off from the place that God hath set him in, and separate himself from human society, and be either a world of himself, or a god to others. But God hath caused all the members purposely to stand in need of one another, that none might be despised, and that all might still exercise love in communicating, and humility in accepting of each other's help.
SignXXV. Pride maketh people desirous to equal their superiors, and exceed their equals, in apparel, or handsome dwellings, and provisions, and entertainments, and all appearances that tend to set them out, and make them seem considerable in the world:[227]for it excessively regards the eye of man. A fit respect to decency must be had (so we place no greater a necessity in it than we ought): but pride would fain go with the highest, and have more curiosity than needs; and maketh a greater matter of decency than the thing requireth. I am not of their humour, that censure every man whose hair is not of their cut, and whose garments are not of their fashion, and who are bred in a way of more gentility and ceremony than myself. But yet the affectation of imitating fashion-mongers, and bearing a port above one's rank, and rather desiring the converse and company of superiors than inferiors, and to live like those that are a step above us, than those that are a step below us, are signs as significant of pride, as the robes of a judge or a doctor are of their dignities and degrees. I am sure humility hath learnt this lesson, Rom. xii. 16, "Mind not high things; but condescend to men of low estate: be not wise in your own eyes." As for the ridiculous, effeminate fashions and deportment of some men, and the spots, and paintings, and nakedness, and other antic fashions of some women, and the many hours which they daily waste in dressings and adornings, and preparing themselves for the sight of others, they are the badges of so foolish, and worse than childish a sort of pride, that I will not trouble myself and the reader in reprehending them. Manly pride is ashamed of such toys. Let the patrons of them please their patients, by proving them lawful, while they have no wiser work to do; and when they have done, let them go on to prove that it is lawful for sober persons to wear such irons as they do in Bedlam; and that such chains as they in Newgate wear are no signs of a prisoner; and that it is lawful for an honest woman to wear a harlot's habit. If the proud have no more wit than to wear the badges of their childishness or distraction, and show their shame to all they meet, and make themselves as ridiculous as men that lay aside their breeches, and wear sidecoats again like children, I will leave them to themselves, and will not now trouble them with any longer contradiction.
SignXXVI. Proud persons are ashamed and troubled if any necessity force them to go lower in apparel, or provisions, or deportment, than others do of their degree; to show you that it is not as a duty that decency is regarded by them, but as the ornaments of pride, else they would be quiet when Providence maketh it cease to be their duty. They are not so much ashamed of sin, and the neglect of God and their salvation, as they are to be seen in sordid attire, or in a poor and homely garb: beggars and servants show here that they are as proud as lords.What abundance of them go but seldom to church, and give this as a reason, I wanted clothes! as if they would neglect their souls, their God, their greatest duty, rather than do it in such clothes as they do their common work. Doth Christ appoint you to give him the meeting, that by his ministers he may instruct you for salvation, and that you may ask and receive the pardon of your sins; and will you disappoint him, and refuse to come, for want of better clothes? Sure you do not think that these are the wedding garment which he requireth you to bring. You would beg if you were naked or in rags, and will you not come to beg of God, because you have no better clothes? Do you set more by the reputation of your clothes, than the means of your salvation? How little do such wretches set by God, and by his mercy now, that will shortly on their death-beds cry for mercy, without any such regard of clothes! Naked they come into the world, and naked they must go out, and yet they will turn their backs on the worship of God, for want of clothes. They are not ashamed nor afraid to be ungodly, and to forsake their duty, but they are ashamed of torn or poor attire. What, say they, shall we make ourselves ridiculous! When their pride and ungodliness is cause of a thousand-fold more shame. We read of thousands, even of the poor, that crowded after Christ to hear him; but of none that staid at home for want of clothes; when it is like they had no better than yours.
SignXXVII. If a proud man be wronged, he looketh for great submission before he will forgive: you must lie down at his feet, and make a very full confession, and behave yourself with great submission; especially if the law be in his hands. And he is prone to revenge, and cruel in his revenge: but if he have wronged others, he is hardly brought to confess that he wronged them; and more hardly to humble himself for reconciliation, and ask them forgiveness: when a humble person is ready to let go his right for peace, and easily forgiveth, and easily stoopeth to ask forgiveness.
SignXXVIII. Lastly; Pride maketh men inordinately desire to have an honourable memorial kept of their names when they are dead (if they are persons that rise to the hopes of such a remembrance;) Many a monument hath pride erected;[228]many a book hath it written to this end; many a good work materially hath it done, and made it bad by such a base intention! Many an hospital, and almshouse, and school-house it hath built; and many a pound hath it given to charitable uses in pretension, but to proud and selfish uses in intention. Not that any should causelessly suspect another's ends, or blemish the deserved honour of good works, which it is lawful ordinately to regard; but we should suspect our own hearts, and take heed of so horrible a sin, which would turn the excellentest parts and works into poison or corruption. And remember how heinous a thing it is, for a man to be laying proud designs, when he is turning to the dust, and going to appear before his Judge! yea, to set up the monuments of his pride over his rotten flesh and bones; and to show that he dieth in so great a sin without repentance, by endeavouring that as much as may be of it may survive, when he is dead and gone! If such wicked ends do sometimes offer to intrude into necessary, excellent works, an honest heart must abhor them, and cast them out, and beg forgiveness; and not for that forbear his work, nor refuse the comfort of his more sincere desires and intents: but such good works do sink the hypocrite into hell, that are principally done as a service to pride, to leave a name on earth behind him.
Thus I have been long in showing you the signs of pride, because the discovery is a great part of the cure: not that every proud person hath all these signs; for every one hath not the same temptations or occasions to show them; but every one hath some, and many of these; and he that hath any one of them, hath a sign of pride. And again I say, that for all this, our reputation, as it subserveth the honour of God and our religion, and our brethren's good, must be carefully by all just means preserved, and by necessary defences vindicated from calumniators; though we must quietly bear whatever infamy or slander we are tried with.
Direct.III. Having understood the nature and the signs or effects of pride, consider next of the dreadful consequents and tendency of it, both as it leadeth to further sin, and unto misery. Which I shall briefly open to you in some particulars.
1. At the present it is the heart of the old man, and the root and life of all corruption, and of dreadful signification, if it be predominant. If any man's "heart be lifted up, the Lord will have no pleasure in him, or it is not upright in him," Hab. ii. 4. I had rather have my soul in the case of an obscure humble christian, that is taken notice of by few, or none but God, and is content to approve himself to him, than in the case of the highest and most eminent and honourable in church or state, that looks for the observation and praise of men.[229]God judgeth not of men by their great parts, and profession, and name; but justifieth the humbled soul that is ashamed to lift up his face to heaven, and thinketh himself unworthy to speak to God, or to have communion with his church, or to come among his servants; but standing afar off, smiteth upon his breast, and saith, (in true repentance,) O "God, be merciful to me, a sinner," Luke xviii. 13. Pride is as a plague-mark on the soul.
2. There is scarce a sin to be thought on that is not a spawn in the bowels of pride. To instance in some few (besides all that are expressed in the signs): 1. It maketh men hypocrites, and seem what they are not, for the praise of men. 2. It makes men liars: most of the lies that are told in the world, are to avoid some disgrace and shame, or to get men to think highly of them. When a sin is committed against God or your superiors, instead of humble confession, pride would cover it with a lie. 3. It causeth covetousness, that they may not want provision for their pride. 4. It maketh men flatterers, and time-servers, and man-pleasers, that they may win the good esteem of others. 5. It makes men run into profaneness, and riotousness, to do as others do to avoid the shame of their reproach and scorn, that else would account them singular and precise. 6. It can take men off from any duty to God that the company is against; they dare not pray, nor speak a serious word of God, for fear of a jeer from a scorner's mouth. 7. It is so contentious a sin, that it makes men firebrands in the societies where they live; there is no quiet living with them longer than they have their own saying, will, and way; theymust bear the sway, and not be crossed; and when all is done, there is no pleasing them, for the missing of a word, or a look, or a compliment, will catch on their hearts, as a spark on gunpowder. 8. It tears in pieces church and state. Where was ever civil war raised, or kingdom endangered or ruined, or church divided, oppressed, or persecuted, but pride was the great and evident cause? 9. It devoureth the mercies and good creatures of God, and sacrificeth them to the devil. It is a chargeable sin: what a deal doth it consume in clothes, and buildings, and attendance, and entertainments, and unnecessary things! 10. It is an odious thief and prodigal of precious time. How many hours that should be better employed, and must one day be accounted for, are cast away upon the foresaid works of pride! especially in the needless compliments and visits of gallants, and the dressings of some vain, light-headed women, in which they spend almost half the day, and can scarce find an hour in a morning for prayer, or meditation, or reading the Scriptures, because they cannot be ready; forgetting how they disgrace their wretched bodies, by telling men that they are so filthy or deformed, that they cannot be kept sweet and cleanly and seemly, without so long and much ado. 11. It is odiously unjust. A proud man makes no bones of any falsehood, slander, deceit, or cruelty, if it seem but necessary to his greatness, or honour, or preferment, or ambitious ends. He careth not who he wrongeth or betrayeth, that he may rise to his desired height, or keep his greatness. Never trust a proud man further than his own interest bids you trust him. 12. Pride is the pander of whoredom and uncleanness: it is an incentive to lust in themselves, and draws the proud to adorn and set forth themselves in the most enticing manner, as tends to provoke the lust of others. Fain they would be thought comely, that others may admire them, and be taken with their comeliness. If they thought that none would see them, they would spare their ornaments. And if a common decency were all that they affected, they would spare their curiosities and fashionable superfluities. Even they that would not be unclean in gross fornication with any, yet would be esteemed beautiful and desirable, and do that which tendeth to corrupt the minds of fools that see them. These, and indeed almost all sin, are the natural progeny of pride.
3. As to the misery which they bring on themselves and others, (1.) The greatest is, that they forsake God, and are in danger to be forsaken by him: for God abhorreth the proud, and beholdeth them as afar off. So far as you are proud you are hated by him, and have no acceptance or communion with him. Pride is the highway to utter apostasy. It blindeth the mind; it maketh men confident in their own conceits; and venturous upon any new opinion; and ready to quarrel with the word of God before they understand it. When any thing seems hard to them, they presently suspect the truth of the matter, when they should suspect their dark, unfurnished minds. Mark those that are proud in any town, or any company of professors of piety; and if any infection of heresy or infidelity come into that place, these are the men that will soonest catch it. Mark those that have turned from truth or godliness, and see whether they be not such as were proud and superficial in religion before. But God giveth grace, and more grace to the humble: he dwelleth with them, and delighteth in them.[230]
(2.) A proud man is a tormentor of himself. Setting his mind on the thoughts of men, and desiring more of their esteem than he can attain, and that which is unsatisfying vanity when he hath obtained it, he is still under fruitless, vexatious desires, and frequent disappointments; every thing that he seeth, and every word almost that he heareth, or every compliment omitted, can disturb his peace, and break his sleep, and cast him into a fever of passion or revenge. This wind that swelleth him, is running up and down, and disquieting him in every part. Who would have such a fire in his breast, that will not suffer him to be quiet?[231]
(3.) Pride bringeth sufferings, and then maketh them seem intolerable. It makes the sinner more vex and gall his mind, with striving and impatient aggravating his afflictions, than the suffering of itself would ever do.
4. Pride is a deep-rooted and a self-preserving sin; and therefore harder to be killed and rooted up than other sins. It hindereth the discovery of itself. It driveth away the light. It hateth reproof. It will not give the sinner leave to see his pride when it is reproved; nor to confess it if he see it; nor to be humbled for it if he do confess it; nor to loathe himself and forsake it, though conviction and terror seem to humble him. Even while he heareth all the signs of pride, he will not see it in himself. When he feeleth his hatred of reproof, and knoweth that this is a sign of pride in others, yet he will not know it in himself. If you would go about to cure him of this or any other fault, you shall feel that you are handling a wasp or an adder; yet when he is spitting the venom of pride against the reprover, he perceiveth not that he is proud; this venom is his nature, and therefore is not felt nor troublesome. If all the town or congregation should note him as notoriously proud, yet he himself, that should best know himself, will not observe it. It is a wonder to see how this sin keepeth strength, in persons that have long taken pains for their souls, and seem to be in all other respects the most serious, mortified christians! Yet, let them but be touched in their interest or reputation, or seem to be slighted, or see another preferred before them, while they are neglected, and they boil with envy, malice, or discontent, and show you that the heart of sin, even selfishness and pride, is yet alive, unbroken, and too strong. Especially if they are not persons of a natural gentleness and mildness, but of a more passionate temper; then pride hath more oil and fuel to kindle it into these discernible flames. He is a christian indeed that hath conquered pride.
5. Pride is the defence not only of itself, but of every other sin in the heart or life. For it hateth reproof and keepeth off the remedy; it hideth, and extenuateth, and excuseth the sin, and thinketh well of that which should be hated.
6. Pride hindereth every means and duty from doing you good; and ofttimes corrupteth them, and turneth them into sin. Sometimes it keepeth men from the duty, and sometimes it keepeth them from the benefit of the duty. It makes men think that they are so whole and well as to have little need of all this physic, yea, or of their daily necessary food. They think all this is more ado than needs: what need of all this preaching, and praying, and reading, and holy conference, and meditation, and heavenly-mindedness? One is ashamed of it, and another wants it not, and another is above it, and they ask you, Where are we commanded to pray in our family, and to pray so oft, and to hear so oft, and read anybook but the holy Scriptures, &c.; for they feel no obligation from general commands, (as to "pray continually," and "always," and "not wax faint," nor be "weary of well doing," to "redeem the time," and "do all to edification," and be "fervent in spirit, serving the Lord," &c. 1 Thess. v. 17; Luke xviii. 1; Gal. vi. 9; Eph. v. 16; 1 Cor. xiv. 26; Rom. xii. 11,) because they feel not that need or sweetness which should help them to perceive, that frequency is good or necessary for them. If the physician bid two men "eat often," and one of them hath a strong appetite, and the other hath none; he that is hungry will interpret the word "often," to signify thrice a day, at least, and he that hath no appetite will think that once a day is "often." Healthful men do not use to ask, How prove you that I am bound to eat twice or thrice a day? Feeling the need and benefit, they will be satisfied with an allowance without a command. They will rather ask, How prove you that I may not do it? for they feel reason in themselves to move them to it, if God restrain them not. So it is with a humble soul, about the means of his edification and salvation: it feeleth a need of preaching, and prayer, and holy spending the Lord's day, and family duties, &c. Yea, it feeleth the need and benefit of frequency in duties, and is glad of leave to draw near to God, and feels the bond of love constrain. Whereas, the proud are full and senseless, and could easily be content with little in religion, if the laws of God or man constrained them not, and will do no more than needs they must. Yea, some of late have been advanced by pride above all ordinances, that is, above obedience to God, in the use of his appointed means, but not above the need of means, nor above the plagues prepared for the proud and disobedient. Humility secureth men from many such pernicious opinions.
Direct.IV. To the conquering of pride, it is necessary that you perceive that indeed it is in yourselves, and is the radical sin, and the very poison of your hearts; and that you set yourselves watchfully to mark its motions; and make it a principal part of your religion and business of your lives to overcome it, and to walk in humility with God and man. For if you see not that it is your sin, you will let it alone, and little trouble yourselves about it. Pride liveth in men that seem religious, because they perceive it not, or think they have but some small degree, which is not dangerous. And they see it not in themselves, because they mark not its operations and appearances: the life in the root must be perceived in the branches, in the leaves, and fruit. If you saw more evil in this, than in many more disgraceful sins, and set yourselves as heartily and diligently to conquer it, as you do to cast out the sins which would make you be judged by men to be utterly ungodly, no doubt but the work would more happily go on, and you would see more excellent fruits of your labour, in the work of mortification, than most christians see.
Direct.V. Be much in humbling exercises; but so as to take heed of mistaking the nature of them, or running into extremes. I have told you the true nature of humility before. Abundance of christians are tempted by Satan to think it consisteth, much more than it doth, in passionate grief, and tears, and bodily exercises, of long and frequent fastings, and confessions, and penance, or such like: and thus Satan diverteth them from true endeavours for true humiliation, by keeping them employed all their days, in striving for tears, or in these external exercises! Whereas, you should most strive for such a sight of your sinfulness and nothingness, as will teach you highly to esteem of Christ, and to loathe yourselves, and take yourselves to be as vile and sinful as you are, and will make you humbly beg for mercy, and stoop to any means to obtain it; and will make you patient under the rebukes and chastisements of God, and under the contempts and injuries of men: this is the humility which you must labour for. But in order to this, external exercises of humiliation must be used: especially studying the holy law of God, and searching yourselves, and confession of sin, and moderate, seasonable fastings, and taming of the flesh. And indeed the exercises of humiliation do most become those that are most prone to pride: and the doctrine of those men who cry down true humiliation, doth come from pride, and is made to cherish pride in others. A humble soul cannot receive it; but is proner here to run into excess.
Direct.VI. There is no more powerful means to take down pride, than to look seriously to God, and set yourselves before his eyes, and consider how he loveth the humble, and abhorreth the proud. One sight of God by a lively faith, would make you know with whom you have to do, and teach you to abhor yourselves as vile. A glowworm is not discerned in the sunshine, though it glister in the dark. A glimpse of the majesty of God would make thee, with Isaiah, cry out, "Woe is me, for I am undone, a man of unclean lips," &c.; and, chap. vi. 5, with the Israelites, desire that Moses, and not God, might speak unto you, lest you die. Men are proud because they know not God, and look not to him, but to fellow-sinners, with whom they think they may be bold to compare themselves.
A summary of the signs of humility.
Signs of pride.
Remember also that God is as it were engaged against the proud, both in the holiness of his nature, and in honour; for a proud man sets up himself against him, and is such an idol as God will either take down by grace, or spurn into the fire of destruction. And if he do appear before God among others in days and external exercises of humiliation, you may judge how much an abhorred person will be accepted. It is not to all that are clothed in sackcloth, but to the humble soul that God hath respect; even to the self-abhorring person, who judgeth himself unworthy to come among the people of God, or to be door-keepers in his house, or to eat of the crumbs of the children's bread; that subject themselves to one another, and think no office of love and service too low for them to perform to the least believer; that in charitable meekness instruct opposers, and bear contradiction and contempt from men; that patiently suffer the injuries of enemies and friends, and heartily forgive and love them; that bear the most sharp and plain reproofs with gentleness and thanks; that think the lowest place in men's esteem, affections, and respects, the fittest for them; that are much more solicitous how they love others, than how others love them, and how they discharge their duties to others, than how others do what they ought for them; that will take up with smaller evidence to think well of the hearts or actions of others, than of their own; that reprove themselves ofter and sharplier than other men reprove them, and are readier to censure themselves than others, or than most others are to censure them; that have a low esteem of their own understandings, and parts, and doings, and therefore are readier to learn than teach, and to hear than speak; that highly value every bit and drop of mercy, especially Christ, and grace, and glory. These are the humble that God accepteth, and this is the fast that he requireth. These are they that pray effectually, and that must save the land. These only are sensible what sin is; when others feel it not, or are proud in the midst of their largest confessions and tears.These only do from their hearts acknowledge their desert of God's severest judgments, and justify God when he afflicteth them. Others rather marvel at the greatness and continuance of judgments, and expostulate with God as dealing hardly and unkindly with them, and tell him how good a people he afflicteth. These only understand the sinfulness of their very humiliations and prayers, through the weakness of that good which should be in them, and the mixture of much evil; when the proud are marvelling if God hear them not at the first word. These only wait in patience for God's answer, and accept of mercy in his time and measure; when the proud are short-winded, and if God come not just when they expected, they do, with Saul, 1 Sam. xiii. 9-12, make haste, or murmur at his providence, and say it is in vain to serve the Lord, and begin to think of forsaking him, and taking some better way. These proud ones that have joined in outward humiliations, and have lift up themselves in heart, while they cast down their bodies, are they that have turned the heart of God so much against us, to break us in pieces, because he hath found among us so many of the proud whom he taketh for his enemies. We have had those humbling themselves in our assemblies, that were wise in their own eyes, despising, and scorning, and reviling their teachers; such as undervalued and censured others, that were not for their opinions and interest; that over-loved the respect and honour that is from men, and could not endure to be disesteemed or little set by; that could not bear an injury or a foul word, but were prone to anger, if not revenge; that could not seek peace, nor stoop to others, nor bear plain-dealing in reproof, nor forgive a wrong without much submission; that had high expectations from others, and loved those best that most esteemed them; that counted it baseness to stoop to the meanest places or services for others' good; yea, that quarrelled with God, his word, and providences, and valued no other mercies but those that exalted themselves or pleased their flesh (which proved judgments). And yet while they thus by pride excommunicated themselves from the face of God, and made themselves abhorred by him, they separated from the holiest assemblies and servants of God in the land, as unworthy of communion with such as they, unless they would first become of their opinion and sect. We little consider how great a hand this pride hath had in our desolations. God hath been scattering the proud of all sorts in the imaginations of their own hearts, Luke i. 51.
Direct.VII. Look to a humbled Christ to humble you. Can you be proud while you believe that your Saviour was clothed with flesh, and lived in meanness, and made himself of no reputation, and was despised, and scorned, and spit upon by sinners, and shamefully used, and nailed as a malefactor to a cross? The very incarnation of Christ is a condescension and humiliation enough to pose both men and angels, transcending all belief but such as God himself produceth by his supernatural testimony and Spirit.[232]And can pride look a crucified Christ in the face, or stand before him? Did God take upon him the form of a servant,[233]and must thou domineer and have the highest place? Had not Christ a place to lay his head on, and must thou needs have thy adorned, well-furnished rooms? Must thou needs brave it out in the most fantastic fashion, instead of thy Saviour's seamless coat? Doth he pray for his murderers, and must thou be revenged for a word or petty wrong? Is he patiently spit upon and buffeted, and art thou ready, through proud impatiency, to spit upon or buffet others? Surely he that "condemned sin in the flesh," condemned no sin more than pride.
Direct.VIII. Look to the examples of the most eminent saints, and you will see they were all most eminent in humility. The apostles, before the coming down of the Holy Ghost on them, contended which of them should be the greatest (which Christ permitted that he might most sharply rebuke it, and leave his warning to all his ministers and disciples to the end of the world, that they that would be greatest must be the servants of all, and that they must by conversion become as little children, or never enter into the kingdom of God). But afterward in what humility did these apostles labour, and live, and suffer in the world! Paul "made himself a servant unto all, that he might gain the more, though he was free from all men," 1 Cor. ix. 10. They submitted themselves to all the injuries and affronts of men; to be accounted the plagues and troublers of the world, and as the scorn and offscouring of all things, and a gazing-stock to angels and to men.[234]And are you better than they? If you are, you are more humble, and not more proud.
Direct.IX. Look to the holy angels, that condescend to minister for man; and think on the blessed souls with God, how far they are from being proud; and remember, if ever thou come to heaven, how far thou wilt be from pride thyself. Such a sight as Isaiah's would take down pride: Isa. vi. 1-3, "I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he did fly (signifying humility, purity, and obedience). And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts: his glory is the fulness of the whole earth." So Rev. iv. 8, 10, "The elders fall down, and cast their crowns before him that sitteth on the throne." Look up to heaven, and you will abhor your pride.
Direct.X. Look upon the great imperfection of thy grace and duties. Should that man be proud that hath so little of the Spirit and image of Jesus Christ? that believeth no more, and feareth God no more, and loveth him no more? and can no better trust in him, nor rest upon his word and love? nor any more delight in him, nor in his holy laws and service? One would think that the lamentable weakness of any one of all these graces, should take down pride and abase you in your own eyes. Is he a christian that doth not even abhor himself, when he perceiveth how little he loveth his God, and how little all his meditations on the love and blood of Christ, and of the infinite goodness of God, and of the heavenly glory, do kindle the fire, and warm his heart? Can we observe the darkness of our minds, and ignorance of God, and strangeness to the life to come, and the woeful weakness of our faith, and not be abased to a loathing of ourselves? Can we choose but even abhor those hearts that can love a friend, and love the toys and vanities of this life, and yet can love their God no more? that take no more pleasure in his name, and praise, and word, and service, when they can find pleasure in the accommodations of their flesh? Can we choose but loathe those hearts that are so averse to God, so loth to think of him, so loth to pray to him, so weary of prayer, or holy meditation, or any duty, and yet so forward to the business and recreationsof the flesh? Can we feel how coldly and unbelievingly we pray, how ignorantly or carnally we discourse, how confusedly and vainly we think, and how slothfully we work, and how unprofitably we live, and yet be proud, and not be covered with shame? Oh! for a serious christian to feel how little of God, of Christ, of heaven is upon his heart, and how little appeareth in any eminent holiness, and fruitfulness, and heavenliness of life, is so humbling a consideration, that we have much ado to own ourselves, and not lie down as utterly desolate. Should that soul admit a thought of pride, that hath so little grace as to be uncertain whether he have any at all in sincerity or not? that cannot with assurance call God, Father, or plead his interest in Christ or in the promises? nor knoweth not if he die this hour, whether he shall go to heaven or hell? Should he be proud that is no readier to die? and no more assured of the pardon of sin? nor willinger to appear before the Lord? If one pained member will make you groan, and walk dejectedly, though all the rest do feel no pain, a soul that hath this universal weakness, a weakness that is so sinful and so dangerous, hath cause to be continually humbled to the dust.
Direct.XI. Look upon thy great and manifold sins, which dwell in thy heart, and have been committed in thy life, and there thou wilt see cause for great humiliation. If thy body were full of toads and serpents, and thou couldst see or feel them crawling in thee, wouldst thou then be proud? Why, so many sins are ten thousand-fold worse, and should make thee far viler in thy own esteem! If thou wert possessed with devils, and knewest it, wouldst thou be proud? Why, devils possessing thy body are not so bad or hurtful to thee, as sin in thy soul! The sight of a sin should more take down thy pride, than the sight of a devil. Should that man be proud that hath lived as thou hast lived, and sinned as thou hast sinned, from thy childhood until now? that hath lost so much time, and abused so much mercy, and neglected so many means, and omitted so many duties to God and man, and been guilty of so many sinful thoughts, and so many false or foolish words, and hath broken all the laws of God? Should not he be deeply humbled that hath yet so much ignorance,[235]error, unbelief, hypocrisy, sensuality, worldliness, hardheartedness, security, uncharitableness, lust, envy, malice, impatience, and selfishness, as is in thee? Should not thy very pride itself be matter of thy great humiliation, to think that so odious a sin should yet so much prevail? Look thus on thy leprous, defiled soul, and turn thy very pride against itself! Know thyself, and thou canst not be proud.
Direct.XII. Look also to the desert of all thy sins, even unto hell itself, and try if that will bring thee low. Though pride came from hell effectively, yet hell, objectively, may afford thee a remedy against it. Think on the worm that never dieth, and the fire that never shall be quenched, and consider whether pride become that soul, that hath deserved these. Wilt thou be proud in the way to thy damnation? Thou mightst better be proud of thy chains and rope, when thou art going to the gallows! Think, whether the miserable souls in hell are now minding neat and well set attire, or seeking for dominion, honour, or preferment, or contending who shall be the greatest, or striving for the highest rooms, or setting out themselves to the admiration and applause of men, or quarrelling with others for undervaluing or dishonouring them! Do you think there is any place or matter there for such works of pride, when God abaseth them?
Direct.XIII. Look to the day of judgment, when all proud thoughts and looks shall be taken down; and to the endless misery threatened to the proud. Think of that world, in which your souls must ere long appear, before the great and holy God, whose presence will abase the proudest sinner. When the tyrants, and gallants, and wantons of the earth, must with trembling and amazement give up their accounts to the most righteous Judge of all the world, then where are their lofty looks and language? then where are their glory, and gallantry, and proud, imperious domineering, and their scornful despising the humble, lowly ones of Christ? Would you then think that this is the same man, that lately could scarce be seen or spoken with? that looked so big, and swaggered it out in wealth and honour? Is this he that could not endure a scorn, or to be slighted, or undervalued, or plainly reproved? that must needs have the honour and precedency in wit, and greatness, and command? Is this the man that thought he was perfect and had no sin; or that his sins were so small, as not to need the humiliation, renovation, and holy diligence of the saints? Is this the woman that spent half the day in dressing up herself, and house, and furniture for the view of others, and must needs be in the newest or the neatest fashion? that was wont to walk in an artificial pace, with a wandering eye, in a wanton garb, as if she were too good to tread on the earth? Oh! then how the case will be altered with such as these! Can you believe, and consider how you must be judged by God, and yet be proud?
Direct.XIV. Look to the devils themselves that tempt you to be proud, and see what pride hath brought them to; and remember, that a proud man is the image of the devil, and pride is the devil's special sin. He that envieth your happiness, knoweth by sad experience the way to misery; and therefore tempteth you to be proud, that you may come, by the same way, to the same end that he himself is come to. "The angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, are reserved in everlasting chains under darkness, to the judgment of the great day," Jude 6.
Direct.XV. Look well upon thyself, both body and soul, and think whether thou be a person fit for pride. God hath purposely clothed thine immortal soul in the coarse attire of corruptible flesh, and placed it in so poor and ruinous a cottage, that it might be kept from pride: yea, he made this frail and corruptible body to be a constitutive part of our very person, that in knowing it, we may know ourselves. Some will have a dead man's skull stand by them, in their studies or chambers, as an antidote against pride. But God hath fastened us yet closer to mortality: death dwelleth in our bowels. We are apt to marvel that so noble a soul should be lodged in so mean a body, made of the earth to which it must return![236]A stone is durable and clean; but my flesh is corruptible, and must turn to loathsome filth and rottenness. A marble pillar will stand firm and beautiful from age to age, but I must perish and consume in darkness. The seats we sit upon, the pillars we lean to, the stones we tread upon, will be here, when we are turned to dust. Thehouse that I build, may stand when I am rotten in the grave. A tree will live, when he that planted it is dead. Our bodies are of no better materials than the brutes; our substance is in a continual flux or waste, and loseth something every day; and if it were not repaired and patched up by daily air and nourishment, it would soon be spent, and our oil consumed. If you were chained to a dead carcass, which you must still carry about with you, it were not a matter so fit to humble you, as to be united so nearly to so vile a body of your own. We carry a dunghill continually within us. Alas! how silly a piece is the greatest, the strongest, and the comeliest of you all! What is that flesh which you so much pamper, but a skin full of corruption? a bag of filth, of phlegm, or choler, or such like excrements? If the curiousest dames had but a sight of the phlegm in their heads and bowels, the choler about their liver and galls, the worms or filth in other parts, they would go near to vomit at such a sight: the swine or beast hath as clean an inside. And what if this filth be covered with a whiter skin or clearer colour than your neighbours have, is there any cause of pride in that? When sickness hath altered and consumed you, then where is that which you call beauty? If but the leprosy or the small pox deform it, or a fever, consumption, or dropsy waste it, or the stone, or gout, or any such torment seize upon thee, thou wilt feel or see that which may shame thy pride. Should such a worm be proud, that cannot, though he be a Herod, keep the worms from eating him alive? that in a flux cannot retain his excrements? that cannot bear easily the aching of a tooth? If thou be fit for pride, forbid diseases to touch thy flesh, or stain thy beauty; do not be sick, nor weak, nor pained; let not the worm and corruption be thy guests. Or if thou be so poor a thing, as cannot hinder any of these, then know thyself, and be ashamed of pride.
And when thou art in sickness, thou wilt be burdensome to others. It is likely thou must have their helps, even to feed thee, to dress thee, to turn thee, and keep thee clean; and when all is done, thou must die, and be laid in darkness in a grave! There must thou lie rotting night and day, till thy flesh be turned into earth. The grass doth wither when it is cut down, but yet it is sweet; the tree that is cut down will rot in time, but not with such a loathsome stink as we. He that had seen what the late doleful wars did often show us, when the fields were strewed with the carcasses of men, and when they lay by heaps among the rubbish of the ditches of towns and castles that had been assaulted, would think such loathsome lumps of flesh should never have been proud. When once death hath deprived thy body of its soul, thy best friends will quickly be weary of the remainder, and glad to rid thee out of sight and smell. Go to the churchyard, and look on the dust and bones that are there cast up and scattered, and bethink thee whether those that must come to this have reason to be proud? See whether there be any differing mark of honour upon the dust of the rich, or strong, or beautiful? and whether the bones there strive for principality and dominion? Therefore the desire of adorned monuments upon men's graves, is one of the most odious sorts of pride; when the neighbourhood of rottenness and dust doth shame it. As our serious poet Herbert saith,
When the hair grows sweet with pride and lust,The powder doth forget the dust.
When the hair grows sweet with pride and lust,The powder doth forget the dust.
And though thy soul be far nobler than thy body, yet here how ignorant, and weak, and distempered is it! How full of false ideas are men's minds! How little know they of that which they might know, or are confident they do know! How dark are we about all the works of God, and about his word; much more about himself! The greatest doctors are strongly tempted to be sceptics; and the ignorant that this year are confident to a contempt and censoriousness of all that differ from them, perhaps the next year do change their judgments, and recant themselves.
And are our hearts and lives any happier than our understandings; while we are imprisoned in flesh, and its interest is ours, and its appetites and passions have so much advantage, to corrupt, seduce, or disturb the soul? Know thyself, and pride will die.
Direct.XVI. If thou have any thing to be proud of, remember what it is, and that it is not thine own, but given or lent thee by that God who chiefly hateth pride. 1. Art thou tempted to be proud of riches? Remember that they are in themselves but dross, which will leave thee at the grave as poor as any. And as to their usefulness, they are but thy Master's talents; and the more thou hast, the greater will be thine account. And very few rich men escape the snare, and come to heaven. Thy charge and danger therefore should rather humble thee, and make thee exceedingly to fear. Read James v. 1-4; and Luke xii. 19, 20.
2. Is it greatness, and dominion, or human applause, or honour, that you are proud of? Remember that this also is in itself a dream, that maketh thee really neither better nor safer than other men. Thou standest upon higher ground, where thou hast more than others of the storms and dangers, and shalt be levelled with the lowest in thy fall. And as to the use of thy power and greatness, it is for God, and not thyself. And so great will be thy reckoning, according to the trust reposed in thee, as would affright a considerate believer to foresee.
3. Is it youthful strength that you are proud of? How little can it do for thee, of that which thou most needest! And how soon will it be turned to weakness! How many are cut off in youth, and their life is among the unclean, as Elihu speaks, Job xxxvi. 14. Their bones are full of the sins of their youth, which shall lie down with them in the dust, Job xx. 11.
4. Is it beauty that you are proud of? I have told you what sickness and death will do to that before. When God rebuketh man for sin, he makes his beauty to consume as a moth: surely every man is vanity, Psal. xxxix. 11. Read Psal. xlix. 12-14. And if your beauty would continue, how little good will it do you! and who but fools do look at the skin of a rational creature, when they would discern their worth? A fool, and a slave of lust and Satan, may be beautiful. A sepulchre may be gilded that hath rottenness within. Will you choose the finest purse, or the fullest? Who but a child or fool will value his book by the fineness of the cover, or gilding of the leaves, and not by the worth of the matter within? Absalom was beautiful, and what the better was he? 2 Sam. xiv. 25. Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain; but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised, Prov. xxxi. 30.
5. If it be fine clothes and gaudy ornaments that you are proud of, it is a sin so foolish, and worse than childish, that I shall give it no other confutation, than to tell you, that it contradicteth itself, by making the person a scorn and laughing-stock to others, when their design was to be more admired; and that an ass or a post may have as fine and costly attire as you; and that shortly you shall change it for a winding-sheet.[237]
6. Is it your birth, and progenitors, and great friends that you are proud of? Personal merits are incomparably more excellent than this relation to the most meritorious parents; much more than a relation to their empty titles. Cain was the son of Adam the father of mankind, and Ham of Noah, and Esau of Isaac, and Absalom of David; when a godly son of a wicked father is more honourable than they. Your ancestors are but of the common stock of sinful Adam: and your great friends may possibly become your enemies: and it is little that the greatest of them can do for you, if God be not your friend.
7. Is it your learning, or wisdom, or ability for speech or action, that you are proud of? Remember that the devils, and many that are now in hell, have far exceeded you in these; and that the wiser you are indeed, the humbler you will be; and by pride you confute your ostentation of your wisdom. Ahithophel's wisdom, which saveth not the owner from perdition, is little cause of glorying. Jer. viii. 8, 9, there were men that boasted of their wisdom, even in the law of God, who yet were ashamed and dismayed; for they rejected the word of the Lord: and then what wisdom could there be in them? Therefore, "thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, nor let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches; but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these do I delight, saith the Lord," Jer. ix. 23, 24. Those were not unlearned, of whom Paul speaketh; "Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?" 1 Cor. i. 20.
8. Is it success in wars, or great undertakings, that you are proud of? But by whose strength did you perform it? and how unhappy a success is that which hindereth your success in the work of your salvation! and how many have been brought down again to shame, that have been lifted up in pride of their successes!
9. Is it the applause of men that proclaim your excellency that you are proud of? Alas, how poor a portion is the breath of man! and how mutable are your applauders! that perhaps the next day will turn their tunes, and as much reproach you. Will you be proud of praise, when it is the devil's whistle, purposely to entice you into this pernicious snare, that he may destroy you? It is a danger to be feared; for it destroyeth many: but not a benefit much to be rejoiced in, much less to be proud of; for few are the better for it. Titles and applause increase not real worth and virtue, but puff up many with a mortal tympany.
10. Is it your grace and goodness, or eminency in religion, that you are proud of? This is most absurd; when predominant pride is a certain sign that you have no saving grace at all, and so are proud of what you have not: and if you have it, so far as you are proud of it you abuse it, contradict it, and destroy it; for pride is to grace, what the plague or consumption is to health. It is novices that have least grace and knowledge, that are aptest to be puffed up with pride, and thereby to fall into the condemnation of the devil, 1 Tim. iii. 6; that is, into the like punishment for the like sin. When the pot boileth over, that which was in it is lost in the fire. Rise not too high in the esteem of your grace, lest you rise to the loss of it. "Be not highminded, but fear," Rom. xi. 20. When you "think you stand, take heed lest you fall," 1 Cor. x. 12.
Direct.XVII. Look to the nature and tendency of every grace and ordinance and duty, and use them diligently; for they all tend to the destruction of pride. Knowledge discerneth the folly and pernicious tendency of pride, and abundant matter for humiliation. Faith is the casting off our pride, and going with empty, hungry souls to Christ for mercy and supply. It showeth us the most powerful sight in the world for the humbling of a soul, even a crucified Christ, and a most holy God, and a glorified society of humble souls, and a dreadful judgment and damnation for the proud. I might show you the same of every grace and duty, but for being tedious.
Direct.XVIII. Look to the humbling judgments of God on yourselves and others, and turn them all against your pride. You will sure think it an unsuitable and unseasonable thing for the calamitous to be proud. Are you not oft complaining of one thing or other, upon your consciences, your bodies, your estates, your names, your relations, or friends? and yet will you be proud while you complain? If the judgments that have already befallen you humble you not, if God love you, and will save you, you may expect you should feel more, and the load should be increased, till it make you stoop. O miserable, obstinate sinners! that can groan with sickness, and yet be proud! and murmur under want, and yet be proud! and daily crossed by one or other, and yet be proud! yea, and tormented with fears of God's displeasure, and yet be proud! Have not all the wars, and blood, and ruins that have befallen us in these kingdoms, been yet enough to take down pride? Many humbling sights we have seen, and many humbling stripes we have felt, and yet are we not humbled! We have seen houses robbed, and towns fired, and the country pillaged, and the blood of many thousands shed, and their carcasses scattered about the fields, and yet are we not humbled! If we were proud of our riches, they have been taken from us; if proud of our buildings, they have been turned into ruinous heaps; if we have been proud of our government, and the fame and glory of our country, we have seen how our sins have pulled down our government, dishonoured our rulers, and blemished our glory, and turned it into shame; and yet are we not humbled! If you lived in a house infected with the plague, and had buried father and mother, and brothers and sisters, and but a very few were left alive, expecting when their turn came next; if these few were not humbled, would you not think them blind and sottish persons? Do you yet look high, and contend for pre-eminence, and look for honour, and envy others, and desire to domineer, and have your will and way, and set out yourselves in the neatest dress? Must you have sharper stripes, before you will be humbled? Must greater injuries, and violences, and losses, and fears, and reproaches be the means? Why will you choose so painful a remedy, by frustrating the easier? If it must be so, the judgment shall shortly come yet nearer to thee: it shall either strip thee of the rest, or cover thee with shame, or lay thee in pain upon thy couch, where thy head shall ache, and thy heart be sick, and thy body weary, and thou shalt pant and gasp for breath; wilt thou then be proud, and contest for honour, when thou expectest hourly when thy proud and guilty soul shall be turned out of thy body, and appear before the holy God? when the bell is ready to toll for thee, and thy winding-sheet to be fetched out, and thy coffin prepared, and the bier to be fetched to carry thee to thy grave, and leave thee in the dark with worms and rottenness; wilt thou then be proud? Where then are your high looks, and lofty minds, and splendid ornaments, and honours? Then will you be climbing into higher rooms, andseeking to be revenged on those that did eclipse your honour? Saith David, even of princes, and all the sons of men, Psal. cxlvi. 3, 4, "His breath goeth forth: he returneth to his earth: in that very day his thoughts perish."
Direct.XIX. Look on the lamentable effects of pride about you in the world, and that will help you to see the odiousness and pernicious nature of it. Do you not see how it setteth the whole world on fire? how it raiseth wars, and ruineth kingdoms, and draweth out men's blood, and filleth the world with malice and hatred, and cruelty and injustice, and treasons and rebellions, and destroyeth mercy, truth, and honesty, and all that is left of God upon the mind of man? Whence is all the confusion and calamity, all the censoriousness, revilings, and cruelties, which we have seen, or felt, or heard of, but from pride? What is it that hath trampled upon the interest of Christ and his gospel through the world, but pride? What else is it that hath burnt his martyrs, and made havoc of his servants, and distracted and divided his church with schisms, and set up so many sect-masters and sects, and caused them almost all to set against others, but this cursed, unmortified pride? He that hath seen but what pride hath been doing in England in this age, and yet discerneth not its hatefulness and perniciousness, is strangely blind. Every proud man is a plague or burden to the place he liveth in: if he get high, he is a Nabal; a man can scarce speak to him; he thinks all under him are made but to serve his will and honour, as inferior creatures are made for man. If he be an inferior, he scorneth at the honour and government of his superiors, and thinks they take too much upon them, and that it is below him to obey. If he be rich, he thinks the poor must bow all to him, as to the golden calf, or Nebuchadnezzar's golden image: if he be poor, he envieth the rich, and is impatient of the state that God hath set him in: if he be learned, he thinks himself an oracle: if unlearned, he despiseth the knowledge which he wanteth, and scorneth to be taught. What state soever he is in, he is a very salamander, that liveth in the fire, he troubleth house, and town, and country, if his power be answerable to his heart: he is an unpolished stone, that will never lie even in any building; he is a natural enemy to quietness and peace.
Direct.XX. Consider well how God hath designed the humbling of all that he will save, in his whole contrivance of the work of our redemption. He could have saved man by keeping him in his primitive innocency, if he had pleased. Though he causeth not sin, he knoweth why he permitteth it. He thought it not enough that man should have the thought of creation to humble him, as being taken from the dust, and made of nothing; but he will also have the sense of his moral nothingness and sinfulness to humble him: he will have him beholden to his Redeemer and Sanctifier for his new life and his salvation, as much as to his Creator for his natural life. He is permitted first to undo himself, and bring himself under condemnation, to be a child of death, and near to hell, before he is ransomed and delivered; that he may take to himself the shame of his misery, and ascribe all his hopes and recovery to God. No flesh shall be justified by the works of the law, or by a righteousness of his own performance; but by the satisfaction and merits of his Redeemer; that so all boasting may be excluded, and that no flesh might glory in his sight, and that man might be humbled, and our Redeemer have the praise to all eternity.[238]And therefore God prepareth men for faith and pardon, by humbling works, and forceth sinners to condemn themselves before he will justify them.
Direct.XXI. Read over the character which Christ himself giveth of his true disciples; and you will see what great self-denial and humility he requireth in all. In your first conversion you must become as little children, Matt. xviii. 3. Instead of contending for superiority and greatness, you must be ambitious of being servants unto all, Matt. xxiii. 11; xx. 27. You must learn of him to be meek and lowly of heart, Matt. xi. 28, 29; and to stoop to wash your brethren's feet, John xiii. 5, 14. Instead of revenge or unpeaceable contending for your right, you must rather obey those that injuriously command you, and turn the other cheek to him that smiteth you, and let go the rest to him that hath injuriously taken from you; and bless them that curse you, and pray for them that hurt and persecute you, and despitefully use you, Matt. v. 39, 40, 41, 44.[239]These are the followers of Christ.
Direct.XXII. Remember how pride contradicteth itself by exposing you to the hatred or contempt of all. All men abhor that pride in others which they cherish in themselves. A humble man is well thought of by all that know him; and a proud man is the mark of common obloquy. The rich disdain him, the poor envy him, and all hate him, and many deride him. This is his success.
Direct.XXIII. Look still unto that dismal end, which pride doth tend unto. It threateneth apostasy. If God forsake any one among you, and any of you forsake God, his truth, and your consciences, and be made as Lot's wife, a monument of his vengeance for a warning to others, it will be the proud and self-conceited person. It maketh all the mercies of God, your duties and parts, and objectively your very graces, to be its food and fuel. It is a sign you are near some dreadful fall, or heavy judgment: for God hath given you this prognostic, Luke xiv. 11; i. 51; Prov. xv. 25; xvi. 5; Isa. ii. 11, 12. An Ahab is safer when he humbleth himself; and a Hezekiah is falling when he is lifted up. They are the most hardened sinners, scorning reproof, and therefore ordinarily forsaken both by God and man, and left to their self-delusion, till they perish.
Direct.XXIV. Converse with humbled and afflicted persons, and not with proud, secure worldlings. Be much in the "house of mourning," where you may see "the end of all the living, and be made better by laying it to heart;" and let not your "hearts be in the house of mirth," Eccl. vii. 2-4. Delight not to converse with "men that be in honour, and understand not, but are like the beasts that perish; for though they think of perpetuating their houses, and call their lands after their own names," yet they "abide not in" their "honour:" and "this their way is their folly," though "yet their posterity approve their sayings," Psal. xlix. 20, 12-14. Converse with penitent, humbled souls, that have seen the odiousness of sin, and the wickedness and deceitfulness of the heart, and can tell you by their own feeling what cause of humiliation is still before you. With these are you most safe.
I have been the larger against pride, as seeing its prevalency in the world, and its mischievous effects on souls and families, church and state; and because it is not discerned and resisted by many as it ought. I would fain have God dwell in your hearts, and peace in your societies; and fain have you stand fast in the hour of temptation, from prosperity or adversity; and fain have affliction easy to you. But none of this will be without humility. I am loth that underthe mighty hand of God we should be unhumbled, even when judgments bid us lay our mouths in the dust.[240]The storms have been long up; the cedars have fallen; it is the shrubs and bending willows that now are likeliest to scape. I am loth to see the prognostics of wrath upon your souls, or upon the land. I am loth that any of you should through pride be unhumbled of sin, or ashamed to own despised godliness; or that any that have seemed religious, should prove seditious, unpeaceable, or apostates. And therefore I beseech you, in a special manner, take heed of pride; be little in your own esteem; praise not one another unseasonably; be not offended at plain reproofs: look to your duties, and then leave your reputations to the will of God. Rebuke pride in your children; use them to mean attire and employments; cherish not that in them which is most natural (now) and most pernicious. God dwelleth with the humble, and will take the humble to dwell with him, Isa. lvii. 15; Job xxii. 29. "Put on humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing one another," Col. iii. 12, 13. "Be clothed with humility: serve the Lord with all humility of mind, and he will exalt you in due time," Acts xx. 19; 1 Pet. v. 6, 7.
I shall say but little on this subject now, because I have written a Treatise of it already, called "The Crucifying of the World by the Cross of Christ;" in which I have given many directions (in the preface and treatise) against this sin.
Direct.I. Understand well the nature and malignity of this sin; both what it is, and why it is so great and perilous. I shall here show you, 1. What love of riches is lawful. 2. What it is that is unlawful; and in what this sin of covetousness or worldliness doth consist. 3. Wherein the malignity or greatness of it lieth. 4. The signs of it. 5. What counterfeits of the contrary virtue do hide this sin from the eyes of worldlings. 6. What false appearances of it do cause many to be suspected of covetousness unjustly.