humility. Our gannents cover the shame of our bodies, humiHty tlie beauty of the soul ; and as a tender body cannot live without clothes, so neitiier can grace without this clothing of humility. It kills the spirit of praise : when thou shouldst bless God, thou art applauding thyself. It destroys Christian love, and stabs our fellowship with the saints to the heart : a proxid man hath not room enovgh to walk in company, because the gifts of others he thinks stand in his way. Pride so distempers the palate, that it can relish nothing that is drawn from another's vessel.
Sixthly, It is the forerunner of some great sin, or some great affliction. God will not suffer such a weed as pride to grow in his garden, without taking some course or other to root it up ; it may be he will let thee fall into some great sin, and that shall bring thee home with shame. God iiseth sometimes a thorn in the flesh, to prick the bladder of pride in the spirit ; or at least some great affliction, the very end whereof is ' to hide pride from man,' Job xxxiii. 17, 18; as you do with yoiu- hot-metalled horses, ride them over ploughed lands to tame them, and then you can sit safely on their backs. If God's honour be in danger through thy pride, then expect a rod, and most likely the affliction shall be in that which will be most grievous to thee, in the thing thou art proud of. Hezekiah boasted of his treasures, God sends the Chaldeans to plunder him ; Jonah was fond of his gourd, and that is smitten : and if thy spirit be blown up with the pride of gifts, thou art in danger of having them blasted, at least in the opinion of others, whose breath of applause, possibly, was a means to overset thy unballasted spirit.
Section III. — Quest. But how would you direct us against this ?
Answ. Argimients you have had before. I shall only therefore point to two or three doors, where your enemy comes forth upon you ; and surely the very sight thereof, if thou art loyal to Christ, will stir thee up to fall upon it.
First, Pride discovers itself in dwelling upon the thoughts of our gifts, with a secret kind of content to see our own face, till at last we fall in love with it. We read of some, whose ' eyes are fidl of the adulteress, and cannot cease from sin ;' a proud heart is full of himself ; his own abilities cast their shadow before him ; they are in his eye wherever he goes ; the great subject and theme of his thoughts is, what he is, and what he hath above others, applauding himself, as Bernard confesseth, that (when one would think he had little leisure for such thoughts) even in preaching pride would be whispering in his ear, Bene fecist'i, Bernarde, O well done, Bernard. Now have a care, Christian, of chatting with such company. Run from such thoughts as from a bear. If the devil can get thee to stand on this pinnacle, while he presents thee Vv-ith the glory of thy spiritual attainments and endowments for thee to gaze on them, thy weak head will soon turn round in pride ; and thei'efore labour to keep the sense of thy own infirmities lively in thy soul, to divert the temptation : as those who are subject to some kind of fits, cany about them things proper for the disease, that when the fit is coming (which oft is occasioned with a sweet perfume) they may use them for their help. Sweet scents are not more dangerous for them, than anything that may applaud thee is to thy soul. Have a care, therefore, not only of wearing such thoughts in thy own bosom, but also of sitting by others that bring the sweet scent of thy perfections to thee by their flattery.
Secondly, This kind of pride appears in a forwardness to oppose itself to view. David's brethren were mistaken in him indeed, 1 Sam. xvii. 18 ; but oft the pride and naughtiness of the heart breaks out at this door. Christ's carnal friends bid Christ shew himself; pride loves to climb up, not as Zaccheus, to see Christ, but to be seen himself. 'The fool,' Solomon tells us, 'hath no delight in imderstanding, but that his heart may discover itself,' Prov. xviii. 2. Pride would be somebody, and therefore comes abroad to court the multitude ; whereas humility delights in privacy, as the leaves do cover and shade the fruits, that some hand nuist gently lift them up before they can see the fruit : so should humility and a holy modesty conceal the perfections of the soul, till a hand of providence by some call invites them out. Thei-e is a pride in naked gifts, as well as in naked breasts and backs: humility is a necessary veil to all other graces ; aiul therefore, first. Christian, look whenever thou comest forth to public duty, that thou hast a call : it is obedience to be ready to answer when God calls
140 AGAINST SPIRITUAL WICKEDNESS.