sweetness, that spiritualness, that quickness that once they had, and are dried and shrivelled up by a hand of justice.^ They are like the apples of Sodom, glorious without, but rotten and worthless within. Some there are that have been very shining, yet by reason of pride have fallen from a seeming excellency to be naught, and from naught to be very naught, and from very naught to be stark naught. Isa. xxiii. 9, ' The Lord of hosts hath purposed it, to stain the pride of all glory, antl to bring into contempt' (or to make light) ' all the honourable of the earth.' The Hebrew word that is here rendered -purposed, signifies to consult, or take coimsel.^ It is consulted and agreed upon in counsel, that he will stain the pride of all glory, and bring into contempt the honour- able of the earth ; and the counsel of the Lord shall stand, Ps. xxxiii. 11 ; Isa. ii. 11, 12, 'The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of man shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up, and he shall be brought low.'
Divine justice will take tlie right hand of all proud ones on the earth. God bears, as I may say, a special spleen against pride. His heart hates it, Prov. vi. 16, 17; his mouth curses it, Ps. cxix. 21; and his hand plagueth it, as you have seen in the former instances, and as you may see further in these following instances :
The king of Egypt, that Jeremiah prophesied against, in his forty- fourth chapter, was so puffed up with pride, that he boasted his kingdom was so surely settled, that it could not be taken from him either by God or man ; not long after he was taken in battle by Amasis, one of his own subjects, and hanged up.^
Dionysius the tyrant said in the pride of his heart, that his kingdom was bound to him with chains of adamant ; but time soon confuted him, for he was driven out, and forced to teach a school at Corinth for a poor living. *
Cares, a soldier, being proud of his valour, because he had given Cyrus a great wound, shortly after he ran mad. In all ages there are notable instances to prove that pride has not got so high, but justice has set above her.
[6.] The sixth proposition is this,
Of all sins spiritual pride is most dangerous, and must he most resisted.
Spiritual pride is the lifting up of the mind against God ; it is a tumor and swelling in the mind, and lies in contemning and slighting of God, his word, promises, and ordinances, and in the lifting up of a man's self, by reason of birth, breeding, wealth, honour, place, relation, gifts or graces, and in despising of others. Of this spiritual pride Ha- bakkuk speaks, chap. ii. 4, ' His heart that is lifted up in him, is not upright.' Prov. xvi. 5, ' Every one that is proud in heart, is an abomi-
* Staupicius was proud of his memory, and justice smote it.
' nVy*, deliberately to consult and agree upon a thing.
3 I'haraoh-hophra (Jer. xliv. 30, as abuvt), called by Herodotus Apries, and by him designated ' proud' (b. ii. 1G9, et alibi) ; but in contradiction of AmiiHis having ' hung' him, is the text and Ezek. xxix. 19, and xxxi. 11, 16, 18; whence JoHejilius (Antiq., b. x. c. 11), and Jerome (iu Jerem. Thren., c. 4), make Nebuchadnezzar to have been the slayer of him.— 0. * Flutarch : Dionysius, 7. — Q.
EpH. III. 8.] RICHES OF CHRIST. 47
nation to the Lord ;' or, that 'lifts up his heart against God/ or his decrees ; as Lewis the Eleventh did, in that proud speech of his, Si salvabor, salvabor ; si vero damnabor, damnabor. ' If I shall be saved, I shall be saved ; and if I shall be damned, I shall be damned; and there is all the care that I shall take.' Like to this, was that proud and wretched speech of one Rufus, who painted God on the one side of his shield, and the devil on the other, with this mad motto: If thou wilt not have me, here is one will.' Spiritual pride is a white devil, as one calls it,^ a gilded poison, by which God is robbed of his honour, a man's own soul of his comfort and peace, and others of that benefit and fruit which otherwise they might receive from us. Satan is subtle ; he will make a man proud of his very graces ; he will make him proud that he is not proud. Pride grows with the decrease of other sins, and thri^'es by their decay. Other sins are nourished by poison- ous roots, as adultery is nourished by idleness, and gluttony and mur- der by malice and envy ; but this white devil, spiritual pride, springs from good duties and good actions towards God and man. Spiritual pride is a very great enemy to the good and salvation of man. Pride is like a very great swelling, which unfits men for any service.
Again, spiritual pride is a very great enemy to the good and salvation of men. The Greek word signifies swelleth, for pride is like a great swelling in the body, which unfits it for any good service. John v. 40, You will not come to me, that you may have life ;' and ver. 44, ' How can ye believe in me, which seek honour one of another?' Christ blesses his Father, Mat. xi. 25, that he had ' hid those things from the wise and prudent, and had revealed them unto babes and sucklings.' It is the pride of men's hearts that makes them throw off ordinances, as poor and low things, when, alas ! in their practices they live below the power, beauty, glory, and holiness of the least and lowest ordinance. There's more holiness, purity, and glory manifested in the lowest administra- tions of Christ, than is held fortli by them, m their highest practices. [7.] The seventh proposition is this.
Pride un-mans a man ; it makes him do acts that are below a man.
As you may see in Pharaoh, Haman, Herod, Nebuchadnezzar, &c. It makes men bedlams, to say they know not what, and to do they care not what. It was pride that made Hildebrand to cause Henry the Fourth to stand three days at his gate, with his wife and his child, barefooted. It was pride that made Adonibezek cause three-score and ten kings, with their thumbs and great toes cut off. Judges i. 5-7, to gather their meat under his table. Oh ! what wretched unmanly acts hath the pride of many persons put them upon. [8.] The eighth proposition is this. The poorest are oftentimes the proudest.
Pretty is the parable of Jotham : the best trees refused to be king, but the bramble affected it ; and did sperare et aspirare, hope and aspire it. Judges ix. J 5. So in 2 Kings xiv. 9, 'The thistle that was in Lebanon sent to the cedar that was in Lebanon, saying. Give thy daughter to my son to wife.' Hagar the kitchen-maid will be proud,
1 Thomas Adams, whose ' "White Devil' is one of his most remarkable sermons. See Works, vol. ii. pp. 221, el, seq.—Q.
48 * THE UNSEARCHABLE [EPH. III. 8.