[1.] Whether the pride of arrogancy or self-ascription, or taking God's part to himself, as if the blessings were merited by him ; a disease incident to the creature when exalted : Deut. ix. 4, ' Speak not thou in thine heart after that the Lord thy God hath cast them out from before thee, saying, For my righteousness the Lord hath brought me in to possess this land ; ' and therefore God puts in a caution against it.
[2.] Or else conceit, musing upon and admiring his own greatness ; as the king of Babylon strutteth and vaunteth, 'Is not this great Babylon, which I have built for the house of the kingdom, by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty ? ' Dan. iv. 30. Pride, of all sins, puts men upon vain musings : Luke i. 51, * He hath scattered the proud in the imaginations of their hearts.' Proud men, of all others, are subject to imaginations, or self-admiriug thoughts. His heart was too much tickled. In the story it is said, when Merodach Baladan sent letters and a present to Hezekiah, Isa. xxxix. 2, ' He was glad of them;' wherein the secret intimation of his spirit was discovered. Or else —
[3.] The pride of security or self-dependence. When we are well, God is forgotten ; good men are apt to sleep upon a carnal pillow or bolster, and dream many a pleasant dream, till God taketh it away from under their heads: Ps. xxx. 6, 'And in my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved.' Carnal confidence is very natural. Or —
[4.] The pride of vainglory or ostentation. He seemeth to be tainted with a spice of that vanity by showing his treasure to the ambassadors
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SERMON UPON A DAY OF PUBLIC THANKSGIVING, 385
of the king of Babylon : ' He showed them the house of his precious things, the silver, and the gold, and the spices, and the precious oint- ment, and all the house of his armour, and all that was in his treasures ; there was nothing in his house, nor in all his dominion, that Hezekiali showed them not,' Isa. xxxix. 2. Whether one or more, or all, I will not determine ; they are all branches of the same root. Certainly, vain men are apt to be puffed up in all these kinds, that have had deliver- ances far less strange than was this of Hezekiab.
3. Come we now to explain the punishment and sad effects of this great failing : ' Wrath was upon him, and upon Judah and Jerusalem.
[1.] Upon his particular person, ' Wrath was upon him.' There is a near link between pride and wrath. His ' heart was lifted up,' and presently ' wrath was upon liim : ' Prov. xmi. 12, ' Before destruction the heart of man is haughty.' It is a sure sign of the loss of our com- forts, parts, estate, children, authority, when we grow proud of them. It is a sin that God deeply detesteth, and will severely chasten it, even in his own dearest children : * Wrath was upon him ; ' sentence was passed, but execution respited. All was well for the present. Wrath is said to be upon us as soon as sentence is passed. Men think not so, but God judgeth so : ' Wrath was upon him.' Doth it stay there ? No.
[2.] Upon his people. It followeth, ' And upon all Judah and Jeru- salem.' The whole land smarts for the sins of magistrates. Delirant reges, kings offend. 'Hezekiah's heart was lifted up.' Pleduntur Achi'vi, the people are punished. Judah and Jerusalem are obnoxious to the stroke of God's vengeance. But how can this stand with the Lord's justice? 'What have these sheep done?' as Dcivid said in a like case, 2 vSam. xxiv. 17. I answer — They had done enough to ruin them long since. Hezekiah's sin was not the main cause, but one great occasion of hastening the judgment. Sometimes God takes occasion to punish magistrates for the people's sin : Prov. xxviii. 2, ' For the transgressirn of a land many are the princes thereof.' The government is often altered, and they are tossed from hand to hand as a just pun- ishment. At other times the people are punished for the magistrates' sins : Zech. x. 3, ' Mine anger was kindled against the shepherds, and I punished the goats.' A great oak cannot fall but all the little shrubs about it suffer loss. On the other side, when the burning beginneth at a cottage, it may increase till it come to the palace. If the dispensa- tion seem harsh, remember that God would involve us in one another's judgments, to make us more careful of one another's duties ; that when magistrates transgress, the people may mourn, and, with that modesty which will suit with the duty of theh place, give warning of the danger. And magistrates may not give liberty to the wickedness of the people, lest they bring a judgment on their own heads.
I have given you some view of the words, let me come to the points.
1. That those that have received mercies must be careful to give in answerable returns, or to render according to what they have received.