2. Let us at the same time persist " in well- doing " —
[We must neither be irritated to do evil, nor deterred from doing good. The more we are persecuted for the sake of Christ, the more studious we should be " to put our enemies to silence by well-doing:" the very efforts of the enemy to extinguish our light should cause it to shine the brighter.]
3. Let us, above all, confide in God " as a faithful Creator " —
[God has promised to " keep the feet of his saints ;" and he will perform it : we should suffer nothing to rob us of this confidence : if we " trust firmly in him, we shall be like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved."]
1 Pet. v. 5. Be clothed loith humility : for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.
AS words are nothing more than sounds whereby to convey ideas, it may seem of little importance what words are used, provided that the ideas an- nexed to them are sufficiently distinct. But I con- ceive, that the adopting of a word which was in use among the unenlightened heathen, and continuing to use it as they did, when from the superior light of Christianity, we know that all the sentiments and feelings originally annexed to it were bad, has a direct tendency to counteract the Gospel, and to perpetuate the darkness of heathenism in the land. I refer here to the word pride ; which is frequently used in common conversation, and at the bar, and in the senate, yea and even in the pulpit too, in a good sense; as "a just pride," and "an honest pride." <5
But I know no passage of Scripture that sanctions the feelings which are associated with that term : or, if the term be so explained as to convey nothing but what is consistent with Christianity, still I conceive that such an use of it is highly inexpedient, because it tends to foster in the mind an approbation of