IIL Sous OF its occasions and excitements. 1. Birth is one of them ; as if a man chose his own father and mother. Men pride themselves that they come of a certain family, that they are "well bom." " We are Abraham's children; " what a multitude of sorrows did that notion originate 1 ' They who pride themselves on those who were their ancestors in generations gone by are, as one has quaintly said, " like those useful vegetables of which we are wont to eat — the best part of them is underground." 2. Physical strength. " It always seems to me to be a very insane thing for a man to glory in his animal force, for there can be no merit in it. In the strength of those brawny limbs of theirs and those powerful muscles, some vaunt themselves abundantly. Though ' the Lord taketh not pleasure in the legs of a man,' yet some count it a very wonderful thing that they can outrun or outleap their fellows. athlete, though thou be strong as Samson or swift as Asahel, what hast thou that thou hast not received ? Hadst thou been bom with a tendency to consumption, or with some other hereditary weakness, conldst thou have prevented it? And now that thou art strong, art thou to be praised tat that, any more than a horse or a steam-engine ? " (Spurgeon). 3. Beauty, What a fountof pride this is 1 4. And talent — of intellect, power of application, artistic taste, and the like. 6. Acquirementi. " I have noticed of self-made men," says one, " that they generally have great respect for their Maker." And he who has acquired wealth is in sore peril of the pride which it is apt to beget. Position, influence, high office, and the like, — these, too, are acquirements won, it may be, by diligent toil, yet, when won, may do a man much harm by generating an unhallowed pride. And even God's grace to a man in giving him a name and a place amongst sincerely religious men, even this may be an occasion of pride. Our best works may be made fuel to the fire of pride. " The demon of pride was bom with us, and it will not die one hour before us. It is so woven into the very warp and woof of our nature that, till we are wrapt in our winding- sheet, we shall never be completely rid of it."
IV. SoHE or its hast evils. They are such as these: 1. It leadt to the forgetting
OH. xivra. 1— 47.] THE BOOK OP THE PROPHET JEREMIAH. 243
tf God. " What hast thtu that thou hast not received ? " (1 Cor. ix, 7). " Is not this great Babylon that I have bailt?" so spake the God-forgetting and therefore the God- forsaken Nebuchadnezzar " (Dan. iv. 30). 2. It sets but little value upon Qod. God dwindles in the proud man's esteem, whilst to himself he himself ever grows greater. The reverse of John the Baptist's thought is his. John said, " He must increase, but I must decrease." The proud man changes the place of the " he " and the " I." 3. It makes a man despise his fellows. He looks down upon them, and therefore is unjust to them. 4. It leads him to make had use of what gifts he has. He is so taken up with admiration of the machinery that he fails to apply it to those ends which it was designed to serve. 5. It is the prelude not seldom to some great fall. " Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall." 6. It makes a man content with the irferior, when, instead of so admiring what he has, he should be aspiring after what is higher and better still. It is said of an artist that, when he had painted a picture which satisfied himself, he threw away his brushes ; for now, he said, " I never shall go beyond this." And so he who is self-satisfied will never rise to a higher degree. 7. It dishonours Christ and his cause. A proud Christian helps the devil, for be makes men hate Christianity and all belonging to it.
V. SALtrtABTT SUGGESTIONS FOE ITS CDEB. 1. How entirely all our gifts are gifts ! Much as we may think of ourselves on account of them, we are excelled by very many. If we have many gifts, that does but mean much and solemn responsibility. How ill it would fare with us were we to be called now to account for the use we have made of our gifts in the past ! How but for the mercy of God in Christ, the most gifted is but a poor lost sinner, cast out from the presence of God for ever 1 — G.
Ver. 2. — The departed praise of Moab. I. Not fob want of disposition to fbatse. If the things had still remained which people had been in the habit of praising, they would have gone on praising. But the God of righteousness takes them away, and then there is necessary silence. Instead of praise there is humiliation, astonishment at a change so complete, but no insight into the hollowness and instability of that which had been praised. If it had all come back again, it would have been praised as much as ever. Thus we see —
II. A THING MAT BE PBAISED WITHOUT BEING PEAISEWOBTHT. This Can CasUy be
understood from the experience of many who once praised things to which they are now indifferent, which they may even utterly condemn. Why this change ? It may be to some extent from change in the things, but it more frequently comes from growth and increase of lijiht and the reception of higher principles. We have ever to be on our guard against what is merely popular. Not in a cynical way, as if we gnidged any one success, but recollecting what power belongs to fashion and to the love of pleasure. Let our effort l)e to discern, measure, and profit by intrinsic excellence.
III. Things not pbaisewobtht mat get the highest praise. Mere cleverness and astuteness, the exercise of power irrespective of ends, visible and material success on a large scale, — these attract the laudations of inconsiderate men. This is just what we may expect. If things the most praiseworthy, fullest of virtue and blessing, are yet neglected by the eyes of those who have opportunity to see them, then it is little wonder that the things most approved by the common multitude are those which God has branded as utterly bad. What changes need to be effected in human judgments, that we may be willing to bum what we adored and adore what we would have burned !
IV. God gives fresh topics of praise if there be a disposition to consideu THEM. Those whose tongues had been fuU of the praises of Moab needed not to be silent. The very overthrow of Moab would be a signal for praise and congratulation among the good. When the unhallowed praises of men are silenced by destruction of the things they pndsed, then angels begin to sing. And they who praise low, earthly things may have their thoughts introduced to heavenly ones, and then they wiU discover what man was made to praise. How the words that are exaggerated and altogether disproportioned when applied to the works of men, have in them an exquisite fitness when we speak of tlie works of God or of Christ, or of men properly engaged in Christian service 1— Y.