"A man's pride
shall bring him low." Proverbs 29:23.
RELIGIOUS
Pride. Some are blind as Laodicea, and know
it not (Rev. 3:17). As ignorance
blinds the mind, so pride is a blind before their ignorance, that they know it
not. These have such a high opinion of themselves that they take it ill that
any should suspect them as such; these of all men are most out of the way to
knowledge; they are too good to learn of man, as they think, and too bad to be
taught of God. The gate into Christ's school is low, and these cannot stoop:
the Master Himself is so humble and lowly that He will not teach a proud
scholar.
Ah, poor creatures,
what a sad change have they made, to leave the word, which can no more deceive
them than God Himself to trust the guidance of themselves to themselves.
"He that is his own teacher," says Bernard, "is sure to have a
fool for a master."
Never art thou less
holy than when puffed up with the conceit of it. "Behold, his soul which
is lifted up is not upright" (Hab. 2:4). See an ecce, like
a sign, is set up at the proud man's door, that all passengers may know that a
wicked man dwells there.
When men stand high
their heads do not grow dizzy till they look down; when men look down upon
those that are worse than themselves, or less holy than themselves, then their
heads turn round; looking up would cure this disease. The most holy men, when
once they have fixed their eyes awhile upon God's holiness, and then looked
upon themselves, have been quite out of love with themselves. After the vision
the prophet had of God sitting upon the throne, and the seraphim about Him,
covering their faces, and crying, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of
hosts," how was this gracious man smitten with the sense of his own
vileness! they did no more cry up God as holy than he did cry out upon himself
as unclean (Isa. 6:5). So Job, "Now mine eye sees
Thee. Wherefore I abhor myself" (Job 42:5, 6).
Compare not thyself
with those that have less than thyself, but look on those that have far
exceeded thee: to look on our inferiors occasions pride. "I am not as this
publican," says the Pharisee; but looking on others more eminent than
ourselves will both preserve humility, and be a spur to diligence.
A man may be very
zealous in prayer and painstaking in preaching, and all the while pride is the
master whom he serves, though in God's livery. It is hard starving this sin;
there is nothing almost but it can live on; nothing so base that a proud heart
will not be lifted up with, and nothing so sacred but it will profane. . . . So
far as pride prevails the man prays and preaches rather to be thought good by
others, rather to enthrone himself than Christ, in the opinion and hearts of
his hearers.
Remember,
Christian, when thou hast thy best suit on, who made it, who paid for it: thy
grace, thy comfort, is neither the work of thy own hands, nor the price of thy
own desert; be not for shame proud of another's cost.
Pride
of gifts. If once (like Hezekiah) we call in
spectators to see our treasure and applaud us for our gifts and comfort, then
it is high time for God to send some messengers to carry these away from us,
which carry our hearts from Him. . . . Pride of gifts hinders the receiving of good
from others. Pride fills the soul, and a full soul will take nothing from God,
much less from man.
Joseph's coat made
him finer than his brethren, but caused all his trouble; thus great gifts lift
a saint up a little higher in the eyes of men, but it occasions many
temptations which thou meetest not with that are kept low; what with envy from
their brethren, malice from Satan, and pride in their own hearts, I dare say
none find so hard a work to bear up against those waves and winds.
While thou art priding
in thy gifts, thou art dwindling and withering in thy grace. Such are like corn
that runs up much into straw, whose ear commonly is light and thin. Grace is
too much neglected where gifts are too highly prized; we are commanded to be
clothed with humility. . . . Pride kills the spirit of praise: when thou should
bless God, thou art applauding thyself. It destroys Christian love, and stabs
our fellowship with the saints to the heart: a proud man has not room enough 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. . . . Pride loves to climb up, not as Zaccheus, to see
Christ, but to be seen himself.
"God resisteth
the proud" (James 4:6). The humble man
may have Satan at his right hand to oppose him; but be sure the proud man shall
find God Himself there to resist him. We must either lay self aside or God will
lay us aside. . . . A proud scholar and a humble master will never agree:
Christ is humble and lowly, and so resists the proud, but giveth grace to the
humble.
Love
of the world. Tell some of adding faith to faith,
one degree of grace to another, and you shall find they have more mind to join
house to house, and lay field to field; their souls are athirst, but not for
Christ or heaven: it is earth, earth, they never think they have enough of,
till death comes and stops their mouth with a shovelful digged out of their own
grave!
The canker and rust
of our gold and silver, which is got with harder labour than is required here,
will rise up in judgment against many, and say, "You could drudge and
trudge for us that are now turned to rust and dust, but could walk over the
field of the word, where an incorruptible treasure lay, and would lose it
rather than your sloth!"
Thy time is short
and thy way long. Is it wisdom to lay out so much on thy tenement which thou
art leaving, and forget what thou must carry with thee? Before the fruit of
these be ripe which thou art now planting, thyself may be rotting in the grave:
"Time is short," says the apostle (1 Cor. 7:29).
Men are very kind
to themselves: first they wish it may be long before death comes; and then
because they would have it so, they are bold to promise themselves it shall be
so. Who makes the lease? the tenant or the landlord? . . . Thou art young, thou
canst not therefore say, thou shalt not die as yet: alas! measure the coffins
in the churchyard, and thou wilt find some of thy length: young and old are
within the reach of death's scythe; old men, indeed, go to death, their age
calls for it; but young men cannot hinder death's coming to them.
It is an ill time
to caulk the ship when at sea, tumbling up and down in a storm: this should
have been looked to when on her seat in the harbour. And as bad it is to begin
to trim a soul for heaven, when tossing on a sick-bed. Things that are done in
a hurry are seldom done well. These poor creatures, I am afraid, go in an ill
dress to another world who begin to provide for it when on a dying bed. . . .
There is but one heaven: miss that, and where can you take up your lodging but
in hell? One Christ that can lead you thither: reject Him, "and there
remains no more sacrifice for sin."
O, how many part
with Christ at the crossway! like Orpah, that go a furlong or two with Christ,
until He goes to take them off from their worldly hopes, and bids them prepare
for hardship, and then they fairly kiss and leave Him; loath indeed to lose
heaven, but more loath to buy it at such a rate.
Of all men out of
hell, none more to be pitied than he that hangs over the mouth of it, and yet
is fearless of his danger.
It requires courage
to despise the shame which the Christian must expect to meet for his
singularity, to avoid which many durst not confess Christ openly (John 7:13). Many lose heaven
because they are ashamed to go in a fool's coat thither. When the Christian
must turn or burn, leave praying or become a prey, how many self-preserving
distinctions would a cowardly heart invent? The Christian that has so great
opposition had need to be well locked into the saddle of his profession, or he
will soon be dismounted.
