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Sign 11. Proud men are apt to put on themselves to any public duty which may tend to magnify them or set out their parts; and think themselves fitter to be preferred before others, and employed, than indeed they are. They are forward to speak in preaching or praying among others, or in ordinary talk: a little knowledge maketh them think that they are fit to be preachers: whereas the humble say, with Moses, "Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, &c. I am not eloquent, but slow of speech. O, my Lord, send, I pray thee, by the hand of him whom thou wilt send"." Or, as Isaiah, "Wo is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips," &c. Or as Paul," Who is sufficient for these things?" How many a sermon hath pride both studied and preached! And how many a prayer hath it formed! And how well are they like to be heard of God!

Sign 111. The proud are loath to be clouded by the greater abilities of others: they are content that weaker men pray or preach with them, that will not obscure, but put off their parts, that they may have the pre-eminence; as a dwarf, that makes another seem a proper man. They are less troubled that God and the Gospel are dishonoured by the infirmities, insufficiency and faults of others, than that their glory is obscured by worthier men, though God be honoured, and his work promoted". Whereas the humbled person wisheth from the bottom of his heart, that all the Lord's people were prophets; that all men could preach and pray, and discourse and live much better than he doth himself (though he would also be as good as they). He is glad when he heareth any speak more judiciously, powerfully and convincingly than he; rejoicing that God's work is done, whoever do it: for he loveth wisdom and holiness, truth and duty, not only because it is his own, but for itself and for God, and for the souls of others. A proud man envieth both the parts, and work, and honour of others: and is like the devil, repining at the gifts of God; and the better

x Isa. vi. 5.

y 2 Cor. ii. 16.

'Non potest non indoctus esse, qui se doctum credit. Hermar. Barbarus. " Exod, iii. 11. iv. 10, 13. Pliny saith, In commending another, you do yourself right: for he whom you commend is either superior or inferior to you: if he be inferior, if he be to be commended, then you much more: if he be superior, if he be not to be commended, then you much less. Lord Bacon, Essay 54.

and wiser any one is, the more he envieth him. He is an enemy to the fruits of God's beneficence; as if he would have God less good and bountiful to the world, or to any but himself, and such as will serve his party and interest, and honour with their gifts. His eye is evil, because God is good. If others be better spoken of than himself, as more learned, able, wise or holy, it kindleth in his breast a secret hatred of them, unless they are such whose honour is his honour, or contributeth thereto. Whereas the holy, humble soul, is sorry that he wants what others have, but glad that others have what he wants. He loveth God's gifts wherever he seeth them; yea, though it were in one that hateth him. He would not have the world to be shut up in a perpetual night, because he may not be the sun; but would have them receive that by another which he cannot give them; and is glad that they have a sun, though it be not he. Though some preached Christ of envy and strife, of contention, and not sincerely, to add afflictions to his bonds, yet Paul rejoiced, and would rejoice, that Christ was preached".

Sign IV. When the proud man is praying or preaching, his eye is principally upon the hearers, and from them it is that his work is animated, and from them that he fetcheth principally the fire or motives for his zeal. He is thinking principally of their case, and all the while fishing for their love, and approbation, and applause; and where he cannot have it the fire of his zeal goeth out. Whereas, though the humble subordinately look at men, and would do all to edification, yet it is not to be loved by them so much as to exercise love upon them; nor to seek for honour and esteem from them, so much as to convert and save them: and it is God that he chiefly eyeth and regardeth; and from him that he fetches his most powerful motives; and it is his approbation that he expecteth: his eye and heart are so upon the auditors as to be more upon God: he would feed the sheep; but would please the Lord and Owner of them.

Sign v. A proud man after his duty, is more inquisitive how he was liked by men, and what they think or say of him, than whether God and conscience give him their appro

a Phil. i. 15-18.

bation. He hath his scouts to tell him whether he be honoured or dishonoured. This is the return of prayer that he looks after: this is the fruit of preaching which he seeks to reap. But these are inconsiderable things to a serious, humble soul: he hath God to please; his work to do; and sets not much by human judgment.

Sign VI. A proud man is more troubled when he perceiveth that he is undervalued and misseth of the honour which he sought, than that his preaching succeeds not for the good of souls, or his prayers prevail not for their spiritual good. Every man is most troubled for missing that which is his end. To do good and get good is the end of the sincere, and this he looks after, and rejoiceth if he obtain it, and is troubled if he miss it. To seem good, and wise, and able, is the proud man's end: and if the people honour him, it puffs him up with gladness, as if he were a happy man and if they slight him or despise him, he is cast down, or cast into some turbulent passion, and falls a hating or wrangling with them that deny him the honour he expects, as if they did him a heinous wrong. As if a physician should want both skill and care to cure his patients; but hateth and revileth them, because they prefer another that is more able, and will not die to secure his honour, or magnify his skill for killing their friends. The proud man's honour is his life and idol.

Sign VII. The heart of the proud is not inclined to humbling duties, to penitent confessions, and lamentations for sin, and earnest prayer for grace and pardon; but unto some formal observances and lip-labour, or the Pharisee's self-applause, "I thank thee that I am not as other men, nor as this Publican." Not but that the humblest have great cause to bless God for their spiritual mercies, and his differencing grace: but the proud thank God for that which they have not; for sanctification, when they are unsanctified; and for justification, when they are unjustified; and for the assured hope of glory, when they are sure to be damned if they be not changed by renewing grace; and for being made the heirs of heaven, while they continue the heirs of hell. And therefore the proud are least afraid of Clemens Alex. strom. lib. i. chap. 4. Ait fideli Christiano docenti vel uni

cum sufficere auditorem.

coming, without right or preparation, to the sacrament of the body and blood of Christ. They rush in with confident presumption; when the humble soul is trembling without, as being oft more fearful to enter than it ought.

Sign VIII. Proud persons are, of all others, the most impatient of church discipline, and incapable of living under the government of Christ. If they sin, they can scarce endure the most gentle admonition; but if they are reproved sharply, or cuttingly, that they may be sound in the faith; you shall perceive that they smart by their impatience. But if you proceed to more public reproof and admonition, and call them to an open confessing of their sin, to those whom they have wronged, or before the congregation, and to ask forgiveness, and seriously crave the prayers of the church, you shall then see the power of pride against the ordinance and commands of God! How scornfully will they spurn at these reproofs and exhortations! How obstinately will they refuse to submit to their unquestionable duty! And how hardly are they brought to confess the most notorious sins! Or to confess that it is their duty to confess them; though they would easily believe that it is the duty of another, and would exhort another to do that which they themselves refuse! The physic seemeth so loathsome to them which Christ hath prescribed them, that they hate him that bringeth it, and will die and be damned before they will take it; but perhaps will turn again, and all to rent you (unless where they are restrained by the secular arm). But if you proceed to reject them, for their obstinate impenitency in heinous sin, from the visible communion of the church, you shall then see yet more how contrary pride is to the church order and government ordained by Christ. How bitterly will they hate those that put them to such (necessary) disgrace! How will they storm and rage, and turn their fury against the church; as if Christ's remedy were the greatest injury to them in the world! You may read their character in the second Psalm. Therefore Christ calleth men to come as "little children" into his school; or else they will be unteachable and incorrigible ©.

Sign Ix. A proud man hath an heretical disposition, even when he cryeth out against heretics. He is apt to

c Matt. xviii. 3.

look most after matters of dispute and contention in religion; obscure prophecies, God's decrees, controversies which trouble the church more than edify, circumstances, ceremonies, forms, outwards, orders, and words. And for his opinion in these he must be somebody.

Sign x. A proud man is unsatisfied with his standing in communion with the church of Christ, and is either ambitiously aspiring to a dominion over it, or is inclined to a separation from it. They are too good to stand on even ground with their brethren: if they may be teachers or rulers they can approve the constitution of the church; but otherwise it is too bad for them to have communion with it: they must be of some more refined or elevated society: they are not content to come out and be separate from the infidel and idolatrous world; but they must also come out and be separate from the churches of Christ, consisting of men that make a credible profession of faith and godliness. They think it not enough to forbear sin themselves, and to have no fellowship with the works of darkness, but reprove them, nor to separate from men as they separate from Christ; but they will also separate from them in their duty, and odiously aggravate every imperfection, and fill the church with clamours and contentions, and break it into fractions by their schisms, and this not for any true reformation or edifying of the body, (for how can division edify it?) but to tell the world that they account themselves more holy than the church. Thus, Christ himself was quarrelled with as unholy, by the Pharisees, for eating with publicans and sinners and his disciples for not washing before meat, and observing the traditions of the elders; and for rubbing out corn to eat on the sabbath day. And they that will not be strict in their conformity to Christ, will be righteous overmuch, and stricter than Christ would have them be, where pride commandeth it. They will be of the stricter party and opinions, and make opinions and parties that are stricter than God's commands; and run into errors and schisms that they may be singular, from the general communion of the church; and will be of a less than Christ's little flock.

Signs of Pride in common Converse.

Sign 1. Pride causeth subjects to be too quick in cen

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