Thus it appears, that, by the practice of our duty, even our present state may be made pleasing and desirable; and that if we languish under calamities, they are brought upon us, not by the immediate hand of Providence, but by our own folly and disobedience; that happiness will be diffused as virtue prevails; and " that God has done right, but we have done wickedly.”

ན་

75

SERMON VI.

PROVERBS, CHAP. XII. VERSE 2.

When pride cometh, then cometh shame; but with the lowly is wisdom.

THE writings of Solomon are filled with such observations upon the nature and life of man, as were the result of long experience assisted with every advantage of mind and fortune; an experience that had made him acquainted with the actions, passions, virtues, and vices, of all ranks, ages, and denominations of mankind; and enabled him, with the divine assistance, to leave to succeeding ages a collection of precepts, that, if diligently attended to, will conduct us safe in the paths of life.

Of the ancient sages of the heathen world, so often talked of, and so loudly applauded, there is recorded little more than single maxims, which they comprised in few words, and often inculcated; for these they were honoured by their contemporaries, and still continue reverenced and admired; nor would it either be justice or gratitude to depreciate their characters, since every discoverer or propagator of truth is undoubtedly a benefactor to the world. But surely, if single sentences could procure them the epithet of wise, Solomon may, for this collection of important counsels, justly

claim the title of "the wisest amongst the sons of men."

Among all the vices against which he has cautioned us, (and he has scarce left one untouched), there is none upon which he animadverts with more severity, or to which he more frequently recals our attention, by reiterated reflections, than the vice of pride; for which there may be many reasons assigned: but more particularly, two seem to deserve our consideration; the first drawn from the extensiveness of the sin, the other from the circumstance of the preacher.

The first is the extensiveness of the sin.

Pride is a corruption that seems almost originally ingrafted in our nature; it exerts itself in our first years, and, without continual endeavours to suppress it, influences our last. Other vices tyrannize over particular ages, and triumph in particular countries. Rage is the failing of youth, and avarice of age; revenge is the predominant passion of one country, and inconstancy the characteristic of another but pride is the native of every country, infects every climate, and corrupts every nation. It ranges equally through the gardens of the east and the deserts of the south, and reigns no less in the cavern of the savage than in the palace of the epicure. It mingles with all our other vices, and, without the most constant and anxious care, will mingle also with our virtues. It is no wonder, therefore, that Solomon so frequently directs us to avoid this fault, to which we are all so liable; since nothing is more agreeable to reason, than that pre

cepts of the most general use should be most frequently inculcated.

The second reason may be drawn from the circumstances of the preacher.

Pride was probably a crime to which Solomon himself was most violently tempted; and, indeed, it might have been much more easily imagined that he would have fallen into this sin, than into some others of which he was guilty; since he was placed in every circumstance that could expose him to it. He was a king absolute and independent, and by consequence surrounded with sycophants ready to second the first motions of self-love, and blow the sparks of vanity; to echo all the applauses, and suppress all the murmurs of the people; to comply with every proposal, and flatter every failing. These are the tempters to which kings have been always exposed, and whose snares few kings have been able to overcome.

But Solomon had not only the pride of royalty to suppress, but the pride of prosperity, of knowledge, and of wealth; each of them able to subdue the virtue of most men, to intoxicate their minds, and hold their reason in captivity. Well might Solomon more diligently warn us against a sin which had assaulted him in so many different forms. Could any superiority to the rest of the world make pride excusable, it might have been pardoned in Solomon; but he has been so far from allowing it either in himself or others, that he has left a perpetual attestation in favour of humility, "that where pride cometh, there cometh shame; but with the lowly is wisdom."

This assertion I shall endeavour to explain and confirm,

First, by considering the nature of pride in general, with its attendants and consequences.

Secondly, by examining some of the usual motives to pride; and showing how little can be pleaded in excuse of it.

Thirdly, by showing the amiableness and excellence of humility.

First, by considering, in general, the nature of pride, with its attendants and consequences.

Pride, simply considered, is an immoderate degree of self-esteem, or an overvalue set upon a man by himself, and, like most other vices, is founded originally on an intellectual falsehood. But this definition sets this vice in the fairest light, and separates it from all its consequences, by considering man without relation to society, and independent of all outward circumstances. Pride, thus defined, is only the seed of that complicated sin, against which we are cautioned in the text: it is the pride of a solitary being, and the subject of scholastic disquisitions, not of a practical discourse.

In speculation, pride may be considered as ending where it began, and exerting no influences beyond the bosom in which it dwells; but in real life, and the course of affairs, pride will always be attended with kindred passions, and produce effects equally injurious to others, and destructive to itself.

He that overvalues himself will undervalue others, and he that undervalues others will oppress them.