WISE. There are two sorts of pride: pride of spirit, and pride of body. The first of these is thus made mention of in the scriptures. 'Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord' (Prov 16:5). 'A high look, and a proud heart, and the ploughing of the wicked, is sin' (Prov 21:4). 'The patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit' (Eccl 7:8). Bodily pride the scriptures mention. 'In that day the Lord will take away the bravery of their tinkling ornaments about their feet, and their cauls, and their round tires like the moon, the chains and the bracelets, and the mufflers, the bonnets, and the ornaments of the legs, and the headbands, and the tablets, and the earrings, the rings, and nose jewels.[61] the changeable suits of apparel, and the mantles, and the wimples, and the crisping pins, the glasses, and the fine linen, and the hoods, and the vails' (Isa 3:18-23). By these expressions it is evident that there is pride of body, as well as pride of spirit, and that both are sin, and so abominable to the Lord. But these texts Mr. Badman could never abide to read; they were to him as Micaiah was to Ahab, they never spake good of him, but evil.
ATTEN. I suppose that it was not Mr. Badman's case alone even to malign those texts that speak against their vices; for I believe that most ungodly men, where the scriptures are, have a secret antipathy against those words of God that do most plainly and fully rebuke them for their sins.
WISE. That is out of doubt; and by that antipathy they show that sin and Satan are more welcome to them than are wholesome instructions of life and godliness.
ATTEN. Well, but not to go off from our discourse of Mr. Badman. You say he was proud; but will you show me now some symptoms of one that is proud?
WISE. Yes, that I will; and first I will show you some symptoms of pride of heart. Pride of heart is seen by outward things, as pride of body in general is a sign of pride of heart; for all proud gestures of the body flow from pride of heart; therefore Solomon saith, 'There is a generation, O how lofty are their eyes, and their eye-lids are lifted up' (Prov 30:13). And again, there is 'that exalteth his gait,' his going (Prov 17:19). Now, these lofty eyes, and this exalting of the gait, is a sign of a proud heart; for both these actions come from the heart. For out of the heart comes pride, in all the visible appearances of it (Mark 7). But more particularly—
1. Heart pride is discovered by a stretched-out neck, and by mincing as they go. For the wicked, the proud, have a proud neck, a proud foot, a proud tongue, by which this their going is exalted. This is that which makes them look scornfully, speak ruggedly, and carry it huffingly among their neighbours. 2. A proud heart is a persecuting one. 'The wicked in his pride doth persecute the poor' (Psa 10:2). 3. A prayerless man is a proud man (Psa 10:4). 4. A contentious man is a proud man (Prov 13:10). 5. The disdainful man is a proud man (Psa 119:51). 6. The man that oppresses his neighbour is a proud man (Psa 119:122). 7. He that hearkeneth not to God's word with reverence and fear is a proud man (Jer 13:15,17). 8. And he that calls the proud happy is, be sure, a proud man. All these are proud in heart, and this their pride of heart doth thus discover itself (Jer 43:2; Mal 3:15).
As to bodily pride, it is discovered that is something of it, by all the particulars mentioned before; for though they are said to be symptoms of pride of heart, yet they are symptoms of that pride, by their showing of themselves in the body. You know diseases that are within are seen ofttimes by outward and visible signs, yet by these very signs even the outside is defiled also. So all those visible signs of heart pride are signs of bodily pride also. But to come to more outward signs. The putting on of gold, and pearls, and costly array; the plaiting of the hair, the following of fashions, the seeking by gestures to imitate the proud, either by speech, looks, dresses, goings, or other fools' baubles, of which at this time the world is full, all these, and many more, are signs, as of a proud heart, so of bodily pride also (1 Tim 2:9; 1 Peter 3:3-5).
But Mr. Badman would not allow, by any means, that this should be called pride, but rather neatness, handsomeness, comeliness, cleanliness, &c., neither would he allow that following of fashions was anything else, but because he would not be proud, singular, and esteemed fantastical by his neighbours.
ATTEN. But I have been told that when some have been rebuked for their pride, they have turned it again upon the brotherhood of those by whom they have been rebuked, saying, Physician, heal thy friends, look at home among your brotherhood, even among the wisest of you, and see if you yourselves be clear, even you professors. For who is prouder than you professors? scarcely the devil himself.
WISE. My heart aches at this answer, because there is too much cause for it. This very answer would Mr. Badman give his wife when she, as she would sometimes, reprove him for his pride. We shall have, says he, great amendments in living now, for the devil is turned a corrector of vice; for no sin reigneth more in the world, quoth he, than pride among professors. And who can contradict him? Let us give the devil his due, the thing is too apparent for any man to deny. And I doubt not but the same answer is ready in the mouths of Mr. Badman's friends; for they may and do see pride display itself in the apparel and carriages of professors, one may say, almost as much, as among any people in the land, the more is the pity. Ay, and I fear that even their extravagancies in this hath hardened the heart of many a one, as I perceive it did somewhat the heart of Mr. Badman himself. For my own part, I have seen many myself, and those church members too, so decked and bedaubed with their fangles[62] and toys, and that when they have been at the solemn appointments of God in the way of his worship, that I have wondered with what face such painted persons could sit in the place where they were without swooning. But certainly the holiness of God, and also the pollution of themselves by sin, must need be very far out of the minds of such people, what profession soever they make.