When the hair grows sweet with pride and lust,
The powder doth forget the dust.
And though thy soul be far nobler than thy body, yet here how ignorant, and weak, and distempered is it! How full of false ideas are men's minds! How little know they of that which they might know, or are confident they do know! How dark are we about all the works of God, and about his word; much more about himself! The greatest doctors are strongly tempted to be sceptics; and the ignorant that this year are confident to a contempt and censoriousness of all that differ from them, perhaps the next year do change their judgments, and recant themselves.
And are our hearts and lives any happier than our understandings; while we are imprisoned in flesh, and its interest is ours, and its appetites and passions have so much advantage, to corrupt, seduce, or disturb the soul? Know thyself, and pride will die.
Direct. XVI. If thou have any thing to be proud of, remember what it is, and that it is not thine own, but given or lent thee by that God who chiefly hateth pride. 1. Art thou tempted to be proud of riches? Remember that they are in themselves but dross, which will leave thee at the grave as poor as any. And as to their usefulness, they are but thy Master's talents; and the more thou hast, the greater will be thine account. And very few rich men escape the snare, and come to heaven. Thy charge and danger therefore should rather humble thee, and make thee exceedingly to fear. Read James v. 1-4; and Luke xii. 19, 20.
2. Is it greatness, and dominion, or human applause, or honour, that you are proud of? Remember that this also is in itself a dream, that maketh thee really neither better nor safer than other men. Thou standest upon higher ground, where thou hast more than others of the storms and dangers, and shalt be levelled with the lowest in thy fall. And as to the use of thy power and greatness, it is for God, and not thyself. And so great will be thy reckoning, according to the trust reposed in thee, as would affright a considerate believer to foresee.
3. Is it youthful strength that you are proud of? How little can it do for thee, of that which thou most needest! And how soon will it be turned to weakness! How many are cut off in youth, and their life is among the unclean, as Elihu speaks, Job xxxvi. 14. Their bones are full of the sins of their youth, which shall lie down with them in the dust, Job xx. 11.
4. Is it beauty that you are proud of? I have told you what sickness and death will do to that before. When God rebuketh man for sin, he makes his beauty to consume as a moth: surely every man is vanity, Psal. xxxix. 11. Read Psal. xlix. 12-14. And if your beauty would continue, how little good will it do you! and who but fools do look at the skin of a rational creature, when they would discern their worth? A fool, and a slave of lust and Satan, may be beautiful. A sepulchre may be gilded that hath rottenness within. Will you choose the finest purse, or the fullest? Who but a child or fool will value his book by the fineness of the cover, or gilding of the leaves, and not by the worth of the matter within? Absalom was beautiful, and what the better was he? 2 Sam. xiv. 25. Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain; but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised, Prov. xxxi. 30.
5. If it be fine clothes and gaudy ornaments that you are proud of, it is a sin so foolish, and worse than childish, that I shall give it no other confutation, than to tell you, that it contradicteth itself, by making the person a scorn and laughing-stock to others, when their design was to be more admired; and that an ass or a post may have as fine and costly attire as you; and that shortly you shall change it for a winding-sheet.[237]
6. Is it your birth, and progenitors, and great friends that you are proud of? Personal merits are incomparably more excellent than this relation to the most meritorious parents; much more than a relation to their empty titles. Cain was the son of Adam the father of mankind, and Ham of Noah, and Esau of Isaac, and Absalom of David; when a godly son of a wicked father is more honourable than they. Your ancestors are but of the common stock of sinful Adam: and your great friends may possibly become your enemies: and it is little that the greatest of them can do for you, if God be not your friend.