A Christian Directory, Part 1: Christian Ethics

by Richard Baxter

7. Is it your learning, or wisdom, or ability for speech or action, that you are proud of? Remember that the devils, and many that are now in hell, have far exceeded you in these; and that the wiser you are indeed, the humbler you will be; and by pride you confute your ostentation of your wisdom. Ahithophel's wisdom, which saveth not the owner from perdition, is little cause of glorying. Jer. viii. 8, 9, there were men that boasted of their wisdom, even in the law of God, who yet were ashamed and dismayed; for they rejected the word of the Lord: and then what wisdom could there be in them? Therefore, "thus saith the Lord, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, nor let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches; but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these do I delight, saith the Lord," Jer. ix. 23, 24. Those were not unlearned, of whom Paul speaketh; "Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?" 1 Cor. i. 20.

8. Is it success in wars, or great undertakings, that you are proud of? But by whose strength did you perform it? and how unhappy a success is that which hindereth your success in the work of your salvation! and how many have been brought down again to shame, that have been lifted up in pride of their successes!

9. Is it the applause of men that proclaim your excellency that you are proud of? Alas, how poor a portion is the breath of man! and how mutable are your applauders! that perhaps the next day will turn their tunes, and as much reproach you. Will you be proud of praise, when it is the devil's whistle, purposely to entice you into this pernicious snare, that he may destroy you? It is a danger to be feared; for it destroyeth many: but not a benefit much to be rejoiced in, much less to be proud of; for few are the better for it. Titles and applause increase not real worth and virtue, but puff up many with a mortal tympany.

10. Is it your grace and goodness, or eminency in religion, that you are proud of? This is most absurd; when predominant pride is a certain sign that you have no saving grace at all, and so are proud of what you have not: and if you have it, so far as you are proud of it you abuse it, contradict it, and destroy it; for pride is to grace, what the plague or consumption is to health. It is novices that have least grace and knowledge, that are aptest to be puffed up with pride, and thereby to fall into the condemnation of the devil, 1 Tim. iii. 6; that is, into the like punishment for the like sin. When the pot boileth over, that which was in it is lost in the fire. Rise not too high in the esteem of your grace, lest you rise to the loss of it. "Be not highminded, but fear," Rom. xi. 20. When you "think you stand, take heed lest you fall," 1 Cor. x. 12.

Direct. XVII. Look to the nature and tendency of every grace and ordinance and duty, and use them diligently; for they all tend to the destruction of pride. Knowledge discerneth the folly and pernicious tendency of pride, and abundant matter for humiliation. Faith is the casting off our pride, and going with empty, hungry souls to Christ for mercy and supply. It showeth us the most powerful sight in the world for the humbling of a soul, even a crucified Christ, and a most holy God, and a glorified society of humble souls, and a dreadful judgment and damnation for the proud. I might show you the same of every grace and duty, but for being tedious.

Direct. XVIII. Look to the humbling judgments of God on yourselves and others, and turn them all against your pride. You will sure think it an unsuitable and unseasonable thing for the calamitous to be proud. Are you not oft complaining of one thing or other, upon your consciences, your bodies, your estates, your names, your relations, or friends? and yet will you be proud while you complain? If the judgments that have already befallen you humble you not, if God love you, and will save you, you may expect you should feel more, and the load should be increased, till it make you stoop. O miserable, obstinate sinners! that can groan with sickness, and yet be proud! and murmur under want, and yet be proud! and daily crossed by one or other, and yet be proud! yea, and tormented with fears of God's displeasure, and yet be proud! Have not all the wars, and blood, and ruins that have befallen us in these kingdoms, been yet enough to take down pride? Many humbling sights we have seen, and many humbling stripes we have felt, and yet are we not humbled! We have seen houses robbed, and towns fired, and the country pillaged, and the blood of many thousands shed, and their carcasses scattered about the fields, and yet are we not humbled! If we were proud of our riches, they have been taken from us; if proud of our buildings, they have been turned into ruinous heaps; if we have been proud of our government, and the fame and glory of our country, we have seen how our sins have pulled down our government, dishonoured our rulers, and blemished our glory, and turned it into shame; and yet are we not humbled! If you lived in a house infected with the plague, and had buried father and mother, and brothers and sisters, and but a very few were left alive, expecting when their turn came next; if these few were not humbled, would you not think them blind and sottish persons? Do you yet look high, and contend for pre-eminence, and look for honour, and envy others, and desire to domineer, and have your will and way, and set out yourselves in the neatest dress? Must you have sharper stripes, before you will be humbled? Must greater injuries, and violences, and losses, and fears, and reproaches be the means? Why will you choose so painful a remedy, by frustrating the easier? If it must be so, the judgment shall shortly come yet nearer to thee: it shall either strip thee of the rest, or cover thee with shame, or lay thee in pain upon thy couch, where thy head shall ache, and thy heart be sick, and thy body weary, and thou shalt pant and gasp for breath; wilt thou then be proud, and contest for honour, when thou expectest hourly when thy proud and guilty soul shall be turned out of thy body, and appear before the holy God? when the bell is ready to toll for thee, and thy winding-sheet to be fetched out, and thy coffin prepared, and the bier to be fetched to carry thee to thy grave, and leave thee in the dark with worms and rottenness; wilt thou then be proud? Where then are your high looks, and lofty minds, and splendid ornaments, and honours? Then will you be climbing into higher rooms, and seeking to be revenged on those that did eclipse your honour? Saith David, even of princes, and all the sons of men, Psal. cxlvi. 3, 4, "His breath goeth forth: he returneth to his earth: in that very day his thoughts perish."

Direct. XIX. Look on the lamentable effects of pride about you in the world, and that will help you to see the odiousness and pernicious nature of it. Do you not see how it setteth the whole world on fire? how it raiseth wars, and ruineth kingdoms, and draweth out men's blood, and filleth the world with malice and hatred, and cruelty and injustice, and treasons and rebellions, and destroyeth mercy, truth, and honesty, and all that is left of God upon the mind of man? Whence is all the confusion and calamity, all the censoriousness, revilings, and cruelties, which we have seen, or felt, or heard of, but from pride? What is it that hath trampled upon the interest of Christ and his gospel through the world, but pride? What else is it that hath burnt his martyrs, and made havoc of his servants, and distracted and divided his church with schisms, and set up so many sect-masters and sects, and caused them almost all to set against others, but this cursed, unmortified pride? He that hath seen but what pride hath been doing in England in this age, and yet discerneth not its hatefulness and perniciousness, is strangely blind. Every proud man is a plague or burden to the place he liveth in: if he get high, he is a Nabal; a man can scarce speak to him; he thinks all under him are made but to serve his will and honour, as inferior creatures are made for man. If he be an inferior, he scorneth at the honour and government of his superiors, and thinks they take too much upon them, and that it is below him to obey. If he be rich, he thinks the poor must bow all to him, as to the golden calf, or Nebuchadnezzar's golden image: if he be poor, he envieth the rich, and is impatient of the state that God hath set him in: if he be learned, he thinks himself an oracle: if unlearned, he despiseth the knowledge which he wanteth, and scorneth to be taught. What state soever he is in, he is a very salamander, that liveth in the fire, he troubleth house, and town, and country, if his power be answerable to his heart: he is an unpolished stone, that will never lie even in any building; he is a natural enemy to quietness and peace.

Direct. XX. Consider well how God hath designed the humbling of all that he will save, in his whole contrivance of the work of our redemption. He could have saved man by keeping him in his primitive innocency, if he had pleased. Though he causeth not sin, he knoweth why he permitteth it. He thought it not enough that man should have the thought of creation to humble him, as being taken from the dust, and made of nothing; but he will also have the sense of his moral nothingness and sinfulness to humble him: he will have him beholden to his Redeemer and Sanctifier for his new life and his salvation, as much as to his Creator for his natural life. He is permitted first to undo himself, and bring himself under condemnation, to be a child of death, and near to hell, before he is ransomed and delivered; that he may take to himself the shame of his misery, and ascribe all his hopes and recovery to God. No flesh shall be justified by the works of the law, or by a righteousness of his own performance; but by the satisfaction and merits of his Redeemer; that so all boasting may be excluded, and that no flesh might glory in his sight, and that man might be humbled, and our Redeemer have the praise to all eternity.[238] And therefore God prepareth men for faith and pardon, by humbling works, and forceth sinners to condemn themselves before he will justify them.

Direct. XXI. Read over the character which Christ himself giveth of his true disciples; and you will see what great self-denial and humility he requireth in all. In your first conversion you must become as little children, Matt. xviii. 3. Instead of contending for superiority and greatness, you must be ambitious of being servants unto all, Matt. xxiii. 11; xx. 27. You must learn of him to be meek and lowly of heart, Matt. xi. 28, 29; and to stoop to wash your brethren's feet, John xiii. 5, 14. Instead of revenge or unpeaceable contending for your right, you must rather obey those that injuriously command you, and turn the other cheek to him that smiteth you, and let go the rest to him that hath injuriously taken from you; and bless them that curse you, and pray for them that hurt and persecute you, and despitefully use you, Matt. v. 39, 40, 41, 44.[239] These are the followers of Christ.

Direct. XXII. Remember how pride contradicteth itself by exposing you to the hatred or contempt of all. All men abhor that pride in others which they cherish in themselves. A humble man is well thought of by all that know him; and a proud man is the mark of common obloquy. The rich disdain him, the poor envy him, and all hate him, and many deride him. This is his success.