as HUMILITY REPRESENTED.' applause, and the high opinion that thou hadst formed of thy worth, that makes thee bear contempt and reproach so ill, and die under a word of slander ? Say again, What is it but the pride of thyheart that tempts thee never to acknowledge a mistake, but always to colour it over with a semblance of truth ? Art thou a son or adaughter of Eve, and yet infallible not capable of mistaking ? Canst thou ever look back and remember the time when thou didst readily confess any folly, or say, I was mistaken or I acted amiss, and yet has not thy heart been sometimes sensible that thou were in the wrong? What is it but pride then that makes these words so hard to bepronounced ? Is it not thy vanity of mind, and unrea- sonable esteem of thyself that forbids thee even to see thy error, or to confess thy fault, while all that are around thee behold thy mistake and thy misconduct ? Is it thy humility that makes thee abound so much in thy own sense ? Is it humility that raises such an anguish of heart, and such a painful vexation within, when thou art treatedwith small indecenciesby thy fellow-creatures ? Is it humility that ruffles thy temper, and tears thy spirit when thou artnot esteemed and honoured according to thy worth ? Or is it not rather excessive and criminal tenderness for self, and an over -value of thy own merit ? That is but poor virtue that can- not bear to be despised, but faints under a word of contempt and scorn ; poor pretence to virtue indeed that cannot support itself under an affront from a fellow-worm, I will readily grant that the rich and the mighty, and the bold and the high-spirited and thehigh-born among men, lie much more under temptations to pride ; it is the very sin of their constitution or their condition in life, and perhaps they are more frequently guilty of this iniquity ; but if we would all of us search our hearts honestly, and examine our conduct by sincere enquiries, there is not one of us either in high or low state would be able to excuse ourselves from this universal contagion and guilt, this original degeneracy and over- spreading blemish of human nature. SECT. VI.The Humility and Exaltation of Christ proposed as our Pattern. Among all the hearts that God ever made there have never been but three entirely free from this stain and poison; two of themwere the hearts of Adam and Eve in the day of their inno- cence, and happy had it been for us, if pride had never found an entrance there. The third was the heart of the man Jesus who is God's most beloved Son. It was amazing humility indeed in this glorious person the Son of God that he would conde- scend to be born a son of man, that he should leave the bosom of the Father and all the glories there to dwell in flesh
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