Signs of fPride. He txpeCl:cth that his commands be obeyed though God command the contrary ; and is more of~ fended at the negle[l of IJW Laws and Honour , than at the contempt of the Honour an"d Laws of God. Sign 4 • jl. 55· Sig11 4· If there be any place of office, honour or preferment void, a proud man thinks that be i< the jittejl for it, and if he feek it, he taketh it for an injury if another be preferred before him as more deferving; And though they that had ·a hand in putting him by, and preferring another did it never fo judicioufly, a~d impartially, and for the co·mmon good, without any refpcct to an; friend or intnefi of their own,. ret all this will not fatisfie the Proud? who knoweth no Reafon Ot Law but feljijbnefi ; but he wtl bear a grudge to men for the moll nghteous necdfary action: What ignorant men and impious have we known difp!eafed, becaufc they were not thought worthy ro be Teachers in theChurch? or becaufe a people that knew the worth of their fouls, had the wit and confcicnce to prefer a worthier man before them! What worthlefs men (in Corporations ~nd elf(:. where) have we fe<n dilpleafed, becaufe they were not chofen to be Governours' So unrealonabie a fin is Pride. Sign 5· 9· 56. Sign 5· A proud man thinks when he looks at the works of his Superiours, that he could do them better himfelf, if he had the doing of them. There is not one of them of an hundred but think that they could rule better thaq, the. King d?th~ and judge better than the Judge doth, and pCihaps preach better than the Preacher doth, unlcfs Ius ignorance be !o palpable as rhat he cannot qudlion h. Ah[ol.om would do the people Jufiicc:, better than his Father DaviJ, if he were King. If all the matters of Church and Common-wealth were at his di!pole, how ~ontident is he, that they 010uld be well ordered, and all faults mended ; and 0 how ha,ppy a world !hould we have ! . Sign 6, _9.· 57: Sign 6. Aproud manis apt to over-value his own k.,nowledge, and tobe muchunacquainted . with hts Ignorance ; He IS much more finfible of what he l(.noweth, than how much he IS wanting, of 5ee 1 ~1m·J·6 what he ought to know : He thinks hirnfelf fit to contradict the ableH Divine, when he hath kuce ~ 1 Tl~· 6 ' 1 " fo much knowledge as will fave his foul. Ifhe have but forne fmattering, to enable him to talk con· fl:t~t~~~:. ~iH tidently ofwhat he underfiandeth not,he thinks hirnfelf titteft for the Chair; and is elevatedw a pug– follow th.c nacious courage,and thinks he is able to difputc with any man; and cq,nltantly gives himfdf the vido– ~hf~hflisu!rer ry : U it be a woman that hath gathered up a few neceipcs,fhe thinketh her felf tic to be a Phyiicion, mans fdf: and venture the lives of deareH friends ~pon her ignorant skilfulnefs; when feven years Hudy more And wherein is necdTary to make fuch Novices know how little they know, and how much is Utterly unknown to <1 man chink· them, and feven years more to give them an encouraging ta(le of knowledge ; yet Pride makes them t:~h belt of Dodors in Divinity and Phyfick.by its /t.'landamuf without fo tnuch ado ; And as they commenced, fo ~:~r;I~~~t~~~~ they pral1ifo, in the ~ark; an~ to fave the labour of fo· long Lludies, can fpare, a1~d ~ravcly deride_ will uphold that knowledge, wh1ch they cannot get at cheaper rates. And, no wouder, when JC JS lhenatme ot him mol!.: Pride and Ignora;zce to cau{e the birth and e;zcrta[e of Cii~:h. other. h were a wonder for an lg1lora; 1 t But_ if be be perfon to be Humble; and when he knowcth not what abunda11ce of e-x:cellenr truths are Hill unknown .fl" 1mpudr;t to him nor what difficulties there are in every controvelfle which he never faw. How many tludiw~~;r~~~itt~e ous, le;rned, holy "Divines would go mmy thoufand miles ( if that would ferve ) to be well refolvcd him by force of many doubts in the Myfteries of.Providmce, Decrees, Reaemption, Grace, Free-will, and many thtt to .th~t wh_ich like, a.nd tHat after twenty or fony years 1\udy ; when I can take them a Boy or a \Voman in the h~ tshco~Ciouft Streets, that can confidently determine them all in a few words, and piuy the ignorance or error of ~c~~tl:~:; in~ fuch Divines, and fhake the head at _their b_lindnefs, and f~y, God -~ath revealed tbtm to thern{dvts Lord Bata., that are Babes! yea, and perhaps the1r conhdence taketh dJ{fenrers tor fuch heretical, erroneous, in· Eff.-g S 1., tolerable per(ons, that they look upon rhem as Heathens and 'Publicans, and either with the P:1pilts re· proach and perfecute them, or with the leffer Sects divide from them, asfroQl men rhat receive not the the truth; and thus Pride.makes as many Churches as there are diflerenr Opinions. Sign 7• 9· 58. Sign 7· Pride maketh men wonderful Partial in judging of their o\Yn Vcr;urs and Vicn in cornparifon of other mens. "\.Vhen the humble .are complaining· of their weakndfcs and li:1fulnels, and have much ado to believe that they are any thing, or to difcern the finceriry of their grace ; and think their prayers are as no prayers, aP.d .their duties fo b~d. that God will ~?t regard them, the ~ . Protld think well of all they do, and are 1Jttle troubled at the1r greater wanes. They eajily feeanv· .,{Jtr mans failings; but the very fame or worfe, they jufiifie in themfelves. Their own paffinnJ, their own ovtr~re9chingJ or injurious dealings, their own iU rr1ord1, are finomhed over as harmkfs things, when other mrns are aggravated as intolerable crimes: Another is judged by them untie for humant: focicties, for lefs than that which they cmnot endure to be themfelves 1·cproved for; and will hardly be convinced that it is any fault: So blind is Pride about themfelves. Sig118. 9· 59• Sign 8. Pride makes men heat their Teacher! as Judgu, when rhey (hpuld hear them as LeArner I and JJifcipluof Chrifi: They come not to be taught what they lmew not, but to ccnfure what they hear; and as confidently pafs their judgement on it, as if their Teachers wanted nothing but their intlru8ionsto Teach them aright. I know that no po){on is to be taken into the foul, upon pretence of any mans authority; and that we mufi prove all things and hold faH that which is good : But yet I know that you mufi be TauziJt even to do rhis; and thar the PJltors office is appoinct:d by Chrifi as necdfary to your good, and rhac the Scholars that areHill quarrdling with rhc:ir Tcachers,and :readier to TeaCh their Maf\ers than to learn of them, and boldly conrradiCting what they never under– flood, are too proud to become wife: And that Hurniliry and Re.t{on ttaclu:th m(:n to learn With a fcnfe of rhcir ignorance, ~nd the neceffity of a Teacher.
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