map. 3 3. Am Expafïtion upon the Book of Jos. Verf, T 7. 3 13 Secondly, In that God ishere fayd to hide pridefromman ; Obferve. ?ride is a very vile and mefi odious fin, IfGod hide it frommans eyes, then furelyGod himfelfe is Of purer eyes then tobehold ir, and be pleafed. (Pfal: 1.3 $. 6. ) The Lord knoweth the proud afaroff ; He that meets a f eetacle or perfon which he cannot endure to look upon, avoydes it, or turnes from it while he is yet afar off; whereas if the objeddbe delightfull, he draweth neer, and comes as dole as hecan ; when therefore 'tis fayd,rhe Lordknoweth aproud man afar of ,it thews his difdaine of him , Hewillfcarce touch him with apaire oftongs, (aswe fay) he cannot abide tocome neere him. He knows well enough how vile he-is evenat the greateli diflance. Pride is the firft of thofe feven things which are an abomination to the Lord, ( Prey: 6. I7.) And how abominable a thing pride is, may ap- peare further by rhefe fix Confiderations. Firm , The folly and Irrationallityof pride, renders it odious to God ; nothing is more odious to awife man then folly, how o- dious then is pride to the moll wife God ! When Paul did any thing whichhadbut aPhew of pride in it, though he did it only uponConflraint, yet he calls himfelfe foule for doing it (2' Cor: 12. II.) 1am become afoule in glorying, ye have compelled me. Doth nor this intimate, that in Pauls opinion, all proud felfe- gloriers and boafüers are fooles, that is,fuchas add below common fenfe'or reafon. In the Hebrew language, the fame word that fig- nifies boafling and pride , fignifie-s °folly and foolilhneffe. The empty veffell yeilds the greatefi found ; and they that make fo . great a noire of themfelves, are ufually nothing elfe but a Great noyfe themfelves, atleat+they unavoydably rayfe a fufpition of themfelves, that theyare but ewtpty veflells, or (hallow rivers. This was Solomon conclufion ( Pre: 25.27. ) For men tofearch their owns glory is no glory; that is, a man obfeures'himfelfe by felfe-glorying. How foolish, how irrationall a thing is it for any man toglory proudly,when as`by doing fohe obCcures that which is the chiefell glory of man as men, his reafon ; and feemes to put himfelfe toi-the quefiion, whether he be a reafonable crea- ture yea or no Secondly , Pride is more abominable, becaufe it is -not only S f the
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