406 FORGIVENESS OF SIN. he was mere dust and ashes. Gen. 18 : 27. A poor ab- ject creature that God at his pleasure had formed out of the dust of the earth, and which in a few days was to be reduced again to dust. We can forget nothing more perniciously than what we are. "Man is a worm," saith Bildad, " and the son- of man is a worm." Job, 25 : 6. And therefore says Job himself, "I have said to corruption, Thou art my father; and to the worm, Thou art my mother and my sister." chap. 17: 14. His affini- ty, his relation to them is the nearest imaginable ; he is no otherwise to be accounted of; and there is nothing that God abhors more than an elation of mind in the forgetfulness of our mean, frail condition. " Thou say- est," said he to the proud prince of Tyrus, "that thou art a god, but wilt thou say thou art a god in the hands of him that slays thee 1" Ezek. 28 : 9. That severe conviction did God provide for his pride. Thou shalt be a man, and no god, in the hand of him that slays thee. And when Herod prided himself in the acclama- tions of the vain multitude, "It is the voice of God and not of a man," the angel of the Lord filled that god immediately with worms, which slew him and devourer! him. Acts, 12: 23. There is indeed nothing more effectual to abase the pride of the thoughts of men than a due remembrance that theyare so mean. Hence the Psalmist prays, Psalm 9 : 20, "Put them in fear, O Lord, that the nations may know themselves to be but men :" in the Hebrew, poor, miserable, frail, mortal man. What is man l What is his life l what is his strength i Said one the dream of a shadow, a mere nothing; or as David better says, Every man living in his best condition is altogether va-
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