436 TAE ADVANTAGES OF HUMILITY [SECT. I11, dimensions of pride, lest thou render all the comforts of life tasteless for want of some little punctilio of honour which the world will not pay thee. Look upon thyself as a weak mortal, as a creature capable of mistake and folly ; this thought will keep the avenues of thy soul ever free and open for the counsels and warnings of thy friends, and make a kind and faithful admonition as welcome as a word of vain applause. And even when enemies reproach thee, thou wilt be suspicious of thy- self whether thou hast not deserved the reproach : Thou wilt make' a fresh scrutiny into thy own heart, and en- quire there in secret, what reál truth may be mingled with the unjust revilings ofmen : And thus thou wilt be powerfully awakened to subdue every vice, to abandon every folly that tarnishes thy character, and make use of the rough language of a malicious world to burnish thy virtues and to keep them ever shining. V. The lower esteemwe have of ourselves, the more easily shall we be pleased with persons and things round about us : We shall be more unmoved at the little acci- dents of life which may happen to cross our humour, and we shall rather pity than terrify those who chance to displease us where the will was not in it. What is it that fires our resentment at every little mistake or supposed mistake of those that attendon us ? What is it rouses our angry passions at every real or fancied miscarriage of those with whomwe converse ? What is the spring of all this tumult ofsoul, this inward disturbance, but the vain and exalted idea which we have conceived of ourselves ? As though we must be exempted from the common laws and incidents ofour frail and mortal state ? Let us colour over our guilt with the kindest salvos yet it is a certain truth, pride and passion are near a-kin, and they are Most times joined together in the temper of men and in the conduct of life: Passion and pride are thus united in the descriptions ofsin and in the rules of dutyboth in the books of morality and in the language of scripture. Prov.. xxi. 24. " Proud and haughty scorner is his name, whodealeth in proud wrath."Prov. xüi. lo. Only by pride cometh contention." Índulge the one and you, support the other Subdue the one and the -other is in a great measure prevented or suppressed. Indeed _ man will much sooner confess his passion
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