4t6
CHRISTIAN MORALITY, VIZ.
JÌtSTICE,
&C.
[SEAM. XXVI.
solence
and
scorn.
Many a father,
in
oúr
degenerate
age, has found this
unhappy
effect
-of
raising his,chil-
tiren too
soon
and
too
high
:
And the
mother
has seen
her
sirs,
and felt
it
in
her
punishment, when
she
has cock
-
ered up
her
young
offspring
in
pride, and thereby
taught
them
to
break
the rules
of
justice,
to slight all
her autho-
rity, and
make
a
scoff
of
that
pre
-
eminence
which
God
and
nature
have given her.
The
proud.
man
is
ready
to say in bis
heart,
"All
that
are
around
me
ought
to
pay
me
respect,
and do
me
jus-
tice,"
while
he
is
regardless'
of
the respect due
to
others.
"
Let
them carry
it
towards
me
as
they ought, and
I
will
carry
it
towards them
as
I please."
It
is
pride
that
inclines
us to throw a
blot
here and
there upon the
good name
of
our
neighbour, and
to
ble'
mish
his
reputation,
lest
he
should outshine
us.
When
some
honourable mention
is
made
df another
person
in
our
company, especially
if
it
be one
of
our
own sex,
our
own
rank or
degree
in
the
world, do
we
not
feel
some-
thing
rising
within to lessen
their
honour,
and
to
stain
their character
?
It
is
through
this vanity
and
ambition
of
mind,
that
we
are tempted
to defame and
reproach
our
neighbour, and
to rob
him
of
his
just
honour among
men, and
we
endeavour to
build
our
own
fame
and cre-
dit
upon
the
ruin
of
his.
But it
is
a sandy,
or
rather
an
impious foundation
;
and the
fame
that
is
built
upon
such ground
will
never
stand.
Pride
inclines
us
to
as-
sume
more
respect than
is
due
to ourselves, and
to
take
it
away from
our
neighbour,
even as
còvetousness tempts
us
to
take more money to
ourselves than
is
due, and
to
deprive our neighbour
of
it.
Thus
both
of
them
are
opposite to the
sacred rule
ofjustice;
one
to
that justice
which
we owe to
our
neighbour's estate, and
the
other
to
his
good name.
But
the
evil
influence
of
pride spreads farther
also;
for
it teaches us to practise unrighteousness
in
matters
of
property
:
It
instructs
us in
the.methods
of
oppression,
and inspires
us
with a wicked courage to practise
it;
Ps.
lxxiii.
6, 7,
8.
"When
pride
compasses men
as.a
chain,
and
they
wear it
as
a golden ornament, then vio-
lence
covers
them
as
a
garment;
and though their
eyes
starid
out
with fatness,
and they
have
more than
heart
could
wish,
yet they are
corrupt,
and
speak
w'ickeciLy
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