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46

HUMILITY REPRESENTED

IN ST.

PAUL.

the

account

;

'

pride

spies

out

those excellencies

in

us

which

none

else

can

see,

while

it

conceals and

lessens

our

evil

qualities

so as to

reduce

them almost

to

nothing.

By

this means the

judgment that

we form

concerning

ourselves,

is

for the most

part

mistaken

and criminal

:

We

hearken

to

the prejudices

of

our self

-love

:

we

view

our virtues through a

magnifying glass in

the sunshine,

and

cast

our

vices

into shade

and concealment.

We

carry

always

about

us

these

false

representations of

our-

selves,

this

vain

picture

which

is

so

very unlike the

ori-

ginal

:

We speak, and

act,

and

live,

according

to this

bright

and

great

and mistaken

idea

of

'self,

and thereby

we

plunge ourselves into many

errors, iniquities and

mis-

chiefs.

And

especially

when

we

happen to compare

ourselves

with

others,

our

envy

arises to assist the

work,

and

offers

its wretched

and dangerous

aid

to

help on the

comparison. We soon

spy

out

all

their

blemishes

and

imperfections, and

lessen

their character in order to

exalt

our

own.

Thus

while

pride

on

the

one side

bright-

ens and aggrandizes

our

own image,

and on

the

other

side envy

detracts

from the image

of

our

neighbour,

sullies

his

virtues

and darkens

his

honours,

we

act

our

relative parts

in

the world

in a very

irregular

manner,

under

the

influence

of

these

erroneous sentiments and

ideas.

The

mean opinion

of

self therefore,

that

by the

pattern

of

the

apostle,

I

would

recommend

to

my own

heart

and

to

all my friends,

is

this,

that

in

taking a

just

estimate

of

every thing

that relates

to

ourselves

or

to

our

fellow

-

creatures,

we

should keep a

strict

watch

against

the

dan-

gers

of

these

selfish

passions

and prejudices

;

and

we

should

always

make large allowances for those

false

and

glaring

colours, wherewith

our

vanity paints and adorns

our

own image,

and for

those deceitful weights

which

pride

is

ever

flinging

into

our

own

scale,

to

make

our

virtues

appear

solid and

weighty; and

we

should

make,

the same allowances for those

dark

and

disgraceful

shades

of

vice

and

folly which

envy

spreads over our

neighbours'

character, and

for those

reproaches

where-

with

she

loads

the

opposite

scale while

we

are

weighing

the virtues

of

our

neighbours,

in

order

to make them

seem

lighter.