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BECT.
V.1
ANT)
THE
FAINT-NEARTEb ANSW$RED.
is
not
teachable, and willing
to
learn what
is
necessary
and proper
to
be
known
?
Ask thyself
at last,
art thou never
humoursome and
self-
willed, never obstinate and unreasonably
positive,
answering
thy superiors with
wrath and rudeness?
Art
Thou
never
gloomy
and
sullen
after
a
rebuke
?
Is not thy
spirit fretful when
thy will
is
crossed, and thy
humour
thwarted
?
Dost thou never meditate revenge
?
And
now
tell
me, O
son
or
daughter
of
poverty,
tell
me,
hast thou
no
pride
?
Hast
thou none
of these symp-
toms
of
this mortal malady
?
No spots
of
this
defilement
of
soul
?
No share
in
this universal crime
of
the
children
of
Adam
?
Dost thou think that
pride never inhabits
a
cottage,
and never travels
but
in
chariots and coaches?
Art
thou
so
weak
as to
imagine
that
a
thread
-bare
garment
must
needs cover
a
humble heart?
When thou hast
honestly made
all
these enquiries
which
I
have
pointed
out,
I
hope thy
own heart
will
un-
learn
this
mistake, and
teach
thee
that
thou hast
not
escaped
this
general
guilt
and
folly.
Some
of
the poorest
of
mankind
have
happened
to
be
some of
the
proudest
in
my
observation
that
I
ever met with,
and
it is
possible
that
others have made the
same
remark, though
it
must
be owned their temptations
to
pride
are
less.
Let
us
enquire next
of
the
faint
-
hearted
man,
the
coward of
soul,
who
flatters
his
infirmity,
and thinks him-
self
to
be
all
humility and meekness.
I
own,
saith
he,
I
have
a
tenderness
for
myself,
but I
have
no
pride.
If
I
am
injured
and reproached,
I
cannot
well
bear
it,
but
I
am
all
in
tears
;
I
tremble, and answer
not again
;
my
soul sinks
within
me at the
words
of
slander, and
I
die
at
the
voice
of
a
proud oppressor,
surely this
heart
of
mine
is
humble.
But
tell me,
O
man, if
thou hadst courage and
power
to revenge the affront,
wouldst thou be thus
patient?
If
thou hadst wealth
and dignity
in
the
world
to
support
thee, wouldst thou not retort the reproaches
of
thy
ad-
versary, and look
down with
a
sort
of
disdain upon him
who
now disdains
thee
?
It
is
impotence then and
cow-
ardice, but
not humility which makes thee imitate
pa-
tience and
meekness.
It
is
abjectness of
spirit and
want
of
power,
and not christian lowliness, that renders thee
so
silent
under
injuries. Christ
Jesus
could command