and of its offensiveness to God, we may discover it in the disobedience of Adam, which entailed sin, misery, and death on all his descendants; or in the rebellion of the evil spirit, who first set the example of resisting the Almighty, and was the pri mary cause of the wretchedness of man. Of such a quality as this; so selfish and malignant; so contentious and over-bearing; so impatient of controul; so resolute in the attainment of its end; and so unprincipled in the adoption of means; of a quality so pernicious to all "the fruits of the Spirit," and so signally branded by the displeasure of God: surely of such a quality it may well and safely be affirmed, that "it is not of the Father, but is of the world."

Such being the nature, the tendency, and the consequences of pride, these considerations might be supposed capable of suppressing it, even if the matter, on which it feeds, were much more worthy of encouraging extravagant self-esteem, than it really is. But, as it hath been well observed,

"-Pride hath no other glass

"To show itself, but pride:"

otherwise the mirror of reason and common sense, no less than the mirror of revelation, could hardly fail of exposing its folly and deformity.

We will survey it by these lights under its most ordinary forms; and 1st, What superior excellence is there for example in superior birth, so as to make it an occasion of pride to a sensible man or to a Christian? Let me not be misunderstood. Let it not be supposed that I am holding up dignities to contempt. The due subordination of society, the maintenance of which is imposed upon us by the commandments of God, requires, that the possessor of hereditary honours should be regarded with respect and deference by those, who are placed in the inferior stations of life. But considering these honours, as they should affect the mind of him, who is invested with them; what reasonable foundation do they lay for inordinate self-esteem? Or how can it enhance the personal merit of a man in one age, that his progenitor was enno

bled for military skill, or political sagacity,

or (it may be) for some conduct of a questionable at least, if not of a vicious character, a hundred or a thousand years before? In truth, he who reflects with sober impartiality on the vices and follies of his ancestors, will often find reason to be ashamed, rather than to be proud, of those who have gone before him: and he who compares their virtues and'excellencies with his own inferior qualities, will often find reason to be ashamed, rather than to be proud, of himself. The considerate Israelite must have blushed for the disingenuous artifice, by which the Patriarch, whose name he bore, imposed on the credulity of his aged parent, and fraudulently supplanted his brother in the blessing of primogeniture: and the stubborn infidelity of the Jews in the time of Christ was aggravated by a comparison with the faith of their more illustrious forefather Abraham, from whom they prided themselves in being sprung.

2. Pride founded upon such distinction, as that which is conferred for personal me

rit, may appear to rest on a more solid ground. Yet when we consider the nature of many of those qualities, which are frequently the objects of royal favour or popular applause; and when we remember the alloy of vice and infirmity, which is mixed up with most of those qualities, that are the theme of public admiration; we may perceive enough in the reflection to "bring down the high looks of the proud." Indeed the very transitory duration of worldly distinction might serve to shake the foundation of inordinate self-esteem: for it is after all a humiliating thought, to the most exalted of the sons of men, that however noble may be his hereditary rank, he sprang from the same common stock with the lowest of the people; and however great may be his personal dignity, he is hastening rapidly towards that condition, when he must adopt the language of Job, and "say unto corruption, Thou art my father; and to the worm, Thou art my mother and my sister b."

h Job. xvii. 14.

3. Equally, if not more unreasonable is that pride, which glories in large possessions. Often transmitted to their proprietor without any exercise of his own industry; and often, where they are the fruits of his own exertion, purchased by the compromise of the moral principle; often hoarded with selfish avarice, and often squandered with no less selfish and senseless profusion; extinguishing the more virtuous affections, contracting the heart, and clouding the understanding; riches under such circumstances as these, afford much fitter materials for self-abasement, than for self-esteem. But however creditably and uprightly they may have been procured; and however fitly, according to worldly notions at least, they may be employed; there is one most important consideration, sufficient of itself essentially to depreciate the value, and to annihilate the pride, of wealth. Our Saviour, whose sense of the insignificance of wealth was shown, by his "not having where to lay his head,” has declared in strongly figurative language, calculated to point out the extreme