Pride

I might paint pride as being the worst malformation of all the monstrous things in creation; it hath nothing lovely in it, nothing in proportion, but everything in disorder. It is altogether the very reverse of the creatures which God hath made, which are pure and holy.

See you yon bright angel chanting the loud anthem of praise before his Maker’s throne? Can anything tarnish that angel’s glory, rob him of his harp, despoil him of his crown? Yes; see, there enters a destroyer, whose name is Pride. He assaults the angel, and his harpstrings are snapped in twain. His crown is taken from his brow, and his glory is departed, and yon falling spirit descending into hell is he who once was Lucifer, Son of the Morning. He has now become Father of Nights, even the Lord of Darkness, Satan, the Fallen One.

Pride is a groundless thing. It standeth on the sands; or, worse, it puts its foot on the billows, which yield beneath its tread; or, worse still, it stands on bubbles, which soon must burst beneath its feet. Of all things pride has the worst foothold; it has no solid rock whereon to place itself. We have reasons for almost everything, but we have no reasons for pride. Pride is a thing which should be unnatural to us, for we have nothing to be proud of.

“O man! if thou wert as mighty as Gabriel, and had all his holiness, still thou wouldst be an arrant fool to be proud, for pride would sink thee from thine angel station to the rank of devils, and bring thee from the place where Lucifer once dwelt, to take up thine abode in perdition. Pride exalts its head, and seeks to honour itself; but it is of all things most despised. It sought to plant crowns upon its brow, and so it hath done; but its head was hot, and it put an ice crown there, and it melted all away.

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Pride lieth at the root of infidelity; pride is the very germ of opposition to God.

Pride is a Protean thing; it changes its shape; it is all forms in the world; yon may find it in any fashion, you may see it in the beggar’s rags as well as in the rich man’s garment. It dwells with the rich and the poor. The man without a shoe to his foot may be as proud as if he were riding in a chariot.

Some weeds will grow anywhere; one of them is pride. It will grow on a rock as well as in a garden. It will grow in the heart of a shoe-black as well as in the heart of an alderman. Pride will grow in the heart of a servant girl, and equally as well in the heart of her mistress; and pride will grow in the pulpit. It is a weed that is dreadfully rampant. It wants cutting down every week; or else we should stand up to our knees in it.

Pride can profess any form of religion; it attends all kinds of chapels and churches; go where you will, you will see pride. It cometh up with us to the house of God; it goeth with us to our houses; it is found on the mart, and the exchange, in the streets, and everywhere.

Pride is the most pregnant cause of presumption. In all its various shapes it is the fountain of carnal security.

Pride wins no crown; men never honour it, not even the menial slaves of earth; for all men look down on the proud man, and think him less than themselves.

Of all things in the world, pride is that which hath the very least excuse; it hath neither stick nor stone whereon to build. It seems to stand upon itself, for it hath nothing besides whereon it can rest. O man! learn to reject pride, seeing that, whatever thou art, thou hast nothing to make thee proud. The more thou hast, the more thou art in debt to God; and thou shouldst not be proud of that which renders thee a debtor.

In almost every other sin we gather up the ashes when the fire is gone; but here, what is left? The covetous man hath his shining gold; but what hath the proud man? He has less than he would have had without his pride, and is no gainer whatever.

Sometimes pride takes the doctrinal shape; it teaches the doctrine of self-sufficiency, and will not allow that we are lost, fallen, debased, and ruined creatures, as we are. It hates Divine sovereignty, and rails at election. Then, if it is driven from that, it takes another form; it allows that the doctrine of free grace is true, that salvation is of the Lord alone; but still it prompts men to seek heaven by their own works, even by the deeds of the law.

Ye cannot tell how many shapes pride will assume. Look sharp about you, or you will be deceived by it; and, when you think you are entertaining angels, you will find you have been receiving devils unawares.

Pride is too tall to walk upright. It is most likely to tumble down, because it is always looking upward in its ambition, and never looks to its feet. There only needs to be a pitfall in the way, or even a stone, and down it goes. It is sure to tumble, because it is never contented with being where it is. It is always seeking to be climbing, and boys that will climb must expect to fall.

There is nothing more eloquently condemned in Scripture than pride; and yet there is no trap into which we poor silly birds so easily flee, no pitfall into which, like foolish beasts of the earth, we so continually run.

Pride cometh before a fall, and a haughty spirit is the usher of destruction. Take heed; watch thy footsteps; for where pride creepeth in it is the worm at the root of the gourd, causing it to wither and die.

God’s Spirit always leaves the proud. The gracious Spirit delights to dwell in the low places. The holy dove came on Jordan; we read not that it ever rested on Bashan. The man upon the white horse rode among the myrtle trees, not among the cedars. The myrtle trees grew at the foot of the mountains; the cedars on the summit thereof. God loves humility.

There are in every Christian church men who think they stand, who vaunt themselves in fancied might and power, children of nature finely dressed, but not the living children of the living God; they have not been humbled or broken in spirit, or, if they have, they have fostered carnal security until it has grown to a giant* and trampled the sweet flower of humility under its foot.

Self-sufficiency is Satan’s net, wherein he catcheth men, like poor silly fish, and doth destroy them. Think yourselves nothing; for ye are nothing, and live by God’s help.

Proud souls, ye grieve the Holy Ghost. He leaves every heart where pride dwelleth; that evil spirit of Lucifer he abhors; he will not rest with it; he will not tarry in its company. Here is your greatest danger, ye proud ones — the Spirit leaves those who deny their entire dependence on him.

Presumptuous men will say they can go into sin, they are so full of moral strength; but when a man tells you he is so good, always read his words backwards, and understand him to mean that he is as bad as he can be. The self-confident man is in danger of falling, because he will even run into temptation in the confidence that he is strong and able to make his escape.

Him who walks with fear and trembling the Spirit loves; but when once pride creeps in, and the man declares, “Now I am in no danger,” away goes the dove; it flies to heaven, and will have nought to do with him.