that I may constantly be relinquishing myself in all forms and circumstances, so that I may have more inward and intimate fellowship, friendship, complacency, and nearness with thee! Careless, myself a dying man, CHAPTER IX. ON THE SPIRIT OF THE WORLD. NOTHING more fully proves the fall of man from his original creation, than the opposition and temper of his soul, while in his natural state, to the things of God. His wishes, his hopes, his labors, his principles of action and thinking, are all turned directly to another way. God is not really (whatever a man of the world may speculate) in all his thoughts. He is without God, or rather, in sober truth, he is (as the apostle calls him) an atheist in the world. Hence it is, that the people of the world have, in all ages, reputed the people of God either to be fools, in not laying themselves out for such things as wholly engage themselves, or knavish hypocrites, who only take a pretended spiritual method to accomplish the same carnal and selfish ends. And if they can find an instance or two (as they often have done and may do) to confirm this opinion, O how do they exult over professors of all kinds, and run down religion itself, as though it were a trap or an engine for all manner of deceit, or at best a whimsical paradise, framed by superstition for dunces and fools! On the other hand, how wild, mad, besotted, and phrenetic, do all the agitations of these men seem to the Christian, in his retired and considerate hours? They are pursuing, in his view, lies and shadows, vapours and dreams. They grasp after something, they scarce know what. Ever restless, they are always upon the hunt; but never finding, never satisfied. They live weary and tired lives, full of envy, disappointment, and care: and they die hopeless deaths, either in abject terror at what may come upon them hereafter, or in the stupid opinion, that God created them only to live like maggots upon the trash of the earth, and then at last to be thrown into a hole to rot away into nothing. Such is the sordid spirit and wisdom of this world! CHAPTER X. ON THE PRIDE OF THE HEART. Most of the discomforts of our lives arise from the pride of our hearts, unmortified and unsubdued. Did I think as meanly and humbly of myself, as from the knowledge of my weakness and sinfulness I ought; the contempt or the insult of others would not hurt or afflict. me. But I am false to myself, and therefore lifted up, assuming to my vile nature what it hath no right to expect; and I am false to others, wearing appearances to create respect and esteem, which is walking in a mask, and rendering myself foolishly proud. If men saw me, and I saw them as we really are; we should none of us be much inclined to boast of ourselves; but our glorying must either cease, or else be wholly in the Lord. " This pride hath occasioned to my soul a world of trouble, both when it hath reigned unsubdued, and while, through grace and trials, it hath been in the acts of subduing. When it is unsubdued, the heart is open to all manner of mortifications. A look, a gesture, or a word shall put it to pain; and when this pain rages, the passions will begin to rave, and throw the whole frame into miserable violence and disorder. Outward opposition will make it worse. The inflammation then grows often to a degree of phrenzy, which nothing hardly, can soothe or allay. And it is one of the wonders of providence, that this pride of man, when combined and raging in multitudes, doth not confound all order and rules, more than it doth, and utterly ruin and destroy the world. To subdue this sore evil, in his people, is one great end of God in afflicting dispensations. They are high in themselves; and it is necessary for their good, that they should be brought down. Whatever answers this end, come in what shape it may, it is all a blessing. Did such an one use me ill, or speak contemptuously of me? As David said of Shemei, it is because the Lord hath permitted him. Hath he treated me as I deserve? Why then am I angry? He hath been to me a messenger of truth, whatever were his intentions, with which I have nothing to do; and, therefore, let me own the truth, and fall down in abasement and contrition before God. Is the censure false? I have no right to be offended: he hath not hit me, but himself, and becomes therefore the object of my prayer. If in this instance, his condemnation hath been wrong; my heart knoweth in how many others, and perhaps in worse, it would have been just and right. In every view, I have no fair claim to be flattered with the applauses of men, but to be humbled in myself for all the weakness, worthlessness, and evil, that cleave to me in all things. If I felt this as I ought, and walked as I ought in the continual sense of it, I should be ashamed to be proud, and should abhor myself for the bold injustice and iniquity of being so, in dust and ashes. I believe that some Christians have more trials and afflictions in the flesh than others, because there is more natural stubbornness of pride and wilfulness in them. The Lord will have these to be subdued. And he suiteth all his chastisements with great and unerring wisdom to the occasion. If they thought of this aright, they would not be so much in care to get rid of the visitation, as to have the design of it answered within them. They would pray to be humbled under the mighty hand of God, that he might exalt them in the right way, and in the due time. It is my pride, and my self-will, which proceeds from pride, that renders me so uneasy with God and others. Were I truly lowly, and deeply sensible of my own condition, not the opinion and hard words of others, but my own sin, would offend me. I am imperfect, as in all other graces, so especially in humility; and therefore I fret in myself, and am inclined to speak and to render evil for evil. O Lord, help me, a poor feeble man, and hide pride from mine eyes! Suffer me not to fall upon this stumbling block, which hath overturned the world; but help me to follow Jesus, who was meek and lowly in heart, and by him find rest to my soul! CHAPTER XI. COMPARISON BETWEEN CARNAL AND SPIRITUAL WISDOM. CARNAL wisdom is the highest attainment of the carnal mind. It is an exhibition of fallen man in his fairest and most cultivated form; and is therefore the aim and desire of the best of natural men. This wisdom, (for we will call it at present by that name,) arising from a depraved and corrupt principle, is necessarily weak and corrupt likewise. It seeks earthly and carnal things, is occupied entirely upon them, and looks no higher, and finds no more, when left to its own inclinations and powers. This wisdom, therefore, is called in the scripture, earthly, sensual, devilish. It acts only upon and for this present world: It is plunged in the sensuality and designs of it through an earthly, evil nature: It is like Satan, in total opposition to the will and holiness of God; serving, as its last end, the creature, instead of the Creator. Thus the learned man is proud of his knowledge, as it gives him superiority over others: The statesman, by his political understanding, pursues and triumphs in his own grandeur: The merchant, by his skill in trade, heaps up to himself riches: The mechanic, by his art and ingenuity, assumes his peculiar distinction: The carnal divine, (for such an one there may be,) is learned, and zealous for his party or profession, or for his own carnal exaltation in it. In short, it is no matter whether the means be high or low, but every man of every condition employs all his understanding, and all his powers, for carnal views, for earthly glory, and for temporal attainments. If his plans are calculated for these, and especially if they succeed, he is admired, |