TES if they think themselves fomething, be ing nothing. Here we have the Philofopher fpeaking the very Language of the Apostle, but whether the fame fenfe, is not fo certain. 'Tis like that by being Nothing,Socrates meant no more than when they are Nothing. But I fee not, fince the Phrase will bear it, why the Apostle may not be interpreted higher. And 'tis plain that being Nothing does fignifie more, or at least does more Emphatically fignifie the fame than when he is Nothing. The latter being Conditional and restrain'd to a certain Cafe, whereas the other (being nothing) is Abfolute and Unlimited. But whether the Apostle fuppofing and taking for granted that we are nothing, means Abfolutely, that for us to think our felves fome thing is to deceive our felves, which indeed feems the most preferable fenfe, or whether he speaks only conditionally, that we deceive our felves in thinking our felves to be fomething if or when we are nothing, we need not much difpute, fo long as the condition is fulfilled in us, and the Cafe fuppofed is truly our Cafe. For indeed, whatever we are in our felves, 'tis plain that we are nothing of our felves, as having received all from God. And therefore if we think our felves to be fomething, we come under the Apostles Censure of deceiving our own selves. So then, which is the refult of all, we have nothing

nothing in us to be proud of, but a great deal, God knows, to be Humble for. And how great reafon have we to be so, when not only our Sins and Infirmities, but even our very Excellencies and Perfections, as being Received, are a just matter for Humility.

10. We may fay then now as the Apostle does in another Cafe, where then is boasting? To which we may also answer as he does, it is excluded. By what Law! why by the very Law of our Being, by the condition of our Nature, as we are Creatures of God, and as we are our own Creatures, that is Sinners; and as we are infirm and imperfect Beings, and as having received all the Good which we have from God; fo that we have nothing left to be Proud of, unless we will be Proud of that which is not our own, or of our Sins. To be proud of that which is not our own, is without reafon; and to be Proud of our Sins, is against all Reafon and Religion too. Our Sins indeed are our own, and the only thing which purely and truly is fo; but then they are not a fit matter to glory in, being the Shame and Reproach of our Nature. And as for the Goods and Perfections which we have, they indeed are not unfit for Glorying as to the matter of them, but then they are not our own, and fo all pretence to Glorying is again cut off that way. So that every way all Pride and Boafting is Excluded."

11. But

11. But then if we are not to be Proud of other things, because by the Grace of God we are what we are, as the Apostle fays, much less ought we to be Proud of Grace it self. Whether by Grace we understand the free Love, Kindness, and Favour of God, or the inward operation of his Spirit difpofing us to what is good, and affifting us in the practice of our Duty. As for Grace in the first sense, I confefs indeed that for a Creature, and a Sinner, to be the Object of God's Love and Favour, is a great thing, aftonishingly great, infinitely greater than to be the darling Favourite of the Mightieft Prince upon Earth. Hail thou that art highly favoured, O Man greatly beloved, and the Dif eiple whom Jefus loved, are ftrange Chara&ters for God to give, or for a Creature to receive. And there needs a mighty Grace in the other fenfe, to bear fuch a Grace as this. For indeed it is a great Temptation And accordingly we find, that those uncommon Favours and Graces vouchfafed to St. Paul in his Rapture, had fo far indanger'd his Humility, that he needed a Thorn in the Flesh to keep down the tumour of the Spirit, left he should be exalted above measure through the abundance of Revelations. But though the Grace and Favour of God, if any thing be highly to be prized, as the Pfal mist teaches us when he fays, thy Loving

kindness is better than Life it felf, Pfal. 63. Yet there is no reason why we should be exalted upon it, though even an Angel fhould acquaint us with it as he did the Bleffed Virgin, partly because it is a thing without us, and partly because it is fo utterly undeferved by us. And indeed we have much more reafon to be Humble, to think how little we deserve it, than Proud becaufe we have it. Then as for Grace, as it fignifies the affiftance of God's Spirit, befides that to be Proud of this is the greatest abufe of it 3 one of the chiefeft works and ends of God's Grace being to fubdue our Pride, and to keep us Humble; 'tis further to be confi dered, that as our having it is from God's free and undeferved Favour and Bounty, fo that we need it is from our own Weakness and Infirmity; and that as to be Proud of God's other Gifts, is like a Beggars being Proud of his Cloaths; fo to be Proud of this, is as if a Beggar fhould be Proud of his Crutches. St. Austin cautions against this fort of Pride in these words, Deinde jam fcicns homo gratia Dei fe effe quod eft, non incidat in alium fuperbia laqueum, ut de ipsâ Dei gratia fe extollendo fpernat cæteros.

De Sand. Virginita

te. Cap. 43.

12. And as we have no reafon to be Proud of the Grace of God, fo neither of thofe Vertues which we have, nor of thofe good Actions

Actions which we do by that Grace. This is what we commonly call by the name of Spiritual Pride, and which is of all others the worst, as having befides its common unreasonable nefs, this peculiar ill Quality in it, that it changes the very Suppofition upon which it proceeds, by deftroying that goodness which is the fubject of it, which no other Pride does. If I am Proud of my Learning, my Pride does not formally make me lefs Lear ned, though it fuppofes me not to be fo Wife as I fhould be, fince if I were I should not be Proud. And fo again, if I am Proud of my Wealth, though I am a Fool to be Proud of that which is lefs valuable than my felf, yet my Pride does not make me the lefs wealthy. The Effects indeed of my Pride inay, but my Pride it felf does not. For I am not the lefs Wealthy, barely for being Proud of my Wealth, though I may be for thofe extravagancies in Living which are the effects of that Pride. And fo if I am Proud of my Beauty, my Pride does not make me really the lefs Beautiful, though perhaps it may give fuch a difagreeable Air to my Behaviour as to make it appear to less Advan tage. But still my Beauty in it felf is the fame. And fo again, if I am Proud of my Birth, I am not for that the lefs nobly Born, nor is that Pride a blot upon my Efcutcheon, though it be to my Mind. But now if K