The Whole Duty of Man, Part 6
PARTITION VI. Of DUTIES to our SELVES; Of Sobriety; Of Humility; the great Sin of PRIDE; the Danger, the Folly of this; Of VAINGLORY, the Danger, Folly; the Means to Prevent it: Of MEEKNES; the Means to obtain it, &c.
§. 1. THIS DUTY to our SELVES is by Duty to our SELVES.S. Paul in the forementioned Text, Titus 2. 12. summed up in this one word, Soberly. Now by Soberly, is meant our keeping within those due bounds which God hath set us. My business will therefore be to tell you what are the particulars of this Sobriety: And that first, in respect of the soul; secondly, in respect of the body: The sobriety of the soul stands in right governing its passions and affections; and to that are many Virtues required. I shall give you the particulars of them.
2. The first of them is Humility, which may well have the prime place, not only in respect Humility.of the excellency of the virtue, but also of its usefulness towards the obtaining of all the rest. This being the foundation on which all others must be built. And he that hopes to gain them without this, will prove but like that foolish builder Christ speaks of, Luke. 6. 49. who built his house on the sand. Of the Humility towards God I have already spoken, and shewed the necessity of it, I am now to speak of Humility, as it concernes our selves, which will be found no lessnecessary then the former.
3. This Humility is of two sorts, the first is, the having a mean and low opinion of our selves, the second is the being content that others should have so of us. The first of these is contrary to pride, the other to vain-glory. And that both these are absolutely necessary to Christians, I am now to shew you; which will, I conceive, best be done by laying before you first, the sin, secondly, the danger, thirdly, the contrary vices.
4. And first, for Pride; the sin of it is so The great sin of Pride.great, that it cast the Angels out of heaven, and therefore if we may judge of sin by the punishment, it was not onelyonly the first, but the greatest sin that ever the Devil himself hath been guilty of: But we need no better proof of the hainousness of it, then the extream hatefulness of it to God; which besides that instance of his punishing the Devil, we may frequently finde in the Scriptures, Prov. 16. 5. Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord. And again, Chap. 6. 16. where there is mention of several things the Lord hates, a proud look is set as the first of them: So Jam. 4. 7. God resisteth the proud; and divers other texts there are to the same purpose, which shew the great hatred God bears to this sin of Pride. Now since it is certain, God who is all goodness hates nothing, but as it is evil, it must needs follow, that where God hates in so great a degree, there must be a great degree of evil.
5. But secondly, PRIDE is not only very The danger.sinful but very dangerous; and that first, in respect of drawing us to other sins; secondly, Drawing into other sins.of betraying us to punishments. First, Pride draws us to other sins, wherein it shews it self indeed to be the direct contrary to humility; for as that is the root of all Vertue, so is this of all Vice. For he that is proud sets himself up as his own God, and so can never submit himself to any other rules or Laws then what he makes to himself. The ungodly, saies the Psalmist, is so proud that he careth not for God, Psal. 10. 4. Where you see it is his pride that makes him despise God. And when a man is once come to that, he is prepared for the commission of all sins. I might instance in a multitude of particular sins that naturally flow from this of pride; as first, Anger, which the wise man sets as the effect of pride, Pro. 21. 24. calling it proud wrath; secondly, strife and contention; which he again notes to be the off spring of pride, Prov. 13. 10. Only by pride cometh contention. And both these are indeed most natural effects of pride. For he that thinks very highly of himself expects much submission and observance from others, and therefore cannot but rage and quarrel whenever he thinks it not sufficiently paid. It would be infinite to mention all the fruits of this bitter root: I shall name but one more, and that is, that pride not onelyonly betrayes us to many sins, but also makes them incurable in us, for it hinders the working of all remedies.
6. Those remedies must either come from Frustrating of remedies.God or man; if from God, they must be either in the way of meekness and gentleness, or else of sharpness and punishment. Now if God by his goodness essay to lead a provd man to repentance, he quite mistakes Gods meaning, and thinks all the mercies he receives are but the reward of his own desert, and so long 'tis sure he will never think he needs repentance. But if on the other side God use him more sharply, and lay afflictions and punishments upon him, those in a proud heart work nothing but murmurings and hatings of God, as if he did him injury in those punishments. As for the remedies that can be used by man, they again must be either by way of correction, or exhortation; corrections from man will sure never work more on a proud heart, then those from God; for he that can think God unjust in them, will much rather believe it of man. And exhortations will do as little. For let a proud man be admonished though never so mildly and lovingly he looks on it as a disgrace. And therefore in stead of confessing or amending the fault, he falls to reproaching his reprover as an over-busie or censorious person, and for that greatest and most precious act of kindness, looks on him as his enemy. And now one that thus stubbornly resists all means of cure must be concluded in a most dangerous estate.
7. But besides this danger of sin, I told you there was another, that of punishment; and of Betraying to punishment.this there will need little proof when it is considered, that God is the proud mans profest enemy, that he hates and resists him, as appeared in the Texts forecited: And then there can be little doubt, that he which hath so mighty an adversary shall be sure to smart for it. Yet besides this general ground of conclusion, it may not be amiss to mention some of those texts which particularly threaten this sin, as Prov. 16. 18. Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall: Again, Prov. 16 5. Every one that is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord, though hand joyn in hand, yet they shall not be unpunished. The decr…e it seems is unalterable, and whatever endeavours are used to preserve the proud man they are but vain, for he shall not go unpunished. And this is very remarkable in the story of Nebuchadnezzor, Dan. 4. who though a King, the greatest in the world, yet for his pride was driven from among men to dwell and feed with beasts. And it is most frequently seen, that this sin meets with very extraordinary judgments even in this life. But if it should not, let not the proud man think that he hath escaped Gods vengeance, for it is sure there will be a most sad reckoning in the next; for if God spared not the Angels for this sin, but cast them into hell, let no man hope to speed better.
8. In the third place I am to shew you the great Folly of this sin; and to do that, it will be necessary to consider the several The Folly.things whereof men use to be proud; they are of three sorts, either those which we call the goods of Nature, or the goods of Fortune, or the goods of Grace.
9. By the Goods of Nature, I mean Beauty, In respect of the goods of Nature.Strength, Wit, and the like, and the being proud of any of these is a huge folly: For first, we are very apt to mistake and think our selves Handsome or Witty when we are not, and then there cannot be a more Ridiculous Folly then to be proud of what we have not, and such every one esteems it in another man, though he never supposes it his own case, and so never discerns it in himself. And therefore there is nothing more despiseable amongst all men, then a Proud Fool, yet no man that entertains high opinions of his own wit but is in danger to be thus deceived, a mans own judgement of himself being of all others the least to be trusted. But secondly, suppose we be not out in judging, yet what is there in any of these natural endowments which is worth the being Proud? There being scarce any of them which some creature or other hath not in a greater degree then man. How much does the whitenesse of the Lilly, and the redness of the Rose exceed the white and red of the fairest face? What a multitude of creatures is there, that far surpass man in strength and swiftness? And divers others there are which as far as concerns any useful end of theirs, act much more wisely then most of us; and are therefore oftentimes in Scripture proposed to us by way of Example. It is therefore surely great unreasonableness for us to think highly of our selves for such things as are common to us with beasts and plants. But thirdly, if they were as excellent as we fancy them, yet they are not at all durable, they are impaired and lost by sundry means; a phrensie will destroy the rarest wit, a sickness decay the freshest beauty, the greatest strength, or however old age will be sure to do all. And therefore to be proud of them is again a folly in this respect. But lastly, whatever they are, we gave them not to our selves. No man can think he did any thing towards the procuring his natural beauty or wit, and so can with no reason value himself for them.
10. In the second place, the folly is as great The goods … Fortune.to be proud of the goods of Fortune; by them I mean wealth and honour, and the like; for it is sure, they adde nothing of true worth to the man, somewhat of outward pompe and bravery they may help him to, but that makes no change in the person. You may load an Ass with money, or deck him with rich Trappings, yet still you will not make him a whit the nobler kind of beast by either of them. Then secondly, these are things we have no hold of, they vanish many times, ere we are aware, he that is rich to day, may be poor to morrow, and then will be the less pitied by all in his poverty, the prouder he was when he was rich. Thirdly, We have them all, but as Stewards, to lay out for our Masters use, and therefore should rather think how to make our accounts, then pride our selves in our receipts. Lastly, Whatever of these we have, they, as well as the former, are not owing to our selves. But if they be lawfully gotten, we owe them onelyonly to God, whose blessing it is, that maketh rich, Prov. 10. 22. If unlawfully, we have them upon such terms that we have very little reason to brag of them. And thus you see in these several respects, the folly of this second sort of pride.
11. The third is that of the goods of grace; The goods of grace.that is any vertue a man hath. And here I can not say, but the things are very valuable, they being infinitely more precious, then all the world, yet nevertheless this is of all the rest the highest folly. And that not onelyonly in the foregoing respect, that we help not our selves to it, grace being above all things most immediately Gods Work in us; but especially in this that the being proud of grace, is the fine way to lose it. God, who gives grace to the humble, will take it from the proud. For if, as we see in the parable, Mat. 25. 28. the talent was taken from him who had onelyonly put it to no use at all, how shall he hope to have it continued to him that hath put it to so ill, that in stead of trading with it for God, hath trafficked with it for Satan? And as he will loose the Grace for the future, so he will loose all Reward of it for the time past. For let a man have done never so many good acts, yet if he be proud of them, that pride shall be charged on him to his destruction, but the good shall never be remembred to his reward. And this proves it to be a most wretched folly to be proud of grace. It is like that of children, that pull those things in pieces they are most fond of, but yet much worse then that of thei…s, for we not only loose the thing (and that the most precious that can be imagined) but we must also be eternally punished for doing so, there being nothing that shall be so sadly reckoned for in the next world as the abuse of Grace, and certainly there can be no greater abuse of it, then to make it serve for an end so directly contrary to that for which it was given, it being given to make us humble, not proud; to magnifie God, not our selves.
12. Having shewed you thus much of this Means of Humility.sin, I suppose it will appear very necessary to be eschewed; to which purpose it will first be useful to consider what hath been already said concerning it, and that so seriously, as may work in thee not some slight dislike, but a deep and irreconcileable hatred of the sin: secondly, to be very watchful over thine own heart that it cherish not any beginnings of it; never suffer it to feed on the fancy of thy own worth, but when ever any such thought ari…es, beat it down immediatly with the remembrance of some of thy follies or sins, and so make this very motion of pride an occasion of humility. Thirdly, Never to compare thy self with those thou thinkest more foolish or wicked then thy self, that so thou mayest like the Pharis…e, Luk. 16. 11. extol thy self for being better; but if thou wilt compare, do it with the Wise, and Godly, and then thou wilt finde thou comest so far short as may help to pull down thy high esteem of thy self. Lastly, To be very earnest in Prayer, that God would root out all degrees of this sin in thee, and make thee one of those poor in Spirit, Mat. 5. 3. to whom the blessing, even of Heaven it self, is promised.
13. The second contrary to humility I told Vain glory.you was vain glory. That is, a great thirst after the praise of men. And first, that this The sin.is a sin, I need prove no otherwise, then by the words of our Saviour, John 5. 44. How can ye believe, that receive honour one of another? Where it appears, that it is not onelyonly a sin but such a one, as hinders the receiving of Christ into the heart, for so believing there signifies. This then in the second place shews you likewise the great dangerousness of this The danger.sin, for if it be that, which keeps Christ out of the heart, it is sure it brings infinite danger, since all our safety, all our hope of escaping the wrath to come, stands in receiving him. But besides the authórity of this text, common experience shews, that where ever this sin hath possession it endangers men to fall into any other. For he that so considers the praise of men, that he must at no hand part with it when ever the greatest sins come to be in fashion and credit (as God knows many are now adays) he will be sure to commit them rather then run the disgrace of being too single and precise; I doubt there are many consciences can witness the truth of this, so that I need say no more to prove the danger of this sin.
14. The third thing I am to shew, is the The Folly.folly of it; and that will appear first, by considering what it is we thus hunt after, nothing but a little air, a blast, the breath of men, it brings us in nothing of real advantage: for I am made never the wiser nor the better for a mans saying I am wise and good. Besides, if I am commended, it must be either before my face or behind my back; if the former, it is very often flattery, and so the greatest abuse that can be offered, and then I must be very much a fool to be pleased with it. But if it be behind my back, I have not then so much as the pleasure of knowing it; and therefore it is a strange folly thus to pursue what is so utterly gainless. But secondly,. it is not only gainless, but painful and uneasie also, He that eagerly seeks praise is not at all master of himself, but must suit all his actions to that end, and in stead of doing what his own reason and conscience (nay perhaps his worldly conveniency) directs him to, he must take care to do what will bring him in commendations, and so enslaves himself to every one that hath but a tongue to commend him. Nay, there is yet a further uneasiness in it, and that is, when such a man fails of his aym, when he misses the praise, and perhaps meets with the contrary reproach, (which is no mans lot more often then the vain-glorious, nothing making a man more despised) then what disturbances and disquiets, and even tortures of minde he is under? A lively instance of this you have in Achitophel, 2 Samuel 17. 23. who had so much of this upon Absaloms despising his counsel, that he chose to rid himself of it, by hanging himself. And sure this painfulness that thus attends this sin, is sufficient proof of the folly of it. Yet this is not all, it is yet further very hurtful. For if this vain glory be concerning any good, or Christian action, it destroys all the fruit of it; he that prays or gives alms to be seen of men, Matth. 6. 2. must take that as his reward, Verily I say unto you, they have their reward; they must expect none from God, but the portion of those Hypocrites that love the praise of men more then the praise of God. And this is a miserable folly to make such an exchange. It is like the Dog in the Fable, who seeing in the water the shadow of that meat he held in his mouth, catcht at the shadow, & so let go his meat. Such dogs, such unreasonable creatures are we when we thus let go the eternal rewards of Heaven to catch at a few good words of men. And yet we do not only lose those eternal joyes, but procure to our selves the contrary eternal miseries, which is sure the highest pitch of folly and madness. But if the vain glory be not concerning any vertuous action, but only some indifferent thing, yet even there also it is very hurtful; for vain glory is a sin that wheresoever it is placed endangers our eternal estate, which is the greatest of all mischiefs. And even for the present it is observable, that of all other sins it stands the most in its own light, hinders it self of that very thing it pursues. For there are very few that thus hunt after praise, but they are discerned to do so, and that is sure to eclipse whatever praise-worthy thing they do, and brings scorn upon them in stead of reputation. And then certainly we may justly condemn this sin of folly which is so ill a manager even of its own design.
15. You have seen how wretched a thing Helps against vainglory.this vain glory is in these several respects, the serious consideration whereof may be one good means to subdue it, to which it will be necessary to adde, first, a great watchfulness over thy self; observe narrowly whether in any Christian duty thou at all considerest the praise of men, or even in the most indifferent action, look whether thou have not too eager a desire of it, and if thou findest thy self inclined that way, have a very strict eye upon it, and where ever thou findest it stirring check and resist it, suffer it not to be the end of thy actions: But in all matters of Religion let thy Duty be the Motive; in all indifferent things of common life let Reason direct thee; and though thou mayest so far consider in those things the opinion of men, as to observe the rules of common decency, yet never think any praise that comes in to thee from any thing of that kinde, worth the contriving for: Secondly, set up to thy self another aime, viz. that of pleasing God; let that be thy enquiry when thou goest about any thing, whether it be approved by him? and then thou wilt not be at leisure to consider what praise it will bring thee from men. And surely he that weighs of how much more moment it is to please God, who is able eternally to reward us, then men, whose applause can never do us any good, will surely think it reasonable to make the former his only care. Thirdly, if at any time thou art praised, do not be much overjoyed with it, nor think a jot the better of thy self; but if it be Virtue thou art praised for, remember it was God that wrought it in thee, and give him the glory, never thinking any part of it belongs to thee: If it be some indifferent action, then remember that it cannot deserve praise, as having no goodness in it: But if it be a bad one (as amongst men such are sometimes likeliest to be commended) then it ought to set thee a trembling in stead of rejoycing, for then that woe of our Saviours belongs to thee, Luke 6. 26. Woe unto you when men speak well of you, for so did their Fathers to the false Prophets, and there is not a greater sign of a hardned heart, then when men can make their sins the matter of their glory. In the last place let thy prayers assist in the fight with this corruption.
16. A second VERTUE is MEEKNES, MEEKNES.That is a calmness and quietness of spirit, contrary to the Rages and impatiencies of Anger. This Vertue may be exercised either in respect of God, or our neighbour. That towards God I have already spoken of, under the head of Humility, and that towards our neighbour I shall hereafter. All I have here to say of it is, how it becomes a duty to our selves; that it does, in respect of the great advantage we reap by it; which, in meer kindness to our Advantages fit.selves, we are to look after. And to prove that brings us this great advantage; I need say no more, but that this meekness is that to which Christ hath pronounced a blessing, Mat. 5. 5. Blessed are the meek, and not only in the next world, but even in this too, they shall inherit the earth. Indeed none but the meek person hath the true enjoyment of any thing in the world, for the angry, and impatient are like sick people, who we use to say, cannot enjoy the greatest prosperities: For let things be never so fair without, they will raise storms within their own brests. And surely whoever hath either in himself, or others observed the great uneasiness of this passion of anger, cannot chuse but think meekness a most pleasant thing.
17. Besides, it is also a most honourable thing, for it is that whereby we resemble Christ, Learn of me, saith he, for I am meek and lowly in heart, Matth 11. 28. It is also that whereby we conquer our selves, overcome our own unrulie passions, which of all victories is the greatest and most noble. Lastly, it is that which makes us behave our selves like men, whereas anger gives us the fierceness and wildness of Savage Beasts. And accordingly the one is by all esteemed and loved, whereas the other is hated and abhorred, every man shunning a man in rage as they would a furious beast.
18. Farther, yet meekness is the sobriety of the mind, whereas anger is the direct madness, it puts a man wholly out of his own power, and makes him do such things as himself in his sober temper abhors; how many men have done those things in their rage, which they have repented all their lives after? and therefore surely as much as a man is more honourable then a beast, a sober man then a mad man, so much hath this vertue of Meekness the advantage of Honour above the contrary vice of Anger.
19. Again, meekness makes any condition tolerable and eàsie to be endured. He that meekly bears any suffering takes off the edge of it that it cannot wound him, whereas he that frets and rages at it; whets it and makes it much sharper then it would be; nay, in some cases makes that so, which would not else be so at all, as particularly in the case of reproachful words, which in themselves can do us no harm, they neither hurt our bodies nor lessen our estates, the only mischief they can do us is to make us angry, and then our anger may do us many more; whereas he that meekly passes them by is never the worse for them, nay, the better; for he shall be rewarded by God for that patience. Much more might be said to recommend this vertue to us, in respect of our own present advantage, but I suppose this may suffice to perswade men to esteem of it. The harder matter will be to gain them to the practice of it, wherein men pretend I know not what difficulties of natural constitutions, and the like; yet sure there is no man of so Cholerick a temper, but if he did heartily set about it, would find it were not impossible in some good measure to subdue it: But then he must be diligent in using means to that end. Divers of these Means there are, I shall mention some few.
20. As first, The imprinting deep in our Means of obtaining it.minds the loveliness and benefits of meekness, together with the ugliness and mischiefs of anger. Secondly, To set before us the examples of Christ, who endured all reproaches, yea, torments with perfect patience, that was led as a sheep to the slaughter, I say 53. 7. That when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, threatned not, 1 Peter 2. 23. And if he, the Lord of glory suffered thus meekly and unjustly from his own creatures, with what face can we ever complain of any injury done to us? Thirdly, To be very watchful to prevent the very first beginnings of anger, and to that purpose to mortifie all inward peevishness and frowardness of minde, which is a sin in it self, though it proceed no farther, but will also be sure, if it be cherished, to break out into open effects of anger. Therefore when ever thou findest the least rising of it within thee, make as much haste to check it as thou wouldest to quench a fire in thy house, but be sure thou bring no fuel to it, by entertaining any thoughts that may increase it. And at such a time especially keep a most strict watch over thy tongue, that it break not out into any angry speeches, for that breath will fan the fire, not only in thine adversary, but thy self too; therefore though thy heart be hot within, stifle the flame, and let it not break out; and the greater the temptation is, the more earnestly lift up thy heart to God to assist thee to overcome it. Fourthly, Often remember how great punishments thy sins have deserved, and then whether thy sufferings be from God or man, thou wilt acknowledge them to be far short of what is due to thee, and therefore wilt be ashamed to be impatient at them.
21. The third Vertue is CONSIDERATION, CONSIDERATION.and this in a most special manner we owe to our Souls. For without it we shall, as rash unadvised people use to do, rush them into infinite perils. Now this Consideration is either of our State, or of our Actions. By Of our State.our State, I mean what our condition is to God ward, whether it be such that we may reasonably conclude our selves in his favour. This it much concerns us to consider and examine, and that not by those easie rules men are apt to frame to themselves, as whether they believe that Christ died for their sins, that they are of the number of the Elect, and shall certainly be saved; if these and the like were all that were required to put us into Gods favour, none but some melancholy person could ever be out of it; for we are apt enough generally to believe comfortably of our selves. But the Rules God hath given us in his Word are those by which we must be tryed at the last day, and therefore are certainly the only safe ones by which to try our selves now. And the sum of those are, That whosoever continues The Rule by which to try our State.in any one wilful sin is not in his favour, nor can if he so die hope for any mercy at his hand.
22. Now it is highly necessary we should consider what our condition is in this respect: for since our life is nothing but a puff of breath in our nostrils, which may for ought we know be taken from us the next minute, it nearly concerns us to know how we are provided for another world, that so in case we want at present that oil in our Lamps wherewith we are to meet the Bridegroom, Mat. 25. 8. we may timely get it, and not for want of it be ever shut out like the foolish Virgins from his presence. The neglect of this consideration The danger of Inconsideration.hath undone many souls; some by too easie a belief that they were in a good condition, without considering and trying themselves by the foregoing Rule, but presuming either upon some slight outward performances, or upon such a false faith as I even now described; others by the wretched careless going on, without so much as asking themselves what their condition is, but hope they shall do as well as their neighbours, and so never enquiring farther; which wretched carelesness will as certainly undoe the spiritual, as the like would do the temporal estate; yet in that every man is wise enough to foresee, that a man that never takes any accounts of his estate to see whether he be worth something or nothing, will be sure to be a beggar in the end. But in this far weightier matter we can generally be thus improvident.
23. The second thing we are to consider, is Our Actions.our Actions, and those either before or after the doing of them. In the first place, we are to consider before we act, and not to do any Before we do them.thing rashly or headily; but first, to advise with our consciences, whether this be lawful to be done, for he that follows his own inclination, and does every thing which that moves him to, shall be sure to fall into a multitude of sins. Therefore consider soberly and be assured of the lawfulness of the thing before thou venture to do it. This advisedness is in all worldly things accounted so necessary a part of wisdom, that no man is accounted wise without it; a rash man we look upon as the next degree to a fool: And yet it is sure there is not so much need of looking about us in any thing as in what concerns our souls, and that not only in respect of the great value of them above all things else, but also in regard of the great danger they are in, as hath been shewed more at large in the beginning of the Treatise.
24. Secondly, We are to consider the actions when they are past also, that is, we are to examine After they are done.whether they have been such as are allowable by the Laws of Christ. This is very necessary whether they be good or bad; if they be good, the recalling them helpeth us to the comfort of a good conscience, and that comfort again encourageth us to go on in the like; and besides, it stirs us up to thankfulness to God, by whose grace alone we were enabled to do them. But if they be bad, then it is especially necessary that we thus examine them, for without this it is impossible we should ever come to amendment; for unless we observe them to have been amiss, we can never think it needful to amend, but shall still run on from one wickedness to another, which is the greatest curse any man can lie under.
25. The oftener therefore we use this consideration …requency of …onsidera…n.the better, for the less likely it is that any of our sins shall escape our knowledge. It is much to be wisht that every man should thus every night try the actions of the day, that so if he have done any thing amiss he may soon check himself for it, and settle his resolutions against it, and not let it grow on to a habit and course. And that he may also early beg Gods pardon, which will the easier be had the sooner it is asked, every delay of that being a great increase of the sin. And surely whoever means to take an account of himself at all, will find this the easier course, it being much easier to do it so a little at a time, and while passages are fresh in his memory, then to take the account of a long time together. Now if it be considered, that every wilful sin must have a particular repentance before it can be pardoned, Danger of omitting it.me thinks men should tremble to sleep without that repentance; for what assurance hath any man that lies down in his bed that he shall ever rise again? and then how dangerous is the condition of that man that sleeps in an unrepented sin? The weighing of these several Motives may be a means, by Gods blessing, to bring us to the practice of this duty of Consideration in all the parts of it.