The Arraignment of Pride, Chapter 17
CHAP. 17. Of Pride of gifts in general.
GIfts are thoſe endowments with which God fills the minds of men for the edifying of the Church of Chriſt, and of theſe the Apoſtle tells us there is a diverſity, 1 Cor. 12.4. Si ſono benle differenti & de doni, maegli e vn medeſimo Spirito, &c. Queſto fanno il genere ſotto il quale ſi contengonole specie che ſono ſoggiunte delle amminiſtrationi, & operationi. Ital. Annota. in 1 Cor. 12.4, 5, 6.and theſe all proceed from the Spirit of God: Gifts are (as it were) the life of a Chriſtian; and the Spirit of God is the life of them all. There is not greater variety of Herbs, Trees, Plants, Knots, Flowers in a curious garden encloſed (to which the Church is compared) then there is of gifts in the minds of men: ſome indeed have a double portion of gifts, as Eliſha had of the ſpirit of Elijah, and every one hath his proper gift ſuitable to that place whereunto God hath called him, his dimenſum, as the Scripture termeth it. Now the deſign of the Devil is to make a man proud of his gifts, and to look more upon his gifts, then look to the giver of them: when a man feeds this humour in himſelf, and is ſo far from checking it in his heart, that he rather ſeeks to foment it, and add matter to it, and ſheweth it by the contempt of others of inferiour gifts, this is a note that gifts do puffe him up with Pride.
Now this is a great vanity for a man to be proud of gifts.
1. Becauſe theſe gifts are not our own, but Gods: Who made thee to differ from another? or what haſt thou (ſaith Paul) which thou haſt not received? and if thou haſt received it, 1 Cor. 4.7.why then doſt thou boaſt? &c. every good and perfect gift cometh from above from the Father of lights who giveth freely, &c. Jam. 1. We have nothing that is good, Omnia mea mala, purè mala ſunt & mea; omnia mea bona, purè bona ſuit, et non mea. Hugo Card. Auſtin obſerveth againſt the Heathen, that Chriſtian vertues far ſurpaſs the vertues of the Heathen by the name they are called; ſaith he, you call yours habits, becauſe you have them; we call ours gifts, becauſe we receive them from God.but is the gift of God, and cometh from the grace of God. Thus one ſaith, All my evils are purely evil, and mine; All my good things are purely good, and not mine: And Auſtin upon the fifth Petition of the Lords prayer ſaith, What can be leſs then bread? yet leſt we might think to have that of our ſelves, our Maſter hath taught us to beg it of our heavenly Father, ſaying, and praying daily, Give us this day our daily bread: therefore ſeeing all that we have, whither for the body or mind, are Gods gifts, we muſt not ſay of them as proud Nebuchadnezzar doth, Is not this great Babel that I have built? &c. Dan. 4.30. Be not theſe the things that I have attained to by my wit, parts, induſtry? &c. We may not ſay of the gifts of God in us, as the Atheiſts of their tongues, Pſal. 12. that they are our own, and we may do with them what we liſt: for, if they are ours, let us ſhew our evidence, when we purchaſed them, and what we paid for them, before whom the inſtruments were drawn, ſealed and delivered: Beſides, we muſt know that as our gifts be not our own abſolute fee-ſimple and free-hold, but we only copy-holders and tenants at will, nor have we any ſuch cuſtome but may be broken at the pleaſure of our Land-lord: ſo we be not ſo much as quarter owners of them, but only ſtewards over them, and muſt be accomptable for them, Luk. 16.2. Therefore we muſt not be proud of any gift, but acknowledge Gods goodneſs, and ſay with the Kingly Prophet, what ſhall we render to the Lord for all his benefits towards us?
2. Becauſe Pride of gifts hinders a man from doing much good with them; the end why God giveth diverſities of gifts to men, is that they may impart them to the benefit of one another: Poſuit Deus in Eccleſia quoſdam ut oculos, quoſdam ut linguas, nonnullos ut aures, alios item manuum, alios pedum qui rationem obtinerant. Baſil.you know that in the body of the world there are diverſities of commodities for this end and purpoſe, that one Nation may have commerce with another. Hirams country yeelds good timber and ſtone, Solomons country good wheat and oyl: Moah was a ſheep-country, and Ophir was famous for gold, Chittim for ivory, Baſan for oaks, Lebanon for cedars: this is the ground of all commerce and traffick: ſo God hath enriched one with this gift, another with that, not to grow proud of it, or to monopolize it to themſelves, but mutually to impart their gifts to the good of one another. 1 Cor. 12.21, 22, 25.As in the body natural there are many members, yet but one body, and the eye cannot ſay to the hand, nor the head to the foot, I have no need of thee, but all muſt be helpful to, and not diſdain each other, that there may be no ſchiſme in the body, the members muſt have the ſame care of one another: ſo men of the greateſt gifts and parts muſt not diſdain to be helpful to the meaneſt Chriſtian. There was found in the houſe of Luther theſe words, Res & verba Philippus, Res ſine verbis Lutherus, verba ſine re Eraſmus. Melancton was words and matter, Luther was matter without words, Eraſmus words without matter: therefore as Dr. Hall obſerveth, hath the blind man legs, and the lame man eyes, that there may be an exchange between them for the benefit of mankind.
3. The more and greater our gifts are, the more we are indebted to God; when God cometh to call us to give up our accompts, he will look into our receipts: he that hath had five talents muſt account for five; for to whom much is given, of him much ſhall be required. Now to be proud of thy great gifts, Luk 12.48is to be proud how much thou ſtandeſt indebted to God.