Goodness that did not make thee a Beaft; and with the Grace that is given unto thee, for it has appeared unto all, learn to adorn thy Soul with enduring Beauty. Remember, The King of Heaven's Daughter, the Church, of which true Chriftians are Members, is all glorious within: And if thy Soul excel, thy Body will only fet off the Luftre of thy Mind. Nothing is homely in God's Sight but Sin; and that Man and Woman, that commune with their own Hearts, and fin not; who in the Light of holy JESUS, watch over the Movings and Inclinations of their own Souls, and that fupprefs every Evil in its Conception, they love the Yoke and Crofs of CHRIST, and are daily by it crucified to the World, but live to GOD in that Life wich outlives the fading Satisfactions of it.

CHA P. XII.

§. 1. The Character of a proud Man: A Glutton upon himself. Is proud of his Pedigree. §. 2. He is infolent and quarrelsome, but cowardly, yet cruel. §. 3. An ill Child, Subject, and Servant. §. 4. Unhofpitable. §. 5. No Friend to any. §. 6. Dangerous and mif chievous in Power. §. 7. Of all Things, Pride bad in Minifters. §. 8. They claim Prerogative above others. §. 9. And call themfelves the Clergy: Their Lordliness and

Avarice.

Avarice. §. 10. Death fwallows all. §. 11. The Way to escape thefe Evils.

§. I. TO conclude this great Head of Pride, let us briefly fee, upon the whole Matter, what is the Character of a proud Man in himself, and in divers Relations and Capacities. A proud Man then is a kind of Glutton upon himself; for he is never fatisfied with loving and admiring himself; whilft nothing elfe, with him, is worthy either of Love or Care: If good enough to be the Servant of his Will, 'tis as much as he can find in his Heart to allow: As if he had been only made for himself, or rather that he had made himself. For as he defpifes Man, because he cannot abide an Equal, fo he does not love God, because he would not have a Superior: He cannot bear to owe his Being to another, left he should thereby acknowledge one above himself. He is one that is mighty big with the Honour of his Ancestors, but not of the Virtue that brought them to it; much lefs will he trouble himself to imitate them. He can tell you of his Pedigree, his Antiquity, what Eftate, what Matches; but forgets that they are gone, and that he must die too.

§. II. But how troublefome a Companion is proud Man! Ever pofitive and controuling; and if you yield not, infolent and quarrel fome: Yet at the Upshot of the Matter, cowardly: But if ftrongest, cruel. He has no Bowels of Adverfity, as if it were below him to be fenfible: He feels no more of other Men's Miferies, than

if he was not a Man, or it was a Sin to be fenfible. For not feeling himfelf interested, he locks no further: He will not difquiet his Thoughts with other Men's Infelicities: It fhall content him to believe they are just: And he had rather churlishly upbraid them as the Caufe, than be ready to commiferate or relieve them. So that Compaffion and Charity are with him as ufelefs, as Humility and Meekness are hateful.

§. III. A proud Man makes an ill Child, Servant, and Subject: He contemns his Parents, Mafter, and Prince: He will not be fubject. He thinks himself too wife, or too old, to be directed; as if it were a flavifh Thing to obey; and that none were free, that may not do what they please; which turns Duty out of Doors, and degrades Authority. On the other Hand, if he be an Hufband, or Father, or Mafter, there is fcarcely any enduring. He is fo infufferably curious and tefty, that 'tis an Affliction to live with him: For hardly can any Hand carry it even enough to please him. Some Peccadillo about his Cloaths, his Diet, his Lodging or Attendance, quite diforders him: But efpecially if he fancies any Want in the State and Respect he looks for. Thus Pride deftroys the Nature of Relations: On the one Side, it learns to contemn Duty; and on the other Side, it turns Love into Fear, and makes the Wife a Servant, and the Children and Servants Slaves.

§. IV.

§. IV. But the proud Man makes an ill Neighbour too; for he is an Enemy to Hofpitality: He defpifes to receive Kindness, becaufe he would not fhew any, nor be thought to need it. Befides, it looks too equal and familiar for his haughty Humour. Emulation and Detraction are his Element; for he is jealous of attributing any Praise to others, where juft, left that should cloud and leffen him, to whom it never could be due: He is the Man that fears, what he should wifh, to wit, That others should do well. But that is not all; he maliciously mifcalls their Acts of Virtue, which his Corruptions will not let him imitate, that they may get no Credit by them. If he wants any Occafion of doing Mischief, he can make one; either they ufe him ill, or have fome Defign upon him; t'other Day they paid him not the Cap and Knee; the Distance and Respect he thinks his Quality, Parts or Merits do require. A fmall Thing ferves a proud Man to pick a Quarrel; of all Creatures the most jealous, fullen, fpiteful and revengeful: He can no more forgive an Injury, than forbear to do

one.

§. V. Nor is this all; a proud Man can never be a Friend to any Body. For besides that his Ambition may always be brib'd by Honour and Preferment to betray that Relation, he is unconverfable; he must not be catechis'd and counsel'd, much lefs reprov'd or contradicted: No, he is too covetous of himself to fpare another Man a Share, and much too high, ftiff,

and

and touchy: He will not away with those Freedoms that a real Friendship requires. To fay true, he contemns the Character; it is too much familiar and humble for him: His mighty Soul would know nothing befides himfelf and Vaffals to ftock the World. He values other Men as we do Cattle, for their Service only; and, if he could, would use them fo; but as it happens, the Number and Force are unequal.

§. VI. But a proud Man in Power is very mifchievous; for his Pride is the more dangerous by his Greatnefs, fince from Ambition in private Men, it becomes Tyranny in him: It would reign alone; nay, live fo, rather than have Competitors: Aut Cæfar, aut Nullus. Reafon must not check it, nor Rules of Law limit it; and either it can do no Wrong, or 'tis Sedition to complain of the Wrong that it does. The Men of this Temper would have nothing thought amifs they do; at leaft, they count it dangerous to allow it to be fo, though fo it be; for that would imply they had erred, which it is always Matter of State to deny: No, they will rather chufe to perifh obftinately, than by acknowledging, yield away the Reputation of better judging to Inferiors, though it were their Prudence to do fo. And indeed, 'tis all the Satisfaction that proud great Men make to the World for the Miferies they often bring upon it, that, firft or laft, upon a Divifion, they leave their real Intereft to follow fome one Excels of Humour, and are almost ever destroyed