which one man is raised above another, (whether it be of riches, honour, or acquisitions of a more valuable and intellectual kind,) becomes a source of arrogance and conceit. We are all too much inclined to over-rate our own good qualities, and, without recollecting how many are our superiors, to look with contempt upon those below us. But it cannot be too frequently recalled to our minds that pride of every kind is unbecoming the character of a Christian, and irreconcileable to the first principles of his faith. Humility is peculiarly a Christian virtue. We hear nothing of it among the Heathens: their philosophers and eminent men were actuated chiefly by the love of fame and vain glory, and in their endless disputes and contentions they laboured as anxiously for victory over their adversaries as for the discovery of truth. Even among the Jews, though enjoying the benefit of a Revelation, there prevailed a species of pride, which it seems to have been the object of their Prophetical Writers, as we see it was that of Micah in particular, to suppress. This was Spiritual pride; for which the Pharisees (the most numerous and popular Sect among the Jews) are so often censured by our Saviour. To such a height had their vanity risen, as to assert that a Wise Man, that is a Scribe or Doctor of their Law, was to be ranked in dignity above all other

mortals.* It is easy to perceive the folly of such assertions, and just to condemn them. But let us take care that we, as professors of the pure Religion of Christ, do not fall into similar absurdities. Has not spiritual pride made some progress among ourselves? Have we profited by the lesson which the Prophet Micah has taught us? If so, what shall we say to the pretensions of certain preachers and expounders of the Gospel in our own times? Is there any thing like humility in affecting to be admitted into the counsels of the Most High, and to be able to announce who are destined to eternal happiness, and who to eternal misery: in presuming to consider themselves as the Elect of God, and even to be capable of ascertaining the precise moment when they were invested with this high privilege? Is it "walking humbly with God" to assume the character of an inspired Teacher; to pretend to speak in unknown Tongues, and to work miracles, after the manner of the Apostles and first Disciples of our Lord? There is no doubt that, when the imagination is strongly excited, it will suggest to the mind the conceit of supernatural illuminations, and that where the will is predisposed to co-operate with such suggestions, they are not only believed, but pertinaciously

* See Lightfoot on Matth. xxiii. 14, Vol. 2, p. 233.

defended.*

While this kind of spiritual pride takes possession of the human heart, new Enthusiasts will constantly arise, who will again lay claim to undescribable experiences, and celestial communications. From the days of Simon Magus to the present time there has not been wanting some pretender to extraordinary gifts of the Spirit; giving himself out "for some great one," and assuming authority over his deluded followers: and hence have arisen most of the Heresies and Schisms which, from the earliest ages, have disturbed the Christian Church.

But such vain-glorious pretensions were, as we have seen, inconsistent with the character of a truly pious and sincere worshipper, even under the Old Covenant: much less tolerable are they under the New. Why did our Saviour reprove the Pharisees, but because they made pretensions to superior knowledge and sanctity; because by their unauthorized traditions, and a scrupulous attention to the mere ceremonials of Religion, they laid a heavy yoke on the neck of their disciples, and kept them in subjection to their authority. When one of this Sect, in an act of worship, declared that "he gave tithes of all that he possessed," and that he was neither "an extortioner, nor unjust

* See Dr. Nott's Bampton Lectures, Sermon 1, p. 54.

person;

he

appears to have had some claim to the merit of having "done justly, and loved mercy:" but he did not "walk humbly with his God."

The true believer, on the contrary, will draw from these examples of spiritual pride such reflections as will produce a far different effect upon his heart. Satisfied that the written word of God is the only source from which Religious Knowledge is to be derived, he will not pretend to works of supererogation, (the presumption which we condemn in the Church of Rome) neither will he expect extraordinary communications.† Recollecting that "to every one is given Grace, according to the measure of the gift of Christ," he will not presume upon such advantages, nor "do any thing through strife, or vain glory, but in lowliness of mind;" and having endeavoured to imitate his Saviour upon earth in his humiliation, benevolence, and good works, he will humbly hope to be united to him in a glorified existence in Heaven.

* Luke xviii. 11, 12.

+ See Nott, ubi supra, Sermon 5, p. 320.

SERMON XI.

REVELATION THE TRUE SOURCE OF RELIGIOUS KNOWLEDGE.

1 CORINTH. III. 11.

Other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.

IT is incumbent on all who call themselves Christians, that they should "come to the knowledge of the truth;" i. e. that they should obtain a full conviction of the truth and importance of that Religion in which they have been educated. When persuaded that "the Doctrine is of God," we cannot be indifferent to the Duties which it prescribes: a sound Faith will "be made perfect by works," and will be discerned by our morals, as a tree by its fruits. It is obvious, however, that our progress toward such a "lively Faith," and perfect state of conviction, will be much accelerated, or retarded, according to the method which we adopt in prosecuting our religious inquiries. We must set out with a just idea of the fundamental