R. B. 1. As to the Pride of my heart,1 I shall first say this in general; that I am past doubt I have too much of it: As no man is wholly cured of that odious vice, so I am one that have no cause to say that I am perfect. But these things I can confidently say, 1. That so far as I am proud, I sin as much against my own judgement, I imagine, as most men alive do; there being sew that ever I was acquainted with, that have said and written more against it than I have done: I have had these thirty years and more, more odious conceptions of that sin, and a deeper sense of its commonness and prevalency in the world, and the woeful ruins which it makes in the Church and State and souls; and how frequently it showeth it self even in men of great piety and worth, than of almost any other sin. I have had so many thousand thoughts and words against it, as make me much more culpable, if I be proud. 2. And I shall sin as much against my Conscience in being proud as most men in the world. As my Judgement is so much against the sin, so my Conscience commandeth me a very Low and ⟨p. 74⟩Constant self-abasement: It telleth me, that whether I look to a corruptible painful flesh, or to an Ignorant understanding, or to a sinful will, or to a sinful and unprofitable life, I have so little to be proud of, as will render my pride exceeding odious. 3. I do evidently see the odiousness of this sin in others: Were it not for seeming to retort your charge, I should say, that though I cannot as you do conclude of the heart, yet the usual Ensigns of Pride (with Temerity and Injudiciousness, Boldness and Blindness) do appear to me so monstrous in your Writings, above the size that ordinary sinners ever fall to, as maketh me the more apprehend, how dreadful it is to give way to pride in the beginnings; And methinks I see as written on the front of your Writings, Be not high-minded, but fear. Therefore I am still the more culpable, if I abound with that which is so terrible a warning to me, in your self, and other such as you. 4. And as I every day watch and pray against it (and if ever I knew any thing of my self in the world, I am certain that I live in an habituate and ordinary apprehension of my baseness and unworthiness, and of the utter vanity of humane applause) so I find my self partly glad that you tell me of my Pride, that (whatever you mean) I may have one more check to keep it under;
R. B. 1. As to the Pride of my heart,1 I shall first say this in general; that I am past doubt I have too much of it: As no man is wholly cured of that odious vice, so I am one that have no cause to say that I am perfect. But these things I can confidently say, 1. That so far as I am proud, I sin as much against my own judgement, I imagine, as most men alive do; there being sew that ever I was acquainted with, that have said and written more against it than I have done: I have had these thirty years and more, more odious conceptions of that sin, and a deeper sense of its commonness and prevalency in the world, and the wofull ruines which it makes in the Church and State and souls; and how frequently it sheweth it self even in men of great piety and worth, than of almost any other sin. I have had so many thousand thoughts and words against it, as make me much more culpable, if I be proud. 2. And I shall sin as much against my Conscience in being proud as most men in the world. As my Judgement is so much against the sin, so my Conscience commandeth me a very Low and ⟨p. 74⟩Constant self-abasement: It telleth me, that whether I look to a corruptible painfull flesh, or to an Ignorant understanding, or to a sinful will, or to a sinful and unprofitable life, I have so little to be proud of, as will render my pride exceeding odious. 3. I do evidently see the odiousness of this sin in others: Were it not for seeming to retort your charge, I should say, that though I cannot as you do conclude of the heart, yet the usual Ensigns of Pride (with Temerity and Injudiciousness, Boldness and Blindness) do appear to me so monstrous in your Writings, above the size that ordinary sinners ever fall to, as maketh me the more apprehend, how dreadful it is to give way to pride in the beginnings; And methinks I see as written on the front of your Writings, Be not high-minded, but fear. Therefore I am still the more culpable, if I abound with that which is so terrible a warning to me, in your self, and other such as you. 4. And as I every day watch and pray against it (and if ever I knew any thing of my self in the world, I am certain that I live in an habituate and ordinary apprehension of my baseness and unworthiness, and of the utter vanity of humane applause) so I find my self partly glad that you tell me of my Pride, that (whatever you mean) I may have one more check to keep it under;
- 1Of Pride.
