The duty of self-denial briefly opened and urged. By Thomas Watson, minister of the…

The Lord sometimes lets vain conceited persons fall not only foully but finally. The Doves (saith Pliny) take a pride in their Feathers, and in ⟨p. 23⟩their flying high, at last they soar so high that they are a prey to the Hawk. So when men fly high in self-conceitedness, they become a prey to the Prince of the Air. Let all this make us deny our selves, let it kill the Worm of self-conceit. If we are proud of our knowledge, the Devil cares not how much we know. Let St. Paul be our pattern, though he were the chief of the Apostles, he calls himself the least of Saints^*. Ephes. 3.8. and 2 Cor. 12.11. [Greek or Hebrew]—Though I be nothing. This illustrious Apostle, a Star of the first magnitude, did shrink into nothing in his own eyes. 'Tis excellent to be like Moses, whose face had a lustre on it, but he wist not that the skin of his face did shine, Exod. 34.29.

The Lord sometimes lets vain conceited persons fall not only foully but finally. The Doves (saith Pliny) take a pride in their Feathers, and in ⟨p. 23⟩their flying high, at last they soar so high that they are a prey to the Hawk. So when men fly high in self-conceitedness, they become a prey to the Prince of the Air. Let all this make us deny our selves, let it kill the Worm of self-conceit. If we are proud of our knowledg, the Devil cares not how much we know. Let St. Paul be our pattern, though he were the chief of the Apostles, he calls himself the least of Saints^*. Ephes. 3.8. and 2 Cor. 12.11. 〈non-Latin alphabet〉—Though I be nothing. This illustrious Apostle, a Star of the first magnitude, did shrink into nothing in his own eyes. 'Tis excellent to be like Moses, whose face had a lustre on it, but he wist not that the skin of his face did shine,