Chapter 11. The Third Kind of Spiritual Pride — Pride of Privileges

THe third kinde of pride, (spiritual pride I mean) is pride of Priviledges, with which these wicked spirits labor to blow up the Christian; to name three,

First, when God calls a person to some eminent place, or useth him to do some special piece of service.

Secondly, when God honours a Saint to suffer for his truth or cause.

Thirdly, when God flowes in with more than ordinary manifestations of his love, and fills the soul with joy and comfort. These are Priviledges not equally dispensed to all, and therefore where they are, Satan takes the advantage of assaulting such with pride.

SECT. I.

First, when God calls a person to some eminent place, or useth him to do some special piece of service: Indeed it requires a great measure of grace to keep the heart low, when the man stands high. The Apostle speaking how a Minister of the Gospel should be qualified, 1 Timothy 3:6. says, he must not be a Novice, or a young Convert, lest he should be lift up with pride, and fall into the condemnation of the devil; as if he had said, this calling is honorable; if he be not well ballast with humility, a little gust from Satan will tople him into this sin; The Seventy that Christ first sent out to preach the Gospel, and prevailed so miraculously over Satan, even these while they trod on the Serpents head, he turn'd again, and had like to have stung them with pride, which our Saviour perceived, when they return'd in triumph, and told what great miracles they had wrought, and therefore he takes them off that glorying, left it should degenerate into vain glory, and bids them not rejoyce that devils were subjest to them, but rather that their names were writ in Heaven. As if he had said, It is not the honor of your calling, and success of your Ministery will save you; there shall be some cast to the devils, who shall then say, Lord, Lord, in your name we have cast out devils; and therefore value not your selves by that, but rather evidence to your souls that ye are of mine elect ones, which will stand you more in stead at the great day then all this.

SECT. II.

A second Priviledge is, when God honours a person to suffer for his truth, this is a great Priviledge. Unto you it is given not only to believe, but to suffer for his sake. God does not use to give worthless gifts to his Saints, there is some preciousnesse in it which a carnal eye cannot see. Faith you will say is a great gift, but perseverance greater, without which faith would be little worth, and perseverance in suffering this above both honorable; This made John Carelesse. our English Martyr, (who though he died not at the stake, yet in prison for Christ,) say, Such an honor 'tis, as Angels are not permitted to have, therefore God forgive me mine unthankfulnesse. Now when Satan cannot scare a soul from prison, yet then he will labor to puffe him up in prison; when he cannot make him pity himself, then he will flatter him till he prides in himself; Affliction from God exposs to impatience, for God to pride; and therefore (Christians) labor to fortifie your selves against this temptation of Satan, how soon you may be called to suffering work you know not, such clouds oft are not long arising. Now to keep your heart humble when you are honoured to suffer for the truth; Consider,

First, though you doest not deserve those sufferings at mans hand, (you can and may in that regard glory in your innocency, you sufferest not as an evil doer) yet you can not but confesse it is a just affliction from God in regard of sin in you, and this methinks should keep you humble; the same suffering may be Martyrdome in regard of man, and yet a fatherly chastising for sin in regard of God: none suffered without sin but Christ, and therefore none may glory in them but he; Christ in his own, we in his; God forbid that I should glory save in the Crosse of Christ, Gal. 6. This kept Mr. Bradford humble in his sufferings for the truth, none more rejoyced in them and blessed God for them, yet none more humble under them then he; and what kept him in this humble frame? reade his godly letters, and you shall finde almost in all how he bemoans his sins, and the sins of the Protestants under the reign of King Edward: It was time (says he) for God to put his rod into the Papists hands we were grown so proud, formal, unfruitful, yea, to loath and despise the means of grace, when we enjoyed the liberty therof, and therefore God has brought the wheele of persecution on us. As he look't at the honor to make him thankful, so to sin to keep him humble:

Secondly, consider who bears you up, and carries you through your sufferings for Christ: Is it your grace or his that is sufficient for such a work? your spirit or Christs, by which you speakest, when call'd to bear witnesse to his truth? how comes it to passe you are a sufterer, and not a persecutour; a confessour, and not a denier; yea, betrayer of Christ and his Gospel? This you owest for to God; he is not beholden to you, that you will part with estate, credit, or life it self for his sake. If you had a thousand lives, you wouldest owe them all to him: but you are beholden to God exceedingly, that he will call for these in this way, which has such an honor and reward attending it. He might have suffered you to live in your lusts, and at last to suffer the losse of all these for them. O how many die at the Gallowes as Martyrs in the devils cause, for felonies, rapes and murders! Or he might withdraw his grace, and leave you to your own cowardise and unbelief, and then you wouldest soon show your self in your colours. The stoutest Champions for Christ, have been taught how weak they are if Christ steps aside. Some that have given great testimony of their faith and resolution in Christs cause, even to come so near dying for his Name, as to give themselves to be bound to the stake, and fire to be kindled upon them, yet then their hearts have failed, as that holy man Mr. Benbridge in our English Martyrol. who thrust the faggots from him, and cried out, I recant, I recant. Yet this man, when re-inforc't in his faith, and indued with power from above, was able within the space of a week after that sad foile, to die at the stake cheerfully: Qui pro nobis mortem semel vicit, semper in nobis vincit: He that once overcame death for us, 'tis he that alwayes overcame death in us. And who should be your Song, but he that is your strength? applaud not your selfe, but blesse him. 'Tis one of Gods Names, he is call'd the glory of his peoples strength, Psalms 89:17. The more you gloriest in God that gives you strength to suffer for him, the lesse you will boast of your self: A thankful heart and a proud cannot dwell together in one bosome.

Thirdly, consider what a foule blot pride gives to all your sufferings, where it is not bewailed and resisted, it alters the case. The old saying is, that 'tis not the punishment, but the cause makes the Martyr; we may safely say further, it is not barely the cause, but the sincere frame of the heart in suffering for a good cause, that makes a man a Martyr in Gods sight. Though you shouldest give your body to be burnt, if you have not an humble heart of a sufferer for Christ, you turnest Merchant for your self. You deniest but one self to set up another, runnest the hazard of your estate and life to gain some applause, may be, and reare up a monument to your honor in the opinions of men; you doest no more in this case then a souldier, who for a name of valour will venture into the mouth of death and danger, only you shewest your pride under a religious disguise, but that helps it not, but makes it the worse. If you will in your sufferings be a sacrifice acceptable to God, you must not only be ready to offer up your life for his truth, but sacrifice your pride also, or else you may tumble out of one fire into another, suffer here from man, as a seeming champion for the Gospel, and in another world from God, for robbing him of his glory in your sufferings.

SECT. III.

A third priviledge is, when God flowes in with more than ordinary manifestations of his love, then the Christian is in danger of having his heart secretly lift up in pride. Indeed the genuine and natural effect, which such discoveries of divine love have on a gracious soul, is to humble it. The sight of mercy encreass the sense of sin, and that sense dissolves the soul kindely into sorrow, as we see in Magdalen. The heart which possibly was hard and frozen in the shade, will give and thaw in the Sun-shine of love, and so long all pride is hid from the creatures eye. Then (says God) Ezekiel 36:31. ye shall remember your ways, and your doings that were not good, and shall loath your selves in your own sight, &c. And when shall this be, but when God would save them from all their uncleannesses, as appears? v. 25. yet notwithstanding this, there remain such dregs of corruption unpurged out of the best, that Satan findes it not impossible, to make the manifestations of Gods love an occasion of pride to the Christian: and truly God lets us see our pronenesse to this sin in the short stay he makes, when he comes with any greater discoveries of his love. The Comforter ('tis true) abides for ever in the Saints bosome, but his joyes they come, and are gone again quickly. They are as exceedings, with which he feasts the believer, but the cloth is soon drawn; and why so, but because we cannot bear them for our every day food? A short interview of heaven, and a vision of love now and then upon the mount of an ordinance or affliction, cheeres the spirits of drooping Christians, who might they have leave to build Tabernacles there, and dwell under a constant shine of such manifestations, would be prone to forget themselves, and think they were Lords of their own comforts. If holy Paul was in danger of falling into this distemper of pride from his short rapture, to prevent which God saw it needful to let him blood with a thorne in the flesh, would not our blood much more grow too rank, and we too crank and wanton, if we should feed long on such luscious food? And therefore, if ever (Christian) you had need to watch, then is the time when comforts abound, and God dandles you most on the knee of his love, when his face shines with clearest manifestations, lest this sin of pride (as a thief in the candle) should swaile out your joy. To prevent which you shouldest do well; First, to look that you measurest not your grace by your comfort, lest so you beest led into a false opinion, that your grace is strong, because your comforts are so. Satan will be ready to help forward such thoughts as a fit medium to life you up, and slacken your care in duty for the future. Such discoveries do indeed bear witnesse to the truth of your grace, but not to the decree and measure of it; the weak child may be, yea, is oftner in the lap then the strong. Secondly, do not so much applaud your self in your present comfort, as labor to improve it for the glory of God. Up and eate, says the Angel to the Prophet, because the journey is too great for you. The manifestations of Gods love are to fit us for our work. It is one thing to rejoyce in the light of our comfort, and another to go forth in the power of the Spirit comforting us (as Giants refreshed with this wine) to run our race of duty and obedience with more strength and alacrity. He shows his pride, that spends his time in telling his money meerly to see how rich he is; but he his wisdom, that layes out his money and trades with it. The boaster of his comforts will lose what he has, when he that improves his comforts in a fuller trade of duty shall adde more to what he has. Thirdly, remember you dependest on God for the continuance of your comfort. They are not the smiles you had yesterday can make you joyous to day, any more than the bread you did then eate can make you strong without more; you needest new discoveries for new comforts: let God hide his face, and you will soon lose the sight, and forget the taste of what you even now had. It is beyond our skill or power to preserve those impressions of joy, and comfortable apprehensions of Gods favor on our spirits, which sometimes we finde; as Gods presence brings those, so when he goes he carries them away with him, as the setting-Sun does the day. We would laugh heartily at him, who when the Sun shines in at his window, should think by shutting that to imprison the Sun-beams in his chamber; and doest you not show as much folly, who thinkest because you now have comfort, you therefore shalt never be in darkness of Spirit more? The believers comfort is like Israels Manna: 'tis not like our ordinary bread and provision; we buy at market and lock up in our Cupboards where we can go to it when we will; no, it is rained as that was from heaven. Indeed God provided for them after this sort to humble them, Deuteronomy 8:16. Who fed you in the wilderness with Manna which your fathers knew not, that he might humble you. It was not because such mean food, that God is said to humble them; for it was delicious food; therefore call'd Angels food, Psalms 78:25. Such as if Angels did eate, might serve them. But the manner of the dispensing it, from hand to mouth, every day their portion and no more, so that God kept the key of their Cupboard, they stood to his immediate allowance; and thus God communicates our spiritual comforts for the same end to humble us. So much for this second sort of spiritual wickedness.

I had thought to have instanced in some other, as hypocrisie, unbelief, formality; but possibly the subject being general, what I have already said may be thought but a digression, and that too long.

I shall therefore conclude this branch of spiritual wickedness, in a word to those who are yet in a natural and unsanctified state, which is to stir them up from what I have said (concerning Satans assaulting beleevers with such temptations;) to consider seriously, how that Satans chief designe against them also lies in the same sins. These are the wickednesses he labors to ingulph you in above all others. If ever you perish, it will be by the hand of these sins. 'Tis your feared conscience, blinde minde, and dedolent impenitent heart, will be your undoing if you miscarry finally. Other sins, the devil knowes, are preparatory to these, and therefore he drawes you into them to bring you into these. Two ways they prepare a way to spiritual sins; First, as they naturally dispose the sinner to them; 'tis the nature of sin to blinde the minde, stupifie the conscience, harden the heart, as is implied, Hebrews 3:13. Lest your heart be hardened through the deceitfulnesse of sin. As the feet of Travellers beat the high way hard, so does walking in carnal grosse sins the heart; they benumbe the conscience, so that in time the sinner loses his feeling, and can carry his lusts in his heart, (as Bedlams their pins in their very flesh) without pain and remorse. Secondly, as they do provoke God by a judiciary act to give them up to these sins, Lam. 3.65. Give them obstinacy of heart, (so 'tis in your margin) your curse unto them; and when the devil has got sinners at this passe, then he has them under lock and key. They are the fore-runners of damnation; if God leave your heart hard and unbroken up, 'tis a sad signe he means not to sowe the seed of grace there. O sinners pray, (as he did request Peter for him) that none of these things may come upon you; which that they may not, take heed you rejectest not the offers he makes to soften you. Gods hardening is a consequent of, and a punishment for our hardening our own hearts. 'Tis most true what Prosper says, Potest homo invitus amittere temporalia, non nisi volens amittere spiritualia: A man may lose temporals against hia will, but not spirituals; God will harden none, damn none against their will.

The third kind of spiritual pride is pride of privileges — with which these wicked spirits labor to inflate the Christian. Three may be named:

First, when God calls a person to some prominent position or uses him to do some special work of service.

Second, when God honors a saint to suffer for His truth or cause.

Third, when God pours out more than ordinary manifestations of His love and fills the soul with joy and comfort. These are privileges not equally distributed to all, and wherever they are present, Satan takes the advantage of attacking such a person with pride.

Section 1.

First, when God calls a person to a prominent position or uses him to do some special service. Indeed, it takes a great measure of grace to keep the heart low when a person stands high. The apostle, speaking of the qualifications of a minister of the Gospel (1 Timothy 3:6), says he must not be a new convert, lest he be lifted up with pride and fall into the condemnation the devil fell into. As if he said: this calling is honorable. If the person is not well ballasted with humility, even a small gust from Satan will tip him into this sin. The seventy whom Christ first sent out to preach the Gospel prevailed so miraculously over Satan that even as they trampled on the serpent's head, he turned and nearly stung them with pride. Our Savior saw this when they returned in triumph reporting the great miracles they had worked. So He redirected their glory before it could degenerate into vainglory, telling them not to rejoice that demons were subject to them, but rather that their names were written in heaven. As if He said: the honor of your calling and the success of your ministry will not save you. Some will be cast away who will say on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not cast out demons in Your name?' Do not value yourselves by that. Rather, secure evidence to your souls that you are among My elect — that will serve you far better on the great day than any of this.

Section 2.

The second privilege is when God honors a person to suffer for His truth. This is a great privilege. 'It has been granted to you not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake' (Philippians 1:29). God does not usually give worthless gifts to His saints — there is a preciousness in suffering that a worldly eye cannot see. Faith, you will say, is a great gift. But perseverance is greater — without it, faith would be of little worth. And perseverance through suffering is above both in honor. This is what led John Careless, the English martyr — who, though he did not die at the stake, died in prison for Christ — to write: 'Such an honor as this, even angels are not permitted to have. Therefore, God forgive me my unthankfulness.' When Satan cannot frighten a soul away from prison, he will try to inflate him in prison. When he cannot make him feel sorry for himself, he will flatter him until he begins to take pride in himself. Affliction from God exposes us to impatience; honor from God exposes us to pride. Therefore, Christians, labor to fortify yourselves against this temptation. You do not know how soon you may be called to suffering — such clouds often do not take long to gather. To keep your heart humble when you are honored to suffer for the truth, consider:

First, though you may not deserve these sufferings at human hands — and you can rightly take comfort in your innocence, for you are not suffering as an evildoer — yet you cannot deny that it is a just affliction from God in view of the sin still in you. That thought should keep you humble. The same suffering may be martyrdom in relation to humanity and yet a fatherly chastening for sin in relation to God. No one suffered without sin except Christ, and therefore no one may glory in sufferings except through Him. 'Far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ' (Galatians 6:14). This is what kept Mr. Bradford humble in his sufferings for the truth. None rejoiced in them more or thanked God for them more freely — yet none were more humble under them than he was. And what kept him in that humble frame? Read his godly letters, and in nearly all of them you will find how he mourned over his own sins and the sins of the Protestants during the reign of King Edward. 'It was time,' he said, 'for God to put His rod into the hands of the papists — we had grown so proud, so formal, so fruitless; we had come to loathe and despise the means of grace even while we enjoyed the freedom to use them. And so God has brought the wheel of persecution upon us.' He looked at the honor to make him thankful, and at his sin to keep him humble.

Second, consider who is holding you up and carrying you through your sufferings for Christ. Is it your grace or His that is sufficient for such a task? Is it your own spirit or Christ's by which you speak when called to bear witness to His truth? How is it that you are a sufferer and not a persecutor — a confessor and not a denier, or even a betrayer of Christ and His Gospel? You owe that entirely to God. He is not in your debt because you are willing to give up your estate, your reputation, or your life for His sake. If you had a thousand lives, you would owe them all to Him. But you are deeply indebted to God that He calls for them in this way — in a way that carries such honor and reward with it. He could have let you live in your lusts and at last lose everything for them. Many die on the gallows as martyrs in the devil's cause, for their crimes. Or He could withdraw His grace and leave you to your own cowardice and unbelief — and then you would quickly show your true colors. The boldest champions for Christ have been shown how weak they are the moment Christ steps aside. Some who gave great testimony of their faith and resolution in Christ's cause — even coming so close to death as to be bound to the stake with the fire being lit — have had their hearts fail them at that moment. Mr. Benbridge, in our English martyrology, pushed the faggots away and cried out: 'I recant! I recant!' Yet within a week after that painful failure, this same man — reinforced in his faith and given power from above — was able to die at the stake with cheerfulness. 'He who once overcame death for us is always overcoming death in us.' And who should be your song of praise but the One who is your strength? Do not applaud yourself — bless Him. It is one of God's names: He is called the glory of His people's strength (Psalm 89:17). The more you glory in God who gives you strength to suffer for Him, the less you will boast of yourself. A thankful heart and a proud heart cannot live in the same chest.

Third, consider what a foul stain pride casts on all your sufferings. Where it is not mourned over and resisted, it changes the whole character of the suffering. The old saying is that it is not the punishment but the cause that makes a martyr. We may safely add: it is not merely the cause, but the sincere frame of heart in suffering for a good cause, that makes a person a martyr in God's sight. Though you were to give your body to be burned, if you lack the humble heart of one suffering for Christ, you have simply become a merchant trading for your own benefit. You are only denying one version of self in order to set up another — risking estate and life to gain applause, and perhaps raise a monument to your honor in people's opinions. You are doing nothing more than a soldier who plunges into mortal danger for the sake of a reputation for bravery. Only you are displaying your pride under a religious disguise — which does not help it, but makes it worse. If you would be in your sufferings a sacrifice acceptable to God, you must not only be ready to offer your life for His truth, but sacrifice your pride as well. Otherwise you may tumble from one fire into another — suffering here from people as an apparent champion for the Gospel, and in another world suffering from God for robbing Him of His glory in your sufferings.

Section 3.

The third privilege is when God pours out more than ordinary manifestations of His love. At those times, the Christian is in danger of having his heart secretly lifted up in pride. The genuine and natural effect that such revelations of divine love have on a gracious soul is to humble it. The sight of mercy increases the sense of sin, and that sense of sin dissolves the soul gently into sorrow, as we see in Mary Magdalene. A heart that was perhaps hard and frozen in the shade will soften and thaw in the sunshine of love — and in that warmth, all pride is hidden from the person's own eye. 'Then,' says God in Ezekiel 36:31, 'you will remember your ways and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight.' And when does this happen? When God saves them from all their uncleannesses, as the context makes clear (verse 25). Yet despite this, such dregs of corruption remain unpurged even in the best of believers that Satan finds it quite possible to turn the manifestations of God's love into an occasion for pride in the Christian. And God lets us see how prone we are to this sin by how briefly He stays when He comes with any greater revelations of His love. The Comforter does abide forever in the believer's heart — but His joys come and go quickly. They are like a special feast God prepares for the believer, but the table is soon cleared. Why? Because we cannot handle such food as our daily diet. A brief glimpse of heaven, a vision of love now and then on the mountaintop of a worship service or an affliction, refreshes the spirits of downcast Christians. But if they were allowed to build their homes there and live under the constant shine of such manifestations, they would quickly forget themselves and begin to think they were lords of their own comfort. If the holy apostle Paul was in danger of falling into the disorder of pride from his brief rapture into the third heaven — so much so that God found it necessary to let his blood with a thorn in the flesh — how much more would our blood grow too hot, and we too proud and self-indulgent, if we were to feed long on such rich spiritual food? Therefore, Christian, if there is ever a time to be on guard, it is when comforts abound and God holds you most tenderly in the arms of His love, when His face shines with the clearest manifestations of grace — lest the sin of pride, like a snuffer on a candle, extinguish your joy. To guard against this, do the following. First, do not measure your grace by your comfort, or you will be led into the false belief that your grace is strong simply because your comforts are strong. Satan will eagerly encourage such thinking, because it is a perfect tool to lift you up with pride and slacken your diligence in duty going forward. Such revelations do bear witness to the reality of your grace — but not to its degree or measure. The weak child is often more in the parent's lap than the strong one. Second, do not spend your time applauding yourself in your present comfort, but rather use it for the glory of God. 'Arise and eat,' the angel said to the prophet, 'because the journey is too great for you.' The manifestations of God's love are meant to equip us for our work. There is a difference between simply rejoicing in the light of your comfort and going forth in the power of the Spirit — refreshed like a strong man by wine — to run your course of duty and obedience with greater strength and eagerness. A person shows pride when he spends his time counting his money merely to see how rich he is. But he shows wisdom when he puts his money to work and trades with it. The person who boasts about his comforts will lose what he has. The one who invests his comforts in a fuller life of duty will add to what he already has. Third, remember that you depend on God for the continuance of your comfort. The smiles you received yesterday cannot make you joyful today, any more than the bread you ate then can make you strong now without more food. You need new revelations for new comfort. Let God hide His face, and you will quickly lose the sight and forget the taste of what you just experienced. It is beyond our skill or power to preserve those impressions of joy and those comforting senses of God's favor that we sometimes experience. As God's presence brings them, so when He departs He carries them away with Him — as the setting sun takes the day. We would laugh at someone who, when the sun shone through his window, tried to imprison the sunbeams by shutting the window. But do you not show the same foolishness when you think that because you have comfort now, you will never again be in spiritual darkness? The believer's comfort is like Israel's manna: it is not like ordinary bread that you buy at market and lock in your cupboard, to go to whenever you wish. No — it is rained down from heaven, as the manna was. God provided for Israel in that way specifically to humble them (Deuteronomy 8:16): 'He fed you in the wilderness with manna which your fathers did not know, that He might humble you.' It was not the simplicity of the food that humbled them — manna was delicious, called 'angels' food' in Psalm 78:25, food fit even for angels. What humbled them was the manner of its delivery: hand to mouth, day by day, their portion and no more. God kept the key to their storehouse, and they depended entirely on His immediate provision. In the same way, God distributes our spiritual comforts — to humble us. This concludes our treatment of this second kind of spiritual wickedness.

I had intended to address some other kinds as well — such as hypocrisy, unbelief, and formality — but since the subject is broad, what I have already said may be seen as a digression, and one that has already gone on long enough.

I will therefore close this section on spiritual wickedness with a word to those who are still in an unconverted and unsanctified state — to stir them up by what I have said about Satan's assaulting believers with such temptations. Consider carefully that Satan's chief design against you also lies in these very same sins. These are the wickednesses he works hardest to draw you into above all others. If you ultimately perish, it will be at the hands of these sins. A frightened conscience, a darkened mind, and a deadened, unrepentant heart — these will be your undoing if you are finally lost. Other sins, Satan knows, are stepping stones toward these — and so he draws you into them as a way of leading you into these deeper ones. Outward sins prepare the way for spiritual sins in two ways. First, they naturally condition the sinner toward them. Sin has a nature that blinds the mind, numbs the conscience, and hardens the heart, as is implied in Hebrews 3:13: 'Lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.' Just as foot traffic pounds a road hard over time, so does walking in gross fleshly sins harden the heart. These sins deaden the conscience until, in time, the sinner loses all feeling — carrying his desires in his heart the way the deranged carry pins stuck in their own flesh, without pain or remorse. Second, they provoke God, as a judicial act, to give sinners over to these spiritual sins: 'Give them hardness of heart — Your curse is upon them' (Lamentations 3:65, marginal reading). And when the devil has brought sinners to this point, he has them under lock and key. These are the harbingers of damnation. If God leaves your heart hard and unbroken, it is a grim sign that He does not intend to sow the seed of grace there. O sinners, pray — as Christ requested for Peter — that none of these things may come upon you. And to help ensure they do not, take heed that you do not reject the offers He makes to soften you. God's hardening of a heart is the consequence of, and punishment for, our own hardening of our hearts. What Prosper says is entirely true: a person may lose earthly things against his will, but not spiritual things — God will harden no one, damn no one, against their will.