even the individuals among your acquaintance whom, sooner or later, you have not known to be delineated as proud! How frequently has the charge, whether true or false, whether urged against families or individuals, been brought forward through the impulse of pride in the person who advances it! Of the bickerings, the jealoufies, the offences, the diflikes, which feparate neighbours from each other, how large a proportion originates in Pride, manifested by one party or by both!

In the day ye eat of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, faid the author of evil to our first parents, then your eyes shall be opened; and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. Pride was the paffion to which he addreffed himself. Who art thou among the defcendants of the original tranfgreffors, who accurately scrutinifeft thy bofom, and detectest not pride at the bottom of thy heart? Who art thou that, after impartial and comprehensive fcrutiny, difcerneft not pride to be more powerful in thy bofom than almost any other, if not than every other, rebellious propenfity?

In order that we may the more diftinctly contemplate pride as to its nature and its confequences; let in the first place, con

VOL. II.

us,

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fider

fider fome of its modes of operation: secondly, its contrariety to religious principle and to the example of our Lord: and, thirdly, the judgements which by the appointment of God have been annexed to it. We fhall then be prepared to apply some concluding reflections to ourselves.

I. Let us begin with the confideration of national pride. Trace in geographical order the several kingdoms and states by which we are furrounded. Inquire the character of each from attentive obfervers, to whom by long familiarity it has been developed. You will perceive different regions refpectively feparated and defined by appropriate marks of moral difcrimination: and you will perceive one mark extended to all. This people will be defcribed as courageous; that, as interested; that, as fickle; that, as circumfpect. But, before the defcription be completed, you will hear each characterized as proud. Listen to the voice of nations converfing with each other in the public language of manifeftoes and memorials. How often is pride the master-note by which the whole ftrain and cadence is governed! Liften to their most retired intercourse imparted by the records of fecret negotiation. The

mafter

mafter-note is the fame. What is the most frequent, the most obftinate impediment to the fuccefsful conclufion of the treaty? Pride: Pride fometimes wearing the features of emulation; fometimes of ambition; fometimes of refentment; fometimes of policy; but under every form and at every step disclosing its inherent character. When an injury has been hazarded; on what ground does the difficulty of obtaining reparation commonly reft? On the value of the invaded right? Seldom either wholly or principally. It was probably at the instigation of pride that the aggreffor made the feizure. It is pride which instigates his struggles to retain it. Prudence, however, or timidity deters him from the conteft. He is not unwilling to restore his prize. But he cannot brook humiliation. He must not feem to admit that he has done wrong. He must not appear to have been forced into reftitution. The disgrace of conceffion must be veiled. Some specious pretence must be framed: fome oftenfible equivalent devised: fome decent interval allowed. His pride must be managed his dignity must be confulted: his honour must be faved. Such are the disclosures, fuch is the language, of diplomatic annals.

Throw your eye across the narrow bul wark of waters, by which the providence of the Most High has divided and defended us from the Continent; and you behold one of the most gigantic of the examples of national pride which have ever astonished an indignant or a fubjugated world. Our concern, however, is with ourselves. Judge not, that ye be not judged. In all our inquiries, national or perfonal, respecting the conformity of our motives and our practice to fome specific branch of moral and religious duty; the important question, the queftion at iffue between ourselves and our God, is not whether others have not of fended more; but whether we are not offenders. Look on the page of modern history; call to mind our public language and tranfactions within the compass of your own memory: and declare in the prefence of a God of truth, a God who fearcheth the heart, whether the vauntings of national pride have not on numerous occafions been displayed. When we have alluded to the relative rank which we have fuftained among the kingdoms of Europe, to the respect and the awe with which the British name is regarded in diftant quarters of the globe: is it feldom that our hearts have

cherished

cherished the emotions and our tongues uttered the voice of arrogance? Has Providence blessed us with a victory? Has it thus made the most forcible appeal to our humility; thus addreffed itself to our gratitude by bestowing, notwithstanding our many fins and provocations, a signal and unmerited bleffing? What has been the popular cry? "Behold, a proud day for

England!" Has the Divine Wisdom fummoned us to felf-abasement by defeat? How has the fummons been obeyed? City. and country have refounded with the exclamation of felf-fufficient confidence: "We "must rouse the proud spirit of Britons!" Even on the perilous edge of that contest for life, and for every earthly object dearer than life, to which we, at this moment, are hurried by an inveterate and frantic foe; how generally in the fenate and in the private circle, no less than on the parade and in the camp, is national pride, under various forms, addreffed, applauded, pushed forward to additional exceffes! Woe to the fenfelefs counsellors of this world who speak well of pride, which God abhorreth. Proud and haughty corner is his name, who dealeth in proud wrath (a). Shall the counsel of the (a) Prov. xxi. 24.

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haughty