The Folly of Pride by G. W. A.

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Nov 3, 1874

The Folly of Pride.

By G. W. A.

DR. THOS. DICK, the learned Christian philosopher, in his “Philosophy of a Future State,” has the following excellent thoughts on the folly of pride. They are worthy of more than a casual reading.

G. W. A.

Let me ask the man in whose heart pride and haughtiness predominate, if he really imagines that he can be a candidate for a glorious and immortal existence? Does he not at once perceive the inconsistency of such a thought with the dictates of reason, and the nature of future felicity? Of what has he any reason to be proud? Is he proud of his birth? of his ancestors? of his wealth? of his station? of his beauty? of his personal accomplishments? of his gallantry? of his debaucheries? of his military prowess? or of the thousand of human beings he has slain in battle? Is he proud of his skill in music, in dancing, in fencing, in fox-hunting, and in gambling? of his knowledges in languages, in literature, in arts and sciences? Or is he proud that he is subjected to the asthma, the gravel, the dropsy, and the gout, that his funeral will be attended by a train of mourners, and that a monument of marble will be erected to his memory, when his carcass is putrefying with the reptiles of the dust? Suppose he were admitted into the celestial mansions—which of all these topics would he choose for the theme of his conversation, and the ground of his boasting? Would he attempt to entertain the cherubim and the seraphim by telling them how many rude chieftains he was descended from, how many ancient families he was connected with, and how many acres of land he possessed as a patrimony in that wretched world which is soon to be wrapt in flames? Would he tell them of his expertness as a marksman, of his dexterity as a horse-racer, of his adroitness as a boxer, of his skill in maneuvering an army, of the villages he had burned, of the towns he had pillaged, or of the thousands he had butchered in storming a city? He would be overwhelmed with shouts of indignation, and instantly hissed from their abodes.

Would he boast of his skill in languages and antiquities? or of his knowledge in arts and sciences? What a poor ignoramus (if I may use the expression) would he appear in the presence of Gabriel, the angel of God, who has so frequently winged his way, in a moment from Heaven to earth, and surveyed the regions of unnumbered worlds! Would a poor worm of the earth, whose view is confined within a few miles around it boast of its knowledge in the presence of beings endowed with such capacious powers, and who have ranged over so vast a portion of the universe of God? And, if he has nothing else to boast of, why is he proud? What a pitiful figure he would make among the intelligent and adoring hosts of Heaven? While such a disposition, therefore, predominates in the mind, its possessor can enjoy no substantial felicity either in this life or in the life to come.

On the other hand, the man who, like his Redeemer, is “meek and lowly in heart,” has “the witness in himself” that he has obtained the approbation of his God, that he is assimilated to angelic beings in his temper and affections, that he has the principle of eternal life implanted within, and that he is in some measure qualified for joining in the exercises, and enjoying the felicity of the heavenly state. “For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is holy; I dwell in the high and holy place,—with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.”