THE FOLLY OF PRIDE

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Mar 29, 1877

THE FOLLY OF PRIDE.

The very witty and sarcastic Rev. Sydney Smith thus discourseth on the folly of pride in such a creature as man:—

“After all, take some quiet, sober moment of life and add together the two ideas of pride and of man; behold him, creature of a span high, stalking through infinite space in all the grandeur of littleness. Perched on a speck of the universe, every wind of heaven strikes into his blood the coldness of death; day and night, as dust on the wheel, he is rolled along the heavens, through a labyrinth of worlds, and all the creations of God are flaming above and beneath. Is this a creature to make himself a crown of glory, to deny his own flesh, to mock his fellow, sprung from that dust to which both will return? Does the proud man not err? Does he not suffer? Does he not die? When he reasons is he never stopped by difficulties? When he acts, is he never tempted by pleasure? When he lives, is he free from pain? When he dies, can he escape the common grave? Pride is not the heritage of man; humility should dwell with frailty, and atone for ignorance, error, and imperfection.”