Proneness to Pride

It is a strange thing that the devil should raise men to be proud of that which is not of themselves, but of things they have borrowed or have been given; as for men to be proud of themselves in regard to their parents. There are many who think the better of themselves for their apparel, when they are clothed with nothing they have made themselves. By this the devil has besotted our nature, to make us glory in that which should humble us, and to think the better of ourselves, for that which is none of our own. Nay, many in the church of God are so far from humbling themselves that they are puffed up with a base empty pride, even before God. Therefore, let us take notice of our startling proneness to have a conceit of ourselves for if a man has a new fashion, or some new thing, which nobody else knows besides himself, how astonishingly conceited he is in himself.
Let us take notice, I say, of our proneness to this sin of pride; for the best are prone to it. Consider it an extremely hateful sin, a sin of sins, that God most hates. It was this sin which made him thrust Adam out of paradise. It was this sin which made him thrust the evil angels out of heaven, who shall never come there again. Yea, it is a sin that God cures with other sins, so far he hates it; as Paul, being subject to be proud through the abundance of revelations, was cured of it by a prick in the flesh: being exercised with some dangerous, noisome, and strange cure.
Indeed, it is profitable for some men to fall, that so by their humiliation for infirmities, they may be cured of this great sacrilegious sin. And why it is called a sacrilegious sin? Because it robs God of his glory. For God has said, 'My glory I will not give to another' (Isa. 42:8).

Devotional Readings taken from Puritan Richard Sibbes 'Refreshment for the Soul.'
Josiah's Reformation, pp. 55-56 [43-44]
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