2.  I have been always wonderfully delighted with that sentence in holy writ, Pride was not made for man.  There is not, indeed, any single view of human nature under its present condition, which is not sufficient to extinguish in us all the secret seeds of pride; and, on the contrary, to sink the soul into the lowest slate of humility, and what the school-men call self-annihilation.  Pride was not made for man, as he is,

1.  A sinful,

2.  An ignorant,

3.  A miserable being.

There is nothing in his understanding, in his will, or in his present condition, that can tempt any considerate creature to pride or vanity.

3.  These three very reasons why he should not be proud, are, notwithstanding, the reasons why he is so.  Were not he a sinful creature, he would not be subject to a passion which rises from the depravity of his nature; were he not an ignorant creature, he would see that he has nothing to be proud of; and were not the whole species miserable, he would not have those wretched objects before his eyes, which are the occasions of this passion, and which make one man value himself more than another.

4.  A wise man will be contented that his glory be deferred till such time as he shall be truly glorified; when his understanding shall be cleared his will rectified, and his happiness assured; or, in other words, when he shall be neither sinful, nor ignorant, nor miserable.

5.  If there be any thing which makes human nature appear ridiculous to beings of superior faculties, it must be pride.  They know so well the vanity of those imaginary perfections that swell the heart of man, and of those little supernumerary advantages, whether in birth, fortune, or title, which one man enjoys above another, that it must certainly very much astonish, if it does not very much divert them, when they see a mortal puffed up, and valuing himself above his neighbours on any of these accounts, at the same time that he is obnoxious to all the common calamities of the species.

6.  To set this thought in its true light, we will fancy, if you please, that yonder mole-hill is inhabited by reasonable creatures, and that every pismire (his shape and way of life only excepted) is endowed with human passions.  How should we smile to hear one give us an account of the pedigrees, distinctions, and titles that reign among them!

7.  Observe how the whole swarm divide and make way for the pismire that passes through them!  You must understand he is an emmet of quality, and has better blood in his veins than any pismire in the mole-hill.—­Don’t you see how sensible he is of it, how slow he marches forward, how the whole rabble of ants keep their distance?

8.  Here you may observe one placed upon a little eminence, and looking down upon a long row of labourers.  He is the richest insect on this side the hillock, he has a walk of half a yard in length, and a quarter of an inch in breadth, he keeps a hundred menial servants, and has at least fifteen barley-corns in his granary.  He is now chiding and beslaving the emmet that stands before him, and who, for all that we can discover, is as good an emmet as himself.