e be vain of his person, his attitudes will
tell the tale. If he be vain of his judgment, or his memory, or his
honesty, he cannot help an unnecessary parade. The world finds him
out, and this is why vanity is ever looked on with contempt. So soon
as we let men see that we are suppliants for their admiration, we are
at their mercy. We have given them the privilege of feeling that they
are above us. We have invited them to spurn us. And therefore vanity
is but a thing for scorn. But it is very different with pride. No man
can look down on him that is proud, for he has asked no man for
anything. They are forced to feel respect for pride, because it is
thoroughly independent of them. It wraps itself up in the consequence
of its own excellences, and scorns to care whether others take note
of them or not.

It is just here that the danger lies. We have exalted a sin into a
virtue. No man will acknowledge that he is vain, but almost any man
will acknowledge that he is proud. But tried by the balance of the
sanctuary, there is little to choose between the two. If a man look
for greatness out of God, it matters little whether he seek it in his
own applause, or in the applause of others. The _proud_ Pharisee, who
trusted in himself that he was righteous, was condemned by Christ as
severely, and even more, than the _vain_ Jews who "could not believe
because they sought honour from one another, and not that honour which
cometh from God only." It may be a more dazzling, and a more splendid
sin to be proud. It is not less hateful in God's sight. Let us speak
God's word to our own unquiet, swelling, burning hearts. Pride may
disguise itself as it will in its own majesty, but in the presence of
the High and Lofty One, it is but littleness after all.

XIX.

_Preached June 27, 1852._

THE LAWFUL AND UNLAWFUL USE OF LAW.

(A FRAGMENT.)

"But we know that the law is good, if a man use it lawfully."--1
Tim. i. 8.

It is scarcely ever possible to understand a passage without some
acquaintance with the history of the circumstances under which it was
written.

At Ephesus, over which Timothy was bishop, people had been bewildered
by the teaching of converted Jews, who mixed the old leaven of Judaism
with the new spirituality of Christianity. They maintained the
perpetual obligation of the Jewish law.--v. 7. They desired to be
teachers of the law. They required strict performance of