The Virginia Gazette

June 14, 1738.

Mr. Parks,

By Conveniency it is, and you have nothing of greater
Importance to communicate to the Public, your inserting
the following Piece in your
Gazette,
will
oblige,
Sir,
Your constant Reader,
And humble Servant,
TAPEINOPHILUS.

Non decet superbum esse Hominem, Servum.
Plautus.

MAN, puffed up with Pride, Ignorance, and too lofty Conceptions of his
own Merit, renders himself not only
unfit for the Society of his Friends and
Acquaintance, but also of internal Ease
and contented Tranquility.

For, as to
the former, where, among Friends, every
little inadvertent Slip in our Behaviour is enough to
create Dissatisfaction, (as it will in a proud, arrogant Man)
the rest of the Company seem to be struck with an Awe
and Apprehension in every Thing they do or say, of incurring
the like Displeasure. And this Reservedness is
immediately succeeded by an entire Absence of the open
and unrestrained Flow of the Soul, (which is a principal
Ingredient of that Pleasantness, Good-Humour, and Felicity,
that Friends enjoy in each other's Company,) which
I presume, is a very disagreeable Companion among
Friends.

And, as for internal Ease and Tranquility of Mind, the
proud Man can never enjoy it: For most Men secretly expect
a share of Notice and Regard from the World, answerable
to the Notions, true or false, they form of their own
Merit: But if their Hopes are frustrated, and the Measure
of Respect they receive, falls short of their own Expectations,
their Vanity can never rest satisfied and contented
under such a Disappointment. And, without Suppositions,
the proud Man will meet with a foul Baulk; for,
when once our Weakness betrays us into an extravagant
and too exalted an Opinion of ourselves, and we make that
Opinion become the Standard-Measure of the World's
Deference and Respect, none will be able to proportion
their Regard and Homage to the Conceptions we have of
our own Merits. And nothing strange if they don't, for
it is, indeed, impossible for any Man to pay adequate
Respect to the surprising Notions Vanity forms of its
imaginary Worth.

Arrogant Pride and Vanity, can never be surfeited with
Praise, — Importuna amat laudari; — and an oft arduous
Task it would be to flatter it. — Donec, ohe jam! ad Calum
manibus elatis, dixent— It is a Vice, that never
meets with any Encouragement in the Breasts of Men of
common Sense. Learning, 'tis true, is apt to giddy the
Brain, and infatuate us with Pride, but that is where 'tis
but slight and superficial; for that, as Water on the
Shoals roars and foams and makes a more thundering
Noise than where it is of a great Depth, is not puffed
up, where it is shallowest; and the highest Pitch of it is, to
know, that we know Nothing.

Pride is directly opposite to the Character of a Gentleman;
for Affability, Condescension, and Humility,
abound most in those of the highest Birth and noblest
Education, and are therefore the most distinguishing
Characteristics of a Gentleman; which confutes that
mistaken Opinion of vulgar Minds, That a stiff, affected
Carriage, a haughty contemptuous Look, and a blustering
Manner of Discourse, enamell'd and strengthened
here and there with an Oath, are the highest Qualifications
in a Gentleman: But that rises no higher, than to
the Dignity of the rough-hewn Country 'Squire, and is
far beneath the Gentleman.

It is a Vice that entirely unmans and unguards the
Soul against any Attempts our crafty and vigilant Enemy,
Satan, that roaring Lion that roars about the
Earth in quest of Souls to devour, may practise against
us. Humility and Meekness of Spirit, the Wings whereon
the human Soul aspires to Heaven; as being of a contrary
Nature, can partake no Share in a proud Man's Mind.

Pride banishes all general Concern, all feeling Sympathy
of our Brother's Calamities, and even all Charity, that
Complex of Virtues: For as St. Austin says, Ubi Charitas,
ibi Humilitas: ubi Humilitas, ibi Pax. And, in
a Word, Pride is very offensive to Heaven, and never
goes unpunished; as Seneca, that divine Moralist, teaches
us, — Sequitur Superbos Ultor a Tergo Deus.

Nothing, I believe, can be more preposterous and absurd,
than for a Man (whose Space is but a Point, as
Shakespeare finely words it, rounded with a Sleep, and
whose Circle of Life is inconsiderable in the Sight of God,
who is from Ever and for Ever) to be capable of entertaining
the least, the remotest Thoughts of Pride in his
Heart. Nothing can favour it, I am sure, except Ignorance:
The lively Oracles of God affirm, That Pride is
hateful before God and Man. It is as improper in Earth
and Ashes, and surely much more, than in those airy,
unsubstantial Spirits, the fallen Angels. It is very unbecoming,
nor ever was designed for Man, nor Haughtiness
for them that are born of a Woman; for when a
Man is dead, he shall inherit creeping Things, and
Beasts, and Worms.

I can really find out no Reason, no Foundation, for so
towering a Superstructure as Pride, besides this tottering
and unstable one, Want of Consideration: For, cast our
Thoughts where we will, we shall meet with Mortifications
to the most swelling Pride.

For, if we dart in Thought thro' vast Immensity to
Heaven, behold the glorified Angels, the plebeian Inhabitants
of that happy Place, are greatly Superior to the
greatest and most exalted here, that is the best and most
virtuous of us all, who are but miserable Clay. And, what
is sufficient to cast a Damp on the most aspiring Haughtiness,
there sits an omnipresent God of infinite Omnipotence
in the Throne, who, in innumerable Places of his
sacred Will, declares his Abhorrence of Pride, and denounces
infallible Vengeance against it.

If our wandering Thoughts penetrate Hell, and explore
the Regions of the Damned, an astonishing and moving,
a dreadful and mortifying Instance of rebellious Pride
blasted, and a manifest Proof of the Almighty's Abhorrence
of that absurdest Vice, employs our Sight in Satan,
and his aspiring, fallen Angels.

If our Imagination takes an ample Range over the
animal Creation, the industrious Providence of the Ant
the labouring Diligence of the Bee, and the wonderful
Sagacity of the Spider, these all incredible Insects and of very short Duration, should be sufficient to exalt Pride up to Humility, raise Arrogance to Admiration, and elevate Haughtiness to Submission. Now whoever thinks in this Strain, must surely be above Pride; look down in Comparison on all the despicable Grandeur and pitiful Pomp of the World, the dreadful Causes of it; which must diminish before him at every Thought.

It must, undoubtedly, be very affecting to any considerable Person, to see, that Men, of sound Learning, and, as to several Things, of good Sense and penetrating Judgment, should be tyrannized over by this imperious Vice. It is really enough to make one remain stupified, in a Poise of Inaction, void of all Desires; of all Desires that have but the least Appearance of Pride, and banish all lofty and swelling Conceptions out of our Hearts.

But, without expatiating or abroad, let us recall our Thoughts, turn them in upon ourselves, descend into our own Bosoms, and search if there be any Nutriment of Pride there. There we shall find, to its Mortification, the same Passions that actuate Brutes; and these too, if not kept in by Reason's Rein, as wildly intractable and ungovernable as Theirs. And, I confess, it is Hard to determine, what Motive of Vanity and Pride can be drawn hence: None of us, or at least very few, can attain to such Perfection, and so absolute a Command of our Passions, but that sometimes they will, maugre Reason and Resolution too, like a rapid Torrent, that bears down all before it, transgress their Bounds and shake off the Yoke.

The old Heathen Philosophers, who had such high Notions of themselves, when they attentively reflected on their Frailty and Impotency, when their Affections, Passions, and Weaknesses flowed in upon them, were convinced of the Absurdity of Pride, cured of its Giddiness, and unphilosophized into Men.