Season 3 Podcast 101 Pride

PrideWebster’s dictionary defines virtue as a conformity to a standard of right, a particular moral excellence. A vice, of course, is just the opposite: a moral depravity or corruption, a moral fault or failing. We often pit the seven heavenly virtues (chastity, temperance, charity, diligence, kindness, patience, & humility) against the seven deadly sins (lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, envy, wrath, & pride). In Proverbs we read,16 These six things doth the Lord hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him:17 A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,18 An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief,19 A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.(Proverbs 6:16-19)It is universally acknowledged, I suppose, that Pride comes before the fall. In Proverbs we also read,18 Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall (Proverbs 16:18)There is no lack of scriptures condemning pride.18 Woe unto them that draw iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as it were with a cart rope: (Isaiah 5:18)31 Let not him that is deceived trust in vanity: for vanity shall be his recompence. (Job 15:31)The opposite, of course, is praised in Holy Writ.Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in his holy place? 4 He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. (Psalm 24:3-4)Pride is part of the human condition, the natural man. King David said, “Every man at his best state is altogether vanity.”  We can also look to our poets to address the virtues and vices of man. Some poets preach in unforgettable ways so that the virtue or vice sticks in one’s mind. The following verse by Emily Dickenson (1830-1886) is as effective as any sermon I know against vanity.I'm Nobody! Who are you?Are you – Nobody – too?Then there's a pair of us!Don't tell! they'd advertise – you know!How dreary – to be – Somebody!How public – like a Frog –To tell one's name – the livelong June –To an admiring Bog!Today Emily Dickinson is considered one of America’s favorite poets, yet she lived and died in relative obscurity. Another poet, one who enjoyed great fame in his life, Percy Bysshe Shelley, (1782-1822) a leader in the romantic movement in England, burns the fleeting nature of vanity in your mind by telling a simple tale without moralizing.I met a traveller from an antique landWho said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stoneStand in the desert . . . Near them, on the sand,Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,Tell that its sculptor well those passions readWhich yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed:And on the pedestal these words appear:'My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!'Nothing beside remains. Round the decayOf that colossal wreck, boundless and bareThe lone and level sands stretch far away."