The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-12-05
THE VOICE OF THE PULPIT
PRIDE THAT is ABSURD AND SINFUL.
AND PRIDE THAT is RIGHTEOUS.
A Short Discourse by the Rev. Joseph
Cady Allen, Minister of Unity
Church, RedIands, Cal.
When pride cometh, then cometh shame;
,ut with the lowly is wisdom.-Proverbs

make US laugh. The bald and wrinkled
head, the feshy pendant that droops over
the bill, the wings that sweep the ground.
the great fan-like spread of tail, the alder
manic body, stately strut, and grandiloquent
"gobble- gobble -gobble''-feature and move
ment, he is the very ideal of pompous pride.
The righteousness of this self-inportant
fowl comes largely from the resemblance
to human beings. We have all seen men
strut We have been amused at their effort
to be grand, there is something so unnat-
ural, so self-conscious so ill-proportioned In
it. We are not all so impressed with Mr..
Somebody's Importance as to consider q
sight of him an event, and his words as or
acles We smile at his consequential airs
and pompous speeches. We are amused at
the evident discrepancy between his lofty
estimate of himself and our opinion of him.
And sometimes we see him brought to con-
fusion; taken down peg" we say-"then
cometh shame" says our text.
We Judge such a man by outward appear
ances. Could we look into the minds OF
some others less conspicuously conceited
we might find the same absurd Sc esteem.
Many men and women whose thoughts
hardly go beyond the little peck measure
of their insignificant lives are pulled up
with an exaggerated estimate Of the in-
portance of their own accomplishments
and the greatness Of their own talents.
They are full of petty pride that shows it.
self in one way or another-now in a
monopoly of conversation with boastfus re-
hearsals, now IN a pettish insistence on the
attention of others or in the directing
of everything that takes place around
them, now in an unwillngness to admit a
mistake or correct a false impression, now
opinion differs from their own, and so on.
All this proceeds from an assumption OF
superiority that is in most cases impossible
to be correct. If we should take everybody
at his own estimate nearly the whole hui
man race would be made up of superior
people, with only a few ordinary beings
like Abraham Lincoln and Socrates and
Jesus. The ridiculous thing about this false
pride is that it is so glaringly yet so In
nocently false.
1t is a mistake, however, to brand all
pride as absurd, sinful or unmanly. There
is pride that is right and wholesome. No
one laughs at it. 1t inspires respect. No
one wisely condemns it. Such is the pride
that will not stoop to a mean action, will
not tell lie, will not shirk, will not do in
secret anything which one would be ashamed
to have seen or known. We are all en-
dowed with disposition to seek the good
opinion of others. We have also the COM
mon craving for. our own satisfaction and
approval. Both these dispositions are good
ones 1t is well that we desire the praise
of Others We are reused to generosity and
self-forgetfulness and heroism by it. But
this other disposition, to gain our own re-
spect, is the higher one. 1t does all for US
that the love of praise does, and-mo 1t
oIIfh hot &c fheh
enemy of sham. 1t is the spur to lazy vir-
tue that would be content with the easy
standards which the dull consciences or
charitable judgments of others would set
I'D for U.S. 1t is that which we call inward
satisfaction Without 1t there could be no
aspiration 1t is the material of conscience.
This pride does not strut does not try to
make an impression, has nothing small or
ridiculous in it. 1t is all elevating.
But even this may be perverted. We may
compromise with it. 1t is much harder to
be worthy than to seem so. We take the
easy course, and from pleasing others by
appearances begin to delude ourselves in
the same way. We can easily excuse our
own faults and enormously magnify our
virtues This process of deluding others
and ourselves goes on very smoothly SO
long as the delusion is exactly alike on
both sides. If we can persuade ourselves ana
others, too that we are wise and witty and
worthy, we find our delusion as soft ana
yielding as feather bed
But we do not generally find such pleas
ant unanimity. There are generally some
disagreeable persons who will not look at
the matter as we do. We scorn them, OF
course. But the truth is that they have the
right Of it after all And the best thing to
do IL to give up altogether this unlimited
and flimsy shaming. 1t won't succeed.
There's no strength to It, The only strong
thing is truth. Truth can stand inquiry,
can stand ridicule can endure while sys-
toms and fancies and pleasing lies are
dashed to nothingneSs against the realities
of thought and life. Let us be true. Let
us be brave enough to see ourselves as we
are to be ashamed of our weaknesses ana
faults. and to press forward toward the
thing that we want to be. Superhcialty Is
weakness. Come be manly, be womanly,
let us be ourselves. Stop throwing bait to
Cererbus. End this laziy compromise with
nride. Come out into the daylight into lifes
into reality.
There is a vast amount of pride that ~
false because bestowed on wrong objects.
cannot make my heart glow with exulta-
tion when / read of the great walt or
China: however much / may admire 1t. ]
have no reason or right to glory in it.
doubt whether any of you are proud or
the pyramids. Neither of these wonders be-
longs to you or to me. We did not design
or build them. There is no vital relation
between them and us. We realize that only
they have a right to be proud of them to
whose greatness they are silent, but un-
ceasing witness.
But we are often proud of things that
we have no very clear right to be proud
of. Is it not sometimes with money.
possessions, dress, position In society? Here
is some miser that lives in a shanty. His
boarded wealth is a disgrace to him, for
he reveals his own ignorance of its use.
Here is a spendthrift who wears much OF
his inherited fortune his back and let's
the rest sift through his fingers. His money
only reveals his foolishness. The boy or
girl who wastes the property or gifts OF
parents. uses their abundance and their
generosity for his or her own disgrace. I
have seen shelves filled with handsome
books that were only moved for the period
ical busting. The mere legal or physical
possession of a thing is nothing TO be
proud OF at all-the criterion is your appre-
citation and use of it. The picture that you
love is yours. The books you read and re-
fleet over are yours. The landscape you en-