believing a lie, and walking accordingly; and, therefore, instead of
keeping upright, he is going where all lies lead; into all kinds of
low and crooked ways, mistakes, absurdities, and at last to ruin of
body and soul. Nothing but truth can keep a man upright and
straight, can keep a man where God has put him, and where he ought
to be; and the man whose heart is puffed up by pride and self-
conceit, who is looking at himself and not at God, that man has
begun upon a falsehood, and will soon get out of tune with heaven
and earth. For consider, my friends: suppose some rich and mighty
prince went out and collected a number of children, and of sick and
infirm people, and said to them, "You cannot work now, but I will
give you food, medicine, every thing that you require, and then you
must help me to work; and I, though you have no right to expect it
of me, will pay you for the little work you can do on the strength
of my food and medicine."--Is it not plain that all those persons
could only live by faith in their prince, by trusting in him for
food and medicine, and by acknowledging that that food and medicine
came from him, and thanking him accordingly? If they wished to be
true men, if they wished him to continue his bounty, they would
confess that all the health and strength they had belonged to him of
right, because his generosity had given it to them. Just in this
position we stand with Christ the Lord. When the whole world lay in
wickedness, He came and chose us, of His free grace and mercy, to be
one of His peculiar nations, to work for Him and with Him; and from
the time He came, all that we and our forefathers have done well has
been done by the strength and wisdom which Christ has given us. Now
suppose, again, that one of the persons of whom I spoke was seized
with a fit of pride--suppose he said to himself, "My health and
strength does not come from the food and medicine which the prince
gave me, it comes from the goodness of my own constitution; the