What is high among men is an abomination before God.

(Luke 16:15)

Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.

(Luke 18:14)

God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

(James 4:6)

§ 69. The beginning of pride is the devil, who has departed from his Creator and has become from a bright angel the prince of darkness. With this deadly poison he himself was infected, and he infected our hearts so much that we cannot mourn our entire life for that wretchedness.

§ 70. There is nothing more dangerous, more hidden, and more difficult in cure than pride.

Pride is dangerous, for for the proud there is heaven, and instead of heaven hell is determined. God resists the proud, says the Scriptures.

Pride is hidden, because it is so deep in our hearts that we cannot even see it without the help of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who is meek in heart; and we know it better in our neighbors than in ourselves. We see other vices, such as drunkenness, fornication, theft, embezzlement, and so on. For often because of them we feel sorry for ourselves and are ashamed. But we do not see pride. Who has ever recognized himself as proud from the heart? I had never seen it before. Many call themselves sinners, but do not tolerate being called so by others, and although many of them do not respond with their tongues, they accept it not without indignation and sorrow of heart. And so it is shown that the tongue only calls themselves sinners, and not the heart; they show humility on their lips, but they do not have them in their hearts. For the truly humble cannot be grieved and angry at reproaches, since he considers himself worthy of all humiliation.

There is nothing more difficult than pride in terms of healing, for it is with great inconvenience and also not without God's help that we overcome it. We carry this evil within ourselves. Are we in well-being? With magnificence and pomp, contempt and humiliation of our neighbors, it will sit down for us. Do we get into misfortune? Through indignation, murmuring, and blasphemy, it shows itself. Do we try to learn patience, meekness, and other virtues? With the arrogance of the Pharisees rises up against us. And so nowhere and in no way can we get rid of it: it always walks with us, always wants to dominate and possess us.

§ 71. How God resists the proud (James 4:6), they show the terrible destinies of God, which the holy word of God presents to us, so that we, looking at them, would guard with all our might from this vile and soul-destroying vice.

Our forefathers ascended in paradise and coveted divine honor, but they lost the honor they had, and became like senseless cattle (Psalm 48:13), and fell into every calamity. The descendants of Noah ascended, and by creating a pillar they wanted to make for themselves a glorious name – and the Lord confused their language, so that one could not understand the speech of the other (Gen. 11:3-9). Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, ascended, and wanted to embitter and destroy Him against God and people, and he himself perished with all his army in the Red Sea, and sank like tin in deep water (Exodus 14:15,10). Korah, Dethan, and Abiram were lifted up, and they resisted Moses, the prophet of God and their leader, and the earth opened its mouth, and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the people of Korah, and all their goods. and they went down with all that belonged to them, alive into hell, and the earth covered them, and they perished from among the congregation (Num. 16:32-33). Sennacherib king of Assyria lifted up a blasphemous voice against the most high God and against His holy city, and an angel of the Lord went out and smote a hundred and eighty-five thousand men in the camp of Assyria. but the king himself was struck by the sword by his sons (Isaiah 37:36-38). Holofernes, the leader of the Assyrian army, was exalted, and a woman's hand cut off his proud head (Judith 13:8). Haman, the first adviser to the Persian king Artaxerxes, was exalted and hanged on a tree that he had prepared for the innocent Israelite Mordecai (Est. 7). Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, was exalted, and heard a voice from heaven: "They say to you, King Nebuchadnezzar, the kingdom has departed from you! And they shall separate thee from men, and thou shalt dwell with the beasts of the field; they shall feed thee with grass like an ox, and so on (Dan. 4). The city of Capernaum ascended to heaven – and heard from Christ: "And thou, Capernaum, who hast ascended unto heaven, shalt thou descend unto hell" (Matt. 11:23). The Pharisee ascended – and went condemned to his house (Luke 18:14). So God opposes the proud! Thus does the Lord humble the exalted! There is nothing more hateful to God in people than pride. What is high among men is an abomination before God (Luke 16:15).

§ 72. The signs of pride are as follows: