Now, here is one of the laws of God's kingdom: "Whosoever exalteth
himself shall be abased; and whosoever abaseth himself shall be
exalted." That is, whosoever, in any way whatsoever, sets himself
up, will be pulled down again: while he who is contented to keep
low, and think little of himself, will be raised up and set on high.
Now the world's rule is the exact opposite of this. The world says,
Every man for himself. The way of the world is to struggle and
strive for the highest place; to be a pushing man, and a rising man,
and a man who will stand stiffly by his rights, and give his enemy as
good as he brings, and beat his neighbour out of the market, and show
off himself to the best advantage, and try to make the most of
whatever wit or money he has to look well in the world, that people
may look up to him and flatter him and obey him; and so the world has
no objection to people's pretending to be better than they are.
Every man must do the best he can for himself, the world says, and
never mind his neighbours: they must take care of themselves; and if
they are foolish enough to be taken in, so much the worse for them.
So the world thinks that there is no harm in a man, when he has
anything to sell, making it out better than it really is, and hiding
the fault in it as far as he can.
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