ON THE CAUSE, CONSQUENCE AND CURE OF SPIRITUAL PRIDE by JOHN BYROM

SUPPOSE a heater burning in the fire
To be alive, to will, and to desire;
To reason, feel, and have, upon the whole,
What we will call "an understanding soul;"
Conscious of pow'rful heat within its mold,
And colour bright above the burnish'd gold.

Suppose that @3pride@1 should catch this heater's heart,
And from the fire persuade it to depart;
To shew itself, and make it to be known,
That it can raise a splendour of its own;
An own rich colour, an own potent heat,
Without dependence on the fire, complete.

It leaves, in prospect of so fine a show,
The fiery bosom where it learnt to glow;
Cools by degrees, till all its golden hue
Is vanish'd, and its pow'r of heating too;
Its own, once hidden nature domineers,
And the dark, cold, self-iron lump appears.

Transfer this feign'd, imaginary pride,
To that which really does too oft betide,
When human souls, endu'd with grace divine,
Become ambitious, of themselves, to shine;
And, proud of qualities which grace bestows,
Forsake its bosom for self-shining shows.

And thence conceive the natural effects
Of pride, in either single men, or sects;
That for variety of selfish strife
Forsake the one true Cause of all true life;
The heav'nly Spirit-fire of love, within
Whose sacred bosom all their gifts begin.

From which, if reason, learning, wit, or parts,
Tempt their ambition to withdraw their hearts,
There must ensue, whatever they may mean,
The disappearance of the glowing scene;
From the most gifted vanishing, of course,
When dis-united from its real source.

As only fire can possibly restore
The heater's force, to what it was before;
So that of love alone consumes the dross
Of wrathful nature, and repairs its loss;
It will again unite with all desire,
That casts itself into the holy fire.

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