A trademark of the Papist religion, and most of its Protestant stepchildren, is that “ignorance is bliss,” yet ignorance breeds nothing but pride! For pride thrives only where the heart is veiled, and man remains ignorant that outside of Christ he possesses nothing but sin and death. John 3:19. Should a man be awakened to the truth that he drinks from a fountain that he cannot command or fathom, and walks in a light not his own, a light he cannot kindle nor quench, his pride collapses at once. This lays open the deep folly of pride, for pride can only grow where light has not yet entered, “having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart.” Ephesians 4:18. To know the truth of our condition is to know we are but dust, and that whatever good, wisdom, strength, or grace we possess has been received, not produced. The proud man boasts of much, but in truth he possesses nothing but his sin. Jeremiah 9:23-24. Pride is therefore not merely ignorance in general, but ignorance of grace in particular. To see Christ rightly is to see self rightly, and in that sight pride withers. I Corinthians 4:7. For how can a man boast, when he lives by borrowed breath, walks in a borrowed light, and is upheld at every moment by a mercy whose depths he will never exhaust? Ignorance is not bliss, and ignorance of Christ is fatal! Hosea 4:6. MPJ