Hugh Binning, Works, p. 253:
You are the sons of God. That is truly the greatest dignity and highest privilege, in respect of which, all relations may blush and hide their faces. What are all the splendid and glistering titles among men but empty shows and evanishing sounds in respect of this? To be called the son of a gentleman, of a nobleman, of a king, how much do the sons of men pride themselves in it? But, truly, that putteth no intrinsic dignity in the persons themselves, – it is a miserable poverty to borrow praise from another; and truly, he that boasts of his parentage, aliena laudat non sua, “he praiseth that which is another’s, not his own.” But this dignity is truly a dignity: it puts intrinsic worth in the person, and puts a more excellent spirit in them than that which is in the world, as is said of Caleb; and, besides, it entitles to the greatest happiness imaginable.
You are the sons of God. That is truly the greatest dignity and highest privilege, in respect of which, all relations may blush and hide their faces. What are all the splendid and glistering titles among men but empty shows and evanishing sounds in respect of this? To be called the son of a gentleman, of a nobleman, of a king, how much do the sons of men pride themselves in it? But, truly, that putteth no intrinsic dignity in the persons themselves, – it is a miserable poverty to borrow praise from another; and truly, he that boasts of his parentage, aliena laudat non sua, “he praiseth that which is another’s, not his own.” But this dignity is truly a dignity: it puts intrinsic worth in the person, and puts a more excellent spirit in them than that which is in the world, as is said of Caleb; and, besides, it entitles to the greatest happiness imaginable.
