REASONS FOR HUMILITY. 185 and angels are humble; only devils and fallen men are proud. § 7. If more than the example of that divine Friend is requisite to make you humble, Think what you were; and this one thought, properly indulged, would be sufficient to destroy pride. You were a child of wrath, a slave of Satan, an enemy to God; in the view of God a wretched creature, a malefactor, doomed to an eternal hell; and deservedly condemned to suffer there the death that never dies. You must acknowledge this, or overturn the whole gospel, and set the grace of God altogether aside. Do you, with me, acknowledge this? then of what have we to be proud? Behold a poor wretch, whose crimes are bringing him to the gallows. He has deserved to die. The utmost that human justice can inflict upon him, is no more than he has merited. He has lost his friends, his character, his liberty, and deserved to lose them all: he is about to lose his life, and if it be taken from him, all must acknowledge it is justly taken. Of what has that man to be proud? Let that man by an act of free mercy be pardoned, yet of what has he to be proud? If you are a Christian, you know that you were a lost sinner; that whatever your character may have been in the view of man, in the sight of God it was blasted by the atrocious wickedness of rebellion against him. Of what have you to be proud? You were a slave of the devil, and perhaps passed many years as his slave; can you think of this and be proud? Had God left you to yourself, you would have been a slave of the devil to this very hour; can you think of this and be proud? You delivered not yourself, it was God who translated you out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of his dear Son. You did deserve hell, you were condemned to it; can you think of this and be proud? The most miserable wretch that was ever led to execution, was never a hundredth part so guilty with respect to his fellow-creatures, as we have been with respect to God; and the most miserable death, which the most wicked criminal ever suffered, was not a thousandth part so dreadful, as that eternal punishment which every sinner has deserved. Of what then have we to be proud? § 8. When you view yourself as a Christian, you may doubtless find much to deepen humility. Compare yourself 186 REASONS FOR HUMILITY. with some other disciples of the Saviour. How much stronger has been their faith! What far brighter hopes have animated their souls! How much stronger has the flame of holy love burned in their breasts! With what much closer imitation have they copied the holy Jesus! How much more have they honoured God, glorified their Redeemer, and benefited their fellow-pilgrims! In short, how heavenly have been their affections, how holy their lives, and with how quick a progress have they been pressing on to heaven !—View this, and sink low in humility. Perhaps too this has been the case of many who had few privileges and advantages like yours; who had less knowledge and fewer gifts, and whose natural talents were far below yours. See this, and sink still deeper in humility. § 9. Think what as a Christian you should be. How elevated is the Christian character, as described in the word of God. What holiness, meekness, gentleness, devotion, faith, love, peace, and joy, should adorn the Christian! How much should the follower of Jesus on earth resemble the disciple of Jesus in heaven! But is not the likeness in yourself extremely imperfect? Have not you reason to lament numerous defects; to deplore the weakness of almost every grace, and to confess yourself still but a mere infant in religion! Is this the case, and should you not be clothed with humility? and appear robed in it in all your dealings with man, and all your intercourse with God? Consider not what you are in the judgment of your fellowcreatures, but what you are in the judgment of the infinitely pure and holy God. What they call frailties, are in his sight great crimes. Place yourself as in his presence. Contrast the pollution of your nature with the infinite purity of his; your sinful heart, with his unspotted holiness; your defective virtues, with his unblemished excellences; your weak graces and imperfect services, with those perfect glories that adorn his character, and with that perfection of purity and obedience which his law requires.-As in the bright beams of the noon-day sun, innumerable atoms, before unseen, become clearly visible, and are seen floating in the air: so in the presence of Jehovah, innumerable defects, and faults, and sins, perhaps before unseen, become conspicuous in the view of the soul. Angels veil their faces in his presence, and saints the REASONS FOR HUMILITY. 187 most exalted sink before him into the lowest depths of self-abasement. The eminently pious Doddridge expressing his feelings, not long before the close of a life of distinguished usefulness and activity, said, "My confidence is, not that I have lived such or such a life, or served God in this or the other manner : I know of no prayer I ever offered, no service I ever performed, but there has been such a mixture of what was wrong in it, that instead of recommending me to the favour of God, I needed his pardon, through Christ, for the same. Yet I am full of confidence: and this is my confidence; there is a hope set before me: I have fled, I still fly, for refuge to that hope." Of archbishop Usher it is related, that a friend urged him to write his thoughts on sanctification, which he engaged to do; but when the performance of his engagement was claimed, he replied to this effect: "I have not written, and yet I cannot charge myself with a breach of promise; for I began to write, but when I came to treat of the new creature, which God formeth by his Spirit in every regenerate soul, I found so little of it wrought in myself, that I could speak of it only as parrots, or by rote, without the knowledge of what I might have expressed; and therefore I durst not presume to proceed any further upon it." His friend being amazed at such a confession, from so eminently holy a person, he added, "I must tell you, we do not well understand what sanctification and the new creature are. It is no less than for a man to be brought to an entire resignation of his own will to the will of God, and to live in the offering up of his soul continually in the flames of love, and as a whole burnt-offering to Christ and oh! how many who profess Christianity are unacquainted experimentally with this great work upon their souls." Consider further, whence all that is holy in your dispositions, all that is virtuous in your character, has sprung. Not from yourself: you have not made yourself to differ; but may say, "By the grace of God I am what I am." Your defects are your own; but every virtue and every excellence comes from God. To know that you are made a partaker of Christian graces, should call forth your gratitude to him, whose grace has made you what you are; but to know that all these graces come from God should still keep you humble. When a Christian,* eminent for charity, had conferred some help upon an orphan, a lady who received it, said, “When he is old enough I will teach him to name and thank his benefactor." "Stop," said he, "thou art mistaken: we do not thank the clouds for the rain. Teach him to look higher, and thank HIM who giveth both the clouds and the rain." When a friend was attempting to comfort the eminently useful Richard Baxter, on his death-bed, by reminding him of the good done by his preaching and writings, he replied, “ I was but a pen in God's hand; and what praise is due to a pen." So, whatever you are, or ever may be, God is the source of your graces. Praise should be his, humility yours. 10. RESIGNATION.-To yield all we have and are to the disposal of God; to lie passive in his hand; and to have no will of our own, no will but his, is a state infinitely desirable. Entire resignation to the will of God, is impressively inculcated in the Scriptures, by the example of various distinguished characters, and above all others, by that of the Lord of life. Eli, who appears to have been a man of piety, but in the management of his family guilty of great faults, when warned of the destruction that awaited his house, acquiesced in the dreadful decision of God: "It is the Lord, let him do what seemeth him good." Job, bowed down with almost insupportable woes, calmly said, "The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." Hezekiah having offended God, and being warned of the evils that would overwhelm his family, replied, "Good is the word of the Lord which thou hast spoken." "h An infinitely greater than these, Jesus, displayed resignation still more perfect. When contemplating his sufferings, he said, "Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? (shall I say) Father, save me from this hour? But for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify thy name.' "'i When agonizing in Gethsemane, he prayed, " Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless, not what I will, but what thou wilt." "O, my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done."k Richard Reynolds. 1 Sam. iii. 18. (g) Job i, 21. (h) 2 Kings xx. 19. (i) John xii. 2(4) Mark xiv. 36; Luke xxii. 43, 44 Matt. xxvi. 42. That it is not improper to desire the removal of sufferings and the alleviation of pain, is evident from the Redeemer's conduct; and it is equally evident, that the Christian in affliction may pray repeatedly and earnestly, for deliverance from the sorrows he endures. But then he still should strive to add, as the language of his very heart, Not my will, but thine, be done. These examples of resignation are recorded for our imitation. Think not that this sweet passive grace is only needed to adorn the brightest piety, to shine around a martyr's head. It is essential to the Christian character in every clime, in every form, and under every circumstance. While you are a pilgrim upon earth, love and cherish this heavenly grace; especially in the dark and cloudy day of adversity and pain, strive to exercise unfeigned submission to your heavenly Father's will. Perhaps he may bid you leave scenes of comfort for the chamber of affliction ;—perhaps he may bid you retire from the scenes of useful, active life, to weakness, languishing, and inactivity;-perhaps he may snatch from your embrace friends dearer than life, or warn you by incurable disease, that your sun is about to go down, even at noon :-yet still labour and pray for resignation— that resignation, the most unfeigned, the most entire, whose inmost feeling is, It is the Lord, let him do what seemeth him good. Possessed of this, your soul will enjoy a sweet tranquillity. The tempest of unruly passions will be hushed into a calm. The rebellion of your will to God being subdued, you will be freed from a thousand secret sorrows, that torment the unyielding heart. Peace will take up an abode in your breast, and you will find that it is indeed "Sweet to lie passive in his hand, "And feel no will but his." A season of suffering is not the only season, in which resignation to the divine will is to be exercised. Daily to yield yourself to the disposal of God, is resignation; and daily to do this is a privilege and duty. 11. PATIENCE is another Christian grace, which the sacred Scriptures inculcate upon all the followers of the Lamb. The occasions for the exercise of patience may perhaps all be included under three classes. One consists of the painful and mysterious dispensations of the Most High. Patience in enduring these aright, is nearly allied to resignation. The |