The Humble Soul the
Particular Favourite of Heaven
"When men are cast down,
then thou shalt say, There is lifting up; and he shall save the humble
person." Job 22:29.
"Be ye clothed with humility; for God resisteth the proud, and giveth
grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore under the mighty hand of God,
that he may exalt you in due time."1 Peter 5:5, 6.
"Though the Lord be
high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly: but the proud he knoweth afar off."
Psalm 138:6.
[Preached on a fast-day before the administration of the
Lord's supper, at Orwell, July 27, 1721. ]
It is not material to inquire
when, or upon what occasion, this psalm was penned. In the beginning of the
psalm, the psalmist enters upon a firm resolution to praise the Lord; and he
lays down several excellent grounds of praise and thanks-giving through the
body of the psalm.
As, 1. He resolves to praise God for the experience he
had of his love and faithfulness, in the accomplishment of his gracious word of
promise to him, ver. 2: "I will praise thy name for thy loving kindness, and
for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name." God has a
greater regard to the words of his mouth, than to the works of his hand: Heaven
and earth shall pass away, but one jot or tittle of what he hath spoken shall
never fall to the ground. Some understand this of Christ, the essential Word,
in whom he has set his name, and whom he has so highly exalted, that be has
given him a name above every name.
2. David resolves to praise God for the
experience he had of God's goodness in hearing his prayers, ver. 3: "In the day
when I cried, thou answeredst me: and strengthenedst me with strength in my
soul." God granted him a speedy answer; for it was in the very day that he
cried that he was heard: and it was a spiritual answer; he was strengthened
with strength in his soul. Would you have soul-strength for the work you have
in view? Then cry unto him who is the strength of Israel for it; for "he giveth
power to the faint, and he increaseth strength to them that have no might."
3. He resolves to praise God for the calling of the Gentiles, which he
foresaw by the spirit of prophecy, ver. 4, 5. The prosperity and enlargement of
the kingdom of Christ, is what fills the believer's mouth with hallelujahs of
praise.
4. He resolves to bless God for his different ways of dealing with
the humble and the proud, for his grace to the one, and his contempt and
rejection of the other, in the words which I have read: Though the Lord be
high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly: but the proud he knoweth afar off. It
is the first part of the verse I design to insist upon.
Where we may
notice,
1. The character of the gracious soul; he is a lowly person, one
that is emptied, and abased in his own eyes. He sees nothing in himself, either
to recommend him to God or man: on which account he is sometimes called poor in
spirit, Matth. 5:3. He has god something of the mind and spirit of Jesus in him
and so has learned of him who is meek and lowly, Matth. 11:29.
2. We have
here God's transcendent greatness; he is the high Lord or Jehovah. He is "the
high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, and who dwells in the high and
holy place, to which no man can approach." Who can think or speak of his
highness in a suitable manner? It dazzles the eyes of sinful mortal worms, to
behold "the place where his honour dwells." O how infinite is the distance
between him and us! "There are none among the sons of the mighty that can be
compared unto him." Yea, "the inhabitants of the earth are before him as a drop
of a bucket, and as the small dust of the balance." He is not only high above
men, but above angels: cherubims and seraphims are his ministering spirits. He
is "high above the heavens;" for "the heaven," yea, "the heaven of heavens
cannot contain him." And "he humbleth himself" when "he beholds the things that
are in heaven." O, sirs, study to entertain high and admiring thoughts and
apprehensions of the glorious majesty of God: for "honour and majesty are
before him; strength and beauty are in his sanctuary."
3. You have the
amazing grace of this High God: though the distance between him and us be
infinite, yet he hath a regard to the lowly. The apostle Peter expresses this
by "giving grace to the humble," 1 Pet. 5:5: God is "good to all;" he
distributes the effects of his common bounty to the good and bad, to the just
and unjust: but he reserves his special grace and favour for the meek and lowly
soul. What farther is needful for explication, will occur in the sequel of the
discourse. Observe that the lowly and humble soul is the particular favourite
of the high God. Though the Lord be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly.
This truth is so evidently founded on the text, that I shall not consume
time in adducing other texts of scripture to confirm it. Many that I might name
will fall in, in the prosecution of the doctrine; which I shall attempt,
through grace, in the following method.
I. I shall give some account of
this lowliness and humility, and show in what it consists.
II. Prove, that
the humble and lowly soul is the particular favourite of heaven.
IlI. Why
God has such respect to the lowly.
IV. Lay before you some marks or
characters of the lowly and humble soul.
V. Offer some motives pressing you
to seek after it.
VI. Offer a few directions or advices how it may be
attained.
I. The first thing proposed is, to give some account of this
lowliness and humility, that you may know in what it consists.Now, lowliness
being a relative grace, we must consider it in a threefold view. Either, 1. As
it has a respect to ourselves. Or, 2. As it has a respect to others. Or, 3. As
it has a respect to God.
First, I say, it may be considered with
respect to ourselves. And so it implies,
1. Low and under-rating thoughts
of ourselves. The humble soul has low thoughts of his own person; as David, "I
am a worm, and no man." "I am less than the least of thy mercies," says Jacob.
He has low thoughts of his pedigree: he is not like the princes of Zoan, who
valued themselves on this, that they were the offspring of ancient kings. Some
think there is none like them, because they are of such a clan, and such a
family, they have such lords and lairds for their relations. But the humble
soul makes little account of all these: "Who am I," says David, "and what is
mine house, that thou hast brought me hitherto?" He considered himself as "the
degenerate plant of a strange vine;" as a rotten branch of the corrupted and
fallen family of Adam he views "the rock whence he was hewn, and the hole of
the pit whence he was digged," saying as in Psalm 51.5: "Behold, I was shapen
in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me." Again; the man has low
thoughts of his own abilities for any work or service he is called to perform
in his generation. O, says the lowly soul, I see I am nothing, I can do
nothing; I cannot of myself think a good thought. "I am not sufficient of
myself to think anything as of myself," says Paul. I cannot read, hear, pray,
communicate, meditate, or examine myself: I see such sin and imperfection
attending every duty I set about, as may justly provoke a holy God to cast it
back like dung upon my face: I am sure "my goodness extendeth not to him." I
see I cannot subdue one corruption, or resist the least temptation, when left
to myself; I fall before it, and must needs be carried down the stream like a
dead fish, unless the Lord's grace be sufficient for me. Again; the man has low
thoughts of his attainments, whether moral or evangelical. "O," says Agur, "I
am more brutish than any man, and have not the understanding of a man. I
neither learned wisdom, nor have the knowledge of the holy." And Paul, the
great apostle of the Gentiles, did not reckon that he had attained, or that he
was already perfect; but he forgets those things which were behind, reaching
forth unto things that were before, Phil. 3:12, 13.
2. This lowliness and
humility with respect to ourselves, has in it a self-abhorrence; which is yet a
degree beyond the former. The man sees so much sin and guilt, so much
emptiness, poverty, and vileness about himself, that, with holy Job, he cries
out, "Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I abhor myself, and repent
in dust and ashes." Agreeably to which is that text, Ezek. 36:31: "Ye shall
remember your own evil ways, and your doings that were not good, and shall
loathe yourselves in your own sight, for your iniquities, and for your
abominations."
3. It has in it a singleness of heart in the discharge of
duty, without vain-glory, or Pharisaical ostentation. It argues a proud
hypocritical spirit, to pray, or give alms, or do any duty, to be seen of men,
that we may procure a name to ourselves, or the approbation of others. I am
afraid, there are many that attend sermons, and sacraments, with a design to
maintain their credit and reputation among their neighbours. Verily, such "have
their reward;" but a sorry one it is, when they have got it: the day comes,
when this fig-leaf covering shall be torn, and your nakedness, emptiness, and
hypocrisy, exposed before men and angels. The humble and lowly Christian will
make conscience of duty, although none in the world should see him; yea, the
more retired he is, he loves it the better: he cares not though, in things of
this nature, his left hand know not what his right hand doth.
Secondly, This lowliness and humility, considered with respect to
others, has these things in it:?
1. A preferring of others above or before
ourselves. Agreeably to this is the apostolical command, Phil. 2:3: "Let
nothing be done through strife, or vainglory, but in lowliness of mind let each
esteem other better than themselves." Not that a child of God should think a
profane reprobate in a better state than himself; but every true child of God
will see so much in himself, as will make him ready to think the worst
reprobate as good, or rather better than he is by nature; and he will see, that
the least of saints have something in which they excel him. This was the
disposition of the great apostle, he looked on himself as the chief of sinners,
and the least of the saints.
2. A looking upon the gifts and graces of
others without a grudge. He will not say, This or that man darkens me: no; he
rejoices to see the gifts and graces of God's Spirit abounding towards others:
"Would God," says Moses, "that all the Lord's people were prophets." And then
he will shun all vain comparison of himself with others: he will not say,
"Stand by, for I am holier than thou; "or, with the proud Pharisee, God, I
thank thee, that I am not as other men are, or even as this publican." No, he
rather sinks in his own esteem, when he looks on others, as Agur did, Prov.
30:2.
3. It has in it an affable, courteous carriage toward all, 1 Pet.
3:8. Religion does not countenance a sullen, morose, and haughty carriage; no,
on the contrary, we are expressly commanded to be "gentle, showing all meekness
unto all men." Thirdly, This lowliness and humility of soul may be considered
with reference to God. And so it implies these things following:
1. High
and admiring thoughts of the majesty of God. When God discovers himself, the
man sinks into nothing in his own esteem. "O," will the humble soul say, with
Moses, (Exodus 15:11,) "Who is like unto thee, O Lord, amongst the gods? Who is
like thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?"
2. A
holy fear and dread of God always on his spirit; especially in his immediate
approaches unto the presence of God, in the duties of his worship. Says he, The
very angels cover their faces with their wings before him, crying, "Holy, holy,
holy is the Lord God of hosts;" how then shall I, "a man of polluted lips,"
take his holy name into my mouth? This makes him, with the publican, to smite
upon his breast; to stand afar off; crying "God be merciful to me a sinner."
That is the language of the humble soul, which you have, Psalm 15:1: "Lord, who
shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill? and, Psalm
24:3: Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? and who shall stand in his
holy place?"
3. It has in it an admiring of every expression of the divine
bounty and goodness toward men in general, and toward himself in particular.
"O," says he, "What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man,
that thou visitest him? and, Who am I, that thou hast brought me hitherto? Is
this the manner of men, O Lord God? And what can I say more?" as David. And
what more can be said! for "praise is silent for thee, O God, in Zion." A
silent admiration of the grace and condescension of the great Jehovah, is the
highest degree of praise we can win at in this life, while our harps are so
mistuned by sin.
4. It has in it a giving God the glory of all that we are
helped to do in his service. When the man succeeds in discharging duty in any
measure comfortably, he will not sacrifice to his own net, nor burn incense to
his own dragnet: he will not, like proud Jehu, say, "Come, and see my zeal for
the Lord." No, that is not the way of the humble soul; he knows that he has all
from the Lord, and therefore he will give all the glory to him, saying, "Not
unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but to thy name be the glory. I laboured," says
Paul, "more abundantly than all" the rest of the apostles; "yet not I, but the
grace of God, which was with me. By the grace of God I am what I am."
5. It
has in it a silent resignation to the will of God, and an acquiescence in the
disposals of his providence, let dispensations be ever so cross to the
inclinations of flesh and blood. "Here am I," will the poor soul say, with
David; "let him do to me as seemeth good unto him." The man sees awful
sovereignty in dispensation, which makes him to say, "Shall the thing formed
say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?" He sees, that his
furnace is not by the ten thousandth part so hot as his sins deserve; and
therefore silences his soul, with the church, saying, "Wherefore doth a living
man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins? Thou hast punished us less
than our iniquities deserve." He sees, that the cup put into his hand, is far
from the bitterness of that cup that was put into the hand of Christ; and this
makes him to say, "If these things were done in the green tree, what shall be
done to" such a withered stick as I am? and therefore I will even be dumb with
silence before him, not opening the mouth, because it is the Lord that doth it.
6. Although all these things I have named be the ingredients and
concomitants of true humility; yet I think the very soul and essence of
gospel-humiliation lies in the soul's renunciation of itself, and going out of
itself, and going in to, and accepting of the Lord Jesus Christ, as its
everlasting all; as the all of its light, life, strength, righteousness, and
salvation. And I think, that a man never passes the verge of moral humility,
till self-righteousness be dethroned, till the high and towering imaginations
of the man's own righteousness by the law be levelled by the mighty weapons of
the gospel, and he brought to submit to the righteousness of God for
justification, which is, in the gospel revealed "from faith to faith."
In a
word, the humble and lowly believer is content to be nothing that Christ may he
all in all to him: content to be a fool, that Christ may be his only wisdom;
content to be, as he really is in himself a guilty condemned criminal, that
Christ may he his only righteousness; content to be stript of his filthy rags,
that he may be clothed with a borrowed robe. O says the humble soul, "Surely in
the Lord alone have I righteousness and strength: in him will I be justified,
and in him alone will I glory," Isa. 45:24, 25: "Yea, doubtless," says humble
Paul, "I count all things but loss, for the excellency of the knowledge of
Christ Jesus my Lord: and do count them but dung that I may win Christ, and be
found in him; not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that
which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by
faith," Phil. 3:8, 9.
And so much for the first general head, namely, the
nature of this lowliness.
II. The second thing proposed was to show that
the lowly and humble soul is the particular favourite of Heaven. This will be
abundantly evident, if we consider,
1. That when the Son of God was here in
our nature, he showed a particular regard to such. You have a clear instance of
this in the centurion, Matth. 8:8. The centurion there addresses Christ in
behalf of his servant, who was grievously tormented of the palsy: Christ, in
the 7th verse, promises to come to his house and heal him. Well, see the
lowliness of the man's spirit, ver. 8: "Lord," says he, "I am not worthy that
thou shouldst come under my roof." And what a large commendation Christ gives
to the man, you see in ver. 10: "I have not found so great faith, no, not in
Israel." And (ver. 13,) he grants him all that he asked, "Go thy way; and as
thou hast believed, so be it done unto thee." The same we see in the
Syrophenician woman, Matth. 15:27. The lowliness and humility of her spirit
made her to submit to all the repulses she met with. When Christ calls her a
dog, she takes with it, saying, "Truth, Lord," I am a dog, and shall be content
if I may but have a crumb, the dog's portion. And what follows on this? "O
woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt." Thus, I say,
Christ in the days of his flesh, discovered the greatest regard to the humble;
and he is the same now in a state of exaltation that he was in a state of
humiliation.
2. When God gives the grace of humiliation, it is a sign that
he intends more grace or that soul: 1 Pet. 5:5. he giveth grace to the humble.
You know men use to lay up their richest wines in their lowest cellars; so God
lays up the richest treasures of his grace in the heart of the humble and
lowly. And hence it comes, that the humble Christian is ordinarily the most
thriving and growing Christian. The humble valleys laugh with fatness, when the
high mountains are barren; so the humble Christian is made fat with the
influences of Heaven, when lofty towering professors are, like the mountains of
Gilboa, withered and dry, because the dew and rain of the graces and influences
of the Spirit are suspended from them.
3. Honour, exaltation, and
preferment is intended for the humble soul: "Before honour is humility," says
Solomon. Psalm 113:7,8: "He raiseth the poor out of the dust, and lifteth the
needy out of the dunghill; that he may set him with princes, even with the
princes of his people." They shall be as it were his ministers of state, that
shall attend his throne, and have place among them that stand by.
4. God's
eyes are upon the humble. Indeed, the eye of his omniscience beholds all the
children of men; but his countenance beholds the humble and upright soul: Isa.
66:1, 2: "Thus saith the Lord, the heaven is my throne, and the earth is my
footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of
my rest? for all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have
been, saith the Lord: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor,
and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word." The humble soul is the
object of his particular love and care: "The eyes of the Lord run to and fro
throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in their behalf."
5. Not
only God's eye, but his ear is toward the lowly soul: Psalm 10:17. "Lord, thou
hast heard the desire of the humble: thou wilt prepare their heart, thou wilt
cause thine ear to hear." Would you have preparation for a communion-table?
Would you be brought to God's seat, and have a hearing there? Then come with
lowliness and humility of soul.
6. The great Jehovah, the infinite God,
dwells in and with the humble: Isa. 57:15: "Thus saith the high and lofty One
that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy, I dwell in the high and holy
place; with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the
spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones." God has a
two-fold palace where he dwells; the one is in heaven, the other is in the
heart of the humble Christian. He says of the humble soul, as he said of Zion,
"This is my rest for ever: here will I dwell, for I have desired it." And for
what end will he dwell in the heart of the humble? it is to revive and comfort
them. The new wine of the consolations of God, which are not small, shall be
poured into the heart of the lowly soul. He will "comfort them that mourn in
Zion, he will give them the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise
for the spirit of heaviness."
7. As God dwells with the humble, so the
humble shall dwell with God in glory for ever: Matth. 5:3: "Blessed are the
poor in spirit," (which is the same with the lowly spirit,) "for theirs is the
kingdom of heaven." They shall sit not only at his by-table here below, but be
admitted to sit down at the high table of glory, and to eat and drink with
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, yea, with the King of glory himself. It is the
humble that surround the throne above, as you see, Rev. 4; they take their
crowns off their heads, and cast them down before the Lamb, saying, "Thou art
worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and honour, and power." Thus, you see that
the humble soul is the particular favourite of the high God.
III. The third
thing in the method was, to inquire why God has such a respect to the lowly.
Ans. 1. God has such a respect to the lowly, not as if this frame of soul
were meritorious of any good at his hand, but because this is a disposition
that best serves God's great design of lifting up and glorifying his free
grace. What think you, sirs, was God's design in election, in redemption, in
the whole of a gospel-dispensation, and in all the ordinances of it? His grand
design in all was to rear up a glorious high throne, from which he might
display the riches of his free and sovereign grace: this is that which he will
have magnifed through eternity above all his other name. Now, this lowliness
and humility of spirit best suits God's design of exalting the freedom of his
grace. It is not the legalist, or proud Pharisee, but the poor humble publican
who is smiting on his breast, and crying, "God be merciful to me a sinner,"
that submits to the revelation of grace. And truly I never think a man truly
humbled till he be brought so far off his law-foundation, on which he stands by
nature, as to lie down like a worm at the feet of sovereign grace, heartily
content to be indebted to free grace for life, righteousness, pardon, and
salvation.
2. God has such respect to the humble soul because it is a fruit
of his own Spirit inhabiting the soul, and an evidence of the soul's union with
the Lord Jesus Christ, in whom alone we are accepted.
3. This is a
disposition that makes the soul like Christ; and the more a person resembles
Christ, the more God loves him. We are told, that Christ was meek and lowly; he
did not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the streets:
though he was the brightness of his Father's glory, yet he was content to
appear in the form of a servant; though he was rich, yet he was content to
become poor, that we through his poverty might be rich. Now, the humble soul,
being the image of Christ, who is the express image of his Father, God cannot
but have regard to him.
IV. The fourth thing in the method was, to lay
before you some marks by which you might try, whether you be among the humble
and lowly, to whom God has such a regard. You have especial need to try this
now, when you are to make a solemn approach to God at his table. "Let a man
examine himself, and so let him eat." If you want this lowly frame of spirit,
you cannot be welcome guests at the supper of the great King. Now, for your
trial, I shall suggest these things following.
1. The lowly soul is one
that is many times ashamed to look up to heaven under a sense of his own
vileness and unworthiness; as we see in the poor publican, and in David, Psalm
40:12: "Innumerable evils have compassed me about, mine iniquities have taken
hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up: they are more than the hairs of
mine head, therefore my heart faileth me." Indeed, when by faith he looks to
his cautioner, and his everlasting righteousness, his mediator and
intercession, he has boldness to enter into the holy of holies, and can come
with boldness to the throne of grace: I say, when he looks to Christ he is not
ashamed, Psalm 34:5. But when he looks to himself, as he is in himself, he is
even "ashamed and confounded" before the Lord, and ready to cry out with the
prophet, Isa. 6:5: "Woe is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean
lips:" how shall I speak unto the King, the Lord of hosts? Or how shall I
appear before him?
2. He is one that is many times put to wonder that God
has not destroyed him. He wonders that God has kept him out of hell so long, or
that he has not let loose his hand, and made an utter end of him: and therefore
he is much in adoring mercy, and long-suffering patience, with the church, Lam.
3:22: "it is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his
compassions fail not."
3. He is one that is most abased under the receipt
of the greatest mercies and sweetest manifestations. We see this in the
instance of David; when God promised to build him a sure house, and gave him a
promise of the Messiah to spring of his loins, the man is not lifted up, but on
the contrary, is filled with wonder that God should stoop so far toward the
like of him: "Who am I," says he, "that thou hast brought me hitherto?" The
nearer that the humble soul is admitted to God, the higher that he is lifted up
the mount of enjoyments, he falls lower and lower in his own esteem. When
Abraham was admitted to plead with God on the behalf of Sodom, Gen. 18. How
does he sink into nothing in his own eyes? "Behold, now, I have taken upon me
to speak unto the Lord, who am but dust and ashes."
4. He is one that
renounces the law as a covenant, and disclaims all pretensions to righteousness
from that quarter: "I through the law, am dead to the law, that I might live
unto God." O, says the man, when he looks upon the law of God in its
spirituality and extent, what can I expect form that quarter but wrath and
ruin? Yea, I am condemned already by the law; and if God mark iniquity,
according to the tenor of it, I am undone for ever: Psalm 130:3: "If thou,
Lord, shouldst mark iniquities; O Lord, who shall stand?" So, then, try
yourselves by this: Has a discovery of the law of God, in its spirituality,
made you to own and acknowledge that all your own righteousness is but as
filthy rags, dung and loss?
5. He is one that has high, raised, and
admiring thoughts of Christ, and of his law-biding righteousness. As for the
person of Christ, O how the humble soul admires that: the lower he falls in his
own esteem, the higher does Christ rise in his esteem. In Psalm 73:David is
laid so low in his own eyes, that he cries, (ver. 22,) "So foolish was I, and
ignorant: I was as a beast before thee." Well, while it is thus with him, what
are his thoughts of Christ? See it, ver. 25, 26: "Whom have I in heaven but
thee? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee. My flesh and my
heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever."
And as for the righteousness of Christ, O how does his soul admire that, and
clasp about it! O, says he, I have no works, no righteousness of mine own, to
commend me to God, or with whom to stand before him: but he is "the Lord my
righteousness; and I will go on in his strength, making mention of his
righteousness, even of his only."
I might give you several other marks of
this lowliness of soul. I shall only name these two or three farther. As,
1. He is one that looks on sin as his greatest burden, saying, with David,
"Mine iniquities are gone over mine head: as a heavy burden they are too heavy
for me." And particularly indwelling corruption, the fountain of sin; O how
does he mourn and groan under that, saying, with Paul, Rom. 7:24: "Wretched man
that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death!"
2. He is one
that values himself least, when others value him most. O, says he, others see
only my outside; but if they saw the swarms of abominations, that I see and
feel in my own heart, I would be a terror to them. When the multitude is
crying, "Hosanna to the Son of David, he is riding, meek and lowly, upon an
ass, and upon a colt, the foal of an ass."
3. He is one that is not puffed
up with the falls of others, like some, I Cor. 5:2; but rather the falls of
others contribute to humble and empty him the more of himself. He sees, from
the out-breakings of [sin in] others, what is in his own heart, how much he is
obliged to God for restraining grace: for if the bridle were but laid on my
neck, will the humble soul say, I would be soon carried into the same excess of
riot with others.
4. The humble soul is one that is thankful for little; he
will not despise the day of small things: like the woman of Canaan, he is
content with the crumbs that fall from the children's table. The humble soul is
content with a bare word from the Lord. "O," says David, "God hath spoken in
his holiness, I will rejoice." He thinks much of a single word from the Lord's
mouth, and waits for it, as the servants of Benhadad, that catched at every
word that dropped from the mouth of the King of Israel.
5. The humble soul
is content and desirous to know what is God's will, that he may do it. Paul is
no sooner humbled, but he cries, "Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?" Give
grace to obey, and command what thou wilt.
V. The fifth thing in the method
was, to offer some motives to press and recommend this lowliness and humility
of spirit. My first motive shall be drawn from the excellency of the
grace of humility; and its excellency especially appears in two things:
1.
It assimilates the soul to Christ. Men are inclined to imitate the example of
the great ones of the earth; but here is the most noble pattern that ever was,
even an incarnate Deity, saying, "Learn of me; for I am meek and lowly."
2.
It is the distinguishing character of a Christian. The people of God are
ordinarily called the humble and meek of the earth. A proud Christian is a
contradiction; for pride is just an antipode to true religion. O what a
difference did it put between the Pharisee and the publican! The proud Pharisee
brags to God, as it were, of his good works; "God, I thank thee, that I am not
as other men are, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give
tithes of all that I possess." But the poor publican stands afar of, as if the
Majesty of Heaven were about to strike him dead; and yet the publican goes home
to his house justified, while the other is rejected.
Mot. 2d,
Consider how reasonable this lowliness and humility of soul is. Whatever way we
view ourselves, we shall find it highly reasonable. It is highly reasonable,
whether we look to ourselves in particular, or the evils of the land and day in
which we live.
1. I say, take a view of thyself, man, woman, and thou shalt
find ground of humiliation.
For, 1st, Thou art a creature sprung of earth,
whose "foundation is in the dust," and cannot pretend to a higher extract than
the very earth under thy feet. Hence is the exhortation of the prophet
Jeremiah, "O earth, earth, earth, hear the word of the Lord." Earth in thy
original, earth as to the supports of nature, and shall return unto the earth
in the end.
2dly, Thou art not only a creature, but a frail creature whose
breath is in thy nostrils. Thou standest continually upon the brink of an
endless eternity. And as there have but a few years passed over our heads since
we arose out of the dust; so, ere it be long, death will sweep us off the
stage; and then all our beauty, strength, stature, and other bodily
excellencies, will be covered with rottenness. In Isa. 40:6-8, you see it is
the cry both of heaven and earth, that all flesh is grass. Solomon, giving a
description of the life of man, sums it all up in two short words "There is a
time to be born, and a time to die." He leaps over the intermediate distance
between man's birth and his burial, as a thing that was not worthy of his
notice. He is born, and then he dies. The moment of time between the womb and
the tomb is so short, might he say, that it does not deserve to be named.
3dly, Thou art not only a frail, but a sinful creature, wholly overrun with
that loathsome leprosy, "from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot." O
sirs, what reason have we to be humble, who have defaced the image of God, cast
dirt on all the divine attributes, trampled his law and authority under our
feet. The sinner has swallowed a cup of deadly poison, which will infallibly
destroy him, if infinite mercy and free grace prevent not. What ground has he
then to be proud? "O," says the prodigal, "I have sinned against heaven, and
therefore am no more worthy to he called thy son," or to have the room of a
hired servant in the family.
4thly, Thou art not only a sinful creature,
but an impotent creature, that can do nothing in order to thy own help and
relief. If God had not "laid help upon one that is mighty," we had been all of
us this day sinking under the fiery mountains of eternal vengeance and wrath.
Such an impotent creature is sinful man, that, as to natural things, he cannot
make one hair of his head white or black, or add one cubit to his stature. And
so helpless is he, as to spiritual and eternal concerns, that he can no more
change the wicked habits of his heart, or the wicked ways of his life, than the
Ethiopian can change his colour, or the leopard his spots.
5thly, Thou art
a variable, changeable, and inconstant creature; liable to many alterations,
both as to thy outward lot, and thy inward frame. The man that is in greatest
esteem to-day, may have his reputation ruined by the invenomed tongue of
calumny to-morrow. In a word, thy health may soon be changed into sickness, thy
riches into poverty, thy strength into weakness, thy beauty into ugly
deformity. And as for thee, believer, though thy state be firm like the
mountains, yet thy frame is but a changeable thing. Perhaps thou mayest be
saying with David one day, "By thy favour my mountain stands strong;" and the
next day crying out, "I am troubled with the hiding of his countenance."
Although, perhaps, the candle of the Lord may be shining on thy tabernacle, yet
in a little thou mayest be going "mourning without the sun."
2. This lowly
frame of spirit is highly reasonable, if we look abroad in the world, and
particularly the land in which we live. O what great cause of deep humiliation
have we this day before the Lord, when we take a view of the abounding
profanity of our day! All ranks have "corrupted their way;" a flood of atheism
and wickedness, Jordan like, has broken down all its banks. Have we not reason
to be humbled for the universal barrenness that is to be found amongst us,
under the drops of the glorious gospel? May not the Lord say to us, as he said
of his vineyard, Isa. 5. "I planted thee in a fruitful soil;" I took all
imaginable pains upon thee, by ordinances, by the rod, by mercies and crosses;
yet, after all, "when I looked that they should bring forth grapes, behold,
they brought forth wild grapes?"
Again; have we not reason to be humbled
for the lamentable divisions that are to be found among us? "Ephraim against
Manasseh, Manasseh against Ephraim, and both they together against Israel."
Because of the divisions of Reuben, there are great thoughts of heart. Church
and state are divided. And, among other divisions that have been of late, we
are like to have a new division in point of doctrine. There is a handful of
ministers, who have lately put in a petition to our National Assembly, in
favour of some of the pure and precious truths of the gospel, which they
conceive to be injured by an act of Assembly. There is a mighty cry raised
against them, both in pulpits and in common conversation, as if they were the
troublers of Israel, New-schemers, Antinomians, and what not. Many strange
errors are fathered upon them, of which they never once thought. I shall be far
from bringing a railing accusation against them who study to wound their
reputation, and to mar the success of their ministry: for I look on many of
them as great and good men. But if they be helped to bear reproach for the name
of Christ, and for the cause of his truths, with humility and lowliness of
mind, the Lord in his own time will find out a way to bring them forth to the
light, so as they shalt behold his righteousness. And although their reputation
should sink for ever in the world, under a load of calumny that is cast upon
them, I hope they think it but a small sacrifice for the least truth of God,
which is of more worth than heaven and earth.
However, I say, this, among
other things, is ground and cause of humiliation in our day, that any of the
precious truths of Christ should be under a cloud, and that we should be
divided in our sentiments respecting them. Have we not reason to be deeply
humbled for our woeful defections and backslidings, which are the ground of our
divisions?. We are departed from the Lord, and the Lord is in a great measure
departed from us. What a woeful withering wind has blown upon God's vineyard in
the land! We are "fallen from our first love," our former zeal for God and his
precious truths, and the royalties of our Redeemer's crown. And is there not a
lamentable decay as to the power and life of godliness, which has dwindled away
into an empty form with the most?
To conclude, it is not with the nobles,
gentry, ministers, or people, in Scotland, as once it has been; and the worst
of it is, that though it be so, though gray hairs are here and there upon us,
yet we do not perceive it: we "make our faces harder than a rock, and refuse to
return" to the Lord. But I haste to a close.
Mot. 3d, Take a view of
the noble patterns of humility that are set before us for our imitation. The
saints militant are patterns of it. Abraham, the father of the faithful, in the
forecited 18th of Genesis, with what humility does he address himself to God!
"Behold, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, who am but dust and
ashes." And his grandson, Jacob, follows his footsteps herein, "I am less,"
says he, "than the least of thy mercies." In a word, Job, David, Isaiah, Paul,
and all the "cloud of witnesses," have cast us a copy of humility. Again; the
saints triumphant cast us a copy of this grace: they take their crowns off
their heads, and cast them down at the Mediator's feet, ascribing the glory of
all to him, saying, "Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his
own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him
be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen."
Again; angels are patterns
of it: they do not look on it as a disparagement to be ministering spirits to
the heirs of glory. With what humility do they cover their faces with their
wings in the presence of God! Isa. 6.
Again; Christ is a blessed pattern of
this grace: "Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly:" he has left us an example,
that we should follow his steps therein. "He humbled himself, and became
obedient unto death, even the 'death of the cross." Though he was the high God,
yet he "took upon him the form of a servant." And therefore "let the same mind
be in us, which was also in Christ Jesus," Phil. 2:5. In a word, the infinite
Jehovah, the eternal God, casts us a copy of humility: for "he humbleth himself
to behold the things that are in heaven, and in the earth;" and, as you see in
my text, though he be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly. And are not all
these patterns worthy of our highest imitation? And if all this will not
prevail, I offer,
A fourth motive, Consider the evil and danger of
the sin of pride, that lies directly opposite to it.
1. It is loathsome in
the sight of God; he cannot endure to look on it; he beholds it afar off. In
Prov. 6:16, it is set in the very front of these things that the Lord hates:
"These six things doth the Lord hate; yea, seven are an abomination to him:"
and the first of them is a proud look. God hates every sin, but he proclaims
open war and hostility against the proud.
2. The evil of it appears, in
that it is a sign of a rotten heart within: Hab. 2:4: "Behold, his soul which
is lifted up is not upright in him." As humility and sincerity, so pride and
hypocrisy go hand in hand.
3. It is the fertile womb of many other evils.
It is the spring of division: Prov. 13:10: "Only by pride cometh contention."
As I was saying just now, there are a great many divisions amongst us at this
day. Church and state is divided, congregations and families are divided,
ministers arid people are divided; What is the matter? Pride lies at the
bottom. If our proud hearts were but so far humbled, as to confess our faults
one to another, our divisions would soon come to an end. Again; pride is the
mother of error and heresy: a root of bitterness that is troubling our Israel
at this day. When men, especially clergymen, who have all a conceit of
infallibility with them; have asserted any thing that is amiss in point of
doctrine, their pride will not allow them to retract. Truth itself must rather
fall a sacrifice, than their reputation sink. Pride of reason is the very soul
of the Socinian, and pride of will the soul of Arminian errors, and pride of
self-righteousness is the source of that legal spirit which so much prevails in
our day. Again; pride is the spring and root of apostacy; for, says Solomon,
"Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall." Peter's
pride was the immediate forerunner of his denying his Lord and Master.
But,
again, consider that God has a particular quarrel with the sin of pride: he has
threatened to "scatter the proud, in the imagination of their own hearts." You
may read a lecture of God's controversy with the proud, Isa. 2:11-13, &c.
"The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be
bowed down. The day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud
and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up, and he shall be brought low."
And, ver. 17: The loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of
men shall be made low; and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day." O what
ruin has the sin of pride brought along with it! 1st, It turned angels into
devils, and threw them from heaven into hell; "being lifted up with pride, they
fell into condemnation," as the apostle insinuates. God could not endure pride
to dwell so near him; and therefore he tumbled them down from heaven, and laid
them "under chains of eternal darkness."
2dly. It was pride that has
wrecked all mankind, when it creeped out of the higher into the lower Paradise.
"Ye shall be as gods," said the serpent; and immediately the bait was catched
at; though, in the event, it made them more like the devil than God. 3dly, We
might trace the story of what ruins it hath brought with it upon the ungodly
world. Pharaoh refuses to bow so far to the command of God, as to let Israel
go; saying, "Who is the Lord, that I should obey him?" And therefore he and his
host shall "sink like lead in the mighty waters." Haman's pride brought him to
an ignominious end: though he was his prince's greatest favourite to-day, yet
he was hanged to-morrow on the gallows which he had set up for poor Mordecai.
Nebuchadnezzar proudly vaunts himself of his royal palace. "Is not this great
Babylon that I have built for the house of the kingdom, by the might of my
power, and for the honour of my majesty?" and immediately he is turned out from
the society of men, and made to eat grass with the oxen. Herod, after his fine
oration, receives that applause from the people without any check, "It is the
voice of a God, and not of a man; and immediately the angel of the Lord smites
him, and he is eaten of worms."
4thly, As God has punished it in the
wicked, so he has shown his resentment against it in his own children. And pass
who will, they shall not miss a stroke, if their hearts be lifted up within
them "You only have I known of all the families of the earth; therefore I will
punish you for all your iniquities." David's pride prompted him to number
Israel, that he might make his boast that he was king over so many thousands;
and thereupon a raging pestilence, in three days' time, sweeps away seventy
thousand of Israel. Hezekiah's pride made him to show his treasure of precious
things to the king of Babylon's ambassadors; and therefore his posterity and
his treasures must be carried away to Babylon out of their native land. In a
word, though you were as the signet on God's right hand, you shall not escape a
stroke of fatherly wrath and anger, if you allow pride to lodge in your hearts.
That threatening shall surely take place, both among friends and enemies, Prov.
29:23: "A man's pride shall bring him low." And if it miss his person, it shall
fall heavily on his family: Prov. 15:25: "The Lord will destroy the house of
the proud."
VI. The sixth and last thing I proposed was, to offer a few
advices, in order to your attaining this lowly frame and temper of soul which
the high God doth so much regard.
1. Go to the law as a schoolmaster; read
the ten commandments, and Christ's spiritual commentary upon them, Matth. 5.
View the law of God in its utmost extent and spirituality; for it is exceeding
broad. This would make the proudest heart to lie in the dust: Rom. 7:9: "I was
alive without the law once; but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I
died." The feathers of his pride and legal righteousness soon fell, when the
law in its spirituality was set before his eyes.
2. Get Christ to dwell in
your heart by faith; for the reigning power of this evil is never broken, till
Christ come by the power of his Spirit, bringing down the towering imaginations
of the heart, and erect his throne there. The more of Christ, the more
humility; and the less of Christ, the more pride. When the Spirit of Christ
enters into the. heart, he stamps the likeness and image of Christ there. O
then, if you would have this humility and lowliness of spirit, "lift up the
everlasting doors, that the King of glory may come in:" he brings a glorious
retinue of graces with him, of which this is one of the first.
3. Be much
[employed] in viewing the glorious perfections of the Majesty of heaven, as
they are displayed in the works of creation and providence; but especially as
they shine in the face of Jesus Christ, and the glorious work of redemption
through him. When the prophet Isaiah saw the Lord high and lifted up, and his
train filling the temple, he cries out, "Woe is me, for I am undone, because I
am a man of unclean lips." See Job 42:5, 6. "I have heard of thee," says he,
"by the hearing of the ear; but now mine eye seeth thee: wherefore I abhor
myself, and repent in dust and ashes."
4. Be much in viewing "the rock
whence ye were hewn, and the hole of the pit whence ye were digged;" I mean
your original corruption and degeneration; how you are "conceived in sin, and
brought forth in iniquity." And O how much of this cleaves even to believers
themselves, while they are on this side of eternity! There is a law in the
members continually warring against the law of the mind. This laid the great
apostle Paul in the dust, notwithstanding his high attainments.
5. Be much
in viewing the vanity of the creature, and all things below. "Vanity and
vexation of spirit" is written in legible characters upon all things under the
sun. "The fashion of this world is passing away." Be much in viewing the bed of
the grave, where you must lie down shortly, and where rottenness and corruption
shall cover you: let this make you say, with Job, "to corruption, Thou art my
father; and to the worm, Thou art my mother, and my sister." View an awful
tribunal, and endless eternity, that is to follow on the back of death, where
you and I shortly shall stand panels and receive a sentence from the righteous
Judge, which shall determine our state for ever.
6. Lastly, Be much in
eyeing those patterns of lowliness and humility which I already mentioned. God,
angels, and saints, have cast you a copy of it. But especially be much in
viewing the humility and humiliation of the Son of God, which is proposed as
the great pattern, Phil. 2:5-8: "Let this mind be in you which was also in
Christ Jesus: who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal
with God: but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a
servant, and was made in the likeness of men: and being found in fashion as a
man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the
cross."
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