the great and mighty of the world, that they are sometimes great even in condescension; but with God there is no comparison: "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." "I dwell in the high and holy place," in heaven, where all creatures are holy, where God's holiness and beauty are eternally unfolded, where there shall be no more curse; "But the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him : and they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads. And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light, and they shall reign for ever and ever."

It was an act of condescension in Deity to notice the inhabitants of heaven, but how great the condescension to dwell in communion here with the penitent sinner; "I dwell in the high and holy place, and with him also that is of a contrite spirit." Humility is the characteristic of every being who loves and worships God. Heaven is full of humility at this moment: they know there the infinite distance

that must exist between the highest moral agent and his Creator; and they feel that they are eternal pensioners on his bounty. The contrary of this would change heaven into hell. If this be the case, even in that holy place where God dwells, and among beings who have never transgressed, there should be something peculiar in the humility of a fallen creature he knows that he too is infinitely removed from God, like every other created being, but he knows besides he is depraved by sin, and he never dares to look up to God, but trusting in the righteousness and atonement of Christ. Humility is the brightest ornament of the angels above, because it ascribes greatness to God. Majesty is the peculiar glory of God-humility of the creature. Oh sirs, if we know God, we must be humble; humility is the offspring of truth, the truth as it is in Jesus; would you be humble, receive every thing at the lips of God; peruse the book of God, and have the courage to receive the whole of its contents; drink of the waters of life freely and purely as they flow from the fountain of heaven; receive what he says of himself and of you. But, again, there is more than humility in the character with whom God condescends thus to dwell, there is a heart also, broken under a sense of sin. The word of God

1

is sometimes in scripture, compared to fire in its operation upon the human body. "Is not my word like as a fire? saith the Lord; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces." A heart thus broken is modelled after, and by the hand of God; he teaches the sinner to sit in judgment upon himself. He is made sensible that Jehovah sits in judgment upon his heart and life, and he does the same; he judges, too, by the same standard, the unerring standard of right and wrong. To complete this work, God gives faith in Jesus, and imparts and imputes a righteousness: in a word, we behold in such a character, faith in Jesus Christ covered with the robe of his Saviour's righteousness. There is, in such a character, a peculiar beauty, even here on earth: true it is, sin exists in the heart of such a one, but he weeps over it; he echoes the "Oh wretched

experience of the

3

apostle,

man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?"2 but at the same time says, "I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord." Now, my brethren, have your hearts been thus broken? Humility and contrition are essentially necessary to the existence of true religion. I would rather possess this

1 Jeremiah xxiii. 29.

2 Rom. vii. 24,

3 Ibid. v. 25.

than all the aggregate knowledge of all the angels of heaven without it. May this experience of true humility be yours and mine, and by this, we shall know if God be in us of a truth.

III. In the third place we are to consider THE

BLESSINGS WHICH FLOW FROM THIS CONDE

SCENSION" To revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones." Mark the notice that is here taken of humility. "The Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart, and saveth all such as be of a contrite spirit:" a sense of the mercy, as well as of the uprightness of God, broke the heart of David, after his heinous sin! It is thus also with every penitent heart, it says, I have greatly sinned, but I loathe my sins. Now God manifests his mercy and condescension to the contrite heart in three ways,-he heals-comforts, and protects; he heals the wounds of David's wounded soul, though his sins were mighty and many; he is the physician, he first breaks and wounds the heart, and then he heals it. David under a sense of this, exclaims in Psalm ciii. "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgiveth all thine iniquities, who healeth all thy diseases yes, he heals by forgiving, and in

this he delights. If we know what it is to have a wounded spirit, thus healed by a sense of God's pardoning mercy through Christ to us individually, we know then what it is to be revived. Again; he comforts-by his forgiving mercy he leads to comfort: under a deep conviction of our sin and rebellion against Godwe can find comfort nowhere else; the Holy Spirit is the agent, he can alone comfort us truly, by bringing effectually home to the heart, this sense of mercy and forgiveness. The attributes of God are more honoured by this pardoning mercy than by any other. His holiness, justice, and truth are all honoured in pardoning the sinner, for they are all satisfied by the atonement of the sinner's surety, Christ; for whose sake alone the pardon is extended. Again: he protects from every enemy; for this end he uses all means and all providences, and instruments sometimes in themselves contemptible. It is related of a certain eminent Christian, when in times of persecution, pursued by enemies who attempted his life, that he took refuge in a cave: being hotly pursued, his persecutors, a short time after he had secreted himself, came to the spot, and in the interval, a spider had formed his web over a considerable portion of the cave's mouth; one of his pursuers stopped, and was about to enter into the cave, when his