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XXX.

ON HUMILITY BEFORE GOD.

JAMES iv. 10.-Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord.

IN that portion of his epistle to which these words belong, we find that James is addressing, not the professed Christians, but their avowed enemies and persecutors, probably his countrymen, who still continued to display the highest antipathy to Christianity. "Whence," says he, "come wars and fightings? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? Ye desire, and have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God?"*

As the persons who were the objects of these remarks were, unquestionably, utterly estranged from the Christian religion, and the enemies of God, it is evident the duty inculcated in the words under our present notice enters into the first elements of Christian piety. It is reporte-l of the celebrated Austin of Hippo, that being asked what was the first thing in religion, he said, "Humility;" when asked what was the second, he answered, " Humility;" and what was the third, he still returned the same answer, "Humility;"-alluding to the celebrated answer which the Athenian orator is said to have made on the subject of eloquence. It seemed to have been the intention of that great man to insinuate, that lowliness of mind, in the full extent of its operation, included nearly the whole of practical religion.

Humility may be considered in two views; either as it respects the Divine Being, or as it respects our fellow-creatures,-humility before God, or as it affects our sentiments and conduct towards men. But, while this distinction is admitted, it must be carefully remembered, that it is no longer a Christian virtue than when it originates in just conceptions of the great Parent of the universe; that the basis of all social excellence of a moral nature, is in a right state of the heart towards God. The virtues which are severed from that stock will soon languish and decay; and as they are destitute of proper principle, so are they neither stable nor permanent.

In this discourse we shall confine ourselves to the consideration of humility, in its aspect towards the Supreme Being; or, in other words, humility before God. It may be defined as consisting in that profound, habitual conviction of our nothingness, guilt, and pollution before God, which a just knowledge of ourselves will necessarily inspire. It is the rectitude of this conviction, it is its perfect conformity to the real

* James iv. 1-4.

nature of things, which renders it the object of Divine approbation. It is the agreement between the lowliness of our minds and the debasement of our character, and the depression of our state, which invests it with all its beauty, and all its value. The gracious notice which this disposition attracts is not owing to any intrinsic excellence in the object, any more than in lofty sentiments connected with a reflection on ourselves; but solely because a deep humiliation coincides with our true state and characters, as surveyed by the eye of Omniscience. In a word, it is the justness and the correctness of the feelings and convictions which enter into the composition of an humble mind, which give it all its worth.

Pride is the growth of blindness and darkness; humility, the product of light and knowledge: and while the former has its origin in a mistaken and delusive estimate of things, the latter is as much the offspring of truth as it is the parent of virtue.

Let it be observed, that the disposition under consideration is not an occasional feeling, arising from some sudden and momentary impulse; it is not a transitory depression, produced by some unexpected disclosure in the good man, it is an habitual state of feeling; it is the quality in which his mind is uniformly attired; he is "clothed with humility." Wide and diffusive as its operation is, some conception of it may be formed by attending to the following observations :

1. Humility in the sight of God will have a powerful influence on all our thoughts and reflections; on ourselves, on our character, condition, and prospects: a sense of inherent meanness and unworthiness in the sight of God will adhere closely to us, and will insensibly, and without effort, mingle with every recollection of the Supreme Being. A sort of self-annihilation before him will be natural and habitual; and by a recollection of his majesty, and a consciousness of our utter unworthiness to appear in his presence, we shall be no strangers to that ingenuous shame which will scarcely permit us to lift up our eyes to heaven. Under the influence of this principle, we shall be more apt to think of our faults than our virtues; of the criminal defects with which we are chargeable, than of any pretensions to excellence we may suppose ourselves to possess.

Our faults are our own; they originate entirely in ourselves; to us belong all their demerit and their shame: while for whatever inherent good we may possess, we are indebted to Divine grace, which has alone made us to differ. While there is none to share with us the baseness and turpitude of our sinful actions, our virtues are to be ultimately traced to a source out of ourselves. Hence whatever is wrong in our dispositions and conduct lays a foundation for unmingled humiliation; what is of an opposite nature supplies no pretext for unmingled self-complacency. Besides, it requires but little attention to perceive that our sins admit of no apology, while our highest attainments in holiness are accompanied by much imperfection: so that, while every pretension to merit is defeated, our demerits are real and substantial. True humbleness of mind will dispose us to form that correct estimate of ourselves which can only result from an attention to the heart, the

secret movements of which we may often perceive to be irregular and depraved where the external conduct is correct; and innumerable pollutions and disorders may be detected there by Him "who seeth in secret," when all that is visible to man is innocent and laudable.

Here a prospect is opened to the contemplation of humble piety which suggests occasion of abasement and humility before God, where [our friends] see nothing but matter of commendation and applause. It is this habit of inspecting the interior of the character, and of carrying the animadversions of conscience to the inmost thoughts and imaginations of the heart, that accounts for that unfailing lowliness and humility before God which is the constant appendage of exalted piety, and which reconciles the highest elevations of religion with the depths of self-abasement. This is sufficient to preserve alive a constant sense of deficiency in the most advanced Christian, of scattering every idea of "having already attained," and of "being already perfect," and to urge him to press forward towards the prize with unabating ardour. This was the spirit of the great apostle of the gentiles, and of the most illustrious heroes in the cause of Christ.

The self-reflective faculty is, by the constitution of our minds, so incessantly active, and the idea of self of such frequent occurrence, that its effects on the character must be extremely different, according as it turns to the view its fairest or its darkest side. The habit on which we now speak, of directing the attention to criminal defects rather than to the excellences of the character, is not only the dictate of humility, it is the absolute suggestion of prudence. Excellences are not inspired by being often contemplated. He who delights to survey them contributes nothing by that exercise to their prosperity or growth; on the contrary, he will be tempted to rest in the self-complacency they inspire, and to relax his efforts for improvement. Their purity and lustre are best preserved in a state of seclusion from the gaze even of the possessor. But with respect to the faults and imperfections with which we are encompassed it is just the reverse ;-the more they are reflected on, the more fully they are detected and exposed, the greater is the probability that their growth will be impeded, and a virtuous resolution evinced to extirpate and subdue them. To think much upon our sins and imperfections is to turn ourselves to that quarter in which our business lies. Meditating much on our virtues and good deeds is a useless occupation, since they will thrive best when abandoned to a partial oblivion.

Some consciousness, indeed, [in the Christian] of his possessing the features of a renovated mind, and even of a progress in the practice of piety, is almost unavoidable, and is not without its use, inasmuch as it supplies a motive to gratitude and a source of consolation; but the moment he finds himself drawing a self-complacency from such a retrospect, the enlightened Christian is alarmed, nor will he suffer himself to dwell long upon an object, the survey of which is so replete with danger. He hastens to check himself in that delusive train of reflection, and to recall to his [mind the persuasion] that he has "not yet

Phil. iii. 12-14.

attained, nor is already perfect." The recollection that he is a fallen creature, exposed to righteous indignation-that his sins, though remitted, can never cease to be his, nor to retain all their turpitude and demerit-and that he is, whatever his attainments, still a child of disobedience and a pensioner on mercy;-the constant remembrance of these solemn and momentous truths is sufficient to preserve a perpetual humiliation in the sight of God.

2. Humility before God will have a beneficial influence on the mind in which divine truth is contemplated, and its discoveries received. He who is humble before God, will be so conscious of his utter insufficiency to explain the mysteries of religion, that he will be inexpressibly thankful for divine communications. He will feel and recognise his absolute need of a guide in the momentous concerns of eternity. In the obscurity of reason, heightened by the perplexities of guilt, he will distinctly perceive his entire dependence upon Heaven for every ray of information respecting the great concern of reconciliation with the offended Deity; and while he disclaims all pretension to a title to the Divine favour, he will be instantly convinced, that to solve the problem, "How man shall be just with God," must ever surpass the powers of finite reason.

Humility is the best preparation for studying the oracles of God, by destroying our confidence in every other teacher. "The meek will he

guide in judgment: the meek will he teach his way."*

It is scarcely possible to conceive a greater presumption than those are guilty of who decide beforehand what it is fit and proper for revelation to communicate, and pertinaciously reject every doctrine, however clearly and unequivocally asserted, which is repugnant to their previous anticipations;-as though we possessed some independent source of information sufficiently clear and determinate to limit and control the supernatural suggestions of divine truth. The supposition on which this conduct proceeds is utterly false and preposterous. Independently of revelation, we have no data from which we can infer the purposes of God, or the method of his dealing with fallen creatures. "For who hath known the mind of the Lord, or, being his counsellor, hath instructed him?" None knoweth "the things of God, but the Spirit of God."‡

On the supposition we are combating, what necessity is there for revelation at all, since the pretension of being able to ascertain the contents of revelation beforehand implies a previous degree of knowledge, which makes the illumination of Scripture come too late? The necessity of revelation is founded on the supposition of insuperable ignorance; the power of ascertaining its subsequent discoveries is founded on knowledge; and the two suppositions destroy each other. The usual pretence for rejecting some of the distinguishing doctrines of the gospel is, their mysterious nature; or, in other words, the impossibility of comprehending them in their full extent. That nothing that is repugnant to the plain dictates of reason can claim belief is readily

* Ps. xxv. 9.

† Rom. xi. 34. 1 Cor. ii. 16.

+ 1 Cor. i 11.

admitted, because impossibilities are not the objects of power, even supposing it to be infinite; but the mysteries of the gospel are not of this nature. They include, it is true, something which we cannot fully comprehend; but they contain nothing which the legitimate exercise of reason perceives to be absurd: they surpass the limits of reason, without doing violence to its dictates. And what is more natural to expect than that the communications of Infinite Wisdom should unfold objects to our view which, in all their bearing and extent, transcend the feeble powers of a worm; or that assertions respecting the mode of Divine existence and the counsels of eternity will be found in the volume of revelation most remote from our previous conjectures? The grandeur of God, the awful, unfathomable depths of his wisdom, and the mysteriousness of his essence, would lead rather to a contrary supposition. Humility in the sight of God will at once scatter these chimeras, and bow the mind to the profoundest submission to Divine teaching. He who knows himself will be prostrate in the presence of Infinite Majesty, and say, in the language of an eminent saint, "Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth." Far from measuring the communications of heaven by the standard of a preconceived hypothesis, he will attend with child-like simplicity to the oracles of God, and endeavour to subject "every thought and imagination to the obedience of Christ." He will abandon himself with the utmost alacrity to the directions of an infallible guide. He will permit "the deep things of God" to be unfolded by that Spirit which alone is able to search them, conscious that in the concerns of eternity "the foolishness of God is wiser than men."*

With a mind truly humble, the great principle which pervades the gospel will be found peculiarly congenial; and what is this but the principle of grace? The whole system of the gospel is emphatically "the gospel of the grace of God." It is an exhibition of unmerited favour to a guilty and perishing world; and all the blessings which it proposes to bestow, all the hopes it inspires, are ascribed to this as its origin. Every idea of human desert is anxiously excluded, while the whole provision which it makes for the wants, the whole relief it affords to the misery of man, is ascribed solely to this source. To [exhibit] to the view of principalities and powers in heavenly places" the riches of Divine grace is its avowed end and purpose. If he has "raised us up together with Christ, and made us to sit down with him in heavenly places," it is "that he may show forth to the ages to come the surpassing riches of his grace in his kindness towards us by Jesus Christ." In every stage of the stupendous undertaking, "grace reigns through righteousness unto eternal life."Ş

It is the triumph and pre-eminence of grace that forms the distinguishing character of the Christian system, and which produces that insuperable disgust with which it is contemplated by those who, "going about to establish their own righteousness, refuse to submit themselves, unto the righteousness of God." Hence the attempts are in many instances too successful which are daily witnessed to disguise this its Ephes. ii. 6, 7.

* 1 Cor. i. 25.

† Acts xx. 24.

Rom. v. 21.

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