SECTION VII. OF OUR LORD'S HUMILITY. а "HE that humbleth himself shall be exalted," is among our Lord's a favourite maxims: and he has declared that "b whosoever shall humble himself as a little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven." с We shall obtain a right idea of Christian humility by observing that the sacred writers oppose it to * pride and d vain glory; that it consists in not thinking more highly of ourselves than we ought to think, and disposes us to prefer one another in honour, and to maintain such sobriety in our self love and such candour towards others, as readily to esteem wise and good men wiser and better than ourselves. g This eminent Christian virtue is rarely recommended in heathen writers; though its opposite vices a Luke xiv. 11. James iv. 6. Phil. ii. 3. xviii. 14. Matt. xxiii. 12. b Matt. xviii. 4. e Rom. xii. 3. fib. v. 10. d Phil. ii. 3. Ea omnia quæ proborum, demissorum, non acrium, non pertinacium, non litigiosorum, non acerborum sunt, valde benevolentiam conciliant. Cic. de oratore ii. § 43. Sit apud vos modestix locus, sit demissis hominibus perfugium, sit auxilium pudori. Pro Muræna. § 40. Probus quis Nobiscum vivit, multum demissus homo? Illi HOR. Sat. iii. 56, 7, 8. See Bentley and Sanadon. Dacier in his Life of Plato has referred us to the following passage, as a proof that the heathens knew this virtue. Ης [δίκης] ὁ μὲν ευδαιμονήσειν μέλλων ἐχόμενος, ξυνέπεται ταπεινὸς και κεκοσμημένος· ὁ δέ τις ἐξαρθεὶς ὑπὸ μεγαλαυχίας, ἢ χρήμασιν ἐπαιρόμενος, are often condemned. Our Lord was himself an i And "let the same mind illustrious example of it. be in us which was also in Christ Jesus: who, having been [originally] in the form of God, did not covet to be like God, [and seize on the divine resemblance as a prey :] but emptied himself [of his heavenly glory,] and took on him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of man; and, when found in fashion as a man, humbled himself [still more,] and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross." And in another place our Lord's act of humiliation in leaving the bosom of his Father is thus beautifully used as an argument for a liberal relief of the Jewish Christians by the church of Corinth: "Ye know the [abundant] bounty [and munificence] of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich [in his pre-existing state,] yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich." ἤ τιμαῖς, ἢ καὶ σώματος εὐμορφία, -καταλείπεται ἔρημος Θες. “ He who would be happy adheres to justice, and follows her humble and composed but he who is elated by pride, or elevated by wealth, honour or beauty, is left destitute of the Deity." And humility is in fact the virtue described by Aristotle, as rightly disposing us with respect to inferior honours; and which he praises as sober, manly and elegant. Its extremes are an undue love of such honours as are dispensed in common life, and an undue neglect of them and he observes that it had no name. Tarvis and its derivatives denoted at that time an abject mind, not a lowly one. See Eth. Nicom, 1. ii. c. vii. 1. iv. c. iv. Phil. ii. 5-8. * 2 Cor. viii. 9. But let us particularly consider our Lord's humility, after that wonderful instance of it which he gave by his assumption of human nature. m 1 Though a descendant of king David, he was born of obscure parents; and though the place of his nativity was Bethlehem, the city of David, yet he dwelt so long in Nazareth as to be called the inhabitant of a city which was held in mean estimation, and was in a province out of which arose no prophet. "He grew up as a root out of a dry ground; he had no form nor comeliness, that we should behold him ; nor appearance, that we should desire him." A When he entered on his ministry, "he P chose the foolish things of the world to confound wise men, and the weak things of the world to confound the things which were mighty." His apostles were men of inferior birth and occupations. And for this choice many wise P reasons are discoverable: but at present I mean only to observe that it illustrates our Lord's lowliness of mind; who thus characterized his gospel, that it was preached to the poor; and who repeatedly made it a ground of thanksgiving to God, that his converts were men of an humble class; not scribes and teachers of the law, who were wise and prudent in their own conceit and in the eye of the world, but John i. 46. 'Mark xiv. 67. n ib. vii. 52. • Isai. liii. 2 1 Cor. i. 27. See Miscellanca sacra, v. ii. p. 129, ed. 1770. Span heim dub. Evang. part iii. dub. Ixxiii. Neque verò non vero simillimum videtur, numero eos tam exiguo fuisse, nomine & dignitate tam exili atque abjecta, nequa forte suboriretur suspicio rebus eos novandis stu dere posse, aut factiosum quidquam & seditiosum audere atque moliri. Concio ad clerum Prov. Cantuar, a G. Cooke Decano Eliensi. 9 Matt. xi. 5. r men of low attainments and stations, babes in human knowledge, but babes also in vice. t And how did our Lord conduct himself to these obscure men whom he chose? He was among them as one that ministered. He set them an example of condescension by performing the menial office of washing their feet: agreeably to the manner in which he speaks of himself, that he "came not to be ministered unto, but to minister;" and to his exhortation, "He that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger and he that is chief, as he that ministereth." W There was also the greatest condescension in his general behaviour. We read that he instructed a woman of Samaria, and at the request of the Samaritans remained two days in one of their cities; that he said to the messengers of a Roman centurion whose servant lay sick at a distance, I will come and heal him; that he sat at meat in Levi's house with many publicans and sinners; that he ate bread at different times with a Pharisees; that he thus addressed Zacheus, a chief of the publicans, This day I must abide in thy house; and that he took young children in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them. His mind was not raised by the power of working miracles. The idea of the glory which redounded to himself from so splendid a gift seemed to be wholly Luke xxii. 27. refer to the act of washing the feet of the disciples. OUR LORD'S MORAL CHARACTER. d banished. When of ten lepers cleansed by him only one turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, and also fell down on his face at Jesus's feet giving him thanks; his remark was, "There are not found that returned to GIVE GLORY TO GOD, save this stranger. He loses all consideration of himself at such seasons. "Return to thine house;" said he to the demoniac of Gadara, "and relate what things GOD HATH DONE unto thee." At another time we find him hiding the lustre of his own infinite power; and, when he came to the house where Jairus's daughter lay dead, expressing himself in the following unostentatious figure; "The damsel is not dead, but sleepeth." There was the same humility in his manner on a like occasion : “ 8 Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go that I may awake him out of sleep." f h It has already been observed how often the most illustrious displays of his miraculous power were followed by the humblest acts of devotion. It is also well worthy of our attention that after his transfiguration, and that astonishing miracle of healing the demoniac whom the disciples could not heal, while all wondered at all the things which Jesus did, he said to his apostles, as if to soften the dazzling manifestation of his glory, "Let these words sink down into Mark v. 39. ib. viii. 39. d Luke xvii. 18. & John xi. 11. St. Paul seems to imitate our Lord's manner of not sounding a trumpet before him on performing a great miracle. When he restored Eutychus to life, who had fallen from the third loft and was taken up dead, "he went down and fell on him, and embracing him said, Trouble not yourSee p. 336. Page 350, selves, for his life is in him." Acts xx. 10. part ii. c. 1. i Luke ix. 44. |