53. Learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly. What is HUMILITY? It is to be Of one's OWN SELF FORGETFUL. But to thee Thy worth with that of others far more sweet. Make JESUS then thy model, and I think Thenceforth from all comparing thou wilt shrink. I JOHN, ii. 16. "All that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world." MATT. xi. 29. "Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest souls." unto your PHIL. ii. 2-5. "Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." ECCLUS. iii. 18-20. "The greater thou art, the more humble thyself, and thou shalt find favour before the Lord; for the power of the Lord is great, and He is honoured of " (Luther's version, "doeth great things by ") "the lowly." RIDE was the first sin committed in the universe which PRIDE God had created pure; by it the archangel fell, and was cast into the bottomless pit; and pride is the last sin which is extirpated from the hearts of the regenerate. This St Augus tine affirms. He says: When the saint imagines that he sees all his lusts at his feet, and begins on that account to exult, the voice of Satan is heard amidst his exultation calling to him, 'Why, O man, dost thou rejoice ? see, even here I am present.'" More than any other it is a sin which, when beaten from the outworks, can retreat into the inmost recesses of the breast, and more and more deceptively assume the form of an angel of light. Of all sins it is the most spiritual, and for that reason also the most deep-rooted and seductive. It is the sin through which man is most easily seduced into a conceit of his own greatness, and in that way it betrayed Lucifer to his fall. For what is the object to which haughtiness and pride aspire? Is it not the idea entertained by other men of our worth which casts its brightness and glimmer into our own soul, and so becomes our idol? Pride is consequently a spiritual idol. If it be true that that is a man's god which he loves supremely, then is the god of the miser a bit of metal produced in the dust of the earth; and the god of the voluptuary is the flesh, and the indulgence of its propensities. Not such the god of the proud man. That is begotten not of the dust, neither of the flesh, but of the spirit itself. No doubt here, as elsewhere, much depends on the kind of things for which a man values himself. These may be things which do not pertain to his true being, such as his coat, his house, or his estate; or they may be spiritual things,—either talents, which belong to the head, and when governed by a dark heart are just so many instruments of ruin-or the virtuous qualities, which pertain to the real kernel of human nature. Suppose, then, that the homage which a man claims from his fellow-men is claimed for spiritual gifts, and exclusively for such of these as are his own enduring possession-viz., virtues of the heart-what are we to think? It may be very well to say to one who values himself for nothing but his clothes, "Let moths corrupt them if they will;" but when that for which he values himself is of divine nature and origin, is he not entitled to claim for it the homage of his fellow-men? Let him who attempts to make something of his nothing, and to pass off his owl for a falcon, receive to his shame the ridicule which he deserves. But if a man have a real falcon, is he not entitled to fly it off into the air in the presence of all the people, and to receive in their exultation and applause the tribute of honour which pertains to him? Vanity, if it be as the name imports-satisfaction in that which is empty and null-will be defended by no one. If, however, it be satisfaction in things that are really good, ought we not then to invite others to rejoice in them along with us, in order that in the light of their joy our gifts may show their true brightness? Such, no doubt, has been the opinion, not merely of men of little but of men of great minds. One of these, whose doctrine -for reasons not difficult to understand-appears to many a far more joyful message than that which has sounded out into the world from the foot of a cross, I mean the poet Goethe, writes as follows: "What is called vanity was never offensive to me, and I, on my part, permitted myself to be vain in my turn; that is, I felt no scruple in bringing into view the things about me with which I was pleased. The word vanity is too often misapplied; properly, it conveys with it the idea of emptiness, and is fairly used only to indicate a person who cannot conceal his satisfaction at his own nothingness." There is no doubt that he whose words these are was a great man; but it is written, "Great men are not always wise;"1 and there is some truth also in the proverb, that "Great men's follies are never small." I will therefore rather appeal to Him who is supremely great, and who has told us, "Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works." But here I do not read in the clause subjoined either "that you may rejoice over them," or "that you may obtain the prize which you deserve." What I read is, " And glorify your Father which is in heaven." To be sure, if we poor creatures possessed all we have otherwise than in fee-if we had grown it upon our own soil, and contributed to it not merely our strength and labour, but likewise the sunshine and rain that fostered its growth, we might then claim a right to let our good deeds shine before men in order to earn their praise. If, however, we pon1 1 Job, xxxii. 9. der the question of the apostle : O man, "what hast thou that thou didst not receive? Now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it?"1—if among the things belonging to us, and upon which we might possibly congratulate ourselves, there be not one which does not remind us of the Giver of all good gifts, and far oftener how shamefully these have been abused by us, and embezzled and defaced,—the very last idea to enter our minds must be that of parading them before men, merely that they may praise us. No: even were they to come, as they once did to Barnabas and Saul, with sacrifices and garlands, ought we not then, like these apostles, to be ready rather to rend our clothes and cry out : "Sirs, why do ye these things? we also are men of like passions with you. If there be anything praiseworthy about us, look up to those bright heights from which every good and perfect gift cometh down as streams do from the mountains to irrigate and bless the plains below"?2 Certainly the feeling nearest the heart of a Christian when he observes anything good in or about himself is not vanity, but mere gratitude. And though it may be a good of an inferior kind-such, for example, as a fine commanding figure, which captivates the beholder before the mouth speaks, or fluent speech and wit, or graceful and amiable manners by which the heart is enchained; and though all others may fix their eyes solely upon the poor instrument deemed worthy of so rich an endowment, still, if he be a child of God, he will only look up to the heavenly Father, and desire that the due praise and worship for having so nobly furnished and adorned one of His human creatures should be offered to Him alone. For myself, were such homage offered to me on every side, far from inspiring exultation, it would only make me sad. I know too well who the Superior is who has so liberally and generously provided for his poor vassal; and I know, too, that all His gifts might have been improved to His honour and glory far more faithfully than I have ever done. No holier tears can be shed than those which are shed by him 2 Acts, xiv. 14 et seq. 1 1 Cor. iv. 7. who receives praise to which he has no title. And is not this the case wherever men squander upon His servants the commendation which pertains to the Lord alone. But ah! how many there are who allow themselves to be seduced from that which is good by the very benefits with which heavenly Love has blessed them, and shut the door of their hearts against the Giver for no better reason than because they have bestowed all their love upon His gifts-like the honeysuckle, which, although it owes its blossoms to the sunbeams, excludes light from the bower! If a man have once yielded to seduction so far as to accept as rightfully due to himself the homage due only to the Lord, how ready he then also becomes to forget the admonition addressed by the apostle to every man, "Not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think." In such a case we do not rest in the gifts we have received, but take credit for many more which we have not received, make others little, that we may magnify ourselves, forget the blemishes and sores which we bear in our souls within, and seek occasions for display, till at last we are not only not contented to be above all men, but cannot tolerate to have others at our side, and so the usual issue is that a man comes to look even upon God as his enemy. Generally, in fact, it is in the apostasy of the heart from God that the original root of all pride and vanity is to be sought, according to the words of Sirach: "The beginning of pride is when one departeth from God, and his heart is turned away from his Maker."2 The dark spirit of rebellion proceeds ever further and further, until the man takes his seat in the temple of the Lord, and worships no God but himself. Avarice turns man into a stone and lust into a brute, but pride makes him a devil; and little progress has been made in self-knowledge by him who has never discovered in the human breast the black teeth of the dragon, from which basilisks like this may spring up. Has not heathenism itself, in the fables of Prometheus and the Titans, borne testimony to this fact; for what else 1 Rom. xii. 3. 2 Ecclus. x. 14. |