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Moses, who gave up the most promising prospects, in obedience to God, and for the good of his people; and it produced the same effect in the apostles and primitive christians, who suffered the loss of all things, to promote the cause of Christ, and diffuse the blessings of the gospel through the world. Growing christians are not slothful in business, but fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. They bring forth fruit, some thirty, some sixty, and some an hundred fold.

These are some of the happy effects of the growth of grace, which all growing christians may discover in their own hearts, and which may give them satisfactory evidence, that they are born of God, and are ripening for heaven. But declining christians carry about with them the marks of their declension. Their own hearts testify against them, that they have been cold and backward in duty; that they have abused the word and ordinances of the gospel; and that they have grieved the holy Spirit, and provoked him to withdraw his gracious and comforting influence from them. Their unhappy and dangerous case calls upon them, to remember from whence they are fallen, to repent, and to do their first works. It is their immediate duty to make their calling and election sure, by growing in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. As new born babes, let them desire the sincere milk of the word, that they may grow thereby. God has promised to give his holy Spirit to them that ask him. Let them wait upon the Lord, and they shall renew their strength; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

SERMON XVIII.

ON THE NATURE AND NECESSITY OF HUMILITY.

LUKE Xviii, 14.

And he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

OUR Saviour spake this parable to certain who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others. He meant to convince such self-righteous and self-deceived sinners of their guilty and dangerous situation. And nothing could be better adapted to answer this benevolent and important purpose, than to represent their inward views and feelings, as diametrically opposite to the views and feeling of a true penitent. "Two men, said he, went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a Publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this Publican, I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And the Publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes to heaven, but smote on his breast; saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, This man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted." This last clause in the parable naturally leads us, in the first place, to consider the nature of humility; and in the second place, the necessity of it, in order to obtain divine mercy.

1. We are to consider the nature of humility. There is the more occasion of describing this gracious exercise of heart with peculiar accuracy and precision,

Moses, who gave up the most promising prospects, in obedience to God, and for the good of his people; and it produced the same effect in the apostles and primitive christians, who suffered the loss of all things, to promote the cause of Christ, and diffuse the blessings Growing christians

of the gospel through the world. are not slothful in business, but fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. They bring forth fruit, some thirty, some sixty, and some an hundred fold.

These are some of the happy effects of the growth of grace, which all growing christians may discover in their own hearts, and which may give them satisfactory evidence, that they are born of God, and are ripening for heaven. But declining christians carry about with them the marks of their declension. Their own hearts testify against them, that they have been cold and backward in duty; that they have abused the word and ordinances of the gospel; and that they have grieved the holy Spirit, and provoked him to withdraw his gracious and comforting influence from them. Their unhappy and dangerous case calls upon them, to remember from whence they are fallen, to repent, and to do their first works. It is their immediate duty to make their calling and election sure, by growing in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. As new born babes, let them desire the sincere milk of the word, that they may grow thereby. God has promised to give his holy Spirit to them that ask him. Let them wait upon the Lord, and they shall renew their strength; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

out sinking or degrading themselves in the least degree.

Furthermore, humility is something different from condescension which is the part of a superior, and consists in stooping to an inferior. Thus the Creator may condescend to a creature, the prince to a subject, the rich to the poor, and the aged to the young. But though condescension is stooping, yet it is by no means degrading. Real condescension always displays a noble and amiable spirit. I may now safely say, that humility essentially consists in self-abasement, which is self-degradation, or a voluntary sinking not only below others, but below ourselves. It is therefore, wholly founded in guilt. None but guilty creatures have any cause or reason for abasing themselves. But every guilty creature ought to abase himself, whether he is willing or unwilling to perform the mortifying duty. For sin is of a degrading nature, and always sinks the sinner below himself. Sin degraded Satan from the highest to the lowest creature in the universe. The moment he rebelled against his Maker, he lost his original rank in creation, and sunk below himself and all the holy angels. Sin degraded Adam, and his first offence sunk him below the lowest creature on earth. Sin has had the same effect upon all his posterity, and made them more vile and abominable than the beasts that perish. The higher and nobler any intelligent creatures are by nature, the lower and meaner they become by sin.

Hence the humility, which sinners ought to exercise, consists altogether in self-abasement. They ought voluntarily to sink down to that place, which their sins deserve, or to be willing to lie as much below themselves and others, as their guilt can sink them. This is totally different from mere abasement. They

because mankind are naturally disposed to misunderstand and misrepresent it. Mr. HUME scrupled not to say, "that humility ought to be struck off from the catalogue of Virtues, and placed on the catalogue of Vices." This must have been owing to his gross ignorance, or extreme malignity. The most charitable supposition is, that he really mistook a mere selfish and painful sense of natural inferiority for true humility.

This leads me to observe, that a man's humbling himself is something very different from his having a mistaken and reluctant sense of his own inferiority in respect to his fellow-mortals. Though men generally think too highly of themselves in regard to their inferiors, yet they as generally think too meanly of themselves in comparison with their superiors. The truth is, mankind are much more upon a level, in point of natural excellences and imperfections, than many are willing to acknowledge. The depressing sense, which some entertain of their natural inferiority, is greatly owing to their ignorance. But knowledge, and not ignorance is the mother of both humility and devotion. Those who know the most of God, of themselves, and of their fellow men, may be the most humble and devout persons in the world. There' is a meanness and criminality in that voluntary humility, which the apostle mentions and condemns.

Humility is likewise different from submission, which seems to resemble it. Submission is the respect, which an inferior justly owes to a superior. The child owes submission to the parent, the subject to the prince, and the creature to the great Creator. But inferiors manifest no humility in submitting to their superiors. They only take their proper place, with

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