When Valens the emperor sent messengers to win Eusebius to heresy by fair words and large promises, he answered, Alas, sir ! these speeches are fit to catch little children that look after such things, but we that are taught and nourished by the holy Scriptures are readier to suffer a thousand deaths than to suffer one syllable or tittle of the Scripture to be altered. And when the emperor threatened to confiscate his goods,
* So Tliomistocles did when he sought the favour of king Admetus. [Plutarcb, nib nomine. — (i.]
* Tlie name of a Saviour, saith Bernard, is honey in the mouth, and music in the ear, and a jubilee in the heart. [Serm. on Canticles, ai before — G.] The boy that waa a iiioiiitor cried aloud to him that rode in triumjil), Memento te esse hominem, remember thy- self to bo a man.
' Dan. iii.; Acts v. 41, 42, and iv. 29 ; Ilch xi.; Eph. vi. 19, 20; Philip, i. 13, 19.
* I'rnrsui Satan est Lutherns, sed Chnslus vivit et regnat, Anion, said Luther, in writ- ing to hia friend Spalatinus. [During Diet of Augsburg. — y.]
EpH. III. 8.] RICHES OF CHRIST. 21
to torment him, to banish him, or to kill him, he answered, He need not fear confiscation that hath nothing to lose; nor banishment, to whom heaven only is a country ; nor torments, when his body will be dashed with one blow ; nor death, which is the only way to set him at liberty from sin and sorrow.^ Oh ! but when a proud man is under troubles and afflictions, his head and heart are full of plots and projects how to get off his chains, and to get out of the furnace, &c. A proud heart will say anything, and do anything, and be anything, to free himself from the burdens that press him, as you see in Pharaoh, &c. ; but an humble soul is willing to bear the cross as long as he can get strength from heaven to kiss the cross, to bless God for the cross, and to glorify Gcd under the cross, &c., John i. 20, 21.
[13.] The thirteenth property of an humble soul is this : it seeks not, it looks not, after great things. A little will satisfy nature, less will satisfy grace ; but nothing will satisfy a proud man's lusts.^ Lord, says the humble soul, if thou wilt but give me bread to eat and raiment to put on, thou shalt be my God, Gen. xxviii. 20-22. Let the men of the world, says the humble soul, take the world in all its greatness and glory, and divide it among themselves.^ Let me have much of Christ and heaven in my heart, and food convenient to support my natural life, and it shall be enough : Job xxii. 29, ' When men are cast down, then thou shalt say. There is lifting up; and he shall save the humble person ;' or as the Hebrew hath it, ne shahh gneaim, him that hath low eyes, noting to us that an humble soul looks not after high things.* So in Ps. cxxxi. 1, 2, ' Lord, my heart is not haughty nor mine eyes lofty.' But how do you know that, David ? Why, says he, ' I do not exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high, or too wonderful for me. Heb. ^JDD niN'?Q:ni Surely I behaved and quieted myself ' My soul is as a child that is weaned of his mother. My soul is even as a weaned child.' As a great shoe fits not a little foot, nor a great sail a little ship, nor a great ring a little finger, so a great estate fits not a humble soul.
It was a prudent speech of that Indian king Taxiles to the invading Alexander :^ What should we need, said he, to fight and make war one with another, if thou comest not to take away our water and our neces- saries by which we must live 1 As for other goods, if I be richer than thou, I am ready to give thee of mine ; and if I have less, I will not think scorn to thank thee if thou wilt give me some of thine. Oh ! but proud Absalom can't be content to be the king's son, unless he may have the crown presently from his father's head. Caesar can abide no superior, nor Pompey an equal. A proud soul is content with nothing. A crown could not content Ahab, but he must have Naboth's vine- yard, though he swim to it in blood. Diogenes had more content . with his tub to shelter him from the injuries of the weather, and with his wooden dish to eat and drink in, than Alexander had with the con- quest of half the world, and the fruition of all the treasures, pleasures, and glories of Asia.® So an humble soul is more contented and satisfied
' Happy is that soul, and to be equalled with angels, who is willing to suffer, if it were possible, as great things for Christ as Christ hath suffered for it, said Jerome.
* Galen. 3 Vir bonus jMucis indiffet.
* Ps. iv. 6, 7 ; Prov. xxx. 8. Luther made many a meal of a herring, and Junius of an egg. [Francis Junius, the noble-born coadjutor of Tremellius. Died 160*2. — G.]
* Plutarch [Alexander, 59, 65.— G.] "^ Plutarch, &c., as before— G.
22 THE UNSEARCHABLE [EPH. III. 8.
■vvitli Daniel's pulse and John's coat than proud princes are with their glistering crowns and golden sceptres.
[l-i.] The fourteenth property of an humble soul is this : it can rejoice in the graces and gracious actings of others, as well as in its o\vn. An humble Moses could say when Eldad and Medad prophesied in the camp, ' Would God that all the Lord's people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his Spirit upon them,' Num. xi. 26-30. So humble Paul in Acts xxvi. 29, ' And Paul said, I would to God that not only thou, but also all that hear me this day, were both almost and altogether such as I am, except those bonds.'^ 1 heartily wish and pray for thine own sake that not only in a low but in an eminent, degree, both thou and all that are here present, were as far Christians as I am ; only I would not wish them imprisoned as I am. An humble soul is no churl. There is no envy in spiritual things ; one may have as much of spirituals as another, and all alike. So in 1 Thes. i. 2, 3, * We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers ; remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Loi'd Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father.' So in the 2 Epistle i. 2-4, ' Grace be unto you, and peace, from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you all towards each other aboundeth : so that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God, for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure.' Ezekiel can commend Daniel, his contemporary, matching him with Noah and Job, for his poAver in prayer ; and Peter highly praises Paul's epistles, though he had been sharply reproved in one of them, Ezek. xiv. 1 4, 2 Peter iii., &c. Oh ! but proud souls will be still a-casting disgrace and contempt upon those excellencies iu others that they want in themselves.