Prov. XV. 12, ' A scorner lovetli not one that reproveth him, neither Avill he go unto the wise.' Amos v. 10, ' They hate him that reproveth in the gate ;' as Ahab did good Micaiah, and John Baptist did Herod, and our Saviour the Pharisees,^ Luke xvi. 13. Christ being to deal with the covetous Scribes and Pharisees, he lays the law home, and tells them plainly that they could not serve God and mammon. Here Christ strikes at their right eye ; but how do they hear this ? Mark in the 14th verse, ' The Pharisees also, who were covetous, heard all these things, and they derided him.' The Pharisees did not simply laugh at Christ, but gave also external signs of scorn in their countenance and gesture.s. They blew their nose at him, for that is the meaning of the original word.^ By their gestures they demonstrated their horrid derid- ing of him ; they fleared and jeered, when they should have feared and trembled at the wrath to come : Isa. xxviii. 10, ' For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept ; line upon line, line upon line ; here a little, and there a little.' One observes, that that was a scoff put upon the prophet, and is as if they should say, Here is nothing but precept upon precept, line upon line. And, indeed, the very sound of the words in the original carries a taunt, zau le zau, kau lakau, as scornful people, by the tone of their voice and rhyming words, scorn at such as they despise. Pride and passion, and other vices, in these days go armed ; touch them never so gently, yet, like the nettle, they will sting you ; and if you deal with them roundly, roughl}^ cuttingly, as the apostle speaks, they will swagger with you, as the Hebrew did with Moses: 'Who made thee a judge over us?' Exod. ii. 13, 14. And thus much for the properties of an humble soul.
III. I come now to the next thing, and that is, to shew you the reasons why the best men are the most humble men.
[1.] First, Because they see tltemselvesthe greatest debtors to God for ivhat they do enjoy.
There is no man on earth that sees himself such a debtor to God as the humble man. Every smile makes him a debtor to God, and every good word from heaven makes him a debtor to God. He looks upon all his temporals, as health, wealtli, wife, child, friend, &c., and sees himself deeply indebted for all. He looks upon his spiritual mercies, and sees himself a great debtor to God for them ; he looks upon his graces, and sees himself a debtor for them ; he looks upon his experi- ences, and sees himself a debtor for them ; he looks upon all his pri- vileges, and sees himself a debtor for them ; he looks upon his iu-comes, and sees himself a debtor for them.^ The more mercy he hath received, the more he looks upon himself indebted and obliged to pay duty and tribute to God ; as you may see in Ps. cxvi. 6, 7, 8, 12, 13, 14 verses compared. In the 6th, 7th, 8th verses, he tells you of the mercies he punished by God, 2 Chron. xxxiii. 11. So Cainbyses, king of Persia, hated Praxaspes, one of his nobles tliat was familiar with him, for reproving liis drunkenness.
* The meaning is plain, tlujugli tlie sentence is inaccurate. — Ed.
^ Tliey blowed their nose at him, manifesting thereby their scorning at what he said.
^ Wlien a knight died at Kome that was much in debt, Augustus tiie emperor sent to buy his bed. conceiving tlien; must needs bo some extraordinary virtue in it, if ho that was 60 much in debt could take any rest upon it. An humble soul sees himself .so much in debt for mercies in hand, and mercies in hope, that ho cannot sleep without blessing uud admiring of (iod.
EpH. III. 8.] RICHES OF CHRIST. 27
had received from God, and in the 12th and 13th verses, says he, ' What shall I render to the Lord for all his benefits towards me ?' I see my- self, saith he, wonderfully indebted ; well, what then ? why, ' I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows unto the Lord, in the presence of all his people.' The same you have in the 16th, 17th, and 18th verses of the same psalm.
So David, Ps. ciii. 1-4, casts his eyes upon his temporal and his spiritual mercies, and then calls upon his soul : ' O my soul, bless the Lord ; and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits : who forgiveth all thine iniquities ; who healeth all thy diseases,' Sec. An humble soul knows, that it is a strange folly to be proud of being more in debt than another. It is true, saith he, I have this and that mercy in possession, and such and such mercies in reversion ; but by all, I am the more a debtor to God.i
CsBsar admired at that mad soldier, who was very much in debt and yet slept so quietly. So does an humble soul wonder and admire, to see men that are so much indebted to God for mercies, as many are, and yet sleep so quietly, and be so mindless and careless in blessing and praising of God. There is nothing, saith one, that endures so small a time, as the memory of mercies received ; and the more great they are, the more commonly they are recompensed with ingratitude.
[2.] Secondly, It is because in this life they have but a taste of God.
in the 1 Pet. ii. 2, 3, ' As new-born babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby ; if so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.' The best men on this side heaven have but a taste ; he is but in a tasting, desiring, hungering, thirstino-, and crrowino- condi- tion : Job xxvi. 1-i, ' These are part of his ways, but how httle a por- tion is heard of him !' So in 1 Cor. xiii. 9, 10, 12, ' We know but in part, and we prophesy but in part ; now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face.' The Lord gives out but little of himself here, we have but a taste of divine sweetness here, we see but the back-parts of God, the day is not far off when we shall see his face. The best of Christ is behind, as the sweetest honey lies in the bottom. Our greatest knowledo^e here is to know that we know nothino-.
The Rabbins in their comments upon Scripture, when they meet with hard knots that they cannot explicate, they salve all with this, Elias cam veTherit solvet omnia, ' When Elias comes, he will resolve all things.' The best men are in the dark, and will be in the dark, till the Lord comes to shine forth upon them in more grace and glory. The best men on this side heaven are narrow vessels : they are able to receive and take in but little of God. The best men are so full of the world, and the vanities thereof, that they are able to take in but little of God. Here God gives his people some tastes, that they may not faint ; and he gives them but a taste, that they may long to be at home, that they may keep humble, that they m^ sit loose from things below, that they may not break and despise bruised reeds, and that heaven may be the more sweet to them at last, &c.