' I have read of a stork that cast a pearl into the bosom of a inaid, which had healed her of a wound. So humble souls cast the pearl of praise into the bosom of God for all his favours towards them. — Guc. Hist., lib. iv. [Guicciardini.— G.]
28 THE UNSEARCHABLE [EPH. III. 8.
[3.] A third reason why the best men are the most humble, and that is, because the best men dwell more iipon their ivorser part, their ignoble 'paii, than they do upon their noble 2Mrt, their better part.
In Isa. vi. 5, 'I am a man of unclean lips,' saith that humble soul. So humble Job cries out of the iniquity of his youth ; and says he, ' Once have I spoken foolishly, yea, twice, but I will do so no more,' Job xiii. 26, xl. 15. Humble David, Ps. li. 3, sighs it out, 'My sin is ever before me.' So humble Paul, Kom. vii. 22, 23, complains, that he ' hath a law in his members warring against the law of his mind, and leading him captive to the law of sin ;' and that, ' when he would do good, evil was present with him.' An humble soul sees that he can stay no more from sin than the heart can from panting, and the pulse from beating; he sees his heart and life to be fuller of sin, than the firmament is of stars ; and this keeps him low.^ He sees that sin is so bred in the bone, that till his bones, as Joseph's, be carried out of the Egypt of this world, it will not out. He every day hnds that these Jebusites and Canaanites be as thorns in his eyes, and as goads in his sides. He finds sin an ill inmate, that will not out, till the house fall on the head of it; as the fretting leprosy, in the walls of the house, would not out till the house itself was demolished.^ Though sin and grace were never born together, and though they shall not die together; yet while the believer lives, these two must live together ; and this keeps them humble.
As the peacock, looking upon his black feet, lets fall his plumes, so the poor soul, when he looks upon his black feet, the vanity of his mind, the body of sin that is in him, his proud spirit falls low.
Epaminondas, an Athenian captain, being asked why he was so sad the day after a great victory, answered, ' Yesterday I was tickled with much vain-glory, therefore I correct myself for it to-day.'^ That is the temper of an humble soul. It is very observable, that the saints are pressed to take notice of their better part : Cant. i. 15, ' Behold thou art fair my love, behold thou art fair.' And so, chap, iv, 1, ' Behold thou art fair, behold thou art fair.'* God hath much ado to get a gracious heart to mind his spiritual beauty; to take notice of the inward excellency that he hath wrought in it. Though ' the king's daughter be all glorious within,' yet God hath much ado to bring her to see and take notice of her inward beauty and glory. The humble soul is more set to eye and dwell upon its deformity, than it is upon that beauty and glory that God hath stamped upon it. , And this makes the man little and low in his own eyes.
[4.] Fourtldy, Because they have the clearest sight and vision of God, and have the nearest and highest communion with God. None on earth are so near to God, and so high in their communion with God, as humble souls. And as they have the clearest visions of God, so those actions of God give them the fullest sight and knowledge of their own sinfulness and nothingness. So in Job xlii. 5, 6, ' I have heard of
* Teneo in memoria, scriho in charta, sed non habeo in vita. — Augustine. ' As Hagar would dwell with Sariih till she beat her out of doors, so will sin dwell
with grace till death beat it out of doors. 3 Autarch : Epain. — G.
* This duplication, as well as the ecc, is full of attention and admiration, and Christ by praising ])erfect8 his own work ; for loculio verbi in/uxio doni, to call her fair is to make her so, &c.
EpH. III. 8.] RICHES OF CHRIST. 29
thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye hath seen thee, I abhor myself in dust and ashes.' Isa. vi. 1, 5, In a vision the Lord discovers his glory to the prophet, then verse 5, ' Woe is me !' saith he, ' for I am undone ;' or ' I am cut off,' why ? Because ' I am a man of unclean lips ; and have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.'^ Oh, the vision that I have had of the glory of God hath given me such a clear and full sight of my own vileness and baseness, that I cannot but loathe and abhor myself When Abraham draws near to God, then he accounts himself but dust and ashes. Gen. xviii. 26, 27. The angels that are near God, that stand before him, they cover their faces with two wings, as with a double scarf, in the 6th of Isaiah ver. 2.
[5.] The fifth and last reason why those are mo.st humble that are most holy is, because they maintain in themselves a holy fear of sin-
And the more this holy fear of falling is maintained, the more the soul is humbled. Pro v. xiv. 16, ' A wise man feareth, and departeth from evil;' and chap, xxviii. 14, 'Happy is the man that feareth always: but he that hardeneth his heart shall fall into mischief.' And this keeps the holy soul humble.
I have known a good old man, saith Bernard, who when he had heard of any that had committed some notorious offence, was wont to say with himself, Ille hodie, et ego eras, he fell to-day, so may I to-morrow. Now, the reason Avhy humble souls do keep up in themselves a holy fear of falling, is because this is the best to keep them from falling. Job fears and conquers on the dunghill ; Adam presumes, and falls in paradise; Nehemiah fears, and stands, Neh. v. 15; Peter presumes, and falls, Mat. xxvi. 69, seq. ; Mr Sanders the martyr, in Queen Mary's days, fears and stands ; Dr Pendleton presumes, and falls from a pro- fessor to be a papist.^
When Agamemnon said. What should the conqueror fear ? Casander presently answered. Quod nihil timet, He should fear this most of all, that he fears not at all.
And so I have done with the reasons of the point. I shall now come to
IV. The uses of it : and the first is this.
[l.j Is it so, that the most holy souls are the most humble souls? Then this shews you, that the ninnber of holy soids is very feiu. Oh, how few be there that are low in their own eyes! The number of souls that are high in the esteem of God, and low in their own esteem, are very few. Oh, the pride of England ! Oh, the pride of London ! Pride in these days has got a whore's forehead ; yet pride cannot climb so high but justice will sit above her.
Bernard saith, that pride is the rich man's cousin. I may add, and the poor man's cousin, and the profane man's cousin, and the civil man's cousin, and the formal man's cousin, and the hypocrite's cousin ; yea, all men's cousin ; and it will first or last cast down and cast out all the Lucifers and Adams in the world.*
' DNDK, from Dt<D, which signifies to reject, to despi.se, to cast ofi", to contemn.
* As one fire, so one fear drives out another. As the sunshine puts out fire, so doth the fear of God the fire of lusts. ^ Clarke, as before. — G.