Obs. 2. The sight of God is an especial help to humiliation. The soul becometh humble by the true knowledge of God and ourselves: Jo!) xlii. 6, ' Mine eye seeth thee, therefore 1 abhor myself in dust and ashes.' When he had a glorious apparition of God he vanished into nothing in his own thoughts. The stars vanish when the sun ariseth ; and our poor candle is slighted into a disappearance when the glory of God ariseth in our thoughts. We see our wants in God's fulness ; the ocean maketh us ashamed of our own drop ; and we see our viieness in God's majesty. What is the balance dust to a mountain, and onr wickedness in comparison of God's holiness ? Elijah wrapt his face in a mantle when God's glory passed before him, 1 Kings xix. 13. So Isaiah crieth out, ' I am undone, I am undone, a man of polluted lips,' when God showed him his glory, Isa. vi. 5. Upon any apparition of God to the faithful they were filled with a fear because of their own weakness and corruption. Well, then, it directeth us how to be humble in our addresses to God; get as large and coin[)rehcnsive thoughts of him as you can ; sec his glory, if you would know your own
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baseness. Men are slight in duties, because tliey have low thoughts of God. They offered the Lord ' a corrupt thing,' because they did not consider he was ' a great king,' Mai. i. 14. The elders that saw God in his glory, ' fell down upon their faces,' Kev. vi.
And he shall lift you up. — What doth this promise imply? I answer — It is meant of any kind of happiness and felicity ; either deliverance out of trouble: 'The Lord heareth the desires of the humble,' Ps. x. 17 ; advancement in the world to honour, or any outward dignity : Prov. xxix. 23, ' A man's pride shall bring him low, but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit.' Though places of advancement be slippery, yet the humble shall be continued and upheld. So for advancement in grace or glory : Mat. xviii. 4, * Whosoever shall humble himself as a little child, the same shall be greatest in the kingdom of heaven;' that is, have most grace and glory. Learn hence : —
Ohs. That submission and humility is the true way to exaltation. It is often repeated in the gospel : ' He that humbleth himself shall be exalted, and he that exalteth himself shall be abased;' see Luke xiv. 11 ; Mat. xxiii. 12. We are all by nature proud, and would be exalted ; the way to rise is to fall. God gave us a pattern of it in Jesus Christ. First, ' He emptied himself, and humbled himself to the death of the cross ; wherefore God hath highly exalted him, and given him a name above all names,' Phil. ii. 5-9. Well, then, would you have deliverance ? humble yourselves. The lion spareth the prostrate prey. Omnipotence will not be your terror, but protection. Would you have grace ? see more of God. He that is in the low pits seeth stars in the daytime. Would you have your outward stcition firm ? the Lord will uphold the humble. Would you have the comforts of the Spirit and the preferment of grace ? the Lord will ' revive the spirit of the humble,' Isa. Ivii. 15. You are God's second heaven : ' I will dwell with the contrite spirit.' The world looketh upon humility as the way to make us contemptible ; when we stoop, we think every one will tread upon us. You see in the vote and sentence of the promises it is the way to be exalted either in the favour of God or men. Lastly, out of all we may be encouraged to wait upon God with a holy humility and confidence in our low estate : Job xxii. 29, ' When men are cast down thou shalt say, There is a lifting up ; and he shall save the humble person.' When all thy afi'airs go to decay, thou mayest bear up on these hopes. In Peter it is, 1 Peter v. 6, ' He shall lift thee up in due time.' Wait God's leisure, and the promise shall surely be fulfilled ; only be humble, not only morally, but graciously. Gracious humiliation is a deep sense of our misery and vileness, with a desire to be reconciled to God upon any terms.
Ver. 11. Speak not evil of one another, brethren. He that speahetli evil of his brother., and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the laiv, andjudgeth the law : but if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the laiv, but a judge.
Here the apostle cometh to dissuade them from another sin, of which he had impleaded them guilty before, and that is detraction and speaking evil of one another.
Speak not evil of one another, brethren, fMrj KaraXaXelre aWyXcov, speak not one against another. The word implieth any speaking
380 AN EXPOSITION, WITH NOTES, [Jas. IV. 11.
which is to the prejudice of another, be it true or false; the scripture requiring that our words should suit with love as well as truth. Note hence : —