1. The person that did humble himself: * Josiah,' a king, a great man.
2. Humiliation itself, and the qualities of it: ' and humbledst thyself before God,' which argued the sincei'ity of it.
3. The occasion of it : ' when thou heardest the words against this place, and against the inhabitants thereof.'
4. Tlie outward e.rpression of it, in iveepiny and rending his clothes ; which we will handle in their place.
1. First, for the person, ' Thou didst humble thyself,' Josiah a king, who was tenderly brought up, and highly advanced ; a thing which makes the work so much the more commendable ; whence we learn,
Doct. 1, That it is a disposition not luibefittiny kings to humble themselves before God. For howsoever they are gods downward, to those that are under
THE ART OF SELF-HUMBLING. 45
them, yet if they look upward, what are kings ? The gi-eater light hides the lesser. What are all the inhabitants of the earth in his sight, but as a drop of a bucket, as dust upon the balance, of no moment! Isa. xl. 15. * I have said you are gods, but you shall die like men,' Ps. Ixxxii. 6, 7. For howsoever the saints of God difler from other men in regard of their use, and the inscription God hath set upon them, yet they are of the same stuff, dust, as others are. And so kings, though in civil respects they differ from other men, yet are they of the same metal, and shall end in death, all their glory must lie in the dust.
Therefore it is not unbefitting kings to humble themselves before God, seeing they have to deal with him who is a ' consuming fire,' Heb. xii. 29, before whom the very angels cover their faces. I say it is no shame for the greatest monarch of the earth to -abase himself when he hath to do with God ; yea, kings, of all other persons, ought most to humble them- selves, to shew their thankfulness to God, who hath raised them from their brethren to be heads of his people. And considering the endow^ments which kings usually have, they are bound to humble themselves, as also in regard of the authority and power which God hath put into their hands, saying, ' By me kings reign,' Prov. viii. 15. But usually we see, from the beginning of the world, that kings forget God. Where there is not grace above nature, there kings will not stoop to Christ ; but so far as it agrees with their pleasure and will, so far shall Christ be served, and no farther.
But yet God hath always raised up some nursing fathers and mothers, — as he hath done to us, for which we ought to bless God, — who have and do make conscience of this mentioned duty, so well beseeming Christian princes, as in sundry other respects, so also in this, that therein they might be exemplary to the people. For no doubt but Josiah did this also, that his people might not think it a shame for them to humble them- selves before God, whenas he their king, tender in years, and subject to no earthly man, did before them, in his own person, prostrate himself in the humblest manner before the great God of heaven and earth.
As that ointment poured upon Aaron's head fell from his head to the skirts, and so spread itself to the rest of the parts, even to his feet, Ps. cxxxiii. 2, so a good example in a king descends down to the lowest subjects, as the rain from the mountains into the valleys. Thei-efore a king should first begin to humble himself. Kings are called fathers to their subjects, because they should bear a loving and holy affection to their people, that when anything troubles the subjects, they should be affected with it. Governors are not to have a distinct good from their subjects, but the wel- fare of the subjects should be the glory of their head. Therefore Josiah took the judgments threatened as his own : howsoever his estate was nothing unto theirs.
It is said moreover, * Thou didst humble thyself.' He was both the agent and the patient, the worker and the object of his work : it came from him, and ended in him. Humiliation is a reflected action : Josiah humbled himself. And certainly this is that true humiliation, the humbling of ourselves ; for it is no thanks for a man to be humbled by God, as Pharaoh was ; for God can humble and pull down the proudest that do oppose his church. God by this gets himself glory. But here is the glory of a Christian, that he hath got grace from God to humble himself ; which humbling is, from our own judgment, and upon discerning of good grounds, to bring our affections to stoop unto God ; to humble ourselves. Many are humbled that are not humble ; many are cast down that have
46 THE ART OF SELF-nUMBLIXG.
proud hearts still, as Pharaoh had. It is said, ' Thou humhledst thyself.' Then we learn,
Dod. 2. That the actions of ff race are reflected actions. They begin from a man's self, and cud in a man's self; yet we must not exclude the Spirit of God ; for he doth not say, thou from thyself didst humble thyself, but * thou didst humble thyself.' We have grace from God to humble ourselves. So that the Spirit of God doth work upon us as upon fit subjects, in which grace doth work. Though such works be the works of God, yet they are said to be ours, because God doth work them in us and by us. We are said to humble ourselves, because we are temples wherein he works, seeing he uselh the pai'ts of our soul, as the understanding, the will, and the affections, in the work. Therefore it is foolish for the papists to say, good works be our own, as from ourselves. No ; good works, say we, are ours, as effects of the Spirit in us. But for the further expression of this humbling of ourselves before God, we will consider,