1. Rending of clothes. And 2. Weeping,
But of these I shall speak afterwards when I come at them. Thus we have seen the degrees and kinds of humiliation.
Seeing it is such a necessary qualification, for humiliation is a funda-
48 THE Xm OF SEI.F-UUMnLING.
mental grace that gives strength to all other graces ; seeing, I say, it is such a neccssar}' temper of a holy gracious man to be huniblc ; how may we come to humble ourselves as we should do ? I answer, Let us take these directions :
1. First, Get poor spirits, that is, spirits to see the wants in ourselves and in the creature ; the emptiness of all earthly things without God's favour ; the insufficiency of ourselves and of the creature at the day of judg- ment ; for what the wise man saith of riches may be truly said of all other things under the sun : they avail not in the day of wrath, but righteousness delivereth from death, Prov. xi. 4.
Josiah was not poor in respect of the world, for he was a king ; but he was ' poor in spirit,' because he saw an emptiness in himself. lie knew his kiudgom could not shield him from God's judgment, if he were once angry.
(1.) Let us consider our orii/inal. From whence came we ? From the eai'th, from nothing. Whither go we ? To the earth, to nothing. And in respect of spiritual things, we have nothing. AVe are not able to do anything of ourselves, no, not so much as to think a good thought.
(2.) Likewise, consider we the guilt of our sins. "What do we deserve ? Hell and damnation, to have our portion with hypocrites in that ' lake that burneth with fire and brimstone.'
(3.) Let us have before our eyes the picture of old Adam, our sinful nature : how we are drawn away by every object ; how ready to be proud of anything ; how unable to resist the least sin ; how ready to be cast down under every afHiction ; that we cannot rejoice in any blessing ; that we have no strength of ourselves to perform any good or suffer ill ; in a word, how that we carry a nature about us indisposed to good, and prone to all evil. This consideration humbled Paul, and made him to cry out, when no other afflictions could move him, * 0 miserable man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death ? ' Rom. vii. 24. By this means we come to be poor in spirit.
2. If we would have humble spirits, let us hriuff ourselves into the presence of the f/reat God: set ourselves in his presence, and consider of his attributes, his works of justice abroad in the world, and open* ourselves in particular.
Consider his wisdom, holiness, power, and strength, with our own. It will make us abhor ourselves, and repent in dust and ashes. Let us bring ourselves into God's presence, be under the means, under his word, that there we may see ourselves ripped up, and see what we are. As Job, when he brought himself into God's presence, said, ' I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes,' Job xlii. 6. Job thought himself somebody before ; but when God comes to examine him, and upon examination found that he could not give a reason of the creature, much less of the Lord's, afflicting his children, then he saith, ' I abhor myself.' So Abraham, the more he talked with God, the more he did see himself but dust and ashes. This is the language of the holy men in Scripture, when they have to deal or think of God. * I am not worthy,' says John Baptist, John i. 27. So Paul : ' I am not worthy to be called an apostle,' 1 Cor. xv. 9. So the centurion : ' I am not worthy thou shouldst come into my house,' Mat. viii. 8. ' I am less than the least of thy blessings,' saith Jacob, Gen. xxxii. 10. Thus let us come into the presence of God, under the means of his word, and then we shall see our own vileness, which will work humiliation ; for, as the apostle saith, when a poor simple man doth come, and hears the pro- * Qu. ' upon ' ? — Ed.
THE ART OF SELF-HUMBLING. 49
phccy, that is, the word of God, with application unto himself, laying open his particular sins, doubtless he will say, God is in you, 1 Cor. xiv. 24, 25.
3. That we may humble ourselves, let ua he co)itent to hear of our sins and baseness bij others. Let us be content that others should acquaint U3 with anything that may humble us. Proud men are the devil's pipes, and flatterers the musicians to blow these pipes. Therefore it is, that though men have nothing of their own, yet they love to give heed to flatterers, to blow their bladder full, which do rob them of themselves ; whereas a true, wise man, will be content to hear of anything that may humble him before God.
4. And withal, that we may humble ourselves, look to the time to come, what ice shall be ere long, earth and dust ; and at the day of judgment we must be stripped of all. What should puff us up in this world '? All our glory shall end in shame, all magnificency in confusion, all riches in poverty. It is a strange thing that the devil should raise men to be proud of that which they have not of their own, but of such things which they have borrowed and begged ; as for men to be proud of themselves in regard of their parents. So, many there are who think the better of themselves for their apparel, when yet they are clothed with nothing of their own, and so are proud of the very creature. But thus the devil hath besotted our nature, to make us glory in that which should abase us, and to think the better of ourselves, for that which is none of our own. Nay, many in the church of God, are so far from humbling themselves, that they come to manifest their pride, to shew themselves, to see and to be seen. Thus the devil besots many thousand silly creatures, that come in vainglory into the house of God ; that whereas they should humble themselves before him, they are puffed up with a base empty pride, even before God. Therefore let us take notice of our wonderful proneness to have a conceit of ourselves ; for if a man have a new fashion, or some new thing, which nobody else knows besides himself, how wonderful conceited will he be of himself ! Let us take notice, I say, of our proneness to this sin of pride ; for the best are prone to it. Consider, it is a wonderful hateful sin, a sin of sins, that God most hates. It was this sin that made him thrust Adam out of paradise. It was this sin which made him thrust the evil angels out of heaven, who shall never come there again. Yea, it is a sin that God cures with other sins, so far he hateth it ; as Paul, being subject to be proud through the abundance of revelations, was cured of it by a prick in the flesh : being exercised with some dangerous, noisome, and strange cure. Indeed, it is profitable for some men to fall, that so by their humiliation for infirmities, they may be cured of this great, this sacrilegious sin.* And why is it called a sacrilegious sin ? Because it robs God of his glory. For God hath said, ' My glory I will not give to another,' Isa. xlii. 8. Is not the grace, good- ness, and mercy of God sufficient for us, but we must enter into his pre- rogatives, and exalt ourselves ? We are both idols and idol- worshippers, when we think highly of ourselves, for we make ourselves idols. Now God hates idolatry ; but pride is a sacrilege, therefore God hates pride.