4. Poverty of spirit comes first because it must be first. It is the foundation on which alone the fabric of spiritual character can rise. It is the rich soil in which alone other graces will grow and flourish. Hill- tops are barren because the soil is washed off by the rains; but the valleys are fertile because there the rich deposits gather. In like manner proud hearts are sterile, afford- ing no soil in which spiritual graces can grow ; but lowly hearts 1 George Frederic Watts, i. 299.
~6 THE FIRST BEATITUDE
are fertile with grace, and in them all lovely things grow. If only we are truly poor in spirit, our life will be rich in its fruits.
T| A consciousness of want and shortcoming is the condition of success and excellence in any sphere. Of those who aspire to be doctors, lawyers, painters, musicians, scholars, I would say, " Blessed are the poor in spirit — blessed are they who are conscious of their defect and want — for to them the high places of their professions belong." The only hopeless people in the world are the self-satisfied people, the people who do not think they need anything. The only man who will ever make a great scholar is the man who is keenly conscious of his own ignorance-, who feels, like Sir Isaac Newton, that he has but gathered a few pelibles on the shore of the infinite ocean of truth ; who carries the satchel still, like Michel Angelo, into an old age, and who, like J. R Green, dies learning. But the man who starts by think- ing he knows everything dooms himself to lifelong ignorance. A sense of want, humility of mind, is the very condition of excellence and success.1
^| The most marked of all the moral features in Dr. Duncan's character was humility. He was singularly humble, in considera- tion of his great talents, of his vast treasures of learning, and of his attainments in the Divine life. But if we set all these aside, and compare him with other Christian men, we canuot but come to the conclusion that out of all the guests bidden in these days by the King within the circle of our knowledge, it was he that took the lowest room at the feast. This lowliness was allied to the childlike simplicity which pervaded his whole Christian course, and was made more evident by the helplessness which rendered him so unfit to guide himself in common matters, and so willing to be guided by others. But its root lay in his sense of the majesty of God, which was far more profound than in other men, and humbled him lower in the dust; in his perception and his love of holiness, and the consciousness of his own defect; in his sense of ingratitude for the unparalleled love of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in his abiding conviction of past sin and of present sinfulness. This habitual humbling was deepened by the wounding of his very tender conscience, through yielding himself to be carried away by what chanced to take hold of his mind. These combined elements rendered him an example of an altogether rare and inimitable humility. Men who may be reckoned holier might be named out of those who served the Lord along with
1 J. D. Jones, The Way into the Kivydom, 31.
ST. MATTHEW v. 3 77
him ; but among them all it would be hard to find one so humble. The holiness of Kobert M'Cheyne, if not so deep, was more equal, and more thoroughly leavened the character hour by hour. The holiness of William Burns was in some respects as deep, and it was singularly constant. They were both more watchful, and therefore more evenly holy. But in the race to stoop down into their Lord's sepulchre, John Duncan outran them both ; he was the humblest of the three, and of all the men whom most of us have known.1
5. We must also distinguish between poverty of spirit and self- depreciation. There is a false humility which finds pleasure in calling itself a worm and a miserable sinner, simply as an excuse for being no better. It is a false humility which pleads its humble- ness as an excuse for aiming low. It is a false humility which says, " We are no better than our fathers were," as an excuse for not trying to rise to a higher level, and for maintaining a low standard and perpetuating abuses. It is a false humility which leads us to take the lower room, that we may shirk our duties and avoid taking a lead when we are called upon to do so. It was not true humility that led the idle servant to bury his talent in the ground. Whatever name it may assume, it is conceit and pride that in the heart believes itself fitted for higher things, and is discontented with its part on the world's stage. It is pride that wishes to be ministered unto, and is too conceited to minister. There is no true humility in pretending to be worse than we are, in underrating the gifts that God has given us, in declining to take the part for which we are fitted.
^[ Do you want a cure for that false humility, that mock modesty which says, " I am not worthy," and trumpets its denial till all the world knows that an honour has been offered ; which, while it says with the lips, " It is too great for me," feels all the time in the heart that self-consciousness of merit which betrays itself in the affected walk and the showy humility ? Would you be free from this folly ? Feel that God is all ; that whether He makes you great, or leaves you unknown, it is best for you, because it is His work.2