e
2 Cor. vii. 11. f Ps. Ixxiii. 3, 17, 22. s Phil. iii. 0.
^ Ps. cxix. 96. i Rom. vii. 9. k job ix. 2, 3.
1 Ezek. xxxvi. 31.
motes in the air. But would he then conclude that all the dust and dirt which he now beheld had been cast in since his first entrance? No: he would know to what he must ascribe the change in his views, even to the increased light by which he was enabled to take the survey. And so a clearer view of God's holy Law will give us a deeper insight into our own deformity, and turn the gloryings of self-esteem into the mourn- ings of humiliation and contrition.]
2. From a view of that God against whom we have sinned —
[The least knowledge of God is sufficient to abase us before him: but the more we behold his glorious perfections, the more shall we stand amazed at the coldness of our love to him, and our want of zeal in his service. Job, previous to his troubles, was considered as " a perfect man" even by God himself. But when God had revealed himself more fully to his soul, how base did this holy man appear in his own eyes ! " Behold, I am vile ! " says he. " I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear ; but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes'"." This will be the effect of all God's mani- festations of himself, whether in a way of providence or of grace. It is impossible to behold his goodness, his patience, his for- bearance, and not stand amazed at our own insensibility. " The ox and the ass" do not appear so brutish as we" ; nor '' the stork or crane or swallow" so unobservant of the things which we are most concerned to notice" : and our only wonder is, that it should be possible for God to endure with such long-suifering our great and multiplied iniquities.]
3. From a view of the obligations we lie under —
[Our Lord has said, that our love to God will bear pro- portion to the sense we have of the extent of his mercy towards us in forgiveness P. But, when we reflect on the means he has used, in order to open a way for the exercise of his mercy towards us, what shall we not account his due ? When we consider that he has " not spared even his own Son, but de- livered HIM up for us all," what bounds will there be to our gratitude ; or rather, what bounds will there be to our humi- liation for the want of gratitude ? It will be impossible for ;us then ever to satisfy our own desires : if we had a thousand lives, we would devote them all to him, and at his call be ready to sacrifice them all for him. The services which we once thought sufficient will then appear little better than a solemn mockery ; so entirely will our souls be absorbed in wonder at the thought of an incarnate God, a crucified Redeemer.]
Ill
Job xl. 4. and xlii. 5, 6. " Isai. i. 3.
" Jer. viii. 7. i' Luke vii. 47.
823.]] A saint's views of himself. 309
4. From a view of the interests we have at stake —
[If only the life or death of our bodies were at stake, we should feel deeply interested in the event : but, when heaven and all its glory, or hell and all its misery, are the alternatives before us, one would suppose that every temporal consideration should be swallowed up, and vanish as the light of a star before the meridian sun. But the saint is not always so indifferent to the things of time and sense as he would wish to be. There are times, when every thing below the sun is in his eyes lighter than vanity itself: but there are, also, times when he finds his heart yet cleaving to the dust, and when his progress heavenward is slow and imperceptible. On such occasions he he is amazed at himself: he can scarcely conceive it possible that, with such prospects before him, he should be so stupid and brutish as he feels himself to be. Truly, at these seasons the language of our text will be often in his heart, and in his mouth too, especially if he find an Ithiel, or an Ucal, that is capable of understanding it.]