{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_57121/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_57121","id":"gutenberg_57121","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/57121","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Philosophy & Ethics","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Humility -- Religious aspects -- Christianity"],"text":"Produced by Free elf\n\n\n\n\nHUMILITY\nTHE BEAUTY OF HOLINESS\n\nBY\nREV. Andrew Murray\n\nLord Jesus! may our Holiness be perfect Humility!\nLet Thy perfect Humility be our Holiness!\n\n\nNEW YORK\nFLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY\nLONDON GLASGOW\n\n\n\nPREFACE.\n\nThere are three great motives that urge us to humility. It becomes me\nas a creature, as a sinner, as a saint. The first we see in the\nheavenly hosts, in unfallen man, in Jesus as Son of Man. The second\nappeals to us in our fallen state, and points out the only way through\nwhich we can return to our right place as creatures. In the third we\nhave the mystery of grace, which teaches us that, as we lose ourselves\nin the overwhelming greatness of redeeming love, humility becomes to\nus the consummation of everlasting blessedness and adoration.\n\nIn our ordinary religious teaching, the second aspect has been too\nexclusively put in the foreground, so that some have even gone to the\nextreme of saying that we must keep sinning if we are indeed to keep\nhumble. Others again have thought that the strength of\nself-condemnation is the secret of humility. And the Christian life\nhas suffered loss, where believers have not been distinctly guided to\nsee that, even in our relation as creatures, nothing is more natural\nand beautiful and blessed than to be nothing, that God may be all; or\nwhere it has not been made clear that it is not sin that humbles most,\nbut grace, and that it is the soul, led through its sinfulness to be\noccupied with God in His wonderful glory as God, as Creator and\nRedeemer, that will truly take the lowest place before Him.\n\nIn these meditations I have, for more than one reason, almost\nexclusively directed attention to the humility that becomes us as\ncreatures. It is not only that the connection between humility and sin\nis so abundantly set forth in all our religious teaching, but because\nI believe that for the fullness of the Christian life it is\nindispensable that prominence be given to the other aspect. If Jesus\nis indeed to be our example in His lowliness, we need to understand\nthe principles in which it was rooted, and in which we find the common\nground on which we stand with Him, and in which our likeness to Him is\nto be attained. If we are indeed to be humble, not only before God but\ntowards men, if humility is to be our joy, we must see that it is not\nonly the mark of shame, because of sin, but, apart from all sin, a\nbeing clothed upon with the very beauty and blessedness of heaven and\nof Jesus. We shall see that just as Jesus found His glory in taking\nthe form of a servant, so when He said to us, 'Whosoever would be\nfirst among you, shall be your servant,' He simply taught us the\nblessed truth that there is nothing so divine and heavenly as being\nthe servant and helper of all. The faithful servant, who recognises\nhis position, finds a real pleasure in supplying the wants of the\nmaster or his guests. When we see that humility is something\ninfinitely deeper than contrition, and accept it as our participation\nin the life of Jesus, we shall begin to learn that it is our true\nnobility, and that to prove it in being servants of all is the highest\nfulfilment of our destiny, as men created in the image of God.\n\nWhen I look back upon my own religious experience, or round upon the\nChurch of Christ in the world, I stand amazed at the thought of how\nlittle humility is sought after as the distinguishing feature of the\ndiscipleship of Jesus. In preaching and living, in the daily\nintercourse of the home and social life, in the more special\nfellowship with Christians, in the direction and performance of work\nfor Christ,--alas! how much proof there is that humility is not\nesteemed the cardinal virtue, the only root from which the graces can\ngrow, the one indispensable condition of true fellowship with Jesus.\nThat it should have been possible for men to say of those who claim to\nbe seeking the higher holiness, that the profession has not been\naccompanied with increasing humility, is a loud call to all earnest\nChristians, however much or little truth there be in the charge, to\nprove that meekness and lowliness of heart are the chief mark by which\nthey who follow the meek and lowly Lamb of God are to be known.\n\n\n\nContents\n\nHumility:\nI.   '' The Glory of the Creature\nII.  '' The Secret of Redemption\nIII. '' In the Life of Jesus\nIV.  '' In the Teaching of Jesus\nV.   '' In the Disciples of Jesus\nVI.  '' In Daily Life\nVII. '' And Holiness\nVIII.'' And Sin\nIX.  '' And Faith\nX.   '' And Death to Self\nXI.  '' And Happiness\nXII. '' And Exaltation\nNotes\n\n\n\nHumility: The Beauty of Holiness.\n\nI.\n\nHumility: The Glory of the Creature\n\n_'They shall cast their crowns before the throne, saying: Worthy art\nThou, our Lord and our God, to receive the glory, and the honour and\nthe power: for Thou didst create all things, and because of Thy will\nthey were, and were created. '_--REV. iv. 11.\n\nWHEN God created the universe, it was with the one object of making\nthe creature partaker of His perfection and blessedness, and so\nshowing forth in it the glory of His love and wisdom and power. God\nwished to reveal Himself in and through created beings by\ncommunicating to them as much of His own goodness and glory as they\nwere capable of receiving. But this communication was not a giving to\nthe creature something which it could possess in itself, a certain\nlife or goodness, of which it had the charge and disposal. By no\nmeans. But as God is the ever-living, ever-present, ever-acting One,\nwho upholdeth all things by the word of His power, and in whom all\nthings exist, the relation of the creature to God could only be one of\nunceasing, absolute, universal dependence. As truly as God by His\npower once created, so truly by that same power must God every moment\nmaintain. The creature has not only to look back to the origin and\nfirst beginning of existence, and acknowledge that it there owes\neverything to God; its chief care, its highest virtue, its only\nhappiness, now and through all eternity, is to present itself an empty\nvessel, in which God can dwell and manifest His power and goodness.\n\nThe life God bestows is imparted not once for all, but each moment\ncontinuously, by the unceasing operation of His mighty power.\nHumility, the place of entire dependence on God, is, from the very\nnature of things, the first duty and the highest virtue of the\ncreature, and the root of every virtue.\n\nAnd so pride, or the loss of this humility, is the root of every sin\nand evil. It was when the now fallen angels began to look upon\nthemselves with self-complacency that they were led to disobedience,\nand were cast down from the light of heaven into outer darkness. Even\nso it was, when the serpent breathed the poison of his pride, the\ndesire to be as God, into the hearts of our first parents, that they\ntoo fell from their high estate into all the wretchedness in which man\nis now sunk. In heaven and earth, pride, self-exaltation, is the gate\nand the birth, and the curse, of hell. (See Note A.)\n\nHence it follows that nothing can be our redemption, but the\nrestoration of the lost humility, the original and only true relation\nof the creature to its God. And so Jesus came to bring humility back\nto earth, to make us partakers of it, and by it to save us. In heaven\nHe humbled Himself to become man. The humility we see in Him possessed\nHim in heaven; it brought Him, He brought it, from there. Here on\nearth 'He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death'; His\nhumility gave His death its value, and so became our redemption. And\nnow the salvation He imparts is nothing less and nothing else than a\ncommunication of His own life and death, His own disposition and\nspirit, His own humility, as the ground and root of His relation to\nGod and His redeeming work. Jesus Christ took the place and fulfilled\nthe destiny of man, as a creature, by His life of perfect humility.\nHis humility is our salvation. His salvation is our humility.\n\nAnd so the life of the saved ones, of the saints, must needs bear this\nstamp of deliverance from sin, and full restoration to their original\nstate; their whole relation to God and man marked by an all-pervading\nhumility. Without this there can be no true abiding in God's presence,\nor experience of His favour and the power of His Spirit; without this\nno abiding faith, or love or joy or strength. Humility is the only\nsoil in which the graces root; the lack of humility is the sufficient\nexplanation of every defect and failure. Humility is not so much a\ngrace or virtue along with others; it is the root of all, because it\nalone takes the right attitude before God, and allows Him as God to do\nall.\n\nGod has so constituted us as reasonable beings, that the truer the\ninsight into the real nature or the absolute need of a command, the\nreadier and fuller will be our obedience to it. The call to humility\nhas been too little regarded in the Church because its true nature and\nimportance has been too little apprehended. It is not a something\nwhich we bring to God, or He bestows; it is simply _the sense of\nentire nothingness, which comes when we see how truly God is all, and\nin which we make way for God to be all._ When the creature realises\nthat this is the true nobility, and consents to be with his will, his\nmind, and his affections, the form, the vessel in which the life and\nglory of God are to work and manifest themselves, he sees that\nhumility is simply acknowledging the truth of his position as\ncreature, and yielding to God His place.\n\nIn the life of earnest Christians, of those who pursue and profess\nholiness, humility ought to be the chief mark of their uprightness. It\nis often said that it is not so. May not one reason be that in the\nteaching and example of the Church, it has never had that place of\nsupreme importance which belongs to it? And that this, again, is owing\nto the neglect of this truth, that strong as sin is as a motive to\nhumility, there is one of still wider and mightier influence, that\nwhich makes the angels, that which made Jesus, that which makes the\nholiest of saints in heaven, so humble; that the first and chief mark\nof the relation of the creature, the secret of his blessedness, is the\nhumility and nothingness which leaves God free to be all?\n\nI am sure there are many Christians who will confess that their\nexperience has been very much like my own in this, that we had long\nknown the Lord without realising that meekness and lowliness of heart\nare to be the distinguishing feature of the disciple as they were of\nthe Master. And further, that this humility is not a thing that will\ncome of itself, but that it must be made the object of special desire\nand prayer and faith and practice. As we study the word, we shall see\nwhat very distinct and oft-repeated instructions Jesus gave His\ndisciples on this point, and how slow they were in understanding Him.\nLet us, at the very commencement of our meditations, admit that there\nis nothing so natural to man, nothing so insidious and hidden from our\nsight, nothing so difficult and dangerous, as pride. Let us feel that\nnothing but a very determined and persevering waiting on God and\nChrist will discover how lacking we are in the grace of humility, and\nhow impotent to obtain what we seek. Let us study the character of\nChrist until our souls are filled with the love and admiration of His\nlowliness. And let us believe that, when we are broken down under a\nsense of our pride, and our impotence to cast it out, Jesus Christ\nHimself will come in to impart this grace too, as a part of His\nwondrous life within us.\n\n\n\nHumility: The Beauty of Holiness\n\nII.\n\nHumility: The Secret of Redemption.\n\n_'Have this mind in you which was also in Christ Jesus: who emptied\nHimself; taking the form of a servant; and humbled Himself; becoming\nobedient even unto death. Wherefore God also highly exalted Him.'_\n--PHIL. ii. 5-7.\n\nNO tree can grow except on the root from which it sprang. Through all\nits existence it can only live with the life that was in the seed that\ngave it being. The full apprehension of this truth in its application\nto the first and the Second Adam cannot but help us greatly to\nunderstand both the need and the nature of the redemption there is in\nJesus.\n\n_The Need._--When the Old Serpent, he who had been cast out from\nheaven for his pride, whose whole nature as devil was pride, spoke his\nwords of temptation into the ear of Eve, these words carried with them\nthe very poison of hell. And when she listened, and yielded her desire\nand her will to the prospect of being as God, knowing good and evil,\nthe poison entered into her soul and blood and life, destroying\nforever that blessed humility and dependence upon God which would have\nbeen our everlasting happiness. And instead of this, her life and the\nlife of the race that sprang from her became corrupted to its very\nroot with that most terrible of all sins and all curses, the poison of\nSatan's own pride. All the wretchedness of which this world has been\nthe scene, all its wars and bloodshed among the nations, all its\nselfishness and suffering, all its ambitions and jealousies, all its\nbroken hearts and embittered lives, with all its daily unhappiness,\nhave their origin in what this cursed, hellish pride, either our own,\nor that of others, has brought us. It is pride that made redemption\nneedful; it is from our pride we need above everything to be redeemed.\nAnd our insight into the need of redemption will largely depend upon\nour knowledge of the terrible nature of the power that has entered our\nbeing.\n\nNo tree can grow except on the root from which it sprang. The power\nthat Satan brought from hell, and cast into man's life, is working\ndaily, hourly, with mighty power throughout the world. Men suffer from\nit; they fear and fight and flee it; and yet they know not whence it\ncomes, whence it has its terrible supremacy. No wonder they do not\nknow where or how it is to be overcome. Pride has its root and\nstrength in a terrible spiritual power, outside of us as well as\nwithin us; as needful as it is that we confess and deplore it as our\nvery own, is to know it in its Satanic origin. If this leads us to\nutter despair of ever conquering or casting it out, it will lead us\nall the sooner to that supernatural power in which alone our\ndeliverance is to be found--the redemption of the Lamb of God. The\nhopeless struggle against the workings of self and pride within us may\nindeed become still more hopeless as we think of the power of darkness\nbehind it all; the utter despair will fit us the better for realising\nand accepting a power and a life outside of ourselves too, even the\nhumility of heaven as brought down and brought nigh by the Lamb of\nGod, to cast out Satan and his pride.\n\nNo tree can grow except on the root from which it sprang. Even as we\nneed to look to the first Adam and his fall to know the power of the\nsin within us, we need to know well the Second Adam and His power to\ngive within us a life of humility as real and abiding and\novermastering as has been that of pride. We have our life from and in\nChrist, as truly, yea more truly, than from and in Adam. We are to\nwalk 'rooted in Him,' 'holding fast the Head from whom the whole body\nincreaseth with the increase of God.' The life of God which in the\nincarnation entered human nature, is the root in which we are to stand\nand grow; it is the same almighty power that worked there, and thence\nonward to the resurrection, which works daily in us. Our one need is\nto study and know and trust the life that has been revealed in Christ\nas the life that is now ours, and waits for our consent to gain\npossession and mastery of our whole being.\n\nIn this view it is of inconceivable importance that we should have\nright thoughts of what Christ is, of what really constitutes Him the\nChrist, and specially of what may be counted His chief characteristic,\nthe root and essence of all His character as our Redeemer. There can\nbe but one answer: it is His humility. What is the incarnation but His\nheavenly humility, His emptying Himself and becoming man? What is His\nlife on earth but humility; His taking the form of a servant? And what\nis His atonement but humility? 'He humbled Himself and became obedient\nunto death.' And what is His ascension and His glory, but humility\nexalted to the throne and crowned with glory? 'He humbled Himself,\ntherefore God highly exalted Him.' In heaven, where He was with the\nFather, in His birth, in His life, in His death, in His sitting on the\nthrone, it is all, it is nothing but humility. Christ is the humility\nof God embodied in human nature; the Eternal Love humbling itself,\nclothing itself in the garb of meekness and gentleness, to win and\nserve and save us. As the love and condescension of God makes Him the\nbenefactor and helper and servant of all, so Jesus of necessity was\nthe Incarnate Humility. And so He is still in the midst of the throne,\nthe meek and lowly Lamb of God.\n\nIf this be the root of the tree, its nature must be seen in every\nbranch and leaf and fruit. If humility be the first, the all-including\ngrace of the life of Jesus,--if humility be the secret of His\natonement,--then the health and strength of our spiritual life will\nentirely depend upon our putting this grace first too, and making\nhumility the chief thing we admire in Him, the chief thing we ask of\nHim, the one thing for which we sacrifice all else. (See Note B.)\n\nIs it any wonder that the Christian life is so often feeble and\nfruitless, when the very root of the Christ life is neglected, is\nunknown? Is it any wonder that the joy of salvation is so little felt,\nwhen that in which Christ found it and brings it, is so little sought?\nUntil a humility which will rest in nothing less than the end and\ndeath of self; which gives up all the honour of men as Jesus did, to\nseek the honour that comes from God alone; which absolutely makes and\ncounts itself nothing, that God may be all, that the Lord alone may be\nexalted,--until such a humility be what we seek in Christ above our\nchief joy, and welcome at any price, there is very little hope of a\nreligion that will conquer the world.\n\nI cannot too earnestly plead with my reader, if possibly his attention\nhas never yet been specially directed to the want there is of humility\nwithin him or around him, to pause and ask whether he sees much of the\nspirit of the meek and lowly Lamb of God in those who are called by\nHis name. Let him consider how all want of love, all indifference to\nthe needs, the feelings, the weakness of others; all sharp and hasty\njudgments and utterances, so often excused under the plea of being\noutright and honest; all manifestations of temper and touchiness and\nirritation; all feelings of bitterness and estrangement, have their\nroot in nothing but pride, that ever seeks itself, and his eyes will\nbe opened to see how a dark, shall I not say a devilish pride, creeps\nin almost everywhere, the assemblies of the saints not excepted. Let\nhim begin to ask what would be the effect, if in himself and around\nhim, if towards fellow-saints and the world, believers were really\npermanently guided by the humility of Jesus; and let him say if the\ncry of our whole heart, night and day, ought not to be, Oh for the\nhumility of Jesus in myself and all around me! Let him honestly fix\nhis heart on his own lack of the humility which has been revealed in\nthe likeness of Christ's life, and in the whole character of His\nredemption, and he will begin to feel as if he had never yet really\nknown what Christ and His salvation is.\n\nBeliever! _study the humility of Jesus_. This is the secret, the\nhidden root of thy redemption. Sink down into it deeper day by day.\nBelieve with thy whole heart that this Christ, whom God has given\nthee, even as His divine humility wrought the work for thee, will\nenter in to dwell and work within thee too, and make thee what the\nFather would have thee be.\n\n\n\nHumility: The Beauty of Holiness\n\nIII.\n\nThe Humility of Jesus.\n\n_'I am in the midst of you as he that serveth.'_--LUKE xxii. 26.\n\nIN the Gospel of John we have the inner life of our Lord laid open to\nus. Jesus speaks frequently of His relation to the Father, of the\nmotives by which He is guided, of His consciousness of the power and\nspirit in which He acts. Though the word humble does not occur, we\nshall nowhere in Scripture see so clearly wherein His humility\nconsisted. We have already said that this grace is in truth nothing\nbut that simple consent of the creature to let God be all, in virtue\nof which it surrenders itself to His working alone. In Jesus we shall\nsee how both as the Son of God in heaven, and as man upon earth, He\ntook the place of entire subordination, and gave God the honour and\nthe glory which is due to Him. And what He taught so often was made\ntrue to Himself: 'He that humbleth him: shall be exalted.' As it is\nwritten, 'He humbled Himself, therefore God highly exalted Him.'\n\nListen to the words in which our Lord speaks of His relation to the\nFather, and how unceasingly He uses the words _not_, and _nothing_, of\nHimself. The _not I_, in which Paul expresses his relation to Christ,\nis the very spirit of what Christ says of His relation the Father.\n\n'The Son can do _nothing_ of Himself' (John v. 19).\n\n'I can of My own self do _nothing_; My judgment is just, because I\nseek _not_ Mine own will' (John v 30).\n\n'I receive _not_ glory from men' (John v. 41).\n\n'I am come _not_ to do Mine own will' (John vi. 38).\n\n'My teaching is _not_ Mine' (John vii. 16).\n\n'I am _not_ come of Myself' (John vii. 28).\n\n'I do _nothing_ of Myself' (John vii. 28).\n\n'I have _not_ come of Myself, but He sent Me' (John viii. 42).\n\n'I seek _not_ Mine own glory' (John viii. 50).\n\n'The words that I say, I speak _not_ from Myself' (John xiv. 10).\n\n'The word which ye hear is _not_ Mine' (John xiv. 24).\n\nThese words open to us the deepest roots of Christ's life and work.\nThey tell us how it was that the Almighty God was able to work His\nmighty redemptive work through Him. They show what Christ counted the\nstate of heart which became Him as the Son of the Father. They teach\nus what the essential nature and life is of that redemption which\nChrist accomplished and now communicates. It is this: He was nothing,\nthat God might be all. He resigned Himself with His will and His\npowers entirely for the Father to work in Him. Of His own power, His\nown will, and His own glory, of His whole mission with all His works\nand His teaching,--of all this He said, It is not I; I am nothing; I\nhave given Myself to the Father to work; I am nothing, the Father is\nall.\n\nThis life of entire self-abnegation, of absolute submission and\ndependence upon the Father's will, Christ found to be one of perfect\npeace and joy. He lost nothing by giving all to God. God honoured His\ntrust, and did all for Him, and then exalted Him to His own right hand\nin glory. And because Christ had thus humbled Himself before God, and\nGod was ever before Him, He found it possible to humble Himself before\nmen too, and to be the Servant of all. His humility was simply the\nsurrender of Himself to God, to allow Him to do in Him what He\npleased, whatever men around might say of Him, or do to Him.\n\nIt is in this state of mind, in this spirit and disposition, that the\nredemption of Christ has its virtue and efficacy. It is to bring us to\nthis disposition that we are made partakers of Christ. This is the\ntrue self-denial to which our Saviour calls us, the acknowledgment\nthat self has nothing good in it, except as an empty vessel which God\nmust fill, and that its claim to be or do anything may not for a\nmoment be allowed. It is in this, above and before everything, in\nwhich the conformity to Jesus consists, the being and doing nothing of\nourselves, that God may be all.\n\nHere we have the root and nature of true humility. It is because this\nis not understood or sought after, that our humility is so superficial\nand so feeble. We must learn of Jesus, how He is meek and lowly of\nheart. He teaches us where true humility takes its rise and finds its\nstrength--in the knowledge that it is God who worketh all in all, that\nour place is to yield to Him in perfect resignation and dependence, in\nfull consent to be and to do nothing of ourselves. This is the life\nChrist came to reveal and to impart--a life to God that came through\ndeath to sin and self. If we feel that this life is too high for us\nand beyond our reach, it must but the more urge us to seek it in Him;\nit is the indwelling Christ who will live in us this life, meek and\nlowly. If we long for this, let us, meantime, above everything, seek\nthe holy secret of the knowledge of the nature of God, as He every\nmoment works all in all; the secret, of which all nature and every\ncreature, and above all, every child of God, is to be the\nwitness,--that it is nothing but a vessel, a channel, through which\nthe living God can manifest the riches of His wisdom, power, and\ngoodness. The root of all virtue and grace, of all faith and\nacceptable worship, is that we know that we have nothing but what we\nreceive, and bow in deepest humility to wait upon God for it.\n\nIt was because this humility was not only a temporary sentiment,\nwakened up and brought into exercise when He thought of God, but the\nvery spirit of His whole life, that Jesus was just as humble in His\nintercourse with men as with God. He felt Himself the Servant of God\nfor the men whom God made and loved; as a natural consequence, He\ncounted Himself the Servant of men, that through Him God might do His\nwork of love. He never for a moment thought of seeking His honour, or\nasserting His power to vindicate Himself. His whole spirit was that of\na life yielded to God to work in. It is not until Christians study the\nhumility of Jesus as the very essence of His redemption, as the very\nblessedness of the life of the Son of God, as the only true relation\nto the Father, and therefore as that which Jesus must give us if we\nare to have any part with Him, that the terrible lack of actual,\nheavenly, manifest humility will become a burden and a sorrow, and our\nordinary religion be set aside to secure this, the first and the chief\nof the marks of the Christ within us.\n\nBrother, are you clothed with humility? Ask your daily life. Ask\nJesus. Ask your friends. Ask the world. And begin to praise God that\nthere is opened up to you in Jesus a heavenly humility of which you\nhave hardly known, and through which a heavenly blessedness you\npossibly have never yet tasted can come in to you.\n\n\n\nHumility: The Beauty of Holiness\n\nIV.\n\nHumility in the Teaching of Jesus.\n\n_'Learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly of heart.'_--MATT. xi. 29.\n_'Whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant, even as\nthe Son of Man came to serve.'_--MATT. xx. 27.\n\nWE have seen humility in the life of Christ, as He laid open His heart\nto us: let us listen to His teaching. There we shall hear how He\nspeaks of it, and how far He expects men, and specially His disciples,\nto be humble as He was. Let us carefully study the passages, which I\ncan scarce do more than quote, to receive the full impression of how\noften and how earnestly He taught it: it may help us to realise what\nHe asks of us.\n\n1. Look at the commencement of His ministry. In the Beatitudes with\nwhich the Sermon on the Mount opens, He speaks: _'Blessed are the poor\nin spirit; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are the meek;\nfor they shall inherit the earth.'_ The very first words of His\nproclamation of the kingdom of heaven reveal the open gate through\nwhich alone we enter. The poor, who have nothing in themselves, to\nthem the kingdom comes. The meek, who seek nothing in themselves,\ntheirs the earth shall be. The blessings of heaven and earth are for\nthe lowly. For the heavenly and the earthly life, humility is the\nsecret of blessing.\n\n2. _'Learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly of heart, and ye shall find\nrest for your souls.'_ Jesus offers Himself as Teacher. He tells what\nthe spirit both is, which we shall find Him as Teacher, and which we\ncan learn and receive from Him. Meekness and lowliness the one thing\nHe offers us; in it we shall find perfect rest of soul. Humility is to\nbe a salvation.\n\n3. The disciples had been disputing who would be the greatest in the\nkingdom, and had agreed to ask the Master (Luke 9:46; Matt. 18:3). He\nset a child in their midst and said, _'Whosoever shall humble himself\nas this little child, shall be exalted.'_ 'Who the greatest in the\nkingdom of heaven?' The question is indeed a far-reaching one. What\nwill be the chief distinction in the heavenly kingdom? The answer,\nnone but Jesus would have given. The chief glory of heaven, the true\nheavenly-mindedness, the chief of the graces, is humility. _'He that\nis least among you, the same shall be great.'_\n\n4. The sons of Zebedee had asked Jesus to sit on His right and left,\nthe highest place in the kingdom. Jesus said it was not His to give,\nbut the Father's, who would give it to those for whom it was prepared.\nThey must not look or ask for it. Their thought must be of the cup and\nthe baptism of humiliation. And then He added, _'Whosoever will be\nchief among you, let him be your servant. Even as the Son of Man came\nto serve.'_ Humility, as it is the mark of Christ the heavenly, will\nbe the one standard of glory in heaven: the lowliest is the nearest to\nGod. The primacy in the Church is promised to the humblest.\n\n5. Speaking to the multitude and the disciples, of the Pharisees and\ntheir love of the chief seats, Christ said once again (Matt. xxxiii.\n11), _'He that is greatest among you shall be your servant.'_\nHumiliation is the only ladder to honour in God's kingdom.\n\n6. On another occasion, in the house of a Pharisee, He spoke the\nparable of the guest who would be invited to come up higher (Luke xiv.\n1-11), and added, _'For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased;\nand he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.'_ The demand is\ninexorable; there is no other way. Self-abasement alone will be\nexalted.\n\n7. After the parable of the Pharisee and the Publican, Christ spake\nagain (Luke xviii. 14), _'Everyone that exalteth himself shall be\nabased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.'_ In the temple\nand presence and worship of God, everything is worthless that is not\npervaded by deep, true humility towards God and men.\n\n8. After washing the disciples' feet, Jesus said (John xiii. 14), _'If\nI then, the Lord and Master, have washed your feet, ye also ought to\nwash one another's feet.'_ The authority of command, and example,\nevery thought, either of obedience or conformity, make humility the\nfirst and most essential element of discipleship.\n\n9. At the Holy Supper table, the disciples still disputed who should\nbe greatest (Luke xxii. 26). Jesus said, _'He that is greatest among\nyou, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth\nserve. I am among you as he that serveth.'_ The path in which Jesus\nwalked, and which He opened up for us, the power and spirit in which\nHe wrought out salvation, and to which He saves us, is ever the\nhumility that makes me the servant of all.\n\nHow little this is preached. How little it is practised. How little\nthe lack of it is felt or confessed. I do not say, how few attain to\nit, some recognisable measure of likeness to Jesus in His humility.\nBut how few ever think, of making it a distinct object of continual\ndesire or prayer. How little the world has seen it. How little has it\nbeen seen even in the inner circle of the Church.\n\n'Whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant.' Would\nGod that it might be given us to believe that Jesus means this! We all\nknow what the character of a faithful servant or slave implies.\nDevotion to the master's interests, thoughtful study and care to\nplease him, delight in his prosperity and honour and happiness. There\nare servants on earth in whom these dispositions have been seen, and\nto whom the name of servant has never been anything but a glory. To\nhow many of us has it not been a new joy in the Christian life to know\nthat we may yield ourselves as servants, as slaves to God, and to find\nthat His service is our highest liberty,--the liberty from sin and\nself? We need now to learn another lesson,--that Jesus calls us to be\nservants of one another, and that, as we accept it heartily, this\nservice too will be a most blessed one, a new and fuller liberty too\nfrom sin and self. At first it may appear hard; this is only because\nof the pride which still counts itself something. If once we learn\nthat to be nothing before God is the glory of the creature, the spirit\nof Jesus, the joy of heaven, we shall welcome with our whole heart the\ndiscipline we may have in serving even those who try to vex us. When\nour own heart is set upon this, the true sanctification, we shall\nstudy each word of Jesus on self-abasement with new zest, and no place\nwill be too low, and no stooping too deep, and no service too mean or\ntoo long continued, if we may but share and prove the fellowship with\nHim who spake, 'I am among you as he that serveth.'\n\nBrethren, here is the path to the higher life. Down, lower down! This\nwas what Jesus ever said to the disciples who were thinking of being\ngreat in the kingdom, and of sitting on His right hand and His left.\nSeek not, ask not for exaltation; that is God's work. Look to it that\nyou abase and humble yourselves, and take no place before God or man\nbut that of servant; that is your work; let that be your one purpose\nand prayer. God is faithful. Just as water ever seeks and fills the\nlowest place, so the moment God finds the creature abased and empty,\nHis glory and power flow in to exalt and to bless. He that humbleth\nhimself--that must be our one care--shall be exalted; that is God's\ncare; by His mighty power and in His great love He will do it.\n\nMen sometimes speak as if humility and meekness would rob us of what\nis noble and bold and manlike. Oh that all would believe that this is\nthe nobility of the kingdom of heaven, that this is the royal spirit\nthat the King of heaven displayed, that this is Godlike, to humble\noneself, to become the servant of all! This is the path to the\ngladness and the glory of Christ's presence ever in us, His power ever\nresting on us.\n\nJesus, the meek and lowly One, calls us to learn of Him the path to\nGod. Let us study the words we have been reading, until our heart is\nfilled with the thought: My one need is humility. And let us believe\nthat what He shows, He gives; what He is, He imparts. As the meek and\nlowly One, He will come in and dwell in the longing heart.\n\n\n\nHumility: The Beauty of Holiness\n\nV.\n\nHumility in the Disciples of Jesus\n\n_'Let him that is chief among you be as he that doth serve.'_\n--LUKE xxii. 26\n\nWE have studied humility in the person and teaching of Jesus; let us\nnow look for it in the circle of His chosen companions--the twelve\napostles. If, in the lack of it we find in them, the contrast between\nChrist and men is brought out more clearly, it will help us to\nappreciate the mighty change which Pentecost wrought in them, and\nprove how real our participation can be in the perfect triumph of\nChrist's humility over the pride Satan had breathed into man.\n\nIn the texts quoted from the teaching of Jesus, we have already seen\nwhat the occasions were on which the disciples had proved how entirely\nwanting they were in the grace of humility. Once, they had been\ndisputing the way which of them should be the greatest Another time,\nthe sons of Zebedee with their mother had asked for the first\nplaces--the seat on the right hand and the left. And, later on, at the\nSupper table on the last night, there was again a contention which\nshould be accounted the greatest. Not that there were not moments when\nthey indeed humbled themselves before their Lord. So it was with Peter\nwhen he cried out, 'Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.' So,\ntoo, with the disciples when they fell down and worshipped Him who had\nstilled the storm. But such occasional expressions of humility only\nbring out into stronger relief what was the habitual tone of their\nmind, as shown in the natural and spontaneous revelation given at\nother times of the place and the power of self. The study of the\nmeaning of all this will teach us most important lessons.\n\nFirst, _How much there may be of earnest and active, religion while\nhumility is still sadly wanting._--See it in the disciples. There was\nin them fervent attachment to Jesus. They had forsaken all for Him.\nThe Father had revealed to them that He was the Christ of God. They\nbelieved in Him, they loved Him, they obeyed His commandments. They\nhad forsaken all to follow Him. When others went back, they clave to\nHim. They were ready to die with Him. But deeper down than all this\nthere was a dark power, of the existence and the hideousness of which\nthey were hardly conscious, which had to be slain and cast out, ere\nthey could be the witnesses of the power of Jesus to save. It is even\nso still. We may find professors and ministers, evangelists and\nworkers, missionaries and teachers, in whom the gifts of the Spirit\nare many and manifest, and who are the channels of blessing to\nmultitudes, but of whom, when the testing time comes, or closer\nintercourse gives fuller knowledge, it is only too painfully manifest\nthat the grace of humility, as an abiding characteristic, is scarce to\nbe seen. All tends to confirm the lesson that humility is one of the\nchief and the highest graces; one of the most difficult of attainment;\none to which our first and chiefest efforts ought to be directed; one\nthat only comes in power, when the fullness of the Spirit makes us\npartakers of the indwelling Christ, and He lives within us.\n\nSecond, _How impotent all external teaching and all personal effort\nis, to conquer pride or give the meek and lowly heart._--For three\nyears the disciples had been in the training school of Jesus. He had\ntold them what the chief lesson was He wished to teach them: 'Learn of\nMe, for I am meek and lowly in heart.' Time after time He had spoken\nto them, to the Pharisees, to the multitude, of humility as the only\npath to the glory of God. He had not only lived before them as the\nLamb of God in His divine humility, He had more than once unfolded to\nthem the inmost secret of His life: 'The Son of Man came not to be\nserved, but to serve'; 'I am among you as one that serveth.' He had\nwashed their feet, and told them they were to follow His example. And\nyet all had availed but little. At the Holy Supper there was still the\ncontention as to who should be greatest. They had doubtless often\ntried to learn His lessons, and firmly resolved not again to grieve\nHim. But all in vain. To teach them and us the much needed lesson,\nthat no outward instruction, not even of Christ Himself; no argument\nhowever convincing; no sense of the beauty of humility, however deep;\nno personal resolve or effort, however sincere and earnest,--can cast\nout the devil of pride. When Satan casts out Satan, it is only to\nenter afresh in a mightier, though more hidden power. Nothing can\navail but this, that the new nature in its divine humility be revealed\nin power to take the place of the old, to become as truly our very\nnature as that ever was.\n\nThird, _It is only by the indwelling of Christ in His divine humility\nthat we become truly humble._--We have our pride from another, from\nAdam; we must have our humility from Another too. Pride is ours, and\nrules in us with such terrible power, because it is ourself, our very\nnature. Humility must be ours in the same way; it must be our very\nself, our very nature. As natural and easy as it has been to be proud,\nit must be, it will be, to be humble. The promise is, 'Where,' even in\nthe heart, 'sin abounded, grace did abound more exceedingly.' All\nChrist's teaching of His disciples, and all their vain efforts, were\nthe needful preparation for His entering into them in divine power, to\ngive and be in them what He had taught them to desire. In His death He\ndestroyed the power of the devil, He put away sin, and effected an\neverlasting redemption. In His resurrection He received from the\nFather an entirely new life, the life of man in the power of God,\ncapable of being communicated to men, and entering and renewing and\nfilling their lives with His divine power. In His ascension He\nreceived the Spirit of the Father, through whom He might do what He\ncould not do while upon earth, make Himself one with those He loved,\nactually live their life for them, so that they could live before the\nFather in a humility like His, because it was Himself who lived and\nbreathed in them. And on Pentecost He came and took possession. The\nwork of preparation and conviction, the awakening of desire and hope\nwhich His teaching had effected, was perfected by the mighty change\nthat Pentecost wrought. And the lives and the epistles of James and\nPeter and John bear witness that all was changed, and that the spirit\nof the meek and suffering Jesus had indeed possession of them.\n\nWhat shall we say to these things? Among my readers I am sure there is\nmore than one class. There may be some who have never yet thought very\nspecially of the matter, and cannot at once realise its immense\nimportance as a life question for the Church and its every member.\nThere are others who have felt condemned for their shortcomings, and\nhave put forth very earnest efforts, only to fail and be discouraged.\nOthers, again, may be able to give joyful testimony of spiritual\nblessing and power, and yet there has never been the needed conviction\nof what those around them still see as wanting. And still others may\nbe able to witness that in regard to this grace too the Lord has given\ndeliverance and victory, while He has taught them how much they still\nneed and may expect out of the fullness of Jesus. To whichever class\nwe belong, may I urge the pressing need there is for our all seeking a\nstill deeper conviction of the unique place that humility holds in the\nreligion of Christ, and the utter impossibility of the Church or the\nbeliever being what Christ would have them be, as long as _His\nhumility is not recognised as His chief glory, His first command, and\nour highest blessedness._ Let us consider deeply how far the disciples\nwere advanced while this grace was still so terribly lacking, and let\nus pray to God that other gifts may not so satisfy us, that we never\ngrasp the fact that the absence of this grace is the secret cause why\nthe power of God cannot do its mighty work. It is only where we, like\nthe Son, truly know and show that we can do nothing of ourselves, that\nGod will do all.\n\nIt is when the truth of an indwelling Christ takes the place it claims\nin the experience of believers, that the Church will put on her\nbeautiful garments and humility be seen in her teachers and members as\nthe beauty of holiness.\n\n\n\nHumility: The Beauty of Holiness.\n\nVI.\n\nHumility in Daily Life\n\n_'He that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love\nGod whom he hath not seen?'_--1 JOHN iv. 20.\n\nWHAT a solemn thought, that our love to God will be measured by our\neveryday intercourse with men and the love it displays; and that our\nlove to God will be found to be a delusion, except was its truth is\nproved in standing the test of daily life with our fellowmen. It is\neven so with our humility. It is easy to think we humble ourselves\nbefore God: humility towards men will be the only sufficient proof\nthat our humility before God is real; that humility has taken up its\nabode in us; and become our very nature; that we actually, like\nChrist, have made ourselves of no reputation. When in the presence of\nGod lowliness of heart has become, not a posture we pray to Him, but\nthe very spirit of our life, it will manifest itself in all our\nbearing towards our brethren. The lesson is one of deep import: the\nonly humility that is really ours is not that which we try to show\nbefore God in prayer, but that which we carry with us, and carry out,\nin our ordinary conduct; the insignificances of daily life are the\nimportances and the tests of eternity, because they prove what really\nis the spirit that possesses us. It is in our most unguarded moments\nthat we really show and see what we are. To know the humble man, to\nknow how the humble man behaves, you must follow him in the common\ncourse of daily life.\n\nIs not this what Jesus taught? It was when the disciples disputed who\nshould be greatest; when He saw how the Pharisees loved the chief\nplace at feasts and the chief seats in the synagogues; when He had\ngiven them the example of washing their feet,--that He taught His\nlessons of humility. Humility before God is nothing if not proved in\nhumility before men.\n\nIt is even so in the teaching of Paul. To the Romans He writes: 'In\nhonour preferring one _another_'; 'Set not your mind on high things,\nbut condescend to _those that are lowly_.' 'Be not wise in your own\nconceit.' To the Corinthians: 'Love,' and there is no love without\nhumility as its root, 'vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, seeketh\nnot its own, is not provoked.' To the Galatians: 'Through love be\nservants _one of another_. Let us not be desirous of vainglory,\nprovoking _one another_, envying _one another._' To the Ephesians,\nimmediately after the three wonderful chapters on the heavenly life:\n'Therefore, walk with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering,\nforbearing _one another_ in love'; 'Giving thanks always, subjecting\nyourselves _one to another_ in the fear of Christ.' To the\nPhilippians: 'Doing nothing through faction or vainglory, but in\nlowliness of mind, each counting _other_ better than himself. Have the\nmind in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who emptied Himself,\ntaking the form of a servant, and humbled Himself.' And to the\nColossians: 'Put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility,\nmeekness, long-suffering, forebearing _one another_, and forgiving\n_each other_, even as the Lord forgave you.' It is in our relation to\none another, in our treatment of one another, that the true lowliness\nof mind and the heart of humility are to be seen. Our humility before\nGod has no value, but as it prepares us to reveal the humility of\nJesus to our fellow-men. Let us study humility in daily life in the\nlight of these words.\n\nThe humble man seeks at all times to act up to the rule, _'In honour\npreferring one another; Servants one of another; Each counting others\nbetter than himself; Subjecting yourselves one to another.'_ The\nquestion is often asked, how we can count others better than\nourselves, when we see that they are far below us in wisdom and in\nholiness, in natural gifts, or in grace received. The question proves\nat once how little we understand what real lowliness of mind is. True\nhumility comes when, in the light of God, we have seen ourselves to be\nnothing, have consented to part with and cast away self, to let God be\nall. The soul that has done this, and can say, So have I lost myself\nin finding Thee, no longer compares itself with others. It has given\nup forever every thought of self in God's presence; it meets its\nfellow-men as one who is nothing, and seeks nothing for itself; who is\na servant of God, and for His sake a servant of all. A faithful\nservant may be wiser than the master, and yet retain the true spirit\nand posture of the servant. The humble man looks upon every, the\nfeeblest and unworthiest, child of God, and honours him and prefers\nhim in honour as the son of a King. The spirit of Him who washed the\ndisciples' feet, makes it a joy to us to be indeed the least, to be\nservants one of another.\n\nThe humble man feels no jealousy or envy. He can praise God when\nothers are preferred and blessed before him. He can bear to hear\nothers praised and himself forgotten, because in God's presence he has\nlearnt to say with Paul, 'I am nothing.' He has received the spirit of\nJesus, who pleased not Himself, and sought not His own honour, as the\nspirit of his life.\n\nAmid what are considered the temptations to impatience and touchiness,\nto hard thoughts and sharp words, which come from the failings and\nsins of fellow-Christians, the humble man carries the oft-repeated\ninjunction in his heart, and shows it in his life, _'Forbearing one\nanother, and forgiving one another, even as the Lord forgave you.'_ He\nhas learnt that in putting on the Lord Jesus he _has put on the heart\nof compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and long-suffering._\nJesus has taken the place of self, and it is not an impossibility to\nforgive as Jesus forgave. His humility does not consist merely in\nthoughts or words of self-depreciation, but, as Paul puts it, in 'a\nheart of humility,' encompassed by compassion and kindness, meekness\nand long-suffering,--the sweet and lowly gentleness recognised as the\nmark of the Lamb of God.\n\nIn striving after the higher experiences of the Christian life, the\nbeliever is often in danger of aiming at and rejoicing in what one\nmight call the more human, the manly, virtues, such as boldness, joy,\ncontempt of the world, zeal, self-sacrifice,--even the old Stoics\ntaught and practised these,--while the deeper and gentler, the diviner\nand more heavenly graces, those which Jesus first taught upon earth,\nbecause He brought them from heaven; those which are more distinctly\nconnected with His cross and the death of self,--poverty of spirit,\nmeekness, humility, lowliness,--are scarcely thought of or valued.\nTherefore, let us put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility,\nmeekness, long-suffering; and let us prove our Christlikeness, not\nonly in our zeal for saving the lost, but before all in our\nintercourse with the brethren, forbearing and forgiving one another,\n_even as the Lord forgave us._\n\nFellow-Christians, do let us study the Bible portrait of the humble\nman. And let us ask our brethren, and ask the world, whether they\nrecognise in us the likeness to the original. Let us be content with\nnothing less than taking each of these texts as the promise of what\nGod will work in us, as the revelation in words of what the Spirit of\nJesus will give as a birth within us. And let each failure and\nshortcoming simply urge us to turn humbly and meekly to the meek and\nlowly Lamb of God, in the assurance that where He is enthroned in the\nheart, His humility and gentleness will be one of the streams of\nliving water that flow from within us. [Footnote: I knew Jesus, and He\nwas very precious to my soul: but I found something in me that would\nnot keep sweet and patient and kind. I did what I could to keep it\ndown, but it was there. I besought Jesus to do something for me, and\nwhen I gave Him my will, He came to my heart, and took out all that\nwould not be sweet, all that would not be kind, all that would not be\npatient, and then He shut the door.'--GEORGE FOXE.]\n\nOnce again I repeat what I have said before. I feel deeply that we\nhave very little conception of what the Church suffers from the lack\nof this divine humility,--the nothingness that makes room for God to\nprove His power. It is not long since a Christian, of an humble,\nloving spirit, acquainted with not a few mission stations of various\nsocieties, expressed his deep sorrow that in some cases the spirit of\nlove and forbearance was sadly lacking. Men and women, who in Europe\ncould each choose their own circle of friends, brought close together\nwith others of uncongenial minds, find it hard to bear, and to love,\nand to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. And those\nwho should have been fellow-helpers of each other's joy, became a\nhindrance and a weariness. And all for the one reason, the lack of the\nhumility which counts itself nothing, which rejoices in becoming and\nbeing counted the least, and only seeks, like Jesus, to be the\nservant, the helper and comforter of others, even the lowest and\nunworthiest.\n\nAnd whence comes it that men who have joyfully given up themselves for\nChrist, find it so hard to give up themselves for their brethren? Is\nnot the blame with the Church? It has so little taught its sons that\nthe humility of Christ is the first of the virtues, the best of all\nthe graces and powers of the Spirit. It has so little proved that a\nChristlike humility is what it, like Christ, places and preaches\nfirst, as what is in very deed needed, and possible too. But let us\nnot be discouraged. Let the discovery of the lack of this grace stir\nus to larger expectation from God. Let us look upon every brother who\ntries or vexes us, as God's means of grace, God's instrument for our\npurification, for our exercise of the humility Jesus our Life breathes\nwithin us. And let us have such faith in the All of God, and the\nnothing of self, that, as nothing in our own eyes, we may, in God's\npower, only seek to serve one another in love.\n\n\n\nHumility: The Beauty of Holiness\n\nVII.\n\nHumility and Holiness\n\n_'Which say, Stand by thyself; for I am holier than thou.'_\n--ISAIAH lxv. 5.\n\nWE speak of the Holiness movement in our times, and praise God for it.\nWe hear a great deal of seekers after holiness and professors of\nholiness, of holiness teaching and holiness meetings. The blessed\ntruths of holiness in Christ, and holiness by faith, are being\nemphasised as never before. The great test of whether the holiness we\nprofess to seek or to attain, is truth and life, will be _whether it\nbe manifest in the increasing humility it produces._ In the creature,\nhumility is the one thing needed to allow God's holiness to dwell in\nhim and shine through him. In Jesus, the Holy One of God who makes us\nholy, a divine humility was the secret of His life and His death and\nHis exaltation; the one infallible test of our holiness will be the\nhumility before God and men which marks us. Humility is the bloom and\nthe beauty of holiness.\n\nThe chief mark of counterfeit holiness is its lack of humility. Every\nseeker after holiness needs to be on his guard, lest unconsciously\nwhat was begun in the spirit be perfected in the flesh, and pride\ncreep in where its presence is least expected. Two men went up into\nthe temple to pray: the one a Pharisee, the other a publican. There is\nno place or position so sacred but the Pharisee can enter there. Pride\ncan lift its head in the very temple of God, and make His worship the\nscene of its self exaltation. Since the time Christ so exposed his\npride, the Pharisee has put on the garb of the publican, and the\nconfessor of deep sinfulness equally with the professor of the highest\nholiness, must be on the watch. Just when We are most anxious to have\nour heart the temple of God, we shall find the two men coming up to\npray. And the publican will find that his danger is not from the\nPharisee beside him, who despises him, but the Pharisee within who\ncommends and exalts. In God's temple, when we think we are in the\nholiest of all, in the presence of His holiness, let us beware of\npride. 'Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present\nthemselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them.'\n\n'God, I thank thee, I am not as the rest of men, or even as this\npublican.' It is in that which is just cause for thanksgiving, it is\nin the very thanksgiving which we render to God, it may be in the very\nconfession that God has done it all, that self finds its cause of\ncomplacency. Yes, even when in the temple the language of penitence\nand trust in God's mercy alone is heard, the Pharisee may take up the\nnote of praise, and in thanking God be congratulating himself. Pride\ncan clothe itself in the garments of praise or of penitence. Even\nthough the words, 'I am not as the rest of men' are rejected and\ncondemned, their spirit may too often be found in our feelings and\nlanguage towards our fellow-worshippers and fellow-men. Would you know\nif this really is so, just listen to the way in which Churches and\nChristians often speak of one another. How little of the meekness and\ngentleness of Jesus is to be seen. It is so little remembered that\ndeep humility must be the keynote of what the servants of Jesus say of\nthemselves or each other. Is there not many a Church or assembly of\nthe saints, many a mission or convention, many a society or committee,\neven many a mission away in heathendom, where the harmony has been\ndisturbed and the work of God hindered, because men who are counted\nsaints have proved in touchiness and haste and impatience, in\nself-defence and self-assertion, in sharp judgments and unkind words,\nthat they did not each reckon others better than themselves, and that\ntheir holiness has but little in it of the meekness of the\nsaints?[Footnote1: ME is a most exacting personage, requiring the best\nseat and the highest place for itself, and feeling grievously wounded\nif its claim is not recognised. Most of the quarrels among Christian\nworkers arise from the clamouring of this gigantic ME. How few of us\nunderstand the true secret of taking our seats in the lowest\nrooms.'--MRS SMITH, Everyday Religion.] In their spiritual history men\nmay have had times of great humbling and brokenness, but what a\ndifferent thing this is from being clothed with humility, from having\nan humble spirit, from having that lowliness of mind in which each\ncounts himself the servant of others, and so shows forth the very mind\nwhich was also in Jesus Christ.\n\n_'Stand by; for I am holier than thou!'_ What a parody on holiness!\nJesus the Holy One is the humble One: the holiest will ever be the\nhumblest. There is none holy but God: we have as much of holiness as\nwe have of God. And according to what we have of God will be our real\nhumility, because humility is nothing but the disappearance of self in\nthe vision that God is all. The holiest will be the humblest. Alas!\nthough the barefaced boasting Jew of the days of Isaiah is not often\nto be found,--even our manners have taught us not to speak thus, how\noften his spirit is still seen, whether in the treatment of\nfellow-saints or of the children of the world. In the spirit in which\nopinions are given, and work is undertaken, and faults are exposed,\nhow often, though the garb be that of the publican, the voice is still\nthat of the Pharisee: 'Oh God, I thank Thee that I am not as other\nmen.'\n\nAnd is there, then, such humility to be found, that men shall indeed\nstill count themselves 'less than the least of all saints,' the\nservants of all? There is. 'Love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed\nup, seeketh not its own.' Where the spirit of love is shed abroad in\nthe heart, where the divine nature comes to a full birth where Christ\nthe meek and lowly Lamb of God is truly formed within, there is given\nthe power of a perfect love that forgets itself and finds its\nblessedness in blessing others, in bearing with them and honouring\nthem, however feeble they be. Where this love enters, there God\nenters. And where God has entered in His power, and reveals Himself as\nAll, there the creature becomes nothing. And where the creature\nbecomes nothing before God; it cannot be anything but humble towards\nthe fellow-creature. The presence of God becomes not a thing of times\nand seasons, but the covering under which the soul ever dwells, and\nits deep abasement before God becomes the holy place of His presence\nwhence all its words and works proceed.\n\nMay God teach us that our thoughts and words and feelings concerning\nour fellowmen are His test of our humility towards Him, and that our\nhumility before Him is the only power that can enable us to be always\nhumble with our fellow-men. Our humility must be the life of Christ,\nthe Lamb of God, within us.\n\nLet all teachers of holiness, whether in the pulpit or on the\nplatform, and all seekers after holiness, whether in the closet or the\nconvention, take warning. There is no pride so dangerous, because none\nso subtle and insidious, as the pride of holiness. It is not that a\nman ever says, or even thinks, 'Stand by; I am holier than thou.' No,\nindeed, the thought would be regarded with abhorrence. But there grows\nup, all unconsciously, a hidden habit of soul, which feels complacency\nits attainments, and cannot help seeing how far it is in advance of\nothers. It can be recognised, not always in any special self-assertion\nor self-laudation, but simply in the absence of that deep\nself-abasement which cannot but be the mark of the soul that has seen\nthe glory of God (Job xlii. 5, 6; Isa. vi. 5). It reveals itself, not\nonly in words or thoughts, but in a tone, a way of speaking of others,\nin which those who have the gift of spiritual discernment cannot but\nrecognise the power of self. Even the world with its keen eyes notices\nit, and points to it as a proof that the profession of a heavenly life\ndoes not bear any specially heavenly fruits. O brethren! let us\nbeware. Unless we make, with each advance in what we think holiness,\nthe increase of humility our study, we may find that we have been\ndelighting in beautiful thoughts and feelings, in solemn acts of\nconsecration and faith, while the only sure mark of the presence of\nGod, the disappearance of self, was all the time wanting. Come and let\nus flee to Jesus, and hide ourselves in Him until we be clothed upon\nwith His humility. That alone is our holiness.\n\n\n\nHumility: The Beauty of Holiness\n\nVIII.\n\nHumility and Sin\n\n_'Sinners, of whom I am chief.'_--1 TIM. i. 15\n\nHUMILITY is often identified with penitence and contrition. As a\nconsequence, there appears to be no way of fostering humility but by\nkeeping the soul occupied with its sin. We have learned, I think, that\nhumility is something else and something more. We have seen in the\nteaching of our Lord Jesus and the Epistles how often the virtue is\ninculcated without any reference to sin. In the very nature of things,\nin the whole relation of the creature to the Creator, in the life of\nJesus as He lived it and imparts it to us, humility is the very\nessence of holiness as of blessedness. It is the displacement of self\nby the enthronement of God. Where God is all, self is nothing.\n\nBut though it is this aspect of the truth I have felt it specially\nneedful to press, I need scarce say what new depth and intensity man's\nsin and God's grace give to the humility of the saints. We have only\nto look at a man like the Apostle Paul, to see how, through his life\nas a ransomed and a holy man, the deep consciousness of having been a\nsinner lives inextinguishably. We all know the passages in which he\nrefers to his life as a persecutor and blasphemer. 'I am _the least of\nthe apostles_, that am _not worthy to be called an apostle_, because I\npersecuted the Church of God. ...I laboured more abundantly than they\nall; yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me' (1 Cor. xv.\n9,10). 'Unto me, who am _less than the least of all saints,_ was this\ngrace given, to preach to the heathen' (Eph. iii. 8). 'I was before a\n_blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious;_ howbeit I obtained\nmercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. ...Christ Jesus came\ninto the world to save _sinners, of whom I am chief'_ (1 Tim. i. 13,\n15). God's grace had saved him; God remembered his sins no more for\never; but never, never could he forget how terribly he had sinned. The\nmore he rejoiced in God's salvation, and the more his experience of\nGod's grace filled him with joy unspeakable, the clearer was his\nconsciousness that he was a saved sinner, and that salvation had no\nmeaning or sweetness except as the sense of his being a sinner made it\nprecious and real to him. Never for a moment could he forget that it\nwas a sinner God had taken up in His arms and crowned with His love.\n\nThe texts we have just quoted are often appealed to as Paul's\nconfession of daily sinning. One has only to read them carefully in\ntheir connection, to see how little this is the case. They have a far\ndeeper meaning, they refer to that which lasts throughout eternity,\nand which will give its deep undertone of amazement and adoration to\nthe humility with which the ransomed bow before the throne, as those\nwho have been washed from their sins in the blood of the Lamb. Never,\nnever, even in, glory, can they be other than ransomed sinners; never\nfor a moment in this life can God's child live in the full light of\nHis love, but as he feels that the sin, out of which he has been\nsaved, is his one only right and title to all that grace has promised\nto do. The humility with which first he came as a sinner, acquires a\nnew meaning when he learns how it becomes him as a creature. And then\never again, the humility, in which he was born as a creature, has its\ndeepest, richest tones of adoration, in the memory of what it is to be\na monument of God's wondrous redeeming love.\n\nThe true import of what these expressions of St. Paul teach us comes\nout all the more strongly when we notice the remarkable fact that,\nthrough his whole Christian course, we never find from his pen, even\nin those epistles in which we have the most intensely personal\nunbosomings, anything like confession of sin. Nowhere is there any\nmention of shortcoming or defect, nowhere any suggestion to his\nreaders that he has failed in duty, or sinned against the law of\nperfect love. On the contrary, there are passages not a few in which\nhe vindicates himself in language that means nothing if it does not\nappeal to a faultless life before God and men. 'Ye are witnesses, and\nGod also, how holily, and righteously, and unblameably we behaved\nourselves toward you' (1 Thess. ii. 10). 'Our glorying is this, the\ntestimony of our conscience, that in holiness and sincerity of God we\nbehaved ourselves in the world, and more abundantly to you ward' (2\nCor. i. 12). This is not an ideal or an aspiration; it is an appeal to\nwhat his actual life had been. However we may account for this absence\nof confession of sin, all will admit that it must point to a life in\nthe power of the Holy Ghost, such as is but seldom realised or\nexpected in these our days.\n\nThe point which I wish to emphasise is this--that the very fact of the\nabsence of such confession of sinning only gives the more force to the\ntruth that it is not in daily sinning that the secret of the deeper\nhumility will be found, but in the habitual, never for a moment to be\nforgotten position, which just the more abundant grace will keep more\ndistinctly alive, that our only place, the only place of blessing, our\none abiding position before God, must be that of those whose highest\njoy it is to confess that they are sinners saved by grace.\n\nWith Paul's deep remembrance of having sinned so terribly in the past,\nere grace had met him, and the consciousness of being kept from\npresent sinning, there was ever coupled the abiding remembrance of the\ndark hidden power of sin ever ready to come in, and only kept out by\nthe presence and power of the indwelling Christ. 'In me, that is, in\nmy flesh, dwelleth no good thing;'--these words of Rom. vii. describe\nthe flesh as it is to the end. The glorious deliverance of Rom.\nviii.--'The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath now made me\nfree from the law of sin, which once led me captive'--is neither the\nannihilation nor the sanctification of the flesh, but a continuous\nvictory given by the Spirit as He mortifies the deeds of the body. As\nhealth expels disease, and light swallows up darkness, and life\nconquers death, the indwelling of Christ through the Spirit is the\nhealth and light and life of the soul. But with this, the conviction\nof helplessness and danger ever tempers the faith in the momentary and\nunbroken action of the Holy Spirit into that chastened sense of\ndependence which makes the highest faith and joy the handmaids of a\nhumility that only lives by the grace of God.\n\nThe three passages above quoted all show that it was the wonderful\ngrace bestowed upon Paul, and of which he felt the need every moment,\nthat humbled him so deeply. The grace of God that was with him, and\nenabled him to labor more abundantly than they all; the grace to\npreach to the heathen the unsearchable riches of Christ; the grace\nthat was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ\nJesus,--it was this grace of which it is the very nature and glory\nthat it is for sinners, that kept the consciousness of his having once\nsinned, and being liable to sin, so intensely alive. 'Where sin\nabounded, grace did abound more exceedingly.' This reveals how the\nvery essence of grace is to deal with and take away sin, and how it\nmust ever be the more abundant the experience of grace, the more\nintense the consciousness of being a sinner. It is not sin, but God's\ngrace showing a man and ever reminding him what a sinner he was, that,\nwill keep him truly humble. It is not sin, but grace, that will make\nme indeed know myself a sinner, and make the sinner's place of deepest\nself-abasement the place I never leave.\n\nI fear that there are not a few who, by strong expressions of\nself-condemnation and self-denunciation, have sought to humble\nthemselves, and have to confess with sorrow that a humble spirit, a\n'heart of humility,' with its accompaniments of kindness and\ncompassion, of meekness and forbearance, is still as far off as ever.\nBeing occupied with self, even amid the deepest self-abhorrence, can\nnever free us from self. It is the revelation of God, not only by the\nlaw condemning sin but by His grace delivering from it, that will make\nus humble. The law may break the heart with fear; it is only grace\nthat works that sweet humility which becomes a joy to the soul as its\nsecond nature. It was the revelation of God in His holiness, drawing\nnigh to make Himself known in His grace, that made Abraham and Jacob,\nJob and Isaiah, bow so low. It is the soul in which God the Creator,\nas the All of the creature in its nothingness, God the Redeemer in His\ngrace, as the All of the sinner in his sinfulness, is waited for and\ntrusted and worshipped, that will find itself so filled with His\npresence, that there will be no place for self. So alone can the\npromise be fulfilled: 'The haughtiness of man shall be brought low,\nand the Lord alone be exalted in that day.'\n\nIt is the sinner dwelling in the full light of God's holy, redeeming\nlove, in the experience of that full indwelling of divine love, which\ncomes through Christ and the Holy Spirit, who cannot but be humble.\nNot to be occupied with thy sin, but to be occupied with God, brings\ndeliverance from self.\n\n\n\nHumility: The Beauty of Holiness\n\nIX.\n\nHumility and Faith\n\n_'How can ye believe, which receive glory from one another, and the\nglory that cometh from the only God ye seek not?'_ JOHN v. 44.\n\nIn an address I lately heard, the speaker said that the blessings of\nthe higher Christian life were often like the objects exposed in a\nshop window,--one could see them clearly and yet could not reach them.\nIf told to stretch out his hand and take, a man would answer, I\ncannot; there is a thick pane of plate-glass between me and them. And\neven so Christians may see clearly the blessed promises of perfect\npeace and rest, of overflowing love and joy, of abiding communion and\nfruitfulness, and yet feel that there was something between hindering\nthe true possession. And what might that be? _Nothing but pride._ The\npromises made to faith are so free and sure; the invitations and\nencouragements so strong; the mighty power of God on which it may\ncount is so near and free,--that it can only be something that hinders\nfaith that hinders the blessing being ours. In our text Jesus\ndiscovers to us that it is indeed pride that makes faith impossible.\n'How can ye believe, which receive glory from one another?' As we see\nhow in their very nature pride and faith are irreconcilably at\nvariance, we shall learn that faith and humility are at root one, and\nthat we never can have more of true faith than we have of true\nhumility; we shall see that we may indeed have strong intellectual\nconviction and assurance of the truth while pride is kept in the\nheart, but that it makes the living faith, which has power with God,\nan impossibility.\n\nWe need only think for a moment what faith is. Is it not the\nconfession of nothingness and helplessness, the surrender and the\nwaiting to let God work? Is it not in itself the most humbling thing\nthere can be,--the acceptance of our place as dependents, who can\nclaim or get or do nothing but what grace bestows? Humility is\n'simply the disposition which prepares the soul for living on trust.\nAnd every, even the most secret breathing of pride, in self-seeking,\nself-will, self-confidence, or self-exaltation, is just the\nstrengthening of that self which cannot enter the kingdom, or possess\nthe things of the kingdom, because it refuses to allow God to be what\nHe is and must be there--the All in All.\n\nFaith is the organ or sense for the perception and apprehension of the\nheavenly world and its blessings. Faith seeks the glory that comes\nfrom God, that only comes where God is All. As long as we take glory\nfrom one another, as long as ever we seek and love and jealously guard\nthe glory of this life, the honour and reputation that comes from men,\nwe do not seek, and cannot receive the glory that comes from God.\nPride renders faith impossible. Salvation comes through a cross and a\ncrucified Christ. Salvation is the fellowship with the crucified\nChrist in the Spirit of His cross. Salvation is union with and delight\nin, salvation is participation in, the humility of Jesus. Is it wonder\nthat our faith is so feeble when pride still reigns so much, and we\nhave scarce learnt even to long or pray for humility as the most\nneedful and blessed part of salvation?\n\nHumility and faith are more nearly allied in Scripture than many know.\nSee it in the life of Christ. There are two cases in which He spoke of\na great faith. Had not the centurion, at whose faith He marvelled,\nsaying, 'I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel!' spoken,\n_'I am not worthy_ that Thou shouldst come under my roof'? And had not\nthe mother to whom He spoke, 'O woman, great is thy faith!' accepted\nthe name of dog, and said, _'Yea, Lord, yet the dogs eat of the\ncrumbs'?_ It is the humility that brings a soul to be nothing before\nGod, that also removes every hindrance to faith, and makes it only\nfear lest it should dishonour Him by not trusting Him wholly.\n\nBrother, have we not here the cause of failure in the pursuit of\nholiness? Is it not this, though we knew it not, that made our\nconsecration and our faith so superficial and so short-lived? We had\nno idea to what an extent pride and self were still secretly working\nwithin us, and how alone God by His incoming and His mighty power\ncould cast them out. We understood not how nothing but the new and\ndivine nature, taking entirely the place of the old self, could make\nus really humble. We knew not that absolute, unceasing, universal\nhumility must be the root-disposition of every prayer and every\napproach to God as well as of every dealing with man; and that we\nmight as well attempt to see without eyes, or live without breath, as\nbelieve or draw nigh to God or dwell in His love, without an\nall-pervading humility and lowliness of heart.\n\nBrother, have we not been making a mistake in taking so much trouble\nto believe, while all the time there was the old self in its pride\nseeking to possess itself of God's blessing and riches? No wonder we\ncould not believe. Let us change our course. Let us seek first of all\nto humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God: _He will exalt us._\nThe cross, and the death, and the grave, into which Jesus humbled\nHimself, were His path to the glory of God. And they are our path. Let\nour one desire and our fervent prayer be, to be humbled with Him and\nlike Him; let us accept gladly whatever can humble us before God or\nmen;--this alone is the path to the glory of God.\n\nYou perhaps feel inclined to ask a question. I have spoken of some who\nhave blessed experiences, or are the means of bringing blessing to\nothers, and yet are lacking in humility. You ask whether these do not\nprove that they have true, even strong faith, though they show too\nclearly that they still seek too much the honour that cometh from men.\nThere is more than one answer can be given. But the principal answer\nin our present connection is this: They indeed have a measure of\nfaith, in proportion to which, with the special gifts bestowed upon\nthem, is the blessing they bring to others. But in that very blessing\nthe work of their faith is hindered, through the lack of humility. The\nblessing is often superficial or transitory, just because they are not\nthe nothing that opens the way for God to be all. A deeper humility\nwould without doubt bring a deeper and fuller blessing. The Holy\nSpirit not only working in them as a Spirit of power, but dwelling in\nthem in the fullness of His grace, and specially that of humility,\nwould through them communicate Himself to these converts for a life of\npower and holiness and steadfastness now all too little seen.\n\n'How can ye believe, which receive glory from one another?' Brother!\nnothing can cure you of the desire of receiving glory from men, or of\nthe sensitiveness and pain and anger which come when it is not given,\nbut giving yourself to seek only the glory that comes from God. Let\nthe glory of the All-glorious God be everything to you. You will be\nfreed from the glory of men and of self, and be content and glad to be\nnothing. Out of this nothingness you will grow strong in faith, giving\nglory to God, and you will find that the deeper you sink in humility\nbefore Him, the nearer He is to fulfil the every desire of your faith.\n\n\n\nHumility: The Beauty of Holiness.\n\nX.\n\nHumility and Death to Self.\n\n_'He humbled Himself and became obedient unto death.'_--PHIL. ii. 8.\n\nHUMILITY is the path to death, because in death it gives the highest\nproof of its perfection. Humility is the blossom of which death to\nself is the perfect fruit. Jesus humbled Himself unto death, and\nopened the path in which we too must walk. As there was no way for Him\nto prove His surrender to God to the very uttermost, or to give up and\nrise out of our human nature to the glory of the Father but through\ndeath, so with us too. Humility must lead us to die to self: so we\nprove how wholly we have given ourselves up to it and to God; so alone\nwe are freed from fallen nature, and find the path that leads to life\nin God, to that full birth of the new nature, of which humility is the\nbreath and the joy.\n\nWe have spoken of what Jesus did for His disciples when He\ncommunicated His resurrection life to them, when in the descent of the\nHoly Spirit He, the glorified and enthroned Meekness, actually came\nfrom heaven Himself to dwell in them. He won the power to do this\nthrough death: in its inmost nature the life He imparted was a life\nout of death, a life that had been surrendered to death, and been won\nthrough death. He who came to dwell in them was Himself One who had\nbeen dead and now lives for evermore. His life, His person, His\npresence, bears the marks of death, of being a life begotten out of\ndeath. That life in His disciples ever bears the death-marks too; it is\nonly as the Spirit of the death, of the dying One, dwells and works in\nthe soul, that the power of His life can be known. The first and chief\nof the marks of the dying of the Lord Jesus, of the death-marks that\nshow the true follower of Jesus, is humility. For these two reasons:\nOnly humility leads to perfect death; Only death perfects humility.\nHumility and death are in their very nature one: humility is the bud;\nin death the fruit is ripened to perfection.\n\n_Humility leads to perfect death._--Humility means the giving up of\nself and the taking of the place of perfect nothingness before God.\nJesus humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death. In death He\ngave the highest, the perfect proof of having given up His will to the\nwill of God. In death He gave up His self, with its natural reluctance\nto drink the cup; He gave up the life He had in union with our human\nnature; He died to self, and the sin that tempted Him; so, as man, He\nentered into the perfect life of God. If it had not been for His\nboundless humility, counting Himself as nothing except as a servant to\ndo and suffer the will of God, He never would have died.\n\nThis gives us the answer to the question so often asked, and of which\nthe meaning is so seldom clearly apprehended: How can I die to self?\nThe death to self is not your work, it is God's work. In Christ _you\nare dead_ to sin the life there is in you has gone through the process\nof death and resurrection; you may be sure you are indeed dead to sin.\nBut the full manifestation of the power of this death in your\ndisposition and conduct, depends upon the measure in which the Holy\nSpirit imparts the power of the death of Christ And here it is that\nthe teaching is needed: if you would enter into full fellowship with\nChrist in His death, and know the full deliverance from self, humble\nyourself. This is your one duty. Place yourself before God in your\nutter helplessness; consent heartily to the fact of your impotence to\nslay or make alive yourself; sink down into your own nothingness, in\nthe spirit of meek and patient and trustful surrender to God. Accept\nevery humiliation, look upon every fellow-man who tries or vexes you,\nas a means of grace to humble you. Use every opportunity of humbling\nyourself before your fellow-men as a help to abide humble before God.\nGod will accept such humbling of yourself as the proof that your whole\nheart desires it, as the very best prayer for it, as your preparation\nfor His mighty work of grace, when, by the mighty strengthening of His\nHoly Spirit, He reveals Christ fully in you, so that He, in His form\nof a servant, is truly formed in you, and dwells in your heart. It is\nthe path of humility which leads to perfect death, the full and\nperfect experience that we are dead in Christ.\n\nThen follows: _Only this death leads to perfect humility._ Oh, beware\nof the mistake so many make, who would fain be humble, but are afraid\nto be too humble. They have so many qualifications and limitations, so\nmany reasonings and questionings, as to what true humility is to be\nand to do, that they never unreservedly yield themselves to it. Beware\nof this. Humble yourself unto the death. It is in the death to self\nthat humility is perfected. Be sure that at the root of all real\nexperience of more grace, of all true advance in consecration, of all\nactually increasing conformity to the likeness of Jesus, there must be\na deadness to self that proves itself to God and men in our\ndispositions and habits. It is sadly possible to speak of the\ndeath-life and the Spirit-walk, while even the tenderest love cannot\nbut see how much there is of self. The death to self has no surer\ndeath-mark than a humility which makes itself of no reputation, which\nempties out itself, and takes the form of a servant. It is possible to\nspeak much and honestly of fellowship with a despised and rejected\nJesus, and of bearing His cross, while the meek and lowly, the kind\nand gentle humility of the Lamb of God is not seen, is scarcely\nsought. The Lamb of God means to two things--meekness and death. Let\nus seek to receive Him in both forms. In Him they are inseparable:\nthey must be in us too.\n\nWhat a hopeless task if we had to do the work! Nature never can\novercome nature, not even with the help of grace. Self can never cast\nout self, even in the regenerate man. Praise God! the work has been\ndone, and finished and perfected for ever. The death of Jesus, once\nand forever, is our death to self. And the ascension of Jesus, His\nentering once and for ever into the Holiest, has given us the Holy\nSpirit to communicate to us in power, and make our very own, the power\nof the death-life. As the soul, in the pursuit and practice of\nhumility, follows in the steps of Jesus, its consciousness of the need\nof something more is awakened, its desire and hope is quickened, its\nfaith is strengthened, and it learns to look up and claim and receive\nthat true fullness of the Spirit of Jesus, which can daily maintain\nHis death to self and sin in its full power, and make humility the all\npervading spirit of our life. (See Note C.)\n\n'Are ye ignorant that all we who were baptised into Jesus Christ were\n_baptised into His death?_ Reckon yourselves to be _dead unto sin,_\nbut alive unto God in Christ Jesus. Present yourself unto God, as\n_alive from the dead.'_ The whole self consciousness of the Christian\nis to be imbued and characterised by the spirit that animated the\ndeath of Christ. He has ever to present himself to God as one who has\ndied in Christ, and in Christ is alive from the dead, bearing about in\nhis body the dying of the Lord Jesus. His life ever bears the two-fold\nmark: its roots striking in true humility deep into the grave of\nJesus, the death to sin and self; its head lifted up in resurrection\npower to the heaven where Jesus is.\n\nBeliever, claim in faith the death and the life of Jesus as thine.\nEnter in His grave into the rest from self and its work--the rest of\nGod. With Christ, who committed His spirit into the Father's hands,\nhumble thyself and descend each day into that perfect, helpless\ndependence upon God. God will raise thee up and exalt thee. Sink every\nmorning in deep, deep nothingness into the grave of Jesus; every day\nthe life of Jesus will be manifest in thee, Let a willing, loving,\nrestful, happy humility be the mark that thou hast indeed claimed thy\nbirthright--the baptism into the death of Christ. 'By one offering He\nhas perfected for ever them that are sanctified.'The souls that enter\ninto _His_ humiliation will find _in Him_ the power to see and count\nself dead, and, as those who have learned and received of Him, to walk\nwith all lowliness and meekness, forbearing one another in love. The\ndeath-life is seen in a meekness and lowliness like that of Christ.\n\n\n\nHumility: The Beauty of Holiness\n\nXI.\n\nHumility and Happiness.\n\n_'Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my weaknesses, that the\nstrength of Christ may rest upon me. Wherefore I take pleasure in\nweakness: for when I am weak then am I strong.'_--2 COR. xii. 9. 10.\n\nLEST Paul should exalt himself, by reason of the exceeding greatness\nof the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was sent him to keep him\nhumble. Paul's first desire was to have it removed, and he besought\nthe Lord thrice that it might depart. The answer came that the trial\nwas a blessing; that, in the weakness and humiliation it brought, the\ngrace and strength of the Lord could be the better manifested. Paul at\nonce entered upon a new stage in his relation to the trial: instead of\nsimply enduring it, _he most gladly gloried_ in it; instead of asking\nfor deliverance, _he took pleasure_ in it. He had learned that the\nplace of humiliation is the place of blessing, of power, of joy.\n\nEvery Christian virtually passes through these two stages in his\npursuit of humility. In the first he fears and flees and seeks\ndeliverance from all that can humble him. He has not yet learnt to\nseek humility at any cost. He has accepted the command to be humble,\nand seeks to obey it, though only to find how utterly he fails. He\nprays for humility, at times very earnestly; but in his secret heart\nhe prays more, if not in word, then in wish, to be kept from the very\nthings that will make him humble. He is not yet so in love with\nhumility as the beauty of the Lamb of God, and the joy of heaven, that\nhe would sell all to procure it. In his pursuit of it, and his prayer\nfor it, there is still somewhat of a sense of burden and of bondage;\nto humble himself has not yet become the spontaneous expression of a\nlife and a nature that is essentially humble. It has not yet become\nhis joy and only pleasure. He cannot yet say, 'Most gladly do I glory\nin weakness, I take pleasure in whatever humbles me.'\n\nBut can we hope to reach the stage in which this will be the case?\nUndoubtedly. And what will it be that brings us there? _That_ which\nbrought Paul there--_a new revelation of the Lord Jesus._ Nothing but\nthe presence of God can reveal and expel self. A clearer insight was\nto be given to Paul into the deep truth that the presence of Jesus\nwill banish every desire to seek anything in ourselves, and will make\nus delight in every humiliation that prepares us for His fuller\nmanifestation. Our humiliations lead us, in the experience of the\npresence and power of Jesus, to choose humility as our highest\nblessing. Let us try to learn the lessons the story of Paul teaches\nus.\n\nWe may have advanced believers, eminent teachers, men of heavenly\nexperiences, who have not yet fully learnt the lesson of perfect\nhumility, gladly glorying in weakness. We see this in Paul. The danger\nof exalting himself was coming very near. He knew not yet perfectly\nwhat it was to be nothing; to die, that Christ alone might live in\nhim; to take pleasure in all that brought him low. It appears as if\nthis were the highest lesson that he had to learn, full conformity to\nhis Lord in that self-emptying where he gloried in weakness that God\nmight be all.\n\nThe highest lesson a believer has to learn is humility. Oh that every\nChristian who seek to advance in holiness may remember this well!\nThere may be intense consecration, and fervent zeal and heavenly\nexperience, and yet, if it is not prevented by very special dealings\nof the Lord, there may be an unconscious self-exaltation with it all.\nLet us learn the lesson,--the highest holiness is the deepest\nhumility; and let us remember that comes not of itself, but only as it\nis made matter of special dealing on the part of our faithful Lord and\nHis faithful servant.\n\nLet us look at our lives in the light of this experience, and see\nwhether we gladly glory in weakness, whether we take pleasure, as Paul\ndid, in injuries, in necessities, in distresses. Yes, let us ask\nwhether we have learnt to regard a reproof, just or unjust, a reproach\nfrom friend or enemy, an injury, or trouble, or difficulty into which\nothers bring us, as above all an opportunity of proving Jesus is all\nto us, how our own pleasure or honour are nothing, and how humiliation\nis in very truth what we take pleasure in. It is indeed blessed, the\ndeep happiness of heaven, to be so free from self that whatever is\nsaid of us or done to us is lost and swallowed up, in the thought that\nJesus is all.\n\nLet us trust Him who took charge of Paul to take charge of us too.\nPaul needed special discipline, and with it special instruction, to\nlearn, what was more precious than even the unutterable things he had\nheard in heaven--what it is to glory in weakness and lowliness. We\nneed it, too, oh so much. He who cared for him will care for us too.\nHe watches over us with a jealous, loving care, 'lest we exalt\nourselves'. When we are doing so, He seeks to discover to us the evil,\nand deliver us from it. In trial and weakness and trouble He seeks to\nbring us low, until we so learn that His grace is all, as to take\npleasure in the very thing that brings us and keeps us low. His\nstrength made perfect in our weakness, His presence filling and\nsatisfying our emptiness, becomes the secret of a humility that need\nnever fail. It can, as Paul, in full sight of what God works in us,\nand through us, ever say, 'In nothing was I behind the chiefest\napostles, _though I am nothing.'_ His humiliations had led him to true\nhumility, with its wonderful gladness and glorying and pleasure in all\nthat humbles.\n\n'Most gladly will I glory in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ\nmay rest upon me; wherefore I take pleasure in weaknesses. 'The humble\nman has learnt the secret of abiding gladness. The weaker he feels,\nthe lower he sinks; the greater his humiliations appear, the more the\npower and the presence of Christ are his portion, until, as he says,\n'I am nothing,' the word of his Lord brings ever deeper joy: 'My grace\nis sufficient for thee.'\n\nI feel as if I must once again gather up all in the two lessons: the\ndanger of pride is greater and nearer than we think, and the grace for\nhumility too.\n\n_The danger of pride is greater and nearer than we think,_ and that\nespecially at the time of our highest experiences. The preacher of\nspiritual truth with an admiring congregation hanging on his lips, the\ngifted speaker on a Holiness platform expounding the secrets of the\nheavenly life, the Christian giving testimony to a blessed experience,\nthe evangelist moving on as in triumph, and made a blessing to\nrejoicing multitudes,--no man knows the hidden, the unconscious danger\nto which these are exposed. Paul was in danger without knowing it;\nwhat Jesus did for him is written for our admonition, that we may know\nour danger and know our only safety. If ever it has been said of a\nteacher or professor of holiness,--he is so full of self; or, he does\nnot practise what he preaches; or, his blessing has not made him\nhumbler or gentler,--let it be said no more. Jesus, in whom we trust,\ncan make us humble.\n\n_Yes, the grace for humility is greater and nearer, too, than we\nthink._ The humility of Jesus is our salvation: Jesus Himself is our\nhumility. Our humility is His care and His work. His grace is\nsufficient for us, to meet the temptation of pride too. His strength\nwill be perfected in our weakness. Let us choose to be weak, to be\nlow, to be nothing. Let humility be to us joy and gladness. Let us\ngladly glory and take pleasure in weakness, in all that can humble us\nand keep us low; the power of Christ will rest upon us. Christ humbled\nHimself, therefore God exalted Him. Christ will humble us, and keep us\nhumble; let us heartily consent, let us trustfully and joyfully accept\nall that humbles; the power of Christ will rest upon us. We shall find\nthat the deepest humility is the secret of the truest happiness, of a\njoy that nothing can destroy.\n\n\n\nHumility: The Beauty of Holiness\n\nXII.\n\nHumility and Exaltation\n\n_'He that humbleth himself shall be exalted.'_\n--LUKE xiv. 11, xviii. 13.\n\n_'God giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourself in the sight of the\nLord, and He shall exalt you.'_--JAS. iv. 10.\n\n_'Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He\nmay exalt you in due time.'_--1 PET. v. 6.\n\nJUST yesterday I was asked the question, How am I to conquer this\npride? The answer; was simple. Two things are needed. Do what; God\nsays is your work: humble yourself. Trust Him to do what He says is\nHis work: He will exalt you.\n\nThe command is clear: humble yourself. That does not mean that it is\nyour work to conquer and cast out the pride of your nature, and to\nform within yourself the lowliness of the holy Jesus. No, this is\nGod's work; the very essence of that exaltation, wherein He lifts you\nup into the real likeness of the beloved Son. What the command does\nmean is this: take every opportunity of humbling yourself before God\nand man. In the faith of the grace that is already working in you; in\nthe assurance of the more grace for victory that is coming; up to the\nlight that conscience each time flashes upon the pride of the heart\nand its workings; notwithstanding all there may be of failure and\nfalling, stand persistently as under the unchanging command: humble\nyourself. Accept with gratitude everything that God allows from within\nor without, from friend or enemy, in nature or in grace, to remind you\nof your need of humbling, and to help you to it. Reckon humility to be\nindeed the mother-virtue, your very first duty before God, the one\nperpetual safeguard of the soul, and set your heart upon it as the\nsource of all blessing. The promise is divine and sure: He that\nhumbleth himself shall be exalted. See that you do the one thing God\nasks: humble yourself. God will see that does the one thing He has\npromised. He will give more grace; He will exalt you in due time.\n\nAll God's dealings with man are characterised by two stages. There is\nthe time of preparation, when command and promise, with the mingled\nexperience of effort and impotence, of failure and partial success,\nwith the holy expectancy of something better which these waken, train\nand discipline men for a higher stage. Then comes the time of\nfulfilment, when faith inherits the promise, and enjoys what it had\nso often struggled for in vain. This law holds good in every part of\nthe Christian life, and in the pursuit of every separate virtue. And\nthat because it is grounded in the very nature of things. In all that\nconcerns our redemption, God must needs take the initiative. When that\nhas been done, man's turn comes. In the effort after obedience and\nattainment, he must learn to know his impotence, in self-despair to\ndie to himself, and so be fitted voluntarily and intelligently to\nreceive from God the end, the completion of that of which he had\naccepted the beginning in ignorance. So, God who had been the\nBeginning, ere man rightly knew Him, or fully understood what His\npurpose was, is longed for and welcomed as the End, as the All in All.\n\nIt is even thus, too, in the pursuit of humility. To every Christian\nthe command comes from the throne of God Himself: humble yourself. The\nearnest attempt to listen and obey will be rewarded--yes,\nrewarded--with the painful discovery of two things. The one, what\ndepth of pride, that is of unwillingness to count oneself and to be\ncounted nothing, to submit absolutely to God, there was, that one\nnever knew. The other, what utter impotence there is in all our\nefforts, and in all our prayers too for God's help, to destroy the\nhideous monster. Blessed the man who now learns to put his hope in\nGod, and to persevere, notwithstanding all the power of pride within\nhim, in acts of humiliation before God and Men. We know the law of\nhuman nature: acts produce habits, habits breed dispositions,\ndispositions form the will, and the rightly-formed will is character.\nIt is no otherwise in the work of grace. As acts, persistently\nrepeated, beget habits and dispositions, and these strengthened the\nwill, He who works both to will and to do comes with His mighty power\nand Spirit; and the humbling of the proud heart with which the'\npenitent saint cast himself so often before God, is rewarded with the\n'more grace' of the humble heart, in which the Spirit of Jesus has\nconquered, and brought the new nature to its maturity, and He the meek\nand lowly One now dwells for ever.\n\nHumble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will exalt you. And\nwherein does the exaltation consist? The highest glory of the creature\nis in being only a vessel, to receive and enjoy and show forth the\nglory of God. It can do this only as it is willing to be nothing in\nitself, that God may be all. Water always fills first the lowest\nplaces. The lower, the emptier a man lies before God, the speedier and\nthe fuller will be the inflow of the divine glory. The exaltation God\npromises is not, cannot be, any external thing apart from Himself: all\nthat He has to give or can give is only more of Himself, Himself to\ntake more complete possession. The exaltation is not, like an earthly\nprize, something arbitrary, in no necessary connection with the\nconduct to be rewarded. No, but it is in its very nature the effect\nand result of the humbling of ourselves. It is nothing but the gift of\nsuch a divine indwelling humility, such a conformity to and possession\nof the humility of the Lamb of God, as fits us for receiving fully the\nindwelling of God.\n\nHe that humbleth himself shall be exalted. Of the truth of these words\nJesus Himself is the proof; of the certainty of their fulfilment to\nus He is the pledge. Let us take His yoke upon us and learn of Him,\nfor He is meek and lowly of heart. If we are but willing to stoop to\nHim, as He has stooped to us, He will yet stoop to each one of us\nagain, and we shall find ourselves not unequally yoked with Him. As we\nenter deeper into the fellowship of His humiliation, and either humble\nourselves or bear the humbling of men, we can count upon it that the\nSpirit of His exaltation, 'the Spirit of God and of glory,' will rest\nupon us. The presence and the power of the glorified Christ will come\nto them that are of an humble spirit. When God can again have His\nrightful place in us, He will lift us up. Make His glory thy care in\nhumbling thyself; He will make thy glory His care in perfecting thy\nhumility, and breathing into thee, as thy abiding life, the very\nSpirit of His Son. As the all-pervading life of God possesses thee,\nthere will be nothing so natural, and nothing so sweet, as to be\nnothing, with not a thought or wish for self, because all is occupied\nwith Him who filleth all. 'Most gladly will I glory in my weakness,\nthat the strength of Christ may rest upon me.'\n\nBrother, have we not here the reason that our consecration and our\nfaith have availed so little in the pursuit of holiness? It was by\nself and its strength that the work was done under the name of faith;\nit was for self and its happiness that God was called in; it was,\nunconsciously, but still truly, in self and its holiness that the soul\nrejoiced. We never knew that humility, absolute, abiding, Christlike\nhumility and self-effacement, pervading and marking our whole life\nwith God and man, was the most essential element of the life of the\nholiness we sought for.\n\nIt is only in the possession of God that I lose myself. As it is in\nthe height and breadth and glory of the sunshine that the littleness\nof the mote playing in its beams is seen, even so humility is the\ntaking our place in God's presence to be nothing but a mote dwelling\nin the sunlight of His love.\n\n'How great is God! how small am I!\nLost, swallowed up in Love's immensity!\nGod only there, not I.'\n\nMay God teach us to believe that to be humble, to be nothing in His\npresence, is the highest attainment, and the fullest blessing of the\nChristian life. He speaks to us: 'I dwell in the high and holy place,\nand with him the is of a contrite and humble spirit.' Be this our\nportion!\n\n'Oh, to be emptier, lowlier,\nMean, unnoticed, and unknown,\nAnd to God a vessel holier,\nFilled with Christ, and Christ alone!'\n\n\n\nNotes.\n\nNOTE A--'All this is to make it known the region of eternity that\n_pride_ can degrade the highest angels into devils, and humility raise\nfallen flesh and blood to the thrones of angels. Thus, this is the\ngreat end of God raising a new creation out of a fallen kingdom of\nangels: for this end it stands in its state of war betwixt the fire\nand pride of fallen angels, and the humility of the Lamb of God, that\nthe last trumpet may sound the great truth through the depths of\neternity, that evil can have no beginning but from pride, and no end\nbut from humility. The truth is this: Pride may die in you, or nothing\nof heaven can live in you. Under the banner of the truth, give\nyourself up to the meek and humble spirit of the holy Jesus. Humility\nmust sow seed, or there can be no reaping in Heaven. Look not at pride\nonly as an unbecoming temper, nor at humility only as a decent virtue:\nfor the one is death, and the other is life; the one is all hell, the\nother is all heaven. So much as you have of pride within you, you have\nof the fallen angels alive in you; so much as you have of true\nhumility, so much you have of the Lamb of God within you. Could you\nsee what every stirring of pride does to your soul, you would beg of\neverything you meet to tear the viper from you, though with the loss\nof a hand or an eye. Could you see what a sweet, divine, transforming\npower there is in humility, how it expels the poison of your nature,\nand makes room for the Spirit of God to live in you, you would rather\nwish to be the footstool of all the world than want the smallest\ndegree of it.'--_Spirit of Prayer_, Pt. II. p. 73, Edition of Moreton,\nCanterbury, 1893.\n\n\nNote B.--'We need to know two things: 1. That our salvation consists\nwholly in being saved from _ourselves_, or that which we are by\nnature; 2. That in the whole nature of things nothing could be this\nsalvation or saviour to us but such a humility of God as is beyond all\nexpression. Hence the first unalterable term of the Saviour to fallen\nman: Except a man denies _himself,_ he cannot be My disciple. Self is\nthe whole evil of fallen nature; self-denial is our capacity of being\nsaved; humility is our saviour. ..._Self_ is the root, the branches,\nthe tree, of all the evil of our fallen state. All the evils of fallen\nangels and men have their birth in the pride of self. On the other\nhand, all the virtues of the heavenly life are the virtues of\nhumility. It is humility alone that makes the unpassable gulf between\nheaven and hell. What is then, or in what lies, the great struggle for\neternal life? It all lies in the strife between _pride_ and humility:\npride and _humility_ are the two master powers, the two kingdoms in\nstrife for the eternal possession of man. There never was, nor ever\nwill be, but one humility, and that is the one humility of Christ.\nPride and self have the all of man, till man has his all from Christ.\nHe therefore only fights the good fight whose strife is that the\nself-idolatrous nature which he hath from Adam may be brought to death\nby the supernatural humility of Christ brought to life in him.'--W.\nLaw, _Address to the Clergy,_ p. 52. [I hope that this book of Law on\nthe Holy Spirit may be issued by my publisher in the course of the\nyear.]\n\n\nNote C--'To die to self, or come from under its power, is not, cannot\nbe done, by any active resistance we can make to it by the powers of\nnature. The one true way of dying to self is the way of _patience,\nmeekness, humility, and resignation to God._ This is the truth and\nperfection of dying to self. ...For if I ask you what the Lamb of God\nmeans, must you not tell me that it is and means the perfection of\n_patience, meekness, humility, and resignation to God?_ Must you not\ntherefore say that a desire and faith of these virtues is an\napplication to Christ, is a giving up yourself to Him and the\nperfection of faith in Him? And then, because this inclination of your\nheart to sink down in _patience, meekness, humility, and resignation\nto God,_ is truly giving up all that you are and all that you have from\nfallen Adam, it is perfectly leaving all you have to follow Christ; it\nis your highest act of faith in Him. Christ is nowhere but in these\nvirtues; when they are there, He is in His own kingdom. Let this be\nthe Christ you follow.\n\n'The Spirit of divine love can have no birth in any fallen creature,\ntill it wills and chooses to be dead to all self, in a _patient,\nhumble resignation_ to the power and mercy of God.\n\n'I seek for all my salvation through the merits and mediation of the\n_meek, humble, patient, suffering Lamb of God,_ who alone hath power\nto bring forth the blessed birth of these heavenly virtues in my soul.\nThere is no possibility of salvation but in and by the birth of the\n_meek, humble, patient, resigned Lamb of God_ in our souls. When the\nLamb of God hath brought forth a real birth of His own _meekness,\nhumility, and full resignation to God_ in our souls, then it is the\nbirthday of the Spirit of love in our souls, which, whenever we\nattain, will feast our souls with such peace and joy in God as will\nblot out the remembrance of everything that we called peace or joy\nbefore.\n\n'This way to God is infallible. This infallibility is grounded in the\ntwofold character of our Saviour: 1. As He is the Lamb of God, a\nprinciple of all _meekness and humility_ in the soul; 2. As He is the\nLight of heaven, and blesses eternal nature, and turns it into a\nkingdom of heaven,--when we are willing to get rest to our souls in\nmeek, humble resignation to God, then it is that He, as the Light of\nGod and heaven, joyfully breaks in upon us, turns our darkness into\nlight, and begins that kingdom of God and of love within us, which\nwill never have an end.'--See _Wholly For God,_ pp 84-102. [The whole\npassage deserves careful study, showing most remarkably how the\ncontinual sinking down in humility before God is, from man's side, the\nonly way to die to self.][Footnote: The whole dialogue has been\npublished separately under the title _Dying to Self: A Golden\nDialogue._ By William Law. With Notes by A.M. (Nisbet & Co., 1s) Every\none who would study and practise humility will find in this golden\ndialogue what it is that hinders our humility, how we are to be\ndelivered from it, and what the blessing of the Spirit of Love is that\ncomes to the humble from Christ, the meek and lowly Lamb of God.]\n\n\nNote D.--_A Secret of Secrets: Humility the Soul of True\nPrayer._--Till the spirit of the heart be renewed, till it is emptied\nof all earthly desires, and stands in an habitual hunger and thirst\nafter God, which is the true spirit of prayer; till then, all our\nprayer will be, more or less, but too much like lessons given to\nscholars; and we shall mostly say them, only because we dare not\nneglect them. But be not discouraged; take the following advice, and\nthen you may go to church without any danger of mere lip-labor or\nhypocrisy, although there should be a hymn or a prayer, whose language\nis higher than that of your heart. Do this: go to the church as the\npublican went to the temple; stand inwardly in the spirit of your mind\nin that form which he outwardly expressed, when he cast down his eyes,\nand could only say, 'God be merciful to me, a sinner.' Stand\nunchangeably, at least in your desire, in this form or state of heart;\nit will sanctify every petition that comes out of your mouth; and when\nanything is read or sung or prayed, that is more exalted than your\nheart is, if you make this an occasion of further sinking down in the\nspirit of the publican, you will then be helped, and highly blessed,\nby those prayers and praises which seem only to belong to a heart\nbetter than yours.\n\nThis, my friend, is a secret of secrets; it will help you to reap\nwhere you have not sown, and be a continual source of grace in your\nsoul; for everything that inwardly stirs in you, or outwardly happens\nto you, becomes a real good to you, if it finds or excites in you this\nhumble state of mind. For nothing is in vain, or without profit to the\nhumble soul; it stands always in a state of divine growth; everything\nthat falls upon it is like a dew of heaven to it. Shut up yourself,\ntherefore, in this form of Humility; all good is enclosed in it; it is\na water of heaven, that turns the fire of the fallen soul into the\nmeekness of the divine life, and creates that oil, out of which the\nlove to God and man gets its flame. Be enclosed, therefore, always in\nit; let it be as a garment wherewith you are always covered, and a\ngirdle with which you are girt; breathe nothing but in and from its\nspirit; see nothing but with its eyes; hear nothing but with its ears.\nAnd then, whether you are in the church or out of the church, hearing\nthe praises of God or receiving wrongs from men and the world, all\nwill be edification, and everything will help forward your growth in\nthe life of God.--_The Spirit of Prayer,_ Pt. II. p. 121.\n\n\nA PRAYER FOR HUMILITY\n\nI will here give you an infallible touchstone, that will try all to\nthe truth. It is this: retire from the world and all conversation,\nonly for one month; neither write, nor read, nor debate anything with\nyourself; stop all the former workings of your heart and mind: and,\nwith all the strength of your heart, stand all this month, as\ncontinually as you can, in the following form of prayer to God. Offer\nit frequently on your knees; but whether sitting, walking, or\nstanding, be always inwardly longing, and earnestly praying this one\nprayer to God: 'That of His great goodness He would make known to you,\nand take from your heart, _every kind and form and degree of Pride,_\nwhether it be from evil spirits, or your own corrupt nature; and that\nHe would awaken in you the _deepest depth and truth of that Humility,_\nwhich can make you capable of His light and Holy Spirit.' Reject every\nthought, but that of waiting and praying in this matter from the\nbottom of your heart, with such truth and earnestness, as people in\ntorment wish to pray and be delivered from it. ...If you can and will\ngive yourself up in truth and sincerity to this spirit of prayer, I\nwill venture to affirm that, if you had twice as many evil spirits in\nyou as Mary Magdalene had, they will all be cast out of you, and you\nwill be forced with her to weep tears of love at the feet of the holy\nJesus.--_Ibid._ p. 124.","title":"Humility: The Beauty of Holiness","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":20727}