Four Books on Matthew 11, Book 3 · Chapter 131
CHAP. CXXXI.
Exhortation to humility with five ſeveral means to get it. 1. Labor to ſee the Excellency of it. 2. Convince the Soul of its emptineſs. 3. Get the knowledg of God. 4. Of Chriſt. 5. Of our ſelves.
NOw then we come to the Uſe and Application, ſome time might be ſpent in ſpeaking about Examination, to ſhew whether we are humble or not, and then to ſhew the difference between being humble, and humbled, many are humbled by affliction, brought low, or by Terror Tormented, but their hearts are not humble, there is a great deal of difference between Humiliation and Humility, but I ſhal refer that as a ſeaſonable point to be handled at another time, Certainly God hath made many people to be humbled, and yet not humble in their Spirits.
And then another uſe may be, to humble our Souls for the want of humility, and indeed that is a good Humiliation, to be humble for the want of humility, to be humbled for our pride is an argument of the truth of humility as much as any thing whatſoever, and certainly, if I ſhould go back and open the Particulars of the behavior of an humble Soul towards God, its ſelf, and others, Certainly, never a Man and Woman but may lay his hand upon his Mouth, and ſay, Lord, have mercy upon me, how have I failed in the behavior of my ſpirit towards God, my ſelf, and others? Lord, my heart hath not anſwered to that that hath been ſpoken in the word, the truth is, the beſt of us all have cauſe to be humbled before God becauſe they are not humble as they ought. To be proud of heart, one compares it to an Onion, that if you pill off one part of it, there is another pil afterwards, pill off that and there is another ſtill, and another, and another til you come to the end; ſo when there is ſome pride, take off one, and under that pride there lies more, take off that, and under it there lies more, and take off that, and under it lies more, continually more and more pride there lies in the heart of Men, and Women, and that man and woman that thinks they have not proud hearts, I dare challenge them, in the Name of God, that they have proud hearts, As John ſaith, 1 John, 1. and laſt verſ. If we ſay we have not ſin, we Lie, ſo if we ſay we have not pride, it is an evident Argument we Lie, and it is an evident Argument we have pride. Pride is like the Garment, the firſt that is put on, and the laſt that is put off, and it is that that the heart ſticks more in then any thing elſe, and therefore Chriſt ſaith of his Diſciples that were humbled, they denyed al for Chriſt, and yet mark what Chriſt ſaith concerning them, In Matth. 18. There they inquired▪ who ſhould be greateſt in the Kingdom of Heaven. Jeſus takes a little Child, and ſets him in the midſt of them, and ſaith, Verily, Verily, I ſay unto you, except ye be converted, and become as little Children, ye ſhal not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, Now, were not they become as little Children? Had not they humility? They were gracious, and godly, I, but this is true of one that is gracious, and humble, he hath a great deal of pride ſtil, and he had need be converted, and become as little Children, to be humbled more and more. It is an excellent frame of Spirit that we read of in Hezekiah, he had an humble Spirit, and yet lifted up in Pride, yet mark what the Text ſaith, in 2 Chron. 32. 25. 26. Notwithſtanding Hezekiah humbled himſelf for the Pride of his heart, it is ſaid in ver. 25. But Hezekiah rendred not according to the benefit done to him, for his heart was lifted up, Notwithſtanding Hezekiah humbled himſelf for the Pride of his heart. It is true, the beſt of all have Pride in their hearts: But can you ſay, I have humbled my ſelf for the Pride of my heart? that you are jealous of your own hearts? You are afraid of the Pride of your hearts, and you watch over your hearts, that upon the firſt ſtirring of your heart, you labor to keep it down, that you find your heart humbled for your Pride? if you have this, you have that that an Hypocrite hath not the leaſt of, either to be jealous, over his heart, or to keep down his heart, or to watch over his heart, or to obſerve the ſtirrings of his heart: An Hypocrite hath not the leaſt of this. Now if you find this, perhaps you find temptation prevails with you to commit a great ſin, for that you are humble; and to neglect your Duty, for that you are humble, I but are you humbled for the Pride of your own hearts? when you can charge your Souls for the Pride of your hearts between God and your Soul, when you can ſearch your heart, and find it out, and go & lament it in the bitterneſs of your heart, this is a good ſign. Perhaps when the pride of your heart breaks out, and ſhames you before men, for that you are humbled, but when you can be humbled for the firſt ſtirring of your heart towards pride, here is a ſign of Humility. But this I ſhall not ſtand upon, becauſe I will take occaſion to handle this ſin, and ſhew the foulneſs of this ſin more largely, and therefore all I wil now do ſhall be, to work this upon your hearts, that you may become the Schollars of Chriſt, to be lowly as Chriſt was.
It is a Uſe of Exhortation, That we would all labor for Lowlineſs of heart: Know, it is that that is neceſſary for us, all that we do elſe is nothing, except we come to learn this of Chriſt we learn nothing of him, you cannot be ſaid to be a Chriſtian, whatever your profeſſion is, all your brave Duties, and performances are nothing. I remember Chriſoſtome hath ſuch an expreſſion, ſaith he, If a man be able to raiſe the dead, cure the Lame, cleanſe the Leaper, yet if he be not humble he is the moſt filthy thing in the world, this is the Grace that we have conſtant need of upon every occaſion, in what ſtate ſoever. Doth God afflict you? then you have a great deal of need of this Grace to bear your affliction patiently, if you be lifted up, then you have need of this Grace to carry your ſelf ſo, as you be not raiſed up againſt God, Oh! that you would have care of that, when you find God coming in moſt upon you, that is the time to keep your heart down moſt. As we read of the Devill to Chriſt, in Matth. 3. After Chriſt had that Teſtimony from Heaven, This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleaſed, and the Spirit of God came upon him like a Dove, the next words in the beginning of Chap. 4. is. Then was Jeſus led by the Spirit into the wilderneſs to be tempted by the Devil, juſt then; thus it is with Chriſtians as it was with Chriſt, ſomtimes in Duties, in Prayer, they are mightily enlarged, and have mighty comforts, and God comes in abundantly unto them, and doth even as it were ſay, this is my beloved Son, and my beloved Daughter, I have choſen you to life, but expect the very next thing will be, the Devill wil take and ſet thee upon a Pinacle of the Temple to tempt thee, and tempt thee eſpecially to Pride. If God imploy you in any great ſervice, then you have need of Humility, it was the beginning of Chriſts publick work of his Miniſtry that the Devill came to tempt him, then the Devill fell upon him: So if God imploy a man in publick ſervice, Oh! then the Devil will fall upon him, and tempt him moſt of all then. I remember Luther, when God began to work upon him, and he appeared to ſtand up in witneſſing for God, it was one ſpecial Prayer of his, Oh, that God would deliver me from Pride, and thoſe that God imploies in publick works had need to pray for this. If God take a man off from any ſervice, he had need have much humility then; and ſo I might inſtance in al kinds of things, that Humility muſt have an ingredient in them. I remember Bernard hath ſuch an expreſſion, That except it doth come before, and accompany, and follow, Pride doth extort all out of our hands, and ſpoil all, Humility is to come before any thing you do, to accompany any thing you do, and it is to follow any thing you do or elſe all is ſpoiled
And in this Exhortation conſider, that you cannot come all of you to be eminent do what you can, you that are weak do all what you can, you ſhall never come to have any great parts, you cannot have great Eſtates do what you can, but it is poſſible for you to come to be humble. You would think it a great matter, you that are weak, if one could ſhew you how you ſhould come to have excellent parts, gifts, memory, & the like; & you that are poor to be rich & eminent in the place where you live, & to be above others; Now God will not grant you theſe things, but here I can ſhew you how you can come to be as humble as any man, and that is as much as if God gave you Ships, and they brought home to you the Riches of the Indies, you may come all to be humble, though you cannot come all to be eminent in the world.
Queſt. You wil ſay. How ſhal we come to get an humble heart.
Anſw. Firſt: Labor to ſet the excellency of this Grace before your Souls ſet this Grace in the excellency of it much before you, and meditate on the beauty and excellency of this Grace of Humility, ſo as to account your excellency to be in Humility, that which a man accounts his excellency to be in, he is in a good forwardneſs to get it eſpecially in morals. Look upon Humility as your excellency, as a glorious beautifull Grace, and ſet it before your Soul as that that hath a great deal of beauty and excellency in it, to be in love with this Grace. As ſin prevails in the heart by meditation, a corrupt heart by meditating and plotting about a corruption or ſinfull diſtemper, comes to defile it ſelf with that corruption: So a gracious heart by meditation of the ſweetneſs and excellency of a Grace, comes to be adornd with that Grace: How comes it that men fall into wickedneſs and ſin, but at firſt this is the beginning of it, they by meditation ſuck out the ſweetneſs of ſin into their Souls, and look upon it as that which they may get ſo much good by, now by delighting in the thoughts of a ſin, they come to fall into a ſin, therefore take heed of delighting in the thoughts of ſin, it is the way to come to fal into a ſin: So by delighting of our ſelves in the meditation of the excellency of Grace, we may come to have that Grace.
Secondly: Labor to convince thy Soul of the emptineſs and vanity of all thoſe outward excellencies that are the uſuall things that puff up the heart; it is nothing but wind that puffs up any mans heart, if they had what is truly excellent their hearts would not be puffed up, but that that puffs up the heart is wind, Now conſider all things in the world under theſe three Notions.
1. They are things beneath the true excellency of an immortall Soul, the way to cure ſinful pride, is to have a holy, gracious pride; Now a Holy pride is to know what is the end of a rational Creature, what he is capable of, to enjoy communion with Father, Son, and Holy Ghoſt, the knowledge of this will take off the heart from all things below, look upon theſe things as Dogs meat, if you could but take off your heart from al theſe things it would keep your hearts Low.
2. Another Notion is this, Conſider, That al theſe outward Excellencies make no great difference between man and man, it may be you have more parts than another, you have more Eſtate than another, you have more honor and eſteem than another, What great difference makes this between man and man? But now Grace makes a great difference between man & man, one hath Grace another hath not, this makes a mighty difference; one hath Humility, & another not, this makes a very great difference, there is not ſo much difference between the natural excellency of an Angell of Heaven and a Worm upon the earth, as between an humble Soul and the greateſt Prince in the world that hath not the Grace of Humility, Were we but throughly principled in this one thing, we may hear it, and confes it I ſuppoſe, but none of you when you go away will ſay this is true, that Grace makes the great difference, except you be principled in this thing, that it is not the having much and little that makes any great difference between man and man.
Thirdly: Seriouſly work upon your hearts the meditation of the vanity of all theſe things, how quickly all the beauty and excellency of theſe things will be gone; what is become of all the great pomp and excellency of the world, when death comes, what is the difference between one that was poor and contemptible, and one that was rich and honorable? Death makes all even, The Glory of the world paſſeth away, and the luſtre of of it, every thing here is but as fleſh and graſs that withereth, by looking upon all theſe things that puff up the heart to be but as wind, is the main thing to make the ſoul humble.
But the main thing is the ſetting God before us, and Chriſt before us, and the right underſtanding of our ſelves, theſe are the three principall things that are helps for the Lowlineſs of the heart.
3. The knowledg of God, and the ſetting God before us, is a principal thing to make us humble, you know how it was with him, in Prov. 30. and the beginning, The man ſpake unto Ithiel and Ucal, I have opened the meaning of this to you at another time, he ſpake to Ithiel, God with me, Surely, I am more brutiſh than any man, and have not the underſtanding of a man, Oh! how low was he in his own eyes when he had to deal with God, the ſight of God is that that humbles one more than any thing in the world. And ſo that of Job, that famous place in Job 42. after God had made himſelf known to Job at verſe 3, 4. I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, ſaith he, but now mine eye ſeeth thee, wherefore I abhor my ſelf and repent in duſt and aſhes. What an humble heart, and a broken heart had he? I ſet alwaies God before me. And ſo Iſay when he had the viſion of God, and the Seraphims cry Holy, Holy, Holy, the whol earth is full of thy Glory, wo to me, ſaith he, I am undone, becauſe he had ſeen God. Thus al the Servants of God that did converſe much with God, were very humble, Jeſus Chriſt himſelf that had a lowly heart, he converſing much with God, and knowing ſo much of the divine nature, having ſuch intereſt in him, therefore there was never ſuch an example of a Lowly Spirit as Chriſts example was, whenas we come to know God, the infinite diſtance that is between God and us, then what is all the excellencies in the world, when thou comeſt to know the infinite excellency of God? What is the glimerings of a Glo-worm when we come to ſee all the Glory of Heaven?
And then alſo, we come to ſee the infinite dependance we have upon God, I wonder not to ſee men in the world that do not know God, to have bold and preſumptuous Spirits, and ſee men that have knowledg, that they are humble, though the others have their ſpirits lifted up in vanity: But for the ſoul that ever had any ſight of God, it is a wonder that ſuch a Soul ſhould have any riſing of Spirit, that any ſinfull height of Spirit ſhould be in that Soul that knows what an infinite God it hath to deal with. Oh, converſe much with God, and then you will have humble Souls, that Soul that never goes from Duty but hath much converſe with God, that Soul is very humble, As Bernard ſaid, Lord I never go from thee without thee, I carry thee out in my heart when I am in thy preſence. Now an Hypocrite converſeth not with God, you that converſe with men, you would be higher than your Neighbors, and live better than your Neighbors, O! this is the fruit of converſe with men, but now true Humility comes from converſe with God, nothing hath that excellency in it as that which comes from converſing with God, and upon the ſight of his excellency. May be God laies affliction upon you, takes away a Child, or ſome of your Eſtate, and this (may be) may humble you, but true humility comes from converſing with God and the ſight of his excellency.
4. Another is from the right knowledg of Jeſus Chriſt, ſaith he, Learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart: There is no ſuch means of Humility, as converſing much with Chriſt, for there was never ſuch an example of Humility as Chriſt, and it was one of Gods ends to ſend his Son for an example into the world, to honor this Grace of Humility, and therefore they that know Chriſt much, and the way of Salvation, cannot but have empty hearts. It is a ſpeech of Auſtin; ſaith he, It may be thou wilt be aſhamed to imitate an humble man, ſuch a one as is humble to make him thy pattern, thou thinkeſt thou haſt more excellency in thee than him: I, but be not aſhamed to imitate an humble God. Do but conſider how willing Chriſt was to have that Glory and excellency of his to be eclipſed and darkned for ſo many yeers, though he was one that the Angels adored, and he might have let out that Glory to have filled all the whol world, and have made the world aſtoniſhed with his Luſtre, yet he was content for thirty two or thirty three yeers together to go up and down in the world as a man without form and comelineſs, to be deſpiſed, contemned, and ſpit upon. If you have a little excellency, you ſhew it preſently, in Cloaths, in Speeches, and the like, Chriſt ſhewes you by this what vanity this is, what an excellency and Glory was upon him, and yet he was up and down in the world without form and comlineſs.
And when we look upon Chriſt: Conſider that he was not only humble, but humble for us, to fatisfie for thy ſin, without which thou muſt have gone to Hell eternally; to be humble for thy ſin, there lies the power and efficacy of Chriſts example, in Chriſts example thou ſeeſt what a mean thing any outward excellency of the world is, What did he care for any outward excellency? When they would have made him a King, he cared not for it; look up higher, God hath made mankind for higher things than theſe below, I that had the divine nature hypoſtatically joyned to the humane nature, I that was one that God intended to make uſe of for the greateſt purpoſes that ever he did in the world, I did not enjoy the world, I had no honor in the world, I had no honor nor eſteem among men, I had no riches, no hole to hide my head, and yet I have that that hath more excellency than all the things in the world, and therefore, Children of men you may ſee by this, that God intends humane nature for higher things than theſe below; and therefore it ſhould humble thee that the Son of God ſhould be ſo low, and thou ſo lifted up.
And for this example, take this one thing that is of great uſe to help us to lowlineſs of heart; Do but conſider the way of God towards Jeſus Chriſt, and how Jeſus Chriſt ſubmitted himſelf unto the way of God towards him, as in this one thing eſpecially; when God manifeſted himſelf in the fulleſt way to him, yet Jeſus Chriſt preſently comes into a low condition, as in that famous example in Math. 3. 4. when God manifeſted ſo much of his Glory, then preſently Jeſus Chriſt was content to be low, to come down. And I will give you another tha… is as famous as this, and that is in the transfiguration that you heard lately opened to you, in Math. 17. there his Glory was let forth, His face did ſhine like the Sun, and it came through his rayment, a great deal of Glory appeared, but now obſerve, preſently upon this Jeſus Chriſt is not lifted up, but begins to talk of his Sufferings, and Death, that he muſt die, and ſuffer, and fall into the hands of men, of ſinners, ſee twice this, Moſes and Elias talked with him, and his Diſciples being afraid, he comes to them at the 7. verſe, and ſaid, ariſe and be not afraid, and when they had lift…d up their Eyes, they ſaw no man but Jeſus only, and as he came down from the Mountain, Jeſus charged them ſaying, tel the Viſion to no man til the Son of man be riſen again from the dead, and his Diſciples asked him ſaying, why then ſay the Scribes that Elias muſt firſt come? He ſpeaks of his Death, and they wondred why Elias muſt firſt come, Jeſus Anſwered at the 11. verſe, And ſaid unto them, Elias truly ſhall firſt come, and reſtore all things, But I ſay unto you, that Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatſoever they liſted, likewiſe ſhal alſo the Son of man ſuffer of of them, as they did to Elias, ſo the Son of man ſhall ſuffer of them, They wil deal with me as they did with him, preſently he talks with his diſciples of his ſufferings, The Son of man muſt ſuffer. And further at verſe, 22. And while they abode in Galilee Jeſus ſaid unto them the Son of man ſhall be betrayed into the hands of men, and they ſhal kill him, Preſently you find the diſcourſe of Chriſt was about his low condition after any glory put upon him; you, when you have any glory put upon you, and God hath lifted you up more then your brethren, you talk of that, and live upon that, but Chriſt when he had been transfigured, he talked of his ſufferings, and if we did but know what Chriſt is, and his ſufferings, that ſuch a one being ſo high, yet was brought ſo low, it would make us to be humble; But now compare this with that you have in Mark, 14. And there you ſhall find, that when Chriſt was in an Agony, and when he was in trouble of Spirit, then in his Agony in the Garden when the hand of his Father was upon his ſpirit who did Chriſt take with him into the Garden? Only theſe three, Peter, James, and John, at verſe, 33. And he taketh with him Peter, and James, and John, and began to be ſore amazed, and to be very heavy, and ſaith unto them, my Soul is exceeding ſorrowful unto Death. Now the thing I would note from hence is this, the Reaſon why Chriſt would take only thoſe three that had ſeen him in his glory to ſee him in his Agony it was, becauſe they were the fitteſt of all thoſe that ſaw Chriſt in his Glory to ſee him in his Agony, they would make the beſt uſe of this more then any. If the other diſciples had ſeen him only in his Agony, and not in his Glory, they might have been offended, to have ſeen their maſter ſo when he came to die to be ſo amazed, they might ſay, Lord, is this he we have truſted ſo long unto, that now when he comes to die he ſweats blood, I but theſe that ſaw him in his Glory, they would rather think, Oh, How willing ſhould we be to ſuffer for Jeſus Chriſt, that he that is ſo glorious as we ſaw him but the other day, now we ſee him in ſuch a caſe; if God ſhould alter our condition, and bring us never ſo low, we have cauſe to humble our ſelves becauſe he was ſo Low: And that he might prepare their hearts alſo to ſuffer, for James was the firſt of the Apoſtles that ſuffered for him, Steven indeed ſuffered before, but of the Apoſtles James was the firſt, and Peter, you know what he was to ſuffer, and John he was the beloved diſciple, and one of an humble Spirit, and of a loving ſpirit, therefore he was taken in, now the ſight of theſe two together was a ſpecial means to help the humility of the ſpirits of theſe three Diſciples that they ſaw him in his glory and Agony: And ſo for us to meditate firſt on his Glory, and then of his condition in his Agony, it is a mighty means to humble our ſpirits.
5. But now the laſt thing is: The right knowledg of our ſelves, this is another Means to make us humble, now, the right knowledg of our ſelves is that which ſhould bring our hearts low; it was that that the Heathen did admire, Sotrates was accounted the famous man for this ſentence, I know nothing, becauſe I know my ſelf, you may conclude it, a man or woman that is lifted up in pride, it is a ſign thou doſt not know thy ſelf, if thou kneweſt all the Myſteries in nature, the nature of the Sun, Moon and Stars, and Arts and Sciences, all is nothing to the knowing of thine own heart: Doſt thou know thine own heart, prize this as a choice thing, it is ſuch a thing thou ſhouldeſt ſpend much time to read▪ many of you perhaps cannot read in a book, I but you muſt be learned in the books of your own heart, read that well, and you will know enough there:
Further, For the knowledg of our ſelves, take pains in frequent examining, and obſerving of thy heart, and examin it by the holineſs and juſtice of God, ſet Gods infinite holineſs and juſtice, even with thine own heart, and that wil make thee know thy heart.
And if you would know your ſelves, you muſt not judg of your ſelves by what you are in a fit, at a time, but what you are in a conſtant way, thoſe that are the vileſt of all, yet they have ſome good moods and fits, ſometimes ſtirred by the word, and when they are above ſome good motions, and yet be vile and abominable for all this, but you muſt judg what the frame of your Spirits are in reference to God, and eſpecially what you are in time of temptation, how you find your hearts work ordinarily in times of temptation, when you are put to it. There is many a man when there is no temptation, he ſeems to be as fair, and as humble a man, as lowly a man as can be, but when temptation comes then he flies out. And ſo many men and women think they truſt in God, and have Faith in God, but when temptation comes, then they find ſuch diſtruſt and ſuch ſhifting unto unlawfull means to help themſelves; Thus you muſt ſee what you are in an ordinary way; I do not ſay, that a man ſhould judg his condition or his heart for any particular, but what he is in an ordinary way, as thus: you may know you have a froward Spirit, if you are froward in an ordinary way. When a temptation comes you may know you are unclean and ſenſuall, though you are not unclean, and drunk every week, but when a temptation comes in an ordinary way, and when a temptation comes & you fal upon that which is evil, and it is not the trouble of your ſpirit, but you ſay, it is the ſtrength of temptation, and we are all ſinners▪ and you can paſs it over ſo: Take theſe two Conſiderations with you: Firſt, If that in an ordinary way when temptation comes you find your heart taken. And Secondly, If that you can paſs over a ſin without any trouble in Spirit, I ſay then, what you are in your temptation, that you are in the ſight of God, and not what you are in ſome good mood and ſome good fit, but there is the guiſe and the frame of your heart, that that doth appear then, were you otherwiſe in your temptation then you would complain of your heart, and you would ſay, O! here is a temptation, & that makes me ſee that corruption I never ſaw before, and Oh! how doth this trouble you? but if you vent your corruption in a temptation, then you are to judg of your ſelves, according to what you find your ſelves in a temptation, and God will ſo judg you, if there be not an alteration, and if men muſt come to judg of themſelves this way, Oh! what abundance of filth, and vileneſs, and matter is there, that men may come to know themſelves by, that they may loath themſelves in their own eyes for ever? Oh! it is a wonder that we ſhould have any high thoughts of our ſelves at all, when we conſider what we are in our ſelves.