The Arraignment of Pride, Chapter 31
CHAP. 31. The ſeventh Direction.
Direct. 7. ABove all, take the Lord Jeſus for your pattern: Learn of me, ſaith he, for I am meek and lowly in heart, Matth. 11.29. Hierom having read the holy life and pious death of Hillarion, folding up the book ſaid, Well! Hillarion ſhall be the champion whom I will imitate. Diſcite à me; non ad Patriarchas, non ad prophetas vos ego mitto, ſed me vobis exemplum, me formam humilitatis exhibeo. Inviderunt mihi altitudinem quam habeo apud patrem, Angelus & Faemina; ille potentiae, illa ſcientiae: vos autem aemulamini chariſmata meliora; diſcite à me, quia mitis ſum & humilis corde. Bernard. Epiſt.How much rather ſhould we ſay ſo of Chriſt, He is the pattern that I will follow. Chriſt is the Lilly of the valley, Cant. 2.1. Chriſts example may ſerve inſtead of all. Walk by Chriſts humility, ſaith Auſtin, if thou wilt come to his eternity. Chriſt ſaith Learn of me; I do not ſend you to the Patriarchs or Prophets, but I ſet my ſelf before you as a pattern of humility for you to follow. He ſaith not Learn of me how I made the heavens, and the ſtars, and laid the foundations of the earth, and laid the meaſures thereof: he doth not ſay Imitate me in my fourty days faſt, in my walking upon the waters, ſtilling the winds, healing the ſick, raiſing the dead; in a word, not in any of my miraculous, but in all my moral actions, eſpecially in humility. So likewiſe Joh. 13. having waſhed his Diſciples feet, he told them he did it not in officium, for any duty he owed them; but in amorem, out of love he bare to them, & in exemplum, teaching them by his carriage towards them, how they ought to carry themſelves one towards another: His argument is very ſtrong and forcible; for if he, their Lord and Maſter, had ſhewed himſelf ſo kind and humble towards them his ſervants and inferiors, much more ought they to do the like to their fellows and equals: now as they that intend to write or draw a picture fair, muſt firſt look upon their copy, and view their pattern, and then labour and endeavour to follow it: ſo let us firſt take a view and ſurvey of the humility of Chriſt, and then endeavour to conform our ſelves thereunto. The humility of Chriſt is the medicione of mans pride, ſaith Auſtin.
1. His humility appeared in taking our nature upon him; in taking our nature, not in changing his own, Naturam naſtram ſuſcipiendo, non ſuam mutando, Homo deo acceſſit, non autem deus à ſe receſſit; & verbum caro factum eſt, non depoſita ſed ſepoſita majeſtate, inſtar ſolis ſub umbra ad tempus latentis, & ſe mundo non oſtendentis. Auguſt.ſaith a Father; man came unto God, but God departed not from himſelf; and the Word was made fleſh, not by putting away, but by laying aſide his Majeſty, like the ſun that for a time lies hid under a cloud, not ſhewing himſelf to the world; and ſuch, and ſo great was his love towards us, that though he were equal with God, and might ſo have remained & continued, yet he even ſeemed to ſtrip himſelf of his own glory, and appear only in our infirmity; for he did not caſt away the nature of God, when he took upon him the nature of man; ſed manſit quoderat, & tamen aſſumpſit quod non erat; Phil. 2.7, 8. Zanch. in loc.that did abide which was, and yet he aſſumed that which was not; and whereas the Apoſtle ſaith, that he was made in the likeneſs of men, or found in faſhion as a man; that is, as learned Zanchy expounds the words, in his whole nature, Chriſt a great example of humility in his birth.body and ſoul, being like to us in all things, ſin only excepted, Heb. 4.15. Now the great humility of God manifeſt in the fleſh will appear, if we conſider his birth, his life and his death. There are many circumſtances in his birth to ſet forth his humility to us.
1. In making choice of a poor and humble mother; one that was of a mean and low eſtate, as ſhe her ſelf confeſſeth, Luk. 1.48. Her mean eſtate appeareth in divers things.
1. In her marriage with Joſeph a Carpenter, an handy-crafts man, a man of a low and mean calling.
2. By their travelling without a hand-maid, or any ſervant to attend them.
3. By her offering at her purification: ſhe offereth not a lamb for a burnt-offering, and a turtle dove for a ſin-offering, Luk. 2.24.as was required of the wealthier ſort, Levit. 12.6. but two Turtles only, or a pair of Pigeons, which was indifferent by the law. Maldonat.Yea Maldonate the Jeſuits conceit is, that they were only a pair of young Pigeons, as being of leſs pains to find, and leſs price to pay for; whence appeareth the poverty of Joſeph and Mary: for however Chemnitius conceiteth, Chemnit.that therefore the typical Lamb was not offered, becauſe the true Lamb of God that takes away the ſins of the world was preſent. Calvin.Joh. 1.29. yet Calvin and all other Proteſtant writers that I have ſeen, do make their poverty the reaſon thereof. Therefore the Popiſh painters are much deceived, ſetting out Mary ſtill in rich attire, like a Lady of great ſtate and pomp, thus feeding the peoples ears with fables, and their eyes with bables.
2. Conſider the time of his birth. 1. He was born in the winter, Cujus in arbitrio tempus erat, naſciturus tempus elegit moleſtius. Aretius.the ſharpeſt ſeaſon of the year. He in whoſe power time was, being to be born, choſe the moſt grievous, ſaith Biſhop Babington; and in the night, to ſhew, as Aretius noteth, that he being the Sun of righteouſneſs, would by the warmth of his grace, thaw thoſe that lay even frozen and key-cold in the dregs of their ſins, and by the bright beams of his Goſpel, enlighten thoſe that ſate in darkneſs and in the ſhadow of death.
2. He was born in a time when the Scepter was departed from Judah, and the Jews put under tribute by the Romans, when Auguſtus Caeſar ſent a decree that all the world ſhould be taxed, i e. all the Countries and Provinces within his dominions, viz. the inhabitants of all their Cities and Villages ſhould aſſemble themſelves to their head City, and there have their names taken, Suetonius.that according to their eſtates, a tax might be ſet upon them, to be yearly paid to his treaſury and coffers; and herein alſo appeared his humility in being born under the tyranny of Octavianus. Conſider the place of his birth, it was not at Jeruſalem the principal City of the land, Mic. 5.2.but at Bethlehem a little City of David: the bread of life will be born in Bethlehem, which ſignifies the houſe of bread, a place little among the thouſands of Judah, as the Prophet Michah termeth it. But he might have been born at ſome Aldermans houſe in this poor City, and have had the beſt reſpect it could afford; no ſuch matter; they muſt buy their welcome, and lodge in an Inn; Well! there they might be well reſpected for their money, and have convenient lodging — It will not be had; they either came too late, or elſe carry not that port as they may think to gain enough by them; their chambers are either taken up, or at leaſtwiſe reſerved for better gueſts; he was born in an Inn to ſhew himſelf a ſtranger on earth, and that we ought ſtill ſo to behave our ſelves, 1 Pet. 2.11.as ſtrangers and Pilgrims upon earth. But in what room of this Inn? even in a ſtable; the other rooms are otherwiſe appointed; and in that ſtable both the Aſſes provender, He that was the bread of life, is laid in a manger as the food of beaſts,and the ſpotleſs body of this Lamb of God, were alike entertained in a manger. Men by ſin had made themſelves unfit for the ſociety of Angels, and became like the beaſts that periſh; therefore he ſeeks us among beaſts; this was a ſign given by the Angel to the Shepherds; Ye ſhall find the child ſwadled and laid in a manger, Luk. 2.12. This ſufficiently confuteth all legends, that talk of his being born in a cave not far from Bethlehem, where they ſay, many miracles appeared to Joſeph: Chemmit. harmon. part. 1. p. 274.but theſe are but falſe and fabulous; howbeit they have been received, and too much credited by too many of the Antients, as Chemnitius ſheweth.
4. The fourth circumſtance of his humility at his birth, was the divulging of his birth, to a few baſe and mean Shepherds: and here we may ſee a manifeſt difference between the wiſdom of God, and the wiſdom of the world; for whom do the great men in the world joyn in friendſhip to them, and make of their councils, and employ in their affairs? Surely no Shepherds, and Neate-herds, and husbandmen, whom their rude education and mean breeding utterly debarreth of all ſuch favours: to whom do great men ſend their Embaſſadours with news of ſtate? not to mean men, but to their neighbour Princes; peradventure Huſbandmen at plough, and Shepherds in the field may ſee a poſt as he paſſeth to the Court before the King himſelf, but not any Nobleman ſhall be made privy to his buſineſs, till he come to the King to whom he is ſent; and the news ſhall be ſtale, before it come to the ears of the vulgar and common people: But Chriſt takes not this courſe; he doth not ſend his Angel immediately to the Emperours Court, nor to Herod, Pontius Pilat, and the Phariſees, and Scribes, or any of the chief eſtates of the Nobility, that ſo they reporting it again might have added the greater credit to it; this in worldly wiſdom ſhould have ſeemed a courſe moſt convenient, but Gods waies are not ours: the Angel was ſent to theſe ragged meſſengers, to declare the birth of the Meſſiah unto, rather then to the great ones of the world, to ſhew the humility of him that was ſent to ſave the world, and therein to be an example of humility to us.