HUMILITY. JANUARY 11. Be clothed with humility.-God be merciful to me a sinner. 19 THE ancient philosophers, amidst all their panegyrics upon virtue, and inquiries into the elements of moral excellence, not only valued the grace of humility at an exceedingly low estimate, but reckoned it a quality so contemptible, as to neutralize the other properties, which went, in their estimation, to the composition of a truly noble and exalted character. By the touchstone which christianity applies to the human character, it is found that pride and independence are often base alloy; and that in every character formed upon proper principles and possessed of genuine worth, humility is at once a distinguishing feature and the richest ornament. On this subject, as well as on all others, true christianity accords with right reason in proclaiming it the unquestionable duty of all intelligent creatures to be humble; for they have nothing that they have not received, and hourly depend on an agency infinitely superiour to their own. As this temper is induced by a lively apprehension of our own character, and of the divine perfections and government, its influence in producing those affections and habits essential to a proper discharge of the duties imposed on men by the variety of their relations, must obviously be very great. In scripture, accordingly, much importance is attached to it, and its assiduous cultivation urged from the fact, of its own intrinsic excellence, of the denunciations delivered against those of a 'proud look,' and of the rewards promised to them who walk humbly with their God.' What prompts those high intelligences who surround the throne of God, in the full effulgence of celestial glory, to cast their crowns at his feet, crying-He ‘alone is worthy,' but humility? If humility enters so largely into angelic worth, is it beneath the dignity of man to be humble? Place yourself before God-are you not humble ? Stand by the side of Jesus your Saviour,-are you not humble ? Compare yourself with the great benefactors of the world,-are you not humble? Compare what you now are with what others have attained with your means,—and are you not humble ?—A proud man wants magnanimity. He makes the angels weep. A proud christian is a paradox. So far as sinful man is proud, so far he is ignorant of his own character, and deficient in resemblance to him who 'was meek and lowly in heart.' He sinks himself by his pride, and raises himself by his humility; and it will ever be found a truth, that lowliness of heart is real dignity, and humbleness of spirit a bright jewel in the christian crown. There is no way to preserve the delightful charm of our graces, but to clothe them with humility. There is nothing in genuine nobleness opposed to the great principles of humility. The gospel in its precepts, in its examples, and in its prospects,tends to humble the obdurate pride of man; therefore, whoever will come after Christ, must, in this respect, deny himself. God of my life! Father divine ! Give me a meek and lowly mind : 1 Be ye kindly affectioned one towards another.-If any man trust to himself that he is Christ's, let him of himself think this again, that as he is Christ's, even so are we Christ's. If any man has the spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ, he cannot hate or persecute any one. This spirit always produces in every believer a disposition which kindly embraces all. This is unity-unity of spirit in the bond of peace. Does this mean unity of opinions? -of forms and ceremonies ?-of dress and phraseology?-no; but of something infinitely superiour; a oneness of reliance, of inclination, of taste, of hopes, of fears, of joys and sorrows. Though divided and distinguished from each other by a thousand peculiarities, they who have this spirit, all hate sin-they all hunger and thirst after righteousness-they all follow 'hard after God'-they all feel the spiritual life to be a warfare-they all confess themselves to be only strangers and pilgrims on the earth-they all love God and Christ, holiness and heaven. Thus with circumstantial diversity, we have essential indentity; the substance is as unalterable as the modes are various; the dress changing with times and places, while the figure, the members, the soul, always the same for by one spirit we are all baptized 'into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free, and have been all made to drink into one spirit.' What is a name or a sect that it should divide those who are to live together in heaven through eternity; who here love the same Lord, who believe in the same efficacious redemption, who have drunk of the same river of the water of life, who have access through the same mediator, and are fellow travellers to the same home? Shall not the members of a spiritual household live in peace? This question has its relation to that day of inquiry and judgment, when the sentence will be pronounced,-"Come ye blessed." Why blessed? "In as much as ye did it to one of the least of these my brethren, ye did it unto me." "Depart ye cursed." And why cursed? "In as much as ye did it not unto one of the least of these, ye did it not unto me."-It is not a general benevolence which is talked of here; no, it is love to Christ exerting itself in kindness and beneficence to his brethren. This is the grand, the preeminently blessed feature of the christian character. Its presence is the seal of heaven on the soul; its absence is exclusion from heaven. We should take careful heed to the spirit we cherish; for any defect in this respect, marks and proves a corresponding defect in our christian faith. The Saviour did not die, that we should quarrel about his death, nor open heaven to mortals only that they should strive to exclude each other. His death is not valued, if it begets animosities; and the heaven he revealed is unattainable, if it moves us not to piety and brotherly love. God is love, and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. He who will attach undue importance to inferior points, and will make them lines of demarcation in the church, rends in sunder the seamless robe of Christ; he worships his own passions; neglecting that great command, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." Grant, God! that I may injure none; But shew thy love, like Christ, thy Son GOD'S DESIGN IN CREATION AND PROVIDENCE: JANUARY 13. In wisdom hast thou made them all. 21 As God made man for religion, so the great object he had in view in the other works of his hands, so far as man is concerned, was to furnish him with the means of religion. What is the design of all the wonderful works of God, " in the heaven above, and in the earth beneath, and in the waters under the earth?" Why are those skies bright with his glory, and those fields vocal with his praise? Why, but to communicate to man religious knowledge, and excite in him religious affection? Why, but to tell him, that God is infinitely great, and wise, and powerful, and good, and to urge him to love, and fear, and trust in Him. What is the design of all God's providential dispensations, both to individuals and nations-both in the physical and moral worlds? Why does he uphold all things by the word of his power,-why does his kingdom rule over all; but that his character may be displayed, and that this display of his character may lead men to think, and feel, and act in reference to him as they ought? But this is by no means the most extraordinary part of the divine dispensations, which have for their object to awaken religion in the mind of man. To gain this end, he has formed and executed a scheme of operations, which is of all his works the most wonderful. Why did he give man a revelation of his will, confirmed by so many and so astonishing miracles? Why did he inspire the prophets to make known his oracles? Why did he descend in such awful majesty on the summit of Sinai? Why did God commission his only begotten Son from the realms of light, give him his spirit without measure, and send him forth the visible representative of himself who is invisible? And why did this Saviour live a life of sorrow and die a death of shame ? What mean the mysteries of Bethlehem, and Gethsemane, and Calvary? What mean the glories of the transfiguration, and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit? Why did he establish and so wonderfully preserve his church in the world? What was the end of all these astonishing transactions, but the making men religious? Pursue in your own minds the track of thought that has now been opened to you, and you must be overwhelmed with a sense of the prodigious importance of religion. That which has employed so many of the thoughts of Him"who alone hath wisdom," must be inconceivably important. What can place in a clearer point of view at once the value of religion, and the portentous and shocking combination of folly and presumption exhibited in the character and conduct of those who count that unworthy of occupying the chief, or indeed any place in their minds or pursuits, which has been one grand object in the divine counsels and operations, from the unbeginning ages of eternity to the present hour? Be this the purpose of my soul, My solemn, my determined choice, O may I never faint nor tire, Nor, wandering, leave thy sacred ways ; 22 RESPONSIBILITY ATTENDING SUPERIOUR TALENTS. JANUARY 14. To one he gave five talents.-To whom much is given, of him will much be required. Ir is doubtless an honour to be favoured with many talents; but he on whom they have been conferred, does well to recollect the benevolent purposes for which they have been given, and the heavy load of duty which they impose. Are any blessed, then, with mental energies capable of ministering, in various ways, to the good of others? Let them know that perverted intellect and genius, reduce men to the nearest possible resemblance to infernal spirits. I would not have the moral responsibility of a Voltaire, or a Hume, or a Byron, resting on me, for thousands of worlds!-men who took heaven's own fire to burn down heaven's own altars. On the other hand, when talents of a superiour description are properly directed, and warmly engaged on the side of truth and religion, they prove essential blessings to the world. Wealth, too, is a talent, in its capabilities of a very high order. He who possesses it, without knowing how to use it for the glory of God and good of men, has need to take care lest it prove a curse to him at last. It must never be forgotten, that religion and usefulness must attend the possession of distinguished powers. Your Great talents are the gifts of God, and are, therefore, highly to be valued; but the pride with which they too often inspire their possessors, is extremely dangerous. It would be much better for you to be poor and ignorant, and satisfied with those around you, than to have superiour abilities, and to look down with scorn on those whose merits and talents you think inferiour to your own. qualifications, however extraordinary, are not your own work; and if you pervert them, they will only turn to your own condemnation, and double your guilt in the sight of God. Think less of your learning, your wit, your taste, your science, and your attractions; and pray to God to add humility and all the Christian virtues, to your character; for, without these, your brightest talents can only serve to dazzle the world, but will avail nothing to your own salvation. I do not look upon power alone as a thing to be envied by any wise or good man. Power in itself-mere power-is a talent, but is not always a friend to virtue or a test of merit. It is enjoyed by right of birth; it is inherited by bloated despots; it is purchased through blood and slaughter by ferocious warriors and pestilential conquerors; it is held by the tenure of the very defects that reduce men lower than their kind. But power, to be of use to mankind, the power of doing good to our country,-the opportunity of scattering blessings over the land of our birth or of our adoption, the power to enable us to root out ignorance and to diffuse the light of knowledge, to break the chains of enslaved man of whatever sect or colour,--power to ennoble our age and amend our race,—that is a power which an angel might stoop down from his height to take up. Assist us, Lord! to act, to be, What nature and thy laws decree; Which from thy breathing spirit came, IMPORTANCE OF FIRST PRINCIPLES. JANUARY 15. 23 This is life eternal,—to know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom › thou hast sent.—Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart; and thy neighbour as thyself. No doctrine is a fundamental, a necessary article of a christian's faith, but what is so plainly and distinctly revealed, as that an ordinary christian, sincere in his inquiries, cannot miss of the knowledge of it. It is not the character of God to leave things at uncertainties. A kind Creator and watchful Preserver cannot but delight in and desire the happiness of his creatures. He has done and will do all, that is consistent with his illustrious attributes, for the advancement of his free subjects. All the conditions from such a Being must be level with human powers. It is not sufficient that a proportion be clearly revealed, to make it fundamental, but a belief in it must also be made an express term of happiness in the sacred scriptures. Whatever is incidental, not bearing on doctrine or practice, is important only as it illustrates the essential fundamental parts of scripture. The texts at the head of this day's reflections, contain fundamental truths. They should be for a token upon the hand of every christian, and for frontlets between his eyes;-they should be written upon the posts of his door, and engraven on the table of his heart. Get a distinct knowledge of fundamentals: It is the emptiness of our minds that makes us preposterous in our researches. Many a Christian loses himself in a sea of opinions, before he has squared himself with the first grounds of religion. Remember this, that the first truths do support and maintain the rest, as the corner stone the rest of the building, and are as the original will, which decides many scruples in law. Hence is it, that some men doubt about special conclusions, because they are ignorant of the general principles, which, were they distinctly known, the falsity of any conclusion would easily become evident to them. Men usually dispute first, and know last; as if a soldier would range an army before he has learnt to handle his weapons. How very common is it to hear disputes on original sin-on predestination-on redemption-on faith and justification on assurance and obedience on the degrees of grace and duty and on the direct and absolute way of life. I say it is common to hear some arguing of these, who yet are ignorant of the nature of words. But Paul's method was, to lay down his foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith towards God; which if Paul thought fit to teach, I think fit for us to learn. That ship rolls least which is well bottomed; and that house shakes least which is well founded; and that Christian doubts least who is well instructed in the main points of religion; for besides this, that primitive proofs give an aim to all truths, so likewise they uncase all errours, and heresies, and opinions, and arguments, which come to pervert the mind another way. Next to thy God, thy neighbour place, Measure and rule thy love to him. |