XVI. bringing him nearer and nearer every day. SERM. At the fan. moment, they behold the wise man who glorieth in his wisdom, and the mighty man who glorieth in his might, and the rich man who glorieth in his riches, retiring from heaven, and, every hour, approaching to the feat of everlasting degradation and mifery. If any of you have entered on this difmal course, by indulging a paffion fo unfuitable to our nature as men, and to our condition as Christians, let fuch measure back their steps without delay, and diveft themfelves of a temper whofe complexion is fo odious, and whofe end is fo deplorable. Let them feek true exaltation, where only it can be found, in the right knowledge of God, in the imitation of their Saviour, and in the practice of his precepts. Let them humble themselves on earth, that the righteous judge of the world may exalt them in heaven! SERMON 446 SERMON XVII. ON HUMILITY. MATTHEW Xxiii. 12. He that shall humble himself shall be exalted. IN SERM. N a preceding discourse, I have endeaXVII. voured to illuftrate the firft clause of the verse, of which my text is the second, by confidering the nature, the character, and the effects of pride. I have alfo examined and exposed the grounds on which this paffion commonly refts *. I fhall now unfold the truth of the text itself, by a view of the specific nature and effects of humility. I. Let us endeavour to acquire a comprehenfive conception of the virtue itself. Humility See the Sermon immediately preceding. XVII. Humility is that habit of mind which in- SERM. clines to think of ourselves,not more bigblythan we ought to think, but to think soberly *. It excludes not a proper sense of our own right, whether, by this, be understood what belongs to us by claims ftrictly legal, or what we are entitled to expect in confequence of the fituation we poffefs in fociety, or of thofe becoming decencies which humanity and civilifation have eftablished, as due in different degrees from one man to another. Humility is, by no means, to be confounded with that meanness of spirit which submits to indignity for fear of incurring the refentment of the person by whom it is offered, or abandons duty, when perfonal detriment ftands in oppofition to the confcientious and vigorous discharge of it. On the contrary, this virtue will induce us to prefer duty to every personal confideration, and to refift, in a becoming and temperate manner, every degradation which tends to obftruct our utility by diminishing our influence. Humility, directing the mind to God, perceives Rom. xii. 3. XVII. SERM. perceives and acknowledges the infignifi cance, the baseness, and the aggravated guilt, of every human being, before his Creator. Turning our view towards our fellow-men, it recognizes that equality of right and obligation, which, according to the diversity of relations and circumftances, fubfifts among all mankind, but also admits and respects every occurring inftance of merit, in any individual. As often as our own qualities and virtues are the subjects of confideration, humility difpofes us rather to cherish the fuggeftions of modeft diffidence, and the feelings of conscious defect, than to enter tain the felf-flattery of prefumption, and the audacity of arrogance. From this general description of the vir tue in queftion you already perceive, that it implies a juftnefs and elevation of fentiment, and a certain tone of magnanimity, that dignify the foul in which they exist. It evinces enlargement of conception, and freedom from the fetters of selfishness. It proves that its poffeffor can expatiate beyond the contracted circle of his own qua lities, XVII. lities, can view, with the difcrimination of SERM. impartiality, the merits of others, weigh them in the fame balance with his own, and allow the former their full value, even when the latter muft fuffer by the comparifon, and has fixed, in his mind, fuch a ftandard of excellence, as far furpaffes any human attainment. Real worth is the object of his regard, and, wherever he finds it, he honoureth it, though in the lowest condition, and in circumftances the most unprofperous. Hence, the humble man thinks meanly of his own qualifications, not becaufe his ideas flow in a fhallow ftream, and in a narrow channel, but because his conceptions fwell to fuch a height, and are capable of fuch expansion, that his own importance is funk, as it were, and lost amidst greater confiderations. Such a person is, therefore, poffeffed of real dignity, and greatnefs of mind, to which the proud man is an entire stranger. It requires both a sound judgment, and no common degree of moderation, and firmness, to reprefs the im pulfes of felf-love, in fuch a manner as to |