202 `ihefixth Sign PART III. of, would not fo much''as lift up his Eyes to Heaven, but fmote upon his Brea/I, Paying, God be merciful to me a Sinner. I tell you, this Man went down to hisHoufejuflifed, rather than the other : For every cne that exalteth himfelf(hall be abated, and he that humbleth himfelf (hall be exalted. Matth. 28. 9. 11nd they came, and heldhim by the Feet, and worfhipped him. Col. 3. 12. Put ye on, as theElen? ofGod,--- Humble- nefs of Mind. Ezek. 20. 41, 43. I will accept you with your tweet Savour, when I bring you out from the People, &c.-- -.find there (hallye remember your Ways, and allyour Doings, wherein ye have been defiled ; andye(hall loath your felves in your own Sight, for all your Evils that ye have committed. Chap. 36. 26, 27, 31. Anew Heart alto will I give unto you, ---and I will put my Spirit within you, and caufe you to walk in my Statutes, &c.- --Then fhall ye remember your own evil Ways, and your Doings that were not good, andjhall loath your felves inyour own Sight, for your Iniquities, andforyour Abominations. Chap. 16. 63. That thou mayfl remember and be confounded, and never open thy Mouth any more, becaufe of thy Shame ; when I am pacified toward thee, for all that thou haft done, faith the Lord. Job 42. 6. I abhor my felf, and repent in DO and Afhes. As we would therefore make the holy Scriptures our Rule, in judg- ing of the Nature of true Religion, and judging of our own religious Qualifications and State ; it concerns us greatly to look at this Humi- liation, as one of the molt effential Things pertaining to true Chrifti- anity. § This is the principal Part of the great chriftian Duty of. Self- denial. That Duty confifts in two Things, viz. Fir/l, In a Man's denying his worldly Inclinations, and in forfaking and re- nouncing all worldly Objects and Enjoyments and Secondly, In de- nying his natural Self-exaltation, and renouncing his own'Dignity and Glory, and in being emptied of himfelf; fo that he does freely, and from his very Heart, as it were renounce himfelf, and annihilate him-. felf. Thus the Chriftian doth, in evangelical Humiliation. And this Latter is the greateft and :Hoff difficult Part of Self-denial: Altho' they always go together, and one never truly is, where the other is Calvin in his Inflitutions, Book II. Chap. 2. § 11. Pays, ' I was always exceedingly pleafed with that Saying of Chryfo/lom, " The Foundation of our Philofophy is Humility, " and yet ' more pleafed with that offlugufiine, " As,fays he, theRhoto- " rician, being afked, what was the firft Thing in the Rules of G6 Eloquence, he anfwered, Pronunciaton ; what was the fe- " cond, Pronunciation ; what was the third, (till he anfwered, ' Pronunciation. So if you fhould afk me concerning the Pre- " cepts of the chriftian Religion, I would anfwer, firftly, fe- " condly, and thirdly, and forever, Humility." not ;
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=