SECT. VI.] THE HUMILITY OF CHRIST, &C. 5G own merit ? That is but poor virtue that cannot bear to be despised, but faints under a word of contempt and scorn : poor pretence to virtue indeed that cannot sup- port itself under an affront from a fellow-worm. I will readily grant that the rich and the mighty, and the bold and the high-spirited and the high-born among men, lie much more under temptations to pride ; it is the very sin of their constitution or their condition in life; and perhaps they are more frequently guilty of this Iniquity ; but if we would all of us search our hearts honestly, and examine our conduct by sincere enquiries, there is not one of us either in high or low state would be able to excuse ourselves from this universal contagion and guilt, this original degeneracy and over - spreading blemish of human nature. SECTION VI. The Humility and Exaltation of Christ proposed as our Pattern; Among all the hearts that God ever made there have never been but three entirely free from this stain and poison; two of them were the hearts of Adam and Eve in the day of their innocence, and happy had it been for us, it pride had never found an entrance there. The third was the heart of the man Jesus who is God's most be- loved Son. It was amazing humility indeed in this glo- rious person the Son of God, that he would condescend to he born a son of man, that he should leave the bosom of the Father and all the glories there, to dwell in flesh and blood : And when he entered our world there was nothing round him but the signs of humiliation and the marks of deep abasement: He became the child of a poor maid in Galilee, he' was content to be born in a stable, for there was no room for him in the house He lay down to take his first nap in a manger, below the rank and condition of men ; and as though he were a compa- nion for meaner creatures, he borrowed his dwelling from the ox and the ass. This was the accommodation, this the presence -chamber of the King of Israel, of the Son of God. Come let us thus contemplate the glorious humility of the blessed Jesus, the humble infancy of our adored Saviour, and let us become infants and humble.
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