481 / 652
SbCT.
73
THE
SPRINGS
OF
ST
PAUL'S
HUMILITY.
471
that
is
a
little larger than
his
brethren
may
lift up
itself
among
fellow- emmets,
or
fellow
-worms
;
but the foot
of
a
man
treads
it
to the dust,
and
it
appears
a
worthless and
unregarded
thing.
Oh
my'
soul, if'
thou wouldst
lessen thyself, as
a crea-
ture, and a christian
ought
to
do, live
much
in
the sight
of
God
as seeing him
that
is
invisible.
When
God ap-
pears
in
the glory
of
his holiness,
God
in
the person
of
his
Son
Jesus
in
his
pre existent state,
as
St.
John
tells
us in
chapter
xii.
then
the seraphs cover
their
faces
and
their
feet
with
their
wings
in
his
presence, and the holy
.prophet
cries
out,
"
Woe
is
me,
for
I
am
undone, I
am
a
man
of
unclean
lips
;
mine
eyes
have
seen the King,
the
Lord
of
hosts
;"
Is.
vi.
2
-5.
"
Once
have.I spoken
of
myself,
saith
Job,
to
maintain
my
own
honours,
yea
twice,
before I had seen
God
in his
glory
;
but
now
mine
eye has seen
thee,
behold
I
am vile,
I
will
lay
my
hand
.upon
my
mouth,
I
lie
down in profound silence,
I
abhor
myself and
repent
in
dust
and
ashes
;"
Job
xl.
4,
5.
and
xlii..5
6.
Live much,
therefore, O
my soul, in
the
views
of
God, the fairest, and the
first,
and the best
of
beings
:
Live much
in
the contemplation
of Christ'
his
Son, in whom dwells all
the
fulness
of
the godhead
bodily, and
who
is
the
first
and
fairest image
of
the
Fa-
ther. 'I
hou
canst never
dare
to
swell
and
exalt
thyself,
thy
little
worthless
self,
in
the presence
of
such majesty,
in
the
eye
of
such
adorable and
divine excellencies.
The
last thing
I
shall mention as
a
spring
of
St.
Paul's
humility,
was his
frequent
view
and meditation
of
the
condescension, the
lowliness,
the meekness,
and self
-
abasement
of
the
blessed
Jesus.
As he charges the
Phi
-
lippian
converts,
that
"
the
same
mind
and temper should
be in them which
was in
Christ
Jesus
;"
Phil.
ii.
5.
So
'.
by
a continual contemplation
of
him
in
his
humbled
estate,, he
learned
to
imitate
so
divine an example,
and he
recommends
his own
conduct
as a
pattern
for
men,
no
farther than
as he followed
Christ.
But
this
subject
will
fall in often by
the
way,
while
I
am representing the grace
of
humility in its lovely
ap,
pearances,
and
therefore
I
dismiss it
now.
gx4