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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.