521 / 652
SECfi.
liROPOSEb
AS
OUR
PATTERN.
5Iì
to
us,
when we
remember they
were
worn
by
the
Son
of
God.
"
Think
with thyself, O
my
soul,
what
if
thou
art
not
seated
among
the
glittering
idols
of
this
world, the
men
of
figure and
quality and exalted station
?
Remember
the blessed
Jesus
was
thy forerunner
in a
low and
hum-
ble
rank of
life
;
Jesus,
who
went through
the
deeps
of
abasement
to
the temple
of
the highest
honour;
and di-
vine
wisdom assures
thee,
"
that
before honour
is
humi-
lity ;"
Prov.
xv. 33.
What
if thou hast not
the favour
of
the rich, and
the society
of the
great
ones
of the earth?
Dost thou
not
hear the
promise
of
the
God
of
heaven,
and
feel
the divine
encouragement
with surprising de-
light?
"Thus
saith
the
high and
lofty
one
that inhabiteth
eternity,
whose name
is
holy,
I
dwell
in
the high
and
holy
place
:
With
him
also
that
is
of
a
contrite and
hum-
ble spirit
will
I
dwell; Is.
lvii.
15.
I
will be his
life
and
his
support." The
soul
that
is
truly
humble upon
reli-
gious principles,
when
he
is
cast out
of
the company
of
the great
and the
wealthy with
scorn,
is
a
partner
of
the
sufferings
of
the
holy
Jesus,
is
an
imitator
of
his virtues,
and
he
shall
share
in his
sacred
honours:
he
shall
have
the great and
blessed
God come down and
dwell with
him here
on
earth,
to
enrich
him
with
grace, and
he shall
be
raised
to
dwell
for
ever
in
the courts
of heaven
with
God,
and with
his
Son
Jesus,
who
is
the Lord
of
glory.
Think
yet further, O
my
soul,
what
if
thy
station
and
place
in
the visible
church
should be low
and mean, as
a
door
-
keeper
in
the house
of
thy
God, this
will
not
give
thy
heart
any sensible
disquietude,
while
thou
canst
assume
St.
Paul's
motto
in
my
text,
"Less
than the least
of
all
the
saints."
Jesus
and
his
disciples were
even
"
cast out
of the
synagogue
;"
John
ix. 22.
Luke
iv.
28.
Yet
he
was the
first
beloved
son
of God, and
the
chief
of
all
the
saints both in
the lower and
in
the
upper
worlds. Look up,
my
eyes, and behold him now on
the throne
of
heaven, and there
also
the
humblest among
he
holy
ones
sits
nearest
to his
majesty,
for,
that
seat
is
prepared
for
those
who
are most
like himself.
"
Labour
hourly
to
subdue
thy
pride and
fulness
of
self,
O
my soul,
pursue the grace
of
humility
here
below
in
the deepest degrees of
it,
and
this shall
prepare
thee
for
some
exalted station on high.
I
am
verily
per-