80 HIIñrtEtrr aEPsESENTErï. can claim none of them as my merit, or as my property; the' Lord giveth, and the Lord takethaway, and blessed be the name of the Lord :. I-le has doneno more thanhe has a right to dowith a worthless worm, and I lie in the dust before himwaiting his good pleasure. Such a temper of mind carries peace and serenity in it, not without some glimpses of pious hope and humble ex- pectation. I will laymy mouth in the dust, ifso be there may be hope in the grace of God, which loves to triumphover tho un- worthiness of creatures. But let us now turn the tables, and view the different tem- per and conduct of the man who has high thoughts of himself- When he is under the afflicting stroke of heaven he imagines he bas deserved some better treatment at the hand of God, and though he dares not say this to his Maker's face, yet the inward vexation and rage, the disquietude and resentment of his heart under afflictions, is such as would vent itself in loud . murmurs and reproaches against heaven ifit durst : And becausehe dares not suffer his passion and fury to rise thus against his Creator, hegives it a vent and lets loose his impatience against every creature that comes in his way Hence arises the impious fret- fulness, and the tormenting vexationof spirit, that haughtyper- sons feel under pressing calamities ; they throw their fury all around them : Their impatience under the hand of God is ex-. pressed by peevishness toward men : They make every one that is near them awitness of that inward indignation and resentment, which they dare not directly aim at him that dwells on high. It is this rising vanity, this fermenting and swelling idea of self that gives us ten-fold agony and smart when we are east down and pressed under the hand of God. When we sustain evils which we cannot remedy, we multiply and increase their load, and sharpen every sting ofcalamity by the pride and impatience ofourown spirits. God is affronted by us, men grow weary of helping us, we enhance the pain and anguish of every affliction, and we provoke the hand of a holy and jealous God to keep us longer under the weight of sorrow, sickness or distress, till it has donehis work and pressed down the haughtiness -of our spirit. IV. By diminishing thoughts of ourselves we shall attain a nearer and greater conformity to the blessed Jesus the Son of God. What is there in all the characterof our dear Redeemer greater and more surprising than his humble temer and his humble estate ? The merit and honour of his humihty and low- liness are aggrandized and brightened by every glorious and divine idea that enters into his character. He is the brightness of his Father's glory and the express image of his person, yet he hum- bled himself to the form of a man, and to the likeness of sinful flesh: He is the Son of God, and one with the Father, yet he became the Son of man and was born of a poor virgin of the des-
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