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Pride and Humility
A Sermon Delivered on Sabbath Morning, August 17, 1856, by the
REV. C.H. SPURGEON
At New Park Street Chapel, Southwark
"Before destruction the heart of man is haughty, and before honor is humility."Proverbs 18:12.
Almost every event has its prophetic prelude. It is an
old and common saying, that "coming events cast their shadows before them;" the
wise man teaches us the same lesson in the verse before us. When destruction walks through
the land, it casts its shadow; it is in the shape of pride. When honor visits a man's
house, it casts its shadow before it; it is in the fashion of humility. "Before
destruction the heart of man is haughty;" pride is as surely the sign of destruction
as the change of mercury in the weather-glass is the sign of rain, and far more infallibly
so than that. "Before honor is humility," even as before the summer, sweet birds
return to sing in our land. Everything hath its prelude. The prelude of destruction is
pride, and of honor, humility. There is nothing into which the heart of man so easily
falls as pride, and yet there is no vice which is more frequently, more emphatically, and
more eloquently condemned in Scripture. Against pride, prophets have lifted up their
voices, evangelists have spoken and teachers have discoursed. Yea, more; the everlasting
God has mounted to the very heights of eloquence when he would condemn the pride of man;
and the full gushing of the Eternal's mighty language has been most gloriously displayed
in the condemnation of the pride of human nature. Perhaps the most eloquent passage of
God's Word is to be found toward the conclusion of the book of Job, where, in most
splendid strains of unanswerable eloquence, God hides pride from many by utterly
confounding him; and there is another very eloquent passage in the 14th chapter of Isaiah,
where the Lord's holy choler seems to have risen up, and his anger to have waxed hot
against the pride of man, when he would utterly and effectually condemn it. He says
concerning the great and mighty king of Babylon, "Hell from beneath is moved for thee
to meet thee at thy coming: it stirreth up the dead for thee, even al the chief ones of
the earth; it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations. All they
shall speak and say unto thee, Art thou also become weak as we? art thou become like unto
us? Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols: the worm is spread
under thee, and the worms cover thee. How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of
the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations? For thou
hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the
stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the
north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet
thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. They that see thee shall
narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to
tremble, that did shake kingdoms." Mark how God addresses him, describing hell itself
as being astonished at his fall, seeing that he had mounted so high; and yet declaring,
assuredly, that his height and greatness were nothing to the Almighty, that he would pull
him down, even though, like an eagle, he had built his nest among the stars. I say there
is nothing more eloquently condemned in Scripture than pride, and yet there is no trap
into which we poor silly birds so easily flee, no pitfall into which, like foolish beasts
of the earth, we so continually run. On the other hand, humility is a grace that hath many
promises given to it in the Scripture. Perhaps most promises are given to faith, and love
is often considered to be the brightest of the train of virtues; yet humility holds by no
means an inferior place in God's word, and there are hundreds of promises linked to it.
Every grace seems to be like a nail on which precious blessings hang, and humility hath
many a mercy suspended from it. "He that exalteth himself shall be abased, and he
that humbleth himself shall be exalted;" "Blessed are the poor in spirit;"
and in multitudes of other passages, we are reminded that God loveth the humble, but that
he "bringeth down the mighty from their seats, and exalteth the humble and
meek." Now, this morning, we shall have a word to say concerning pride and humility.
May the Holy Spirit preserve us from the one, and produce in our hearts the other.
I. In the first place, we shall have something to say concerning the vice of PRIDE.
"Before destruction the heart of man is haughty." Pride, what is it?
Pride, where is its seat? The heart of man. And pride, what is its consequence?
Destruction.
1. In the first place, I must try to describe pride to you. I might paint it as
being the worst malformation of all the monstrous things in creation; it hath nothing
lovely in it, nothing in proportion, but everything in disorder. It is altogether the very
reverse of the creatures which God hath made, which are pure and holy. Pride, the
first-born son of hell, is indeed like its parent, all unclean and vile, and in it there
is neither form, fashion, nor comeliness.
In the first place, pride is a groundless thing. It standeth on the sands; or worse
than that, it puts its foot on the billows which yield beneath its tread; or worse still,
it stands on bubbles, which soon must burst beneath its feet. Of all things pride has the
worst foothold; it has no solid rock on earth whereon to place itself. We have reasons for
almost everything, but we have no reasons for pride. Pride is a thing which should be
unnatural to us, for we have nothing to be proud of. What is there in man of which he
should glory? Our very creation is enough to humble us; what are we but creatures of
to-day? Our frailty should be sufficient to lay us low, for we shall be gone to-morrow.
Our ignorance should tend to keep pride from our lips. What are we, but like the wild
ass's colt which knoweth nothing? And our sins ought effectually to stop our mouths, and
lay us in the dust. Of all things in the world, pride towards God, is that which hath the
very least excuse; it hath neither stick nor stone whereon to build. Yet like the spider,
it carrieth its own web in its bowels, and can, of itself, spin that wherewith to catch
its prey. It seems to stand upon itself, for it hath nothing besides whereon it can rest.
Oh! man, learn to reject pride, seeing that thou hast no reason for it; whatever thou art,
thou hast nothing to make thee proud. The more thou hast, the more thou art in debt to
God; and thou shouldst not be proud of that which renders thee a debtor. Consider thine
origin; look back to the hole of the pit whence thou wast digged. Consider what thou
wouldst have been, even now, if it were not for Divine grace. And, consider, that thou
will yet be lost in hell if grace does not hold thee up. Consider that amongst the damned,
there are none that would have been more damned than thyself, if grace had not kept thee
from destruction. Let this consideration humble thee, that thou hast nought whereon to
ground thy pride.
Again, it is a brainless thing as well as a groundless thing; for it brings no
profit with it. There is no wisdom in a self-exaltation. Other vices have some excuse, for
men seem to gain by them; avarice, pleasure, lust, have some plea; but the man who is
proud sells his soul cheaply. he opens wide the flood-gates of his heart, to let men see
how deep is the flood within his soul; then suddenly it floweth out, and all is
goneand all is nothing, for one puff of empty wind, one word of sweet
applausethe soul is gone, and not a drop is left. In almost every other sin, we
gather up the ashes when the fire is gone; but here, what is left? The covetous man hath
his shining gold, but what hath the proud man? He has less than he would have had without
his pride, and is no gainer whatever. Oh! man, if thou wert as mighty as Gabriel, and had
all his holiness, still thou wouldst be an arrant fool to be proud, for pride would sink
thee from thine angel station to the rank of devils, and bring thee from the place where
Lucifer, son of the morning, once dwelt, to take up thine abode with hideous fiends in
perdition. Pride exalts it head, and seeks to honor itself; but it is of all things most
despised. It sought to plant crowns upon its brow, and so it hath done, but its head was
hot, and it put an ice crown there, and it melted all away. Poor pride has decked itself
out finely sometimes; it hath put on its most gaudy apparel, and said to others, "how
brilliant I appear!" but, ah! pride, like a harlequin, dressed in thy gay colours,
thou art all the more fool for that; thou art but a gazing stock for fools less foolish
than thyself. Thou hast no crown, as thou thinkest thou hast, nothing solid and real, all
is empty and vain. If thou, O man, desirest shame, be proud. A monarch has waded through
slaughter to a throne, and shut the gates of mercy on mankind to win a little glory; but
when he has exalted himself, and has been proud, worms have devoured him, like Herod, or
have devoured his empire, till it passed away, and with it his pride and glory. Pride wins
no crown; men never honor it, not even the menial slaves of earth; for all men look down
on the proud man, and think him less than themselves.
Again, pride is the maddest thing that can exist; it feeds upon its own vitals; it
will take away its own life, that with its blood may make a purple for its shoulders: it
sappeth, and undermineth its own house that it may build its pinnacles a little higher,
and then the whole structure tumbleth down. Nothing proves men so made as pride. For this
they have given up rest, and ease, and repose, to find rank and power among men: for this
they have dared to risk their hope of salvation, to leave the gentle yoke of Jesus, and go
toiling wearily along the way of life, seeking to save themselves by their own works, and
at last to stagger into the mire of fell despair. Oh! man, hate pride, flee from it, abhor
it, let it not dwell with thee. If thou wantest to have a madman in thy heart, embrace
pride, for thou shalt never find one more mad than he.
Then pride is a protean thing; it changes its shape; it is all forms in the world;
you may find it in any fashion you may choose, you may see it in the beggar's rags as well
as in the rich man's garment. It dwells with the rich, and with the poor. The man without
a shoe to his foot may be as proud as if he were riding in a chariot. Pride can be found
in every rank of societyamong all classes of men. Sometimes it is an Arminian, and
talks about the power of the creature; then it turns Calvinist, and boasts of its fancied
securityforgetful of the Maker, who alone can keep our faith alive. Pride can
profess any form of religion; it may be a Quaker, and wear no collar to its coat; it may
be a Churchman, and worship God in splendid cathedrals; it may be a Dissenter, and go to
the common meeting-house; it is one of the most Catholic things in the world, it attends
all kinds of chapels and churches; go where you will, you will see pride. It cometh up
with us to the house of God; it goeth with us to our houses; it is found on the mart, and
the exchange, in the streets, and everywhere. Let me hint at one or two of the forms which
it assumes. Sometimes pride takes the doctrinal shape; it teaches the doctrine of
self-sufficiency; it tells us what man can do, and will not allow that we are lost,
fallen, debased, and ruined creatures, as we are. It hates divine sovereignty, and rails
at election. Then if it is driver from that, it takes another form; it allows that the
doctrine of free grace is true but does not feel it. It acknowledges that salvation is of
the Lord alone, but still it prompts men to seek heaven by their own works, even by the
deeds of the law. And when driven from that, it will persuade men to join something with
Christ in the matter of salvation; and when that is all rent up, and the poor rag of our
righteousness is all burned, pride will get into the Christian's heart as well as the
sinner'sit will flourish under the name of self-sufficiency, teaching the Christian
that he is "rich and increased in goods, having need of nothing." It will tell
him that he does not need daily grace, that past experience will do for
to-morrowthat he knows enough, toils enough, prays enough. It will make him forget
that he has "not yet attained;" it will not allow him to press forward to the
things that are before, forgetting the things that are behind. It enters into his heart,
and tempts the believer to set up an independent business for himself, and until the Lord
brings about a spiritual bankruptcy, pride will keep him from going to God. Pride has ten
thousand shapes; it is not always that stiff and starched gentleman that you picture it;
it is a vile, creeping, insinuating thing, that will twist itself like a serpent into our
hearts. It will talk of humility, and prate about being dust and ashes. I have known men
talk about their corruption most marvellously, pretending to be all humility, while at the
same time they were the proudest wretches that could be found this side the gulf of
separation. Oh! my friends, ye cannot tell how many shapes pride will assume; look sharp
about you, or you will be deceived by it, and when you think you are entertaining angels,
you will find you have been receiving devils unawares.
2. Now, I have to speak of the seat of pridethe heart. The true throne of
pride everywhere, is the heart of man. If, my dear friends, we desire, by God's grace, to
put down pride, the only way is to begin with the heart. Now let me tell you a parable, in
the form of an eastern story, which will set this truth in its proper light. A wise man in
the east, called a dervish, in his wanderings, came suddenly upon a mountain, and he saw
beneath his feet a smiling valley, in the midst of which there flowed a river. The sun was
shining on the stream, and the water as it reflected the sunlight, looked pure and
beautiful. When he descended, he found it was muddy, and the water utterly unfit for
drinking. Hard by he saw a young man, in the dress of a shepherd, who was with much
diligence filtering the water for his flocks. At one moment he placed some water into a
pitcher, and then allowing it to stand, after it had settled, he poured the clean fluid
into a cistern. Then, in another place, he would be seen turning aside the current for a
little, and letting it ripple over the sand and stones, that it might be filtered, and the
impurities removed. The dervish watched the young man endeavouring to fill a large cistern
with clear water; and he said to him, "My son, why all this toil?what purpose
dost thou answer by it?" The young man replied, "Father, I am a shepherd; this
water is so filthy that my flock will not drink of it, and, therefore, I am obliged to
purify it little by little, so I collect enough in this way that they may drink, but it is
hard work." So saying, he wiped the sweat from his brow, for he was exhausted with
his toil. "Right well hast thou laboured," said the wise man, "but dost
thou know thy toil is not well applied? With half the labour thou mightest attain a better
end. I should conceive that the source of this stream must be impure and polluted; let us
take a pilgrimage together and see." They then walked some miles, climbing their way
over many a rock, until they came to a spot where the stream took its rise. When they came
near to it, they saw flocks of wild fowls flying away, and wild beasts of the earth
rushing into the forest; these had come to drink, and had soiled the water with their
feet. They found an open well, which kept continually flowing, but by reason of these
creatures, which perpetually disturbed it, the stream was always turbid and muddy.
"My son," said the wise man, "set to work now to protect the fountain and
guard the well, which is the source of this stream; and when thou hast done that, if thou
canst keep these wild beasts and fowls away, the stream will flow of itself, all pure and
clear, and thou wilt have no longer need for thy toil." The young man did it, and as
he labored, the wise man said to him, "My son, hear the word of wisdom; if thou art
wrong, seek not to correct thine outward life, but seek first to get thy heart correct,
for out of it are the issues of life, and thy life shall be pure when once thy heart is
so." So if we would get rid of pride, we should not proceed to arrange our dress by
adopting some special costume, or to qualify our language, by using an outlandish tongue,
but let us seek of God that he would purify our hearts from pride, and then assuredly if
pride is purged from the heart, our life also shall be humble. Make the tree good, and
then the fruit shall be good; make the fountain pure, and the stream shall be sweet. Oh!
that God might grant us all, by his grace, that our hearts may be kept with diligence, so
that pride may never enter there lest we be haughty in our hearts, and find that
afterwards cometh wrath.
3. This brings me to the other point, which is, the consequence of pricedestruction,
a fact which we can prove by hundreds of instances in Scripture. When men have become
proud, destruction has come upon them. See you yon bright angel chanting the loud anthem
of praise before his Maker's throne? Can anything tarnish that angel's glory, rob him of
his harp, despoil him of his crown? Yes, see there enters a destroyer whose name is pride.
He assaults the angel, and his harp-strings are snapped in twain. His crown is taken from
his brow, and his glory is departed, and yon falling spirit descending into hell is he who
once was Lucifer, son of the morning. He has now become Father of nights, even the Lord of
Darkness, Satan, the Fallen one. See you again that happy pair walking in the midst of
luscious fruits, and flowery walks and bowers of Paradise? Can aught spoil Eden, and ruin
those happy beings? Yes, pride comes in the shape of a serpent, and asks them to seek to
be as gods. They eat of the forbidden fruit, and pride withers their paradise and blasts
their Eden. out they go to till the ground, whence they were taken, to beget and to bring
forth us who are their childrensons of toil and sorrow. Do you see that man after
God's own heart, continually singing his Maker's praise? Can aught make him sad? Can you
suppose that he shall ever be laid prostrate on the earth, groaning, and crying, and
asking "that the bones which God hath broken may rejoice?" Yes, pride can do
that. it will put into his heart that he will number his people, that he will count the
tribes of Israel, to show how great and mighty is his empire. It is done, and a terrible
pestilence sweeps o'er his land on account of his pride. Let David's aching heart show how
destruction comes to a man's glory when he once begins to make a god of it. See that other
good and holy man who, like David, was much after God's own heart. He is rich and
increased in goods. The Babylonian ambassadors are come, and he shows them all he has. Do
you not hear that threatening, "Thy treasures shall be carried away, and thy sons and
thy daughters shall be servants to the king of Babylon?" The destruction of
Hezekiah's wealth must come, because he is proud thereof. But for the most notable
instance of all, let me show you yonder palace, perhaps the most magnificent which has
even yet been built. In it there walks one who, lifting up his head on high, as if he were
more than mortal man, exclaims, "See ye this great Babylon that I have builded?"
Oh! pride, what hast thou done? thou hast more power than a wizard's wand! Mark the mighty
builder of Babylon creeping on the earth. Like oxen he is devouring grass; his nails have
grown like birds' claws, his hair like eagles' feathers, and his heart has gone from him.
Pride did all that, that it might be fulfilled which God hath written, "Before
destruction the heart of man is haughty."
Is thine heart haughty, sinner, this morning? Dost thou despise God's sovereignty?
Wilt thou not submit thyself to Christ's yoke? Dost thou seek to weave a righteousness of
thine own? Art thou seeking to be or to do something? Art thou desirous of being great and
mighty in thine own esteem? Hear me then, sinner, destruction is coming upon thee. As
truly as ever thou exaltest thyself, thou shalt be abased; thy destruction, in the
fullest and blackest sense of the word, is hurrying on to overwhelm thee. And oh!
Christian, is thine heart haughty this morning? Art thou come here glorying in thy graces?
Art thou proud of thyself, that thou hast had such high frames and such sweet experiences?
Mark thee, brother, there is a destruction coming to thee also. Some of thy proud things
will be pulled up by the roots, some of thy graces will be shattered, and thy good works,
perhaps, will become loathsome to thee, and thou wilt abhor thyself in dust and ashes. As
truly as ever thou exaltest thyself, there will be a destruction come to thee, O
saintthe destruction of thy joys and of thy comforts, though there can be no
destruction of thy soul.
Pride, you know, is most likely to meet with destruction, because it is too tall to walk
upright. It is most likely to tumble down, because it is always looking upward in its
ambition, and never looks to its feet. There only needs to be a pitfall in the way, or
even a stone, and down it goes. It is sure to tumble, because it is never contented with
being where it is. It is always seeking to be climbing, and boys that will climb must
expect to fall. Pride is foolhardy, and will venture upon scaling any rock. Sometimes it
holds on by a brier, and that pricks it; sometimes by a flint, and that cuts it. There it
goes, toiling and laboring on, till it gets as high as it can, and then, from its very
height, it is likely to fall. Nature itself tells us to avoid high things. Who is he that
can stand upon an eminence without a reeling brain, and without a temptation to cast
himself down? Pride, when most successful, stands in slippery places. Who would choose to
dwell on a pinnacle of the temple? That is where pride has built its house, and verily it
seems but natural that pride should down if pride will up. God will carry out this saying,
"Before destruction, the heart of man is haughty." Yet beloved, I am persuaded
that all I can say to you, or to myself, can never keep pride from us. The Lord alone can
bolt the door of the heart against pride. Pride is like the flies of Egypt; all Pharaoh's
soldiers could not keep them out; and I am sure all the strong resolutions and devout
aspirations we may have cannot keep pride out unless the Lord God Almighty sends a strong
wind of his Holy Spirit to sweep it away.
II. Now, let us consider briefly the last part of the text, "BEFORE HONOR IS
HUMILITY." So then, you see our heavenly Father does not say that we are not to have
honor. He has not forbidden it; he has only forbidden us to be proud of it. A good man may
have honor in this life. Daniel had honor before the people; Joseph rode in the second
chariot, and the people bowed the knee before him. God often clothes his children with
honor in the face of their adversaries, and makes the wicked confess that the Lord is with
them in deed and in truth. But God forbids our making that honor a cloak for pride, and
bids us seek humility which always accompanies as well as precedes true honor.
1. Now let us briefly enquire, in the first place, what is humility? The best
definition I have ever met with is, "to think rightly of ourselves." Humility is
to make a right estimate of one's-self. It is no humility for a man to think less of
himself than he ought, though it might rather puzzle him to do that. Some persons, when
they know they can do a thing, tell you they cannot; but you do not call that humility? A
man is asked to take part in some meeting. "No," he says, "I have no
ability;" yet, if you were to say so yourself, he would be offended at you. It is not
humility for a man to stand up and depreciate himself and say he cannot do this, that, or
the other, when he knows that he is lying. If God gives a man a talent, do you think the
man does not know it? If a man has ten talents he has no right to be dishonest to his
Maker, and to say, "Lord, thou hast only give me five." It is not humility to
underrate yourself, Humility is to think of yourself, if you can, as God thinks of you. It
is to feel that if we have talents, God has given them to us, and let it be seen that,
like freight in a vessel, they tend to sink us low. The more we have, the lower we ought
to lie. Humility is not to say, "I have not this gift," but it is to say,
"I have the gift, and I must use it for my Master's glory. I must never seek any
honor for myself, for what have I that I have not received?" But, beloved, humility
is to feel ourselves lost, ruined, and undone. To be killed by the same hand which,
afterwards, makes us alive, to be ground to pieces as to our own doings and willings, to
know and trust in none but Jesus, to be brought to feel and sing
"Nothing in my hands I bring,
Simply to thy cross I cling."
Humility is to feel that we have no power of
ourselves, but that it all cometh from God. Humility is to lean on our beloved, to believe
that he has trodden the winepress alone, to lie on his bosom and slumber sweetly there, to
exalt him, and think less than nothing of ourselves. It is in fact, to annihilate self,
and to exalt the Lord Jesus Christ as all in all.
2. Now, what is the seat or throne of humility? The throne of humility must be the
heart. I do hate, of all things, that humility which lives in the face. There are some
persons who always seem to be so very humble when you are with them, but you can discover
there is something underneath it all, and when they are in some other society, they will
brag and say how you told them your whole heart. Take heed of the men who allow you to lay
your head in their lap and betray you into the hands of the Philistines. I have met with
such persons. I remember a man who used to pray with great apparent humility, and then
would go and abuse the servants, and make a noise with all his farming men. He was the
stiffest and proudest man in the church, yet he invariably used to tell the Lord, in
prayer, that he was nothing but dust and ashes, that he laid his hand on his lip, and his
mouth in the dust, and cried, "Unclean, unclean." Indeed he talked of himself in
the most despairing way, but I am sure if God had spoken to him, he must have said,
"O, thou that liest before my throne, thou sayest this, but thou dost not feel it;
for thou wilt go thy way and take thy brother by the throat, exalt thyself above all thy
fellow-creatures, and be a very Diotrephes in the church, and a Herod in the world."
I dislike that humility which rests in outward things. There is a kind of oil,
sanctimonious, proud humility, which is not the genuine article, though it is sometimes
extremely like it. You may be deceived by it once or twice, but by-and-bye you discover
that is a wolf dexterously covered with sheep's clothing. It arrayeth itself in the
simplest dress in the world; it talks in the gentlest and humblest style; it says,
"We must not intrude our own peculiar sentiments, but must always walk in love and
charity." But after all, what is it? It is charitable to all except those who hold
God's truth, and it is humble to all when it is forced to humble. It is like one of whom,
I dare say, you have read in your childish books,
"So, stooping down, as needs he must
Who cannot stand upright."
True humility does not continually talk
about "dust and ashes," and prate about its infirmities, but it feels all
that which others say, for it possesses an inwrought feeling of its own nothingness.
Very likely the most humble man in the world won't bend to anybody. John Knox was a truly
humble man, yet if you had seen him march before Queen Mary with the Bible in his hand, to
reprove her, you would have rashly said, "What a proud man!"
Cringing men that bow before everybody, are truly proud men; but humble men are those who
think themselves so little, they do not think it worth while to stoop to serve themselves.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, were humble men, for they did not think their lives were
worth enough to save them by a sin. Daniel was a humble man; he did not think his place,
his station, his whole self, worth enough to save them by leaving off prayer. Humility is
a thing which must be genuine; the imitation of it is the nearest thing in the world to
pride. Seek of God, dear friends, the gift of true humility. Seek to have that breaking in
pieces by the Holy Spirit, that breaking in the mortar with the pestle which God himself
gives to his children. Seek that every twig of his rod may drive pride out of you, so that
by the blueness of your wound, your soul may be made better. Seek of him, if he does not
show you the chambers of imagery within your own heart, that he may take you to Calvary,
and that he may show you his brightness and his glory, that you may be humble before him.
Never ask to be a mean, cringing, fawning thing: ask God to make you a manthose are
scarce things now-a-daysa man who only fears God, who knows no fear of any other
kind. Do not give yourselves up to any man's power, or guidance, or rule, but ask of God
that you may have that humility towards him, which gives you the noble bearing of a
Christian before others. Some think that minister are proud when they resent any
interference with their ministry. I consider they would be proud if they allowed it for
the sake of peace, which is only another word for their own self-seeking. It is a great
mercy when God gives a man to be free from everybody, when he can go into his pulpit,
careless of what others may think of him. I conceive that a minister should be like a
lighthouse-keeper; he is out at sea, and nobody can suggest to him that he had better
light his candles a little later, or anything of the kind. He knows his duty, and he keeps
his lamps burning; if he were to follow the opinions of the people on shore, his light
might be extinguished altogether. It is a merciful providence that they cannot get to him,
so he goes on easily, obeys his regulations as he reds them, and cares little for other
people's interpretation. So a minister should not be a weathercock, that is turned by the
wind, but he should be one who turns the wind; not one who is ruled by others, but one who
knows how to stand firm and fast, and keep his light burning, trusting always in God;
believing, that if God has raised him up, he will not desert him, but will teach him by
his Holy Spirit, without the ever-changing advice of men.
3. Now, in the last place, what comes of humility? "Before honor is
humility." Humility is the herald which ushers in the great king; it walks before
honor; and e who has humility, will have honor afterwards. I will only apply this
spiritually. Have you been brought to-day to feel, that in yourself you are less than
nothing, and vanity? Art thou humbled in the sight of God, to know thine own unworthiness,
thy fallen estate in Adam, and the ruin thou hast brought upon thyself by thine own sins?
Hast thou been brought to feel thyself incapable of working out thy own salvation, unless
God shall work in thee, to will and to do of his own good pleasure? Hast thou been brought
to say, "Lord, have mercy upon me, a sinner?" Well, then, as true as the text is
in the Bible, thou shalt have honor by-and-bye. "Such honor have all the
saints." Thou shalt have honor soon to be washed from all thy guilt; thou shalt have
honor soon to be clothed in the robes of Jesus, in the royal garments of the King; thou
shalt have honor soon to be adopted into his family, to be received amongst the
blood-washed ones who have been justified by faith. Thou shalt have honor to be borne, as
on eagles' wings, to be carried across the river, and at last to sing his praise, who has
been the "Death of deaths, and hell's destruction." Thou shalt have honor to
wear the crown, and wave the palm one day, for thou hast now that humility which comes
from God. You may fear that because you are now humbled by God, you must perish. I beseech
you do not think so; as truly as ever the Lord has humbled you, he will exalt you. And the
more you are brought low, the less hope you have of mercy; the more you are in the dust,
so much the more reason you have to hope. So far from the bottom of the sea being a place
over which we cannot be carried to heaven, it is one of the nearest places to heaven's
gate. And if thou art brought to the very lowest place to which even Jonah descended, thou
art so much the nearer being accepted. The more thou knowest thy vileness; remember the
blacker, the more filthy, the more unworthy thou art in thine own esteem, so much the more
right hast thou to expect that thou wilt be saved. Verily, honor shall come after
humility. Humble souls, rejoice; proud souls, go on in your proud ways, but know that they
end in destruction. Climb up the ladder of your pride, you shall fall over on the other
side and be dashed to pieces. Ascend the steep hill of your glory; the higher you climb
the more terrible will be your fall. For know you this, that against none hath the Lord
Almighty bent his bow more often, and against none has he shot his arrows more furiously
than against the proud and mighty man that exalteth himself. Bow down, O man, bow down;
"Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is
kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him."
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