V.

_THE HUMBLE TAUGHT THE LORD'S WAY._

"The meek will He teach His way."--Psalm xxv. 9.

Instead of "meek" read "humble," and then connect the verse with the

preceding, so as to see who and what are the persons to whom the

Psalmist refers. The righteous Lord will teach sinners His way; but

the sinners, in order to be thus divinely taught, must be humble.

Probably this text of Scripture does not seem at first sight to be

very promising to some of you. If so, the reason probably is that one

at least of the subjects it brings to our notice is not a favourite or

inspiring one. Men are comparatively little attracted by the more

quiet and passive virtues of life, and among these the virtue of

humility is one of the least popular. The truth is that we are still

under the influence of Pagan notions about it. The philosophers of

the past never understood it. To them it was a mean and despicable

thing--the evidence of weakness and poverty of soul, the necessary

virtue of the enslaved and the helpless. This notion exists now. The

world has far more respect for the self-confident, the noisy, the

bombastic, than for the humble. Of course the world's ideas of

humility are at fault, and have need to be corrected. We cannot enter

upon that task now, except incidentally and very partially. One thing

only let me say--namely, that Christianity has transformed and

ennobled the despised word by giving us the thing itself. The life of

Christ comprises the perfection of humility as well as of every other

virtue. In Him we see that humility makes no man contemptible. He was

no less a king because He was a servant. And the virtue that was

perfect in Him is one of the essential qualities of the Christian

character--one of the essential elements of the Christian life,

whether in its high enjoyments or in its high achievements.

The words before us present this virtue of humility under one special

aspect. Man has something to learn, and God has something to teach;

and humility is _teachableness_. Christianity demands of its

disciples that disposition of heart which is the indispensable

condition of all learning whatsoever. No more objection can be urged

against Christianity for this, than against any art or science or

philosophy which men seek to acquire. All these might say to their

disciples, "Unless you give up your prejudice, your conceit, your

self-will, your presumption, you have no business here; we have

nothing to teach you." And so, "poverty of spirit," as Christ

intimates in the "Beatitudes," is the strait gate into "the kingdom of

God."

It is only as respects religion that this principle is seriously

misunderstood, and a little reflection will show why it is that

outside Christianity humility is misapprehended. Humility is the

result of self-knowledge, and this cannot be obtained until man has

learned to know himself in the light of God's wisdom and holiness. So

long as he compares himself with his fellow-creatures around him, it

may seem to him that there is no necessity for such an element of

character as this. Nor is it in this way that the virtue is commended

and enforced. Whilst the standard of excellence remains merely human,

it is quite clear that a man may say, "I am as good as my neighbours;

at least, I am no worse." But put before him a holy God and a holy

law! In this new light all becomes changed. Apart from that

revelation, many flatter themselves that they have lived respectably.

They are not conscious of any serious defection in the common,

every-day duties of life. Let the great revelation come to them, and

they must make wonderful self-discoveries. How many forgotten sins are

then brought to mind! How many secret sins are then brought to light!

How many temptations have been yielded to for convenience' sake! How

much coldness and indifference towards the right, the true, and the

good! How much selfishness! How much cowardice! How many meannesses!

How many secret and contemptible dishonesties! What culpable ignorance

of God! What rebellion against His known will! Is not all this enough

to humble a man? Where is the man amongst us who would not rather die

than have all his sins brought to light before his fellow-men? Thus,

to make us humble, God teaches us, first of all, truly to know

ourselves. This is that "conviction of sin" which is wrought by His

Holy Spirit.

God teaches us this in His law, but chiefly by the life of Christ His

Son. Who can remain proud when he compares his own life with that?

Before men we may, perhaps, hold our own; but before Him there is

nothing left for us but self-abasement.

In presence of such a conviction as this, it is vain for the world to

flatter a man, for he has learnt his own misery. He wants to know the

truth, for it is only the truth that can save. He knows too much of

himself to accept any teaching that would exalt _man_, for he could

not accept that without dishonouring God. He wants a frank, firm voice

that will trouble him, and to which his conscience will respond. The

first question for us is: Have we so learnt to know ourselves, or do

we obstinately shut our eyes against God's light? Such a knowledge of

sin brings with it a sense of deserved condemnation.

And here God comes in to teach us humility in another way. He shows us

His love in Christ. It is not possible that a sinner who has come to

the knowledge of himself should discover that he is the object of a

love on the part of God such as that which the gospel reveals without

being overwhelmed. Show to man a God who judges and condemns, and the

sinner must shrink from before Him under the sense of a deserved doom;

but show to him a God who comes to him graciously, who loves him, who

has provided redemption for him, and who is waiting to receive and to

help him, and all the pride of his heart at once breaks down. The

prodigal son was most humble when he received his father's kiss of

welcome. How can we be proud when we know that God has loved us, and

that Christ has died for us? Unbelievers sometimes call the

Christian's faith presumption; we know, on the contrary, that the

feeling produced is as unlike presumption as it can be. The very faith

which accepts the gospel has its root in lowliness of mind. Pride

would reject it. And it is at the foot of the cross that humility

grows. If not there, then nowhere.

Thus we see that all our Christian life, in one aspect of it, is a

growth in humility. This beautiful virtue affects our whole being,

rescuing for God all that has been usurped by sin.

_Our reason must be humble._ We are living in an age of criticism and

discussion; and, both in the Church and out of it, human thought is

prone to pride and self-sufficiency. There is work, of course, for

thought to do, and we must do it; for thought is God's gift. But it

can only be done aright as it is done in humility. We must never touch

religious questions with profane hands. Let us rather remember that

all our researches into truth should be conducted with a view the

better to adore and to obey. We should examine truth only with a

desire to perceive, acknowledge, and reverence it. Our Lord teaches us

that the gospel both enlightens and blinds. "For judgment I am come

into this world, that they who see not might see, and that they who

see might be made blind." The first part of this great statement is

easily understood; it is the second which startles. But why so? Is it

not like Simeon's prediction that Christ would be for the "fall" as

well as for the "rising" of many? Is it not like what Paul said of the

gospel, that it is a "savour" both of "life unto life" and of "death

unto death"? So long as the gospel is not preached in a church or a

house, all is quiet--with the quietness of death! As soon as it is

preached, some accept it, and say that they have passed from darkness

to light; others reject it, and are made angry by its teaching and its

claims. If these latter were quiet, we might suppose the gospel to be

without effect upon them; but they show that, by hardening themselves

against it, they are becoming blinder than ever. Recall other words

which point to the same result--words spoken by our Lord: "I thank

Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because Thou hast hid these

things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.

Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in Thy sight." This should be a

joyful truth to us, for Jesus had joy in declaring it. Wherein is its

worth? The "things" of which He speaks are the doctrines of salvation.

"The wise and prudent" are self-satisfied men who think that they can

comprehend all religious truth by their own reason alone. The "babes"

are humble souls, who, in the consciousness of their ignorance and

weakness, look to God for wisdom. Thus Christ says that Divine

teaching is necessary for the understanding of gospel truth, and this

fact humility alone enables us to feel. Man's intelligence can do many

wonderful things, but God Himself must come to our help if we are ever

to know the things that pertain to our salvation. Our reason must bow

to Him.

_The heart must be humble._ We may profess entire mental submission to

God, and yet be under the influence of pride. There is a humility

which is spurious as well as a humility which is real. It is

possible, and not very uncommon, for a man to cherish a false

consciousness of merit even in the disbelief and denial of merit! If a

man is proud who puts confidence in his self-righteousness, so also is

he who puts confidence in his intellectual orthodoxy.

_Our conduct must be humble._ This grace of humility must not only

dwell in the inner spirit, but be manifested in our outer life. It is

vain to come to the cross with the offer of a bending reason, a

subdued will, and a broken heart, and then go out into the world

intent on the accomplishment of our own purposes. If we are truly

humble, we shall be _seen_ to be so in the way in which we accept the

teachings of events; in our reverent waiting for the signs of the

Divine will; in the faithful, unreluctant fulfilment of the humblest

duties; in our resignation to, and our acquiescence in, the trials and

afflictive dispensations which come upon us. We often see this grace

in its greatest beauty at the close of the most eminent lives. God's

most gifted men, as a rule, advance in humility as they grow in

experience. They are like boughs that bend the lower the more fruit

they bear. Like John the Baptist, they say, "He must increase, but I

must decrease."

This, then, is the _disposition_, and to it God makes a great

_promise_. He will _teach His way_ to the humble. This applies

_To our knowledge of Divine truth._ How uniformly have God's truest

witnesses upon earth consisted of men conspicuous for their lowliness

of mind. It was to such that the Saviour was first announced and that

He first came. Such were the people who listened to Him and accepted

Him, whilst the "learned" and the "great" rejected Him. His apostles

were humble men; and it has always been by the humble that the strong

and the proud have, in the end, been vanquished. Every bright page in

the history of the Church is a commentary on our text. To-day, in

spite of the progress of thought in our world, we, in regard to the

matters that belong to our spiritual life and salvation, have to sit

as disciples at the feet of the humble men who themselves sat at the

feet of the Divine Teacher who said, "Learn of me, for I am meek and

lowly of heart; and ye shall find rest unto your souls." Our views of

the truth as it is in Jesus may be modified and corrected; yet the

pages of these same humble men are still the standard of our faith and

of our teaching. Religious opinions change, not because we have gone

beyond Paul and Peter and John, but because we understand them better.

This is no plea, no apology, for mental weakness. On the contrary,

pride is rather the characteristic of mental weakness and of ignorance

than of mental strength and enlightenment. We may search, but we must

remember that we always depend upon God for light. In religion the

condition of the heart is the condition of knowledge. Proud, haughty,

self-sufficient Saul of Tarsus had to be humbled before he could

become Paul the Believer and the Apostle.

_To the every-day dispensations of life._ In this world we are the

subjects of God's discipline, and that discipline is for the most part

mysterious. The course of events with us is often varied. We are

subjected to vicissitudes of every kind--vicissitudes of thought, of

impression, of feeling, and of experience. We are troubled in life, in

heart, in the cultivation of Christian excellence, in the maintenance

of life's relationships, in the performance of duty. Whilst we try to

bear in mind the glorious issues to which we are destined, we are

often perplexed in our endeavours to ascertain how the discipline we

are undergoing tends towards their realisation. We are puzzled by the

prevalence of wickedness, by the disappointment of hopes, the apparent

futility of many of our prayers; and we say, "I am blind, and the way

in which I am walking is unknown to me." Humility will help us to

think that God has _His own way_ among all these perplexities of ours,

though we are unable to trace it. "All things work together for good

to them that love God."

God works not as man works, nor sees

As man sees, though we mark

Ofttimes the moving of His hands

Beneath the eternal Dark.

* * * *

And He who made both life and death,

He knoweth which is best.

We live to Him, we die to Him,

And leave Him all the rest.

Thus the humble are taught trust, patience, resignation, obedience,

peace of heart, and daily advancement in sanctification.

_To our bearing towards others._ Humility will qualify us cordially to

recognise whatever worth they have, to show gentleness and charity to

those among them who are faulty and weak, and thus will take us along

a line of conduct which will lead to the strengthening of the bonds of

brotherhood. "Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder.

Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with

humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the

humble." The word here rendered "Be clothed" occurs nowhere else in

Scripture. It is borrowed from a piece of dress worn by servants when

they were doing menial offices, which at once intimated their station,

and fitted them for the performance of the duties attached to it.

Remember that it is Peter who gives this advice--the Peter who in

former days so often brought himself into trouble by his want of

humility. Notice, too, the special point he now has in view. He is

pleading for harmonious action in the Church, a result which can only

be obtained by observing the law of voluntary subordination to

established authority--an observance to which the habit of humility

will most effectually contribute. Humility is one of the chief social

and ecclesiastical virtues, through the medium of which God teaches us

what is the attitude we are to maintain towards those who are around

us.

_To our Christian work._ All the heroes of the faith in past times

avowed their personal infirmities. Moses, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah,

Peter, Paul--each, in one form or another, confessed: "When I am

weak, then am I strong; I can do all things through Christ who

strengtheneth me. I glory in mine infirmities, that the power of

Christ may rest upon me." We must lay hold of this thought, for it

alone can guard us against discouragement. As long as we depend on

ourselves, God will break down our confidence by repeated failures;

but when His wisdom has humbled us, His mercy will lift us up. Why

should it not be so? We may well be humble in our work when we

remember how far we are from being indispensable to God. He can work

either with us or without us, as He pleases. It is His own order to

achieve mighty moral results through the humblest instrumentalities;

and frequently His independence of us is taught in a very striking

way--as, for example, when He calls to Himself some great preacher, or

some man who is doing wide-spread good, in the midst of his activity

and his usefulness. Besides, we have no monopoly of any one gift of

the Christian life--either as regards the gift itself or as regards

the quality and extent of the service which it can be made to render.

Others excel us in the very thing of which we are most proud. Many of

our fellow Christians are doing the same kind of works as ourselves,

only far better. And as to our "gifts," let us not forget that they

_are_ gifts. We have "received" them; and why, then, should we boast

as if we had not received them, but were ourselves the creators of

them? Moreover, in proportion to our gifts, so is our responsibility,

and "to whom much is given, of him shall much be required." Have we

used such gifts as we have as nobly as we might? Have we fallen into

no needless errors, no selfishness, no half-heartedness? So then,

while everything calls us to duty, there is much to fill us with

contrition; and mingling fidelity and humility together, our exclusive

confidence must be in God. This is the Divine way which the Divine

Teacher teaches to the humble.

_The Lord's way._ This is a beautiful and lovable expression. It links

earth with heaven. There _is_ a way which leads to God; a way in which

God walks with us, and we with Him; a way that is peaceful here, while

it leads to the land of rest above. We begin it in humility,

confessing our sins at the cross, and accepting God's mercy there. We

end it before the throne, casting our crowns at the feet of Him who

died to save us.

Hark! universal nature shook and groan'd,

'Twas the last trumpet--see the Judge enthroned:

Rouse all your courage at your utmost need,

Now summon every virtue, stand and plead.

What! silent? Is your boasting heard no more?

That self-renouncing wisdom, learn'd before,

Had shed immortal glories on your brow,

That all your virtues cannot purchase now.

All joy to the believer! He can speak,

Trembling yet happy, confident yet meek.

Since the dear hour that brought me to Thy foot,

And cut up all my follies by the root,

I never trusted in an arm but Thine,

Nor hoped but in Thy righteousness divine:

My prayers and alms, imperfect and defiled,

Were but the feeble efforts of a child;

Howe'er perform'd, it was their brightest part,

That they proceeded from a grateful heart:

Cleansed in Thine own all purifying blood,

Forgive their evil, and accept their good:

I cast them at Thy feet, my only plea

Is what it was, dependence upon Thee:

While struggling in the vale of tears below,

That never failed, nor shall it fail me now.

Angelic gratulations rend the skies,

Pride falls unpitied never more to rise,

Humility is crown'd, and Faith receives the prize.