1 Peter v. 5. Be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the
proud, and giveth grace to the humble.
This is St. Peter's command. Are we really inclined to obey it?
For, if we are, there is nothing more easy. There is no vice so
easy to get rid of as pride: if one wishes. Nothing so easy as to
be humble: if one wishes.
That may seem a strange saying, considering that self-conceit is the
vice of all others to which man is most given; the first sin, and
the last sin, and that which is said to be the most difficult to
cure. But what I say is true nevertheless.
Whosoever wishes to get rid of pride may do so. Whosoever wishes to
be humble need not go far to humble himself.
But how? Simply by being honest with himself, and looking at
himself as he is.
Let a man recollect honestly and faithfully his past life; let him
recollect his sayings and doings for the past week; even for the
past twenty-four hours: and I will warrant that man that he will
recollect something, or, perhaps, many things which will not raise
him in his own eyes; something which he had sooner not have said or
done; something which, if he is a foolish man, he will try to
forget, because it makes him ashamed of himself; something which, if
he is a wise man, he will not try to forget, just because it makes
him ashamed of himself; and a very good thing for him that he should
be so. I know that it is so for me; and therefore I suppose it is
so for every man and woman in this Church.
I am not going to give any examples. I am not going to say,--
'Suppose you thought this and this about yourself, and were proud of
it; and then suppose that you recollected that you had done that and
that: would you not feel very much taken down in your own conceit?'
I like that personal kind of preaching less and less. Those random
shots are dangerous and cruel; likely to hit the wrong person, and
hurt their feelings unnecessarily. It is very easy to say a hard
thing: but not so easy to say it to the right person and at the
right time.
No. The heart knoweth its own bitterness. Almost every one has
something to be ashamed of, more or less, which no one but himself
and God knows of; and which, perhaps, it is better that no one but
he and God should know.
I do not mean any great sin, or great shame--God forbid; but some
weak point, as we call it. Something which he had better not say or
do; and yet which he is in the habit of saying and doing. I do not
ask what it is. With some it may be a mere pardonable weakness;
with others it may be a very serious and dangerous fault. All I ask
now is, that each and every one of us should try and find it out,
and feel it, and keep it in mind; that we may be of a humble spirit
with the lowly, which is better than dividing the spoil with the
proud.
But why better?
The world and human nature look up to the proud successful man. One
is apt to say, 'Happy is the man who has plenty to be proud of.
Happy is the man who can divide the spoil of this world with the
successful of this world. Happy is the man who can look down on his
fellow-men, and stand over them, and manage them, and make use of
them, and get his profit out of them.'
But that is a mistake. That is the high-mindedness which goes
before a fall, which comes not from above, but is always earthly,
often sensual, and sometimes devilish. The true and safe high-
mindedness, which comes from above, is none other than humility.
For, if you will look at it aright, the humble man is really more
high-minded than the proud man. Think. Suppose two men equal in
understanding, in rank, in wealth, in what else you like, one of
them proud, the other humble. The proud man thinks--'How much
better, wiser, richer, more highly born, more religious, more
orthodox, am I than other people round me.' Not, of course, than
all round him, but than those whom he thinks beneath him. Therefore
he is always comparing himself with those below himself; always
watching those things in them in which he thinks them worse, meaner
than himself; he is always looking down on his neighbours.
Now, which is more high-minded; which is nobler; which is more fit
for a man; to look down, or to look up? At all events the humble
man _looks up_. He thinks, 'How much worse, not how much better, am
I than other people.' He looks at their good points, and compares
them with his own bad ones. He admires them for those things in
which they surpass him. He thinks of--perhaps he loves to read of--
men superior to himself in goodness, wisdom, courage. He pleases
himself with the example of brave and righteous deeds, even though
he fears that he cannot copy them; and so he is always looking up.
His mind is filled with high thoughts, though they be about others,
not about himself. If he be a truly Christian man, his thoughts
rise higher still. He thinks of Christ and of God, and compares his
weakness, ignorance, and sinfulness with their perfect power,
wisdom, goodness. Do you not see that this man's mind is full of
higher, nobler thoughts than that of the proud man? Is he not more
high-minded who is looking up, up to God himself, for what is good,
noble, heavenly? Even though it makes him feel small, poor, weak,
and sinful in comparison, still his mind is full of grace, and
wisdom, and glory. The proud man, meanwhile, for the sake of
feeding his own self-conceit at other men's expense, is filling his
mind with low, mean, earthly thoughts about the weaknesses, sins,
and follies, of the world around him. Is not he truly low-minded,
thinking about low things?
Now, I tell you, my friends, that both have their reward. That the
humble man, as years roll on, becomes more and more noble, and the
proud man becomes more and more low-minded; and finds that pride
goes before a fall in more senses than one. Yes. There is nothing
more hurtful to our own minds and hearts than a domineering,
contemptuous frame of mind. It may be pleasant to our own self-
conceit: but it is only a sweet poison. A man lowers his own
character by it. He takes the shape of what he is always looking
at; and, if he looks at base and low things, he becomes base and low
himself; just as slave-owners, all over the world, and in all time,
sooner and later, by living among slaves, learn to copy their own
slaves' vices; and, while they oppress and look down on their
fellow-man, become passionate and brutal, false and greedy, like the
poor wretches whom they oppress.
Better, better to be of a lowly spirit. Better to think of those
who are nobler than ourselves, even though by so doing we are
ashamed of ourselves all day long. What loftier thoughts can man
have? What higher and purer air can a man's soul breathe? Yes, my
friends; believe it, and be sure of it. The truly high-minded man
is not the proud man, who tries to get a little pitiful satisfaction
from finding his brother men, as he chooses to fancy, a little
weaker, a little more ignorant, a little more foolish, a little more
ridiculous, than his own weak, ignorant, foolish, and, perhaps,
ridiculous self. Not he; but the man who is always looking upwards
to goodness, to good men, and to the all-good God: filling his soul
with the sight of an excellence to which he thinks he can never
attain; and saying, with David, 'All my delight is in the saints
that dwell in the earth, and in those who excel in virtue.'
But I do not say that he cannot attain to that excellence. To the
goodness of God, of course, no man can; but to the goodness of man
he may. For what man has done, man may do; and the grace of God
which gave power to one man to rise above sin, and weakness, and
ignorance, will give power to others also. But only to those who
look upward, at better men than themselves: not to those who look
down, like the Pharisee, but to those who look up like the Publican;
for, as the text says, 'God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to
the humble.'
And why does God resist and set himself against the proud? To turn
him out of his evil way, of course, if by any means he may be
converted (that is, turned round) and live. For the proud man has
put himself into a wrong position; where no immortal soul ought to
be. He is looking away from God, and down upon men; and so he has
turned his face and thoughts away from God, the fountain of light
and life; and is trying to do without God, and to stand in his own
strength, and not in God's grace, and to be somebody in himself,
instead of being only in God, in whom we live and move and have our
being. So he has set himself against God; and God will, in mercy to
that foolish man's soul, set himself against him. God will humble
him; God will overthrow him; God will bring his plans to nought; if
by any means he may make that man ashamed of himself, and empty him
of his self-conceit, that he may turn and repent in dust and ashes,
when he finds out what those proud Laodicaean Christians of old had
to find out--that all the while that they were saying, 'I am rich,
and increased with goods, and have need of nothing,' they did not
know that they were wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind,
and naked.
And how does God give grace to the humble? My friends, even the
wise heathen knew that. Listen to a heathen; {328} a good and a
wise man, though; and one who was not far from the kingdom of God,
or he would not have written such words as these,--
'It is our duty,' he says, 'to turn our minds to the best of
everything; so as not merely to enjoy what we read, but to be
improved by it. And we shall do that, by reading the histories of
good and great men, which will, in our minds, produce an emulation
and eagerness, which may stir us up to imitation. We may be pleased
with the work of a man's hands, and yet set little store by the
workman. Perfumes and fine colours we may like well enough: but
that will not make us wish to be perfumers, or painters: but
goodness, which is the work, not of a man's hands, but of his soul,
makes us not only admire what is done, but long to do the like. And
therefore,' he says, he thought it good to write the lives 'of
famous and good men, and to set their examples before his
countrymen. And having begun to do this,' he says in another place,
'for the sake of others, he found himself going on, and liking his
labour, for his own sake: for the virtues of those great men served
him as a looking-glass, in which he might see how, more or less, to
order and adorn his own life. Indeed, it could be compared,' he
says, 'to nothing less than living with the great souls who were
dead and gone, and choosing out of their actions all that was
noblest and worthiest to know. What greater pleasure could there be
than that,' he asks, 'or what better means to improve his soul? By
filling his mind with pictures of the best and worthiest characters,
he was able to free himself from any low, malicious, mean thoughts,
which he might catch from bad company. If he was forced to mix at
times with base men, he could wash out the stains of their bad
thoughts and words, by training himself in a calm and happy temper
to view those noble examples.' So says the wise heathen. Was not
he happier, wiser, better, a thousand times, thus keeping himself
humble by looking upwards, than if he had been feeding his petty
pride by looking down, and saying, 'God, I thank thee that I am not
as other men are?'
If you wish, then, to be truly high-minded, by being truly humble,
read of, and think of, better men, wiser men, braver men, more
useful men than you are. Above all, if you be Christians, think of
Christ himself. That good old heathen took the best patterns which
he could find: but after all, they were but imperfect, sinful men:
but you have an example such as he never dreamed of; a perfect man,
and perfect God in one. Let the thought of Christ keep you always
humble: and yet let it lift you up to the highest, noblest, purest
thoughts which man can have, as it will.
For all that this old heathen says of the use of examples of good
men, all that, and far more, St. Paul says, almost in the same
words. By looking at Christ, he says, we rise and sit with him in
heavenly places, and enjoy the sight of His perfect goodness;
ashamed of ourselves, indeed, and bowed to the very dust by the
feeling of our own unworthiness; and yet filled with the thought of
his worthiness, till, by looking we begin to admire, and, by
admiring, we begin to love; and so are drawn and lifted up to him,
till, by beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, and the
perfect beauty of his character, we become changed into the same
image, from glory to glory: and thus, instead of receiving the just
punishment of pride and contempt, which is lowering our characters
to the level of those on whom we look down, we shall receive the
just reward of true humility, which is having our characters raised
to the level of him up to whom we look.
Oh young people, think of this; and remember why God has given you
the advantage of scholarship and education. Not that you may be
proud of the very little you know; not that you may look down on
those who are not as well instructed as you are; not that you may
waste your time over silly books, which teach you only to laugh at
the follies and ignorance of some of your fellow-men, to whom God
has not given as much as to you; but that you may learn what great
and good men have lived, and still live, in the world; what wise,
and good, and useful things have been, and are being, done all
around you; and to copy them: above all, that you may look up to
Christ, and through Christ, to God, and learn to copy him; till you
come, as St. Paul says, to be perfect men; to the measure of the
stature of the fulness of Christ. To which may he bring you all of
his mercy. Amen.