+I. In what it consisted.+--1. In the unreserved submission of his
reason to the authority of revelation. He was a great thinker, and he
was a great scholar. 2. In the unwavering reliance of his heart on
Christ for the salvation of his soul. Self-righteous by constitution
and education. 3. In ascribing to God alone the glory of all that he
was and of all that he did. He could not but be conscious how far he
stood above the ordinary in point of Christian excellence and
supernatural gifts and ministerial usefulness. He never took any part
of the praise to himself: "Yet not I, but the grace of God which was
in me." 4. In cherishing a sense of his unworthiness and guilt:
"Sinners, of whom I am chief." 5. In forming a lowly estimate of his
own comparative standing: "Less than the least of all saints."
+II. How it was cultivated.+--1. By frequent meditation on the
holiness of God. 2. By looking away from self to Christ. 3. By
gratitude to God and to Christ for an interest in the blessings of
redemption. 4. By a due appreciation of the importance of humility.
It is ornamental, but it is also useful. It lies at the very root of
all the graces of the Christian character.--_G. Brooks._
_Humility a Growth._--The progress which St. Paul made in humility
has often been given by comparing three expressions in his epistles
with the supposed dates when they were written: "Not meet to be
called an apostle" (1 Cor. xv. 9: A.D. 59); "Less than the least of
all saints" (Eph. iii. 8: A.D. 64); "Sinners, of whom I am chief"
(1 Tim. i. 15: A.D. 65).
_The Unsearchable Riches of Christ._--The riches of Christ's Divinity
are unsearchable, the riches of His condescension are unsearchable,
the riches of His tenderness are unsearchable, the riches of His
redeeming love are unsearchable, the riches of his intersession are
unsearchable, the riches of his faithfulness are unsearchable, and
the riches of his supporting grace are unsearchable. These riches
will never be expressed, even to all eternity. No! not by the noble
army of martyrs, nor the glorious company of the apostles, nor the
goodly fellowship of the prophets, nor the general assembly and
Church of the first-born, nor the innumerable company of angels, nor
the spirits of just men made perfect, nor by all the ransomed throng
of heaven. It will form their most ecstatic employment in heaven.
Join, all ye happy throng--join, holy Abel and Enoch, upright Job,
perfect Noah, souls of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, grand souls of
Moses, Samuel, and Elijah, pardoned David and Manasseh, soul of
Isaiah the prophet. Join, all ye whose souls are under the altar cry,
"How long, O Lord, wilt Thou not avenge our blood upon the earth?"
Join, holy Stephen and Polycarp, holy Latimer, Ridley, Hooper,
Rowland Taylor, and Anne Askew. Join, brave Wicklif, gallant Luther,
stern John Knox, sweet John Bunyan, and praying George Fox. Join,
pious Doddridge and tuneful Watts, noble George Whitefield, holy
Fletcher, exhaustless John Wesley, dauntless Rowland Hill, and grand
though lowly Robert Hall. Ye sweetest trebles of the eternal choir,
ye million million babes who died without actual sin, join all your
notes of praise! Pull out every stop of the grand organ of heaven,
from the deep swell diapason to the lofty flute and cornet! Gabriel,
strike the loftiest note of thy harp of gold. And let all the host of
heaven, angels and men, begin the grand anthem, "Worthy is the Lamb."
And let the eternal +Amen+ peal and roll and reverberate through all
the arches of heaven! But never through all eternity shall the
gathered host be able fully to express _the unsearchable riches of
Christ.--Thomas Cooper._