nefs, purity of heart, and the like, which are all alfo the portion of a truly humble man; yet I think the former is that which is fpecially intended here; namely, favour, honour, and acceptance with God, so often expreffed in the Old and New Teftament, by the phrase of finding grace in the fight of God. 'Behold now I have found grace in thy fight !.' 'He that 'bade thee, fhall fay unto thee, friend, come thou up hither, then thou fhalt have worship or grace in ⚫ the prefence of them that fit at meat with thee: for he that exalteth himself fhall be abafed, and he that • abaseth himself shall be exalted 2.' So that by grace is principally intended favour, acceptance, honour and esteem, with the great and glorious God of Heaven and earth. And certainly were there no other reward of humility, the acceptance and favour with the great Sovereign of the world, it were reward enough. We fee daily what pains and charge, and expence, and fervitude men undergo to attain the favour of a prince or great man, though he be but a poor mortal worm; and how men please themselves, when they have obtained fome little unprofitable refpect from a great But what is that in comparison of being in grace and favour with the King of Kings, the Lord of Heaven? especially, when we confider that the favour or acceptance of the glorious God is not a bare unprofitable esteem or grace, fuch as many times the great favourites of princes obtain from them: But the favour and acceptance of God is always accompanied with bounty and beneficence; as he is the fovereign ocean of all good, fo we may be fure, he will be communicative and liberal of it, to fuch as he favours. He, whofe benignity is hourly extended to the meanest of his creatures, nay, to the very worft of men, cannot be parfimonious or ftrait-handed to thofe whom he accepts, and esteems, and honours, So that the humble man finds grace in the fight of the glorious God, and, as an effect of that grace, the bountiful com

man.

! Gen. xix. 18.

2 Luke xiv. 9, 10, 11.

munication

munication of all neceffary good from the munificence, bounty and liberality of him, that thus favours him; and this is reward enough for the moft profound Humility.

The reafon why Almighty God accepts thus an humble perfon, is the very fame that makes him refift the proud, which is this: The great God made all things in the world for two ends: viz. 1. Thereby to com'municate his own diffufive goodness and beneficence, and principally for the glory of his own greatness, wifdom, power, and majefty; and although he receives no addition of happiness by the return of glory from his creatures, yet it is a thing he values, his glory he will not give to another; and it is unbecoming the excellency of his Majesty to be disappointed in his end. Glory is out of its place when it is not returned to the God of glory, or in order to him. It is the natural, as well as the reasonable tribute of all his creatures, and a kind of proper reflection of the bounty and splendour of all his works unto the God that made them. Now the proud man ufurps that glory which is due to his Maker, and takes it to himfelf; intercepts that due and natural return and reflection due unto the Creator of all things; takes that tribute that is due to God, and applies it to himself; puts glory out of its place and natural courfe, which it should hold towards the glorious God, as the rivers do to the fea: And this ufurpation, as it is a kind of rebellion against God, fo it inverts and disorders the true and just natural courfe of things; and therefore as the proud man herein walks contrary to God, so God walks contrary to him: They that honour me, I will honour; they that defpife me, fhall be lightly esteemed "'. And as this is a moft reafonable act of divine juftice, fo there feem two things that even upon an account of natural congruity muft needs make the condition of a proud man uneafy and unhappy, in relation to Almighty God. 1. Every thing is beautiful and ufeful, and convenient in its proper place; but when it is out of

6

its place, it becomes troublesome and diforderly, like a bone out of joint, it caufeth difcompofure. When therefore the proud man arrogates to himfelf glory, and intercepts its free return to the God of glory to whom it belongs, glory is out of its place, and diforders and discompofeth the ufurper of it, fo, that he grows fick of it, fometimes to madnefs, but always to dif temper and difcompofure. 2. The proud man is fo full of himself, and of the honour and glory which he ufurps and attracts to himself, that he is incapable of an acceffion of grace or favour from God: for he thinks he hath enough of his own, and this obftructs the acceffes and irradiation of the divine favour, grace, and benediction. Intus exiftens prohibet aliennum. It is the empty foul, empty I mean of pride, felf-conceit, and vain-glory, that is capable of fatisfaction with the divine goodness.

But on the contrary, the humble man hath these two oppofite advantages. 1. He carries glory and honour to him, to whom it belongs to its proper centre and country, namely, to the ever glorious God, and that ocean of goodness and perfection that refides in him: And this gives the man eafe, and quietnefs, and composure of the mind, for he doth not intercept the tribute that is due to his Maker, but pays it over to the right owner. If he doth any good, noble, or becoming action, he checks the first motion of pride and oftentation in himself, and receives not the applause of others, but directs all the praise and glory of it to that God that hath done it by him, or in him, or for him:

Not

unto us, but to thy name give the glory.' And this gives him fingular quietnefs, ferenity and evennefs of mind, because he is not furcharged with that which belongs not to him, nor under those tortures and boilings of mind, which this tribute due to his Maker raifeth when ufurped by men to whom it belongs not. Again. 2. By this humility and lowlinefs of mind, the foul is empty, not of what it should have, but what it That which is within excludes what is without.

fhould

should not have, and by that means becomes receptive and capable of bleffing from the God of Heaven, Who filleth the hungry with good things, but fends the • rich empty away 1.' And this feems to hold a congruity to the very nature of every intellectual agent, that acts with understanding and will. We find, even in the regular motions of our own nature, a fecret averseness to gratify a proud and haughty man; for he either scorns or rejects a kindness, as beneath him; or arrogates and owns it as his own due, and not a bounty: But a perfon truly humble, fenfible of a benefit, thankful for it, gets within us, invites beneficence. And furely, though the bleffed God be not at all under the impotency of human paffions, yet he is a God of infinite wifdom, and placeth his best benefits, where they will be best received and used. 2. It seems to hold congruity and proportion with the very courfe and nature of things natural: The divine benignity is much more diffufive than the light, the air, the most communicable element in the world, and filleth every thing according to its measure and capacity of reception; is that which communicateth itself to vegetables in life and vegetation, but not in fenfe, because not receptive of it; to animals in life and fenfe, but not in reafon or understanding, because not receptive of it; to men in life, fenfe and understanding, that is common to the whole fpecies; and if they have but room in them for it, and do not wilfully thrust it from them, in grace alfo, and favour, and acceptation in the bettering and improving of their fouls in the influences of his love, direction, and guidance; and fuch a veffel is the humble foul, empty of pride, felf-attribution 2, vain-glory; one that is glad of fuch guests as the grace, and favour, and acceptance of God, hath room for them in his heart, and fo becomes a fit tabernacle for the influence of that God, that revives the spirit of the humble 3.

And here by the benignity and favour of God, I do

1 weak influence.

* self-confidence.

Isa. cvii. 15.

not

not mean the heaping of temporal honours or wealth upon men; these are but small inconfiderable things; fuch as are common to the proud, and many times denied to the humble. But they have a better exchange, namely, peace with God, inward teftimonies of his favour, fecret indications of his love, directions and instructions by the fecret whispers and intimations of his fpirit, quietnefs and tranquillity of mind, and pledges of immortality and happinefs, thofe

-Animi bona, sanctòsque recessus

Mentis, & incoctum generoso pectus honesto '.

And these are things of a far greater value than external wealth and honour; and as far before them, as the mind and foul itself is. But of this more in the next.

2. The fecond great advantage of the humble foul is, that he fhall be fure of direction, and guidance, and counfel, from the beft of counfellors, the glorious God of wisdom, The meek will he guide in judgment; the meek will he teach his way 2. Meeknefs and Humility are but the fame thing under different names.

And this guidance and direction of Almighty God is of two kinds, in relation to a double end. 1. Guidance and direction in relation to his everlasting end, the falvation and happinefs of the foul; namely, what he is to believe, and know, and do, in order to that greatest and most important end. And therefore it is obfervable, that although the mystery of the gofpel of Chrift Jefus, the common inftrument of falvation of mankind, is the most wife and profound defign and mystery, and of the greatest importance that ever the world was acquainted with; yet the most wife and moft glorious God, did veil and drefs that great and glorious mystery quite contrary to the wifdom and grandeur of the world; infomuch, that to the most knowing people

Good qualities and sacred meditations of a mind breathing noble and Lonorable sentiments. Psal. xxv. 9.

of