cherishes it, and all with whom he is connected, must be the object of the Divine approbation; and we have just to reverse the representation given of the manifestation of the state of the Divine mind, in reference to the proud, to see how he shows favour to the humble. He does so in the quiet and peace of mind which, from the very constitution of human nature, humility produces; and in the comparative freedom from ill-will, and enjoyment of the esteem and good wishes of others, which from the same constitution it secures. The more deeply a man realizes his insignificance as a creature, and his demerit as a sinner, his guilt and depravity and helplessness, the more readily does he embrace the gospel of God's grace, "the word of the truth of the gospel," and in it obtain possession of all heavenly and spiritual blessings. It is the man who knows and believes that he is a fool, that is made wise; the man who has no hope in himself, that obtains good hope through grace; the man who sees and feels that he is nothing but sin, that is made the righteousness of God in Christ; the man who loathes himself, that is sanctified wholly in the whole man's soul, body, and spirit. It is the man who most feels his own weakness, that is most strengthened with all might in the inner man, and experimentally understands the spiritual paradox, "When I am weak, then am I strong." It is a remark, by one who was very intimately acquainted with the hidden life, "It is undoubtedly the secret pride and selfishness of our hearts that obstructs much of the bounty of God's hand, in the measure of our graces and the sweet embraces of his love, which we should otherwise find. The more that we let go of ourselves, still the more should we receive of himself. Oh, foolish we, that refuse so blessed an exchange!" The passages of Scripture in which God declares his approbation of humility, and his delight in the humble, are very numerous. "Though the Lord be high, he has respect to the lowly. He forgets not the cry of the humble, he hears their desire;

J Leighton.

he prepares their hearts, he causes his ear to hear. Thus, saith the high and the lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy, I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite one." And this is the declaration of Him who came to reveal the character and will of his Father, and who was himself meek and lowly in spirit, "Whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; but he that shall humble himself shall be exalted. Blessed are the poor in spirit; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."1

Leighton's paraphrase on "God giveth grace to the humble," is very characteristically beautiful. "He pours it out plentifully on humble hearts. His sweet dews and showers slide off the mountains, and fall on the low valley of humble hearts, and make them pleasant and fertile. The swelling heart, puffed up with a fancy of fullness, has no room for grace, is not hollowed and fitted to receive and contain the graces that descend from above. And again, as the humble heart is most capable, as, emptied and hollowed out, it can hold most; so it is most thankful, acknowledges all as received. But the proud cries all is his own. The return of glory that is due for grace, comes most freely and plentifully from a humble heart. God delights to enrich it with grace, and it delights to return to him glory. The more he bestows on it, the more it desires to honour him withal; and the more it doth so, the more readily he still bestows more upon it. And this is the sweet intercourse between God and the humble soul. This is the noble ambition of humility, in respect of which all the aspirings of pride are low and base. When all is reckoned, the lowliest mind is truly the highest; and these two agree so well, that the more lowly it is, it is thus the higher; and the higher thus, it is still the more lowly."

Surely this is a powerful motive for the cultivation of

1 Psal. cxxxviii. 6; x. 12, 17. Isa. lvii. 15; lxvi. 2. Matt. xxiii. 12; v. 3.

humility. What so much to be feared as God's disapprobation, and what so much to be desired as his favour? The command, Be ye clothed with humility, has great additional force from the consideration, that this was the chosen garb of our Lord and King, and chosen by him as that in which he could both best serve his Father and his people. Surely, to use the words of an old divine, "It is meet that we should remember, that the blessed Saviour of the world hath done more to prescribe, and transmit, and secure this grace, than any other, his whole life being a great continued example of humility; a vast descent from the glorious bosom of his Father to the womb of a poor maiden; to the form of a servant, to the miseries of a sinner, to a life of labour, to a state of poverty, to a death of malefactors, to an untimely grave, to all the intolerable calamities which we deserved; and it were a good design, and yet but reasonable, that we should be as humble in the midst of our calamities and base sins, as he was in the midst of the fullness of the Spirit, great wisdom, perfect life, and most admirable virtues."

And while the thought, that it is only by thus putting on humility that Christians can be mutually subject to and serve each other, and thus promote the peace and prosperity of the church on earth, should be felt as a powerful incentive to grow in this grace; we should remember, also, that the cultivation of this grace is a necessary preparation for the holy delights of the church above. They to whom, on that day when men's destinies shall be finally fixed, the universal Judge will say, "Come, ye blessed of my Father," are those who can scarcely recognise their own actions in those eulogized by him. And the exercises of heaven are such as only the humble can engage in with satisfaction. They fall down on their faces there before the throne, and Him who sits on it; they cast their crowns at his feet. The only worthiness they celebrate is the worthiness of the Lamb that was slain; and the whole glory of their salvation is as

Jeremy Taylor,

cribed to Him, of whom, and through whom, and to whom, are all things. "Salvation to our God and to the Lamb for ever and ever." We must be formed to the temper of heaven if we would be sharers in its joys. We must have the same mind in us as is in the holy angels and the spirits of the just made perfect, if we would be admitted to their society, and participate in their delights. Were we to carry pride with us to heaven, it would soon cast us out again, as it did the angels, who kept not their first estate. Let us then earnestly covet a large measure of this heavenly temper. Let it be our constant prayer, that the Spirit of all grace would so bring the truth before our minds, and keep it there, respecting our condition and character as creatures and sinners, sinners lost by their own inexcusable guilt, saved solely by the sovereign grace of God, as that every rising of undue self-complacency may be repressed, and that we may be enabled to "walk worthy of the vocation wherewith we are called, with all lowliness and meekness; with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love, endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace." Oh, how happy the church, where all the elders and all the members are habitually under the influence of Christian humility! May that blessing, through the grace of Him who is exalted Head over all things, to his church, be increasingly ours! And to his name be all the glory.

NOTE A.

How different was the spirit which animated those who pretended to be Peter's successors, appears strikingly in a remarkable story told in the Clementine Homilies:-"Peter, wishing to establish Zaccheus in a bishoprick, who was backward to accept of it, cast himself at his feet, and entreated him to administer Tv apx-the princedom. I would readily do,' said Zaccheus, 'whatever a prince ought to do; but I am afraid to bear the name, because it exposes to so much envy as to be dangerous.' Peter consented that Zaccheus should not take the name prince; but he gave him all the authority of one. Και σου μεν έργον, said he, κελεύειν ; των δε αδελφων υπείκειν και μη απείθειν. It is your business to command; and, as to the brethren, it is theirs to submit to and obey you."" It is universally admitted that the Clementine Homilies are forgeries; but they are very authentic evidences of the spirit of the Roman Church at the time of their production. The bishops are there represented as Δυνασται, βασιλεις, δεσποται, κύριοι. How strangely does this contrast with the words of the One Master,-" Call no man master on earth: be not ye called master."-Hom. Clem. iii. 63, 64, 66, p. 646.

NOTE B.

6 Των κληρων plurale : singulare ποιμνης. Ποιμνη μια. Grex unus sub uno Pastore principe Christo: sed Kλnpo portiones multæ, pro numero locorum et antistitum."-BENGEL.

"Vetustus quidem fuit ille loquendi modus, ut totum ordinem ministrorum clerum, vocarent: sed utinam Patribus nunquam venisset in mentem ita loqui: quia quod toti Ecclesiæ Scriptura communiter tribuit, minime consentaneum fuit ad pancos homines restringere.”—CALVIN.

"Clerus temporibus Apostolorum erant plebeii, quod apparet ex prima Petri Epistola majestuosa."-SCALIGER.

"Cleros vocat non diaconos aut presbyteros, sed gregem qui cuique fortè contigit gubernandus ne quis existimet, Episcopis in Clericos interdictum dominium, in ceteros esse permissum. Et presbyteros hic Episcopos vocat. Nondum enim increverat turba sacerdotum; sed quot erant Presbyteri, totidem erant Episcopi."-ERASMUS.

"Olim populus Israeliticus Kλnpos, sors, sive patrimonium Dei. Deut. iv. 20; ix. 29. Nunc populus Christianus; cujus singulæ