SERMON IX.

HUMBLENESS TOWARDS GOD.

1 EP. S. PET. v. 6, 7.

Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time; casting all your care upon Him, for He careth for you.

THE Holy Apostle has given his reason in the verse before the text, why we should thus humble ourselves, namely, that "GOD resisteth the proud and giveth Grace to the humble." Such was the teaching of the LORD Himself too and such is therefore the belief of every Christian. Let us see, if we can, the extent of the Apostle's injunction.

I. First, it may be proper to say something of the expression "the mighty

hand of GoD," because you may meet,

and likely enough have met, in the world men and women who will pretend not to see the present operations of His mighty hand, if even they do not deny its existence in the work of Creation.

By "the mighty hand of God" we know that the Apostle (speaking, as is usual with the inspired writers, in accommodation to the common course of men's notions) meant the mighty power of GOD, by which the universe, and the souls whom it contains, are swayed, as material things within man's reach are in his degree swayed by him. How it does come to pass that any of those created after God's own image should disbelieve in HIм, is a mystery which we are not permitted to understand, into which it is therefore vain to inquire; but the case of those who, believing that there is their GOD and Father, do nevertheless, not humble themselves under His mighty hand, but exalt themselves against it, is one which we may approach, for Holy writ brings it before us, although it does not reveal to us the secret and unap

proachable processes of the hardening of the heart against Grace given and truth received.

The hand of GoD in the work of creation, and in the continuation of the things created through thousands of years, is so plain, so full of majesty and might, that if we were only less accustomed to see it, if we could only cease for a time to be spectators of the wonders of its working, and then return to the sight, it is hardly to be thought that any soul living would refuse obedience and awe to its GOD. But when we pass on to the great wonder of the Redemption of man, by the SAVIOUR'S Atonement on the Cross, we have, further, deeper cause for astonishment at the fact, that the hearts of thousands who profess to believe are in an attitude of unsubdued pride against the mighty hand of God.

Suppose all allowance made for the pride of a man when he looks only on GOD as Creator, how can we make allowance for him who knows that salvation has been offered to him through GoD

the Son his SAVIOUR, and yet is unhumbled? For if the sight of created things seems to be a concern foreign to him, or of only remote concern to him, surely the love of God, Who so loved the world that HE He gave His only begotten Son, brings home to him His mighty hand, with a personal interest, as an instrument of mercy and of peace.

By this wondrous exercise of Love Divine, he is permitted, and may be enabled, to say Abba Father, to be heir of GOD, and joint-heir with CHRIST. Against what then is his heart exalted? Against terrors, evil powers, death? No, against every good and perfect gift, against peace unspeakable, and joy in believing here; peace unspeakable, because it is a peace which the world neither gives nor has to give. "Peace I leave with you," says our Master," my peace I give unto you; not as the world giveth, give I unto you.'

And, as a consequence of the pride of the heart against receiving as its own the sovereign offers of pardon and peace, it becomes exalted against the sanctifying

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influences of the HOLY GHOST. SPIRIT however will not always strive; and pride may be permitted to close up for ever the avenues of the heart.

Now, against this defiance of GOD the Creator, GOD the Redeemer, GOD the Sanctifier, FATHER, SON and HOLY GHOST, the Apostle's injunction is levelled.

II. "Humble yourselves," says he, "therefore under the mighty hand of GOD." The question is, how are we so to humble ourselves; by what means; that is, what our humility is to be, and how we are to get it.

It need not be said as a new thing to Christians, that humility is not a virtue of natural growth in the heart. To humble ourselves therefore, is not to exercise a faculty lying there ready for exercise, though dormant; but it is to obtain a new faculty; to expel an old habit, and in its place to plant in a new one. Neither need it be said as a new thing to Christians, that thus to root out an evil habit and to plant in a good one, is not an

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