Rev J B Jardine
The effects of humility. Firstly, the humble person does not lift himself up above his proper place. The Lord has made a distinction between people in the natural and spiritual realms. If the Lord has truly made someone a Christian, he has granted him His Spirit and His grace. He has granted him life, light and a principle of holiness, along with other graces for his own good and the good of others. The humble acknowledge this without boasting about it or seeking to be honoured by others for it.
The humble person will continue in the place where God has placed him until God calls him away from it. If he is found in a lowly position, he is content, as it is of God. He sincerely believes and acknowledges that he possesses more than he is worthy of. He does not walk away from it but will remain in it until the Lord removes him from it. If he holds a high position which is accompanied by wealth, he will seek to be faithful in it. He does not exalt himself above others because he holds a higher position than they do. He remains humble, knowing that he is not worthy of his position. He seeks to act honourably in that position. Someone can have a high position, be rich, well thought of and honoured, and yet have a humble disposition. He does not covet further honour, respect and obedience, because he has this
3That is, the Old and New Testaments.
1This is a further section of a paper given at this year’s Youth Conference.
position. Neither does he boast of it. He will use these gifts for the glory of God and the good of others.
Secondly, he will not desire to be lifted up by others above his present position. He wishes to remain unnoticed as he passes through this world. He only desires to give rather than to receive. “He lets the Hamans have the knee-bends and the Herods the praises”2. He is happiest when he can be in his own quiet place. He will abhor any excessive honour with Peter. “When Peter saw it, he answered unto the people, Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk? . . . But Peter took him up, saying, Stand up; I myself also am a man” (Acts 3:12, 10:26).
The humble person highly respects the good he perceives in other people. He holds the other person to be better than himself. He humbles himself in their presence and is willing to serve them. He does not envy any who might be honoured more than he is. In fact, he rejoices in them being honoured. John Newton says, “To those who have a true sense of the spirituality and ground of the Divine precepts, and of what passes in their own hearts, there will never be wanting causes of humiliation and self-abasement on the account of sin.”3
The humble person will not judge his brother for the mote in his eye, as he is more troubled at the beam in his own eye. He is glad to be reproved because he has already cast the first stone at himself and knows why others think the same of him. “Rebuke a wise man, and he will love thee” (Proverbs 9:8). God grants His people this grace of humility, so that they might know that they are nothing, says Calvin, “that we may stand only by the mercy of God . . . seeing that in ourselves we are altogether wicked”.4 Our insignificance is His exaltation. The confession of our insignificance has its remedy provided for in His mercy.
Exhortation to humility. If you are without Christ, you cannot have this grace or any other. Your responsibility is to “seek first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you” (Mt 6:33). Make sure of Christ and seek after the life of the godly. If you believe you have grace and are among the godly but feel your deficiency as far as this grace of humility is concerned and see the pride of your heart, then humble yourself, be ashamed and strive more earnestly after it.
Pride is a dreadful sin, and many dreadful plagues follow on from it. Therefore, the godly ought to seek to be free from it and to be truly humble.
2Wilhelmus à Brakel, The Christian’s Reasonable Service, Soli Deo Gloria, vol 4, p 72.
3John Newton, Works, vol 1, Banner of Truth Trust reprint, 1985, p 454.
4John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, James Clarke, 1962 edition, vol 1, p 232.
You have nothing in yourself to be proud of, and indeed you have many things to be ashamed of. Your body is nothing but dust and foul corruption. Your soul is a pool of all manner of impure abominations. If another person was aware of all the sins of thought, word and deed that you have committed in secret, would you dare to look them in the eye? You are foolish and have a sinful and corrupt nature. You know this is the truth because the Lord has given you a measure of light. All the graces, gifts, beauty, strength and riches you have, have been given to you freely by God. But they were purchased at a great price and that should humble you. We are small and insignificant in ourselves, and we need to be brought to know this in our own hearts.
God forbids you to be proud and commands you to be humble: “Mind not high things, but condescend to men of low estate” (Rom 12:16); “I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness” (Eph 4:1-2); “He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to . . . walk humbly with thy God?” (Mic 6:8).
Your name as a Christian and your relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ obliges you to seek after humility of heart. You are named “Christian” after the name of Christ. Your relationship to Christ is one of a bride towards her husband. The Lord Jesus was humble and the perfect example of humility. Love ought to motivate us to be conformed to Him. He establishes Himself as an example and commands us to follow Him in this: “Learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart” (Mt 11:29).
We are proud by nature, and this makes us loathsome in the eyes of God. We need to learn to become humble. This requires effort and an example to follow. Christ Himself is our example. Seek to be humble like Christ. Humility is the gift of God, but we need to strive in order to obtain it.
Humility is a noted ornament of the believer. A bride will adorn herself to please her husband. The spiritual bride must seek to put on her ornaments: “Put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem” (Is 52:1). But what are your ornaments meant to be? Humility is the most beautiful ornament and makes the believer pleasant before God and men. “Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved . . . humbleness of mind” (Col 3:12); “Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time:” (1 Pet 5:5-6); “For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth 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 ones.” (Is 57:15); “Though the Lord be high, yet He hath respect unto the lowly” (Ps 138:6).
A humble person is pleasing to all kinds of people. One proud person cannot tolerate another proud person. But because a humble person submits to others, even a worldly person can commend him. As a godly person loves Jesus, he will also love those that resemble Jesus by their humility. Remember what you were before you were born again. Thomas Manton said, “The best of God’s people have abhorred themselves.”5 Indeed it is not true humility if we think that there is any good remaining in us. As Calvin affirms, “Those who have joined together the two things, to think humbly of ourselves before God and yet hold our own righteousness in some estimation, have hitherto taught a pernicious hypocrisy”.6 This is confirmed in the parable of the Publican and the Pharisee in the temple, and the contrast between them (Lk 18:9-14).
What Is a Christian? (2)1
John Newton
I might enlarge farther. But I shall proceed to consider the Christian’s temper respecting himself. He lives godly and soberly. By sobriety we mean more than that he is not a drunkard; his attitudes toward God, of course, result in a moderation in all temporal things. He is not scrupulous or superstitious; he understands the liberty of the gospel, that everything created by God is good, if it be received with thanksgiving: he does not aim at being needlessly singular, nor practising self-devised austerities.
The Christian is neither a Stoic nor a Cynic2: yet he finds daily cause for watchfulness and restraint. Satan will not often tempt a believer to gross crimes: our greatest snares and sorest conflicts are usually found in things lawful in themselves, but hurtful to us by their abuse, engrossing too much of our time, or of our hearts, or somehow indisposing us for communion with
5Quoted in John Blanchard, The Complete Gathered Gold, Evangelical Press, 2007, p 322.
6John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, James Clarke, 1962 edition, vol 2, p 65.
1Taken with editing from Newton’s Works, vol 1. This is the second of two parts of one of a series of “Letters to a Nobleman”. Readers should note Newton’s words at the beginning of this letter: “I would not suggest that none are Christians who do not come up to the character I would describe – for then I fear I should unchristian myself – but only to consider what Scripture encourages us to aim at as the prize of our high calling in this life”.
2Ancient Greek philosophies. A Stoic is calm and almost without any emotion; a Cynic is one who distrusts people, especially one who believes that people act only in self-interest.
the Lord. The Christian will be jealous of anything that might entangle his affections, damp his zeal, or confine him in his opportunities of serving his Saviour.
He is likewise content with his situation, because the Lord chooses it for him; his spirit is not eager for additions and alterations in his circumstances. If God’s providence points out and leads to a change, he is ready to follow, even if it is what the world would call from a better to a worse, for he is a pilgrim and a stranger here, and a citizen of heaven. As wealthy people sometimes, in travelling, submit cheerfully to inconvenient accommodation, that is very different from their homes, and comfort themselves with thinking they are not always to live so; so the Christian is not greatly solicitous about externals. If he has them, he will use them moderately. If he has but little of them, he can make a good shift without them: he is on a journey, and will soon be at home.
If he is rich, experience confirms our Lord’s words, and satisfies him that a large room, a crowd of servants, and 20 dishes on his table add nothing to the real happiness of life; therefore he will not have his heart set upon such things (Lk 12:15). If he is in a humbler state, he is more disposed to pity than to envy those above him, for he judges they must have many encumbrances from which he is freed. However, the will of God and the light of His countenance are the chief things the Christian regards, whether rich or poor; and therefore his moderation is made known unto all men.
A third branch of the Christian’s temper respects his fellow creatures. And here, if I had not filled a sheet already, I think I could enlarge with pleasure. We have, in this degenerate day, among those who claim and are allowed the name of Christian, too many of a narrow, selfish, mercenary spirit; but in the beginning it was not so. The gospel is designed to cure such a spirit, but gives no indulgence to it. A Christian has the mind of Christ, who went about doing good, who makes his sun to shine upon the good and the evil, and sends rain on the just and the unjust. His Lord’s example forms in him the habit of diffusive benevolence; he breathes a spirit of goodwill to mankind, and rejoices in every opportunity of being useful to the souls and bodies of others, without respect to parties or interests. He sympathises with, and would if possible alleviate, the miseries of all around him; and if his actual services are restrained by want of ability, yet all share in his sympathy and prayers. Acting in the spirit of his Master, he frequently meets with a measure of the like treatment; but if his good is requited with evil, he labours to overcome evil with good.
He feels himself a sinner and needs much forgiveness; this makes him ready to forgive. He is not haughty, readily finding fault, easily offended, or
hard to be reconciled; for at the feet of Jesus he has learned meekness. When he meets with unkindness or injustice, he considers that, though he has not deserved such things from men, they are instruments employed by his Heavenly Father (from whom he has deserved to suffer much more) for his humiliation and chastisement. He is therefore more concerned for their sins than for his own sufferings and he prays, after the pattern of his Saviour, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do”.
He knows he is fallible; therefore he cannot be over-positive. He knows he is frail, and therefore dares not be censorious. As a member of society, he is just, punctual in the discharge of every duty to others, faithful to his engagements and promises, rendering to all what is due to them, obedient to lawful authority, and acting to all men according to the golden rule of doing as he would that others would do to him. His conduct is simple, devoid of artifice, and consistent, attending to every branch of duty. In the closet, the family, the church and in the transactions of common life, he is the same man; for in every circumstance he serves the Lord and aims to maintain a conscience void of offence in His sight.
No small part of the beauty of his profession in the sight of men consists in the due government of his tongue. The law of truth and kindness and purity is upon his lips. He abhors lying and is so far from inventing a slander that he will not repeat a report to the disadvantage of his neighbour, however true, without a proper call to do so. His converse is cheerful but inoffensive, and he will no more wound another with his wit (if he has a talent that way) than with a knife. His speech is with grace, seasoned with salt, and suited to promote the peace and edification of all around him.
Such is the Christian in civil life. But though he loves all mankind, he stands in a nearer relation and bears a special brotherly love, to all who are partakers of the faith and hope of the gospel. This regard is not confined within a denomination, but extends to all who love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity. He rejoices in the image of God wherever he sees it, and in the work of God wherever it is carried on. He cannot indeed countenance those who set aside the one foundation which God has laid in Zion, and maintain errors derogatory to the honour of his Saviour, or subversive of the faith and experience of His people; yet he wishes well to their persons, pities and prays for them, and is ready in meekness to instruct them that oppose.
But there is no bitterness in his zeal, being conscious that railing and invective are dishonourable to the cause of truth, and quite unsuitable in the mouth of a sinner who owes, to the free grace of God, all that distinguishes him from the vilest of men. In a word, he is influenced by the wisdom from above, which, as it is pure, is likewise peaceable, gentle and easy to be entreated,
full of mercy and good works, without partiality and without hypocrisy.
I must just recur to my first head and observe that, with this spirit and deportment, the Christian is still mindful of indwelling sin, while he is enabled to maintain a conscience void of offence towards God and man. He has his eye more on his rule than on his attainments; therefore he finds and confesses that he comes very short in everything and that his best services are not only defective but defiled. He accounts himself an unprofitable servant; is abased in his own eyes, and derives all his hope and comfort, as well as his strength, from Jesus, whom he has known, received and trusted; to whom he has committed his soul; in whom he rejoices. He worships God in the Spirit, renouncing all confidence in the flesh and esteeming all things as loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus his Lord.
If I have lately been rather slow in writing to your Lordship, I have proportionably increased the quantity. It is high time I should now relieve your patience. I hope I long to be a Christian indeed, and I hope this hasty exemplification of my wishes will answer your Lordship’s experience better than I fear it does my own. May I beg a remembrance of me in your prayers, that He who has given me to will and desire, may work in me to be and to do according to His own good pleasure.
Broken Religious Vows1
James Buchanan
Unfulfilled vows in religion are a plain proof of insincerity and hypocrisy of heart. We do not say that every partial declension of piety occurring after a season of distress, or that every infirmity, or sin contracted after such a season, ought to be regarded in this light. Far from it. In the time of trouble, God’s people are placed in circumstances which are fitted to deepen even their impressions – to invigorate their faith, by imparting a nearer and clearer view of things unseen and eternal, and to enliven all the graces of the Christian character. Even they, on their return to the active business of life, are often constrained to mourn over their decays, and to look back to their experience in affliction as the sweetest which they have ever enjoyed.
But while we are careful not “to make the heart of the righteous sad, whom the Lord hath not made sad” (Ezek 13:22), we must not “strengthen the hands of the wicked, that he should not return from his wicked way, by
1Taken with editing from Buchanan’s Improvement of Affliction. His earlier volume, Comfort in Affliction has been reprinted by Free Presbyterian Publications and is available from the Free Presbyterian Bookroom.
promising him life”. It is therefore necessary to say with the utmost faithfulness that there is too much reason to suspect the insincerity and hypocrisy of those who vow to the Lord in time of trouble and afterwards neglect or refuse to fulfill their vows. It is all the more necessary to press this consideration, because such people may have been conscious, in the day of trouble, of sharp convictions of conscience, such solemn views of death and eternity, such an agonising commotion of spirit, and such real earnestness in regard to some at least of the subjects of their prayers, as to be in imminent danger of confounding these feelings with that genuine sincerity and that thorough change of heart which the gospel requires.
Such people may ask, Were we not sincere when we felt so deeply and prayed so earnestly, when our fears were so strong and our resolutions so holy? We know best how we then felt, and no one will ever convince us that then at least, we were not sincere.
But will they bear to be affectionately reminded that they are liable to be mistaken, and that a mistake on this point must be dangerous and may be fatal. Do they remember the solemn testimony of God: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked,” when they speak so confidently of the impossibility of them being deceived? Instances of a kind precisely similar to theirs are recorded in the Holy Scriptures; instances both of individuals and of communities who, in the hour of danger, were as much alarmed and as much in earnest as themselves, and yet whose partial and temporary convictions did not amount to a saving change. Witness the case of Judah: “Judah hath not turned unto Me with her whole heart, but feignedly, saith the Lord” (Jer 3:10); again the case of Israel: “They have not cried unto Me with their heart, when they howled upon their beds” (Hos 7:14).
There is much in the time of trouble that may excite an earnestness of desire which is altogether different from religious sincerity, and may awaken deep convictions of conscience, which must not be mistaken for thorough conversion of heart. The sufferer may be not only sincere, but earnest and importunate for some blessings, while his heart is shut against the reception of a full salvation as it is presented in the gospel. He may cry to God for help; he may pray earnestly for recovery; he may as earnestly plead for the pardon of those sins which lie heavy on his conscience, and for deliverance from that future, eternal punishment which no human mind can deliberately anticipate without aversion and alarm. In all this he may be sincere and earnest, and yet everything that is purely spiritual in religion may be as distasteful and offensive to him as it ever was. He may wish for recovery, yet shrink from present conversion; he may cry for God’s help when vain is the help of man, and yet have no love for God; he may pray for pardon and yet
have no affection for the Saviour; he may fear hell and yet have no fitness for heaven.
Now in such circumstances, and with these feelings, he may vow unto the Lord that, if he is spared, he will lead a new life and devote himself to God’s service. And if, on his recovery, he shows by his conduct that he has forgotten his vows, or that he is now unwilling to perform them, what other conclusion can we entertain concerning him than that he either never had a right and scriptural view of the nature and extent of the holy obedience which the gospel enjoins, or that he is justly chargeable with an insincere and hypocritical profession?
Is it not one of the plainest principles of morals that a man making a lawful vow even to his fellow men is bound to fulfil it; and if it is not fulfilled, is he less guilty, or is it less flagrant and aggravated, because it was made, not to man, but to God?2
Hints for Ministers1
R M M’Cheyne
Souls are perishing every day; and our own entrance into eternity cannot be far distant. Let us, like Mary, do what we can, and no doubt God will bless it and reward us openly.
Seek to be lamb-like; without this, all your efforts to do good to others will be as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
Get much of the hidden life in your own soul; soon it will make life spread around.
Never forget that the purpose of a sermon is the salvation of the people.
Cleave to the Lord; not to man but to the Lord. Do not fear the face of men. Remember how small their anger will appear in eternity.
Fight hard against sin and the devil. The devil never sleeps; be you also active, for good.
2“It is in vain”, said the dejected Luther to Staupitz when he was passing through that severe mental conflict which prepared the Reformation, “that I make promise to God; sin is always too strong for me.” “O my friend,” answered the vicar-general, looking back on own experience, “I have vowed to the Holy God more than a thousand times that I would lead a holy life, and never have I kept my vow! I now make no more vows, for I know well I shall not keep them. If God will not be merciful to me, for Christ’s sake, and grant me a happy death when I leave this world, I cannot, with all my vows and good works, stand before Him. I must perish.” Buchanan included this anecdote in a footnote on a previous page of his book. He took it from J H Merle d’Aubigné, History of the Reformation in Europe, vol 1.
1Collected in The Christian Treasury for 1857.
Only an inch of time remains, and then eternal ages roll on for ever, but it is an inch on which we can stand and preach the way of salvation to a perishing world.
Cry for personal holiness – constant nearness to God by the blood of the Lamb. Bask in His beams; lie back in the arms of His love; be filled with His Spirit, or else all success in the ministry will only be to your own everlasting confusion.
It is not great talents God blesses, so much as great likeness to Jesus. A holy minister is an awful weapon in the hand of God.