in truth most proper and fit for Criminals The only thing worth our esteem is Vertue or that gracious disposition of Soul whereby the righteous is indeed more excellent than his neighbour Prov. 12. 26. Those Moral Habits which are apt to cleanse us from all filthiness of Flesh and Spirit have an intrinsick Dignity in them For they are noble Perfections of our Nature and such resemblances of the Divine Being as are in the sight of God himself of great price 1 Pet. 3. 4. But yet even these excellent Endowments are arguments for our Humility because they are not the Productions of Nature but the Fruits and Effects of the Holy Spirit 's Operation It is by his free and gracious Energy that we are made the Children of Grace and are transformed in the renewing of our Minds Without Christ's assistance by the Holy Spirit we can do nothing John 15. 5. It is he that worketh in us both to will and to do of his own good pleasure Phil. 2. 13. Upon this account our Spiritual Graces are reasons for our Thankfulness but not for our Pride because we stand indebted to the mere Goodness and Bounty of God for them Who maketh thee to differ from another saith the Apostle or what hast thou that thou didst not receive Now if thou didst receive it why dost thou glory as though thou hadst not received it 1 Cor. 4. 7. Debtors are not wont to be proud of the Obligations and Bonds they are forced to lie under Poverty carrieth such shame with it as serves to debase Men when hardly any thing else will And though God giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not Jam. 1. 5. yet the Sense of our necessitous and miserable condition by Nature and of our dependance upon God for the mending of our Fortunes is a very powerful Motive to humble all of us especially before that infinite Being to whose Bounty and Goodness we owe all that we have and all that we are THE ancient Moralists among the Heathen thought it a Fundamental Principle of all Vertue for a Man to know and understand himself rightly I am sure it is the Principle and Source of this Vertue Humility For there is very little if any thing in us or about us but what teacheth us to despise our selves And it is for want of due and just reflection that People are great in their own Eyes I know that in me that is in my flesh there dwelleth no good thing saith St. Paul in the Person of an unregenerate Man Rom. 7. 18. There is indeed a vile Body a sinful Soul a corrupt Mind a vain Imagination There is a weak mortal necessitous Nature There is foolishness and wretchedness in great variety There is enough and abundance of such things for him to boast of if it be worth his boasting such glorying would be in One's shame And as for those blessed Principles of Vertue which by the sweet and kindly insinuations of Christ's Spirit the Soul of every regenerate Person is endow'd with they are so many borrowed Talents for which the holiest Man living stands beholding to our great Creditor the Lord of all And tho' we ought to rejoyce that God is pleas'd to communicate his Riches to us yet considering that they are precarious Loans for the obtaining whereof our chief business was to beg and receive with all Humility we have as little reason to be proud of them as a servile Steward hath of a Trust for which he must give a strict Account IF the things I have mention'd serve to keep us from all Assumings the Consideration of those outward Matters which the Scripture calls the things and the fashion of the world must needs help to take down our Minds the more still For tho' the Children of this World are wont to mind these things most and are apt to be elated most of all by them yet there is hardly a plainer Argument than this is of the great Weakness of humane Nature and of the Folly it is subject to that Men are so swollen in their Minds because their temporal Fortunes are bulky because they are Richer and Greater than others I mean as some count Riches and Greatness who speak the Dialect of the World and consider not what it is to be Rich and Great indeed Alas these external Matters are of a very mean trifling and contemptible Nature phantasm and colour only like the Feathers of the Athenian Bird which help to give it face but do not make it better or weightier than a Bird of a plainer Plume Besides riches saith Solomon certainly make themselves wings they flee away as an Eagle towards heaven Prov. 23. 5. And this they do by the just Judgment of God in Heaven because Men set their Eyes on that which is not and set others at nought for that which is but vanity When they forget God and themselves after this manner it is a very Righteous thing for the Judge of all the Earth to humble them by making the Nest that was set on high empty and by leaving it to the mercy of the Fire or of the Extortioner which in effect is the same thing Thirdly tho' these external Fortunes stay with us and we with them yet 't is most unreasonable for our Hearts to be lifted up by the enjoyment of them because they are far from being an argument of God's Love to any No man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them saith Solomon Eccl. 9. 1. That is none can certainly tell by his present worldy Condition whether he be in God's Favour or no. For saith Solomon verse 2. All things come alike to all there is one event to the righteous and to the wicked to the good and to the clean and to the unclean to him that sacrificeth and to him that sacrificeth not as is the good so is the sinner and he that sweareth as he that feareth an oath Which words yield us thus much That since this wretched World is not a place for us to receive our Rewards generally Men share alike and without discrimination in the Fortunes of the World The Divine Providence scatters them promiscuously and with an indifferent Hand which plainly shews that in God's Account they are such very inconsiderable things that it is no matter how or upon whom they are thrown away But Fourthly if any thing may be concluded from the affluence of these poor temporal Enjoyments it is rather a sad argument of the great Danger the Men of this World are in than a signification of God's Love to them For all Mankind being God's Creatures and having for that reason some sort of Title and Right to his Providence God is pleased to distribute the Glories and Felicities here below as he sends his Rain and Sun-shine upon the evil as well as upon the good Nay because evil Men can have no share of the Felicities of a future state God doth usually give them a more liberal allowance of
so he taketh care of the whole Universe and the several parts of it the meanest Creatures not excepted 3. THIRDLY That God doth not only inspect the World but doth moreover administer and govern all Affairs according to the strict Rules of Goodness and Righteousness From which Principles those wise Philosophers concluded That as it is our Duty to honour and worship God so we must set our selves to Obey him to submit to his Determinations to follow his Conduct with chearfulness to be well-pleased with what he doth as being the Result of his Divine Wisdom and Providence If you do no dispose your Minds thus your Lives say they will be not only Irreligious but full of Sadness and Misery too Whereas if you resign your Wills to God's and be contented with Events as God shall please to order them you will be happy Therefore Socrates was wont to say If God will have it thus then thus let it be And Epictetus his Prayer was Lead me O God according to thy Will and I will readily obey and submit to thy Providence For says Arrian every good Man who believes there is a Deity and a Providence will submit his own Mind to God's Pleasure the Governour of the Vniverse as good Citizens submit to the Laws of the City they live in Concerning all this see Epictetus cap. 38 77 79. Arrian on Epictet lib. 1. c. 12. and especially Simplicius his Comments 38. per totum THESE were great Notions for Heathens to entertain such a complexure of good Divinity and Morality together as one would think were the Sence of a Christian And the result of the whole matter is this That as all the Happiness of this Life is lodged in Vertue so this Vertue of Humility doth contribute towards it after a more especial manner and in a singular degree because it resigneth up the Soul to God's Wisdom and Pleasure in all Conditions so that in all afflicting Circumstances whether actually felt or apprehended only the truly humble Person possesseth his Soul in Patience and is bless'd with Tranquillity in as great measures as a frail Nature is capable of receiving Such as are so proud that they care not for the Almighty and think themselves too big for his Rod in times of trial and distress aggravate the smart from without by being their own tormentors within and the most inhumane tormentors because the Pains they inflict are hardly curable and seldom intermitting Every odd chance is magnified into a great Affliction and every Affliction gnaws and eats as if it were an affront to their singular Merits and an argument of Injustice and Partiality in the Divine Providence And thus the Spirits of such vain Wretches breed Worms which like those engendred in a dead Carcase never leave till they have devoured their Parent and all at last produce the Worm which dieth not CHAP. V. The Usefulness of Humility in respect of our Proficiency in Vertue HITHERTO I have consider'd the Usefulness of Humility in respect of that Contentment and Serenity of Mind which is the blessed Fruit of it Let us proceed now to the next thing and observe how instrumental it is in order to our Progress and Perfection in Vertue Now there are very many ways whereby it helpeth to promote this inestimable Advantage But it will be sufficient for me to take notice of these Four ways following 1. FIRST By obliging us to rest in the Authority of Divine Revelation This is the Foundation of our Faith and Hopes and of those Religious Endeavours we are encouraged to use that we may receive the end of them All is bottom'd on this Principle That the things we believe and look for are certain because God hath revealed them and 't is Humility that concurs with right Reason to settle our Souls upon this Principle how dark and doubtful soever some things may seem to humane Apprehensions The daily Sense which all humble Men have of the weakness and fallaciousness of their own Understandings is sufficient to convince them that Carnal Reason is not to be trusted Universally and with Confidence in things pertaining unto God and that it is our Wisdom as well as Duty to take God's Word for all however the Word spoken may sound in our Ears This is a great Fault in some pretenders to Reason that they will not allow us to believe Doctrines unless they appear rational as to all the Parts and Modes of those Matters which are proposed to our Belief and unless they captivate our Faith by suiting with our Capacities and by carrying with them a plain Evidence How those things can be This proceeds from Spiritual Pride and Self-conceit and is the ready way to make Reason not an Assistant but an Idol for the Holy Bible to be offer'd up unto Humble Men will tell you That many things in Religion are and ought to be cover'd with a Veil that it is not Modesty to pry without Light or without Leave or beyond the reach of our finite Faculties that Mysteries ought to be let alone and suffer'd to remain Mysteries that secret things belong unto the Lord our God and that those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever Deut. 29. 29. And thus our Faith will be infallible and unshaken our Hope firm and our progress in a course of Religion will be steddy which otherwise may be fatally interrupted by our turning aside into mazes and labyrinths with a design to discover things which God in his Wisdom hath purposely hid from us 2. THAT in this course of Religion we may not travel with a Tympany full of hopes that will at last deceive and make us ashamed we are taught that besides a modest Faith universal Obedience to the Divine Will is necessarily required and this is another improvement that comes by an humble Mind it disposeth the Soul to perfect Holiness in the fear of God and not only to rely upon the Veracity but to have an Eye also to the Authority of God that transcendent Authority which is stamped upon his Laws Considering that he is our Supreme Absolute and only Wise Legislator that we were all made for his Glory that we have no urgent business in the World but to glorifie him that he is glorifi'd in our Happiness and that his Laws are intended to fit and prepare us for it what other Thoughts can an humble Mind suggest but that it is at once our Duty and our Interest to serve God in true Holiness and Righteousness before him all the days of our lives Such lowly Thoughts are apt to be seconded with suitable Resolutions and thence proceed those various acts of Godliness Righteousness and Sobriety which are answerable to the Commands of the Lord and Saviour of the World For which reason the Ancients in their Encomiums of Humility frequently style it The Foundation the Original the Root the Mother of all Vertue and the great Preserver of it Because a submiss disposition
to those only who were particularly cursed Had the Ignominy been all his Suffering had he not undergone the Pains the Torments the Death of the cursed Tree his condescending to take up the Opprobrious part was without Parallel and beyond all possibility of Example considering the Innocence of his whole Life the Dignity and Greatness of his Person and his own voluntary susception of the most Infamous Punishment AND yet this is an additional Circumstance That it was the Ignominy of the Cross which was a Roman Instrument of Death and Shame distinct and different from those that were ordinarily in use among God's People nay an Instrument which had a peculiar Ignominy belonging to it The Law of God equally reach'd all Men that were obnoxious to the Penalty The Sanhedrim had a Power of bringing them all indifferently under the Malediction of the Gibbet But among the Romans Crucifixion was a servile Punishment as 't was often call'd a reproachful Death appointed for the most foeculent part of Mankind chiefly for Slaves and more especially for such of them as ran away from the service of their Lords or plotted their Lord's ruine or privily carried Information against them to the Magistrate Fugitives Traitors Sycophants and such infamous abject Villains were wont to be executed upon Crosses as Dog too sometimes were Very rarely did any Free man of Rome suffer after that manner unless he was found to be a Robber an assassine or a Forger of Deeds In short it was such a base disgraceful Punishment that the first Christian Emperor Constantine the Great took away the further use of it because the Saviour of the World had suffer'd the shame of it in his Person Lord what a low step of Condescension was This That He who was in the form of God cloath'd with Majesty and Honour from everlasting That He who thought it no Robbery to be equal with God it was a Dignity which he had a Natural Right unto that He should not only conceal this his Greatness and appear in the shape and fashion of a Man but should moreover take on him the form of a Servant the most contemptible Man and at last submit to the Punishment of the vilest and most proffigate Slave No Wonder can exceed or come near this unless it be that sinful wretched Man should be proud when God himself was pleas'd to be thus humble ONE would think that if haughty People would but reflect with one Eye upon their own state and with the other behold the most Holy Jesus they could not but be abash'd to find so absurd a dissimilitude themselves glittering like so many Morning-Stars with a borrow'd Light and the Sun of Righteousness wading in an Eclipse all along from his first Rising to his Bed 'T were strange if shame did not cover their Faces at last if a Comparison so very unequal were not enough to baffle a foolish Vice if this alone were ot of sufficient force not only to supplant its Credit and Interest in the World but to put it out of countenance also As there never was any Sorrow so never was there any Humility like his for Quality and for Degree too Nor indeed is any such proportion expected of us tho' according to humane Reasoning our Measure as to this ought if possible to exceed The Son of God could not but know his own Dignity and Excellencies He could not but be conscious of the infinite Glories of his Divine Nature and of the Perfections of his Humanity too by means of its Hypostatical Union with the Deity Upon this account had he set himself out according to his true intrinsick Worth all the Splendor in the World had been infinitely short of his just Due But his Business here was not to appear as the Son of God but to act as a Mediator as our Substitute and Proxy Accordingly as he put on our course Clothing so from the Manger to the Cross he wrap'd himself up in such a mean Disguise as was suitable to the great Design upon which he came out of his Father's Bosom When he said to his Disciples I am lowly in heart he spake as the Son of Man that was not to make a pompous shew of the Glory he had from everlasting but was to live in an obscure Condition to end his Life with Contumely and Disgrace and throughout the whole course of his Exinanition was to act and suffer below his Great Self beneath his Dignity In all this he was a charming Pattern to his Followers that we should learn of him to step low and to walk in that lowly manner which tho' it was beneath him is very fit for us answerable to things of our low size very suitable to Creatures whose first Principles are Dust and Clay and whose fall would have sunk us lower by far than into our original Earth had not the Son of God humbled himself so as to come down from Heaven and to descend into Hell too for us In him Humility was a Degradation in us it is a standing upon our own proper and due Level Which makes the Example carry the greater force because it proposes to us not any sort of Condescension strictly and rightly so call'd much less such Condescention as was in the Lord of Life and Glory but such lowliness of Heart as is proportionable to our true Quality and Deserts and consequently agreeable to the Laws of Justice I told you before That Humility consists in a fair and equal Opinion of One's own self according to his exact Rate and intrinsick Value And such an Opinion must needs be very mean and low because if we take a true estimate of what we really have and of what we really are we cannot find in our selves any thing considerable setting our Demerits and Guilt aside to be sure nothing considerable enough to out weigh or balance that Guilt So that every touch of Pride is so far the exalting of One's self above measure which is therefore the more Criminal because it is a direct Affront to the Saviour of the World whose unfathomable Humility was intended for an everlasting Law to exact of Mankind the profoundest Submissions since he the Son of God was pleas'd to set so great a Price upon the Duty by becoming a Precedent to us in his own most Sacred Person AND now what shall we say more to encourage or oblige us to the Practice of it A Vertue so graceful in its own Nature so desirable for it self a Vertue that is justifi'd upon so many Principles of common Reason a Vertue so adapted to our great Necessities a Vertue so instrumental towards our greatest Good a Vertue so productive of all interiour Peace and Complacency so necessary and useful for our growth in Grace such a security and defence against the Malignity of outward Accidents Lastly a Vertue so Divine and Honourable for its near Relation to the only begotten of God the Author and Finisher of our Faith This so excellent
Man makes an application of this to himself after an humble manner he cannot but be satisfied with the Apostle's argument Heb. 12. 9 20. If we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us and we gave them reverence shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of Spirits and live For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure but he for our profit that we might be partakers of his holiness For this gracious purpose sake they who are conscious to themselves of their Deserts and Wants as all humble Persons are cannot but possess their Souls in Patience under the Hand that correcteth and with Thankfulness too for stripes which are thus profitable and advantageous to them not only hearing the Rod as the Prophet speaks Micah 3. 9. but kissing it also because there is Honey on the end of it as there was on the top of Jonathan's Rod 1 Sam. 14. Fourthly and lastly St. Paul gives this Character of Temptation meaning Affliction that it is cammon to man 1 Cor. 10. 13. And considering that it is a general Lot the humble in Soul will sit down quiet and well contented to have a share For how says he am I better than my neighbours Indeed it is no comfort to good Nature to see others in misery yet every Man's Grief is much the less when Discipline is administred impartially and of all others the humble Man's satisfaction is the greatest when comparing his Sins and his Sufferings with other Mens he findeth so vast a disproportion as if God were particularly merciful to him in visiting more and as he thinks more heinous Offences with fewer and less-afflicting Stripes It is one great cause of Murmurs and Impatience that we look at the Prosperity not at the Misfortunes of other People at least that we do not lay them equally to Heart Their glittering Condition strikes the tenderest Side and there makes the deepest impressions The sense of their Afflictions goes off with an easie and too often with a pleasant slide especially where Nature is too hard for Religion But were our Humility commensurate to St. Paul's when he owned himself less than the least of all Saints Ephes 3. 8. nay the chiefest of sinners 1 Tim. 1. 15. 'T were impossible for us to be very uneasie under our Affictions could we be able to give in such a large Register of them as he gives of his own 2 Cor. II. In the midst of which we find him still rejoycing In short he that is vile and worthless in his own estimate cannot but learn in what state soever he is therewith to be content unless he will be so false to himself as to condemn his own Opinion and reverse his own Judgment Which sufficiently demonstrates what an inestimable Blessing Humility is to the Soul amidst all the various and troublesome incumbrances of this Life At once it polisheth our Nature and refresheth us with Delights that is it doth us all the Good that we are capable of enjoying in a mortal state There is such an indissoluble Union between this Vertue and Felicity that it is impossible for a Man to be truly Humble but he must in spight of Fortune be very Happy too 2. I told you before That of all Afflictions those which we pretend to discern aloof off do many times affect the Mind with the greatest Anguish And at the close of this Consideration touching that Peace and Comfort wherewith Humility endues the Heart it will be necessary to observe how advantageous this Vertue is when a Calamity threatens and looks terrible at a distance In this Case there are three things especially which Humility suggesteth to our Minds for the ease and satisfaction of them 1. FIRST Our whole dependance being upon the Care of that infinite Being who is the Governor and Disposer of all things we may be sure that nothing can befal us contrary unto or without his Pleasure So that tho' we are little contemptible things of our selves yet considering whose Creatures we are and whose Hands we are in it is our Duty in all ominous Circumstances to commit our selves to God with such resignation and recumbency as becomes the Condition of poor shiftless Beings that are left entirely to him and hang every minute upon his Providence 2. SECONDLY God being infinitely Wise Governing and Ordering every part of the Universe with constant Respect to the Whole it is our Wisdom to acquiesce in our Lots as God shall please to dispense them and to make his blessed Will our Choice in regard that we our selves are so very short-sighted and partial that we are not fit to be our own chusers because we do not know what we should but crave only for what we would have 3. THIRDLY However Events prove it is not out of our power to make an Honest and Religious use of them and then all things shall work together for good to them that love God Rom. 8. 28. These humble Considerations must needs minister great Rest and Comfort to One's Soul tho' future Contingencies carry with them a terrible aspect and thereby the reasonableness and excellence of our Duty appears of taking no anxious carking Thoughts about to morrow Because God prefideth over all many things which we presage do not happen Clouds usually drop before they advance over our heads and how can the humble Man answer it to his own mind to crucifie himself before-hand for that which for ought he knows may never come to to pass Because God is infinitely Wise and Good who can tell certainly what is within the Cloud Or whether many Blessings may not fall down together with the Storm It is inconsistent with Humility to pry into God's Counsels after a distrustful manner and consequently to perplex One's Heart with a grievous apprehension of accidents which perhaps may be for his great advantage Or say it be a real Calamity that is coming it is an humble Man's part to leave God to his own time and to wait God's leisure without going forward to meet an Evil which he is bound to be patient under but not to anticipate Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof said the humble Jesus Matth. 6. 34. TO enforce the practice of Christianity as to this particular I cannot but observe what Religious Principles some Heathen Moralists went on who placed Happiness in the study and exercise of Vertue because it is the only thing which blesseth a Man's Soul with Satisfaction and Tranquillity By the Light of Nature they discover'd three great Truths which they proved too and urged the belief of them as absolutely necessary to a Man's Happiness 1. THAT there is a God or as they themselves mean a Sovereign Incorporeal Intellectual Being that is Uncompounded Independent Self-existent Self-moving the most Absolute and Perfect Good the Supreme and first Cause of all things 2. SECONDLY That as God exactly knoweth all the things he hath made and hath a Power over all
which may be of greater value 'T is pity that Men should out-live the Innocence of Childhood and retain its Follies If they were govern'd by a Spirit of true Humility they would make such a Religious use of those Wants which they count great Mischances as to be thankful to God that they are not greater nor more FURTHER yet suppose One's Misfortunes to be great indeed an humble Mind will direct him to consider whether other Mens do not equal and perhaps exceed them Few indeed take such an estimate of them because they do not create such an acute and home-pain as the little Thorn which is in One's own Flesh But we see Afflictions are every where and since they are common to all Mankind Humility teaches us to take it for our Comfort that we are not singular and instead of Murmuring to express our Gratitude by Works of Charity and Compassion to our Neighbours This is to make a good use of God's Dispensations and to all this we are directed by an humble Mind AND yet lastly there is one thing more which I should not forget or omit and it is That we should set our Affections on things above not on these earthly matters I have often thought on the Philosopher's Notion That the readiest way to be rich is not to enlarge One's Estate but to limit and pinion the Desires And this is the ready way to be happy also to keep our Minds from roving and to confine them to the things which are at home before us When Misfortunes disquiet us the great fault is within our selves because we want much of the Stoick as well as of the Christian and place Felicity not in the Practice of Vertue but in outward foreign Acquisitions And this is the reason that we are so troubled about them and dejected when we miss them whereas we should rather apply our Minds to that one thing necessary which is always ready at hand and never to be taken away without our own consent HUMILITY prompts us to improve our Spiritual State by the Dispensations of God in every mortifying Condition to grow Wiser or Better by them to become the more Meek the more Patient the more Devout the more mindful of our whole Duty to God and Man AND if we be careful to answer the Ends of the Divine Providence to us after this humble manner tho' the things which the World thirsteth after fall to a low ebb we shall have Waters enough within our own Cisterns to refresh our Souls till we get to those Rivers of Pleasure which are at God's Right-hand for evermore CHAP. VII The Suitableness of Humility to the Mind of Christ HAVING consider'd the great Usefulness of this Vertue in several Respects as a very powerful Argument to inforce the Practice of it I should now put an end to that part of this Discourse but that there remaineth behind yet one Consideration more which ought to be the most affecting and moving because it is to be drawn from the great Exemplar of all Holiness the Lord Jesus whose own Humility is a Pattern which he seems to have singled out from the rest of his Vertues for the more peculiar imitation of his Disciples Lest the Grandees of the World the Mighty and the Noble should account this Vertue an unmanly Habit and look upon it with a disdaining Eye as a thing infinitely beneath them the Son of God was pleas'd to Dignifie it with a singular Honour and to make it Glorious by inrobing himself with it and by expressing his own great Esteem of it to the very last THESE three things shew the stupendous Nature of his Humility 1. His wonderful Incarnation 2. His outward Condition of Life 3. His dying upon the Cross 1. FIRST His wonderful Incarnation In the Second Chapter of St. Paul's Epistle to the Philippians where the Apostle does with such Earnestness and Zeal conjure us to be humble-minded he makes use of Christ's own Example as the most operative and irresistible Argument because antecedent to his Conception in the Holy Virgin 's Womb he was a Divine Person actually having the Divine Essence really subsisting in the Divine Nature full of the Divine Majesty and of all the Glories which are Essential to the Deity In him dwelt all the fulness of the God-head Bodily that is truly really and substantially as St. Paul speaks Col. 2. 9. This is the meaning of those words Phil. 2. 6. Christ being in the form of God thought it no robbery to be equal with God meaning by Identity of Nature Notwithstanding which most glorious State he emptied himself taking the form of a Servant being made in the likeness of Men for that is the literal exact rendring of the words Verse 7. This was most astonishing Humility Deity and Manhood are things so vastly distant and the Distance between the Perfections of the one and the Infirmities of the other is so infinite that the Son of God's Condescention in taking humane Nature upon him is impossible to be express'd or comprehended God's being manifested in the Flesh is one of those Mysteries which Angels themselves desire to look into stooping and bowing down to pry into it as the Greek word signifies 1 Pet. 1. 12. Where the Apostle alludes to the golden Cherubims upon the Ark which hover'd with their wings over the Mercy-seat with their faces one toward another Exod. 37. 9. When the Power of the Highest over shadow'd the Virgin so that God became Incarnate a humane Body was prepar'd him that he might be in a fit state to transact the Mediator's Office which he had undertaken between his Father and Mankind This was indeed a necessary part of the Divine Oeconomy to bring about the great Ends of the New Covenant But yet the Son of God's submitting to the vile condition of Humanity is his subjecting himself thereby to the natural Weaknesses Wants and Passions of humane Flesh was a far greater act of Humility than when he humbled himself to Death which yet the Apostle reflected on with such Admiration Phil. 2. For a Man to die is the consequent of Nature and whatever the death is it is no such wonder as for God to be made Flesh This was such a reconciling of Extremes as could not be brought about but by stepping down to the very lowest degree of Exinanition and Abasement 2. AGREEABLE hereunto was the subsequent Condition of his Life from the Womb to the Grave All along so humble in every Respect that the World might easily see his Intentions were to banish all Pride out of the World and to shew what a despicable thing humane Glory is in the account of God whose own Glory consists in the adorable Perfections of his Nature To be entitled to such mean Parentage to take up with such poor Fortunes to be born in the Stable of an Inn to be wrapp'd in the coursest Fashion to be laid in a Manager to appear in such an abject despicable Condition and to make