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tre and the end of all perfection! It is probable that those Beings, who, by the dignity of their nature, are placed nearest to the throne of the Almighty, are so penetrated with a sense of their immeasurable distance from the original and self-existing Glory, that they are of all creation at once the highest and the most lowly. The vapours of vanity float only in our earthly atmosphere, they cannot ascend into a pure and ethereal region.

But the chief sources of Christian Humility are certainly to be found in Christian principles. Pride is opposite to our nature as Men; what must it be, then, to our condition as sinners! The Gospel is an offer of free mercy to penitent offenders; but it "pre-supposes the charge of guilt." it opens wide the gates of Salvation to the mightiest and the meanest, to the most amiable and to the most odious; but it exacts from all a conviction and confession of sin as the indispensable terms of admission. Amid the cares and pleasures of life, Christians are apt to forget the nature of their profession, and to contemplate the Gospel practically, (whatever be the creed they acknowledge,) chiefly as an economy instituted for the perfection of Man by the promotion of virtue, overlooking its more peculiar character of a dispensation established and promulgated for the recovery of a fallen race from guilt and condemnation. The consequence of this declension in principles, (from which none are safe who think themselves secure,) is almost always found to be a similar declension in practice. The springs of holy action are

relaxed. Humility more especially, the nurse of every other virtue, sensibly languishes; and, in the place of devotedness to God, and a growing conformity to his will, which are of the very essence of Religion, is substituted a poor, heartless, unprofitable system of life, which is termed decent, only because in this world there are but too many who are interested to keep it in countenance. But the Christian who duly appreciates the greatness of the salvation wrought for him, will be careful not to be too much occupied with the scenes around him, but will often cast his eye backward to survey the region that is behind; he will frequently, and with deep humiliation, consider that he was "by nature born in sin;" that he, like others, was "sometime foolish, disobedient, deceived;" "but after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his great mercy, he saved us by the washing of regeneration, and renew, ing of the Holy Ghost, which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour; that, being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life." What powerful motives to lowliness and self-abasement are suggested by such a passage as this! How are the flattering suggestions of vanity stifled, and the loftiness of presumption dethroned, by the recollection of the condition from which we have been rescued, and the freedom of the mercy bestowed upon us!

We have read of some men who, hav

ing been raised from a mean origin to an exalted station, have carefully preserved memorials of their early distress as the best counsellors of their greatness*. Let us cherish with equal diligence the remembrance of our first estate, and as we still bear but too many traces of that diseased and miserable condition, let them remind us from whence we have been raised, that, with a deep and growing humiliation of heart, we may receive the bounties of our Creator and Saviour, confessing in our lives as with our lips, that "we are not worthy of the least of all his mercies."

But it would indeed be happy, if hereditary corruption or early wickedness were the only causes of self-abasement. We are sinners, not merely by the transmission of an evil nature or the imputation of past offences, but by daily and habitual practice. "In many things we offend all." And though the measure of guilt be exceedingly different according to our respective advances in holiness, and in some, it may reasonably be supposed, no longer very heinous, yet the charge of sin is general, nor are those probably the freest from its pollution who are

When Richelieu, in the latter part of his life, was erecting ä magnificent palace near the place of his birth, he spoiled the symmetry of the building, for the sake of including in it a part of a very humble mansion in which his youth had been spent. The late Countess Shimmelman, whose husband, from having been a petty tradesman, became one of the first officers of state in Denmark, always kept in her private scrutoire the scales and weights which she had used behind the counter.

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the least conscious of its power. turally the most sensible of their failures, because they have the most lively perception of true excellence and hence, in part, arises their remarkable humility; as the strongest lights cast the deepest shadows. It seems, indeed, only necessary to have a just view of the holiness of God, in order to feel our own sinfulness. Let us but consider the extent of the law of Love, let us even recollect what have been our own sentiments and convictions; and if the comparison of our daily habits with these standards, does not awaken shame and contrition, it cannot be "because we have performed much, but because we can conceive little." Or if we feel disposed to soften down our errors into imperfections, and plead guilty to deficiencies rather than sins, let us call in aid another consideration. By what power is it that we are preserved from the most flagitious offences? Are we sustained by our own strength? Is it the steady light of Reason that conducts us so safely through the clouds and darkness around us? Is it the holy fire of Spiritual Affection, purifying the air we breathe, and consuming the foul vapours that threaten to extinguish it? Woe were it for the best, if these were his only confidence. They who have known the force of temptation, and felt even for a little while that awful conflict, which many are ordained to feel, between the principles of holiness and the powers of evil, have learned by painful experience a lesson of higher wisdom. They tremble even at the recol

lection of their dangers; they are deeply sensible of the high import of that solemn admonition, "watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation;" they acknowledge with mingled confusion and thankfulness, that abandoned to their own strength they had perished for ever; and emptied of every vain and lofty thought, they commit themselves in the fulness of faith,'to that Almighty Saviour, whose power hath led captivity captive," whose Spirit hath gone forth" conquering and to conquer. I know not indeed any consideration more calculated than this, to humble the loftiest spirit. We are walking as it were on a single plank over a fathomless precipice. Thousands are falling around us the victims of their temerity, and our own feet are continually failing; a Heavenly Power sustains, a Heavenly arm directs, a Heavenly smile invites us forward. Can we doubt what is the disposition which best becomes our weakness and is the most necessary to our safety?

The blessed Grace which we are contemplating, is recommended to us by another consideration, which to a Christian should be above all others delightful and endearing. It is the temper of mind which our Redeemer has peculiarly invited us to "learn of him." With a simplicity and a dignity which have no parallel, he declared of himself, that "he was meek and lowly in spirit," and he has called on all who hear him, to bow their necks to his gentle yoke, that they may "find rest unto their souls." And shall we not rejoice in the les

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