demand it and they cheerfully pay respect where it is taken modestly, and not exacted of them as a tax or a tribute. Seek not praise, thirst not after glory, and you are sure to find it. Certainly, it must be a great mortification to a proud man to observe (if he observes any thing) that the humble man, only by modest silence, and keeping his place, easily acquires all that respect, honour, and glory, which a proud person, with infinite pains and sharp contentions, had been long labouring after, and could never obtain. A proud man considers not that respect, reverence, and esteem, are things never to be snatched from others, never to be extorted: they must come freely, if they come at all: force is a contradiction to their nature; and they lose their very name and essence as soon as exacted. There may be fear, there may be awe and dread, or servile flattery, extorted of another; but real respect, esteem, or honour, never come that way. Humility and modesty beget reverence and real esteem; being tokens. of real worth besides that God's providence often interposes to promote the humble: "Before honour is humi"lity," says Solomon P; and a greater than he has said, that "he that shall humble himself shall be exalted9."

But it may be asked perhaps, what is this humility, so much commended in Scripture? Is it for a man to make himself cheap and common? Is it to submit and give way to every one? Is it to stoop below one's place, station, and character? No, by no means. Humility is no levelling principle, no enemy to any distinctions of age, rank, place, or dignity. A man need not forget his station or his character, to show his humility. A man may think very humbly of himself, and yet know his place, and act up to his station and dignity. St. Paul was not proud when he said of himself, (having a just occasion for saying it,) that he was "not a whit behind the very chiefest Apostles';" nor when he insisted upon the benefit of his birth, and claim

Prov. xv. 33. xviii. 12. 2 Cor. xi. 5. xii. 11.

9 Matt. xxiii. 12. Luke xiv. 11. xviii. 14.

ed his privilege as a Romans. This was thinking highly of himself, but justly at the same time; for he was deeply sensible at the same time from whom he had received all, and therefore he humbly added, “ though I be nothing." A modest opinion of ourselves does not oblige us to idolize other persons, or to submit below our place or character. A man should know as well what is due to himself, as what is due to others; and if he goes no farther than he really knows, but judges strictly according to truth, and acts by that judgment, without partiality, he shows no pride in such a conduct; but approves himself as a wise and an honest man. If inferiors expect improper condescensions from their governors, or take it amiss not to be received upon an equal foot with them; the pride is in them who ask what they ought not; and not in those, who, mindful of their place and station, support it with dignity, and expect from their inferiors a becoming respect and a proper distance. There is therefore no pride in maintaining one's just authority or character: but when there is pride among persons of fashion and figure, it is seen chiefly in their not condescending to hear the just complaints of the humble and afflicted, poor and miserable; or, which is still worse, in their taking advantage of their superior station, to insult and tyrannise over others, and to oppress their inferiors. This is not supporting dignity, but lessening it; and is disparaging and disgracing both themselves and their station. The true character of greatness is, to afford protection and relief to the innocent, humble, and distressed; and to exert all the strength and force of their authority in crushing the sturdy and insolent, and all such as endeavour to make a prey of the weak, or a spoil of the honest and well deserving.

I have now done with the objection proposed; and I have been the larger in answering it, that the true notion of humility or of pride may be the more clearly understood. This indeed is the most material point. All man

kind condemn pride, but they do not always know distinctly what it means. I have endeavoured to describe it in as plain characters as I could, for our information: not to teach any one to find it in his neighbour, (for that is no token of humility; the proudest men generally complaining most of pride in others, because their own can least bear it,) but to examine the more carefully into our own selves; and that, in order to discover whether any thing of this poisonous vice be yet lurking in us; and if we find it so, to use all proper means to purge it out. May we all seriously endeavour to do thus, for the satisfying our own consciences, and the saving our souls.

VOL. IX.

SERMON XV.

The Wisdom of true Simplicity of Mind and Integrity of Manners.

JOHN i. 47.

Jesus saw Nathanael coming to him, and saith of him, Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!

THE Apostle Bartholomew is, by good interpreters, sup

posed to have been this very Nathanael, of whom our Lord here speaks in such high terms of commendation. Nathanael might be the name which he commonly went under before his conversion to Christ, and Bartholomew might be the Christian title which he assumed afterwards.

The memorable character here given of him is, that he was "an Israelite indeed," or true Israelite, "in whom "was no guile:" he was a person of great simplicity and integrity; remarkable for his honest and upright heart, his frank and open conversation, and for his plainness and sincerity in all his dealings: he had no sinister or selfish views, no deceit nor craftiness in him; his designs were all just, fair, and honourable; his conduct equal, clear, and uniform in a word, his tongue, his hand, and his heart, all went together.

Such was his general character; and, by the particular notice which our blessed Lord was pleased to take of it, we may perceive that he looked upon it as somewhat rare and uncommon, above the ordinary pitch of human virtue. In discoursing farther, my design is,

I. To inquire how it comes to pass, that guile and insincerity are so apt to prevail amongst men.

II. To set forth the wisdom of true simplicity of mind and integrity of manners, both with respect to the world that now is, and that which is to come.

I.

As to the first particular; if we look back to the original of guile, and search to the bottom of it, we shall find it chiefly owing to that natural selfishness which is, in a manner, born in us, and bred up with us; and which nothing can ever thoroughly correct or cure, but a deep and due sense of God and religion. Men naturally feel their own cravings and uneasinesses; but they feel not, in like manner, the cravings and uneasinesses of other persons: and therefore they are naturally prompted to indulge themselves as far as they can, though it be at the expence of their neighbours, who have the like inclinations and aversions with them. A little time and experience sufficiently convinces every man, that there is no forcing all around him to yield to his single will or humour; but he is certain to meet with strong resistance and opposition on every side, as often as he directly attempts any thing of that sort. Hence arises a kind of moral necessity of making use of management and address, in order to compass that by wile and artifice, which cannot be obtained by open violence. Here lies the foundation of guile, treachery, and deceit. They are the natural result of an overweening self-love, meeting with opposition from without, and not yet restrained by true and right principles from within.

It is one chief aim of the laws of every well-governed society, or community, to bridle, in some measure, the exorbitances of selfishness; that it may not break out to that degree, as totally to destroy or disturb the public harmony: but, notwithstanding all the outward legal restraints that can be enacted, there is still room enough left for guile and treachery to range in. Human laws may be eluded or perverted; and the men of guile may often manage so artfully, as to turn the very laws them