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SERMON III.

66

THE HUMILITY OF CHRIST.

Apn 27. 1872.

John riii. 12-15.

TAKEN HIS GAR

THEM, KNOW YE

SO AFTER HE HAD WASHED THEIR FEET, AND HAD
MENTS, AND WAS SET DOWN AGAIN, HE SAID UNTO
WHAT I HAVE DONE TO YOU?-YE CALL ME MASTER AND LORD: AND
YE SAY WELL; FOR SO I AM. IF I THEN, YOUR LORD AND MASTER,
HAVE WASHED YOUR FEET; YE ALSO OUGHT TO WASH ONE ANOTH-
ER'S FEET. FOR I HAVE GIVEN YOU AN EXAMPLE, THAT YE SHOULD
DO AS I HAVE DONE TO YOU."

We have here a beautiful example of our Lord's emblematic mode of instruction. By washing the feet of his disciples, he doubtless intended to teach them the virtue of humility. How needful was such an admonition, we learn from the various accounts given by the Evangelists of the circumstances attending the transaction, recorded in the text. The last Supper was over: Jesus had instituted an affecting memorial of himself, and had just disclosed the melancholy intelligence, that ere long he should be betrayed by one of his own followers. The whole scene was solemn and impressive; and calculated, it might have been supposed, to check the slightest feelings of ambition and pride. But the

fact proved otherwise. We are informed by Luke, in the corresponding section of his gospel, that "there was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest:" and it was to condemn this worldly temper-to give them in his own person a striking lesson of the profoundest humility-that the Son of God, and the Saviour of mankind stooped to the lowest, and, apparently, the most degrading, office of menial duty.

In this scene of our Saviour's history, there is an almost dramatic beauty and impressiveness. To behold a being, so highly favored of God, so pre-eminently endowed with wisdom and holiness and power, whose public life had been one continued series of beneficent miracles and eloquent discourses-whose benignant countenance and venerable demeanor bespoke his godlike character and exalted mission-to behold this illustrious personage, in the dignified simplicity of conscious greatness, divesting himself of every outward badge of superiority and bending to the lowliest act of social kindness, even to the feet of those, whom he had reclaimed, instructed and saved-while the simple men, whose pride he thus gently corrected, felt troubled by his courtesy and would fain have resisted such unheard of condescension ;-what a scene of sublime humility is here! What a sermon does it preach to the meanness and the littleness of this world's pride and haughtiness! How does it wither into unspeakable nothingness all those tricks of pomp and state, by which the mighty and opulent of the earth affect the semblance of greatness-and would gladly exclude from their presence and communion those humbler children of humanity, whose

feet the Redeemer of our race thought it not beneath him to wash!

The striking originality of Christ's character is one of the most conclusive internal proofs of the divinity of his mission. When he appeared, humility, as he taught and exemplified it, was something new in moral character. The Greeks and Romans were enamored of the daring and heroic in human action: humility, in their estimation, was a mean and servile quality. But survey the character of Jesus, and say-whether it does not at once confute this mistaken idea; whether, in fact, his virtue ever appears more truly magnanimous and sublime, than in the very act of washing his disciples' feet. His humility is remarkable both for its simplicity and its dignity; and when we compare it with the other graces of his character-his piety, his self-command, his purity, gentleness and philanthropy -we behold such a beautiful and harmonious assemblage of virtues, that we feel persuaded, there must have been something more than human in the influence which inspired and cherished them, and exclaim, almost involuntarily, with the centurion at the cross, "Truly this was a Son of God."

Let us, then, consider the sources, from which this excellence of our Lord's character arose, and the modes in which it chiefly showed itself.

I. The humility of Jesus grew naturally out of the deep devotional spirit, which imbued his whole life. We have the proofs of his piety in every page of the gospel it is seen in the prevailing tone of his discourses; it is implied in the habitual tenor of his conduct. It is very element, in which his existence moved,-the

the

sacred influence, under which he perpetually spoke and acted. Does he perform a miracle-heal the sick, give To God he desight to the blind or raise the dead?

voutly ascribes the wonderful power, of which he feels himself only the appointed instrument; to God, the Author of all good, he raises the adoring thoughts of his awe-struck followers. He tastes not the commonest blessings, and partakes not of the simplest meal, without first offering his solemn tribute of thanksgiving to the Universal Father.

Incessantly followed by devoted multitudes, who hung with rapture on his lips, and whom a single word —a mere look—would have made immediately subservient to his will, he never forgets, for a moment, the Almighty Being, who had sent him, and whose purposes it was his high mission to fulfil in his most unguarded actions and expressions, we never discern the slightest traces of ambition or worldly mindedness. On concluding the labors of the day-or perhaps before resuming them again, we find him escaping into the loneliness of the desert, to hold sweet intercourse with his Heavenly Father; fervently renewing his petitions for divine assistance and direction; quickening the devout consciousness of dependence and protection; strengthening his purposes of unreserved obedience; and praying, in the lowliness of his heart, with deep submission to the will of God, that he might faithfully exercise those extraordinary gifts with which he felt himself entrusted.

That perfection of devotion, which the best men find it so difficult to maintain in the present world, our Saviour fully realized and it was from this habitual communion with God-this devotedness of

heart and life to God's service-that the beautiful and

unaffected humility of his character arose. He regarded nothing which he possessed, as his own; every thing as God's. If we examine the nature of that contemptible pride, which is so prevalent in the world, we shall find it consist in over-estimating ourselves, above the rest of mankind, for the possession of things to which we have no original title whatever; which are no more our's, in an enlarged sense, than the breath and light of heaven; which, in fact we hold only under the tenure of God's sovereign will and pleasure. Strange as it may seem, it is upon those very possessions which are least connected with individual worth, and, in their own nature, are most casual, transitory, and precarious, that the children of this world are ever most forward to pride themselves. The pride of birth, and the pride of wealth, of all human claims to distinction the most absurd and despicable, are nevertheless of all the most notoriously common. Men, who have not one intrinsic claim to respect-because their ancestors were braver and better than themselves, or the lottery of fortune has dealt them ample possessions, are daily seen to affect airs of superiority, and to insult with contemptuous insolence the honest feelings of their less distinguished fellow creatures. Picture to yourselves the conduct of these weak and infatuated men; mark their overbearing demeanor, their haughty assumption, their patronizing smiles of condescension: and then turn to the simple narrative of John-behold the Saviour of the world-to whom the spirit was given without measure, who spake as never man spake, who was God's chosen messenger and well beloved Son-girded like a hired

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