Volume II, Treatise III, Chapter XXX

The Third Degree of Humility

Tue third degree of humility is attained by him, who having received great gifts from God, and seeing himself honoured and esteemed, is so far from being puffed up thereby, that he attributes nothing to himself, but everything to the fountain of. all good, which is God. And this third degree, says St. Bonaventure, is

attained by those only, who, being already great proficients in virtue, make their humility keep pace with their perfection. That a man full of faults and imperfections should acknowledge himself imperfect, is always commendable, but no great wonder; no more than it is for the son of a peasant to say, he is not the son of a king. That a poor man should believe he is poor; a sick man believe himself sick; or that every one should pass for what he is, is not to be wondered at; but what is strange indeed, is, that he who is rich, should rank himself among the poor; and that he who is above others, should descend to alevel with them. We must not wonder then, says the

\n same St. Bonaventure, that a wicked man believes himself wicked; but we ought, on the contrary, to wonder at him, should he look upon himself to be just and perfect; as much as we wonder at a man who, covered all over with leprosy, yet believes himself very sound and healthy. But that a man of eminent virtue, replenished with Almighty God’s grace, and truly great in his sight, should reckon himself the least of all his brethren, is a true subject of admiration, and an extraordinary effect of humility. “It is a great and rare virtue,” says St. Bernard, “‘to do great things, and yet not to think thyself great—to have thy sanctity known to every one, but to thyself—to appear an admirable man to all, and yet a vile one in thy own sight; this,” continues the saint, oy seems more to be admired than all other virtues.” —(Serm. xiii. sup. Cant.) This humility, the holy Virgin possessed in a sovereign degree of perfection. For when she understood that she was chosen to be the mother of God, she still acknowledged her own origin, and called herself, “‘the handmaid of the Lord;” (Luke 1:38), and when St. Elizabeth called her “blessed among women,” she did not ascribe to herself the glory of these prerogatives she enjoyed, but gave all to God; and taken up wholly with thoughts of a most profound humility, offered up her thanks to him, for the favours he had showered down upon her. ‘ My soul,” says she, “magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour; for he has regarded the humility of his handmaid.” (Luke 1:46) This humility is practised even in heaven itself, and this appears, says St. Gregory, by the vision which St. John had, “of the four and twenty-elders, who fell down before him, who sat on the throne; and worshipping him, cast their crowns at the foot thereof;” for to ‘< cast thy crown at the foot of the throne of God,” (Apocalypse 4:10) is not to attribute thy victories to thyself, but to acknowledge that they proceed wholly from him, and to give him all glory thereof as they did, saying, ‘‘thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive all glory, honour, and power, for thou has created all things, and by thy will they were and are created.—It is but just for us to cast our crowns at thy feet, because all that we have comes from thee, and whatever good there is in us, is the work of thy will, and the effect of thy divine grace.” (Apocalypse 4:11). Thus then we see that the third _ degree of humility consists, in not being exalted with the gifts we have received from God, and in not ascribing the glory of them to ourselves, but wholly to him as the author and dispenser of all good. \ But, if it be in this, that humility consists, some may say, we are then all humble; for do we not acknowledge, that what is good in us comes from God, and that of ourselves we are nothing but sin and misery? Who is there that will not say, that he should be the worst man in the world, if God abandoned him but for one moment? «Thy destruction, O Israel, comes from thyself,“says the Lord,, by the prophet Osee,”but in me is thy help.“_ (Osee, xili. 9.) It is an article of faith, that we have nothing of our own stock but sin, and that we hold all the rest from God’s bounty; and thus we all seem to have that humility of which we speak; because we all believe this evident truth, which is to be seen in almost every page of holy writ.” Every good and perfect gift,“Bays the apostle St. James,” comes from above and descends from the Father of lights.“—(Jam. i. 17.) The same thing St. Paul expresses in several places of his epistles,”what hast thou,“says Lo, cith at thou did a not receite bataresence notice. is God that works in you, both to will and to do, according to his good pleasure.”(1 Corinthians 4:7, &c.) Without him we cannot either do, or speak; begin or end; or even will or think any thing for our salvation; but all must come from God. And what clearer comparison can be given, to make us sensible of this truth, than that, which our Saviour himself makes use of in St. John? “As the branch,” says he, “cannot bear fruit of itself, except it remain in the vine, no more can ye, except ye abide in me.”-(John 15:4) “I am the vine, ye are branches, he that abides in me and I in him, brings forth much fruit, for without me ye can do nothing.“What brings forth more fruit than the branch joined to the vine, and what is more useless when separated from it? What is it good for?”What shall be done with the vine tree,“says the Lord to Ezechiel,” shall its wood be made use of, to do any work, or can a pin be made of it to hang any thing upon? It is good for nothing but to be thrown into the fire.* (Ezechiel 15:2,3) This shows what we are, when separated from the true vine, which is Jesus Christ. “If any one,” says he, «abidest not in me, he shall be east forth as a branch, and shall wither, and then shall be gathered up and thrown into the fire to be barned.“- (John 15:6) Of ourselves, therefore, we are good for nothing, but to be burned; or if we are any thing,” it is by the grace of God. that we are what we are.“-(1 Corinthians 15:10) Bus every one being, as we have already said, fully convinced of all this, we must acknowledge that all that is good in us comes from God;

that we have nothing of ourselves but sin; that we cannot ascribe the glory of any thing to ourselves; and that it is due to God alone. ‘Now, this truth being so evident, and so universally admitted, and the disposition of mind it requires, appearing at the same time so easy to a man of faith, that we should not, one would think, have made the chief degree of humility to consist therein.

True it is, that it is a thing which seems easy at first sight, yet -when it is considered not superficially, but at bottom, it is very hard and difficult. It seems easy to beginners, says Cassian, not to impute any thing to themselves; nor to rely any way upon their own strength; to ascribe all to God; and to expect every thing from him; but to do so, there is found indeed more difficulty than is‘ imagined. For as we contribute something to our own good actions, “which we perform, and in which we co-operate with.God;” (1 Corinthians 3:19); it happens, that we come unawares to rely too much upon ourselves; and presumption and pride gliding afterwards secretly into our heart and representing our good deeds to us, as our own work; we proceed so far, as to be exalted thereupon, and to assume alt the glory thereof to ourselves. Lastly, it is not so easy a business, as it seems, to restrain one’s self herein;

and we ought to be sufficiently convinced hereof, since the holy fathers have fixed in this self restraint the chief degree of humility;. and assert that the perfect only can attain it. For when we find favours heaped upon us, and consider the mighty things we per-. form, great perfection, is, in good truth, required, to give the glory to God, to whom it belongs, without assuming any of it, or giving - way to vain thoughts of complacency in ourselves. We must be endowed with very extraordinary virtue, and such as is very hard to be acquired, to see ourselves esteemed as saints by every one’ without receiving thereby some impression upon our heart.

To be surrounded with honours, without being any way moved, is, says St. Chrysostom, as if a man should be among beantifal women, without ever looking upon them otherwise than he should do. It is therefore a difficult thing, and such as requires long-tried virtue. To look down from a very high place, and not have a giddiness, requires a good head; nor is every constitution adequate to that; for even Lucifer and his. companions, when they saw themselves on so high a station, as they were, became so giddy, that they fell down into the bottomless pit. What destroyed him and them was that, “he abode not in the truth,” (John 8:24) that is to say, he abode not in his duty of acknowledging what he

owed to God; but began to please himself with his own perfections; not that he believed that they proceeded from himself; for he knew -very well that they all came from, and depended upon God, who created him. But, “by reason of his own beauty, his heart was puffed up,” says Ezechiel, “and he lost his wisdom; because of his brightness.” (Ezechiel 28:17) Of the gifts of God he made to himself trophies of pride, as if he had not received them; and instead of ascribing all the honour and glory thereof to God, he himself gloried in them, as if he had had them only of himself; so -that though he knew by his understanding, that the glory belonged to God; by his will, nevertheless, he robbed God of it and attributed.it to himself. The degree then of humility of which we speak, is not so easy to arrive to, as it seems; since the angels themselves -have found it so difficult, that not knowing how to keep within ‘bounds they fell from the high station where God had placed them. Now if the angels could not see themselves so high, without falling; how much more cause have we to fear, we, who are but miserable men, to whom with great reason these words of the prophet may be applied; “as soon as they shall find themselves honoured, and ‘exalted, they shall-consume as the smoke that vanishes?’’—/(Psal. xxxvi. 20.) And as smoke, the more it ascends, the more it dissipates itself and vanishes; in like manner, the more men find themselves exalted, the more they evaporate, in thoughts of pride and vanity. _. The Savionr of the world gives us warning himself to evade these rocks. He had sent forth his disciples to preach, and the gospel says, that they returned fall of joy; telling him, that “the devils themselves became subject to them in his name.” Whereupon he said to them, that, “he saw satan fall from heaven like lightuing,’”? (Luke 10:18), as if he would have expressed himself thus: take heed, for it was pride which made Lucifer fall from heaven. For seeing himself so perfect he fell into a vain conceit of himself, and instead of ascribing to God the glory of the gifts he had received of him, he made use of them as steps to his pride and ‘rebellion; beware, lest something equally bad should happen to you. Beware lest the miracles you work in my name should - possess you with vain joy, and make you forget what you are. _ These words are directed to all those, who are employed in the ministry of the gospel. Grow not proud; because it has pleased God to make use of you to benefit your neighbour, and to gain souls for heaven. Yield not to thoughts of vainglory, when you see - yourselves esteemed,-honoured, and applauded. Take heed of being exalted at any thing, or of suffering either the honour or praises given you, to make the least impression upon your heart; for it was pride that destroyed Lucifer, and of an angel of light changed him into a spirit of darkness. “By this,” says St. Austin, “may be seen how dangerous pride is, since it changes angels into devils; and how estimable, on the contrary, humility is, since it makes men like unto angels,”

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