Let the thought of Christ keep you always
humble: and yet let it lift you up to the highest, noblest, purest
thoughts which man can have, as it will.
For all that this old heathen says of the use of examples of good
men, all that, and far more, St. Paul says, almost in the same
words. By looking at Christ, he says, we rise and sit with him in
heavenly places, and enjoy the sight of His perfect goodness;
ashamed of ourselves, indeed, and bowed to the very dust by the
feeling of our own unworthiness; and yet filled with the thought of
his worthiness, till, by looking we begin to admire, and, by
admiring, we begin to love; and so are drawn and lifted up to him,
till, by beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, and the
perfect beauty of his character, we become changed into the same
image, from glory to glory: and thus, instead of receiving the just
punishment of pride and contempt, which is lowering our characters
to the level of those on whom we look down, we shall receive the
just reward of true humility, which is having our characters raised
to the level of him up to whom we look.
Oh young people, think of this; and remember why God has given you
the advantage of scholarship and education. Not that you may be
proud of the very little you know; not that you may look down on
those who are not as well instructed as you are; not that you may
waste your time over silly books, which teach you only to laugh at
the follies and ignorance of some of your fellow-men, to whom God
has not given as much as to you; but that you may learn what great
and good men have lived, and still live, in the world; what wise,
and good, and useful things have been, and are being, done all
around you; and to copy them: above all, that you may look up to
Christ, and through Christ, to God, and learn to copy him; till you
come, as St.
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