Humility and Honour

The 73rdPsalm , like the 7th chapter of Romans , is a specimen of spiritual autobiography . Cut out , at the crisis , a section of that self-history of a soul ; "So foolish was I and ignorant ; I was a beast before thee . Nevertheless I am continually with thee; thou hast holden me by my right hand . Thou shalt guide me by the counsel , and afterwards receive me to glory ." Extremes meet here ; the l;owest and the highest touch each other . Within the compass of a few lines recording one man's experience , we find a humility which depresses him below the level of man ,and an honour which admits him into the presence of God . One moment the penitent feels himself to be brutish ; another, his glad forgiven spirit rises buoyant towards the throne like a flame of fire , or a ministering angel . These are the footsteps of the flock . It concerns us to know that we are on the same track ; for none other conducts us to safety . It is when a man is so purged of pride as to count himself as a "beast "  that he is best prepared for the company of a justifying God , and the spirits of just men made perfect . They who thus put off their righteousness as filthy rags , are ready to put on Christ ; and in Him they are counted worthy . Paul kept close on the track of the Psalmist ; in one verse it is "O wretched man that I am !" in the next "I thank God , through Jesus Christ our Lord ." If we get down into this "humility" through which these ancient disciples passed , we shall share the "honour "to which they have been raised . William Arnot

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