“He that is down needs fear no fall;
He that is low no pride;
He that is humble, ever shall
Have God to be his guide.”
—John Bunyan. Royal Insignia, p. 66
Many Christians will be familiar with these famous lines written by John Bunyan. Edwin and Lillian Harvey have included them in Royal Insignia, their compilation on humility, in the reading entitled “A little push downwards.” In the same reading they have included an epitaph written by William Cowper for his friend, Hooker:
“He that lay so long obscurely low,
Doth now preferred to greater honors go.
Ambitious men, learn hence to be more wise,
Humility is the true way to rise:
And God in me this lesson did inspire,
To bid this humble man, ‘Friend, sit up higher.’”
–William Cowper. Royal Insignia, p. 66
“In all the copious language of the Greeks,” says John Wesley, “there was not one word for humility till it was made by the great Apostle Paul. The whole Roman language, even with all the improvements of the Augustan age, does not afford so much as a name for humility.”—Royal Insignia, p. 69/em>
The above quote was taken from a reading entitled “The Venom of Pride.” In the same reading we have the following comment by Spurgeon on this “venom.” “There never was a saint yet that grew proud of his fine feathers, but what the Lord plucked them out by and by. There never yet was an angel that had pride in his heart, but he lost his wings and fell in Gehenna, as Satan and those fallen angels did. And there never shall be a saint who indulges self-conceit and pride and self-confidence, but the Lord will spoil his glories and trample his honors in the mire.”
—Royal Insignia, p. 69