True versus False Humility (3)

(6) In false humility the hypocrites are sorrowful for the judgment, that is upon them; but not for that which is the cause of the judgment, which is sin; but the child of God, he is humbled for sin, which is the cause of all judgments. As good Josiah, when he heard read out of Deuteronomy the curses threatened for sin, and comparing the sins of his people with the sins against which the curses were threatened, he humbled himself for his sin and the sins of his people. Whereas the wicked, they humble themselves only because of the smart and trouble which they do endure.
(7) True humiliation is a thorough humiliation. It is twice repeated in 2 Chronicles 34:27, 'you did humble yourself before God when you heard the words against this place and against the inhabitants thereof and humbled yourself before me.' It was a thorough humiliation. The children of God thoroughly humble themselves, but the hypocrite, when he does humble himself, it is not thoroughly. They count it a light matter. As soon as the judgment is off, they have forgotten their humiliation, as Pharaoh did. Many will breathe a few sighs and hang down the head like a bulrush for a time; but it is, like Ephraim's morning dew, quickly gone. It is but a mere offer of humiliation. Whereas the children of God, when they begin, they never cease working upon their own hearts with meditation, until they have brought their heart to a blessed temper, as we see in David, Ezra, Hezekiah, and Daniel, how they did humble themselves. But why do God's children take pains in humbling themselves? Partly because it must be done, else God will not accept it; and partly because there is a great deal of hardness and pride in the best. If a man be once thoroughly and truly humbled, he shall soon have comfort.
By these seven marks we may know a true humility from a counterfeit humility.

Devotional Readings taken from Puritan Richard Sibbes 'Refreshment for the Soul.'
Josiah's Reformation, pp. 75-77 [56-60]
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