Humility imports a deep sense of our own weakness with a hearty and affectionate acknowledgment of our owing all that we are to the divine bounty, which is always accompanied with a profound submission to the will of God and great deadness toward the glory of the world and applause of men.
Humility will keep the soul free from many darts cast by Satan and from many erroneous snares spread by him. As low trees and shrubs are free from many violent blasts of wind which shake and rend the taller ones, so humble souls are free from those blasts of error which rend and tear proud, lofty souls. Satan and the world have greater difficulty to fasten errors upon humble souls.
Seek not great things for yourselves in this world, for if your garments be too long, they will make you stumble; and one staff helps a man in his journey when many in his hands at once hinders him.
Let not great men put too much trust in their greatness; the longer the robe is, the more soil it contracts. Great power may prove the mother of great damnation.
The first step to humility is to see one's pride; the first step to self-denial is to be convinced of one's desire after self-exalting, self-admiring, self-advancing—O what a proud heart have I! What a self advancing heart have I! There is no believer till he is fully renewed but what has something of self. We had need therefore to be jealous of ourselves; and if at any time self break out, if at any time the soul begins to be advanced in regard of duty or spiritual things, let us fall down before God and humble ourselves for the pride of our hearts.
Diligence, as it relates to trade, is a habitual employment of our bodily and mental powers about our proper callings in a just and happy medium between idleness, supineness, and trifling curiosity on the one hand and slavish drudging and immoderate care on the other.
Get a humble spirit if you would have a contented one. Pride causes men to be unthankful for their mercies and impatient under their crosses, but afflictions are easily borne and benefits are ever gratefully acknowledged by the mind that is truly humble under a sense of its defects.
It teaches us humility. As we were from Adam, so he was from the dust of the earth, and that dust from nothing. Our father was Adam, our grandfather dust, our great-grandfather nothing.Exposition Epistle of Jude, 299
There is nothing more profitable in the world than humility, because, though it seems to have nothing, yet it carries the soul to Him who fills all in all.
even in one's very bearing and tone of voice: not lowly towards one, and rude towards another; be lowly towards all men, be he friend or foe, be he great or small.Ephesians Commentary
Let us, at the very commencement of our meditations, admit that there is nothing so natural to man, nothing so insidious and hidden from our sight, nothing so difficult and dangerous, as pride. Let us feel that nothing but a very determined and persevering waiting on God and Christ will discover how lacking we are in the grace of humility, and how impotent to obtain what we seek. Let us study the character of Christ until our souls are filled with the love and admiration of His lowliness.Humility, Ch 1
Jesus Christ took the place and fulfilled the destiny of man, as a creature, by His life of perfect humility. His humility is our salvation. His salvation is our humility.Humility, Chapter 1
The life God bestows is imparted not once for all, but each moment continuously, by the unceasing operation of His mighty power. Humility, the place of entire dependence on God, is, from the very nature of things, the first duty and the highest virtue of the creature, and the root of every virtue.Humility, Chapter 1
It is not something that we bring to God, or that He bestows; it is simply the sense of entire nothingness that comes when we see how truly God is everything. When the creature realizes that this is a place of honor, and consents to be—with his will, his mind, and his affections—the vessel in which the life and glory of God are to work and manifest themselves, he sees that humility is simply acknowledging the truth of his position as creature and yielding to God His place.Humility
It needs to be made clear that it is not sin that humbles but grace. It is the soul occupied with God in His wonderful glory as Creator and Redeemer that will truly take the lowest place before Him.Humility
All the weapons of impiety must be bruised, and broken, and burnt in the fire; you must remain unarmed, having no help in yourself. The more infirm you are, the more the Lord will sustain you.Institutes, Book 2 Chapter 2
The Lord certainly does not deprive his servants of the light of the sun or the moon, but as he would alone appear glorious in them, he dissuades them from confidence even in those objects which they deem most excellent.Institutes, Book 2 Chapter 2