"And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low; and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day." --- Isaiah 2:17.
"Pride was not made for man," says the son of Sirach: and "the proud in heart are an abomination to the Lord;" and yet what is more common than pride and self-righteousness among the fallen children of Adam? So deeply are they ingrafted in our corrupt natures, that nothing short of Almighty grace can root them up.
It is the great design and effect of the blessed gospel, wherever it is applied to the heart by the Spirit of God, to mortify this cursed temper. In that day, the haughtiness of man, his self-will, which he set up in opposition to the will of God, shall be brought down; and his self-righteousness, by which he thought to recommend himself to the favour of God, shall be made low; and Christ and his righteousness alone shall be exalted.
Hath this precious promise ever been fulfilled in thy experience, O my soul? Is the will of God thy rule? Is the righteousness of Christ thy hope? and is the language of thy heart and life, "Let God in all things be exalted in me and by me, through Christ Jesus?" Without this, O my soul, thy profession is vain, thy faith is also vain, and thou art yet in thy sins.
Lord, lay my legal spirit low,
And ev'ry lofty look subdue;
Bid all my heart to Jesus bow,
Exalt, and love, and trust him too.