A truism, yet such that, while everybody is ready to apply it to his neighbour, few are wise enough to take it home to themselves. By the very nature of the case it is always ignored where it fits most aptly. Hence the need of insisting upon it.

I. THERE ARE STRONG INDUCEMENTS FOR FORMING AN UNDULY FAVOURABLE OPINION OF ONE'S SELF. Self-knowledge is a difficult acquisition. We cannot get the right perspective. The effort of turning the mind in upon itself is arduous. Then we are inclined to take imagination and desire for direct perception, i.e. to think we possess qualities which we only picture in thought; or to measure our faculties by our inclinations, to suppose that the wish to do certain things carries with it the power. E.g. an enthusiast for the violin is likely to suppose he can handle the instrument musically before other people are of that opinion. The very habit of thinking about ourselves causes a growing sense of self-importance. Moreover, by an unconscious selection we are led to dwell on the favourable features of our own characters, and leave out of account the unfavourable.

II. A HIGH OPINION OF ONE'S SELF IS COMMONLY FOUND TO BE ASSOCIATED WITH A LOW CONDITION OF REAL WORTH. Not invariably, for we sometimes find men of high endowments painfully self-assertive, either because they know that their merits have not been duly recognized, or because their vanity has been excited by the applause of their friends. Such cases reveal a weakness, and strike us as peculiarly unfortunate, for the men of worth would be wiser to wait for the acknowledgment which their merits by themselves will ultimately command had they but patience enough, or at the worst should be above caring overmuch for any such acknowledgment. Still, the merit may be real. In most cases, however, it is those who are least who boast the loudest. The man of little knowledge thinks he knows everything; wide knowledge reveals the awful vastness of the unknown, and impresses profound humility. So the holiest man is most conscious of his own sinfulness. At best, too, what right have we to think much of ourselves when all we have comes from God-our natural abilities as gifts of Providence, our spiritual attainments as graces of the Spirit?

III. AN UNDUE OPINION OF ONE'S SELF IS NOTHING BUT SELF-DECEPTION. It cannot long impose upon others. The world is not inclined to attach much weight to a man's own evidence in favour of himself. (Hypocrisy, or the deliberate effort to deceive others, is out of the question here, as that implies a knowledge of the falseness of our pretensions, while we are now considering the honest belief in them.) Such self-deception is unfortunate,

(1) because it will put us in a false position, incline us to make wrong claims, and to attempt the unattainable, and so result in disastrous failure;

(2) because it precludes the endeavour to improve ourselves;

(3) because it destroys the Christ-like grace of humility;

(4) because it provokes the ridicule, scorn, or even enmity of others. - W.F.A.

These words admit of two different interpretations, according as you connect the middle with the first or with the last clause.

1. If we connect the middle clause with the first one, as our translators have done, the meaning is, If a man think himself to be a Christian of a high order, while he either is not a Christian at all, or, at any rate, a Christian of a very inferior order, he commits an important mistake and falls into a hazardous error. The man who supposes himself arrived at the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ, when in reality only a babe in Christ, deceives himself, and throws important obstacles in the way of his own improvement. In their own estimation they have little to learn, while the truth is, they have learned but little. But the mistake is much more deplorable when a man flatters himself into the belief that he is a Christian, perhaps a Christian of the first order, while in reality he is not a Christian at all. The thing is quite possible — I fear not uncommon. We pity the poor maniac mendicant who thinks himself a king; we pity the man who has persuaded himself he is a man of wealth, while in reality he is in immediate hazard of bankruptcy; we pity the man who is assuring himself of long life, when he is tottering on the brink of the grave; but how much more to be pitied is the man who thinks himself secure of the favour of God, and of eternal happiness, while in reality the wrath of God is abiding on him, and a miserable eternity lies before him! No kinder office can be done to such a person than to arouse him from his state of carnal security, to undeceive him, to convince him of his wants while they may be supplied, of his danger while it may be averted. A woe is denounced against such as are thus at ease in Zion.

2. Perhaps, however, the apostle's meaning is, "If any man think he is something, he deceiveth himself, for he is nothing." The apostle is cautioning the Galatians against a vainglorious disposition; and in this verse I apprehend he means that the habitual indulgence of vainglory is utterly inconsistent with the possession of genuine Christianity. Humility is a leading trait in the character of every genuine Christian. He knows and believes that he is guilty before the God of heaven exceedingly, and he feels that he is an ignorant, foolish, depraved creature, that of himself he is nothing, less than nothing, and vanity. Feeling thus his insignificance as a creature, and his demerit and depravity as a sinner, he is not — he cannot be — vainglorlous. Whatever he is that is good, he knows God has made him to be. Whatever he has that is good, he knows God has given him. The falls of others excite in him not self-glorification, but gratitude.

(John Brown, D. D.)

A friend had fitted two glasses into a little ivory tube in such a way that any small object, like a midge or other insect, when put into it, and viewed through the smaller and upper glass, seemed of enormous magnitude, with all its parts, however diminutive, distinctly visible. If, however, the tube was reversed, and the objects contemplated through the larger glass, they then appeared to shrink below the usual size. Gotthold looked upon the contrivance with no ordinary pleasure, and said: "I know not what better name to give this instrument than 'the magnifier.'" In my opinion, however, the hearts of the proud and of the hypocritical are of the same construction. When they contemplate what is their own — their virtues and talents — they see through a glass which self-love has so artfully prepared that all seems of vast dimensions, and they imagine that they have good reason to boast and congratulate themselves upon their gifts. If, however, they have occasion to look at their neighbour and his good points, they turn the instrument upside down, and then all seems small and commonplace. In like manner, their own faults and vices they observe through the diminishing glass, and reckon them very inconsiderable; while they contemplate their neighbour's from the opposite side, and so convert a midge into an elephant: The greatest of all delusions in the world is that which man voluntarily practises upon himself, and which betrays him, with his eyes open, into pride, self-esteem, and contempt of others. You will own that the heart of the Pharisee, who looked upon himself as a mighty saint, and upon the publican as a brand fit for the burning, was of this description. That Pharisee, however, has left behind him a numerous breed, and spread his line over the whole earth. In fact, I do not believe there exists a man who has not sometimes used such an instrument in the way we have described.

(Scriver.)

Boswell relates that Dr. Johnson told him that when his father's workshop, which was a detached building, had partly fallen down for want of being repaired, he was no less diligent to lock the door every night, though he saw that anybody might walk in at the back. Even so do many persons, guarding themselves against one approach of sin only, while they are exposed to danger from some other point, vainly suppose themselves safe from their spiritual foes.

(R. Brewin.)

I. MEN ARE NOTHING OF THEMSELVES.

1. The gifts of God, whether of nature or grace, are not ours, but God's.

2. In the use of these gifts the best fall far short of what they ought to be (1 Corinthians 15:10; 1 Corinthians 8:2).

II. THOUGH MEN ARE NOTHING, YET THEY SEEM TO BE SOMETHING, and that of themselves. This arises from —

(1)Pride;

(2)the excessive consideration of our good things;

(3)the comparing of ourselves with the infirmities of others;

(4)the flattery of men.

III. IN SO DOING, MEN DECEIVE THEMSELVES. Self-deception is

(1)The worst deception (James 1:22, 26);

(2)the most dangerous deception;

(3)self-degradation;

(4)spiritual impotence. Conceit is fatal to the duty of burdenbearing, for it is the death of love.

IV. THE REMEDIES AGAINST THE OVERWEENING OF OURSELVES.

1. To look ourselves in the glass of the law (1 Corinthians 3:18).

2. To remember that the gifts on which we pride ourselves are ours only for a time (Luke 16:2), and for the use of them we shall be held responsible.

3. To compare ourselves with God's majesty (Psalm 8:4).

(R. Cudworth.)

One day Narcissus, who had resisted all the charms of others, came to an open fountain of silvery clearness. He stooped down to drink, and saw his own image, and thought it some beautiful water-spirit living in the fountain. He gazed, and admired the eyes, the neck, the hair, the lips. He fell in love with himself. In vain he sought a kiss and an embrace. He talked to the charmer, but received no response. He could not break the fascination, and so he pined away and died. The moral is, Think not too much nor too highly of yourself.

A hungry man once caught and killed a nightingale that filled a grove with its song. A bird that makes so much noise, thought he, must be something. So he plucked it. And lo! it was no bigger than a sparrow. "Ah!" said the man, "I see what you are. You are voice and nothing else." So it is with not a few. They are full of vauntings, they talk of their goodness, their liberality the whole parish rings with the praises of themselves, which they warble so well. But pluck them, strip them of all appearances, and you will find them "voice and nothing else." A great deal of talk, and very little action.

(S. Baring-Gould, M. A.)

Galatians, PaulGalatiaAnyone, Deceive, Deceives, Deceiveth, Deluding, Idea, Nobody, Nothing, Reputes, Somebody, Thinketh, Thinks, Tricked1. He moves them to deal mildly with a brother who has slipped,
2. and to bear one another's burden;
6. to be generous to their teachers,
9. and not weary of well-doing.
12. He shows what they intend that preach circumcision.
14. He glories in nothing, save in the cross of Christ.

Galatians 6:3

     5191   thought
     5813   conceit
     5943   self-deception
     8805   pride, results

Galatians 6:2-3

     8356   unselfishness

Galatians 6:3-4

     8340   self-respect
     8478   self-examination

September 19. "In Due Season we Shall Reap if we Faint Not" (Gal. vi. 9).
"In due season we shall reap if we faint not" (Gal. vi. 9). If the least of us could only anticipate the eternal issues that will probably spring from the humblest services of faith, we should only count our sacrifices and labors unspeakable heritages of honor and opportunity, and would cease to speak of trials and sacrifices for God. The smallest grain of faith is a deathless and incorruptible germ, which will yet plant the heavens and cover the earth with harvests of imperishable glory. Lift up …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

October 20. "Let us not be Weary in Well-Doing" (Gal. vi. 9).
"Let us not be weary in well-doing" (Gal. vi. 9). If Paul could only know the consolation and hope that he has ministered to the countless generations who have marched along the pathway from the cross to the Kingdom above, he would be willing to go through a thousand lives and a thousand deaths such as he endured for the blessing that has followed since his noble head rolled in the dust by the Ostian gate of Rome. And if the least of us could only anticipate the eternal issues that will probably …
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

Doing Good to All
'As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all. . . .'--GAL. vi. 10. 'As we have therefore'--that points a finger backwards to what has gone before. The Apostle has been exhorting to unwearied well-doing, on the ground of the certain coming of the harvest season. Now, there is a double link of connection between the preceding words and our text; for 'do good' looks back to 'well-doing,' and the word rendered 'opportunity' is the same as that rendered 'season.' So, then, two thoughts …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Owner's Brand
I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus.'--GAL. vi. 17. The reference in these words is probably to the cruel custom of branding slaves as we do cattle, with initials or signs, to show their ownership. It is true that in old times criminals, and certain classes of Temple servants, and sometimes soldiers, were also so marked, but it is most in accordance with the Apostle's way of thinking that he here has reference to the first class, and would represent himself as the slave of Jesus Christ, …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Burden-Bearing
'Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. . . . 5. For every man shall bear his own burden.'--GAL. vi. 25. The injunction in the former of these verses appears, at first sight, to be inconsistent with the statement in the latter. But Paul has a way of setting side by side two superficially contradictory clauses, in order that attention may be awakened, and that we may make an effort to apprehend the point of reconciliation between them. So, for instance, you remember he puts …
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

The Glory of the Cross
"God forbid that I should glory save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ."--GAL. VI. 14. There are at least two reasons, unconnected with Holy Week, why the subject of the Cross of Christ should occupy our attention. 1. The first reason is, that the Cross is commonly recognised as the weak point in our Christianity. It is the object of constant attack on the part of its assailants: and believers are content too often to accept it "on faith," which means that they despair of giving a rational …
J. H. Beibitz—Gloria Crucis

21ST DAY. A Due Reaping.
"He is Faithful that Promised." "In due season we shall reap, if we faint not."--GAL. vi. 9. A Due Reaping. Believer! all the glory of thy salvation belongs to Jesus,--none to thyself; every jewel in thine eternal crown is His,--purchased by His blood, and polished by His Spirit. The confession of time will be the ascription of all eternity: "By the grace of God I am what I am!" But though "all be of grace," thy God calls thee to personal strenuousness in the work of thy high calling;--to "labour," …
John Ross Macduff—The Faithful Promiser

Cadman -- a New Day for Missions
S. Parkes Cadman is one of the many immigrant clergymen who have attained to fame in American pulpits. He was born in Shropshire, England, December 18, 1864, and graduated from Richmond College, London University, in 1889. Coming to this country about 1895 he was appointed pastor of the Methodist Episcopal Metropolitan Tabernacle, New York. From this post he was called to Central Congregational Church, Brooklyn, with but one exception the largest Congregational Church in the United States. He has …
Various—The World's Great Sermons, Volume 10

On Mysteries --God Gives them Here in Reality.
It will be objected that, by this way, mysteries will not be made known. It is just the contrary; they are given to the soul in reality. Jesus Christ, to whom it is abandoned, and whom it follows as the Way, whom it hears as the Truth, and who animates it as the Life, impressing Himself upon it, imparts to it His own condition. To bear the conditions of Christ is something far greater than merely to consider those conditions. Paul bore the conditions of Christ on his body. "I bear in my body," …
Jeanne Marie Bouvières—A Short Method Of Prayer And Spiritual Torrents

Translator's Introductory Notice.
In the remarkable work known as his Retractations, Augustin makes a brief statement on the subject of this treatise on the Harmony of the Evangelists. The sixteenth chapter of the second book of that memorable review of his literary career, contains corrections of certain points on which he believed that he had not been sufficiently accurate in these discussions. In the same passage he informs us that this treatise was undertaken during the years in which he was occupied with his great work on the …
Saint Augustine—our lord's sermon on the mount

All that is Born of the Flesh must be Born of the Spirit.
In the former chapter we have shown, from Scripture and from reason, that our Church teaches only the plain truth, when she confesses that: "After Adam's fall, all men, begotten after the common course of nature, are born with sin." As a sinful being the new-born infant is not in the Way of Salvation. By its natural birth, from sinful parents, it is not in the kingdom of God, but in the realm and under the dominion of sin, death and the devil. If left to itself--to the undisturbed development of …
G. H. Gerberding—The Way of Salvation in the Lutheran Church

And to Holy David Indeed it Might More Justly be Said...
22. And to holy David indeed it might more justly be said, that he ought not to have been angry; no, not with one however ungrateful and rendering evil for good; yet if, as man, anger did steal over him, he ought not to have let it so prevail, that he should swear to do a thing which either by giving way to his rage he should do, or by breaking his oath leave undone. But to the other, set as he was amid the libidinous frenzy of the Sodomites, who would dare to say, "Although thy guests in thine own …
St. Augustine—Against Lying

On Account Then of These Either Occupations of the Servants of God...
17. On account then of these either occupations of the servants of God, or bodily infirmities, which cannot be altogether wanting, not only doth the Apostle permit the needs of saints to be supplied by good believers, but also most wholesomely exhorteth. For, setting apart that power, which he saith himself had not used, which yet that the faithful must serve unto, he enjoins, saying, "Let him that is catechised in the word, communicate unto him that doth catechise him, in all good things:" [2531] …
St. Augustine—Of the Work of Monks.

The Hindrances to Mourning
What shall we do to get our heart into this mourning frame? Do two things. Take heed of those things which will stop these channels of mourning; put yourselves upon the use of all means that will help forward holy mourning. Take heed of those things which will stop the current of tears. There are nine hindrances of mourning. 1 The love of sin. The love of sin is like a stone in the pipe which hinders the current of water. The love of sin makes sin taste sweet and this sweetness in sin bewitches the …
Thomas Watson—The Beatitudes: An Exposition of Matthew 5:1-12

Introductory.
As introductory to the following dissertation, I shall explain and define certain terms that frequently occur in it, especially canon, apocryphal, ecclesiastical, and the like. A right apprehension of these will make the observations advanced respecting the canon and its formation plainer. The words have not been taken in the same sense by all, a fact that obscures their sense. They have been employed more or less vaguely by different writers. Varying ideas have been attached to them. The Greek …
Samuel Davidson—The Canon of the Bible

The Beautiful Hague
When we came to the Hague, though we had heard much of it, we were not disappointed. It is, indeed, beautiful beyond expression. Many of the houses are exceedingly grand and are finely intermixed with water and wood; yet are not too close, but so as to be sufficiently ventilated by the air. Being invited to tea by Madam de Vassenaar (one of the first quality in the Hague), I waited upon her in the afternoon. She received us with that easy openness and affability which is almost peculiar to Christians …
John Wesley—The Journal of John Wesley

"Hear the Word of the Lord, Ye Rulers of Sodom, Give Ear unto the Law of Our God, Ye People of Gomorrah,"
Isaiah i. 10, 11, &c.--"Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers of Sodom, give ear unto the law of our God, ye people of Gomorrah," &c. It is strange to think what mercy is mixed with the most wrath like strokes and threatenings. There is no prophet whose office and commission is only for judgment, nay, to speak the truth, it is mercy that premises threatenings. The entering of the law, both in the commands and curses, is to make sin abound, that grace may superabound, so that both rods and threatenings …
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

Of Mysteries
Of Mysteries It may be objected, that, by this method, we shall have no mysteries imprinted on our minds: but it is quite the reverse; for it is the peculiar means of imparting them to the soul. Jesus Christ, to whom we are abandoned, and whom "we follow as the way, whom we hear as the truth, and who animates us as the life" (John xiv. 6) in imprinting Himself on the soul, impresses the characters of His different states; and to bear all the states of Jesus Christ is far more sublime, than merely …
Madame Guyon—A Short and Easy Method of Prayer

Growth in Grace.
Text--But grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.--2 Pet. iii. 18. I MUST conclude this Course of Lectures by giving converts instructions on the subject of growth in grace. I shall pursue the following method: I. What is grace, as the term is here used? II. What the injunction "to grow in grace" does not mean. III. What it does mean. IV. Conditions of growth in grace. V. What is not proof of growth in grace. VI. What is proof of growth in grace. VII How to grow in …
Charles Grandison Finney—Lectures on Revivals of Religion

Princely Service.
NUMB. VII. We learned from Numbers vi, GOD'S requirements of those who desire to take the privileged position of separation to Himself. We found also in the conclusion of the same chapter the overflow of GOD'S love in the rich and comprehensive blessing which so appropriately follows, and forms the connecting link between Nazarite separation and the princely service set forth in Chap. vii,--one of the longest in the Bible, and one full of repetition. We now propose to consider more fully why this …
James Hudson Taylor—Separation and Service

Concerted Prayer
"A tourist, in climbing an Alpine summit, finds himself tied by a strong rope to his trusty guide, and to three of his fellow-tourists. As they skirt a perilous precipice he cannot pray, Lord, hold up my goings in a safe path, that my footsteps slip not, but as to my guide and companions, they must look out for themselves.' The only proper prayer in such a case is, Lord, hold up our goings in a safe path; for if one slips all of us may perish.'"--H. Clay Trumbull The pious Quesnel says that "God …
Edward M. Bounds—The Essentials of Prayer

Excursus on the Use of the Word "Canon. "
(Bright: Notes on the Canons, pp. 2 and 3.) Kanon, as an ecclesiastical term, has a very interesting history. See Westcott's account of it, On the New Testament Canon, p. 498 ff. The original sense, "a straight rod" or "line," determines all its religious applications, which begin with St. Paul's use of it for a prescribed sphere of apostolic work (2 Cor. x. 13, 15), or a regulative principle of Christian life (Gal. vi. 16). It represents the element of definiteness in Christianity and in the …
Philip Schaff—The Seven Ecumenical Councils

How the Married and the Single are to be Admonished.
(Admonition 28.) Differently to be admonished are those who are bound in wedlock and those who are free from the ties of wedlock. For those who are bound in wedlock are to be admonished that, while they take thought for each other's good, they study, both of them, so to please their consorts as not to displease their Maker; that they so conduct the things that are of this world as still not to omit desiring the things that are of God; that they so rejoice in present good as still, with earnest …
Leo the Great—Writings of Leo the Great

Forms Versus Character
'Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God.'--1 COR. vii. 19. 'For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love.'--GAL. v. 6. 'For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.'--GAL. vi. 16 (R.V.). The great controversy which embittered so much of Paul's life, and marred so much of his activity, turned upon the question whether a heathen man could come …
Alexander Maclaren—Romans, Corinthians (To II Corinthians, Chap. V)

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