It is not possible to think too humbly of yourself, it is not possible to be too lowly, you cannot abase yourself too much in His Holy Presence. Your only attitude is that of Moses when he took off his shoes because the place he stood on was holy ground; or that of Isaiah when he cried out that he was "a man of unclean lips." To those who know you your humiliations may sound excessive,--as we are told the disciples of St. Francis remonstrated with him for his self-depreciation[407]--but not to God or to your own heart. And He, if He has set His love upon you, and purposes to make you a temple for His indwelling, will use method after method of humbling you to prepare for His entrance. Again and again you will say, Surely now I am low enough, am I not humbled in the dust? But His hand will still be upon you, and He will show you heads of pride which have yet to be levelled down. In the last humbling you will find that there is rising within you a certain pride in the humility itself. That also will He subdue. And some day, if you are willing, you shall be lowly enough for the Most High to dwell in, humble enough to offer a perpetual incense of praise. FOOTNOTES: [369] Prov. xxi. 10. [370] Prov. xxv. 14. [371] Prov. xvi. 18, 19. [372] Prov. xviii. 12. [373] Prov. xxvii. 2. [374] Prov. xxi. 24. [375] Prov. xxix. 23. [376] Prov. xxvi. 12. [377] Prov. xiii. 1; xv. 20. [378] Prov. x. 17. [379] Prov. xii. 1. [380] Prov. xv. 8. [381] Prov. xv. 32. [382] Prov. xiii. 13 should be translated: "Whoso despiseth the word (_sc._ of warning and rebuke) shall be under a pledge to it (_i.e._ he has contracted an obligation to the word by hearing it, and in case of disobedience will have to redeem this implicit pledge by suffering and remorse), but he that feareth the commandment shall be rewarded." [383] Prov. xiii. 17. [384] Prov. xvii. 10. [385] Prov. xxvii. 5. [386] Prov. xxviii. 23. [387] Prov. xxvii. 21: "The fining pot is for silver and the furnace for gold, and a man for the mouth of his praise." This somewhat obscure aphorism is most simply explained thus:--A man should make his conscience a kind of furnace, in which he tries all the laudatory things which are said of him, accepting only the refined and pure metal which results from such a test, and rejecting the dross. This is simpler than, with Delitzsch, to explain, "a man is tested by the praise which is bestowed upon him as silver and gold are tested in the fire." [388] Prov. xiii. 10. [389] Prov. xxviii. 26. [390] Prov. xi. 2. [391] Prov. xii. 15_b_. [392] Prov. xvi. 20. [393] Prov. xv. 31, 33. [394] Prov. xvii. 2. [395] This is an addition of the LXX. to xiii. 13, and may represent an original Hebrew text. For the idea cp. Eccles. x. 25, "Unto the servant that is wise shall they that are free do service." [396] Prov. xiii. 10. [397] Prov. xvii. 19. [398] Prov. xiv. 3. [399] Prov. xiv. 16. [400] Prov. xvi. 5. [401] Prov. xv. 25. [402] Prov. xxi. 29.