Now I Nebuchadnezzar praise and extol and honour the King
of
heaven
Now he knew that the heavens ruled, and that there was a God and
a King there, above all gods and kings; who had brought him low,
and raised him up again, and to whom were owing all his present
glory and magnificence, and therefore worthy of his highest
praises; and which he in the most public manner gave by words
before his lords and counsellors, and by writing under his own
hand, by this edict and proclamation: all whose works are
truth, and his ways judgment:
everything he does in providence, and every step he takes
therein, are according to truth and righteousness; he is true to
his word, and righteous in his works, as he had been to him:
and those that walk in pride he is able to
abase;
not only that show it now and then, but always, and in
everything; in their looks and gestures, in their talk and walk,
and throughout the whole of their conversation; in whom it is
public, visible, notorious, and constant; but let them carry
their heads ever so high, and be as proud and haughty as they
will, God is able to humble them; he has various ways of doing
it. Such as are proud of their outward beauty, or the strength of
their bodies, he can, by sending a disease upon them, make their
beauty to consume like a moth, and weaken their strength in the
way; such as are elated with their wealth and substance, and with
honours conferred upon them, or dignity they are raised to, he
can soon strip them of all their riches by one providence or
another, and bring down those that stand in slippery places of
honour and dignity to destruction in a moment; and such as pride
and plume themselves with their wit and knowledge, the natural
endowments of their mind, he can take away their reason and
understanding from them, as he did from this monarch, and put
them upon a level with brutes: such who behest of their own
righteousness and good works, and trust in themselves, that they
are righteous and holy persons, and despise others; and think to
be justified and saved by them, and not to be beholden to any
other, but be their own saviours; these the Lord, by his Spirit,
can humble, by showing them the impurity of their nature; their
impotence to that which is spiritually good; the imperfection of
their best righteousness to justify them in his sight; so that
they shall appear to be polluted and defiled creatures, who
thought themselves very holy; and to be very weak and
insufficient of themselves, to do anything spiritually good, who
gloried in the power and strength of their free will; and see
that their best works are no other than filthy rags, and to be
renounced in the business of their justification and salvation:
in short, he humbles by showing them that all their temporal good
things are owing to the good providence of God, and are dependent
on it; and that all they have in spirituals is owing to the grace
of God, and not to any desert of theirs; in consequence of which
they become meek and lowly, and walk humbly with their God, who
before walked in the pride of their hearts, and in the vanity of
their minds. And a power to do this is peculiar to God himself;
none but God can look upon him that is proud, and abase him, and
bring him low; and sooner or later, by one means, or in one way
or another, he will stain the pride of all glory: it is his usual
way to abase him that exalts himself, and exalt him that humbles
himself; see ( Job 40:11 Job 40:12 ) ( Isaiah 23:9 ) (
Matthew
23:12 ) ( Luke 14:11 ) , pride
being a most hateful sin to him, contrary to his nature and
glory, to his grace and to his Gospel; the first sin of angels
and men. And of abasement and humiliation of such proud ones,
Nebuchadnezzar was an instance in various respects; who was one
of the proudest monarchs upon earth, yet was humbled with a
witness; but, after all, whether truly converted, is a question.