The Humble and the Haughty

Admonition 18. The humble and the haughty are to be admonished differently. The humble are to be gently shown how true is the excellence they hold by hoping for it; the haughty are to be shown that the glory of this present time, which they do not truly hold even while they embrace it, is as nothing. Let the humble hear how eternal are the things they long for, and how passing are the things they despise; let the haughty hear how passing are the things they court, and how eternal are the things they lose. Let the humble hear from the authoritative voice of the Truth: “Everyone who humbles himself will be exalted.” Let the haughty hear: “Everyone who exalts himself will be humbled.” Let the humble hear: “Humility goes before glory.” Let the haughty hear: “The spirit is lifted up before a fall.” Let the humble hear: “To whom will I look, but to the one who is humble and quiet, and who trembles at my words?” Let the haughty hear: “Why are earth and ashes proud?” Let the humble hear: “God looks on the things that are humble.” Let the haughty hear: “And lofty things he knows from far off.” Let the humble hear that “the Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve.” Let the haughty hear that “the beginning of all sin is pride.” Let the humble hear that “our Redeemer humbled himself, becoming obedient even to death.” Let the haughty hear what is written about their head: “He is king over all the sons of pride.” So the pride of the devil became the cause of our ruin, and the humility of God has proved to be the means of our redemption. For our enemy, created among all things, wanted to appear exalted above all things; but our Redeemer, remaining great above all things, stooped to become little among all things. [a]

Let the humble, then, be told that when they lower themselves they rise to the likeness of God; let the haughty be told that when they exalt themselves they fall into imitation of the apostate angel. What, then, is lower than haughtiness, which, while it stretches itself above itself, is drawn out beyond the stature of true height? And what is loftier than humility, which, while it presses itself down to the lowest place, joins itself to its Maker, who remains above the highest? There is, however, another thing in these cases that must be carefully weighed. Some are often deceived by a false show of humility, while others are misled by not knowing their own haughtiness. For often some who think themselves humble have a fear mixed in them that is not owed to men, while the haughty commonly lay claim to speaking freely. And when any vices need to be rebuked, the first keep quiet out of fear, and yet think they are silent out of humility; the second speak in the impatience of haughtiness, and yet believe they are speaking in the freedom of uprightness. The first are held back from rebuking what is wrong by the fault of timidity under a show of humility; the second are driven by the unbridled rush of pride, under the image of freedom, to rebuke things they ought not to rebuke, or to rebuke them more than they ought. So the haughty are to be admonished not to be freer than is fitting, and the humble not to be more submissive than is right. Otherwise the haughty may turn the defense of righteousness into a display of pride, or the humble, while they try harder than they need to submit themselves to men, may be driven even to show respect to their vices.

It must be considered, however, that for the most part we reprove the haughty more profitably if we mix some balms of praise with our reproofs. Some other good things that are in them should be brought into our reproofs, or at any rate some that might have been there, though they are not. Then, at last, the bad things that displease us should be cut away, once our first acknowledgment of the good things that please us has made their minds well disposed to listen. For unbroken horses, too, we first touch with a gentle hand, so that afterward we may bring them under us even with whips. And the sweetness of honey is added to the bitter cup of medicine, so that the bitterness that is to profit the health is not felt as harsh in the tasting; while the taste is deceived by the sweetness, the deadly humor is driven out by the bitterness. With the haughty, then, the first beginnings of our rebuke should be tempered with a mixture of praise, so that while they take in the commendations they love, they may also accept the reproofs they hate. [h]

Moreover, in most cases we will persuade the haughty to their own good more easily if we speak of their improvement as likely to benefit us rather than them, if we ask that their amendment be granted to us more than to themselves. For haughtiness is easily bent toward good if its bending is believed to benefit others too. That is why Moses, who journeyed through the desert under the direction of God and the leading of the pillar of cloud, when he wanted to draw Hobab his kinsman away from his life among the Gentiles and bring him under the rule of Almighty God, said: “We are journeying to the place of which the Lord said, ‘I will give it to you.’ Come with us, and we will do you good; for the Lord has spoken good concerning Israel.” And when Hobab answered him, “I will not go with you, but will return to my own land, where I was born,” Moses immediately added, “Do not leave us, I beg you; for you know where we should camp in the wilderness, and you will be our guide.” Yet Moses’ own mind was not hampered by ignorance of the way, since his acquaintance with God had opened within him the knowledge of prophecy. The pillar went before him outwardly, while inwardly his close and constant converse with God taught him about all things. But in truth, as a man of foresight speaking to a haughty hearer, he asked for help so that he might give it; he asked for a guide on the way so that he might be his guide to life. So he acted in such a way that the proud hearer would listen all the more closely to the voice urging him to better things, because he was thought to be needed; and since he believed himself to be the guide of the one exhorting him, he would bow himself to the words of exhortation. [i]