Monuments Ritual And Regionality The Neolithic Of Northern Somerset Jodie Lewis

Monuments Ritual And Regionality The Neolithic
Of Northern Somerset Jodie Lewis download
https://ebookbell.com/product/monuments-ritual-and-regionality-
the-neolithic-of-northern-somerset-jodie-lewis-49994638
Explore and download more ebooks at ebookbell.com

Here are some recommended products that we believe you will be
interested in. You can click the link to download.
Monuments Empires And Resistance The Araucanian Polity And Ritual
Narratives Tom D Dillehay
https://ebookbell.com/product/monuments-empires-and-resistance-the-
araucanian-polity-and-ritual-narratives-tom-d-dillehay-1462450
On The Lips Of Others Moteuczomas Fame In Aztec Monuments And Rituals
Patrick Thomas Hajovsky
https://ebookbell.com/product/on-the-lips-of-others-moteuczomas-fame-
in-aztec-monuments-and-rituals-patrick-thomas-hajovsky-51924766
On The Lips Of Others Moteuczomas Fame In Aztec Monuments And Rituals
Patrick Thomas Hajovsky
https://ebookbell.com/product/on-the-lips-of-others-moteuczomas-fame-
in-aztec-monuments-and-rituals-patrick-thomas-hajovsky-5760060
Transformation Through Destruction A Monumental And Extraordinary
Early Iron Age Hallstatt C Barrow From The Ritual Landscape Of
Osszevenbergen 1st Edition David Fontijn
https://ebookbell.com/product/transformation-through-destruction-a-
monumental-and-extraordinary-early-iron-age-hallstatt-c-barrow-from-
the-ritual-landscape-of-osszevenbergen-1st-edition-david-
fontijn-51724826

Monuments Power And Poverty In India From Ashoka To The Raj As
Christian Bhalla
https://ebookbell.com/product/monuments-power-and-poverty-in-india-
from-ashoka-to-the-raj-as-christian-bhalla-50668270
Monuments For Posterity Selfcommemoration And The Stalinist Culture Of
Time Antony Kalashnikov
https://ebookbell.com/product/monuments-for-posterity-
selfcommemoration-and-the-stalinist-culture-of-time-antony-
kalashnikov-51436532
Monuments And Sitespecific Sculpture In Urban And Rural Space 1st
Edition Inbal Benasher Gitler
https://ebookbell.com/product/monuments-and-sitespecific-sculpture-in-
urban-and-rural-space-1st-edition-inbal-benasher-gitler-51609272
Monuments Objects Histories Institutions Of Art In Colonial And
Postcolonial India Tapati Guhathakurta
https://ebookbell.com/product/monuments-objects-histories-
institutions-of-art-in-colonial-and-postcolonial-india-tapati-
guhathakurta-51906158
Monuments In The Making Raising The Great Dolmen In Early Neolithic
Nothern Europe 1st Edition Vicki Cummings
https://ebookbell.com/product/monuments-in-the-making-raising-the-
great-dolmen-in-early-neolithic-nothern-europe-1st-edition-vicki-
cummings-57983246

Monuments, Ritual and
Regionality:
The Neolithic of
Northern Somerset

Jodie Lewis

BAR British Series 401
2005

BAR 401 2005 LEWIS MONUMENTS
, RITUAL AND REGIONALITY: THE NE
OLITHIC OF NORTHERN SOMERSET

template bar blue.indd 1 11/11/2010 09:32:21
B
A
R

Monuments, Ritual and
Regionality:
The Neolithic of
Northern Somerset

Jodie Lewis

BAR British Series 401
2005

BAR Publishing
122 Banbury Rd, Oxford, OX2 7BP, UK
EMAIL [email protected]
PHONE +44 (0)1865 310431
FAX +44 (0)1865 316916
www.barpublishing.com
Published in 2016 by
BAR Publishing, Oxford
BAR British Series 401
Monuments, Ritual and Regionality: The Neolithic of Northern Somerset
©
J Lewis and the Publisher 2005
The author's moral rights under the 1988 UK Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act are hereby expressly asserted.
All rights reserved. No part of this work may be copied, reproduced,
stored, sold, distributed, scanned, saved in any form of digital format or
transmitted in any form digitally, without the written permission of the
Publisher.
BAR Publishing is the trading name of British Archaeological Reports (Oxford) Ltd.
British Archaeological Reports was first incorporated in 1974 to publish the BAR
Series, International and British. In 1992 Hadrian Books Ltd became part of the BAR
group.
This volume was originally published by Archaeopress in conjunction with
British Archaeological Reports (Oxford) Ltd / Hadrian Books Ltd, the Series principal
publisher, in 2005. This present volume is published by BAR Publishing, 2016.
BAR
P U B L I S H I N G
BAR titles are available from:
ISBN 9781841718804 paperback
ISBN 9781407320526 e-format
DOI https://doi.org/10.30861/9781841718804
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

i
PREFACE

This book is based on my doctoral thesis, completed in 2001 at the University of Bristol. Since this date, ideas
have changed and new information has emerged, requiring some revisions to the content and structure of the
original work. A chapter on the development of landscape approaches within prehistoric archaeology is no
longer included as it has been rather superseded by a rash of books and articles dealing with this topic. There is
also a new chapter, on Neolithic pits and postholes, which was able to be worked up into a complete chapter
largely because of the publication of work at Wells Cathedral and Abbey Quarry. Generally however, this book
had to take 2001 as the “state of knowledge” cut-off point, lest it never be completed. There are some noticeable
exceptions to this; the results of geophysical surveys at Stanton Drew, published in 2004 (David et al 2004), are
discussed, and elsewhere footnotes indicate subsequent work at a site (including work by myself; see Priddy long
barrow for example). Living and working in Bristol, North Wales, Mendip (Priddy and Binegar) and
Herefordshire has been stimulating but five moves in five years have partially contributed to the delay in the
publication of this book!

ii

iii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank my Ph.D. supervisor, Professor Richard Harrison, for informed discussion, lively debate
and guidance in this research. Other members of the University of Bristol Archaeology Department have also
provided help and support and I thank them all, especially Dr Mark Horton, Jenni Hamley and Sue Grice. Chris
Hawkes has allowed me unlimited access to both Wells Museum and UBSS Museum and given me invaluable
information and advice. Thank you also to all the other staff at Wells Museum. The University of Bristol
Spelaeological Society have been tremendously supportive and introduced me to much new information; I am
particularly grateful to Arthur ApSimon and Graham Mullan. Bob Williams has kindly shared his own detailed
knowledge of the area and provided me with lots of data. Jim Hancock has kept me entertained with anecdotes
and introduced me to his invaluable collection of aerial photographs. I am especially grateful to Willie Stanton
for inviting me to study Brimble Pit Swallet, improving my knowledge of the geology of Mendip and answering
numerous queries.

I would also like to wholeheartedly thank Chris Webster, Bob Croft, Vince Russett and Bob Sydes for providing
me with hundreds of SMR extracts and invaluable advice about the archaeology of Somerset. Chris Chandler
and other staff of the NMR have also provided information and retrieved photographs on many occasions,
invaluable to this research. David Bromwich of the Somerset Studies Library has helped in my studies of
Skinner and Wicks and sent me much useful information. English Heritage very kindly shared unpublished data
about Stanton Drew, which has proved extremely useful.

Much of this research would not have been possible without the kindness of landowners and farmers in allowing
me access to sites, permitting me to carry out fieldwork and showing a genuine enthusiasm for this research. I
would particularly like to thank Catriona and Roy Forward (Rookham Project) and Richard and Helen Young
(Stanton Drew). Many people have been roped into helping carry out fieldwork and I would like to say a big
thank you to all those University of Bristol undergraduates and postgraduates who endured excavation in the
snow, fieldwalking in the rain and remained cheerful and eager to be involved. I am particularly grateful to
Shirley Everden and Nick Corcos for their continued support and willingness to embark upon projects (and
provide tapes and canes!), whatever the conditions. Abigail Bryant and Marc Ellsley have proved themselves
true friends, providing manpower, enthusiasm and wine. Abby’s help on that mysterious afternoon at Stanton
Drew, identifying the stones, will not be forgotten (it is impossible to count them, just as the folklore says!).
Magnus Alexander has given me lots of help with producing the digital elevation maps and been a good friend
throughout. Lively debate was provided by Heinrich Hall and I would like to thank him for illuminating
discussions of the continental evidence. Students from the Department of History and Welsh History, University
of Wales Bangor drew endless flints willingly and cheerfully, for which they must be congratulated.

A mention must also be made of the various local groups and societies who have invited me to speak to them
(again and again!) about aspects of my research and shown enthusiasm and support for this book; thank you
Mendip Society and archaeological and historical groups and societies at Axbridge, Banwell, Bridgwater, Bristol
& Avon, Clevedon, Pensford, Somerset, Wells, West Harptree and Weston Super Mare.

Professional help has been freely given and I would particularly like to thank Richard Bradley, Ros Cleal,
Frances Lynch and Chris Scarre for their advice and opinions. Bristol and Avon Archaeological Society kindly
provided me with a Grinsell grant to study the Stockwood Enclosure. This Ph.D. was funded by a University of
Bristol scholarship, for which I am very grateful.

Finally, I would like to thank my family for their continued support. My father, Steven Lewis, has helped with
site visits and mountains of scanning, my mother, Natalie Lewis, has provided constant enthusiasm, my brother,
Samuel Lewis and his partner Eli Dahl, have made me laugh and provided a suitable soundtrack to work to.
Lastly, the biggest thank you must go to my partner, David Mullin. For four years he has provided help and
advice, bulling and cajoling me into working when the data seemed incomprehensible and the effort too great,
working tirelessly on fieldwork projects and helping in their organisation, listening to ideas and exploring their
strengths and weaknesses, helping analyse enormous quantities of data, suggesting comparisons, providing
financial support in times of need and remaining positive about the value of this research throughout. This work
would not have been possible without his continued support.

This book is dedicated to the memory of my grandfather
Walter Ronald Saunders (1916 – 1992)

iv

v

CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1 1
Introduction

CHAPTER 2 15
The Topography and Prehistoric Environment of Northern Somerset

CHAPTER 3 23
Mortuary Monuments of the Early Neolithic

CHAPTER 4 53
Analysis of the Mortuary Monuments

CHAPTER 5 73
Late Neolithic Monuments: Enclosures and Complexes

CHAPTER 6 103
Neolithic Pits and Postholes

CHAPTER 7 115
Caves and Swallets

CHAPTER 8 133
Domesticating the Landscape? The Evidence of Lithic Scatters

CHAPTER 9 153
Conclusions

BIBLIOGRAPHY 159

vi
LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1.1: Location of Northern Somerset 2
Figure 1.2: Northern Somerset, showing major topographic features 3
Figure 3.1 Long Barrow Distribution 24
Figure 3.2: Earthwork Survey of Priddy Long Barrow 25
Figure 3.3: Earthwork Survey of Pen Hill Long Barrow 25
Figure 3.4: Earthwork Survey of Mountain Ground Long Barrow 28
Figure 3.5: Earthwork Survey of Cheddar Mound 28
Figure 3.6 Earthwork Survey of Hunters Lodge Mound 30
Figure 3.7 Earthwork Survey of Long Wood Mound 30
Figure 3.8: Geophysical plots and interpretations of Hunter’s Lodge and Long Wood 31
Figure 3.9: Earthwork Survey of Priddy Hill Long Barrow 32
Figure 3.10: Photograph of Priddy Hill Long Barrow, looking north 32
Figure 3.11: The Three Shire Stones 33
Figure 3.12: The entrance to Stoney Littleton Long Barrow 35
Figure 3.13: Plan of Stoney Littleton Long Barrow 35
Figure 3.14: Excavations at Orchardleigh 36
Figure 3.15: Earthwork Survey of Orchardleigh Long Barrow 37
Figure 3.16: Plan of Excavations at Orchardleigh 37
Figure 3.17: Plans of Excavations at Fromefield 39
Figure 3.18: Plan of Giant’s Grave Long Barrow 40
Figure 3.19: Earthwork Survey of Brays Down Long Barrow 41
Figure 3.20: Resistivity Survey of Brays Down Long Barrow 41
Figure 3.21 Earthwork Survey of Devil’s Bed and Bolster Long Barrow 42
Figure 3.22: Plan of the stones at Devil’s Bed and Bolster 42
Figure 3.23: Earthwork Survey of Winsley Mound 43
Figure 3.24: Earthwork Survey of Chicks Lane Lynchet Corner 44
Figure 3.25: Earthwork Survey of the Dundry Mound 45
Figure 3.26: Earthwork Survey of Hammerhill Wood Mound 47
Figure 3.27: Felton Common Long Barrow 47
Figure 3.28: Earthwork Survey of Redhill Mound 48
Figure 3.29: The Waterstone Dolmen 48
Figure 3.30: Hypothetical Reconstructions of Chamber Layout at Fairy’s Toot 50
Figure 3.31: View of Fairy’s Toot by Skinner 1822 50
Figure 3.32: Earthwork Survey of the Pen Hill Long Mound 52
Figure 4.1: Pottery from Fromefield Long Barrow 63
Figure 4.2: Scraper and arrowhead from Giant’s Grave Long Barrow 64
Figure 4.3: Flints from Giant’s Grave 65
Figure 4.4 Orientation of Long Barrows in Study Area 68
Figure 5.1: Distribution of Henges and Stone Circles 74
Figure 5.2 Results of Resistivity Survey at Stockwood 75
Figure 5.3: Earthwork Survey of Hunters Lodge “Henge” 76
Figure 5.4: Hunters Lodge Gradiometer Survey Results 77
Figure 5.5 Hunter’s Lodge Resistivity Survey Results 77
Figure 5.6: Gorsey Bigbury Henge 80
Figure 5.7: Arrowheads from Gorsey Bigbury 80
Figure 5.8: Grave assemblage from cist at Gorsey Bigbury 81
Figure 5.9: Plan of the Priddy Circles 84
Figure 5.10: Section and Plan of Priddy Circle 1 bank and ditch 86
Figure 5.11: Plan of the Entrance to Priddy Circle 1 86
Figure 5.12: Aubrey’s Plan of Stanton Drew 89
Figure 5.13: Plan of Stanton Drew by Stukeley 90
Figure 5.14: Stukeley’s view of the Cove at Stanton Drew 90
Figure 5.15: Interpretation of Geophysics at Stanton Drew 93
Figure 5.16: Plan of the megalithic elements of Stanton Drew 95
Figure 6.1: Location of Neolithic Pits and Postholes 104
Figure 6.2: Plan and sections of Pits F1162 and 1167, Wells Cathedral. 105
Figure 6.3: Plan of Chew Valley House 105

vii
Figure 6.4: Finds from Chew Valley House 107
Figure 6.5 Grooved Ware from Ben Bridge 107
Figure 6.6: Abbey Quarry Grooved Ware pits 703 and 715 and associated features 109
Figure 6.7: Plans and sections of Pit 703 and 715 109
Figure 6.8: Discoidal knife from Pit 703 110
Figure 6.9 Disc scraper from Pit 715 110
Figure 7.1: Distribution of caves with Neolithic deposits 116
Figure 7.2: Plan and Sections of Chelmscombe Rock Shelter 118
Figure 7.3: Plan and Sections of Haywood Cave 119
Figure 7.4: Plan and Section of Rowberrow Cavern 119
Figure 7.5: Section of Rowberrow Cavern 120
Figure 7.6: Plan and Section of Sun Hole 120
Figure 7.7: Early Neolithic Assemblage from Chelmscombe 122
Figure 7.8: Pottery from Rowberrow Cavern 123
Figure 7.9: Finds from Cockle’s Wood Lower 123
Figure 7.10: Flints from Rowberrow Cavern 123
Figure 7.11: Flints from Rowberrow Cavern 124
Figure 7.12: East-West Section of Charterhouse Warren Farm Swallet 127
Figure 7.13 North-South Section of Charterhouse Warren Farm Swallet 127
Figure 7.14: Sketch Section of Brimble Pit Swallet 129
Figure 7.15: Axehead from Brimble Pit Swallet 130
Figure 7.16: Flint Dagger from Charterhouse Warren Farm Swallet 132
Figure 8.1: Distribution of Axehead Finds 135
Figure 8.2: Fieldwalking Results from Brays Down Long Barrow 139
Figure 8.3: Fieldwalking Results from Devil’s Bed and Bolster Long Barrow 140
Figure 8.4: Fieldwalking Results from Stanton Drew 144
Figure 9.1: Distribution of Henges and Round Barrows 156

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1: Societies involved in archaeological work in northern Somerset 12
Table 2: Neolithic Sites and Regions in northern Somerset with Environmental Data 22
Table 3: Megalithic/Non-Megalithic Status of Early Neolithic Mortuary Monuments 55
Table 4: Length:Breadth Ratio of Long Barrows 58
Table 5: Orientations of Long Barrow Mounds 68
Table 6: Mortuary Monuments: Position in the Landscape 69
Table 7: Mortuary Monuments Altitude 70
Table 8: Mortuary Monuments Nearest Neighbour Calculations 71
Table 9: Distance of Stone Sources from Stanton Drew 96
Table 10: Physical Characteristics of Henges in Northern Somerset 100
Table 11: Henges - Altitude, Geology, Soils & Distance to Water Sources 101
Table 12: Caves with visible secondary phases 122
Table 13: Flint Artefacts from Caves 124
Table 14: The Provenance of Flint Scatters from Northern Somerset 136
Table 15: Dates of Flint Scatters (scatters with National Grid References) 137
Table 16: Flints from Brays Down 138
Table 17: Flints from the Devil's Bed & Bolster 140
Table 18: Flints from Stanton Drew 144
Table 19: References for Flint Scatters 147
Table 20: Dates for Flint Scatters 149
Table 21: Landscape Resources of Northern Somerset 156

ABBREVIATIONS

SANHS: Somerset Archaeology and Natural History Society
SCRO: Somerset County Record Office
UBSS: University of Bris tol Spelaeological Society

1
Chapter One: Introduction

“The Mendips and adjacent hills of North Somerset form perhaps the most remarkable example
existing in England of a very ancient landscape surviving to the present day.” (Dobson 1931:2)

Dina Dobson's quote refers to the complex geological
legacy that has shaped the landscape of northern
Somerset but applies equally well to the archaeological
legacy. Few other parts of Britain can claim an
archaeological sequence stretching back almost half a
million years, but this legacy has had its drawbacks, with
certain sites and periods dominating interpretations of the
region. The hills of northern Somerset are more famous
for their Palaeolithic and Roman sites than those of
Neolithic date. Whilst many British archaeologists are
aware of the importance of Cheddar Gorge and
Charterhouse, few know of the Neolithic deposits above
the Palaeolithic levels in the caves or the extensive lithic
scatters beneath the Roman mining at Charterhouse. The
Neolithic of the region is recognised by a few sites, such
as Stanton Drew and Stoney Littleton. Reading the
archaeological literature, it quickly becomes apparent that
the hills and valleys of northern Somerset are considered
peripheral: peripheral in what they contribute to our
understanding of the Neolithic and peripheral
geographically to the neighbouring ‘heartlands’ of
Wessex and the Cotswolds. It is not surprising that an in-
depth study of the Neolithic landscape of the region has
not been attempted when archaeological guides and
textbooks only give it a passing, perfunctory reference.
Yet this modern image of marginality does not tally with
the archaeological record. The region is rich in
prehistoric monuments, such as the unique Priddy
Circles, and also the largest timber circle arrangement in
Britain at Stanton Drew. Stanton Drew itself has the
second largest diameter of a stone circle in Britain. The
Stoney Littleton long barrow has seven chambers, more
than any other excavated Cotswold-Severn tomb, and the
destroyed long barrow Fairy’s Toot was said to contain as
many as sixteen.
1
Yet these monuments form only a
small percentage of the total number and are only one
aspect of Neolithic activity in the region.

This work will critically assess the evidence for Neolithic
activity in northern Somerset. It will include an analysis
of the monuments, cave deposits and flint scatters, and
present new data and new interpretations. The Neolithic
archaeology from the region has not previously been
considered as a whole; earlier analyses have been
piecemeal and conclusions often unsatisfactory. Northern
Somerset should not be confused with the modern
administrative county 'North Somerset'; the latter only
forms one small part of the district. Northern Somerset is
a larger region with significant natural boundaries: the
tidal River Avon to the north, the River Axe and marshy
Somerset Levels to the south, the wooded clay belt of the

1
The likelihood of Fairy’s Toot actually having had sixteen
chambers will be discussed in Chapter 3.

River Frome to the east and the Bristol Channel to the
west (figure 1.1). Rather than viewing these as
boundaries that would have been impassable, indeed
rivers and the sea facilitate communications, they should
perhaps be seen as features bounding a relatively
homogenous area. That is to say, the regions within these
boundaries are more similar to each other than to
regions outside. Geologically, the region is dominated by
limestone with the large marshy area of the North
Somerset Levels to the west. There are four major areas
of limestone upland – (from north to south) the Failand
Ridge, Dundry, Broadfield Down and the Mendip Hills -
each stretching in a broad east-west direction and
separated from each-other by shallow fertile valleys.
These uplands become progressively higher, wider and
more visually stunning as one travels south (figure 1.2).
The highest summits of Mendip, the most southerly of
these ridges, reach over 300m AOD. The combination of
limestone upland, marshy lowland, river valley and, of
course, the rich coastal belt, produces a landscape mosaic
very different from the neighbouring regions of Wessex
and the Cotswolds. It is a landscape of valleys and
gorges, caves and swallets and springs and small
waterfalls. Today the landscape has a very different 'feel'
to the neighbouring areas and this would almost certainly
have been understood in prehistory. It was only by
chance that the author discovered that another researcher,
the Rev. John Skinner (1772-1839),
2
also recognised that
the prehistoric monuments of northern Somerset fell
within a naturally bounded landscape, even giving the
same boundaries: the Avon, the Frome, the Axe and the
Bristol Channel.

The Neolithic monuments cluster on the higher land
within the study area, falling into three main groupings:
Broadfield Down/Dundry, Mendip and the “tumble of
hills” south of Bath. The Stanton Drew complex
represents the only certain prehistoric monuments yet
known in the valleys of northern Somerset. In common
with other areas in Britain, these river valleys contain
substantial deposits of alluvium, which may mask
prehistoric features that will only be revealed as our
techniques and methodologies improve. Without a
research framework targeted explicitly at the lowlands,
findings are generally accidental and piecemeal.

This study does not consider the Neolithic evidence from
the (central) Somerset Levels, lying to the south of the
region under consideration. This is deliberate, for this
area has long been the focus of research and excavation

2
The Rev. John Skinner was a local antiquarian who held the
living of Camerton, Somerset from 1800 until 1836.

2

Figure 1.1: Location of Northern Somerset
© Crown Copyright/database Right 2005. An Ordnance Survey/ EDINA supplied service.

050100 km
Bou nda ri es rev i se d to Ap ril 2 001
C rown c op yri gh t 200 1

Location of Somerset
County map of Somerset, showing study area
Topographical map of Northern Somerset, showing major towns and cities

Figure 1.2: Northern Somerset, showing major topographic features © Crown Copyright/database Right 2005. An Ordnance Survey/ E
DINA supplied service.
3

4
and our understanding of the Neolithic exploitation of
this particular landscape is rather good. By contrast, our
understanding of Neolithic activities in the hills and
valleys north of the levels is fragmentary and
unsatisfactory. By targeting this area specifically, it will
prove possible in the future to develop a more holistic
view of the upland/lowland relationship.

This then is to be a landscape study of a region with
significant natural boundaries, a relatively homogenous
region with rich and varied natural resources. The sites
and monuments of this region will be investigated and a
new interpretation of northern Somerset during the
Neolithic offered. A contention central to this work is
that this was not a marginal region during the Neolithic;
indeed quite the opposite is suggested. By the end of the
Late Neolithic the archaeological evidence points to an
intensively exploited landscape, with some evidence for
careful management of the varied resources (e.g. the late
occurrence of auroch in the region might suggest
woodland habitat management). Prior to this study, such
‘evidence’ has never been collated and critically
examined in its entirety.

Chapter Breakdown

Chapter One
This first chapter has suggested that the archaeology of
northern Somerset has been neglected in studies of the
British Neolithic, being seen as the 'poor neighbour' of
Wessex with only a few sites worthy of interest. It is
argued that, to the contrary, northern Somerset is a region
rich in sites and finds dating to the Neolithic, the aim of
this research being to present and interpret the data. It is
suggested that northern Somerset is defined by significant
natural boundaries and that these enclose an area with a
certain degree of landscape homogeneity. This
'landscape unit' is taken as the basis for this study. Much
information has been gathered, including the discovery of
new sites and monuments and the re-discovery of old
ones, all crucial to understanding the Neolithic of the
region. It is proposed that intensive, small-scale studies,
such as this one, are essential in furthering our
understanding of the Neolithic and moving away from
all-encompassing explanations. Finally, Chapter One
considers the history of archaeological research into
Neolithic sites in the region and sets out the landscape
methodology used in this work.

Chapter Two
Chapter Two provides an introduction to the physical
landscape of northern Somerset. It describes the four
main limestone upland ridges that dominate the region
and the valleys and levels between them. The geology
and soils of northern Somerset are outlined and some of
the modern day land-use described. The region is well-
watered and it's main rivers are described and their
navigability (in the past and the present) considered. The
second half of the chapter is concerned with the Neolithic
environment of northern Somerset. The dismal
environmental record for the Neolithic of the region is
highlighted and the consequences of this on this research.
All sites of Neolithic date that have yielded
environmental data are discussed and an interpretation of
the Neolithic environment is offered.

Chapter Three
Chapter Three provides an overview of all certain and
probable Early Neolithic mortuary monuments in the
region. Each monument is considered in detail, including
a summary of all previous excavations and re-
interpretations based on the excavation archives.
Antiquarian accounts are analysed and different accounts
of the same monuments through time contrasted. This
chapter also includes the results of new fieldwork,
including earthwork and geophysical survey findings and
aerial photographic analysis. The varied nature and
survival of the mortuary monuments is stressed and the
lack of modern excavations highlighted. The chapter
finishes with a consideration of the Pen Hill long mound;
both bank barrow and pillow mound interpretations are
questioned on the grounds of new fieldwork results and
the need for targeted excavation highlighted.

Chapter Four
This chapter provides an analysis and interpretation of the
results drawn from Chapter Four. The physical
characteristics of the mortuary monuments within
northern Somerset are considered, including dimensions,
orientations, shape, chamber types, construction
materials, the nature of the funerary rituals and the
landscape setting of the monuments. The possibility that
the region contains both megalithic and non-megalithic
long barrows, and the significance of this, is explored.

Chapter Five
Chapter Five examines the evidence for Late Neolithic
monumental activity, in the form of henges and stone
circles. Results of new fieldwork, including earthwork
and geophysical surveys, are presented and old
excavations re-interpreted. A new analysis of the
enigmatic Priddy Circles is given, arguing strongly for a
Neolithic date for these monuments. The Stanton Drew
complex is considered and a sequence for monument
construction on the site suggested. The variety of stone
types used in the construction of the Stanton Drew stone
circles is also examined and reasons for their selection
discussed. Other sites previously suggested as henges
and stone circles are considered and some are rejected.
The henges are also analysed as a group and details of
entrance orientation, altitude and diameter summarised.
Lastly, the idea that large henges may have been sited for
accessibility (Bradley 1998) is considered in relation to
the Priddy Circles and Stanton Drew and argued to be
distinctly possible.

Chapter Six
This chapter is concerned with pits and postholes of
Neolithic date. It considers each example known from
the region and also discusses them chronologically. One

5
site, Abbey Quarry, is discussed in greater detail due to
the more modern excavation of the site. Theories put
forward to explain pit excavation and deposition are
reviewed and Thomas’s idea of these activities
commemorating events and creating meaning is followed
(Thomas 1999).

Chapter Seven
After the previous considerations of monuments, Chapter
Seven focuses on the use of natural places during the
Neolithic of northern Somerset. Two forms of natural
places are considered - caves and swallets. Caves are
analysed first, each cave containing Neolithic deposits
considered individually. The poor standard of cave
excavation is highlighted and the limitations that this
places on the data considered. A possible change from
ritual centred activities to domestic centred activities in
caves is argued to take place between the Early and Late
Neolithic. Finally, the cave information is summarised
and the different artefact associations discussed.
Swallets, discussed next, contain materials indicating a
climax of deposition in the Late Neolithic/Early Bronze
Age. Using the evidence from several sites it is argued
that swallets were being used for deliberate ritual
deposition during these periods. A link between swallets
and monuments is also made, both in terms of the
material placed within them and their spatial relationship
in the landscape. The possibility of the chthonic 'cults' of
the Iron Age and Roman periods having a much earlier
origin is also considered.

Chapter Eight
Chapter Eight is the final consideration of data from the
region, concentrating upon lithic scatters. Whilst it is
acknowledged that lithic scatters are a notoriously
complex class of 'site' to interpret, they offer one of the
only ways of examining the wider landscape. The
availability of raw materials, suitable for tool making, in
northern Somerset is discussed and it is concluded that in
the Neolithic most flint was imported, although it is
possible to document small-scale utilisation of more local
materials. Flint scatters in the region with a national grid
reference and containing over 50 items are considered,
and broad dates assigned on typological indicators. A
number of case studies are then presented: six flint
scatters found close to Neolithic monuments. These were
chosen to test ideas of 'sacred space' around monuments
and illustrated instead that a variety of activities were
taking place. The division between ritual and domestic is
suggested to be of a much more complex nature than
simple opposition.

Chapter Nine
Chapter 9 summarises the interpretations that have been
put forward in this work and recounts the main points
from each chapter. It concludes that studying northern
Somerset as a ‘natural’ region has been a useful way of
analysing large amounts of detailed (similar) data, but
highlights the many contacts between northern Somerset
and ‘outside’ regions in the Neolithic.
Regional Neolithics

Britain at around 4000BC was not a unified cultural
province that decided en-masse to become 'Neolithic'.
Different groups undoubtedly responded to new social,
cultural, economic and ideological conditions in different
ways and at slightly different times. Certainly, the
evidence suggests that many communities created their
own “Neolithic”, rather than adopting what has
traditionally been viewed as the full “Neolithic Package”.
As Thomas argues there was more than one Neolithic,
just as there was more than one Mesolithic (Thomas
1988a). In many areas of Britain, pastoralism and a
shifting settlement pattern were more common than
permanent agricultural settlements. In other places
natural features either took the place of or became
incorporated into monuments. By the end of the
Neolithic, most communities in Britain had adopted some
of the Neolithic traits with which we are so familiar
though this still changed from region to region. The
supposed homogeneity of the surviving material record
blinds us to these variations; monuments are forced into
nation-wide categories, pots and lithics into typologies
and the whole becomes the blueprint for the British
Neolithic sequence. Local adaptations and cultural
practices become lost in the quest for the bigger picture
and superficial conformity more important. Regional
studies go some way to rectifying these problems.
Examining in detail localised responses to the Neolithic
phenomenon allows contradictions, similarities and
comparisons to be drawn out. These ultimately allow the
'big picture' to be modified and introduce a degree of
caution, highlighting the danger of allowing the practices
of one region to dominate interpretations of the whole
period. The wealth of monuments and artefacts from
Wessex may be the result of an extremely localised
response to “being Neolithic” that is not representative of
the rest of southern England, let alone Britain.

Whilst regional systems may be in evidence during the
Neolithic, there is, however, little doubt that contact with
the wider world was also fundamental to social and
economic life. It would have been necessary to look
beyond the local community for many resources – an
exchange of marriage partners, new livestock, raw
materials and prestige items to name but a few. Northern
Somerset was no different in this respect, with
archaeological evidence existing of contact and exchange
with other regions. Most notable is the presence of flint
for tools and suitable stone for axeheads, neither of which
occur naturally within the study area. Products of
northern Somerset origin are also found in other regions,
for example oolite walling in many of the Avebury
megalithic tombs, oolitic inclusions in pottery at the
Windmill Hill and Hambledon Hill causewayed
enclosures and Old Red Sandstone rubbers and querns at
many Neolithic sites in Wessex. An awareness of natural
boundaries may have encouraged regionality but certainly
did not prohibit contact with the wider world.

6
Methodology

This study is concerned with the period 4000 – 2000 BC,
corresponding to an ‘Age of Monumentality’ in British
prehistory. Within this great time span, two distinct
monumental episodes can be recognised, corresponding
traditionally with the Early Neolithic and Late
Neolithic/Early Bronze Age. In brief, monuments that
connect public ritual with human remains, perhaps a form
of ‘ancestor cult’, represent the Early Neolithic tradition
whilst a division between monuments with a public focus
and monuments with a funerary focus represents the
Later Neolithic/Early Bronze Age. Whilst it is suggested
that monuments fall into ‘Earlier’ and ‘Later’ periods it is
accepted that these are overlapping traditions, illustrated
by the occurrence of late long barrows and early henges.
Nonetheless, evidence from northern Somerset suggests a
relatively straightforward linear sequence of monumental
construction of long barrow - henge - stone circle - round
barrow and this will provide the inspiration for the way
this research is laid out. It will take a chronological
approach, beginning with mortuary monuments and
ending with stone circles. There is a need to appreciate
the context in which each successive phase of monument
building was carried out so it is deemed essential to this
study to take a historical, linear approach to the data. If a
thematic, rather than chronological, stance were adopted
it would be harder to appreciate the effect existing
monuments may have had on new monuments.

Monuments are important to this research as they often
represent the best surviving data from the Neolithic.
Taphonomic processes mean that interpretations of other
classes of evidence from this period - artefact scatters,
caves, environmental evidence – can be besought with
problems. Yet whilst monuments will be pivotal to this
consideration of Neolithic northern Somerset, the
evidence from pits, caves and lithic scatters will be
fundamental in broadening and deepening our
understanding of the activities of Neolithic people. The
methodologies adopted in this research had therefore to
be appropriate to the different types of evidence
investigated whilst the interpretations offered do attempt
to be explicit in highlighting the limitations of the data.

The starting point for this research was, unsurprisingly,
the records of the various county SMR databases
(Somerset, North Somerset, Bath and North East
Somerset). Though by no means comprehensive, the
information gathered from these sources provided the
basic building blocks for much of the subsequent work.

Primary Fieldwork

• Earthwork Survey
An effort has been made to carry out earthwork surveys
at all the extant long barrows in the study area.
3
All of the

3
Despite repeated attempts, permission could not be obtained to
include two long barrows that lie on the Waldegrave Estate, in
the parish of Chewton Mendip.
barrows were surveyed at a scale of 1:200, using an
Electronic Distance Measurer. The earthwork surveys
provide a clearer insight into the physical form of the
monuments than can be obtained by merely reading a
description. Accurate measurements taken using the
EDM make it possible, for the first time, to compare the
monument forms within the study area with those from
other parts of Britain. Surveying the sites has also
enabled certain, site specific, questions to be addressed. A
common problem with the identification of long barrows
in northern Somerset is the possibility of confusing them
with plough damaged, misshapen round barrows and a
careful, detailed survey can help with the identification.

The earthwork surveys are also important as they provide
a permanent record of the site. This is significant as
some of the monuments are ploughed several times a year
and are being systematically destroyed (see, for example,
Brays Down, Big Tree and the Devil's Bed & Bolster
long barrows). Likewise, cross-referencing the surveys
with antiquarian accounts of the monuments allow an
appreciation of the rate of destruction that has occurred at
certain sites.

• Geophysical Survey
Two forms of geophysical survey have been undertaken,
the first method using a resistivity meter, the second a
fluxgate gradiometer. Geophysical survey has proved to
be of immense value in researching prehistoric
monuments in northern Somerset. Though only carried
out at a small number of sites due to the time involved in
obtaining permissions, licenses and actually doing the
survey, the results illustrate the enormous potential of the
method. Firstly, it can determine the status of a
monument without recourse to excavation. This is
especially useful when the potential exists for confusion
between long barrows and misshapen round barrows (see
above). Secondly, it can reveal structural details such as
chambers, pits and ditches that help in the interpretation
of a site. Many monuments have also been somewhat
reduced in size, mainly due to stone robbing and
ploughing, and geophysical survey can detect their
original extent. Lastly, it can discover the level of
interference at a monument and can, for example, allow
an insight into the extent of antiquarian excavations. This
is illustrated by the results from the Brays Down long
barrow, where resistivity has detected the Rev. Skinner’s
excavation ‘pit’ of 1815.

• Fieldwalking
Fieldwalking is notorious for generating as many
questions as answers and the problems implicit in its use
are much debated (Haselgrove et al 1985, Schofield
1991a). Nonetheless, it is one of the better methods for
understanding the context of monuments. A fundamental
question that must be asked when studying monuments is
how they 'fitted in' with their contemporary landscape. It
is difficult to believe that ritual and domestic activities
occupied divorced physical spheres during the Neolithic.

7
Fieldwalking is one of the better ways of testing concepts
of ritual exclusivity.

Fieldwalking has been a popular activity in the study
area, especially on West Mendip, for at least the last one
hundred years. However, little has been collected
systematically and recorded accurately. Local museums
are crammed with flints, labelled simply with the date of
collection and the parish it was found in. Though huge
collections of flint, seemingly suitable for in-depth study,
do exist this lack of context for many collections limits
their value. When systematically collected and recorded
the data can be used to test landscape models, as will be
done here when possible. Without such information its
use is more confined but could potentially form the basis
of studies where direst provenance is not so crucial. Such
work might include research in to the source of raw
materials, highly relevant to an area such as Somerset
with no naturally occurring flint, and analysis of
technological change through time. Such work lies
beyond the confines of this study but highlights the
potential for poorly recorded collections.

Although better-catalogued flint collections do exist, they
are in the minority. Where possible they have been
consulted. Due to the lack of rigorously collected data, it
was necessary to undertake a selective program of
fieldwalking around a small number of sites in the study
area. This information could then be used to answer
questions about what the flints may represent and
whether the concept of exclusivity is a valid one.

• Geographical Information Systems (GIS)
One of the problems with regional studies is how to
spatially present the data. Northern Somerset has a high
concentration of monuments within a relatively small
total area and this data has been presented with the aid of
GIS. The required information can then be shown on a
digital elevation model of northern Somerset. As well as
its use in showing landscape ‘trends’ it will also have the
advantage of standardising the way visual information is
presented.

Secondary Sources

• Aerial Photographic Interpretation
Collections of aerial photographs that cover the study
area are held at the National Monuments Records Office
in Swindon and also at the North Somerset, Bath and
North East Somerset and Somerset SMR offices. Both
oblique and vertical coverage exists, mainly dating
between the 1940s and 1980s. The University of Bristol
Spelaeological Society also has a run of 1946 vertical
aerial photographs that totally cover the West Mendip
plateau. Oblique aerial photographs in the private
collection of Jim Hancock, taken during the 1960s and
1970s, have also been consulted.

Analysis of aerial photographs can result in the detection
of features not visible on the ground. This has proved
useful in identifying parallel ditches at several long
barrows
4
and confirming the extent of monuments, prior
to modern plough damage. Aerial photographs can also
reveal destroyed monuments, such as the two long
barrows detected by Grinsell (1971), at Hillgrove and
Haydon Drove. Once again, analysis of aerial
photographs is best undertaken in conjunction with other
methods, to confirm the results on the ground.

• Antiquarian Research
Between the 17
th
and 19
th
centuries, many of the
monuments in Somerset were subject to antiquarian
description and investigation, detailed below in the
section 'A History of Archaeological Research'. The
corpus of information recorded by antiquarians has
proved to be of immense value to this research. Many of
the sites described have since been destroyed and are
omitted from discussions of monuments in northern
Somerset. A re-reading of antiquarian accounts has meant
many supposed gaps in the distribution of monuments in
northern Somerset have been filled in. The records made
during the destruction of monuments also provide
information on the structure of monuments and finds
from them. This is illustrated by a quote from Strachey,
describing the Orchardleigh long barrow:

"Composed of small stones but turfed over. Some
years ago viz 1724 or 1725, taking away several
loads to mend ye highway the workmen discovered
the bones of a large man by several smaller skulls,
lying in a sort of chest having two great rude stones at
head and feet, two side stones and a coverer. Some
say a great number of bones. The barrow is overall,
has a pit or hollow in ye top...and at ye east end are
now remaining two upright stones about 3ft high
which if opened might probably discover such another
chest of skeletons." (Somerset County Record Office,
John Strachey notes 1737 DD.SH 107-108)

Monuments wrongly interpreted by the antiquarian can be
re-analysed, if the records are of sufficient detail. Bere’s
assertion that Fairy’s Toot long barrow contained sixteen
chambers is still reproduced in certain works today. A
closer reading of the original account illustrates that
Bere’s assertion was conjectural, based on how many
chambers would fit into the entire length of the barrow, if
they ran from end to end (my emphasis). He also
confused parts of the passage of the long barrow with
chambers, due to it containing skeletons.

The antiquarian account can sometimes give details on
the treatment and history of a site. Aubrey’s description
of how Stanton Drew stood in a field of ripe barley in
1664 (quoted in Long 1858) is of relevance here as it
informs us that the site has been ploughed and cultivated
in the past. Such information might prove useful in
estimating the level of disturbance at the monument. It
may also imply that the ditch surrounding the site,

4
For example, Felton Common and Pen Hill.

8
recently revealed by geophysics, was infilled by this date.
None of the antiquarians who visited the site noted a
ditch, and it might be possible that it was deliberately
infilled in prehistory, perhaps during the ‘lithicisation’
phase.

Records of excavation, especially those made by Skinner,
have proved very useful, due to the lack of modern
excavations in northern Somerset. Skinner carried out
most of the excavations in the region, mainly between
1805 and 1825. Although his excavation methods were
suspect and his interpretations sometimes wild, his diaries
contain descriptions and illustrations that are invaluable.
Unfortunately, the vast majority of burials and artefacts
discovered by Skinner have been lost, making his diaries
of even greater significance. They are of inestimable
value to scholars of prehistoric and Roman Somerset.

• Museum and Private Collections
Material relevant to this study is held in a number of local
museums. The material consulted has mainly consisted of
flint and stone artefacts, though pottery has also been
studied. Some collections had not been previously
catalogued: when it was considered important to this
research new classifications were carried out by the
author.

Numerous collections are in private hands and it has
proved possible to access some of these. However,
unauthorised fieldwalking is a common activity,
especially on West Mendip, and it is impossible to gauge
just how much material exists in private ownership.
Obviously, it is rare for such finds to be published or
reported to relevant authorities. Distribution maps of flint
finds should always consider this limitation.
Nonetheless, information from museum and private
collection can be used in conjunction with the
fieldwalking results generated from fieldwork by the
author. Plotting the distribution of provenanced scatters
of suitable size allows an insight into how the prehistoric
landscape was used and how this may relate to
monuments in northern Somerset.

• Literature Review (‘Local’ Books and Journals)
An enormous number of local books and journals have
been consulted during this research, dating from the 19
th

century to the present day. Contained within their pages
lie excavation reports, fieldwalking details (generally not
systematic collection), accounts of site visits with
detailed descriptions, and discoveries of new monuments.
This has proved a rich and unexpected resource resulting
in a positive impact on the quantity and quality of field
data. Much of the information in the earlier books and
volumes, especially 19
th
and early 20
th
century
publications, is not recorded elsewhere. The SMR
extracts obtained from the various local councils
generally do not include these early findings. It has been
possible to compile a vast corpus of invaluable
information from these publications, including details of
apparently unknown excavations. For want of indexes, it
has been necessary to read complete runs of certain
journals to gather these ‘nuggets’ of information. The
method has proved most useful in increasing the number
of flint and stone axe-heads recorded for northern
Somerset. Once more, it has proved possible to ‘fill in
gaps’ using the information obtained from these
resources.

The above discussions have outlined the way the data
necessary for this research has been compiled. The
combination of primary fieldwork, secondary sources and
a broader comparative framework has provided the ideal
methodology for the landscape study undertaken. A
regional study could not be attempted without possession
of such information. It is impossible to expect that all the
evidence for Neolithic activity in northern Somerset has
been recovered as undoubtedly countless sites have been
destroyed and many more still await discovery.
Nonetheless, the author is convinced that the data
presented in this work form an adequate representation of
the period under question and that enough exists to
attempt a regional study. The ‘landscape’ methodology
that has been chosen here both informs and fits the
landscape models that will be proposed. The vast
quantities of data generated, of varying degrees of
usefulness, allows for the first time the kind of in-depth
investigation of Neolithic northern Somerset previously
not possible.

A History of Archaeological Research

The Neolithic sites of northern Somerset have been
subject to a variety of antiquarian, spelaeological and
archaeological investigations during the past four
hundred years. The investigations were of varying quality
and in many ways more dependent on the individual than
the age in which they were working. It is remarkable that
this long history of research begins to peter out during the
latter part of the 20
th
century and, with one or two notable
exceptions, very few individuals have been actively
engaged with Neolithic research since the 1950s. Indeed,
the picture of prehistoric northern Somerset prevalent in
archaeological literature today is still largely based upon
work carried out in the 19
th
century. The impact of such
investigations warrants a discussion of the major
contributors to Somerset archaeology and an assessment
of the value of their work.

The Antiquarians

• John Aubrey (1626-1697)
Aubrey appears to have been the first antiquarian to take
an interest into the archaeology of the region and to him
goes the honour of ‘discovering’ the stone circles at
Stanton Drew in 1664. Upon visiting his grandmother
who lived in a nearby parish to Stanton Drew, he was told
of the circles and records:

Random documents with unrelated
content Scribd suggests to you:

The Project Gutenberg eBook of Humility: The
Beauty of Holiness

This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States
and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no
restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it
under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this
ebook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the
United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where
you are located before using this eBook.
Title: Humility: The Beauty of Holiness
Author: Andrew Murray
Release date: May 9, 2018 [eBook #57121]
Language: English
Credits: Produced by Free elf
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HUMILITY: THE
BEAUTY OF HOLINESS ***

Produced by Free elf
HUMILITY THE BEAUTY OF
HOLINESS
BY
REV. Andrew Murray
Lord Jesus! may our Holiness be perfect Humility!
Let Thy perfect Humility be our Holiness!
NEW YORK FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY LONDON
GLASGOW
PREFACE.

There are three great motives that urge us to humility. It becomes
me as a creature, as a sinner, as a saint. The first we see in the
heavenly hosts, in unfallen man, in Jesus as Son of Man. The second
appeals to us in our fallen state, and points out the only way
through which we can return to our right place as creatures. In the
third we have the mystery of grace, which teaches us that, as we
lose ourselves in the overwhelming greatness of redeeming love,
humility becomes to us the consummation of everlasting blessedness
and adoration.
In our ordinary religious teaching, the second aspect has been too
exclusively put in the foreground, so that some have even gone to
the extreme of saying that we must keep sinning if we are indeed to
keep humble. Others again have thought that the strength of self-
condemnation is the secret of humility. And the Christian life has
suffered loss, where believers have not been distinctly guided to see
that, even in our relation as creatures, nothing is more natural and
beautiful and blessed than to be nothing, that God may be all; or
where it has not been made clear that it is not sin that humbles
most, but grace, and that it is the soul, led through its sinfulness to
be occupied with God in His wonderful glory as God, as Creator and
Redeemer, that will truly take the lowest place before Him.
In these meditations I have, for more than one reason, almost
exclusively directed attention to the humility that becomes us as
creatures. It is not only that the connection between humility and sin
is so abundantly set forth in all our religious teaching, but because I
believe that for the fullness of the Christian life it is indispensable
that prominence be given to the other aspect. If Jesus is indeed to
be our example in His lowliness, we need to understand the
principles in which it was rooted, and in which we find the common

ground on which we stand with Him, and in which our likeness to
Him is to be attained. If we are indeed to be humble, not only
before God but towards men, if humility is to be our joy, we must
see that it is not only the mark of shame, because of sin, but, apart
from all sin, a being clothed upon with the very beauty and
blessedness of heaven and of Jesus. We shall see that just as Jesus
found His glory in taking the form of a servant, so when He said to
us, 'Whosoever would be first among you, shall be your servant,' He
simply taught us the blessed truth that there is nothing so divine and
heavenly as being the servant and helper of all. The faithful servant,
who recognises his position, finds a real pleasure in supplying the
wants of the master or his guests. When we see that humility is
something infinitely deeper than contrition, and accept it as our
participation in the life of Jesus, we shall begin to learn that it is our
true nobility, and that to prove it in being servants of all is the
highest fulfilment of our destiny, as men created in the image of
God.
When I look back upon my own religious experience, or round
upon the Church of Christ in the world, I stand amazed at the
thought of how little humility is sought after as the distinguishing
feature of the discipleship of Jesus. In preaching and living, in the
daily intercourse of the home and social life, in the more special
fellowship with Christians, in the direction and performance of work
for Christ,—alas! how much proof there is that humility is not
esteemed the cardinal virtue, the only root from which the graces
can grow, the one indispensable condition of true fellowship with
Jesus. That it should have been possible for men to say of those
who claim to be seeking the higher holiness, that the profession has
not been accompanied with increasing humility, is a loud call to all
earnest Christians, however much or little truth there be in the

charge, to prove that meekness and lowliness of heart are the chief
mark by which they who follow the meek and lowly Lamb of God are
to be known.
Contents
Humility:
I. '' The Glory of the Creature
II. '' The Secret of Redemption
III. '' In the Life of Jesus
IV. '' In the Teaching of Jesus
V. '' In the Disciples of Jesus
VI. '' In Daily Life
VII. '' And Holiness
VIII.'' And Sin
IX. '' And Faith
X. '' And Death to Self
XI. '' And Happiness
XII. '' And Exaltation
Notes
Humility: The Beauty of Holiness.
I.
Humility: The Glory of the Creature
'They shall cast their crowns before the throne, saying: Worthy art
Thou, our Lord and our God, to receive the glory, and the honour

and the power: for Thou didst create all things, and because of Thy
will they were, and were created. '—REV. iv. 11.
WHEN God created the universe, it was with the one object of
making the creature partaker of His perfection and blessedness, and
so showing forth in it the glory of His love and wisdom and power.
God wished to reveal Himself in and through created beings by
communicating to them as much of His own goodness and glory as
they were capable of receiving. But this communication was not a
giving to the creature something which it could possess in itself, a
certain life or goodness, of which it had the charge and disposal. By
no means. But as God is the ever-living, ever-present, ever-acting
One, who upholdeth all things by the word of His power, and in
whom all things exist, the relation of the creature to God could only
be one of unceasing, absolute, universal dependence. As truly as
God by His power once created, so truly by that same power must
God every moment maintain. The creature has not only to look back
to the origin and first beginning of existence, and acknowledge that
it there owes everything to God; its chief care, its highest virtue, its
only happiness, now and through all eternity, is to present itself an
empty vessel, in which God can dwell and manifest His power and
goodness.
The life God bestows is imparted not once for all, but each
moment continuously, by the unceasing operation of His mighty
power. Humility, the place of entire dependence on God, is, from the
very nature of things, the first duty and the highest virtue of the
creature, and the root of every virtue.
And so pride, or the loss of this humility, is the root of every sin
and evil. It was when the now fallen angels began to look upon

themselves with self-complacency that they were led to
disobedience, and were cast down from the light of heaven into
outer darkness. Even so it was, when the serpent breathed the
poison of his pride, the desire to be as God, into the hearts of our
first parents, that they too fell from their high estate into all the
wretchedness in which man is now sunk. In heaven and earth, pride,
self-exaltation, is the gate and the birth, and the curse, of hell. (See
Note A.)
Hence it follows that nothing can be our redemption, but the
restoration of the lost humility, the original and only true relation of
the creature to its God. And so Jesus came to bring humility back to
earth, to make us partakers of it, and by it to save us. In heaven He
humbled Himself to become man. The humility we see in Him
possessed Him in heaven; it brought Him, He brought it, from there.
Here on earth 'He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto
death'; His humility gave His death its value, and so became our
redemption. And now the salvation He imparts is nothing less and
nothing else than a communication of His own life and death, His
own disposition and spirit, His own humility, as the ground and root
of His relation to God and His redeeming work. Jesus Christ took the
place and fulfilled the destiny of man, as a creature, by His life of
perfect humility. His humility is our salvation. His salvation is our
humility.
And so the life of the saved ones, of the saints, must needs bear
this stamp of deliverance from sin, and full restoration to their
original state; their whole relation to God and man marked by an all-
pervading humility. Without this there can be no true abiding in
God's presence, or experience of His favour and the power of His
Spirit; without this no abiding faith, or love or joy or strength.

Humility is the only soil in which the graces root; the lack of humility
is the sufficient explanation of every defect and failure. Humility is
not so much a grace or virtue along with others; it is the root of all,
because it alone takes the right attitude before God, and allows Him
as God to do all.
God has so constituted us as reasonable beings, that the truer the
insight into the real nature or the absolute need of a command, the
readier and fuller will be our obedience to it. The call to humility has
been too little regarded in the Church because its true nature and
importance has been too little apprehended. It is not a something
which we bring to God, or He bestows; it is simply the sense of
entire nothingness, which comes when we see how truly God is all,
and in which we make way for God to be all. When the creature
realises that this is the true nobility, and consents to be with his will,
his mind, and his affections, the form, the vessel in which the life
and glory of God are to work and manifest themselves, he sees that
humility is simply acknowledging the truth of his position as
creature, and yielding to God His place.
In the life of earnest Christians, of those who pursue and profess
holiness, humility ought to be the chief mark of their uprightness. It
is often said that it is not so. May not one reason be that in the
teaching and example of the Church, it has never had that place of
supreme importance which belongs to it? And that this, again, is
owing to the neglect of this truth, that strong as sin is as a motive to
humility, there is one of still wider and mightier influence, that which
makes the angels, that which made Jesus, that which makes the
holiest of saints in heaven, so humble; that the first and chief mark
of the relation of the creature, the secret of his blessedness, is the
humility and nothingness which leaves God free to be all?

I am sure there are many Christians who will confess that their
experience has been very much like my own in this, that we had
long known the Lord without realising that meekness and lowliness
of heart are to be the distinguishing feature of the disciple as they
were of the Master. And further, that this humility is not a thing that
will come of itself, but that it must be made the object of special
desire and prayer and faith and practice. As we study the word, we
shall see what very distinct and oft-repeated instructions Jesus gave
His disciples on this point, and how slow they were in understanding
Him. Let us, at the very commencement of our meditations, admit
that there is nothing so natural to man, nothing so insidious and
hidden from our sight, nothing so difficult and dangerous, as pride.
Let us feel that nothing but a very determined and persevering
waiting on God and Christ will discover how lacking we are in the
grace of humility, and how impotent to obtain what we seek. Let us
study the character of Christ until our souls are filled with the love
and admiration of His lowliness. And let us believe that, when we are
broken down under a sense of our pride, and our impotence to cast
it out, Jesus Christ Himself will come in to impart this grace too, as a
part of His wondrous life within us.
Humility: The Beauty of Holiness
II.
Humility: The Secret of Redemption.
'Have this mind in you which was also in Christ Jesus: who
emptied Himself; taking the form of a servant; and humbled Himself;

becoming obedient even unto death. Wherefore God also highly
exalted Him.' —PHIL. ii. 5-7.
NO tree can grow except on the root from which it sprang.
Through all its existence it can only live with the life that was in the
seed that gave it being. The full apprehension of this truth in its
application to the first and the Second Adam cannot but help us
greatly to understand both the need and the nature of the
redemption there is in Jesus.
The Need.—When the Old Serpent, he who had been cast out
from heaven for his pride, whose whole nature as devil was pride,
spoke his words of temptation into the ear of Eve, these words
carried with them the very poison of hell. And when she listened,
and yielded her desire and her will to the prospect of being as God,
knowing good and evil, the poison entered into her soul and blood
and life, destroying forever that blessed humility and dependence
upon God which would have been our everlasting happiness. And
instead of this, her life and the life of the race that sprang from her
became corrupted to its very root with that most terrible of all sins
and all curses, the poison of Satan's own pride. All the wretchedness
of which this world has been the scene, all its wars and bloodshed
among the nations, all its selfishness and suffering, all its ambitions
and jealousies, all its broken hearts and embittered lives, with all its
daily unhappiness, have their origin in what this cursed, hellish
pride, either our own, or that of others, has brought us. It is pride
that made redemption needful; it is from our pride we need above
everything to be redeemed. And our insight into the need of
redemption will largely depend upon our knowledge of the terrible
nature of the power that has entered our being.

No tree can grow except on the root from which it sprang. The
power that Satan brought from hell, and cast into man's life, is
working daily, hourly, with mighty power throughout the world. Men
suffer from it; they fear and fight and flee it; and yet they know not
whence it comes, whence it has its terrible supremacy. No wonder
they do not know where or how it is to be overcome. Pride has its
root and strength in a terrible spiritual power, outside of us as well
as within us; as needful as it is that we confess and deplore it as our
very own, is to know it in its Satanic origin. If this leads us to utter
despair of ever conquering or casting it out, it will lead us all the
sooner to that supernatural power in which alone our deliverance is
to be found—the redemption of the Lamb of God. The hopeless
struggle against the workings of self and pride within us may indeed
become still more hopeless as we think of the power of darkness
behind it all; the utter despair will fit us the better for realising and
accepting a power and a life outside of ourselves too, even the
humility of heaven as brought down and brought nigh by the Lamb
of God, to cast out Satan and his pride.
No tree can grow except on the root from which it sprang. Even as
we need to look to the first Adam and his fall to know the power of
the sin within us, we need to know well the Second Adam and His
power to give within us a life of humility as real and abiding and
overmastering as has been that of pride. We have our life from and
in Christ, as truly, yea more truly, than from and in Adam. We are to
walk 'rooted in Him,' 'holding fast the Head from whom the whole
body increaseth with the increase of God.' The life of God which in
the incarnation entered human nature, is the root in which we are to
stand and grow; it is the same almighty power that worked there,
and thence onward to the resurrection, which works daily in us. Our
one need is to study and know and trust the life that has been

revealed in Christ as the life that is now ours, and waits for our
consent to gain possession and mastery of our whole being.
In this view it is of inconceivable importance that we should have
right thoughts of what Christ is, of what really constitutes Him the
Christ, and specially of what may be counted His chief characteristic,
the root and essence of all His character as our Redeemer. There can
be but one answer: it is His humility. What is the incarnation but His
heavenly humility, His emptying Himself and becoming man? What is
His life on earth but humility; His taking the form of a servant? And
what is His atonement but humility? 'He humbled Himself and
became obedient unto death.' And what is His ascension and His
glory, but humility exalted to the throne and crowned with glory? 'He
humbled Himself, therefore God highly exalted Him.' In heaven,
where He was with the Father, in His birth, in His life, in His death, in
His sitting on the throne, it is all, it is nothing but humility. Christ is
the humility of God embodied in human nature; the Eternal Love
humbling itself, clothing itself in the garb of meekness and
gentleness, to win and serve and save us. As the love and
condescension of God makes Him the benefactor and helper and
servant of all, so Jesus of necessity was the Incarnate Humility. And
so He is still in the midst of the throne, the meek and lowly Lamb of
God.
If this be the root of the tree, its nature must be seen in every
branch and leaf and fruit. If humility be the first, the all-including
grace of the life of Jesus,—if humility be the secret of His
atonement,—then the health and strength of our spiritual life will
entirely depend upon our putting this grace first too, and making
humility the chief thing we admire in Him, the chief thing we ask of
Him, the one thing for which we sacrifice all else. (See Note B.)

Is it any wonder that the Christian life is so often feeble and
fruitless, when the very root of the Christ life is neglected, is
unknown? Is it any wonder that the joy of salvation is so little felt,
when that in which Christ found it and brings it, is so little sought?
Until a humility which will rest in nothing less than the end and
death of self; which gives up all the honour of men as Jesus did, to
seek the honour that comes from God alone; which absolutely
makes and counts itself nothing, that God may be all, that the Lord
alone may be exalted,—until such a humility be what we seek in
Christ above our chief joy, and welcome at any price, there is very
little hope of a religion that will conquer the world.
I cannot too earnestly plead with my reader, if possibly his
attention has never yet been specially directed to the want there is
of humility within him or around him, to pause and ask whether he
sees much of the spirit of the meek and lowly Lamb of God in those
who are called by His name. Let him consider how all want of love,
all indifference to the needs, the feelings, the weakness of others; all
sharp and hasty judgments and utterances, so often excused under
the plea of being outright and honest; all manifestations of temper
and touchiness and irritation; all feelings of bitterness and
estrangement, have their root in nothing but pride, that ever seeks
itself, and his eyes will be opened to see how a dark, shall I not say
a devilish pride, creeps in almost everywhere, the assemblies of the
saints not excepted. Let him begin to ask what would be the effect,
if in himself and around him, if towards fellow-saints and the world,
believers were really permanently guided by the humility of Jesus;
and let him say if the cry of our whole heart, night and day, ought
not to be, Oh for the humility of Jesus in myself and all around me!
Let him honestly fix his heart on his own lack of the humility which
has been revealed in the likeness of Christ's life, and in the whole

character of His redemption, and he will begin to feel as if he had
never yet really known what Christ and His salvation is.
Believer! study the humility of Jesus. This is the secret, the hidden
root of thy redemption. Sink down into it deeper day by day. Believe
with thy whole heart that this Christ, whom God has given thee,
even as His divine humility wrought the work for thee, will enter in
to dwell and work within thee too, and make thee what the Father
would have thee be.
Humility: The Beauty of Holiness
III.
The Humility of Jesus.
'I am in the midst of you as he that serveth.'—LUKE xxii. 26.
IN the Gospel of John we have the inner life of our Lord laid open
to us. Jesus speaks frequently of His relation to the Father, of the
motives by which He is guided, of His consciousness of the power
and spirit in which He acts. Though the word humble does not occur,
we shall nowhere in Scripture see so clearly wherein His humility
consisted. We have already said that this grace is in truth nothing
but that simple consent of the creature to let God be all, in virtue of
which it surrenders itself to His working alone. In Jesus we shall see
how both as the Son of God in heaven, and as man upon earth, He
took the place of entire subordination, and gave God the honour and
the glory which is due to Him. And what He taught so often was

made true to Himself: 'He that humbleth him: shall be exalted.' As it
is written, 'He humbled Himself, therefore God highly exalted Him.'
Listen to the words in which our Lord speaks of His relation to the
Father, and how unceasingly He uses the words not, and nothing, of
Himself. The not I, in which Paul expresses his relation to Christ,
is the very spirit of what Christ says of His relation the Father.
'The Son can do nothing of Himself' (John v. 19).
'I can of My own self do nothing; My judgment is just, because I
seek not Mine own will' (John v 30).
'I receive not glory from men' (John v. 41).
'I am come not to do Mine own will' (John vi. 38).
'My teaching is not Mine' (John vii. 16).
'I am not come of Myself' (John vii. 28).
'I do nothing of Myself' (John vii. 28).
'I have not come of Myself, but He sent Me' (John viii. 42).
'I seek not Mine own glory' (John viii. 50).
'The words that I say, I speak not from Myself' (John xiv. 10).
'The word which ye hear is not Mine' (John xiv. 24).
These words open to us the deepest roots of Christ's life and
work. They tell us how it was that the Almighty God was able to
work His mighty redemptive work through Him. They show what

Christ counted the state of heart which became Him as the Son of
the Father. They teach us what the essential nature and life is of that
redemption which Christ accomplished and now communicates. It is
this: He was nothing, that God might be all. He resigned Himself
with His will and His powers entirely for the Father to work in Him.
Of His own power, His own will, and His own glory, of His whole
mission with all His works and His teaching,—of all this He said, It is
not I; I am nothing; I have given Myself to the Father to work; I am
nothing, the Father is all.
This life of entire self-abnegation, of absolute submission and
dependence upon the Father's will, Christ found to be one of perfect
peace and joy. He lost nothing by giving all to God. God honoured
His trust, and did all for Him, and then exalted Him to His own right
hand in glory. And because Christ had thus humbled Himself before
God, and God was ever before Him, He found it possible to humble
Himself before men too, and to be the Servant of all. His humility
was simply the surrender of Himself to God, to allow Him to do in
Him what He pleased, whatever men around might say of Him, or do
to Him.
It is in this state of mind, in this spirit and disposition, that the
redemption of Christ has its virtue and efficacy. It is to bring us to
this disposition that we are made partakers of Christ. This is the true
self-denial to which our Saviour calls us, the acknowledgment that
self has nothing good in it, except as an empty vessel which God
must fill, and that its claim to be or do anything may not for a
moment be allowed. It is in this, above and before everything, in
which the conformity to Jesus consists, the being and doing nothing
of ourselves, that God may be all.

Here we have the root and nature of true humility. It is because
this is not understood or sought after, that our humility is so
superficial and so feeble. We must learn of Jesus, how He is meek
and lowly of heart. He teaches us where true humility takes its rise
and finds its strength—in the knowledge that it is God who worketh
all in all, that our place is to yield to Him in perfect resignation and
dependence, in full consent to be and to do nothing of ourselves.
This is the life Christ came to reveal and to impart—a life to God that
came through death to sin and self. If we feel that this life is too
high for us and beyond our reach, it must but the more urge us to
seek it in Him; it is the indwelling Christ who will live in us this life,
meek and lowly. If we long for this, let us, meantime, above
everything, seek the holy secret of the knowledge of the nature of
God, as He every moment works all in all; the secret, of which all
nature and every creature, and above all, every child of God, is to be
the witness,—that it is nothing but a vessel, a channel, through
which the living God can manifest the riches of His wisdom, power,
and goodness. The root of all virtue and grace, of all faith and
acceptable worship, is that we know that we have nothing but what
we receive, and bow in deepest humility to wait upon God for it.
It was because this humility was not only a temporary sentiment,
wakened up and brought into exercise when He thought of God, but
the very spirit of His whole life, that Jesus was just as humble in His
intercourse with men as with God. He felt Himself the Servant of
God for the men whom God made and loved; as a natural
consequence, He counted Himself the Servant of men, that through
Him God might do His work of love. He never for a moment thought
of seeking His honour, or asserting His power to vindicate Himself.
His whole spirit was that of a life yielded to God to work in. It is not
until Christians study the humility of Jesus as the very essence of His

redemption, as the very blessedness of the life of the Son of God, as
the only true relation to the Father, and therefore as that which
Jesus must give us if we are to have any part with Him, that the
terrible lack of actual, heavenly, manifest humility will become a
burden and a sorrow, and our ordinary religion be set aside to
secure this, the first and the chief of the marks of the Christ within
us.
Brother, are you clothed with humility? Ask your daily life. Ask
Jesus. Ask your friends. Ask the world. And begin to praise God that
there is opened up to you in Jesus a heavenly humility of which you
have hardly known, and through which a heavenly blessedness you
possibly have never yet tasted can come in to you.
Humility: The Beauty of Holiness
IV.
Humility in the Teaching of Jesus.
'Learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly of heart.'—MATT. xi. 29.
'Whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant, even
as the Son of Man came to serve.'—MATT. xx. 27.
WE have seen humility in the life of Christ, as He laid open His
heart to us: let us listen to His teaching. There we shall hear how He
speaks of it, and how far He expects men, and specially His
disciples, to be humble as He was. Let us carefully study the
passages, which I can scarce do more than quote, to receive the full

impression of how often and how earnestly He taught it: it may help
us to realise what He asks of us.
1. Look at the commencement of His ministry. In the Beatitudes
with which the Sermon on the Mount opens, He speaks: 'Blessed are
the poor in spirit; for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are
the meek; for they shall inherit the earth.' The very first words of His
proclamation of the kingdom of heaven reveal the open gate
through which alone we enter. The poor, who have nothing in
themselves, to them the kingdom comes. The meek, who seek
nothing in themselves, theirs the earth shall be. The blessings of
heaven and earth are for the lowly. For the heavenly and the earthly
life, humility is the secret of blessing.
2. 'Learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly of heart, and ye shall
find rest for your souls.' Jesus offers Himself as Teacher. He tells
what the spirit both is, which we shall find Him as Teacher, and
which we can learn and receive from Him. Meekness and lowliness
the one thing He offers us; in it we shall find perfect rest of soul.
Humility is to be a salvation.
3. The disciples had been disputing who would be the greatest in
the kingdom, and had agreed to ask the Master (Luke 9:46; Matt.
18:3). He set a child in their midst and said, 'Whosoever shall
humble himself as this little child, shall be exalted.' 'Who the
greatest in the kingdom of heaven?' The question is indeed a far-
reaching one. What will be the chief distinction in the heavenly
kingdom? The answer, none but Jesus would have given. The chief
glory of heaven, the true heavenly-mindedness, the chief of the
graces, is humility. 'He that is least among you, the same shall be
great.'

4. The sons of Zebedee had asked Jesus to sit on His right and
left, the highest place in the kingdom. Jesus said it was not His to
give, but the Father's, who would give it to those for whom it was
prepared. They must not look or ask for it. Their thought must be of
the cup and the baptism of humiliation. And then He added,
'Whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant. Even
as the Son of Man came to serve.' Humility, as it is the mark of
Christ the heavenly, will be the one standard of glory in heaven: the
lowliest is the nearest to God. The primacy in the Church is promised
to the humblest.
5. Speaking to the multitude and the disciples, of the Pharisees
and their love of the chief seats, Christ said once again (Matt. xxxiii.
11), 'He that is greatest among you shall be your servant.'
Humiliation is the only ladder to honour in God's kingdom.
6. On another occasion, in the house of a Pharisee, He spoke the
parable of the guest who would be invited to come up higher (Luke
xiv. 1-11), and added, 'For whosoever exalteth himself shall be
abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.' The demand
is inexorable; there is no other way. Self-abasement alone will be
exalted.
7. After the parable of the Pharisee and the Publican, Christ spake
again (Luke xviii. 14), 'Everyone that exalteth himself shall be
abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.' In the
temple and presence and worship of God, everything is worthless
that is not pervaded by deep, true humility towards God and men.
8. After washing the disciples' feet, Jesus said (John xiii. 14), 'If I
then, the Lord and Master, have washed your feet, ye also ought to
wash one another's feet.' The authority of command, and example,

every thought, either of obedience or conformity, make humility the
first and most essential element of discipleship.
9. At the Holy Supper table, the disciples still disputed who should
be greatest (Luke xxii. 26). Jesus said, 'He that is greatest among
you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth
serve. I am among you as he that serveth.' The path in which Jesus
walked, and which He opened up for us, the power and spirit in
which He wrought out salvation, and to which He saves us, is ever
the humility that makes me the servant of all.
How little this is preached. How little it is practised. How little the
lack of it is felt or confessed. I do not say, how few attain to it, some
recognisable measure of likeness to Jesus in His humility. But how
few ever think, of making it a distinct object of continual desire or
prayer. How little the world has seen it. How little has it been seen
even in the inner circle of the Church.
'Whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant.'
Would God that it might be given us to believe that Jesus means
this! We all know what the character of a faithful servant or slave
implies. Devotion to the master's interests, thoughtful study and
care to please him, delight in his prosperity and honour and
happiness. There are servants on earth in whom these dispositions
have been seen, and to whom the name of servant has never been
anything but a glory. To how many of us has it not been a new joy in
the Christian life to know that we may yield ourselves as servants, as
slaves to God, and to find that His service is our highest liberty,—the
liberty from sin and self? We need now to learn another lesson,—
that Jesus calls us to be servants of one another, and that, as we
accept it heartily, this service too will be a most blessed one, a new

and fuller liberty too from sin and self. At first it may appear hard;
this is only because of the pride which still counts itself something. If
once we learn that to be nothing before God is the glory of the
creature, the spirit of Jesus, the joy of heaven, we shall welcome
with our whole heart the discipline we may have in serving even
those who try to vex us. When our own heart is set upon this, the
true sanctification, we shall study each word of Jesus on self-
abasement with new zest, and no place will be too low, and no
stooping too deep, and no service too mean or too long continued, if
we may but share and prove the fellowship with Him who spake, 'I
am among you as he that serveth.'
Brethren, here is the path to the higher life. Down, lower down!
This was what Jesus ever said to the disciples who were thinking of
being great in the kingdom, and of sitting on His right hand and His
left. Seek not, ask not for exaltation; that is God's work. Look to it
that you abase and humble yourselves, and take no place before
God or man but that of servant; that is your work; let that be your
one purpose and prayer. God is faithful. Just as water ever seeks and
fills the lowest place, so the moment God finds the creature abased
and empty, His glory and power flow in to exalt and to bless. He that
humbleth himself—that must be our one care—shall be exalted; that
is God's care; by His mighty power and in His great love He will do
it.
Men sometimes speak as if humility and meekness would rob us of
what is noble and bold and manlike. Oh that all would believe that
this is the nobility of the kingdom of heaven, that this is the royal
spirit that the King of heaven displayed, that this is Godlike, to
humble oneself, to become the servant of all! This is the path to the

gladness and the glory of Christ's presence ever in us, His power
ever resting on us.
Jesus, the meek and lowly One, calls us to learn of Him the path
to God. Let us study the words we have been reading, until our
heart is filled with the thought: My one need is humility. And let us
believe that what He shows, He gives; what He is, He imparts. As
the meek and lowly One, He will come in and dwell in the longing
heart.
Humility: The Beauty of Holiness
V.
Humility in the Disciples of Jesus
'Let him that is chief among you be as he that doth serve.' —LUKE
xxii. 26
WE have studied humility in the person and teaching of Jesus; let
us now look for it in the circle of His chosen companions—the twelve
apostles. If, in the lack of it we find in them, the contrast between
Christ and men is brought out more clearly, it will help us to
appreciate the mighty change which Pentecost wrought in them, and
prove how real our participation can be in the perfect triumph of
Christ's humility over the pride Satan had breathed into man.
In the texts quoted from the teaching of Jesus, we have already
seen what the occasions were on which the disciples had proved
how entirely wanting they were in the grace of humility. Once, they
had been disputing the way which of them should be the greatest

Another time, the sons of Zebedee with their mother had asked for
the first places—the seat on the right hand and the left. And, later
on, at the Supper table on the last night, there was again a
contention which should be accounted the greatest. Not that there
were not moments when they indeed humbled themselves before
their Lord. So it was with Peter when he cried out, 'Depart from me,
Lord, for I am a sinful man.' So, too, with the disciples when they fell
down and worshipped Him who had stilled the storm. But such
occasional expressions of humility only bring out into stronger relief
what was the habitual tone of their mind, as shown in the natural
and spontaneous revelation given at other times of the place and the
power of self. The study of the meaning of all this will teach us most
important lessons.
First, How much there may be of earnest and active, religion while
humility is still sadly wanting.—See it in the disciples. There was in
them fervent attachment to Jesus. They had forsaken all for Him.
The Father had revealed to them that He was the Christ of God.
They believed in Him, they loved Him, they obeyed His
commandments. They had forsaken all to follow Him. When others
went back, they clave to Him. They were ready to die with Him. But
deeper down than all this there was a dark power, of the existence
and the hideousness of which they were hardly conscious, which had
to be slain and cast out, ere they could be the witnesses of the
power of Jesus to save. It is even so still. We may find professors
and ministers, evangelists and workers, missionaries and teachers, in
whom the gifts of the Spirit are many and manifest, and who are the
channels of blessing to multitudes, but of whom, when the testing
time comes, or closer intercourse gives fuller knowledge, it is only
too painfully manifest that the grace of humility, as an abiding
characteristic, is scarce to be seen. All tends to confirm the lesson

that humility is one of the chief and the highest graces; one of the
most difficult of attainment; one to which our first and chiefest
efforts ought to be directed; one that only comes in power, when the
fullness of the Spirit makes us partakers of the indwelling Christ, and
He lives within us.
Second, How impotent all external teaching and all personal effort
is, to conquer pride or give the meek and lowly heart.—For three
years the disciples had been in the training school of Jesus. He had
told them what the chief lesson was He wished to teach them:
'Learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart.' Time after time He
had spoken to them, to the Pharisees, to the multitude, of humility
as the only path to the glory of God. He had not only lived before
them as the Lamb of God in His divine humility, He had more than
once unfolded to them the inmost secret of His life: 'The Son of Man
came not to be served, but to serve'; 'I am among you as one that
serveth.' He had washed their feet, and told them they were to
follow His example. And yet all had availed but little. At the Holy
Supper there was still the contention as to who should be greatest.
They had doubtless often tried to learn His lessons, and firmly
resolved not again to grieve Him. But all in vain. To teach them and
us the much needed lesson, that no outward instruction, not even of
Christ Himself; no argument however convincing; no sense of the
beauty of humility, however deep; no personal resolve or effort,
however sincere and earnest,—can cast out the devil of pride. When
Satan casts out Satan, it is only to enter afresh in a mightier, though
more hidden power. Nothing can avail but this, that the new nature
in its divine humility be revealed in power to take the place of the
old, to become as truly our very nature as that ever was.

Third, It is only by the indwelling of Christ in His divine humility
that we become truly humble.—We have our pride from another,
from Adam; we must have our humility from Another too. Pride is
ours, and rules in us with such terrible power, because it is ourself,
our very nature. Humility must be ours in the same way; it must be
our very self, our very nature. As natural and easy as it has been to
be proud, it must be, it will be, to be humble. The promise is,
'Where,' even in the heart, 'sin abounded, grace did abound more
exceedingly.' All Christ's teaching of His disciples, and all their vain
efforts, were the needful preparation for His entering into them in
divine power, to give and be in them what He had taught them to
desire. In His death He destroyed the power of the devil, He put
away sin, and effected an everlasting redemption. In His resurrection
He received from the Father an entirely new life, the life of man in
the power of God, capable of being communicated to men, and
entering and renewing and filling their lives with His divine power. In
His ascension He received the Spirit of the Father, through whom He
might do what He could not do while upon earth, make Himself one
with those He loved, actually live their life for them, so that they
could live before the Father in a humility like His, because it was
Himself who lived and breathed in them. And on Pentecost He came
and took possession. The work of preparation and conviction, the
awakening of desire and hope which His teaching had effected, was
perfected by the mighty change that Pentecost wrought. And the
lives and the epistles of James and Peter and John bear witness that
all was changed, and that the spirit of the meek and suffering Jesus
had indeed possession of them.
What shall we say to these things? Among my readers I am sure
there is more than one class. There may be some who have never
yet thought very specially of the matter, and cannot at once realise

its immense importance as a life question for the Church and its
every member. There are others who have felt condemned for their
shortcomings, and have put forth very earnest efforts, only to fail
and be discouraged. Others, again, may be able to give joyful
testimony of spiritual blessing and power, and yet there has never
been the needed conviction of what those around them still see as
wanting. And still others may be able to witness that in regard to
this grace too the Lord has given deliverance and victory, while He
has taught them how much they still need and may expect out of
the fullness of Jesus. To whichever class we belong, may I urge the
pressing need there is for our all seeking a still deeper conviction of
the unique place that humility holds in the religion of Christ, and the
utter impossibility of the Church or the believer being what Christ
would have them be, as long as His humility is not recognised as His
chief glory, His first command, and our highest blessedness. Let us
consider deeply how far the disciples were advanced while this grace
was still so terribly lacking, and let us pray to God that other gifts
may not so satisfy us, that we never grasp the fact that the absence
of this grace is the secret cause why the power of God cannot do its
mighty work. It is only where we, like the Son, truly know and show
that we can do nothing of ourselves, that God will do all.
It is when the truth of an indwelling Christ takes the place it
claims in the experience of believers, that the Church will put on her
beautiful garments and humility be seen in her teachers and
members as the beauty of holiness.
Humility: The Beauty of Holiness.
VI.

Humility in Daily Life
'He that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he
love God whom he hath not seen?'—1 JOHN iv. 20.
WHAT a solemn thought, that our love to God will be measured by
our everyday intercourse with men and the love it displays; and that
our love to God will be found to be a delusion, except was its truth is
proved in standing the test of daily life with our fellowmen. It is even
so with our humility. It is easy to think we humble ourselves before
God: humility towards men will be the only sufficient proof that our
humility before God is real; that humility has taken up its abode in
us; and become our very nature; that we actually, like Christ, have
made ourselves of no reputation. When in the presence of God
lowliness of heart has become, not a posture we pray to Him, but
the very spirit of our life, it will manifest itself in all our bearing
towards our brethren. The lesson is one of deep import: the only
humility that is really ours is not that which we try to show before
God in prayer, but that which we carry with us, and carry out, in our
ordinary conduct; the insignificances of daily life are the importances
and the tests of eternity, because they prove what really is the spirit
that possesses us. It is in our most unguarded moments that we
really show and see what we are. To know the humble man, to know
how the humble man behaves, you must follow him in the common
course of daily life.
Is not this what Jesus taught? It was when the disciples disputed
who should be greatest; when He saw how the Pharisees loved the
chief place at feasts and the chief seats in the synagogues; when He
had given them the example of washing their feet,—that He taught

His lessons of humility. Humility before God is nothing if not proved
in humility before men.
It is even so in the teaching of Paul. To the Romans He writes: 'In
honour preferring one another'; 'Set not your mind on high things,
but condescend to those that are lowly.' 'Be not wise in your own
conceit.' To the Corinthians: 'Love,' and there is no love without
humility as its root, 'vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, seeketh not
its own, is not provoked.' To the Galatians: 'Through love be
servants one of another. Let us not be desirous of vainglory,
provoking one another, envying one another.' To the Ephesians,
immediately after the three wonderful chapters on the heavenly life:
'Therefore, walk with all lowliness and meekness, with long-
suffering, forbearing one another in love'; 'Giving thanks always,
subjecting yourselves one to another in the fear of Christ.' To the
Philippians: 'Doing nothing through faction or vainglory, but in
lowliness of mind, each counting other better than himself. Have the
mind in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who emptied Himself,
taking the form of a servant, and humbled Himself.' And to the
Colossians: 'Put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility,
meekness, long-suffering, forebearing one another, and forgiving
each other, even as the Lord forgave you.' It is in our relation to one
another, in our treatment of one another, that the true lowliness of
mind and the heart of humility are to be seen. Our humility before
God has no value, but as it prepares us to reveal the humility of
Jesus to our fellow-men. Let us study humility in daily life in the light
of these words.
The humble man seeks at all times to act up to the rule, 'In
honour preferring one another; Servants one of another; Each
counting others better than himself; Subjecting yourselves one to

another.' The question is often asked, how we can count others
better than ourselves, when we see that they are far below us in
wisdom and in holiness, in natural gifts, or in grace received. The
question proves at once how little we understand what real lowliness
of mind is. True humility comes when, in the light of God, we have
seen ourselves to be nothing, have consented to part with and cast
away self, to let God be all. The soul that has done this, and can say,
So have I lost myself in finding Thee, no longer compares itself with
others. It has given up forever every thought of self in God's
presence; it meets its fellow-men as one who is nothing, and seeks
nothing for itself; who is a servant of God, and for His sake a servant
of all. A faithful servant may be wiser than the master, and yet retain
the true spirit and posture of the servant. The humble man looks
upon every, the feeblest and unworthiest, child of God, and honours
him and prefers him in honour as the son of a King. The spirit of Him
who washed the disciples' feet, makes it a joy to us to be indeed the
least, to be servants one of another.
The humble man feels no jealousy or envy. He can praise God
when others are preferred and blessed before him. He can bear to
hear others praised and himself forgotten, because in God's
presence he has learnt to say with Paul, 'I am nothing.' He has
received the spirit of Jesus, who pleased not Himself, and sought not
His own honour, as the spirit of his life.
Amid what are considered the temptations to impatience and
touchiness, to hard thoughts and sharp words, which come from the
failings and sins of fellow-Christians, the humble man carries the oft-
repeated injunction in his heart, and shows it in his life, 'Forbearing
one another, and forgiving one another, even as the Lord forgave
you.' He has learnt that in putting on the Lord Jesus he has put on

Welcome to our website – the perfect destination for book lovers and
knowledge seekers. We believe that every book holds a new world,
offering opportunities for learning, discovery, and personal growth.
That’s why we are dedicated to bringing you a diverse collection of
books, ranging from classic literature and specialized publications to
self-development guides and children's books.
More than just a book-buying platform, we strive to be a bridge
connecting you with timeless cultural and intellectual values. With an
elegant, user-friendly interface and a smart search system, you can
quickly find the books that best suit your interests. Additionally,
our special promotions and home delivery services help you save time
and fully enjoy the joy of reading.
Join us on a journey of knowledge exploration, passion nurturing, and
personal growth every day!
ebookbell.com

Monuments Ritual And Regionality The Neolithic Of Northern Somerset Jodie Lewis

About This Presentation

Slide Content

Tags

Categories

Download

Quick Actions

Statistics

Related Slideshows

Monuments Ritual And Regionality The Neolithic Of Northern Somerset Jodie Lewis

About This Presentation

Slide Content

Slide 1

Slide 2

Slide 3

Slide 5

Slide 6

Slide 7

Slide 8

Slide 9

Slide 10

Slide 11

Slide 12

Slide 13

Slide 14

Slide 16

Slide 17

Slide 18

Slide 19

Slide 20

Slide 21

Slide 22

Slide 23

Slide 24

Slide 28

Slide 29

Slide 30

Slide 31

Slide 32

Slide 33

Slide 34

Slide 35

Slide 36

Slide 37

Slide 38

Slide 39

Slide 40

Slide 41

Slide 42

Slide 43

Slide 44

Slide 45

Slide 46

Slide 47

Slide 48

Slide 49

Slide 50

Slide 51

Slide 52

Slide 53

Slide 54

Slide 55

Slide 56

Slide 57

Slide 58

Slide 59

Tags

Categories

Download

Quick Actions

Statistics

Related Slideshows

TLE-9-Prepare-Salad-and-Dressing.pptxkkk

LESSON 1 ABOUT MEDIA AND INFORMATION.pptx

GRADE-8-AQUACULTURE-WEEKQ1.pdfdfawgwyrsewru

Feelings PP Game FOR CHILDREN IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL.pptx

Jeopardy_Figures_of_Speech_Template.pptx [Autosaved].pptx

Jeopardy_Figures_of_Speech.pptxvdsvdsvsdvsd