Henry Taylor on popularity and humility

Taylor (Statesman, Chapter 7) seems to achieve a synthesis of classical and Christian concepts of humility.

Popularity (I speak of social and personal not political popularity) till it be traced to its sources is no more than a slight presumption either way; but so far as it is a ground of judgment at all, it is against a man; because the defects which ordinarily accompany it are more essential than the merits. Hardly any man obtains popularity without desiring and seeking it, or without making some sacrifices for it. It is most commonly obtained by an abuse of humility, and a large indulgence for all qualities and proceedings which are not denounced as flagitious by the society to which a man belongs. I say an abuse of humility, because humility well used consists in a constant reference to a high standard and a prostration of pride and self-love before that standard, whether it be merely ideal, or whether we see it embodied in men of virtue and understanding superior to our own: and it does not consist in any undue and untrue self-depreciation, leading a man to postpone himself to what is worse than himself, and thereby to desert his moral station.

One of the doctrines of this popular humility is much the same with that which Machiavelli ascribes to the Romish Church in his time—the doctrine, "come è male del male dir male" ["it is like evil to speak badly of evil" (BabelFish trans.)]. There is a better doctrine which teaches that men are not only the subjects but the instruments, of God's moral government. The judgments of the street and of the market-place, the sentences which men pronounce upon each other in the ordinary intercourse of life, constitute the most essential of all social jurisdictions, and he who would serve the great Law-giver with fidelity must carry the sword of justice in his mouth. A righteous humility will teach a man never to pass a censure in a spirit of exultation; a righteous courage will teach him never to withhold it from fear of being disliked. Popularity is commonly obtained by a dereliction of the duties of censure under a pretext of humility.