beyond the plague of a self-seeking and ambitions spirit* FiUed with the vain notion that our Lord's kingdom was to appear immediately, they were ready to wrangle about their place and precedency in it. Each thought his own claim the strongest. Each thought his own deserts and right to honour most unquestionable. Each thought that, whatever place was assigned to his brethren, a principal place ought to be assigned to himself. And aU this happened in the company of Christ Himself, and under the noon-tide blaze of His teaching. Such is the heart of man !
There is something very instructive in this fact. It ought to sink down deeply into the heart of every Chris- tian reader. Of all sins there is none against which we have such need to watch and pray, as pride. It is a pestilence that walketh in darkness, and a sickness that destroyeth at noon day. — ^No sin is so deeply rooted in our nature. It cleaves to us like our skin. Its roots never entirely die. They are ready, at any moment, to spring up, and ^exhibit a most pernicious vitality^ — No sin is so specious and deceitful. It can wear the garb of humility itself. It can lurk in the hearts of the ignorant, the ungifted, and the poor, as well as in the minds of the great, the learned, and the rich. It is a quaint and homely saying, but only too true, that no pope has ever received such honour as pope " self."
Let a prayer for humility, and the spirit of a little child, form part of our daily supplications. Of aU creatures none has so little right to be proud as man, and of all men none ought to be so humble as the Christian. Is it really true that we confess ourselves to be " miserable