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THE HUMBLE GUEST EXALTED.

LUKE XIV. 7—11.

"And he put forth a parable to those which were bidden, when he marked how they chose out the chief rooms; saying unto them, When thou art bidden of any man to a wedding, sit not down in the highest room; lest a more honourable man than thou be bidden of him; and he that bade thee and him come and say to thee, Give this man place; and thou begin with shame to take the lowest room. But when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room; that when he that bade thee cometh, he may say unto thee, Friend, go up higher then shalt thou have worship in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee. For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.

THERE is a Circumstance here mentioned, which led our Lord to speak one of His Parables. Then, we have the Parable itself. And lastly the Lesson which the Parable was intended to teach us.

The Circumstance which occurred was this -Our Lord, being in the house of one of the Pharisees, whilst He was sitting with him and

his friends at table, noticed some of the guests putting themselves forward, and choosing the highest seats. He determines to check this unseemly forwardness; and not only so, but to expose the secret feeling of pride which was at the root of it. And with this end in view, He speaks the Parable.

When you are invited to a Feast, He says, do not choose for yourself the foremost place, but rather take the lowest seat at the table. For there may chance to be present some of higher rank, and more deserving, than yourself. And then, if the Master of the feast should say to you, "Go down lower, and make way for this or that person," you will be filled with shame at being obliged to do so. But if, on the other hand, you choose for yourself a low place, the Master of the house may perhaps say to you, "Friend, come up higher "

"Take a more honourable seat." Then shall you have worship (that is, respect paid you) from those who are present.

Such is the Parable. Now, what was our Lord's meaning? He did not mean to teach

us merely how to behave at table. The Parable has a much wider meaning. And lest we should miss it, Jesus tells us plainly, in the last verse, what that meaning is-"For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased: and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted."

This Parable then is intended to teach us Humility that God will bring down those who exalt themselves; and that, on the other hand, He will raise up those who are humble and lowly.

Pride is natural to us all. It is part of our evil nature. The Rich man is proud of his wealth, the Learned man of his wisdom. There is the pride of money, and the pride of rank. There is the pride of beauty, and the pride of dress. There is pride to be found among the great people in our towns, and pride too among the poorest in our villages. Pride is to be seen creeping in everywhere, even into the very house of God. Yes, we may trace its footsteps even in the Sanctuary. One person thinks of his fine clothes, whilst he is there. And another stays away altogether, because he cannot appear so well dressed as his neighbour. One person shuts

himself into his pew, and grudges to make way for anyone who has not an actual right to sit with him. Another again refuses to come at all, because he cannot have what he considers his proper seat.

How sad it is that this hateful sin should so cleave to us! Men despise us for it; and what is far worse, God condemns us: it disfigures us in His sight.

But the worst of this Pride is that it keeps us from Christ. The Word of God tells us that we are sinners. Sin is one of the few things we may call our own.

We need not

go here or there to discover it. Here it is, in our hearts. And if you or I have any good hope of heaven, it is because we have found pardon for our sins-we have found Him who is the sinner's Friend.

We are told in the Bible that man is a sinner, and that Christ is the only Saviour. This is a truth so plainly set forth, that no one will deny it. We may read it in almost every part of God's Word; and if we look into our Prayer-book, we shall find it there also.

And yet numbers remain at a distance from Christ. Why is this? How shall we account

for it? It is pride. People will acknowledge that Holy Scripture speaks of us as sinners. We know that the very prayers we offer up in God's house echo the same truth. But our hearts are oftentimes too proud to allow it in our own case. Christ is offered to us continually. He is constantly passing by, as it were, and saying to us, "Wilt thou be made whole?" He sees us to be poor, and blind, and naked; but we see it not ourselves. We will not own it. We will not come to Him, that we might have life.

Thank God, He does sometimes crush this pride of ours. His grace reaches our very hearts, and lays us low in the dust. When this is the case, all our fancied goodness is scattered to the winds. We feel that we are nothing, and that Christ is everything. . We are ready to exclaim with Job, "I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee: wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes." •

Look again at these words of Christ now before us-" Whosoever exalteth himself shall