The good man read on till he came to the publican, “standing afar off.”  “That’s where I am,” said the Hottentot.  “Would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven,” read the farmer.  “That’s me,” cried his hearer.  “But smote upon his breast saying, God be merciful to me a sinner.”  “That’s me; that’s my prayer,” cried the poor creature, and smiting on his dark breast, he prayed for himself in the words of the parable,—­“God be merciful to me a sinner!” And he went on offering this prayer till the loving Saviour heard and answered him, and he went down to his house a saved and happy man.

Thus we see how this poor man learned the lesson of humility which Jesus taught, and how much good it did to him.

And it is Jesus who is speaking to us and commanding us to learn this lesson of humility, when we read, in other passages of Scripture, such words as these:—­“Put on therefore—­humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering.”  Col. iii:  12.  “Humble yourself therefore in the sight of God.”  James iv:  10.  “Be clothed with humility.”  I. Pet. v:  5.  In all these places we have Jesus repeating his command to us to learn the lesson of humility.  And this command is urged thus earnestly upon us because it is so important.

When St. Augustine, one of the celebrated fathers of the early Church, was asked—­What is the first important thing in the Christian religion? his reply was—­“Humility.”  “What is the second?” “Humility.”  “And what is the third?”—­the reply still was—­“Humility.”

And if this be true, we need not wonder that Jesus should have been so earnest in teaching this lesson; or that he should have urged so strongly on his disciples to learn it.

The command of Christ is the first reason why we should learn the lesson of humility.

But the second reason why we should learn this lesson is, because of the—­EXAMPLE—­of Christ.

There are many persons “who say and do not.”  There are some ministers who preach very well, but they do not practise what they preach.  Such persons may well be compared to finger-boards.  They point out the way to others, but they do not walk in it themselves.  But this was not the case with our blessed Saviour.  He practised everything that he preached.  And when he gave us his command to learn this lesson of humility, he gave us, at the same time, his example to show us how to do it.

He was illustrating this command by his example when he washed his disciples’ feet.  And this was only one out of many things in which he set us this example.  When he chose to be born of poor parents, he was giving an example of humility.  When he lived at Nazareth till he was thirty years of age, working with his reputed father as a carpenter, and during the latter part of the time, as is supposed, laboring for the support of his mother, he was giving an example of humility.  When he said, “The Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to