Reader, do you know what humility is? It is quite possible to be very proud indeed, and yet seem quite humble. Indeed, humility is often made the cloak of pride. And yet nothing can be more different than these two. Pride enters so much into the hearts, even of the very best of us, that there is but small place left for humility. We often hear it said of a person, "Oh! he feels _proper pride_ about such and such a matter." But is there any such thing as _proper pride_? I can’t find it in the Bible. I do find, indeed, written there a great deal about pride and proud people. "God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble[#]," for instance. I turn again to my Church’s Prayer Book, and I find nothing there about _proper pride_; but I read there that the Church teaches her children to ask God to deliver, or save, them "from all pride, vain glory, and hypocrisy." I find that in the prayer, to be used in time of war, we ask God to abate our enemies’ pride. But neither here, nor anywhere else, can I find _any sort_ of pride commended to Christians. And so I have come to think that we have got hold of the wrong word, and that the word we ought to use is _delight_. It is quite right that a man should be delighted with his children, or his garden, or his goods. It is quite wrong that he should be proud of them. [#] S. James iv. 6. Now humility is just the very opposite to all this. Pride makes a man put forward his own opinions, and hold to them, good or bad. It makes him think all his possessions better than those of other people. Humility, on the other hand, makes a man ever ready to listen to the opinions of others, and to take advice. And humility teaches him that the best possessions earth can give, are but poor compared to those of Heaven. Just as in a cornfield the lightest ears of corn stand up straight and attract attention, while those which carry most grain hang down and are kept concealed by their weight, behind the others; so, too, is it with humble-minded men. They shrink back from the gaze of men, behind their comrades; and because they are quiet, and seldom speak much, men think but little of them. I have somewhere read a story of Benjamin Franklin, who once went to call at a friend’s house. On his leaving, his friend told him he would shew him a shorter way out. They passed down a narrow passage, talking to each other, when Franklin’s friend suddenly cried out, "Stoop, stoop." "I did not know," says Franklin, "what he meant, until I felt my head hit against the beam." His friend, seeing what had happened, said, "You are young, and have to go through the world. Stoop as you go through it, and you will miss many hard knocks."