of each other upon some imagined principle of truth and equity. It well for us to see what selfdeception there may be in such a case,—to observe what these slight beginnings of evil lead to if not checked; so perhaps shall we the more estimate and cultivate that quiet, calm-judging spirit, which, when based upon unselfishness, is one of the rarest endowments of the human character, as it is one of the most precious, both to ourselves and others.

The first pause in the morning, the first misgiving, might have been sufficient to warn the enemies of Christ that they were suffering themselves to be led away by passionate prejudice; and when we are condemning others, the whisper of conscience, which suggests a doubt whether our judgment is fair and upright, is a warning sent from God, that we have entered upon a dangerous course. If we neglect it, the next step will be not only prejudice in mind, but untruthfulness in words; for untruth is the natural and necessary result of prejudice. What we have asserted we are tempted to prove to be correct; and so again conscience is checked, and reason is silenced; and following the guidance of our self-will, and too often of our passion, we persuade ourselves and probably induce others to accept a falsity as truth, and upon that to act.

Then follows a course of conduct, possibly consistent with our professed convictions, and apparently upright,—which we can justify fully to

the world, and which we even venture to justify in the sight of God, but at the root of which lies that worm of corruption, that root of never ending evil, a wilful falsity, a result of prejudice which may God save us from! It eats into the very

heart of love, and truth, and humility. If it does not lead us on to cry with the savage multitude, "Away with Him, away with Him," yet it places us side by side with the wrathful priests, the coldhearted Pilate, the mocking Herod, and bids us look upon goodness and call it wickedness, and listen to truth and convert it into sin.

Prejudice! Pre-judgment! It crucified our

Lord.

He dwells with us now by the presence of His church, the presence of our brethren, who are the members of His church. Well may we dread the possibility of allowing our prejudices so to blind us to the truth professed by them as to lead us to convert it into the accusation of falsehood.

There is indeed an opposite danger; it is possible so to admire, or rather, to think, we admire, the absence of prejudice, as in the end to give up the profession of any definite belief,-to assert that truth exists everywhere, and therefore that it is to be found nowhere. And this danger it is, which makes many earnest-minded persons cling to their prejudices, believing that in them they are clinging to the only plank by which they can be saved from a fathomless gulf of unbelief. But to be truly unprejudiced does not in the least imply the

absence of fixed principles and definite faith. If these principles and that faith are well grounded, we are bound to defend them even unto death. We may not swerve one iota from the full profession of our belief; we may not sacrifice words, or compromise creeds, or give up the least portion of our moral principle. But as we stand firm upon our own rock of truth, so are we bound to look out upon the tossing billows of opinions around us, and acknowledge when others rest firm upon their rock also. It may indeed be distant from ours, and there may appear to be but small standing room upon it, but if it be a rock, a fragment of the Eternal Rock of Truth, we must, in so far as it is such, own and honour it.

The most unprejudiced minds, are those which have the firmest foundation for their own belief, for they only can afford to be unprejudiced. The candour and liberality of men who have no definite belief, is but another form of the deepest prejudice against those who have.

It is a rare gift, that of unprejudice, and many qualities are required for it. Caution, unselfishness, calmness, humility, a love of truth, which shall compel us to weigh all that may be said against our own opinion, a singleness of aim which shall lead us to seek the true point of opposition, and never depart from it under any temptation,— these are but moral virtues; they may exist apart from warmth of devotion, even, in some rare cases, apart from a true faith; but without them our

devotion may become a dreamy enthusiasm, and our faith an ignorant fanaticism; and when the secrets of our hearts are at last revealed to ourselves we may discover that whilst we were reckoning ourselves amongst Christ's faithful servants, we were in fact following the example of those who, under the cloke of reverence to their God, sent Him forth to death.

WEAKNESS.

St. Luke, xxxiii. 1—4.

"And the whole multitude of them arose, and led Him unto Pilate. And they began to accuse Him, saying, We found this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to give tribute to Cæsar, saying that He Himself is Christ, a king. And Pilate asked Him, saying, Art Thou the King of the Jews? And he answered him and said, Thou sayest it. Then said Pilate to the chief priests and to the people, I find no fault in this man."

LOOKING at our Lord's trial again by the light of our own feelings it must strike us how intensely galling, we may perhaps even venture to say irritating, was the way in which it was conducted;— not merely unjustly, but inconsistently; one accusation being brought forward, and then another, so that there could be no power of defence ;-and this inconsistency aggravated by the weakness which was one of the especial characteristics of the judge who presided at it. The sight of weakness must have been as trying to Christ as it is to us; for mankind are powerless against it, more powerless far than against strength, under whatever form it may exhibit itself. In strength there is an element of goodness which may be touched; in weakness there is none; and when it is allied with evil there is