look of Calvary was
on the Saviour's face, and the sword entering His heart. Surely, they
must have been aware that the shadow of the great eclipse was already
passing over the face of their Sun. But even this did not avail to
restrain the manifestation of their pride. Heedless of three years of
example and teaching; unrestrained by the symptoms of our Lord's
sorrow; unchecked by the memory of happy and familiar intercourse,
which should have bound them forever in a united brotherhood, they
wrangled with high voices and hot faces, with the flashing eye and
clenched fist of the Oriental, as to who should be first.

And if pride thus asserted itself after _such_ education, and under
_such_ circumstances, let us be sure that it is not far away from any
one of us. We do not now contend, in so many words, for the chief
places; courtesy, politeness, fear of losing the respect of our
fellows, restrain us. But our resentment to the fancied slight, or the
assumption by another of work which we thought our own; our sense of
hurtness when we are put aside; our jealousy and envy; our detracting
speeches, and subtle insinuations of low motive, all show how much of
this loveless spirit rankles in our hearts. We have been planted in
the soil of this world, and we betray its flavor; we have come of a
proud stock, we betray our heredity.

II. LOVE'S SENSITIVENESS TO SIN ON THE PART OF ITS BELOVED.--Consider
these epithets of the love of Christ:

_It was unusually tender_.--When the hour of departure approaches,
though slight reference be made to it, love lives with the sound of the
departing wheels, or the scream of the engine, always in its ear; and
there are given a tenderness to the tone, a delicacy to the touch, a
thoughtfulness for the heartache of those from which it is to be
parted, which are of inexpressible beauty. All that was present with
Christ. He was taking that Supper with them before He suffered. He
knew that He would soon depart out of this world unto the Father; His
ear was specially on the alert; His nature keenly alive; His heart
thrilling with unusual tenderness, as the sands slowly ran out from the
hour-glass.

_It was supreme love_.--"Having loved His own that were in the world,
He loved them unto the end." Those last words have been thought to
refer to the end of life, but it surely were superfluous to tell us
that the strong waters of death could not quench the love of the Son of
Man. When onc