JEREMY TAYLOR makes a strong and vigorous comparison when he likens humility to "a tree whose root, when it sets deepest in the earth, rises higher, and spreads fairer, and stands surer, and lasts longer, and every step of its descent is like a rib of iron." Was there ever a time when the "rib of iron" was needed more in world affairs and in individual life than in this age of unrest and of changing conditions? In the struggle between capital and labor, between selfish interests and one's duty to one's fellow-men, how seldom humility seems to be thought of as the "rib of iron" which is needed to make the world a unit of power and strength, towering upward and heavenward in lofty ideals!
Equally as bold and forceful is the statement made by King Solomon, "By humility and the fear of the Lord are riches, and honour, and life,"—three most desirable things from the human standpoint, yet how rarely sought in the pathway of humility! In fact, humility generally has seemed to hold an inferior place in the esteem of the world's great potentates. In the present-day onward rush for place, monopoly, and wealth, for sport, pleasure, and amusement, the once wholesome word "humility," like sweet lavender and the fragrant tea rose, seems to have gone almost out of fashion. Lifting thought to a higher level, Mrs. Eddy placed a new valuation on humility when she said in "Miscellaneous Writings" (p. 356), "Cherish humility, 'watch,' and 'pray without ceasing,' or you will miss the way of Truth and Love." But is not the "pinnacle of the temple" often considered a more desirable place for watching and praying than is the closet with the closed door?
Tracing the word through the winding avenues of thought-expression back to its pure idea, one finds that the quality of humility is of divine origin, and that it was revealed in proportion as desire for service grew in consciousness. At an early date, "Melchizedek king of Salem" and "priest of the most high God" manifested the beautiful idea of humility when he met Abram returning from the rescue of Lot, and gave him refreshment, and blessed him. This courteous and hospitable king, humble in his greatness, and standing as the visible evidence of man made in God's own likeness, became the prototype of the Messiah,— the greatest, the humblest man who ever walked the path of human life, the mediator between God and men, of whom it is written in Hebrews that "after the similitude of Melchisedec there ariseth another priest, who is made, not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless, life." Other leaders of righteousness, of high rank in the ancient world, manifested meekness and spirituality.
