---

There is the Synagogue of Ambition, whose bond of union is the lust of place and of power. Let Diotrephes be its representative, who, "loved to have the preeminence," and whom St. John censured for this ambitious temper, which tempted him, though nominally a member — perhaps a minister — of the early church, violently to reject the best Christians. What are not men ready to do to gratify an inordinate and insatiate ambition! You know how the old Romans built their military roads. They projected them in a mathematical line, straight to the point of termination, and everything had to give way, there could be no deviation. And so on went the road, bridging rivers, filling up ravines, hewing down hills, levelling forests, cutting its way through every obstacle! Just so men set their lust upon self-emolument, some height of ambition, the attainment of place, rank, power, and hew their way toward it. not minding what gives way. No obstacle is insurmountable, health, happiness, home comfort, honesty, integrity, conscience, the law of God, everything is sacrificed to the god of ambition.

(Christian Age.)

---

---

KJV: And he said unto them in his doctrine, Beware of the scribes, which love to go in long clothing, and love salutations in the marketplaces,

WEB: In his teaching he said to them, "Beware of the scribes, who like to walk in long robes, and to get greetings in the marketplaces,