asserted, and steadily maintained, before bad habits were formed; if
firm resolution on the part of the parents had taken the place of
indulgent laxity, if, instead of being left to chance, character had
been moulded during the time when it was plastic--these might, with
God's blessing, have grown up to be wise, pure-hearted, courageous
followers of Christ--who would not only have sweetened the atmosphere
of home, but would have done something to purify and illumine society,
as the salt and the light of the world.

The sin of which Adonijah was guilty, whose sources we have tried to
discover, was the assumption of unlawful authority and state, which
involved rebellion against his own father.

Ambition is not always wrong. It is a common inspiration often nerving
men to attempt daring and noble deeds. Desire for distinction, with
capacity for it, may often be regarded as the voice of God summoning to
high effort. The world would soon be stagnant without ambition. The
scholar working for a prize, the writer or speaker resolving to make a
name, the man of business pressing onward past the indolent and the
ne'er-do-weel, are not to be condemned, so long as they seek lawful
objects by lawful means. Those who strenuously and hopefully fulfil
the duties of their present sphere will be called higher, either in
this world or the next, for God means us to rise by our fidelity where
we are, and not by discontent with what we are. Ambition may have
conscience in it, and this will reveal itself in the steady and minute
performance of small duties. Any who are content, with tireless hand,
to make crooked things straight and rough places plain, will ultimately
see glory revealed. But if ambition is not ruled by righteousness, if
it is not modified by love and consideration for others, it becomes a
sin, and will prove to be the herald of disobedience and death, for it