_Unselfishness._ "Love seeketh not her own." Observe: Seeketh not even
that which is her own. In Britain the Englishman is devoted, and
rightly, to his rights. But there come times when a man may exercise
even

THE HIGHER RIGHT

of giving up his rights.

Yet Paul does not summon us to give up our rights. Love strikes much
deeper. It would have us not seek them at all, ignore them, eliminate
the personal element altogether from our calculations.

It is not hard to give up our rights. They are often eternal. The
difficult thing is to give up _ourselves_. The more difficult thing
still is not to seek things for ourselves at all. After we have sought
them, bought them, won them, deserved them, we have taken the cream
off them for ourselves already. Little cross then to give them up. But
not to seek them, to look every man not on his own things, but on the
things of others--that is the difficulty. "Seekest thou great things
for thyself?" said the prophet; "_seek them not_." Why? Because there
is no greatness in _things_. Things cannot be great. The only
greatness is unselfish love. Even self-denial in itself is nothing, is
almost a mistake. Only a great purpose or a mightier love can justify
the waste.

It is more difficult, I have said, not to seek our own at all than,
having sought it, to give it up. I must take that back. It is only
true of a partly selfish heart. Nothing is a hardship to Love, and