protected function sortMiddleware($priorityMap, $middlewares)
    {
        $lastIndex = 0;

        foreach ($middlewares as $index => $middleware) {
            if (! is_string($middleware)) {
                continue;
            }

            $stripped = head(explode(':', $middleware));

            if (in_array($stripped, $priorityMap)) {
                $priorityIndex = array_search($stripped, $priorityMap);

                // This middleware is in the priority map. If we have encountered another middleware
                // that was also in the priority map and was at a lower priority than the current
                // middleware, we will move this middleware to be above the previous encounter.
                if (isset($lastPriorityIndex) && $priorityIndex < $lastPriorityIndex) {
                    return $this->sortMiddleware(
                        $priorityMap, array_values($this->moveMiddleware($middlewares, $index, $lastIndex))
                    );
                }

                // This middleware is in the priority map; but, this is the first middleware we have
                // encountered from the map thus far. We'll save its current index plus its index
                // from the priority map so we can compare against them on the next iterations.
                $lastIndex = $index;
                $lastPriorityIndex = $priorityIndex;
            }
        }

        return array_values(array_unique($middlewares, SORT_REGULAR));
    }