An ordinary man thinks it enough to do as he is done by; he will think it fair to resent insults, to repay injuries, to show a becoming pride, to insist on his rights, to be jealous of his honor, when in the wrong refuse to confess it, to seek to be rich, to desire to be well with the world, to fear what his neighbors will say. He seldom thinks of the Day of Judgement, seldom thinks of sins past, says few prayers, cares little for the Church, has no zeal for God's truth, spends his money on himself. Such is an ordinary Christian, and such is not one of God's elect. For the latter is more than just, temperate, and kind; he has a devoted love of God, high faith, holy hope, modesty, and unaffectedness, an unconsciousness of what his endowments are and what they make him in God's sight. This is what Christianity has done in the world; such is the result of Christian teaching; viz., to elicit, foster, mature the seeds of heaven which lie hid in the earth, to multiply (if it may be said) images of Christ, which, though they be few, are worth all else that is among men, and are an ample recompense and "a crown of rejoicing" for Apostles and Evangelists "in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming."
Same guy as previous post.
3 comments:
ONe of our Easter hymns today had the "seed" bit in it with reference to Jesus' parable of the wheat and the tares. A good connection, but one that is not often made.
Happy Easter, Lydia.
Happy Easter, Bill. I fixed that link on my blog post. Now it really does go to "The Trumpet Shall Sound."
The streets are clear here, so it is easy to drive around safely. But all the yards and roofs are covered with snow. Looks like Christmas. Kind of pretty, but weird for Easter. Our priest said this morning that we should take comfort from the thought that Easter will not come quite this early again for 220 years. :-)
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