I have rejoiced at your good fortune, and
grieved at your sorrow. I have preferred you to myself. I have
loved you without dissimulation. I have been earnest in my place and
duty in the parish for the sake of the common good of all. I have
condescended to those of lower rank than myself. I have--" Ah, my
dear friends, I had better not go on with the list. God forgive us
all! The less we try to justify ourselves on this score the better.
Some of us do indeed try to behave like brothers and sisters to their
neighbours; but how few of us; and those few how little! And yet we
are brothers. We are members of one family, sons of one Father,
joint-heirs with one Lord, the poor Man who sat eating and drinking
at the wedding feast in Cana of Galilee, and mixed freely in the joys
and the sorrows of the poorest and meanest. Joint-heirs with Christ;
yet how unlike Him! My friends, we need to repent and amend our
ways; we need to confess, every one of us, rich and poor, the pride,
the selfishness, the carelessness about each other, which keeps us so
much apart, knowing so little of each other, feeling so little for
each other. Oh confess this sin to God, every one of you. Those who
have behaved most like brothers, will be most ready to confess how
little they have behaved like brothers.
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