To be near unto God - pagina 455

-With God, of course, it

does

with

us,

this

does not mean, what

when we speak

accustomed to one.

of

becoming

We

speak of it most frecome in touch with some

quently when we first one who acts strangely, a

man of strong peculiarunpreposessing. Then it is our duty not to be repelled by him, but indulgently to seek common points of interest with him, and to adapt also speak ourselves to his strange manner. of accustoming ourselves to one, who either by a difference in development is far above us, or who ities,

who

is

We

social difference has another outlook upon life. this makes a difference in inclinations and sympathies, in mental activity and choice of voca-

by

For

tion in life. interest you.

He is interested in what does not And in the great drama of life you

play in an altogether different act from his. Thus to accustom oneself to another, in all such cases, means, that we restrain ourselves, that we smooth down the sharp edges of our own character, and that constrained by the dictates of love and the necessity of social intercourse, we enter into his life, in order to understand him, to sympathize with him, and gradually to adopt him into the circle of our affections. All this of itself is entirely different with respect to the Lord our God. With him we have to do with our God and our Creator, with our Lord and our King, with our Father who is in heaven. Everything in him that appears strange to us is our own fault, our own sin; it is sign and token that we are wrong; that we are corrupt 461

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