It is a sacrifice to God, and a
sacrifice well-pleasing to Him, simply because it is The Truth. God
wants nothing from us; we can give Him nothing. The wild beasts of the
forest are His, and so are the cattle on a thousand hills. If He be
hungry He will not tell us for the whole world is His and all that is
therein. But what He asks is, that for our own sakes we should see the
truth about ourselves, see what we really are, and sacrifice that self-
conceit which prevents our seeing ourselves as God our Father sees us.
And why does that please God? Simply because it puts us in our right
state, and in our right place, where we can begin to become better men,
let us be as bad as we may. If a man be a fool, the best possible thing
for him is that he should find out that he is a fool, and confess that he
is a fool, as the first, and the absolutely necessary first step to
becoming wise. Therefore repentance, contrition, humility, is the very
foundation-stone of all goodness, virtue, holiness, usefulness; and God
desires to see us contrite, simply because He desires to see us good men
and good women.
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