He assumed dishonest intention at the outset,
and made that a plea for the most rigid exaction; covering his own
hard selfishness with offensive cant about mercantile honor,
Christian integrity, and religious observance of business contracts.
He was the only man among all the creditors, who made his church
membership a prominent thing--few of them were even
church-goers--and the only man who did not readily make concessions
to the poor, down-trodden debtors.
"Is he a Christian?" I asked, as I walked home in some depression of
spirits, from the last of these meetings. And I could but answer
No--for to be a Christian is to be Christ-like.
"As ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them." This
is the divine standard. "Ye must be born again," leaves to us no
latitude of interpretation. There must be a death of the old,
natural, selfish loves, and a new birth of spiritual affections. As
a man feels, so will he act. If the affections that rule his heart
be divine affections, he will be a lover of others, and a seeker of
their good. He will not be a hard, harsh, exacting man in natural
things, but kind, forbearing, thoughtful of others, and yielding. In
all his dealings with men, his actions will be governed by the
heavenly laws of justice and judgment. He will regard the good of
his neighbor equally with his own. It is in the world where
Christian graces reveal themselves, if they exist at all.
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