October 5

Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us. - Ephesians 5:1-2.

AS God, the supreme Being, is the perfection and the Source of divine excellence, the greatest honour we can ever possess is to be like him. Accordingly, we were originally made after his own image, and when we are new-made we are “renewed after the image of him who created us in righteousness and true holiness;” and when we are sanctified we are said to be “partakers of the divine nature.” Oh to be like God! to resemble him in his moral perfections,’-to be holy, patient, tender, loving, like God! There are two things especially in which we are enjoined to resemble God: these are, giving and forgiving.

Now, in forgiving, our Saviour teaches us, when we pray, to say, “Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us.” Now, all who use this prayer, and are implacable, ask God not to forgive them; for, says the Saviour, “If ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your heavenly Father forgive you your trespasses.” And what are the petty offences of our fellow-creatures compared with the number and aggravation of our offences against God? and yet “there is forgiveness with him, that he may be feared;” yet “he is ready to forgive, and plenteous in mercy to all that call upon him.” Can a Christian, therefore, rise from his knees in malice, or retire in malevolence? Hence, said the apostle, “Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil-speaking, be put away from you, with all malice; and be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God, for Christ’s sake, hath forgiven you.”

The other is in giving. Therefore, says the Saviour, “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you and persecute you, that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven. For he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” To be followers of God,-that is, to exercise impartial and benevolent conduct,-we must not say to the distressed, “Go in peace, be ye warmed, and be ye filled, while we give them not such things as are needful for them.” That is not the way God deals with us. Does he not give us all things richly to enjoy? Are not his mercies new every morning, and are we not daily loaded with his benefits? He spared not even his own Son, but gave him up for us all. “Will he not, therefore, with him freely give us all things?” “As we have opportunity, therefore, we are to do good unto all men, especially to them who are of the household of faith.”