HH, Sir Godfrey Gregg D.Div

“And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise.” Luke 6:31

What is it that I wish men to give to me?

I crave their respect. I cannot bear that my name should be linked in their thoughts with anything that is unworthy or sinister. Free from stigma, from the whisper and blight of reproach, I must be in their eyes. It is the breath of life to me — this acquittal by their judgment from what is sinful and what is contaminating.

And I crave their active helpfulness. Times come in my life when I am unable to stand alone. I require some supporting hand to sustain me — some neighbourly hand which I can grasp and on which I can lean, a staff which is “the strongest in the longest day.” Often this is my supreme necessity: this brotherly act, this outward and sensible sign that I have a friend.

More still, I crave their heart’s love. Love is a tenderer than honour. Love is more about strengthening and upholding than helping. I cannot live without it. It is my vital breath, my native air — God’s love and man’s. The spirit within me cries out for it, passionately, persistently, and confidingly.

Ah well, the treasures I wish men to give to me I must myself give to them. Even my enemy, Jesus says, needs my respect and my help and my love. Let me remember how bankrupt I would be if I were denied these impalpable and transcendent riches, and let me lay them at his feet and lavish them on his life.