He has hit the blot exactly in the matter of our first duty to
our neighbour; he has put his finger on one of the matters where so many
of us, through a false shame, come short. It costs us a tremendous
struggle with our pride to go to our neighbour and to ask his forgiveness
for a fault, petty fault or other. Did you ever do it? When did you do
it last, to whom, and for what? One Sabbath morning, now many years ago,
I had occasion to urge this elementary evangelical duty on my people
here, and I did it as plainly as I could. Next day one of my young men,
who is now a devoted and honoured elder, came to me and told me that he
had done that morning what his conscience yesterday told him in the
church to do. He had gone to a neighbour's place of business, had asked
for an interview, and had begged his neighbour's pardon. I am sure
neither of those two men have forgotten that moment, and the thought of
it has often since nerved me to speak plainly about some of their most
unwelcome duties to my people. Shame, no doubt, pulled back my noble
friend's hand when it was on the office bell, but, like Faithful in the
text, he shook him out of his company and went in.
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