And am I--I surely shall be if I am living for myself--straggling,
envying, casting an evil eye on those more fortunate than I; perhaps
letting loose against them a cruel tongue? If I am doing thus, God
forgive me. What have I of the mind of Christ? What likeness
between me and him who emptied himself of self, who humbled himself,
gave himself up utterly, even to death? Is this the mind of Christ?
Is this the spirit whose name is Love?

And yet there should be a likeness. A likeness between Christ and
us. A likeness between God and us. For Christ is the likeness of
his Father; and not only of his Father, but of our Father, The
Father in heaven. And what should a child be, but like his father?
What should man be, but like God?

But how shall we get that likeness? How shall we get the mind of
Christ which is the Spirit of God?

This at least we know. That the father will surely hear the child,
when the child cries to him. Perhaps will hear him all the more
tenderly, the more utterly the child has strayed away.

Our highest reason, the instincts of our own hearts, tell us so.
Christ himself has told us so; and said to the Jews of old: 'If ye,
being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much
more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who
ask _him_?'

Shall give? Yes; and has given already. From that Spirit of God
have come, and will always come, all our purest, highest, best
thoughts and feelings.