Page:Who is God in China.djvu/28

 in darkness," let us see, next, that our "light shines before" them. It will not, then, be necessary to thrust our "smoking flax" into their eyes, in order "that they may see our good works." But, beholding them, they will, as St. Paul says, "falling down on their faces, worship God, and report that God is in us of a truth." For it cannot be, surely, that—

"The lamp that gives light should itself stand in the dark."

Thus impressed with our responsibility as teachers of men, who are to receive their first impressions of what is holy and good from us, we will act with wisdom, and consult the law of kindness, in our intercourse with them. We will, then—

Fourthly,—Address them as brethren, who are as yet strangers to us, as well as we to them. Wisdom, then, will teach us to make ourselves acquainted, at first, with what our ignorant brethren may believe or think in common with us, in order, as it were, to lessen the distance that separates us; and at once to try and draw nearer to them in love. By thus meeting them on their own ground, as a pledge to them of our good-will, we shall induce them to listen to us, as the first step towards their coming over to our side. For it is only by beginning at what they know and believe as well as we, that we, who have prejudices as well as they, can avoid giving needless