A good man is willing to know the worst of himself, and particularly under affliction, desires to be told wherefore God contends with him and what God designs in correcting him.
Matthew HenryRead
Men cannot expect to do ill and fare well, but to find that done to them which they did to others.
Interpretation
This quote expresses the idea that one cannot treat others badly without facing similar treatment in return.
Matthew Henry's quote emphasizes the law of reciprocity in human interactions, suggesting that negative actions often lead to negative consequences. It reflects the moral understanding that wrongdoing does not go unpunished and serves as a reminder to treat others with kindness to expect kindness in return.
In practice
During a speech about ethics, one might use this quote to encourage responsible behavior.
A good man is willing to know the worst of himself, and particularly under affliction, desires to be told wherefore God contends with him and what God designs in correcting him.
There is a burden of care in getting riches; fear in keeping them; temptation in using them; guilt in abusing them; sorrow in losing them; and a burden of account at last to be given concerning them.
To wait on God is to live a life of desire toward Him, delight in Him, dependence on Him, and devotedness to Him.
Scriptures were written, not to satisfy our curiosity and make us astronomers, but to lead us to God, and make us saints.
What God requires of us he himself works in us, or it is not done. He that commands faith, holiness, and love, creates them by the power of his grace going along with his word, that he may have all the praise.
No attribute of God is more dreadful to sinners than His holiness.
The major threats to our survival no longer stem from nature without but from our own human nature within. It is our carelessness, our hostilities, our selfishness and pride and willful ignorance that endanger the world.
Those individuals who give moral considerations a much greater weight than considerations of expediency represent a comparatively small minority, five percent of the people perhaps. But, In spite of their numerical inferiority, they play a major role in our society because theirs is the voice of the conscience of society.
No one, it has been said, will ever look at the Moon in the same way again. More significantly can one say that no one will ever look at the earth in the same way. Man had to free himself from earth to perceive both its diminutive place in a solar system and its inestimable value as a life -fostering planet. As earthmen, we may have taken another step into adulthood. We can see our planet earth with detachment, with tenderness, with some shame and pity, but at last also with love.
The Gross National Product measures neither our wit nor our courage, neither our wisdom nor our learning, neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country. It measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile, and it can tell us everything about America - except whether we are proud to be Americans.
Christianity is not about good people getting better. It is good news for bad people coping with their failure to be good.
Far from being the smartest possible biological species, we are probably better thought of as the stupidest possible biological species capable of starting a technological civilization - a niche we filled because we got there first, not because we are in any sense optimally adapted to it.
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