God: "I looked for someone to take a stand for me, and stand in the gap" (Ezekiel 22:30)
It is our care for the helpless, our practice of lovingkindness, that brands us in the eyes of many of our opponents. 'Only look,' they say, 'look how they love one another' (they themselves being given over to mutual hatred). 'Look how they are prepared to die for one another' (they themselves being readier to kill each other). Thus had this saying become a fact, 'Hereby shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another.'
The more excellent something is the more likely it will be imitated. There are many false diamonds and rubies, but who goes about making counterfeit pebbles? However, the more excellent things are the more difficult it is to imitate them in their essential character and intrinsic virtues. Yet the more variable the imitations be, the more skill and subtlety will be used in making them an exact imitation. So it is with Christian virtues and graces. The devil and men's own deceitful hearts tend to imitate those things that have the highest value. So no graces are more counterfeited than love and humility. For these are the virtues where the beauty of a true Christian is seen most clearly.
