GOD'S IMAGE IN US
By
What does God really require of men as he bids them be perfect, even as he is perfect? Canon Edward N. West, of the Episcopal Cathedral of St. John the Divine, in New York, writes a new exposition of Jesus' ""Sermon on the Mount"" to help answer this question. If we think of the word ""perfect"", he writes, as describing a state of moral purity and spiritual sanctity identical with God's, then who can even approach such perfection? But since the word in the Greek original means ""one who has reached the proper height of virtue and integrity"", its proper synonyms are ""full-grown"", ""adult"", ""complete"". Man's problem, therefore is not Godlike purity and rationality, but Godlike integrity, -- becoming what man himself can be. The Sermon on the Mount throws a bright light on man, -- showing what he is as well as what his potentials are as a child of God. Canon West can be uncommonly persuasive with common words and homely illustrations. Many an earnest Christian could well become a more honest and effective one as he reads and heeds this most helpful book.