But what shall we say to that lost sheep? Shall we
terrify it by threats of hell? Shall we even allure it by promises of
heaven? Not so--not so at least at first--for that would be to appeal to
bodily fear and bodily pleasure, to the very selfishness from which
Christ is trying to deliver it; and to neglect the very prevenient grace,
the very hold on the soul which Christ Himself offers us. Let us
determine with St. Paul to know nothing among our fellow-men but Christ
crucified. Let us appeal just to that in the soul which is unselfish;
not to the instincts of loss and gain, but to those nobler instincts of
justice and mercy; just because they are not the man's or the woman's
instincts; but Christ's within them, the light of Christ and the Spirit
of Christ, the spirit of love and justice saying, "Do unto others as you
would they should do unto you." Do you doubt that? I trust not. For to
doubt that is to doubt whether God be truly the Giver of all good things.
To doubt that is to begin to disbelieve St. Paul's great saying, "In me,
that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing.
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