Page:MyPrayerBookHappinessInGoodness.djvu/26

 ample, and  gives  His  followers  grace  to  profit  by  it, to glorify  Him,  and  secure  the  end  of  their  creation. When light  passes  through  loathsome  or  infected places, it  emerges  as  pure  and  uncontaminated  as it  entered;  thus  Christ  and  His  apostolic  followers, although they  converse  and  treat  with  sinners, do not  partake  of  their  uncleanness. Hence, no one  whose  duty  it  is  to  reclaim  sinners  ought  to fear  the  danger  of  corruption,  if  he  act  in  obedience to God,  and  follow  the  example  of  Christ  and  His apostles.

"Christ says,  that  no  one  puts  a  light  under  a bushel.  Thus  He  reprehends  those  who  do  not employ  the  talents  which  they  have  received  in enlightening  their  neighbors,  but  hide  their  light, from  pusillanimity  or  sloth.  They  ought  to  imitate the  stars  at  their  creation,  of  which  Baruch  speaks in  the  sublimest  strains.  'They  were  called  by the  Almighty,'  says  the  prophet,  'and  they  said, here  we  are,  and  with  cheerfulness  they  have  shined forth  to  Him,  that  made  them' "  (Bar.  iii.  25).

And again  in  reference  to  the  words:  "You  are the  salt  of  the  earth"  (Matt  v.  13),  the  same  writer says:

"As salt  preserves  from  corruption  and  putrefaction, so  is  it  the  part  of  all  apostolical  men  to preserve  souls  from  the  corruption  of  sin,  and  to render  the  exercise  of  virtue  palatable  and  agreeable to  them.  These  men,  then,  ought  to  be  pure and  refined  from  all  the  dross  and  alloy  of  earthly passion  by  the  influence  of  divine  charity,  in  order