Page:MyPrayerBookHappinessInGoodness.djvu/70

 have induced  me  to  think  the  mildest  opinion,  namely, that the  majority  —  and  I  scarcely  fear  to  add,  the great majority  —  of  mankind  will  be  saved,  are:  First, because the  study  of  God's  character  urges,  if  not  forces, me to  do  so. Second, because  this  opinion  appears  to make  most  for  His  greater  honor  and  glory,  and  for the merits  of  Christ. Third, because  the  belief  in  it  is better  calculated  to  make  us  love  God,  and  to  serve Him the  more  from  love.

"Cardinal Bellarmine,  in  one  of  his  expositions  of  the Psalms,  writes:  'David  records  God's  providence  in regard  of  the  beasts  and  the  birds  in  order  to  let  man  see that  he  will  never  be  forsaken  by  God  in  His  providence. God,  who  so  bounteously  feeds  beasts  and  ravens,  will never  desert  those  who  are  made  to  His  own  image  and likeness.'  Is  not  such  Our  Lord's  reasoning  and  conclusions as  we  have  them  in  His  Sermon  on  the  Mount: 'Behold  the  birds  of  the  air;  for  they  neither  sow  nor do  they  reap,  nor  gather  into  barns,  and  your  heavenly Father  feedeth  them.  Are  you  not  of  much  more  value than  they?'  The  most  learned  theologians  lay  down and  prove  the  following  proposition:  That  God  really and  sincerely  wishes  the  salvation  of  all  men,  because He  is  the  Creator  of  all  men. In the  words  of  St. Ambrose:  'God  wishes  all  whom  He  creates  to  be  saved; would to  God,  O  men,  that  you  would  not  fly  and  hide yourselves from  Him;  but  even  if  you  do  He  seeks  you, and does  not  wish  you  to  perish.,  It  is  more  probable that though  many  can  and  will  fight  God  to  the  end and be  lost,  they  will  be  fewer  far  than  those  whom  He will  tenderly,  and  in  His  own  way,  bring  home  to  Himself. God is  not  only  the  Creator  but  the  Father  of all  men  without  any  exception. He has  commanded us to  address  Him  by  this  title:  'Our  Father,  who  art