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 simply replied:  "Strive  to  enter  by  the  narrow gate."

"It is  a  question,"  says  Father  Walsh,  S.J., in his  admirable  and  consoling  study,  "The Comparative  Number  of  the  Saved  and  Lost," "about which  there  is  no  authoritative  decision of  the  Church,  nor  unanimous  opinion  of  her Fathers  or  theologians.

"Many, notably  Suarez,  hold  —  as  Father Faber  does  —  that  the  great  majority  of  adult Catholics  will  be  saved.  Some,  amongst  whom we  are  glad  to  count  the  illustrious  Dominican, Father  Lacordaire,  hold  or  incline  to  the  opinion that  the  majority  of  mankind,  including  heathens and  heretics,  will  be  saved.

"Pere Monsabre,  O.P.,  Father  Castelein,  S.J.. and  Rev.  Joseph  Rickaby,  S.J.,  advocate  this mildest  opinion.  Father  Rickaby  says  in  his Conference,  'The  Extension  of  Salvation':  'As to  what  proportion  of  men  die  in  sanctifying grace,  and  what  proportion  in  mortal  sin,  nothing is  revealed,  nothing  is  of  faith,  and  nothing is  really  known  to  theologians.  If  ever  you  find a  theologian  confidently  consigning  the  mass  of human  souls  to  eternal  flames,  be  sure  he  is venturing  beyond  the  bounds  of  Christian  faith and  of  theological  science.  You  are  quite  free to  disbelieve  his  word.  I  do  not  believe  it  myself.

"'The rigor  of  the  older  theologians  culminated in  Jansenism.  To  the  Jansenist  the  elect were  the  few  grapes  left  upon  the  vine  after  a careful  vintage  (Is.  xxiv.  13).  Since  the  extirpation of  Jansenism,  the  pendulum  of  theological speculation  has  swung  the  other  way,  and  theologians  generally  hope  more  of  the  mercy  of God,  or,  at  least,  speak  with  less  assurance  of  the range  of  His  rigorous  justice,'