Page:The Eternal Priesthood (4th ed).djvu/216

204 disinterested, the self-denying, the good soldiers who endure hardness and the Cross in their zeal for souls, for the Church, and for the priesthood. The first use their liberty for themselves; the last, for their Master. In one of these two categories every priest will be; for there is no neutrality where loyalty is a duty: and there is nothing but lukewarmness between cold and hot.

There are five signs of the wise and generous use of our liberty.

(1) The first is not to be content unless we return Him love for love. He has loved us with an everlasting love before we were, and with a personal love when we came into the world, and with a redoeming love in our regeneration, and with a love of friendship since we came to know and to love Him. What love can we offer Him in return but a love above all things with our whole soul and strength? How can we be so self-satisfied when we read: "If any man love not our Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema maranatha"? And again: "No man can say, The Lord Jesus, but by the Holy Ghost." His love and His service are high and austere realities.

(2) The second sign is zeal for Him; that is, an unresting and ardent desire to use all time, and