Page:The Message and Ministrations of Dewan Bahadur R. Venkata Ratnam, volume 2.djvu/141

 God. A certain text in the Christian Bible says—and it is immaterial for us whether it is the Christian Bible or the Hindu Veda—that it is not the ninety-nine sheep that keep the right path, but it is the one that strays from that right path but is brought back to it, that is dearest unto the shepherd. Similarly, it is not the ninety-nine souls that, by God's grace, are able to keep the right path that we should love; but it is the one that is struggling and calling out that the current is so strong, that the foothold is so weak, that the depth is so alarming, and that the heart is so faint-—it is that one that we should love and succour most. To this class belong a good many, though we suppose that they are not many, because we are not aware of the fact.

This is an Association of comrades, of a fraternity in which there is the elder and the eldest, there is the younger and the youngest, there is the stronger and the strongest, there is the wiser and the wisest, and there are the erring and the