Page:The Eternal Priesthood (4th ed).djvu/125

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A SOURCE OF CONFIDENCE.
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result of all our labour that only some may be saved. And yet for this we must die to ourselves, and go out of ourselves, and give up all right and claim over ourselves, for the elect's sake. The word expropriatio is full of a deep and searching sense. We "are not our own," we have lost all property in ourselves; for we are purchased by the most Precious Blood. This is S. Paul's meaning when he says, "We preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus our Lord, and ourselves your servants through Jesus."[1] To be on our Master's side against sin, the world, and Satan, is not of our own act, but His who has predestinated and called us to His service. His will, and no will of ours, except under His preventing grace, has posted us in this warfare. "You have not chosen Me, but I have chosen you."[2]

3. Lastly, to be set and sent to save others is either the lot of Judas or the lot of the beloved disciple. We may make it either. We may then well mistrust ourselves, and ask, "Lord, which am I?"

But if we love the poor we need not doubt, for Judas cared not for the poor; and if we love our Divine Lord we cannot doubt, for Judas sold Him. We are not the beloved disciple, for he was sinless, and we are sinful; but we are disciples, and we are

  1. 2 Cor. iv. 6.
  2. S. John xv. 16.