they grant, do it with so bad a grace, that they lose all the
merit of the favor they bestow."

Some persons thinking him too indulgent towards sinners, expressed their
thoughts one day with freedom to him on this head. He immediately
replied: "If there was any thing more excellent than meekness, God would
have certainly taught it us; and yet there is nothing to which he so
earnestly exhorts us, as to be _meek and humble of heart_. Why would you
hinder me to obey the command of my Lord, and follow him in the exercise
of that virtue which he so eminently practised and so highly esteems?
Are we then better informed in these matters than God himself?" But his
tenderness was particularly displayed in the reception of apostates and
other abandoned sinners; when these prodigals returned to him, he said,
with all the sensibility of a father: "Come, my dear children, come, let
me embrace you; ah, let me hide you in the bottom of my heart! God and I
will assist you: all I require of you is not to despair: I shall take on
myself the labor of the rest." Looks full of compassion and love
expressed the sincerity of his feelings: his affectionate and charitable
care of them extended even to their bodily wants and his purse was open
to them as well as his heart; {303} he justified this proceeding to
some, who, disedified at his extreme indulgence, told him it served only
to encourage the sinner, and harden him still more in his crimes, by
observing, "Are they not a part of my flock? Has not our blessed Lord
given them his blood, and shall I refuse them my tears? These wolves
will be changed into lambs: a day will come when, cleansed from their
sins, they will be more precious in the sight of God than we are: if
Saul had been cast off, we would never have had a St. Paul."

Footnotes:
1. It is a problem in nature, discussed without success by several
great physicians, why children born in their seventh month more
frequently live than those that are brought forth in their eighth
month.
2. Aug. Sales de Vit. l. {} p. 123.
3. The saint being on his return to Savoy, was informed that a convent
of religious women, of the order of Fontevrault, received
superfluous pensions. He wrote about it to those religious, and
after giving testimony to their virtue, in order to gain their
confidence, he conjured them, in the strongest and most pathetic
terms, to banish such an abuse from their monastery; persuaded tha