to God. Ho has created the souls of all men to his own image. “Let us make man to our image and likeness." (Gen. i. 26.) Other creatures God has made by a fiat by an act of his will; but the soul of man he has created by his own breath. "And the Lord breathed into his face the breath of life." (Gen. ii. 7.) The soul of your neighbour God has loved for eternity. "I have loved thee with an everlasting love." (Jer. xxxi. 3.) He has, moreover, created every soul to be a queen in Paradise, and to be a partner in his glory. “That by these you may be made partakers of the divine nature." (2 Peter i. 4.) In heaven he will make the souls of the saints partakers of his own joy. ”Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." (Matt. xxv. 21. To them he shall give himself as their reward. “I am thy reward exceeding great." (Gen. xv. 1.)
3. But nothing can show the value which God sets on the souls of men more clearly than what the Incarnate Word has done for their redemption from sin and hell. ”If," says St. Eucharius, ”you do not believe your Creator, ask your Redeemer, how precious you are." Speaking of the care which we ought to have of our brethren, St. Ambrose says: ”The great value of the salvation of a brother is known from the death of Christ." We judge of the value of everything by the price paid for it by an intelligent purchaser. Now, Jesus Christ has, according to the Apostle, purchased the souls of men with his own blood. ”You are bought with a great price." (1 Cor. vi. 20.) We can, then, say, that the soul is of as much value as the blood of a God. Such, indeed, is the language of St. Hilary”Tam copioso munere redemptio agitur, ut homo Deum valere videatur." Hence, the Saviour tells us, that whatsoever good or evil we do to the least of his brethren, we do to himself. ”So long as you did it to one of these my least brethren, you did it to me." (Matt. xxv. 40.)
4. From all this we may infer how great is the displeasure given to God by scandalizing a brother, and destroying his soul. It is enough to say, that they who give scandal rob God of a child, and murder a soul, for whose salvation he has spent his blood and his life.
