Every life is a profession of faith,
and exercises an inevitable and silent propaganda. As far as lies in
its power, it tends to transform the
universe and humanity into its own image. Thus we have all a cure of
souls.
Every man is the center of perpetual radiation like a
luminous body; he is, as it were, a beacon which entices a
ship upon
the rocks if it does not guide it into port. Every man is a priest,
even involuntarily; his conduct is an
unspoken sermon, which is
forever preaching to others; but there are priests of Baal, of
Moloch, and of all the
false gods. Such is the high importance of
example. Thence comes the terrible responsibility which weighs
upon
us all. An evil example is a spiritual poison: it is the proclamation
of a sacrilegious faith, of an impure
God. Sin would be only an evil
for him who commits it, were it not a crime toward the weak brethren,
whom
it corrupts. Therefore, it has been said: “It were better for
a man not to have been born than to offend one of
these little
ones.”
Amiel's Journal
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