“Now, at last,” said Torquatus, “we are come to the Good Shepherd.”
“Yes,” continued Severus, “you see Him in the centre of the arcosolium, in His simple tunic and leggings, with a sheep upon His shoulders, the recovered wanderer from the flock. Two more are standing at His sides; the truant ram on His right, the gentle ewe upon His left; the penitent in the post of honor. On each side too, you see a person evidently sent by Him to preach. Both are leaning forward, and addressing sheep not of the fold. One on either side is apparently giving no heed to their words, but browsing quietly on, while one is turning up its eyes and head, looking and listening with eager attention. Rain is falling copiously on them; that is the grace of God. It is not difficult to interpret this picture.”
“But what makes this emblem such a particular favorite?” again pressed Tiburtius.
“We consider this, and similar paintings, to belong chiefly to the time when the Novatian heresy so much plagued the Church,” answered Severus.
“And pray what heresy is that?” asked Torquatus, carelessly; for he thought he was losing time.
“It was, and indeed is, the heresy,” answered Pancratius, “that teaches, that there are sins which the Church has not power to forgive; which are too great for God to pardon.”
Pancratius was not aware of the effect of his words; but Severus, who never took off his eye from Torquatus, saw the blood come and go violently in his countenance.
“Is that a heresy?” asked the traitor, confused.
“Surely a dreadful one,” replied Pancratius, “to limit the mercy and forgiveness of Him, who came to call not the just, but sinners to repentance. The Catholic Church has always held, that a sinner, however dark the dye, however huge the mass of his crimes, on truly repenting, may receive forgiveness, through the penitential remedy left in her hands. And, therefore, she has always so much loved this type of the Good Shepherd, ready to run into the wilderness, to bring back a lost sheep.”
“But suppose,” said Torquatus, evidently moved, “that one who had become a Christian, and received the sacred Gift, were to fall away, and plunge into vice, and—and”—(his voice faltered)—“almost betray his brethren, would not the Church reject such a one from hope?”