I hope that does not seem to you a
small matter. I hope that none of you are ready to say, 'It comes to
the same thing in the end.' It does not come to the same thing.
There is no use in telling a man what is wrong, unless you first tell
him what is right. There is no use rebuking a man for being bad,
unless you first tell him how he may become better, and give him hope
for himself, or you will only drive him to recklessness and despair.
You must show him the right road, before you can complain of him for
going the wrong one.
But if St. Paul had reasoned with Felix about injustice,
intemperance, and hell, one could not have been surprised. For Felix
was a thoroughly bad man, unjust and intemperate, and seemingly
fitting himself for hell.
He had begun life as a slave of the emperor in a court which was a
mere sink of profligacy and villainy. Then he had got his freedom,
and next, the governorship of Judaea, probably by his brother
Pallas's interest, who had been a slave like him, and had made an
enormous fortune by the most detestable wickedness.
When in his governorship, Felix began to show himself as wicked as
his brother. The violence, misrule, extortion, and cruelty which
went on in Judaea was notorious. He caused the high-priest at
Jerusalem to be murdered out of spite.
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