A goodness that is wrapped up in a napkin, and lies unused for the benefit of others, rots and becomes a putrid mass of corruption.

It can only remain good by being unselfishly used for the good of others, and to prove that the human heart is desperately wicked one needs only to look at the suffering endured by mankind unnecessarily--suffering that organized society ought to prevent and render impossible.
The parable of the lost sheep was written to give us this needful lesson.

The shepherd, when he found one of his sheep gone, did not sit down and wring his hands in foolish and useless worry as to what would happen to the sheep, the dangers that would beset it, the thorns, the precipices, the wolves.

Nor did he count over the times he had cautioned the sheep not to get away from its fellows.

Granted that it was conceited, self-willed, refused to listen to counsel, disobedient--the main fact in the mind of the shepherd was that it was lost, unprotected, in danger, afraid, cold, hungry, longing for the sheepfold, the companionship of its fellows and the guardianship of the shepherd.