standing Nature has given Him generous ears, lie cannot hear, he cannot understand. But talk to him of banquet halls and liberal potations, and lo, with ears erect, he is eager to begin. The Holy Ghost and Christ, the Doctors of his soul, denounce the drug as deadly, and though the bottle bear the death's-head label, he will drink it, come what may. Our life is warfare, and, says St. Paul, " whoever striveth for the mastery, refraineth him from all such noxious things, that weaken us or stupefy." Our adversary, the devil, knows no rest and it behooves us, lest we be surprised, to be sober and to watch. Drunkenness led to Noe's shame arid his curses on his family; drunkenness caused Lot's crime and Samson's downfall; it led the Israelites to adore the golden calf, and through it Holofernes lost his head. " Drunkenness," says St. Basil, " is the miner of reason, the waster of our body's strength, it is premature old age and in a little while it is death."
Brethren, there is but one small door to heaven and many seek to enter and are not able. They are larger than the door, puffed up with pride and worldliness, for that small door is Jesus crucified. " I am the door," He says, " and whoso enters by Me shall be saved." History tells of men who sought to open other doors — Mohammed did, and Luther, and modern sinners do, but ah! they lead elsewhere — to hell. There is one small door, too narrow for the rich and corpulent, but wide enough for those who have become as little ones and mortify themselves for love of Christ. Old Homer tells of the enchantress
