people would hear us gladly, because they would believe that we mean what we say. They are very quick to perceive, it may be said to feel, whether a priest speaks from his heart or only from his lips. The homilies of the early Fathers are unostentatious and full of Holy Scripture.[1] S. John Chrysostom might be quoted as florid in style; but it is not the self-conscious and stilted declamation which is praised as pulpit oratory. And S. John Chrysostom speaks in the style of S. Paul; and his mind was so like that of the Apostle that he was believed to write and speak with a special assistance from S. Paul. At all times preachers have been tempted to self-manifestation. We are told that when S. Bernard was preaching his sermon one day Satan said to him, "You have preached most eloquently;" and S. Bernard answered, "I neither began for thee nor will leave off for thee." We read, too, in the life of S. Vincent Ferrer that, having to preach before the King of France, he elaborated his sermon. It failed, and fell flat. The next day he preached again with little preparation. The King said to him, "Yesterday I heard Brother Vincent: to-day I have heard the Holy Ghost." It may, however, be truly said
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THE PRIEST AS PREACHER.
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