influencing, for the most part, the people committed to their care.

See then Felix in one moment deprived of his tribunal. The judge
became a party. He saw himself rich and in need of nothing; and yet he
was "blind, and naked, and poor." He heard a voice from the God of the
whole earth, saying unto him, "Thou profane and wicked prince, remove
the diadem and take off the crown. I will overturn, overturn, overturn
it, and it shall be no more" (Ezekiel xxi., 25-27). "Tho thou exalt
thyself as the eagle, and tho thou set thy nest among the stars,
thence will I bring thee down, saith the Lord" (Obadiah, 4). Neither
the dignity of governor, nor the favor of Caesar, nor all the glory of
empire shall deliver thee out of My hand.

Thirdly, I restrict myself, my brethren, as much as possible in order
to execute without exceeding my limits the plan I have conceived;
and proceed to consider Felix as an avaricious man: to find in this
disposition a further cause of his fear. Felix was avaricious, and St.
Paul instantly transported him into a world in which avarice shall
receive its appropriate and most severe punishment. For you know that
the grand test by which we shall be judged is charity. "I was hungry,
and ye gave me meat"; and of all the constructions of charity
covetousness is the most obstinate and insurmountable.

This unhappy propensity renders us insensible of our neighbor's
necessities. It magnifies the estimate of our wants; it diminishes the
wants of others. It persuades us that we have need of all, that others
have need of nothing. Felix began to perceive the iniquity of this
passion, and to feel that he was guilty of double idolatry: idolatry,
in morality, idolatry in religion; idolatry in having offered incense
to gods, who were not the makers of heaven and earth; idolatry in