construct, it will be found that in synthesis the distracting
number of small parts will disappear, to coalesce and form the
few main principles on which either a sermon or a watch is built.
These principles are essential to every discourse, no matter how
brief. As the humble seven-and-sixpenny "Waterbury" requires its
springs and levers equally with the hundred-guinea "repeater," so
the twenty minutes' sermon, to be effective, must have a fixed
plan and definite sequence as well as the more ambitious effort.

Most of these chapters were written originally for the "Mungret
Annual," with a view to assist the apostolic students who are
now, as priests, rendering such splendid service to the Church of
God abroad. And it was the very generous reception accorded the
articles in the ecclesiastical colleges that suggested the idea
of presenting them in the more lasting form of a book.

Sacred Heart College, Limerick,
_March_ 17, 1909, Feast of St. Patrick.



PREFACE

TO THE SECOND EDITION

The rapid sale of the first edition of this work surprised no one
more than the author. It was not addressed to the public in
general, but to a limited section; the price, while moderate,
could not be called cheap; yet within a little over two months
the entire edition was exhausted.