not to save a man from an unending hell, but from a month's
imprisonment?

To-day the devil's agents put forth sleepless activity. The world
rings with the clash of warring forces. The priest, then, that
idly folds his arms and manufactures sops for a gnawing
conscience, while the very air is electric with the energies of
assault, that priest is set up not for the resurrection but the
ruin of many in Israel.



CHAPTER FOURTH

HOW SHOULD THE YOUNG PRIEST PREPARE HIS SERMONS?

The pulpit, as an instrument for the salvation of human souls,
holds, after the Sacraments, first place. Indeed the
frequentation and proper reception of the Sacraments themselves
largely depend upon it.

Never since the first Pentecost was its agency a more pressing
necessity than to-day. The apostles of evil are busy. The
printing press teems beyond all precedent, obscuring truth and
belching forth poison over the world of intellect with a reckless
audacity that scorns all restraint. The powers of darkness have
seized, polished with unstinting labour and sharpened into
slashing efficiency, the varied weapons in the armoury of the
orator--crispness of style, brilliancy of diction, a declamation
that covers the want of argument and gilds sophistry till it