difficulty he found in composing his sermons, week after week.

Now I felt that if I composed and preached sermons, I should by
no means confine myself to the Vicar's threadbare subjects--
should preach the Wrath of God, and sound the Last Trump in
the ears of my Hell-doomed congregation, cracking the heavens
and dissolving the earth with the eclipses and thunders and
earthquakes of the Day of Judgment. Then I might refresh them
with high and incomprehensible Doctrines, beyond the reach
of Reason--Predestination, Election, the Co-existences and
Co-eternities of the incomprehensible Triad. And with what a
holy vehemence would I exclaim and cry out against all forms
of doctrinal Error--all the execrable hypotheses of the great
Heresiarchs! Then there would be many ancient and learned and
out-of-the-way Iniquities to denounce, and splendid, neglected
Virtues to inculcate--Apostolic Poverty, and Virginity, that
precious jewel, that fair garland, so prized in Heaven, but so
rare on earth.

For in the range of creeds and morals it is the highest peaks
that shine for me with a certain splendour: it is toward those
radiant Alps that, if I were a Clergyman, I would lead my flock
to pasture.




_Human Ends_