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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/16330-h.zip b/16330-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..487f3a9 --- /dev/null +++ b/16330-h.zip diff --git a/16330-h/16330-h.htm b/16330-h/16330-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ebba44d --- /dev/null +++ b/16330-h/16330-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,5305 @@ +<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN"> +<html lang="en"> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" + content="text/html; charset=us-ascii"> +<meta content="pg2html (binary v0.18)" name="generator"> +<title> + The Young Priest's Keepsake, + by Michael J. Phelan, S.J. +</title> + + + +<style type="text/css"> + <!-- + body {margin:10%; text-align:justify} + P { text-indent: 1em; + margin-top: .75em; + margin-bottom: .75em; } + H1,H2,H3,H4,H5,H6 { text-align: center; } + hr { width: 50%; } + hr.full { width: 100%; } + .foot { margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 95%; } + img {border: 0;} + HR { width: 33%; text-align: center; } + blockquote {font-size: 97%; } + .figleft {float: left;} + .figright {float: right;} + .toc { margin-left: 15%; margin-bottom: 0em;} + .foot { margin-left: 10%; margin-right: 10%; text-align: justify; text-indent: -3em; font-size: 85%; } + .side { float: right; + font-size: 75%; + width: 25%; + padding-left: 0.8em; + border-left: dashed thin; + margin-left: 0.8em; + text-align: left; + text-indent: 0; + font-weight: bold; + font-style: italic;} + + CENTER { padding: 10px;} + PRE { font-size: 97%; margin-left: 15%;} + // --> +</style> + + + +</head> +<body> + + +<pre> +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Young Priest's Keepsake, by Michael Phelan + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Young Priest's Keepsake + +Author: Michael Phelan + +Release Date: July 19, 2005 [EBook #16330] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE YOUNG PRIEST'S KEEPSAKE *** + + + + +Produced by Angela + + + + +</pre> +<h1> + THE YOUNG PRIEST'S KEEPSAKE +</h1> +<h2> +By MICHAEL J. PHELAN, S.J. +</h2> +<h3> +Second Edition. +</h3> +<h4> +DUBLIN<br /> + +M. H. GILL AND SON, LTD.<br /> + +AND WATERFORD<br /> + +1909<br /> +<br /> + + + +1st. Edition MAY, 1909.<br /> + +2nd. — Enlarged, NOV., 1909.<br /> + +</h4> + +<br /> +<br /> +<hr> +<br /> +<br /> + + +<a name="h2H_PREF" id="h2H_PREF"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + + +<h2> + PREFACE +</h2> +<p> +This little book is written in the hope that it may assist young +priests and ecclesiastical students to meet the demands which the +life before them has in store. +</p> +<p> +Works specially suited to the priest, the layman and the nun are +happily abundant; but to the young man standing on the threshold +of his career as a priest, how few are addressed. Yet it is while +his character is in the formative stage, and his weapons are +still in the shaping, that advice and direction are of most +practical value. +</p> +<p> +The writer brings to his task only one qualification on which he +can rely—his own personal experience. +</p> +<p> +After having gone through a long course of preparation in Irish +ecclesiastical colleges, he lived for nearly thirteen years on +the Australian mission, and is now completing a decade spent in +giving missions and retreats in all parts of Ireland. Of the +college, therefore, and of the foreign and home missions he can +speak with whatever authority a long experience and ordinary +powers of observation are supposed to give. +</p> +<p> +In dealing with the foreign mission he does not rely solely on +his own judgment. Many matters here treated of he heard +repeatedly discussed by priests abroad, who bitterly deplored +that, while in college, they knew so little of the life before +them, and regretted that there was then no kind friend to take +them by the hand and show them what was in store when the day +came for them to plunge into a life that was strange and entirely +new. It is to be hoped that this modest volume will, in part at +least, discharge the office of that friend. +</p> +<p> +It may appear, at first sight, that when writing the fourth +chapter, "On Pulpit Oratory," the author had before his mind an +elaborate discourse, such as is expected only on great occasions. +This is not so. +</p> +<p> +It is true that the various parts of a sermon, when detailed in +analysis, may seem, like the works of a watch spread out on a +table, bewilderingly numerous and complex. But when we come to +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. +</p> +<p> +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. +</p> +<pre> +Sacred Heart College, Limerick, + <i>March</i> 17, 1909, Feast of St. Patrick. +</pre> +<br /> +<br /> +<br /> + + +<h2> + PREFACE +</h2> +<h3> + TO THE SECOND EDITION +</h3> +<p> +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. +</p> +<p> +It is impossible to express my deep gratitude to the reviewers. +From them the book met with a chorus of approving welcome, +without even one jarring note. To all I now tender my grateful +thanks; but the author of "My New Curate" has placed me under a +special obligation for his thoughtful critique in the <i>Freeman's +Journal</i>, and Ibh Maine for his friendly review in the <i>Leader</i>. +Nor should I omit to thank the ecclesiastical colleges, that not +only pardoned the blunt candour of some of the chapters, but gave +the book a more than cordial reception. +</p> +<p> +The present edition includes two entirely new chapters—the two +last—extending over 45 pages. It is hoped that the added matter +will prove of as much interest as those chapters of the first +edition which received such a hearty welcome. +</p> +<pre> +College of the Sacred Heart, Limerick, + <i>September</i> 29, 1909, Feast of St. Michael. +</pre> + + + + +<br /> +<br /> +<hr> +<br /> +<br /> + + + +<h2>CONTENTS</h2> + +<p class="toc"><a href="#h2HCH0001"> +CHAPTER FIRST — CULTURE: ITS NECESSITY TO A YOUNG PRIEST +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#h2HCH0002"> +CHAPTER SECOND — ENGLISH: ITS NECESSITY TO A YOUNG PRIEST +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#h2HCH0003"> +CHAPTER THIRD — SHOULD A YOUNG PRIEST WRITE HIS SERMONS? +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#h2HCH0004"> +CHAPTER FOURTH — HOW SHOULD THE YOUNG PRIEST PREPARE HIS SERMONS? +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#h2HCH0005"> +CHAPTER FIFTH — A SOPHISTRY EXPOSED—ADVICE GIVEN—<br /> + + THEOLOGIAN AND PREACHER—THE DIFFERENCE +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#h2HCH0006"> +CHAPTER SIXTH — THE ART OF ELOCUTION +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#h2HCH0007"> +CHAPTER SEVENTH — THE DANGER OF THE HOUR. HOW TO MEET IT +</a></p> +<p class="toc"><a href="#h2HCH0008"> +CHAPTER EIGHTH — THE YOUNG PRIEST'S ACTIVITIES +</a></p> + +<br /> +<br /> +<hr> +<br /> +<br /> + +<a name="h2HCH0001" id="h2HCH0001"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER FIRST +</h2> +<h3> + CULTURE: ITS NECESSITY TO A YOUNG PRIEST +</h3> +<p> +If you question any priest of experience and observation who has +lived on the foreign mission, and ask him what constitutes the +greatest drawbacks, what seriously impedes the efficiency of our +young priests abroad, without hesitation he will answer—First, +want of social culture; and, secondly, a defective English +education. +</p> +<p> +To the first of these this chapter will be exclusively devoted, +while the subject of English will be dealt with in the chapter to +follow. +</p> +<p class="side"> +The case stated +</p> +<p> +One of the great disadvantages of living in an island is that we +get so few opportunities of seeing ourselves as others see us. +When you seriously attempt to impress the necessity of culture on +the student preparing for the foreign mission he generally pities +you. In his eyes culture is a trifle, suited perhaps to the +serious consideration of ladies and dancing masters, but utterly +unworthy of one thought from a strong-minded or intellectual man. +But you tell him that without it the world will sneer at him. He +then pities the world, and replies—"What do I care about the +world's thoughtless sneer; have I not a priestly heart and a +scholar's head?" +</p> +<p> +That reply, if he were destined to live in a wilderness, would be +conclusive. An anchorite may attain a very high degree of +sanctity and yet retain all his defects of character—his +crudity, selfishness, vulgarity. While grace disposes towards +gentleness it does not destroy nature. There is no essential +connection between holiness and polished manners. +</p> +<p> +Nor does scholarship either require or supply culture. A mastery +of the "Summa" will not prevent you from doing an awkward action. +Dr. Johnson's learning was the marvel of his age, but his manners +were a by-word. So, if your only destiny was to be a scholar or a +hermit, manners need give you little trouble. +</p> +<p> +But your vocation is to be an apostle; to go out amongst men; to +be the light for their darkness, the salt for their corruption; +the aim and goal of your operations are human hearts. This being +granted, are you not bound to sweep from your path every +impediment that prevents your arm from reaching these hearts? But +the most effective barrier standing between you and them is +ill-formed manners. +</p> +<p> +The laws of good society, the refinement of gentlemanly culture +may, from your standpoint, be the merest trifles; but they become +no trifles when without them your right hand is chained from +reaching human souls. +</p> +<p> +The only remaining question is, Does the world to-day place such +a high value on good manners that if I go into it without them my +efforts will be in a large degree neutralised? Entertain not a +shadow of doubt on that point, such is the fact. +</p> +<p class="side"> +Protestants and Catholics demand culture in the +Priest +</p> +<p> +Proud and pampered society will never bend its stubborn neck and +submit itself to the guidance of a man who, judged by its own +standard—the only one it acknowledges—is far from being up to +the level; an object of contempt perhaps, at best of pity. In its +most generous mood it is slow and cautious to take you on trust; +its cold analysis searches you; your unplaned corners offend its +taste; and except in every detail you answer to its rule and +level you are disdainfully thrust aside. +</p> +<p> +Catholics, while they esteem a mere fop at his just value, expect +their priest to rise above the sneers of the most censorious and, +if possible, to challenge the respect of all. They are proud of +their priest; and surely it is not too much to expect on his part +that he will do his best not to make them ashamed of him. +</p> +<p> +Their Protestant neighbours know of this pride; and if they can +but lay a finger on his evident defects they will glut their +inborn hatred of the Church by hitting the Catholics on the +sensitive nerve, by galling them by caricature and derision of +the <i>gauche</i> manners of the priest. +</p> +<p> +Protestant young men, too, will appeal to the pride of their +Catholic companions; and an appeal to pride is generally a trump +card. They will ask—"Is it possible that gentlemen could submit +themselves to the guidance of a clergyman whose manners are +unformed and whose English is marred by provincialisms and +defective accent?" +</p> +<p> +In speaking of accents, let me say here I do not ask the young +priest to commit the signal folly of attempting to ingraft an +imported accent on his own native one. No! He should speak as an +Irishman, but as an educated Irishman. +</p> +<p class="side"> +By foreign Canons you will be judged +</p> +<p> +The fatal mistake on the part of a young priest would be to take +Irish opinion as the standard by which he will be judged outside +Ireland. In Ireland we call these things trifles, because the +people whose eyes are filled with the rich light of warm faith +see the <i>priest</i> alone, and are blind, or at least generously +indulgent, to the defects of the <i>man</i>. +</p> +<p> +Reverse this, and you have the accurate measure by which you will +be judged abroad. The <i>man</i> and his defects alone are seen; the +<i>priest</i> and the sublimity of his state are entirely lost sight +of. The world judges what it can understand—the <i>man</i> alone. +Hence the student preparing for the foreign mission may take this +as an axiom:—<i>If people cannot respect you as a gentleman, on +the non-Catholic world your influence is nil; and even on your +own Catholic people it will sit very lightly</i>. But he replies— +"This is not logical, for a man may be an excellent priest, a +good scholar, without social accomplishments." All that I admit, +but age and experience will teach him that logic does not rule +the world; some of its greatest actions could not bear the +pressure of a syllogism. We must meet the world as it is, not as +we would make it. Is it not you who show logical weakness in +preparing for this ideal world that has no existence outside your +own dreams and ignoring the world of hard facts you will have to +face? +</p> +<p class="side"> +No argument to be drawn from the Apostles +</p> +<p> +You then appeal to facts and say, Look at the apostles. Let me +answer—first, you do not attempt to imply that crudity was a +help to them. If so, how? Now, the most you can say is that in +spite of it they succeeded. But you forget that they had the gift +of miracles, and a sanctity so evident that their passport was +secure despite their defects. +</p> +<p> +Unless you can produce the same sanctity and miracles your +argument falls to the ground. But to the statement itself—Were +not the apostles men of manners? Some, it is true, before their +call had little connection with schools, but we may rest assured +that three years under such a teacher as they had did wonders. +They must be dull indeed not to read the living lesson their +Master's character daily taught. His tenderness, His courteous +dignity, and gentle consideration for others were such that in a +man we would say they almost bordered on weakness; this was the +living model on which they daily gazed and pondered. +</p> +<p> +This Master then sent them forth to "all nations." They were to +mix with the white-robed senators in Rome, and dispute with the +highest intellects of polished Athens, to force an entrance into +every circle of social life. Could we imagine God sending them +forth to that task encumbered with defects that would paralyse +their mission if not ensure its defeat. +</p> +<p> +We must also take into account the gifts of Pentecost. What a +change these wrought! The Holy Spirit enriched their intellects +and perfected their moral virtues; their trembling wills became +braced as iron pillars. For what purpose? To prepare and equip +them for their destined mission. Is it not natural to suppose +that the same Divine Power swept their characters free from every +impediment that could hamper their ministry? So the appeal to the +apostles is gratuitous. +</p> +<p class="side"> +Culture necessary for domestic life +</p> +<p> +In dealing with this question a young priest is to consider more +than his flock. Priests on the foreign mission live community +life, in hourly contact with each other. You cannot realise the +agony a man inflicts on others by coarse or unpolished manners. +The toil of a priest's day is severe, but the hardest day is mere +summer pastime compared with the crushing thought of having to +turn home to a boorish companion. This living martyrdom reaches +its most acute stage when, in society, a man is forced to witness +a brother priest expose the raw spots of his character to the +vitriolic cynicism of the scoffer. +</p> +<p> +But the importance of this subject is by no means exclusive to +the foreign mission. In Ireland, of late, a spirit of criticism +has shown itself, often exacting even to fastidiousness; so far +from time being likely to blunt it, everything points to the +probability of its edge growing sharper with years. And the young +Irish priest of the future who dares to trample on the canons of +good taste need expect scant mercy. +</p> +<p class="side"> +To arms +</p> +<p> +My advice to all ecclesiastical students is—search and see if +unmannerly ways are ingrafting themselves into your character. If +so, give them no quarter. Master an approved handbook, and during +the recreations raise discussions on details of good manners. Ask +your friends candidly to point out your defects. It is far easier +to be admonished by one friend whose correction is swathed in +soft charity than await till a dozen sneerers send their poisoned +arrows to fester in your heart. In correcting yourselves and +asking your friends to admonish you, it will assist you to pocket +your pride, to remember that three such weighty issues as the +efficiency of your ministry, the honour of the priesthood, and +the comfort of your future home will in a large measure be +influenced by the degree of social culture you carry out of +college. +</p> +<p> +No man has greater need to fear than he who stands high in his +class. When any habit becomes fixed it requires a high degree of +humility and moral courage to root it out. But, intellectual +pride, nourished by college triumphs, is up in arms. He scorns to +be corrected or taught by a world he despises. Let me ask, did +God give him these intellectual gifts for himself or as +instruments by which to win souls back to their Father? The man +who, rather than bend his own pride, allows his talents to become +useless incurs an awful responsibility. +</p> +<p> +Stubbornly refuse to be corrected or to shape and polish your +manners while in college, and one thing I absolutely promise you, +with all the authority a long experience can give, that when you +do go out from the college you will meet a master that will bend +and break you. The roasting fire of the world's scorn will search +the very marrow of your bones. +</p> +<a name="h2HCH0002" id="h2HCH0002"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER SECOND +</h2> +<h3> + ENGLISH: ITS NECESSITY TO A YOUNG PRIEST +</h3> +<p> +Let me begin by asking one plain question—If all the scholastic +wealth with which St. Thomas has enriched the world lay embedded +in the mind of a Missionary priest: if he more than rivalled +Suarez as a casuist, and Bellarmine as a controversialist, yet if +he failed to acquire a mastery over the only instrument by which +he could bring to bear the riches of his own intellect on the +minds of those around him, of what value is all the wealth +entombed within his head? +</p> +<p> +If he has acquired no command of the rich vocabulary, the +graceful elegance of diction, the mysterious beauty of +expression, the abundant illustration, the art of storing nervous +vigour and living thought into crisp and pregnant terseness: if +this one weapon, a finished English education, is not at his +disposal, his knowledge, as far as others are concerned, is so +much lumber: to the one spot alone—the Confessional—his +efficiency is narrowed. The other fields of his ministry are +deprived of the immense service this learning might afford. +</p> +<p> +Let us see how this works out in practice. The unctions of +ordination are scarcely dry on your hands till you begin to +realise what you never realised before—viz., that in the most +literal sense of the word you belong to the Church Militant. +</p> +<p> +You go out from college, you are quickly confronted with +opposition. At once your brain begins to hew arguments of massive +solidity; had you but the skill with which to hurl them you would +overwhelm the stoutest foe. This skill you have not got, you +never mastered the sciences by which you could smite the +aggressor. With rage you, perhaps for the first time, realise +your own deficiency. Your arms are pinioned by helpless ignorance +of the use of what should be one of the first weapons of the +priest. Your thoughts now struggle for birth, but are fated to +die stillborn, while the foe laughs you in the face. +</p> +<p> +Is this not a sad pity: <i>yet it is an everyday fact</i>. +</p> +<p> +There are sixty millions of Irish money lying in the banks +throughout this country, yet the nation is perishing from +atrophy, starving for want of commercial nourishment. If the gold +now piled in banks were but circulated through the channels of +industry, every limb of national life would pulse with new +vigour, the remotest corner of the land would feel the influence +of the golden current; so, within the mind of the priest may be +hoarded treasures of deepest learning, but unless he has the art +of minting and circulating through his parish the glittering coin +of polished thought, though his brain be an <i>El Dorado</i> of +wealth, that parish will run into spiritual bankruptcy. +</p> +<p> +"You are the Light of the World," said Christ to His Apostles. +The same, in effect, He will say to the young priest the day he +sets out to continue the work they began; but how will that +light, of which he is the bearer, reach the darkened world for +which God has destined it if he neglects to arm himself with the +light-diffuser: the only medium of communication between him and +his people? Though the sun is poised in the firmament above us, +this earth would remain for ever wrapped in midnight darkness +were it not that there is an interposing medium—whatever it +be—to waft to us its heat waves and carry its splendours to the +tiniest nook and crevice. The language, its graces and powers, +are for the priest the instruments by which darkened minds are +illumined, by which the clear rays of living truth are flashed +into their gloom. +</p> +<p> +The man that neglects to acquire a mastery of this instrument +incurs a great responsibility. +</p> +<p> +The devil, too, has a message to deliver, a message of error; but +at his command there are not only perverse intellects but all the +elegance of polished language and all the persuasive graces of +elocution. +</p> +<p class="side"> +An illustration from everyday life +</p> +<p> +Let me take an illustration from everyday life. A Catholic child +under his father's roof has religion instilled into him. He goes +to school, and here his knowledge is developed and enlarged. From +the schoolroom he is transplanted into the world to strike roots +if he can in stubborn soil and preserve his faith amidst the +ice-chills of infidelity. +</p> +<p> +Foes beset him on every side. He turns to the public library. The +infidel review is crisp in style, its arguments catchy, and the +brilliancy of its diction captivates. The pages of the +fashionable novel are strewn with the rose leaves of literature: +the plot enthrals. The arguments of the free-thought lecturer are +well reasoned, the sophistries artistically concealed, whilst his +mastery over the graces of elocution holds his audience +spell-bound. +</p> +<p> +The young man staggers. He now turns to where he should expect to +find strength. Under the pulpit next Sunday is a mind where the +mists of doubt are gathering and darkening. He looks up to the +"Light of the World" to have these mists dispelled. Instead of +seeing his foes battered with their own weapons he sees these +weapons, that in every domain are conquering for the devil, here +despised. +</p> +<p> +He is forced to listen, perhaps, to an exhibition of tedious +crudity. He goes away disheartened; perhaps to fall. +</p> +<p> +Now, the solid theological knowledge in that preacher's head is +more than sufficient to shatter the arguments of infidelity; the +analytic power acquired during his college course would enable +him to tear every sophistry to shreds; but the art of making both +of these effective for the pulpit, the mastery of clear and +nervous English, the elocution that sends every argument like a +quivering arrow of light to its mark, these he neglected, or +perhaps contemned. +</p> +<p> +This is our weak spot; here our position wants strengthening. +</p> +<p> +Sit by the fireside with that preacher and suggest the +advisability of cultivating English and elocution. He replies: "I +have two thousand souls to look after, sodalities to work up, +schools to organise, and attend, perhaps, four sick calls in one +night." No, <i>not now, but long years before</i>, he should have been +trained. It is not on the battlefield, when the bugle is sounding +the "charge," that the soldier should begin to learn the use of +his weapons. In the college, and not on the field of action, is +the place to acquire this science. +</p> +<p class="side"> +A ruinous advice +</p> +<p> +One of the most fatal directions ever tendered to Irish students +is—devote all your college years to Classics, Philosophy, and +Theology <i>exclusively</i>—these are your professional studies—and +when you become a curate it will be time to master English and +Elocution. +</p> +<p> +Analyse this and see what it means. Do not learn English or its +expression till you are flung into a village without a soul to +stimulate or encourage you; or, worse still, till you find +yourself in the fierce whirl of an English or American city. +"Wait till you are in the pulpit and then begin to learn to +preach" is very like advising a man to wait till he is drowning +and then it will be time enough to learn how to swim. Would any +sane man give such an advice to an aspirant of the fine arts? +What would be thought of the man who would say—"If you wish to +become a good musician neglect to learn the scales till you come +to your twenty-fifth year; or if it is your ambition to be a +great painter, permit a quarter of a century to roll over your +head before you learn how to hold the palette or mix the paints." +The man that would tender such ridiculous advice would be laughed +at. Yet it is not one whit more absurd than the transparent +nonsense that has grown hoary from age, and passes unchallenged +as a first principle. +</p> +<p> +It is often asked how is it that the Irish Church has remained so +barren. +</p> +<p> +Eighty years have passed since the bells of the thatched chapels +rang in Emancipation. During that time over three thousand +talented priests are on the land; yet how small the number of +works produced. Why such a miserable result? What has sterilised +the intellects of these men? Mainly this fatal advice. How could +we have literary tastes among the priests in their pastoral life +when such tastes were either frowned down during their college +career or postponed to a period when their cultivation became an +impossibility. +</p> +<p class="side"> +You must begin while young +</p> +<p> +No man can become a preacher without becoming a writer first. I +need not labour this proposition. A single quotation from the +highest authority establishes it. When Cicero was asked the +question—"How can I become an orator?" his one answer was— +"<i>Scribere quam plurimum</i>." The first step to oratorica eminence +was—write as much as possible. +</p> +<p> +Now, ask any distinguished writer when did <i>he</i> begin to +cultivate a literary taste. He will tell you with Pope that he +"lisped in numbers." He began almost with the dawn of reason. If, +then, pen practice must be the first step towards pulpit success, +it is while the fancy is tender that it should be trained; while +the receptive powers are hungry in youth they should be fed; +while the habits of thought are fresh and flexible they should be +exercised. Wait till the hoar frost of age nips the rich blooms +of imagination and stiffens the once nimble powers of the mind, +and the cast-iron habits of maturer years have settled on you: +literary culture is then an impossibility. +</p> +<p> +What does this culture imply? A developed insight into the +beauties of thought; a just appreciation of style; an intimate +acquaintance with the best authors; an abundant vocabulary and +graceful expression. Can these be acquired in a year? or is the +time for acquiring them seasoned manhood? +</p> +<p> +How worthless and pernicious is this one word "Wait," here more +than ever, where mastery of language is in question. But a glance +shows how much more absurd it is to let a man pass out of his +teens before putting him through a thorough course of elocution. +It is while the muscles of throat and lungs are as flexible as a +piece of Indiarubber, and the young ear sensitive to every +<i>nuance</i> of sound, the future priest must learn to articulate, to +pronounce correctly, to husband his breathing, to bend his voice +with ease and mastery through the varied octaves of human +passion. +</p> +<p> +A piece of advice which I would give to a young priest who may +find himself within reach of an elocution master is to place +himself under his guidance for at least the first twelve months. +</p> +<p> +The very best student elocutionist has, on leaving college, but a +theoretic knowledge of the art of preaching. To weave the +principles and graces he there acquired into his own compositions +in the pulpit is a new experience. To do this with effect he +still requires the master's guiding hand. +</p> +<p> +He should deliver his sermons in the presence of that master, +invite him to his church, and ask him to note defects for +correction. This plan I have seen acted on with eminent results: +it may be a young priest's making: at its lowest estimate it is +worth gold. +</p> +<p class="side"> +A workable plan +</p> +<p> +I can well imagine the young reader objecting that I would have +him turn from his study-desk, where Lehmkuhl and St. Thomas lie, +to practise composition and elocution. No, but I want to show how +all I have put before him can be done without encroaching to the +extent of one hour on his ordinary class studies. +</p> +<p> +I. Let the most hard-working student gather carefully the golden +sands of wasted time that lie strewn even through the busiest +ordinary day and see what they amount to in a year. Why not hoard +and mint them; for his class knowledge will, to a great extent, +be buried treasure except he has the engine by which to deliver +it to others. +</p> +<p> +A student should permit no day to pass without writing out at +least one thought. Cover but half a sheet of notepaper—correct, +prune, condense, clarify, and then, if you wish, burn it, yet, it +is a distinct gain. You are shaping a sword that will stand you +in good need yet. +</p> +<p> +2. During study hours an English author should lie on the desk. +When the head grows wearied, instead of uselessly goading the +tired jade or consuming brain tissue on that most fatiguing of +occupations, day dreaming, sip a page or two of English. You rest +your brain, and while doing so store up knowledge, silently +develop taste and acquire style. +</p> +<p> +3. Again, how are vacations consumed? The student who does not +read at least two hours a day is letting a golden opportunity +pass and wasting a precious gift of God—time. It may be said +that this after all is a rather slow process; it will only mean +about a volume a month. Yes, but that means twelve in a year, or +at least eighty-four in your course, not a bad stock to start +life with. +</p> +<p> +4. In the training of the future priest the recreation hour can +be converted into the most important item on the day's programme. +He plunges from the silence of the study hall into the vortex of +the world, for it is the world in miniature; its passions, its +pride, its meanness, as well as its gentleness of heart and +heroism of spirit are all flowing around him. If properly +utilised, the recreations can be minted into veritable gold. In +the term "recreation" I include all those occasions of free +intercourse where students meet to interchange thought—the hall, +the club, &c.—and the more numerous these are the better. Here +the student is his natural self, unrestrained by a master's +presence. The young minds are free to wrestle, and opposing +thoughts to clash. The fire of contradiction will test the +genuine ore: the same fire will consume all that is worthless in +his opinions and principles: the clay and alloy of his character +too will go. +</p> +<p> +He learns to cast away many a cherished notion now dinged and +broken in the war of minds; he is taught to distrust himself and +tolerate the opinions of others. If the recreation, however, is +to be a mental gymnasium it must be guided by fixed rules, and +this is most important. +</p> +<p> +The tone must be of a high level. No vulgarity; no scurrility. +<i>In the hottest debate we must not forget that we are gentlemen</i>. +</p> +<p> +We should argue, not to overcome an opponent, but to make truth +evident. Minds in debate should resemble flails on the threshing +floor, that labour not to overcome each other, but to separate +the solid grains from the chaff and straw. +</p> +<p> +No man should be ashamed to say "I don't know" or "Perhaps I am +wrong." +</p> +<p> +Without these safeguards the recreation or debate might easily +become a cock-pit of unbridled passions. "Our fortunes lie not in +our stars, good Brutus, but in ourselves." The making of the +priests depends not merely on the college, but also on the +students' own endeavours. This latter fact is but imperfectly +understood, or acted on only in a very limited extent. It is from +intercourse between minds of various bents, the debating clubs, +the social unions, and not the lecture halls or study desks, that +the Oxford student draws strength and elegance of character. It +is the want or misuse of these opportunities that leaves the +young Irish priest so raw and unfinished. +</p> +<p> +<i>Knowledge</i> only comes from the professor and the book, but the +<i>character</i> is shaped, rounded, and polished by a variety of +agencies lying outside both these. The creation of these agencies +is almost entirely in the student's own hands. +</p> +<p class="side"> +The dangers of the hour and how to meet them +</p> +<p> +If the Irish priest on the foreign mission is to become a force +in the future, his course of philosophy must be both solid and +practical. +</p> +<p> +The last half century has not only changed the arms of his +adversaries but transferred the conflict to new grounds. +</p> +<p> +Protestantism is dying. The mere veneer of Christianity is fast +fading off among the sects. +</p> +<p> +The cobwebs of neglect are overspreading the works of theological +controversy; but in the domain of ethics and metaphysics activity +daily grows in intensity. +</p> +<p> +The student would do well to keep this fact before his eyes. It +is proper that a priest should be conversant with the errors of +the past and the arguments by which they are met. Many of these +errors he will discover exhumed, draped in new disguises, and +paraded as the fruit of modern "thought." But it will be well +also, in his studies, not to ignore the fact that the Agnostic +and the Socialist are, under his very eyes, digging what they +confidently assure us is to be the grave of Christianity. +</p> +<p> +Agnosticism and Socialism are the two great forces to be reckoned +with in the immediate future. +</p> +<p> +Poison-thought has eaten the vitals of non-catholic sectaries. +The teaching of so-called Christian churches has evaporated into +a mere natural theism, the supernatural element has disappeared. +Both the Socialist and Agnostic frankly confess that the +demolition of the sects is but a preliminary skirmish: the real +battle lies farther afield. The lines of conflict between us and +them are daily drawing closer, and it is a question of brief time +till we are locked in deadly grip. How are we preparing for this +struggle, which may yet convulse the world? +</p> +<p> +The future priest must be made familiar with the modern +objections <i>in their native dress and form</i>. +</p> +<p> +The aspirant for the foreign missions has a tough quarry before +him: it behoves him to steady his hand and point his weapon. +</p> +<p> +Young men complain of the length and tediousness of the years +consumed in preparation for the Ministry. Could I but engrave on +their minds the conviction as it lives, fixed and definite, on my +own as to the equipment requisite for the efficient discharge of +their great office; could I but show them the thousands untouched +that might be within her fold to-day, were the Church's workmen +fully aware of the pressing needs of modern life, they would +count that hour as lost that did not contribute its quota towards +their arming for the future. +</p> +<pre> + ——— +</pre> +<p> +P.S.—I cannot do better than here append a list of those books I +found in practical experience most valuable in meeting modern +thought. I would earnestly ask every aspirant for the foreign +mission not to leave the college till he has a familiar +acquaintance with every page of them. I take it for granted that +the transcendent merits of "Catholic Belief" and "Faith of our +Fathers" are so well known, especially as books for intending +converts, that there is no need to add them to the list on the +following page. +</p> +<pre> + Dealing with Agnosticism, &c. + "Liberalism and the Church" <i>Brownson</i>. + "Notes on Ingersol" <i>Lambert</i>. + "The Newest Answer to the Old Riddle" <i>Gerrard</i>. + "New Materialism" <i>Gaynor</i>. + + Dealing with Socialism + "Pope Leo XIII. on Labour." + "Labour and Popular Welfare" <i>Mallock</i>. + "Socialism" <i>Cathrein</i>. +</pre> +<a name="h2HCH0003" id="h2HCH0003"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER THIRD +</h2> +<h3> + SHOULD A YOUNG PRIEST WRITE HIS SERMONS? +</h3> +<p class="side"> +Clearing the ground +</p> +<p> +That the young priest may discharge the office of preacher with +efficiency and honour, not only must he bring ability and +industry to his task, but he must approach it with a mind free +from false theories. One unsound principle may mean shipwreck. +Amongst the many questions discussed by aspirants to pulpit +success, perhaps the greatest prominence is given to the relative +merits of the written or the extemporary sermon. This is so +important that its full treatment demands an entire chapter. +</p> +<p> +Before coming to close quarters we may premise a question. If the +carefully prepared sermon cost as little trouble as the +extemporary effort, would the world ever have heard of this +discussion? Oh! the fatal tendency to move on the lines of least +resistance, to glide on the downward slope, and when we have +reached the bottom to manufacture arguments and apologies +justifying the course we selected! When the question is probed to +the bottom you will find that all advocacy of extemporary +preaching resolves itself into an apology for laziness. +</p> +<p> +To me the question has long since ceased to be anything more than +a mere academic one, useful perhaps for a debating class, where +youthful gladiators flesh their harmless swords. In practical +life, the well written, the well prepared sermon was the only one +I discovered able to bear the test of experience. +</p> +<p class="side"> +Manning +</p> +<p> +At the threshold of this discussion the authority of Cardinal +Manning may be invoked against us, who, without condemning the +written sermon, shows a decided preference for speaking from +notes. A written sermon, such as advocated, could scarcely be +before his mind when he wrote that chapter in "The Eternal +Priesthood." It is evident he had in view the post-renaissance +preacher—vain, pompous, decked in borrowed ornament, anxious +about the embroidery, and careless about the soul of his +discourse. The species, thank God, is extinct. +</p> +<p> +At any rate, if Cardinal Manning meant to condemn the written +discourse such as we understand it, is he triumphantly answered +by himself. The man who advises you to preach from notes and then +launches upon the world a goodly set of volumes of carefully +written sermons, every line of which passed under his correcting +pen, requires no refutation. His action nullifies his advice. It +is to be feared, too, that in forming his judgment he relied too +much on his own experience, and out of it drew conclusions for +others, who could never hope to have his exceptional advantages— +a fatal mistake. +</p> +<p> +Before his conversion he had completed a distinguished career at +Oxford. Of the English language and its perfect use he was a past +master. The copiousness of diction, elegance of phrase, the power +of expressing himself in graceful strength were eminently his. +His intellect was stored with abundant knowledge drawn from many +sources. The thoughts of his well-ordered mind stood in line as +definite and orderly as soldiers on parade. The fibres of his +reasoning had waxed strong in encounters with the ablest +intellects of the day and before the most distinguished audiences +in the literary and debating clubs at Oxford. Add to this the +fact that in a keen knowledge of the human heart, its strength +and weakness, he was surpassed by no man of his age. This was the +equipment with which Manning started life, and it is to be feared +he pre-supposed this, or a great part of it, to be in possession +of those for whom he wrote. +</p> +<p> +Now, what young priest, even the most brilliant of his class, +going on the mission can pretend to the hundredth part of the +advantages that enabled Manning to dispense with the written +page? Therefore, to conclude that because he, under such +privileged circumstances, succeeded, you can do the same under a +very different set of conditions, is to ignore the hard logic of +facts and pay a poor compliment to your reason. +</p> +<p class="side"> +Father Burke and O'Connell +</p> +<p> +Then, we are confronted not with opinions but names—the two +names that will stand for all time in the forefront of Irish +orators are those of O'Connell and Father Burke. O'Connell wrote +but one speech—his first. The orations delivered by Father Burke +in America, by which he achieved a European reputation, were not +written. What, then, it is asked, becomes of the advocacy of the +written sermon? The answer to this argument is evident. If the +question is reduced to one of great names, into the other side of +the scales may be thrown not two but dozens of the most +illustrious men who not only wrote, but <i>became famous mainly +because they wrote</i>. +</p> +<p> +Passing by the great pagan orators, Cicero and Demosthenes, and +the Doctors of the Church, Saints Augustine, John Chrysostom, +&c.—these all wrote, polished and elaborated—we come to the +four names that have flung a deathless glory around the French +pulpit, that created a golden era of sacred eloquence which has +never been surpassed: Bourdaloue, Bossuet, Massillon, and +Fenelon. I will not labour the argument by showing how much of +their strength and fame rested on the construction of their +sermons. But, to return to the intrinsic merits of the +statement—yes, O'Connell and Father Burke were great orators in +<i>spite of</i>, and <i>not because of</i>, the fact that they spoke +extemporarily. So crude were some of O'Connell's speeches, so +careless was he of their dress, that Shiel complained: "He flung +a brood of young, sturdy ideas upon the world, with scarce a rag +to cover them." +</p> +<p> +If ever there was a case when the man made the sermon instead of +the sermon making the man, it was the case of Father Burke. How +little he owed to his sermons and how much they owed to his +delivery is left on record by a capable judge. Sir Charles Gavan +Duffy says: "Father Burke was a born orator; the charm of <i>voice, +eye and action</i> combined to produce his wonderful effects. When +his words were printed much of the spell vanished. One rejoiced +to <i>hear</i> him over and over again, but <i>re-read</i> him rarely, I +think."<a href="#note-1" name="noteref-1"><small>1</small></a> The greatest tribute that can be paid to the genius of +these two orators is that compositions, wordy, loose, abounding +in repetitions, in their mouths enthralled multitudes. Every +defect disappeared; the mastery, the dazzling brilliancy of their +oratory swept all hearts and blinded criticism. We well may pause +before answering the question: What effects would they have +produced had they time to write masterpieces of finished beauty +like those of Grattan and of Bourdaloue? where each link in the +chain of argument hangs in glittering strength, and each thought +shows the flash of the gem and its solidity too. +</p> +<p> +<a href="#note-1" name="noteref-1"><small>1</small></a> "My Life in Two Hemispheres," Vol. II., 274. +</p> +<p class="side"> +Defence of the system I +</p> +<p> +The first great difficulty against extemporary preaching is that, +though a priest studies his subject and maps his plan, he still +reckons without his host. The mind aroused to activity and warmed +by exertion is sure to spring new thoughts, arguments, and +illustrations across his path. These offspring of latest birth +clothed in freshness will prove a temptation too strong. He will +swerve from the main line to pursue them: the tendency to chase +the fresh hare can scarcely be resisted. Then another new thought +springs up, and, alas! another fresh hunt. The defined sketch +lying on his desk is abandoned: the new ideas have mastered him, +but he cannot master them. He labours himself to death without +avail, for there is neither point, argument, nor sequence: his +sermon is a definition of eternity—without beginning and without +end. The congregation is groaning in despair, and the only +appreciated passage in the whole performance is the preacher's +passage from the pulpit to the sacristy. +</p> +<p> +Now, to a man who writes his sermon, such a catastrophe is +impossible. In the process of preparation the field is well +beaten and every thought that could arise secured. From the best +of these his selection is made. To this selection he clings +without danger of swerve. The road on which he travels is not +only mapped but free of ambush and surprises. The milestones are +erected. He may not be a Bossuet or a Burke, but he speaks to a +definite point, has a time to stop, and the people leave the +church with a clear idea. +</p> +<p class="side"> +II. +</p> +<p> +The defenders of extemporary preaching must postulate three +essentials in any man undertaking the office. (I) Orderly +thought. (2) Abundant vocabulary. (3) Accurate and graceful +expressions. Without these he cannot speak. Admit the want of any +one of them and the contention falls to the ground. Now, what +young priest coming out of college has this equipment? It is a +singular fact, too, that these three can be acquired only by, and +are the direct outcome of, pen practice. How is it that this fact +has escaped so many? "Writing makes an exact man," says Bacon; +and to the question: "How can I become an orator?" Cicero's +answer was: "<i>Caput est quam plurimum scribere</i>." When then men +point to a Gladstone or a Bright as an example of an extemporary +orator we are entitled to ask: "In what sense can they be called +extemporary speakers, except in the most limited, since the well +marshalled ideas, the flowing periods and elegant graces of +delivery are the products of reams and reams of written pages and +years of patient drudgery?" Yet, even with all these advantages, +on great occasions it was on the written page they relied. Till +the young priest, then, comes to his task as well furnished as a +Gladstone or a Bright, the advocates of extemporary speaking are +out of count. +</p> +<p class="side"> +III. +</p> +<p> +The extemporary preacher challenges nature on her own ground. No +one need doubt the issue. Nature will conquer, and the man who +defies her will succumb. He endeavours to think, to select +word-clothing for his thoughts, to labour his memory, and deliver +his sermon, and performs all four operations at the same time, a +task clearly impossible, but more so when we remember the usual +embarrassments that beset a young preacher—the nervous +agitation, the want of self-control, the desire to succeed. It +ends generally in a stammer and then a break, greeted by the +congregation with a sigh of relief or perhaps a sneer of +contempt. +</p> +<p> +Is it by preaching such as this you hope to challenge the respect +and get a hold on the intellect of a cynical world? Is it through +such instrumentality you would bring home the Church's message to +proud and festering humanity? No one can succeed who attempts +more than one task at a time. +</p> +<p> +Look to analogy. At the moment when a regiment is expected to +charge, you don't find it engaged in collecting ammunition, +sharpening swords, and learning drill. All these necessary +preliminaries are long since completed. Now every bridle is +grasped, every sword hilt in grip, and the rowelled heels are +ready to dash into the horses' flanks at the first note of the +trumpet blast. +</p> +<p> +The preacher should come to the pulpit in a like state of +preparedness, with his thoughts already gathered, moulded, +polished and clothed in the words that fit them best; with every +argument as definite and well knitted as a proposition in Euclid; +the page swept clear of superfluous verbiage; each idea standing +out bright as a jewel in its setting, and the whole so thoroughly +committed to memory that he can defy the most critical to +discover a trace of effort. He should come, holding his +elocutionary forces in reserve, and ready, when the moment +arrives, to flash from his lips each living thought and send from +his heart the waves of subtle, unseen fire to melt, rock, or +subdue the hearts of others, instead of attempting four tasks +simultaneously, and failing in all. His sole business in the +pulpit is not to shape his message or to clothe his message, but +to gather and converge all the powers within him for one grand +purpose and it alone—to send that message home. +</p> +<p> +These pages are written mainly for the Irish priest on the +foreign mission. It is well he should be under no delusion. In +Ireland a slipshod or unprepared sermon may meet with indulgent +charity. A very different reception awaits it abroad. The priest +who attempts it will quickly discover how he is set up for a sign +that shall be contradicted. The free, white light of open +criticism penetrates even the sanctuary. There is no dignity to +hedge any man. Congregations smart at being treated to such poor +fare, and will not leave him long in ignorance of their opinions. +Perhaps while in the pulpit the sight of many a curving lip will +make the blood tingle or cause the shame spot to burn on his +cheek. +</p> +<p> +Again, the priest on the foreign mission will never face a +congregation that is not sprinkled with Protestants or +unbelievers. Should he not then consider the feelings of his own +people who are humiliated or filled with honest pride by the +manner in which their pastor acquits himself in the eyes of +strangers? Waiving then all supernatural motives, should not +every priest have sufficient manly pride, self-respect and +sensibility for the honour of his exalted office to lift himself +and his work above the sneer of the most censorious, and +challenge the respect, if not the admiration, of every listener? +</p> +<p> +The preparation should begin not on the day the sacred oils are +poured on the young priest's hands, but on the day he enters +college. His eyes should be kept fixed on the goal before him. "I +am to be a preacher, and every obstacle that stands on my path +must go down, and every advantage that goes to make a great +orator, at all costs, I must make my own." This ambition should +be nourished till it consumes him, till it becomes "his waking +thought, his midnight dream." His reading, recitation and debates +should be studied under the light of this lodestar of his +destiny: at first shining afar off, but swiftly nearing as each +vacation ends. +</p> +<p class="side"> +Objectors answered I. +</p> +<p> +Those who champion the method of extemporary preaching lay great +stress on two points. (I) The extemporary preacher has a natural +warmth and earnestness of conviction that goes straight to the +heart. (2) These, they maintain, can never accompany the prepared +discourse. Let us examine these two statements. It is true that +when men speak under the influence of strong emotions, passion +may, in a large measure, compensate for accurate expression and +sequence of thought, especially with a rude or half educated +audience. In proof of this, Peter the Hermit and Mahomet are +striking examples. We are dealing, however, not with +extraordinary but the ordinary demands on a priest's powers, and +it would be poor wisdom to stake all his success on the chance +moods of his temperament. To-day the tempest may rock his soul +and his words bear the breath of flame; but, by next Sunday, the +spirit has passed, his passions are ice chill; he is confronted +with the duty of preaching, and on what support shall he now +lean? We must also remember that with increasing education the +popular mind is becoming more analytic, and congregations less +willing to accept emotions, no matter how sincere, as a +substitute for reason. +</p> +<p> +The second statement—that the written sermon cannot be vitalized +with fervour—seems childish in face of the fact that even +actors, speaking the thoughts of men dead three hundred years, +move people to tears or cause their blood to blaze. The great +pulpit orators, to whom allusion has already been made, preached +carefully written sermons, yet over ten thousand hearts they +poured lava tides that swept every prejudice in their fiery +breaths. +</p> +<p class="side"> +Shiel +</p> +<p> +What, then, becomes of this trite assumption when there are iron +facts like these to fall upon it? Again, it is objected that the +freshness disappears in elaborate preparation, and an +oft-repeated sermon becomes stale to its author. Shiel, we are +told, "always prepared the language as well as the substance of +his speeches. Two very high excellences he possessed to a most +wonderful degree—<i>the power of combining extreme preparation +with the greatest passion</i>." +</p> +<p class="side"> +Wesley +</p> +<p> +That disposes of the first statement. Now, does the repetition of +the same sermon cause it to grow flat? Listen to the actor on his +hundredth night, and see have he and his words grown weary of +each other. Wesley wrote every sermon, and repeatedly preached +the same discourse, with the result that so far from losing by +repetition it gained; and Benjamin Franklin, who was the American +ambassador in England at the time, assures us he never became +truly eloquent with a sermon till he had preached it thirty +times. The following graphic picture of the effects produced by +the preaching of Wesley and his two companions will scarcely help +to support the theory that a sermon preached frequently becomes +fruitless:—"He looked down from the top of a green knoll at +Kingswood on twenty thousand colliers, grimy from the Bristol +coalpits, and saw, as he preached, the tears making white +channels down their blackened cheeks. . . . The terrible sense of +a conviction of sin, a new dread of hell, a new hope of heaven, +took forms at once grotesque and sublime."<a href="#note-2" name="noteref-2"><small>2</small></a> +</p> +<p> +<a href="#note-2" name="noteref-2"><small>2</small></a> Green—"Short History of the English People." +</p> +<p> +We have heard preachers from whose lips each thought fell as +fresh and as hot as if that moment only it welled up from the +fountains of the heart; yet each rounded and chiselled sentence, +that seemed to flow so spontaneously, cosily nestled between the +covers of their manuscripts. We have watched the varied gestures, +the cadences of voice and facial expression to harmonize with and +so express the sense of the words that one seemed to grow out of +the other; still these graces of elocution, that looked so +artless and so charming, were the fruit of long years of study. +All was fresh! All was natural! All palpitated with the blood of +life, yet all were the products of previous toil. It is nonsense, +then, for any man to assert that the written sermon must bear the +stamp of artificiality or that the fire evaporates in the passage +from the desk to the pulpit. +</p> +<p class="side"> +II. +</p> +<p> +But I may be told there is small time for writing sermons. It is +singular that where there is most time on a priest's hands there +are fewest sermons on his desk. But to the objection. One of the +strongest motives urging the writer to insist on the written +sermon is his deep conviction of the shortness of time, for there +is no more expeditious way of squandering that precious gift of +God than by preaching extemporary sermons. +</p> +<p> +This is how the case stands. You have to spend as much time in +gathering and arranging the matter for the extemporary as for the +written one. Next year you may have to preach on the same gospel +or feast; of what use will your notes be then? The ideas, +arguments, and illustrations that now spring to your mind with a +glance at this cipher or note will then have vanished. The cipher +remains, but its inspiring power has passed. The oracle is dumb. +You may summon spirits from the vasty deep—but will they come? +You have again to face your old task; year after year the same +drudgery awaits you with less hope of success. The brain, at +first stimulated by novelty, poured forth the hot tide of +thought; now it will answer only to the lash. At the end of five +years what hoarded reserve have you laid by? Your hands are as +empty as the day you started, with this disadvantage, that you +have lost the habit of labour you acquired at college—a serious +loss. When a man permits the fine edge of college industry to +become blunted, the best day of his usefulness is passed. This +treadmill of ineffectual toil fills with disgust, till finally +all efforts are abandoned, and the people are treated to Hamlet's +reading: "Words, words, words." This is the usual series of +evolutions through which an extemporary preacher passes. He +begins with good intentions and bad theories. The system breaks +down, but his habits are now too set to try another, and so he +runs to seed. Here you have explained the fruitlessness, indeed +the paralysis, of many a pulpit. +</p> +<p> +In the written sermon, on the other hand, you have a treasure for +life; years pass, but your sermon remains, an instrument becoming +more flexible and telling every time you use it. You are +independent of your mood, on which the extemporary preacher has +to lean so much. You can also defy chance that may call you to +the pulpit at a day's notice. Your motto is: <i>Semper paratus</i>. +Your brain may be barren and your feelings frigid, but here are +thoughts already made and shaped. They are your own; and the mind +instinctively responds to the children of its own birth. It +rises, clasps, and embraces them. The passion glow enkindles +afresh; and heart and words are aflame with the ancient fires. +When for the first five years you lay aside a well-written sermon +a month, what a handsome stock-in-trade is at your disposal for +life—your fortune is made. +</p> +<p class="side"> +Incitements to toil +</p> +<p> +The world is in no humour to stand half-hearted work; it will bow +its proud head only to the man who pours out sweat; and +Bourdaloue's standard of excellence will hold for all time. His +answer to the question "What was your best sermon?" is: "The one +I took the most pains with." His labour at the desk was the +precise measure of his success in the pulpit. The French have a +proverb, "<i>Tout vaut ce qu'il coute</i>." ("Everything is worth what +it costs.") +</p> +<p> +See how laymen put our lethargy and its apologists to shame. Look +at the author with pallid cheek and fevered brow, half starving +in an attic, perfecting his style, polishing his periods. There +is the actor, haggard, jaded, toiling for hours at a single +passage, that he may interpret its meaning and enchain his +audience. While the world is dreaming the barrister is studying +his brief, ransacking tomes, wading through statutes, in search +of one to support his contention, knitting his defence in logical +terseness, cudgeling his brains for ingenious appeals to move a +jury. The lives of eminent lawyers are records of appalling +drudgery. +</p> +<p> +Turn to the great doctors of the church. After preaching for +thirty years, St. Augustine did not consider himself free from +the obligation of writing his sermons. He prepared, he tells us, +<i>cum magno labore</i>. "I have," says St. John Chrysostom, +"traversed land and ocean to acquire the art of rhetoric." If +giants so laboured, who are we to expect exemption? Ah! if our +bread entirely depended on our sermons, as a lawyer's on his +briefs or an actor's on his parts, what a revolution we should +behold! Yet how humiliating the thought! Every time you go into +the pulpit it is to plead a brief for Christ. The destiny of many +a soul hangs on your effort. Will you permit yourself to be +outdone in generous toil by the lawyer, who consumes his night +not to save a man from an unending hell, but from a month's +imprisonment? +</p> +<p> +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. +</p> +<a name="h2HCH0004" id="h2HCH0004"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER FOURTH +</h2> +<h3> + HOW SHOULD THE YOUNG PRIEST PREPARE HIS SERMONS? +</h3> +<p> +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. +</p> +<p> +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 +passes for truth. The question for us is—how shall we meet the +enemy with steel as highly tempered as his own? +</p> +<p> +Cicero embraces within the compass of three words the whole scope +of the orator. +</p> +<p> +<i>Docere</i>.—To instruct the intellects of his hearers. +</p> +<p> +<i>Placere</i>.—To use those varied arts and graces by which the +instruction is rendered palatable and agreeable. +</p> +<p> +<i>Movere</i>.—To move their wills to action. +</p> +<p> +The last function is by far the most important. +</p> +<p> +The preacher's triumph lies not in the conviction of the +intellect, nor in the approbation of the tastes, but in the +arousing of the wills of his hearers. The will is the goal-point +at which he aims from the beginning. +</p> +<p> +A doctor may persuade his patient that bitter medicine and active +exercise are necessary, but so long as the sick man lies on the +sofa and nods assent this barren conviction is of little profit. +When, however, the persuasion forces him to take a six-mile walk +and swallow the revolting draught, then, and only then, is +triumph secured. So a preacher may convince the habitual sinner +of the heinousness of sin; he may win his applause by the cogency +of his reasoning and the brilliancy of his style; but not till he +has moved his will to fling the old fetters to the winds, not +till he brings him a tearful penitent to the confessional, is his +work complete. +</p> +<p> +We shall now take the three words of Cicero in order. +</p> +<p class="side"> +<i>Docere</i> +</p> +<p> +How shall we accomplish all implied in that word "<i>docere</i>?" How +embed conviction in the minds of our hearers? Fill your own head +to repletion with the subject; be ambitious to leave, if +possible, no book unread, books of even collateral bearing. The +more thought stored up the more complete will be your mastery +over the subject and the more abundant the materials from which +to select. I was struck by a letter from Father Faber to a +friend:—"I intend writing a book on the Passion. I have already +read a hundred works on the subject; see if you can get me any +more." A hundred volumes, yet he looks for more! Hence his brain +was saturated with his subject, and when he tapped it, how +copiously it flowed! What books should I read? +</p> +<p class="side"> +What books to read +</p> +<p> +The solid matter in Theology and the Sacred Scriptures and their +developments. A book of sermons is the last to open. Why? You +wish to raise a structure, then go to the original quarry where +you have material in abundance. The arguments that bear the +shaping of your own chisel, though not as polished as those you +would borrow, will fit more naturally and adorn with greater +grace. There are two great risks in reading sermon books—a +tendency to imitate the style and a temptation to filch the +jewels. The style may be very sublime, but the question is will +it suit you. Your neighbour's clothes may fit him admirably, but +on you they would hang lop-sided. +</p> +<p> +The second danger is even more fatal. A struggling tyro who makes +an inartistic attempt to adorn his discourse with the most +brilliant passages from Bossuet renders his production not only +worthless but grotesque. The man who can build a labourer's +cottage handsomely should be content; but when he attempts to +engraft upon it the turrets and pilasters of the neighbouring +mansion he covers his work not with ornament but ridicule. "Am I +then," you will ask, "to cast aside the brilliant thoughts and +happy imagery I meet in my reading?" No, I only ask you not to +use them <i>now</i>. Note them for re-reading. Cast them as nuggets +into the smelting-pot of your own brain. Trust to time and the +alchemy of thought to transmute them. Wait till these thoughts +become your thoughts. The intellect will assimilate this foreign +material and send it forth on some future occasion, palpitating +with the warm blood of natural life, to strengthen the frame-work +of your reasoning or adorn your composition with veins of natural +beauty. +</p> +<p class="side"> +How shall I read? +</p> +<p> +Read with a pencil and paper slip beside you, not only to jot +down arguments and illustrations, but to seize on the +inspirations that may come. The thoughts we get from books are +not at all as valuable as the train of natural ideas these books +excite. When the mind is once set going there is no knowing what +rich ore it may strike. When the brain throbs in labour with +thought struggling for birth, when the soul is full and the +imagination in flame, this is the golden moment. Each idea now +stands out clear cut as a cube of crystal, and colours of +unwonted richness are draping the fancy. Hence, at all hazards, +lay hold of this inspiration. Close the most interesting work; +leave the most fascinating society; heed neither food nor sleep +till it is secured. +</p> +<p> +For you this spirit may never breathe again. Let this moment +pass, and when you do invoke the intellect it is cold and barren, +and the heart that yesterday blazed with living fires holds +lifeless ashes now. It is not always when you have pointed your +pencils and spread the virgin page before you thought will come. +The ideas that have revolutionized the world came at times and in +places most unlooked for. +</p> +<p> +When musing on the swaying Sanctuary lamp during Benediction, +Galileo discovered the laws of the pendulum. Such a trifle as the +fall of an apple suggested the laws of gravitation to Newton; and +the first idea of the steam engine came to Watt while he was +watching the lid rising from the boiling kettle. During a royal +banquet the argument to crush the Manicheans grew on the great +mind of St. Thomas, and the king made his secretary write it down +on the spot. Had not these men trained themselves to admit and +welcome the angel visitant, no matter when or where he came, the +stagnant pool of the world's ignorance might have remained for +ever unstirred. +</p> +<p> +Your notes are now before you, some the offspring of original +thought and others culled from reading. The former require only +polishing and shaping, but the latter must pass through your own +intellect; every thought must feel the brain heat before it +becomes palatable. We do not ask people to eat meat raw, so we +should take care not to offer them ideas cold and untouched by +the warmth of our own reasoning. Think over, ruminate, roll them +from side to side, let them sink down through the tissues of your +own brain and settle there; then when you send them out warm, +bearing the stamp of your own minting, they will be found +effective. +</p> +<p> +Remember that to translate dry theology into questionable +English, encumbered with technical expressions, is not writing a +sermon; but the man who takes up the theological principles, +simmers them in his own thought, wraps them in the transparency +of clear language, illustrating them with his own imagery, and +thereby bringing them within the grasp of the meanest +intelligence, that man, in a sense, creates the truth anew. +</p> +<p> +You begin the work of construction by making out a sketch +argument. Let a well-jointed syllogism underlie and form the +framework of your sermon. The conclusion of that syllogism must +be the goal point at which you aim. That once selected, all other +parts of the sermon should tend towards it. As all roads lead to +Rome, so all members of the argument should converge to this +point. The congregation should leave the church with that idea +fixed and clear as a star of light before their minds. +</p> +<p> +In writing, as in committing to memory, you should keep the +audience ever before the mind's eye. Attack it on every side; +pursue it with argument, and never leave it in the power of an +intelligent man to say: "I do not understand what he means." +</p> +<p> +This habit of writing with the audience before us not only +secures cogency and point for our arguments and clearness for our +illustrations, but it saves us from the fatal mistake of +producing not a sermon but an essay. +</p> +<p> +Here our meditations assist us. The daily habit of balancing and +introspection enables a man to read and analyse his own heart, +its strength and weakness. He becomes familiar with the springs +and levers that move it, the storms that convulse and the +sunshine that gladdens the mysterious world within his own +breast. How useful this knowledge when he comes to train the +artillery of the pulpit on the hearts of others! +</p> +<p class="side"> +<i>Placere</i> +</p> +<p> +So far we have been studying how to mortise the joints of our +arguments into well-knit and shapely strength; the pure +scholastic, however, possesses but half the weapons of the +preacher. The best built skeleton is repulsive till it is clothed +with flesh, colour and beauty. This is the rhetorician's task. He +comes with his graceful art, and drapes the dry bones of hard +reasoning, clarifies the arguments by illustrations, clothes them +in language crisp and sparkling, weaves around them the warm glow +of fancy and renders the hardest truths palatable by the grace of +diction and delivery. He accomplishes all implied in the word +"<i>placere</i>." +</p> +<p> +When rhetoric and logic clasp hands the standard of triumph is +fairly certain to be planted above the stubborn heart. We must, +however, remember that the arts of rhetoric are subordinate to +the reasoning, and must be brought forward only for the purpose +of driving the reasoning home. But since man's faculties are not +divided into watertight compartments, neither should the sermon +intended to influence him. +</p> +<p> +Our reason is not independent of our passions; our feelings so +influence our judgment that even in our greatest actions it is +hard to disentangle and say so much is the product of one and so +much of the other. The sermon should be constructed to fit the +man; argument and emotion should not stand apart, but dovetail +and interlace. +</p> +<p class="side"> +Sheil +</p> +<p> +In the art of entwining the garlands of rhetoric around the +framework of argument, Sheil stands conspicuous. Lecky says of +him—"His speeches seem exactly to fulfil Burke's description of +perfect oratory—half poetry, half prose. Two very high +excellencies he possessed to the most wonderful degree—the power +of combining extreme preparation with the greatest passion and of +<i>blending argument with declamation</i>. +</p> +<p> +"We know scarcely any speaker from whom it would be possible to +cite so many passages with all the <i>sustained rhythm and flow of +declamation, yet consisting wholly of the most elaborate +arguments</i>. He always prepared the language as well as the +substance of his speeches. He seems to have followed the example +of Cicero in studying the case of his opponent as well as his +own, and was thus enabled to anticipate with great accuracy." +</p> +<p> +The hint contained in the last paragraph is invaluable to the man +who proves or expounds doctrine. It sometimes happens that there +is an objection so natural that it seems to grow out of the +reasoning. Perhaps, while the preacher is speaking, it is taking +shape on the minds of the hearers; at least sooner or later it is +certain to recur. +</p> +<p> +How is it to be dealt with? Let it pass, and the audience carry +away the argument with a cloud of doubt hanging around that goes +far to destroy its force. Or it may be that when he opens the +morning paper it confronts him, set forth in the most convincing +shape, with the advantage of having, at least, twenty-four hours +to rest on the public mind before he can touch it. Therefore, let +no such objection pass, but grapple with it here and now, and +tear it to shreds. Here you are master of the situation, and can +present the objection in a shape most accessible to your own +knife. By anticipating an antagonist you break his sword and +render your own position unassailable. +</p> +<p> +Before our preacher goes into the pulpit just one word in his +ear—Beware of two very common defects—(I) <i>Rapidity of speech</i> +and (2) <i>Want of proper articulation</i>. A people who think warmly, +as we Irish do, speak rapidly. Thought is rushed upon thought and +sentence telescoped into sentence. Before sending forth an idea, +take care that its predecessor has got time to settle on the +minds of your hearers. In articulation try to earn the eulogy +passed on Wendell Philips: "He sent each sentence from his lips +as bright and clear cut as a new made sovereign from the mint." +</p> +<p class="side"> +<i>Movere</i> +</p> +<p> +What is the main weapon of the orator? Demosthenes answers— +"Action." Mr. Gladstone—"Earnestness." But St. Francis Borgia +probably explains what both mean when he advises us to preach +with an evidence of conviction that makes it clear to the +audience you are prepared to lay down your life at the foot of +the pulpit stairs for the truth of what you say. +</p> +<p> +Without this deep-seated conviction and the enthusiasm that flows +from it, your fire is but painted fire, your thunder the thunder +of the stage. This living earnestness is the spark that illumines +and vitalizes all. Without it the best built sermon is but a +painted corpse; but when the soul gleams forth in the flashing +eye and quivering lip, waves of unseen fire are issuing with +every sentence, and arrows of light silently piercing every +heart. The most stubborn prejudices are forced to melt and the +most depraved wills are swept on the crest of the grand tidal +wave, slowly gathering from the start; but when the preacher +forgets himself and his surroundings, flings self-consciousness +away, goes outside himself, pouring the hot tide from his own +glowing heart, till every flash of his eye and every wave of his +hand becomes a palpitating thought, then his audience surrender; +their hearts are in the hollow of his hand, wax to receive any +impression; their wills can be braced and lifted to the sublimest +heights of heroism—this is triumph. +</p> +<p class="side"> +O'Connell +</p> +<p> +It is said that the great mastery O'Connell exercised over the +people mainly sprang from the passionate earnestness of his +conviction. The nation's heart seemed merged into his own. He +stood forth her living, breathing symbol. When he spoke it was +Ireland spoke. Her passions rocked his soul; her humour flashed +from his eye; her scorn gleamed in his glances, and her sobs +choked his utterance. Ah! if preachers were as filled with the +Spirit of Christ as this man was with the spirit of patriotism, +what a revolution we might witness! +</p> +<p> +You ask—"How then do actors move people since there can be no +enthusiasm when men know they simulate unreal people and unreal +passions?" I answer, that the first step towards becoming a great +actor is to fling aside that knowledge and hand yourself over the +willing victim of a delusion. You must not <i>act</i> but <i>live</i> your +part: persuade yourself that you are the character you personate: +surrender your heart to be torn by real passions and wrung by +real sorrows. +</p> +<p> +The answer is well known which a celebrated actor once gave to a +divine:—"How is it that you so move people by fiction and our +preachers fail to move them by truth?" "Sir, we speak fiction as +if it were fact, and your preachers speak truth as if it were +fiction." +</p> +<p> +Here we leave our preacher facing his audience and filled with +but one idea: I have a great message to deliver and I will lay +hold of every means to send that message home; voice, passion, +style, gesture, these are my arms, and with these I hope to +conquer. +</p> +<p class="side"> +Parting glance at the preacher's mission +</p> +<p> +In parting we take a glance at the preacher's exalted mission, +and we may well ask: What in the whole range of human occupations +does this world hold worthy of being compared to it? +</p> +<p> +The battle-field, it is true, has its glories, but it has its +horrors also. Who can paint the pride with which Napoleon saw the +triumph of his skill crush two Emperors at Austerlitz or the +rapture with which he beheld the trophies of great kingdoms at +his feet? The fatigues of winter marches were forgotten when in +the fiery flashes of his veterans' eyes he read his own renown, +while their applauding shouts fell like music on his ears. But +blood soils the proudest trophies of war, and across the +perspective of victory the spectres of murdered men will stalk. +</p> +<p> +Human eloquence, too, has its conquests, the purest, the most +beautiful in the natural order. How the pride flush heightens on +the orator's cheek as he watches the crusts of prejudice melt and +hostile hearts surrender; when he marks the bated breath and the +hushed silence attesting his victory more eloquently than the +stormiest applause! He sees the varied moods of his own soul +mirrored in the faces around him, as he summons forth what spirit +he lists: tears or laughter, murmurs or applause answer to his +call. +</p> +<p> +What pen can picture the ecstasies that thrilled the soul of +Grattan as he gave utterance to the spirit of expiring freedom in +those orations that rank among the world's masterpieces? The +snows of age melted and the decrepitude of years was flung aside, +and his eyes gleamed with strange fires as he beheld sodden +corruption struck dumb and hang its guilty head; when he saw the +wavering drink fresh courage with each new outburst, and men of +commonest clay transformed into heroes by the blaze of his +genius. Glorious triumphs indeed; but, alas! human, and as such +doomed to die. +</p> +<p> +But in the sublimity of his purpose and the imperishable nature +of his conquests the preacher stands alone. Compared with his the +greatest trophies of the battle-field or the forum are feeble +trifles. +</p> +<p> +The preacher, in prayer and study, goes down over the green +swards of Calvary, and there gathers the ruby drops of +Redemption. He ascends the pulpit and pours them as a purple tide +over souls that are parched and perishing. As when the +Pentecostal fire rested on the Apostles' heads, a new light +filled their minds and a new flame sprung up within their hearts; +so when the same spirit breathes through the preacher's lips, the +clouds of ignorance dissolve and the light of truth divine +glorifies the minds and inflames the souls of his hearers. The +ears of faith can hear the applause of angels and the eyes of +faith can read Heaven's approval in the flashing glances of the +Blest, as with each stroke the preacher widens the empire of the +Precious Blood and piles palpitating trophies before the Sacred +Heart. Ah! here is a field worthy of the highest ambition that +ever burned within a human breast. +</p> +<p> +Hence, we should toil, toil, toil, and call no labour excessive +that we put forth in burnishing into polished efficiency every +weapon God has given us for the service of his pulpit. +</p> +<a name="h2HCH0005" id="h2HCH0005"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER FIFTH +</h2> +<h3> + A SOPHISTRY EXPOSED. ADVICE GIVEN +</h3> +<p> +Theologian and Preacher—The Difference +</p> +<p> +It is amazing to think how often the offices of theologian and +preacher are spoken of as if they were identical. Now, the +functions of theologian and preacher stand widely apart. To the +reflective mind this sounds like repeating a truism; yet what a +world of confused thought and ignorant criticism would be cleared +from the subject if this fact were kept well in sight. +</p> +<p> +When you say that a young priest is becoming a good preacher you +are met by "impossible! he never got a prize in theology." +</p> +<p> +This is supposed to give your poor judgment its final <i>coup</i>; +argument after that is useless: <i>causa finita est</i>. +</p> +<p> +Now, I do not think our appreciation of an eminent surgeon is +lessened by our being told that he is a poor chemist; yet the +difference between these respective professions is scarcely more +radical than that which separates the office of preacher from +that of theologian. +</p> +<p> +To the ordinary public the theological treatise is a sealed book. +It is the preacher's duty to break that seal; to take out the dry +truths stored there; to render them palatable and inviting, and +bring them within the grasp of the plainest intelligence. +</p> +<p class="side"> +Solicitor and barrister +</p> +<p> +Few occupations more aptly illustrate this difference than those +of solicitor and barrister. +</p> +<p> +The attorney works up the materials for the case: he groups +statutes, discovers principles, tabulates references, supplies +dates. While he does not plead himself, a man so armed is +invaluable at the elbow of an able advocate; without the +barrister, however, especially where the prejudices, interests, +and the imagination of a jury have to be worked upon, his load of +learned lumber would be of small value. The theologian makes out +the brief: the preacher pleads it. +</p> +<p> +To render this distinction clearer let us take one more +illustration. No animal can exist on air and clay and sunlight +alone. Though these contain the elements on which it is fed; yet, +though surrounded by them in most ample abundance, he must perish +if a third power is not brought into play. The vegetable world +comes intervening between the raw chemicals and the hungry man. +Out of earth and air and light it builds the ripened sheaf, the +succulent apple and the savoury potato. So, though bookshelves +groan under calf-bound tomes hoarding the hived treasures of the +masters of theology, the common minds of the multitude would +starve did not the preacher interpose as interpreter of the +theologian's message, drawing forth from his storehouse truths +and principles out of which he manufactures the daily bread on +which the ordinary man must live. Without his aid the richest +repository ever clasped between the covers of a book would remain +a <i>fons signatus a hortus conclusus</i>. The prophet of God saw the +dry bones scattered over the valley of desolation till the breath +of a new power passed over them, and lo! (I) "the bones came +together each one to its joint; (2) the sinews and the flesh came +upon them . . . (3) and the skin was stretched out over +them . . . and the spirit came into them and they lived." +</p> +<p> +The attorney and the theologian gather the dry bones, but on the +preacher and the barrister lie the fourfold task of mortising the +joints into each other, binding them with the sinews of argument, +clothing them in living beauty and vitalizing the whole structure +with the flame of impassioned earnestness. Only when this has +been done will they live. +</p> +<p> +So thoroughly distinct are the two offices it rarely happens that +a professional theologian becomes an efficient preacher. The +concentration and exclusive exercise of one faculty unfits him +for a task demanding many. +</p> +<p> +People do not come to church to hear spoken treatises or witness +dissecting operations on subtle distinctions. They come to be +instructed, pleased and moved. +</p> +<p> +Again, for the perfect fulfilment of the preacher's task, amongst +other gifts he must have imagination; but to the master of an +exact science like theology an exuberant fancy might prove a +fatal dowry. +</p> +<p> +A clear statement of this truth holds out hopeful encouragement +to the man whose theological attainments could not be described +as "brilliant": it teaches, too, the man who has distinguished +himself in theology that if he ambitions being a preacher he has +an entirely new set of sciences to master, but, best of all, it +breaks into small bits an oft-used weapon in the hands of the +young preacher's arch-enemy—the critic. +</p> +<p class="side"> +The critic at work +</p> +<p> +How often do we see this self-constituted oracle rely for his +sole support on this sophistry? +</p> +<p> +You turn from a church door filled with admiration; there is a +glow of rapture around your heart; every nerve is tingling; you +have been enthralled. A truth, old indeed but now dressed in a +new robe, lives before your mind with a meaning and a richness of +colour never experienced before. Your will is swept captive on +the crest of that subtle tide of unseen fire that seems to fill +the air. You are bracing yourself to a heroic resolve. The +preacher's voice, like ceaseless music, is still thrilling down +through the avenues of your soul. When the critic comes and in +pity asks you—"Do you really think that a good sermon?" he +compassionates your poor judgment, leads you to the library, +takes down a volume of Lehmkuhl or Suarez, and with a triumphant +wave of his hand assures you that every idea in that sermon may +be found there. +</p> +<p> +You are now face to face with the most perplexing of +sophistries—the half truth. +</p> +<p> +Your judgment is staggered by two apparently contradictory +facts—it was a fine sermon, yet every idea may be found in the +theological treatise. +</p> +<p> +To enable you to extricate yourself from the puzzle, ratify your +first opinion and confound the critic; picture another set of +circumstances. You stand before St. Peter's, wrapped in +admiration at this world's wonder. +</p> +<pre> + "Power, glory, strength and beauty, all are aisled + In this eternal ark of worship undefiled." +</pre> +<p> +You are marvelling how did human brains conceive and human hands +embody this mighty dream of art. One of the pest tribe yclept +"critic" comes pitying your simple heart; he leads you to a +quarry, and triumphantly pointing says: "Here every stone of that +building was found. Now, what becomes of the glory simple people +like you bestow on Bramante and Michael Angelo?" How would you +answer him? Easily enough. Make him a present of the quarry, and +ask him to produce another St. Peter's. The challenge is +conclusive. You have him impaled. +</p> +<p> +Come back now to the library. Present the preacher's critic with +a hundred tomes, give him all this raw material multiplied ten +times over out of which that masterpiece of sacred eloquence was +built, and ask him to enthral those thousands that hung +spellbound on that man's lips, whose thrilled hearts were aflame, +who left the church examining their consciences and vowing better +lives. Alas! he who was so eloquent in tearing others to rags +when he himself essays their task himself—angels well might +weep. +</p> +<p> +No department of life is secure against this sophistry. +</p> +<p> +You listen till you are dazed with admiration at one of those +masterpieces of forensic pleading that have flung a deathless +glory around the names of Russell and Whiteside; but the critic, +with a superior toss of his head, assures you that this can be +found in Magna Charta and the Statute book. Here is the +tantalising half truth. +</p> +<p> +To be sure the principles and groundwork of reasoning are there; +but the office of the advocate was to draw them from the dust and +darkness, to gather these scattered articles, statutes and +precedents into his capacious brain, and from them evolve a +framework of argument to fit his purpose. He moulds them into an +impregnable bulwark of law and reasoning to shelter his client. +So naturally does he bend them to his case that every listener is +impressed with the conviction that surely the framers of these +statutes and principles must have a case like this before their +minds when they committed them to parchment. +</p> +<p> +Yet in the judgment of the critic the variety of talents brought +to this complex task count for nothing. +</p> +<p> +Here we see what a distinction must be made between the office of +theologian and preacher, and what a confusion of thought is saved +by keeping this line of demarcation in view. +</p> +<p class="side"> +Parting advice +</p> +<p> +Now that the subject of pulpit oratory is swept clear from +misleading theories and set in its true light before the young +preacher's eyes, let us see how further we can assist him to +discharge his high office with honour and efficiency. +</p> +<p class="side"> +I.—Be natural in development +</p> +<p> +"To thine own self be true" is the soundest of advices. +</p> +<p> +From the beginning the young preacher should aim at developing on +his own lines, thinking in his own way and expressing his +thoughts in their own native dress. No matter how eminent the +paragon you admire, do not become an understudy of him. Remember +he is great only because he is himself and not the imitation of +another. Try, however, to get at the secret of his greatness. +What is it? He discovered his strong points and cultivated them. +Go and do likewise. +</p> +<p> +You see a man with clear sequence of ideas and easy expression, +but without those exceptional gifts that go to make the born +orator. He could attain even eminence as a lecturer or +instructor, but lecture or instruct he will not, for he has read +Ventura and become smitten. He tries to imitate the Padre's lofty +style, and succeeds in "amazing the unlearned and making the +learned smile." "Failure" is written large over all his efforts. +</p> +<p> +David could not fight with the gorgeous but cumbersome arms of +Saul: with his own homely sling and the polished stone from the +brook, the weapon to which he was accustomed, he achieved +victory. +</p> +<p> +I knew a priest who had a marvellous charm as a storyteller. He +invested the merest trifles of incident with resistless +fascination. Hours in his society flew like moments. +</p> +<p> +He became a distinguished preacher. I went to hear him, and +quickly discovered the secret of his success. He knew his strong +point, and staked his all on it. He preached his sermons as he +told his stories—in graphic, familiar narrative. The +congregation felt they were taken into his confidence; they were +hypnotised. You forgot that you were sitting in stiff dignity in +a church, and imagined yourself one of a group around the +winter's log listening to a delightful <i>raconteur</i>, and you +willingly surrendered to the pleasing delusion. +</p> +<p> +Every play of fancy, every flash of thought, every clinched +conviction passed from him to his hearers till the souls of +preacher and listeners became like reflecting mirrors. There was +always regret when he finished. +</p> +<p> +Now, had that man attempted to become Demosthenes instead of +himself he would have succeeded in becoming ridiculous. +</p> +<p class="side"> +2.—Be natural in composition +</p> +<p> +The natural outpouring of thought has a relish and a +resistlessness of force that no art can rival. The scent of a +sprig of wild woodbine holds a charm beyond all the perfumes of +the chemist's shop. +</p> +<p> +In order to be natural there is no necessity to ignore the +elegancies of style; for what is style? <i>Le style est l'homme</i>. +The style is the man. A perfect style, then, is attained when the +written page is the exact expression of the train of thought as +it lies in the writer's head. A style is absolutely perfect when +it is absolutely natural. +</p> +<p> +Artificial embroidery, purple patches, and golden vapour are +often the defects and not the perfection of style. +</p> +<p> +Language can be simple, however, without being vulgar or +commonplace. +</p> +<p> +What book will ever equal the Bible for simplicity, yet what +dignity? What preacher ever approached OUR DIVINE LORD; and, +humanly speaking, what was the source of His strength? +</p> +<p> +He accommodated Himself to His hearers. From the open book of +nature He made the realms of grace familiar to the minds of +children. He pointed to the lilies of the field, to the ravens of +the wood, to the ripening bud and the angry cloud. "<i>Ut ex iis +quae animus novit, surgat ad incognita quae non novit</i>."<a href="#note-1" name="noteref-1"><small>1</small></a> +</p> +<p> +<a href="#note-1" name="noteref-1"><small>1</small></a> Third Nocturn for Non-Virgins. +</p> +<p> +He used the world around us to lift our thoughts to the world +above us. +</p> +<p> +When He spoke to fishermen His illustrations were taken from seas +and nets. When He preached to farmers the word of God was the +seed falling on rocky soil or the fertile furrow. When the +merchants with caravans and silken tunics surrounded Him it +becomes the pearl of great price. When amongst simple villagers +it is the lost groat in search of which the housewife sweeps the +floor and searches each nook and cranny. +</p> +<p> +Here is language coming down to the level of every hearer, +abounding in familiar pictures, yet never losing dignity. +</p> +<p> +While composing sermons for factory hands Cardinal Wiseman +employed a weaver to teach him the technicalities of the loom +that he might reach their hearts through the only channel of +thought they understood. +</p> +<p> +It is wonderful how the natural world around us can be used to +bring even the most sublime truths within the grasp of the +plainest intellects. Why do we not draw more frequently and more +abundantly from this source? +</p> +<p> +When we hear of a man whose discourses "are too sublime for the +ordinary intelligence" it is hard to forbear a smile. Our pity +goes out not to "the ordinary intelligence," but to the cloudy +dweller in Patmos. Mystic obscurity is used more frequently as a +cloak for muddle-headed thinking than as a robe with which to +drape sublimity of thought. Hence, if people do not understand +the preacher, blame not the people, but let the preacher look to +it. +</p> +<p> +Our nimble-minded imaginative people will rise to and grasp the +most elevated ideas if properly presented. +</p> +<p> +I listened to a sermon in an English church preached before a +congregation of Irish poor. The keynote was lofty, but +beautifully sustained throughout. The range of thought was high, +but the truths clarified by an abundance of happy illustration. +That discourse was so classic in its beauty that it might be +preached before an Oxford audience, yet not an idea was lost on +that breathless congregation, where every female head was covered +by a shawl. The speaker possessed in an eminent degree three +gifts that must command success:—He could think clearly; he +could so express his thoughts that his language became the mirror +of his mind; he made a large demand on the familiar scenes of +nature with which to illustrate his ideas and send his reasoning +home; he possessed a mind at once logical and imaginative and a +manner of expression that formed a definition of perfect +style—<i>Le style c'est l'homme</i>—the style is the man. +</p> +<p class="side"> +3.—Be natural in delivery +</p> +<p> +The faintest suspicion of art immediately sets your audience up +in arms. Their teeth are on edge; their heart locked against you. +"This is acting and not preaching" seals your fate. +</p> +<p> +Do not imagine for a moment that I advocate the neglect of +elocutionary graces. So far from that I hold that every young +priest leaving college should be a past master of all rhetorical +arts. Gesture, articulation, voice production and inflection +should be at his finger tips. No book on the subject should be +unread. No year of college life should pass without contributing +materially towards the elocutionary equipment of the future +preacher. The college that neglects this training and permits +young men to go into the ministry without this needful art is +guilty of a most serious sin of omission. +</p> +<p> +What I do mean is <i>preach</i> your sermons and do not <i>declaim</i> +them. How is this accomplished? +</p> +<p> +For the first year bend all your powers to capturing the +intellects of your auditors, holding in reserve, for the time +being, the elocutionary forces. Then, when you have acquired the +habit of convincing the intelligence, let the elegancies of +finished declamation insinuate themselves gradually into your +delivery. Thus art will so engraft itself on nature, the +rhetorical graces so entwining and dovetailing into your +convictions and passions that they will appear as growing out of +and not added on to them. Here is perfection— +</p> +<pre> + <i>Ars artium celare artem</i>. +</pre> +<p> +Reverse this: make declamation your first concern, and let us +even suppose the artificiality is not detected, which is +supposing a great deal. What is the result? Your sermon is +declamation and nothing else. This means failure, for no matter +how the passions are aroused, if they are not upheld by the +pillars of conviction, your finest effort is a fire of chips: a +blaze for a moment, then ashes. +</p> +<p> +Though elocutionary powers are of so much importance as to be +almost indispensable, yet they are subordinate to the sermon: +they are the aids and auxiliaries to drive it home. A graceful +gesture or musical inflection of voice will not convince the +intellect or move the passions: they are not the arrows: they +lend wings of fire, however, to send the arrows to the mark. +</p> +<p> +I know no more fatal blunder, or one that militates more strongly +against a speaker, than the adoption of an artificial accent. +</p> +<p class="side"> +The Irish gift of oratory +</p> +<p> +God has not only given our race a special mission—the apostolate +of the English-speaking world—but he has singularly endowed us +with those gifts that go to make successful preachers of His +Word—logical minds, imagination and sensibility. +</p> +<p class="side"> +Logical minds +</p> +<p> +That we possess this in an eminent degree is evident from a +striking fact. There are three avocations to which the faculty of +close reasoning is a first essential—law, politics and +theology—and in each of these our countrymen excel. +</p> +<p class="side"> +Law +</p> +<p> +We are as essentially a race of lawyers as the Jews are a race of +moneylenders. +</p> +<p> +For eleven years I watched the sons of Irish parents going from +an Australian college to professional careers. Ninety-eight per +cent., following the natural bent of their minds, turned to the +lawyer's office. +</p> +<p> +From the year 1858 to the present hour the robes of Victoria's +Chief Justice have been uninterruptedly worn by Irishmen. From +1873 the Chief Justiceship of New South Wales has been +exclusively held by sons of the green isle. But, above all, turn +to the lawyers' streets in the new worlds of America and +Australia and see the amazing number of brass plates adorned with +O's and Mac's. +</p> +<p class="side"> +Politics +</p> +<p> +The political organisations in the labour world of England to-day +are mainly captained by Irishmen. Two of them have been sent to +Parliament, and two more will probably join them in the next +Parliament. +</p> +<p> +The rapidity with which the Irish emigrant, following the law of +natural selection, plunges into politics has passed into a +proverb in America and furnished a humorous parody on a +well-known stanza:— +</p> +<pre> + "There came to the beach a poor exile of Erin, + The dew on his thin robe was heavy and chill, + The ship that had brought him scarce from harbour was steerin', + When Senator Mike was presenting a Bill." +</pre> +<p class="side"> +Theology +</p> +<p> +The great Cardinal Franzelin said to one of his most +distinguished pupils<a href="#note-2" name="noteref-2"><small>2</small></a>—"As a professor of theology at Rome for +many years I had every day opportunities of studying the +character and mental equipment of various nations, and, though in +favour of the Germans, I give it as my opinion that the Irish, as +a race, have the most theological minds of any people." Judgment +from such an authority is conclusive. +</p> +<p> +<a href="#note-2" name="noteref-2"><small>2</small></a> Dr. Croke, late Archbishop of Cashel. +</p> +<p> +The first essential for a preacher is the power of lucid +reasoning. That this faculty is ours is now abundantly +established. The next talent requisite is imagination. That we +have imagination, often teeming in tropical luxuriance, but +shared in great or less degree by all, has never been questioned. +One more requisite and the oratorical outfit is complete. +</p> +<p class="side"> +Sensibility +</p> +<p> +On this score it is sufficient to say that we are Celts, endowed +with the ardent nervous temperaments. But suffering has given to +ours an acute refinement that nothing else could impart. +</p> +<pre> + "Never soul could know its powers + Until sorrow swept its chords." +</pre> +<p> +"We give preference to Jews and Irishmen on our staff," said the +proprietor of a leading journal. "Both have suffered, and a man +with a grievance writes passionately. He dips the pen into his +own heart and electric energy thrills his sentences; hence the +crisp pungency and compressed fire of our columns." +</p> +<p> +What gift that goes to make an orator has God denied us? Reason, +fancy, passion, a pathos and humour where the smile trembles on +the borderland of tears. +</p> +<p> +Why then this barrenness? Mainly because of the criminal neglect +of colleges in the past to cultivate the abundant material placed +at their disposal; other contributory causes are cynical +criticism and want of courageous ambition. +</p> +<p> +Colleges are now bestirring themselves—it is high time—but +criticism has not died. Refined natures have heartstrings like +the chords of Aeolian harps, sensitive to the faintest touch, +responsive to the gentlest whisper of the evening breeze; such +shrink in terror from the icy breath of the scoffer: the purpose +is frozen dead within their souls. O criticism! what crimes have +been committed in your name! How many noble careers have you +blasted? +</p> +<p class="side"> +The world's greatest orators +</p> +<p> +The man without ambition is not worth his salt. Some of the +world's greatest orators have been spurred on to triumph despite +difficulties before which timid men would stand aghast. +</p> +<p> +The story of Demosthenes is too familiar to bear repetition. +</p> +<p> +A good voice and commanding presence are powerful auxiliaries +towards oratorical success; but Curran's appearance was so mean +that he was once taken for a shoeblack. His stammering, blunders, +and collapses in early life earned for him the nickname of +"Orator Mum." Yet to what a lofty eminence did not his sleepless +endeavours lift him! +</p> +<p> +If Sheil's portraits speak truly he must have closely resembled a +starved sweep on a wet day, while Disraeli declares his voice was +as unmusical as the sound of a broken tin whistle. Of him Lecky +writes:—"Richard Lalor Shiel forms one of the many examples +history presents of splendid oratorical powers clogged by +insuperable natural defects. His person was diminutive and wholly +devoid of dignity. His voice shrill, harsh, and often rising to a +positive shriek. His action, when most natural, violent, without +gracefulness, and eccentric even to absurdity."<a href="#note-3" name="noteref-3"><small>3</small></a> +</p> +<p> +<a href="#note-3" name="noteref-3"><small>3</small></a> Lecky—"Leaders of Public Opinion in Ireland," p. 194. +</p> +<p> +In spite of these defects, and at a period when the nation's ear +was pampered to fastidiousness by the eloquence of Grattan, Flood +and O'Connell, he began his upward struggle towards eminence. He +not only succeeded in winning a foremost place, but in wreathing +himself with deathless fame when laurels shaded the brows of +giants alone. +</p> +<p> +In face of these encouraging examples who could lose heart when +the trumpet of ambition blows—"struggle, struggle, struggle." +</p> +<pre> + "Scorn delights and live laborious days." +</pre> +<a name="h2HCH0006" id="h2HCH0006"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER SIXTH +</h2> +<h3> + THE ART OF ELOCUTION +</h3> +<p> +The subject of preaching would be incomplete without a chapter on +the important and graceful art of elocution. +</p> +<p class="side"> +What books should we read? +</p> +<p> +If asked what works would a student read on the subject, the +wisest answer would be, every book he can lay hold of. The number +of works dealing with rhetoric are few, but if a man can get +half-a-dozen new ideas from any one of them his labour is more +than repaid. Even should he meet the same thought repeated, the +fact that it is clothed in different language and set in a new +light invests it with a freshness that is sure to fix it +permanently in his mind. +</p> +<p> +If, however, the question be narrowed down to which are the three +best books on this subject? without pretending to give a decisive +answer to this difficult question we have no hesitation in saying +that, for the ecclesiastical student, "Potter's Sacred +Eloquence," "The Making of an Orator," by Mr. John O'Connor +Power, and Mr. McHardy Flint's little work, "Natural Elocution," +will be found most useful. +</p> +<p> +Some of the thoughts in this chapter are borrowed from the last +two authors. +</p> +<p> +With this general acknowledgment both gentlemen will, we are +sure, be content when we spare the reader repeated references to +either titles or pages of their works. +</p> +<p class="side"> +What is rhetoric? +</p> +<p class="side"> +Cicero +</p> +<p> +At the threshold of our subject we are met by the question—What +is rhetoric? Mr. Power gives the answer—"The resources of +rhetoric are natural resources, and rules for composition are +only records intended for the guidance of those who have not +discovered the originals for themselves. The first speakers had +no rules and no experience to draw upon but their own. In course +of time speeches came to be reported, and then the secret of +their eloquence disclosed itself. All the qualities of the orator +were then observed; the highest and the best were chosen and +combined and erected into an art, which was named Rhetoric. This +art was designed to <i>aid</i> speakers and not as a means of +<i>fettering their natural ability</i>." Cicero has put almost the +same thoughts in different words—"I consider that, with regard +to all precept, the case is this; not that orators by adhering to +them have obtained distinction in eloquence, but that certain +persons have noticed what men of eloquence have practised of +their own accord, and formed rules accordingly; <i>so that +eloquence has not sprung from art, but art from eloquence</i>." This +is not only sound theory, but sound sense. It shatters a +time-worn fallacy and gives hope and encouragement to the +student. Every man can become an orator in a greater or a less +degree. The powers slumber within him; and the teacher's duty is +not to create but awaken, draw out, develop and guide these +inborn gifts. +</p> +<p> +Now, the question is—By what standard shall the speaker be +trained? The master-hand of Shakespere has framed a set of rules +that will stand for all time as the most pregnant piece of wisdom +ever penned on the art of elocution. Though Hamlet's advice is +addressed to actors, there is scarcely a line which the young +orator can afford to ignore. He would do well to commit the +entire piece to memory. +</p> +<p class="side"> +Shakespere's advice to speakers +</p> +<p> +"Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it to you, +trippingly on the tongue; but if you mouth it, as many of our +players do, I had as lief the town-crier spoke my lines. Nor do +not saw the air too much with your hand thus: but use all gently; +for in the very torrent, tempest, and (as I may say) whirlwind of +your passion, you must acquire and beget a temperance, that may +give it smoothness. O, it offends me to the soul, to hear a +robustious periwig-pated fellow tear a passion to tatters, to +very rags, to split the ears of the groundlings; who, for the +most part are capable of nothing but inexplicable dumb shows and +noise: I would have such a fellow whipped for o'er-doing +Termagant; it out-herods Herod: pray you, avoid it. Be not too +tame neither, but let your own discretion be your tutor: suit the +action to the word, the word to the action; with this special +observance, that you o'er-step not the modesty of nature; for +anything so overdone is from the purpose of playing, whose end, +both at the first, and now, was, and is, to hold, as 'twere the +mirror up to nature; to show virtue her own feature, scorn her +own image, and the very age and body of the time, his form and +pressure. Now this, overdone, or come tardy off, though it make +the unskilful laugh, cannot but make the judicious grieve; the +censure of which one, must, in your allowance, o'er-weigh a whole +theatre of others. O, there be players, that I have seen +play—and heard others praise, and that highly—not to speak it +profanely, that, neither having the accent of christians, nor the +gait of christian, pagan, nor man, have so strutted, and +bellowed, that I have thought some of nature's journeymen had +made men, and not made them well, they imitated humanity so +abominably." +</p> +<p class="side"> +Avoid extremes +</p> +<p> +It will be well to observe that throughout this advice the poet +is careful to warn us against extremes—neither to tear a passion +to rags nor to be too tame—he insists on moderation. Even in the +very tempest of passion one must not lose self-control nor make +extravagant use of the hands. The "overdone" and the "come tardy +off" are the two poles to be shunned. +</p> +<p> +"Speak the speech as I pronounced it." By placing the two words +"speak" and "pronounce" in contrast, Hamlet leads us to infer +that in reading the play over for the actors his principal care +was to give perfect articulation. "Speak the speech as I +<i>pronounced</i> it." +</p> +<p> +"Trippingly on the tongue." Evidently the slow, thick utterance +of the mumbling speaker, to the roof of whose mouth the words +seem to cling, was not unknown in Shakespere's day. As a remedy +against this he tells them to "speak it trippingly." No word in +the English language could so clearly convey the case. Nimble, +airy resonance is suggested by the very sound of the word +"trippingly." +</p> +<p class="side"> +Two errors +</p> +<p> +Having given this advice he hastens to warn them against the +opposite extreme: "But if you mouth it." He wants no boisterous +notes of artificial passion: he would as lief the town-crier +spoke his lines. The office of that humble functionary demands +not the graces of finished elocution, only strong lungs with +which to shout; hence a piece of delicate pathos or varied +passions would probably receive scant justice at his hands. But +even the town-crier is tolerable—he is nature's product— +compared with the workmanship of nature's journeymen—those who +strut and bellow. "They imitate humanity so abominably" that +their delivery touches the extremest limit of all that is +reprehensible in elocution. +</p> +<p class="side"> +Gesture +</p> +<p> +"Suit the action to the word, the word to the action." Here we +have the fundamental law for the use of gesture. +</p> +<p> +Gesture is not an artificial action standing apart from, or added +to, the words. It is thought seeking spontaneous, visible, +outward expression through the movements of the hand or eye or +features just at the moment when that same thought is receiving +articulate birth on the tongue. Its purpose is to make the words +grow large, as it were; to expand and emphasise their meaning; +hence the wisdom of the advice—"Suit the action to the word, the +word to the action." If the action distract the listeners' +attention from the word its purpose is defeated. +</p> +<p> +Now that we have an idea of what elocution is, and analysed the +wisest set of rules ever framed for its government, we turn to +the mechanical agencies by which it is produced—breathing, +resonance, inflection. +</p> +<p class="side"> +How to inhale +</p> +<p> +When a person draws in the air through the mouth, the cold, +unpurified stream strikes directly on the back of the roof, +causing dryness and irritation. To avoid this the preacher, +except when actually engaged in speaking, should inhale through +the nose. The advantages of so doing are considerable. The air +inhaled through the nasal organs is drawn over the roof of the +mouth and soft palate, and thus warmed by contact with the +blood-vessels; so that it is rendered innoxious by the time it +reaches the throat. Again, any particles of dust or other +impurities it might contain are caught by the filterers or hairs +situated in the nasal cavities for that purpose. Thus it reaches +the tender vocal chords both warmed and purified. To these may be +added another advantage: it is more becoming to inhale with +closed lips—the picture of a speaker gasping open-mouthed is not +a graceful one. +</p> +<p class="side"> +How use the lungs +</p> +<p> +We now come to the important question—How shall I increase my +vocal powers? As is well known, there are two methods of inhaling +and expelling the air from the lungs. One is by means of the +rising and falling of the ribs. This is called "the costal +method." The other is by the contraction and distention of the +midriff or diaphragm. The diaphragm is the movable floor to the +thorax or box that encloses the lungs. This is called "the +diaphragmatic method." Now, since God has furnished us with both +methods, He evidently intended that we should use both, as we use +our two eyes or our two ears. They are given, not as alternative, +but as simultaneous instruments of action. The weakness in many a +speaker's voice, its want of volume and its failure when a +sustained effort is demanded, is due to the fact that he breathes +by means of his ribs alone, throwing all the pressure on the +upper portion of the lungs, not asking the large areas to +contribute anything. He thus robs himself of breathing capacity, +and consequently of voice power. +</p> +<p class="side"> +Diaphragmatic breathing +</p> +<p> +To get a perfect mastery over the "diaphragmatic" method and make +it as serviceable as possible, practise breathing while lying on +your back, filling the lungs to the utmost, and exhausting them +as completely as possible. Inhale rapidly and exhale slowly. Then +reverse the order; inhale slowly and exhale rapidly. Again let +"slow" and "rapid" alternately make both movements. +</p> +<p> +By this exercise you acquire flexibility of the midriff muscles, +you enlarge the cubic dimensions of the breathing area, you +distribute the burden generally; and when the occasion comes to +send your voice over four thousand heads you will discover that +the reserve fund of voice and strength acquired by this practice +is at your service. This plan bears that highest and safest +sanction—<i>in practical experience it has proved a genuine +success</i>. +</p> +<p class="side"> +A clergyman's sore throat +</p> +<p> +The ailment known as "a clergyman's sore throat" is too common +and too serious to be passed over—the raucous, husky voice sawn +across the throat, the congested blood-vessels, the strained +muscles, the throat lining as raw as a beefsteak. Here you have +evident results of some unnatural effort. What is it? In ordinary +conversation we employ the throat, back of the mouth and vocal +chords mainly: very little demand is made on the lungs. The voice +we use is the "head voice." Now, when called on to fill a large +building, the centre of stress should instantly be shifted from +the mouth and throat to the lungs. On them the whole weight +should be flung—then you produce the "chest voice." It is the +want of this transference of strain from the throat to the lungs +that causes the misery called "a clergyman's sore throat." Men +endeavour to fill a large building with precisely the same set of +organs that they use when speaking by the fireside. The strain +intended for the broad-based, strong-fibred lungs is kept on the +delicate vocal chords, palate and throat. These were never built +for that purpose, and nature kicks against the outrage. The +throat becomes congested, parched, torn and raw; the voice grows +husky, cracked, and finally ends in a scream. Here is the genesis +of the fatal "clergyman's sore throat" explained. +</p> +<p class="side"> +An illustration +</p> +<p> +Analogy makes this clearer still. Our back teeth were built for +the purpose of grinding; hence their broad crowns, strong shafts, +and firm roots; the teeth in the front of the mouth were intended +for tasks not at all so arduous. Tamper with this arrangement; +transfer the laborious work of mastication to the front teeth, +and see how nature will punish you. This illustrates the outrage +committed when the strain and effort that should be shifted to +the lungs are allowed to rest on the slender organs intended for +the entirely different purpose of modulation. +</p> +<p class="side"> +How acquire a chest voice +</p> +<p> +One question remains—How can a person cultivate a chest voice? +How bring the voice directly from the lungs without in the least +distressing the throat? This is all important. The young speaker +should practise for a short time daily the method of lifting, +first, words and then sentences straight from the lungs without +making the least possible demand on the throat or vocal chords, +stealing each word out of the depths of the lungs, afraid, as it +were, of awakening the upper organs. When he has acquired this +habit of speaking words and sentences, let him practise a verse +or two of declamation. In a short time he will be surprised at +his progress in acquiring a chest voice. In public speaking it +will become his ordinary voice; for not only does the established +habit assist him, but the organs daily develop and fit themselves +to his purpose, and he learns to transfer the stress from his +throat to his lungs as easily and quickly and instinctively as +the pianist passes his fingers from the treble to the base notes +on the keyboard. +</p> +<p> +The test of any theory is—How has it worked in practice? The +method of voice production here recommended has given the writer +advantages that it would be difficult to overestimate. Lungs +naturally weak grew to three times their former size and +strength; his voice increased in depth, richness and resonance; +though constantly speaking in large churches for years, he has +never known what hoarseness, sore throat or huskiness is. +</p> +<p> +A method that to him has been worth untold gold may not be +without advantage to his readers. +</p> +<p class="side"> +Resonance +</p> +<p> +We must, however, have more than speech; we must have musical +speech. This is acquired by resonance and inflection. +</p> +<p> +To send a stream of air from the lungs and vocalise it on its +outward passage is not enough; by this you produce only a tiny, +impoverished voice that conveys no force and awakens no emotion. +There is something wanting; that something is—Resonance. It +supplies richness and effectiveness to the stream of sound. +</p> +<p class="side"> +An illustration +</p> +<p> +The difference between speech stripped of resonance and +accompanied with it is best illustrated by a simple experiment. +Take a violin-string in your hand: touch it, and mark the sound +produced—how weak and thin. Now, attach the string to the +violin: touch it again, and see how the resonating instrument +converts the feeble sound of the detached string into a sonorous +wave of vibrating music. Now, the vocal chords are placed in the +throat midway between two resonators—the chest and the head. +These are to the chords what the body of the violin is to the +string. When the stream of air has passed the chords it is +already accompanied by the vibrations of the chest, but the head +is the main contributor. The residual air in the upper portions +of the throat, mouth and nasal cavities is thrown into vibration. +</p> +<p> +Here the importance of the subject reveals itself. The art that +can convert a screech into pleasing cadences of soft sound is no +trifle. Nasal resonance must not be confounded with nasal twang. +The one is produced by vibrating the air in the cavities, the +twang by expelling it from them. The part played by each organ in +voice production may be briefly summarised:—The lungs send out a +stream of air; the vocal chords, principally, modulate it; the +head and chest give it resonance. +</p> +<p> +Now, that it is clearly evident God intended us to speak and sing +to the accompaniment of these aerial orchestras concealed in the +head and chest, the only remaining question is—How we shall use +them? +</p> +<p class="side"> +Advice how to avoid screech +</p> +<p> +Take care never to exhaust these reservoirs of air; if you do the +result will be screech and shout. No matter what demand is made +on you, be sure to hold a reserve supply of residual air: set it +vibrating, and your voice on its outward passage will receive an +enrichment of volume, force, and music. +</p> +<p class="side"> +Inflection: its necessity +</p> +<p> +"Go slowly and articulate well" are not sufficient. "Inflect your +language" must be added. A student should practise assiduously +till his sentences become as flexible as a cutting whip, capable +of being bent to every mood and of lending themselves to every +passion. In pathos his words should sink almost to a sob, tearful +in their plaintiveness; in denunciation they should rise, +muttering the voices of the storms; and in narrative the proper +pitch is ordinary middle tone. +</p> +<p class="side"> +French and English want inflection +</p> +<p> +It is in this want of inflective grace that English, and more +especially French, speakers lose so much of their force. Both +read admirably and articulate with precision, but the unvaried +straight line tone, so suited to reading, will not serve the +purpose when we not only wish to make people understand, but also +endeavour to move their passions. +</p> +<p class="side"> +The secret power of a good story-teller +</p> +<p> +Recall a good story-teller or speaker of whom you never wearied; +go back in memory and see how much he owed to the power contained +in the inflected voice—the varied tones that sank or swelled as +suited the mood or passion. +</p> +<p> +As you sat by the winter's fire your flesh was made to creep and +your hair stood on end in terror while you furtively stole a +glance around looking for the apparition described in the weird +ghost story. The secret power that somewhere lay enthralled you. +Was it not in the husky whisper or the hush of restraint? Let +that speaker tell the same story in the middle pitched narrative +tone, and lo! the spell is vanished. If the thunder thrills that +rocked and vibrated through his voice were taken from +Demosthenes, would he have ever driven Eschines into exile? +</p> +<p class="side"> +Two advantages of inflection +</p> +<p> +The practice of varied cadences in speech has two genuine +advantages—<i>it saves the speaker from fatigue and the hearers +from weariness</i>. +</p> +<p> +When a man varies his tone of voice he breaks up the arrangement +in the group of muscles that till then bore the stress of effort: +a new combination is formed, and the work transferred to fresh +muscles. This brings instant relief. A similar sense of +refreshment comes to his hearers. +</p> +<p> +In speaking, as in singing, we must have melody, but there is no +melody without variety. People would rush even from a Melba if +she sang every note in the same key. Inflection not only +constitutes the melody of speech, but imparts to it rhetorical +significance and logical force. +</p> +<p> +The want of success in many a speaker who has both a good voice +and good matter may be found in the fact that his voice, instead +of being as flexible as a piece of whalebone, is as unbending as +a bar of iron; or, worse still, perhaps he adopts the dreary +monotony of the sing-song tone: the two unvarying notes so +suggestive of the up and down movements of a pump-handle. This +"cuckoo" tone would blight the best written sermon. +</p> +<p class="side"> +Two impediments to good preaching +</p> +<p> +Nothing now remains except to warn the young preacher against the +two most common defects—affectation of voice and word-dropping +at the end of the sentences. +</p> +<p class="side"> +An artificial tone of voice +</p> +<p> +"Preach," says Dr. Ireland, "in a manner that the people will +understand, and that goes straight to their hearts, and not in +the stilted phraseology of the seventeenth century sermon." Sage +advice! The comic stage has set the world laughing at the +grotesque inflections of the parson preacher; but is his +counterpart never found amongst ourselves. Is the Catholic pulpit +free from speakers whose ridiculous cadences at once class them +amongst the disciples of the Rev. Mr. Spalding? +</p> +<p class="side"> +Artificiality means failure +</p> +<p> +We have met priests, typical of a considerably large class, who, +in ordinary conversation, could speak in a manner both natural +and pleasing; who, when roused, could be even eloquently +convincing; who, at the dinner-table and even on the platform, +are listened to with pleasure, yet let one of them go into a +pulpit, and fifteen minutes exhausts the patience of the most +charitable congregation. Should he exceed this limit there are +suppressed sighs and ominous consulting of watches. Why? Because +in the pulpit he adopts an artificial tone of voice. In some +instances it takes the shape of a pious whine, in others of a +drone. But in whatever shape it finds expression the hollow ring +of the unreal is there to damn it. +</p> +<p class="side"> +How he came to acquire it +</p> +<p> +A hoary tradition made it venerable in his eyes. As a boy he +heard it from a pastor to whom he was accustomed to look with +reverence. +</p> +<p> +He came to persuade himself that, like a "judge's gravity" or a +"soldier's step," a priest too should bear a professional +hallmark, and this should be a "preacher's voice," so he acquired +it. Fatal acquisition! +</p> +<p> +The peculiarity of it is that this tone is reserved exclusively +for the pulpit. Not a whisper of it heard during the week. It is +his "preaching voice," and like his "preaching stole" or +"preaching surplice" it is laid aside till Sunday brings him +again before the congregation. +</p> +<p class="side"> +The result of the artificial tone +</p> +<p> +What madness! Adopting this tone is like drawing the lead from +the pistol or putting a foil on the rapier: it defeats his +purpose, it renders his weapon ineffective. So far from setting +his congregation on fire he sets them asleep; instead of sending +them away with clenched convictions they leave the church +tittering, or perhaps in bad temper. +</p> +<p class="side"> +Priests never use in moments of serious issues +</p> +<p> +I would like to ask such a man—If you were pleading in a court +for your character or before an angry mob for your life is it on +this antiquated weapon you would rely? Would not nature's +unerring instinct tell you to fling it to the winds and stake +your fortunes on the untrammeled outpouring of head and heart? +Every tone would ring with earnestness: every sentence thrill +with passion. +</p> +<p> +The thoughts, how clear! How convincing the arguments! Nature's +unfettered strength would then, like a tidal wave, sweep you +triumphantly onward to the goal. +</p> +<p> +Yet when you stand in the pulpit to plead a brief for Christ the +simple, unaffected earnestness that everywhere else carries +conviction is abandoned for such a musty instrument as an +unctuous whine or a holy drone. The young priest should avoid it: +it spells ruin. +</p> +<p class="side"> +Voice dropping +</p> +<p> +It is wonderful how few the speakers are who sustain the same +pitch and energy of voice from the beginning of a sentence to its +closing syllable. +</p> +<p class="side"> +Cause of the defect +</p> +<p> +The temptation to exhaust the air in the lungs, and therefore +permit the final words to drop, is so strong that unless a +student watch it and assiduously guard against it he will +discover that he has fallen victim to this weak point before he +is twelve months a priest. +</p> +<p class="side"> +It destroys a sermon +</p> +<p> +Whenever you hear the last words of each sentence of a sermon +growing faint, like Marathon runners staggering feebly towards +the goal, and the final word dropping completely under, that +sermon, no matter how beautiful its conception or eloquent its +composition, is doomed to failure. +</p> +<p> +The entire meaning of many a sentence is completely lost if the +last words fail to reach the listeners' ears. Very often the last +word is the important member of a sentence, the others being +merely ancillary to it. In oratory, especially, many a sentence +has to depend for its driving force on the energy with which the +final words are sent home. +</p> +<p> +Now, when people give a preacher attentive interest, the least +they are entitled to expect is that he should let them hear every +word. But finding themselves invariably baffled by the last word +becoming inaudible, it is small wonder if, tantalised and +disgusted, they abandon all effort to follow him. +</p> +<p class="side"> +The cure +</p> +<p> +It is therefore of great importance that this defect, so fatal +yet so common, should be provided against in time. But how? +</p> +<p> +Since it comes from exhaustion, consequent on the mismanagement +of the voice, the remedy is obvious. +</p> +<p> +Let the student daily practise reading aloud in the open air, +preferably sermons or speeches by the best authors. +</p> +<p> +Let him nervously guard against allowing his voice to show the +slightest trace of fatigue in the final words of each sentence. +This can be accomplished by inhaling fully, going slowly, and not +only giving full value to the punctuation stops, but resting at +the rhetorical and logical pauses. +</p> +<p class="side"> +Advantages of the remedy +</p> +<p> +By this excellent practice he strengthens his lungs and vocal +organs, cultivates his ear, and acquires a control over his voice +so perfect that he can husband his reserve fund of breath and +strength to impart at will freshness to the final syllable. +</p> +<p> +This practice should be continued till it becomes a rooted habit, +till it has grown to be his normal method of speaking. +</p> +<p> +When he goes into the pulpit I would give him an advice, the +value of which time and experience can alone enable him to +appreciate. +</p> +<p> +Direct your voice not to the end of the church, but to the side +wall about three-quarters way down from the pulpit to the door. +Fix your eye on some person there; to him address your sermon, +but pitch your voice against the wall about two feet above his +head. +</p> +<p> +By this plan you not only secure your voice against unnecessary +fatigue, but you take the surest method of sending it into every +ear, and the reverberations of your own voice will act +electrically on you. +</p> +<p> +As ring after ring of your sentences comes back from the sounding +spot against which you have discharged them you are filled with +courageous confidence and an assurance that every word has found +its mark. +</p> +<p> +A recent writer in the <i>Quarterly Review</i> discloses in one +luminous sentence the qualities that go to make an orator, and +every priest should struggle with all his might to be an orator +in the best sense of the word. +</p> +<p> +He says: "Nor is any man a great orator who has not many of the +gifts of a great actor—his command of gesture, his variety and +grace of elocution, his mobility of features, his instant +sympathy with the ethical tone of this or that situation, his +power of evoking that sympathy in every member of his audience; +and this is surely what Demosthenes meant by making acting not +action the secret of all oratory." +</p> +<p> +What a vista these words open up! What a variety of +accomplishments demanded that can only be acquired, even by the +most gifted, by long study and patient practice! And since +learning to speak in public is like learning to swim, or to +skate, or to ride a bicycle, in this sense at least, that no +amount of previous theoretical instruction will enable one to +realise the initial difficulties or find out how to overcome them +without actual experiment, it would be arrant folly on the part +of the future priest to neglect this subject during his student +years. +</p> +<p> +These questions—Culture, English, and Preaching—should occupy a +foremost place in the curricula of our colleges. It is only by +training the student from the start, by fostering literary, +dramatic and debating societies where not alone the practical art +of speaking is developed, but the social amenities of good +society are practised, that the young priest can be equipped to +efficiently discharge the high office awaiting him, and so +reflect a lasting credit on the Church of God at home and abroad. +</p> +<a name="h2HCH0007" id="h2HCH0007"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER SEVENTH +</h2> +<h3> + THE DANGER OF THE HOUR. HOW TO MEET IT +</h3> +<p class="side"> +Statement of the case +</p> +<p> +The printing press is one of the greatest forces of the modern +world. The multitude of publications sent forth on its wings each +morning are messengers of light or darkness. Their influence for +good or evil is more powerful than that of armies or parliaments: +that influence we can no more escape than we can escape the +sunlight or the air that surrounds us. It penetrates our homes; +it colours our thoughts; it furnishes motives for our actions. +The Press is indeed the lever that moves the world of our day, +and we are but the puppets of its will. +</p> +<p> +Such being the case, is it not a question of first importance for +the priest to examine its bearing on his own life, and on the +lives of those committed to his care? +</p> +<p class="side"> +A general principle +</p> +<p> +That we may do so in a scientific manner, let us take a simple +general principle. Reading is the food of the mind. Now, the body +is marvellously influenced by the food it assimilates; give a man +wholesome nutriment and mark the bounding vigour of his blood, +the activity and healthy development of every organ; feed him on +innutritious food and the most robust must fade; on poisonous +food and the strongest languishes unto death. +</p> +<p> +The substance of the body is so influenced by what it assimilates +that scientists assure us, young animals fed on madder will +reproduce the purple dye of the plant in the very texture of the +bone. +</p> +<p class="side"> +The principle illustrated +</p> +<p> +With far greater thoroughness and completeness does thought act +upon the mind: thought blends with thought with a force and +subtleness unknown in matter. Watch the principle in action. Let +any man habitually read good books—and by good books I mean the +production of any person whose mind is illumined by faith and +whose heart is fed by the sacraments—it matters little in what +shape such books reach us, let it be a novel or a book of poems +or essays. No man can invariably read such works without growing +imperceptibly better. His Catholic principles grow more robust; +he becomes more fearless in expressing them; each volume leaves +an aroma behind and imparts a new flavour to his life. Fresh oil +is poured into the lamp of his piety, its flame burns brighter, +he feels an unction in his prayers; he has a holy relish for the +sacraments. His very interests in life change: he looks on +everything with supernatural eyes, he becomes touchy about the +interests of the Church, anxious about the foreign missions, and +feels an insult to the Holy See as a wound. +</p> +<p> +The food his brain is living on is leavening his whole life, +giving colour, tone and trend to his existence. +</p> +<p class="side"> +Brownson +</p> +<p> +This literature, on which he nourishes himself, has been +admirably described by the mastermind of Catholic America—Dr. +Brownson:—"Catholic literature is robust and healthy of a ruddy +complexion, and full of life. It knows no sadness but the sadness +of sin, and it rejoices for evermore. It eschews melancholy as +the devil's best friend on earth, abhors the morbid +sentimentality which feeds upon itself and grows by what it feeds +upon. . . . It washes its face, anoints its head, puts on its +festive robe, goes forth into the fresh air, the bright sunshine; +and, when occasion requires, rings out the merry laugh that does +one's heart good to hear. It is on principle that the Catholic +approves such gladsome and smiling literature."<a href="#note-1" name="noteref-1"><small>1</small></a> +</p> +<p> +<a href="#note-1" name="noteref-1"><small>1</small></a> Vol. xix., p. 155. +</p> +<p> +Now look at the converse picture. Let the mind of the most devout +Catholic feed on the writings of the Protestant or sensualist and +mark the transformation. See how his soul becomes enervated, his +judgment warped and his heart invaded by every temptation. His +Catholic principles insensibly vanish, and the standards of +paganism replace them. The light of the supernatural dies in his +eyes, a film of clay overspreads his vision; he looks on the +Church through coloured lenses, and the rankness of earth is upon +his life. +</p> +<p> +Thus our thoughts, views and actions are marvellously coloured +and influenced by the books we read. +</p> +<p class="side"> +The English press operating on the Irish mind +</p> +<p> +Let us now turn to examine how this bears on our own lives and +the lives of those around us. +</p> +<p> +Thick as snowflakes, but without their whiteness, the sensuous +and infidel Press of England is discharging its messengers of +evil on this land. It is speaking by a multitude of tongues into +the hearts of our people. The sensational novel, the suggestive +picture paper, the trashy magazine are breathing a deadly blight +over the soul of Ireland: they whisper thoughts that fall like +corrosive poison into the sanctuary of young hearts, destroying +the only jewels that are worthy of being there enshrined—bright +faith and pure morals. +</p> +<p class="side"> +What the Londoner saw +</p> +<p> +An Irishman residing in London, after visiting his native country +in 1900, records his impressions:— +</p> +<p> +"I have been amazed during recent visits to Ireland at the +display of London weekly publications, while Dublin publications +of a similar kind were difficult to obtain. I have seen the +counters of newsagents in such towns as Waterford, Limerick, +Kilkenny and Galway piled as thickly, and with as varied a +selection of these London weekly journals as in Lambeth or +Islington. . . . I was so impressed with the phenomenon that I +endeavoured when in Dublin to obtain some accurate information in +regard to its extent. At Messrs. Eason's I was told that within +the past ten years the circulation of these journals in Ireland +had almost quadrupled, although the population had diminished +within the same period by one-eighth."<a href="#note-2" name="noteref-2"><small>2</small></a> +</p> +<p> +<a href="#note-2" name="noteref-2"><small>2</small></a> Mr. MacDonagh in "Nineteenth Century," July, 1900. +</p> +<p> +This is the offal the national mind is feeding on, and yet people +express surprise that we are becoming West-British and losing +Catholic thought and character. +</p> +<p> +It is estimated that, without counting the book or parcel post, +every week there are three tons of this literature discharged on +the quays of Dublin alone. If this is even approximately true it +reveals a startling condition of things. +</p> +<p> +It may well be questioned whether the bayonets of Cromwell or the +plantations of James threatened more destruction to all we hold +dear. I believe they were as toy armies compared with the silent +foe now encamped upon the soil. +</p> +<p> +Out of these three tons it would be easy to count, not the +volumes, but the pages, devoted to a defence of the Ten +Commandments. Works of open or professed assault on faith or +morals are as yet few, the time is not ripe just yet, their +forerunners are here, however, the ground is being prepared. The +advance guards have come, and it is only a question of time till +the heavy ordnance is planted in our midst. +</p> +<p class="side"> +Cardinal Logue +</p> +<p> +Our present danger has been admirably described by an eminent +prelate:—"A mass of literature which professes to be innocent, +and ostensibly aims at being interesting, but seeks to create +that interest and engross attention by fostering thoughts that +appeal to the passions with no uncertain voice. Even when such +works do not openly attack faith or the sanctity of morals, they +seek to convey the subtle poison of unbelief or corruption by +covert insinuation, by ridicule, by ignoring religious truth and +supernatural motives as unworthy of consideration, more +effectually and fatally, than they would have done by open and +undisguised assault."<a href="#note-3" name="noteref-3"><small>3</small></a> +</p> +<p> +<a href="#note-3" name="noteref-3"><small>3</small></a> Cardinal Logue, Lenten Pastoral. +</p> +<p> +There are novels that constitute an unbroken attack, from the +first page to the last, against some divine truth, yet with such +a delicate hand is the insidious poison distributed that you may +be challenged to lay your finger on a single objectionable +passage. Satan has not been studying the human heart for six +thousand years without knowing it well. He takes very good care +not to label his drugs, or present his poison to timid minds in +large doses; hence there is no alarm: but the treacherous danger +of such books is well illustrated by a tree to be found in +tropical forests. +</p> +<p class="side"> +The Tropical tree +</p> +<p> +In early autumn it is ablaze with sheaves of fairest pink; it +warns you off by no repellant odour; its umbrageous shelter is +most inviting; yet so fatal is the subtle breath with which it +charges the air around that should an incautious traveller rest +his head for one night under its treacherous shade he would wake +no more. +</p> +<p> +So, the flowery brilliancy of style, the charms and graces of +diction of many a modern novel are fascinating, but the pages +they adorn exhale a deadly breath. +</p> +<p class="side"> +A sample novel +</p> +<p> +Let us take a sample novel. The foundation of the State is the +family; the corner-stone on which the family rests is the sacred +marriage bond. Dissolve that and you convert social harmony into +social chaos. Yet how many books are there which are covert +attacks on the marriage tie. +</p> +<p> +The heroine is generally a married lady who discovers that her +husband is not the man she should have married. From this +centre-point the web of intrigue is woven. Mawkish sentiment and +false pity are aroused. A glamour is thrown over the sins and the +sinners. Tears are demanded for libertines and their crimes are +gilded. Virtue becomes a tyranny; the marriage bond an +intolerable yoke, and the divorce court—which is truly a +vestibule of hell—a haven of relief. +</p> +<p> +It is unnecessary to trace the effects of such degrading teaching +on the lives of the young, whose minds are as wax to receive and +marble to retain: how the high standards of virtue taught in the +school and strengthened in the home vanish: how the touchy +sensitiveness of the pure soul becomes deadened and a hunger for +grosser excitements is awakened. +</p> +<p class="side"> +The head leads the heart +</p> +<p> +Now that we have analysed the intellectual food on which our +people live let us advance the enquiry one step further and +ask—Where must it all end? St. Thomas answers: "<i>Nihil volitum +nisi cognitum</i>." That principle is axiomatic in its truth: the +heart will ever follow the head. As you sow in thought you will +reap in action. Corrupt a nation's intellect, and as surely as +darkness succeeds sunset, as effect follows cause, so surely +corruption of that nation's heart must ensue. +</p> +<p> +How clearly the devil understands this and what use has he not +made of it! +</p> +<p> +For the past four hundred years the greatest evils that have +afflicted the Church are traceable to a licentious Press. +Printing was scarcely invented till Satan seized it for his own +purposes. By it the Humanists of the fifteenth century scattered +broadcast pagan ideas. The disentombed paganism continued to +ferment and rot the hearts of the people till in the next century +it burst forth in the deluge of unbridled passions that marked +the Reformation. +</p> +<p class="side"> +France +</p> +<p> +Voltaire and his disciples did not openly cry "down with the +Church," but they took the surest road to level it. They corroded +the foundations of Christian belief. By encyclopedias and +pamphlets they first attacked with sneer and jibe, the person of +the priest, then the sacraments he administered became the butt +of their mockery, and they finally flouted the gospel he +preached. And while the agents of evil were busy, the good cures +of France sounded no trumpet of alarm, but dreamed themselves +into the comforting delusion that all would blow over, till the +ground under their feet began to rock and heave in the convulsive +throes of the Revolution. +</p> +<p> +The disciples of Satan to-day are sleepless in their endeavours +to undermine the faith of Ireland through the same agency; while +it is to be feared that some of the guardians of that sacred +treasure are inclined to imitate the dreamy lethargy that led to +such disastrous results in France. +</p> +<p class="side"> +Europe +</p> +<p> +Look at Europe to-day seething with socialism and anarchy, its +huge standing armies scarcely able to hold these worse than +barbarian hordes in check. Out of what dark womb have these +monsters crept? A corrupt Press. The devil found men whose lives +were filled with pain and want; he came breathing through the +Press telling them to distrust God, and to make war upon society. +The Reformation, the Revolution, the social anarchy of to-day are +the direct offspring of a licentious Press. Permit a nation's +mind to be poisoned, and that nation's heart must rot. <i>Nihil +volitum nisi cognitum</i>. +</p> +<p class="side"> +Fifty years ago +</p> +<p> +In proof of this we need not look outside our own shores. Fifty +years ago the priests of Ireland often had recourse to rough +methods with the people. Even the aid of the "blackthorn" was +occasionally invoked as an effective instrument for securing +correction or impressing conviction. Yet, on the morrow, all was +forgotten; and the people would die for the man who punished +them. Let the priest of to-day but thwart the grand-children of +that generation, even in a small matter, and mark their rancour. +How bitter! how relentless! The Catholic spirit of half a century +ago was not operated on by the literature of a nation that is +daily losing even the veneer of Christianity. +</p> +<p> +You may gash a man with healthy blood to the bone, and time will +quickly heal the wound and scarcely leave a scar, but if the +man's blood be corrupt the scratch of a thorn may involve +consequences demanding the surgeon's knife. +</p> +<p> +The spirit that Catholic Ireland had fifty years ago is sadly +changed to-day; and its tendency to fester on slight provocation +is due to the poison distilled into it from an unwholesome, +anti-Catholic literature. Only twenty years ago we had a painful +illustration of the silent but terrible mischief that has been +done by England's Press upon the Catholic mind of this country. +</p> +<p class="side"> +An evil crisis +</p> +<p> +Up to the time of the Parnell crisis the priests imagined their +feet were planted upon a solid rock; they discovered they were +standing on a pie-crust. What a startling revelation was in store +for them. Small wonder they rubbed their eyes and asked in +bewilderment, Are we in Catholic Ireland? +</p> +<p> +The ground broke; the fiery breath of hell belched forth. We saw +the devil spitting hate through the lips of politicians, the +columns of the Press, and the resolutions of the schoolmasters. +Terrible as was this outward exhibition, it revealed but a +fraction. The spirit of revolt and infidelity that raged within +the breasts of young men and darkened their conversation was +awful. The writings of avowed freethinkers and libertines were +devoured, and if any young man had the heroic courage to +remonstrate, his words would be drowned in derision. +</p> +<p> +God permitted that warning to come, but have we taken it as a +warning? What efforts have we made since to secure the +entrenchments? The danger passed, and we sank back into the old, +dreamy lethargy, and left the field open to the devil to sow his +tares anew. Our greatest danger to-day is our apparent safety. We +wrap ourselves into a false security, while a dry rot is +permitted to stealthily corrode the pillars of intellectual +conviction that must uphold all. Unless this is fought, and +fought effectively, the structure of our Catholic life will +topple like a house of cards. +</p> +<p class="side"> +Objections answered +</p> +<p> +All looks calm now, but so long as the causes that produced the +sad outburst of twenty years ago continue unchecked, worse +inevitably awaits us. I may be told. Look at the union of priests +and people to-day; look at our flourishing sodalities and our +beautiful churches. +</p> +<p> +The union of priests and people was then tested by one strong +wrench, and it snapped; and so long as the evil forces that +caused the fissure continue to gnaw once more the bond that +unites the hearts of priests and people, is it stronger you +expect that bond to grow? +</p> +<p> +With regard to our pious sodalities. Did the question ever +present itself—How much of the average sodalist's piety is +resting on sentiment and tradition, and how little of it on +intellectual conviction? Transplant him from the hotbed to the +ice-chills of infidelity in America or Australia, where the very +air is electric with doubt and denial, and when the storm beats +upon him, is his head armed to defend his Faith? +</p> +<p> +Where could he get the necessary knowledge? Not from the book in +his hand, for it is "Marie Corelli" or "Hall Caine" you find him +best acquainted with. Not from the Catholic newspaper, for the +question is—Do we possess one? It is a strange fact that while +Irish Catholics abroad have founded, and support, splendid +Catholic journals in every land where they have found a home, the +mother Church from which they sprang is practically defenceless. +He gets poor assistance from the pulpit; for while homilies and +exhortations are admirable in their way, they fall far short of +covering the needs of this questioning age. Our dogmatic +treatises are permitted to lie entombed in dust on our top +shelves, while clear and homely exposition of Catholic truth +would be drunk in like honey by the people. +</p> +<p> +You point to our beautiful churches, beautiful they are indeed. +But to what purpose do we raise temples of stone if we permit the +living temple of the soul to be eaten into by the poison mildews +of evil thought. The Continent is dotted over with stately but +empty basilicas, silent and mournful monuments to a Faith and a +love long since departed. +</p> +<p class="side"> +Questions +</p> +<p> +Now that we begin to realise the danger and the extent of this +evil, a number of questions naturally suggest themselves. +</p> +<p class="side"> +I +</p> +<p> +How is it that the master carefully scrutinizes the character of +a servant before admitting her into his house, lest her influence +in his home might be for evil, and that same man allows the +author to pass in unchallenged? The author comes, not to minister +but to master; to impress his thoughts on the minds and perhaps +blast the virtue of the children. +</p> +<p class="side"> +2 +</p> +<p> +Since every parent is bound to provide that his children's +apartments are well supplied with healthy air, is not the +obligation far more serious to take care that the moral +atmosphere of the home does not hold the deadliest poisons in +solution? +</p> +<p class="side"> +3 +</p> +<p class="side"> +Questions +</p> +<p> +Why does not the young girl, who is so fastidious about the class +of people with whom she will associate, exercise even ordinary +discrimination in the selection of an author? This is the +companion whose influence sinks deeper and lasts longer than that +of the person with whom she sips tea or takes a walk. He whispers +into her soul under the shade of the midnight lamp. He embeds his +principles on her brain. He lives in her dreams. He becomes her +oracle to conjure by. +</p> +<p class="side"> +4 +</p> +<p> +Or, let us put the question this way: How many of the men and +women who flit across the pages of modern fiction would a +respectable Catholic admit into his home or introduce to his +family? He would not give them his company, but he gives them his +brains. The hem of his garment they may not touch, but the pith +of his life he places at their disposal. Make no mistake about +it. You cannot shake off the influence of your author. His +thoughts become your thoughts. He weaves himself into the woof of +your mind. +</p> +<p class="side"> +5 +</p> +<p> +How is it that when the proselytiser comes to your parish in +human shape you are all afire, but when he comes speaking, not by +one but a hundred tongues, silently but effectively sapping the +Faith or virtue of your flock, no pulpit rings with denunciation? +All these questions may be answered by another most pertinent to +the priest. +</p> +<p> +Have the people been taught to realise the danger confronting +them? Have their consciences been awakened? Have we been dumb +watch-dogs while they are being devoured? +</p> +<p class="side"> +Apologies +</p> +<p> +The treatment of this subject would be incomplete if the stock +apologies for dangerous reading were not dealt with. +</p> +<p> +When you remonstrate with a Catholic on the character of his +reading, you are sure to be met with some of the following, and +any one of them is supposed to be a complete justification, no +matter how bad the book:— +</p> +<p class="side"> +Style +</p> +<p> +"<i>I read these books for the style</i>." This is sometimes heard +from people whose pretentions to literary taste borders on the +grotesque; but let that pass. Has a paralysis fallen on every +hand that wields a Catholic pen? Does the light of Faith beaming +on a human mind quench the beauties of imagination or dull the +taste? Or, is a perfect style to be found only among the apostles +of evil? Surely the long range of Catholic writers offers an +ample variety of the most perfect exponents of literary style. +Let us be honest. It is not for the style these books are read; +it is because they gratify an unhealthy craving, because they are +soft, sensual, suggestive, and stimulate feelings not far from +the border-land of sin. +</p> +<p class="side"> +I see no harm +</p> +<p> +"<i>I see no harm in them</i>." Now by this answer you implicitly +admit that you see no good. Have you then no remorse for +frittering away such a precious gift of God as time? If the +damned got five minutes of that time to repent, every chamber in +hell would be empty. Yet you squander months and years without a +qualm. +</p> +<p> +You see no harm in it. Look into your own life and what do you +discover. The unction of prayer sucked out of your soul, your +relish for the Sacraments gone, a dry rot consuming your +spiritual life, a nausea for supernatural things, a taste every +day becoming more clayey, and an increasing appetite for grosser +excitements. Books that you would tremble to touch a year ago you +now devour without a pang; or perhaps the stray shreds of +infidelity are weaving themselves into your future creed. Do not +mind what you see with the eye of a conscience that is already +half-dead. Search deep into your own heart and life, and you will +quickly discover the damage done. +</p> +<p class="side"> +Narrow-minded +</p> +<p> +"<i>We cannot be narrow-minded</i>." Is it then a something to be +ashamed of, if in matters pertaining to our eternal interests we +are cautious and conservative? Not prone to take dangerous risks? +This is the disposition sometimes called narrow-mindedness. +Surely it is better even to be narrow-minded than pagan-minded. +</p> +<p> +But let us clear our minds of cant and squarely face the +question. Will the person who calls you narrow-minded for +exercising caution in the selection of your books, exhibit his +own breadth of mind by going into a chemist's shop, shutting his +eyes and gulping down the contents of the first bottle that comes +to his hand? Ha! You see how quickly his broad-mindedness is +replaced by most careful caution. But a library is like a +chemist's shop. The shelves may hold health-giving medicines or +the most deadly poisons. As well call the harbour authorities +narrow-minded because they close the ports against the cholera +ship, as to question the just prudence of the man who shuts his +door against the evil book. +</p> +<p class="side"> +Up-to-date +</p> +<p> +"<i>We must be up-to-date</i>." The man that takes this as the sole +principle by which to guide his moral conduct, not only writes +himself down "depraved," but an intellectual imbecile. What does +he mean? He means that he is incapable of thinking for himself; +that he has no fixed chart, but is tossed about in the eddy of +fashion; that he has no principle to guide his own conduct by, +but has to look to the street and follow where the crowd leads. +</p> +<p> +The most un-up-to-date people that ever lived were the early +Christians. When thousands were swarming to the butcheries of the +Coliseum they refused to be up-to-date and kept carefully away +from the taint of blood and savagery. When the debaucheries of +the festivals disgraced the city, they again refused to be +"up-to-date." No doubt they were sneered at and called +"old-fashioned," "priest-ridden," &c. But it was they, and not +those who taunted them, who showed loftiness and nobility of mind +in taking, not the craze of the hour, but the Gospel of Jesus +Christ as the standard of their conduct. +</p> +<p class="side"> +How to meet the Danger +</p> +<p> +We have now taken the full bearings of the Danger of the Hour. +The remaining question is—How to meet it? To expose the bad book +is but half our task—its place must be supplied by the good one. +How can this be done? The answer naturally suggests itself. Have +we not the Catholic Truth Society? Yes, and it is a splendid +weapon if worked as it should be; and its admirable publications +pushed into every home. +</p> +<p> +There is a temptation to belittle these works because they cost +only a penny. Though they are reduced to that humble price to +meet the wants of the millions, we must not forget that most of +them are the productions of the ablest pens, and some of them +contain more thought between their modest covers than many a +pretentious volume. They have the special advantage of being at a +price and in a form accessible to the young. There are many +thousands reading these booklets who would never venture, even if +they could, to face the four hundred paged volume. But the +Catholic Truth Society works do not cover all our needs. They do +two things—they serve to create a thirst for more knowledge, and +act as pedagogues to lead the child to the door of the parochial +library. Here we strike the goal. +</p> +<p class="side"> +The Parochial Library +</p> +<p> +The parochial library is the crying want of the hour. The one +weapon by which we must beat back an evil which threatens +appalling ruin. Our service of God must vary with the need of the +different ages. At one time He is best served by the pouring out +of martyr blood, at another by the building of splendid churches; +but to any man who watches the drift and danger of our +generation, it is clear as noonday, that the most effective work +a priest can offer God to-day is a well stocked library, open to +every child of the parish. +</p> +<p> +It has been said that if St. Paul were on earth now, he would be +found editing a Catholic newspaper. +</p> +<p> +We have seen the devil using the Press with terrible effect for +the destruction of souls; let us wrench it from him and baptize +it for the service of Christ. +</p> +<p> +The parochial library as an instrument of defence and propagation +is no new discovery. +</p> +<p class="side"> +Encyclopedia Britannica +</p> +<p> +"As Christianity made its way," says the "Encyclopedia +Britannica," "the institution of libraries became a part of the +organisation of the Church. So intimate did the union between +literature and religion become, that alongside every Church the +Catholic bishops had a library erected." Now, if in times past, +when not one man in twenty could read, the unerring foresight of +the Church led her to adopt the parochial library as her most +able auxiliary, the wisdom of that adoption applies with ten-fold +force to our times. +</p> +<p class="side"> +The Blunder of the Past +</p> +<p> +Fifty years ago we taught the people how to read; awakened within +them the native desire for knowledge, and then—stopped. When the +national school was built had we established the parochial +library and made it the means of continuing the child's +education, we would have a different Ireland to-day. +</p> +<p> +We made the youth hungry and then stepped aside. The British +publisher came and occupied the place we should have held. He has +been feeding them on garbage and gutter literature since. God +grant that it is not too late to undo the mischief of our +neglect. +</p> +<p class="side"> +What we spend +</p> +<p> +It is estimated that we spend four hundred and forty-six thousand +pounds every year on English papers, books and magazines. Almost +half a million of money! How many of our honest rooftrees would +not that sum keep standing? How many of our pure boys and girls +would it not save from the "hells" of Chicago and New York. +</p> +<p> +It is bad enough to part with the bone and muscle, but a nation +loses her most precious asset when she exports her intellect. +While we have gone on helping the British publisher to the +carriage and the suburban villa, the young Irishman, who feels +the fire of genius throbbing in his blood, sees but two +alternatives before him—to starve at home or sell his brains in +a foreign market. +</p> +<p> +To-day the priest holds the field, but for how long? Recent +convulsions should warn us; the ground may rock again; then let +us arouse ourselves to the task before us. +</p> +<p class="side"> +Awake! +</p> +<p> +Whether the priest moves or not the library is sure to come, and +what in his hands would be a centre of diffusive light to the +parish, under the control of semi-educated or conscienceless men +may prove a dark curse. +</p> +<p> +Let the coarse and sensuous literature of England drop from our +people's hands. Let us encourage native genius to dip her pen +into the old holy well of Catholic truth, and build up a +literature that will be racy of the soil and redolent of its +Faith. Let us feed the minds of the young on the untainted +productions of our own countrymen and women. Let us brace them +with robust Catholic principles that are mortised into the solid +bed-rock of knowledge. Then the most powerful foe the future +holds will blow the trumpet in vain. +</p> +<p> +But to the priest who slumbers, heedless of the swift march of +time, and the forces of evil now possessing our land, I say— +Dream on, dear gentle soul, dream on! The day may come when you +will awake with a thunder-clap, perhaps to find the Irish Church +in chains. +</p> +<a name="h2HCH0008" id="h2HCH0008"><!-- H2 anchor --></a> + +<div style="height: 4em;"><br><br><br><br></div> + +<h2> + CHAPTER EIGHTH +</h2> +<h3> + THE YOUNG PRIEST'S ACTIVITIES +</h3> +<p> +I should like to see the priest at the head of every movement for +the bettering and uplifting of the people. +</p> +<p class="side"> +The Last Fortress +</p> +<p> +Ireland is the last fortress of Catholic Christendom. Latin +Christianity is having to struggle for existence; and for us, +time will but multiply, from within and without, the forces +organised by Satan to capture the last stronghold that flies the +Papal banner. +</p> +<p class="side"> +Satan's First Move +</p> +<p> +His first effort will be in the future, as it has ever been in +the past, to drive a wedge of separation between the priests and +the people. That accomplished, half his battle is won. If he can +get the people to despise the priest in any capacity as a social +man, a politician, &c., he knows that time rubs out fine-drawn +distinctions; they will cease to respect at the altar the man +they are accustomed to flout on the street; and if they once come +to despise the priest, they will soon despise the sacraments he +administers, and challenge the Gospel which he preaches. Let us +forestall him, and bind the people to our hearts with hoops of +steel. For their sakes more than for ours we cannot make our hold +too firm or root ourselves too deeply in their affections. For +what hope could there be for souls if a chasm should yawn between +the pastor and his flock, if those God has united by so many and +such sacred ties should glare hatred and distrust from opposing +camps? +</p> +<p> +The priest is supreme in Ireland to-day; but in the near future +he may have many a rival claimant; and should the people pass +under alien sway, the last fortress is gone. +</p> +<p> +Now, when we unroll the map of social Ireland, we discover a +multitude of ways by which the priest can keep in touch with, +direct and uplift the people, and each effort for their sakes +means a fresh strengthening of the bonds that bind the hearts of +priests and people. +</p> +<p> +Let us take a survey of the situation. That done, the number of +ways by which the priest can become the reformer of his parish +will at once disclose themselves. +</p> +<p class="side"> +A Statement of Facts +</p> +<p> +Have you ever faced the sad problem:—Why are our asylums +enlarging while our general population is shrinking? +</p> +<p> +Three main causes are responsible. +</p> +<p class="side"> +Food +</p> +<p> +<i>The food we are eating</i>, especially the use of overdrawn tea. A +gentleman of over twenty years' experience, as governor of a +lunatic asylum, assured the writer that next to drink, overdrawn +tea was the most responsible agent for insanity. That week he had +received a farmer's wife and five strapping sons all stark mad +from the poison stewing by so many of our hearths. +</p> +<p> +Whilst we were guided by the healthy traditions of our own race, +we fed on solid food—oatmeal, specially suited to our climate, +being a heat-producer, a bone-builder and a tissue-former, rich +milk, butter, vegetables and home-cured bacon. What a poor +substitute for these luscious foods are the weak white bread and +thin cup of tea! The Scotsman has stuck to his national diet; he +has done more, he has forced his porridge on the bill of fare of +every first-class English hotel. +</p> +<p class="side"> +Activity I +</p> +<p> +Could not the curate, from the lecture platform, in the school +and in private conversation, drive home to the people and open +their eyes to the suicide they are committing? I know one priest +who gets every farmer in his parish to sow every year a quarter +acre of oats for home use. Could not others do the same? +</p> +<p class="side"> +Drink +</p> +<p> +<i>The second cause is Drink</i>. On this question I shall content +myself with quoting a few statistics. They supply melancholy food +for reflection. +</p> +<p> +In 1899, out of every three placed in the dock for drunkenness in +the capital of this Catholic country one was a woman. I think you +may search the world for a more shameless exhibition. +</p> +<p> +Out of every thousand of the general population in England, fifty +persons are arrested for drunkenness; out of every thousand of +the general population in Ireland, one hundred and forty-three. +In other words, we produce almost three convicted drunkards to +their one. And still we plume ourselves on our superior virtue. +</p> +<p> +Our total income from agriculture, the staple industry of the +country, is forty millions. On this, mainly, the nation has to +live. Yet before a penny is touched for food, clothing or +education, almost fourteen out of the forty millions are handed +over to the sellers of drink. +</p> +<p> +Within fifteen years we lost half a million of our people, but we +consoled ourselves by opening eleven hundred and seventy-five new +public-houses within the same period. +</p> +<p class="side"> +Activity II +</p> +<p> +To these figures I shall not add one word: it would only weaken +the argument. Will any one deny that the young priest has here an +ample field for his zeal and energy, and a splendid opportunity +of proving himself the reformer and saviour of the people? +</p> +<p class="side"> +Emigration +</p> +<p> +<i>The third, most powerful source of lunacy, is Emigration</i>. It +may seem a paradox to say that the lessening of our people must +naturally mean the increase of insanity. When we say the country +loses forty thousand of its inhabitants yearly, we make but a +partial statement of the case. Whom do we lose? Not the average +class—the youth, and the youth only go. Two consequences follow. +A boy, when he has arrived at his eighteenth year, has cost the +country two hundred pounds, and a girl one hundred and fifty. Up +to that time they were consumers, they produced little. This +enables us to arrive at the appalling fact that Ireland every +year pours seven millions worth of human cargo into the emigrant +ship. +</p> +<p> +Would that this was all, but worse remains to be said. Who stay +with us? The aged, the delicate, the infirm. The kernel of the +race is going, the husks are remaining with us. Intermarriage +among these, intermingling of enfeebled and tainted blood is one +of the main contributory causes why the walls of our asylums are +enlarging. +</p> +<p class="side"> +Remedies +</p> +<p> +Let us see what the priest can do to fight the national curse, +and stay the national haemorrhage. +</p> +<p class="side"> +The Points to Fix on +</p> +<p> +In dealing with the drink question his main purpose should be to +purify public opinion. Till that is done, every other effort must +fail. What use in our inveighing against a vice if the people +insist on labelling it a virtue? Our first effort must be to get +the people to view it in an honest light—to see it as we see it. +Public opinion up to this could scarcely be more depraved. +</p> +<p class="side"> +The Village Scandal +</p> +<p> +It was not an unusual thing to see young boys feigning +drunkenness and staggering through the village. Why? They were at +an age when pride began to crave for notoriety and applause. They +knew the public to which they appealed, and they took the +shortest cut to win its approbation, and that was by pretending +to be drunk. +</p> +<p> +An action like that is a terrible verdict against the national +conscience. If public opinion were healthy, if it held for such +mock heroes, not the incense of applause, but a lash of scorn, if +boys were persuaded that so far from exhibiting in their conduct +a manly trait, they were only proving themselves degraded +puppies, the cure would be immediate. +</p> +<p class="side"> +Perverted Judgments +</p> +<p> +Listen to people talking of a man who has sent his children out +on the world, and his wife to an untimely grave, and you would +think it was some visitation of Providence overtook him, and that +he deserved all our sympathy. +</p> +<p> +The agent that dares to threaten an eviction has to carry +revolvers and walk the country under the shadow of police +protection; but the father and husband who evicts his own +children and flings them into the slums of foreign cities, and +sends his broken-hearted wife to the grave, not only has his +crime condoned but, by the same people, he is daily smothered in +the rose-leaves of apology. "Poor fellow! Ah, it is a good man's +fault!" Not one hard word. Yet the world outside the shores of +this country are pouring scorn on the degraded name of drunken +Ireland. +</p> +<p class="side"> +The Young Men's Pride +</p> +<p> +Why not appeal to the patriotic pride of the young men by showing +the contempt and distrust that follow our race because of this +vice? It would touch them to the quick. +</p> +<p class="side"> +The Hereditary Taint +</p> +<p> +Another point to be insisted on is:—The crime of the drunkard +does not die with himself. Like lunacy or consumption it +transmits a sad heritage to his offspring. Ninety out of every +hundred are drunkards because they inherited tainted blood. +</p> +<p> +Parents shudder at the bare possibility of their child being born +an idiot, or with some repulsive birth-mark. Yet, before the +infant can lift its hand in protest, the parents poison its life +at the very source and send it on the world with a moral +deformity marking its nature. +</p> +<p class="side"> +The Dawn +</p> +<p> +These were the two sources of weakness in the past: a public +opinion that fostered, instead of smiting, the curse, and an +hereditary taint that grew stronger with every generation, while +the will to resist became more feeble. Thank God, the dawn of a +brighter day is with us: there is a healthy awakening of public +opinion. The Gaelic revival has for the first time in our history +linked sobriety with patriotism: the word has gone forth that +reconstructed Ireland must not rest on staggering pillars. The +young priest of the future has the rising tide with him, and +Ireland has seen her darkest day. +</p> +<p> +No matter how we may deplore emigration, we must deal with it as +a fact. +</p> +<p class="side"> +Is the Emigrant Prepared +</p> +<p class="side"> +His Peril Abroad +</p> +<p> +From what class are the emigrants drawn? From the young. It is +hard to part with them: but there is one consolation. They go to +build up the Church in other lands, but every precaution must be +taken to strengthen them for the trials awaiting them. Now, every +returned American and Australian priest will candidly tell you +that the Irish emigrant is poorly equipped for his new +surroundings. +</p> +<p> +Dr. Kenrick and Cardinal Gibbons go so far as to say that the +neglect of the Irish priest in preparing his emigrating flock, is +the main source of leakage in the American Church. They are not +able to answer the most ordinary objections, and they have not +moral strength to withstand the shafts of ridicule. In the fierce +cross-currents of unbelief, he is poorly able to keep his +foothold. Many stagger; some fall, never to rise. +</p> +<p> +We reply:—Look at our Confirmation classes, and at the admirable +lives of the youth before they leave us. Neither of these weaken +the contention. At the age a child is confirmed, he is incapable +of reflective reason; his knowledge is three parts memory. It is +between the Confirmation day and the twentieth year that the +convictions and principles that guide a lifetime are formed. Yet, +this is the precise period during which the young boy is +permitted to starve. +</p> +<p> +Secondly, the good life of a person reared in a purely Catholic +atmosphere is no guarantee of what he may become when +transplanted to a country where the very atmosphere palpitates +with doubt and denial. +</p> +<p class="side"> +Activity III +</p> +<p> +Here surely is a field that urgently demands a young priest's +activities. +</p> +<p> +<i>Every young priest should be the eldest brother to the young men +of the parish</i>, the repository of their confidence, the director +of their sports, the organizer of their Feis; and when there is +danger of angry passions running high or of drunkenness getting +in among them, the curate's place is not the study, but the +football field. +</p> +<p> +To such a curate it would be an easy task to organize the young +men of the parish for a Sunday meeting during the four winter +months, and give them a thorough course in "Catholic belief" or +"Faith of Our Fathers." +</p> +<p> +This would be a distinct advantage not only to those who are +leaving, but to those who remain. The Catholic mind of this +country is now, by travel and reading, brought into constant +contact with Protestant and infidel thought. +</p> +<p> +These meetings should wear as little of the appearance of a class +as possible. Boys should be taught to look upon them as friendly +meetings of brothers discussing the weapons with which to face +the future: the session might appropriately close with an +excursion or a social evening. +</p> +<p> +Now that we have treated emigration as a fact, let us turn to a +few of the means by which it might be lessened. +</p> +<p class="side"> +The Summer Swallow +</p> +<p> +A constant source of temptation is the sight of the returned +emigrant with flash jewellery, superior airs and stories of +boasted wealth. +</p> +<p class="side"> +Activity IV +</p> +<p> +When summer brings these returned swallows, a spirit of +discontent with their social surroundings seizes the youth. The +priest's duty is to impress upon them that the bright side of the +picture alone is presented to them: there is another side of +awful darkness. +</p> +<p> +The successful one they see, but the fate of the submerged +ninety-nine is hidden from their eyes. +</p> +<p> +Our people emigrate without a knowledge of skilled labour; they +have to take the lowest occupations and bring up their children +in vile surroundings: they are lost in shoals. +</p> +<p> +Had the youth of this country the writer's experience: did they +see hundreds of their countrymen sleeping in the parks of Sydney, +without the shelter of a roof and without knowing where to turn +in the morning for a bit: could they hear the thirty-two accents +of Ireland in the low streets of dens where souls and bodies rot, +they would try their hands at a dozen means of winning honest +bread before turning their faces towards the emigrant ship. +</p> +<p> +Could we but take the twenty-two thousand Irish-born convicts out +of the jails of one city—New York—with their clanking fetters +and arrow-branded jackets, and march them through the length and +breadth of Ireland, and show the youth, that, if some wear +bangles, others wear handcuffs, it would go far to cure the +microbe of unrest. +</p> +<p> +Every tale of distress, failure and hardship abroad should be +repeated in the Irish provincial journals. No effort should be +spared to show the people, not one but both sides of the picture. +</p> +<p class="side"> +Activity V Amusements +</p> +<p> +One of the most important problems facing the young priest of +to-day is:—How to organise healthy and sinless amusements for +the people. Our skies are gloomy, our climate depressing, and the +very dreariness of country life causes thousands to fly. Look at +the groups of young men at the village corners, where is the hope +or contentment in their looks? +</p> +<p class="side"> +Goldsmith's Days +</p> +<p> +I think you may challenge the world's literature for more +wholesome pictures of rural pleasures than those mirrored in the +"Deserted Village." They are not creations of the poet's fancy, +but chronicles of facts that lived before his eyes. In them, you +have the image of Ireland as she lived before the black shadow of +'47 fell upon her. All went on in the open daylight, under the +eyes of parents and friends. +</p> +<pre> + "The young contended while the old surveyed." +</pre> +<p> +Virtue was safe, tired hearts were cheered, and, whilst these +sports flourished, few Irish boys or girls wanted to know the +road to the emigrant ship. +</p> +<p> +Would it be possible to re-create the Ireland of Goldsmith's +days? +</p> +<p class="side"> +The Winter's Night +</p> +<p> +One thing, however, is not outside the range of possibility—to +persuade parents in rural districts to make some effort to +brighten the lives of their children; to have all household work +done two hours before bedtime, to have a bright fire on the +hearth and a bright lamp on the table, and a plentiful supply of +the Catholic Truth Society books, Catholic papers and periodicals +always at hand. Many a poor boy and girl, whose thoughts to-day +are turning to Sydney or New York as an escape from cheerless +drudgery, would then read a new meaning into the word "home." No +matter how toil presses during the day, the prospective two hours +of brightness and pleasure cheers them. +</p> +<p> +"Give a man a taste for reading and the means of gratifying it," +says Sir John Herschel,<a href="#note-1" name="noteref-1"><small>1</small></a> "and you can hardly fail to make him a +happy man, you place him in contact with the best society of +every period of history—the wisest, the wittiest, the tenderest, +the bravest and the purest characters that adorn humanity." A +parent who cannot line his child's pocket with gold has in this +simple plan a means of enriching his head with knowledge, and so +sending him on the world armed. Self-respect would grow; the +gross pleasures of the card-table or the public-house would lose +their charm. Your own words would fall on ears steadily becoming +more intelligent. The parish after five years would wear a new +face. +</p> +<p> +<a href="#note-1" name="noteref-1"><small>1</small></a> Eton Address +</p> +<p class="side"> +Activity VI The country Schoolhouse +</p> +<p> +Could not the young men be gathered once a week during the winter +months, and the school house be converted into a literary, +debating or lecture room? +</p> +<p> +If the young priest prepared one lecture a month, he might +revolutionize the district by teaching the people how to organize +and foster small industries or technical branches suited to the +localities. There is wealth in the mushrooms on the field, the +blackberries on the hedge, and the cresses by the stream. In +other countries thousands are made by these unnoticed products. +Why not here? +</p> +<p class="side"> +Our Ruins +</p> +<p> +When the summer comes, the curate could easily organize +occasional bicycle excursions with the young men to some +memorable Catholic ruin, in whose history he should be well made +up. The saints and scholars who have glorified our annals are +lying around our churches; we stumble over their graves for forty +years sometimes, without enquiring who they were or what they +did. I am aware there are laudable exceptions: they are, however, +isolated. When the public wants to know anything about our +monasteries, they often have to turn to the layman and even to +the parson. +</p> +<p> +The small number of priests in the Archaeological Society is a +striking reproach. One would think that our saints and their +works were something to be ashamed of, since the natural +guardians of their memories have practically abandoned them. This +country is filled with catacombs. Every child should be made +acquainted with the life of the leading saint, and the history of +the most memorable ruin in the locality; those hoary prophets, +now so mute, would then speak with tongues of fire out of the dim +past, telling the story of our fathers' Faith and heroic +achievements. +</p> +<p> +Let us now rise to a higher plane of the young priest's +activities. +</p> +<p class="side"> +Activity VII Literature +</p> +<p> +It is a stupendous and a humiliating fact that, while this +country is deluged with the writings of the sensualist and the +infidel, there are over three thousand brainy priests upon the +land, and the world of thought knows nothing of them. +</p> +<p class="side"> +Cambridge and Oxford +</p> +<p class="side"> +First Premium Men +</p> +<p> +When we read of brilliant students at Cambridge or Oxford, we +naturally look forward to see them leaders of thought or action +in their own land, and we are seldom disappointed. Our Irish +colleges are discharging yearly swarms from their doors, many of +them men with brilliant records. Who hears of them after? What +have these first-class premium men, who gave such splendid +promise, done with their gifts and knowledge? How little does the +Irish Church owe them? The day the premium book was handed them, +all serious effort died. They were content to rest for the +remainder of their lives under the shade of their academic +laurels. +</p> +<p> +The soldier is not satisfied with the triumphs of his recruit +days. He knows that the purpose of his life then is not to gain a +prize and stop at that, but to acquire efficient skill in the use +of his weapons that he may become a living force on the future +field of action. +</p> +<p> +The college is but the training ground, not the final goal; the +real field of our activities lies outside its walls. Yet when the +scholastic course closes these richly-gifted men dip below the +horizon, and the world seldom hears of them again; the +destructive wave that in its silent strength is covering the land +receives no check from them; they are engraving no impression on +the intellect of the day. +</p> +<p> +Our humiliation and surprise increase when we turn to the +publisher's lists and see parsons, who have to prepare to meet +critical audiences Sunday after Sunday, and are weighted with the +cares of heavy families, holding leading places in every literary +enterprise. +</p> +<p> +Now, if our young men set to work to popularise our native +saints, and in their lives dig up the buried glories of our +Catholic past, if each diocese produced even one crisp +well-written life, what a splendid step in advance. +</p> +<p> +But the demand for our literary activities is far wider than the +shores of Ireland. +</p> +<p class="side"> +America and Australia +</p> +<p> +The American and Australian Churches are daughters of this soil. +We are proud of them; they are the frontier regiments of our +fighting army; they are daily advancing Patrick's standard over +fresh fields of conquest: but what help have we given them? +</p> +<p> +The present generation of priests there are builders. But, like +the men on Jerusalem's walls, they have to grasp the sword in one +hand and the trowel in the other. +</p> +<p> +Protestantism in those lands is fast running to its final +declension—naked infidelity. Now the infidel knows no rest; +activity is the law of his existence. The buried ghosts of past +heresies are resuscitated and draped in all the attractiveness of +modern dress. The arsenal of error stored by every perverse +genius from Arius to Tyndal is daily discharged into the Catholic +ranks. There is scarcely a truth free from truculent assault. +</p> +<p> +It is hard to ask the men toiling in the glare of the camp fires, +to fight the battles and manufacture the shells. +</p> +<p> +Now, all that is best of French Catholic intellect has been given +to this cause for the past century. The priest who would devote a +few winters to the holy toil of translating this into a shape +suitable to the needs of our fighting millions would do an act of +merit that God alone could measure. Yet what ammunition have we +supplied to our brave soldiers? Scarcely a grain of shot. +</p> +<p class="side"> +The Causes of Sterility +</p> +<p> +Why this sterility? Why this barrenness? Is it our native +lethargy or our native modesty? or the defective training of our +colleges in neglecting to foster literary tastes? +</p> +<p> +We will not pause to enquire. That there is one sad cause is +beyond all question—the bitterness of clerical criticism. The +Irish priest who takes to the cultivation of letters ought to +choose St. Sebastian for his patron saint; for he will have an +arrow planted in every square inch of his body. +</p> +<p> +While we have no word of condemnation for the writers who are +sucking the life-blood of Faith from our people, should one of +ourselves show style in his sermons, or attach his name to a +magazine article, the amount of mordant criticism he has to face +is sufficient to make the stoutest heart sink. +</p> +<p> +The average Irish skull in the hands of a phrenologist will show +a development of destructive bumps surpassed by none, but when he +searches for constructive ones, a glass of no small magnifying +power must come to his aid. +</p> +<p> +The habit of sneering criticism begins in the college and should +be killed in its birth-place. The man who drops an icy or an acid +word into the warm enthusiasm of a young heart commits a great +crime. He may paralyse the purpose of a noble life. Let us +reserve all our hard blows and hard words for Christ's enemies, +and a cheerful encouragement to His friends should not cost us a +drop of blood. +</p> +<p class="side"> +The Task is Finished +</p> +<p> +Here we pause, fully conscious of the incompleteness of our task. +The many possible and profitable fields of the young priest's +activities are no more than hinted at. +</p> +<p> +We are passing through a period of change: old landmarks are +disappearing, but if the future is to be made secure, the priest +of the present must cling to the people and teach them to cling +to him. In the revival of their industries or their language, in +the Feis or the hurling field, the priest should be the source of +their inspiration and their controlling director. +</p> +<p> +Woe to the parish where the priest sits idly or sinks into dreamy +lethargy while the people pass from him, away. +</p> +<p class="side"> +Farewell +</p> +<p> +The world is moving onward. Our world is willing just now that we +move with and direct it. But how long, O Lord, how long? Let us +remain stationary and it will move without us; and once lost, +lost for ever. +</p> +<p> +A glance at the Continent should fire us to desperate efforts. +You see the Church dashed to pieces in the seething vortex of +destruction; in some countries honey-combed to rottenness, ready +to totter and fall before the first outburst of Socialistic fury. +The Press teems with ribald jeer and blatant blasphemy. The +priesthood, a separate caste, hounded like lepers of old from the +highways of public life, voiceless and despised—the apostate +priest hailed with delight smothered in incense—the faithful +priest lashed at the pillar of public scorn. O God, shall +Ireland—the last fortress—follow? +</p> +<p> +That question is for us to answer: the shaping of the future lies +in the hands of the living present. +</p> +<p> +Let listlessness prevail, and when an apostle of evil does arise, +perhaps in the not distant future, he will appeal to the past for +his justification. +</p> +<p> +He will tell the people, that for a full century three thousand +four hundred priests were upon the land. Talent, leisure and +unbounded trust were theirs. Yet, where are the literature, +village libraries, social organizations, or other agencies of +enlightenment promoted by them? Has not the country rotted and +the emigrant ship been glutted? Away with them! Why cumber they +the ground? +</p> +<p> +That day, please God, shall never come, if we sink deep into our +souls the conviction that a great effort is required, and fling +our hearts into it; that the ever increasing new needs and foes +of to-day cannot be met with the antiquated weapons of the past; +that the old rut must be abandoned and the new ground broken: +then the future is secure. The old citadel of Catholic +Christendom will continue a fortress, flying the old flag, +towering above the Atlantic breakers with a strength impregnable +and a Faith undimmed—a Pharos of spiritual splendour. +</p> +<p> +And when in other lands eyes grow dim with the mists of despair, +they will look up and the light of a new-born hope will enkindle +within them. And when hearts in other lands are sinking from +repeated failure, they will pulse with the inspiration of a fresh +courage when the story of our efforts and our triumphs is +recalled. +</p> +<center> +THE END +</center> +<center> +PRESS NOTICES +</center> +<p> +"Every thoughtful mind amongst us, whether priest or layman, will +thank the courageous writer who throws upon our insular +prejudices the flashlights of other civilisations, and shows us +certain defects which we can only neglect at our own peril. We +hope that this little book will find its way to every student's +desk in Ireland and abroad, and that its lessons will be taken to +heart by professors and <i>alumni</i> alike. It is worth reading if +only for its style, which is far above that usually assumed by +writers on similar subjects. But its chief value is in the deep +insight it manifests as to the wants of the age and the necessary +equipment of the young apostles of our race, whose mission will +be to strange peoples and curious, though some times sympathetic, +souls who are seeking the light and failing to find it. It is a +book to be read with humility and a total absence of that mild +conceit which refuses to accept any but domestic and partial +criticism. The words are those of a thinker and an orator."— +Canon Sheehan in the <i>Freeman's Journal</i>. +</p> +<p> +"Anyone who has lived five years in Australia would advise every +young priest coming to this country to have a copy of Father +Phelan's admirable book in his luggage, and read it more than +once. The young ecclesiastic coming hither who treats lightly the +advice given him will find by-and-by that every line of the book +is true; every priest who has lived a few years on the Australian +mission will know already that it is so."—<i>Melbourne Advocate</i>. +</p> +<p> +"The Rev. M. Phelan, S.J., stresses the necessity of culture of +mind and manners for young priests and seminarians. Father +Phelan, himself a noted preacher, devotes several helpful +chapters to the means of acquiring excellence in preaching. The +book is brimful of valuable hints and helps, and their value is +not diminished by the fact that the style is racy and readable +throughout. The following is intended for Irish readers, but the +advice has wider application:—'. . . He should not commit the +signal folly of attempting to engraft an imported accent on his +own; he should speak as an Irishman, but as an educated +Irishman.' 'The Young Priest's Keepsake' should become a +<i>vade-mecum</i>."—<i>America</i>. +</p> +<p> +"With considerable skill and plenty of plain speaking, Father +Phelan gives some admirable advice to young priests in regard to +the study of English and the composition and delivery of sermons. +His experiences in Ireland and on the foreign missions are his +claim to say what his opinion is, and his opinion is weighty. +Father Phelan has wise counsels to give, and gives them in a most +pleasing way. He is always bright, always interesting, and always +instructive. His book deserves to be known to the clergy at +large, and we wish it the circulation it deserves."—<i>Catholic +Times</i>. +</p> +<p> +"This is, indeed, a very valuable book for the young priest. It +is intended chiefly for those who are going on the foreign +mission, and it would be well for them if they would take to +heart the sound advice given to them here by a man of wide +experience and great success in the missionary field. The first +chapter on the necessity of culture and gentlemanly manners is +alone worth the price of the book. Young priests have probably +often heard of the necessity of writing their sermons, but I +doubt if they ever had the advantage of having it put before them +in such a practical and convincing fashion as that in which it is +done by Father Phelan in his third chapter. The same notes of +practical sound sense mark the chapters on 'Pulpit Oratory' and +on 'Elocution.' Altogether, this book should be the <i>Keepsake</i> of +every young priest. It contains many things that will benefit +priests, young or old, of every description. Father Phelan +deserves our thanks as well as our congratulations on the success +of his work."—<i>Irish Ecclesiastical Record</i>. +</p> +<p> +"A wonderful amount of practically useful advice, the matured +fruit of vast missionary experience, seasoned by conscientious +study and a fraternal longing to assist the young priest are the +most salient features of this inimitably-written volume. The +style is excellent. In crisp, accurate language every paragraph, +every sentence even, tells exactly what the writer wishes to +state, and no more. . . . The book has not appeared an hour too +soon. . . . It is bound to be of immense service to Irish +students, especially those preparing for a missionary life in +foreign countries. . . . I take the responsibility of highly +recommending Father Phelan's book to those for whose instruction +and efficiency the work has been written."—The Author of +"Innisfail" in <i>Sydney Freeman's Journal</i>. +</p> +<p> +"Father Phelan is a model of the ideas he advocates. His English +is pure without being dull for a moment. He exemplifies his +theories. If you are a preacher, or wish to be, if you are +teaching rhetoric or learning rhetoric, if you are a seminarian +or a friend of a seminarian, get this book for yourself or your +friend."—<i>American Messenger</i>. +</p> +<p> +"Those who know Father Phelan as a preacher will not require to +be told that his book is simple, solid, and practical, and that +his method of exposition is lucid, homely, and vigorous. Purely +literary effort has been no aim of the writer, and yet it would +be hard to name a recent book which can be read with greater +pleasure, for the charm of its style alone. The expression is cut +down to the last necessary word, but every necessary word is +there; every idea is expressed simply, but adequately, and with +the finish and lustre of the diamond. . . . It would be +interesting to the reader and a pleasure to the writer to quote +from Father Phelan's work some of the many magnificent passages, +but the book is so beautifully knit together, ideas follow each +other in such logical sequence, that no selection could give an +adequate impression of the work. But with an easy conscience I +can recommend every clerical student, every young priest, and for +that matter, old priests too, to procure a copy, confident that +any reader who takes it up will read it through, as I have done, +before laying it down, and feel the better for having done so."— +Ibh Maine in <i>The Leader</i>. +</p> +<p> +"The Rev. M. J. Phelan, S.J., says much that is sensible in his +little volume. We are glad that he denounces 'the signal folly of +attempting to engraft an imported accent on his own native one, +which is sometimes done by the Irish priest in England with +deplorable results. It is a useful little book, well printed and +neatly bound."—(English) <i>Catholic Book Notes</i>. +</p> +<p> +"The title of a clerical <i>vade-mecum</i> is scarcely too ambitious a +one to give to 'The Young Priest's Keepsake'; a work which cannot +but be regarded by all whose good fortune it will be to read it, +as one of the most admirable works dealing with clerical life +that has appeared in Ireland for many a day. The author, Rev. M. +J. Phelan, S.J., bases his claim for a hearing upon a long +experience as missionary priest, and upon the possession of +ordinary powers of observation. Those who know Father Phelan rate +his claims much higher. His fame as a preacher is spread +throughout the length and breadth of Ireland. His wide and varied +learning, his acute powers of observation, his keen sense of +humour and sound practical judgment are common topics of +conversation amongst a wide circle of friends. The fine flower +and fruit ripened by constant study and wide experience are +modestly displayed in this little book."—<i>Irish Independent</i>. +</p> +<p> +"The ecclesiastical student who takes up 'The Young Priest's +Keepsake' will quickly realise that he has not only fallen in +with a wise mentor but a cordially kind friend, to say nothing of +a charming writer. The way is marked out for him by one who has +trodden it, and who, as we can gather, from the evident culture +and literary grace of his pages and his renown as a preacher of +missions, has been no laggard in those studies which he so +earnestly recommends to young priests and ecclesiastical +students. . . . If Father Phelan's lessons were taken to heart by +the coming race of priests we, or at least our children, would +behold the Catholic pulpit transformed into a mighty living +force. At present it is far from being that. It is in this +country the weakest part of the great redeeming machinery of the +church, and it should be so strong and effective. . . . The book +is brilliantly written, and, as Father Phelan maintains his +position in no mamby-pamby or apologetic fashion, the reader is +treated to some very lively passages."—<i>The Tribune</i> +(Melbourne). +</p> +<p> +"In this little work from the pen of Father Phelan, S.J., those +who are in course of preparation for the high calling of the +sacred ministry will find some advice worthy of serious +consideration. . . . It is an age of 'experts'; as an 'expert' of +undoubted merit in the sphere of missionary work Father Phelan +well may claim the right of giving authoritative advice to those +aspiring to that field of labour in which his own efforts have +been crowned with such signal success. . . . Were the revered +author not, in fact what he is, a Jesuit missionary of +acknowledged excellence and wide fame, the value of his advice +would be none the less evident on a thoughtful perusal of his +book. . . . Even a mere casual reading would send the young +student away with a clear realization of the steps he must take +to secure that in his mind or personality there shall be nothing +to make any man, however critical, however captious, think less +of that Living Word whose mouthpiece it will be his lot in life +to be. . . . He has done well and very well in trying to make it +easy for future workers in the same field to do justice to their +sacred calling and to themselves."—<i>Cork Examiner</i>. +</p> +<p> +"He knows what he is talking about, and he speaks with a +first-hand knowledge of what is required by young priests coming +to Australia."—<i>Catholic Press</i> (Sydney). +</p> +<p> +"Amongst the many qualifications which the author has brought to +his delicate task, not the least are his earnestness and his +enthusiasm for his subject. These qualities are responsible for +some of the best features of the book. They have given it its +thoroughly constructive character and tempered even its severest +criticisms. The greater part of the book is devoted to sacred +eloquence. Here, of course, the writer speaks with the authority +of a master. He will deserve the gratitude of many a young +preacher for having given to the world the benefit of his own +experience in an art which he has made so completely his own. In +the chapter on elocution he lays down excellent principles for +the delivery of sermons and suggests means of curing the most +common defects that mar pulpit oratory. Finally, he gives +elaborate hints on the best means of composing sermons. For +instance, the sermon writer is advised to seize without delay, +and commit to writing, a brilliant thought no matter how +unseasonable the time at which it presents itself. When a train +of thought is allowed to go by it either never returns or returns +like the Sybil with diminished treasure. This is but one grain of +the practical wisdom which is scattered so liberally through the +pages of 'The Young Priest's Keepsake'."—<i>Mungret Annual</i>. +</p> +<p> +"A very thoughtful and eloquent book. No better book of its kind +could be in the hands of young priests who are at the beginning +of life's work. Its table of contents shows the subjects which +find a place in its pages. Under each of these headings Father +Phelan gives much useful information and adds a charm to the +knowledge which he imparts by the apt illustrations with which he +adorns it."—<i>Theological Quarterly</i>. +</p> +<p> +"This book is sure to be read with keen interest by a great many +young priests and priests no longer young; and it is not likely +to drop out of use after a few months. Father Phelan speaks from +wide, practical experience, and he develops his views with +clearness and earnestness, and with many fresh and vivid +illustrations. We would be surprised to hear that any priest +young or old taking up 'The Young Priest's Keepsake' and turning +over the pages, at No. 50 Upper O'Connell Street, laid it down +and went out without arranging to have it sent after him."— +<i>Irish Monthly</i>. +</p> +<p> +"It is well known that Father Phelan is an authority on the +subject of pulpit eloquence, for he is himself one of the most +eloquent preachers of the Jesuit Order, and his profound +eloquence and ripe scholarship are only equalled by his deep +knowledge of human nature. . . . The theological students and +others who wish to acquire the art of speaking to the heart, and +preachers who realize that they themselves are becoming stale and +commonplace, cannot do better than read and inwardly digest this +beautiful work."—<i>Galway Express</i>. +</p> +<p> +"'The Young Priest's Keepsake' seems to us an exceedingly +practical and commonsense work. When we have said this much we +have said no more of Father Phelan's book than it deserves. The +volume has been admirably produced by Messrs. M. H. Gill & Son, +on Irish paper, with Irish ink, and bears the imprimatur of the +Irish trade mark. We hope it will have the wide circulation it +deserves."—<i>Irish Catholic</i>. +</p> +<p> +"The Rev M. J. Phelan, S.J., gives youthful clerics the benefit +of his personal experience as a student in ecclesiastical +colleges, and a missionary for almost a quarter of a century in +Australia and Ireland. The volume has a chapter on culture, one +on English, three on sermons, and a final one on elocution. They +are all suggestive, and some of them will prove not unprofitable +to priests who can no longer be called young."—<i>Ave Maria</i>. +</p> + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Young Priest's Keepsake, by Michael Phelan + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE YOUNG PRIEST'S KEEPSAKE *** + +***** This file should be named 16330-h.htm or 16330-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/3/3/16330/ + +Produced by Angela + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Young Priest's Keepsake + +Author: Michael Phelan + +Release Date: July 19, 2005 [EBook #16330] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE YOUNG PRIEST'S KEEPSAKE *** + + + + +Produced by Angela + + + + + +THE YOUNG PRIEST'S KEEPSAKE + +By MICHAEL J. PHELAN, S.J. + +Second Edition. + +DUBLIN +M. H. GILL AND SON, LTD. +AND WATERFORD +1909 + + + +1st. Edition MAY, 1909. +2nd. -- Enlarged, NOV., 1909. + + + +PREFACE + +This little book is written in the hope that it may assist young +priests and ecclesiastical students to meet the demands which the +life before them has in store. + +Works specially suited to the priest, the layman and the nun are +happily abundant; but to the young man standing on the threshold +of his career as a priest, how few are addressed. Yet it is while +his character is in the formative stage, and his weapons are +still in the shaping, that advice and direction are of most +practical value. + +The writer brings to his task only one qualification on which he +can rely--his own personal experience. + +After having gone through a long course of preparation in Irish +ecclesiastical colleges, he lived for nearly thirteen years on +the Australian mission, and is now completing a decade spent in +giving missions and retreats in all parts of Ireland. Of the +college, therefore, and of the foreign and home missions he can +speak with whatever authority a long experience and ordinary +powers of observation are supposed to give. + +In dealing with the foreign mission he does not rely solely on +his own judgment. Many matters here treated of he heard +repeatedly discussed by priests abroad, who bitterly deplored +that, while in college, they knew so little of the life before +them, and regretted that there was then no kind friend to take +them by the hand and show them what was in store when the day +came for them to plunge into a life that was strange and entirely +new. It is to be hoped that this modest volume will, in part at +least, discharge the office of that friend. + +It may appear, at first sight, that when writing the fourth +chapter, "On Pulpit Oratory," the author had before his mind an +elaborate discourse, such as is expected only on great occasions. +This is not so. + +It is true that the various parts of a sermon, when detailed in +analysis, may seem, like the works of a watch spread out on a +table, bewilderingly numerous and complex. But when we come to +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. + +It is impossible to express my deep gratitude to the reviewers. +From them the book met with a chorus of approving welcome, +without even one jarring note. To all I now tender my grateful +thanks; but the author of "My New Curate" has placed me under a +special obligation for his thoughtful critique in the _Freeman's +Journal_, and Ibh Maine for his friendly review in the _Leader_. +Nor should I omit to thank the ecclesiastical colleges, that not +only pardoned the blunt candour of some of the chapters, but gave +the book a more than cordial reception. + +The present edition includes two entirely new chapters--the two +last--extending over 45 pages. It is hoped that the added matter +will prove of as much interest as those chapters of the first +edition which received such a hearty welcome. + +College of the Sacred Heart, Limerick, + _September_ 29, 1909, Feast of St. Michael. + + + +CONTENTS + + CHAPTER FIRST + CULTURE: ITS NECESSITY TO A YOUNG PRIEST + + CHAPTER SECOND + ENGLISH: ITS NECESSITY TO A YOUNG PRIEST + + CHAPTER THIRD + SHOULD A YOUNG PRIEST WRITE HIS SERMONS? + + CHAPTER FOURTH + HOW SHOULD THE YOUNG PRIEST PREPARE HIS SERMONS? + + CHAPTER FIFTH + A SOPHISTRY EXPOSED--ADVICE GIVEN-- + THEOLOGIAN AND PREACHER--THE DIFFERENCE + + CHAPTER SIXTH + THE ART OF ELOCUTION + + CHAPTER SEVENTH + THE DANGER OF THE HOUR. HOW TO MEET IT + + CHAPTER EIGHTH + THE YOUNG PRIEST'S ACTIVITIES + + + +CHAPTER FIRST + +CULTURE: ITS NECESSITY TO A YOUNG PRIEST + +If you question any priest of experience and observation who has +lived on the foreign mission, and ask him what constitutes the +greatest drawbacks, what seriously impedes the efficiency of our +young priests abroad, without hesitation he will answer--First, +want of social culture; and, secondly, a defective English +education. + +To the first of these this chapter will be exclusively devoted, +while the subject of English will be dealt with in the chapter to +follow. + +[Side note: The case stated] + +One of the great disadvantages of living in an island is that we +get so few opportunities of seeing ourselves as others see us. +When you seriously attempt to impress the necessity of culture on +the student preparing for the foreign mission he generally pities +you. In his eyes culture is a trifle, suited perhaps to the +serious consideration of ladies and dancing masters, but utterly +unworthy of one thought from a strong-minded or intellectual man. +But you tell him that without it the world will sneer at him. He +then pities the world, and replies--"What do I care about the +world's thoughtless sneer; have I not a priestly heart and a +scholar's head?" + +That reply, if he were destined to live in a wilderness, would be +conclusive. An anchorite may attain a very high degree of +sanctity and yet retain all his defects of character--his +crudity, selfishness, vulgarity. While grace disposes towards +gentleness it does not destroy nature. There is no essential +connection between holiness and polished manners. + +Nor does scholarship either require or supply culture. A mastery +of the "Summa" will not prevent you from doing an awkward action. +Dr. Johnson's learning was the marvel of his age, but his manners +were a by-word. So, if your only destiny was to be a scholar or a +hermit, manners need give you little trouble. + +But your vocation is to be an apostle; to go out amongst men; to +be the light for their darkness, the salt for their corruption; +the aim and goal of your operations are human hearts. This being +granted, are you not bound to sweep from your path every +impediment that prevents your arm from reaching these hearts? But +the most effective barrier standing between you and them is +ill-formed manners. + +The laws of good society, the refinement of gentlemanly culture +may, from your standpoint, be the merest trifles; but they become +no trifles when without them your right hand is chained from +reaching human souls. + +The only remaining question is, Does the world to-day place such +a high value on good manners that if I go into it without them my +efforts will be in a large degree neutralised? Entertain not a +shadow of doubt on that point, such is the fact. + +[Side note: Protestants and Catholics demand culture in the +Priest] + +Proud and pampered society will never bend its stubborn neck and +submit itself to the guidance of a man who, judged by its own +standard--the only one it acknowledges--is far from being up to +the level; an object of contempt perhaps, at best of pity. In its +most generous mood it is slow and cautious to take you on trust; +its cold analysis searches you; your unplaned corners offend its +taste; and except in every detail you answer to its rule and +level you are disdainfully thrust aside. + +Catholics, while they esteem a mere fop at his just value, expect +their priest to rise above the sneers of the most censorious and, +if possible, to challenge the respect of all. They are proud of +their priest; and surely it is not too much to expect on his part +that he will do his best not to make them ashamed of him. + +Their Protestant neighbours know of this pride; and if they can +but lay a finger on his evident defects they will glut their +inborn hatred of the Church by hitting the Catholics on the +sensitive nerve, by galling them by caricature and derision of +the _gauche_ manners of the priest. + +Protestant young men, too, will appeal to the pride of their +Catholic companions; and an appeal to pride is generally a trump +card. They will ask--"Is it possible that gentlemen could submit +themselves to the guidance of a clergyman whose manners are +unformed and whose English is marred by provincialisms and +defective accent?" + +In speaking of accents, let me say here I do not ask the young +priest to commit the signal folly of attempting to ingraft an +imported accent on his own native one. No! He should speak as an +Irishman, but as an educated Irishman. + +[Side note: By foreign Canons you will be judged] + +The fatal mistake on the part of a young priest would be to take +Irish opinion as the standard by which he will be judged outside +Ireland. In Ireland we call these things trifles, because the +people whose eyes are filled with the rich light of warm faith +see the _priest_ alone, and are blind, or at least generously +indulgent, to the defects of the _man_. + +Reverse this, and you have the accurate measure by which you will +be judged abroad. The _man_ and his defects alone are seen; the +_priest_ and the sublimity of his state are entirely lost sight +of. The world judges what it can understand--the _man_ alone. +Hence the student preparing for the foreign mission may take this +as an axiom:--_If people cannot respect you as a gentleman, on +the non-Catholic world your influence is nil; and even on your +own Catholic people it will sit very lightly_. But he replies-- +"This is not logical, for a man may be an excellent priest, a +good scholar, without social accomplishments." All that I admit, +but age and experience will teach him that logic does not rule +the world; some of its greatest actions could not bear the +pressure of a syllogism. We must meet the world as it is, not as +we would make it. Is it not you who show logical weakness in +preparing for this ideal world that has no existence outside your +own dreams and ignoring the world of hard facts you will have to +face? + +[Side note: No argument to be drawn from the Apostles] + +You then appeal to facts and say, Look at the apostles. Let me +answer--first, you do not attempt to imply that crudity was a +help to them. If so, how? Now, the most you can say is that in +spite of it they succeeded. But you forget that they had the gift +of miracles, and a sanctity so evident that their passport was +secure despite their defects. + +Unless you can produce the same sanctity and miracles your +argument falls to the ground. But to the statement itself--Were +not the apostles men of manners? Some, it is true, before their +call had little connection with schools, but we may rest assured +that three years under such a teacher as they had did wonders. +They must be dull indeed not to read the living lesson their +Master's character daily taught. His tenderness, His courteous +dignity, and gentle consideration for others were such that in a +man we would say they almost bordered on weakness; this was the +living model on which they daily gazed and pondered. + +This Master then sent them forth to "all nations." They were to +mix with the white-robed senators in Rome, and dispute with the +highest intellects of polished Athens, to force an entrance into +every circle of social life. Could we imagine God sending them +forth to that task encumbered with defects that would paralyse +their mission if not ensure its defeat. + +We must also take into account the gifts of Pentecost. What a +change these wrought! The Holy Spirit enriched their intellects +and perfected their moral virtues; their trembling wills became +braced as iron pillars. For what purpose? To prepare and equip +them for their destined mission. Is it not natural to suppose +that the same Divine Power swept their characters free from every +impediment that could hamper their ministry? So the appeal to the +apostles is gratuitous. + +[Side note: Culture necessary for domestic life] + +In dealing with this question a young priest is to consider more +than his flock. Priests on the foreign mission live community +life, in hourly contact with each other. You cannot realise the +agony a man inflicts on others by coarse or unpolished manners. +The toil of a priest's day is severe, but the hardest day is mere +summer pastime compared with the crushing thought of having to +turn home to a boorish companion. This living martyrdom reaches +its most acute stage when, in society, a man is forced to witness +a brother priest expose the raw spots of his character to the +vitriolic cynicism of the scoffer. + +But the importance of this subject is by no means exclusive to +the foreign mission. In Ireland, of late, a spirit of criticism +has shown itself, often exacting even to fastidiousness; so far +from time being likely to blunt it, everything points to the +probability of its edge growing sharper with years. And the young +Irish priest of the future who dares to trample on the canons of +good taste need expect scant mercy. + +[Side note: To arms] + +My advice to all ecclesiastical students is--search and see if +unmannerly ways are ingrafting themselves into your character. If +so, give them no quarter. Master an approved handbook, and during +the recreations raise discussions on details of good manners. Ask +your friends candidly to point out your defects. It is far easier +to be admonished by one friend whose correction is swathed in +soft charity than await till a dozen sneerers send their poisoned +arrows to fester in your heart. In correcting yourselves and +asking your friends to admonish you, it will assist you to pocket +your pride, to remember that three such weighty issues as the +efficiency of your ministry, the honour of the priesthood, and +the comfort of your future home will in a large measure be +influenced by the degree of social culture you carry out of +college. + +No man has greater need to fear than he who stands high in his +class. When any habit becomes fixed it requires a high degree of +humility and moral courage to root it out. But, intellectual +pride, nourished by college triumphs, is up in arms. He scorns to +be corrected or taught by a world he despises. Let me ask, did +God give him these intellectual gifts for himself or as +instruments by which to win souls back to their Father? The man +who, rather than bend his own pride, allows his talents to become +useless incurs an awful responsibility. + +Stubbornly refuse to be corrected or to shape and polish your +manners while in college, and one thing I absolutely promise you, +with all the authority a long experience can give, that when you +do go out from the college you will meet a master that will bend +and break you. The roasting fire of the world's scorn will search +the very marrow of your bones. + + + +CHAPTER SECOND + +ENGLISH: ITS NECESSITY TO A YOUNG PRIEST + +Let me begin by asking one plain question--If all the scholastic +wealth with which St. Thomas has enriched the world lay embedded +in the mind of a Missionary priest: if he more than rivalled +Suarez as a casuist, and Bellarmine as a controversialist, yet if +he failed to acquire a mastery over the only instrument by which +he could bring to bear the riches of his own intellect on the +minds of those around him, of what value is all the wealth +entombed within his head? + +If he has acquired no command of the rich vocabulary, the +graceful elegance of diction, the mysterious beauty of +expression, the abundant illustration, the art of storing nervous +vigour and living thought into crisp and pregnant terseness: if +this one weapon, a finished English education, is not at his +disposal, his knowledge, as far as others are concerned, is so +much lumber: to the one spot alone--the Confessional--his +efficiency is narrowed. The other fields of his ministry are +deprived of the immense service this learning might afford. + +Let us see how this works out in practice. The unctions of +ordination are scarcely dry on your hands till you begin to +realise what you never realised before--viz., that in the most +literal sense of the word you belong to the Church Militant. + +You go out from college, you are quickly confronted with +opposition. At once your brain begins to hew arguments of massive +solidity; had you but the skill with which to hurl them you would +overwhelm the stoutest foe. This skill you have not got, you +never mastered the sciences by which you could smite the +aggressor. With rage you, perhaps for the first time, realise +your own deficiency. Your arms are pinioned by helpless ignorance +of the use of what should be one of the first weapons of the +priest. Your thoughts now struggle for birth, but are fated to +die stillborn, while the foe laughs you in the face. + +Is this not a sad pity: _yet it is an everyday fact_. + +There are sixty millions of Irish money lying in the banks +throughout this country, yet the nation is perishing from +atrophy, starving for want of commercial nourishment. If the gold +now piled in banks were but circulated through the channels of +industry, every limb of national life would pulse with new +vigour, the remotest corner of the land would feel the influence +of the golden current; so, within the mind of the priest may be +hoarded treasures of deepest learning, but unless he has the art +of minting and circulating through his parish the glittering coin +of polished thought, though his brain be an _El Dorado_ of +wealth, that parish will run into spiritual bankruptcy. + +"You are the Light of the World," said Christ to His Apostles. +The same, in effect, He will say to the young priest the day he +sets out to continue the work they began; but how will that +light, of which he is the bearer, reach the darkened world for +which God has destined it if he neglects to arm himself with the +light-diffuser: the only medium of communication between him and +his people? Though the sun is poised in the firmament above us, +this earth would remain for ever wrapped in midnight darkness +were it not that there is an interposing medium--whatever it +be--to waft to us its heat waves and carry its splendours to the +tiniest nook and crevice. The language, its graces and powers, +are for the priest the instruments by which darkened minds are +illumined, by which the clear rays of living truth are flashed +into their gloom. + +The man that neglects to acquire a mastery of this instrument +incurs a great responsibility. + +The devil, too, has a message to deliver, a message of error; but +at his command there are not only perverse intellects but all the +elegance of polished language and all the persuasive graces of +elocution. + +[Side note: An illustration from everyday life] + +Let me take an illustration from everyday life. A Catholic child +under his father's roof has religion instilled into him. He goes +to school, and here his knowledge is developed and enlarged. From +the schoolroom he is transplanted into the world to strike roots +if he can in stubborn soil and preserve his faith amidst the +ice-chills of infidelity. + +Foes beset him on every side. He turns to the public library. The +infidel review is crisp in style, its arguments catchy, and the +brilliancy of its diction captivates. The pages of the +fashionable novel are strewn with the rose leaves of literature: +the plot enthrals. The arguments of the free-thought lecturer are +well reasoned, the sophistries artistically concealed, whilst his +mastery over the graces of elocution holds his audience +spell-bound. + +The young man staggers. He now turns to where he should expect to +find strength. Under the pulpit next Sunday is a mind where the +mists of doubt are gathering and darkening. He looks up to the +"Light of the World" to have these mists dispelled. Instead of +seeing his foes battered with their own weapons he sees these +weapons, that in every domain are conquering for the devil, here +despised. + +He is forced to listen, perhaps, to an exhibition of tedious +crudity. He goes away disheartened; perhaps to fall. + +Now, the solid theological knowledge in that preacher's head is +more than sufficient to shatter the arguments of infidelity; the +analytic power acquired during his college course would enable +him to tear every sophistry to shreds; but the art of making both +of these effective for the pulpit, the mastery of clear and +nervous English, the elocution that sends every argument like a +quivering arrow of light to its mark, these he neglected, or +perhaps contemned. + +This is our weak spot; here our position wants strengthening. + +Sit by the fireside with that preacher and suggest the +advisability of cultivating English and elocution. He replies: "I +have two thousand souls to look after, sodalities to work up, +schools to organise, and attend, perhaps, four sick calls in one +night." No, _not now, but long years before_, he should have been +trained. It is not on the battlefield, when the bugle is sounding +the "charge," that the soldier should begin to learn the use of +his weapons. In the college, and not on the field of action, is +the place to acquire this science. + +[Side note: A ruinous advice] + +One of the most fatal directions ever tendered to Irish students +is--devote all your college years to Classics, Philosophy, and +Theology _exclusively_--these are your professional studies--and +when you become a curate it will be time to master English and +Elocution. + +Analyse this and see what it means. Do not learn English or its +expression till you are flung into a village without a soul to +stimulate or encourage you; or, worse still, till you find +yourself in the fierce whirl of an English or American city. +"Wait till you are in the pulpit and then begin to learn to +preach" is very like advising a man to wait till he is drowning +and then it will be time enough to learn how to swim. Would any +sane man give such an advice to an aspirant of the fine arts? +What would be thought of the man who would say--"If you wish to +become a good musician neglect to learn the scales till you come +to your twenty-fifth year; or if it is your ambition to be a +great painter, permit a quarter of a century to roll over your +head before you learn how to hold the palette or mix the paints." +The man that would tender such ridiculous advice would be laughed +at. Yet it is not one whit more absurd than the transparent +nonsense that has grown hoary from age, and passes unchallenged +as a first principle. + +It is often asked how is it that the Irish Church has remained so +barren. + +Eighty years have passed since the bells of the thatched chapels +rang in Emancipation. During that time over three thousand +talented priests are on the land; yet how small the number of +works produced. Why such a miserable result? What has sterilised +the intellects of these men? Mainly this fatal advice. How could +we have literary tastes among the priests in their pastoral life +when such tastes were either frowned down during their college +career or postponed to a period when their cultivation became an +impossibility. + +[Side note: You must begin while young] + +No man can become a preacher without becoming a writer first. I +need not labour this proposition. A single quotation from the +highest authority establishes it. When Cicero was asked the +question--"How can I become an orator?" his one answer was-- +"_Scribere quam plurimum_." The first step to oratorica eminence +was--write as much as possible. + +Now, ask any distinguished writer when did _he_ begin to +cultivate a literary taste. He will tell you with Pope that he +"lisped in numbers." He began almost with the dawn of reason. If, +then, pen practice must be the first step towards pulpit success, +it is while the fancy is tender that it should be trained; while +the receptive powers are hungry in youth they should be fed; +while the habits of thought are fresh and flexible they should be +exercised. Wait till the hoar frost of age nips the rich blooms +of imagination and stiffens the once nimble powers of the mind, +and the cast-iron habits of maturer years have settled on you: +literary culture is then an impossibility. + +What does this culture imply? A developed insight into the +beauties of thought; a just appreciation of style; an intimate +acquaintance with the best authors; an abundant vocabulary and +graceful expression. Can these be acquired in a year? or is the +time for acquiring them seasoned manhood? + +How worthless and pernicious is this one word "Wait," here more +than ever, where mastery of language is in question. But a glance +shows how much more absurd it is to let a man pass out of his +teens before putting him through a thorough course of elocution. +It is while the muscles of throat and lungs are as flexible as a +piece of Indiarubber, and the young ear sensitive to every +_nuance_ of sound, the future priest must learn to articulate, to +pronounce correctly, to husband his breathing, to bend his voice +with ease and mastery through the varied octaves of human +passion. + +A piece of advice which I would give to a young priest who may +find himself within reach of an elocution master is to place +himself under his guidance for at least the first twelve months. + +The very best student elocutionist has, on leaving college, but a +theoretic knowledge of the art of preaching. To weave the +principles and graces he there acquired into his own compositions +in the pulpit is a new experience. To do this with effect he +still requires the master's guiding hand. + +He should deliver his sermons in the presence of that master, +invite him to his church, and ask him to note defects for +correction. This plan I have seen acted on with eminent results: +it may be a young priest's making: at its lowest estimate it is +worth gold. + +[Side note: A workable plan] + +I can well imagine the young reader objecting that I would have +him turn from his study-desk, where Lehmkuhl and St. Thomas lie, +to practise composition and elocution. No, but I want to show how +all I have put before him can be done without encroaching to the +extent of one hour on his ordinary class studies. + +I. Let the most hard-working student gather carefully the golden +sands of wasted time that lie strewn even through the busiest +ordinary day and see what they amount to in a year. Why not hoard +and mint them; for his class knowledge will, to a great extent, +be buried treasure except he has the engine by which to deliver +it to others. + +A student should permit no day to pass without writing out at +least one thought. Cover but half a sheet of notepaper--correct, +prune, condense, clarify, and then, if you wish, burn it, yet, it +is a distinct gain. You are shaping a sword that will stand you +in good need yet. + +2. During study hours an English author should lie on the desk. +When the head grows wearied, instead of uselessly goading the +tired jade or consuming brain tissue on that most fatiguing of +occupations, day dreaming, sip a page or two of English. You rest +your brain, and while doing so store up knowledge, silently +develop taste and acquire style. + +3. Again, how are vacations consumed? The student who does not +read at least two hours a day is letting a golden opportunity +pass and wasting a precious gift of God--time. It may be said +that this after all is a rather slow process; it will only mean +about a volume a month. Yes, but that means twelve in a year, or +at least eighty-four in your course, not a bad stock to start +life with. + +4. In the training of the future priest the recreation hour can +be converted into the most important item on the day's programme. +He plunges from the silence of the study hall into the vortex of +the world, for it is the world in miniature; its passions, its +pride, its meanness, as well as its gentleness of heart and +heroism of spirit are all flowing around him. If properly +utilised, the recreations can be minted into veritable gold. In +the term "recreation" I include all those occasions of free +intercourse where students meet to interchange thought--the hall, +the club, &c.--and the more numerous these are the better. Here +the student is his natural self, unrestrained by a master's +presence. The young minds are free to wrestle, and opposing +thoughts to clash. The fire of contradiction will test the +genuine ore: the same fire will consume all that is worthless in +his opinions and principles: the clay and alloy of his character +too will go. + +He learns to cast away many a cherished notion now dinged and +broken in the war of minds; he is taught to distrust himself and +tolerate the opinions of others. If the recreation, however, is +to be a mental gymnasium it must be guided by fixed rules, and +this is most important. + +The tone must be of a high level. No vulgarity; no scurrility. +_In the hottest debate we must not forget that we are gentlemen_. + +We should argue, not to overcome an opponent, but to make truth +evident. Minds in debate should resemble flails on the threshing +floor, that labour not to overcome each other, but to separate +the solid grains from the chaff and straw. + +No man should be ashamed to say "I don't know" or "Perhaps I am +wrong." + +Without these safeguards the recreation or debate might easily +become a cock-pit of unbridled passions. "Our fortunes lie not in +our stars, good Brutus, but in ourselves." The making of the +priests depends not merely on the college, but also on the +students' own endeavours. This latter fact is but imperfectly +understood, or acted on only in a very limited extent. It is from +intercourse between minds of various bents, the debating clubs, +the social unions, and not the lecture halls or study desks, that +the Oxford student draws strength and elegance of character. It +is the want or misuse of these opportunities that leaves the +young Irish priest so raw and unfinished. + +_Knowledge_ only comes from the professor and the book, but the +_character_ is shaped, rounded, and polished by a variety of +agencies lying outside both these. The creation of these agencies +is almost entirely in the student's own hands. + +[Side note: The dangers of the hour and how to meet them] + +If the Irish priest on the foreign mission is to become a force +in the future, his course of philosophy must be both solid and +practical. + +The last half century has not only changed the arms of his +adversaries but transferred the conflict to new grounds. + +Protestantism is dying. The mere veneer of Christianity is fast +fading off among the sects. + +The cobwebs of neglect are overspreading the works of theological +controversy; but in the domain of ethics and metaphysics activity +daily grows in intensity. + +The student would do well to keep this fact before his eyes. It +is proper that a priest should be conversant with the errors of +the past and the arguments by which they are met. Many of these +errors he will discover exhumed, draped in new disguises, and +paraded as the fruit of modern "thought." But it will be well +also, in his studies, not to ignore the fact that the Agnostic +and the Socialist are, under his very eyes, digging what they +confidently assure us is to be the grave of Christianity. + +Agnosticism and Socialism are the two great forces to be reckoned +with in the immediate future. + +Poison-thought has eaten the vitals of non-catholic sectaries. +The teaching of so-called Christian churches has evaporated into +a mere natural theism, the supernatural element has disappeared. +Both the Socialist and Agnostic frankly confess that the +demolition of the sects is but a preliminary skirmish: the real +battle lies farther afield. The lines of conflict between us and +them are daily drawing closer, and it is a question of brief time +till we are locked in deadly grip. How are we preparing for this +struggle, which may yet convulse the world? + +The future priest must be made familiar with the modern +objections _in their native dress and form_. + +The aspirant for the foreign missions has a tough quarry before +him: it behoves him to steady his hand and point his weapon. + +Young men complain of the length and tediousness of the years +consumed in preparation for the Ministry. Could I but engrave on +their minds the conviction as it lives, fixed and definite, on my +own as to the equipment requisite for the efficient discharge of +their great office; could I but show them the thousands untouched +that might be within her fold to-day, were the Church's workmen +fully aware of the pressing needs of modern life, they would +count that hour as lost that did not contribute its quota towards +their arming for the future. + + ------ + +P.S.--I cannot do better than here append a list of those books I +found in practical experience most valuable in meeting modern +thought. I would earnestly ask every aspirant for the foreign +mission not to leave the college till he has a familiar +acquaintance with every page of them. I take it for granted that +the transcendent merits of "Catholic Belief" and "Faith of our +Fathers" are so well known, especially as books for intending +converts, that there is no need to add them to the list on the +following page. + + Dealing with Agnosticism, &c. + "Liberalism and the Church" _Brownson_. + "Notes on Ingersol" _Lambert_. + "The Newest Answer to the Old Riddle" _Gerrard_. + "New Materialism" _Gaynor_. + + Dealing with Socialism + "Pope Leo XIII. on Labour." + "Labour and Popular Welfare" _Mallock_. + "Socialism" _Cathrein_. + + + +CHAPTER THIRD + +SHOULD A YOUNG PRIEST WRITE HIS SERMONS? + +[Side note: Clearing the ground] + +That the young priest may discharge the office of preacher with +efficiency and honour, not only must he bring ability and +industry to his task, but he must approach it with a mind free +from false theories. One unsound principle may mean shipwreck. +Amongst the many questions discussed by aspirants to pulpit +success, perhaps the greatest prominence is given to the relative +merits of the written or the extemporary sermon. This is so +important that its full treatment demands an entire chapter. + +Before coming to close quarters we may premise a question. If the +carefully prepared sermon cost as little trouble as the +extemporary effort, would the world ever have heard of this +discussion? Oh! the fatal tendency to move on the lines of least +resistance, to glide on the downward slope, and when we have +reached the bottom to manufacture arguments and apologies +justifying the course we selected! When the question is probed to +the bottom you will find that all advocacy of extemporary +preaching resolves itself into an apology for laziness. + +To me the question has long since ceased to be anything more than +a mere academic one, useful perhaps for a debating class, where +youthful gladiators flesh their harmless swords. In practical +life, the well written, the well prepared sermon was the only one +I discovered able to bear the test of experience. + +[Side note: Manning] + +At the threshold of this discussion the authority of Cardinal +Manning may be invoked against us, who, without condemning the +written sermon, shows a decided preference for speaking from +notes. A written sermon, such as advocated, could scarcely be +before his mind when he wrote that chapter in "The Eternal +Priesthood." It is evident he had in view the post-renaissance +preacher--vain, pompous, decked in borrowed ornament, anxious +about the embroidery, and careless about the soul of his +discourse. The species, thank God, is extinct. + +At any rate, if Cardinal Manning meant to condemn the written +discourse such as we understand it, is he triumphantly answered +by himself. The man who advises you to preach from notes and then +launches upon the world a goodly set of volumes of carefully +written sermons, every line of which passed under his correcting +pen, requires no refutation. His action nullifies his advice. It +is to be feared, too, that in forming his judgment he relied too +much on his own experience, and out of it drew conclusions for +others, who could never hope to have his exceptional advantages-- +a fatal mistake. + +Before his conversion he had completed a distinguished career at +Oxford. Of the English language and its perfect use he was a past +master. The copiousness of diction, elegance of phrase, the power +of expressing himself in graceful strength were eminently his. +His intellect was stored with abundant knowledge drawn from many +sources. The thoughts of his well-ordered mind stood in line as +definite and orderly as soldiers on parade. The fibres of his +reasoning had waxed strong in encounters with the ablest +intellects of the day and before the most distinguished audiences +in the literary and debating clubs at Oxford. Add to this the +fact that in a keen knowledge of the human heart, its strength +and weakness, he was surpassed by no man of his age. This was the +equipment with which Manning started life, and it is to be feared +he pre-supposed this, or a great part of it, to be in possession +of those for whom he wrote. + +Now, what young priest, even the most brilliant of his class, +going on the mission can pretend to the hundredth part of the +advantages that enabled Manning to dispense with the written +page? Therefore, to conclude that because he, under such +privileged circumstances, succeeded, you can do the same under a +very different set of conditions, is to ignore the hard logic of +facts and pay a poor compliment to your reason. + +[Side note: Father Burke and O'Connell] + +Then, we are confronted not with opinions but names--the two +names that will stand for all time in the forefront of Irish +orators are those of O'Connell and Father Burke. O'Connell wrote +but one speech--his first. The orations delivered by Father Burke +in America, by which he achieved a European reputation, were not +written. What, then, it is asked, becomes of the advocacy of the +written sermon? The answer to this argument is evident. If the +question is reduced to one of great names, into the other side of +the scales may be thrown not two but dozens of the most +illustrious men who not only wrote, but _became famous mainly +because they wrote_. + +Passing by the great pagan orators, Cicero and Demosthenes, and +the Doctors of the Church, Saints Augustine, John Chrysostom, +&c.--these all wrote, polished and elaborated--we come to the +four names that have flung a deathless glory around the French +pulpit, that created a golden era of sacred eloquence which has +never been surpassed: Bourdaloue, Bossuet, Massillon, and +Fenelon. I will not labour the argument by showing how much of +their strength and fame rested on the construction of their +sermons. But, to return to the intrinsic merits of the +statement--yes, O'Connell and Father Burke were great orators in +_spite of_, and _not because of_, the fact that they spoke +extemporarily. So crude were some of O'Connell's speeches, so +careless was he of their dress, that Shiel complained: "He flung +a brood of young, sturdy ideas upon the world, with scarce a rag +to cover them." + +If ever there was a case when the man made the sermon instead of +the sermon making the man, it was the case of Father Burke. How +little he owed to his sermons and how much they owed to his +delivery is left on record by a capable judge. Sir Charles Gavan +Duffy says: "Father Burke was a born orator; the charm of _voice, +eye and action_ combined to produce his wonderful effects. When +his words were printed much of the spell vanished. One rejoiced +to _hear_ him over and over again, but _re-read_ him rarely, I +think."[1] The greatest tribute that can be paid to the genius of +these two orators is that compositions, wordy, loose, abounding +in repetitions, in their mouths enthralled multitudes. Every +defect disappeared; the mastery, the dazzling brilliancy of their +oratory swept all hearts and blinded criticism. We well may pause +before answering the question: What effects would they have +produced had they time to write masterpieces of finished beauty +like those of Grattan and of Bourdaloue? where each link in the +chain of argument hangs in glittering strength, and each thought +shows the flash of the gem and its solidity too. + +[1] "My Life in Two Hemispheres," Vol. II., 274. + +[Side note: Defence of the system I] + +The first great difficulty against extemporary preaching is that, +though a priest studies his subject and maps his plan, he still +reckons without his host. The mind aroused to activity and warmed +by exertion is sure to spring new thoughts, arguments, and +illustrations across his path. These offspring of latest birth +clothed in freshness will prove a temptation too strong. He will +swerve from the main line to pursue them: the tendency to chase +the fresh hare can scarcely be resisted. Then another new thought +springs up, and, alas! another fresh hunt. The defined sketch +lying on his desk is abandoned: the new ideas have mastered him, +but he cannot master them. He labours himself to death without +avail, for there is neither point, argument, nor sequence: his +sermon is a definition of eternity--without beginning and without +end. The congregation is groaning in despair, and the only +appreciated passage in the whole performance is the preacher's +passage from the pulpit to the sacristy. + +Now, to a man who writes his sermon, such a catastrophe is +impossible. In the process of preparation the field is well +beaten and every thought that could arise secured. From the best +of these his selection is made. To this selection he clings +without danger of swerve. The road on which he travels is not +only mapped but free of ambush and surprises. The milestones are +erected. He may not be a Bossuet or a Burke, but he speaks to a +definite point, has a time to stop, and the people leave the +church with a clear idea. + +[Side note: II.] + +The defenders of extemporary preaching must postulate three +essentials in any man undertaking the office. (I) Orderly +thought. (2) Abundant vocabulary. (3) Accurate and graceful +expressions. Without these he cannot speak. Admit the want of any +one of them and the contention falls to the ground. Now, what +young priest coming out of college has this equipment? It is a +singular fact, too, that these three can be acquired only by, and +are the direct outcome of, pen practice. How is it that this fact +has escaped so many? "Writing makes an exact man," says Bacon; +and to the question: "How can I become an orator?" Cicero's +answer was: "_Caput est quam plurimum scribere_." When then men +point to a Gladstone or a Bright as an example of an extemporary +orator we are entitled to ask: "In what sense can they be called +extemporary speakers, except in the most limited, since the well +marshalled ideas, the flowing periods and elegant graces of +delivery are the products of reams and reams of written pages and +years of patient drudgery?" Yet, even with all these advantages, +on great occasions it was on the written page they relied. Till +the young priest, then, comes to his task as well furnished as a +Gladstone or a Bright, the advocates of extemporary speaking are +out of count. + +[Side note: III.] + +The extemporary preacher challenges nature on her own ground. No +one need doubt the issue. Nature will conquer, and the man who +defies her will succumb. He endeavours to think, to select +word-clothing for his thoughts, to labour his memory, and deliver +his sermon, and performs all four operations at the same time, a +task clearly impossible, but more so when we remember the usual +embarrassments that beset a young preacher--the nervous +agitation, the want of self-control, the desire to succeed. It +ends generally in a stammer and then a break, greeted by the +congregation with a sigh of relief or perhaps a sneer of +contempt. + +Is it by preaching such as this you hope to challenge the respect +and get a hold on the intellect of a cynical world? Is it through +such instrumentality you would bring home the Church's message to +proud and festering humanity? No one can succeed who attempts +more than one task at a time. + +Look to analogy. At the moment when a regiment is expected to +charge, you don't find it engaged in collecting ammunition, +sharpening swords, and learning drill. All these necessary +preliminaries are long since completed. Now every bridle is +grasped, every sword hilt in grip, and the rowelled heels are +ready to dash into the horses' flanks at the first note of the +trumpet blast. + +The preacher should come to the pulpit in a like state of +preparedness, with his thoughts already gathered, moulded, +polished and clothed in the words that fit them best; with every +argument as definite and well knitted as a proposition in Euclid; +the page swept clear of superfluous verbiage; each idea standing +out bright as a jewel in its setting, and the whole so thoroughly +committed to memory that he can defy the most critical to +discover a trace of effort. He should come, holding his +elocutionary forces in reserve, and ready, when the moment +arrives, to flash from his lips each living thought and send from +his heart the waves of subtle, unseen fire to melt, rock, or +subdue the hearts of others, instead of attempting four tasks +simultaneously, and failing in all. His sole business in the +pulpit is not to shape his message or to clothe his message, but +to gather and converge all the powers within him for one grand +purpose and it alone--to send that message home. + +These pages are written mainly for the Irish priest on the +foreign mission. It is well he should be under no delusion. In +Ireland a slipshod or unprepared sermon may meet with indulgent +charity. A very different reception awaits it abroad. The priest +who attempts it will quickly discover how he is set up for a sign +that shall be contradicted. The free, white light of open +criticism penetrates even the sanctuary. There is no dignity to +hedge any man. Congregations smart at being treated to such poor +fare, and will not leave him long in ignorance of their opinions. +Perhaps while in the pulpit the sight of many a curving lip will +make the blood tingle or cause the shame spot to burn on his +cheek. + +Again, the priest on the foreign mission will never face a +congregation that is not sprinkled with Protestants or +unbelievers. Should he not then consider the feelings of his own +people who are humiliated or filled with honest pride by the +manner in which their pastor acquits himself in the eyes of +strangers? Waiving then all supernatural motives, should not +every priest have sufficient manly pride, self-respect and +sensibility for the honour of his exalted office to lift himself +and his work above the sneer of the most censorious, and +challenge the respect, if not the admiration, of every listener? + +The preparation should begin not on the day the sacred oils are +poured on the young priest's hands, but on the day he enters +college. His eyes should be kept fixed on the goal before him. "I +am to be a preacher, and every obstacle that stands on my path +must go down, and every advantage that goes to make a great +orator, at all costs, I must make my own." This ambition should +be nourished till it consumes him, till it becomes "his waking +thought, his midnight dream." His reading, recitation and debates +should be studied under the light of this lodestar of his +destiny: at first shining afar off, but swiftly nearing as each +vacation ends. + +[Side note: Objectors answered I.] + +Those who champion the method of extemporary preaching lay great +stress on two points. (I) The extemporary preacher has a natural +warmth and earnestness of conviction that goes straight to the +heart. (2) These, they maintain, can never accompany the prepared +discourse. Let us examine these two statements. It is true that +when men speak under the influence of strong emotions, passion +may, in a large measure, compensate for accurate expression and +sequence of thought, especially with a rude or half educated +audience. In proof of this, Peter the Hermit and Mahomet are +striking examples. We are dealing, however, not with +extraordinary but the ordinary demands on a priest's powers, and +it would be poor wisdom to stake all his success on the chance +moods of his temperament. To-day the tempest may rock his soul +and his words bear the breath of flame; but, by next Sunday, the +spirit has passed, his passions are ice chill; he is confronted +with the duty of preaching, and on what support shall he now +lean? We must also remember that with increasing education the +popular mind is becoming more analytic, and congregations less +willing to accept emotions, no matter how sincere, as a +substitute for reason. + +The second statement--that the written sermon cannot be vitalized +with fervour--seems childish in face of the fact that even +actors, speaking the thoughts of men dead three hundred years, +move people to tears or cause their blood to blaze. The great +pulpit orators, to whom allusion has already been made, preached +carefully written sermons, yet over ten thousand hearts they +poured lava tides that swept every prejudice in their fiery +breaths. + +[Side note: Shiel] + +What, then, becomes of this trite assumption when there are iron +facts like these to fall upon it? Again, it is objected that the +freshness disappears in elaborate preparation, and an +oft-repeated sermon becomes stale to its author. Shiel, we are +told, "always prepared the language as well as the substance of +his speeches. Two very high excellences he possessed to a most +wonderful degree--_the power of combining extreme preparation +with the greatest passion_." + +[Side note: Wesley] + +That disposes of the first statement. Now, does the repetition of +the same sermon cause it to grow flat? Listen to the actor on his +hundredth night, and see have he and his words grown weary of +each other. Wesley wrote every sermon, and repeatedly preached +the same discourse, with the result that so far from losing by +repetition it gained; and Benjamin Franklin, who was the American +ambassador in England at the time, assures us he never became +truly eloquent with a sermon till he had preached it thirty +times. The following graphic picture of the effects produced by +the preaching of Wesley and his two companions will scarcely help +to support the theory that a sermon preached frequently becomes +fruitless:--"He looked down from the top of a green knoll at +Kingswood on twenty thousand colliers, grimy from the Bristol +coalpits, and saw, as he preached, the tears making white +channels down their blackened cheeks. . . . The terrible sense of +a conviction of sin, a new dread of hell, a new hope of heaven, +took forms at once grotesque and sublime."[2] + +[2] Green--"Short History of the English People." + +We have heard preachers from whose lips each thought fell as +fresh and as hot as if that moment only it welled up from the +fountains of the heart; yet each rounded and chiselled sentence, +that seemed to flow so spontaneously, cosily nestled between the +covers of their manuscripts. We have watched the varied gestures, +the cadences of voice and facial expression to harmonize with and +so express the sense of the words that one seemed to grow out of +the other; still these graces of elocution, that looked so +artless and so charming, were the fruit of long years of study. +All was fresh! All was natural! All palpitated with the blood of +life, yet all were the products of previous toil. It is nonsense, +then, for any man to assert that the written sermon must bear the +stamp of artificiality or that the fire evaporates in the passage +from the desk to the pulpit. + +[Side note: II.] + +But I may be told there is small time for writing sermons. It is +singular that where there is most time on a priest's hands there +are fewest sermons on his desk. But to the objection. One of the +strongest motives urging the writer to insist on the written +sermon is his deep conviction of the shortness of time, for there +is no more expeditious way of squandering that precious gift of +God than by preaching extemporary sermons. + +This is how the case stands. You have to spend as much time in +gathering and arranging the matter for the extemporary as for the +written one. Next year you may have to preach on the same gospel +or feast; of what use will your notes be then? The ideas, +arguments, and illustrations that now spring to your mind with a +glance at this cipher or note will then have vanished. The cipher +remains, but its inspiring power has passed. The oracle is dumb. +You may summon spirits from the vasty deep--but will they come? +You have again to face your old task; year after year the same +drudgery awaits you with less hope of success. The brain, at +first stimulated by novelty, poured forth the hot tide of +thought; now it will answer only to the lash. At the end of five +years what hoarded reserve have you laid by? Your hands are as +empty as the day you started, with this disadvantage, that you +have lost the habit of labour you acquired at college--a serious +loss. When a man permits the fine edge of college industry to +become blunted, the best day of his usefulness is passed. This +treadmill of ineffectual toil fills with disgust, till finally +all efforts are abandoned, and the people are treated to Hamlet's +reading: "Words, words, words." This is the usual series of +evolutions through which an extemporary preacher passes. He +begins with good intentions and bad theories. The system breaks +down, but his habits are now too set to try another, and so he +runs to seed. Here you have explained the fruitlessness, indeed +the paralysis, of many a pulpit. + +In the written sermon, on the other hand, you have a treasure for +life; years pass, but your sermon remains, an instrument becoming +more flexible and telling every time you use it. You are +independent of your mood, on which the extemporary preacher has +to lean so much. You can also defy chance that may call you to +the pulpit at a day's notice. Your motto is: _Semper paratus_. +Your brain may be barren and your feelings frigid, but here are +thoughts already made and shaped. They are your own; and the mind +instinctively responds to the children of its own birth. It +rises, clasps, and embraces them. The passion glow enkindles +afresh; and heart and words are aflame with the ancient fires. +When for the first five years you lay aside a well-written sermon +a month, what a handsome stock-in-trade is at your disposal for +life--your fortune is made. + +[Side note: Incitements to toil] + +The world is in no humour to stand half-hearted work; it will bow +its proud head only to the man who pours out sweat; and +Bourdaloue's standard of excellence will hold for all time. His +answer to the question "What was your best sermon?" is: "The one +I took the most pains with." His labour at the desk was the +precise measure of his success in the pulpit. The French have a +proverb, "_Tout vaut ce qu'il coute_." ("Everything is worth what +it costs.") + +See how laymen put our lethargy and its apologists to shame. Look +at the author with pallid cheek and fevered brow, half starving +in an attic, perfecting his style, polishing his periods. There +is the actor, haggard, jaded, toiling for hours at a single +passage, that he may interpret its meaning and enchain his +audience. While the world is dreaming the barrister is studying +his brief, ransacking tomes, wading through statutes, in search +of one to support his contention, knitting his defence in logical +terseness, cudgeling his brains for ingenious appeals to move a +jury. The lives of eminent lawyers are records of appalling +drudgery. + +Turn to the great doctors of the church. After preaching for +thirty years, St. Augustine did not consider himself free from +the obligation of writing his sermons. He prepared, he tells us, +_cum magno labore_. "I have," says St. John Chrysostom, +"traversed land and ocean to acquire the art of rhetoric." If +giants so laboured, who are we to expect exemption? Ah! if our +bread entirely depended on our sermons, as a lawyer's on his +briefs or an actor's on his parts, what a revolution we should +behold! Yet how humiliating the thought! Every time you go into +the pulpit it is to plead a brief for Christ. The destiny of many +a soul hangs on your effort. Will you permit yourself to be +outdone in generous toil by the lawyer, who consumes his night +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 +passes for truth. The question for us is--how shall we meet the +enemy with steel as highly tempered as his own? + +Cicero embraces within the compass of three words the whole scope +of the orator. + +_Docere_.--To instruct the intellects of his hearers. + +_Placere_.--To use those varied arts and graces by which the +instruction is rendered palatable and agreeable. + +_Movere_.--To move their wills to action. + +The last function is by far the most important. + +The preacher's triumph lies not in the conviction of the +intellect, nor in the approbation of the tastes, but in the +arousing of the wills of his hearers. The will is the goal-point +at which he aims from the beginning. + +A doctor may persuade his patient that bitter medicine and active +exercise are necessary, but so long as the sick man lies on the +sofa and nods assent this barren conviction is of little profit. +When, however, the persuasion forces him to take a six-mile walk +and swallow the revolting draught, then, and only then, is +triumph secured. So a preacher may convince the habitual sinner +of the heinousness of sin; he may win his applause by the cogency +of his reasoning and the brilliancy of his style; but not till he +has moved his will to fling the old fetters to the winds, not +till he brings him a tearful penitent to the confessional, is his +work complete. + +We shall now take the three words of Cicero in order. + +[Side note: _Docere_] + +How shall we accomplish all implied in that word "_docere_?" How +embed conviction in the minds of our hearers? Fill your own head +to repletion with the subject; be ambitious to leave, if +possible, no book unread, books of even collateral bearing. The +more thought stored up the more complete will be your mastery +over the subject and the more abundant the materials from which +to select. I was struck by a letter from Father Faber to a +friend:--"I intend writing a book on the Passion. I have already +read a hundred works on the subject; see if you can get me any +more." A hundred volumes, yet he looks for more! Hence his brain +was saturated with his subject, and when he tapped it, how +copiously it flowed! What books should I read? + +[Side note: What books to read] + +The solid matter in Theology and the Sacred Scriptures and their +developments. A book of sermons is the last to open. Why? You +wish to raise a structure, then go to the original quarry where +you have material in abundance. The arguments that bear the +shaping of your own chisel, though not as polished as those you +would borrow, will fit more naturally and adorn with greater +grace. There are two great risks in reading sermon books--a +tendency to imitate the style and a temptation to filch the +jewels. The style may be very sublime, but the question is will +it suit you. Your neighbour's clothes may fit him admirably, but +on you they would hang lop-sided. + +The second danger is even more fatal. A struggling tyro who makes +an inartistic attempt to adorn his discourse with the most +brilliant passages from Bossuet renders his production not only +worthless but grotesque. The man who can build a labourer's +cottage handsomely should be content; but when he attempts to +engraft upon it the turrets and pilasters of the neighbouring +mansion he covers his work not with ornament but ridicule. "Am I +then," you will ask, "to cast aside the brilliant thoughts and +happy imagery I meet in my reading?" No, I only ask you not to +use them _now_. Note them for re-reading. Cast them as nuggets +into the smelting-pot of your own brain. Trust to time and the +alchemy of thought to transmute them. Wait till these thoughts +become your thoughts. The intellect will assimilate this foreign +material and send it forth on some future occasion, palpitating +with the warm blood of natural life, to strengthen the frame-work +of your reasoning or adorn your composition with veins of natural +beauty. + +[Side note: How shall I read?] + +Read with a pencil and paper slip beside you, not only to jot +down arguments and illustrations, but to seize on the +inspirations that may come. The thoughts we get from books are +not at all as valuable as the train of natural ideas these books +excite. When the mind is once set going there is no knowing what +rich ore it may strike. When the brain throbs in labour with +thought struggling for birth, when the soul is full and the +imagination in flame, this is the golden moment. Each idea now +stands out clear cut as a cube of crystal, and colours of +unwonted richness are draping the fancy. Hence, at all hazards, +lay hold of this inspiration. Close the most interesting work; +leave the most fascinating society; heed neither food nor sleep +till it is secured. + +For you this spirit may never breathe again. Let this moment +pass, and when you do invoke the intellect it is cold and barren, +and the heart that yesterday blazed with living fires holds +lifeless ashes now. It is not always when you have pointed your +pencils and spread the virgin page before you thought will come. +The ideas that have revolutionized the world came at times and in +places most unlooked for. + +When musing on the swaying Sanctuary lamp during Benediction, +Galileo discovered the laws of the pendulum. Such a trifle as the +fall of an apple suggested the laws of gravitation to Newton; and +the first idea of the steam engine came to Watt while he was +watching the lid rising from the boiling kettle. During a royal +banquet the argument to crush the Manicheans grew on the great +mind of St. Thomas, and the king made his secretary write it down +on the spot. Had not these men trained themselves to admit and +welcome the angel visitant, no matter when or where he came, the +stagnant pool of the world's ignorance might have remained for +ever unstirred. + +Your notes are now before you, some the offspring of original +thought and others culled from reading. The former require only +polishing and shaping, but the latter must pass through your own +intellect; every thought must feel the brain heat before it +becomes palatable. We do not ask people to eat meat raw, so we +should take care not to offer them ideas cold and untouched by +the warmth of our own reasoning. Think over, ruminate, roll them +from side to side, let them sink down through the tissues of your +own brain and settle there; then when you send them out warm, +bearing the stamp of your own minting, they will be found +effective. + +Remember that to translate dry theology into questionable +English, encumbered with technical expressions, is not writing a +sermon; but the man who takes up the theological principles, +simmers them in his own thought, wraps them in the transparency +of clear language, illustrating them with his own imagery, and +thereby bringing them within the grasp of the meanest +intelligence, that man, in a sense, creates the truth anew. + +You begin the work of construction by making out a sketch +argument. Let a well-jointed syllogism underlie and form the +framework of your sermon. The conclusion of that syllogism must +be the goal point at which you aim. That once selected, all other +parts of the sermon should tend towards it. As all roads lead to +Rome, so all members of the argument should converge to this +point. The congregation should leave the church with that idea +fixed and clear as a star of light before their minds. + +In writing, as in committing to memory, you should keep the +audience ever before the mind's eye. Attack it on every side; +pursue it with argument, and never leave it in the power of an +intelligent man to say: "I do not understand what he means." + +This habit of writing with the audience before us not only +secures cogency and point for our arguments and clearness for our +illustrations, but it saves us from the fatal mistake of +producing not a sermon but an essay. + +Here our meditations assist us. The daily habit of balancing and +introspection enables a man to read and analyse his own heart, +its strength and weakness. He becomes familiar with the springs +and levers that move it, the storms that convulse and the +sunshine that gladdens the mysterious world within his own +breast. How useful this knowledge when he comes to train the +artillery of the pulpit on the hearts of others! + +[Side note: _Placere_] + +So far we have been studying how to mortise the joints of our +arguments into well-knit and shapely strength; the pure +scholastic, however, possesses but half the weapons of the +preacher. The best built skeleton is repulsive till it is clothed +with flesh, colour and beauty. This is the rhetorician's task. He +comes with his graceful art, and drapes the dry bones of hard +reasoning, clarifies the arguments by illustrations, clothes them +in language crisp and sparkling, weaves around them the warm glow +of fancy and renders the hardest truths palatable by the grace of +diction and delivery. He accomplishes all implied in the word +"_placere_." + +When rhetoric and logic clasp hands the standard of triumph is +fairly certain to be planted above the stubborn heart. We must, +however, remember that the arts of rhetoric are subordinate to +the reasoning, and must be brought forward only for the purpose +of driving the reasoning home. But since man's faculties are not +divided into watertight compartments, neither should the sermon +intended to influence him. + +Our reason is not independent of our passions; our feelings so +influence our judgment that even in our greatest actions it is +hard to disentangle and say so much is the product of one and so +much of the other. The sermon should be constructed to fit the +man; argument and emotion should not stand apart, but dovetail +and interlace. + +[Side note: Sheil] + +In the art of entwining the garlands of rhetoric around the +framework of argument, Sheil stands conspicuous. Lecky says of +him--"His speeches seem exactly to fulfil Burke's description of +perfect oratory--half poetry, half prose. Two very high +excellencies he possessed to the most wonderful degree--the power +of combining extreme preparation with the greatest passion and of +_blending argument with declamation_. + +"We know scarcely any speaker from whom it would be possible to +cite so many passages with all the _sustained rhythm and flow of +declamation, yet consisting wholly of the most elaborate +arguments_. He always prepared the language as well as the +substance of his speeches. He seems to have followed the example +of Cicero in studying the case of his opponent as well as his +own, and was thus enabled to anticipate with great accuracy." + +The hint contained in the last paragraph is invaluable to the man +who proves or expounds doctrine. It sometimes happens that there +is an objection so natural that it seems to grow out of the +reasoning. Perhaps, while the preacher is speaking, it is taking +shape on the minds of the hearers; at least sooner or later it is +certain to recur. + +How is it to be dealt with? Let it pass, and the audience carry +away the argument with a cloud of doubt hanging around that goes +far to destroy its force. Or it may be that when he opens the +morning paper it confronts him, set forth in the most convincing +shape, with the advantage of having, at least, twenty-four hours +to rest on the public mind before he can touch it. Therefore, let +no such objection pass, but grapple with it here and now, and +tear it to shreds. Here you are master of the situation, and can +present the objection in a shape most accessible to your own +knife. By anticipating an antagonist you break his sword and +render your own position unassailable. + +Before our preacher goes into the pulpit just one word in his +ear--Beware of two very common defects--(I) _Rapidity of speech_ +and (2) _Want of proper articulation_. A people who think warmly, +as we Irish do, speak rapidly. Thought is rushed upon thought and +sentence telescoped into sentence. Before sending forth an idea, +take care that its predecessor has got time to settle on the +minds of your hearers. In articulation try to earn the eulogy +passed on Wendell Philips: "He sent each sentence from his lips +as bright and clear cut as a new made sovereign from the mint." + +[Side note: _Movere_] + +What is the main weapon of the orator? Demosthenes answers-- +"Action." Mr. Gladstone--"Earnestness." But St. Francis Borgia +probably explains what both mean when he advises us to preach +with an evidence of conviction that makes it clear to the +audience you are prepared to lay down your life at the foot of +the pulpit stairs for the truth of what you say. + +Without this deep-seated conviction and the enthusiasm that flows +from it, your fire is but painted fire, your thunder the thunder +of the stage. This living earnestness is the spark that illumines +and vitalizes all. Without it the best built sermon is but a +painted corpse; but when the soul gleams forth in the flashing +eye and quivering lip, waves of unseen fire are issuing with +every sentence, and arrows of light silently piercing every +heart. The most stubborn prejudices are forced to melt and the +most depraved wills are swept on the crest of the grand tidal +wave, slowly gathering from the start; but when the preacher +forgets himself and his surroundings, flings self-consciousness +away, goes outside himself, pouring the hot tide from his own +glowing heart, till every flash of his eye and every wave of his +hand becomes a palpitating thought, then his audience surrender; +their hearts are in the hollow of his hand, wax to receive any +impression; their wills can be braced and lifted to the sublimest +heights of heroism--this is triumph. + +[Side note: O'Connell] + +It is said that the great mastery O'Connell exercised over the +people mainly sprang from the passionate earnestness of his +conviction. The nation's heart seemed merged into his own. He +stood forth her living, breathing symbol. When he spoke it was +Ireland spoke. Her passions rocked his soul; her humour flashed +from his eye; her scorn gleamed in his glances, and her sobs +choked his utterance. Ah! if preachers were as filled with the +Spirit of Christ as this man was with the spirit of patriotism, +what a revolution we might witness! + +You ask--"How then do actors move people since there can be no +enthusiasm when men know they simulate unreal people and unreal +passions?" I answer, that the first step towards becoming a great +actor is to fling aside that knowledge and hand yourself over the +willing victim of a delusion. You must not _act_ but _live_ your +part: persuade yourself that you are the character you personate: +surrender your heart to be torn by real passions and wrung by +real sorrows. + +The answer is well known which a celebrated actor once gave to a +divine:--"How is it that you so move people by fiction and our +preachers fail to move them by truth?" "Sir, we speak fiction as +if it were fact, and your preachers speak truth as if it were +fiction." + +Here we leave our preacher facing his audience and filled with +but one idea: I have a great message to deliver and I will lay +hold of every means to send that message home; voice, passion, +style, gesture, these are my arms, and with these I hope to +conquer. + +[Side note: Parting glance at the preacher's mission] + +In parting we take a glance at the preacher's exalted mission, +and we may well ask: What in the whole range of human occupations +does this world hold worthy of being compared to it? + +The battle-field, it is true, has its glories, but it has its +horrors also. Who can paint the pride with which Napoleon saw the +triumph of his skill crush two Emperors at Austerlitz or the +rapture with which he beheld the trophies of great kingdoms at +his feet? The fatigues of winter marches were forgotten when in +the fiery flashes of his veterans' eyes he read his own renown, +while their applauding shouts fell like music on his ears. But +blood soils the proudest trophies of war, and across the +perspective of victory the spectres of murdered men will stalk. + +Human eloquence, too, has its conquests, the purest, the most +beautiful in the natural order. How the pride flush heightens on +the orator's cheek as he watches the crusts of prejudice melt and +hostile hearts surrender; when he marks the bated breath and the +hushed silence attesting his victory more eloquently than the +stormiest applause! He sees the varied moods of his own soul +mirrored in the faces around him, as he summons forth what spirit +he lists: tears or laughter, murmurs or applause answer to his +call. + +What pen can picture the ecstasies that thrilled the soul of +Grattan as he gave utterance to the spirit of expiring freedom in +those orations that rank among the world's masterpieces? The +snows of age melted and the decrepitude of years was flung aside, +and his eyes gleamed with strange fires as he beheld sodden +corruption struck dumb and hang its guilty head; when he saw the +wavering drink fresh courage with each new outburst, and men of +commonest clay transformed into heroes by the blaze of his +genius. Glorious triumphs indeed; but, alas! human, and as such +doomed to die. + +But in the sublimity of his purpose and the imperishable nature +of his conquests the preacher stands alone. Compared with his the +greatest trophies of the battle-field or the forum are feeble +trifles. + +The preacher, in prayer and study, goes down over the green +swards of Calvary, and there gathers the ruby drops of +Redemption. He ascends the pulpit and pours them as a purple tide +over souls that are parched and perishing. As when the +Pentecostal fire rested on the Apostles' heads, a new light +filled their minds and a new flame sprung up within their hearts; +so when the same spirit breathes through the preacher's lips, the +clouds of ignorance dissolve and the light of truth divine +glorifies the minds and inflames the souls of his hearers. The +ears of faith can hear the applause of angels and the eyes of +faith can read Heaven's approval in the flashing glances of the +Blest, as with each stroke the preacher widens the empire of the +Precious Blood and piles palpitating trophies before the Sacred +Heart. Ah! here is a field worthy of the highest ambition that +ever burned within a human breast. + +Hence, we should toil, toil, toil, and call no labour excessive +that we put forth in burnishing into polished efficiency every +weapon God has given us for the service of his pulpit. + + + +CHAPTER FIFTH + +A SOPHISTRY EXPOSED. ADVICE GIVEN + +Theologian and Preacher--The Difference + +It is amazing to think how often the offices of theologian and +preacher are spoken of as if they were identical. Now, the +functions of theologian and preacher stand widely apart. To the +reflective mind this sounds like repeating a truism; yet what a +world of confused thought and ignorant criticism would be cleared +from the subject if this fact were kept well in sight. + +When you say that a young priest is becoming a good preacher you +are met by "impossible! he never got a prize in theology." + +This is supposed to give your poor judgment its final _coup_; +argument after that is useless: _causa finita est_. + +Now, I do not think our appreciation of an eminent surgeon is +lessened by our being told that he is a poor chemist; yet the +difference between these respective professions is scarcely more +radical than that which separates the office of preacher from +that of theologian. + +To the ordinary public the theological treatise is a sealed book. +It is the preacher's duty to break that seal; to take out the dry +truths stored there; to render them palatable and inviting, and +bring them within the grasp of the plainest intelligence. + +[Side note: Solicitor and barrister] + +Few occupations more aptly illustrate this difference than those +of solicitor and barrister. + +The attorney works up the materials for the case: he groups +statutes, discovers principles, tabulates references, supplies +dates. While he does not plead himself, a man so armed is +invaluable at the elbow of an able advocate; without the +barrister, however, especially where the prejudices, interests, +and the imagination of a jury have to be worked upon, his load of +learned lumber would be of small value. The theologian makes out +the brief: the preacher pleads it. + +To render this distinction clearer let us take one more +illustration. No animal can exist on air and clay and sunlight +alone. Though these contain the elements on which it is fed; yet, +though surrounded by them in most ample abundance, he must perish +if a third power is not brought into play. The vegetable world +comes intervening between the raw chemicals and the hungry man. +Out of earth and air and light it builds the ripened sheaf, the +succulent apple and the savoury potato. So, though bookshelves +groan under calf-bound tomes hoarding the hived treasures of the +masters of theology, the common minds of the multitude would +starve did not the preacher interpose as interpreter of the +theologian's message, drawing forth from his storehouse truths +and principles out of which he manufactures the daily bread on +which the ordinary man must live. Without his aid the richest +repository ever clasped between the covers of a book would remain +a _fons signatus a hortus conclusus_. The prophet of God saw the +dry bones scattered over the valley of desolation till the breath +of a new power passed over them, and lo! (I) "the bones came +together each one to its joint; (2) the sinews and the flesh came +upon them . . . (3) and the skin was stretched out over +them . . . and the spirit came into them and they lived." + +The attorney and the theologian gather the dry bones, but on the +preacher and the barrister lie the fourfold task of mortising the +joints into each other, binding them with the sinews of argument, +clothing them in living beauty and vitalizing the whole structure +with the flame of impassioned earnestness. Only when this has +been done will they live. + +So thoroughly distinct are the two offices it rarely happens that +a professional theologian becomes an efficient preacher. The +concentration and exclusive exercise of one faculty unfits him +for a task demanding many. + +People do not come to church to hear spoken treatises or witness +dissecting operations on subtle distinctions. They come to be +instructed, pleased and moved. + +Again, for the perfect fulfilment of the preacher's task, amongst +other gifts he must have imagination; but to the master of an +exact science like theology an exuberant fancy might prove a +fatal dowry. + +A clear statement of this truth holds out hopeful encouragement +to the man whose theological attainments could not be described +as "brilliant": it teaches, too, the man who has distinguished +himself in theology that if he ambitions being a preacher he has +an entirely new set of sciences to master, but, best of all, it +breaks into small bits an oft-used weapon in the hands of the +young preacher's arch-enemy--the critic. + +[Side note: The critic at work] + +How often do we see this self-constituted oracle rely for his +sole support on this sophistry? + +You turn from a church door filled with admiration; there is a +glow of rapture around your heart; every nerve is tingling; you +have been enthralled. A truth, old indeed but now dressed in a +new robe, lives before your mind with a meaning and a richness of +colour never experienced before. Your will is swept captive on +the crest of that subtle tide of unseen fire that seems to fill +the air. You are bracing yourself to a heroic resolve. The +preacher's voice, like ceaseless music, is still thrilling down +through the avenues of your soul. When the critic comes and in +pity asks you--"Do you really think that a good sermon?" he +compassionates your poor judgment, leads you to the library, +takes down a volume of Lehmkuhl or Suarez, and with a triumphant +wave of his hand assures you that every idea in that sermon may +be found there. + +You are now face to face with the most perplexing of +sophistries--the half truth. + +Your judgment is staggered by two apparently contradictory +facts--it was a fine sermon, yet every idea may be found in the +theological treatise. + +To enable you to extricate yourself from the puzzle, ratify your +first opinion and confound the critic; picture another set of +circumstances. You stand before St. Peter's, wrapped in +admiration at this world's wonder. + + "Power, glory, strength and beauty, all are aisled + In this eternal ark of worship undefiled." + +You are marvelling how did human brains conceive and human hands +embody this mighty dream of art. One of the pest tribe yclept +"critic" comes pitying your simple heart; he leads you to a +quarry, and triumphantly pointing says: "Here every stone of that +building was found. Now, what becomes of the glory simple people +like you bestow on Bramante and Michael Angelo?" How would you +answer him? Easily enough. Make him a present of the quarry, and +ask him to produce another St. Peter's. The challenge is +conclusive. You have him impaled. + +Come back now to the library. Present the preacher's critic with +a hundred tomes, give him all this raw material multiplied ten +times over out of which that masterpiece of sacred eloquence was +built, and ask him to enthral those thousands that hung +spellbound on that man's lips, whose thrilled hearts were aflame, +who left the church examining their consciences and vowing better +lives. Alas! he who was so eloquent in tearing others to rags +when he himself essays their task himself--angels well might +weep. + +No department of life is secure against this sophistry. + +You listen till you are dazed with admiration at one of those +masterpieces of forensic pleading that have flung a deathless +glory around the names of Russell and Whiteside; but the critic, +with a superior toss of his head, assures you that this can be +found in Magna Charta and the Statute book. Here is the +tantalising half truth. + +To be sure the principles and groundwork of reasoning are there; +but the office of the advocate was to draw them from the dust and +darkness, to gather these scattered articles, statutes and +precedents into his capacious brain, and from them evolve a +framework of argument to fit his purpose. He moulds them into an +impregnable bulwark of law and reasoning to shelter his client. +So naturally does he bend them to his case that every listener is +impressed with the conviction that surely the framers of these +statutes and principles must have a case like this before their +minds when they committed them to parchment. + +Yet in the judgment of the critic the variety of talents brought +to this complex task count for nothing. + +Here we see what a distinction must be made between the office of +theologian and preacher, and what a confusion of thought is saved +by keeping this line of demarcation in view. + +[Side note: Parting advice] + +Now that the subject of pulpit oratory is swept clear from +misleading theories and set in its true light before the young +preacher's eyes, let us see how further we can assist him to +discharge his high office with honour and efficiency. + +[Side note: I.--Be natural in development] + +"To thine own self be true" is the soundest of advices. + +From the beginning the young preacher should aim at developing on +his own lines, thinking in his own way and expressing his +thoughts in their own native dress. No matter how eminent the +paragon you admire, do not become an understudy of him. Remember +he is great only because he is himself and not the imitation of +another. Try, however, to get at the secret of his greatness. +What is it? He discovered his strong points and cultivated them. +Go and do likewise. + +You see a man with clear sequence of ideas and easy expression, +but without those exceptional gifts that go to make the born +orator. He could attain even eminence as a lecturer or +instructor, but lecture or instruct he will not, for he has read +Ventura and become smitten. He tries to imitate the Padre's lofty +style, and succeeds in "amazing the unlearned and making the +learned smile." "Failure" is written large over all his efforts. + +David could not fight with the gorgeous but cumbersome arms of +Saul: with his own homely sling and the polished stone from the +brook, the weapon to which he was accustomed, he achieved +victory. + +I knew a priest who had a marvellous charm as a storyteller. He +invested the merest trifles of incident with resistless +fascination. Hours in his society flew like moments. + +He became a distinguished preacher. I went to hear him, and +quickly discovered the secret of his success. He knew his strong +point, and staked his all on it. He preached his sermons as he +told his stories--in graphic, familiar narrative. The +congregation felt they were taken into his confidence; they were +hypnotised. You forgot that you were sitting in stiff dignity in +a church, and imagined yourself one of a group around the +winter's log listening to a delightful _raconteur_, and you +willingly surrendered to the pleasing delusion. + +Every play of fancy, every flash of thought, every clinched +conviction passed from him to his hearers till the souls of +preacher and listeners became like reflecting mirrors. There was +always regret when he finished. + +Now, had that man attempted to become Demosthenes instead of +himself he would have succeeded in becoming ridiculous. + +[Side note: 2.--Be natural in composition] + +The natural outpouring of thought has a relish and a +resistlessness of force that no art can rival. The scent of a +sprig of wild woodbine holds a charm beyond all the perfumes of +the chemist's shop. + +In order to be natural there is no necessity to ignore the +elegancies of style; for what is style? _Le style est l'homme_. +The style is the man. A perfect style, then, is attained when the +written page is the exact expression of the train of thought as +it lies in the writer's head. A style is absolutely perfect when +it is absolutely natural. + +Artificial embroidery, purple patches, and golden vapour are +often the defects and not the perfection of style. + +Language can be simple, however, without being vulgar or +commonplace. + +What book will ever equal the Bible for simplicity, yet what +dignity? What preacher ever approached OUR DIVINE LORD; and, +humanly speaking, what was the source of His strength? + +He accommodated Himself to His hearers. From the open book of +nature He made the realms of grace familiar to the minds of +children. He pointed to the lilies of the field, to the ravens of +the wood, to the ripening bud and the angry cloud. "_Ut ex iis +quae animus novit, surgat ad incognita quae non novit_."[1] + +[1] Third Nocturn for Non-Virgins. + +He used the world around us to lift our thoughts to the world +above us. + +When He spoke to fishermen His illustrations were taken from seas +and nets. When He preached to farmers the word of God was the +seed falling on rocky soil or the fertile furrow. When the +merchants with caravans and silken tunics surrounded Him it +becomes the pearl of great price. When amongst simple villagers +it is the lost groat in search of which the housewife sweeps the +floor and searches each nook and cranny. + +Here is language coming down to the level of every hearer, +abounding in familiar pictures, yet never losing dignity. + +While composing sermons for factory hands Cardinal Wiseman +employed a weaver to teach him the technicalities of the loom +that he might reach their hearts through the only channel of +thought they understood. + +It is wonderful how the natural world around us can be used to +bring even the most sublime truths within the grasp of the +plainest intellects. Why do we not draw more frequently and more +abundantly from this source? + +When we hear of a man whose discourses "are too sublime for the +ordinary intelligence" it is hard to forbear a smile. Our pity +goes out not to "the ordinary intelligence," but to the cloudy +dweller in Patmos. Mystic obscurity is used more frequently as a +cloak for muddle-headed thinking than as a robe with which to +drape sublimity of thought. Hence, if people do not understand +the preacher, blame not the people, but let the preacher look to +it. + +Our nimble-minded imaginative people will rise to and grasp the +most elevated ideas if properly presented. + +I listened to a sermon in an English church preached before a +congregation of Irish poor. The keynote was lofty, but +beautifully sustained throughout. The range of thought was high, +but the truths clarified by an abundance of happy illustration. +That discourse was so classic in its beauty that it might be +preached before an Oxford audience, yet not an idea was lost on +that breathless congregation, where every female head was covered +by a shawl. The speaker possessed in an eminent degree three +gifts that must command success:--He could think clearly; he +could so express his thoughts that his language became the mirror +of his mind; he made a large demand on the familiar scenes of +nature with which to illustrate his ideas and send his reasoning +home; he possessed a mind at once logical and imaginative and a +manner of expression that formed a definition of perfect +style--_Le style c'est l'homme_--the style is the man. + +[Side note: 3.--Be natural in delivery] + +The faintest suspicion of art immediately sets your audience up +in arms. Their teeth are on edge; their heart locked against you. +"This is acting and not preaching" seals your fate. + +Do not imagine for a moment that I advocate the neglect of +elocutionary graces. So far from that I hold that every young +priest leaving college should be a past master of all rhetorical +arts. Gesture, articulation, voice production and inflection +should be at his finger tips. No book on the subject should be +unread. No year of college life should pass without contributing +materially towards the elocutionary equipment of the future +preacher. The college that neglects this training and permits +young men to go into the ministry without this needful art is +guilty of a most serious sin of omission. + +What I do mean is _preach_ your sermons and do not _declaim_ +them. How is this accomplished? + +For the first year bend all your powers to capturing the +intellects of your auditors, holding in reserve, for the time +being, the elocutionary forces. Then, when you have acquired the +habit of convincing the intelligence, let the elegancies of +finished declamation insinuate themselves gradually into your +delivery. Thus art will so engraft itself on nature, the +rhetorical graces so entwining and dovetailing into your +convictions and passions that they will appear as growing out of +and not added on to them. Here is perfection-- + + _Ars artium celare artem_. + +Reverse this: make declamation your first concern, and let us +even suppose the artificiality is not detected, which is +supposing a great deal. What is the result? Your sermon is +declamation and nothing else. This means failure, for no matter +how the passions are aroused, if they are not upheld by the +pillars of conviction, your finest effort is a fire of chips: a +blaze for a moment, then ashes. + +Though elocutionary powers are of so much importance as to be +almost indispensable, yet they are subordinate to the sermon: +they are the aids and auxiliaries to drive it home. A graceful +gesture or musical inflection of voice will not convince the +intellect or move the passions: they are not the arrows: they +lend wings of fire, however, to send the arrows to the mark. + +I know no more fatal blunder, or one that militates more strongly +against a speaker, than the adoption of an artificial accent. + +[Side note: The Irish gift of oratory] + +God has not only given our race a special mission--the apostolate +of the English-speaking world--but he has singularly endowed us +with those gifts that go to make successful preachers of His +Word--logical minds, imagination and sensibility. + +[Side note: Logical minds] + +That we possess this in an eminent degree is evident from a +striking fact. There are three avocations to which the faculty of +close reasoning is a first essential--law, politics and +theology--and in each of these our countrymen excel. + +[Side note: Law] + +We are as essentially a race of lawyers as the Jews are a race of +moneylenders. + +For eleven years I watched the sons of Irish parents going from +an Australian college to professional careers. Ninety-eight per +cent., following the natural bent of their minds, turned to the +lawyer's office. + +From the year 1858 to the present hour the robes of Victoria's +Chief Justice have been uninterruptedly worn by Irishmen. From +1873 the Chief Justiceship of New South Wales has been +exclusively held by sons of the green isle. But, above all, turn +to the lawyers' streets in the new worlds of America and +Australia and see the amazing number of brass plates adorned with +O's and Mac's. + +[Side note: Politics] + +The political organisations in the labour world of England to-day +are mainly captained by Irishmen. Two of them have been sent to +Parliament, and two more will probably join them in the next +Parliament. + +The rapidity with which the Irish emigrant, following the law of +natural selection, plunges into politics has passed into a +proverb in America and furnished a humorous parody on a +well-known stanza:-- + + "There came to the beach a poor exile of Erin, + The dew on his thin robe was heavy and chill, + The ship that had brought him scarce from harbour was steerin', + When Senator Mike was presenting a Bill." + +[Side note: Theology] + +The great Cardinal Franzelin said to one of his most +distinguished pupils[2]--"As a professor of theology at Rome for +many years I had every day opportunities of studying the +character and mental equipment of various nations, and, though in +favour of the Germans, I give it as my opinion that the Irish, as +a race, have the most theological minds of any people." Judgment +from such an authority is conclusive. + +[2] Dr. Croke, late Archbishop of Cashel. + +The first essential for a preacher is the power of lucid +reasoning. That this faculty is ours is now abundantly +established. The next talent requisite is imagination. That we +have imagination, often teeming in tropical luxuriance, but +shared in great or less degree by all, has never been questioned. +One more requisite and the oratorical outfit is complete. + +[Side note: Sensibility] + +On this score it is sufficient to say that we are Celts, endowed +with the ardent nervous temperaments. But suffering has given to +ours an acute refinement that nothing else could impart. + + "Never soul could know its powers + Until sorrow swept its chords." + +"We give preference to Jews and Irishmen on our staff," said the +proprietor of a leading journal. "Both have suffered, and a man +with a grievance writes passionately. He dips the pen into his +own heart and electric energy thrills his sentences; hence the +crisp pungency and compressed fire of our columns." + +What gift that goes to make an orator has God denied us? Reason, +fancy, passion, a pathos and humour where the smile trembles on +the borderland of tears. + +Why then this barrenness? Mainly because of the criminal neglect +of colleges in the past to cultivate the abundant material placed +at their disposal; other contributory causes are cynical +criticism and want of courageous ambition. + +Colleges are now bestirring themselves--it is high time--but +criticism has not died. Refined natures have heartstrings like +the chords of Aeolian harps, sensitive to the faintest touch, +responsive to the gentlest whisper of the evening breeze; such +shrink in terror from the icy breath of the scoffer: the purpose +is frozen dead within their souls. O criticism! what crimes have +been committed in your name! How many noble careers have you +blasted? + +[Side note: The world's greatest orators] + +The man without ambition is not worth his salt. Some of the +world's greatest orators have been spurred on to triumph despite +difficulties before which timid men would stand aghast. + +The story of Demosthenes is too familiar to bear repetition. + +A good voice and commanding presence are powerful auxiliaries +towards oratorical success; but Curran's appearance was so mean +that he was once taken for a shoeblack. His stammering, blunders, +and collapses in early life earned for him the nickname of +"Orator Mum." Yet to what a lofty eminence did not his sleepless +endeavours lift him! + +If Sheil's portraits speak truly he must have closely resembled a +starved sweep on a wet day, while Disraeli declares his voice was +as unmusical as the sound of a broken tin whistle. Of him Lecky +writes:--"Richard Lalor Shiel forms one of the many examples +history presents of splendid oratorical powers clogged by +insuperable natural defects. His person was diminutive and wholly +devoid of dignity. His voice shrill, harsh, and often rising to a +positive shriek. His action, when most natural, violent, without +gracefulness, and eccentric even to absurdity."[3] + +[3] Lecky--"Leaders of Public Opinion in Ireland," p. 194. + +In spite of these defects, and at a period when the nation's ear +was pampered to fastidiousness by the eloquence of Grattan, Flood +and O'Connell, he began his upward struggle towards eminence. He +not only succeeded in winning a foremost place, but in wreathing +himself with deathless fame when laurels shaded the brows of +giants alone. + +In face of these encouraging examples who could lose heart when +the trumpet of ambition blows--"struggle, struggle, struggle." + + "Scorn delights and live laborious days." + + + +CHAPTER SIXTH + +THE ART OF ELOCUTION + +The subject of preaching would be incomplete without a chapter on +the important and graceful art of elocution. + +[Side note: What books should we read?] + +If asked what works would a student read on the subject, the +wisest answer would be, every book he can lay hold of. The number +of works dealing with rhetoric are few, but if a man can get +half-a-dozen new ideas from any one of them his labour is more +than repaid. Even should he meet the same thought repeated, the +fact that it is clothed in different language and set in a new +light invests it with a freshness that is sure to fix it +permanently in his mind. + +If, however, the question be narrowed down to which are the three +best books on this subject? without pretending to give a decisive +answer to this difficult question we have no hesitation in saying +that, for the ecclesiastical student, "Potter's Sacred +Eloquence," "The Making of an Orator," by Mr. John O'Connor +Power, and Mr. McHardy Flint's little work, "Natural Elocution," +will be found most useful. + +Some of the thoughts in this chapter are borrowed from the last +two authors. + +With this general acknowledgment both gentlemen will, we are +sure, be content when we spare the reader repeated references to +either titles or pages of their works. + +[Side note: What is rhetoric?] + +[Side note: Cicero] + +At the threshold of our subject we are met by the question--What +is rhetoric? Mr. Power gives the answer--"The resources of +rhetoric are natural resources, and rules for composition are +only records intended for the guidance of those who have not +discovered the originals for themselves. The first speakers had +no rules and no experience to draw upon but their own. In course +of time speeches came to be reported, and then the secret of +their eloquence disclosed itself. All the qualities of the orator +were then observed; the highest and the best were chosen and +combined and erected into an art, which was named Rhetoric. This +art was designed to _aid_ speakers and not as a means of +_fettering their natural ability_." Cicero has put almost the +same thoughts in different words--"I consider that, with regard +to all precept, the case is this; not that orators by adhering to +them have obtained distinction in eloquence, but that certain +persons have noticed what men of eloquence have practised of +their own accord, and formed rules accordingly; _so that +eloquence has not sprung from art, but art from eloquence_." This +is not only sound theory, but sound sense. It shatters a +time-worn fallacy and gives hope and encouragement to the +student. Every man can become an orator in a greater or a less +degree. The powers slumber within him; and the teacher's duty is +not to create but awaken, draw out, develop and guide these +inborn gifts. + +Now, the question is--By what standard shall the speaker be +trained? The master-hand of Shakespere has framed a set of rules +that will stand for all time as the most pregnant piece of wisdom +ever penned on the art of elocution. Though Hamlet's advice is +addressed to actors, there is scarcely a line which the young +orator can afford to ignore. He would do well to commit the +entire piece to memory. + +[Side note: Shakespere's advice to speakers] + +"Speak the speech, I pray you, as I pronounced it to you, +trippingly on the tongue; but if you mouth it, as many of our +players do, I had as lief the town-crier spoke my lines. Nor do +not saw the air too much with your hand thus: but use all gently; +for in the very torrent, tempest, and (as I may say) whirlwind of +your passion, you must acquire and beget a temperance, that may +give it smoothness. O, it offends me to the soul, to hear a +robustious periwig-pated fellow tear a passion to tatters, to +very rags, to split the ears of the groundlings; who, for the +most part are capable of nothing but inexplicable dumb shows and +noise: I would have such a fellow whipped for o'er-doing +Termagant; it out-herods Herod: pray you, avoid it. Be not too +tame neither, but let your own discretion be your tutor: suit the +action to the word, the word to the action; with this special +observance, that you o'er-step not the modesty of nature; for +anything so overdone is from the purpose of playing, whose end, +both at the first, and now, was, and is, to hold, as 'twere the +mirror up to nature; to show virtue her own feature, scorn her +own image, and the very age and body of the time, his form and +pressure. Now this, overdone, or come tardy off, though it make +the unskilful laugh, cannot but make the judicious grieve; the +censure of which one, must, in your allowance, o'er-weigh a whole +theatre of others. O, there be players, that I have seen +play--and heard others praise, and that highly--not to speak it +profanely, that, neither having the accent of christians, nor the +gait of christian, pagan, nor man, have so strutted, and +bellowed, that I have thought some of nature's journeymen had +made men, and not made them well, they imitated humanity so +abominably." + +[Side note: Avoid extremes] + +It will be well to observe that throughout this advice the poet +is careful to warn us against extremes--neither to tear a passion +to rags nor to be too tame--he insists on moderation. Even in the +very tempest of passion one must not lose self-control nor make +extravagant use of the hands. The "overdone" and the "come tardy +off" are the two poles to be shunned. + +"Speak the speech as I pronounced it." By placing the two words +"speak" and "pronounce" in contrast, Hamlet leads us to infer +that in reading the play over for the actors his principal care +was to give perfect articulation. "Speak the speech as I +_pronounced_ it." + +"Trippingly on the tongue." Evidently the slow, thick utterance +of the mumbling speaker, to the roof of whose mouth the words +seem to cling, was not unknown in Shakespere's day. As a remedy +against this he tells them to "speak it trippingly." No word in +the English language could so clearly convey the case. Nimble, +airy resonance is suggested by the very sound of the word +"trippingly." + +[Side note: Two errors] + +Having given this advice he hastens to warn them against the +opposite extreme: "But if you mouth it." He wants no boisterous +notes of artificial passion: he would as lief the town-crier +spoke his lines. The office of that humble functionary demands +not the graces of finished elocution, only strong lungs with +which to shout; hence a piece of delicate pathos or varied +passions would probably receive scant justice at his hands. But +even the town-crier is tolerable--he is nature's product-- +compared with the workmanship of nature's journeymen--those who +strut and bellow. "They imitate humanity so abominably" that +their delivery touches the extremest limit of all that is +reprehensible in elocution. + +[Side note: Gesture] + +"Suit the action to the word, the word to the action." Here we +have the fundamental law for the use of gesture. + +Gesture is not an artificial action standing apart from, or added +to, the words. It is thought seeking spontaneous, visible, +outward expression through the movements of the hand or eye or +features just at the moment when that same thought is receiving +articulate birth on the tongue. Its purpose is to make the words +grow large, as it were; to expand and emphasise their meaning; +hence the wisdom of the advice--"Suit the action to the word, the +word to the action." If the action distract the listeners' +attention from the word its purpose is defeated. + +Now that we have an idea of what elocution is, and analysed the +wisest set of rules ever framed for its government, we turn to +the mechanical agencies by which it is produced--breathing, +resonance, inflection. + +[Side note: How to inhale] + +When a person draws in the air through the mouth, the cold, +unpurified stream strikes directly on the back of the roof, +causing dryness and irritation. To avoid this the preacher, +except when actually engaged in speaking, should inhale through +the nose. The advantages of so doing are considerable. The air +inhaled through the nasal organs is drawn over the roof of the +mouth and soft palate, and thus warmed by contact with the +blood-vessels; so that it is rendered innoxious by the time it +reaches the throat. Again, any particles of dust or other +impurities it might contain are caught by the filterers or hairs +situated in the nasal cavities for that purpose. Thus it reaches +the tender vocal chords both warmed and purified. To these may be +added another advantage: it is more becoming to inhale with +closed lips--the picture of a speaker gasping open-mouthed is not +a graceful one. + +[Side note: How use the lungs] + +We now come to the important question--How shall I increase my +vocal powers? As is well known, there are two methods of inhaling +and expelling the air from the lungs. One is by means of the +rising and falling of the ribs. This is called "the costal +method." The other is by the contraction and distention of the +midriff or diaphragm. The diaphragm is the movable floor to the +thorax or box that encloses the lungs. This is called "the +diaphragmatic method." Now, since God has furnished us with both +methods, He evidently intended that we should use both, as we use +our two eyes or our two ears. They are given, not as alternative, +but as simultaneous instruments of action. The weakness in many a +speaker's voice, its want of volume and its failure when a +sustained effort is demanded, is due to the fact that he breathes +by means of his ribs alone, throwing all the pressure on the +upper portion of the lungs, not asking the large areas to +contribute anything. He thus robs himself of breathing capacity, +and consequently of voice power. + +[Side note: Diaphragmatic breathing] + +To get a perfect mastery over the "diaphragmatic" method and make +it as serviceable as possible, practise breathing while lying on +your back, filling the lungs to the utmost, and exhausting them +as completely as possible. Inhale rapidly and exhale slowly. Then +reverse the order; inhale slowly and exhale rapidly. Again let +"slow" and "rapid" alternately make both movements. + +By this exercise you acquire flexibility of the midriff muscles, +you enlarge the cubic dimensions of the breathing area, you +distribute the burden generally; and when the occasion comes to +send your voice over four thousand heads you will discover that +the reserve fund of voice and strength acquired by this practice +is at your service. This plan bears that highest and safest +sanction--_in practical experience it has proved a genuine +success_. + +[Side note: A clergyman's sore throat] + +The ailment known as "a clergyman's sore throat" is too common +and too serious to be passed over--the raucous, husky voice sawn +across the throat, the congested blood-vessels, the strained +muscles, the throat lining as raw as a beefsteak. Here you have +evident results of some unnatural effort. What is it? In ordinary +conversation we employ the throat, back of the mouth and vocal +chords mainly: very little demand is made on the lungs. The voice +we use is the "head voice." Now, when called on to fill a large +building, the centre of stress should instantly be shifted from +the mouth and throat to the lungs. On them the whole weight +should be flung--then you produce the "chest voice." It is the +want of this transference of strain from the throat to the lungs +that causes the misery called "a clergyman's sore throat." Men +endeavour to fill a large building with precisely the same set of +organs that they use when speaking by the fireside. The strain +intended for the broad-based, strong-fibred lungs is kept on the +delicate vocal chords, palate and throat. These were never built +for that purpose, and nature kicks against the outrage. The +throat becomes congested, parched, torn and raw; the voice grows +husky, cracked, and finally ends in a scream. Here is the genesis +of the fatal "clergyman's sore throat" explained. + +[Side note: An illustration] + +Analogy makes this clearer still. Our back teeth were built for +the purpose of grinding; hence their broad crowns, strong shafts, +and firm roots; the teeth in the front of the mouth were intended +for tasks not at all so arduous. Tamper with this arrangement; +transfer the laborious work of mastication to the front teeth, +and see how nature will punish you. This illustrates the outrage +committed when the strain and effort that should be shifted to +the lungs are allowed to rest on the slender organs intended for +the entirely different purpose of modulation. + +[Side note: How acquire a chest voice] + +One question remains--How can a person cultivate a chest voice? +How bring the voice directly from the lungs without in the least +distressing the throat? This is all important. The young speaker +should practise for a short time daily the method of lifting, +first, words and then sentences straight from the lungs without +making the least possible demand on the throat or vocal chords, +stealing each word out of the depths of the lungs, afraid, as it +were, of awakening the upper organs. When he has acquired this +habit of speaking words and sentences, let him practise a verse +or two of declamation. In a short time he will be surprised at +his progress in acquiring a chest voice. In public speaking it +will become his ordinary voice; for not only does the established +habit assist him, but the organs daily develop and fit themselves +to his purpose, and he learns to transfer the stress from his +throat to his lungs as easily and quickly and instinctively as +the pianist passes his fingers from the treble to the base notes +on the keyboard. + +The test of any theory is--How has it worked in practice? The +method of voice production here recommended has given the writer +advantages that it would be difficult to overestimate. Lungs +naturally weak grew to three times their former size and +strength; his voice increased in depth, richness and resonance; +though constantly speaking in large churches for years, he has +never known what hoarseness, sore throat or huskiness is. + +A method that to him has been worth untold gold may not be +without advantage to his readers. + +[Side note: Resonance] + +We must, however, have more than speech; we must have musical +speech. This is acquired by resonance and inflection. + +To send a stream of air from the lungs and vocalise it on its +outward passage is not enough; by this you produce only a tiny, +impoverished voice that conveys no force and awakens no emotion. +There is something wanting; that something is--Resonance. It +supplies richness and effectiveness to the stream of sound. + +[Side note: An illustration] + +The difference between speech stripped of resonance and +accompanied with it is best illustrated by a simple experiment. +Take a violin-string in your hand: touch it, and mark the sound +produced--how weak and thin. Now, attach the string to the +violin: touch it again, and see how the resonating instrument +converts the feeble sound of the detached string into a sonorous +wave of vibrating music. Now, the vocal chords are placed in the +throat midway between two resonators--the chest and the head. +These are to the chords what the body of the violin is to the +string. When the stream of air has passed the chords it is +already accompanied by the vibrations of the chest, but the head +is the main contributor. The residual air in the upper portions +of the throat, mouth and nasal cavities is thrown into vibration. + +Here the importance of the subject reveals itself. The art that +can convert a screech into pleasing cadences of soft sound is no +trifle. Nasal resonance must not be confounded with nasal twang. +The one is produced by vibrating the air in the cavities, the +twang by expelling it from them. The part played by each organ in +voice production may be briefly summarised:--The lungs send out a +stream of air; the vocal chords, principally, modulate it; the +head and chest give it resonance. + +Now, that it is clearly evident God intended us to speak and sing +to the accompaniment of these aerial orchestras concealed in the +head and chest, the only remaining question is--How we shall use +them? + +[Side note: Advice how to avoid screech] + +Take care never to exhaust these reservoirs of air; if you do the +result will be screech and shout. No matter what demand is made +on you, be sure to hold a reserve supply of residual air: set it +vibrating, and your voice on its outward passage will receive an +enrichment of volume, force, and music. + +[Side note: Inflection: its necessity] + +"Go slowly and articulate well" are not sufficient. "Inflect your +language" must be added. A student should practise assiduously +till his sentences become as flexible as a cutting whip, capable +of being bent to every mood and of lending themselves to every +passion. In pathos his words should sink almost to a sob, tearful +in their plaintiveness; in denunciation they should rise, +muttering the voices of the storms; and in narrative the proper +pitch is ordinary middle tone. + +[Side note: French and English want inflection] + +It is in this want of inflective grace that English, and more +especially French, speakers lose so much of their force. Both +read admirably and articulate with precision, but the unvaried +straight line tone, so suited to reading, will not serve the +purpose when we not only wish to make people understand, but also +endeavour to move their passions. + +[Side note: The secret power of a good story-teller] + +Recall a good story-teller or speaker of whom you never wearied; +go back in memory and see how much he owed to the power contained +in the inflected voice--the varied tones that sank or swelled as +suited the mood or passion. + +As you sat by the winter's fire your flesh was made to creep and +your hair stood on end in terror while you furtively stole a +glance around looking for the apparition described in the weird +ghost story. The secret power that somewhere lay enthralled you. +Was it not in the husky whisper or the hush of restraint? Let +that speaker tell the same story in the middle pitched narrative +tone, and lo! the spell is vanished. If the thunder thrills that +rocked and vibrated through his voice were taken from +Demosthenes, would he have ever driven Eschines into exile? + +[Side note: Two advantages of inflection] + +The practice of varied cadences in speech has two genuine +advantages--_it saves the speaker from fatigue and the hearers +from weariness_. + +When a man varies his tone of voice he breaks up the arrangement +in the group of muscles that till then bore the stress of effort: +a new combination is formed, and the work transferred to fresh +muscles. This brings instant relief. A similar sense of +refreshment comes to his hearers. + +In speaking, as in singing, we must have melody, but there is no +melody without variety. People would rush even from a Melba if +she sang every note in the same key. Inflection not only +constitutes the melody of speech, but imparts to it rhetorical +significance and logical force. + +The want of success in many a speaker who has both a good voice +and good matter may be found in the fact that his voice, instead +of being as flexible as a piece of whalebone, is as unbending as +a bar of iron; or, worse still, perhaps he adopts the dreary +monotony of the sing-song tone: the two unvarying notes so +suggestive of the up and down movements of a pump-handle. This +"cuckoo" tone would blight the best written sermon. + +[Side note: Two impediments to good preaching] + +Nothing now remains except to warn the young preacher against the +two most common defects--affectation of voice and word-dropping +at the end of the sentences. + +[Side note: An artificial tone of voice] + +"Preach," says Dr. Ireland, "in a manner that the people will +understand, and that goes straight to their hearts, and not in +the stilted phraseology of the seventeenth century sermon." Sage +advice! The comic stage has set the world laughing at the +grotesque inflections of the parson preacher; but is his +counterpart never found amongst ourselves. Is the Catholic pulpit +free from speakers whose ridiculous cadences at once class them +amongst the disciples of the Rev. Mr. Spalding? + +[Side note: Artificiality means failure] + +We have met priests, typical of a considerably large class, who, +in ordinary conversation, could speak in a manner both natural +and pleasing; who, when roused, could be even eloquently +convincing; who, at the dinner-table and even on the platform, +are listened to with pleasure, yet let one of them go into a +pulpit, and fifteen minutes exhausts the patience of the most +charitable congregation. Should he exceed this limit there are +suppressed sighs and ominous consulting of watches. Why? Because +in the pulpit he adopts an artificial tone of voice. In some +instances it takes the shape of a pious whine, in others of a +drone. But in whatever shape it finds expression the hollow ring +of the unreal is there to damn it. + +[Side note: How he came to acquire it] + +A hoary tradition made it venerable in his eyes. As a boy he +heard it from a pastor to whom he was accustomed to look with +reverence. + +He came to persuade himself that, like a "judge's gravity" or a +"soldier's step," a priest too should bear a professional +hallmark, and this should be a "preacher's voice," so he acquired +it. Fatal acquisition! + +The peculiarity of it is that this tone is reserved exclusively +for the pulpit. Not a whisper of it heard during the week. It is +his "preaching voice," and like his "preaching stole" or +"preaching surplice" it is laid aside till Sunday brings him +again before the congregation. + +[Side note: The result of the artificial tone] + +What madness! Adopting this tone is like drawing the lead from +the pistol or putting a foil on the rapier: it defeats his +purpose, it renders his weapon ineffective. So far from setting +his congregation on fire he sets them asleep; instead of sending +them away with clenched convictions they leave the church +tittering, or perhaps in bad temper. + +[Side note: Priests never use in moments of serious issues] + +I would like to ask such a man--If you were pleading in a court +for your character or before an angry mob for your life is it on +this antiquated weapon you would rely? Would not nature's +unerring instinct tell you to fling it to the winds and stake +your fortunes on the untrammeled outpouring of head and heart? +Every tone would ring with earnestness: every sentence thrill +with passion. + +The thoughts, how clear! How convincing the arguments! Nature's +unfettered strength would then, like a tidal wave, sweep you +triumphantly onward to the goal. + +Yet when you stand in the pulpit to plead a brief for Christ the +simple, unaffected earnestness that everywhere else carries +conviction is abandoned for such a musty instrument as an +unctuous whine or a holy drone. The young priest should avoid it: +it spells ruin. + +[Side note: Voice dropping] + +It is wonderful how few the speakers are who sustain the same +pitch and energy of voice from the beginning of a sentence to its +closing syllable. + +[Side note: Cause of the defect] + +The temptation to exhaust the air in the lungs, and therefore +permit the final words to drop, is so strong that unless a +student watch it and assiduously guard against it he will +discover that he has fallen victim to this weak point before he +is twelve months a priest. + +[Side note: It destroys a sermon] + +Whenever you hear the last words of each sentence of a sermon +growing faint, like Marathon runners staggering feebly towards +the goal, and the final word dropping completely under, that +sermon, no matter how beautiful its conception or eloquent its +composition, is doomed to failure. + +The entire meaning of many a sentence is completely lost if the +last words fail to reach the listeners' ears. Very often the last +word is the important member of a sentence, the others being +merely ancillary to it. In oratory, especially, many a sentence +has to depend for its driving force on the energy with which the +final words are sent home. + +Now, when people give a preacher attentive interest, the least +they are entitled to expect is that he should let them hear every +word. But finding themselves invariably baffled by the last word +becoming inaudible, it is small wonder if, tantalised and +disgusted, they abandon all effort to follow him. + +[Side note: The cure] + +It is therefore of great importance that this defect, so fatal +yet so common, should be provided against in time. But how? + +Since it comes from exhaustion, consequent on the mismanagement +of the voice, the remedy is obvious. + +Let the student daily practise reading aloud in the open air, +preferably sermons or speeches by the best authors. + +Let him nervously guard against allowing his voice to show the +slightest trace of fatigue in the final words of each sentence. +This can be accomplished by inhaling fully, going slowly, and not +only giving full value to the punctuation stops, but resting at +the rhetorical and logical pauses. + +[Side note: Advantages of the remedy] + +By this excellent practice he strengthens his lungs and vocal +organs, cultivates his ear, and acquires a control over his voice +so perfect that he can husband his reserve fund of breath and +strength to impart at will freshness to the final syllable. + +This practice should be continued till it becomes a rooted habit, +till it has grown to be his normal method of speaking. + +When he goes into the pulpit I would give him an advice, the +value of which time and experience can alone enable him to +appreciate. + +Direct your voice not to the end of the church, but to the side +wall about three-quarters way down from the pulpit to the door. +Fix your eye on some person there; to him address your sermon, +but pitch your voice against the wall about two feet above his +head. + +By this plan you not only secure your voice against unnecessary +fatigue, but you take the surest method of sending it into every +ear, and the reverberations of your own voice will act +electrically on you. + +As ring after ring of your sentences comes back from the sounding +spot against which you have discharged them you are filled with +courageous confidence and an assurance that every word has found +its mark. + +A recent writer in the _Quarterly Review_ discloses in one +luminous sentence the qualities that go to make an orator, and +every priest should struggle with all his might to be an orator +in the best sense of the word. + +He says: "Nor is any man a great orator who has not many of the +gifts of a great actor--his command of gesture, his variety and +grace of elocution, his mobility of features, his instant +sympathy with the ethical tone of this or that situation, his +power of evoking that sympathy in every member of his audience; +and this is surely what Demosthenes meant by making acting not +action the secret of all oratory." + +What a vista these words open up! What a variety of +accomplishments demanded that can only be acquired, even by the +most gifted, by long study and patient practice! And since +learning to speak in public is like learning to swim, or to +skate, or to ride a bicycle, in this sense at least, that no +amount of previous theoretical instruction will enable one to +realise the initial difficulties or find out how to overcome them +without actual experiment, it would be arrant folly on the part +of the future priest to neglect this subject during his student +years. + +These questions--Culture, English, and Preaching--should occupy a +foremost place in the curricula of our colleges. It is only by +training the student from the start, by fostering literary, +dramatic and debating societies where not alone the practical art +of speaking is developed, but the social amenities of good +society are practised, that the young priest can be equipped to +efficiently discharge the high office awaiting him, and so +reflect a lasting credit on the Church of God at home and abroad. + + + +CHAPTER SEVENTH + +THE DANGER OF THE HOUR. HOW TO MEET IT + +[Side note: Statement of the case] + +The printing press is one of the greatest forces of the modern +world. The multitude of publications sent forth on its wings each +morning are messengers of light or darkness. Their influence for +good or evil is more powerful than that of armies or parliaments: +that influence we can no more escape than we can escape the +sunlight or the air that surrounds us. It penetrates our homes; +it colours our thoughts; it furnishes motives for our actions. +The Press is indeed the lever that moves the world of our day, +and we are but the puppets of its will. + +Such being the case, is it not a question of first importance for +the priest to examine its bearing on his own life, and on the +lives of those committed to his care? + +[Side note: A general principle] + +That we may do so in a scientific manner, let us take a simple +general principle. Reading is the food of the mind. Now, the body +is marvellously influenced by the food it assimilates; give a man +wholesome nutriment and mark the bounding vigour of his blood, +the activity and healthy development of every organ; feed him on +innutritious food and the most robust must fade; on poisonous +food and the strongest languishes unto death. + +The substance of the body is so influenced by what it assimilates +that scientists assure us, young animals fed on madder will +reproduce the purple dye of the plant in the very texture of the +bone. + +[Side note: The principle illustrated] + +With far greater thoroughness and completeness does thought act +upon the mind: thought blends with thought with a force and +subtleness unknown in matter. Watch the principle in action. Let +any man habitually read good books--and by good books I mean the +production of any person whose mind is illumined by faith and +whose heart is fed by the sacraments--it matters little in what +shape such books reach us, let it be a novel or a book of poems +or essays. No man can invariably read such works without growing +imperceptibly better. His Catholic principles grow more robust; +he becomes more fearless in expressing them; each volume leaves +an aroma behind and imparts a new flavour to his life. Fresh oil +is poured into the lamp of his piety, its flame burns brighter, +he feels an unction in his prayers; he has a holy relish for the +sacraments. His very interests in life change: he looks on +everything with supernatural eyes, he becomes touchy about the +interests of the Church, anxious about the foreign missions, and +feels an insult to the Holy See as a wound. + +The food his brain is living on is leavening his whole life, +giving colour, tone and trend to his existence. + +[Side note: Brownson] + +This literature, on which he nourishes himself, has been +admirably described by the mastermind of Catholic America--Dr. +Brownson:--"Catholic literature is robust and healthy of a ruddy +complexion, and full of life. It knows no sadness but the sadness +of sin, and it rejoices for evermore. It eschews melancholy as +the devil's best friend on earth, abhors the morbid +sentimentality which feeds upon itself and grows by what it feeds +upon. . . . It washes its face, anoints its head, puts on its +festive robe, goes forth into the fresh air, the bright sunshine; +and, when occasion requires, rings out the merry laugh that does +one's heart good to hear. It is on principle that the Catholic +approves such gladsome and smiling literature."[1] + +[1] Vol. xix., p. 155. + +Now look at the converse picture. Let the mind of the most devout +Catholic feed on the writings of the Protestant or sensualist and +mark the transformation. See how his soul becomes enervated, his +judgment warped and his heart invaded by every temptation. His +Catholic principles insensibly vanish, and the standards of +paganism replace them. The light of the supernatural dies in his +eyes, a film of clay overspreads his vision; he looks on the +Church through coloured lenses, and the rankness of earth is upon +his life. + +Thus our thoughts, views and actions are marvellously coloured +and influenced by the books we read. + +[Side note: The English press operating on the Irish mind] + +Let us now turn to examine how this bears on our own lives and +the lives of those around us. + +Thick as snowflakes, but without their whiteness, the sensuous +and infidel Press of England is discharging its messengers of +evil on this land. It is speaking by a multitude of tongues into +the hearts of our people. The sensational novel, the suggestive +picture paper, the trashy magazine are breathing a deadly blight +over the soul of Ireland: they whisper thoughts that fall like +corrosive poison into the sanctuary of young hearts, destroying +the only jewels that are worthy of being there enshrined--bright +faith and pure morals. + +[Side note: What the Londoner saw] + +An Irishman residing in London, after visiting his native country +in 1900, records his impressions:-- + +"I have been amazed during recent visits to Ireland at the +display of London weekly publications, while Dublin publications +of a similar kind were difficult to obtain. I have seen the +counters of newsagents in such towns as Waterford, Limerick, +Kilkenny and Galway piled as thickly, and with as varied a +selection of these London weekly journals as in Lambeth or +Islington. . . . I was so impressed with the phenomenon that I +endeavoured when in Dublin to obtain some accurate information in +regard to its extent. At Messrs. Eason's I was told that within +the past ten years the circulation of these journals in Ireland +had almost quadrupled, although the population had diminished +within the same period by one-eighth."[2] + +[2] Mr. MacDonagh in "Nineteenth Century," July, 1900. + +This is the offal the national mind is feeding on, and yet people +express surprise that we are becoming West-British and losing +Catholic thought and character. + +It is estimated that, without counting the book or parcel post, +every week there are three tons of this literature discharged on +the quays of Dublin alone. If this is even approximately true it +reveals a startling condition of things. + +It may well be questioned whether the bayonets of Cromwell or the +plantations of James threatened more destruction to all we hold +dear. I believe they were as toy armies compared with the silent +foe now encamped upon the soil. + +Out of these three tons it would be easy to count, not the +volumes, but the pages, devoted to a defence of the Ten +Commandments. Works of open or professed assault on faith or +morals are as yet few, the time is not ripe just yet, their +forerunners are here, however, the ground is being prepared. The +advance guards have come, and it is only a question of time till +the heavy ordnance is planted in our midst. + +[Side note: Cardinal Logue] + +Our present danger has been admirably described by an eminent +prelate:--"A mass of literature which professes to be innocent, +and ostensibly aims at being interesting, but seeks to create +that interest and engross attention by fostering thoughts that +appeal to the passions with no uncertain voice. Even when such +works do not openly attack faith or the sanctity of morals, they +seek to convey the subtle poison of unbelief or corruption by +covert insinuation, by ridicule, by ignoring religious truth and +supernatural motives as unworthy of consideration, more +effectually and fatally, than they would have done by open and +undisguised assault."[3] + +[3] Cardinal Logue, Lenten Pastoral. + +There are novels that constitute an unbroken attack, from the +first page to the last, against some divine truth, yet with such +a delicate hand is the insidious poison distributed that you may +be challenged to lay your finger on a single objectionable +passage. Satan has not been studying the human heart for six +thousand years without knowing it well. He takes very good care +not to label his drugs, or present his poison to timid minds in +large doses; hence there is no alarm: but the treacherous danger +of such books is well illustrated by a tree to be found in +tropical forests. + +[Side note: The Tropical tree] + +In early autumn it is ablaze with sheaves of fairest pink; it +warns you off by no repellant odour; its umbrageous shelter is +most inviting; yet so fatal is the subtle breath with which it +charges the air around that should an incautious traveller rest +his head for one night under its treacherous shade he would wake +no more. + +So, the flowery brilliancy of style, the charms and graces of +diction of many a modern novel are fascinating, but the pages +they adorn exhale a deadly breath. + +[Side note: A sample novel] + +Let us take a sample novel. The foundation of the State is the +family; the corner-stone on which the family rests is the sacred +marriage bond. Dissolve that and you convert social harmony into +social chaos. Yet how many books are there which are covert +attacks on the marriage tie. + +The heroine is generally a married lady who discovers that her +husband is not the man she should have married. From this +centre-point the web of intrigue is woven. Mawkish sentiment and +false pity are aroused. A glamour is thrown over the sins and the +sinners. Tears are demanded for libertines and their crimes are +gilded. Virtue becomes a tyranny; the marriage bond an +intolerable yoke, and the divorce court--which is truly a +vestibule of hell--a haven of relief. + +It is unnecessary to trace the effects of such degrading teaching +on the lives of the young, whose minds are as wax to receive and +marble to retain: how the high standards of virtue taught in the +school and strengthened in the home vanish: how the touchy +sensitiveness of the pure soul becomes deadened and a hunger for +grosser excitements is awakened. + +[Side note: The head leads the heart] + +Now that we have analysed the intellectual food on which our +people live let us advance the enquiry one step further and +ask--Where must it all end? St. Thomas answers: "_Nihil volitum +nisi cognitum_." That principle is axiomatic in its truth: the +heart will ever follow the head. As you sow in thought you will +reap in action. Corrupt a nation's intellect, and as surely as +darkness succeeds sunset, as effect follows cause, so surely +corruption of that nation's heart must ensue. + +How clearly the devil understands this and what use has he not +made of it! + +For the past four hundred years the greatest evils that have +afflicted the Church are traceable to a licentious Press. +Printing was scarcely invented till Satan seized it for his own +purposes. By it the Humanists of the fifteenth century scattered +broadcast pagan ideas. The disentombed paganism continued to +ferment and rot the hearts of the people till in the next century +it burst forth in the deluge of unbridled passions that marked +the Reformation. + +[Side note: France] + +Voltaire and his disciples did not openly cry "down with the +Church," but they took the surest road to level it. They corroded +the foundations of Christian belief. By encyclopedias and +pamphlets they first attacked with sneer and jibe, the person of +the priest, then the sacraments he administered became the butt +of their mockery, and they finally flouted the gospel he +preached. And while the agents of evil were busy, the good cures +of France sounded no trumpet of alarm, but dreamed themselves +into the comforting delusion that all would blow over, till the +ground under their feet began to rock and heave in the convulsive +throes of the Revolution. + +The disciples of Satan to-day are sleepless in their endeavours +to undermine the faith of Ireland through the same agency; while +it is to be feared that some of the guardians of that sacred +treasure are inclined to imitate the dreamy lethargy that led to +such disastrous results in France. + +[Side note: Europe] + +Look at Europe to-day seething with socialism and anarchy, its +huge standing armies scarcely able to hold these worse than +barbarian hordes in check. Out of what dark womb have these +monsters crept? A corrupt Press. The devil found men whose lives +were filled with pain and want; he came breathing through the +Press telling them to distrust God, and to make war upon society. +The Reformation, the Revolution, the social anarchy of to-day are +the direct offspring of a licentious Press. Permit a nation's +mind to be poisoned, and that nation's heart must rot. _Nihil +volitum nisi cognitum_. + +[Side note: Fifty years ago] + +In proof of this we need not look outside our own shores. Fifty +years ago the priests of Ireland often had recourse to rough +methods with the people. Even the aid of the "blackthorn" was +occasionally invoked as an effective instrument for securing +correction or impressing conviction. Yet, on the morrow, all was +forgotten; and the people would die for the man who punished +them. Let the priest of to-day but thwart the grand-children of +that generation, even in a small matter, and mark their rancour. +How bitter! how relentless! The Catholic spirit of half a century +ago was not operated on by the literature of a nation that is +daily losing even the veneer of Christianity. + +You may gash a man with healthy blood to the bone, and time will +quickly heal the wound and scarcely leave a scar, but if the +man's blood be corrupt the scratch of a thorn may involve +consequences demanding the surgeon's knife. + +The spirit that Catholic Ireland had fifty years ago is sadly +changed to-day; and its tendency to fester on slight provocation +is due to the poison distilled into it from an unwholesome, +anti-Catholic literature. Only twenty years ago we had a painful +illustration of the silent but terrible mischief that has been +done by England's Press upon the Catholic mind of this country. + +[Side note: An evil crisis] + +Up to the time of the Parnell crisis the priests imagined their +feet were planted upon a solid rock; they discovered they were +standing on a pie-crust. What a startling revelation was in store +for them. Small wonder they rubbed their eyes and asked in +bewilderment, Are we in Catholic Ireland? + +The ground broke; the fiery breath of hell belched forth. We saw +the devil spitting hate through the lips of politicians, the +columns of the Press, and the resolutions of the schoolmasters. +Terrible as was this outward exhibition, it revealed but a +fraction. The spirit of revolt and infidelity that raged within +the breasts of young men and darkened their conversation was +awful. The writings of avowed freethinkers and libertines were +devoured, and if any young man had the heroic courage to +remonstrate, his words would be drowned in derision. + +God permitted that warning to come, but have we taken it as a +warning? What efforts have we made since to secure the +entrenchments? The danger passed, and we sank back into the old, +dreamy lethargy, and left the field open to the devil to sow his +tares anew. Our greatest danger to-day is our apparent safety. We +wrap ourselves into a false security, while a dry rot is +permitted to stealthily corrode the pillars of intellectual +conviction that must uphold all. Unless this is fought, and +fought effectively, the structure of our Catholic life will +topple like a house of cards. + +[Side note: Objections answered] + +All looks calm now, but so long as the causes that produced the +sad outburst of twenty years ago continue unchecked, worse +inevitably awaits us. I may be told. Look at the union of priests +and people to-day; look at our flourishing sodalities and our +beautiful churches. + +The union of priests and people was then tested by one strong +wrench, and it snapped; and so long as the evil forces that +caused the fissure continue to gnaw once more the bond that +unites the hearts of priests and people, is it stronger you +expect that bond to grow? + +With regard to our pious sodalities. Did the question ever +present itself--How much of the average sodalist's piety is +resting on sentiment and tradition, and how little of it on +intellectual conviction? Transplant him from the hotbed to the +ice-chills of infidelity in America or Australia, where the very +air is electric with doubt and denial, and when the storm beats +upon him, is his head armed to defend his Faith? + +Where could he get the necessary knowledge? Not from the book in +his hand, for it is "Marie Corelli" or "Hall Caine" you find him +best acquainted with. Not from the Catholic newspaper, for the +question is--Do we possess one? It is a strange fact that while +Irish Catholics abroad have founded, and support, splendid +Catholic journals in every land where they have found a home, the +mother Church from which they sprang is practically defenceless. +He gets poor assistance from the pulpit; for while homilies and +exhortations are admirable in their way, they fall far short of +covering the needs of this questioning age. Our dogmatic +treatises are permitted to lie entombed in dust on our top +shelves, while clear and homely exposition of Catholic truth +would be drunk in like honey by the people. + +You point to our beautiful churches, beautiful they are indeed. +But to what purpose do we raise temples of stone if we permit the +living temple of the soul to be eaten into by the poison mildews +of evil thought. The Continent is dotted over with stately but +empty basilicas, silent and mournful monuments to a Faith and a +love long since departed. + +[Side note: Questions] + +Now that we begin to realise the danger and the extent of this +evil, a number of questions naturally suggest themselves. + +[Side note: I] + +How is it that the master carefully scrutinizes the character of +a servant before admitting her into his house, lest her influence +in his home might be for evil, and that same man allows the +author to pass in unchallenged? The author comes, not to minister +but to master; to impress his thoughts on the minds and perhaps +blast the virtue of the children. + +[Side note: 2] + +Since every parent is bound to provide that his children's +apartments are well supplied with healthy air, is not the +obligation far more serious to take care that the moral +atmosphere of the home does not hold the deadliest poisons in +solution? + +[Side note: 3] + +[Side note: Questions] + +Why does not the young girl, who is so fastidious about the class +of people with whom she will associate, exercise even ordinary +discrimination in the selection of an author? This is the +companion whose influence sinks deeper and lasts longer than that +of the person with whom she sips tea or takes a walk. He whispers +into her soul under the shade of the midnight lamp. He embeds his +principles on her brain. He lives in her dreams. He becomes her +oracle to conjure by. + +[Side note: 4] + +Or, let us put the question this way: How many of the men and +women who flit across the pages of modern fiction would a +respectable Catholic admit into his home or introduce to his +family? He would not give them his company, but he gives them his +brains. The hem of his garment they may not touch, but the pith +of his life he places at their disposal. Make no mistake about +it. You cannot shake off the influence of your author. His +thoughts become your thoughts. He weaves himself into the woof of +your mind. + +[Side note: 5] + +How is it that when the proselytiser comes to your parish in +human shape you are all afire, but when he comes speaking, not by +one but a hundred tongues, silently but effectively sapping the +Faith or virtue of your flock, no pulpit rings with denunciation? +All these questions may be answered by another most pertinent to +the priest. + +Have the people been taught to realise the danger confronting +them? Have their consciences been awakened? Have we been dumb +watch-dogs while they are being devoured? + +[Side note: Apologies] + +The treatment of this subject would be incomplete if the stock +apologies for dangerous reading were not dealt with. + +When you remonstrate with a Catholic on the character of his +reading, you are sure to be met with some of the following, and +any one of them is supposed to be a complete justification, no +matter how bad the book:-- + +[Side note: Style] + +"_I read these books for the style_." This is sometimes heard +from people whose pretentions to literary taste borders on the +grotesque; but let that pass. Has a paralysis fallen on every +hand that wields a Catholic pen? Does the light of Faith beaming +on a human mind quench the beauties of imagination or dull the +taste? Or, is a perfect style to be found only among the apostles +of evil? Surely the long range of Catholic writers offers an +ample variety of the most perfect exponents of literary style. +Let us be honest. It is not for the style these books are read; +it is because they gratify an unhealthy craving, because they are +soft, sensual, suggestive, and stimulate feelings not far from +the border-land of sin. + +[Side note: I see no harm] + +"_I see no harm in them_." Now by this answer you implicitly +admit that you see no good. Have you then no remorse for +frittering away such a precious gift of God as time? If the +damned got five minutes of that time to repent, every chamber in +hell would be empty. Yet you squander months and years without a +qualm. + +You see no harm in it. Look into your own life and what do you +discover. The unction of prayer sucked out of your soul, your +relish for the Sacraments gone, a dry rot consuming your +spiritual life, a nausea for supernatural things, a taste every +day becoming more clayey, and an increasing appetite for grosser +excitements. Books that you would tremble to touch a year ago you +now devour without a pang; or perhaps the stray shreds of +infidelity are weaving themselves into your future creed. Do not +mind what you see with the eye of a conscience that is already +half-dead. Search deep into your own heart and life, and you will +quickly discover the damage done. + +[Side note: Narrow-minded] + +"_We cannot be narrow-minded_." Is it then a something to be +ashamed of, if in matters pertaining to our eternal interests we +are cautious and conservative? Not prone to take dangerous risks? +This is the disposition sometimes called narrow-mindedness. +Surely it is better even to be narrow-minded than pagan-minded. + +But let us clear our minds of cant and squarely face the +question. Will the person who calls you narrow-minded for +exercising caution in the selection of your books, exhibit his +own breadth of mind by going into a chemist's shop, shutting his +eyes and gulping down the contents of the first bottle that comes +to his hand? Ha! You see how quickly his broad-mindedness is +replaced by most careful caution. But a library is like a +chemist's shop. The shelves may hold health-giving medicines or +the most deadly poisons. As well call the harbour authorities +narrow-minded because they close the ports against the cholera +ship, as to question the just prudence of the man who shuts his +door against the evil book. + +[Side note: Up-to-date] + +"_We must be up-to-date_." The man that takes this as the sole +principle by which to guide his moral conduct, not only writes +himself down "depraved," but an intellectual imbecile. What does +he mean? He means that he is incapable of thinking for himself; +that he has no fixed chart, but is tossed about in the eddy of +fashion; that he has no principle to guide his own conduct by, +but has to look to the street and follow where the crowd leads. + +The most un-up-to-date people that ever lived were the early +Christians. When thousands were swarming to the butcheries of the +Coliseum they refused to be up-to-date and kept carefully away +from the taint of blood and savagery. When the debaucheries of +the festivals disgraced the city, they again refused to be +"up-to-date." No doubt they were sneered at and called +"old-fashioned," "priest-ridden," &c. But it was they, and not +those who taunted them, who showed loftiness and nobility of mind +in taking, not the craze of the hour, but the Gospel of Jesus +Christ as the standard of their conduct. + +[Side note: How to meet the Danger] + +We have now taken the full bearings of the Danger of the Hour. +The remaining question is--How to meet it? To expose the bad book +is but half our task--its place must be supplied by the good one. +How can this be done? The answer naturally suggests itself. Have +we not the Catholic Truth Society? Yes, and it is a splendid +weapon if worked as it should be; and its admirable publications +pushed into every home. + +There is a temptation to belittle these works because they cost +only a penny. Though they are reduced to that humble price to +meet the wants of the millions, we must not forget that most of +them are the productions of the ablest pens, and some of them +contain more thought between their modest covers than many a +pretentious volume. They have the special advantage of being at a +price and in a form accessible to the young. There are many +thousands reading these booklets who would never venture, even if +they could, to face the four hundred paged volume. But the +Catholic Truth Society works do not cover all our needs. They do +two things--they serve to create a thirst for more knowledge, and +act as pedagogues to lead the child to the door of the parochial +library. Here we strike the goal. + +[Side note: The Parochial Library] + +The parochial library is the crying want of the hour. The one +weapon by which we must beat back an evil which threatens +appalling ruin. Our service of God must vary with the need of the +different ages. At one time He is best served by the pouring out +of martyr blood, at another by the building of splendid churches; +but to any man who watches the drift and danger of our +generation, it is clear as noonday, that the most effective work +a priest can offer God to-day is a well stocked library, open to +every child of the parish. + +It has been said that if St. Paul were on earth now, he would be +found editing a Catholic newspaper. + +We have seen the devil using the Press with terrible effect for +the destruction of souls; let us wrench it from him and baptize +it for the service of Christ. + +The parochial library as an instrument of defence and propagation +is no new discovery. + +[Side note: Encyclopedia Britannica] + +"As Christianity made its way," says the "Encyclopedia +Britannica," "the institution of libraries became a part of the +organisation of the Church. So intimate did the union between +literature and religion become, that alongside every Church the +Catholic bishops had a library erected." Now, if in times past, +when not one man in twenty could read, the unerring foresight of +the Church led her to adopt the parochial library as her most +able auxiliary, the wisdom of that adoption applies with ten-fold +force to our times. + +[Side note: The Blunder of the Past] + +Fifty years ago we taught the people how to read; awakened within +them the native desire for knowledge, and then--stopped. When the +national school was built had we established the parochial +library and made it the means of continuing the child's +education, we would have a different Ireland to-day. + +We made the youth hungry and then stepped aside. The British +publisher came and occupied the place we should have held. He has +been feeding them on garbage and gutter literature since. God +grant that it is not too late to undo the mischief of our +neglect. + +[Side note: What we spend] + +It is estimated that we spend four hundred and forty-six thousand +pounds every year on English papers, books and magazines. Almost +half a million of money! How many of our honest rooftrees would +not that sum keep standing? How many of our pure boys and girls +would it not save from the "hells" of Chicago and New York. + +It is bad enough to part with the bone and muscle, but a nation +loses her most precious asset when she exports her intellect. +While we have gone on helping the British publisher to the +carriage and the suburban villa, the young Irishman, who feels +the fire of genius throbbing in his blood, sees but two +alternatives before him--to starve at home or sell his brains in +a foreign market. + +To-day the priest holds the field, but for how long? Recent +convulsions should warn us; the ground may rock again; then let +us arouse ourselves to the task before us. + +[Side note: Awake!] + +Whether the priest moves or not the library is sure to come, and +what in his hands would be a centre of diffusive light to the +parish, under the control of semi-educated or conscienceless men +may prove a dark curse. + +Let the coarse and sensuous literature of England drop from our +people's hands. Let us encourage native genius to dip her pen +into the old holy well of Catholic truth, and build up a +literature that will be racy of the soil and redolent of its +Faith. Let us feed the minds of the young on the untainted +productions of our own countrymen and women. Let us brace them +with robust Catholic principles that are mortised into the solid +bed-rock of knowledge. Then the most powerful foe the future +holds will blow the trumpet in vain. + +But to the priest who slumbers, heedless of the swift march of +time, and the forces of evil now possessing our land, I say-- +Dream on, dear gentle soul, dream on! The day may come when you +will awake with a thunder-clap, perhaps to find the Irish Church +in chains. + + + +CHAPTER EIGHTH + +THE YOUNG PRIEST'S ACTIVITIES + +I should like to see the priest at the head of every movement for +the bettering and uplifting of the people. + +[Side note: The Last Fortress] + +Ireland is the last fortress of Catholic Christendom. Latin +Christianity is having to struggle for existence; and for us, +time will but multiply, from within and without, the forces +organised by Satan to capture the last stronghold that flies the +Papal banner. + +[Side note: Satan's First Move] + +His first effort will be in the future, as it has ever been in +the past, to drive a wedge of separation between the priests and +the people. That accomplished, half his battle is won. If he can +get the people to despise the priest in any capacity as a social +man, a politician, &c., he knows that time rubs out fine-drawn +distinctions; they will cease to respect at the altar the man +they are accustomed to flout on the street; and if they once come +to despise the priest, they will soon despise the sacraments he +administers, and challenge the Gospel which he preaches. Let us +forestall him, and bind the people to our hearts with hoops of +steel. For their sakes more than for ours we cannot make our hold +too firm or root ourselves too deeply in their affections. For +what hope could there be for souls if a chasm should yawn between +the pastor and his flock, if those God has united by so many and +such sacred ties should glare hatred and distrust from opposing +camps? + +The priest is supreme in Ireland to-day; but in the near future +he may have many a rival claimant; and should the people pass +under alien sway, the last fortress is gone. + +Now, when we unroll the map of social Ireland, we discover a +multitude of ways by which the priest can keep in touch with, +direct and uplift the people, and each effort for their sakes +means a fresh strengthening of the bonds that bind the hearts of +priests and people. + +Let us take a survey of the situation. That done, the number of +ways by which the priest can become the reformer of his parish +will at once disclose themselves. + +[Side note: A Statement of Facts] + +Have you ever faced the sad problem:--Why are our asylums +enlarging while our general population is shrinking? + +Three main causes are responsible. + +[Side note: Food] + +_The food we are eating_, especially the use of overdrawn tea. A +gentleman of over twenty years' experience, as governor of a +lunatic asylum, assured the writer that next to drink, overdrawn +tea was the most responsible agent for insanity. That week he had +received a farmer's wife and five strapping sons all stark mad +from the poison stewing by so many of our hearths. + +Whilst we were guided by the healthy traditions of our own race, +we fed on solid food--oatmeal, specially suited to our climate, +being a heat-producer, a bone-builder and a tissue-former, rich +milk, butter, vegetables and home-cured bacon. What a poor +substitute for these luscious foods are the weak white bread and +thin cup of tea! The Scotsman has stuck to his national diet; he +has done more, he has forced his porridge on the bill of fare of +every first-class English hotel. + +[Side note: Activity I] + +Could not the curate, from the lecture platform, in the school +and in private conversation, drive home to the people and open +their eyes to the suicide they are committing? I know one priest +who gets every farmer in his parish to sow every year a quarter +acre of oats for home use. Could not others do the same? + +[Side note: Drink] + +_The second cause is Drink_. On this question I shall content +myself with quoting a few statistics. They supply melancholy food +for reflection. + +In 1899, out of every three placed in the dock for drunkenness in +the capital of this Catholic country one was a woman. I think you +may search the world for a more shameless exhibition. + +Out of every thousand of the general population in England, fifty +persons are arrested for drunkenness; out of every thousand of +the general population in Ireland, one hundred and forty-three. +In other words, we produce almost three convicted drunkards to +their one. And still we plume ourselves on our superior virtue. + +Our total income from agriculture, the staple industry of the +country, is forty millions. On this, mainly, the nation has to +live. Yet before a penny is touched for food, clothing or +education, almost fourteen out of the forty millions are handed +over to the sellers of drink. + +Within fifteen years we lost half a million of our people, but we +consoled ourselves by opening eleven hundred and seventy-five new +public-houses within the same period. + +[Side note: Activity II] + +To these figures I shall not add one word: it would only weaken +the argument. Will any one deny that the young priest has here an +ample field for his zeal and energy, and a splendid opportunity +of proving himself the reformer and saviour of the people? + +[Side note: Emigration] + +_The third, most powerful source of lunacy, is Emigration_. It +may seem a paradox to say that the lessening of our people must +naturally mean the increase of insanity. When we say the country +loses forty thousand of its inhabitants yearly, we make but a +partial statement of the case. Whom do we lose? Not the average +class--the youth, and the youth only go. Two consequences follow. +A boy, when he has arrived at his eighteenth year, has cost the +country two hundred pounds, and a girl one hundred and fifty. Up +to that time they were consumers, they produced little. This +enables us to arrive at the appalling fact that Ireland every +year pours seven millions worth of human cargo into the emigrant +ship. + +Would that this was all, but worse remains to be said. Who stay +with us? The aged, the delicate, the infirm. The kernel of the +race is going, the husks are remaining with us. Intermarriage +among these, intermingling of enfeebled and tainted blood is one +of the main contributory causes why the walls of our asylums are +enlarging. + +[Side note: Remedies] + +Let us see what the priest can do to fight the national curse, +and stay the national haemorrhage. + +[Side note: The Points to Fix on] + +In dealing with the drink question his main purpose should be to +purify public opinion. Till that is done, every other effort must +fail. What use in our inveighing against a vice if the people +insist on labelling it a virtue? Our first effort must be to get +the people to view it in an honest light--to see it as we see it. +Public opinion up to this could scarcely be more depraved. + +[Side note: The Village Scandal] + +It was not an unusual thing to see young boys feigning +drunkenness and staggering through the village. Why? They were at +an age when pride began to crave for notoriety and applause. They +knew the public to which they appealed, and they took the +shortest cut to win its approbation, and that was by pretending +to be drunk. + +An action like that is a terrible verdict against the national +conscience. If public opinion were healthy, if it held for such +mock heroes, not the incense of applause, but a lash of scorn, if +boys were persuaded that so far from exhibiting in their conduct +a manly trait, they were only proving themselves degraded +puppies, the cure would be immediate. + +[Side note: Perverted Judgments] + +Listen to people talking of a man who has sent his children out +on the world, and his wife to an untimely grave, and you would +think it was some visitation of Providence overtook him, and that +he deserved all our sympathy. + +The agent that dares to threaten an eviction has to carry +revolvers and walk the country under the shadow of police +protection; but the father and husband who evicts his own +children and flings them into the slums of foreign cities, and +sends his broken-hearted wife to the grave, not only has his +crime condoned but, by the same people, he is daily smothered in +the rose-leaves of apology. "Poor fellow! Ah, it is a good man's +fault!" Not one hard word. Yet the world outside the shores of +this country are pouring scorn on the degraded name of drunken +Ireland. + +[Side note: The Young Men's Pride] + +Why not appeal to the patriotic pride of the young men by showing +the contempt and distrust that follow our race because of this +vice? It would touch them to the quick. + +[Side note: The Hereditary Taint] + +Another point to be insisted on is:--The crime of the drunkard +does not die with himself. Like lunacy or consumption it +transmits a sad heritage to his offspring. Ninety out of every +hundred are drunkards because they inherited tainted blood. + +Parents shudder at the bare possibility of their child being born +an idiot, or with some repulsive birth-mark. Yet, before the +infant can lift its hand in protest, the parents poison its life +at the very source and send it on the world with a moral +deformity marking its nature. + +[Side note: The Dawn] + +These were the two sources of weakness in the past: a public +opinion that fostered, instead of smiting, the curse, and an +hereditary taint that grew stronger with every generation, while +the will to resist became more feeble. Thank God, the dawn of a +brighter day is with us: there is a healthy awakening of public +opinion. The Gaelic revival has for the first time in our history +linked sobriety with patriotism: the word has gone forth that +reconstructed Ireland must not rest on staggering pillars. The +young priest of the future has the rising tide with him, and +Ireland has seen her darkest day. + +No matter how we may deplore emigration, we must deal with it as +a fact. + +[Side note: Is the Emigrant Prepared] + +[Side note: His Peril Abroad] + +From what class are the emigrants drawn? From the young. It is +hard to part with them: but there is one consolation. They go to +build up the Church in other lands, but every precaution must be +taken to strengthen them for the trials awaiting them. Now, every +returned American and Australian priest will candidly tell you +that the Irish emigrant is poorly equipped for his new +surroundings. + +Dr. Kenrick and Cardinal Gibbons go so far as to say that the +neglect of the Irish priest in preparing his emigrating flock, is +the main source of leakage in the American Church. They are not +able to answer the most ordinary objections, and they have not +moral strength to withstand the shafts of ridicule. In the fierce +cross-currents of unbelief, he is poorly able to keep his +foothold. Many stagger; some fall, never to rise. + +We reply:--Look at our Confirmation classes, and at the admirable +lives of the youth before they leave us. Neither of these weaken +the contention. At the age a child is confirmed, he is incapable +of reflective reason; his knowledge is three parts memory. It is +between the Confirmation day and the twentieth year that the +convictions and principles that guide a lifetime are formed. Yet, +this is the precise period during which the young boy is +permitted to starve. + +Secondly, the good life of a person reared in a purely Catholic +atmosphere is no guarantee of what he may become when +transplanted to a country where the very atmosphere palpitates +with doubt and denial. + +[Side note: Activity III] + +Here surely is a field that urgently demands a young priest's +activities. + +_Every young priest should be the eldest brother to the young men +of the parish_, the repository of their confidence, the director +of their sports, the organizer of their Feis; and when there is +danger of angry passions running high or of drunkenness getting +in among them, the curate's place is not the study, but the +football field. + +To such a curate it would be an easy task to organize the young +men of the parish for a Sunday meeting during the four winter +months, and give them a thorough course in "Catholic belief" or +"Faith of Our Fathers." + +This would be a distinct advantage not only to those who are +leaving, but to those who remain. The Catholic mind of this +country is now, by travel and reading, brought into constant +contact with Protestant and infidel thought. + +These meetings should wear as little of the appearance of a class +as possible. Boys should be taught to look upon them as friendly +meetings of brothers discussing the weapons with which to face +the future: the session might appropriately close with an +excursion or a social evening. + +Now that we have treated emigration as a fact, let us turn to a +few of the means by which it might be lessened. + +[Side note: The Summer Swallow] + +A constant source of temptation is the sight of the returned +emigrant with flash jewellery, superior airs and stories of +boasted wealth. + +[Side note: Activity IV] + +When summer brings these returned swallows, a spirit of +discontent with their social surroundings seizes the youth. The +priest's duty is to impress upon them that the bright side of the +picture alone is presented to them: there is another side of +awful darkness. + +The successful one they see, but the fate of the submerged +ninety-nine is hidden from their eyes. + +Our people emigrate without a knowledge of skilled labour; they +have to take the lowest occupations and bring up their children +in vile surroundings: they are lost in shoals. + +Had the youth of this country the writer's experience: did they +see hundreds of their countrymen sleeping in the parks of Sydney, +without the shelter of a roof and without knowing where to turn +in the morning for a bit: could they hear the thirty-two accents +of Ireland in the low streets of dens where souls and bodies rot, +they would try their hands at a dozen means of winning honest +bread before turning their faces towards the emigrant ship. + +Could we but take the twenty-two thousand Irish-born convicts out +of the jails of one city--New York--with their clanking fetters +and arrow-branded jackets, and march them through the length and +breadth of Ireland, and show the youth, that, if some wear +bangles, others wear handcuffs, it would go far to cure the +microbe of unrest. + +Every tale of distress, failure and hardship abroad should be +repeated in the Irish provincial journals. No effort should be +spared to show the people, not one but both sides of the picture. + +[Side note: Activity V Amusements] + +One of the most important problems facing the young priest of +to-day is:--How to organise healthy and sinless amusements for +the people. Our skies are gloomy, our climate depressing, and the +very dreariness of country life causes thousands to fly. Look at +the groups of young men at the village corners, where is the hope +or contentment in their looks? + +[Side note: Goldsmith's Days] + +I think you may challenge the world's literature for more +wholesome pictures of rural pleasures than those mirrored in the +"Deserted Village." They are not creations of the poet's fancy, +but chronicles of facts that lived before his eyes. In them, you +have the image of Ireland as she lived before the black shadow of +'47 fell upon her. All went on in the open daylight, under the +eyes of parents and friends. + + "The young contended while the old surveyed." + +Virtue was safe, tired hearts were cheered, and, whilst these +sports flourished, few Irish boys or girls wanted to know the +road to the emigrant ship. + +Would it be possible to re-create the Ireland of Goldsmith's +days? + +[Side note: The Winter's Night] + +One thing, however, is not outside the range of possibility--to +persuade parents in rural districts to make some effort to +brighten the lives of their children; to have all household work +done two hours before bedtime, to have a bright fire on the +hearth and a bright lamp on the table, and a plentiful supply of +the Catholic Truth Society books, Catholic papers and periodicals +always at hand. Many a poor boy and girl, whose thoughts to-day +are turning to Sydney or New York as an escape from cheerless +drudgery, would then read a new meaning into the word "home." No +matter how toil presses during the day, the prospective two hours +of brightness and pleasure cheers them. + +"Give a man a taste for reading and the means of gratifying it," +says Sir John Herschel,[1] "and you can hardly fail to make him a +happy man, you place him in contact with the best society of +every period of history--the wisest, the wittiest, the tenderest, +the bravest and the purest characters that adorn humanity." A +parent who cannot line his child's pocket with gold has in this +simple plan a means of enriching his head with knowledge, and so +sending him on the world armed. Self-respect would grow; the +gross pleasures of the card-table or the public-house would lose +their charm. Your own words would fall on ears steadily becoming +more intelligent. The parish after five years would wear a new +face. + +[1] Eton Address + +[Side note: Activity VI The country Schoolhouse] + +Could not the young men be gathered once a week during the winter +months, and the school house be converted into a literary, +debating or lecture room? + +If the young priest prepared one lecture a month, he might +revolutionize the district by teaching the people how to organize +and foster small industries or technical branches suited to the +localities. There is wealth in the mushrooms on the field, the +blackberries on the hedge, and the cresses by the stream. In +other countries thousands are made by these unnoticed products. +Why not here? + +[Side note: Our Ruins] + +When the summer comes, the curate could easily organize +occasional bicycle excursions with the young men to some +memorable Catholic ruin, in whose history he should be well made +up. The saints and scholars who have glorified our annals are +lying around our churches; we stumble over their graves for forty +years sometimes, without enquiring who they were or what they +did. I am aware there are laudable exceptions: they are, however, +isolated. When the public wants to know anything about our +monasteries, they often have to turn to the layman and even to +the parson. + +The small number of priests in the Archaeological Society is a +striking reproach. One would think that our saints and their +works were something to be ashamed of, since the natural +guardians of their memories have practically abandoned them. This +country is filled with catacombs. Every child should be made +acquainted with the life of the leading saint, and the history of +the most memorable ruin in the locality; those hoary prophets, +now so mute, would then speak with tongues of fire out of the dim +past, telling the story of our fathers' Faith and heroic +achievements. + +Let us now rise to a higher plane of the young priest's +activities. + +[Side note: Activity VII Literature] + +It is a stupendous and a humiliating fact that, while this +country is deluged with the writings of the sensualist and the +infidel, there are over three thousand brainy priests upon the +land, and the world of thought knows nothing of them. + +[Side note: Cambridge and Oxford] + +[Side note: First Premium Men] + +When we read of brilliant students at Cambridge or Oxford, we +naturally look forward to see them leaders of thought or action +in their own land, and we are seldom disappointed. Our Irish +colleges are discharging yearly swarms from their doors, many of +them men with brilliant records. Who hears of them after? What +have these first-class premium men, who gave such splendid +promise, done with their gifts and knowledge? How little does the +Irish Church owe them? The day the premium book was handed them, +all serious effort died. They were content to rest for the +remainder of their lives under the shade of their academic +laurels. + +The soldier is not satisfied with the triumphs of his recruit +days. He knows that the purpose of his life then is not to gain a +prize and stop at that, but to acquire efficient skill in the use +of his weapons that he may become a living force on the future +field of action. + +The college is but the training ground, not the final goal; the +real field of our activities lies outside its walls. Yet when the +scholastic course closes these richly-gifted men dip below the +horizon, and the world seldom hears of them again; the +destructive wave that in its silent strength is covering the land +receives no check from them; they are engraving no impression on +the intellect of the day. + +Our humiliation and surprise increase when we turn to the +publisher's lists and see parsons, who have to prepare to meet +critical audiences Sunday after Sunday, and are weighted with the +cares of heavy families, holding leading places in every literary +enterprise. + +Now, if our young men set to work to popularise our native +saints, and in their lives dig up the buried glories of our +Catholic past, if each diocese produced even one crisp +well-written life, what a splendid step in advance. + +But the demand for our literary activities is far wider than the +shores of Ireland. + +[Side note: America and Australia] + +The American and Australian Churches are daughters of this soil. +We are proud of them; they are the frontier regiments of our +fighting army; they are daily advancing Patrick's standard over +fresh fields of conquest: but what help have we given them? + +The present generation of priests there are builders. But, like +the men on Jerusalem's walls, they have to grasp the sword in one +hand and the trowel in the other. + +Protestantism in those lands is fast running to its final +declension--naked infidelity. Now the infidel knows no rest; +activity is the law of his existence. The buried ghosts of past +heresies are resuscitated and draped in all the attractiveness of +modern dress. The arsenal of error stored by every perverse +genius from Arius to Tyndal is daily discharged into the Catholic +ranks. There is scarcely a truth free from truculent assault. + +It is hard to ask the men toiling in the glare of the camp fires, +to fight the battles and manufacture the shells. + +Now, all that is best of French Catholic intellect has been given +to this cause for the past century. The priest who would devote a +few winters to the holy toil of translating this into a shape +suitable to the needs of our fighting millions would do an act of +merit that God alone could measure. Yet what ammunition have we +supplied to our brave soldiers? Scarcely a grain of shot. + +[Side note: The Causes of Sterility] + +Why this sterility? Why this barrenness? Is it our native +lethargy or our native modesty? or the defective training of our +colleges in neglecting to foster literary tastes? + +We will not pause to enquire. That there is one sad cause is +beyond all question--the bitterness of clerical criticism. The +Irish priest who takes to the cultivation of letters ought to +choose St. Sebastian for his patron saint; for he will have an +arrow planted in every square inch of his body. + +While we have no word of condemnation for the writers who are +sucking the life-blood of Faith from our people, should one of +ourselves show style in his sermons, or attach his name to a +magazine article, the amount of mordant criticism he has to face +is sufficient to make the stoutest heart sink. + +The average Irish skull in the hands of a phrenologist will show +a development of destructive bumps surpassed by none, but when he +searches for constructive ones, a glass of no small magnifying +power must come to his aid. + +The habit of sneering criticism begins in the college and should +be killed in its birth-place. The man who drops an icy or an acid +word into the warm enthusiasm of a young heart commits a great +crime. He may paralyse the purpose of a noble life. Let us +reserve all our hard blows and hard words for Christ's enemies, +and a cheerful encouragement to His friends should not cost us a +drop of blood. + +[Side note: The Task is Finished] + +Here we pause, fully conscious of the incompleteness of our task. +The many possible and profitable fields of the young priest's +activities are no more than hinted at. + +We are passing through a period of change: old landmarks are +disappearing, but if the future is to be made secure, the priest +of the present must cling to the people and teach them to cling +to him. In the revival of their industries or their language, in +the Feis or the hurling field, the priest should be the source of +their inspiration and their controlling director. + +Woe to the parish where the priest sits idly or sinks into dreamy +lethargy while the people pass from him, away. + +[Side note: Farewell] + +The world is moving onward. Our world is willing just now that we +move with and direct it. But how long, O Lord, how long? Let us +remain stationary and it will move without us; and once lost, +lost for ever. + +A glance at the Continent should fire us to desperate efforts. +You see the Church dashed to pieces in the seething vortex of +destruction; in some countries honey-combed to rottenness, ready +to totter and fall before the first outburst of Socialistic fury. +The Press teems with ribald jeer and blatant blasphemy. The +priesthood, a separate caste, hounded like lepers of old from the +highways of public life, voiceless and despised--the apostate +priest hailed with delight smothered in incense--the faithful +priest lashed at the pillar of public scorn. O God, shall +Ireland--the last fortress--follow? + +That question is for us to answer: the shaping of the future lies +in the hands of the living present. + +Let listlessness prevail, and when an apostle of evil does arise, +perhaps in the not distant future, he will appeal to the past for +his justification. + +He will tell the people, that for a full century three thousand +four hundred priests were upon the land. Talent, leisure and +unbounded trust were theirs. Yet, where are the literature, +village libraries, social organizations, or other agencies of +enlightenment promoted by them? Has not the country rotted and +the emigrant ship been glutted? Away with them! Why cumber they +the ground? + +That day, please God, shall never come, if we sink deep into our +souls the conviction that a great effort is required, and fling +our hearts into it; that the ever increasing new needs and foes +of to-day cannot be met with the antiquated weapons of the past; +that the old rut must be abandoned and the new ground broken: +then the future is secure. The old citadel of Catholic +Christendom will continue a fortress, flying the old flag, +towering above the Atlantic breakers with a strength impregnable +and a Faith undimmed--a Pharos of spiritual splendour. + +And when in other lands eyes grow dim with the mists of despair, +they will look up and the light of a new-born hope will enkindle +within them. And when hearts in other lands are sinking from +repeated failure, they will pulse with the inspiration of a fresh +courage when the story of our efforts and our triumphs is +recalled. + +THE END + + + +PRESS NOTICES + +"Every thoughtful mind amongst us, whether priest or layman, will +thank the courageous writer who throws upon our insular +prejudices the flashlights of other civilisations, and shows us +certain defects which we can only neglect at our own peril. We +hope that this little book will find its way to every student's +desk in Ireland and abroad, and that its lessons will be taken to +heart by professors and _alumni_ alike. It is worth reading if +only for its style, which is far above that usually assumed by +writers on similar subjects. But its chief value is in the deep +insight it manifests as to the wants of the age and the necessary +equipment of the young apostles of our race, whose mission will +be to strange peoples and curious, though some times sympathetic, +souls who are seeking the light and failing to find it. It is a +book to be read with humility and a total absence of that mild +conceit which refuses to accept any but domestic and partial +criticism. The words are those of a thinker and an orator."-- +Canon Sheehan in the _Freeman's Journal_. + +"Anyone who has lived five years in Australia would advise every +young priest coming to this country to have a copy of Father +Phelan's admirable book in his luggage, and read it more than +once. The young ecclesiastic coming hither who treats lightly the +advice given him will find by-and-by that every line of the book +is true; every priest who has lived a few years on the Australian +mission will know already that it is so."--_Melbourne Advocate_. + +"The Rev. M. Phelan, S.J., stresses the necessity of culture of +mind and manners for young priests and seminarians. Father +Phelan, himself a noted preacher, devotes several helpful +chapters to the means of acquiring excellence in preaching. The +book is brimful of valuable hints and helps, and their value is +not diminished by the fact that the style is racy and readable +throughout. The following is intended for Irish readers, but the +advice has wider application:--'. . . He should not commit the +signal folly of attempting to engraft an imported accent on his +own; he should speak as an Irishman, but as an educated +Irishman.' 'The Young Priest's Keepsake' should become a +_vade-mecum_."--_America_. + +"With considerable skill and plenty of plain speaking, Father +Phelan gives some admirable advice to young priests in regard to +the study of English and the composition and delivery of sermons. +His experiences in Ireland and on the foreign missions are his +claim to say what his opinion is, and his opinion is weighty. +Father Phelan has wise counsels to give, and gives them in a most +pleasing way. He is always bright, always interesting, and always +instructive. His book deserves to be known to the clergy at +large, and we wish it the circulation it deserves."--_Catholic +Times_. + +"This is, indeed, a very valuable book for the young priest. It +is intended chiefly for those who are going on the foreign +mission, and it would be well for them if they would take to +heart the sound advice given to them here by a man of wide +experience and great success in the missionary field. The first +chapter on the necessity of culture and gentlemanly manners is +alone worth the price of the book. Young priests have probably +often heard of the necessity of writing their sermons, but I +doubt if they ever had the advantage of having it put before them +in such a practical and convincing fashion as that in which it is +done by Father Phelan in his third chapter. The same notes of +practical sound sense mark the chapters on 'Pulpit Oratory' and +on 'Elocution.' Altogether, this book should be the _Keepsake_ of +every young priest. It contains many things that will benefit +priests, young or old, of every description. Father Phelan +deserves our thanks as well as our congratulations on the success +of his work."--_Irish Ecclesiastical Record_. + +"A wonderful amount of practically useful advice, the matured +fruit of vast missionary experience, seasoned by conscientious +study and a fraternal longing to assist the young priest are the +most salient features of this inimitably-written volume. The +style is excellent. In crisp, accurate language every paragraph, +every sentence even, tells exactly what the writer wishes to +state, and no more. . . . The book has not appeared an hour too +soon. . . . It is bound to be of immense service to Irish +students, especially those preparing for a missionary life in +foreign countries. . . . I take the responsibility of highly +recommending Father Phelan's book to those for whose instruction +and efficiency the work has been written."--The Author of +"Innisfail" in _Sydney Freeman's Journal_. + +"Father Phelan is a model of the ideas he advocates. His English +is pure without being dull for a moment. He exemplifies his +theories. If you are a preacher, or wish to be, if you are +teaching rhetoric or learning rhetoric, if you are a seminarian +or a friend of a seminarian, get this book for yourself or your +friend."--_American Messenger_. + +"Those who know Father Phelan as a preacher will not require to +be told that his book is simple, solid, and practical, and that +his method of exposition is lucid, homely, and vigorous. Purely +literary effort has been no aim of the writer, and yet it would +be hard to name a recent book which can be read with greater +pleasure, for the charm of its style alone. The expression is cut +down to the last necessary word, but every necessary word is +there; every idea is expressed simply, but adequately, and with +the finish and lustre of the diamond. . . . It would be +interesting to the reader and a pleasure to the writer to quote +from Father Phelan's work some of the many magnificent passages, +but the book is so beautifully knit together, ideas follow each +other in such logical sequence, that no selection could give an +adequate impression of the work. But with an easy conscience I +can recommend every clerical student, every young priest, and for +that matter, old priests too, to procure a copy, confident that +any reader who takes it up will read it through, as I have done, +before laying it down, and feel the better for having done so."-- +Ibh Maine in _The Leader_. + +"The Rev. M. J. Phelan, S.J., says much that is sensible in his +little volume. We are glad that he denounces 'the signal folly of +attempting to engraft an imported accent on his own native one, +which is sometimes done by the Irish priest in England with +deplorable results. It is a useful little book, well printed and +neatly bound."--(English) _Catholic Book Notes_. + +"The title of a clerical _vade-mecum_ is scarcely too ambitious a +one to give to 'The Young Priest's Keepsake'; a work which cannot +but be regarded by all whose good fortune it will be to read it, +as one of the most admirable works dealing with clerical life +that has appeared in Ireland for many a day. The author, Rev. M. +J. Phelan, S.J., bases his claim for a hearing upon a long +experience as missionary priest, and upon the possession of +ordinary powers of observation. Those who know Father Phelan rate +his claims much higher. His fame as a preacher is spread +throughout the length and breadth of Ireland. His wide and varied +learning, his acute powers of observation, his keen sense of +humour and sound practical judgment are common topics of +conversation amongst a wide circle of friends. The fine flower +and fruit ripened by constant study and wide experience are +modestly displayed in this little book."--_Irish Independent_. + +"The ecclesiastical student who takes up 'The Young Priest's +Keepsake' will quickly realise that he has not only fallen in +with a wise mentor but a cordially kind friend, to say nothing of +a charming writer. The way is marked out for him by one who has +trodden it, and who, as we can gather, from the evident culture +and literary grace of his pages and his renown as a preacher of +missions, has been no laggard in those studies which he so +earnestly recommends to young priests and ecclesiastical +students. . . . If Father Phelan's lessons were taken to heart by +the coming race of priests we, or at least our children, would +behold the Catholic pulpit transformed into a mighty living +force. At present it is far from being that. It is in this +country the weakest part of the great redeeming machinery of the +church, and it should be so strong and effective. . . . The book +is brilliantly written, and, as Father Phelan maintains his +position in no mamby-pamby or apologetic fashion, the reader is +treated to some very lively passages."--_The Tribune_ +(Melbourne). + +"In this little work from the pen of Father Phelan, S.J., those +who are in course of preparation for the high calling of the +sacred ministry will find some advice worthy of serious +consideration. . . . It is an age of 'experts'; as an 'expert' of +undoubted merit in the sphere of missionary work Father Phelan +well may claim the right of giving authoritative advice to those +aspiring to that field of labour in which his own efforts have +been crowned with such signal success. . . . Were the revered +author not, in fact what he is, a Jesuit missionary of +acknowledged excellence and wide fame, the value of his advice +would be none the less evident on a thoughtful perusal of his +book. . . . Even a mere casual reading would send the young +student away with a clear realization of the steps he must take +to secure that in his mind or personality there shall be nothing +to make any man, however critical, however captious, think less +of that Living Word whose mouthpiece it will be his lot in life +to be. . . . He has done well and very well in trying to make it +easy for future workers in the same field to do justice to their +sacred calling and to themselves."--_Cork Examiner_. + +"He knows what he is talking about, and he speaks with a +first-hand knowledge of what is required by young priests coming +to Australia."--_Catholic Press_ (Sydney). + +"Amongst the many qualifications which the author has brought to +his delicate task, not the least are his earnestness and his +enthusiasm for his subject. These qualities are responsible for +some of the best features of the book. They have given it its +thoroughly constructive character and tempered even its severest +criticisms. The greater part of the book is devoted to sacred +eloquence. Here, of course, the writer speaks with the authority +of a master. He will deserve the gratitude of many a young +preacher for having given to the world the benefit of his own +experience in an art which he has made so completely his own. In +the chapter on elocution he lays down excellent principles for +the delivery of sermons and suggests means of curing the most +common defects that mar pulpit oratory. Finally, he gives +elaborate hints on the best means of composing sermons. For +instance, the sermon writer is advised to seize without delay, +and commit to writing, a brilliant thought no matter how +unseasonable the time at which it presents itself. When a train +of thought is allowed to go by it either never returns or returns +like the Sybil with diminished treasure. This is but one grain of +the practical wisdom which is scattered so liberally through the +pages of 'The Young Priest's Keepsake'."--_Mungret Annual_. + +"A very thoughtful and eloquent book. No better book of its kind +could be in the hands of young priests who are at the beginning +of life's work. Its table of contents shows the subjects which +find a place in its pages. Under each of these headings Father +Phelan gives much useful information and adds a charm to the +knowledge which he imparts by the apt illustrations with which he +adorns it."--_Theological Quarterly_. + +"This book is sure to be read with keen interest by a great many +young priests and priests no longer young; and it is not likely +to drop out of use after a few months. Father Phelan speaks from +wide, practical experience, and he develops his views with +clearness and earnestness, and with many fresh and vivid +illustrations. We would be surprised to hear that any priest +young or old taking up 'The Young Priest's Keepsake' and turning +over the pages, at No. 50 Upper O'Connell Street, laid it down +and went out without arranging to have it sent after him."-- +_Irish Monthly_. + +"It is well known that Father Phelan is an authority on the +subject of pulpit eloquence, for he is himself one of the most +eloquent preachers of the Jesuit Order, and his profound +eloquence and ripe scholarship are only equalled by his deep +knowledge of human nature. . . . The theological students and +others who wish to acquire the art of speaking to the heart, and +preachers who realize that they themselves are becoming stale and +commonplace, cannot do better than read and inwardly digest this +beautiful work."--_Galway Express_. + +"'The Young Priest's Keepsake' seems to us an exceedingly +practical and commonsense work. When we have said this much we +have said no more of Father Phelan's book than it deserves. The +volume has been admirably produced by Messrs. M. H. Gill & Son, +on Irish paper, with Irish ink, and bears the imprimatur of the +Irish trade mark. We hope it will have the wide circulation it +deserves."--_Irish Catholic_. + +"The Rev M. J. Phelan, S.J., gives youthful clerics the benefit +of his personal experience as a student in ecclesiastical +colleges, and a missionary for almost a quarter of a century in +Australia and Ireland. The volume has a chapter on culture, one +on English, three on sermons, and a final one on elocution. They +are all suggestive, and some of them will prove not unprofitable +to priests who can no longer be called young."--_Ave Maria_. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Young Priest's Keepsake, by Michael Phelan + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE YOUNG PRIEST'S KEEPSAKE *** + +***** This file should be named 16330.txt or 16330.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/3/3/16330/ + +Produced by Angela + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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