Ebook The Pulpit Orator

We are not, however, to infer from this that the preacher of the Gospel should speak without care or preparation. On the contrary, nothing demands greater attention. The Christian preacher is the messenger of the Most High; he is divinely commissioned to de clare those truths, and to explain that law upon which an eter nity of happiness or misery depends; and this to souls created in the image of the living God, and redeemed with the precious blood and cruel death of Jesus Christ. 80 sacred is this duty that St. Charles Borromeo bids him speak with the same reverential fear as if he beheld Jesus Christ as his judge seated upon a throne at the further end of the church, awaiting the conclusion of his discourse to call him to account for the manner in which he de livered it. Witness the care bestowed upon their discourses by the Fathers of the Church, some of whom would not invite any one to their table, the better to devote that time to preparing themselves for breaking the bread of the word to the little ones of Christ. The consequence is, that they have handed down master-pieces of sacred eloquence that will elicit the admiration of the world to the end of time. Their homilies will ever be a mine of wealth for the pulpit orator, and he can hardly hope to attain to any degree of perfection, unless he makes them the subject of his constant study.