earthly reasons, ideas or speeches. For as words of human wisdom carry with them the wisdom and the spirit of the speaker, so do the words of the Holy Spirit bring into the soul the wisdom of God, and of His Spirit speaking by the Apostles.'

The Fathers, ever mindful of the teaching and example of the Apostles, continued in their spirit the mission they received from them. The preacher should do likewise and never forget that he is the ambassador of Christ. 'For Christ therefore we are ambassadors, God as it were exhorting by us (2 Cor. v. 20). According to St. John Chrysostom, St. Paul here says: The Father sent the Son to beseech, and to be His ambassador unto mankind, when then He was slain and gone, we succeeded to the embassy; and, in His stead and the Father's, we beseech you.' St. Paul, therefore, counted himself an ambassador of Christ, one who had succeeded to His functions, consequently he ever kept urging his cause, like an ambassador on his mission.

The priest, being an ambassador, should never add to or take from the message entrusted to him. 'For a messenger's business is this, to convey from one to another what is told him. For which cause also the priest is called a messenger, because he speaks not his own words, but those of Him Who sent him."2 This same author in his commentary on 1 Corinthians says :

They who from the beginning sowed the word, were unprofessional and unlearned, and spake nothing of themselves; but what things they received from God, these they distributed to the world; and we ourselves, at this time, introduce no inventions of our own, but the things from them, we have received, we speak unto all.

St. Augustine also dwells on the obligation of the preacher to confine himself to the Gospel :

Ye are indeed of one family. We of the same family are dispensers, it is true, but we all belong to one Lord, nor what I give, do I give of mine own; but of His from Whom I also receive. For, if I should give of mine own, I shall live a lie. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own.3

The Fathers sought their thoughts, motives, reasons,

1 Cor. A Lap. in 1 Cor.

2 St. John Chrysostom in Com. on Epistle to the Romans.

8 Homilies on New Testament.

and arguments in the writings of the inspired authors. As Oecumenius tells us :-

If we are asked whether Christ rose on the third day we bring forth testimony and proofs from Jonas. If we are asked whether the Lord was born of a virgin, we compare His Mother in her virginity to Anna and Elizabeth in their sterility, and thence prove it.

These quotations suffice to prove that Benedict XV, in exhorting preachers to confine themselves to the Gospel, is walking in the footprints of the Fathers of the Church. We have seen that the Fathers preached nothing but the Gospel; now let us see if they preached the whole Gospel. Did they preach the dogmas which inspire with delight as well as those which strike with fear? Did they dwell on God's mercy as well as on His justice? Did they fear to offend their hearers by expounding the malice and punishment of sin ?

The circumstances of the times in which most of the Fathers lived obliged them to lay special stress on the rewards of a virtuous life in order to induce their people to bear patiently the trials, persecutions and privations they were daily exposed to. Hence, they often repeated the words of St. Paul: 'I reckon that the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come which shall be revealed in us' (Rom. viii. 18). But recognizing that many would be more effectively moved to embrace a virtuous life by fear than by love, they did not neglect the fear-inspiring truths. They imitated St. Paul who, after encouraging by the gentler things, turns his discourse to the more fearful, and thus draws them on both sides. In general most men are not drawn so much by the promise of what is good as by the fear of what is painful.'1

In their homilies the Fathers were most practical, and hence did not dwell much on the malice of sin in itself, but proved its malice from its effects. For man, though living in the midst of sin, cannot understand its malice. He is like one lost in a dense forest, unable to form any idea of its extent or bearings. On the other hand, in many paragraphs scattered through their homilies they deal with the effects of sin. For the sake of brevity I will not give their words, but will mention some of the effects they treat of. Let us take St. John Chrysostom and

1 St. John Chrysostom, Com. on Epistle to the Romans.

St. Augustine together. They tell us that sin is the only real evil, that it blinds the understanding, is selfdestructive, the source of corruption of body and soul, a festering sore, dishonour, makes cowards, makes slaves, strikes dumb, etc.

Nor were the Fathers satisfied with describing the effects of sin in general. As circumstances demanded they attacked individual sins. Once they saw that God's glory and the salvation of souls called for strong words no human consideration could keep them silent. For example, St. Augustine forbade the celebration of the feast called Laetitia on account of abuses connected with it, some became violent, and declared they would never submit to the prohibition. According to the secret designs of Providence the day's Gospel contained the words: Give not that which is holy to dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine' (Matt. viii. 6). In a letter to Alypius, the Saint says I discoursed, therefore, concerning dogs and swine in such a way as to compel those who clamour with obstinate barking against the divine precepts, and who are given up to the abominations of carnal pleasures, to blush for shame.'

St. John Chrysostom also denounced the sins of impurity in strong terms. In his Commentary on the Epistle

to the Romans he says:

Nothing can be more worthless than a man who has pandered himself. For not the soul only, but the body also of one who hath been so treated, is disgraced, and deserves to be driven out everywhere. How many hells shall be enough for such? But if thou scoffest at hearing of hell and art unbelieving, remember that fire of Sodom. For we have seen, surely we have seen, even in this present life, a semblance of hell. For since many would utterly disbelieve the things to come after the Resurrection, hearing now of an eternal fire, God brings them to a right mind by things present, such then is the burning of Sodom, and that conflagration; and they know it well that have been at the place, and have seen with their eyes that scourge divinely sent, and the effect of the lightnings from above. Consider how great is that sin to have forced hell to appear even before its time.

In the first paragraph of the same homily he asks us to admire the manner in which St. Paul deals with the vice of impurity:

How, having fallen on two opposite matters, he accomplishes them both with all exactness. For he wished both to speak chastely and to sting the hearer. Now, both these things were not in his power to do, but one hindered the other. For if you speak chastely, you shall not

be able to bear hard upon the hearer. But if you are minded to touch him to the quick, you are forced to lay the naked facts before him in plain terms. But his discreet and holy soul was able to do both with exactness, and by naming nature, has at once given additional force to his accusation, and also used this as a sort of veil, to keep the chasteness of his description.

Hence the preacher's duty, as handed down from the Apostles and Fathers of the Church, is to preach the Gospel. This same duty is inculcated by Benedict XV in his recent letter on preaching. Therefore, no motive of praiseworthy prudence can prevent the preacher discharging this duty so clearly and authoritatively defined. Often he will be severely criticized, misinterpreted and misrepresented by those whose vices he condemns; but he must be prepared to face all this, otherwise he has been chosen in vain.

For it is no evil report that ye should fear, but lest ye should prove partners in dissimulation. For then ye will lose your savour, and be trodden on by men; but if ye continue sharply to brace them up, and then are evil spoken of, rejoice: for this is the very use of salt, to sting the corrupt and make them smart, and so their censure follows, of course, in no way harming you, but rather justifying your firmness. But if through fear of it, you give up the earnestness that becomes you, ye will have to suffer much more grievously, being both evil spoken of and despised by all. For this is the meaning of 'trodden on by men.'1

III

From these quotations it is clear that Benedict XV in insisting on the preaching of the Gospel, the whole Gospel and nothing but the Gospel, insists on the return of preachers to the practice of the preachers of the early Church. Fidelity to the embassy received from Christ, obedience to the wishes of the Pope, and zeal for the spiritual welfare of their hearers oblige priests to recognize and discharge this duty to the best of their ability. Ignorance of the Gospel is the source of all sins and vices. As corrupt human nature remains unchanged, the following words of St. John Chrysostom are as true to-day as they were fifteen and a half centuries ago :

Our countless evils have arisen from ignorance of the Scriptures; from this it is that the plague of heresies has broken out so rife; from this that there are negligent lives; from this labours without advantage.

1 St. John Chrysostom, Com. on the Gospel of St. Matthew.

For as men deprived of this daylight would not walk aright, so they that look not to the gleaming of the Holy Scriptures, must be frequently and constantly sinning, in that they are walking in the worst of darkness.

The Gospel is the only remedy for the moral evils of the present day. Holy Scripture,' says St. Basil, is the universal depository of medicine for the cure of souls. From it every one may select the remedy which is salutary and appropriate for his own disease." Now, the pulpit is the great means of bringing the Gospel into healing-touch with the immortal souls of men. This presupposes knowledge, but not more than is within the reach of all divinely called to the priesthood. The divine word is, if I may say so, a river which is both shallow and deep in which a lamb may wade and an elephant may swim' (St. Gregory). All that preachers require is the good will to prepare themselves by prayer, meditation, and serious study of the Gospel. The constant study of the Gospel will make them good theologians, as it treats of the whole subject-matter of Catholic theology. Hence, St. Jerome defines the Gospel: A breviary and compendium of all Theology.' St. Hilary in his commentary on St. Matthew goes so far as to say: 'It is an undoubted truth that the constant reading of Scripture gives to the ministers of Christ the true knowledge of doctrine.' Hence, too, St. Dominic, the Founder of the Friars Preachers, considers the Holy Scriptures so essential, that he does not hesitate to declare that without Holy Scripture a preacher cannot exist.' Rightly, therefore, does St. Gregory in his commentary on Job observe: 'It is necessary that he who prepares himself for the words of true preaching should derive his sources from the sacred pages, that whatsoever he speaks he should recall to the foundation of divine authority, and make firm the edifice of his discourse upon that.' Every sermon should not only be founded on the Gospel, but as Father Bonardi says, 'it should also be an echo, a paraphrase of the Gospel.' A desire to be interesting and original might tempt some to stray from the Gospel, and treat the subject in a way better calculated to cater for the curiosity, rather than the spiritual needs of their hearers. Others, of an apparently practical turn of mind, want something more practical than the Gospel, something more practical than the means left us by Christ Himself. This is a disastrous mistake. For as St. Ambrose