This awful truth is made most manifest By miracles, which even now attest Her right divine; and every age can show This power, which God hath ceas'd not to bestow, To teach the Christian how to live and die! O foolish man, and vain! why thus reject As needs must perish at the least commotion, And whelm in the depths of hell's tempestuous ocean? Feast of St. Basil, B.C. J. P. S. THE ELOQUENCE OF THE PULPIT. A FEW rambling reflections upon this subject suggest themselves to our mind in connection, we grieve to say, with the contrast we discover between the immense importance of sacred oratory, considered as a most efficient weapon in the armoury of the Church militant, and the comparatively disproportionate pains, which, by the majority at least of our English Catholic clergy, are lavished upon its cultivation. If, as must readily be admitted on the one hand, there is no conceivable subject more adapted to the display of the grandest and most elevated style of eloquence than the illustration and inculcation of religious truth, it is the more to be deplored that greater exertions are not made in our seminaries of religious education to train up great preachers, as well as able ministers of the Word of GOD. We mean these observa tions in no unkindly or invidious spirit: for the Catholic clergymen of England, considered as a body, we entertain the most profound respect, and can, with the utmost sincerity, aver our belief, that a more worthy, more zealous, and more essentially useful community of men does not exist in Europe. But this willing and heartfelt testimony to their worth does not preclude us from asserting, that in one branch of their high, sacerdotal functions, which we consider an all-important one, they do not, collectively speaking, justify that reputation for eloquence which should appertain to their character as missionaries sent forth to proclaim the inspired word. Neither is this grave charge to be brought home to any individual among the English clergy, but we level it at the general system of education pursued in their regard. We ourselves passed a couple of years in one of our old established colleges, and excellent as was in many respects the system of classical and religious instruction there pursued, admirably calculated as it may have been to form sound scholars and active labourers for the Lord's vineyard, we do not hesitate to pronounce our opinion that the great art of pulpit oratory did not occupy a sufficiently prominent place in the educational training of students destined for the English mission. Now we too well appreciate the arduous labours which await every young man that exchanges the leisure of collegiate life for the cure of souls in London or elsewhere, not to feel that once launched upon his career of duty, he has no longer any time to devote to the arts of rhetoric and elocution. How doubly desirable then, that while still pursuing his ecclesiastical studies, he should have every opportunity afforded him of cultivating most effectually a department of them, success in which imparts such immeasurable preponderance and usefulness to the character in which he is thereafter to appear! Professors should unquestionably be appointed for the sole purpose of instructing young candidates for orders in the composition and delivery of sermons, and in the much neglected art of reading aloud with due emphasis and intonation. Instead of assigning in rotation to each student who enters what is called the school of divinity, the task of writing and delivering a single discourse, the practice of pulpit oratory should be enforced at a much earlier period of theological study, and with far greater frequency. Were such a system pursued at college, we should shortly see the Catholic priesthood attain that pre-eminence which they are entitled to hold, and should never have lost. That it has for the present lost it, we fear it cannot be gainsaid. Within the immediate memories of many among us, and in this very district of London, three distinguished preachers contemporaneously upheld the reputation of the English Catholic pulpit,-Dr. Archer, Dr. Morris,-Dr. Fryer. Upon whom has the mantle of those eminent divines fallen? Let us not be understood to deny that in the Catholic churches of London-we detest the narrowness of the word chapels-we are not invariably edified with the soundest expositions of Christian doctrine, and have frequent occasion to admire the manner and ability with which they are propounded. It is of no defect in the "stuff" of which our priests are made that we complain; all we venture to assert is, that in proportion to their ability to do justice to exalted themes of sacred eloquence, has not been their cultivation of those niceties of language and composition which to their discourses would impart such additional grace and effect. A useful lesson upon the subject of pulpit oratory may be gathered from the practice of the Anglican establishment, which undoubtedly numbers among its clergy many preachers of remarkable ability; yet few among them gifted as they may be with great talents and fluency, venture to preach without a copy of their sermon lying before them. The real fact is, that while on the one hand extempore preaching, if it be really of a first-rate kind, is undoubtedly the most effective mode of addressing a congregation, it is a most perilous style to attempt, for any person who does not feel within himself the energy and powers of a master mind. Many a man, well able to deliver from MS. an admirable and perfectly well written discourse, bewilders himself and his auditors in the attempt to trust to his own memory for the exhortations and arguments which he would address to them. We would therefore lay it down as a rule to every clergyman, not to be departed from but by men of the most tried eloquence and unflinching nerve, never to preach to a miscellaneous congregation without a copy of his sermon before him. We are told, that we should attend to the matter, not the manner of those instructions which are delivered to us by our pastors. Granted; but does the duty that obliges us to pay attention to exhortations delivered even in an ineffective manner, render us less alive to the mingled delight and profit, which we derive in listening to them, when they are addressed to us in that language that charms the ear? We believe the truth to be, that John Bull, although full of good sense and intellectual capabilities, is not by nature gifted with much readiness of speech. Unless therefore, he be the one man in ten thousand, whose spontaneous eloquence can give adequate expression to the all-impor tant topic of salvation, let him be content to prepare in the solitude of the closet, a discourse which, having been thus matured by previous study, will probably be productive in the delivery of both advantage and edification. In point of natural quickness, our volatile neighbours the French undoubtedly greatly surpass us. Attached to a foreign Church, which we have been for some months in the habit of frequenting, are some seven or eight young clergymen, all under thirty years old; yet there is not one of these, who, being called upon to preach in his turn, does not ascend the pulpit with the self-assurance of an old orator, and deliver a seemingly extempore sermon, of three quarters of an hour duration, without halt or hesitation, with a fervour, continuity of purpose, and fluency, that encrease as the preacher warms with his subject, and keep alive, from first to last, the interest and attention of every listener present. C. LIFE OF ST. ELIZABETH OF HUNGARY. CHAPTER V. HOW THE KNIGHTS OF THURINGIA FORCED THE DUKE HENRY TO REPENT OF HIS TREASON, AND TO MAKE AMPLE RESTITUTION TO THE DEAR SAINT ELIZABETH. "Aperi os tuum muto, et causis omnium filiorum qui pertranseunt: aperi os tuum, dicerne quod justum est, et judica inopem et pauperem." Prov. xxxi. 8, 9. THE last sad ceremony was now over: so Sir Rodolph de Varila recalled to his brother Crusaders, as they stood round the Duchess Elizabeth, the solemn engagement they had made to the Bishop of Bamberg, in behalf of his niece. Withdrawing apart to deliberate thereupon, sir Rodolph thus briefly addressed the knights. "Now," said he, "the time has come for us to redeem the pledge which we have so solemnly given and sworn to our noble prince and our dear lady Elizabeth. The hour is come to put an end to her misfortunes. This is our duty, and if we shrink from it, we shall deserve to be disgraced for ever here below, and to suffer eternal punishment in the world to come." This was a sentiment which they all understood, for in those days the bravest warriors were not ashamed to own the influence which the consideration of the next world excited in the fulfilment of present duties. With one consent they resolved to address a vigorous remonstrance to the Landgrave Henry and his brother; and this hazardous mission they entrusted to four knights of their number, whose names, says the historian, deserve to be recorded with immortal honour. The first was Sir Rodolph de Varila, deputed to speak for the rest, as being a man of singular eloquence, and more than all attached to the young duchess; the other three were Sir Ludolph de Berstetten, Sir Hartwig de Herba, and Sir Walter de Varila, Sir Rodolph's cousin. Preceded by these four, the rest of the knights repaired to the young princes, who were along with their mother. Sir Rudolph de Varila, turning to the Duke Henry, addressed him in the following words, which were carefully and justly registered in the chronicles of the country. 66 'My Lord, I am required by my comrades and fellow-vassals to speak to you in their name. We have learnt, both in Franconia and here in Thuringia, such disgraceful reports concerning you, that we have been filled with consternation: yea, we are forced to blush, when we reflect that, in our country, and in our royal family, there is to be found such impiety, such faithlessness, and such a disregard of true honour. Alas! young prince, what is this you have done, and who has given you such evil counsel? Is it possible that you have dared to banish from your castles and cities the wife of your brother, a poor desolate widow, the daughter of an illustrious king, whom it was your duty to honour and console, but whom you have treated as if she had been a woman of abandoned character? Despising your own reputation, you have betrayed her to misery, forcing her to beg like a common mendicant in the streets! whilst your noble brother was giving his life for the love of GOD, his orphan children, whom it was your duty to cherish and defend with the affection and devotion of a faithful guardian, have been banished to a distance, and even forced to separate from their dear mother, for you refused them food to eat if they remained in her company! Is this your specimen of fraternal affection? Is this the lesson you learnt from your noble brother, that virtuous prince, who would not have so acted to the meanest of his subjects? But why do I speak of such a glorious prince, and of what he would have done under such circumstances? There is not a peasant in |