think that the best thing for you
to attend to is this question of faith.

I have no respect for a lawyer who does not know certain fundamental
definitions by heart; and I have less respect for the preacher who
cannot repeat the eleventh chapter of Hebrews offhand.

_Get your faith into your blood_; the brain is the place for your
reasonings and argumentations.

You say that you are a soldier of heaven, battling with the
world--meaning that you represent righteousness as opposed to evil.
That is your attitude--your conception of your mission. Very well, the
secret of your strength has never been so well stated as in the words
of the Apostle, "_This_ is the victory that _overcometh the world_,
even our _faith_."

Four of the most extraordinary doers of God's work in the world were
Luther, Loyola, Wesley, and Savonarola. Each of this company of
practical and militant Christianity has life instruction for you. But
in the art of preaching, as such, Savonarola has more than either of
the others, although Wesley is nearly his equal, and, as an organizer,
vastly his superior. He perfectly illustrates the miraculous power of
conviction in mere oratory.

I would advise every young man who intends to enter the pulpit to read
carefully the best life of this wonderful preacher, reformer, and
statesman. And supplement your study of him and his methods by
reading George Eliot's historical novel, "Romola."

The great Dominican was a Lombard, of harsh accent and strange face,
come to live in the most cultured city in the world. Florence was then
in the full flowering of literature and art; and in her overripe
perfections the poison was distilling of greed and cruelty and
lubricity and all loathsomeness.

Over this capital of learning, genius, and sin ruled "The Magnificent"
Medici, sitting with easy power on his splendid throne and wielding
his scepter with the accurate skill of a perfect craft and the strong
decision of a fearless heart.

But you know the story. It was not an inviting field for a preacher
who burned to utter the Word and at the same time hoped to enjoy the
smiles and favors of the great. It was not an encouraging prospect for
any one who wanted to restore the reign of righteousness, even though
he were willing to pay the price of martyrdom.

But Savonarola accomplished all this and more; for he crowned the
renaissance of letters and art with the renaissance of Christian
morals and religion whose pure and b