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 doze