e qualification. In the fifth book he
prescribes the manner in which a preacher ought to announce the word of
God, with what indefatigable pains, and with what purity of intention,
desiring only to please God and plant his love in all hearts, and
despising the applause of men, insensible both to their praise and
censures. His discourse must be set off by piety, natural eloquence,
plain simplicity, and dignity, that all may hear the divine word
willingly, and with respect and pleasure, so as to wish at the end of
the sermon that it were longer. The extreme danger of vain-glory so much
alarmed him, that in the close of this book he again speaks against that
vice, and says, that he who entirely subdued this furious wild beast,
and cut off its numberless heads, enjoys a great interior calm, with
infinite spiritual advantages; and that every one is bound to stand
always armed against its assaults. In the sixth book, he shows that
priests will be punished for the sins of others. It is no excuse for a
watchman to say, _I heard not the trumpet: I saw not the enemy
approach_, (Ezech. xxxiii. 3,) for he is appointed sentinel to watch and
announce the danger to others. If a single soul perishes through his
neglect, this will condemn him at the last day. In how great
watchfulness must he live not to be infected with the contagion of the
world, with which he is obliged to converse! With what zeal, vigilance,
and fervor is he bound to acquit himself of all his duties and
functions! For priests are ambassadors of heaven, sent not to one city,
but to the whole earth, with a strict charge never to cease scattering
the divine seed, preaching and exhorting with so great diligence, that
no secret sinner may be able to escape them. They are moreover appointed
by God mediators to intercede with him for the sins both of the living
and the dead; to offer the tremendous sacrifice, and hold the common
Lord of all things in their hands. With what purity, with what sanctity
ought he to be adorned, who exercises so sublime a function? In it
angels attend the priest, all the choir of heaven joins, and the holy
place near the altar is occupied by legions of blessed spirits, in honor
of Him who is laid upon it. This he confirms by a vision of a holy old
man, who saw a multitude of bright spirits surrounding the altar,
profoundly bowing their heads. "Another," says the {258} saint, "assured
me, that he had both seen himself, and heard from others, that t