heir eyes, in your discourse, and let them see, as in a glass, their own
disquiets, their little cunnings, their trifling projects, and their vain
hopes. You shall also show them, the unhappy issue of all their designs.
You shall discover to them, the snares which are laid for them by the
evil spirit, and teach them the means of shunning them. But, moreover,
you shall tell them, that if they suffer themselves to be surprised by
them, they are to expect the worst that can happen to them; and by this
you shall gain their attention; for a man never fails of attentive
audience, when the interest of the hearer is the subject of the
discourse. Stuff not out your sermons with sublime speculations, knotty
questions, and scholastical controversies. Those things which are above
the level of men of the world, only make a noise, and signify nothing. It
is necessary to represent men to themselves, if you will gain them. But
well to express what passes in the bottom of their hearts, you must first
understand them well; and in order to that, you must practise their
conversation, you must watch them narrowly, and fathom all their depths.
Study then those living books; and assure yourself, you shall draw out of
them the means of turning sinners on what side you please.

"I do not forbid you, nevertheless, to consult the holy scriptures on
requisite occasions, nor the fathers of the church, nor the canons, nor
books of piety, nor treatises of morality; they may furnish you with
solid proofs for the establishment of Christian truths, with sovereign
remedies against temptations, and heroical examples of virtue. But all
this will appear too cold, and be to no purpose, if souls be not disposed
to profit by them; and they cannot profit but by the ways I have
prescribed. So that the duty of a preacher is to sound the bottom of
human hearts, to have an exact knowledge of the world, to make a faithful
picture of man, and set it in so true a light, that every one may know it
for his own.

"Since the king of Portugal has ordered, that you shall be allowed from
the treasury what is needful for your subsistence, make use of the favour
of so charitable a prince, and receive nothing but from his ministers. If
other persons will give you any thing, refuse it, though they should
offer it of their own mere motion. For as much, as it is of great
consequence to the liberty of an apostolical man, not to owe his
subsistence to those whom he ought to conduct