d in mind the power of the
orator, which through love lifts up humanity and sways men by a burst of
feeling that brooks no resistance.

Oratory is the child of democracy--it pleads for the weak, for the many
against the few--and no great speech was ever yet made save in behalf of
mankind. The orator feels their joys, their sorrows, their hopes, their
desires, their aspirations, their sufferings and pains. They may have
wandered far, but his arms are open wide for their return. Here alone
does soul respond to soul. And it is love, alone, that fuses feeling so
that all are of one mind and mood. Oratory is an exercise of power.

But oratory, like all sublime pleasures, pays its penalty--this way
madness lies. The great orator has ever been a man of sorrows and
acquainted with grief. Oratory points the martyr's path; it leads by the
thorn road; and those who have trod the way have carried the cross with
bleeding feet, and deep into their side has been thrust the spear.

* * * * *

It was not until his fortieth year that Savonarola attained that
self-sufficiency and complete self-reliance that marks a man who is fit
for martyrdom. Courage comes only to those who have done the thing
before.

By this time Savonarola had achieved enemies, and several dignitaries
had done him the honor of publicly answering him. His invective was
against the sins of Church and Society, but his enemies, instead of
defending their cause, did the very natural thing of inveighing against
Savonarola.

Thus did they divert attention from the question at issue. Personal
abuse is often more effective than argument, and certainly much more
easy to wield.

Savonarola was getting himself beautifully misunderstood. Such words as
fanatic, pretender, agitator, heretic, renegade and "dangerous" were
freely hurled at him. They said he was pulling down the pillars of
Society. He seriously considered retiring entirely from the pulpit; and
as a personal vindication and that his thoughts might live, he wrote a
book, "The Triumph of the Cross." This volume contains all his
philosophy and depicts truth as he saw it.

Let a reader, ignorant of the author, peruse this book today, and he
will find in it only the oft-repeated appeal of a believer in "Primitive
Christianity." Purity of life, sincerity, simplicity, earnestness,
loyalty to God and love to man--these are very old themes, yet they can
never die. Zeal can always fan the