e he defends it, no matter how trifling the issue,
how much more imperative is the obligation of the Priest to study well his
case, when he reflects that an immortal soul is on trial, and before men
who are often the worst enemies of their own soul. He has to convince the
people that the narrow road, which their inclinations abhor, is to be
followed; and that the broad road, which their self-love and their
passions tend to pursue, is to be abandoned. Conviction in this case
requires rare tact as well as eloquence and learning.

But the minister of religion has to defend the soul not only against the
corruptions of the heart, but also against those doctrinal errors that are
daily springing up in every direction, and which are plausibly preached by
false teachers, who bring to their support the most specious arguments,
couched in the most attractive language. To refute these errors often
requires the most consummate skill and a profound knowledge of history and
the Holy Scripture.

It is no wonder, then, that the Church insists that her clergy be educated
men. Hence our ecclesiastical students are usually obliged to devote from
ten to fourteen years to the diligent study of the modern and ancient
languages, of history and philosophy, of the great science of theology and
Holy Scripture, before they are elevated to the sacred ministry.

It is true, indeed, that, owing to the rapidly-increasing demand for
clergy in the United States, our Bishops have hitherto been sometimes
compelled to abridge the course of studies of the candidates for the
ministry; but now that the Church is more thoroughly organized, and that
seminaries are multiplied among us, they are happily enabled to extend to
their young levites the advantages of a full term of literary and
theological training.

If the Priest should be eminent for his learning, he should be still more
conspicuous for his virtues, for he is expected to preach more by example
than by precept. If in the Old Law God charged His Priests with the
admonition: "Be sanctified, ye that carry the vessels of the Lord,"(513)
how much more strictly is holiness of life enjoined on the Priests of the
New Dispensation, who not only touch the sacred vessels, but drink from
them the Precious Blood of the Lord?

"Purer," says St. Chrysostom, "than any solar ray should that hand be
which divides that flesh, that mouth which is filled with spiritual fire,
that tongue which is purpled with that most