on
was but the type; and if the people at Mount Sinai were forbidden to come
near their wives for three days before receiving the Law,(528) should not
they whose office it is to preach the Law at all times abstain altogether?

Thorndyke, an eminent Protestant Divine, in his work entitled, _Just
Weights and Measures_, makes the following observation: "The reason for
single life for the clergy is firmly grounded, by the Fathers and canons
of the Church, upon the precept of St. Paul, forbidding man and wife to
depart unless for a time, to attend unto prayer (I. Cor. vii. 5). For,
Priests and Deacons being continually to attend upon occasions of
celebrating the Eucharist, which ought continually to be frequented; if
others be to abstain from the use of marriage for a time, then they
always."(529)

Second--Writers frequently discuss the secret cause of the marvelous
success which marks the growth of the Catholic Church everywhere in spite
of the most formidable opposition. Some ascribe this progress to her
thorough organization; others to the far-seeing wisdom of her chief
pastors. Without undervaluing these and other auxiliaries, I incline to
the belief that, under God, the Church has no tower of strength more
potent than the celibacy of her clergy. The unmarried Priest, as St. Paul
observes (1 Cor. vii.), is free to give his whole time undivided to the
Lord, and can devote his attention not to one or two children, but to the
entire flock whom he has begotten in Christ Jesus, through the Gospel;
while the married minister is divided between the cares of his family and
his duties to the congregation. "A single life," says Bacon, "doth well
with churchmen; for, charity will hardly water the ground where it must
first fill a pool."(530)

Third--The world has hitherto been converted by unmarried clergymen, and
only by them will it continue to be converted. St. Francis Xavier and St.
Francis de Sales could not have planted the faith in so many thousands of
souls if they were accompanied on their journeys by their wives and
children. Of all the gems that adorn the priestly diadem, none is so
precious and indispensable in the eyes of the people as the peerless jewel
of chastity. Without this pearl the voice of a Hyacinthe "becomes as
sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal;" with it, the humblest missioner
gains the hearts of multitudes.

Everybody is aware of the numerous conversions to Christianity effected by
St. Francis Xavie