526 CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS ORATORY. 



consolatory doctrines of morality, inveighed with, telling force of language 

 against the heathen superstitions which were again raising their heads, and 

 the heresies which were assailing the dogmas of the Christian faith. His 

 utterances, full of unction and gentleness, are remarkable, even in his severest 

 strictures upon the adversaries of the Church, for their kindness of tone, 

 which was very well calculated to win souls to the Divine cause. He speaks 

 of the most daring heretics as " stars fallen from the sky, which God may 

 perchance recall to the firmament, and to which He may restore the primitive 

 brightness of their twinkle." 



In the same century, St. Germain, Bishop of Auxerre ; St. Remi, Bishop 

 of Rheims ; and St. Avit, Bishop of Vienne, occupy, with St. Csesarius, a 

 prominent place in the history of religious oratory. Sidonius Apollinaris 

 say's of St. Remi that he equalled, and even surpassed, every orator of his day. 

 In the course of his episcopal career, which extended over seventy-two years, 

 he had many opportunities of demonstrating the influence of his speech ; 

 amongst others, when preaching upon the Passion before King Clovis and the 

 Franks, who had not yet been baptized into the Church, he depicted the 

 sufferings of our Lord with such pathetic force that Clovis, laying his hand to 

 his sword, exclaimed, " Had but my Franks and I been there ! " 



Preaching, in the early ages of the Church, was the special attribute 

 of the bishops. In some cases they would travel about the country, like the 

 modern missionaries ; in others they remained stationary in their episcopal 

 sees. Most of them preached two or three times a day. The sermon was 

 delivered from the steps of the altar, except when it was preached in the 

 graveyard, or from the church porch. Sometimes an animated conversation 

 would take place between the preacher and his audience, and it would even 

 happen that the new converts, whose savage passions could ill brook the 

 severe injunctions of Christian morality, interrupted the sermon by their 

 murmurs, and abruptly left the church. Upon one such occasion St. Hilary 

 of Poitiers, seeing that his congregation prepared to withdraw in order not 

 to hear his chiding voice, ordered the doors of the church to be shut, and 

 said, in indignant tones, " You refuse to hear the Divine word now. But 

 when you are in hell, do you suppose, miserable sinners, that you will be 

 able to leave when you feel so disposed?" These words restored silence and 

 order in the congregation. The religious eloquence, which had such a great 

 hold over rebellious and depraved natures, owed scarcely anything to art, and 



