Practical godliness the end of spiritual doctrine.
The teaching of St. Paul soars very high in respect of the hidden things of God. To none of the apostles were given more abundant revelations of heavenly mysteries. Caught up into the third heaven, hearing unspeakable words, saturated with gifts of the Holy Ghost, he was able to lead men's souls into depths and heights of unseen things as no other teacher was. His eloquent tongue, pouring forth the riches of knowledge of an enlightened heart, could speak of God's love to man, of his eternal purposes, of his predestinating grace, of the coming and kingdom of the Lord Jesus, of the resurrection of the dead, of the inheritance of the saints in light, in words of wisdom and power certainly not inferior to those of the very chiefest apostles of Christ. And yet, in dealing with the practical duties of Christian men and women, and in teaching morality as an essential part of Christianity, there is a particularity of detail, a searching application of truth, an earnest tone of warning and of exhortation, which could not be exceeded by any teacher of ethics who knew of nothing else but human conduct and the present interests of society. With St. Paul, familiarity with the highest doctrines of revelation does not depreciate the importance of the humblest duties of daily life; it rather magnifies it, and raises those duties from an earthly to a heavenly platform. If St. Paul's sole end and aim in his apostolic labors had been to bring the daily life of every class of the community to whom he wrote into accordance with the law of righteousness, and to make human life on earth pure and happy, he could not have dwelt upon those details of practice, on which the economy of society depends for its comfort and- happiness, with more earnestness and particularity than he has done. The demeanor of old men, the behavior of old women, the influence of the aged upon the young, the innermost domestic duties of the wife and the mother, words, deeds, looks, dress, temper, disposition, affections, all comes under the constraining influence of the gospel as preached by St. Paul. In like manner that degraded portion of mankind whose condition was so pitiable in the Roman empire, the slaves, of whom there were such numbers in every considerable household, is brought under the elevating influence of Christian motive. Relations and duties full of naught but Fain and humiliation in themselves, and leading naturally to the vices which are born of degradation, are elevated at once into platforms of eminent virtue. Under the holy influences of Christian faith new principles are called into life, new motives of thought and action are awakened, and the low life of the dishonest, insolent, and deceitful slave becomes the arena for the exercise of some of the highest virtues of the saint. What a lesson we have here for the Christian teacher! If the parish priest, whose intercourse with his flock brings him into contact with the infirmities and sins of the various classes of his parishioners, would bend his strength in this direction, and upon the basis of the doctrine of grace would build the superstructure of a severe and minute instruction in the details of a really holy life, the value of a parochial ministry would be seen to the full. Christianity in the family, Christianity in the shop, Christianity in the daily intercourse of man with man, would be a preaching of Christ to the world which would put the caviler to shame, and which no adversaries would be able to gainsay or to resist.
HOMILIES BY T. CROSKERY.