He, therefore, whose heart is overflowing with
religion, can open his mouth only before an auditory, where that which
is presented, with such a wealth of preparation, can produce the most
extended and manifold effects.
Would that I could present before you an image of the rich and
luxurious life in this city of God, when its inhabitants come together
each in the fulness of his own inspiration, which is ready to stream
forth without constraint, but, at the same time, each is filled with a
holy desire to receive and to appropriate to himself everything which
others wish to bring before him. If one comes forward before the rest,
it is not because he is entitled to this distinction, in virtue of an
office or of a previous agreement, nor because pride and conceitedness
have given him presumption; it is rather a free impulse of the spirit,
a sense of the most heartfelt unity of each with all, a consciousness
of entire equality, a mutual renunciation of all First and Last, of
all the arrangements of earthly order. He comes forward in order to
communicate to others, as an object of sympathizing contemplation, the
deepest feelings of his soul while under the influence of God; to lead
them to the domain of religion in which he breathes his native air;
and to infect them with the contagion of his own holy emotions. He
speaks forth the Divine which stirs his bosom, and in holy silence the
assembly follows the inspiration of his words.
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