Page:History of the German people at the close of the Middle Ages vol1.djvu/48

 36 HISTORY OF THE GERMAN PEOPLE in those days formed, like the Holy Sacrament, the most important part of Divine service, the churches were built with practical regard to this consideration. Most of the mediaeval pulpits still in existence date from this period. The ecclesiastical authorities held firmly to the principle laid down by Johann Ulrich ^Surgant (the re- nowned preacher and defender of papal rights) in the year 1503, in his theological homiletics : 'Preach- ing is the most effective agent for the conversion of mankind ; by its means especially are sinners brought to repentance ; it is as great a sin to let anything in the Word of God be lost, as through negligence to let a particle of the body of the Lord fall to the ground.' ' No word is above the Word of the Lord ; and His blessing is on those who announce it, and those who humbly hear it without hypocrisy. Priceless is the preaching of a pious, prudent priest, who has the love of God and of souls at heart. It inspires good resolutions, it brings food and comfort and the best gifts of God to the soul, as those know who have piously listened.' ' In very truth,' writes Mathias, bishop of Spires, in 1471, 'the most excellent preachers of the church at Spires have ever found how greatly the glory of God and the welfare of the Church, the advance- ment of the orthodox faith and the salvation of souls, besides untold benefits to the nation, have been promoted by the attentive hearing of the Word of God.' Hence all believers were most earnestly exhorted to attend the preaching of sermons. In the Diocesan Synods it was decreed that the priests should be directed to admonish their parishioners, under pain of