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Rh us that it is the greatest interior sanctity required by any state on earth. And as this sanctity is required by the state itself, so it is certain that the grace and help of the Holy Ghost are always proportionate and always present for our assistance. We are always telling the people of the world that if they ever fail it is not God that fails them, but they that fail themselves; that they have always and everywhere the grace needed by their state in all straits and dangers. How much more justly and truly may they return this counsel to us if we priests fail. We are set forth first to be the pattern of the all-sufficiency of sovereign grace. Therefore, a priest is inexcusable who seeks the cause of his imperfection anywhere but in himself.

4. "How great a love of God and of souls ought, therefore, to be kindled within us, and with what a fire ought our hearts to burn. 'The flame of the pastor,' S. Bernard says, 'is the light of the flock.' For in the priest the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the principle and fountain of love and fervour, ought to live and reign. Our missionaries, kindled with the ardour of zeal for souls, will strive to deliver, by a true exposition to the people committed to them, the commandment of God, 'exceeding broad' in all fulness and sanctity. Let them take heed lest, putting