which oppresses. Such priests easily omit Mass, and have no sense of loss.
Still they may preach high doctrines of the spiritual life with as much eloquence as ever. But their heart does not go with their words; and to ears that can hear there is a hollow ring in all they say. Such men will read the lives of the Saints, and desire to be like them. They try and fall short. They retain an intellectual perception of some high standard which is habitually in their mouth till an unconscious intellectual simulation is formed, sometimes with selfdeception, which is dangerous; sometimes with conscious unreality, which is worse. Such men grow inwardly hollow. There is a decay at the heart, and a preparation for falling. The words of Isaias are fearful and true: "Therefore shall this iniquity be to you as a breach that falleth, and is found wanting in a high wall; for the destruction thereof shall come on a sudden, when it is not looked for." Many a time when a priest has fallen all men have wondered except one or two, who have closely watched him, and his own conscience, which has known the secret of his fall. And when it comes, it is terrible, and sometimes final. The "high wall" comes rushing down in utter ruin; the higher the more hopeless. As the prophet says again: "And it shall be broken
