“He that negotiates between God and man, As God’s ambassador, the grand concerns Of judgment and of mercy, should beware Of lightness in his speech. ’Tis pitiful To court a grin, when you should woo a soul; To break a jest, when pity would inspire Pathetic exhortation; and t’ address The skittish fancy with facetious tales, When sent with God’s commission to the heart!”

For a specimen of the style of popular preachers in the Middle Ages, see the story of Frate Cipolla, in the Decameron , Gior. VI Nov. 10. See also Scheible’s Kloster , and Menin’s Predicatoriana . ↩