being away; I sing my canticle of thanksgiving for deliverance, and nothing would cost me so much as to have to return.” He by no means settled down into “a state of passive quietism,” as some ignorantly prate, wholly misconceiving both quietism and the man. The slightest scanning of the records shows how beautifully and zealously active his last years were. If ever a man threw himself into the interests of others, or made the deep love of God, which he breathed as his native air, take loving shape in strenuous acts, it was Fénelon. He was quiet, even as was Madame Guyon, and as all other high saints have been, in so far as to rest with an absolute, unhesitating, unquestioning faith in God’s keeping, asking nothing save that His will might be perfected in him; but he was most active and energetic in body, soul, and spirit for his neighbor’s good. The unremitting labors which he undertook, and which his vast diocese if properly administered demanded, involved a life of the most regular industry. He gave but a short time to sleep, and his working hours began early, so that he had done nearly a day’s work before saying mass. His habit was to say this in his own chapel, after a long time spent previously in prayer, except on Saturdays, when he said it in the cathedral, remaining there to hear the confessions of penitents of any and every class who chose to present themselves. He not infrequently preached in the cathedral, but seems to have preferred the town churches, in some one of which he always preached the Lenten discourses. He made no effort at oratory, aiming chiefly to be plain and intelligible, excluding from his sermons superfluous ornaments as well as obscurity and difficult reasonings. He preached from the heart rather than from the head, and generally without notes, but not without much meditation and prayer. He used to say, “I must spend much time in my closet in order to be prepared for the pulpit, and to be sure that my heart is filled from the Divine fountain before I pour out the streams upon the people.” He declared against the practice of committing sermons to writing and then learning them by heart.