When you have well cultivated your congregation, when a strong current of sympathy and charity has set in from them to you and from you to them, when a number of conversions shall have been made, then you may think of sending some of them to high Mass and to Vespers. Don't fail to felicitate such:--"You have come hither to hear me. So far well, and I am greatly rejoiced at it. Still you may do something better: you may attend high Mass," adding your reasons, and then conclude somewhat in this style:--"Now, I hope that those who are rightly disposed will attend high Mass. I only want the badly disposed, poor downright sinners, at my sermons." You will be obeyed by some, and you will thereby do much toward repopularizing religion; and when those who are not converted fall sick they will say:--"Send for the man who preaches the seven minutes sermon; I don't want any other." Thus God will be blessed and glorified. ... Here, then, you have a very simple and cheap means of restoring the people to religion. It may be put into practice everywhere: in great cities, in small towns, and even in hamlets. The subject is one for serious reflection. {196} Even in our most religiously disposed towns, hardly a third of the inhabitants habitually hear the word of God. Elsewhere, matters are still worse; and yet all are sheep of the same Divine pastor, all have a soul to save. Moreover, according to all theologians, every parish priest of a cure is required, _sub gravi_, to preach at low Mass, whenever the faithful generally do not attend high Mass. Hence, by pursuing the course above indicated, we may not only save others but shall also exonerate ourselves. {197} Chapter VII. Tact and Kindliness. We should assume that our Hearers are what we wish them to be. Reproaches to be avoided. How to address Unbelievers. Special Precautions to be taken in small Towns and rural Districts. How to treat Men during times of public Commotion. Forbearance due to the Church for being obliged to receive Money from the Faithful. In France, it is not enough to say good things, they must also be well said. This remark applies to all, but more especially to him who speaks in behalf of the Gospel; for he is bound to follow the Divine injunction:--"Be ye wise as serpents, and harmless as doves;" which I should prefer to see carried out as commented upon by St. François de Sales:--"Ah! my dear Philothea, I would give a hundred serpents for one dove."