5.  The love of money to some men is the root of all evil.  There came once a youth to St. Philip Neri and, flushed with joy, told him that his parents after much entreaty had at length allowed him to study law.  St. Philip was not a man of many words.  “What then?” the saint simply asked the shining youth.  “Then I shall become a lawyer!” “And then?” pursued Philip.  “Then,” said the young man, “I shall earn a nice sum of money, and I shall purchase a fine country house, procure a carriage and horses, marry a handsome and rich wife, and lead a delightful life!” “And then?” “Then,”—­the youth reflected as death and eternity arose before his eyes, and from that day he began to take care of his immortal soul.  Philip with one word snatched that young man’s soul off The Rich Man’s Settle.

6.  The Vain Man’s Settle draws down many men to shame and everlasting contempt.  Praise a vain man or a vain woman aright and enough and you will get them to do anything you like.  Give a vain man sufficient publicity in your paper or on your platform and he will become a spy, a traitor, and cut-throat in your service.  The sorcerer’s cup of praise—­keep it full enough in a vain man’s hand, and he will sleep in the arbour of vanity till he wakens in hell.  Madam Bubble, the arch-enchantress, knows her own, and she has, with her purse, her promotion, and her praise, bought off many a promising pilgrim.

7.  And then she, by virtue of whose sorceries this whole land is drugged and enchanted, is such a bold slut that she will build a Sacred Arbour even, and will fill it full of religious enchantment for you rather than lose hold of you.  She will consecrate places and persons and periods for you if your taste lies that way; she will build costly and stately churches for you; she will weave rich vestments and carve rich vessels; she will employ all the arts; she will even sanctify and set apart and seat aloft her holy men—­what will she not do to please you, to take you, to intoxicate and enchant you?  She will juggle for your soul equally well whether you are a country clown in a feeing-market or a fine lady of aesthetic tastes and religious sensibilities in the capital and the court.  But I shall let Father Faber speak, who can speak on this subject both with authority and with attraction.  “She can open churches, and light candles on the altar, and intone Te Deums to the Majesty on high.  She can pass into the beauty of art, into the splendour of dress, and into the magnificence of furniture.  She can sit with high principles on her lips discussing a religious vocation and praising God and sanctity.  On the benches of bishops and in the pages of good books you will find her, and yet she is all the while the same huge evil creature.”  Yes; she is all the time the same Madam Bubble who offered to Standfast her body, her purse, and her bed.