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[[Image:Giotto - Legend of St Francis - -17- - St Francis Preaching before Honorius III.jpg|thumb|[[Francis of Assisi]] Preaching before [[Honorius III]]]]
▲In some cases, however, this admirable use was marred by an exaggerated [[Mysticism|mystical]] interpretation, which originated in the East and was much sought after by the Jews. Secondly, power on the part of the preachers of adapting their discourses to the wants of the poor and ignorant. Thirdly, simplicity, the aim being to impress a single striking idea. Fourthly, use of familiar maxims, examples, and illustrations from life—their minds must have been much in touch with nature. And, fifthly, intense realization, which necessarily resulted in a certain dramatic effect—they saw with their eyes, heard with their ears, and the past became present.<ref name=CE/><ref>For examples, the reader is again referred to the collection of "Mediæval Sermons" by Neale.</ref>
[[Scholasticism|Scholastic philosophy]] supplied an almost inexhaustible store of information; it trained the mind in analysis and precision; while, at the same time, it supplied a lucidity of order and cogency of arrangement such as we look for in vain in even the great orations of Chrysostom.<ref name=CE/>
Philosophy regards man only as an intellectual being, without considering his emotions, and makes its appeal solely to his intellectual side. And, even in this appeal, philosophy, while, like algebra, speaking the formal language of intellect, is likely to be wanting from the view-point of persuasiveness, inasmuch as, from its nature, it makes for condensation rather than for amplification. The latter is the most important thing in oratory – "Summa laus eloquentiæ amplificare rem ornando." [[Fénelon]] (Second Dialogue) describes it as portrayal; [[De Quincey]], as a holding of the thought until the mind gets time to eddy about it; [[John Henry Newman|Newman]] gives
The next noted period in the history of preaching is the Renaissance, with the rise of humanism. The motto of two representative humanists, Reuchlin and [[Erasmus]], was: "Back to Cicero and Quintilian." Erasmus on visiting Rome exclaimed: "Quam mellitas eruditorum hominum confabulationes, quot mundi lumina." [[Pierre Batiffol]]<ref>(''History of the Roman Breviary'', p. 230)</ref> says: "One Good Friday, preaching before the pope, the most famous orator of the Roman Court considered that he could not better praise the Sacrifice of Calvary than by relating the self-devotion of Decius and the sacrifice of [[Iphigenia]]."
==Notable French preachers==
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