He condemned nothing in haste and without taking circumstances into account.

He condemned nothing in haste and without taking circumstances into account. He said, "Examine the road over which the fault has passed." Being, as he described himself with a smile, an ex-sinner, he had none of the asperities of austerity, and he professed, with a good deal of distinctness, and without the frown of the ferociously virtuous, a doctrine which may be summed up as follows:-- "Man has upon him his flesh, which is at once his burden and his temptation. He drags it with him and yields to it. He must watch it, cheek it, repress it, and obey it only at the last extremity. There may be some fault even in this obedience; but the fault thus committed is venial; it is a fall, but a fall on the knees which may terminate in prayer. "To be a saint is the exception; to be an upright man is the rule. Err, fall, sin if you will, but be upright. "The least possible sin is the law of man.