While no man could be more frank in the admission of a lack of data on which to base an opinion in matters of fact, or a lack of illumination on affairs of conduct or practical direction, when such existed, yet to be certain was, to him, the self-luminous guarantee of his mission to instruct.
But until that certainty was attained, in a manner satisfactory to both the intellectual and the ethical sides of his nature, he was silent.
As a priest, though he undertook to teach anybody and everybody, yet he could seldom have given the impression of desiring to impose his personal views, simply as such.

His vital perception that there can be nothing private in truth shone through his speech too plainly for so gross a misconception to be easily made by candid minds.

The fact is that the community of spiritual goods was vividly realized by him, and in good faith he credited all men with a longing like his own to see things as they really are.

As he had by nature a very kindly manner, benignant and cheerful, the average man readily submitted to his influence.

In his prime he was always a most successful and popular preacher and lecturer, from the combined effect of this earnestness of conviction and his personal magnetic quality.