nd tender charity; this
heals all wounds, whereas harshness exasperates and alienates the mind.
(Hom. 2, p. 461.) His method is to close every discourse with some
pathetic moral exhortation. In his third homily, On the
Incomprehensible, he complains bitterly that many who heard his sermon
with patience, left the church when it was at an end, without attending
the celebration of the divine mysteries. He shows the efficacy of public
prayer to be far greater than that of private, and a far more glorious
homage to be paid by it to God: by this St. Peter was delivered from his
chains; to it the apostles ascribed the wonderful success of their
preaching. He mentions, that ten years ago, when a magistrate condemned
for high treason was led to execution with a halter about his neck, the
citizens ran in a body to the hippodrome to beg a reprieve; and the
emperor, who was not able to reject the request of the whole city,
readily granted the criminal a full pardon. Much more easily will the
Father of mercy suffer himself to be overcome by the concord of many in
prayer, and show mercy to sinners. Not only men join the tremendous
voice during the sacred mysteries, but the angels and archangels present
to the Father of all things the body of the Lord, entreating him to have
mercy on them for whom he shed his blood, and sacrificed this very body.
"By your acclamations you testify your approbation of what is said; but
by your compliance show that your applause is sincere. This is the only
applause that can give me pleasure or joy," &c., (p. 471.) In the
following sermon (Hom. 4, p. 477) he commends their compliance by all
assisting to the end of the public office, but severely finds fault that
some conversed together in the church, and in that awful hour when the
deacon cried out, "Let us stand attentive." He bids them call to mind
that they are then raised above created things, placed before the throne
of God, and associated with the seraphims and cherubims in sounding
forth his praises, (p. 477.) In the fifth homily he again makes fervent
and humble prayer, by which all things are obtained and effected, the
subject of his moral exhortation. Public prayer is a duty which he
frequently inculcates as a most essential obligation, a homage most
honorable to God, and a most powerful means of grace to ourselves and
all mankind. (See Hom. de Obscur. Prophet, t. 6, p. 187, &c.) We have
seen other homilies of this father against the Anomaeans, i