expresses a deep and tender concern for the public calamity, but
rejoices at the spiritual advancement of the people, saying, that this
scourge had wrought such a change in them, that they seemed to be become
angels. Two books On Prayer, bear the name of St. Chrysostom: if they
are not mentioned by the ancients among his works, that most important
subject is treated in them in a manner not unworthy his pen. This book
is made use of in many pious schools as a Greek classic, with another On
the Education of Children, full of excellent maxims, ascribed to our
saint; but unjustly, for it is a compilation, made without much method,
out of several of his sermons and other works.

The first part of the third tome, in the Benedictin edition, presents us
thirty-four elegant sermons of this saint on divers texts of holy
scripture, and on various Christian virtues and duties. Those on
forgiving injuries, humility, alms, prayer, widowhood, and three on
marriage, particularly deserve attention. That On Alms he took occasion
to preach from the extreme miseries under which he saw the beggars
groan, lying abandoned in the streets as he passed through them coming
to the church; whence it is inferred by Tillemont and others, that it
was spoken extempore, or without preparation. He says, that water does
not so easily wash away the spots of our clothes, as alms blot out the
stains of our souls. On Marriage, he proves that state to be holy, and
will not have it dishonored by profane pomps, which no custom can
authorize; as by them God is offended. Christ is to be invited to give
the nuptial blessing in the persons of the priests, and what many throw
away on musicians, would be a grateful sacrifice to God if bestowed on
the poor. Every one ought to be ambitious to set the example of so
wholesome and holy a custom, which others would imitate. What
incomparable advantages does a wife bring to a house, when she enters it
loaded with the blessings of heaven? This is a fortune far beyond all
the riches of the world. In the third discourse, he speaks of the
inviolable precept of mutual tender love which the husband and wife are
bound constantly to bear each other, and of forgetting one another's
faults, as {263} a man in engaging in this state seeks a companion for
life, the saint observes that nothing is busier than for him to make it
an affair of traffic, or a money job. A wife with a moderate fortune
usually brings more complaisance and submis