er of the
elect: and even of these I doubt. How much vice among the youth! What
sloth in the old! No one takes due care of the education of his
children. If we see a man truly devout in his old age, he is imitated by
nobody. I see persons behave disrespectfully and without due attention
in the church, and even when the priest is giving his blessing. Can any
insolence be found equal to this? Amidst such scandals, what hopes can
we entertain of the salvation of many? At a ball every one dances in his
rank, every thing is regulated, and done without confusion. And here in
the company of angels, and singing the praises of God with the blessed
spirits, you talk and laugh. Should we be surprised if thunder fell from
heaven to punish such impiety?" The monks then lived without the walls,
and could not be included by him: nor probably the clergy, deaconesses,
or others particularly consecrated to a devout life; as appears from his
invective. Nor does he speak this with any certitude, but from his
private apprehension by comparing the lives of the generality of the
people with the severe maxims of the gospel. This is manifest from the
proof he draws from the manners of the people, and from a like invective
in Hom. 61, olim 62, on St. Matthew, (t. 7, p. 612,) spoken at Antioch
ten years before. See also l. 1, adv. Oppugnatores Vitae Mon. n. 8, t. 1,
p. 55. Speaking on the general impiety of the world, (Hom. 10, in 1
Tim,) he says: "We have great reason to weep: scarce the least part of
the world is saved: almost all live in danger of eternal death." But he
shows that the multitude will only increase the torments of the wicked,
as if a man saw his wife and children to be burnt alive with him. St.
Chrysostom counts in Constantinople, at that time, one hundred thousand
Christians, (Hom. 11, in Acts,) and says that the poor in that city
amounted to fifty thousand, and the riches of the particulars to about
one million pounds of gold. Yet he reckons the assembly of the
Christians greater at Antioch than at Constantinople. (Hom. 1, adv.
Judaeos. p. 592, t. 1.) If the estate of one rich and that of one poor
man maintained three thousand poor at Antioch, and the like estates of
ten rich men would have supported all the poor of that city, it is
inferred that there were in Antioch only thirty thousand poor, though it
might perhaps have more inhabitants than Constantinople. See Bandurius
on the site and extent of Constantinople under the empe