rors Arcadius and
Honorius; and Hasius de magnitudine urbium, p. 47.

St. Chrysostom teaches that grace is conferred by God at the imposition
of hands in the ordination of priests, Hom. 14, in Acta. p. 114, also
Hom. 3, de Resurrect. t. 2, p. 436, and Hom. 21, in Acta. p. 175, that
"Oblations (or masses) are not offered in vain for the dead." It is his
pious counsel (Hom. 17, in Acta.) that when we find ourselves provoked
to anger, we form on our breast the sign of the cross; and Hom. 26, he
exhorts all Christians, even the married, and both men and women, to
rise every midnight to pray in their own houses, and to awake little
children at that hour that they may say a short prayer in bed. He says
that saints and martyrs are commemorated in the holy mysteries, because
this is doing them great honor, (Hom. 21, in Acta. p. 276,) and by the
communion with them in their virtues, the rest of the faithful departed
reap much benefit. (Hom. 51, in 1 Corinth. t. 10, p. 393.)

For a specimen of the zeal and charity with which this great preacher
instructed his flock, two or three passages are here inserted. Hom. 3,
in Acta. p. 31, t. 9. "I wish," says he, "I could set before your eyes
the tender charity and love which I bear you: after this no one could
take it amiss or be angry if I ever seem to use too harsh words in
correcting disorders. Nothing is dearer to me than you; not even life or
light. I desire a thousand times over to lose my sight, if by this means
I could convert your souls to God; so much more sweet is your salvation
to me. If it happens that any of you fall into sin, you are present even
in my sleep: through grief I am like persons struck with a palsy, or
deprived of their senses. For what hope or comfort can I have left, if
you advance not in virtue? And if you do well, what can afflict me? I
seem to feel myself taking wing when I hear any good of you. _Make my
joy complete_. Phil. ii. 2. Your progress is my only desire. You are to
me all, father and mother, and brothers and children." Hom. 44, in Act.
p. 335, having appealed to his closet and secret retreats to bear
witness how many tears he shed without intermission for them, he says,
"What shall I do? I am quite spent daily crying out to you: Forsake the
stage. Yet many laugh at our words: Refrain from oaths and avarice, and
no one listens to us. For your sakes I have almost abandoned the care of
my own soul and salvation; and while I weep for you, I bewail al