while they ought to be attentive to what will help them to acquire true
taste, to be employed on the beauties, ease, and gentleness of the
style, and on the greatness, delicacy, and truth of the thoughts or
sentiments, and to be animated by the life, spirit, and fire of an
author; so much more in the study of the sacred writings, a competent
skill in resolving grammatical and historical scruples in the text is of
great use, and sometimes necessary in the church: in which, among the
fathers, Origen and St. Jerom are our models. Yet from the conduct of
divine providence over the church, and the example of the most holy and
most learned among the primitive fathers, it is clear, as the learned
doctor Hare, bishop of Chichester, observes, that assiduous, humble, and
devout meditation on the spirit and divine precepts of the sacred
oracles, is the true method of studying them, both for our own
advantage, and for that of the church. Herein St. Chrysostom's comments
are our most faithful assistant and best model: The divine majesty and
magnificence of those writings is above the reach, and beyond the power,
of all moral wit. None but the Spirit of God could express his glory,
and display either the mysteries of his grace, or the oracles of his
holy law. And none but they whose hearts are disengaged from objects of
sense, and animated with the most pure affections of every sublime
virtue, and whose minds are enlightened by the beams of heavenly truth,
can penetrate the spirit of these divine writings, and open it to us.
Hence was St. Chrysostom qualified to become the interpreter of the word
of God, to discover its hidden mysteries of love and mercy, the perfect
spirit of all virtues which it contains, and the sacred energy or each
word or least circumstance.

The most ingenious Mr. Blackwall, in his excellent Introduction to the
Classics, writes as follows on the style of St. Chrysostom, p. 139: "I
would fain beg room among the classics for three primitive writers of
the church--St. Chrysostom, Minutius Felix, and Lactantius. St.
Chrysostom is easy and pleasant to new beginners; and has written with a
purity and eloquence which have been the admiration of all ages. This
wondrous man in a great measure possesses all the excellences of the
most valuable Greek and Roman classics. He has the invention,
copiousness, and perspicuity of Cicero; and all the elegance and
accuracy of composition which is admired in Isocrates, with much