converse with them we are able to catch somewhat of the spirit and tone. James Russell Lowell truly says: As thrills of long-hushed tone Live in the viol, so our souls grow fine With keen vibrations from the touch divine Of noble natures gone." II CHRYSOSTOM A. D. 347-407 Of the highest rank among the great preachers of Christianity in the past, "one of half a dozen at most," Dr. R. S. Storrs says, was the illustrious John of Antioch, best known by the name of Chrysostom, "of the golden mouth," given him on account of his great eloquence. He was born of noble parentage at Antioch, in 347 A. D. His father, Secundus, was an officer, Magister Militum, in the Imperial army of Syria. He, dying in the infancy of his son, left a young widow, Anthusa, twenty years of age, who, refusing to marry again, devoted herself to the care of her two little children, John and an older sister. She appears, from all that we can learn, to have been a remarkable woman, remarkable for her piety and for the mental and moral qualities displayed in the training of her children, and the management of the considerable estate left by her husband. Chrysostom himself informs us that when his teacher, the celebrated Libanius, heard of the manner in which she had acquitted herself of her parental task, he exclaimed: "Heavens! what women these Christians have!" She was to her son what Monica was to Augustine; it was her influence and her molding hand that had most to do with shaping his character. She jealously guarded him from the pollutions of the great and corrupt city of Antioch; she pro vided him with the best instructors; she fostered and stimulated the extraordinary mental gifts and aptitude for learning displayed by him in childhood; and, above all, she encouraged him in pious habits and an intimacy with pious companions. TWOFOLD ENVIRONMENT-LOCAL AND IMPERIAL Consider the impressive local environment amid which he grew up and lived until near the age of fifty, and the probable influence of it upon him. Antioch was one of the most splendid cities of the Roman Empire. Situated on the southern bank of the Orontes within a few miles of the Mediterranean Sea, both Nature and Art had made it beautiful and imposing. Readers of "Ben Hur" will recall the description given in that celebrated work of the principal features of this great metropolis of Syria. The descriptions found there represent quite faithfully and truly what Antioch was in the days of its meridian splendor, which lasted to the time of Chrysostom and later. It had a population of 200,000 people, of a heterogeneous character, consisting of Asiatic, Syrian, Greek, Jewish and Roman elements. The river Orontes was the principal gateway through which it was connected with and enriched by the commerce of the world. All lands contributed of their resources to its wealth and pleasure and luxury. It was a magnificent city. Its streets were adorned with covered collonades of marble, on either side, beneath which its inhabitants walked protected from the scorching sun of |