resembles a decayed matron, who has nothing to exhibit but the symbols and indications of her former wealth; the cabinets and the caskets that contained her jewels, and her gold, and her precious things.. Not only have the miraculous gifts been withdrawn from her, but virtue and devotion have fled from the sanctuary. In former days every house was a church; but now the church is no better than a house: nay, many. a private house exhibits a scene of order and peace which is a sore rebuke to our places of solemn assembly. The house of God is now a scene of tumult and confusion, which incessantly reminds us of the place of traffic and exchange. The laughter and uproar is such as we hear at the public baths and open market-places. We seem to forget that the church is not a place for idle concourse or worthless recreation, not for worldly business or employment; but that it is the haunt of angels, the realm of the Almighty himself,--another heaven......The temple is now more like a theatre than a place of religious service and devotion. It shows quite as prodigal a display of the vanities and seductive artifices of dress and decoration. It is chosen as the most commodious spot for licentious intrigues. More bargains are made there, than at the tables of the moneychangers. More business is transacted there, than at the usual resorts of trade and commerce. If you wish for the best opportunity of hearing or circulating slander, seek it—not in the usual places of concourse —but in the church. If you are curious about private concerns, or political intelligence, go not to the camp, or to the courts of justice, or to the saloons of the physicians: the church is the place in which the

retailers of such matters are always to be found. In short, the spot on which we are now assembled is any thing but a church. Are these abuses and abominations to be endured?"-And yet, at the very time when the spiritual degeneracy called forth these complaints and denunciations, the ecclesiastical rites and offices were supposed to possess an almost supernatural solemnity and power. "Look," says the golden preacher again, "look at that awful table. Recollect why it is placed there. The very sight of a king's throne causes us to rise and do it reverence. Tremble then at the spectacle before you. Lift up your heart to heaven before the moment arrives which shall draw aside the veil that covers those venerable mysteries, and disclose a band of angels advancing before the presence of their King. The very catechumens, who have not received initiation, can yet understand that, when a prophet or minister of God addresses them, they are in the presence of Jehovah himself, and that their souls should therefore be lifted up from earth. What! shall the vile antics, and the worthless jests of players, and mimics, and harlots, be honoured with breathless and unbidden silence; and shall the message of the Lord of heaven be received with scorn? When he speaks to us of things so stupendous, shall we put on a hardy impudence, which would almost disgrace the brutes1?" In our perusal of passages of this stamp, abundant allowance must, of course, be made for the

1 Chrysost. Hom. xxxvi. in 1 Cor. xiv. 33. vol. x. p. 339— 341. Ed. Bened. What I have given above is the substance of the preacher's indignant declamation.

fervency and indignation of the preacher. His object evidently is, to awaken the slumbering conscience of his hearers by the terrors of his rebuke, and to shame them into a life more worthy of their high and blessed vocation. Now this is an office, in the discharge of which, the voice of an imaginative and zealous man may sometimes be expected to sound like the thunder; and there would be neither charity nor wisdom in making his language the measure, by which the Christian stature of a whole generation is to be ascertained. Nevertheless, it is quite impossible that words, like those which have been cited, should have found utterance in any period, but one of serious decline from the purity of ancient days; and they are amply confirmed by the censures of other writers, and by the canons of the Church. All this testimony combines to shew that, by this time, the priesthood was gradually contracting the semblance of a worldly profession, at least in those parts of the empire where grandeur, and wealth, and luxury, were predominant; that the genius of Paganism, despairing of an open conflict against the Imperial faith, was spreading its own fantastic embroidery over the simple and seamless vesture of Christianity; and, not only so, but was beginning to mix up its palatable venom with her sacred and living waters.

As nothing can be more deeply interesting, than to watch Christianity in its state of transition from simplicity to corruption,-and as it manifestly was in that state in the days of the great Christian orator, whom we have just heard,—it will scarcely be considered as an impertinent digression, if I venture to solicit the attention of the reader to another burst of

his impassioned eloquence, evidently prompted by feelings of the same kindred with those, which, in after ages, filled the world with reliques, and wearied it with pilgrimages. In his thirty-second Homily on the Epistle to the Romans, there is a highly-wrought encomium on the character of St. Paul'. The following is the substance of the most striking portion of it. "The voice of St. Paul was like the cherubim of the mercy-seat. Jehovah rested on the tongue of the Apostle, as he did on the forms of those celestial Virtues. Its utterance soared to seraphic heights; for what could the voice of a seraph pronounce more sublime than the exclamation, 'I am persuaded that neither angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Jesus Christ.' Would I could behold the dust that formed that mouth, by which Christ spoke of such unutterable things, and by which the Spirit delivered his wondrous oracles to the world. For who shall tell the marvels which that mouth accomplished? It expelled dæmons-absolved sins-silenced monarchs-sealed up the tongues of philosophersbrought over the world to God-won barbarians to the study of wisdom-changed the whole frame and proportion of things on earth-and ordered at will the things which are in heaven, according to the mighty power that wrought within him. Would that I could behold the dust of that heart, which might truly be called the heart of the whole world—the

1 Ed. Bened. vol. ix. p. 758, 759.

fountain of blessings without number-the elemental principle of our very life, (for the spirit of life was thence dealt forth to all, and was divided to all the members of Christ); that vast and mighty heart, which embraced whole cities and nations; which was exalted above the heavens, and was larger than the earth; which was brighter than the sun, and firmer than adamant; that heart which was the tablet of the Spirit, and the book of heavenly grace.Would I could behold the dust of those hands which were galled with fetters, those hands by the imposition of which the Spirit was dispensed, and from which the viper fell into the flame; would I could see the. dust that formed those eyes which were so illustriously blinded, and which, for the salvation of the world, were soon restored to light; those eyes which looked on earthly things, but saw them not, and which beheld the things that are invisible. Would I could gaze upon the dust of those feet, which made the circuit of the earth, yet knew no weariness. Would that I could see the sepulchre, where those arms of righteousness and light are now laid up; those limbs which are now alive, but which, while he survived, were dead; those limbs which were crucified to the world, and in which Christ alone could be said to live. Would that I could look upon the ruins of that frame which was the temple of the Spirit; of that body, which, to this hour, girds the great city that contains it, with a defence more indestructible than the strength of wall or bulwark.And would that we might not think upon him merely with veneration and astonishment, but fervently imitate his holiness, that we might be worthy hereafter