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Rh not what may be introduced into it, but what may be legitimately elicited from it. While regarding Scripture in the strictest sense as the word of God, no sentence of which must be neglected, he is far from ignoring the human element in it, holding that though its writers "spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost," they retained their personal individuality; that their natural powers were quickened and illuminated, not superseded by divine inspiration. He regards the Scriptures as a connected whole, and avoiding the erroneous plan of treating texts as isolated gnomes, he seeks always to view a passage in relation to its context, and to the general teaching of Scripture. His expository works, being chiefly homiletic, do not give any continuous or systematic exegesis of the text. His primary object was a practical one—the conversion and edification of his hearers—and he frequently disappoints those who, looking for the meaning of a difficult passage, find instead a vehement denunciation of some reigning vice or fashionable folly, or an earnest exhortation to cultivate some Christian grace or virtue (cf. Phot. Cod. 174).

We are told by Suidas and Cassiodorus that Chrysostom wrote commentaries on the whole of Holy Scripture, from the beginning to the end. Among those extant are the 67 Homilies on Genesis, preached at Antioch; and 8 shorter and slighter, but more florid and rhetorical, sermons on topics from Gen. i. and ii., delivered earlier in the same year. The ninth of these sermons, de Mutatione Nominum, does not belong to the series. The only other homilies on the historical books of O.T. are five on the narrative of Hannah in I. Samuel, and three on David and Saul, assigned by Tillemont to A.D. 387. He delivered homilies on the whole book of Psalms, of which we have only those on Ps. iii.‒xii., xliii.‒xlix., cviii.‒cl. (inclusive), collected at an early period with great critical acumen. As early as Photius the gaps indicated already existed. There is a homily on the opening verses of Ps. xli., which belongs to a different series. On Isaiah a continuous commentary was composed by Chrysostom, but only the part on cc. i.-viii. 11 is extant. There is a series of six homilies on the opening verses of c. vi., in Oziam seu de Seraphinis. The fourth of these belongs to a different series. To these we may add a homily on Is. xiv. 7. The only extant commentary on any part of Jeremiah is one "on free will," Jer. x. 23. Chrysostom's general views on prophecy are given in two sermons de Prophetiarum Obscuritate, justly ranked by Montfaucon "inter nobilissimas." The Synopsis Sacrae Scripturae is an imperfect work, ending with Nahum.

His commentaries on N.T. commence with 90 on Matthew, delivered at Antioch. St. Thomas Aquinas is reported to have said that he would rather possess these homilies than be the master of all Paris. There are none on Mark or Luke; but we have 88 on St. John's Gospel, also preached at Antioch. These are more doctrinal than hortatory or practical, being chiefly against the Anomoeans. The 55 homilies on Acts are among his feeblest works. The style is inelegant, the language unrefined, and the line of interpretation jejune. (Phot. Cod. 174). The secret of their inferiority is that they were written at Constantinople in the midst of the troubles arising from Gainas and the Goths, when he had no time for studied composition; as also were the 24 homilies on Eph., the 15 on Phil., the 12 on Col., the 11 on I. Thess., and the 5 on II. Thess., which hardly reach Chrysostom's highest standard of excellence. On the other hand, the 33 on Rom., which were certainly delivered at Antioch, are among his most elaborate discourses. Nowhere does he shew more argumentative power or greater skill in developing his author's meaning. On I. Cor. we have 44 homilies, and 30 on II. Cor., preached at Antioch, of which the former series "have ever been considered by devout men as among the most perfect specimens of his mind and teaching" (Keble). The commentary on Gal. is continuous, not in the homiletical form, and a somewhat hasty work. Montfaucon correctly assigns the 18 homilies on I. Tim., the 10 on II. Tim., and the 6 on Tit. to his ministry at Antioch. From some marks of negligence the three on Philemon have been thought to be extemporaneous addresses taken down by others. The 34 on Hebrews were delivered at Constantinople, and pub. from notes by Constantine, a presbyter, after Chrysostom's death.

III. Homilies, (a) Doctrinal.—The chief of these are the 12 delivered against the Anomoean form of Arianism, in the first year of his presbyterate, at Antioch, A.D. 387. "They are," writes Stephens, "among the finest of his productions." Soon after he wrote the 8 against the Jews and Judaizing Christians (contra Judaeos).

(b) Occasional.—Not a few of his grandest flights of Christian oratory were called forth by the events of the stirring times in which he lived. The most remarkable is the series of 21 "on the Statues" (ad Populum Antiochenum de Statuis), for the circumstances of which see supra. Another class includes orations delivered at Constantinople on the fall of Eutropius, on the insurrection of Gainas, on the troubles connected with Severian, and the noble and pathetic series connected with his own deposition and exile. To these we may add homilies delivered on the great Church festivals.

(c) Panegyrical.—These deserve careful attention as illustrating "the passionate devotion to the memory of departed saints which was rapidly passing into actual adoration." The earliest is probably that commemorating his venerated spiritual father Meletius, A.D. 386. The others are mostly devoted to the eulogy of the bishops and martyrs of the church of Antioch, St. Ignatius, St. Eustathius, St. Babylas, St. Pelagia, St. Domnina and her two daughters, and others, and were delivered at the martyria, or chapels erected over their remains. Chrysostom delivered a homily on the day of the commemoration of the emperor Theodosius, and heaped extravagant laudations on the empress Eudoxia and on Arcadius during his ardent but short-lived friendship with them at the outset of his episcopate.

(d) General.—Among these we include those belonging to the Christian life generally, e.g. the 9 de Poenitentia, 2 Catecheses ad Illuminandos, 