in speaking of it, to ask whether it was Attic or 10 Asiatic, terse or flowing, when its distinctive praise was that it was natural. His unrivaled charm, as that of every really eloquent man, lies in his singleness of purpose, his fixed grasp of his aim, his noble earnestness. 15 A bright, cheerful, gentle soul; a sensitive heart, a temperament open to emotion and impulse; and all this elevated, refined, transformed by the touch of heaven,--such was St. John Chrysostom; winning followers, riveting 20 affections, by his sweetness, frankness, and neglect of self. In his labors, in his preaching, he thought of others only. "I am always in admiration of that thrice-blessed man," says an able critic,[29] "because he ever in all his writings puts 25 before him as his object, to be useful to his hearers; and as to all other matters, he either simply put them aside, or took the least possible notice of them. Nay, as to his seeming ignorant of some of the thoughts of Scripture, or careless of 30 entering into its depths, and similar defects, all this he utterly disregarded in comparison of the profit of his hearers." [29] Photius, p. 387. There was as little affectation of sanctity in his dress or living as there was effort in his eloquence. 5 In his youth he had been one of the most austere of men; at the age of twenty-one, renouncing bright prospects of the world, he had devoted himself to prayer and study of the Scriptures. He had retired to the mountains near Antioch, 10 his native place, and had lived among the monks. This had been his home for six years, and he had chosen it in order to subdue the daintiness of his natural appetite. "Lately," he wrote to a friend at the time,--"lately, when I had made up my 15 mind to leave the city and betake myself to the tabernacle of the monks, I was forever inquiring and busying myself how I was to get a supply of provisions; whether it would be possible to procure fresh bread for my eating, whether 20 I should be ordered to use the same oil for my lamp and for my food, to undergo the hardship of peas and beans, or of severe toil, such as digging, carrying wood or water, and the like; in a word, I made much account of bodily comfort."[30] 25 Such was the nervous anxiety and fidget of mind with which he had begun: but this rough discipline soon effected its object, and at length, even by preference, he took upon him mortifications which at first were a trouble to him. For the 30 last two years of his monastic exercise, he lived by himself in a cave; he slept, when he did sleep, without lying down; he exposed himself to the extremities of cold. At length he found he was