ly fond, were, for a time, quite given up.

[22] Page 75.

The bishop, Flavian, who was a very aged man, in bad health and infirm,
left the bedside of his sister (who was supposed to be dying) to set out
for Constantinople and implore the emperor's mercy. And while he was
absent Chrysostom took the lead among the clergy. He preached every day
in a solemn and awakening tone; he tried to turn the terrors of the
people to their lasting good, by directing their thoughts to the great
judgment, in which all men must hereafter appear, and urging them,
whatever their present fate might be, to strive after peace with God,
and a share in his mercy, through Christ, in that awful day. The effect
of this preaching was wonderful;--day after day, vast crowds flocked to
listen to it, forgetting every thing else: even many heathens were among
them.

The news of the disturbances at Antioch had reached Constantinople long
before Flavian; and the bishop, as he was on his way, met two
commissioners, who had been sent by the emperor to declare his sentence
to the people. The buildings of the city were to be spared; but it was
to lose its rank among the cities of the empire. The baths, which in
those countries were reckoned almost as a necessary of life, were to be
shut up, and all public amusements were to be at an end. The officers,
after reaching Antioch, and publishing this sentence, set about
inquiring who had taken a part in the tumult. Judgment was to be
executed without mercy on all whose guilt could be proved; and the
anxiety of the people became extreme. A number of monks and hermits came
down from the mountains, and busied themselves in trying to comfort
those who were in distress. One of these monks, Macedonius, a man of
rough and simple appearance, but of great note for holiness, met the
emperor's commissioners as they were riding through the market-place;
whereupon he laid hold of one of them by the cloak, and desired them
both to dismount. At first they were angry; but, on being told who he
was, they alighted and fell on their knees before him; for, in those
days, monks famous for their holiness were looked on much as if they had
been prophets. And Macedonius spoke to them in the tone of a
prophet:--"Go," he said, "say to the emperor, You are a man; your
subjects too are men, made in the image of God. You are enraged on
account of images of brass; but a living and reasonable image is of far
higher worth than these. Destroy t