tians should despise earthly prosperity, not expecting a reward in this life, He begins His beautiful Sermon on the Mount by saying, " Blessed are the poor in spirit," " Blessed are the meek," " Blessed are they that mourn;" and in St. Luke He says, Woe to you that are rich! woe to you that now laugh! and to all who seek the esteem and approbation of men!
In this life, He leads us to expect sufferings, crosses, and persecution, and He wills that we should love what is unseen and supernatural.
[St. John Chrysostom.— This renowned saint and doctor of the Church, was born in Antioch in the year 344, and died A.D. 407, aged sixty-three.
The name of Chrysostom (which means golden-mouthed) was assigned to him after his death, to express the eloquence which he possessed in a much greater degree than the other fathers of the Church. He never repeats himself, and is always original.]
The apostles announced to mankind, a doctrine raised above human intellect; they spoke not of earthly things, but of heaven; they preached a kingdom and state which had never before been understood; they discovered other riches, another poverty, another liberty, another bondage, another life and death — in fact, a change and renewal of everything.
Their teachings are far beyond that of a Plato who had traced out an idea of an absurd republic, or that of a Zenon, or those of other philosophers who had formed projects of governments and republics, and those who wished to be lawgivers.
One need but read their books to see that the devil urged them on and diffused a profound darkness in their mind, upsetting by that means the order of things, and
