19 sense by the ordinary use of language, and to be clearly understood by their readers. At the same time the truths of revelation are so deep and so rich that they can be indefinitely ex- panded and applied to all circumstances and conditions. Interpretation is one thing, applic- ation is another thing. Chrysostom knew as well as any allegorist how to derive spiritual nourishment from the Scriptures and to make them “profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly furnished unto every good work.”27 As to the text of the Greek Testament, he is the chief witness of the Syro-Constantinopolitan recension, which was followed by the later Greek Fathers.28 He accepts the Syrian canon of the Peshito, which includes the Old Testament with the Apocrypha, but omits from the New Testament the Apocalypse and four Catholic Epistles (2 Peter, 2 and 3 John, and Jude); at least in the Synopsis Veteris et novi Testamenti which is found in his works, those five books are wanting, but this does not prove that he did not know them.29 The commentaries of Chrysostom are of unequal merit. We must always remember that he is a homiletical commentator who aimed at the conversion and edification of his hearers. He makes frequent digressions and neglects to explain the difficulties of important texts. Grammatical remarks are rare, but noteworthy on account of his familiarity with the Greek as his mother tongue, though by no means coming up to the accuracy of a modern expert in philology. In the Old Testament he depended altogether on the Septuagint, being ignorant of Hebrew, and often missed the mark. The Homilies on the Pauline Epistles are considered his best, especially those to the Corinthians, where he had to deal with moral and pastoral questions. The doctrinal topics of Romans and Galatians were less to his taste, and it cannot be said that he entered into the depths of Paul’s doctrines of sin and grace, or ascended the height of his conception of freedom in Christ. His Homilies on Romans are argumentative; his continuous notes on Galatians somewhat hasty and superficial. The eighty Homilies on Matthew from his Antiochian period are very valuable. Thomas Aquinas declared he would rather possess them than be the master of all Paris. The eighty-eight Homilies on John, also preached at Antioch, but to a select audience early in the morning, 27 On the school of Antioch, see Schaff, Church Hist. II. 816–818; III. 612, 707, 937; Neander, Chrysost. I. 35 sqq.; Förster, Chrysostomus in seinem Verhältniss zur Antioch. Schule (1869); Reuss, Geschichte des N. T., 6th ed. (1887), secs. 320, 518, 521; Farrar, History of Interpretation (1886), pp. 210 sqq., 220 sqq. Ruess pays this tribute to Chrysostom (p. 593): “The Christian people of ancient times never enjoyed richer instruction out of the Bible than from the golden mouth of a genuine and thoroughly equipped biblical preacher.” Farrar calls Chrysostom “The ablest of Christian homilists and one of the best Christian men,” and “the bright consummate flower of the school of Antioch.” 28 Westcott & Hort, Gr. Test., II. 141 sqq.; Schaff, Companion to the Greek Test. (3rd ed.), p. 206. 29 Ruess, l. c. sec. 320 (p. 359); Holtzmann, Einleitung ins N.T., ed. II. (1886), p. 171. 29 His Theology and Exegesis.