1 John — Chapter 2

My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not At the end of the last chapter it was said that all who were grown up had sinned, either mortally as heathens, or venially as Christians. But he now exhorts them one by one to be most watchful against the sins they committed as heathens, and to abstain as far as they could from venial sins. For though it be impossible to avoid them collectively, yet it is possible to avoid them one by one, especially such as are committed not by surprise, but with previous consideration, and deliberately. But if any man sin , we have an Advocate . This anticipates the objection, what then will he do, who through human weakness has fallen into some unusual and shameful sin ? He answers, he should not despair, or be cast down, because we have Christ as our advocate with our most loving Father, Christ who by presenting His death Digitized by v^iOOQLe 364 FIRST EPISTLE GENERAL OF S. JOHN, C. II. and sufferings which He underwent for us, will easily obtain our pardon, if we are truly penitent, for God is most merciful, and Christ's merits are infinite. And just as the severity of a wound or disease displays the skill and credit of the physician who cures them, so does the greatness of our sins which He heals, and in which He is a propitiator, set forth the greatness of Christ's mercy, grace, and redemption. As in the case of the Magdalene and S. Paul See 1 Tim. i. 15. Here observe Advocate means one who pleads our cause : in a forensic sense ; and He is so — 1. By displaying His wounds, and thus silently pleading His own merits. 2. Many, with great probability, assert that He is ever praying for us orally, being no longer a wayfarer on earth, but as having attained to his rest and claiming our pardon as His right See Heb. vii. 25, ix. 12 ; John xiv. 16; Rom. vii. 3. Beza and others thence contend that the saints are not our advocates, and that we make them superior to Christ, if we regard them as such. But they reason falsely, for we know and profess that Christ is the Son of God, and that the Blessed Virgin and the Saints are immeasurably inferior to Him. But yet they inter, cede for us through His merits. See S. Irenaeus, v. 29 ; S. Bernard, xii. ; and on the whole question, Bellarmine, de Invocat. Sand. Jesus Christ the righteous . That is, (1.) Innocent and holy, and who by His very sanctity is most loved of the Father, and desirous to be heard of Him. (2.) He who made a full satisfaction for our sins, paying a full ransom for them by His own Blood. He is then our righteous advocate in another sense, as pleading a righteous cause, as those who plead for gain. Whence Cassiodorus says ( Epist \ xi. 4.), “ If in your zeal for advocacy ye have shone forth with the light of justice." Such an one, then, is a good advocate amongst men, but not with God, since we ask of Him, not justice, but mercy and grace. And His is a tribunal of grace.

1. — I write unto you , little children . Commending what he had said to the several grades whom he addressed. He places them in three classes according to their respective ages. He congratulates them on the gift of the Gospel which they had received, and exhorts them to persevere and make progress therein. The children repre- sent beginners or neophytes ; young men, those who are advancing ; the old men, those who are perfect And he thus suggests that Christians should advance in virtue, as they advance in years. Clemens, (Ecumenius, and others take this view, though S. Augustine holds that these three terms apply equally to all classes ; that they are called children as having been new-born in baptism, fathers as acknowledging Christ as their Father and the Ancient of Days, and youths because they are strong. But the first meaning seems the simplest. Because your sins, into which ye are likely to fall, are forgiven you , in baptism,^/* His Namds sake, i.e. for Christ's sake, or else by our calling on Christ's Name, or else by the authority and power of Christ For by this are sins remitted through His grace and merits. Morally. S. John here teaches that great care must be taken in training children. (He here gives as an instance the case of the youth whom he entrusted to a Bishop.) For the whole regulation of our life depends on our childhood's training. S. Ignatius accor- dingly founded schools for such training. See Rebadeneira in his life (lib. iii. cap . 24), where he quotes many Fathers, Councils, and Philosophers. Digitized by v^iOOQLe 376 FIRST EPISTLE GENERAL OF S. JOHN, C. II. Mystically . S. Augustine (de Vera Relig. cap. 26) describes the seven ages of a righteous man. He first drinks in the lessons and examples of history — next he forgets things of earth, and reaches after things divine, and strives after the highest and unchanging rule of life, by the steps of wisdom — next he proceeds more boldly, wedding his carnal appetite to the strength of reason, and rejoicing within with a kind of conjugal joy, when the soul is united to the mind, and is so covered with the veil of modesty as no longer to be compelled to live rightly, but even not to delight in sin, though all might allow it And fourthly, he acts thus in a more bold and orderly manner, shining forth into the perfect man, and becoming more capable of bearing all the persecutions and tempests of this world and even breaking their force. Fifthly, to be calm and tran- quil, in every respect enjoying to the full the highest and ineffable wisdom ; and sixthly, a thorough turning to the life eternal, and a complete obliviousness to this temporal life, and a passing on to the perfect image and likeness of God. The seventh age is that of eternal rest, which is not distinguished by any different stages of growth.

And (i.e. because) He is the propitiation (the propitiator) for our sins . For by offering Himself on the Cross as a Victim for sins, He has made satisfaction for them, and reconciled the Father to us. This refers to the mercy-seat, which was above the ark (see Exod. xxv. 17), which represented Christ our Propitiator (see Digitized by v^iOOQLe THE BLOOD OK CHRIST. 365 Rom. iii. 25.) S. Augustine (de Fide et Operibus) reads, “ He is the entreater (exoratio) for our sins.” S. Cyprian reads deprecatio, John means that Christ is so powerful an advocate, that our case cannot fail in His hands, being Himself, by His very office, our redemption and propitiation, who made a full satisfaction for our sins. So S. John says (Rev. i. 5) ; and S. Leo (Serm. xii. de Passione ), “The pouring forth of His righteous Blood for the unrighteous, was so powerful to gain this privilege, so fully sufficimt to pay the price, that if the whole body of captives believed in their Redeemer, the bands of tyranny would not retain their hold of a single one . . . For though the death of the Saints was precious in the sight of the Lord, yet it was not the death of any innocent person that was the propitiation of the world. The righteous received crowns, they did not confer them. In the fortitude of the saints were exhibited examples of patience, not gifts of righteousness. They each died their own several deaths, and none of them dying discharged any other's debt than his own, since the Lord Jesus Christ stood forth alone among the sons of men, in whom all are crucified, all die^ all are buried, and all moreover will be raised again.” For this cause S. Augustine and other saints who had sinned betook them- selves to the wounds of Christ, and dwelt therein as in a refuge. See note on Zech. xiii. As S. Ambrose (pref in Ps. xxxv.) says, “ The Blood of Christ is fine gold, plenteous to redeem, and flowing forth to wash away every sin.” And not for ours only , but also for the sins of the whole world. Not for Jews only but for Gentiles, to whom Christ ordered the Gospel to be preached. Again, Christ is offered in the Sacrifice of the Mass for all men, excepting those who are excommunicated. And hereby do we know that we know Him, if we keep His com- mandments. We know Him by probability and conjecturally. But our knowledge must be practised : it must show itself in love and affection, and in outward acts. And we shall in this way secure Him as our Advocate. S. Augustine says (De Fide et Oper . cap . xii.), “ Let not our mind be so deceived as to think that it knows God Digitized by v^iOOQLe 36 6 FIRST EPISTLE GENERAL OF S. JOHN, C. II. if it confess Him with a dead faith, that is, without works.” So David says, Ps. ciii. 18, “ To think upon His commandments to do them.” See his dying advice to Solomon, “ Know thou the God of thy fathers,” that is believe, reverence, love, and obey Him. See also Hos. vi. 6, For he who does not observe the law of God assuredly does not know itj because he does not practically value or ponder as he ought on His boundless majesty, goodness, power, wisdom, and righteousness, for else he would love, reverence, and obey Him with his whole heart. For, as Bede says, “ He who loves not God, shows that he knows not His loveliness, and he has not learned to taste and see how gracious and sweet He is, if he does not labour continually to do those things which are pleasing in His sight” See chap. iv. 7, 8. Catharinus wrongly infers that the righteous can know for certain that they are righteous and in God’s favour. But although they may have grace and the love of God in their hearts, yet they do not see them, and though they outwardly observe the command- ments of God, yet they know not whether they observe them from love of Him, and as He commanded. And though they feel that they love God, yet they know not whether this love is what it should be, and simply for God’s sake. {See Cone . Indent sess. vi. cap . 9 ; Bellarmine, de Justify iii. 1 seq.)

He that saith he knoweth Him , that is, with true and saving knowledge, such as leads to eternal life, and keepeth not His commandments , is a liar . As the Apostle said (Rom. i. 21) of the philosophers who knew God, but only in a speculative and barren way, u When they knew God, they glorified Him not as God.”

But whoso keepeth His word9 in him verily is the love of God perfected . This confirms the previous statement, by way of antithesis. The word is spoken of in the singular number, because the law of love comprehends all others, just as a root implies the leaves and fruit, and the whole tree. Perfect love is that which fulfils that command, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart,” &c. (Matt xxii. 37.) For he who observes the commands of God loves God with all his Digitized by LOVE, THE ROOT OF ALL GOOD. 367 heart, though he may sin venially, which is a necessary evil in this life of corruption. But in this perfectness of Christian charity and life there are various grades. The first is so to love God with all the heart as never to offend Him mortally. 2. Never deliber- ately to offend Him venially, even for the sake of the whole world. 3. To renounce, for the love of God, the love of every creature, and to devote thyself entirely to His service as “ religious ” do. See, too, Rom. viii. 35. 4* Not to think, wish, or love anything save God, or for His sake. Origen (Prcef. in Evan. S. Joan) says, “ He who is perfect, no longer lives himself, but Christ lives in him and S. Augustine (, Serm . xxxix. de temp. [ nunc cccL]) says, “ As covetousness is the root of all evil, so is love the root of all good. The love of God and our neighbour fills up the whole length and breadth of the sacred word.” He then adds, “ Without it a rich man is poor, with it a poor man is rich. It gives patience in adversity, moderation in prosperity, endurance in hard sufferings, and so forth.” And S. Bernard writes thus to the brethren (de Monte Dei , xix.): “ Perfection, though not of the same kind, is required of you all. As one star differs from another star in glory, so does cell from cell,* in the beginners, the progressing, and the perfect The first state may be called the animal, the next the rational, the last the spiritual, the first relating to the body, the second to the soul, the third finding its rest in God alone. Each, however, has its own rate of progress and measure of perfection. The beginning consists in perfect obedience in the animal life, its progress in bringing the body into subjection, its perfection in turning the practice of good into delight in it And so too, in the rational life, the perfection of which is the spiritual life, and the perfection of the spiritual life is to be changed into the same image from glory to glory, as by the Spirit of the Lord.” And S. Maximus says (De Charitate Cent. iii. 97), “ That soul is perfect whose whole powers turn only towards God.” See also Centur. iv. 17; and S. Francis (in Opusc. decern perfect —considered to be spurious : see Cave) says, “ A Christian’s perfec- # This is not S. Bernard’s, but was written by William, Abbot of S. Theodorec. Stella and cella, a jingle on sounds (de Mento Aureo). (See Cave.) Digitized by v^iOOQLe 368 FIRST EPISTLE GENERAL OF S. JOHN, C. II. tion is to root out from his heart all worldly affections, and to find no root, or resting-place, save in Him who made it And again, to have such patience as to love him the more who has done or said any wrong of him. For as God of His bounty conferred on him all his blessings, so should he believe that He secretly pledges Himself to send on him every kind of evil, in order to show a sinner his sins, and thus lightly punish them once in this present life, that He may not scourge them more severely for ever. He should therefore love him who has done or spoken any evil against him, as being the messenger of God to him for good,” &c. Hereby know we that we are in Him . S. Augustine here adds, c If we be perfected in Him but nearly all MSS. omit these words. The meaning is, we know that we are in Him if we keep His command- ments. This is the effect and sign of our cleaving to Him. More- over, it is by love that we abide in God, as the thing loved is in the lover. For the soul is more in that which it loves, than in that which it animates. And God in return loves those who love Him, dwells in them, cares for, directs and protects them. Augustine says, that we who love Christ are in Christ, as the members in the body. See John xiv. 23. The soul then of one who loves God is a kind of temple, in which all the three Persons abide. And by abiding S. John means intimate union, permanent resting, continual presence, friendly converse, and all other offices of true friendship.

He that saith he abideth in Him ought himself also so to walk , even as He walked. By advancing in virtue, especially in charity, and exhibiting its works more and more every day, as Christ “ increased in wisdom and stature.” “ The true righteousness of the perfect,” says S. Leo ( Serm . ii. de Quadr .), “ is for them never to presume that they are perfect, lest by stopping short when their journey is not yet done, they should incur the risk of failing.” See Eph. v. 1. S. Prosper (de vit. contemfl. lib, 11) beautifully says, “ What is walking as He walked, except the despising all the good things which He despised, not to fear the sufferings He endured, to teach what He taught, to hope for what He promised, to confer kindnesses on the ungrateful, not to requite to evil-wishers according Digitized by v^iOOQLe LIKENESS TO CHRIST. 3<39 to their deserts, to pray for our enemies, to pity the perverse, patiently to bear with the crafty and proud, and, as the Apostle says, to die to the flesh that we may live to Christ ? ” &c. Whence Gregory Nyssen defines Christianity to be an imitation of the Divine nature, &c. S. Augustine (de Vera Relig. cap . xv.) tells us that the Word was made flesh, to teach us the way of life not by force but by example, in ministering to the poor, in refusing to be a king, in submitting to every kind of injury, &c. In fact, His whole life, in the nature He deigned to assume, was a moral discipline . S. Cyprian ( de Zelo et Livore ), “ If parents delight in having children who are like themselves, much more does God rejoice when a man is spiritually bom ; and again, as we have borne the image of the earthly, let us also bear the image of the heavenly. But we cannot do this unless we exhibit a resemblance to Christ ; for this is to change our old self, and to begin a new life, and that thus the Divine truth may shine forth in thee, as He Himself promised, ‘Those that honour Me, I will honour/ ” My beloved \ I write no new commandment unto you . This com- mandment of loving God and our neighbour was not new, for it was given to the Jews, and before that to Adam and all men by the Law of Nature, which was in the mind of God from all eternity. This was an answer to the objection made to the Apostle’s teaching, that it was new and unheard of. It was again an old commandment as having been taught Christians from their very baptism. Again , a new commandment J write unto you. It was new, as being a new enforcing of an old commandment, which had been forgotten by long disuse. (See John xiii. 33.) And it was enforced by Christ on the new principle of love, and also more fully explained (Matt v. 38; John xiv. 15, 16). It was new on various grounds — 1. Because of the new efficient cause, viz. Christ, who enforced it more stringently upon us. And again, by reason of the new source of charity and grace, viz., the Holy Spirit poured forth at Pentecost The false interpretations of the Jews were thus put aside, and a new law, and new obligations and duties, imposed on Christians. See Matt. v. 43 a. It was a new law ; by reason of a new material cause, viz., the vol. v. 2 A Digitized by v^iOOQLe 370 FIRST EPISTLE GENERAL OF S. JOHN, C II. new and enlarged body of Christians, who were before in the darkness of unbelief and hatred, but who were now bound by it to love God and their neighbour. 3. There was a new formal cause, namely, the Incarnation, and the union of all Christians in Christ. For in Christ there is an union, not with Christ only, but with all Christians in Him, an union by nature, by grace, and by the sacraments (especially by the Holy Eucharist), which is the foundation of a greater and singular obliga- tion to a stricter love of God, of Christ, and of all Christians. And this is a pure, perfect love, in so much as Christ is far above, and more perfect than other men. Moreover, by Christ’s Incarnation we owe greater love, not only to Christ, but also to the whole Trinity, by reason of our closer union, and also of the new and very great blessings conferred on us thereby. For by the Incarnation we have a new relation and union to the Holy Trinity, and also between our- selves, and a new cause and formal reason for love. For by the Incarnation Christ has became our kinsman and brother, so that we ought mutually to love each other, as brethren and members of the one body of Christ. So Toletus and F. Lucas on John xiii. 4. It is new , with regard to the example Christ has set us. He poured forth His blood out of pure love. And such indeed was the love of the Blessed Virgin, and the early Christians. We are taught to do according to the pattern shewed us in the Mount Christ says, “As I have loved you” — words which have caused much matter for shame, and also much matter for exaggeration For consider what arguments for love Christ furnished at every moment, by His birth, His labour, His preaching, His suffering, His dying, ard thus thou wilt see how little is the love of all men. As S. John the Almoner, Bishop of Alexandria, used to say when one praised his liberality to the poor : " My brother, I have not yet shed my life for thee, as the Lord commanded me.” We are therefore taught by Christ not merely to love our neigh- bour as ourselves, but even more than ourselves. For Christ died for us though we were His enemies, teaching us to do the same. This was an unheard-of love both among the Jews and the world at Digitized by v^iOOQLe THE NEW COMMANDMENT. 371 large. So b. Cyril, in John xiii., S. Chrysostom, Theophylact, Rupertus. Arias [Montanus] says, that our love should be most fervent, and abounding in kind offices, even towards our enemies, and ready to shed our blood for the good of our brethren, as Christ did. So Cajetan, Gagneius, S. Major, and others. 5. In regard of the new end Christ set before us, He wished to make us heavenly men, and not earthly. And he wished us to renew our love by frequent communions, sermons, meditations, &c. S. John in his old age used frequently to repeat and inculcate these words. S. Bernard {Serin, v. in Ceena Dorn,) : “ It is a new command- ment because it makes all things new, putting off the old man and putting on the new, and by daily admitting to heaven mankind who were banished from paradise.” “ Is it not a new commandment,” says S. Augustine, “ because this commandment renews those who obey it, and thus makes us new men, heirs of the New Testament, singers of the new song, making and gathering into one a new people ?” S. Gregory {Horn, xxxii. in Evang.) says, “ Our Lord and Redeemer came as a new man into the world, giving us new precepts. For since our old life was brought up in sin, He set up in opposition to it newness of life,” charity as opposed to concupiscence, and the love of God and our neighbour against our self-love. 6. Maldonatus understands by ‘new* something excellent and pre-eminent. And others again by ‘ new * understand a command- ment never given before, as men were called ‘new' who were newly made : and * new * also because Christ wished His disciples to observe it * anew/ as being the last He gave them. As F. Lucas explains it, “I have reserved this commandment to you, in order that ye may keep it more firmly in your memory. For I wish specially to commend it to you, being such a command as no one ever yet gave his disciples, being a gentle and loving command. It was ‘new’ then, as newly enjoined by Christ in His Last Supper, and as being a command peculiar to Christ, and being in a singular manner commended by Him.” (See. S. Basil, de Bapt, cap, ult,) 7. It was ‘new* with respect to its effects, the heroic deeds of S. Paul and the other Apostles, their new and unheard-of labours Digitized by Got 372 FIRST EPISTLE GENERAL OF S. JOHN, C. II. and persecutions, and the new alacrity and ardour with which they subdued the world to Christ A love which led Paul to wish him- self accursed for the sake of his brethren, which caused Paulinus to sell himself into slavery for the sake of ransoming the son of a widow — a love which led S. Dominick, S. Francis, S. Ignatius and others to devote themselves to the salvation of souls, and led the blessed Jacoponus to pray that he might suffer all the sufferings of all the lost, that he might save them all, if it were God’s will. 8. It was a * new 1 commandment as specially pertaining to the New Testament, and distinguishing it from the Old. See John xiiL 35 ; Cant. ii. 4, viii. 6. Such was the love of the early Christians. See Acts iv. 32. “See how these Christians love one another, and are ready to die for each other,” was remarked by the heathen. Tertullian says why they called each other brethren, as acknowledging one God as their father, having drunk of the one Spirit of holiness, as having come from the same womb of ignorance to the same Light of Truth, &c. Which thing is true in Him and in you . Namely, this law of love, as springing from the Law of Nature, and it is not only the most ancient command, but is true also in you, because ye have embraced it together with your new life in Christ. But some refer this to Christ, which is far better. For though He is not expressly mentioned, yet He was mentioned above (ver 1-4). But S. John’s heart was so full of Christ, that when he says ‘ Him,’ he does not mean any one else, but Christ, as was the case also with the Mag- dalene (John xx. 15). S. Jerome (contra Jovin , lib . 11) accordingly reads, “which is most true both in Christ and in you.” Some explain it thus, “ This law of charity is that which makes you to be as truly in Christ as ye are in yourselves.” 2d. We may explain it thus (and it is the best meaning), “ As Christ loves Christians in the highest degree as members of His Body, so should we devote our- selves entirely to the love of Him and our fellow-Christians.” Because the darkness (of ignorance, lust, and sin, as well as of the shadows, the terrors and ceremonies of the Old Testament) is pasty and the true Light now shineth , the light of faith, grace, love, and of 'Digitized by THE DIVINE LIGHT. 373 all holiness. See Rom. xiii. 12 ; Eph. v. 6. This is called the ‘true,’ i.e. the perfect, full, Divine Light. See John i. 9. Christ calls Himself the true vine (John xv. 1) and the true head, i.e. fully satisfying (John vi. 55). As a symbol of this, Christ was incarnate at the Vernal Equinox, and was born at the Winter Solstice, when the days are beginning to increase. See S. Augustine, Serm . xxii. de temp . [not S. Augustine.]

He that saith he is in the Light (of the Gospel, Faith, and Charity) and hateth his brother, , is in darkness , in ignorance of his sins, anger, hatred, lust, &c. And by these he is so blinded as not to see the great evil of hatred, how odious to God, who is the light of Charity, what destruction it causes, what torments of hell it brings with it. “He is blinded with his wickedness,” says S. Chrysostom (de Erudit. discipl.) : “he goes ignorantly into hell-fire, and is hurled headlong into punishments.” See Exodus xi. 16. And S. Cyprian (de zelo et livore) says : “ If thou hast begun to be a man of light, do the things of Christ, for He is our Light and day. Why rushest thou into the darkness of anger ? Why wrappest thou thy- self in a mist of envy ? Why dost thou extinguish with the darkness of envy every spark of peace and charity ? Why dost thou go back to the devil, whom thou hast renounced ? Why hast thou become like Cain ? Cain ? He is in the darkness of hell, because he is tending towards it.” S. Basil says, “ As he who has charity has God within him, so he that has hatred and anger has a devil within him,” &c.; and S. Chrysostom calls anger a self-chosen (voluntarium) devil. In an angry man you may see all the furies of hell. As Seneca says (lib. ii. de Ira). Even until now . For though baptism be an enlightenment, yet it cannot dispel the darkness of hatred, if it be voluntary, or come on after baptism. (See S. Augustine, Bede, and Hugo.)

He that loveth his brother abideth in the light (of faith and love: this is an antithesis to the former verse), and there is no occasion for stumbling in him. S. Jerome (in Matt xxv.) explains the words vtfexofAfAa and exavdaXov. This may be taken to have either an active or a passive meaning, the giving of offence, or the taking Digitized by v^iOOQLe 374 FIRST EPISTLE GENERAL OF S. JOHN, C. II. of offence. See i Cor. xiii. 4; Prov. xv. 19; Ps. cxix. 165. One who loves neither gives offence, nor takes it: “If my brother offends me,” they would say, “shall I abandon charity? Far from it : I will overcome evil with good, I will follow Christ, I will show him how I love the brethren, how I love God. I will not fight against my brother who has wronged me. I will rather fight against his disease of mind, and drown his anger and ill-will with floods ot charity.” S. Augustine says (in loc.), “Who are they who either take or make offence? They who are offended at Christ or the Church. They who are offended in Christ are burnt as by the sun, they who are offended in the Church are burnt as by the moon. But the Psalm says (cxxii. 6), ‘ the sun shall not burn thee by day, nor the moon by night,* that is, if thou holdest fast by charity thou wilt suffer no offence either in Christ or the Church, and thou wilt forsake neither Christ nor the Church.** A passage is here added from a sermon once supposed to be S. Augustine’s, but subsequently regarded as spurious, as is also another sermon quoted just after- wards, showing who are true and who are false friends, and that those who seem to be our enemies are in truth our best friends, and to be regarded as such. And S. Basil (-Reg. brev \ clxxvi.) says the same.

But he that hateth his brother is in darkness . For, as (Ecumenius says, “ He cannot be in the light of Christ, who hateth him for whom Christ died.** And knoweth not whither he goeth. “For (as says S. Cyprian, de Zelo) he goes down to hell, ignorantly and blindly, and withdrawn from the light of Christ, who says, * I am the Light of the world.* ** “ Hatred,** says the author of Imperf. Homily xiii. [on S. Matt.] “is the spirit of darkness, and wherever it settles it defiles the purity of holiness ; ** and adds, “ The world is so full of offences, that if we wish to love our friends only, we shall not find anything to love.” See Prov. iv. 19; Zeph. i. 17; and Isa. lix. 10. For in truth nothing so blinds our reason as hatred. “There is no difference between anger and madness,** says S. Chrysostom on S. John (Horn, xlvii.) And anger is so blind as not to see its own blindness. Seneca — Diqitij§d by GOOglC MEANING OF “ LITTLE CHILDREN.” 375 adduces the case of Harpasto, his wife's handmaid (Ep. 11), who did not understand that she was blind, adding, “No one admits that he is covetous, or ambitious, or angry. I have not settled on my course of life (he says), it is our youth that causes it But why do we deceive ourselves ? The evil is not without us, but within us, and therefore we find it hard to regain our health, because we know not that we are ill.” Democritus blinded himself by looking at the sun, in order that he might not see the happiness of the wicked. And in like manner do the envious and malicious blind themselves.

I write unto youy fathers , because ye have known Him who is from the beginning . Fathers, we know, are proud of their experience ; and therefore he fitly congratulates them on having known the Ancient of Days, who is from eternity. For, as S. Augus- tine says, “ Christ is new in the flesh, but ancient in His Godhead.” He adds, “Remember, ye who are fathers, if ye forget Him who is from the beginning, ye have lost your fatherhood.” 1 write unto you , young meny because ye have overcome the wicked one. He passes to that stage of life which rejoices in its strength, and is full of concupiscence. He congratulates them for having overcome the wicked one, for he is speaking to Christian young people living in a Christian way, as S. Agnes, S. Lucy, S. Agatha, and many others, or that young man of whom S. Jerome speaks (in the life of Paul the first hermit), who when tempted by a harlot to sin, bit off his tongue, and spat it in her face, and thus by the inten- sity of the pain overcame the feeling of lust. This strength and this ~~Digiti2ffr by (jOO^Ic KNOWING THE FATHER. 377 victory was prompted by Christ. See i Cor. xv. 57. AndS. Augus- tine (in. loc.) says, “If the wicked one is overcome by the young men, He is fighting with us. He fights, but he does not overcome. Is it because we are strong, or because He is strong in us, who in the hands of His persecutors was found weak ? He hath made us strong who resisted not His persecutors, for He was crucified in weakness, but liveth by the power of God.” (2 Cor. xiiL 4.)

I write unto you , children. He here comes round and says the same thing in other words, to enforce it the more, calling them r%xd* in the first instance, and vatdia here. Because ye have known the Father ; by the words of the Creed. Morally , Catherinus beautifully says, “ The life of beginners is to be, in a sense, under Him, who by cherishing us in His paternal embraces and allurements, keeps away from us for a while sharper temptations. But He afterwards hands us over to the Son, for our growth and fuller instruction, and at last to the Holy Spirit to be strengthened and perfected.” Here in some MSS. the exhortation to fathers is repeated. F. Lucas notices its omission in the Complut Polyglott and in the Vulgate, and asks why it is omitted ? Is it because a single admoni- tion was enough for the aged ? I write to you , young men , because ye are strong, and have overcome the wicked one . Him who is the chief and head of all malignity. “Consider,” says S. Augustine (in. loc.)y “that ye are young, fight that ye may overcome again and again, overcome that ye may be crowned. Be lowly, that ye fall not in the fight.” And again, “ This is a great commendation of grace, that it instructs the hearts of the humble, but stops the mouths of the proud.” And the word of God abideth in you . Ye keep that word which we and our fellows have preached. Others understand it of the Uncreate and Eternal Word. Ye have remained stedfast in the faith, and have thus overcome the wicked one. As CEcumenius says, “ In promising youths and young men (strong as they may be and needing to be trained for war) the glory of victory, he shows that Digitized by v^iOOQLe 378 FIRST EPISTLE GENERAL OF S. JOHN. C. II. they require to be addressed in noble and warlike terms.” And S. Prosper ( Epist . ad Demetriad in S. Ambrose Ep . iv. 33) says, “ Our will is aided by the operation of the Spirit, but is not done away with. The effect of grace is this, that our will, corrupted as it is by sin, beside itself with vanities, surrounded by corruptions, entangled with difficulties, should not remain in this feeble state, but should be cured and regain its strength by the aid of the All-compassionate Physician.” And again, “ The crafty tempter is ever on the watch, that, as our devotion increases, pride should steal in, and a man should glory in himself, rather than in God, for the good that is in him. The Apostle tells us to work out our salvation with fear and trembling. And accordingly the more we advance in holiness, the greater reason we have for fear and trembling, lest the mind, con- scious of its progress, should be hurried into excess of pride, and thus become defiled by vanity, while it seems to itself to be resplen- dent in virtue.”

Love not the world “There are two loves,” says S. Augustine (in. loc.)t “ the love of God and the love of the world. If the love of the world occupy the heart, there is no room for the love of God to enter. Let the love of the world retire, let the love of God enter in ; let the better have its own place. Thou lovedst the world : love it no more. When thou hast drained out the love of the world from thy heart, thou shalt drink in love divine, and then shall charity begin to dwell in thee, from whence nothing evil can proceed.” “It is,” he proceeds, “as clearing a field before planting fresh trees.” The Abbot Isaias (de Poenit . Orat. xxi.) answered the question, “ What is the world ? ” in this way. “ It is a fatal rushing into sin — doing what is contrary to nature — fulfilling the desires of the flesh — thinking we shall live here for ever, the caring more for the body than for the soul — glorying in things which perish.” As the Apostle John says, “ Love not the world,” &c. As S. Augustine says, “In this vale of misery thou should st not possess anything so beautiful, or so delightful, as to fully occupy your mind. Shun the world, if thou wishest not to be worldly . If thou art not worldly, the world DigitftdbyGoC MEANING OF THE “ WORLD.” 379 delighteth thee not. Avoid the creatures if thou desirest to have the Creator. Let every creature be vile in thy sight, that the Creator may be sweet in thy heart” If any one love the world , the love of the Father is not in him . See James iv. 4. “ We must not give half our heart to God, and half to the world.” As S. Leo says (Serm, v. de Jejun. 7 Mensis) : “There are two loves ... for the rational soul loves either God or the world. There can be no excess in the love of God. But in the love of the world all things are hurtful. And therefore we must firmly cleave to eternal goods, but use worldly goods only by the way, and since we are pilgrims, and hastening to return to our country, we must use the good things of this world as food for our journey through it, and not as an allurement to abide in it.”

For all that is in the world is the lust of the fleshy the lust of the eye , and the pride of life. You will say that these properly are not in the world, but in the souls of men who desire them. But I answer, the word world is used in a threefold sense. 1. For men of the world, see John i. 10, xvi. 18 ; and S. Augus- tine on Ps. lv., “ the wicked and ungodly in the world,” in which sense S. John uses it in his Gospel. 2. It means this created world, in which, as being inanimate, there is not, properly speaking, any concupiscence. But these are provocatives of concupiscence. For everything we see affects our senses and lures us on to love it 3. It signifies a worldly life, consisting in the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. It is the whole body of sin consisting of these several parts or members. As S. Antony of Padua said, “ The earth is avarice, water is luxury, the air is incon- stancy, fire is pride.” These three kinds of concupiscence are embraced in the general term concupiscence. As is added, “ It is not of the Father but of the world.” The world can be taken in all these senses, and S. John first takes up one and then another. But the second of these meanings is most to the point. And S. John wishes to withdraw the minds of the faithful from all objects of Digitized by v^iOOQLe 380 FIRST EPISTLE GENERAL OF S. JOHN, C. II. desire which the world contains (for they are the roots of every evil), and to fix them on God. All these worldly things estrange our hearts from the love of God, and relate only to the perishing goods of the world, or rather to the shadows and phantoms of good. Here notice that as the lust of the eyes is avarice, so that which creates the desire is gold, silver, jewels, &c. As S. Augustine says (Lib. iii. de Syntb. cap . i.), “To the lust of the flesh belong the allurements of pleasure ; to the lust of the eye, foolish spectacles ; to the ambition of the world, the madness of pride.” It is called the lust of the eyes, because it provokes the eyes, and through the eyes the fancy andt he mind. “ The eyes,” says S. Augustine in Ps. xli., “are members of the body, the windows of the mind. It is the inner man who sees by their means.” The covetous lays up riches, he does not spend them, and his only pleasure is looking at them. An exceeding wretchedness and fatuity. For he might just as well look at the gold, silver, and jewels in the temples, and feed himself on them. Whereas he would feed himself the more with his own wealth, and enjoy it the more, if he expended it on his friends and the poor. 2. As the lust of the flesh is gluttony, so is it wine, delicate and sensual pleasure, which provoke it. It hence appears how vile it is, as being common to the beasts ; how little, because it feeds not the mind, but the flesh alone ; short-lived, perishing in the very act, and bringing after it foul and filthy diseases. Whence S. Augustine (de Vera. Rdig. cap. lv.) says, “Let us not delight in corrupting or being corrupted by carnal pleasure, lest we should come at last to the more miserable corruption of pain and suffering.” 3. As the pride of life is ambition, haughtiness, desire of pre- eminence and glory, so are its provocatives superb dresses, grand houses, attendants, carriages, &c We speak of being as proud as a peacock, who spreads its wings and struts along. S. Bernard (on Ps. xi. Serm. vi.) says, “ Ambition is a subtle evil, a secret poison, a hidden pest, the contriver of craft, the parent of hypocrisy, the fruit of envy, the source of sin, the fosterer of crime, the destroyer (cerugo) Digifizecl by Googk CONCUPISCENCE. 381 of virtues, the devourer of sanctity, the blinder of hearts, generating disease from the very remedies, and sickness from that which should heal.” S. Basil terms it the “ whetstone of wickedness.” See S# Gregory, Mor \ xxxiv. 14, xxxi. 17. These three passions are the threefold sources of all temptations and sin. See S. Augustine, Confess . x. 30. S. Thomas, i. 2, q. lxxv. art 5. As the Poet says : — “ Ambition, wealth, and foul desires, These three as gods the world admires.” Our first parents were tempted by them, and so was our Lord. See S. Augustine, de Vera Relig. cap. xxxviiL This threefold desire is opposed to the Holy Trinity. Avarice to the Father, who is most liberal in communicating His essence and all His attributes to the Son and the Holy Spirit essentially, but to creatures only by way of participation. The lust of the flesh is opposed to the Son, who was begotten not carnally but spiritually from the mind of the Father, and who hates all carnal impurity. The pride of life is opposed to the Holy Spirit, who is the Spirit of humility and gentleness. Again, it is opposed to the three primary virtues, as lust of the flesh to continence, lust of the eyes to charity and kindness, pride of life to humility. (See S. Bernard, Serm. i. in Octav. Pasch . and de diligendo Deo). Which is not of the Father , but is of the world . This refers not merely to the pride of life, but to the threefold lust just spoken of. Moreover, concupiscence or lust comes from the world, from the cor- ruption and vice of those who cleave to the world. Just as the word ‘ flesh ’ signifies in Scripture the corruption of the flesh, so in like manner does ‘world ’ signify here the corrupt manners and lust of worldly men. The reason is that concupiscence arises from a worldly life. Good things become objects of desire, by reason of man’s concupiscence. For before the Fall there were no objects for concupiscence, but man’s fall caused them to be such. And it is from hence that we derive our concupiscence together with original sin, and accordingly all the things that God gave for the good of man are now become Digitized by v^iOOQLe 382 FIRST EPISTLE GENERAL OF S. JOHN, C. II. allurements and excitements of concupiscence, when we see after and desire them immoderately. See Wisdom xiv. n, iv. 12. For the pleasure which arises from desire fascinates the mind, and prevents its seeing the filthiness and the punishment of sin, or the beauty and rewards of virtue. See James i. 14. (Ecumenius understands by the * world* Satan himself — “as Christ said to the Jews, Ye are of your father the devil, that is devoted to worldly pursuits, the seeds of which the devil sows within us * — who accordingly is called the Prince of this world. See John xi. 31, xiv. 30, xvi. n.

And the world passeth away and the lust thereof. See Matt. xxiv. 35 ; 1 Cor. vii. 31 ; 2. Pet. iii. 11. See also Wisdom v. 7 ; S. Bernard, Epist. cvii., &c. As S. Jerome says {Epist. iii.) : “ If we were granted the years of Methusalem, yet the previous length would be nothing when it ceased to be, for when the end of life arrives, there will be no difference between the child of ten and the man of a thousand years, except that the old man goes out of life bearing a heavier burden of sin.” S. Cyprian (ad Demetriad) shows at great length that the world is growing old : “ The labourer is failing in the field, the mariner at sea, the soldier in camp, honesty in the market, justice in the courts, firmness in friendships, skill in arts, discipline in morals, for the sentence has been passed on the world that all things born should die, all things which have grown up should wax old, strong things should become weak, great things become small, and when they are thus weakened and diminished they come to an end.” And S. Anselm, in Rom. xii., says, “ Be not constant in love for the world, for, since that which thou lovest abideth not, it is in vain for thee to fix thy heart firmly on it, while that which thou lovest is flying away.” This is the reason a posteriori ; but the a priori reason is that the world is created from nothing, and therefore tends to become nothing, returning to that from whence it came. But, on the other hand, eternity belongs only to God, He having an uncreated, unchangeable, and eternal nature. Again, the world is not simple, but compounded of various elements ; but everything which is so composed is resolved into its own elements or component parts. And the final cause of Digitized by v^iOOQLe WHAT LOVE DOES. 383 its being so is that we should turn our thoughts from transient and changing creatures to the Creator, who is unchangeable, and always the same. All creatures silently proclaim this by their changeable- ness, and our own heart also, as S. Augustine says ( Confess . i. 1), “ Thou hast made us, O Lord, for Thyself, and our heart is restless till it rests in Thee.” S. John adds, But he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever . Because the soul which doeth the will of God will, on leaving the body, be blessed for ever, and the body will after death rise immortal and glorious. See Ps. cxix. 96, and John v. 52. The. reason is that love, like the chameleon, conforms the one who loves into the pattern of the thing which he loves, love being an impulse of the mind, and a going out of itself towards the beloved object, whereas understanding and knowledge are, on the contrary, the entering of the thing which is known into the understanding which embraces it As S. Augustine says, “ Every one is like the object he loves. Thou lovest the earth : thou wilt be earthy. Thou lovest God. What shall I say? Wilt thou be God? I dare not say it of myself. Let us hear the scriptures, ‘I have said ye are gods, and are all the children of the Most Highest/ If then ye wish to be gods and sons of the Most Highest, love not the world, nor the things that are in the world.” The object which is here loved is God, and the will of God which is stable and eternal, and therefore he that loveth it becomes eternal. See Hos. ix. io, and Sam. i. 8, and note. Dost thou wish to be eternal ? love eternal good. Dost thou wish to enjoy for ever the beloved object? Love that which is eternal. For if thou lovest a perishable thing, thou wilt perish together with it. But if thou fixest thy mind on an object which is stable, heavenly, divine, and eternal, thou wilt become the same. This is true wisdom, the wisdom of Saints. Fools then are lovers of the world, who in the place of these love transitory and perishable things, and accordingly they pass away, and in truth perish with them for ever. “ O ye sons of men , why do ye love vanity and seek after a lie? ” (Ps. 4.) Why follow ye after — not real things, but — the empty and fleeting shadows of things? Ye cannot grasp a shadow, nor yet Digitized by v^iOOQLe 384 FIRST EPISTLE GENERAL OF S. JOHN, C. II. hold fast shadowy wealth and honours. Grant us, Lord, this wisdom, “ that among all the changes of the world our hearts may there be fixed where there are true joys.” S. Augustine says beauti- fully (in loc.), “Why should not I love that which God made? But what dost thou wish ? to love temporal things, and to pass away with them, or not to love the world, and to live for ever with God ? ” He then compares lovers of the world to a bride who loves the ring her husband has given her, more than she does her husband himself ; which is assuredly a spurious love, since he gave it in order that he might be loved in his gift God gave thee all these things : love Him that made them. He wishes to give thee some- thing more, namely Himself ; but if thou lovest these things (though God made them) and neglectest thy Maker, and lovest the world, will it not be regarded as a spurious love ? And Didymus says, “ Whosoever despises all things will be above the world. For righteousness endureth for ever, for it is so written.J> See also Prov. x. 25. The old Philosophers had some shadowy notion of this. See Seneca, Ep . lix. My little children, this is the last hour The time is now at hand for the coming of Antichrist, as ye have often heard. Many anti- christs have already come, which is a sign that the world is waxing old, and that your life in it cannot be long. Tear your mind away from the world, its vain and perishing pleasures, fix it entirely on heavenly and eternal things, and on God Himself (see Rom. xiii. n). And be also on your strict guard against all heretics and impostors. For this, says CEcumenius and Didymus very properly, leads every one to think about his own end as if his own last hour were at hand, and thus sobriety and purity of living prevail among Christians. See i. Pet. iii. 14. By the last hour is meant the last age of the world. See S. Augustine, Ep. lxxx. to Hesychius . It is the last age in regard to the duration of the world and its division into the three parts of the law of Nature, the law of Moses, and the law of grace, after which no other law or state is to be looked for, as the Jews still expect their Messiah. Digitized by v^iOOQLe THE END OF THE WORLD. 385 (Ecumenius (after S. Chrysostom) adds it may mean the ‘ worst * age, as we say of a sick man that he is in extremis . And so too Ribera (in Heb. ix. num . cxiii. seq.) says, that it is the time of impostors and heretics. This exposition is most fitting and appropriate. So says the Gloss, Cajetan, Dionysius, and others. But the word must be taken in a very wide sense. Some wrongly conjecture that as the first, under the law of nature, lasted for 2000 years, and so also the second period under the law, that it will be the same under the Gospel. The early Christians considered that Nero was Antichrist, and S. Cyprian thought that the end of the world was near in his time. See Epist. lib . iv. 6 ; and so too S. Jerome, de Monog, ; S. Gregory, Epist iv. 38 ; and Lactantius, lib . vil cap, 25. See notes on Rev. xx. The word * hour } is used indefinitely. The phrase was familiar to S. John, who called the period an ‘ hour,* because it was very short But in classic authors it signifies a period of time of any length, a season, e.g,, as well as the hour of the day. See Is. xxxviii. 8. Morally . Hence learn the shortness of life. For if this age of the world is only an hour, what a very small part of it is the life of any one ! We are all creatures of an hour. The old have but a part of an hour to live ; the young hope for a whole hour, but yet are cut off in its very beginning. As S. Jerome says, " A youth may die soon, an old man cannot live very long.” This word then warns us to be very diligent in employing the time which is allotted us. Suppose a physician or a judge were to tell you to prepare to die — “ you will certainly die an hour hence,” how anxiously would you clear your conscience, what acts of con- trition and charity would you exercise, how would you expend all your goods in good works. Do the same now, for your life is but an hour. Or again, you are afflicted, are sick, are calumniated. Wait a while. It is but for an hour, and after that you pass to a blessed eternity. See 1 Cor. L 29. Melania, a very wealthy noble lady, persuaded her people, by this text of S. John, to sell all they had, and to go to the Holy Land. For she used frequently to say (as indeed she thought) that the world was about to perish. She went to vol. v, 29 Digitized by v^iOOQLe 3 86 FIRST EPISTLE GENERAL OF S. JOHN, c. II. Jerusalem, and died forty days after, and the Barbarians laid waste the city. This took place under Alaric, a.d. 41a S. Basil (it t Moral ’ Reg. lxxx. cap . 21) says, “It is the duty of a Christian to watch every day and hour, and to be thus ready for that perfection by which he can please God, as knowing that the Lord will come at an hour he expects not.” Antichrist cometh . See on this the notes on 2 Thess. ii. 7. Even now are there many antichrists . Those who are against Christ and true forerunners of Antichrist, because they impugn, equally with the faith, the Church, the sacraments of Christ, nay His very nature and person. As Ebion, Cerinthus, &c., and their followers, of whom S. Paul says “ the mystery of iniquity is already working ” (2 Thess. ii. 7). See note on passage. Rabanus (apud S. Augustine) [vol. vi. append .] says, “Antichrist has many ministers of his malignity. For every one, layman or canon or monk, who lives not righteously, and violates the authority of his order, and speaks against that which is good, is an antichrist, a minister of Satan.” Heretics are antichrists, as S. Hilary called Constantius. See note on 1 Pet iii. 14. They went out from us> for they were not of us (either real or pre- tended) Catholics ; and a heretic is one who apostatises from the faith of Christ which he once embraced, and lapses into heresy. See S. Cyprian, Epist. i. 8, and de Unit. Eccl. : “ Bitterness cannot co exist with sweetness, darkness with light, rain with clear weather, strife with peace, barrenness with fertility, drought with gushing water, storm with calm. Let no one imagine that good men can forsake the Church; the wind does not sweep away the wheat, nor does the storm throw down a tree which is firmly rooted — the chaff is blown away with the storm, and trees weakly rooted are cast down by the violence of a whirlwind,” &c. And S. Jerome says [Lib. L in Jerem.\ “ They go out in order that they may openly worship that which they used to venerate in secret” And S. Augustine (in loc.)9 “Ye will understand, from the Apostle’s own exposition, that none can go away but antichrists, but that they who are not contrary to Christ can in no wise go out. For he who is not contrary to Christ abideth Digitized by v^iOOQLe MANY ANTICHRISTS. 387 in His Body, and is counted a member of it” “ They are (he adds afterwards) as evil humours, and just as the body is relieved when they are removed, so is the Church relieved when they go forth, and when the body casts them forth it says, They were not of me, they only weighed on my chest when they were within me.” Whereby we know that it is the last time . For we see the heretics who are his forerunners, just as when we see a king’s outrider, we know that he is near, or that the dawn shows that the sun is about to rise. “Many antichrists,” as CEcumenius says, “go before the one Antichrist, and prepare for him the way.” They were not of us , for had they been of us, no doubt they would have continued with us. They were not genuine Christians. They had not Christian virtue and constancy boldly to resist all temptations, so that when persecution came on them, they gave up the faith and became apostates, as grass is dried up by the heat of the sun. As was said of Joseph and Azarias (1 Macc. v. 62), that “they were not of the seed of those by whom deliverance was wrought in Israel.” As the Romans said of traitors that they were not Romans, or as Saul reviled Jonathan (1 Sam. xx. 30). As S. Augustine says here, “ Temptation proves that they are not of us, for when it comes they fly away as not being sound grain.” As he says of Judas (Tract. 1. on John), “ He did not at that particular time become wicked when he betrayed the Lord. He was a thief even when he followed the Lord, for he followed Him with the body only, and not in heart.” And again (in. loc.), “ Every one is of his own will either an antichrist, or in Christ ; either one of His members, or among the evil humours. He that changeth himself for the better is a member of the Body, but he that abideth in his wickedness is an evil humour, and when he is gone out, they who were oppressed will be relieved.” 2. Many explain these words, ‘they were not of us/ as referring to the free knowledge and predestination of God. They were not thus predestinated and elected, because it was foreseen that they would fall, for everything future is foreseen by God. This does not refer to election to eternal blessedness. S. John did not Digitized by v^iOOQLe 388 FIRST EPISTLE GENERAL OF S. JOHN, C. II. wish to touch on this mystery, especially because so many who have fallen from the faith have in the end returned to it. And on the other hand there are many reprobates who are still in the Church who are not predestined to glory. But S. Augustine ( de bono persever. cap . viii.) understands it of those who are pre- destined to glory, and of those who (it is foreseen) will perish. Now almost all heresiarchs (excepting only Berengarius), when they have once left the Church, never return to it again, and are con- sequently foreknown to be reprobates. But we must avoid the error of those who infer from this that the reprobation of God is the cause of their leaving the Church, and subsequent condemnation : a charge which the Semipelagians falsely urged against S. Augustine. He defends himself thus, “They went out voluntarily, they fell voluntarily, and because it was foreseen they would fall, they were not predestinated ; but they would have been predestinated, if so be they were to return, and abide in holiness. And in this way pre- destination is to many a cause of their remaining stedfast, to none is it a cause of their falling ” (Art. xii. in art. sibi f also impositis). 3. Some explain the words thus, “They were not of us,” because, before they openly withdrew from the Church they had secretly withdrawn from it. Heresy is the very height of impiety, and is reached but gradually. See S. Cyprian, Epist. i. 8, and de Unit. Ecd. ; and S. Cyril, Catech. vl Catherinus and Melchior Canus take the word 1 us 9 to mean 4 the Apostles.1 But this is too narrow a meaning. S. John speaks of Christians in general. S. John here warns his disciples not to be alarmed if they saw even bishops become apostate (see Acts xx. 30). Salmeron thinks that of the hundred and twenty who received the Holy Ghost at the day of Pentecost fourteen became heresiarchs. See, too, S. Vincent of Lerius and Tertullian, de Prescript, ch. i. And at the same time he warns them to work out their own salva- tion with fear and trembling. See also Rom. xi. 20. But that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. God allowed this to show their inconsistency and want of faith, and to teach the faithful to avoid them. See 1 Cor. xi 19. Digitized by v^iOOQLe unction. $8$ Beza has no ground for inferring from this that the faithful could never fall away. It means only that their falling away was a sign that they were not firmly rooted in the faith. S. Augustine says their apostacy was a sign that they were not of the number of the predestinate and elect

But ye have an unction from the Holy One , and ye know all thingSy so that it is not necessary to speak at greater length to these antichrists. By the word ‘unction’ he refers to Antichrist, and also to Christ (the anointed One). See also what Christ Him- self says, John xvi. 13. But what is this ‘unction* l (1.) CEcumenius and S. Jerome on Hab. iii. and S. Cyril Alex, say * baptism,’ when we are anointed on our head. (2.) S. Cyril of Jerus. says, ‘the sacrament of confir- mation,’ when we are anointed on our forehead. (3.) Em. Sa. says, ‘ the profession of Christianity ; ’ others the Christian faith, grace, the gift of wisdom and understanding ; others the inspiration of the Holy Spirit But they all come to the same point, for in these various ways you will learn all the duties and doctrines of Christianity, and to discern and avoid heretics as opposed to Christ The word unction stands for the ointment or oil, not for the mere transient act of anointing. In the Greek it is It has reference to the name of Christ, and the sacraments of baptism and confirmation, which used to be given immediately after baptism as its complement and perfection. S. Cyril accordingly under- stands it to refer to confirmation, so also does Turrianus, and Bellarmine, de Confirm . lib. ii. capp . 5 et 8. For by anointing is here to be understood, not so much sanctifying grace, as the gift of wisdom and understanding. (See S. Gregory, Mor . v. 19 (at. 20), S. Irenaeus iv. 43). For this gift was bestowed at first on baptized persons. Acts ii. 6, x. 46, xix. 6 ; 1 Cor. xiv. And it is even now given in baptism (Isa. xl 1), though not so abundantly. The word also relates to the royal priesthood, which S. Peter (1 ii. 9) ascribes to all Christians. For as in old time prophets, priests, and kings were anointed to their office, so do Christians when anointed in baptism and confirmation receive grace, to rule themselves as Digitized by v^iOOQLe 390 First epistle general of s. John, c. it. kings ; to foresee future good and evil, as prophets ; and to present, as priests, the offerings of good works. So that this gift of the Holy Spirit, conferred by the outward anointing, will teach Christians everything which concerns Christian life and conduct For these reasons S. John rejoices in the word ‘unction/ as representing Christ and His ‘ love/ of which it is said (Cant i. 2), “ Thy name is like ointment poured forth ; ” and S. John was, in consequence of his constant preaching of Christ, thrown about this time into a caldron of boiling oil, but escaped unhurt as having been strengthened by the anointing of Christ. See also Ps. xlv. 8 ; Isa. lxi. 1 ; Acts x. 38. S. Athanasius (Epist. ad Strap.) says that this ointment is the Holy Spirit with all His gifts and graces. For in justification is infused not only grace and charity, but the Holy Spirit Himself. See Rom. v. 5 ; Cone. Trid. Stss. vi. cap. 7. And S. Augustine (in loc .) says, This spiritual anointing is the Holy Spirit Himself, and the outward anointing is the sacrament thereof. So, too, in the “Veni Creator,” we read of the ‘Anointing Spirit.* The Holy Spirit then, inhabiting, enlightening, and direct- ing the soul, teaches it at the fitting time all things befitting its salvation. S. Clement ( Const Apost '. iii. 17) explains the cere- monies of baptism and confirmation thus : — “ Baptism is an adminis- tration into the death of the Son of God, water as betokening burial, oil the Holy Spirit, the sign of the Cross for the Cross itself, the Chrism as the confirmation of our confession.” See too 2 Cor. vii. 2. But though oil has various virtues, yet its special use is to give light, and to feed a flame. And accordingly the fathers teach that by the chrism and oil is specially signified the gift of wisdom and understanding which is conferred in confirmation. Amatarius (de Eecl \ Off. i. 27) tells us why the chrism is formed of oil and balsam, “ because by oil we should understand right conversation, which rules in the mind by mature wisdom, and by balsam our teaching, which sends abroad a sweet odour.” And S. Ambrose (de in qui initiantur, chap . 7) says, “Call to mind that thou hast received the spiritual seal, the spirit of wisdom, &c. The Father sealed thee, Christ the Lord confirmed thee, and gave thee the Digitized by CHRISM OF THE ESSENCE OF CONFIRMATION. $g t pledge of the Spirit in thy heart, as ye have learned from the Apostle’s teaching.” The Ordo Romanus prescribes a prayer for blessing the chrism. Rabanus Marcus ( de Inst Cleric, i. 30) speaks of the anointing in baptism and confirmation, by the Priest and Bishop respectively, and points out their respective differences. Tertullian (de Resurr, cap, 8) thus speaks of the ceremonies at confirmation : “The flesh is anointed that the soul may be consecrated, the flesh is signed that the soul also may be strengthened, the flesh is overshadowed by the imposition of hands that the soul also may be enlightened by the Spirit.” Hugh of S. Victor (de Sacrum, Lib. ii. par, 7, chapt, 6) says that the chrism should remain on the forehead for seven days, to indicate the sevenfold gifts of the Spirit ; and Origen (Horn, vii. in Ezek.) speaks of this oil as the oil of Christ, the oil of holy doctrine. But the Innovators misapply this passage, and say that they are so guided by the inward light as not to need the teaching of the Church. But they greatly err, for this very anointing enlightens the faithful in what they have been taught, and teaches them the doctrines of the faith which were first taught, and that the anti- christs who oppose them are not to be listened to. For if any doubt should arise, the same anointing of the Spirit teaches us, that it is not the part of any one to resolve it, but that the doctors and rulers of the Church should be consulted, whom God placed in the Church for this very purpose (Eph. iv. 11). Morally , we are here taught to implore the aid of the Holy Spirit in all our doubts, difficulties, and perplexities. (See 2 Chron. xx. 12.) S. Cyril (Catech, xvi.) strikingly remarks on the light which the Holy Spirit pours into men’s hearts, as with Isaiah who saw the Lord sitting on His throne ; as with Ezekiel and Daniel ; or with S. Peter, who then knew the wickedness of Ananias and Sapphira ; or as in the case of Elisha and GehazL Mystically. There is a threefold unction : of compunction, in detest- ing sin ; of devotion, in calling to mind the benefits God has con- ferred ; and of piety, in compassion for our neighbours. S. Bernard Digitized by Gj oogle %$2 FIRST EPISTLE GENERAL OF S. JOHN, C. II. (i Serm . x. and xx. on Canticles , and Serm . ii. on Pentecost ) dwells at length on these points. And ye know all things — of which I have just spoken, all ye ought to know.

I have not written unto you because ye know not the truths but because ye know it. S. John says this, to gain their favour, and to stimulate them to more diligent study. I have not written to teach you, but to strengthen you in what you already know. See Rom. xv. 15. And that no lie is of the truth . By a lie he means, false doctrine and heresy. For all these doctrines come not from God, who is the source of truth, but from the father of lies. See John viii. 44. And accordingly S. Augustine says, “ We are here told how to know Antichrist For what is Christ ? The truth, as He Himself said. All they then who lie are not of the truth.” ( Contra Mendce. cap. xviii.)

Who is a liar , but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ l He here explains what kind of lie he means, the heresy of denying that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God, as Simon Magus, Ebion, Cerinthus, and other Judaisers, against whom S. John **• wrote, both ancient and modern. For, as Bede says, “ Compared with this all other lies are little or nothing.” Indeed, what more pernicious lie could be uttered or invented than this, cutting off as it does all faith and hope of salvation ? He then that maintains it, is pre-eminently a liar, because he is heretical, sacrilegious, an * atheist, an antichrist The word is commonly used of those who mean one thing and say another. And this is the case with these very persons, for they knew or ought to know that Jesus was the Christ So writes Tertullian (de Prescript. Heret. cap. xxxiii.) : “John in his Epistle specially calls those persons antichrist, who said that Jesus had not come in the flesh, as Marcion and Ebion maintained.” And as CEcumenius tells us, “ Simon stated that Jesus and Christ were different persons. Jesus who was bom of Mary, Christ who had come down from heaven.” S. Cyril ( Catech . vi.) says that Simon Magus was the author of all these heresies, and then enlarges on them and his impostures. Digitized by v^iOOQLe DENYING THE SON. 393 Cornelius here says much of the heresies and follies of the Anabaptists, for which he quotes their history by Arnold Meshovius. He is antichrist that denieth the Father and the Son. Because by saying that Christ is not the Son of God, they say that God is not His Father. For the terms Father and Son are correlative, and accordingly if one of them is done away with, so is the other also. CEcumenius supposes that Valentinus is here aimed at, who said that there was another Father, beside Him who was called the Father of Christ And these self-same heretics (he says) deny the Son, by affirming that He is a mere man, and not God by nature. So too Basilides. (See Irenaeus, L 23 ; Tertullian, de Prescript. ; Epiphanius, Hcer. xxiv., and others.)

Whosoever denieth the Son , hath not the Father. In Whom to abide (as Cajetan says), “nor as abiding in Him, for he believes not His eternal generation ” (see Dionysius ). He hath Him not in his mind, and consequently does not confess Him with his life. He seems to refer to John v. 37, and as he says above, cap. i., “ His word is not in us.” And in this chapter, vers. 5 and 24. For it is by faith, hope, and charity that God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit abide in us, and we consequently have them in us, just as a Church has the Eucharist within it, for a holy soul is in truth the temple of God who dwells within it He here aims at the Judaising heretics, who deny the doctrine of the Trinity, and say that there is but one Person in the Godhead, and con- sequently deny that Christ is God, and the Son of God. Christ in this very Gospel maintains against them that He is the Only Begotten Son of God the Father. See iii. 35, v. 18 seq. 36 seq., vi. 58. For, as CEcumenius says, “ Had they known the Father, they would without any doubt have known Him to be the Father of the Only Begotten Son.” And more especially because he who knows not the Trinity knows not the nature of the Godhead to be so full and prolific as to require a plurality of Persons, and demands that it should be communicated to all the Three, so that in taking away One Person you in fact do away with the Godhead altogether. And this is what S. John means here. In like manner, Christ said to Digitized by v^iOOQLe 394 first epistle general of s. John, c. it. Philip, “ He that hath seen Me, hath seen the Father. . . . Believest thou not that I am in the Father and the Father in Me?” (John xiv. 9, io). Whereby is signified plurality of Persons and identity of Essence, and the intimate and complete indwelling of one Person in another. Damascene (de Fide , i. 2) terms this npxupi <rti, and the Schoolmen (after him) circumincessio . See S. Augustine, de Trinit vi. ; S. Hilary, de Trinit. Lib . iv. ; and Ambroseaster, in 2 Cor. 13. S. Augustine says, “ Each is in each, and all in each, and each in all, and all in all, and all are One.” S. Cyprian (Exhort. Martyr , cap . 5) and S. Hilary (de Trin. lib. vi.) here read, He that hath the Son , hath both the Father and the Son, i.e.t wishing him well, and favouring him. S. Augustine has the same reading, but explains it of worship and veneration: “He who worships the Son worships the Father, for he cannot worship the Father who worships not the Son, as it is said John y. 23.” 1Jn 2:24 Let that which ye have heard from the beginning abide in you. Be stedfast in the faith, doctrine, and Christian life, which ye received at first, for thus will true faith abide in you, and ye will abide in the true faith and sonship of God. See Gal. i. 9 ; Heb. xiii. 9. As S. Cyprian strikingly says (Ep. xl.) : “ I exhort and advise you not to believe rashly pernicious words, or readily yield consent to words of falsehood, not to put darkness for light, night for day, hunger for food, poison for a remedy, death for life.” If that abide with you, which ye have heard from the beginning (as I have just explained it), ye also shall abide in the Son, and in the Father. We must consider that the Holy Spirit is also included in the expression, the Father and the Son. For the Father and the Son are the Breathers forth of the Holy Spirit, and in their Essence, as understood in its full meaning, they include the power of breath- ing forth the Holy Spirit, yea, its actual exercise. But at this time no question had arisen respecting the Holy Spirit, but merely respecting the Son, and consequently respecting the Father. The Son is here put before the Father, for the special reason that “ no man cometh to the Father but through the Son.” John xiv. “For no one will behold the greatness of the Divine Glory, except he be Digitized by v^iOOQLe A&IDtNG IN TttE SON. 395 born again by the sacraments of that Manhood, which the Son assumed.” So Bede. But further, if ye abide in the Son and in the Father, the Father and the Son will in their turn abide in you. As (Ecumenius says, “ Ye will have union and communion with Him, as Christ promised ** (John xiv. 23). As S. Augustine remarks on this passage, “The Holy Spirit also dwells in the Saints together with the Father and the Son : just as God in His temple. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit come to us when we come to them — they come to us by their aid, we by our obedience — they come by their enlightening, we by gazing on them — they come by filling us, we by admitting them within — so that we behold them by no outward, but by inward vision, and they abide in us, not transitorily, but for ever.” 1Jn 2:25 And this is the promise which He has promised tts, even eternal life \ Gagneius refers thus to the promise made by our Lord, John xvii. 20. “ For (he says) the promise He has made us is indeed eternal life, since it is eternal life to abide in God, and to enjoy Him here in grace, and hereafter in glory.” CEcumenius makes the word ‘and* equivalent to ‘because:* “Ye will abide in the Father and the Son because He promised you this in promising eternal life.” But the first meaning is the best. This is a powerful motive for constancy in the faith. “ Let the memory of the promised reward,” says Bede, “ make thee persevere in thy work.** “ Let us see (says S. Augustine) what He hath promised? Silver, or possessions, or pleasant lands ? No indeed, this is not the reward for which He exhorts us to endure. It is eternal life.** And he adds, “God combines threats with His promises, even eternal death, if we dis- obey Him.” “ A powerful man threatens us with imprisonment, with fire, with torments, with wild beasts. But does he threaten us with eternal fire ? Dread that which the Almighty threatens, love that which He promised, and then the whole world is a worthless thing, whether in its promises or its threats.” 1Jn 2:27 And let that anointing which ye have received abide in you. By the anointing he means the gift of wisdom and under- Digitized by v^iOOQLe 396 FIRST EPISTLE GENERAL OF S. JOHN, C. It. standing given in baptism and augmented in confirmation. See above, ver. 20. And ye need not that any man teach you, but as his anointing teacheth you of all things , understand 1 abide in it] as S. John adds shortly afterwards. Some MSS. add i so do ye.* It means, ye need not go to false apostles and heretics to teach you the truth, for ye have already learned it from the Apostles themselves, and that which they taught outwardly, the Holy Spirit must needs teach you within. (See Is. liv. 13; John vi. 45 ; Ps. xciv. 10.) Be stedfast then in that which ye have thus been taught. See Bellarmine, de Verbo Dei, , iii. 3, who says, “ Ye have no need for a Lutheran or Calvinist to teach you Christian doctrine, because ye have been fully taught it by the teaching of the Church, and the aid of the Holy Spirit See I Pet v. 12 ; Col. i. 6. And S. Augustine (in loc.) thus writes: “ I for my part have spoken to alL But they to whom that unction speaketh not within, they whom the Holy Spirit teacheth not, go away untaught. The outward teachings of a master are a kind of aid and warning, but He who teacheth the heart hath His seat in heaven. . . . One is your master, even Christ. Let Him speak to you within, when no one is present. For though some one is at thy side, yet there is no one in thy heart. Let there be no one in thy heart, let Christ be in thy heart, let His unction be in thy heart, lest thy heart be athirst in the desert, and have no fountains to water it. The Master who teacheth is within, Christ teacheth, His inspiration teacheth. But where His inspiration and His unction are not, words echo in vain from without.” And so too S. Gregory, expound- ing these very words, says, “ Unless the same spirit be in the heart of the hearer the words of the teacher are useless 5 ” and he adds, II Do not ascribe to the teacher that which ye hear from his lips, for unless He who really teaches you be within, the tongue of the teacher labours outwardly in vain.” But when he says, “ His unction will teach you of all things,” &c., he means, of all that ye have heard, all that the faithful are bound to know, as having been so taught by their earliest instruction and catechising (so even Beza argues), lest any one should infer from this passage that private judgment should Digitized by THE COMING OF CHRIST. 397 be the interpreter of scripture, and the judge of controversies.” See Ezek. xiii. 3. This anointing , some refer to Christ, the Anointed One, the abstract for the concrete. And is truth and is no lie . This is a double assertion, confirming the first statement by a denial of its contrary (see John L 20). And as it hath taught you, ‘ And * here stands for i therefore.* And now , little children , abide in it In the orthodox faith which ye have been taught, amid all the fair words of heretics, and per- severe therein. That when Christ shall appear ye may have confidence . That is, boldness of speech. See Wisdom v. 1 ; Col. iii. 4. S. Basil says (Horn, xl Hex, 1), “ Abraham also will fear in the judgment, and be in agony.” This is an exaggeration. But it signifies the severity of the judgment in itself (1 Pet iv. 18). But if we look at the grace and mercy of God, on the other hand, it will assure all saints of their salvation, and will place them as His friends and His elect on His right hand, and separate them from the reprobate, before the judg- ment begins. And not be ashamed before Him at His coming. Let us not shame one another by your falling from the faith — shame, i.e, yourselves, and us your apostles and teachers for not keeping you therein. For the goodness of the scholar is the praise and glory of the teacher. S. Basil (on the words of Ps. xxxiv.), “ I will teach you the fear of the Lord,” says that the shame and confusion of the lost will be their bitterest punishment See Rev. vii. 17. And the ground of their shame will be this, that Christ will proclaim, before the whole world, all their shameful and horrible sins, however secret, and committed in thought only ; that they will see the saints, whom they despised in this world, raised up above them to glory, to judge and to condemn them, because they foolishly neglected to expiate their sins by penitence and the shame of confession. See Isa. lxvi. 24 ; Dan. xiL 2. S. Cyril (Catech, iii.) says that the faithful are at their confirmation anointed on their foreheads, as being the seat of shame, in order that they might not be ashamed to confess the name of Christ, and Digitized by v^iOOQLe 398 FIRST EPISTLE GENERAL OF S. JOHN, C. II. that they might not commit any shameful act, and thus be confounded at the day of judgment. S. Augustine (in loci) strikingly observes, “ Faithful is He that promiseth. He deceiveth not. Only do thou faint not, but wait for the promise. The truth cannot deceive. Be not thou false, professing one thing and doing another. Keep thou the faith, and He will keep His promise. But if thou keep not the faith, thou hast defrauded thyself, He has not broken faith with thee.” And CEcumenius : “ What can be more glorious or more admirable than to act boldly in His sight, to whom we shall give an account of our labours, and not be ashamed before Him at His coming?” At His coming , in glory to judge the world. “ We now see through a glass darkly, but then we shall see face to face ” (i Cor. xiii. 12). 1Jn 2:29 /f(ie. since) ye know that He is righteous , know ye that every one that doeth righteousness is born of Him . He shows the way and means by which we can have confidence before Christ as our Judge : that is, by performing righteous and holy deeds, to offer to Him as our just Judge. Let not any one suppose that orthodox belief alone suffices, works of righteousness are also required. For Christ, not only as God, but as the holiest of men, loves those who are righteous ; and will pass on them a righteous sentence of acquittal. It is the part of a just judge to judge of every one's works, and to assign their rewards and punishments accordingly. He then that doeth righteousness, will in the day of judgment not be confounded before Him, but will have every confidence. Because he is like his judge, nay more, His son and heir, and thus he will be sure of his inheritance (Rom. viii. 17). For all our righteousness flows from the righteousness, holiness, and grace of Christ Righteousness is here to be understood in a general sense, as including all the virtues through which we are called righteous before God (see John i. 12). Moreover, there is no surer argument that we are born of God than showing Him forth in our deeds and life. Didymus observes that the Apostle uses the present tense (doeth), not the past or future. Because a good root brings forth good fruit. As bom again of God by righteousness and grace, and being made partakers of the Divine Nature (2 Pet. i. 4), (for we really partake of the Substance of God Digitized by v^iOOQLe DIVINE GENERATION. 399 by supernatural grace), we ought ever to manifest this our birth and our divine life by loving works of righteousness. For as a man is not alive who does not perform the functions of a living man, so in like manner he is not righteous, not regenerate or living to God, who does not perform righteous acts, especially since it is the part of a child to imitate his father. And since the righteous God ever does righteousness, we, as His children, should ever do the same. 2. Salmeron observes that this divine generation resembles, in a measure, our natural birth. For Christ, as man, brought us forth with the greatest suffering, and as God He works in us that grace and righteousness whereby we are born again as children of God. 3. CEcumenius remarks that as like begets like so are the righteous born of God. And Didymus says, “ that virtue manifests our right- eousness in act. No one therefore is righteous, before he does righteous acts, nor yet after he ceases to do them.” Lastly, S. Augustine says, that righteousness is perfect in the angels, but only beginning in men. “ In the holy angels, who turn aside by no lapse, who fall not away through pride, but remain ever in the contemplation of the Word, and count nothing else sweet, save Him who created them — in them is perfect righteousness, whereas in us it has only begun to be through the Spirit.” And again, “ The beginning of our righteousness is the confession of our sins. Thou hast begun not to defend thy sin : thou hast begun thy righteousness. But it will be perfected in thee, when nothing else shall delight thee to do ; when death will be swallowed up in victory, when no lust shall excite thee, when there will be no strug- gling with flesh and blood, when there shall be the crown of victory, the triumph over the enemy ; then there will be perfect righteous- ness. But now we are still fighting, we are still in the lists, we smite and are smitten. We have still to wait, to see who is con- queror. But he is the conqueror, who in striking a blow relies not on his own strength, but on God, who cheers and encourages him on.” The righteous therefore emulate the righteousness of the angels, so that keeping their minds from all earthly defilements, and tearing Digitized by v^iOOQLe 400 FIRST EPISTLE GENERAL OF S. JOHN, C. II. away their love from created objects, they may fix it on their Creator alone, and love Him, worship Him, and give Him thanks both in prosperity and adversity, making their words and life together with His Cross and Passion a continuous and constant praise to God. Such is the life of angels. See Job xxxvii. 7. Christians, moreover, as new bom in Christ, should emulate Christ, should “ speak as oracles, should live as gods,” * for Christ thus spake and thus lived. And in this way will they smite even the hearts of sinners, convert and beget them for Christ, as was said of S. Basil (S. Gregory Nazianzen, Orat funeb)r “His word was as thunder, for his life was as lightning ! n # This seems a quotation. Hzed by CjOO^Ic ( 401 ) 1Jn 3:1 Behold what great love the Father hath bestowed on us (unworthy, enemies and sinners as we are), that we should be called , and be the sons of God. Love, actively, His wondrous love to us, and passively, as communicated and infused into us. “ How much He loved us,” says Vatablus, “ in giving us that love whereby we are called the sons of God. For our created love flows out of His uncreated love, as a ray from the sun,” &c. For those whom God loves with His uncreated love, He makes to love Him in return with that created love which He infuses. For love is friendship or mutual affection between God and a righteous man. And just as we His creatures owe Him, as our Creator, all honour, worship, and service, so do we as His servants owe Him, as our Lord, fear, reverence, and obedience, and as the Father of all do we owe Him our highest love, our whole heart, our whole will and affections. S. John had before stated that he that doeth righteousness is born of God. He here teaches the excellence of that Divine sonship, its fruit and its reward, in order to excite the faithful to those works of righteousness, which show that they are His thankful and worthy children, and to lead them to preserve this their sonship, till it attain the reward of eternal life. Each of S. John’s words has great weight, and inspires fresh inducements to love. By the Digitized by v^iOOQLe THE FIRST STEP OF LOVE. 403 Father we understand the whole Trinity, but especially the Person of the Father, because it is the Father’s work to beget children like to His Only Begotten Son, and because our calling, our election, our predestination are the proper work of the Father, and the effect of all these is our justification and adoption as sons. As S. Augustine says (de Nat. grot . cap . ult), “ Inchoate love is inchoate righteousness, advanced love is advanced righteousness, perfect love is perfect righteousness.” And S. Dion (Eect flier. 1. 2) says, “The first motion of the mind to heavenly things, and its aiming after God, is love. And the first step of holy love towards ful- filling the commands of God, is an unspeakable operation, because we have it from above. For if this heavenly state has a divine origin and birth, he who hath not received it will neither know nor do those things which are taught by God.” And hence S. Cyril (Is. xliv. and Tesaur. xii. 3) calls love the stamp of the Divine Essence, the sanctification, refashioning, the beauty and splendour of the soul. That we should be called the sons of God (by adoption, as Christ is by nature) and be such. Many are named that which they are not But we are so named, in order that we may be such. For as S. Augustine says (in loc.)f “If any are called sons and are not, what doth the name profit, where the thing is not? How many are called physicians, who know not how to heal, or watchers, who sleep all the night through ? And in like manner many are called Christians, and are not found to be really such, because they are not that which they are called, in life, in faith, in hope, in charity.” But what are the words here ? “ That ye should be called and should be the sons of God.” As S. Paul says, Gal. iv. 6. Let the innovators note this who say that we are called righteous only by Christ’s imputed righteousness, that the words * and be such * are wanting in many MSS. But then the meaning is included in the words * are called.’ For those who are called anything by God are made to be that which they are called. As a king by calling any one by a title, confers that title upon him, much more does God do so, by infusing real gifts of grace in those Digitized by v^iOOQLe 404- FIRST epistle GENERAL OF S. JOHN, C. III. whom He calls His sons, thus making them worthy of the name, which a king cannot do. For as God in begetting His Soil com- municated to Him His very nature and divinity, so does He by regenerating us make us partakers of His Godhead, as S. Peter says and the Psalmist also (Ps. ixxxii. 6). As God is holy in His essence, so does the righteous man who is born of God partake of His sanctity, and all His other attributes, being Almighty, unchange- able, heavenly, impeccable, full of goodness. He is omniscient, as being taught of God ; imperturbable, as living above the world; liberal, and envying no man, but promoting every one’s interest, as though it were his own. He glows with charity, rendering his enemies good for evil, and thus making them his friends. He is upright, patient, constant, even-minded, prudent, bold, sincere. See James i. 18 ; Hos. i. io. Hence it follows that we are by justification the sons of God in a threefold respect — (i.) In the past by our spiritual generation. See 2 Pet. i. 4; John i. 12; and above, iv. 4 and 6, and v. 18. (2.) By His fatherly care over us. (See Ps. lv. 23 ; above v. 15 ; Luke xii. 7.) “ Why fearest thou,” says S. Augustine, “ since thou art in the bosom of God, who is both thy father and thy mother?” (3.) He is our Father, by the heavenly inheritance which He will give us, making us heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ See Ps. xvi. 6. The Gentiles used falsely to boast of their descent from the gods. But the Christian’s boast is a true one. And the truer it is, the more should it stimulate us to godlike deeds. As S. Cyprian says (de Spectaculis) : “ No one will admire the works of men, who knows that he is the son of God. He who can admire anything after God, casts himself down from his high estate. When the flesh solicits thee, say, ‘I am a son of God, I am born to greater things than to be the slave of appetite ; ’ when the world tempts, reply, ‘I am a son of God, and destined for heavenly treasures, and it is beneath me to seek for a morsel of white or red earth.’ And when Satan offers me honour and pomps, I say, 4 Get thee behind me, for as being a son and heir of God, and born for a heavenly kingdom, I trample all worldly honours under my feet.’ Digitized by v^iOOQLe THE BEATIFIC GLORY. 40S Devote then the rest of thy life (it may be short indeed) to such noble, arduous, and divine works as Christ and the Saints have performed. Art thou called to a state of perfection, to devote thy life to the salvation of souls ? — art thou called to heathen lands, to the cross and martyrdom ? — surrender thyself to the call, as becomes the son of so great a father.” Alvarez (as De Ponte relates in his life) used to apply this stimulus to himself : “ Do not fall away from the lofty purposes of God's children.” Therefore the world knoweth us not , because it knoweth Him not. It knows Him not practically, because worldly men do not love or worship Him. “ They know not that we are citizens of heaven (says S. Chrysostom), and associates of the Cherubim. But they shall know in the day of judgment.” (See Wisdom v. 3 seq.) 1Jn 3:2 Beloved \ now are we the sons of God , and it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him . Not in nature but in quality, in happiness, in eternal glory. The world — which knows us not now, because it beholds not our inward beauty — will then know us as like Christ, perfectly holy, just, pure, loving God. And as God enjoys the vision of Himself, so will our mind behold Him as He is, will be blessed in the sight, and our sonship and adoption be thus perfected, when we attain as the sons of God our glorious and happy inheritance. Observe. We are in three ways like God : — 1. As having a rational and intelligent nature. 2. By grace, as S. Bernard says, “consisting in virtues, and the soul strives by the greatness of its virtues to imitate the greatness of the supreme God, and by its constant perseverance in good to imitate His unchangeableness and eternity.” 3. The highest and most perfect resemblance to God will be by the beatific glory in heaven, when, as S. Bernard says, “ man becomes one spirit with God, not merely by unity of will, but more expressly by not being able to will anything beside, through union with His power.” This third resemblance then con- sists in the Vision of the Triune God. As S. John says, “We shall see Him as He is.” Accordingly, CEcumenius places this resem- Digitized by v^iOOQLe 40 6 FIRST EPISTLE GENERAL OF S. JOHN, C. III. blance in the love and glory of adoption. See Ps. xvi. n, xlvii. 9, xxvi. 4, xxxv. 10; 1 Cor. xiiL 12. The Schoolmen thence teach that the Blessed see the very Essence of God, Its three Persons and all Its attributes. For they behold Him in a vision, and draw Him as it were into themselves, and thus derive every good. Accordingly [Pseudo]-S. Augustine says (de cognit verce vitce ad fin.), “This vision and this glory is called the kingdom of heaven because it is only the heavens, that is the just, who enjoy this vision, for theirs is the highest and chiefest Good in whom they have the fulness of joy from the fulness of all goods.” Again, in seeing God they form his image in their minds, which thus represents Him to them. As S. Augustine says {Euchind. cap . iii.), “ When the mind is imbued with the beginning of faith which worketh by love, it strives by holy living to reach that sight wherein is that ineffable beauty, which holy souls know, and in the full vision of which is supreme happiness.” And again, they will be like Him, as partaking of His everlasting blessedness. See S. Gregory, Horn, il in Ezek. Then follows on this another resemblance, viz., in will, in the perfect love of God beheld and possessed. As S. Fulgentius says, “We shall be like Him, in imitating His righteousness.” And this love will make a man love God with all his heart and soul, so as to have no wish or desire to love anything else than God. As S. Augustine says ( Confessions ), “When I cleave to Thee with my whole heart, I shall have no pain or labour. My life will be full of Thee, but now, when I am not full of Thee, I am a burden to myself.” Moreover, this love will last for ever, and will ever enkindle the blessed to praise God. (See S. Augustine, Scrm. cxviil de Divers, cap. 5.) “When we are like to Him, never shall we fall away, or turn aside. Let us be sure then, the praise of God will never cloy. If thou failest in love, thou wilt cease to praise, but if thy love be never-ending, never be afraid of being unable to praise Him, whom thou wilt ever be able to love.” And from this glorious vision there will follow all the endowments of the glorified soul Digitized by v^iOOQLe LIKENESS TO CHRIST. 407 and body of Christ, for there will be entire peace, concord, and harmony in all our powers of action. Our bodies will be impas- sible, bright, subtle. See 1 Cor. xv. 42. Just as the sun shining through a cloud makes mock suns one or more, so will it be with the Godhead as it shines through the bodies and souls of the blessed. And what a happy and glorious sight will this be! See CoL iii. 3 ; 1 Cor. xv. 45 ; Phil. iii. 21 ; 2 Cor. iii. 18 ; Rom. vL 5, viii. 29. For we shall see Him as He is. God in His own essence, as the Schoolmen teach. Again, we shall see Christ as man, clothed as man with a glorious Body (see Bellarmine, de Beat. Sand \ i. 3 ; Gregory, de Valent. y & c.) And this too, not in a glass and in a figure, but face to face. For in this life we do not see God as He is, but as He became clothed with flesh for our sakes. (See S. Augustine (in loc.) . Origen, Horn. vL in Gen. , and S. Gregory, Horn, il in Ezek.) 1Jn 3:3 And every one that hath this hope in Him , purifieth himself even as He is pure. The Apostle next shows us the way to attain this likeness to Christ We must put our whole trust in Him. To be like Him in glory, we must strive to be like Him in holiness, in suffering, and in passion. For no one will be like Christ in heaven, who is unlike Him on earth. For it is His to give us grace to lead us to accomplish so arduous a work. “ The mercy of God is the ground for hoping” to strive after sanctity. It is not enough to place our hope in God unless we put our hand to the work, and labour together with Him. See Rom. viii. 17; Heb. xii. 14; Matt v. 8. [Pseudo]- Augustine admirably says (de cognit verce vitce , in fin.): “To this highest good the righteous are drawn by one link after another. First faith, then hope, then love, perfected in action, action led on by its intention to the highest good, this again issues in perseverance, which will bring us even to God Himself, the fountain of all good.” Purifieth himself sanctifieth himself, for sanctity “is freedom from every kind of pollution, the most uncontaminated and most perfect purity.” (Dionysius, de dip . nom. cap . xii.) -Digitized by ^.ooQle 408 first epistle GENERAL OF S. JOHN, C. III. The true sanctity of men consists in purification from sins, and rooting out of vices, as S. Paul says, 2 Tim. ii. 21. Moreover, this cleansing from vices is effected by the implanting and exercise of the contrary virtues, as the rooting out of pride by humility, &c. Sanctity then includes all the virtues with which the soul is sanctified and devoted to God. For that is the meaning of * sanctus ,* Some then explain the word in this sense. Just as Priests and 4 Religious 9 dedicate themselves. And indeed all the faithful in a more imperfect way who are by baptism consecrated to God. See 1 Pet ii. 9. And Christ said (John xvil 19), 44 / sanctify Myself (I offer myself as a holy victim), that they also may be sanctified in the truth” S. Gregory Nazianzen says, 44 What is sanctity? To hold converse with God.” And S. Bernard (de Consid. v. 14) says, 44 Holy affec- tion, which is of two kinds, the fear of God, and holy love, makes a man holy. For a soul which is completely affected by these motives, embraces Him with both its arms, and says, I hold Him and will not let Him go.” And he says also ( Serm . xxv. inter parvos ), “There are three things which make a man holy, — simple living, holy deeds, a pious intention,” &c. (this is pursued at great length). As He is holy . See Lev. xxvi. and xxvii. 28. St John enforces great sanctity, like the sanctity of God Himself, and continued and daily progress therein, that we may be more and more like Him. See Matt. v. 48. If thou wishest to be holy, set before thee the pattern of sanctity, the life and passion of the Lord. As St. Ambrose says (de Isaac), u Let every one strip off the filthy wrappings of His soul, and prove it, when cleansed from its filth, as gold in the fire. But the beauty of a soul, when thus cleansed, consists in a truer knowledge of heavenly things, and the sight of that supreme Good from which all things depend, being Itself from nothing.” And S. Gregory Nazianzen, 44 Let us restore to His image its beauty, let us recognise oui dignity, follow our pattern, learn the power of the mystery, and for what purpose Christ died. Let us be as Christ, since He became as one of us, Let us be gods for His sake, as He Digitized by v^iOOQLe SIN IS INIQUITY. 409 became man for ours.” And speaking of God he says, “ He holds nothing so precious as purity or cleansing.” (Orat. vi.) 1Jn 3:4 Whosoever committeth sin , also doeth iniquity, for sin is iniquity . “ For whosoever sins,” says Bede, “ acts contrary to the equity of the Divine Law.” The faithful ought to sanctify themselves in order to be like Christ, and on the contrary sin is amnia, a breaking of the Divine Law, and makes us utterly unlike God, and hateful to Him. He means “ deadly sin.” S. Augustine ( contr . FaUst. xxii. 7) says, that “sin is anything we say, do, or desire, against the Divine Law.” And S. Ambrose (de Farad . cap . 8), “Sin is disobedience to the Divine commands.” In like manner iniquity is a departure from the equity which the law prescribes, and injustice is contrary to justice, and dvo/ria is what is contrary to law. Sin and iniquity mean, in S. John, the same thing, though in popular speech iniquity has a worse meaning than sin. See S. Gregory, Mor. xi. ai. S. Ambrose (Apol. Dav . cap . 13) says the exact contrary, regarding sin as the worse of the two. But every sin, even against human or ecclesiastical law, is contrary to God, as being contrary to His eternal law, which is the source of all law. As S. Thomas says (1. 2, qucest. 91), “Law is the highest reason existing in the Divine mind, according to which He directs the actions of all creatures to their own proper ends. For as there is in God the reason for His creating things, so also is the law by which they are to be governed. And as the one is the conception in the Divine mind, which decided how they were to be made, so is the other that eternal law, by which every creature should discharge its own, functions, together with the will which obliges them, or at least impresses on them an inclination, to follow it. 1Jn 3:5 And ye ktmv that He was manifested to take away our sins. That is Christ. “ And He takes away our sins, ” says Bede, “ by forgiv- ing the sins which have been done, by keeping us from doing, and by leading us to that life where they cannot be committed.” The word alpi ¥ and the Syriac nasa, both of them signify to bear , and take away . Both meanings are suitable here. See Is. liii. 4, 6, and 1 1 \ John i. 9; 1 Pet. ii. 24; Rom. iii. 25. Digitized by 410 FIRST EPISTLE GENERAL OF S. JOHN, C. III. Morally . Here learn what a grave evil sin is, for Christ to come down from heaven, to suffer and be crucified in order to take it away. And to teach us that we should endure every kind of suffering to take away sin and to convert sinners. “ No room,” says (Ecumenius, “ is left for sin, for since Christ came to destroy it, being Himself entirely free from sin, you who have been born again, and confirmed in the faith, have no right to sin.” Each one of the faithful should then make it his work to crush sin in himself and others, just as they would destroy serpents' eggs or young wolves. And in Him is no sin. For He was all-powerful to destroy sin, being in His own nature sinless by reason of the hypostatical union. For by this union the Divine Person of the Word so guided His manhood in all its actions, that it could not sin even in the slightest degree, for otherwise the sin and offence would have affected the Person of the Word, which is an impossible thing, for its actions would have been the actions of that very Person who was bound to keep from sinning that nature which It had assumed. Lastly, “ the will of Christ was so deified, as undoubtedly not to oppose the will of God,” as S. Gregory Nazianzen says ( Oral . xxxvi.) And S. Cyril (de recta fide ) says, “ That the Word had as thoroughly imbued the soul of Christ with His own holiness, as a fleece takes in the colour in which it has been dipped.” S. John here quotes Isa. liil 9. See also Heb. vii. 26. S. Augustine here says, “ Because there was no sin in Him, He came to take away sin. For had there been sin in Him, it would have had to be taken from Him, and He would not have taken it away.” Whosoever ahideth in Him , sinneth not. As long as He abides in Christ. For grace and sin are as contrary to each other, as heat and cold, black and white, and because the grace of Christ strengthens a man to overcome all sin. “ And he,” says CEcumenius, “ abides in Christ who constantly exercises his powers, and never ceases from exercising them.” Whosoever sinneth hath not seen Him neither knoweth Him. “ Hath not seen Him in His manhood : not known Him in His Godhead, by faith,” says the Gloss. But this is too subtle a distinction. The Digitized by v^iOOQLe KNOWING THE SAME AS LOVING. 411 two words mean the same thing. For he who sins knows not Christ, because he considers not His boundless love, our Redemption by Him, and the reward promised to the righteous, and the punishments prepared for sinners. For did he carefully consider them, he would assuredly not sin. Whence S. Basil says (Reg. lxxx. in fin.), “ What is the characteristic of a Christian ? To set God always before him.* Again, he who sins knows not Christ, with that savour of know- ledge and affection which is conjoined with love and charity. He knows not that loves not Christ, does not strive to please, or be acceptable to Him. For did he truly love Christ, he would, under any temptation, say with Paul, “ Who shall separate us,” &c., Rom. viii. 35 ; or with the Bride, Cant, viil 7, “ Many waters shall not quench love,” &c. S. John everywhere in this epistle speaks of ‘ knowing * in the sense of loving or esteeming. Bede says, “ Every one that sinneth hath not seen Him or known Him, for had he tasted and seen how sweet the Lord is, he would not by sin have cut himself off from seeing His glory,” &c. And Didymus, “ Every one who sins is estranged from Christ : has no part in Him, or knowledge of Him,” &c. 1Jn 3:7 Little children, let no man deceive you. Neither Simon nor the Gnostics, who teach that a man is justified by faith only, and that good works are not required in order to his justification, and that if a man retains faith he can love as he pleases. S. Peter, James, and John, all of them opposed this heresy. He that doeth righteousness is righteous. Not merely some works of righteousness, but perfect and entire righteousness. For no one can completely fulfil the law of God, unless by grace and love, which the righteous alone has. See James ii. 10. (2.) S. John here contrasts the children of God, and the children of the devil. See above ii. 29. He here speaks of righteousness, in a general sense, as the aggregate of all virtues. (3.) He who doeth righteousness is righteous , because his acts, which flow from a habit of righteousness, prove him to be righteous ; and they also gain for him an increase of righteousness. And also because he should ever exercise himself in works of righteousness, if he 412 FIRST EPISTLE GENERAL OF S. JOHN, C. III. wishes to preserve it. The Apostle speaks not of the infusion, but of the exercise of righteousness, says Thomas Anglicus. Morally . S. John teaches us that the righteous man should ever be advancing in righteousness, like the Bride in Cant ch. vi. io, and Prov. iv. 15. S. Augustine says, “That the whole life of a good Christian is a holy longing.” See Phil. iii. 14; Ezek. i. 12, of the four living creatures ; S. Gregory, Horn, iii. ; S. Bernard, Ep . ccliv. ; S. Basil, Hexaem. Horn. xi. ; and S. Jerome, ad Celantium . Even as He is righteous . See Ps. xv. 10, cxi. 7, cxlv. 13. The word * as * does not signify equality, but resemblance. No creature can equal the righteousness and holiness of the Creator, but he can imitate it. Just “ as a mirror represents the image of a man, not the man himself, ” says Bede. Hear S. Augustine : “ He is pure from eternity, we from faith. We are righteous, even as He is righteous. But He is so in His perpetual unchangeableness, we are righteous by believing in Him we see not, in order that we may see Him hereafter. But not even when our righteousness is perfected, and when we become equal to the angels, shall we become equal to Him. How far then is our righteousness from His now, when even then it will not be equal to His ? ” 1Jn 3:8 He who committeth sin is of the devils because he follows his practices and suggestions. To be of the devil is to imitate the devil. For, as S. Augustine says, “The devil made no man, begat no man, but whoever imitates the devil, is born of him, by imitating him, and not actually by being born of him.” He then who sinneth is of the devil as his follower and imitator, and not, as the Manichees dreamed, as being descended from him. There is a similar phrase, Ezek. xvi. 3, respecting wicked Jews. For the devil sinneth from the beginnings not from the first moment of his creation, but shortly after it. And this was the beginning of sin. As S. Augustine says (in loci) and S. Cyril (Cateeh. ii.), the devil is the beginning of sin, and the father of the wicked. To which Didymus adds, “ He infuses the first suggestions of sin, and lastly he perseveres in his sin, as the Ps. [lxxiv. ult.] says, “ The price of them that hate Thee ever rises up.” : - ‘-Digitized by BLESSING OF THE PASCHAL CANDLE. 413 S. John alludes to his own Gospel, viii. 44 ; on which Isidorus (He Surntno Bono , i. 3) remarks, “ He abode not in the truth, because he fell as soon as he was made. He was created in the truth, but by not standing therein he fell from the truth.” To which Bede adds, “ He never ceased to sin, unrestrained either by his enormous sufferings, nor by the dread of sufferings to come. And he, therefore, who neglects to keep himself from sin is rightly said to be from him.” He explains further that his sin was pride, and rebellion against God. For this purpose was the Son of God manifested) that He might destroy the works 0} the devil \ To loose, that is, for sins are the cords which the devil twines, to entangle and ensnare the sinner. See Prov. v. 22 ; Isa. v. 10. And Christ gave His Apostles power to burst those bonds asunder. It is clear from this that Christ would not have been incarnate if Adam had not sinned, though some of the Schoolmen think other- wise. But both Scripture and the Fathers give no other reason for His Incarnation than our redemption from sin. See Nicene Creed. And the Church sings at the blessing of the Paschal candle (using the words of S. Gregory), O most necessary sin of Adam, which was blotted out by the death of Christ. O blessed sin which required so great a Redeemer. So S. Ambrose, S. Augustine, S. Leo, and others. 1Jn 3:9 And he cannot sin , because he is born of God. Hence Jovinian, Luther, and Calvin taught that a man could not fall away, but was sure of his salvation. But S. John says, “ My little children^ these things write I unto you9 that ye sin not.” Consequently they could sin, faithful though they were. And it is contrary to daily experience, for we find daily the faithful becoming heretics and falling into sin. And the Council of Trent (vi. 23) rules otherwise. What then is S. John's meaning that he who is born of God cannot sin, that is mortally and gravely? 1. We must take the word col- lectively— and then it will mean, So long as he preserves the seed of grace, he cannot sin. So CEcumenius, Thomas Anglicus, Cajetan, and S. Hierom, lib . n contra fovin. And accordingly theologians say that he who has effectual grace cannot sin, because effectual grace Digitized by v^iOOQLe 414 FIRST EPISTLE GENERAL OF S. JOHN, C. III. in its very conception includes its result. For that grace is called * effectual’ which (as is foreseen) will produce its effect, which is to lead our free will to co operate in a good work. But, speaking abstractedly, he who has effectual grace can resist it, and commit sin. (See Cone. Trid. sess. vi. can. 4.) 2. He who is born of God cannot (in a formal sense) commit sin, that is as far as relates to his heavenly new birth. For if this be allowed to act, and is not withstood by our free will, it is fully able to keep out all sin. (See S. Augustine, de grat. Christiy cap . xxi.) Thus Adam is said in his state of innocence to have been immortal, because he could not die, as long as he remained therein. But as he could fall, so also could he die. Thus we say that this medi- cine, e.g.y is so powerful that any one who takes it could not die of the plague. But a man refuses to take the medicine and then dies ; so can he who has the grace of God refuse to use it, and thus fall into sin. S. John here distinguishes between the supernatural action of Divine grace, and the exercise of moral virtues, the first of these preventing every sin, while the others do not. But the habit of temperance is not lost by one act of intemperance, even as temper- ance is not acquired by a single act of temperance. Again, the grace of Christ is distinguished from the grace given to Adam, which gave the power but not the will, whereas the grace of Christ gives both the will and the power. See S. Augustine (de corrupt, et gratia) , “ It is so provided (to meet the weakness of the human will), that Divine grace never fails, is never overpowered by any difficulty, so as ever to resolutely will that which is good, and obstinately refuse to abandon it.” And it is thus that he explains the words of S. John, “ Every one that is born of God sinneth not.” 3. He cannot sin. He sins with difficulty. He has no wish to sin, says (Ecumenius. Others explain the words, He has power not to sin, this power being given him by God. 4. Rightfully and properly he cannot sin, though he may in fact sin against all that is right and proper. 5. Gagneius says, “He cannot sin, i.e. by unbelief, which S. John calls a sin unto death.” •- Digitized by HOLY INSPIRATIONS. 415 6. Some take these words as referring to those who are predesti- nated and absolutely elected to eternal life. But this must be understood, not of antecedent, but consequent impossibility, which consists with our liberty of will, as including and presupposing it The first and second of these explanations seem to be the best. Anagogically. S. Augustine (de peceat. et merit ii. 7) says that the righteous man cannot sin, by reason of his hope of eternal life. In like manner he says (de nupt. et concup. L 23, and de Spirit et lit cap. ult ), “We cannot observe perfectly in this life the two commandments, ‘Thou shalt not covet,’ and ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart,’ &c. But we are exhorted to attain to that place where we shall perfectly fulfil them. It is impossible not to feel concupiscence in this world, but we are directed not to yield to it And the same with the other commandment, ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God.’ See Rom. vii. 7.” Morally . S. John here teaches us an easy and certain way of avoiding sin, namely, by carefully attending to those holy inspirations which God suggests, and thus shut out from our minds all the evil suggestions of the devil. For he who sins must needs give way to evil thoughts, for we cannot desire or wish anything unless the mind suggests it to us as a good to be desired. And accordingly the Blessed cannot sin, because they behold God as their chief and boundless good, and are swallowed up in Him as the very abyss of all good. S. Francis Xavier used for this very reason to occupy himself in good thoughts, in ruminating on some holy sentence of Scripture, or the doings or virtues of some saint. For the mind in this way drives out all other thoughts which lead to sin. And so with regard to our will. For he who fixes his mind on holy affections and desires cannot give his mind to evil lusts, and consequently can- not sin. He says with Joseph, “ How can I do this wickedness and sin against God ? ” See Gen. xxxix. 9. As S. Leo says (Serm. viiL de Epiphany ), “ He who wishes to learn whether God dwells within him, should honestly examine the secrets of his heart, and carefully ascertain with what humility he resists pride, with what good will he strive against envy, how he is not charmed with flattering tongues, Digitized by 416 first epistle GENERAL OF S. JOHN, C. III. and how pleased he is at another’s happiness. Whether he does not render evil for evil, and would rather pass over injuries than mar in himself the image of Him who sends His rain upon the just and unjust, and makes His sun to rise on the evil and on the good And not to enter on a more minute enquiry, let him see whether he find within him such love of God and his neighbour, as to wish to render even to his enemies that which he desires to be rendered to himself.” For His seed remaineth in him, CEcumenius by the * seed * under- stands Christ. See Gal. iii. 29. (2.) S. Augustine and others under- stand by it the word of God. See Luke viii. n ; James i. 18; 1 Pet. i. 23. (3.) Lyra, Hugo, Cajetan, and Thomas Anglicus most fitly understand by it the grace of God. For, 1. All other virtues spring from it. 2. Because it is the seed of glory. (See D. Thom. par, i. qucest . 62, art, 3.) 3. Because as a seed must die in order to bear fruit, so does grace suffer death and martyrdom, from whence all good, both public and private, proceeds. See John xii. 24. 1Jn 3:10 In this the children of God are manifest \ and the children of the devil. The two tests are, the doing righteousness, and loving his brother. Righteousness and charity are of God, unrighteousness and hatred are of the devil. Righteousness is here taken in its widest sense, as including all virtues. But St. John here states that among all kinds of righteousness none shows more that we are the sons of God, than charity and the love of our neighbour, as the contrary vices show us to be the children of the devil. And hence S. John, the beloved disciple, breathes forth love only. Hear S. Augustine (in loc.) : “ Love alone distinguishes between the children of God and the children of the devil. Let all sign themselves with the sign of the cross, let all answer Amen, let all sing Alleluia, let all be baptized, let all go to church, let all build churches. Yet the sons of God are distinguished from the children of the devil only by charity. They who have charity are born of God, they who have it not are not born of God. Have what thou wilt ; if this alone thou have not, it pro- fiteth thee nothing. If thou hast not anything else, have this : thou hast fulfilled the law.” But by charity God is loved for His own Bigiti-zed by CHARITY. 417 sake, and our neighbour for the sake of God. Whence charity is “the fulfilling of the law.” Rom. xiii. 10. And S. Augustine (*& Nat et Grot, cap . xlii.) : “ Charity is the most true, complete, and perfect righteousness.” S. Clement Alex, calls it “The highest duty of a Christian man.” S. Cyprian ( de Bono Patient ) terms it “ The foundation of peace, the firm bond of unity, surpassing even the deeds of martyrdom.” S. Basil, “The root of the commandments.” S. Gregory Nazianzen ( Epist . xx.), “ The head of all our teaching.” S. Jerome (Epist ad Theophylact\ “The parent of all virtues.” S. Ephraim (de Humil.), “ The support of all virtues.” S. Augustine, “ The stronghold of all virtues ” (Serm. liii. de temp.) Prosper (de Vita Contempt iii. 13), “The most powerful of all our affections, the sum of good works, the protector of virtue, the end of heavenly precepts, the death of sins, the life of virtues.” “ Firmness in every virtue” (S. Cyril). “The mother and guardian of all good” (S. Gregory). “ The mother of men and angels, bringing peace, not only to all things in earth, but even in heaven ” (S. Bernard, Epist ii.) Lastly, S. Basil says, “Where charity fails, hatred comes in its room. But if God (as S. John says) is love, the devil must undoubtedly be hatred. And as he who has love has God, so he who has hatred, fosters a devil within him.” 1Jn 3:1 1. — For this is the message , ever to be announced by us the Apostles of Christ. It is the message of good tidings, which Christ brought from heaven. He might have exacted from us many hard and painful sufferings. But He is satisfied if we love each other. And what is more joyous, pleasant, and easy than this? For as God ordered us to love our brethren, He orders our brethren to love us in return — love in this way eliciting and demanding love. See John xv. 12. On which S. Augustine remarks that charity is here distinguished from mere human love. We should love men, not merely as men, but as we love ourselves as the children of the Most Highest. 1Jn 3:12 Not as Cain. For he loved himself only, and hated his brother because he saw that his offering was acceptable to God. As God says to Cain (according to LXX), “ {last thou not sinned, if thou vol, v, 3 p Digitized by v^iOOQLe 41 8 FIRST EPISTLE GENERAL OF S. JOHN, C. TIL offerest rightly, but dividest not rightly? ” “ For Cain did this,” says S. Augustine (de Civ . xv. 7). “ Giving to God something which was His, but gratifying himself. Which,” says he, “ all who do not follow the will of God, but their own will, and in their perversity of heart make Him an offering with which they think He can be bought off, and this too even to gratify their depraved desires.” And accordingly Eusebius (de Prcep . xi. 4) says that he was appositely called Cain from the Hebrew word kana to envy. See S. Gregory, Mor. x. 6 \ S. Chrysostom, in Matt xviii., where he speaks of nine degrees of love; and S. Augustine (de JDoci . Christ , i. 22), who says, “The rule of love is laid down by God. And in saying ‘ the whole heart,* &c., He left no portion of our life unemployed, and left no room for the enjoyment of ought beside. So that whatever else comes into our minds as an object of love, it should be swept away into the full current of our complete love for Him. He then who loves his neighbours aright, should at the same time love God with all his heart and mind. And thus loving his neighbour as himself, he should refer all his love of himself and his neighbour to that love of God, who suffers not a single drop to be withdrawn from Him, so as to diminish our love for Him.” Who was of that wicked one . Cain was not of God, but of the devil, by imitating him, and listening to his suggestions. For when the devil could not injure God Himself, he sought to injure man who was His image ; the malignity of Cain, and of the devil also, consists in hatred and envy. Such too is the life of tyrants, who like fishes prey upon those who are weaker than themselves. A fish was a type of envy. (See S. Clement, Strom, lib. v.) And wherefore slew he him l Because his own works were evil. Because he took little account of God, and offered Him the poorer victims, reserving the better ones for himself, and, moreover, envied Abel, who by the more excellent offerings he made was the more acceptable to God. From this envy sprang hatred and ultimately murder. S. Cyprian dwells on this at great length in his treatise u de zelo et livore .” But his brothers righteous. Innocent, righteous, and holy. For Digitized by v^iOOQLe RIGHTEOUS ABEL. 419 he esteemed God above himself, and therefore presented the best offerings he could. There were three special grounds for praising him, his virgin life, his priesthood, and his martyrdom. (As the writer of the Qucestioncs ad Orosum says); and S. Cyprian (de Bona Patient .) calls him the Protomartyr. So also Rupert in Isa. lix.; S. Jerome iv. 42 ; S. Augustine (< contr . Faust \ xii. 9 and 10), and others. S. Augustine commences his “City of God” from Abel, and the city of the devil from Cain. See Book xv. 8. 1Jn 3:13 Marvel not , my brethren , if the world hate you . This is an inference from the previous antithesis of the children of God, and the children of the devil Our Lord alludes to the hatred of wicked men against Christ in S. John xv. 18. Everything is opposed to and hates its contrary, as black is opposed to white, cold to heat, sweetness to bitterness, &c. The world hates the faithful — 1st. Be- cause their ways of going on are so different. See Wisdom ii. 15. And S. Leo ( Serm . ix. de Quadrig,), “ Wickedness never is at peace with righteousness. Drunkenness ever hates temperance, &c. ; and so obstinate is this opposition, that when there is peace without there is war within, so that it never ceases to disquiet the hearts of the righteous ; and it is true that they who wish to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution, and that our whole life is a temptation.” And he gives as another reason the craft and malice of the devil, who when he cannot overpower our virtue would undermine our faith. 2d. There is further the envy which worldlings feel when they see that the righteous are not ensnared by their evil desires, but are stedfastly going on towards heaven, while they themselves are sinking down and down to hell. 3d. They hate the righteous, because they withdraw themselves from their company. See Matt. xv. 18 ; Wisdom ii. 16. 4th. Because their conduct is a tacit reproof to the worldly. See Wisdom ii. 12 ; and John xv. 8. 5th. Worldlings are full of self-love, but Saints are full of the love of God, for which reason they hate them. S. James (iv. 4) agrees with S. John, and so does S. Paul, Gal 420 FIRST EPISTLE GENERAL OF S. JOHN, C. III. i. io. Tertullian and others read here, “ Be not afraid,” for some not only marvelled, but were afraid of the hatred they would incur in becoming Christians. S. John therefore exhorts them not to be surprised or afraid, for those whom the world hates God loves. “ It would be a greater wonder,” says Didymus, “ if wicked men did love those who were godly.” We must not therefore in the least regard the hatred of such persons, but rather persevere in holi- ness and love of God, and make it our endeavour to make them our friends when they hear that we surpass them in charity. As S. Peter says, i Pet. iv. 12. And Seneca (de Prov. cap. L) says, “ God brings not up a good man in delicate ways ; He makes trial of him, He hardens him, and thus prepares him for Himself, while the man himself considers all misfortunes as means of training, and as teaching him how much his patience can bear.” And S. Basil (adm. ad filii spirit) says that “ Patience is the highest virtue of the mind, enabling us most speedily to attain the height of per- fection.” S. Augustine gives the reason, that God, through the hatred of the world, may draw us on to love Himself. <c Oh the unhappiness of mankind ! The world is bitter, and yet is loved. But how much more would it be loved, if it were sweet! How gladly wouldest thou gather its flowers, since thou withdrawest not this hand even from its thorns.” 1Jn 3:14 We know that we have passed from death unto life. Not because we believe that we are predestinated, but as a moral cer- tainty, by the testimony of a good conscience, by the innocency of our life, and the consolation of the Holy Spirit. S. John says this for their consolation and to keep them from dreading the hatred of the world. Be comforted by the thought, that by faith ye have been translated from the death of sin to a state of grace in this world, and in the world to come to glory, which will raise us above all hatred. And the clear proof of this is that we love the brethren. For this love is an undoubted sign and effect of sanctify- ing grace, and of the Holy Spirit Himself, from whom, as from an uncreated source, all love proceeds. S. Basil truly says, “ When can a man be fully persuaded that God has remitted his sins ? When WHAT tS THE DEATH OF THE SOUL? 43 1 he finds that his feelings are like his who said, * I have hated and abominated iniquity* (Ps. cxix. 163).** He gives here three signs of indwelling grace and righteousness. (1.) Hatred of sin ; (2.) mortifying the flesh, and all evil desires • and (3.) zeal for the salvation of others, like S. Paul (2 Cor. xi. 29). And S. Gregory {Dial. L 1), “The mind which is filled with the Divine Spirit, furnishes its own proofs, viz., virtuous actions and humility. And if those perfectly co-exist in the same mind, it is clear that they witness to the presence of the Holy Spirit.” And S. Leo (, Serm . de Epiph. viii.) gives these three signs of grace and sanctity, humility, forgiveness of injuries, and doing as we would be done by And “let every one who is such, doubt not that God rules and dwells within him.” He who loveth not (when he ought, or he who hates) abideth in death, , with the stain of habitual sin, which abides after the act of sin is over; and from this he cannot escape, except by the grace of Christ, says Thomas Anglicus. But how the soul though immortal can yet die through sin, S. Augustine explains (de Civ . iii. 1), “The death of the soul takes place when God forsakes it, just as the body dies when the soul leaves it. It is then the entire death of a man, when the soul which has been forsaken of God, leaves the body, for in this case it does not itself live by God, nor does the body live through it.” And in like manner S. Cyril Alex, says, “ Death, pro- perly speaking, is not that which separates body and soul, but that which separates the soul from God. God is life, and he who is cut off from Him, perishes.” Nay more, this death of the soul is absolutely termed death in our deeper teaching, for that death of the body which we dread so much is but a shadow and image of that true death, and not to be com- pared with it. See S. Gregory {Mor. iv. 17). And S. Augustine (de Civ. vi. cap. ult.), “ If the soul lives in everlasting punishment, it should rather be called everlasting death, and not life.” And S. Basil (Horn. v. on the Martyr Julitta ) says, “ Sin is the death of the soul, which would else be immortal. It deserves to be lamented with inconsolable grief,” &c. And S. Jerome, on Isa. xiv. (Lib. vi.), Digitized by v^iOOQLe 422 first epistle general of s. John, c. m. terms a sinner “ the devil*s carcase, for no one can doubt that sin is a most foetid thing, when the sinner himself says, ‘ My wounds stink and are corrupt* ** 1Jn 3:15 Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer . As he said before, “He that loveth not abideth in death.” S. John counts ‘not loving* and ‘hating* as the same thing, by miosis , when little is said, but more is meant, and also because want of love is counted as constructive hatred. Moreover, he who hates his brother is in will and desire a murderer. See S. Jerome (Epist. xxxvi. ad Castorin.) and S. Matt v. 28, and hatred moreover disposes to murder, as desire disposes to adultery. Mystically . He who hates his brother murders his own soul. As S. Ambrose says, “He who hates murders himself in the first place, slaying himself with his own sword.” And S. Gregory (A/or. x. n) says the same thing more at length. Again, “ he who hates his brother, ofttimes destroys his soul, by provoking him to anger and contention.” [Pseudo]-Alexander says, “ He who calumniates his brother is a murderer, and no murderer hath any part in the kingdom of God.” For, as Dionysius says, there are three kinds of murder, Bodily, Detraction, and Hatred. Hath not eternal life abiding in him . Hath not grace abiding in him, nor doth he abide in that grace whereby eternal life is obtained. It is a metonymy, say Cajetan and others. Or else he will not have eternal life ; he cannot have it, the present being taken for the future tense. Which comes to this, He who hateth, hath no hope of eternal life, but abideth in the death of sin. As S. Augustine says (Prcef in Ps. xxxi.), “ As an evil conscience is full of despair, so is a good conscience full of hope ; as Cain said, ‘ From Thy face shall I be hid, and shall be a fugitive and a vagabond on the earth,*” &c. ; as S. Jerome says, “ Whosoever finds me out, from the trembling of my body and the agitation of my mind, will know that I deserve to die.” Just as Orestes for the murder of his mother was continually harassed by the Furies. 1Jn 3:16 Hereby we know the love of God, because He laid down Digitized by v^iOOQLe WHAT IS A FRIEND > An His life for us : and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. S. John here goes back to the law and living pattern of perfect charity, even Christ, who by laying down His life for us, taught us in like manner to lay down our lives for the brethren. For in Him there shone forth that boundless love which far exceeds the love of all parents and kinsfolk. For He, the Infinite God, laid down His life for us unworthy and ungrateful sinners, with great suffering and shame to Himself, and thus tacitly gave us a pattern for us to imitate, by laying down our lives for the brethren. But yet we must not risk our own salvation in order to save the souls of others, though we are bound to risk our life for their salvation, which is of more value than our own earthly life, which we must undoubtedly sacrifice for the eternal good of others, as S. Paul did and the other martyrs. But you will ask, are we bound to risk our own lives for the sake of the lives of others? In ordinary cases, No, but in extraordinary cases, Yes. As when bound by oath or promise, or in defence of our country. But a friend is not bound to risk his own life for that of his friend, since that would be to love his neighbour even more than himself, which, S. Augustine says (de Mend. cap. io), goes beyond the rule laid down. But yet to do so would be laudable, for a man would risk his life for the sake of honour, and for the virtue of friendship. And this is a spiritual good, higher than life itself. So S. Augustine teaches (de Amic. cap . io) ; and S. Jerome on Micah vii. says, “ When a man was asked, What is a friend ? he replied, ‘A second self.1 And accordingly two Pythagoreans gave themselves up to the tyrant as mutual pledges for each other.” (See S. Ambrose, Off. lib. iii. ; Fr. Victoria, Relect. de Homicid. ; Soto, de fust. i. 6 ; and S. Thomas, 2. 2, q. 26, art. 4, ad 2). And Valentia adds this case, “ Ought a man to suffer himself to be killed rather than kill his assailant?” And he rules that he ought rather to be killed himself, than kill another who would die in the very act of sin. We should also risk our life to preserve another's chastity. As the soldier who saved Theodora by changing clothes with her in prison, and who in the end suffered with her. And Paulinus, who Digitized by 4^4 FIRST EPISTLE GENERAL OF S. JOHN, C. III. became a slave in the place of a widows son (slavery being a kind of civil death), and who was highly praised for his act by S. Augus- tine and other fathers. Instances are also given from heathen authors of those who gave up their lives for their friends, which is the highest proof of love. See John xv. 13. 1Jn 3:17 But whoso hath this world's goods , and sceth his brother have need \ and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him l He deduces this as a consequence from the former verse. It is an argument from the less to the greater. If the love of Christ obliges us to lay down our lives for the brethren (which is most difficult), much more does it oblige us to give alms to the needy, which is most easy. And again, our laying down our lives for the brethren is a case which seldom happens, the duty of relieving the needy frequently occurs. So (Ecumenius and S. Augustine. Many doctors argue from this passage that the precept of alms- giving is binding not only in extreme but even in grave cases of necessity, so that a rich man is obliged to give up, not only super- fluities, but even things necessary for his station, if he can avert in this way a grave loss to his neighbour. (See Gregory, de Valent. Tom. iii. Disput. iii. ; and Bellarmine, de bonis Oper. lib. iii. See Eccles. iv. 1, S. Ambrose, de Off. iii 31 ; S. Gregory Nazianzen, de cura pauper ; and S. Chrysostom, de Eleemos.) And shutteth up his bowels from him. The bowels being the seat of compassion and pity. See Lam. ii. n ; Col. iii. 12. They are the symbols of paternal as well as of maternal love. See Phile. 7, and Je. lviii. 7. This teaches that alms should be given with much kindness and affection. As S. Gregory says (Moral, xx. 16), Let the hard and merciless hear the thundering words of the wise man, Prov. xxi. 13.” Salvian, lib. iv., exhorts the faithful to put on these bowels of mercy, when teaching that Christ, in the persons of the poor, is a mendicant and in need of everything, and that they are cruel who squander their goods on their relations who are in no need, and Digitized by v^iOOQLe LOVE IN DEED. 42S suffer Christ in the person of the poor to be in want, . . . He shows that they have no faith, and that they do not believe in Christ, who promised abundant rewards to His almoners. . . . And next he shows that they greatly sin, not only because they do not relieve the poor, but also bestow those goods which they have laboriously acquired, on those who misapply them for purposes of display, gluttony, and luxury. " If thou wishest to have eternal life ” (he continues), “ and to see good days, leave thy substance to the saints that are in want, to the lame, the blind, the sick ; let thy means be sustenance to the wretched, thy wealth the life of the poor, and may the refreshment thou givest them be thy own reward, that their refreshment may thus refresh thee.” He concludes by severely inveighing against them, and more especially against ecclesiastics, who are particularly bound to relieve the poor, and not to enrich their kinsfolk out of the funds of the Church, which Prosper calls the patrimony of the poor. See S. Bernard ( Epist. xxiv.), who says that a bishop must not indulge in luxuries, but merely live on the funds of the Church : everything more which thou takest out of them is robbery and sacrilege. See, too, S. Basil on Luke xii. 18. The Stoics thought, on the contrary, that pity was no virtue, but rather the mark of a weak mind. See Seneca (de Clem . ii. 5) and Plautus, as quoted by Lactantius, xi. 11, who condemns any giving of alms as being a waste, and an injury to the recipient Valerius (Max. iv. 8), on the other hand, records with approval the bountifulness of a certain Silleus.