And lest haply he should seem to have given impunity for sins, in that he said, He is faithful and just to cleanse us from all iniquity; and men henceforth should say to themselves, Let us sin, let us do securely what we will, Christ purges us, is faithful and just, purges us from all iniquity: He takes from you an evil security, and puts in an useful fear. To your own hurt you would be secure; you must be solicitous. For He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, provided you always displease yourself, and be changing until you be perfected. Accordingly, what follows? My little children, these things I write unto you, that you sin not.

 1 John 2:1 But perchance sin overtakes us from our mortal life: what shall be done then? What? Shall there be now despair? Hear: And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and He is the propitiator for our sins.

 

 1 John 2:1-2 He then is the advocate; do your endeavor not to sin: if from the infirmity of this life sin shall overtake you, see to it straightway, straightway be displeased, straightway condemn it; and when you have condemned, you shall come assured unto the Judge. There have you the advocate: fear not to lose your cause in your confession. For if oft-times in this life a man commits his cause to an eloquent tongue, and is not lost; you commit yourself to the Word, and shall you be lost? Cry, We have an advocate with the Father.

See John himself observing humility. Assuredly he was a righteous and a great man, who from the Lord's bosom drank in the secrets of His mysteries; he, the man who by drinking from the Lord's bosom indited of His Godhead, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God: he, being such a man as this, says not, You have an advocate with the Father; but, If any man sin, an advocate, says he, have we. He says not, you have; nor says, you have me; nor says, you have Christ Himself: but he puts Christ, not himself, and says, also, We have, not, you have. He chose rather to put himself in the number of sinners that he might have Christ for his advocate, than to put himself in Christ's stead as advocate, and to be found among the proud that shall be condemned. Brethren, Jesus Christ the righteous, even Him have we for our advocate with the Father; He, even He, is the propitiation for our sins. This whoso has held fast, has made no heresy; this whoso has held fast, has made no schism. For whence came schisms? When men say, we are righteous, when men say, we sanctify the unclean, we justify the ungodly; we ask, we obtain. But what says John? And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. But some man will say: then do the saints not ask for us? Then do bishops and rulers not ask for the people? Yea, but mark the Scriptures, and see that rulers also commend themselves to the prayers of the people. Thus the apostle says to the congregation, Praying withal for us also. Colossians 4:3 The apostle prays for the people, the people prays for the apostle. We pray for you, brethren: but do ye also pray for us. Let all the members pray one for another; let the Head intercede for all. Therefore it is no marvel that he here goes on and shuts the mouths of them that divide the Church of God. For he that has said, We have Jesus Christ the righteous, and He is the propitiation for our sins: having an eye to those who would divide themselves, and would say, Lo, here is Christ, lo, there; Matthew 24:23 and would show Him in a part who bought the whole and possesses the whole, he immediately goes on to say, Not our sins only, but also the sins of the whole world. What is this, brethren? Certainly we have found it in the fields of the woods, we have found the Church in all nations. Behold, Christ is the propitiation for our sins; not ours only, but also the sins of the whole world. Behold, you have the Church throughout the whole world; do not follow false justifiers who in truth are cutters off. Be in that mountain which has filled the whole earth: because Christ is the propitiation for our sins; not only ours, but also the sins of the whole world, which He has bought with His blood.

And in this, says he, we do know Him, if we keep His commandments.

 1 John 2:3-4 What commandments? He that says, I know Him, and keeps not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But still you ask, What commandments? But whoso, says he, keeps His word, in him verily is the love of God perfected.

 

 1 John 2:5 Let us see whether this same commandment be not called love. For we were asking, what commandments, and he says, But whoso keeps His word, in him verily is the love of God perfected. Mark the Gospel, whether this be not the commandment: A new commandment, says the Lord, give I unto you, that you love one another. John 13:34 — In this we know that we are in Him, if in Him we be perfected. Perfected in love, he calls them: what is perfection of love? To love even enemies, and love them for this end, that they may be brethren. For not a carnal love ought ours to be. To wish a man temporal good, is good; but though that fail, let the soul be safe. Do you wish life to any that is your friend? You do well. Do you rejoice at the death of your enemy? You do badly. But haply both to your friend the life you wish him is not for his good, and to your enemy the death you rejoice at has been for his good. It is uncertain whether this present life be profitable to any man or unprofitable: but the life which is with God without doubt is profitable. So love your enemies as to wish them to become your brethren; so love your enemies as that they may be called into your fellowship. For so loved He who, hanging on the cross, said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. Luke 23:34 For he did not say, Father let them live long, me indeed they kill, but let them live. He was casting out from them the death which is for ever and ever, by His most merciful prayer, and by His most surpassing might. Many of them believed, and the shedding of the blood of Christ was forgiven them. At first they shed it while they raged; now they drank it while they believed. In this we know that we are in Him, if in Him we be made perfect. Touching the very perfection of love of enemies, the Lord admonishing, says, Be therefore perfect, as your Heavenly Father is perfect. Matthew 5:48 He, therefore, that says he abides in Him, ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked.

 

 1 John 2:6 How, brethren? What does he advise us? He that says he abides in Him, i.e., in Christ, ought himself also so to walk even as He walked. Haply the advice is this, that we should walk on the sea? That be far from us! It is this then, that we walk in the way of righteousness. In what way? I have already mentioned it. He was fixed upon the cross, and yet was He walking in this very way: this way is the way of charity, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. If, therefore, you have learned to pray for your enemy, you walk in the way of the Lord.

Dearly beloved, I write unto you no new commandment, but the old commandment which you had from the beginning.

 1 John 2:7 What commandment calls he old? Which you had, says he, from the beginning. Old then, in this regard, that you have already heard it: otherwise he will contradict the Lord, where He says, A new commandment give I unto you, that you love one another. John 13:34 But why an old commandment? Not as pertaining to the old man. But why? Which you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which you have heard. Old then, in this regard, that you have already heard it. And the selfsame he shows to be new, saying, Again, a new commandment write I unto you.

 

 1 John 2:8 Not another, but the selfsame which he has called old, the same is also new. Why? Which thing is true in Him and in you. Why old, you have already heard: i.e., because you knew it already. But why new? Because the darkness is past, and the true light now shines. Lo, whence it is new: because the darkness pertains to the old man, but the light to the new man. What says the Apostle Paul? Put off the old man, and put on the new. Colossians 3:9-10 And again what says he? You were sometime darkness, but now light in the Lord. Ephesians 5:8

He that says he is in the light— now he is making all clear that he has been saying— he that says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness even until now.

 1 John 2:9 What! My brethren, how long shall we say to you, Love your enemies? Matthew 5:44 See whether, what is worse, you do not hate your brethren. If you loved only your brethren, you would be not yet perfect: but if you hate your brethren, what are you, where are you? Let each look to his own heart: let him not keep hatred against his brother for any hard word; on account of earthly contention let him not become earth. For whoso hates his brother, let him not say that he walks in the light. He that says he is in the light, and hates his brother, is in darkness even until now. Thus, some man who was a pagan has become a Christian; mark well: behold he was in darkness, while he was a pagan: now is he made henceforth a Christian; thanks be to God, say all joyfully; the apostle is read, where he says joyfully, For you were sometime darkness, but now light in the Lord. Ephesians 5:8 Once he worshipped idols, now he worships God; once he worshipped the things he made, now he worships Him that made him. He is changed: thanks be to God, say all Christians with joyful greeting. Why? Because henceforth he is one that adores the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost; one that detests demons and idols. Yet still is John solicitous about our convert: while many greet him with joy, by him he is still looked upon with apprehension. Brethren, let us gladly welcome a mother's solicitude. Not without cause is the mother solicitous about us when others rejoice: by the mother, I mean charity: for she dwelt in the heart of John, when he spoke these words. Wherefore, but because there is something he fears in us, even when men now hail us with joy? What is it that he fears? He that says he is in the light— What is this? He that says now he is a Christian—and hates his brother, is in darkness even until now. Which there is no need to expound: but to be glad of it, if it be not so, or to bewail it, if it be.

He that loves his brother abides (manet) in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.

 1 John 2:10 — I beseech you by Christ: God is feeding us, we are about to refresh our bodies in the name of Christ; they both are in some good measure refreshed, and are to be refreshed: let the mind be fed. Not that I am going to speak for a long time, do I say this; for behold, the lesson is now coming to an end: but lest haply of weariness we should hear less attentively than we ought that which is most necessary.— He that loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no scandal, or none occasion of stumbling, in him. Who are they that take scandal or make scandal? They that are offended in Christ, and in the Church. They that are offended in Christ, are as if burnt by the sun, those in the Church as by the moon. But the Psalm says, The sun shall not burn you by day, neither the moon by night: i.e., if you hold fast charity, neither in Christ shall you have occasion of falling, nor in the Church; neither Christ shall you forsake, nor the Church. For he that forsakes the Church, how is he in Christ who is not in the members of Christ? How is he in Christ who is not in the body of Christ? Those therefore take scandal, or, occasion of falling, who forsake Christ or the Church. Whence do we understand that the Psalm in saying, By day shall the sun not burn you, nor the moon by night, says it of this, that the burning means scandal, or occasion of stumbling? In the first place mark the similitude itself. Just as the person whom something is burning says, I cannot bear it, I cannot away with it, and draws back; so those persons who cannot bear some things in the Church, and withdraw themselves either from the name of Christ or from the Church, are taking scandal. For see how those took scandal as from the sun, those carnal ones to whom Christ preached of His flesh, saying, He that eats not the flesh of the Son of Man and drinks His blood, shall have no life in him. John 6:54-69 Some seventy persons said, This is an hard saying, and went back from Him, and there remained the twelve. All those the sun burnt, and they went back, not being able to bear the force of the Word. There remained therefore the twelve. And lest haply men should imagine that they confer a benefit upon Christ by believing on Christ, and not that the benefit is conferred by Him upon them; when the twelve were left, the Lord said to them, Will you also go? That you may know that I am necessary to you, not you to me. But those whom the sun had not burnt, answered by the voice of Peter: Lord, You have the word of eternal life; whither shall we go? But who are they that the Church as the moon burns by night? They that have made schisms. Hear the very word used in the apostle: Who is offended, and I burn not? 2 Corinthians 11:29 In what sense then is it, that there is no scandal or occasion of stumbling in him that loves his brother? Because he that loves his brother, bears all things for unity's sake; because it is in the unity of charity that brotherly love exists. Some one, I know not who, offends you: whether it be a bad man, or as you suppose a bad man, or as you pretend a bad man: and do you desert so many good men? What sort of brotherly love is that which has appeared in these persons? While they accuse the Africans, they have deserted the whole world! What, were there no saints in the whole world? Or was it possible they should be condemned by you unheard? But oh! If you loved your brethren, there would be none occasion of stumbling in you. Hear the Psalm, what it says: Great peace have they that love Your law, and there is to them none occasion of stumbling. Great peace it says there is for them that love the law of God, and that is why there is to them none occasion of stumbling. Those then who take scandal, or, occasion of stumbling, destroy peace. And of whom says he that they take not and make not occasion of stumbling? They that love God's law. Consequently they are in charity. But some man will say, He said it of them that love God's law, not of the brethren. Hear what the Lord says: A new commandment give I unto you that you love one another. John 13:34 What is the Law but commandment? Moreover, how is it they do not take occasion of stumbling, but because they forbear one another? As Paul says, Forbearing one another in love, studying to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. Ephesians 4:2-3 And to show that this is the law of Christ, hear the same apostle commending this very law. Bear one another's burdens, says he, and so shall you fulfill the law of Christ. Galatians 6:2

For he that hates his brother is in darkness, and walks in darkness, and knows not whither he goes.

 1 John 2:11 A great thing, my brethren: mark it, we beseech you. He that hates his brother walks in darkness, and knows not whither he goes, because the darkness has blinded his eyes. What so blind as these who hate their brethren? For that you may know that they are blind, they have stumbled at a Mountain. I say the same things often, that they may not slip out of your memory. The Stone which was cut out of the Mountain without hands, is it not Christ, who came of the kingdom of the Jews, without the work of man? Has not that Stone broken in pieces all the kingdoms of the earth, that is, all the dominations of idols and demons? Has not that Stone grown, and become a great mountain, and filled the whole earth? Do we point with the finger to this Mountain in like manner as the moon on its third day is pointed out to men? For example, when they wish people to see the new moon, they say, Lo, the moon! lo, where it is! And if there be some there who are not sharp-sighted, and say, Where? Then the finger is put forth that they may see it. Sometimes when they are ashamed to be thought blind, they say they have seen what they have not seen. Do we in this way point out the Church, my brethren? Is it not open? Is it not manifest? Has it not possessed all nations? Is not that fulfilled which so many years before was promised to Abraham, that in his seed should all nations be blessed? Genesis 22:18 It was promised to one believer, and the world is filled with thousands of believers. Behold here the mountain filling the whole face of the earth! Behold the city of which it is said, A city set upon a mountain cannot be hid! Matthew 5:14 But those stumble at the mountain, and when it is said to them, Go up; There is no mountain, say they, and dash their heads against it sooner than seek a habitation there. Esaias was read yesterday; whosoever of you was awake not with his eyes only but with his ear, and not the ear of the body but the ear of the heart, noted this; In the last days shall the mountain of the house of the Lord be manifest, prepared upon the top of the mountains. Isaiah 2:2 What so manifest as a mountain? But there are even mountains unknown, because they are situated in one part of the earth. Which of you knows Mount Olympus? Just as the people who dwell there do not know our Giddaba. These mountains are in different parts of the earth. But not so that Mountain, for it has filled the whole face of the earth, and of it is said, Prepared upon the top of the mountains. It is a Mountain above the tops of all mountains. And, says he, to it shall be gathered all nations. Who can fail to be aware of this Mountain? Who breaks his head by stumbling against it? Who is ignorant of the city set upon a mountain? But marvel not that it is unknown by these who hate the brethren, because they walk in darkness and know not whither they go, because the darkness has blinded their eyes. They do not see the Mountain: I would not have you marvel; they have no eyes. How is it they have no eyes? Because the darkness has blinded them. How do we prove this? Because they hate the brethren, in that, while they are offended at Africans, they separate themselves from the whole earth: in that they do not tolerate for the peace of Christ those whom they defame, and do tolerate for the sake of Donatus those whom they condemn.

 

I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven through His name. I write unto you, fathers, because you have known Him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because you have overcome the wicked one. I write unto you, children, because you have known the Father. I write unto you, fathers, because you have known Him that is from the beginning. I write unto you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the wicked one. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, is the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passes away, and the lust thereof: but he that does the will of God abides for ever (even as God also abides for ever).

All things that are read from the Holy Scriptures in order to our instruction and salvation, it behooves us to hear with earnest heed. Yet most of all must those things be commended to our memory, which are of most force against heretics; whose insidious designs cease not to circumvent all that are weaker and more negligent. Remember that our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ both died for us, and rose again; died, to wit, for our offenses, rose again for our justification. Romans 4:25 Even as you have just heard concerning the two disciples whom He met with in the way, how their eyes were holden that they should not know Him: Luke 24:13-28 and He found them despairing of the redemption that was in Christ, and deeming that now He had suffered and was dead as a man, not accounting that as Son of God He ever lives; and deeming too that He was so dead in the flesh as not to come to life again, but just as one of the prophets: as those of you who were attentive have just now heard their own words. Then He opened to them the Scriptures, beginning at Moses, and going through all the prophets, showing them that all He had suffered had been foretold, lest they should be more staggered if the Lord should rise again, and the more fail to believe Him, if these things had not been told before concerning Him. For the firmness of faith is in this, that all things which came to pass in Christ were foretold. The disciples, then, knew Him not, save in the breaking of bread. And truly he that eats and drinks not judgment to himself in the breaking of bread does know Christ. 1 Corinthians 11:29 Afterward also those eleven thought they saw a spirit. He gave Himself to be handled by them, who also gave Himself to be crucified; to be crucified by enemies, to be handled by friends: yet the Physician of all, both of the ungodliness of those, and of the unbelief of these. For you heard when the Acts of the Apostles were read, how many thousands of Christ's slayers believed. Acts 2:41 If those believed afterwards who had killed, should not those believe who for a little while doubted? And yet even in regard of them, (a thing which you ought especially to observe, and to commit to your memory, because that which shall make us strong against insidious errors, God has been pleased to put in the Scriptures, against which no man dares to speak, who in any sort wishes to seem a Christian), when He had given Himself to be handled by them, that did not suffice Him, but He would also confirm by means of the Scriptures the heart of them that believe: for He looked forward to us who should be afterwards; seeing that in Him we have nothing that we can handle, but have that which we may read. For if those believed only because they held and handled, what shall we do? Now, Christ is ascended into heaven; He is not to come save at the end, to judge the quick and the dead. Whereby shall we believe, but by that whereby it was His will that even those who handled Him should be confirmed? For He opened to them the Scriptures and showed them that it behooved Christ to suffer, and that all things should be fulfilled which were written of Him in the Law of Moses, and the Prophets, and the Psalms. He embraced in His discourse the whole ancient text of the Scriptures. All that there is of those former Scriptures tells of Christ; but only if it find ears. He also opened their understanding that they might understand the Scriptures. Whence we also must pray for this, that He would open our understanding.

But what did the Lord show written of Him in the Law of Moses, and the Prophets, and the Psalms? What did He show? Let Himself say. The evangelist has put this briefly, that we might know what in all that great compass of the Scriptures we ought to believe and to understand. Certainly there are many pages, and many books; the contents of them all is this which the Lord briefly spoke to His disciples. What is this? That it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise again the third day. You have it now concerning the Bridegroom, that it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise again: the Bridegroom has been set forth to us. Concerning the Bride, let us see what He says; that you, when you know the Bridegroom and the Bride, may not without reason come to the marriage. For every celebration is a celebration of marriage: the Church's nuptials are celebrated. The King's Son is about to marry a wife, and that King's Son is Himself a King: and the guests frequenting the marriage are themselves the Bride. Not, as in a carnal marriage, some are guests, and another is she that is married; in the Church they that come as guests, if they come to good purpose, become the Bride. For all the Church is Christ's Bride, of which the beginning and first fruits is the flesh of Christ: there was the Bride joined to the Bridegroom in the flesh. With good reason when He would betoken that same flesh, He broke bread, and with good reason in the breaking of bread, the eyes of the disciples were opened, and they knew Him. Well then, what did the Lord say was written of Him in the Law and Prophets and Psalms? That it behooved Christ to suffer. Had He not added, and to rise again, well might those mourn whose eyes were holden; but to rise again is also foretold. And wherefore this? Why did it behoove Christ to suffer and to rise again? Because of that Psalm which we especially commended to your attention on the fourth day, the first station, of last week. Why did it behoove Christ to suffer and to rise again? For this reason: All the ends of the earth shall be reminded and converted unto the Lord, and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before Him. For that you may know that it behooved Christ to suffer and to rise again; in this place also what has He added, that after setting forth the Bridegroom He might also set forth the Bride? And that there be preached, says He, in His name, repentance and remission of sins throughout all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You have heard, brethren; hold it fast. Let no man doubt concerning the Church, that it is throughout all nations: let no man doubt that it began at Jerusalem, and has filled all nations. We know the field where the Vine is planted: but when it is grown we know it not, because it has taken up the whole. Whence did it begin? At Jerusalem. Whither has it come? To all nations. A few remain: it shall possess all. In the mean time, while it is taking possession of all, it has seemed good to the Husbandman to cut off some unprofitable branches, and they have made heresies and schisms. Let not the branches that are cut off induce you to be cut off: rather exhort them that are cut off that they be grafted in again. It is manifest that Christ has suffered, is risen again, and is ascended into heaven: made manifest also is the Church, because there is preached in His name repentance and remission of sins throughout all nations. Whence did it begin? Beginning at Jerusalem. The man hears this; foolish and vain, and (how, shall I express it?) worse than blind! so great a mountain, and he does not see it; a candle set upon a candlestick, and he shuts his eyes against it!

When we say to them, If you be Catholic Christians, communicate with that Church from which the Gospel is spread abroad over the whole earth: communicate with that Jerusalem: when this we say to them, they make answer to us, we do not communicate with that city where our King was slain, where our Lord was slain: as though they hate the city where our Lord was slain. The Jews slew Him whom they found on earth, these scorn Him that sits in heaven! Which are the worse; those who despised Him because they thought Him man, or those who scorn the sacraments of Him whom now they confess to be God? But they hate, forsooth, the city in which their Lord was slain! Pious men, and merciful! They much grieve that Christ was slain, and in men they slay Christ! But He loved that city, and pitied it: from it He bade the preaching of Him begin, beginning at Jerusalem. He made there the beginning of the preaching of His name: and you shrink back with horror from having communion with that city! No marvel that being cut off you hate the root. What said He to His disciples? Sit still in the city, because I send my promise upon you. Behold what the city is that they hate! Haply they would love it, if Christ's murderers dwelt in it. For it is manifest that all Christ's murderers, i.e., the Jews, are expelled from that city. That which had in it them that were fierce against Christ, has now them that adore Christ. Therefore do these men hate it, because Christians are in it. There was it His will that His disciples should tarry, and there that He should send to them the Holy Ghost. Where had the Church its commencement, but where the Holy Ghost came from heaven, and filled the hundred and twenty sitting in one place? That number twelve was made tenfold. They sat, an hundred and twenty persons, and the Holy Ghost came, and filled the whole place, and there came a sound, as it were the rushing of a mighty wind, and there were cloven tongues like as of fire. You have heard the Acts of the Apostles: this was the lesson read today: They began to speak with tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance. And all who were on the spot, Jews who had come from various nations, recognised each his own tongue, and marvelled that those unlearned and ignorant men had on the sudden learned not one or two tongues, but the tongues of all nations whatsoever. There, then, where all tongues sounded, there was it betokened that all tongues should believe. But these men, who much love Christ, and therefore refuse to communicate with the city which killed Christ, so honor Christ as to affirm that He is left to two tongues, the Latin and the Punic, i.e. African. Christ possess only two tongues! For there are but these two tongues on the side of Donatus, more they have not. Let us awake, my brethren, let us rather see the gift of the Spirit of God, and let us believe the things spoken before concerning Him, and let us see fulfilled the things spoken before in the Psalm: There are neither speeches nor discourses, but their voices are heard among them. And lest haply the case be so that the tongues themselves came to one place, and not rather that the gift of Christ came to all tongues, hear what follows: Into all the earth is their sound gone out, and unto the ends of the world their words. Wherefore this? Because in the sun has He set His tabernacle, i.e., in the open light. His tabernacle, His flesh: His tabernacle, His Church: in the sun it is set; not in the night, but in the day. But why do those not acknowledge it? Return to the lesson at the place where it ended yesterday, and see why they do not acknowledge it: He that hates his brother, walks in darkness, and knows not whither he goes, because the darkness has blinded his eyes. For us then, let us see what follows, and not be in darkness. How shall we not be in darkness? If we love the brethren. How is it proved that we love the brotherhood? By this, that we do not rend unity, that we hold fast charity.

I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you through His name.

 

 1 John 2:12 Therefore, little children, because in forgiveness of sins you have your birth. But through whose name are sins forgiven? Through Augustine's? No, therefore neither through the name of Donatus. Be it your concern to see who is Augustine, or who Donatus: no, not through the name of Paul, not through the name of Peter. For to them that divided unto themselves the Church, and out of unity essayed to make parties, the mother charity in the apostle travailing in birth with her little ones, exposes her own bowels, with words does as it were rend her breasts, bewails her children whom she sees borne out dead, recalls unto the one Name them that would needs make them many names, repels them from the love of her that Christ may be loved, and says, Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? 1 Corinthians 1:13 What says he? I would not that you be mine, that so you may be with me: be with me; all we are His who died for us, who was crucified for us: whence here also it is said, Your sins are forgiven you through His name, not through the name of any man.

I write unto you, fathers.

 1 John 2:13 Why first sons? Because your sins are forgiven you through His name, and you are regenerated into a new life, therefore sons. Why fathers? Because you have known Him that is from the beginning: for the beginning has relation unto fatherhood. Christ new in flesh, but ancient in Godhead. How ancient think we? How many years old? Think we, of greater age than His mother? Assuredly of greater age than His mother, for all things were made by Him. John 1:3 If all things, then did the Ancient make the very mother of whom the New should be born. Was He, think we, before His mother only? Yea, and before His mother's ancestors is His antiquity. The ancestor of His mother was Abraham; and the Lord says, Before Abraham I am. John 8:58 Before Abraham, say we? The heaven and earth, ere man was, were made. Before these was the Lord, nay rather also is. For right well He says, not, Before Abraham I was, but, Before Abraham I Am . For that of which one says, was, is not; and that of which one says, will be, is not yet: He knows not other than to be. As God, He knows to be: was, and will be, He knows not. It is one day there, but a day that is for ever and ever. That day yesterday and tomorrow do not set in the midst between them: for when the 'yesterday' is ended, the 'today' begins, to be finished by the coming 'tomorrow.' That one day there is a day without darkness, without night, without spaces, without measure, without hours. Call it what you will: if you will, it is a day; if you will, a year; if you will, years. For it is said of this same, And your years shall not fail. But when is it called a day? When it is said to the Lord, Today have I begotten You. From the eternal Father begotten, from eternity begotten, in eternity begotten: with no beginning, no bound, no space of breadth; because He is what is, because Himself is He that Is. This His name He told to Moses: You shall say unto them, He that Is has sent me unto you. Exodus 3:14 Why speak then of before Abraham? Why, before Noe? Why, before Adam? Hear the Scripture: Before the day-star have I begotten You. In fine, before heaven and earth. Wherefore? Because all things were made by Him, and without Him was nothing made. John 1:3 By this you know the fathers: for they become fathers by acknowledging That which is from the beginning.

I write unto you, young men. There are sons, are fathers, are young men: sons, because begotten; fathers, because they acknowledge the Beginning; why young men? Because you have overcome the wicked one. In the sons, birth: in the fathers, antiquity: in the young men, strength. If the wicked one is overcome by the young men, he fights with us. Fights, but not conquers. Wherefore? Because we are strong, or because He is strong in us who in the hands of the persecutors was found weak? He has made us strong, who resisted not His persecutors. For He was crucified of weakness, but He lives by the power of God. 2 Corinthians 13:4

 

I write unto you, children.

 1 John ii.13 Whence children? Because you have known the Father. I write unto you fathers: he enforces this, and repeats, Because you have known Him that is from the beginning. Remember that you are fathers: if you forget Him that is from the beginning, you have lost your fatherhood. I write unto you, young men. Again and again consider that you are young men: fight, that you may overcome: overcome, that you may be crowned: be lowly, that you fall not in the fight. I write unto you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and you have overcome the wicked one.

All these things, my brethren,— because we have known That which is from the beginning, because we are strong, because we have known the Father,— do all these, while they in a manner commend knowledge, not commend charity? If we have known, let us love: for knowledge without charity saves not. Knowledge puffs up, charity edifies. 1 Corinthians 8:1 If you have a mind to confess and not love, you begin to be like the demons. The demons confessed the Son of God, and said, What have we to do with You? Matthew 8:29 and were repulsed. Confess and embrace. For those feared for their iniquities; love ye Him that forgives your iniquities. But how can we love God, if we love the world? He prepares us therefore to be inhabited by charity. There are two loves: of the world, and of God: if the love of the world inhabit, there is no way for the love of God to enter in: let the love of the world make way, and the love of God inhabit; let the better have place. You loved the world: love not the world: when you have emptied your heart of earthly love, you shall drink in love Divine: and thenceforth begins charity to inhabit you, from which can nothing of evil proceed. Hear therefore his words, how he goes to work in the manner of one that makes a clearance. He comes upon the hearts of men as a field that he would occupy: but in what state does he find it? If he finds a wood, he roots it up; if he finds the field cleared, he plants it. He would plant a tree there, charity. And what is the wood he would root up? Love of the world. Hear him, the rooter up of the wood!

 

Love not the world, (for this comes next,) neither the things that are in the world; if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

1 John 2:15 You have heard that if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Let not any say in his heart that this is false, brethren: God says it; by the Apostle the Holy Ghost has spoken; nothing more true: If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. Would you have the Father's love, that you may be joint-heir with the Son? Love not the world. Shut out the evil love of the world, that you may be filled with the love of God. You are a vessel; but as yet you are full. Pour out what you have, that you may receive what you have not. Certainly, our brethren are now born again of water and of the Spirit: we also some years ago were born again of water and of the Spirit. Good is it for us that we love not the world, lest the sacraments remain in us unto damnation, not as means of strengthening unto salvation. That which strengthens unto salvation is, to have the root of charity, to have the power of godliness, not the form only. 2 Timothy 3:5 Good is the form, holy the form: but what avails the form, if it hold not the root? The branch that is cut off, is it not cast into the fire? Have the form, but in the root. But in what way are you rooted so that you be not rooted up? By holding charity, as says the Apostle Paul, rooted and grounded in charity. Ephesians 3:17 How shall charity be rooted there, amid the overgrown wilderness of the love of the world? Make clear riddance of the woods. A mighty seed you are about to put in: let there not be that in the field which shall choke the seed. These are the uprooting words which he has said: Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 1 John 2:15

 

For all that is in the world, is the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life,

 1 John 2:16-17 three things he has said, which are not of the Father, but are of the world. And the world passes away, and the lust thereof: but he that does the will of God abides for ever, even as He abides for ever. Why am I not to love what God made? What will you? Whether will you love the things of time, and pass away with time; or not love the world, and live to eternity with God? The river of temporal things hurries one along: but like a tree sprung up beside the river is our Lord Jesus Christ. He assumed flesh, died, rose again, ascended into heaven. It was His will to plant Himself, in a manner, beside the river of the things of time. Are you rushing down the stream to the headlong deep? Hold fast the tree. Is love of the world whirling you on? Hold fast Christ. For you He became temporal, that you might become eternal; because He also in such sort became temporal, that He remained still eternal. Something was added to Him from time, not anything went from His eternity. But you were born temporal, and by sin wast made temporal: you were made temporal by sin, He was made temporal by mercy in remitting sins. How great the difference, when two are in a prison, between the criminal and him that visits him! For upon a time a person comes to his friend and enters in to visit him, and both seem to be in prison; but they differ by a wide distinction. The one, his cause presses down: the other, humanity has brought there. So in this our mortal state, we were held fast by our guiltiness, He in mercy came down: He entered in unto the captive, a Redeemer not an oppressor. The Lord for us shed His blood, redeemed us, changed our hope. As yet we bear the mortality of the flesh, and take the future immortality upon trust: and on the sea we are tossed by the waves, but we have the anchor of hope already fixed upon the land.

But let us not love the world, neither the things that are in the world. For the things that are in the world, are the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. These three are they: lest haply any man say, The things that are in the world, God made: i.e. heaven and earth, the sea: the sun, the moon, the stars, all the garniture of the heavens. What is the garniture of the sea? All creeping things. What of the earth? animals, trees, flying creatures. These are 'in the world,' God made them. Why then am I not to love what God has made? Let the Spirit of God be in you, that you may see that all these things are good: but woe to you if you love the things made, and forsake the Maker of them! Fair are they to you: but how much fairer He that formed them! Mark well, beloved. For by similitudes you may be instructed: lest Satan steal upon you, saying what he is wont to say, Take your enjoyment in the creature of God; wherefore made He those things but for your enjoyment? And men drink themselves drunken, and perish, and forget their own Creator: while not temperately but lustfully they use the things created, the Creator is despised. Of such says the apostle: They worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, Who is blessed for ever. Romans 1:25 God does not forbid you to love these things, howbeit, not to set your affections upon them for blessedness, but to approve and praise them to this end, that you may love your Creator. In the same manner, my brethren, as if a bridegroom should make a ring for his bride, and she having received the ring, should love it more than she loves the bridegroom who made the ring for her: would not her soul be found guilty of adultery in the very gift of the bridegroom, albeit she did but love what the bridegroom gave her? By all means let her love what the bridegroom gave: yet should she say, This ring is enough for me, I do not wish to see his face now: what sort of woman would she be? Who would not detest such folly? Who not pronounce her guilty of an adulterous mind? You love gold in place of the man, lovest a ring in place of the bridegroom: if this be in you, that you love a ring in place of your bridegroom, and hast no wish to see your bridegroom; that he has given you an earnest, serves not to pledge you to him, but to turn away your heart from him! For this the bridegroom gives earnest, that in his earnest he may himself be loved. Well then, God gave you all these things: love Him that made them. There is more that He would fain give you, that is, His very Self that made these things. But if you love these— what though God made them— and neglect the Creator and love the world; shall not your love be accounted adulterous?

For the world is the appellation given not only to this fabric which God made heaven and earth, the sea, things visible and invisible: but the inhabitants of the world are called the world, just as we call a house both the walls and them that inhabit therein. And sometimes we praise a house, and find fault with the inhabitants. For we say, A good house; because it is marbled and beautifully ceiled: and in another sense we say, A good house: no man there suffers wrong, no acts of plunder, no acts of oppression, are done there. Now we praise not the building, but those who dwell within the building: yet we call it house, both this and that. For all lovers of the world, because by love they inhabit the world, just as those inhabit heaven, whose heart is on high while in the flesh they walk on earth: I say then, all lovers of the world are called the world. The same have only these three things, lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, vain glory of life. For they lust to eat, drink, cohabit: to use these pleasures. Not surely, that there is no allowed measure in these things, or that when it is said, Love not these things, it means that you are not to eat, or not to drink, or not to beget children? This is not the thing said. Only, let there be measure, because of the Creator, that these things may not bind you by your loving of them: lest you love that for enjoyment, which you ought to have for use. But you are not put to the proof except when two things are propounded to you, this or that: Will you righteousness or gains? I have not wherewithal to live, have not wherewithal to eat, have not wherewithal to drink. But what if you can not have these but by iniquity? Is it not better to love that which you lose not, than to lose yourself by iniquity? You see the gain of gold, the loss of faith you see not. This then, says he to us, is the lust of the flesh, i.e. the lusting after those things which pertain to the flesh, such as food, and carnal cohabitation, and all other such like.

And the lust of the eyes: by the lust of the eyes, he means all curiosity. Now how wide is the scope of curiosity! This it is that works in spectacles, in theatres, in sacraments of the devil, in magical arts, in dealings with darkness: none other than curiosity. Sometimes it tempts even the servants of God, so that they wish as it were to work a miracle, to tempt God whether He will hear their prayers in working of miracles; it is curiosity: this is lust of the eyes; it is not of the Father. If God has given the power, do the miracle, for He has put it in your way to do it: for think not that those who have not done miracles shall not pertain to the kingdom of God. When the apostles were rejoicing that the demons were subject to them, what said the Lord to them? Rejoice not in this, but rejoice because your names are written in heaven. Luke 10:20 In that would He have the apostles to rejoice, wherein you also rejoice. Woe to you truly if your name be not written in heaven! Is it woe to you if you raise not the dead? Is it woe to you if you walk not on the sea? Is it woe to you if you cast not out demons? If you have received power to do them, use it humbly, not proudly. For even of certain false prophets the Lord has said that they shall do signs and prodigies. Matthew 24:24 Therefore let there be no ambition of the world: Ambitio sæculi, is Pride. The man wishes to make much of himself in his honors: he thinks himself great, whether because of riches, or because of some power.

These three there are, and you can find nothing whereby human cupidity can be tempted, but either by the lust of the flesh, or the lust of the eyes, or the pride of life. By these three was the Lord tempted of the devil. Matthew 4:1-10 By the lust of the flesh He was tempted when it was said to Him, If you be the Son of God, speak to these stones that they become bread, when He hungered after His fast. But in what way repelled He the tempter, and taught his soldier how to fight? Mark what He said to him: Not by bread alone does man live, but by every word of God. He was tempted also by the lust of the eyes concerning a miracle, when he said to Him, Cast yourself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning you: and in their hands they shall bear you up, lest at any time you dash your foot against a stone. He resisted the tempter, for to do the miracle, would only have been to seem either to have yielded, or to have done it from curiosity; for He wrought when He would, as God, howbeit as healing the weak. For if He had done it then, He might have been thought to wish only to do a miracle. But lest men should think this, mark what He answered; and when the like temptation shall happen to you, say also the same: Get behind me, Satan; for it is written, You shall not tempt the Lord your God: that is, if I do this I shall tempt God. He said what He would have you to say. When the enemy suggests to you, What sort of man, what sort of Christian, are you? As yet have you done one miracle, or by your prayers have the dead been raised, or have you healed the fevered? If you were truly of any moment, you would do some miracle: answer and say: It is written, You shall not tempt the Lord your God: therefore I will not tempt God, as if I should belong to God if I do a miracle, and not belong if I do none: and what becomes then of His words, Rejoice, because your names are written in heaven? By pride of life how was the Lord tempted? When he carried Him up to an high place, and said to Him, All these will I give you, if you will fall down and worship me. By the loftiness of an earthly kingdom he wished to tempt the King of all worlds: but the Lord who made heaven and earth trod the devil under foot. What great matter for the devil to be conquered by the Lord? Then what did He in the answer He made to the devil but teach you the answer He would have you to make? It is, written, You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only shall you serve. Holding these things fast, you shall not have the concupiscence of the world: by not having concupiscence of the world, neither shall the lust of the flesh, nor the lust of the eyes, nor the pride of life, subjugate you: and you shall make place for Charity when she comes, that you may love God. Because if love of the world be there, love of God will not be there. Hold fast rather the love of God, that as God is for ever and ever, so you also may remain for ever and ever: because such is each one as is his love. Love earth, you shall be earth. Love God, what shall I say? You shall be a god? I darenot say it of myself, let us hear the Scriptures: I have said, You are gods, and all of you sons of the Most High. If then you would be gods and sons of the Most High, Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all the things that are in the world, is the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, which is not of the Father, but is of the world:

 1 John 2:15-17 i.e. of men, lovers of the world. And the world passes away, and the lusts thereof: but he that does the will of God abides for ever, even as God also abides for ever.

 

 

1 John 2:18 Children, it is the last hour. In this lesson he addresses the children that they may make haste to grow, because it is the last hour. Age or stature of the body is not at one's own will. A man does not grow in respect of the flesh when he will, any more than he is born when he will: but where the being born rests with the will, the growth also rests with the will. No man is born of water and the Spirit, John 3:5 except he be willing. Consequently if he will, he grows or makes increase: if he will, he decreases. What is it to grow? To go onward by proficiency. What is it to decrease? To go backward by deficiency. Whoso knows that he is born, let him hear that he is an infant; let him eagerly cling to the breasts of his mother, and he grows apace. Now his mother is the Church; and her breasts are the two Testaments of the Divine Scriptures. Hence let him suck the milk of all the things that as signs of spiritual truths were done in time for our eternal salvation, that being nourished and strengthened, he may attain to the eating of solid meat, which is, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:1 Our milk is Christ in His humility; our meat, the selfsame Christ equal with the Father. With milk He nourishes you, that He may feed you with bread: for with the heart spiritually to touch Christ is to know that He is equal with the Father.

Therefore it was that He forbade Mary to touch Him, and said to her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended unto the Father. What is this? He gave Himself to be handled by the disciples, and did He shun Mary's touch? Is not He the same that said to the doubting disciple, Reach hither your fingers, and feel the scars? Was He at that time ascended to the Father? Then why does He forbid Mary, and says, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to the Father? Or are we to say, that He feared not to be touched by men, and feared to be touched by women? The touch of Him cleanses all flesh. To whom He willed first to be manifested, by them feared He to be handled? Was not His resurrection announced by women to the men, that so the serpent should by a sort of counterplot be overcome? For because he first by the woman announced death to man, therefore to men was also life announced by a woman. Then why was He unwilling to be touched, but because He would have it to be understood of that spiritual touch? The spiritual touch takes place from a pure heart. That person does of a pure heart reach Christ with his touch who understands Him coequal with the Father. But whoso does not yet understand Christ's Godhead, that person reaches but unto the flesh, reaches not unto the Godhead. Now what great matter is it, to reach only unto that which the persecutors reached unto, who crucified Him? But that is the great thing, to understand the Word God with God, in the beginning, by whom all things were made: such as He would have Himself to be known when He said to Philip, Am I so long time with you, and have you not known me, Philip? He that sees me, sees also the Father. John 14:9

But lest any be sluggish to go forward, let him hear: Children, it is the last hour. Go forward, run, grow; it is the last hour. This same last hour is long; yet it is the last. For he has put hour for the last time; because it is in the last times that our Lord Jesus Christ is to come. But some will say, How the last times? How the last hour? Certainly antichrist will first come, and then will come the day of judgment. John perceived these thoughts: lest people should in a manner become secure, and think it was not the last hour because antichrist was to come, he said to them, And as you have heard that antichrist is to come, now are there come many antichrists. Could it have many antichrists, except it were the last hour?

Whom has he called antichrists? He goes on and expounds. Whereby we know that it is the last hour. By what? Because many antichrists have come. They went out from us; see the antichrists! They went out from us: therefore we bewail the loss. Hear the consolation. But they were not of us. All heretics, all schismatics went out from us, that is, they go out from the Church; but they would not go out, if they were of us. Therefore, before they went out they were not of us. If before they went out they were not of us, many are within, are not gone out, but yet are antichrists. We dare to say this: and why, but that each one while he is within may not be an antichrist? For he is about to describe and mark the antichrists, and we shall see them now. And each person ought to question his own conscience, whether he be an antichrist. For antichrist in our tongue means, contrary to Christ. Not, as some take it, that antichrist is to be so called because he is to come ante Christum, before Christ, i.e. Christ to come after him: it does not mean this, neither is it thus written, but Antichristus, i.e. contrary to Christ. Now who is contrary to Christ you already perceive from the apostle's own exposition, and understand that none can go out but antichrists; whereas those who are not contrary to Christ, can in no wise go out. For he that is not contrary to Christ holds fast in His body, and is counted therewith as a member. The members are never contrary one to another. The entire body consists of all the members. And what says the apostle concerning the agreement of the members? If one member suffer, all the members suffer with it; and if one member be glorified, all the members rejoice with it. 1 Corinthians 12:26 If then in the glorifying of a member the other members rejoice with it, and in its suffering all the members suffer, the agreement of the members has no antichrist. And there are those who inwardly are in such sort in the body of our Lord Jesus Christ— seeing His body is yet under cure, and the soundness will not be perfect save in the resurrection of the dead— are in such wise in the body of Christ, as bad humors. When these are vomited up, the body is relieved: so too when bad men go out, then the Church is relieved. And one says, when the body vomits and casts them out, These humors went out of me, but they were not of me. How were not of me? Were not cut out of my flesh, but oppressed my breast while they were in me.

1 John 2:19 They went out from us; but, be not sad, they were not of us. How do you prove this? If they had been of us, they would doubtless have continued with us. Hence therefore you may see, that many who are not of us, receive with us the Sacraments, receive with us baptism. receive with us what the faithful know they receive, Benediction, the Eucharist, and whatever there is in Holy Sacraments: the communion of the very altar they receive with us, and are not of us. Temptation proves that they are not of us. When temptation comes to them as if blown by a wind they fly abroad; because they were not grain. But all of them will fly abroad, as we must often tell you, when once the fanning of the Lord's threshing-floor shall begin in the day of judgment. They went out from us, but they were not of us; if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us. For would you know, beloved, how most certain this saying is, that they who haply have gone out and return, are not antichrists, are not contrary to Christ? Whoso are not antichrists, it cannot be that they should continue without. But of his own will is each either an antichrist or in Christ. Either we are among the members, or among the bad humors. He that changes himself for the better, is in the body, a member: but he that continues in his badness, is a bad humor; and when he is gone out, then they who were oppressed will be relieved. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but (they went out), that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. That he has added, that they might be made manifest, is, because even when they are within they are not of us; yet they are not manifest, but by going out are made manifest. And you have an unction from the Holy One, that you may be manifest to your own selves. The spiritual unction is the Holy Spirit Himself, of which the Sacrament is in the visible unction. Of this unction of Christ he says, that all who have it know the bad and the good; and they need not to be taught, because the unction itself teaches them.

I write unto you not because you know not the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth.

 1 John 2:21 Behold, we are admonished how we may know antichrist. What is Christ? Truth. Himself has said I am the Truth. John 14:6 But no lie is of the truth. Consequently, all who lie are not yet of Christ. He has not said that some lie is of the truth, and some lie not of the truth. Mark the sentence. Do not fondle yourselves, do not flatter yourselves, do not deceive yourselves, do not cheat yourselves: No lie is of the truth. Let us see then how antichrists lie, because there is more than one kind of lying. Who is a liar, but he that denies that Jesus is the Christ? One is the meaning of the word Jesus, another the meaning of the word Christ: though it be one Jesus Christ our Saviour, yet Jesus is His proper name. Just as Moses was so called by his proper name, as Elias, as Abraham: so as His proper name our Lord has the name Jesus: but Christ is the name of His sacred character. As when we say, Prophet, as when we say, Priest; so by the name Christ we are given to understand the Anointed, in whom should be the redemption of the whole people. The coming of this Christ was hoped for by the people of the Jews: and because He came in lowliness, He was not acknowledged; because the stone was small, they stumbled at it and were broken. But the stone grew, and became a great mountain; Daniel 2:35 and what says the Scripture? Whosoever shall stumble at this stone shall be broken; and on whomsoever this stone shall come, it will grind him to powder. We must mark the difference of the words: it says, he that stumbles shall be broken; but he on whom it shall come, shall be ground to powder. At the first, because He came lowly, men stumbled at Him: because He shall come lofty to judgment, on whomsoever He shall come, He will grind him to powder. But not that man will He grind to powder at His future coming, whom He broke not when He came. He that stumbled not at the lowly, shall not dread the lofty. Briefly you have heard it, brethren: he that stumbled not at the lowly, shall not dread the lofty. For to all bad men is Christ a stone of stumbling; whatever Christ says is bitter to them.

For hear and see. Certainly all who go out from the Church, and are cut off from the unity of the Church, are antichrists; let no man doubt it: for the apostle himself has marked them, They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us. Therefore, whoso continue not with us, but go out from us, it is manifest that they are antichrists. And how are they proved to be antichrists? By lying. And who is a liar, but he that denies that Jesus is the Christ?

 1 John 2:22 Let us ask the heretics: where do you find a heretic that denies that Jesus is the Christ? See now, my beloved, a great mystery. Mark what the Lord God may have inspired us withal, and what I would fain work into your minds. Behold, they went out from us, and turned Donatists: we ask them whether Jesus be the Christ; they instantly confess that Jesus is the Christ. If then that person is an antichrist, who denies that Jesus is the Christ, neither can they call us antichrists, nor we them; therefore, neither they went out from us, nor we from them. If then we have not gone out one from another, we are in unity: if we be in unity, what means it that there are two altars in this city? What, that there are divided houses, divided marriages? That there is a common bed, and a divided Christ? He admonishes us, he would have us confess what is the truth:— either they went out from us, or we from them. But let it not be imagined that we have gone out from them. For we have the testament of the Lord's inheritance, we recite it, and there we find, I will give You the nations for Your inheritance, and for Your possessions the ends of the earth. We hold fast Christ's inheritance; they hold it not, for they do not communicate with the whole earth, do not communicate with the universal body redeemed by the blood of the Lord. We have the Lord Himself rising from the dead, who presented Himself to be felt by the hands of the doubting disciples: and while they yet doubted, He said to them, It behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name Luke 24:46-47 — Where? Which way? To what persons?— through all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. Our minds are set at rest concerning the unity of the inheritance! Whoso does not communicate with this inheritance, is gone out.

But let us not be made sad: They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us.

 1 John 2:19 If then they went out from us, they are antichrists; if they are antichrists, they are liars; if they are liars, they deny that Jesus is the Christ. Once more we come back to the difficulty of the question. Ask them one by one; they confess that Jesus is the Christ. The difficulty that hampers us comes of our taking what is said in the Epistle in too narrow a sense. At any rate you see the question; this question puts both us and them to a stand, if it be not understood. Either we are antichrists, or they are antichrists; they call us antichrists, and say that we went out from them; we say the like of them. But now this epistle has marked out the antichrists by this cognizance: Whosoever denies that Jesus is the Christ, that same is an antichrist. Now therefore let us enquire who denies; and let us mark not the tongue, but the deeds. For if all be asked, all with one mouth confess that Jesus is the Christ. Let the tongue keep still for a little while, ask the life. If we shall find this, if the Scripture itself shall tell us that denial is a thing done not only with the tongue, but also with the deeds, then assuredly we find many antichrists, who with the mouth profess Christ, and in their manners dissent from Christ. Where find we this in Scripture? Hear Paul the Apostle; speaking of such, he says, For they confess that they know God, but in their deeds deny Him. Titus 1:16 We find these also to be antichrists: whosoever in his deeds denies Christ, is an antichrist. I listen not to what he says, but I look what life he leads. Works speak, and do we require words? For where is the bad man that does not wish to talk well? But what says the Lord to such? You hypocrites, how can you speak good things, while you are evil? Matthew 12:34 Your voices you bring into my ears: I look into your thoughts. I see an evil will there, and you make a show of false fruits. I know what I must gather, and whence; I do not gather figs of thistles, I do not gather grapes of thorns; for every tree is known by its fruit. Matthew 12:7, 16 A more lying antichrist is he who with his mouth professes that Jesus is the Christ, and with his deeds denies Him. A liar in this, that he speaks one thing, and does another.

Now therefore, brethren, if deeds are to be questioned, not only do we find many antichrists gone out; but many not yet maninfest, who have not gone out at all. For as many as the Church has within it that are perjured, defrauders, addicted to black arts, consulters of fortune-tellers, adulterers, drunkards, usurers, boy-stealers, and all the other vices that we are not able to enumerate; these things are contrary to the doctrine of Christ, are contrary to the word of God. Now the Word of God is Christ: whatever is contrary to the Word of God is in Antichrist. For Antichrist means, contrary to Christ. And would ye know how openly these resist Christ? Sometimes it happens that they do some evil, and one begins to reprove them; because they dare not blaspheme Christ, they blaspheme His ministers by whom they are reproved: but if you show them that you speak Christ's words, not your own, they endeavor all they can to convict you of speaking your own words, not Christ's: if however it is manifest that you speak Christ's words, they go even against Christ, they begin to find fault with Christ: How, say they, and why did He make us such as we are? Do not persons say this every day, when they are convicted of their deeds? Perverted by a depraved will, they accuse their Maker. Their Maker cries to them from heaven, (for the same made us, who new-made us:) What made I you? I made man, not avarice; I made man, not robbery; I made man, not adultery. You have heard that my works praise me. Out of the mouth of the Three Children, it was the hymn itself that kept them from the fires. The works of the Lord praise the Lord, the heaven, the earth, the sea, praise Him; praise Him all things that are in the heaven, praise Him angels, praise Him stars, praise Him lights, praise Him whatever swims, whatever flies, whatever walks, whatever creeps; all these praise the Lord. Have you heard there that avarice praises the Lord? Have you heard that drunkenness praises the Lord? That luxury praises, that frivolity praises Him? Whatever you hear not in that hymn give praise to the Lord, the Lord made not that thing. Correct what you have made, that what God made in you may be saved. But if you will not, and lovest and embracest your sins, you are contrary to Christ. Be thou within, be thou without, you are an antichrist; be thou within, be thou without, you are chaff. But why are you not without? Because you have not fallen in with a wind to carry you away.

These things are now manifest, my brethren. Let no man say, I do not worship Christ, but I worship God His Father. Every one that denies the Son, has neither the Son nor the Father; and he that confesses the Son, has both the Son and the Father. He speaks to you that are grain: and let those who were chaff, hear, and become grain. Let each one, looking well to his own conscience, if he be a lover of the world, be changed; let him become a lover of Christ, that he be not an antichrist. If one shall tell him that he is an antichrist, he is angry, he thinks it a wrong done to him; perchance, if he is told by him that strives with him that he is an antichrist, he threatens an action at law. Christ says to him, Be patient; if you have been falsely spoken of, rejoice with me, because I also am falsely spoken of by the antichrists: but if you are truly spoken of, come to an understanding with your own conscience; and if you fear to be called this, fear more to be it.

 Let that therefore abide in you, which you have heard from the beginning. If that which you have heard from the beginning shall abide in you, you also shall abide in the Son, and in the Father. And this is the promise that He has promised us.

 1 John 2:24-25 For haply you might ask about the wages, and say, Behold, that which I have heard from the beginning I keep safe in me, I comply therewith; perils, labors, temptations, for the sake of this continuance, I bear up against them all: with what fruit? What wages? What will He hereafter give me, since in this world I see that I labor among temptations? I see not here that there is any rest: mere mortality weighs down the soul, and the corruptible body presses it down to lower things: but I bear all things, that that which I have heard from the beginning Wisdom 9:15 may remain in me; and that I may say to my God, Because of the words of Your lips have I kept hard ways. Unto what wages then? Hear, and faint not. If you were fainting in the labors, upon the promised wages be strong. Where is the man that shall work in a vineyard, and shall let slip out of his heart the reward he is to receive? Suppose him to have forgotten, his hands fail. The remembrance of the promised wages makes him persevering in the work: and yet he that promised it is a man who can deceive your expectation. How much more strong ought you to be in God's field, when He that promised is the Truth, Who can neither have any successor, nor die, nor deceive him to whom the promise was made! And what is the promise? Let us see what He has promised. Is it gold which men here love much, or silver? Or possessions, for which men lavish gold, however much they love gold? Or pleasant lands, spacious houses, many slaves, numerous beasts? Not these are the wages, so to say, for which he exhorts us to endure in labor. What are these wages called? eternal life. You have heard, and in your joy you have cried out: love that which you have heard, and you are delivered from your labors into the rest of eternal life. Lo, this is what God promises; eternal life. Matthew 25:34 Lo, this what God threatens; eternal fire. What to those set on the right hand? Come, you blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world. Matthew 25:41 To those on the left, what? Go into eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. Thou dost not yet love that: at least fear this.

Remember then, my brethren, that Christ has promised us eternal life: This, says he, is the promise which He has promised us, even eternal life. These things have I written to you concerning them which seduce you.

 1 John 2:25-26 Let none seduce you unto death: desire the promise of eternal life. What can the world promise? Let it promise what you will, it makes the promise perchance to one that tomorrow shall die. And with what face will you go hence to Him that abides for ever? But a powerful man threatens me, so that I must do some evil. What does he threaten? Prisons, chains, fires, torments, wild beasts: aye, but not eternal fire? Dread that which One Almighty threatens; love that which One Almighty promises; and all the world becomes vile in our regard, whether it promise or terrify. These things have I written unto you concerning them which seduce you; that you may know that you have an unction, and the unction which we have received from Him may abide in you. In the unction we have the sacramental sign [of a thing unseen], the virtue itself is invisible; the invisible unction is the Holy Ghost; the invisible unction is that charity, which, in whomsoever it be, shall be as a root to him: however burning the sun, he cannot wither. All that is rooted is nourished by the sun's warmth, not withered.

And you have no need that any man teach you, because His unction teaches you concerning all things.

 1 John 2:27 Then to what purpose is it that we, my brethren, teach you? If His unction teaches you concerning all things, it seems we labor without a cause. And what mean we, to cry out as we do? Let us leave you to His unction, and let His unction teach you. But this is putting the question only to myself: I put it also to that same apostle: let him deign to hear a babe that asks of him: to John himself I say, Had those the unction to whom you were speaking? You have said, His unction teaches you concerning all things. To what purpose have you written an Epistle like this? What teaching did you give them? What instruction? What edification? See here now, brethren, see a mighty mystery. The sound of our words strikes the ears, the Master is within. Do not suppose that any man learns ought from man. We can admonish by the sound of our voice; if there be not One within that shall teach, vain is the noise we make. Aye, brethren, have ye a mind to know it? Have ye not all heard this present discourse? And yet how many will go from this place untaught! I, for my part, have spoken to all; but they to whom that Unction within speaks not, they whom the Holy Ghost within teaches not, those go back untaught. The teachings of the master from without are a sort of aids and admonitions. He that teaches the hearts, has His chair in heaven. Therefore says He also Himself in the Gospel: Call no man your master upon earth; One is your Master, even Christ. Matthew 23:8-9 Let Him therefore Himself speak to you within, when not one of mankind is there: for though there be some one at your side, there is none in your heart. Yet let there not be none in your heart: let Christ be in your heart: let His unction be in the heart, lest it be a heart thirsting in the wilderness, and having no fountains to be watered withal. There is then, I say, a Master within that teaches: Christ teaches; His inspiration teaches. Where His inspiration and His unction is not, in vain do words make a noise from without. So are the words, brethren, which we speak from without, as is the husbandman to the tree: from without he works, applies water and diligence of culture; let him from without apply what he will, does he form the apples? Does he clothe the nakedness of the wood with a shady covering of leaves? Does he do any thing like this from within? But whose doing is this? Hear the husbandman, the apostle: both see what we are, and hear the Master within: I have planted, Apollos has watered; but God gave the increase: neither he that plants is any thing, neither he that waters, but He that gives the increase, even God. 1 Corinthians 3:6-7 This then we say to you: whether we plant, or whether we water, by speaking we are not any thing; but He that gives the increase, even God: that is, His unction which teaches you concerning all things.

 

You remember, brethren, that yesterday's lesson was brought to a close at this point, that you have no need that any man teach you, but the unction itself teaches you concerning all things. Now this, as I am sure ye remember, we so expounded to you, that we who from without speak to your ears, are as workmen applying culture from without to a tree, but we cannot give the increase nor form the fruits: but only He that created and redeemed and called you, He, dwelling in you by faith and the Spirit, must speak to you within, else vain is all our noise of words. Whence does this appear? From this: that while many hear, not all are persuaded of that which is said, but only they to whom God speaks within. Now they to whom He speaks within, are those who give place to Him: and those give place to God, who give not place to the devil. Ephesians 5:27 For the devil wishes to inhabit the hearts of men, and speak there the things which are able to seduce. But what says the Lord Jesus? The prince of this world is cast out. John 12:31 Whence cast? Out of heaven and earth? Out of the fabric of the world? Nay, but out of the hearts of the believing. The invader being cast out, let the Redeemer dwell within: because the same redeemed, who created. And the devil now assaults from without, not conquers Him that has possession within. And he assaults from without, by casting in various temptations: but that person consents not thereto, to whom God speaks within, and the unction of which you have heard.

And it is true, namely, this same unction; i.e. the very Spirit of the Lord which teaches men, cannot lie: and is not false. Even as it has taught you, abide ye in the same. And now, little children, abide ye in Him, that when He shall be manifested, we may have boldness in His sight, that we be not put to shame by Him at His coming.

 1 John 2:27-28 You see, brethren: we believe in Jesus whom we have not seen: they announced Him, that saw, that handled, that heard the word out of His own mouth; and that they might persuade all mankind of the truth thereof, they were sent by Him, not dared to go of themselves. And whither were they sent? You heard while the Gospel was read, Go, preach the Gospel to the whole creation which is under heaven. Consequently, the disciples were sent every where: with signs and wonders to attest that what they spoke, they had seen. And we believe in Him whom we have not seen, and we look for Him to come. Whoso look for Him by faith, shall rejoice when He comes: those who are without faith, when that which now they see not has come, shall be ashamed. And that confusion of face shall not be for a single day and so pass away, in such sort as those are wont to be confounded, who are found out in some fault, and are scoffed at by their fellowmen. That confusion shall carry them that are confounded to the left hand, that to them it may be said, Go into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. Matthew 25:31 Let us abide then in His words, that we be not confounded when He comes. For Himself says in the Gospel to them that had believed on Him: If you shall abide in my word, then are you verily my disciples. John 8:3l, 32 And, as if they had asked, With what fruit? And, says He, you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. For as yet our salvation is in hope, not in deed: for we do not already possess that which is promised, but we hope for it to come. And faithful is He that promised; Hebrews 10:23 He deceives not you: only do not faint, but wait for the promise. For He, the Truth, cannot deceive. Be not a liar, to profess one thing and do another; keep the faith, and He keeps His promise. But if you keep not the faith, your own self, not He that promised, has defrauded you.

If you know that He is righteous, know ye that every one that does righteousness is born of Him.

1 John 2:29 The righteousness which at present is ours is of faith. Perfect righteousness is not, save only in the angels: and scarce in angels, if they be compared with God: yet if there be any perfect righteousness of souls and spirits which God has created, it is in the angels, holy, just, good, by no lapse turned aside, by no pride falling, but remaining ever in the contemplation of the Word of God, and having nothing else sweet unto them save Him by whom they were created; in them is perfect righteousness: but in us it has begun to be, of faith, by the Spirit. You heard when the Psalm was read, Begin ye to the Lord in confession. Begin, says it; the beginning of our righteousness is the confession of sins. You have begun not to defend your sin; now have you made a beginning of righteousness: but it shall be perfected in you when to do nothing else shall delight you, when death shall be swallowed up in victory, 1 Corinthians 15:24 when there shall be no itching of lust, when there shall be no struggling with flesh and blood, when there shall be the palm of victory, the triumph over the enemy; then shall there be perfect righteousness. At present we are still fighting: if we fight we are in the lists; we smite and are smitten; but who shall conquer, remains to be seen. And that man conquers, who even when he smites presumes not on his own strength, but relies upon God that cheers him on. The devil is alone when he fights against us. If we are with God, we overcome the devil: for if you fight alone with the devil, you will be overcome. He is a skillful enemy: how may palms has he won! Consider to what he has cast us down! That we are born mortal, comes of this, that he in the first place cast down from Paradise our very original. What then is to be done, seeing he is so well practised? Let the Almighty be invoked to your aid against the devices of the devil. Let Him dwell in you, who cannot be overcome, and you shall securely overcome him who is wont to overcome. But to overcome whom? Those in whom God dwells not. For, that you may know it, brethren; Adam being in Paradise despised the commandment of God, and lifted up the neck, as if he desired to be his own master, and were loath to be subject to the will of God: so he fell from that immortality, from that blessedness. But there was a certain man, a man now well skilled, though a mortal born, who even as he sat on the dunghill, putrifying with worms, overcame the devil: yea, Adam himself then overcame: even he, in Job; because Job was of his race. So then, Adam, overcome in Paradise, overcame on the dunghill. Being in Paradise, he gave ear to the persuasion of the woman which the devil had put into her: but being on the dunghill he said to Eve, You have spoken as one of the foolish women. Job 2:10 There he lent an ear, here he gave an answer: when he was glad, he listened, when he was scourged, he overcame. Therefore, see what follows, my brethren, in the Epistle: because this is what it would have us lay to heart, that we may overcome the devil indeed, but not of ourselves. If you know that He is righteous, says it, know ye that every one that does righteousness is born of Him: of God, of Christ. And in that he has said, Is born of Him, he cheers us on. Already therefore, in that we are born of Him, we are perfect.