Whatever may be thought of Augustin's application of the apostle's description to separatists in his day. that there have been many Antichrists, ist and 2nd John teach very plainly: and most important, is St. John's description of the " master falsehood,'' the "denial of true manhcad and true fiodhead in thiist, which involves the denial of the essential relationsof I'atherhood and Sonship in the Jlivine Nature. — J. H. M.J = 1 Cor. xii. 26.
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.
5. " They went out from us; but," be not sad, "they were not of us.'' How provest thou this? If they had been of us, they would doubtless have continued with us. Hence therefore ye 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. WHien 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 nodoubt have continued with us." For would ye know, beloved, how most certain this saying is, that they who haply have gone out and return, are not anticlirists, 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 changeth 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 rliey are not of us; yet they are not manifest, but by going out are made manifest. "And ye have an unction from the Holy One, that ye may be manifest to your own selves. •* The spiritual unction is the Holy Spirit Himself, of which 3 Two Mss. Benedictionem Eucharistitr, " the Hencdictlon of the Kiicharist."— BiiN. (So Hodl. 242 and 455,- and 813 by correction.)
4 ^y ipsi 7'obis mani/esti sitis. As there is no trace of this reading in either the Greek or Latin authorities, it is perhaps not meant to stand as part of the te.\t, though represented as such by the I'.eiiedictines. In the following clause Aug. seems to recognize the reading oiSare itavre^, dicit onines eo^tioseere bonos tt fitalos.
4/8 [Homily III.
the Sacrament is in the visible unction/ Of this unction of Christ he saith, that all who have it know the bad and the good; and they need not to be taught, because the unction itself teacheth them, 6. " I write unto you not because ye know not the truth, but because ye know it, and that no lie is of the truth." ' Behold, we are admonished how we may know antichrist. What is Christ? Truth. Himself hath said *' I am the Truth. ''^ But "no lie is of the truth." Consequently, all who lie are not yet of Christ. He hath 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 denieth 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 hath 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; ''^ and what saith the Scripture? "Whosoever shall stumble at this stone shall be broken;* and on whomsoever this stone shall come, it vvill grind him to powder." We must mark the difference of the words: it saith, he that stumbleth 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 ye 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 saith is bitter to them.
3 John xiv. 6.
6 Conguassabitur.
7. 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 hath 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 denieth that Jesus is the Christ?"'' 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 Thee the nations for Thine in. heritance, and for Thy possessions the ends of the earth. "^ We hold fast Christ's inheritance; they hold it not, for they do not communcate 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 felc by the hands of the doubting disciples: and while they yet doubted. He said to them, " It behoved 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 " " — 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.
8. But let us not be made sad: "They 7 r John li. 22 ^ Magnum sacrainentutn, sec. 13, note 3.
Homily III.]
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."' If then they went out from us, they are antichrists; if they are antichrists, they are liars; if they are liars, tiiey 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 ye 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 saith, " For they confess that they know God, but in their deeds deny Him." ^ 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 saith the Lord to such? "Ye hypocrites, how can ye speak good things, while ye are evil? "^ Your voices ye bring into mine ears: I look into your thoughts. I see an evil will there, and ye make a show of false fruits. I know what I must gather, and wlience; I do not "gather figs of thistles," I do not gather " grapes of thorns; " for " every tree is known by its fruit." ■• A more lying antichrist is he who with his mouth professes tliat Jesus is the Christ, and with his deeds denies Him. A liar in this, that he speaks one thing, and does another.
9. Now therefore, brethren, if tlecds are to be questioned, not only do we find many antichrists gone out; but many not yet manifest, who have not gone out at all. For as 2 Tit. i. ifi."
4 Matt. xii. 7, 16.
many as the Church hath 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 Cnrist." And would ye know how openly these resist Clirist? 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 thou show them that thou speakest Ciirist's words, not thine own, they endeavor all they can to convict thee of speaking thine own words, not Christ's: if however it is manifest that thou speakest 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 newmade us:) What made I thee? I made man, not avarice; I made man, not robbery; I made man, not adultery. Thou hast heard that my works praise me. Out of the mouth of the Three Caildren, 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 liglits, praise Him whatever swims, whatever flies, whatever walks, whatever creeps; all these praise the Lord. Hast thou heanl there that avarice praises the Lord? Hast thou heard that drunkenness praises the Lord? That luxury praises, that frivolity praises Him? Whatever tliou hearest not in that hymn give praise to the Lord, the Lord made not that thing. Correct what thou hast made, that what God made in thee may be saved. Bui if thou wilt not, and lovest and embracest thy sins, thou art contrary to Christ. Be thou within, be thou without, thou art an anticlirist; be thou within, be thou without, thou art chaff. But why art thou not without? Because thou hast not fallen in with a wind to carry thee away.
10. These things are now manifest, my brethren. Let no man say, I do not worsliip 7 Song of the Three Holy Children. Ex ore triuinpucroruni ipse hyninus erat ijui ab ignibus Je/enJehitt, 48o [Homily III.
Christ, but I worship God His Father. " Every one that denieth the Son, hath neither the Son nor the Father; and he that confesseth the Son, hath 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 ovm 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 wroth, 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 saith to him, Be patient; if thou hast been falsely spoken of, rejoice with me, because I also am falsely spoken of by the antichrists: but if thou art truly spoken of, come to an understanding with thine own conscience; and if thou fear to be called this, fear more to be it.
II. " Let that therefore abide in yotr, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall abide in you, ye also shall abide in the Son, and in the Father. And this is the promise that He hath promised us."'* For haply thou mightest 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 Avorld I see that I labor among temptations? I see not here that there is any rest: mere mortality weigheth down the soul, and the corruptible body presseth it down to lower things: but I bear all things, that " that which I have heard from the beginning '' s may " remain " in me; and that I may say to my God, " Because of the words of Thy lips have I kept hard ways »6 Unto what wages then? Hear, and faint not. If thou wast 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 per- 1 I John ii. 23. Omnis qid negat Filitiin, nee Filium nee Patrein hahet: et qui eonfiictiir Filium^ Filium et Patrevi habet. St. Cyprian, Testiinon. adv. Jud.W. i-j. Qui negat Fili-U)n^ neque Patrem habet: qui eonfitetur Filium, et Filium et Patrem habet: and just so St. Hilar, de Trin. vi. 42. For the Greek, the clause 6 o/ioAoyd)!/ toi' v'Cov (cal tov irarepa e'xei is abundantly authenticated by numerous Mss., Vers. Syr. and Aeth., St. Cyril, A I. in Joann. i.x. sec. 40: and the mission by some mss. and CEcumen. Theofihyl. is sufficiently explained by the similar ending of this and the former clause. The addition et Filiuin in the latter clause seems to be peculiar to the Latin, and nee Filium in the former to Augustin's copies.
2 Litigante. 3 Inseriptionem. 4 i John ii. 24, 25. 5 Wisd. ix. IS. 6 Ps. xvii. 4, LXX. and Vulg.
severing in the work: and yet he that promised it is a man who can deceive thine expectation. How much more strong oughtest thou 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 v/as made! And what is the promise? Let us see what He hath 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." Ye have heard, and in your joy ye have cried out: love that which ye have heard, and ye are delivered from your labors into the rest of eternal life. Lo, this is what God promises; ' ' eternal life. ' ' ' Lo, this what God threatens; eternal fire. What to those set on the right hand? "Come, )'e blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world." ^ 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.
12. Remember then, my brethren, that Christ hath promised us eternal life: "This," saith he, "is the promise which He hath promised us, even eternal life. These things have I written to you concerning them which seduce you."^ 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 to-morrow shall die. And with what face wilt thou go hence to Him that abideth 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 ye may know that ye 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 1° I John ii. 26, 27. IJt sciatis quia unctionein liabetis, et uneiio quam aecepimus ab eo permaneat in nobis. This reading, which is not found in the Greek copies, may have originated in the attempt to explain a difficult construction. The Vulgate keeps close to the Greek: Et Z'os unetionem quam ncce/>istis ab eo maneat in vobis.
II Unctionis sacramentum est, virtus ipsa invisibilis: i.e. the Homily IV.]
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 bv the sun's warmth, not withered.
13. " And ye have no need that any man teach you, because His' unction teacheth you concerning all things."^ Then to what purpose is it that " we," my brethren, teach you? If " His unction teacheth 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 thou wast speaking? Thou hast said, " His unction teacheth you concerning all things.'' To what purpose hast thou written an Epistle like this? what teaching didst " thou " 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 speaketh not, they whom the Holy Gnost within teacheth unction br chrism which we receive is a sacrainenttim, a thing in which, as Aujf. defines the term, '^ aiimi viiietiir^ a!iu(f in/ilh'-^//ar, one thing is seen, another understood." '^ Aliitd est sacramentum^ aliud virtus sacramenti,"' supra Hom. x.wi. 11.
1 Unctio i/>sius, Vulg. ejus, representing the reading to avrov Xpi<Tiia: but the truer reading, TO ouTo xp'<''^"i, seems to be recognized in the opening of Hom. iv., ipsa unctio docet vos Je omnibus.
2 I John U. 27.
i Jam hie videte luagntun sacramcntuiu: as above, sec. 7; meaning in both places, that whereas the apostle's words seem at first sight to be contradicted by facts, his true meaning Hes deeper, and involves a spiritual truth of great importance.
not, those go back, untaught. The teachings of the master from without are a sort of aids and admonitions. He that teacheth the hearts, hath His chair in heaven. Therefore saith He also Himself in the Gospel: " Call no man your master upon earth; One is your Master, even Christ." ■* Let Him therefore Himself speak to you within, when not one of mankind is there: for though there be some one at thy side, there is none in thine heart. Yet let there not be none in thine heart: 5 let Christ be in thine 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 teacheth: Christ teacheth; His inspiration teacheth. 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 J'rom without, as is the husbandman to the tree: from without he worketh, applieth 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 hath watered; but God gave the increase: neither he that planteth is any thing, neither he that watereth, but He that giveth the increase, even God."^ This then we say to you: whether we plant, or whether we water, by speaking we are not any thing; but He that giveth the increase, even God: that is, " His unction which teacheth you concerning all things."
5 £t non sit nullus in corde tuo. Three MSS. i-t non sit ullus in corde tuo [" and let there not be any in thine heart, (only) let Christ be in thme heart "]. One Ms.: ct nullus in corde tuo; another: et nullus sit in corde tuo [with the same meaning]. Ben. Bodl. Mss. vary, no two reading alike. One, " f / ne sit ullus." The reading most like St. Aug. would be, " <■/ ne sit nullus,'''' " and lest there be none."
6 I Cor. iii. 6, 7.
HOMILY IV.
1 John II. 27; HI. 8.
"And it is true, and lieth not. Even as it hath taught you, abide in it. And now, little children, abide in Him; that, when He shall appear, we may have confidence, and not lie put to shame by Him at His coming. If ye know that He is righteous, know ye that every one that doeth righteousness is born of Him. Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called and should be the sons of God: THE WORKS OF ST, AUGUSTIN.
[Homily IV.
therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew not Him, us also the world knoweth not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it is not yet manifested what we shall be. We know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is. And every man that hath this hope in Him purifieth himself, even as He is pure. Whosoever committeth sin committeth also iniquity. Sin is iniquity. And ye know that He was manifested to take away sin; and in Him is no sin. Whosoever abideth in Him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen Him, neither known Him. Little children, let no man seduce you. He that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as He is righteous. He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested; that He might destroy the works of the devil."
1. Ye remember, brethren, that yesterday's lesson was brought to a close at this point, that " ye have no need that any man teach you, but the unction itself teacheth 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 withckut 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."' For the devil wishes to inhabit the hearts of men, and speak there the things which are able to seduce. But what saith the Lord Jesus? "The prince of this world is cast out." = 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 hath 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 ye have heard.