4 Donatists.
5 John vii. 37-39.
H Mil Y VI. 1 bear witness, " From strange water keep thee far."' What meaneth, "water"? Spirit. Does water always signify spirit? Not always: but in some places it signifies the Spirit, in some places it signifies baptism, in some places signifies peoples,- in some places signifies counsel: thus thou findest it said in a certain place, " Counsel is a fountain of life to them that possess it. " ^ So then, ia divers places of the Scriptures, the term "water" signifies divers things. Now however by the term water ye have heard the Holy Spirit spoken of, not by an interpretation of ours, but by witness of the Gospel, where it saith, " But this said He of the Spirit, which they should receive that should believe on Him." If then by the name of water is signified the Holy Spirit, and this epistle saith to us, " Believe not every spirit, but prove the spirits, whether they be of God;" let us understand that of this it is said, '' From strange water keep thee far, and from a strange fountain drink thou not."' What meaneth, " From a strange fountain drink thou not ''? A strange spirit believe thou not.
12. There remains then the test by which it is to be proved to be the Spirit of God. He has indeed set down a sign, and this, belike, difticult: let us see, however. We are to recur to that charity; it is that which teacheth us, because it is the unction. However, what saith he here? "Prove the spirits, whether they be from God: because many false prophets have gone out into this world." • Now there are all heretics and all schismatics. How tlien am I to prove the spirit? He goes on: " In this is known ■* the Spirit of God." Wake up the ears of your heart. We were at a loss; we were saying. Who knows? who discerns? Behold, he is about to tell the siirn.
Herebv is known the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Clirist is come in the flesh is of God: and every spirit that confessetii not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is the anticlirist, of whom ye have heard that he should come; and even now already is he in this world." s Our ears, so to say, are on the alert for discerning of the spirits; and we have been told something, such that thereby we discern not a whit the more. For what saith he? "Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ came in the flesh, is of God." 'i'hen is the spirit that is among the heretics, of God, seeing they "confess that Jesus Christ came in the • Prov. ix. t8; LXX.
^ Rev. xvii. 15. 1 Prov. xvi. 22.
4 Coi;»osc//itr, so Vul)?. reprcsentiriK tlie readint; of some Mss. yifoxTKerai. lint the best authorities have yiyuKjKtrt.
5 I John iv. 2, 3.
flesh"? Aye, here perchance they lift themselves up against us, and say: Ye have not the Spirit from God; but we confess "that Jesus Christ came in the flesh: " but the apostle here hath said that those have not the Spirit of God, who confess not "that Jesus Christ came in tiie flesh." Ask the Arians: they confess " that Jesus Christ came in the flesh: " ask the Eunomians; they confess "that Jesus Christ came in the flesh:" ask the Macedonians; they confess "that Jesus Christ came in the flesh:" put the question to the Cataphryges; they confess " that Jesus Christ came in the flesh: " put it to the Novatians; they confess "that Jesus Christ came in the flesh." Then have all these heresies the Spirit of God? Are they then no false prophets? Is there then no deception there, no seduction there? Assuredly they are antichrists; for "they went out from us, but were not of us."
13. Wliat are we to do then? By what to discern them? Be very attentive; let us go together in heart, and knock. Charity herself keeps watch; for it is none other than she that shall knock, she also that shall open: anon ye shall understand in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Already ye have heard that it was said above, " Whoso denieth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh, the same is an antichrist." There also we asked. Who denies? because neither do we deny, nor do those deny. And we found that some do in their deeds deny;*^ and we brought testimony from the apostle, who saith, " For they confess that they know God, but in their deeds deny Him."" Thus then let us now also make the enquiry in the deeds not in the tongue. What is the spirit that is not from God? That "which denieth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh." And what is the spirit that is from God? That " whicli confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh." Who is he that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh? Now, brethren, to the mark! let us look to the works, not stop at the noise of the tongue. Let us ask 7i:'/iy Christ came in the flesh, so we get at the persons who deny that He is come in the flesh. If thou stop at tongues, why, thou shalt hear many a heresy confessing that Christ is come in the flesh: but the truth convicteth those men. Wherefore came Christ in the flesh? Wns He not God? Is it not written of Him, " In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God? " -" Was it not He tiiat did feed angels, is it not He that doth feed 7 Tit. i. i6.
8 John i. I.
[Homily VI.
angels? Did He not in such sort come hither, that He departed not thence? Did He not in such sort ascend, that He forsook not us? Wherefore then came He in the flesh? Because it behooved us to have the hope of resurrection shown unto us. God He was, and in flesh He came; for God could not die, flesh could die; He came then in the flesh, that He might die for us. But how died He for us? " Greater charity than this hath no man, that a man lay down his life for his friends."' Charity therefore brought Him to the flesh. Whoever therefore has not charity denies that Christ is come in the flesh. Here then do thou now question all heretics. Did Christ come in the flesh? " He did come; this I believe, this I confess." Nay, this thou deniest. "How do 1 deny? Thou hearest that I say it! " Nay, I convict thee of denying it. Thou sayest with the voice, deniest with the heart; sayest in words, deniest in deeds. " How," sayest thou, *' do I deny in deeds? " Because the end for which Christ came in the flesh, was, that He might die for us. He died for us, because therein He taught much charity. " Greater charity than this hath no man, that a man lay down his life for his friends." Thou hast not charity, seeing thou for thine own honor dividest unity. Therefore by this understand ye the spirit that is from God. Give the earthen vessels a tap, put them to the proof, whether haply they be cracked and give a dull sound: see whether they ring full and clear, see whether charity be there. Thou takest thyself away from the unity of the whole earth, thou dividest the Church by schisms, thou rendest the Body of Christ. He came in the ■ flesh, to gather in one, thou makest an outcry to scatter abroad. This then is the Spirit of God, which saith that Jesus is come in the flesh, which saith, not in tongue but in deeds, which saith, not by making a noise but by loving. And that spirit is not of God, which denies that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh; denies, here also, not in tongue but m life; not in words but in deeds. It is manifest therefore by what we may know the brethren. Many within are in a sort within; but none without except he be indeed without.
14. Nay, and that ye may know that he has referred the matter to deeds, he saith, ''And every spirit, ^ui solvit Christum^ which does away with Christ that He came in the flesh, ^ is not of God." A doing away 1 John XV. 13.
2 Qui sohiit Christutn in came venisse. Edd. Eras^n. Lugd. and Ven. omit i>i came venisse, but the Louvain editors attest that they are found in the Mss. of Augustin. Ed. Par. (Bodl. MSS. ext. Laud. ii6, a late one, have them), hzfra, Horn. vii. 2. Omnis qui solvit J. C, et?iegat euin in came venisse. The in deeds is meant. What has he shown thee? " That denieth: " in that he saith, " doeth away" (or, " unmaketh "). He came to gather in one, thou comest to unmake. Thou wouldest pull Christ's members asunder. How can it be said that thou deniest not that Christ is come in the flesh, who rendest asunder the Church of God which He hath gathered together? Therefore thou goest against Christ; thou art an antichrist. Be thou within, or be thou without, thou art an antichrist: only, when thou art within, thou art hidden; when thou art without, thou art made manifest. Thou unmakest Jesus and deniest that He came in the flesh; thou art not of God. Therefore He saith in the Gospel: " Whoso shall break ^ one of these least commandments, and shall teach so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven."'* What is this breaking? What this teaching? A breaking in the deeds and a teaching as it. were in words. s "Thou that preachest men should not steal, dost thou steal? " ^ Therefore he that steals breaks or undoes the commandment in his deed, and as it were teaches, so: " he shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven," i.e. in the Church of this present.
printed Vulg. has, Omtiis spiritics qui solvit Christu>n ex Deonon est. In Serm. 1S2 and 183, preached some time later on this text, Aug. reads it, Omnis s/>. qui non conjitetur (and, qui negat) Jesutn Christum in came venisse. S. Cypr. Test. adv.Jmi. ii.. 18, qui autcm negat in cat-ne venisse, de Deo non est. S. Iren.. iii. 18, in the ancient Latin version, Et omnis sp. qui solvit Jes2im Christum., non est ex Deo. Tertuli. ad^i. Marcion. v. 16, prcecursores antichristi spiritics, negantes Christum in came venisse et solvetitcs Jesunt, sc. in Deo creatore. Dejejun. adv. Psych.
I, non quod alium Deum priedicent..., nee quod J.esum Christum solvatit. Dc came Christi, 24. Qui negat Christum in came venisse, hie antichristus est: where he says, the apostle " by clearly marking one Christ, shakes tho.se who argue for a Christ multiform, making Christ one, Jesus another, &c." Leo Ep. X. 5, ad Fla7>ian, seems to have read in the Or. ^laipoOi'. Other Latin authorities for the reading qui solvit are cited by Mill, in loc. Socrates H. E. vii. 32, affirms, that in the old mi^.'^. the reading was TTcii' TTi^eO/xa o AiJet toi' ^X-qxrovv ctTrb Tou ©eoO ouk ecTL: adding, that the expression was expunged from the old copies by those who would fain separate the Godhead from the Man of the Incarnation, 01. ^wpifeii' diro toO ttj? oixoi'ou.ia; ai'SpujjroD ^ouAo/u.evoi. Trji' fleoTTjTa. (Valesius in loc. suggests^hat Socrates may haveread in his MSS. o Auet tqv 'I-rjaoOi' ctTrb Toi) ©eoO, e« tou 0eoO ovk ecTTi.• Matthai, that he wrote, o fxr; o/uoAovfi, TourecrTir, 6 Auei.)
But no extant MSs. acknowledge the reading: and the Greek Fathers headed by S. Polycarp ad Philipp. sec. 7 (ttos 09 if /oir; o/jLokoyij 'I.X. iv aapKL e\rj\vdevai,) bear witness to the received text: only Cyril, de recta Fide ad Reginas being cited by Mill for the reading Aiiei. This reading may (as Mill has suggested, comp. Grot. in loc.) have originated in a margmal gloss, directed against the Gnostics. Thus in a scholion edited by Matthai it is said: " For the precursors of Antichrist were the heresies, whose characteristic mark it is by the means of false prophets and spirits AOetv t'ov 'Itjctoui', to unmake Jesus, by not confessing that He is come in the flesh."
5 S. Aug. de Serin. Dom. in Monte, i. 21. Qui ergo solverit et docucrit homines...i.e., secundum id quod solvit, non secundum id quod invcnit et legit...Qui autcm fecerit et docucrit sic (ouTuj? for oijTo?) h. e. secundum id quod non solvit. Here he takes docucrit sic in the sense of teaching men by and agreeably with the practice of the teacher, which is that of breaking the commandments: " whosoever shall break one of these least commandments and in that way shall teach men," solverit et secundum suam solutioncm docucrit. But supra, Horn, in Ev. cxxii. 9, he seems to make it parallel with Matt, xxiii. 3, " they say and do not:" qui decent bona loquendo qua; solvunt male vivendo. Comp. Serm. cclii. 3. His full meaning appears to be, that together with the good teaching in words, there goes a sort of teaching (quasi docet) not in words but in the deeds.
^ Rom. ii. 21.
Homily VII.]
5or time.' Of him it is said, " What they say do ye; but what they do, that do not ye " But he that shall do, and shall teach so, shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven." From this, that He has here said, /^(T.?;-//, "shall do," while in opposition to this He has there said solverit, meaning non fecerit, " shall not do, and shall teach so" — to break, then, is, not to do — what doth ' So in Serm. cclii. 3: de Civ. D, xx. 9; but otherwise explained above, Tract, cxxii. 9. 2 JNIatt, xxiii. 3.
He teach us, but that we should interrogate men's deeds, not take their words upon trust? The obscurity of the things compels us to speak much at length, chiefly that that which the Lord deigns to reveal may be brought within reach even of the brethren of slower understanding, because all were bought by the blood of Christ. And I am afraid the epistle itself will not be finished during these days as I promised: but as the Lord will^ it is better to reserve the remainder, than to overload your hearts with too much food.
HOMILY VII.
I John IV. 4-12.
" Now are ye of God, little children, and have overcome him: because greater is He that is in you, than he that is in this world. They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. We are of God; he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. From this know we the spirit of truth, and [the spirit] of error. Dearly beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God in us, that God sent His only-begotten Son into this world, that we may live through Him. Herein is love, not that we loved, but tliat He loved us, and sent His Son to be the Atoner' for our sins. Dearly beloved, if God so loved us, we ouglit also to love one another. No man hath seen God at any time.''
I. So is this world to all the faithful seeking their own country, as was the desert to the people Israel. They wandered indeed as yet, and were seeking their own country: but with God for their guide they could not wander astray. Their way was God's bidding.'' For where they went about during ■forty years, the journey itself is made up of a very few stations, and is known to all. They were retarded because they were in training, not because they were forsaken. That therefore which God promiseth us is ineffable sweetness and a good,' as the Scripture saith, and as ye have often heard by us rehearsed, whicii " eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath enterotl into the heart of man. "^ But by temporal labors we are exercised, and by temptations of this present life are trained. Howbeit, if ye would not die of thirst in this wilderness, drink charity. It is the fountain wliich God has been pleased to ' Litiitorem.
^Jussio Dei: so the Mss. but the printed copies, visio Dei. Bkn. (15odl. 455, and Laud. ii6, " r/Zi/o," nodi. 813, so with "jHssio" over the line; the rest ''jussio.")
place here that we faint not in the way: and we shall more abundantly drink thereof, when we are come to our own land. The Gospel has just been read; now to speak of the very words with which the lesson ended, what other thing heard ye but concerning charity? For we have made an agreement with our God in prayer, that if we would that He should forgive us our sins, we also should forgive the sins which may have been committed against us.^ Now that which forgiveth is none other than charity. Take away charity from the heart; hatred possesseth it, it knows not how to forgive. Let charity l)e there, and slie fearlessly forgiveth, not being straitened..Vnd tliis whole epistle which we have undertaken to expound to you, see whether it commendeth augtit else than this one thing, charity. Nor need we fear lest by much speaking thereof it come to be hateful. For what is there to love, if charit}' come to be hateful? It is by charity that otlier things come to be rightly loved; then how must 5 Matt. vi. 13.
[Homily VII.
itself be loved! Let not that then which ought never to depart from the heart, depart from the tongue.
2. '* Now," saith he, " are ye of God little children, and have overcome him:"' whom but Antichrist? For above he had said, "Whosoever unmaketh° Jesus Christ and denieth that He is come in the flesh is not of God." Now we expounded, if ye remember, that all those who violate charity deny Jesus Christ to have come in the flesh. For Jesus had no need to come but because of charity: as indeed the charity we are commending is that which the Lord Himself commendeth in the Gospel, " Greater love than this can no man have, that a man lay down his life for his friends. "3 How was it possible for the Son of God to lay down His life for us without putting on flesh in which He might die? Whosoever therefore violates charity, let him say what he will with his tongue, his life denies that Christ is come in the flesh; and this is an antichrist, wherever he may be, whithersoever he have come in. But what saith the apostle to them who are citizens of that country for which we sigh? "Ye have overcome him." And whereby have they overcome? "Because greater is He that is in you, than he that is in this world." Lest they should attribute the victory to their own strength, and by arrogance of pride should be overcome, (for whomsoever the devil makes proud, he overcomes,) wishing them to keep humility, what saith he? "Ye have overcome him." Every man now, at hearing this saying, " Ye have overcome," lifts up the head, lifts up the neck, wishes himself to be praised. Do not extol thyself; see who it is that in thee hath overcome. Why hast thou overcome? " Because greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world.'' Be humble, bear thy Lord; be thou the beast for Him to sit on. Good is it for thee that He should rule, and He guide. For if thou have not Him to sit on thee, thou mayest lift up the neck, m,ayest strike out the heels: but woe to thee without a ruler, for this liberty sendeth thee among the wild beasts to be devoured!
3. "These are of the world." ^ Who? The antichrists. Ye have already heard who they be. And if ye be not such, ye know them, but whosoever is such, knows not. "These are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them." Who are they that "speak of the world"? Mark who are against charity. Behold, ye have heard the Lord saying.
2 Solvit.
4 I John iv. 5.
" If ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will forgive you also your trespasses. But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." 5 It is the sentence of Truth: or if it be not Truth that speaks, gainsay it. If thou art a Christian and believest Christ, He hath said, " I am the truth." This sentence is true, is firm. Now hear men that "speak of the world." "And wilt thou not avenge thyself? And wilt thou let him say that he has done this to thee? Nay: let him feel that he has to do with a man." Every day are such things said. They that say such things, "of the world speak they, and the world heareth them*" None say such things but those that love the world, and by none are such things heard but by those who love the world. And ye have heard that to love the world and neglect charity is to deny that Jesus came in the flesh. Or say if the Lord Himself in the flesh did that? if, being buffeted, He willed to be avenged? if, hanging on the cross. He did not say, " Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do "?^ But if He threatened not, who had power; why dost thou threaten, why art thou inflated with anger, who art under power of another? He died because it was His will to die, yet He threatened not; thou knowest not when thou shalt die, and dost thou threaten?
4. "We are of God."' Let us see why; see whether it be for any other thing than charity. " We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and of error: " namely by this, that he that heareth us hath the spirit of truth; he that heareth not us, hath the spirit of error. Let us see what he adviseth, and let us choose rather to hear him advising in the spirit of truth, and not antichrists, not lovers of the. world, not the world. If we are born of God, "beloved,"^ he goes on — see above from what: " We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and of error: " aye, now, he makes us eagerly attentive: to be told that he who knows God, hears; but he who knows not, hears not; and that this is the discerning between the spirit of truth and the spirit of error: well then, let us see what he is about to advise; in what we must hear him — "Beloved, let us love one another." ^ Why? because a man adviseth? "Because love is of God." Much hath he commended love, in that he hath said, " Is of Homily VII.]
God:" but he is going to say more; let us eagerly hear. At present he hath said, " Love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God."' Why? "For God is love " [Love is God].= What more could be said, brethren? If nothing were said in praise of love throughout the pages of this epistle, if nothing whatever throughout the other pages of the Scriptures, and this one only thing were all we were told by the voice of the Spirit of God, " For Love is God; " nothing more ought we to require.
5. Now see that to act against love is to act against God. Let no man say, " I sin against man when I do not love my brother, (mark it!) and sin against man is a thing to be taken easily; only let me not sin against God. How sinnest thou not against God, when thou sinnest against love? " Love is. God." Do "we" say this? If we said, " Love is God," haply some one of you might be offended and say, What hath he said? What meant he to say, that " Love is God "? God "gave" love, as a gift God bestowed love. "Love is of God: Love IS God." Look, here have ye, brethren, the Scriptures of God: this epistle is canonical; throughout all nations it is recited, it is held by tne authority of the whole earth, it hath edified the whole earth. Thou art here told by the Spirit of God, " Love is God." Now if thou dare, go against God, and refuse to love thy brother!
6. In what sense then was it said a while ago, " Love is of God; " and now, " Love IS God? " For God is Father and Son and Holy Ghost: the Son, God of God, the Holy Ghost, God of God; and these three, one God, not three Gods. If the Son be God, and the Holy Ghost God, and that person loveth in whom dwelleth the Holy Ghost: therefore "Love is God;" but "IS God," because " Of God." For thou hast both in the epistle; both, " Love is of God," and, " Love is God." Of the Father alone the Scripture hath it not to say, ^lat He is " of God: " but when thou hearest that expression, "Of God," either the Son is meant, or the Holy Ghost. Because while tiie apostle saith, "The love of God is shed al^road in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given unto ' I John iv. 7. 8.
'' Deus diUitic est: AiiKUstin here expounds it, " Love is God;" it is "of Clod" and "is (lod," (as "the Word was tvith God AnA was <7rt(/:") this is clear from sec. 6 and Hom.viii.i4,"K()r He has not hesitated to say, Pens charitixs est. Charity is (!od." In the theological exposition dr Triii. xv. 27, he lakes it in the usual sense, " ("lod is I.ove" (as " Ciod is Spirit "). In the (Ireek the proposition is not convertible, a.yaT<r\ being marked as the predicate by the absence of the article while 9«6? has it: 6 Sees ayairi} us: " 3 let us understand that He who subsisteth in love is the Holy Ghost. For it is even this Holy Spirit, whom the bad cannot receive, even He is that Fountain of which the Scripture saith, " Let the fountain of thy water be thine own, and let no stranger partake with thee." '■ Yox all who love not God, are strangers, are antichrists. And though they come to the churches, they cannot be numbered among the children of God; not to them belongeth that Fountain of life. To have baptism is possible even for a bad man; to have prophecy is possible even for a bad man. We find that king Saul had prophecy: he was persecuting holy David, yet was he filled with the spirit of prophecy, and began to prophesy. 5 To receive the. sacrament of the body and blood of the Lord is possible even for a bad man: for of such it is said, "He that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh judgment to himself."^ To have the name of Christ is possible even for a bad man; i.e. even a bad man can be called a Christian: as they of whom it is said, " They polluted the name of their God."' I say, to have all these sacraments is possible even for a bad man; but to have charity* and to be a bad man, is not possible. This then is the peculiar gift, this the " Fountain " that is singly one's " own." To drink of this the Spirit of God exhorteth you, to drink of Himself the Spirit of God exhorteth you.
7. " In this was manifested the love of God in us."^ Behold, in order that we may love God, we have exhortation. Could we love Him, unless He first loved us? If we were slow to love, let us not be slow to love in return. He first loved us; not. even so do we love. He loved the unrighteous, but He did away the unrighteousness: He loved the unrighteous, but not unto unrighteousness did He gather them together: He loved the sick, but He visited them to make them whole. "Love," then, "is God." "In this was manifested the love of God in us, because that God sent His only-begotten Son into the world, that we may live through Him." As the Lord Himself saith: " (ireater love than this can no man have, that a man lay down his life for his friends: " ' and there was proved the love of Christ towards us, in that He died for us: how is the love of the Fatlicr towards us proved? In that He "sent His only Son " to die for us: so also the apostle Paul saith: " He that sjiared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how hath He not with Him also freely given us all [Homily VII.
things?"' Behold the Father delivered up Christ; Judas delivered Him up; does it not seem as if the thing done were of the same sort? Judas is '' fradifor," one that delivered "up, [or, a traitor]: is God the Father that? God forbid! sayest thou. I do not say it, but the apostle saith, " He that spared not His own Son, but ^' fradidit Euin" delivered Him up for us all." Both the Father delivered Him up, and He delivered up Himself, The same apostle saith: "Who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me."^ If the Father delivered up the Son, and the Son delivered up Himself, what has Judas done? There was a ''' traditio'' (delivering up) by the Father; there was a " traditio'' by the Son; there was a ''' traditio" by Judas: the thing done is the same, but what is it that distinguishes the Father delivering up the Son, the Son delivering up Himself, and Judas the disciple delivering up his Master? This: that the Father and the Son did it in love, but Judas did this^ in treacherous betrayal. Ye see that not what the man does is the thing to be considered; but with what mind and will he does it. We find God the Father in the same deed in which we find Judas; the Father we bless, Judas we detest. Why do we bless the Father, and detest Judas? We bless charity, detest iniquity.
How great a good was conferred upon mankind by the delivering up of Christ! Had Judas this in his thoughts, that therefore he delivered Him up? God had in His thoughts our salvation by which we were redeemed; Judas had in his thoughts the price for which he sold the Lord. The Son Himself had in His thoughts the price He gave for us, Judas in his the price he received to sell Him. The diverse intention therefore makes the things done diverse. Though the thing be one, yet if we measure it by the diverse intentions, we find the one a thing to be loved, the other to be condemned; the one we find a thing to be glorified, the other to be detested. Such is the force of charity. See that it alone discriminates, it alone distinguishes the doings of men. 8. This we have said in the case where the things done are similar. In the case where they are diverse, we find a man by charity made fierce;* and by iniquity made winningly gentle. A father beats a boy, and a boy-stealer caresses. If thou name the two things, blows and caresses, who would not choose the caresses, and decline the blows? If thou mark the persons, it is charity that beats, iniquity that caresses. See what we are insisting upon; that the deeds of men are