8. So then ought the Christian to be, that he glory not over other " men." For God hath given it thee to be over the beasts, i.e. to be better than the beasts. This hast thou by nature; thou shalt always be better than a beast. If thou wish to be better than another man, thou wilt begrudge him when thou shalt see him to be thine equal. Thou oughtest to wish all men to be thine equals; and if by wisdom thou surpass any, thou oughtest to wish that he also may be wise. As long as he is slow, he learns from thee; as long as he is untaught, he hath need of thee; and thou art seen to be the teacher, he the learner; therefore thou seemest to be the superior, because thou art the teacher; he the inferior, because the learner. E.xcept thou wish him thine equal, thou wishest to liave him always a learner. But if thou wish to have him always a learner, thoii wilt be an envious teacher. If an envious teacher, how wilt thou be a teacher? I pray thee, do not teach him thine enviousness. Hear the apostle speaking of the bowels of charity: " I would tliat all were even as I." '° In what sense did he wish all to be his equals? In this was he superior to all, that by charity he wished all to be his equals. I say then, man 8 I. like XV. 22, stolain firiinain. R. Aufr. lie Cn-it. mi lift. vi. l8. " That ' first robe ' is either the riKhtfoiisnoss froiii which man fell; or, if itsi>;nify the cU)thiii,v; of bodily iminortalily, this also he h)St, when by reason of sin he could not attain thereto:" and sec. 31. " Why is ' the first robe ' l)roii).;ht forth to him, but as he receives a^ain the imiiiorlalily which.\dam lost.*" TertMllian: Tcstciii prest i ittiiii, /•>■ icii- in: " the former robe, which he nad of old...the clothing of the Holy Spirit." Theophylacl. TJiifjTo\i\v Trji' ap\atai'...to «riii/Lia rr\<i di/>0apa'(a(, " the original robe, the clothinx of incorruption."
5IO [Homily VIII.
has past bounds; he would needs be greedy of more than his due, would be above men, he that was made above the beasts: and this is pride.
9. And see vvlfat great works pride does. Lay it up in your hearts, how much alike, how much as it were upon a par, are the works it doeth, and the works of charity. Charity feeds the hungry, and so does pride: charity, that God may be praised; pride, that itself may be praised. Charity clothes the naked, so does pride: charity fasts, so does pride: charity buries the dead, so does pride. All good works which charity wishes to do, and does; pride, on the other hand, drives at the same, and, so to say, keeps her horses up to the mark. But charity is between her and it, and leaves not place for illdriven pride; not ill-driving, but ill-driven. Woe to the man whose charioteer is pride, for he must needs go headlong! But that, in the good that is done, it may not be pride that sets us on, who knows? who sees it? where is it? the works we see: mercy feeds, pride also feeds; mercy takes in the stranger, pride also takes in the stranger; mercy intercedes for the poor, pride also intercedes. How is this? In the works we see no difference. I dare to say somewhat, but not I; Paul hath said it: charify dies, that is, a man having charity confesses the name of Christ, suffers martyrdom: pride also confesses, suffers also martyrdom. The one hath charity, the other hath not charity. But let him that hath not charity hear from the apostle: " If I distribute all my goods to the poor, and if I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing.' So then the divine Scripture calls us off from the display of the face outwardly to that which is within; from this surface which is vaunted before men, it calls us off to that which is within. Return to thy own conscience, question it. Do not consider what blossoms outwardly, but what root there is in the ground. Is lust rooted there? A show there may be of good deeds, truly good works there cannot be. Is charijiy rooted there? Have no fear: nothing evil can come of that. Tlie proud caresses, love Ms severe. The one clothes, the other smites. For the one clothes in order to please men, the other smites in order to correct by discipline. More accepted is the blow of charity than the alms of pride.
Come then within, brethren; and in all things, whatsoever ye do, look unto God your witness. See, if He seeth, with what mind ye do it. If your heart accuse you not that ye do it for the sake of display, it is well: fear ye not. But when ye do good, fear not lest another see you. Fear thou lest thou do it to the end that thou mayest be praised: let the other see it, that God may be praised. For if thou hidest it from the eyes of man, thou hidest it from the imitation of man, thou withdrawest from God His praise. Two are there to whom thou doest the alms: two hunger; one for bread, the other for righteousness. Between these two famishing souls: — as it is written, "Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled: " ^ — between these two famishing persons thou the doer of the good work art set; if charity does the work by occasion of the one, therein it hath pity on both, it would succor both. For the one craves what he may eat, the other craves what he may imitate. Thou feedest the one, give thyself as a pattern to the other; so hast thou given alms to both: the one thou hast caused to thank thee for killing his hunger, the other thou hast made to imitate thee by setting him an example.
10. Shew mercy then, as men of merciful hearts; because in loving enemies also, ye love brethren. Think not that John has given no precept concerning love' of our enemy, because he has not ceased to speak of brotherly love. Ye love brethren. "How," sayest thou, "do we love brethren? " I ask wherefore thou lovest an enemy. Wherefore dost thou love him? That he may be whole in this life? what if it be not expedient for him? That he may be rich? what if by his very riches he shall be blinded? That he may marry a wife? what if he shall have a bitter life of it? That he may have children? what if they shall be bad? Uncertain therefore are these things which thou seemest to wish for thine enemy, in that thou lovest him; they are uncertain. Wish for him that he may have with thee eternal life; wish for him that he may be thy brother: when thou lovest him, thou lovest a brother. For thou lovest in him not what he is, but what thou wishest that he may be. I once said to you, my beloved, if I mistake not: There is a log of timber lying in sight; a good workman has seen the log, not yet planed, just as it was hewn from the forest, he has taken a liking to it, he would make something out of it. For indeed he did not love it to this end that it should always remain thus. In his art he has seen what it shall be, not in his liking what it is; and his liking is for the thing he will make of it, not ' I Cor. xiii. 3.
2 Scevit.
3 Matt. V. 6.
Homily VIII.]
for the thing it is. So God loved us sinners. We say that God loved sinners: for He saith, " They that are whole need not the Physician, but they that are sick."' Did He love us sinners to the end we should still remain sinners? As timber from the wood our Carpenter saw us, and had in His thoughts the building He would make thereof, not the unwrought timber that it was. So too thou seest thine enemy striving against thee, raging, biting with words, exasperating with contumelies, harassing with hatred: thou hast regard to this in him, that he is a man. Thou seest all these things that are against thee, that they were done by man; and thou seest in him that he was made by God. Now that he was made man, was God's doing: but that he hates thee, is his doing; that he has ill-will at thee, is his doing. And what sayest thou in thy mind? Lord, be merciful to him, forgive him his sins, strike terror into him, change him. Thou lovest not in him what he is, but what thou wishest him to be. Consequently, when thou lovest an enemy, thou lovest a brother. Wherefore, perfect love is the loving an enemy: which perfect love is in brotherly love. And let no man say that John the apostle has admonished us somewhat less, and the Lord Christ somewhat more. John has admonished us to love the brethren; Christ has admonished us to love even enemies. Mark to what end Christ hath bidden thee to love thine enemies. That they may remain always enemies? If He bade it for this end, that they should remain enemies, thou hatest,^ not lovest. Mark how He Himself loved, i.e. because He would not that they should be still the persecutors they were. He said, " Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."^ Whom He willed to be forgiven, them He willed to be changed; whom He willed to be changed, of enemies He deigned to make brethren, and did in truth make them so. He was killed, was buried, rose again, ascended into heaven: sent the Holy Ghost to His disciples: they began with boldness to preach His name, they did miracles in the name of Him that was crucified and slain: those slayers of the Lord saw them; and they who in rage had shed His blood, by believing drank it.
II. These things have I said, brethren, and somewhat at length: yet because charity was to be more earnestly commended to you, beloved, in this way was it to be commended. For if there be no charity in you, we have said nothing. But if it be in you, we have as it were cast oil upon the ilames. And in ■ Malt. i.\. 12.
« Odis.
3 Luke xxiii. 34.
whom it was not, perchance by words it hath been kindled. In one, that which was there hath grown; in another, that hath begun to be, which was not. To this end therefore have we said these things, that ye be not slow to love your enemies. Does any man rage against thee? he rages, pray thou; he hates, pity thou. It is the fever of his soul that hates thee: he will be whole, and will thank thee. How do physicians love them that are sick? Is it the sick that they love? If they love them as sick, they wish them to be always sick. To this end love they the sick; not that they should still be sick, but that from being sick they should be made whole. And how much have they very often to suffer from the frenzied! What contumelious language! Very often they are even struck by them. He attacks the fever, forgives the man. And what shall I say, brethren? does he love his enemy? Nay, he hates his enemy, the disease; for it is this that he hates, and loves the man by whom he is struck: he hates the fever. For by whom or by what is he struck? by the disease, by the sickness, by the fever. He takes away that which strives against him, that there may remain that from which he shall have thanks. So do thou. If thine enemy hate thee, and unjustly hate thee; know that Ij^ie lust of the world reigns in him, therefore he hates thee. If thou also hate him, thou on the other hand renderest evil for evil. What does it, to render evil for evil? I wept for one sick man who hated thee; now bewail I thee, if thou also hatest. But he attacks thy property; he takes from thee I know not what things which thou hast on earth: therefore hatest thou him, because he puts thee to straits on earth. Be not thou straitened, remove thee to heaven above; tiiere shalt thou have thine heart where there is wide room, so that thou mayest not be straitened in the hope of life eternal. Consider what the things are that he takes from tliee: not even them would he take from thee, but by permission of Him who " scourgeth every son whoni He receiveth.''^ He, this same enemy of thine, is in a manner tiie instrument •• in the hancls of God, by which thou mayest be healed. If God knows it to be good for thee that he should despoil thee. He permits him; if He knows it to be good for thee that thou shouldest receive blows, He permits him to smite thee: by the means of Him He careth for thee: wish thou that he may be made whole. 12. " No man hath seen God at any time." See, beloved: " If we love one another, God 4 llcb. xii. 6.
5 lurtiiiHi-tttuin.
5^2 [Homily VIII.
will dwell in us, and His love will be perfected in us."' Begin to love; thou shalt be perfected. Hast thou begun to love? God has begun to dwell in thee: love Him that has begun to dwell in thee, that by more perfect indwelling He may make thee perfect. " In this we kno^v that we dwell in Him and He in us, because He hath given us of His Spirit." ^ It is well: thanks be to God! We come to know that He dwelleth in us. And whence come we to know this very thing, to wit, that we do know that He dwelleth in us? Because John himself has said this: " Because He hath given us of His Spirit." Whence know we that He hath given us of His Spirit? This very thing, that He hath given thee of His Spirit, whence comest thou to know it? Ask thine own bowels: if they are full of charity, thou hast the Spirit of God. Whence know we that by this thou knowest that the Spirit of God dwelleth in thee? "Because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given unto us.''^ 13. "And we have seen, and are witnesses, that God hath sent His Son to be the Saviour of the world."-* Set your minds at rest, ye that are sick: such a Physician is come, and do ye despair? Great were the diseases, incurable were the wounds, desperate was the sickness. D«st thou note the greatness of thine ill, and not note the omnipotence of the Physician? Thou art desperate, but He is omnipotent; Whose witnesses are these that first were healed, and that announce the Physician: yet even they are made whole in hope rather than in the reality. For so saith the apostle: " For by hope we are saved." ^ We have begun therefore to be made whole in faith: but our wholeness shall be perfected "when this corruptible shall hrive put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality."*^ This is hope, not the reality. But he that rejoiceth in hope shall hold the reality also: whereas he that hath not the hope, shall not be able to attain unto the reality.
14. " Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him and he in God.'''' Now we may say it in not many words; "Whosoever shall confess;" 7 I John iv. 15. [Li/e: ^^ the Life eternal. ' — The Epistle begins and ends with Life, announced and promised (the word occurs thirteen times in the one hundred and ten verses). The intermediate presentation of Love, as the grand efHux from the inner, spiritual life, ^ives the main theme of St. John, and it is of this that Augustin delights to speak in these discourses.
The life of an intelligent being is in conscious dependence on God. In the fullest sense, " in Him we live."
Death and life are among the striking contrasts named in the epistle: "the death," " the life,"--" the death that is truly death, the life that is truly life."
This life is in Christ. He not only brings it and imparts it, but He?V " our Life." The living and life-giving Christ is manifested not in word but in deed, not with tongue but with the life. For many confess in words, but in deeds deny. "And we have known and believed the love which God hath in us."^ And again, by what hast thou come to know this? "Love is God." He hath already said it above, behold he saith it again. Love could not be more exceedingly commended to thee than that it should be called God. Haply thou wast ready to despise a gift of God. And dost thou despise God] "Love is God: and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God dwelleth in him." Each mutually inhabiteth the other; He that holdeth, and he that is holden. Thou dwellest in God, but that thou mayest be holden: God inhabiteth thee, but that He may hold thee, lest thou fall. Lest haply thou imagine that thou becomest an house of God in such sort as thine house supports thy flesh: if the house in which thou art withdraw itself from under thee, thou fallest; but if thou withdraw thyself, God falleth not. When thou forsakest Him, He is none the less; when thou hast returned unto Him, He is none the greater.' Thou art healed, on Him thou wilt bestow nothing; thou art made clean, thou art new-made, thou art set right: He is a medicine to the unhealthy, is a rule for the crooked, is light for the bedarkened, is an habitation for the deserted. All therefore is conferred on thee: see thou imagine not that ought is conferred upon God by thy coming unto Him: no, not so much as a slave. Shall God, forsooth, not have servants if thou like not, if all like not? God needs not the servants, but the servants need God: therefore saith the Psalm, " I have said unto the Lord, thou art my God."'° He is the true Lord. And what saith it? " For of my goods Thou hast no need." Thou needest the good thou hast by thy servant. Thy servant needeth the good he hath by thee, that thou mayest feed him; thou also needest the good thou hast by thy servant, that he may in this epistle, and also the death that exists where there is no union, by love, to Him.
The I.ife, eternal (to distinguish it from the life that now is^ the life bounded by sense and time), is not mere prolongation of existence. We must use sensuous images in order to apprehend the idea, but we are to remember that they are not realities in the spiritual order.
The life which Christ gives, enabling men to have life in Him, cannot exist apart from Himself; His seal remains in them, and He abides in them.
The '■ life eternal," while future as to its full realization, is present, is begun here and now. '" He that believeth on the Son hath eternal life;" and its possession is matter of actual knowledge to those who have this life; " we know that we abide in Him and He in us " (1 John v. 13).
It is a life which unites heaven and earth, bringing into this stage of being " the powers of the world to come.''
A life that satisfies, while it enkindles desire and aspiration: it gives strength to bear present ills in the joyous and assured hope of "a life beyond hfe."]— J. H. M.
8 I John iv. 16. 9 Horn, in Ev. xi. 5.
10 Ps. xvi. 2.
Homily IX.]
help thee. Thou canst not draw water for thyself, canst not cook for thyself, canst not run before thy horse, canst not tend thy beast. Thou seest that thou needest the good thou hast by thy servant, thou needest his attendance. Therefore thou art not a true lord, while thou hast need of an inferior. He is the true Lord, who seeks nothing from us; and woe to us if we seek not Him! He seeks nothing from us: yet He sought us, when we sought not Him. One sheep had strayed; He found it, He brought it back on His shoulders rejoicing.' And was the sheep ' Luke XV. 4, 5.
necessary for the Shepherd, and not rather the Shepherd necessary for the sheep? — The more I love to speak of charity, the less willing am I that this epistle should be finished. None is more ardent in the commending of charity. Nothing more sweet is preached to you, nothing more wholesome drunk by you: but only thus if by godly living ye confirm in you the gift of God. Be not ungrateful for His so great grace, who, though He had one Only Son, would not that He should be alone a Son; but, that He might have brethren, adopted unto Hi-m those who should with Him possess life eternal.
HOMILY IX.
I John IV. 17-21.
" Herein is love made perfect in us, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. Let us love Him, because He first loved us. If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he seeth, how can he love God whom he seeth not? i\nd this commandment have we from Him, That he who loveth God love his brother also."
I. Ye remember, beloved, that of the epistles of John the apostle the last past remains to be handled by us and expounded to you, as the Lord vouchsafes. Of tliis debt then we are mindful: and ye ought to be mindful of your claim. For indeed chis same ciiarity, which in tliis epistle is chiefly and almost alone commended, at once maketh us most faithful in paying our debts, and you most sweet in exacting your rights. I have said, most sweet in exacting, because where charity is not, he that exacts is l)itter: l)iit where charity is, both he that exacts is sweet, and he of whom it is exacted, although he undertakes some labor, yet charity makes the very labor to be almost no labor, and liglu. Do we not see how, even in dumb and irrational animals, where the love is not spiritual but carnal and natural, willi great affection the mother yields herself to her young ones when they will have the milk which is their right: and however impetuously the suckling rushes at the teats, yet that is better for the motiier than that it should not suck nor exact that which of love is due? Often we see great calves driving their heads at the cow's udders \ witli a force that almost lifts up the mother's body, yet does she not kick them off; nay, if the young one be not there to suck, the lowing of the dam calls for it to come to the teats. If then there be in us that spiritual charity of which tlie apostle saith, " I became small in the midst of you even as a nurse cherishing her young ones;"' we love you the more when ye are exacting. We like not the sluggish, because for the languid ones we are afraid, ^\'e have been obligetl, however, to intermit the continuous reading of this epistle, because of certain stated lessons coming between, which must needs be read on their holy days, and the same preached upon. Let us now come back to the order which was interrupted; antl what remains, holy brethren, receive ye with all attention. I know not whether charity could be more magnificently commeniled to us, than that it should be said, "Charity is God."' Brief praise, yet mighty praise: brief in utterance, mighty in meaning! How soon is it said, '* Love is God! " This also is short: if thou ' I Thess. ii. 7.
I Ji>hn iv. 16.
5H [Homily IX.
count it, it is one: if thou weigh it, how great is it! " Love is God, and he that dwelleth," saith he, " in love, dwelleth in God, and God dwelleth in him."' Let God be thy house, and be thou an house of God; dwell in God, and let God dwell in thee. God dwelleth in thee, that He may hold thee: thou dwellest in God, that thou mayest not fall; for thus saith the apostle of this same charity, "Charity never falleth.'^' How should He fall whom God holdeth?
2. " Herein is our love made perfect in us, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as He is, so are we in this world." =" He tells how each may prove himself, what progress charity has made in him; or rather what progress he has made in charity. For if charity is God, God is capable neither of proficiency nor of deficiency: that charity is said to be making proficiency in thee, means only that thou makest proficiency in it. Ask therefore what proficiency thou hast made in charity, and what thine heart will answer thee, that thou mayest know the measure of thy profiting. For he has promised to show us in what we may know Him, and hath said, *' In this is love made perfect in us." Ask, in what? " That we have boldness in the day of judgment." Whoso hath boldness in the day of judgment, in that man is charity made perfect. What is it to have boldness in the day of judgment? Not to fear lest the day of judgment should come. There are men who do not believe in a day of judgment; these cannot have boldness in a day which they do not believe will come. Let us pass these: may God awaken them, that they may live; why speak we of the dead? They do not believe that there will be a day of judgment; they neither fear nor desire what they do not believe. Some man has begun to believe in a day of judgment: if he has begun to believe, he has also begun to fear. But because he fears as yet, because he hath not yet boldness in the day of judgment, not yet is charity in that man made perfect. But for all that, is one to despair? In whom thou seest the beginning, why despairest thou of the end? What beginning do I see? (sayest thou.) That very fear. Hear the Scripture: "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." ^ Well then, he has begun to fear the day of judgment: by fearing let him correct himself, let him watch against his enemies, i.e. his sins; let him begin to come to life again inwardly, and to mortify his members which are upon the earth, as the apostle saith, "Mortify your I John iv. 17.
members which are upon the earth.'' " By the members upon earth he means spiritual wickedness:5 for he goes on to expound it, " Covetousness, uncleanness," ^ and the rest which he there follows out. Now in proportion as this man who has begun to fear the day of judgment, mortifies his members which are upon the earth, in that proportion the heavenly members rise up and are strengthened. But the heavenly members are all good works. As the heavenly members rise up, he begins to desire that which once he feared. Once he feared lest Christ should come and find in him the impious whom He must condemn; now he longs for Him to come, because He shall find the pious man whom He may crown. Having now begun to desire Christ's coming, the chaste soul which desires the embrace of the Bridegroom renounces the adulterer, becomes a virgin within by faith, hope, and charity. Now hath the man boldness in the day of judgment: he fights not against himself when he prays, " Thy kingdom come."^ For he that fears lest the kingdom of God should come, fears lest his prayer be heard. How can he be said to pray, who fears lest his prayer be heard? But he that prays with boldness of charity, wishes now that He may come. Of this same desire said one in the Psalm, "And thou, Lord, how long? Turn, Lord, and deliver my soul."^ He groaned at being so put off. For there are men who with patience submit to die; but there are some perfect who with patience endure to live. What do I mean? When a person still desires this life, that person, when the day of death comes, patiently endures death: he struggles against himself that he may follow the will of God, and in his mind desires that which God chooseth, not what man's will chooseth: from desire of the present life there comes a reluctance against death, but yet he takes to him patience^ and fortitude, that he may with an even mind meet death; he dies patiently. But when a man desires, as the apostle saith, "to be dissolved and to be with Christ, "5 that person, not patiently dies, but patiently lives, delightedly dies. See the apostle patiently living, i.e. how with patience he here, not loves life, but endures it. "To be dissolved," saith be, "and to be with Christ, is far better: but to continue in the flesh is necessary for your sakes." Therefore, brethren, do your endeavor, settle it inwardly with yourselves to make this your concern, that ye may desire the day of judgment. No otherwise is charity proved to be Homily IX.]
perfect, but only when one has begun to desire that day. But that man desires it, who hath boldness in it, whose conscience feels no alarm in perfect and sincere charity.