,-Jf !><> .lit 1,1, 'i',, v.a YALE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY THE LIBRARY ASSOCIATES Gift of the Reverend Kenneth W. Cameron 1937 cy^^^y^^c^^^c^^Cy^^^ /j^ /^ A COMMENTAEY ON THE EPISTLES. SUNDAYS OF TRINITY-TIDE, AND OTHER HOLY DAYS. A COMMENTARY ON THE EPISTLES FOE THE SUNDAYS AND OTHER HOLY DAYS OE THE CHRISTIAN YEAR. BY THE KEY. W. DENTON, MA. Ill ' WOKOESTEB COLLEGE, OXFOED ; yiCAB OV ST, BAKTHOLOMEW'S, CEIPPLEGATB. m TWO VOLUMES. VOL. II.— SUNDAYS OF TRINITY-TIDE, AND OTHER HOLY DAYS. SECOND EDITION, EEVISED. LONDON" : GEOEaE BELL AND SONS, TOEK STEEET, COVENT GAEDEN. 1877. Mix. 750 oG9a V. Z JOHN CHILDS AND SON, PRINTERS. -i :l a.D X r~ THE EPISTLES FOR THE SUNDAYS AND HOLY DAYS OE THE CHRISTIAN YEAR. TEINITY SUNDAY. For the Epistle, Eev. it. 1 — 11.^ (1) After this I looked, and, heliold, a door was Eev.i.io,i9; opened in heaven : and the first voice which I heard ^-^^i™'-^' was as it were of a trumpet talking with vie ; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter. The description of the first vision given to the Apostle at Patmos is contained in the first three chapters of this book of the Revelation. It shows the Saviour in His dealings with His Church upon earth. His long-suffering, His call to ' In commenting upon those portions difiicilis et obscurus, etiara prse cunctis of Scripture which have been taken libris propheticis. Nam per imagi- from the Apocalypse I desire to make narias visiones ac species est descriptus, my own the words of a predecessor, ita quod sensus literalis ipsius est, qui "As in all mine annotations upon other per sirailitudines et res, non qui per places of Holy Scripture, so most voces signatur. Unde et expositores specially in any glosses upon any part variis modis hunc librum exponuut, neo of the Revelation, I desire to be rather aliquis plenfe eum intelligit, ita quod a reporter, than an expositor ; assuring expositiones hujusmodi pro magna parte myself that this course will be profit- sunt infra certitudinem, nee aliquid able to the most and acceptable to the certum intuentur in bis, nisi ut se- best ; for as the spider's web is not the cundum fidem sint. Hinc et ego pusil- better because woven out of his own lus, nil novi introducere prsesumens, ea breast, so the bee's honey is never the quae ab aliis catholic^ dicta sunt quan- ¦ • worse because gathered out of many tum Deus prsestiterit, breviter tangam flowers." — Dean Boys. et colligam," — Dionysius Garthusia- " Est totus hie liber mirabiliter nus. TRINITY SUNDA V. Th. Aquinas. Gorranns. Amelote. Qaesnel. Th. Aquinaa, Bp. Cotton. Dean Boys. Bruno As- tensis. Hardouin.Menochius. Esod. XXV. 40; xxvi. SO. Eeb. vili. 5. repentance, His threatenings against those who go on still in their evil ways : and the condition of the whole militant Church as typified by the seven churches of Asia. ih0 second vision, which commences at this point, reveals to us a glimpse of God in His essential glory in the midst of the mysteries of heaven. It was fitting, before the Apostle should speak of these mysteries, that he should exhort the churches to repentance, and call every member of these churches to holiness of life ; thus teaching us that purity of heart and holiness of life, that repentance for sin and per severance in the work of sanctiflcation, must precede all in sight into the mysteries of redemption.^ After this revelation of what should befall the militant Church, J loolced, and saw a great fact — the revelation of the worship of heaven, for a door ivas opened in heaven, and the self-same voice, which I heard at first, and which was as it were that of a trumpet in its power and majesty, now talked with me in mercy and condescension, and said to me. Lift up your mind, open wide your eyes to behold ; come up hither, and contemplate with your whole soul those things which the natural sight cannot of itself see; come . . . and I will show thee, not only the evils which impend over the Jewish nation, the people of Jerusalem, but also the things which shall befall the Church until the end of time. In the imagery made use of here and elsewhere in this book of the Revelation shown to St. John, there is undoubtedly much borrowed from the Temple service and from the ritual observances of the Jews, as in the woes denounced against the enemies of God and of His Church there is of necessity a reference to the ills which fell upon the people of that na tion for their rejection of God. In this chapter the glimpse given of the worship of heaven must needs preserve for ua some of the features of the worship of the Temple in Jerusa lem, since Moses was enjoined to fashion the ritual of the chosen people according to the pattern of celestial things showed him in the Mount. Thus it has been supposed that, iu speaking of the trumpets in this place, the Apostle refers to that custom of the Jewish Church by which on the opening of the gates of the Temple the trumpets were sounded in order to call the Levites and other oflScers of the Temple to their allotted duties.^ Again, the throne of God ' *' Dividitur base secunda visio in tres partes ; secundum ea qute revelan- tnv. Prima est de Scdente iu throno et ornatu ejus, et durat per totum istud capitulum. Secunda est de libro sig- nato et signaculis ejus et agno aporiente ipsum, et durat per totum quintum capitulum. Tertia est de consequenti- bus ad apertiouera libri, et durat per sextum et septimum capitulum." Th, jiquinits. - " The allusion is to the blowing of REVELATION IV. i— ii. which St. John saw in this vision answers to the ark and mercy-seat in the Holiest Place within the Temple at Jeru salem ; and the sea of glass like unto crystal was typified on earth by the brazen sea in the temple of Solomon. But all this is because the transitory things of earth are but images of the enduring realities of heaven. / looked : what the Apostle saw ^ was by inward sight and was understood by the spiritual apprehension.^ The whole re velation was to the internal sense. It was typical and spiritual, or intellectual. Typical, since corporeal things were used as images of immaterial things : intellectual, because all was seen not by the outward eyes, but by the internal vision. Similar to the present vision was that granted to St. Stephen for his support and comfort at the time of death, when he also saw the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God. In that the door was opened, the Spirit signifies that the hidden mysteries of redemption are now revealed to man. Thus at the beginning of his message to the people of God, Ezekiel says, The heavens ivere opened, and I saw visions of God. Here the Apostle is about to speak of things in hea ven which were hidden until this door icas opened. So that if these words are taken — (1) As the declaration that the Church of God on earth is now opened by Christ and by His death, who is the door of the fold, or — ¦ '(2) As the assertion that the veil which hindered the access of the individual believer to God is now removed by the death of Jesus Christ in our flesh, or — (3) As the assurance of the more perfect revelation of Divine Truth by the coming of the Great Teacher : — These are all involved in the central truth that Christ is the door of the sheep, the new and living ivay by which we may approach the Father. A door ivas opened, and always remains open, since whosoever cometh to Him He receives now and makes hipi conscious of His presence, and will hereafter 1 Kihgs vii. 23. Wordsworth. Fromond, Dion. Carth. Acts vii. 56. Serrano. Ezck. i. 1. Matt. iii. 16. Fromond. John X. 7, 9. Haymo. And. Cses. John X. 7. Heb. X. 20. trumpets at the opening of the door of the Temple ; ' every day there were one- and-twenty soundings of a trumpet in the Temple, 'three o^-yj Pfi^ns'^, at the opening of the doors, and nine at the daily morning sacrifice, and nine at the daily evening sacrifice ' [Mish. Tamid, cap. iii. § 7). And one of them was called the great door of the Temple ; and be that slew the daily sacrifice did not slay till he beard tbe sound of that door when it was opened ; so here at tbe opening of the door in heaven, in the Church, of which the Temple was a tj-pe, the voice of the Son of God is heard as the sound of a trumpet, talk ing loudly and familiarly with John." — Gill. I " iiSov, I saw, not ' I looked.' The vision was revealed to him, he did not look for it." — Wordsworth. 2 " Non reali ac corporali visione sed imagiuaria ac intellectuali. " — Sylveira. TRINITY SUNDA V. Th. Aquinas. John X, 9. Rupertus. Haymo.Victorinus. And. Cses, Serrano. Roxaa. Th. Aqninas. receive in heaven. Christ Himself has said, I am the door ; that is, He by whom the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven are revealed to men; so that when these mysteries are made known it is only because the door has been opened to us. The first voice ivhich I heard was as it mere of a trumpet. The voice which St. John had first heard at the beginning of the revelation made to him, that voice which at the first spake to the children of Israel at Sinai, which spake in time past to the prophets and teachers of the Old Testament, and afterwards in the Gospel by the lips of Christ,^_ spake at the first with no common voice, but with a voice as it were of a trumpet, with the greatness and the majesty of a trumpet. As the trumpet is used amongst men to awaken the atten tion of the careless, to encourage the timid, and to strengthen the bold in the struggle to which they are called, so was this voice sent to arouse the Apostle and to awaken his attention to the mighty truths about to be revealed, and to encourage him amidst his sufferings. It was no human voice, but one from God, like that which aroused Samuel from his sleep when God was about to reveal to him things which were to he hereafter. God's voice is indeed terrible to those who are at ease and asleep in their sins, since it is a summons to warfare and to the use of those spiritual weapons which He gives us against the snares and tempta tions and open assaults of the devil, the enticements of the world, and the solicitations of the flesh ; and yet it is not merely terrible, since it is the summons to each of ourselves from God, an invitation to come to that feast which He has prepared for those who love Him.' resuiTectionis sure : sed januas post pusillum aperuit, quaudo aperuit illis sensum ut intelligerent scripturas." — Joachimns. ^ " Silebant enim lex et natura : et hoc quod vera bona nee promittebant nee exbibebant : et tunc venit sermo Dei, prirao prophetas aspirando ad prse- dicanda spiritualia et coelestia : delude Semetipsum in came manifestando ad eadem exhibenda.'' — Gm-ranus. ^ " Kai jj ^wvi) 77 TTpwTt], rectfe Verti potest, M vox Hla, ilia prima. Ita martyr Victorinus inteUexit et alle- goriam refert: priorem vocem eo esse auditam, quia idem prius in Propbetis et postea in Evangelio locutus est. Immo et verba reliqua possunt ad hunc sensum posteriorem aptissim^ referri ut dioat : Ecce vox ilia prima quam * " Hoc ostium apertum est quando Cbristus passus est, et latus ejus lancea militis patefaotum est. Ex tunc enim regnum Dei inter nos est, destructo vi delicet regno peccati, quod eatenus reg- nabat in mundo. . . . Igitur ridi, inquit Joannes, ostium apertum in ccelo, id est, quod sciebam in re, vidi in imagine, scilicet regni ccelorum januam Christum esse : januam patefactam hominibus ab Ipsius passione." — Sttpertus. "Priusquam Cbristus excitaretur eI mortuis.claususerataditusscripturarum,nbi autem resurrexit primitice dormien- timn, angelus dcscendit de coelo et lapis amotus est ab ostio monument! : nimi- rum qui, ubi afFuit tempus opportunum, missus est ad homines Spiritus Sanctns et ascendit de corde littcra spiritualis ac vivificus intellectus, fidem cxhibuit REVELATION IV. i— ii. Gome vp hither, to Him who is the door; come, that is, to Haymo. Christ. This is the call to the mind to withdraw from earthly and transitory things, an invitation to rise to the And. ca:s. consideration of heavenly truths. We are bidden to come cEcumonius. tip, that is, — • (1) The Apostle is about to reveal to us higher truths than those contained in the first vision, which was wholly of the state of the militant Church of God on earth. (2) He calls us to greater diligence and attention to heavenly things, to come up from, and to leave behind us, sen-ano. earthly things. (3) The vision which now opens upon us is in itself of a sublimer character than that of the first vision, one which has less in it of earth and more of heaven. Isaiah vl. 1. Jer. xvii . 1 2. Ezek. i. 26 ; X. 1. Dan. vii. 9. Rev. i. 10; xvii. 3 ; xxi. 10. (2) And immediately I ivas in the spirit:^ and, hehold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne. By means of this door opened the Apostle beheld heaven and the throne, and Him who sat on the throne. By means, that is, of the death of Christ, the kingdom of God was set up, access to the Father given to us, and His will mani fested to the world. As St. Paul was caught up to the third Rupertus. heaven by the Spirit and saw the glory of God, and heard unspeakable loords, so by the power of God the beloved 2 cor. xii. 2, Apostle ivas in the spiirit immediately upon the call Come up hither. The power and influence of the Spirit so preserved him that he was in an ecstasy, and saw this vision, and obtained this glimpse of heaven. He beheld a throne : that Dean Boys. is, Christ, who dwells surrounded by His saints, and seated, because to Him is given all judgment, and- all rule over the And. cks. world. For He who sat on the throue was God made visible in the person of 'the Incarnate Saviour. And the throne, the symbol of the power, authority, and dominion of God, is said to be set in heaven, already placed there firm and immovable, beyond the reach of this world's mutability;^ audierara, qua3 fuerat tanquam tubse ^ " The Lord governeth all tbe world loquentis mecum : Ecce, inquam, vox as one that sits -in a chair at ease, without any trouble : for howsoever His providence be seen in the least things, in culice et pulice, saitb Augus tine, in feeding the fowls of heavefi, and clothing the flowers of the field, as Christ in the gospel : and therefore much more in the greater things, in ordering and caring for His Church, in such sort, that one holy doctor cried out : ' 0 bone Omnipotens, qui sic curas Irving. Markius. ilia dicens, ascende hue. Non igitur nunc audivit illam quasi tubam, sed erat eadem, quae pauld ante instar tubae sonuerat. Cur enim nunc sonaret ut tuba cum nihil magnum, aut terribile dictura esset, sed tantum apostolum ad audiendum excitatura ? " — Ribera. ' In the Arabic vers,, Then, there fore, I went in the spirit. Syr. vers.. At once I was in the spirit. lO TRINITY SUNDA Y. already it is set : it is no longer the appearance of the like' Ezek. X. 1. ness of a throne such as Ezekiel saw, but the throne itself which is there : it is set, because God the Father has given all judgment to the Son, who is already judging mankind, Hardouin. aud is cvcn in this life taking vengeance upon His enemies- In this fact, that immediately upon the call and invitation to come up hither the Apostle was in the spirit, we have placed before us a pattern of that ready obedience with Th. Aquinas, which the saints respond to the voice and the call of God. In the throne we are reminded of the permanence of God's presence, as the men of old were taught by the mercy-seat placed in the Temple that God was there, even in His Ps.ixxx. 1. earthly temple, ever sitting upon the Gherubims. Whilst we bear in mind that all human figures, by which alone the mind of man can apprehend spiritual truths, must needs fall short of the greatness of that which they are intended to present to us, we must remember, also, that these human things are fitted, and intended by God, to be figures and images of the true, that is, of celestial things. The eye of man is an image of the watchfulness of our Heavenly Father, who sees the evil and the good ; and when this watchfulness is set before us, we are told of the eye of God : when we are to be reminded of the reality of His operations, we are told of His hands, because with his hands man works : when we are called to remember His readiness to succour the good, or punish the sinner, we Roxas. read of His feet.-'- Ezek. i. 28. (3) And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone :^ and there was a rainbotv round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald. unumquemque nostrum, tanquam solum cures ; et sic omnes tanquam singulos ' [August. Confes. lib. iii. c. 11]. Yet all this, as one said, is but cura .leciirn, a care without care, for He doth always rest and sit on His throne." — Dean Boys. ' " lUe qui neo loco clauditur nee oculis quaeritur, nee visu circumscri- bitur, neo sentitur in cessu aut tactu tenetur, in humana natura se aliquando solet Propbetis iu visu reprcscntari, lllique oculos, manus, pedes, alas, canos, et alia similia, qua; sunt humana, solet Divina scriptura soepe attribuere. QiiSE tamen nuUo modo ponuntur, aut in Divinis litteris referuntur, ut ha3c in Deo more humane esse credamus ; sed ut per hax et similia aliquid spiritual- iter intelligamus. Oculos porro Deus habere dicitur, ut per illos suam in no» providentiam : manus, ut suam opera- tionem : pedes, ut ad nos accessum vel recessum : alas, ut protectionem : canos ut. Ejus eternitateni, sive Patris oSicium erga nos ipsos demonstretur." — Roxas. 2 " Sardium aut sardinum, lapidcm rubro et ardenti colore insignem, neo aliam gemmara apud antiques usu frequentiorem ait Plinius, lib. xxxvii. c. 7. Nomen babet, quia Sardibus- civitate Lydioe primuni reperta."— Fromond. " Sardinus lapis qui et Sardrus, ab Hebiffiis 8-s dioitur a rubore, vufgo carneolus. 'lainriSa vocant Gra;ci in- REVELATION IV. i— u. II This vision of heaven revealed to St. John in Patmos is in close agreement with the visions of God made of old to the prophet Ezekiel, by the river of Chebar, when for him tJie heavens were opened, and he saw the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stotie : and upon the likeness of the throne . . . the likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it. Of this vision the Prophet adds: And I saw as the colour of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of his loins even upward, and from the appearance of his loins even downward, I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about. As the appeal ance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brighiyiess round about. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. The jasper is a stone of various colours, its introduction here is as an emblem of the brightness and majesty of the Eternal.-^ It is an emblem, then, of the Divine Nature of our Blessed Lord. The sardine stone, which is probably the red cornelian, or a stone of the same kind, is an image of His humanity, who took to Himself our flesh, and was stained with the blood which He offered up in sacrifice, when He trode for us the wine-press alone.'' These colours are mingled together as in the vision of Ezekiel. He who sat on the throne was as the appearance of fire, and the fire which streamed forth was brilliant above that of mere fire ; it was in colour as of amber, or, as St. John says, of the hue of the sardine stone, a bright glory mingled with red. Others have seen in the jasper the symbol of the Eternal unchangeableness of the Divine Nature, and in the sardine stone, the image of the terribleness of God's judgments upon mankind ; but this is only another way of expressing the same meaning, for the sardine stone is most commonly taken as the emblem of the human nature of Christ, to whom, in His human nature, the Father has given the ofiice of judging mankind.^ terpretes, Exod. xxviii. 18, gemmam, color magis delectat et confortat visum, quae Hebrseis, oVjni ita dictam, quod et divinitatis species inteUectum. Hu- Ezck.i. 1. ictibus i'esistat." — Bosenmiiller. 1 " This stone,Vhich is tbe twelfth in the high priest's breastplate, and on which the name of Benjamin was written, is called by the Chaldee paraphrase of Onkelos on Exod. xxviii. 20 Pantere ; and of ben Uzziel, on the same place, Apanturin ; and on Cant. v. 14, Apantor, because some are variegated and spotted like panthers." — Gill. 2 " Per lapidem laspidem intelU- gitur divinitas propter virorem, qui Ezek. i. 27, Th. Aquinas. Wordsworth. Rosenmailer.Cotton.Jolin i. Id. Ha,Ymo, laaiahlxiii. S. Hardouin, manitas in lapide Sardinis intelligitur, propter ruborcm. Humanitas nam propter stigmata passionis rubet." — Gorranus. 3 " The jasper is the last, and the sardine stone is the first, of the twelve stones in the Urim and Tbummim on the sacerdotal breast, and by taking the first and last it seems to indicate all the twelve. The Everlasting Light of God was by tbe Incarnation seen on the throne of His kingdom." — J. Williams. 12 Rvipertas. 1 Tim. vi. 16. Gen. ix. 13. Ambrose, Wo ids worth. Eibera. Kibera. TRINITY SUNDA Y. Like a jasper and a sardine stone. Like — it was the like ness of the ma-jesty and the power of God, which was mani fested to the Apostle, not the person of God ; too bright to be looked on, as the brightness of this stone on which the sun is shining. It is the likeness of His person which we see now, the traces of His glory, the footprints of His love, not the very person of Him whom no man hath seen nor can see. Christ is represented as sitting on the throne of Eternal Majesty, since His work is to judge the nations. And there was a rainbow round about the throne in sight like unto an emerald. The rainbow is the token of God's mercy. His covenant with man after the deluge : it is there fore a symbol of peace and propitiation. If, however, it is an emblem of Divine love, it is also the memorial of Divine justice against the ungodly, since it was the sign of the covenant made with man after the destruction of the world by water. And this token of love is represented as enclos ing, as hemground about the throne of God, as all-embracing, since mercy is the very chiefest ornament and attribute of the Eternal Father.^ Like unto an emerald [ojxoios bpaan (Tiiapayb[vsfiney.i.4,5).-£ishop Cotton on the Epistles. REVELATION IV. i-ii. ^7 _ (6) And before the throne there was a sea of glass Ex.xxxviii. like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and E,*ek. i. 5, is, round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes Rev;xv.2. before and behind. In the heavenly temple which St. John saw is no mere brazen sea of water such as that in which the priests of the Aaronic priesthood alone were permitted to cleanse them selves after they offered the typical sacrifice, but a sea with out limit, full of water so pure that it was like unto crystal, Dion.cartii. and available for all the redeemed. We are here called upon to note : — (1) That the water of that heavenly sea is liJce unto, is pure as crystal itself.^ (2) It is not like the water of earth, turbulent, tossing in angry waves, but unrufiled, a sea on which the calm of heaven rests, an eternity of perfect peace. (3) It is not transitory like all things on earth, but en during like crystal itself. (4) It is a sea which could really purify and in which all mysteries are made manifest, for to those who shall be ad mitted to the celestial kingdom and who shall stand in the light of God's glory there will be nothing hidden, but all things will be made plain.^ The waters of this sea are a type of the waters of bap tism, by which the children of men are regenerated and made children of God in that cleansing which they receive in these more than crystal waters, and by which^ access is given to the throne.^ This sea of baptism was prefigured by the waters of the Bed Sea through which the Israelites had to pass in order to enter Canaan. For as they entered into the promised possession by passing through these waters, so must the Christian pass through the crystal sea of baptism to enter into the kingdom of heaven. Baptism is spoken of as a sea because in its waters sin is cleansed Wordswortli.Fromond.Corn. It Lap. Hardouin, Euthymius on John iii, Augustine, Tract, xix. iu Joan. ' " The Gospel and Epistle for this day do well agree : for that which our Evangelist in this text writes mystically, Christ, in the Gospel, avoweth unto Nieodemus plainly, yea peremptorily, with an asseveration, Verily, verily, I say unto thee. Except a man be born of water and of tlie Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. He must pass through the glassy sea before he can arrive at the haven of happi ness." — Dean Boys. EPIST. YOL, II. * " It is expressed in the Scriptures, touching the government of God, that this globe which seemeth to us a dark and shady body is in the view of God as crystal." — Bacon's Advancement of Learning, Book 2, ad fin. ^ " Tanqitam mare vitremn, id est, baptismi sacramentum ; simile ergs- tallo, quia non est mobile vel fluidum, sed imprimit characterem indelebilem propter quod non est reiterabile." — Lyra. B t8 Rupert as. John i. 4; Eichorn. Rabbi Eli- ezer. TRINITY SUNDA Y. away ; and this sea is like unto crystal because by means of the purity which is there given to the children of God are revealed the truths of God. These waters, then, are spoken of as glass like unto crystal : — (1) Because of the purity which is given to the baptized in the washing away of their sins, (2) Because of the purity required of those who have been baptized, the holiness which becomes the children of God, (3) Because of the clearness of the mental vision which is given to those who walk in accordance with the purity of their baptism.^ Four beasts (reaaapa (ua) full of eyes before and behind. The word here translated beasts ought rather to have been translated living things, creatures to whom God had given life. (1) They were living things, having a life derived from Him who is the life. (2) They were living creatures, ceaselessly active, full of the life which he had given them. The four living creatures of whom Ezekiel speaks, were understood by the old Jewish commentators to be types of the four chief angels of God, the representatives of the whole celestial hierarchy, and the Apostle seems here to be referring to the same image. Others, again, have supposed that he refers to the whole house of Israel, which in their marches in the desert were wont to encamp in four divisions around the tabernacle. Others, however, and these the chief commentators in weight and number, interpret these words to mean the four evangelists, and in them aU preach ers of God's word who derive the truths which they declare from the Gospels of these four. These living creatures are described as being fidl of eyes before and beltind, to interpret the words of the prophets who procodod Christ and to unfold the purposes of God with I'ot'oroiico to the future. They axe full of eyes because they walked with Christ and were taught by Him, and all those who walk with Christ, who is the true light, possess that ' " Et in couspcclu sedis tanquam mare vi/reuin simile crystallo. Enar- rata datione Icgis, concinnS satis acce- deiite tempore gratite, evangelii reve- lalio, per mare vitroum hie proponitur : babet enim per sui observatiouera et sacrameiita quaj continet, ut sancta mater ecclesia nos docet, eopiosaiu quaudam vim abluendi animas, Habet delude iu se splendorcm vimque illu- miuandi et reddeudi insuper homines solidos, stabiles, conspiouos in ouini genere virtutum ; unde per mare vi- treum aptissiine significatur. Et crys tallo, speculoque purissimo item con- fertur, quod ex aqua in stabilitatera quandara et firmitatem coagmentata generatur."— &jra«o. REVELATION IV. i— ii. 19 M. Faber in dom. xi. post Pent. couc. V. light which is needful for their walk in this life, and are guided amidst the darkness in which so many stumble, Rupertus. according to His words who has said, J am the light of the world : he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. They are fall of eyes because, .lohn viii. 12. walking with God, they regard Him intently, and are cir cumspect in their ways lest they sin agaiust Ilim.^ The nearer we approach the throne of God by prayer and thanks- gjiving, the more we meditate upon the marvels of Revela tion, the fuller shall we be of the knowledge of His will, and the clearer will be our insight into the mysteries of His Quesnei. love. (7) And the first beast was like a Hon, and the Num. 11.2. second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a ^'tiV' face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle. These ybwr beasts or living creatures symbolize the whole Evangelic economy, the New Testament Church, typified by the four evangelists, whose emblems accord with the charac ter of those creatures. This interpretation is almost as an- And. cass. cient as the book of St. John itself, and is found in the writing's of St. Irengeus, the scholar of St. Polycarp, the dis ciple of St. John, According to this interpretation St, Mark Wordsworth. is represented as the beast like a lion, beginning as he does with the preaching of the Baptist and the announcement of the Messiah already come. St. Luke is figured as the second, beast like a calf, the sacrificial victim, his Gospel com mencing with the priesthood of Christ. The third evangel ist, St, Matthew, has more of the human element in the life of Christ, and begins with his genealogy as the Son of David ; he is therefore presented to us as tJie third beast which had a face as a man. St, John, who soars so high in his Gospel, and proclaims more than the others the Divine cha racter and nature of Christ, is symbolized by the ^^i/"*!/ eagle gazing at and stretching towards the sun,^ These four evan- Fromond, ' " S, Joannes describens sancta animalia stantia ante thronum Dei, dixit ea fuisse plena oculis ante et retro, foris et intus. Siguificavit eos, qui volunt debite servire, et ante ejus thronum stare, debere esse oculatissimos ct circuraspectissimos in omnibus suis operibus, ne quid tantS, majestate in- dignura committant loquendo, videndo, audiendo, cogitando, appetendo," — Matt. Faber. ' " The figure of a lion expresses the strength of the ministers of the word, the lion being the strongest among beasts (Prov, xxx, 30), to do the work they are called to, to endure hardness, as good soldiers of Christ, and to bear the infirmities of the weak ; and also it denotes their courage and boldness in preaching without fearing the faces of men. 2'he second beast like a calf ; or ox, as the word means in Hellenistic 2,0 TRINITY SUNDA Y. gelists, the characteristics of whose Gospels agree withthes^ symbolical creatures, have handed down the record of His life, who seems to sum up and present in Himself the character istics of the four Gospels which narrate His life on earth. He was incarnate for us and ha.d a face as a man, though He was the Eternal God : in His passion He showed Himself the antitype of the sacrifices of the Jewish law : in His resur rection, or, as some say, by His teaching. He showed Himself Gorranus. the liou of the tvibc of Jiulih, who should overcome the enemies of God and man. In His ascension to the right hand of the Father, the eagle in its flight above the world was the fitting type of His rising to the right hand of Holzhauser. pOWei". Others have noted that these four animals are the noblest of their kind, and that they are therefore fittingly used to denote the subjection of all to Him. The eagle amongst birds is the king of the feathered creation. Man amongst animals is the noblest of the works of God, The lion for strength is the king of beasts, and the ox for use is the chief Rosenmiiiier. amougst tamed beasts.^ Nor ought it to be passed by un noted that in these four symbolical animals we have presented to us the four attributes of Divine Providence, the care of Christ over His members. His strength is symbolized by the lion, since He is almighty ; the swiftness of His arm, whether in mercy or judgment, is typified by the flying eagle; His compassionate and sympathizing nature is imaged by the man. ; and His patience and long-suffering is pictured to us Menocliius. by the OiV.^ language and the Septuagint, agreeing v.ith Ezek. i. 10, designs the labori- ousness of Christ's faithful ministers in treading out the corn of gospel truth, who are labourers with God; as also their humility, meekness, and patience in beariiig insults, reproaches, and sufferings for Christ. And the tlard beast had a face as a man, which points at the humanity and tender heartedness, the wisdom, prudence, and knowledge, and use of the reasoning faculty, together with a manly spirit iu abiding by the gospel at any rate; all which are so necessary in the ministers of the word. And the fourth beast is like a flying eagle ; this sets forth the sagacity and penetration of gospel ministers into the deep things of God and mysteries of grace, and their readiness and swiftness to do the will of God in publishing the everlasting gospel." — Gill, from Quesnel. ' " Symbola sunt nobilissimte crea- turarum nobis in his terris cognitarum, leo, taurus, homo, aquila. jiLidrasch Thehillim, ciii. 19. ' Dixit E. Abin no mine Ii. Abhu ; quatuor sunt, qui priu- cipatuni iu hoc mundo tenent. Inter omnes homo, inter aves aquila, inter pc- cora bos, inter bestias leo. Qiiilibet horura regnum habet et magnificen- tiam quaudam, ponuntur autem siib throno majestatis divin;e, S. D. Ezech. ii. 19. Hoc vero cur factum est .' Ut nullum ex illis se efferat in mundo, sed sciaut, Eegnum Dei doniinari in omnia (super illos esse)."— Jioseumiiller. 2 "Sic et quilibet Cliristi fidelis homo est, rationem sequeudo : vitulus, car- nem cum vitiis et eoncupiscentiis erucifi- geudo : leo, spirituahter resurgendo et RE VELA TION IV. 11 Irving. Hob. i. U. (8) And the four beasts had each of them six isaiahvi.2,3. nnngs about him; and they were fill of eyes ivithin : ^S^llii. and they rest not day^ and night, saying, Holy, holy, '" holy. Lord God Almighty, tvhich was, and is, and is to come. ^ Isaiah says of the Seraphim that each one of them had isaiau vi. 2. six wings J with twain he covered his face in reverence at the majesty of God, with twain he covered his feet in lowly hu mility and modesty before God, and uiith twain he did fi.y in his eagerness to do the commands of God and to minister to those to whom he was sent ; for the angels of God are all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them, who shall be heirs of salvation. These four living creatures had ivings, the symbols of a spirit ready and eager to do the will of God at all times, who com. i Lap. by these wings, the knowledge of the truths of God, is borne aloft from this earth. And these six ivings ' were full of eyes Gorranus. ivithin, all thoughts, all desires, all deeds of these living creatures were centered upon God and had respect to His will. And they rest not day and night ; these vigilant and Dion, cai-th. untiring and ever-watchful angels of God are ever longing Hardouin. and thirsting to do His commands and to carry out His will, saying, in almost the same .words which Isaiah heard Ambrose. from the lips of the Seraphim, Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord isaiah vi. 3, of hosts : the whole earth is full of His glory. ^ In the language of the Church, ' To Thee Cherubim and Seraphim continually do cry,' resting not day and night ; as Fromond. the saints of God are enjoined to praise Him always, ceasing neither in prosperity nor inadversity,but ever offering to Him their thanksgivings. And the cry which St, John heard was Haymo, this Holy, Holy, Holy, in this triple repetition implying that the cry of the four living creatnres Was addressed to a Trinity of persons, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, whilst in adding Lord God, not Gods, is implied the unity of the Divine na- hostibus snoe salutis fortiter ac mag- nanimiter reluctando ; aquila, coslestium contemplationibus insistendo, orationi, devotioni, laudi divinse vacando." — Dion. Carthusianus. ' "Alas senas — id est, scientiam scrip- turarum, per quam quasi per quasdam alas, terrena relinquimus et ad coelestia ascendimus : et hoc per senarium de- signatur ut perfectio ejus ostendatur. Sunarius enim perfectionem significat, quia sex diebus Deus opus suum cora- plcvit, vel quia perfectus est numerus." ¦ — Gorranus. " " Les ailes designent la prompti tude a obeir a Dieu, et a repandre la connaissance de son nom : les yeux, la vigilancesursoi-memeetsurletroupeau. Tout est pour Dieu, seul saint et adora ble dans ses trois personnes et dans la Majeste, la souverainete, la toute-puis- sance et I'eternite de son etre." — ¦ Quesnel. 22 TRINITY SUNDA Y. Th. Aquinas. Heb. xiii. 8. Goi'ranua. ture, the Oneness of the Eternal essence. That essence which was, without beginning of days, from everlasting, which is the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever, the unchangeable God, and is to come in clouds and great glory to judge the quick and the dead. Holy seems to express the sanctity and the justice of God, Lord is a term which implies His glory as the ruler of all creation, and Al mighty is the assertion of His omnipotence. The existence of the Church and its endless round of wor ship is a perpetual song of thanksgiving to Him who is seated on the throne. For though the sins and infirmities of the human members of the Church are mingled with the history, and mars much of its glory, yet, notwithstanding this, its history and its influence is a continuous hymn de-' daring the glory of the great Head of the Church.^ Ribera. Gorranus. Ribera. (9) And when those beasts give glory and. honour and thanks to Him that sat on the throne, who livetli for ever and ever^ Glory and honour and thanks differ the onefrom the other in these respects. Glory is the recognition of some inherent characteristic in the object of adoration distinguishing Him from all others around Him ; Honour is the exhibition by external signs of the excellency to which we bear witness ; Thanks are eucharistic blessings for the benefits conferred by God on man. We give glory to God in regard to the majesty of the Triune God : we render this honour by ascribing our creation and preservation and redemption to Him, we yield Him thanks for all that He has done for us, for all that He has revealed to us, whether of His nature or of His mercy. To Him that sat, or that sitteth (r^ Ka9r]fj.iv(a), on. the throne eternally,^ as King of kings and Lord of the whole universe ; who livrthfor ever and. ever as the source of all life which His creatures possess, whether it be physical life or life ' Even an unbeliever is forced to ad mit this. " L'hi^toire de I'eglise sera le plus souvent desorm.ais I'histoire des trahisons que snbira I'idee de Jesus. Mais, telle qu'elle est, cette histoire est encore un bymne a sa gloire," — Rcnan, Les Apotre.i, c. 3. 2 Liternlly, And when the living creatures shall gi re glory \i. e., as often as they shall gi'Ve glory'], and honour, and thanks to Him that sitteth upon the throne, who lirclh for ever and erer. * " Gloria est frequens de aliquo fama cum laude. Laus est bona locu- tio de aliquo, seu alicujus commeudalio propter aliquod bonum. Honor est tes- tiflcatio excelleatiaj alicujus. Bene- dictio coincidit cum laude, nisi dura sumitur pro gratiarum actione, uti hie, et tunc est pro aecepto beneficio, grati aninu testificatio."— (?«y«»x '-3 Bruno As- tensis. REVELATION IV. i— ix. spiritual ; who livcth, having life in and from Himself, and Fromond, the source and giver of life to all others. When the Evangelists proclaim the glory and ascribe honour to God, then the whole Church unites with them and falls down and adores Him who sitteth on the throne ; hence the Apostle adds-— (10) The four and twenty elders fall down before Eev.v.s.n. Him that sat on the throne, and worship Him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying,'^ They fall down, as all preachers of God's word should, in all things giving glory and honour and praise to God alone, and denying that aught of good which they possess comes from themselves. These elders are represented as falling Th. Aquinas. down on their faces, worshipping Him, that is, with the Fromond. prostration of the whole body. They cast their crowns, the rewards of their victory in the struggle against sin, the tokens of their successful resist ance to the temptations of the world and the solicitations of the flesh and the enticements of Satan, at the foot of the throne, in acknowledgment that all victory comes from God Menochiua. alone, reserving nothing to themselves and claiming no Fromond. merit for their victory over their spiritual foes. (11) Thou art ivorthy, 0 Lord^ to receive glory ^f^;,"^-^^;^ and honour and power :'^ for Thou hast created all •^l\„y,_^_ things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created."^ We give glory and Jwnour and praise and ascribe po%vcr to God v/hen we by our words declare Him to be glorious and honourable and the object of our praise, and show forth His power by the consistency and holiness of our lives ; aud Gorranus. proclaim Him to be our Lord and God not only because He 1 " Procidebant, adorabant, mittebant. Pro prseteritis imperfectis. GraBCa fu- turum liabent, apte significantia per- petuam repetitionem actiis : cantabant canticum istud, illud ipsum perpetuo cantaturi." — Guyaux. ^ d^toQ €i, Kvpu, Xaj3tLV r^v So^av K. T. \. — Text, recept. aiioQ u, 6 Kuptoc Kai b QtbQ yfiijjv, XafSelv rtjv So^av K. T. \. — Tisch. 3 *' ri^v d6%av Kai rfiv Ttftr/v Kai Tf)v Siivajiiv — the glory, the honour, the power : that which belongs to God alone." — Wordsworth, * ^la TO 6e\rjfj.a <70v ilai Kai bk- TttrOriffav. — Text, recept. ^tdrb Q'eXij^d GOV ijaav Kai eKTtaQriaav. — Tisch., Gues., Lachm, " tjaav is very express ive, and far preferable. No sooner didst thou will their being than they teere, ' God said. Let there be light, and there- was light' (Gen. i. 3). (piog syti'f-o, it was made, and it ex isted {nv)." — Wordsworth. 24 BupertuB. Dion. Carth. TRINITY SUNDA Y. has created us, and redeemed us from the bondage of sin and from the service of Satan, but when by our sanctiflcation we declare Him to be God who has enabled us to triumph over our foes and has brought us into the way of life.^ Thou art worthy, 0 Lord, to receive glory, for Thou hast created all things from nothing ; Thou art worthy to receive honour, because all things have continued throughout the generations which are passed according to Thy will. We show forth thy poiver because by Thy life-giving and sancti fying Spirit we have been regenerated, and because Thy might is manifested in us, Thy new creation. The power of God is shown in the fact of creation, because by a pure act of His Divine will He made all things : not by any process of natural birth, not from any necessity in the nature of the things which He has created, but as rays proceed by neces sity from the body of the sun, »o has He regenerated His saints, as a gift and as an exercise of His essential power, as a piece of art proceeding from the mind of the siiilful artificer, who works in all things according to his own wiU. ' " La creation, la conservation, la faut chercher et faire en toutes choses, reparation qui est une creation nouvelle, sent trois titres qui nous obligent de rapporter tout a Dieu. C'est par sa volonte qu'il fait tout, C'est elle qu'il Les enfans d'Adam ne s'occupent que de leur propre gloire ; les saints ne sont remplis que de celle de Dieu et de Jesus Christ." — Quesnel, ,*0 Domine Deus, Pater Domini nostri Je»u Cbristi, ex quo omnia pater- nitas in ccelo et in terra nominatur : da nobis virtute corroborari per Spiritum Tuum in interiorem horainem et scire Buperemimentem scientiie caritatem Cbristi, ut impleamur in omnem pleni- tudinem Dei; Per eumdem Dominum Jesum Christum qui tecum vivit et i-egnat in uuitate ejusdem Spiritum Deus per omnia ssecula ssEculorum. Amen." — Paris. Jlissalc, THE FIRST SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY, 1 John iv. 7— 21.i In the services for the first half of the year the Church Calls us to meditate upon the great facts of redemption, the central truths respecting God's nature, or upon the incarna tion, the temptation, the sufferings, the death, the resurrec tion and ascension of our Divine Lord, and upon the mission of the Holy Ghost to the world. In the latter half we have these truths applied to the renewed life of the child of God, and our thoughts are directed to those practical lessons which directly influence the whole life of grace in the re generated. The great dogmas of the Christian faith on which the holiness of the believer is founded, and without which he would lack motives for his exertion and examples for his guidance, are the ground on which the life of faith is builded, and without which it would have no endurance,^ 1 " Egimus paulo ante solennitatem Spiritus Sancti, qui est amor et nexus indissolubilis Patris ac Filii, et per quem charitas diffunditur in cordibus nostris. Nihil ergo potuit fieri convenientius quam ut post ejus tam insignem solen nitatem charitas nobis coramendaretur. Id quod hac die faoit sancta mater Ec clesia, utens D. Johannis Apostoli planfe ignitis eloquis." — Polygranus, ILom, in Dom. prima post Trin, ^ " The passages of Scripture se lected as the Epistles and Gospels for the Sunday after Trinity are essentially practical in their teaching. Thus the Christian year may be divided into two portions. The first is from Advent to Trinity Sunday, in which the great facts of our religion — the approach of Christ, His birth and circumcision. His fasting. His passion, death, and burial. His resurrection and ascension, and the coming of the Holy Ghost — are brought before us in succession, and afterwards gathered together as it were in a focus in the great festival of Trinity Sunday, which we have just contemplated : the finished work of God, our redemption completed by the combined love and blessing of Father, Son, and Spirit. The second period is from Trinity to Advent, during which we are led from the revealed truths and facts of Christianity to their practical consequences, while the Church seems ever pressing home to us the ex- 'hoita.iion. If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them (John xiii. 17), and reminding us that if the founda tion of Christianity is an adequate knowledge, the only proof of its reality is a consistent life." — Bishop Cotton on the Epistles, 26 THE FIRST SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. i.T,imiii.i8, ^^ Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and hnoweth God. In that part of his Epistle whieh precedes these words the Apostle had pointed out to those to whom he was writing the characteristics which in every age distinguish between the children of God and the children of the world j and the marks of difference by which the faithful followers of Christ and the heretical teachers both of olden and of subsequent times may be known. The one teaching their disciples to love earthly things, the other moving them to attain to heavenly things, St, John now goes on to exhort individual Christians to live according to their high calling, to fly from the spirit of self-love and of selfishness, and to cherish Com. 4 Lap. the Spirit of Christian love which is the very spirit of God ; to love one another after the example which Christ left His Th. Aquinaa. followers in His manifestation of love to man.^ These words indeed are frequently taken in connection with those which immediately precede them. In this, or. Hereby know we the spirit of truth and the spirit of error, the one makes us love one another, the other checks that spark of love which God has given to us, and nurtures the spirit of self-love, which Theophyiaot. is the spirit of error and of sin. , Beloved, that is, you who are united with me in the same faith and hope and charity, let us love one another. Let us, he says. He is not content with saying. Beloved, love one another, but he commends this precept by including himself in the exhortation : Let us love one another.^ What he taught others to do was equally necessary to himself. One another, not our friends only, not some few saints and serv ants of God, but all who are of the same family and house hold as ourselves, our brethren by creation, for true Chris tian charity embraces all in its regard. Let us show our love one for another by imitating the good, by tolerating the Gorranus. 1 "The Gospel and Epistle well agree, for Abraham, the father of the faithful, and his son Lazarus, who loved God above all things, and their neigh bours as themselves, are said to be comforted in heavenly paradise: where as the rich glutton, who by loving him self too much altogether neglected his love towards others, is tormented in hell; and therefore, seeing the end of nncharitableness is so terrible, the re ward of love so comfortable. Beloved, let us love one another." — Dean Boys. ' "Let ns love one another. The schoolmen acutely distinguish between amor, dehctio, and charitas ; amor i9 common to beasts with men ; deleetio proper only to men elcctio quasi} cha- ritas is an infused grace by tie Holy Ghost, only proper to saints, as in my text, every one that loveth is born of God." — Dean Boys. 1 fOIIN IV. 7—21. 27 bad, by loving all, even sinners, however much we may De.inBo.ys. detest their siiis,^ Love one another by giving up all self- Arias Mon- love; for love, he says, is of God, that is, it springs from the BbraX very nature of God, and unites us not only to our brethren Fromond. but also to God Himself. Love is of God — (1) He gave it to us, it is His nolDlest gift, those who re ceive it are made partakers of the Divine nature, -which is 2Pet. i. 4. Love ; and we know that every good gift, even the temporal good which we have on earth, and every perfect and spiritual James i. 17, gift, is from Him, (2) Love is of God, again, because He commands it,i'or it Rom^")"- w. is the fulfilling of the law. (3) Because He commends it to us by His example, who gave us His only begotten Son, and by giving this precious uoimiv. 9. gift when we were yet sinners and enemies to His love,'' De'ani!oy''s!' In considering this Epistle we must bear in mind that love is here used in three senses. (1) In the sense of the eternal, uncreated, essential love, which is God Himself, the source of all love in man, (2) Of the uncreated love which emanates from God as light streaming forth from the sun, and which He imparts to man, com. 4 Lap. (3) Of that love which is from God and is created by Him in the heart of man by the gift of His uncreated love, which when given kindles man's affections and directs them to God and toward his fellow-men. This created love is the highest Foiengius. gift of God to man. The love here spoken of is the action of the mind moving it to delight in God, and in mankind for the sake of God.' Augustine. ^ " loannes non dicit, Diligamus hos matrem ' [Epist, ad Theophy.]. Ephrem vel illos, sed in genere: Diligamus, Syrus, 'omnium virtutum columnam' inquit, invicem, quemadmodum enim [Doctr, De Humil. ]. Augustinus, ' vir- nullos in specie nominat sic nullos ex- tutum omnium arcem ' [Serm. xxxv de cludi vult Charitas enim Christiana Temp.]. Chrysostomus, 'divinorummu- ad omnes homines se extendere debet, nerum praBstantissimum ' [lib. ii. de amices et inimicos. Non enim persona Sacerd.]. Prosper, ' affectionum omnium proximi sed natura et necessitas atten- potentissimam, in omnibus semper in- denda sunt." — Ferus. victam, actionum bonarum summam, ' " TertuUianus caritatem vocat, salutem morum, flnem coelestium prse- •summum fidei sacramentum, Christiani ceptorum, mortem crirainum, vitam vir- nominis thesaurum, quam apostolus totis tutum ' [lib. iii. de Vita Contemp. u. 13], viribus Spiritiis Sancti commendat ' [de Gregorius Pontifex, ' matrem et custo- Patient.^, Clemens vero Alexandrinus, dem omnium bonorum' [lib. vi. Ep, ' pi-Eecipnum hominis Christiani munus ' 60]. Deuique Bernardus, ' hominum [inParen,adGen.'], Cyprianus, ' funda- matrem et angelorum, non solum quae mentum,pacis tenacitatem et firmitatem in terris, sed etiam quae in coelo sunt unitatis, qua; et opera et martyi-ia prse- pacificantem' [Epist. i\.]." —Justiniani, cediV [de Bono Patient.}. Basilius, ' radi- ^ " Motum animi ad fruendum Deum cem raandatorum.' Gregorius Nazian- propter Ipsum, et se atque proximum zenus, ' doctrinse nostrse caput * [Epist. propter Deum." — Augustine, de Doct. 20], HieronymuB,'cunctarum virtutum Christ, cap. x. 28 THE FIRST SUNDA Y AFTER TRINITY. Faber Stap. Til. Aquinas. Guillaud. Hugo de S, Charo. Chrysostom. John xiv. 6. Estius. Justiniani. John xiii. 17. It is the fruit of our regeneration into the family of God, not of our generation into this world, so that he who has it has in it a proof of his regeneration, for every one thai loveth is born of God and is His son by adoption. What, then, may not real charity accomplish since it is of God, the gift of Himself to His children ? Every one that loveth is born of God, that is, every one so far forth as he possesses this love and manifests it in his inter course with his brethren, receives the privileges of sonship, and is conformed to the likeness of God through the action of His grace dwelling and workingin his heart.^ We then who have been made sons of God by the operation of His love are called upon to love one anotlier, and so to preserve that gift of sonship which our Father in heaven has given us ; and this gift of love we can exercise because with the gift itself He has given us the power to manifest it in our love to one another. In vain, indeed, do we call ourselves Christians and claim to be members of His body, unless we are imita tors of Christ, who in calling Himself the Way points out to us the way in which all His followers are to walk, and who humbled Himself to this that by His example, as well as by His death on the cross. He might lead us out of the mazes of this evil world and present us to the Father. But he that loveth is not only said to be born of God, he also knoweth God, Knows Him, that is, as one who loves Him, has fellowship with Him as a Father, in close and in timate relations with Him, and because he knows Him, worships Him in the way which He has pointed out.^ This practical, experimental knowledge of God is inseparably connected with a holy life, and is maintained by growth in holiness. Hence the words of our Blessed Lord Himself, Jf ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them; since in doing His will consists our happiness, and every act in which we do His will increases our knowledge of God. Nothing, then, can be greater than this gift of Evangehc charity, of Christian love, since it has God for its source; it is of God, nay, it is God Himself, for the Apostle goes on to ' Quceritur, Cum dicit quod ex Deo natus est, de qua nativitate loquitur, aut regenerationis aut creationis. Si de prima, hoc non est magnum, quia om nia a Deo creata sunt : si de secunda sed multi regenerati postea redierunt et sic etiam non est magnum. Si de prajdcs- tinatione, sed multi nati sunt ex Deo sic, scilicet per prsedestinationem qui non- dum Deum cognoscunt per amorem vel per fidem nee diligunt fratres. Solutio, Qui diligit fratrera, inquantum dihgit ex Deo natus est per gratiaiu inhahitau- tem, Xec obstat quod multi tales sunt reprobi, quia quaudo diligunt hoc tunc a gratia habent et inquantum sic, sujit Deo grati. Und^ non intelligit hie de nativitate creationis, nee recreationis, nee prtedestinationis, sed gratia in- habitationis." — Hugo de S. Charo. ^ " Deus non colitur nisi amando," — Satalis Alex. 1 fOHN IV. 7—21. 29 say that God is love. Nothing is more powerful than this gift of love, since it makes us to be children of God, the very sons of God. Nothing is more satisfying to the soul, no thing gives more light to the understanding, than the love which gives us the knowledge of God, and shows us the Quesnei. glory of His attributes and the mysteries of His love. (8) He that loveth not knoweth Jiot God ; for God iJohnii.4; . , ' ' ¦' iii. 6; iv. is love. lo- He who loves not God and his brother has no experi mental knowledge of God, has not God dwelling within him, for to an unloving or malicious spirit God will not come. The way to Him who is love, uncreated infinite love, is by that finite love which He creates within the soul, and nour ishes and increases in all those who follow His guidance, -ph. Aquinas. He is that Eternal love which first kindles in our hearts the Lorinus. love by which we love Him.^ He that loveth not knoweth not God. The Apostle is not here speaking of the mere intellectual conception of God, the acquiescence in the conclusions of reason, nor of any de duction from natural religion, but of an experimental know ledge ; such a knowledge as leads us to imitate God, and to delight in Him, Such a knowledge is only given to those who make Him the object of their love, and who joy in their obedience to His commandments. The barren know- saimeron. ledge of the existence of God, that knowledge which all in some sort possess, without this love, may become a curse and not a blessing to man, as in the case of those who when Justiniani, they knew God glorified Him not as God, neither wore thank ful, and so became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish Eom. i. 21. heart was darkened. God is love. He is so — (1) Essentially; for His nature is simple and uncom- pounded, so that He in His Essence is IJncreated Love. And this is not said of the Father alone, the source of love, nor of the Son alone, the manifestation of the Father's love, nor of the Holy Spirit of love alone, but since love is essential ly the nature of God it is affirmed of the Triune Godhead.^ (2) Causatively : He is the source of all love which is in man, the author of grace to man. ' " Vide P. Lombard, in Senten. lib. Pater dicatur et Filius et Spiritus Sanc- . 1, Dist. 17. Scotum, lib. 1, Dist. 17, q- tus et simul omnes una caritas. Sic 1, art. 3, et Estium in loco. enim et Pater Deus et Filius Deus et 2 " Deus caritas est. — Nescio cur non Spiritus Sanctus Deus, et simul omnes sicut sapientia et Pater dicitur et Fibus xinas Bens."— Augustine, lib. xv. de et Spiritus Sanctus et simul omnes non Trinit. cap. 17. tres, sed una sapientia, ita et caritas et 20 THE FIRST SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY, (3) Objectively : He is the end of our love, the object in Estiua. which our love finds eternal satisfaction, God is love. He, then, who loves not his brother, who Ferus. sius agaiust love, sins against God. God is in Holy Scripture often spoken of as the Holy One, the Righteous God, the Wise ; but not as holiness, righteousness, or wisdom, in the concrete. He is, however, declared to be love, intimating by this that love is His Wesley. chief, His distinguishable attribute,^ As he knows not joy who has never experienced it, as he knows not what sweetness is who has never tasted it, so he who loves not God with that love which comes from God knoweth not God who is love. And in the very force of his words the Apostle indicates the greatness of this more than attribute of God, for though he might have truly said, he that has no knowledge cannot know Him who is Omnis cient ; he who is unwise cannot apprehend Him who is per fect wisdom ; he who is utterly powerless in intellect can not know Him who is all power; he who is not patient cannot comprehend Him who is long-suffering ; he who is not humble cannot know Him who humbled Himself to our nature, and became man in His great love for us ; he prefers to say, he that loveth not knoweth not God ; for though He is omniscient and all-wise, the Mighty, the Almighty God, the all-patient God; and though in His humanity Christ is the all-perfect example of humility; yet exceeding all these attributes, surpassing all these tokens of His Godhead, brighter and loftier than all these glories encompassing the Rev. iv. 3. throne and nature of God, as the rainbow in the apocalyptic vision of the same beloved Apostle, is this attribute,^ God Corn. 4 Lap. is LoVC. Only the pure, the humble, the loving heart knows the Clem. Alex, power of God and the full blessedness of His presence. John iii. 16. (9) Jii this was manifested the love of God toivard potentia sunt ipsa essentia divina, sicut contra Gilbertum definivit Concil. Rhemense. Vide S. Bernard, serm. 80 iu Cant. Porro Deus est charitas tum in abstracto tum in concrete, quia est tum summa dilectio, tum summ6 dili- gens, ideoque yicissim ^ nobis summ^ diligendus et redamandus, q. d. Bern est charitas, quia summ& nos dilexit: nam hujus sua3 eliaritatis evidentissimum drdit indicium, ciim pro nobis salvandis dedit luisitque Filium suum unigeni- tum." — Corn, a Lapide, ' ""OffTrfp aya66ri]g Xeyerai iiri Si ayaOorrjra vTrtarTjire tov vorjrbv Koa- ^ov Kai TOV aitrOrj-bv, ovrw Kai Si aydlTTjV Tijv ti'i; rjfiag Soii; tov ^wvo- yivYj Ylbv avrou t.'t; rbv K6afiov,tSii^£ Kai bid TovTOu on dyaTTT] tari. bib Kai abrb^ tTrt^eptf iv tovti^ tarlv 7) dycnrtj." — Theophylact, 2 " In Deo Deique essentia ob sum mam perfectionem et simplicitatera nulla sunt accidentia, sed qua in nobis sunt accidentia, in Deo sunt idem cum es sentia, uti sapientia, bonitas, amor, 1 fOHN IV, 7—21. 31 US, because that God sent his only begotten Son into Rom. v. s; the worltl, that we might live through him. IJohniii.lG; v. U, 20. In this as a sure sign was manifested ^ the love of God ; we saw that He was not merely uncreated Love dwelling apart in His own glory, indifferent, hke the God of the Stoics, to the wants of man, for He came forth and manifested His love to the world, by sending His Son, — not a servant, not Guiuaud. merely a Son, but His only begotten Son, His con-substantial Son, begotten, not adopted as we are. His only one, not one of many, and by sending Him not to angels, but to this our lowly estate, — into the world, with its corruption ; and by sending Him not to judge the world, but that we sinners of the world might be raised from the spiritual death to which we had fallen by reason of our sins, and might live through Th.Aquin.as, Him. Might live, — (1) A life of grace, after our deliverance from death and from deadly works, (2) The life of eternal glory, an entrance into which He procured us by His death on the cross. Hence He Him- Fromond. self says He came that men might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. Life here through union joimx. 10. with Him, and the abundance, the fulness of life in the cyrii Aiex. resurrection life of glory hereafter. His only begotten Son. Here we have an assertion of the Divinity of Christ, Had He been created He could not with propriety be called the only one who was begotten, be cause if begotten had been used for created He would have Lorinus, shared this quality of creation with many others. This gift of Christ to man and for man is to be highly esteemed, — (1) Because of the giver, it was God the Father who sent His only begotten Son into the world, (2) Because of the motive which led to the sending of Christ, not punishment, but the love of God. (3) Because of the unspeakable greatness of the gift, which is no less than that of the only begotten Son of God, ' Very God of very God,' (4) Because of the greatness of the need of those to whom He was given, they were dead in sins and He came to give life. (5) Because of the want of all merit in those to whom ' "Observe the perfect airiaToXKi propitiation was eSecteAhy one act, i.e. here,andin verse 14, indicating that the by the sacrifice on the cross. Christ, effect of that mission is permanent and who was once offered to bear the sins operative. The aorist in verse 10, of many, dieth no more. Heb. ix. 28 ; airiuTtiKtv iXao-nbv, denotes that the Eom. vi. 9." — Wordsworth. 32 THE FIRST SUNDA Y AFTER TRINITY. God manifested in this way His love, it was whilst we were yet sinners, enemies to God and indifferent to his love, that Til. Aquinas. Christ camc. The mission of Christ into the world is spoken of as a sending, God sent His oiily begotten Son. In this sending of the Son, and, again, in the sending of the Holy Spirit, which is the joint act of the Father and the Son, a difference is marked between the temporal mission and the Eternal Generation or begetting of the Son and the Eternal Proces- Lorinus. gion of the Holy Spirit. The love of God was manifested to us ^ in this sending of the Son when we had departed from that heavenly Jerusa lem in which our conversation was, and from our Father's Luke XV. 13. presence into a far country, and as we went on our way had Luiie X. 30. fallen amongst thieves who stripped us of our robe of right eousness, and having wounded us in our whole spiritual nature had then left us comfortless, half dead, by the way side. Though we had departed from God of our own choice, and had alienated ourselves from Him, and had become servants of the princes of the world, before the treacherous Isa.xxiv. 16. dealers had dealt with us very treacherously, and though we had no perception of our low estate, yet then He sent His only begotten Son, to lift us from the dunghill of our sins and Polygranus. to sct US in hcaveuly places in our Father's house. He sent His only begotten Son. God had long before sent forth prophet after prophet, and mankind had turned a deaf ear to their teaching, and had not been moved to repentance, but still loved the bondage to which they had submitted and the iron yoke which galled their necks. The natural law and the sacrificial law of the Levitical priesthood had appealed to man in vain. As of old, when the son of the Shunammite woman lay dead, and Gehazi came and laid the staff of the prophet by the dead body, and yet no signs of life came, so had the prophet's staff, so had the priestly sacrifice, failed to raise the dead conscience of man to living works. Then, when the inefiicacy of the law and ordinances, of type and shadow, had been made evident in the continued corruption of the human race, God sent forth His Son to those who had turned from and had slain His prophets, aud sent Rim forth in order that men might live through Him.^ ^ iv ToiiTui iijtavfpMri ij dyd^rr) Tov rect in grammar, since the article must 01OV iv riiiiv. "It is a question have be"en repeated before tv r/juiv whether iv ijixiv belongs to l^avtpM,^, "We must refer, with Winer and others, or to i'; dydij-r). The Litter is the view the iv riixlv to the verb iipavipiiBi]."— of Luther, Beza, Speuer, Socinus, Ebranl. Episcopius, Grotius, Piscator, Beauso- 2 " Triplici ratione convincit Johan- brc, Beiigel, Kosenmuller, Hutlier ; nes quanta charitate Deus nos delexerit. this, however, is most certainly iucor- Prima quia charitas est, ideo uaturale Hugo de S. Cluiro. I fOHN IV. 7—21. 23 ^ He sent Him that we might live, through Him; not, that IS, as He sent the angels to Sodom to overthrow it with a great overthrow; not as the angel was sent to the camp of the Assyrians before Jerusalem to destroy the camp ; but as the manifestation of His love and the cause of life to those Sain,eron, who will hve. Life through Him ; faith through the merits of Him who died for man; charity through His love work ing in the hearts of man ; hope through our union with Him Justiniani. who is Eternal life. The Apostle calls us to a manifestation of our love for the brethren, and he therefore sets before us this perfect manifestation of God's love towards us. If we have aught of this love we have life ; if we have life we have also love. Love and spiritual life are inseparably blended the one with the other, and both these, life and love, are His gifts to us, we have both if we have received and retain His Spirit, But we have neither the one nor the other from ourselves, all is from Him who gives us of His life and pours into our hearts Faber stap. His love, (10) Herein is love, not that we loved God, but John xy. is. that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propiti- i°§^i\\l''- ationfor our sins. ^'H^vf „ •^ 1 John li. 2. Herein is the greatness of the Divine love evidenced to us, this is its characteristic nature, that it preceded our love to saimeron. Him. Not that we loved Him, for if we had — (1) His love would not have been a gratuitous act, as we are told it was, (2) Since He is eternal His love must necessarily have cion. carth. preceded ours to Him, He loved us in all things, with a prevenient love in our predestination,' in our call into His family, in our justifica tion. In these acts we have the gratuitous nature of His love made evident. In this we see how greatly it exceeds est illi diligere, sicut igni califacere, ut facta propitiatione, qui inimici eramus speremus nos alia bona ab ipso Deo deinceps reconciliati essemus amici." — consecuturos meritis, quando imme- Topiarias. rentes ipse qui est amor, nos amare fuit ' " Sapienter scripsit alicubi Augus- dignatus. Secunda ratio est, qui misit tinus, hoc interesse inter prsedestinatio- Pilium unigenitum ut carmen assume- nem et gratiam, quod prsedestinatio sit ret, et nos redimeret per suam passio- gratse priEparatio, gratia ver6 ipsa do- nem et mortem ut vivamus per ipsum. natio [Lib. de Prcedest, Sanct, cap. 10]. Tertia ratio est, in hoc sese prodit cha- Adde quod non panel nunc quidem prae- ritas Dei in nos, quia ctim nos ilium destinati jam sunt, qui vel nondum odio prosequeremur, ipse prior dilexit conditi sunt, vel caritatem cert^ non- nos, ut quia jam per mortem Christi dum perceperunt " [August, T-act.xU. eramus resuscitati, per eadem mortem in Joan.}. — Justiniani, EPIST. VOL. IL C 34 Th. Aquinaa. John XV. 13. Fab. Stap. Uernard. Bp. Brown- Au^stine, Guillaud.Gorranus.Fromond, THE FIRST SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. man's love. To love those who love us is of the nature of man ; to love those who love us not is the work of Divine grace. Indeed had He not so loved us we could never have loved Him, for the dead cannot love, and man's spiritual life was dead when Christ came to give us life. And this love reached to the laying down of His life for us, in which He showed the greatness of His love, for greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. The love of Christ, however, exceeds the greatest love of man, since He laid down His life for those who were at enmity with Him, who rejected Him whilst on earth and who put Him to a cruel death. He laid down His life for them that He might make His enemies to become His friends. He sent His Son. He was His Son before He was sent. That must have existence before we can send it. In this is the pre-existence of our Blessed Lord asserted. He did not begin to be when He was sent into the world. He already was. He sent Him to be the propitiation ' for our sins. The sacrificial priest. He who saw there was no other availing sacrifice, offered up Himself, who was at once the priest and the sacrifice offered up for our sins. In this is the greatness of the Redeemer manifested. He was not like one of the priests of the house of Aaron, standing continually offering imperfect sacrifices for us ; but He, the priest after the order of Melchizedec, offered up a real atoning sacrifice and washed away our sins in His own blood :^ — our sins, whether original or personal, small as well as great, the sins of weakness and the sins of delibera tion; ours, for they came from our will, no necessity com pels us to deeds of sin, they are ours by choice. These He came to deliver us from by the offering up of Himself, Let us bear in mind, however, though this love by which our sins are forgiven, by which we are justified freely, as St. Paul says, precedes and is the source of our love to God, yet the love which He has manifested towards us, and which He pours into the hearts of all who are united to Him, must work in us love to Him, and living faith, the fruits of love. ' " WanfioQ is not ' atonement,' but ' propitiation : ' atonement, reconcilia- tio, is KOTaWayi) ; while iXatr/nof is, on the other hand, expiatio—i\\s.\, by means of which it is rendered possible that God, who must manifest His bpyf) against unexpiated sin, should put an end to this iSpyi), and exhibit Himself as i\tuiQ towards men." — Ebrard. J " Propitiationem. Hostiam propi- tiatoriam, cujus immolatione ipsemet Pater mittens propitiari et reconciliari nobis posset. Propitiatio enim sumitnr hie concretum pro hostia propitiatoria, aut etiam pro ipso sacerdote per hos tiam propitiante. Utrumque enim fuit Cbristus et hostia et sacerdos seipsura Patri in cruce sacrificans, sive in sacrifi- eium offerens. Unde S. Augustinus legit, litatorem, id est, propitiatorem : Hie enim in sacrificiis litat, qui propi- tiat etimpetrat quod petit." — Fromond. 1 JOHN IV. 7-2 1. 3^ if we would receive the crown and attain unto sanctifi- justiniani cation. (11) Beloved, if^ God so loved us, we ought also to Man. xvii,. love one another. joi;nxv.]2, 13. yTT- 717 7 IJohniii. 10. We ought also to love one another, because God has not only given us a commandment so to love, but He has afforded us an example of the way in which we ought to manifest our love one towards another, and that from these considera- Th. Aquinas. tions : — (1) The love of God has wrought this power in us, that we are able to love others in the same manner wherewith He has loved us, and this power has not been given except j3i„„ p^^y, for use. (2) We ought to love one another, for in loving our breth- p^b. stap. ren we love those whom God loved when He loved us. (3) Because every member of the family of man is made in the image of God. And since God needs not our love He has given us our brethren, who do need it, that manifesting com. a Lap. our love to them we might show it to Him. (4) Because we are commanded to walk in the footsteps of Christ, and to be perfect even as our Father which is in i pet. ii. 21. heaven is perfect, and His goodness, His benevolence. His Matt. v. 48. perfect love to man, is a call to us to imitate Him by deeds justiniani. of like love. We worship not God aright, we worship Him not in truth, unless we love our brethren. We worship Him in every act of love which we manifest for the brethren, and this Nataiis Aiei. love for others, as it springs from God's love to us, so is it nourished and encouraged by the remembrance of the great ness of His love to us,^ Let us but bear in mind that God so loved us, loved us when we were enemies to Him, as to humble Himself to give us an example of love, and at length to die for us, and no offences of our brethren towards us saimei™. will appear heavy to us, none will hinder our love to them. (12) No man hath seen God at any time. If we f^^l^\"i^^- love one another, God dtvelleth in us, and his love is *""le!-^'" perfected in us. ^ ]S!II!' ^ ' ' " &¦ non est dubitantis, nee condi- 2 "Dicit Gloss., Incipe diligere t tionale, sed asseverantis et eausale, idem ccepit Deus in te esse, eresce in dilec- valens quod quia, q. d. Quia sic Deus tione : et amplius in te babitando Deus dilexit lies. Simili modo ait Cbristus : faciet te perfectum ut diligas et iuimi- si, id est quia, ego lavi pedes vestros Do- cum sicut et ipse dilexit qui pro eis minus et magister, et vos debetis alter oravit. Luc. xxiii. 34." — Hugo de S. alterius lavare. pedes. Johan. xiii. 14." Charo. — Corn, a Lapide. 36 THE FIRST SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. Huc;o de S. Cliaro. No m.an hath with his bodily eye seen God at any time, nor Th. Aquinas, can SCO Him, for He cannot be seen by the outward eye. He must be sought for by the heart. By this He hfts us above sensible things, teaches us that there are higher Corn, i Lap. thiugs than these, and draws our hearts to Him who is far above, out of our sight. As we cannot direct to Him our love by any outward acts, we needed some objects on which our love might be exercised ; therefore — as the means by which our love might be nurtured and strengthened by use Saimeron. — jJq }^a,s givcu US ouc another to love. Since, then, no man hath seen God with the bodily vision, if the Christian desires to grow in God's grace and to maintain that spirit of love which God has given him, let him love those whom God ¦ has loved, as well as God who at the first loved him, and God will dwell in his heart and make him know of a sure truth that He is there.^ Vision is of various kinds. It is — (1) Corporeal, in which way it is impossible that we should see God, since God is a spirit. (2) Spiritual, by which the prophets of old are said to have seen God, that is, not in His essence, which far trans cends the powers of even spiritual apprehension, but by some appearance by which the consciousness of His presence was given, or by the intervention of an angel announcing the presence of God. (3) Intellectual vision, by which men come to apprehend God and see Him in the w^orks of His hands ; this, however, is not perfectly to see God, but only to behold the tokens of His presence and of His power. Because no eye hath seen God, because no eye can see Him, and because therefore we could not imitate His love, He mani fested Himself in the person of Christ, so that we might learn by His example, and love others as He loved us. If we love one another God dwelleth in us. Whilst, then, it is true that we cannot see God, yet it is also true that the invisible God manifests Himself to us visibly in the person of our brethren who are in His image,^ and He calls us to ' " Nisi dilexeris, Dei templum haud- quaquam esse poteris. Charitatis va cuus, Dei vacuus. Habitabit in te, si dilexeris ipsum et ejus prajcepta obser- vaveris (Joan. xiv. 16). Charitate erga proximum, charitas in Deum de- claratur : sine illo amore quem prascepta ejus summopere requirunt, ille perpetuo in ambiguo erit." — Wicclius. " " Omnes fratres sumus ex eodem Patre Adam originem trahentes. Pos- trerao etiam ideo Joannes tantum de dilectione fraterna loquitur, quia etiam inimici nostri, non ut hostes sed ut fratres, attendendi et araandi sunt. Odieudum enim est in ipsis quod ma lum est, diligenda autem naturas. Dili gendus est inimicus, non quia in- imicus est et malefacit sed ut bonus fiat. Sic Deus dilexit nos cum adhuo inimici essemus, non ut inimici mane- remus sed ut amici efliceremur."— Ferus. I JOHN IV. 7—2 1. Zl love them, that rising from the visible by the wings of love we may be made partakers of His nature who is the invis ible God._ And this love is so acceptable to God that corn, a Lap. wherever it is there is God, as He has said, where two or three are gathered in My name, there am I in the midst of them. If, Matt.xviii.20. then, this charity be so pleasing, so acceptable to Him, we may gather from these words how displeasing is all strife, and Ferus. hatred, and variance, and division, , And His love is perfected in us, so that it becomes all that is necessary to the salvation of the soul.^ It is perfected, sa. completed in all its parts and offices, and these are love to God and love to man. If we think we have the first and yet have not the second, then is our charity maimed and imperfect. If we have or think we have the second and yet possess not the first, we have no true, no perfect charity, corn, a Lap. Others understand by these words, it is perfected, that our love is declared to be sincere, as conformed to the Divine will and example. This is included in the assertion that it esHus. is complete in all its parts. Our love is perfected — ¦ (1) If we indeed love one another as Christ has com manded and has afforded us the example, for then God abides in us and matures that love which at the first He gave, (2) If God dwells in us, as in a temple. He makes us more and more perfect by that love which working in us Ferus. conforms us day by day to His perfect image,^ (13) Hereby know we that we divell in Him, and ^°^:^^^'^{^''' John ii. 10, 27; iii. 21. He in us, because He hath given us of His Spirit. uohnii. lo, If, then, we are closely united to our brethren by Christian charity, and a real Divinely given love for them, we are closely united to God, nay, we are not merely united to Him, but ive dwell in Him and He in us. Lest, however, we Estius. should think that He is speaking merely of self-love, of earthly affection. He points out that it is given to us and is Faber stap. of His Spirit. He had before assured us that God dwells in the hearts of those who cherish this principle of Divine love ; now He ^ In nobis perfecta est. — " Sufiicienter ^ " Personne n'est assure que Dieu perfecta est pro charitate vias quam a est en lui, que cclui qui est certain nobis exigit Deus." — Fromond. "Per- qu'il aime sou prochain comme lui- fectione sufficientiaj et tendit ad perfec- meme, et on n'en peut etre certain que tionem excellentiiE." — Th. Aquinas, par les oeuvres. L'amour est parfait en " TfKiioi)(s6ai iv dydirij significat sin- cette vie, quand il est dominant, qu'il cerum esse in a.more,"— Bosenmiiller, rend Dieu maitre du coear, qu'ou le " C'est a dire, est veritable, car en ce prefere d toutes choses, et que par cet monde le plus parfait amour de Dieu amour on n'^pargne rien pour secourir est toujours imparfait." — Sure. son prochain." — Qmsnel, 38 Corn, a Lap. Cajetan. Rom. v. 5. Th. Aquinas. Jolin i. 14. 1 John i. 1,2; ii. 1 ; iii. 5, 16. THE FLRST SUNDA Y AFTER TRINITY. teFs us that he who has this love has the Spirit of God.* He, however, who has the Spirit of God has God Himself dwelling in him, for where the Spii'it of God is, there is God. There was in the case of the Apostle a propriety in this assertion that God had given of His Spirit. He did so — (1) When in the evening of the day of His resurrection. He breathed on the Apostles and gave them His Holy Spirit for the work of their ministry, (2) He did so visibly upon the great body of the disciples on the day of Pentecost, when in the appearance of fire the Spirit was given to each of them, (3) He did so then, He does so effectively, though in visibly, now, when in the hearts of His true members the love of God, is shed abroad . . . by the Holy Ghost which is given unto them, (14) And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the ivorld. Three times within the few verses of the Epistle for this day, the Apostle has recurred to the fact that God sent forth His Son, By the repetition of this truth he would fasten upon our minds more securely the certainty of the manifestation of the unbounded love of the Father towards us. But he not merely reiterates this one truth, he adds the reasons for the sending forth of the Son, and each time He presents to us a fresh mercy, a new fact concerning the mission of Christ into the world. He tells us, — (1) That the Son was sent into the world that we might live through Him, that He might be the source of life to every one of us. (2) He tells us that Christ came that He might be the propitiation for our sins, that by the sacrifice of Himself on the cross He might put away our sins. (3) He here tells us that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world. In the sending of the Son that we might have life through Him, God would remove -from His children the fear of death ; if He sent His Son to be the propitiation for the sins of the world, He assures us of His forgiving love, and would lift us from despair at the remembrance of our past iniquities ; if He sent His Son to be tlie Saviour of the world. He would teach us that if we abide in Him, if we believe in Him, if we imitate His 1 " There is no love to be found to- the Spirit is not, there is no love ; love wards our brctbreu but aniongst spirit- is not a fruit that grows upon thorns, ual men. Cor if we love one auoiher or on such a stock as nature brings there is a Spirit of God iu us ; where forth, the old olive." — Cotton. I JOHN IV. 7—21. 39 example and look to Him in all things. He will save us, not Ferus only now but in the day of judgment.* We have seen the man Christ Jesus with our bodily eyes, Lorinus, or, as this Apostle says elsewhere, that which was from the beginning, ^ which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the Word of life. John indeed had seen Him and uohni.i. had leaned on His bosom at the last supper ; had heard Him announce the deep mysteries of the kingdom of heaven; had seen Him raising the dead, cleansing the lepers, casting out devils, not by the power of any other, but by His own inherent power; had heard Him rebuke the winds and the waves, so that the storm ceased and a great calm fol lowed ; he had seen Him walking on the waves of the sea as on dry land; had been present when He was trans figured before the eyes of the three disciples with a bright ness above the brightness of the sun ; had heard the voice of the Eternal Father proclaiming This is my beloved Son; had seen Him die on the cross; had been present when He appeared to His Apostles and the rest of the dis ciples after His resurrection, and from the top of the moun tain in Galilee he had witnessed His ascension into heaven ; and hence His triumphant appeal to those to whom he is writing, many of whom doubtless had been witnesses of some of these events : we have seen and do testify thai the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the woild.^ We have raberstap. seen Jesus Christ : — (1) The humanity, the man, the Son of man, Jesus, with the eyes of the body. (2) The Divine nature, Christ, the Son of God, not in His Divine personality, but in effect, in the mighty works which Kouigsteyn. were done during His dwelling upon earth. And He whom they had seen, and who was sent by the Father, was the Saviour of the ivorld. (1) As God He is the efiicient cause of the salvation of man; without Him there is no salvation. According to His ' " En vain, 6 mon Dieu, vous auriez envoye votre I'ils dans le monde pour le sauver, si vous n'envoyiez votre Esprit dans les coeurs pour les delivrer. Exercez, 6 Jesus, sur le mien cette qualite de Sauveur. C'est l'amour de moi-meme qui fait la misere a la eap- tivite de ma volonte : ce n'est que par I'inspiration de vdtre amour, qu'elle peut recouvrer sa liberte et son bon- heur." '¦' " Nos vidimus ut testifcamur quo niam pro quod Pater misit Filium suum . — Vidimus in effectibus, viderunt enim Apostoli mentis oculis in eff'ectibus Je sum Christum esse Salvatorem mundi missum a Patre, vivendo resuscitari mortuos et tot miracula ad testifican dum hoc, suscipiendo intus divinum lumen. Testificamur autem et verbo et scripto et quum oportet etiam san guine proprio." — Cajetan. 40 THE FIRST SUNDA Y AFTER TRINITY. own declaration by the mouth of Isaiah, There is no God else isaiahxiv.2i. bcside me, a just God. and a Saviour ; there is none beside me : and by another prophet He spake almost the same words, Thou shall know no god but me : for there is no Saviour be- Hoseaxiii. 4. side me. (2) As man He is the Mediator, the means of uniting man to God, and of strengthening his nature to resist sin. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have John iii. 16. everlasting life; hence the confession of the people of Sa- john iv 42 Hiaria, We have heard . . . and know that this is indeed the Lorinus. Christ, the Saviour of the ivorld. He came on a mission wholly of love, to be a Saviour who Th. Aquinas, shall hereafter come as our judge. Only let every one who now rejoices in this fact that he has a Saviour who has come to be the propitiation for our sins, remember that it is the Rev. i. 7. same Christ who shall hereafter be seen by every eye when He comes again to judge mankind for the use of that salva- BeJe. tion which he has freely given. Rom. X. 9. 1 John V. 1, 5. (1-5) Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. Whosoever. The inestimable gift of the indwelling Spirit is not limited to the Apostles, to those who had seen Christ in the flesh, but is promised to all who shall confess Him to be Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God. In such a heart God will dwell as in a temple dedicated to Him, will dwell to be Th. Aquinas, a refugc in all trials, a deliverance from all temptations. Shall confess. In Holy Scripture confession is a name given to three distinct acts :* (1) The act of penitence, the confession of our sins of which St. James speaks: Confess your faults one to another James v. 16. and pray one for another. (2) The act of worship of which Christ speaks : I thank thee {i^ofxoXoyovixaC aoi, I confess, or acknowledge openly), 0 Luitex. 21. Father, Lord of heaven, and earth. (3) The act of faith, the confession of the believer of which St. Paul speaks: Lfthou wilt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shall be saved. For with the heart • " That no man from some passion ate resolution or sudden changes of bis own uiind may bo tempted to conclude too hastily of his being justified, as if the change wrought iu him were equal to that commonly efi'ected in the first converts to Christianity, I think it not amiss to put such an one in mind that even these were not justified unless they did profess Christ with the mouth as I JOHN IV. 7—21, 41 Rom.x. 9,10. Dion. Carth. Gorranus. man believeth unto righteousness ; and with the mouth confes sion is made unto salvation. The confession which is here required, and which will be crowned by the indwelling of the Spirit of God, is that which comes from a pure heart and a will couformed to the will of God ; it demands the worship of the heart, the con fession of the mouth, the conformity of our actions to the will of God, If the confession of our faith be sincere none of these will be absent. That Jesus is the Son of God. In this St. John asserts the true faith against the early heresy of the Ebionites and other Gnostic sects, which taught that Jesus is a mere man, and not Wordsworth the Christ, the Son of God. St, Paul prays that Christ may dwell in our hearts by faith : Eph. iii. 17, here St, John asserts that God dwelleth in us by love. These two are blended together, and the one is necessary to the very existence of the other. Faith without love is dead, is not then sincere faith, nor can there be any love to God without faith in Him, We must know God as the object of faith if we would love Him ; we must love him as the object of our life, as one who is a rewar.der of them that diligently seek Him, if we would indeed know Him as our God. Heb. xi. 9. Justiniani. (16) And ive have known and believed the love that ^i*"v.'8,i2 God hath to us. God is love ; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. We, all the faithful followers of Jesus, ha'je known by Fromond. sure signs, and by His own declaration, that Christ is 'the Son of God, and have believed that He came into the world as the manifestation of the Father's love to us, have known Th. Aquinas. Him as the very source of love and as the author of love, sa. and the witness to the fact that God still loves us since He is unchangeable.* God is love. Again the Apostle dwells upon this consol ing truth. (1) God is essentially love. The Father is love, and the well as believe on Him with the heart ; and that this public profession of Christianity in those days was equi valent to many good works in these." — Lucas on Happiness, vol. ii. p. 40. ' " Teste Anselmo quicquid absolute loquendo melius est in esse seu haberi quam deesse, hoc convenit Deo et est ipsemet Deus : omni tamen imperfec- tioue, quam habet in rebus creatis, ex- clusa. Charitas autem, virtus, sanctitas, sapientia, scientia, pulchritudo, dulcedo, felicitas, et consimilia sunt hujusmodi : ideo competunt Deo et predicantur de eo : non autem fides, spes, opinio, etc., quia in sua ratione imperfectionem in- cludunt. Deus est ergo charitas, id est, pura et superessentialis dilectio." — Dion. Carthusianus. 42 Faber Stap. Corn, d Lap. Faber Stap. Gorranus. Lorinus. THE FIRST SUNDA Y AFTER TRINITY. very fountain of love to all ; the Son is love, the mirror and image, the expression of the Father's love to man : the Spirit is the gift, the outpouring of love from God to man. (2) God is the author, the cause, of all the love which we have for our brethren the children of God, The love of God towards us is the motion of uncreated love; the love of God in us towards Him, or towards our brethren, is a reflex of His love. Wherever these are, there is God, Wherever the rays of the sun are, there is the sun, for the ray is of the sun and from the sun, nor is there light in the world save as the direct or reflected light from the sun. Nor is there love save God Himself, or the reflected presence of His love.* He that dwelleth in love, perseveres, continues steadfast in love, dwelleth in God, as the object of his love, the delight of his soul, and is guided and directed in all things by Him. In such a soul God dwells as in His temple, fills it with the joy of His presence, and with that confidence which springs from union with Him. 1 Jolin ii. 21 iii, 3, 19,21, (17) Herein is our love made perfect, that we may 23; have boldness'^ in the day of judgment : because as He is, so are ive in the world. Acts xxiv. 16. Glossa Or- din. PhU. i. 23. The certain effects of that charity which comes from God is to work in us boldness or reliance upon God, a confidence springing from the assurance of His continued love towards us. And this confidence which results from a grood con- science, a conscience void of offence, and from the proof of God's abiding love, leads us to imitate the perfect character of the Saviour's love, and thus to perfect our own love by loving, as He did, our enemies as well as our friends, and all in Him and for His sake. Having then spoken of love to God, and of love as mani fested to man by the true children of God, the Apostle comes now to speak of its fruits, the reward of that love as experi enced within ourselves. These are — (1) Confidence in the love of God both in life and in death, perfected now that we may have boldness in the day of judgment. Under this feeling, purified by this confidence, the saints long for the coming of Christ, and St. Paul could desire to depart and to be with Christ. 1 " Charitas Dei lux solis, sed soils infinitce lucis. Charitas nostra lumen solis in terra erga solem se revibrans ac reflectens : propter quod et postea dicturus est Joannes, 2^^os ergo diliga mus Deum quia Deus prior dilexit nos." — Faber Stapulensis. ' Tit fiduciam habeamus, " jroppij- alav, id est, fiduciam, securitatem, liber- tatem, audaciam loquendi." — Corn, d Lapide. I JOHN IV. 7—21. 43 (2) The deliverance from fear with reference to the future, and from its tormenting anxieties.* (3) The knowledge that all we need, all we can ask for in the name of Christ, the Father will give us. This is the corn. 4 Lap. confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything ac cording to Hii will He heareth us : and if we know that He hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions i5."^' ' that we desired of Him, Love to God, in which is necessarily included firm faith in Him, produces in us confidence in Him who is the object of our love ; and dwelling upon the proofs of His love to us, we desire Him aud long to be with Him, which cannot be until Lorinus. the day of judgment. As — not, that is, in the perfection of His nature, but after the example which the Incarnate Saviour afforded us — As He Fromond. is so are we to frame our lives in this world, to imitate Him in the actions of His love, ^s He is merciful, and pure, and Quiiiaud. compassionate to the evil and to the good, so are we to fashion our lives, if we would show forth His power and His love to the world. But more than this, and as a consequence Poiyg^na'- of this, as He, who is our Head, is exalted at the right hand of the Father, so are we raised from our low estate even whilst in the world. His exaltation is our exaltation, and though we still dwell upon the earth, yet have we become citizens of heaven, fellow-heirs with the saints in bliss. As Wordsworth. He is, so are ive in the ivorld. (18) 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. Love produces boldness or confidence, because it expels fear, and where perfect love is there is unshaken reliance Lorinus. upon God, J^ear is a word used with various meanings in Holy Scrip ture, (1) There is the fear of punishment, of the consequences to ourselves of our past sins, the dread of an offended and almighty God, This is opposed to the spirit of love, and cannot exist with it, (2) There is the fear of a master, and of one who is om- 1 "Ccepit timere diem judicii, ti- super terram'' (Col. iii. 5), — Au- mendo corrigit se, vigilat adversus gustine, hostes sues, id est, adversa peccata ¦i " ipbfioq 'Kvirri ti<; f/ junaxn ek sua, inoipit reviviscere interius et 0avrao-iac ^eWoj/t-oc KaKou ipBapTiKOv mortificare membra sua qute sunt rj Xuff))poD," — Arist. in Bhet. 44 THE FIRST SUNDA Y AFTER TRINITY, Ps. xxxiv. 9.;i Lorinus. nipotent in power, the dread of that power even though we are not conscious of wrong. This cannot find place in a heart in which love is.* (3) There is the filial fear of offending our heavenly Father, even irrespective of the consequences to ourselves. This dies out of the heart as charity is perfected. (4) There is an awe, a reverential fear. This is perfectly compatible with love, nay it will accompany us into the eternal kingdom, for the saints in heaven worship Him with reverent awe. Therefore does the Psalmist say, 0 fear the Lord, ye that are His saints. Fear, then, of punishment, the dread of the just anger of God, the accusation of conscience, is a proof that the love of God is not yet perfected in us. It may indeed be the road by which the sinner is led back to God, but it will be driven out of the heart and find no place there when love possesses the soul.^ It is the very schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, but when we have been brought to Him this of&ce of fear is at an end, we are made perfect not by fear but in love. Fear hath torment,^ the torment of an accusing con- Th. Aquinas, scionce ; it fills the mind of the penitent with dread of punishment everlasting, of the company of evil angels, of banishment from God's presence. Such torments are indeed sent in love, to strengthen us against sinful temptations, against yielding to evil, which is an offence against our own nature. Fear, therefore, and the torment which accompanies fear, are good, but yet imperfect motives, and therefore they are expelled by love. Fear at the best may restrain a man from sin, may make him halt in his sinful career, but Fromond.Gul. iii. 24. Wordsworth. Justiniani. 1 " Filius timet patrem et amat, uxor virum suum quem diligit, sed servus timet dominum quem et odit ; et bic est servilis tinior, ille autem prior, filialis et castas. Charitas autem timo- rem filialem non expellit sed fovet et eo major est quo major est charitas." — Saimeron. ^ " Timor quasi locum prajparat caritati : cum autem cceperit caritas habitare, pellitur timer qui ci prajpara- vit locum. Quantum enim ilia crcscit ille decrescit ; et quantum ilia fit in terior, tinior pellitur foras. Major caritas, minor timor ; minor caritas, major timor. Si autem nuUus tinior, non est qua intret caritas. Sicut vide- mus per setam introduci linum, quaudo aliquid suitur, seta prius iutrat, sed nisi exeat non succedit linum; sic timor prime occupat mentem, nou autem ibi remanet timor, quia ideo intravit ut in- trodueeret caritatem. Qui sine tiinore est non poterit justifieari [Ecclus. i. 28, Tulg. ] ; opus est ergo ut intret timor prime per quem veniat caritas. Timor niedicainentum, caritas sanitas." — August. Tract, in Epist. in Joan. ^ " Although KoXaaiQ means chas tisement, we must necessai'ily assume that we have here causa pro effectu (Augustine, Luther, Bengel), and that KoXrraif really signifies (as in Matt. XXV. 46) pain, torment, and anxiety." — Ebrard. I JOHN IV. 7—21. 45 fear does not, it cannot, make him fruitful in good, this only Peraidus. love can do. Though, then, love in its beginning may have some trace of fear, where love is made perfect there will remain no indication_ of servile fear.* The fear that love will utterly Fromond, expel is either — (1) That fear which rises up in the heart of the newly awakened or the newly converted. It is inseparable from penitence, but will be driven out of the heart as love is perfected in it. (2) Pear of the world, which is wholly banished from those who put their trust entirely in God and are filled with corn, ii Lap. His love. (19) We love Him, because He first loved us? We love Him, because He first loved us, and in loving us, gave us power to love. He loved us who were enemies, that He might change our enmity into love. He loved those who were sick through their sins, that He might heal them, and make them capable of loving Him and of loving Augustine. one another. Though the Apostle has stated the same truth in the tenth verse he returns to it now, after speaking of the expulsion of fear from the heart, in order to impress this farther truth, that as love rids us of the torment of fear and of dread of punishment, so does it inspire us with love towards God, not from any motive of gain to ourselves, but Lorinus. simply because Hehas first loved us.^ If, then, we have any sense of love towards Him it should encourage us to lay aside all servile fear, for we could not possess this love for Him unless' He had first loved us ; and He is unchangeable in His love. (20) If a man say, 1 love God, and hateth his iffj^"'': ' " Timor judicii, timor poense, timor servitutis non est in charitate, id est in .perfecta charitate, qua; sola est et meretur dici charitas, quandoquidem imperfecta charitas non ea est dignitate ut dicatur charitas, sed charitas quae perfecta est, qua similes sumus in terris Filio Dei qui est in ccelis, qui neque habet, neque unquam habuit hujus modi timorem." — Faber Stapulensis. ^ " iipifiQ ayairHntv — The Vulg., Syriac, and other versions render aya- vwiiiv as the imperative, let us love, conip. vv. 7 — 1 1 ; and so Lange, Liiche, De "Wette, Besser, Diisterdieck, Huther, and others. But the ij/jsTe prefixed to tbe verb, and the general tenour of the argument, seem to favour the other rendering, that of the indicative." — W^ordsworth. ' " jSTam qui diligit non ideo impe- rata custodit, quia aut timore poena- rum aut prsemii aviditate compellitur ; sed quia hoc ipsum quod a Deo jubetur est optimum." — Jerome, Ep. ad Da- masum. Epist. cxlvi. 46 . THE FIRST SUNDA Y AFTER TRINITY. brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother ivhom he hath seen, how can he love God whom lie hath not seen ? It is far easier for us to deceive ourselves as to whether we really love God or no, than as to whether or no we love our brother. So that our brother becomes to us the test and proof of the reality of our love to God,* inasmuch as if we really love our brother with that love which is from God, we do love God Himself. But if we love not our brother, then do we not preserve in us that love which is from God, we do not love Him. He is a liar, he speaks falsely, even though he says and thinks that he does love God. He is a liar because his speech is contrary to the real feeling of his heart, for if he loved God he would be conformed to His will, who wills that he should love his brother even as God has loved him. He that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen ? Nature is prior to grace, and a man is led on from that which is in accordance with his true nature to that which is beyond it, from that which he sees to that which he cannot see ; from that which is finite to the infinite, from our love for that which we can see to that which is invisible.^ If we love God we shall love His image reflected in and Th. Aquinas, bomc by our brother. Augustine. Estius. Th. Aquinas. Estius. (21) A7id this commandment have we from Him, That he who loveth God love his brother also. Lev. xix. 18. Matt. xxii. 39. Jolin xiii. 31; XV. 12 Epli. V. 2. 1 riiess. iv. 9. ij^ihnVii.'ii, iiiis wnicn is ine first ana greatest eomm Miat.xxii.38. to our neighbour and love to God^ — was redelivered to His This which is the first and greatest andment — Love * '* Qai fratrem non diligit, quem videt, Deum qnomodo diligit, quem non videt, Ita dilectio fratrum est ipsa dilectio Dei quoniam in eo Deo obe- dimus, et frater supplet vices Dei." — Mariana. * " Amor Dei ad nos est lux in sole, amor nostri ad Deum est lu.x oculi : amor fratris ad nos aut nostri ad fra trem lux in speculo : lux dice amanlis ad amantem vibrataetab amato revibrata; unde fit ut omnium sit idem amor, etsi ab ipso fonte amoris qui est summa charitas in aliis varie susceptus estque oinnis amor et qui ad Deum et proxi mum est, primi qui est absolutus amor imago."~Faber Stapulensis, ' " Sunt base duo prsecepta velut duo Cherubim sese respieientia, ut placet Origeui [in Exod. xxv. 18]: Alae duse magniE aquilae quee datoe sunt mulieri sole amictiB [Apoc. xii. 11]. id est, EcclesiiE ut ait Glossa Interlinearis ; duffi bases aureaj, super quas sunt sponsi crura fuudata [Cant. v. 15], ut explicant apud Theodoretum, N)-ss<'nus, Niluset Maxi- mus ; vestes duplices quibus Ecclesiffl domestici vestiti sunt [Matt. v. 19] ut interpretatur Glossa ordinaria." — Lo rinus, 1 JOHN IV. 7—21. 47 John xiii. Si. Estius.John xiv. 15. Apostles by our blessed Lord the night before His cruci fixion — A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another : as I have loved yon, th it ye also love one another. To this St. John seems to refer in these words. He recalls the dying words and the infinite love of Christ — this command ment have we from Him. He who loves God with a pure unselfish love, who loves Him because He first loved us {propter Se), will love his brother because he is God's child and bears God's image Th. Aquinas {propter I)eum), and because God has so commanded, for the love of God is evidenced by our keeping His command ments. Lf ye love Me, keep My commandments, is the exhorta tion of Christ to all his followers. Let us remember that God calls us to this, that He commands this. He tells us not that we must fear Him, but He bids us love Him, and all others for Him.* He commands in this no hard task, but that which is most grateful to our nature ; which delivers us from the torments of hatred, and malice, aud revenge, and fills us with the sweet comforts of love, and makes per fect, and restores that image of God which is marred by our Lorinus. sins. As, then, no one would venture to say, I love a king, whilst he is in rebellion against his authority — I love the king, whilst hating those who faithfully serve that king, and refusing to acknowledge the law of the king; so let no one say, I love God, who despises this commandment which we have from Him. Let no one say, I love God, whilst breaking His laws; nor think that he really loves God, saimeroi whilst refusing to confess that Jesus is the Son of God. The fruits of the Spirit which the Apostle has indicated in this day's Epistle, then, are these — (1) The love of our brother, which enables us to walk in hght; the destruction of hatred for him, which darkens the mind so that we see not the light. He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of .stumbling in him. But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither lie goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes. (2) Sonship in God, for whoso loves his brother is a child of God; whilst whosoever loves him not, whosoever hates him, is declared to be a child of the devil, Ln this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil ; 1 John ii. 10, 11. 1 John iii. 10. ' " Qui diligit Deum diligat etfra- oculos ab ira et odio et omni mala vo- trem suum, quasi diceret. Ilium non luutate, ut possimus incommutabilem diligis cujus mandata negligis. Pur- Dei substantiam intuevi."— Mug o de gerauj ergo per dilectiunem mentis S. Charo. 48 THE FIRST SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother. (3) Whosoever loves his brother is translated from death unto life — from the death of sin to spiritual life ; whereas, he who hates his brother is in death, and is, like the evil Eras. one, a murderer. We know that we have passed, from death **•'"" ¦ unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death. Whosoever hateth his brother is a , , , ... , murderer : and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life 1 John ill. U, ,.,... -^ J 15. abiding m lum.'- ^ " 0 Pie Domine, quid Tibi ego sum quid, amor mens, quid delectaris in eo ? ut amarijubeas te a me et minarismihi Quis rex dicit servo : Siraus amici et ingentes miserias : irasceris si non dabo tibi unam provinciam." — Augus- faciam, multa promittis si faciam ? Et tine. ^Nn THE SECOND SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 1 St. John hi. 13 — 24. (13) Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you. 19; xvii. 11, John XV. 18, 19 ; xvii. 11, 2 Tim. iii. li. The teaching of the Apostle in the Epistle for this Sun day may be thus stated — (1) He exhorts the Christians to whom he is writing, and through them all Christians, to love one another, and that for these reasons : — (a) Because they who have passed from death unto life are called to this duty. {b) Because those who love not their brethren abide still in death. (2) He tells us how we are to carry out this precept of love to each other. It is to be a real love, we are to love in our heart, and not to shut up our compassion against our brother ; to love not in word only, but in deed : and this he enforces, — (a) From the example of Christ who died for us. (6) From God's express commandment that we should love one another. (c) Because of the effects and fruits which follow upon Christian love, — quiet of conscience, confidence towards DeanBoys. God, and joy in the Holy Ghost. Those to whom he was writing were at that time suffering from the persecution of the world, and lest they should mar vel at this, as though some strange and unwonted thing were happening to them,* he recalls the memory of the time ' "Nolite ndrari. Tria solent mirari A principio enim mundi fuit istud jur- homines scilicet magnum, novum, et gium inter bonos et males, ut inter rarum : quod autem mundus, id est Cain et Abel, Item non est rarum, mundi amatores odiant sanctos, non est immo valde consuetum, scilicet quod magnum. Nou enim medicus reputat mali odiunt bonos." — Th, Aquinas, magnum si phreniticus quem ipse ligat " Quod novum non est, neo iusolitum, mordet ipsum, excusat enim eum propter et sors est bonorum communis, levius phrenesim suam. Hem -aoneit novum, fereudum est." — Natalis Alex. EPIST. VOL. II. D 5° Guillaud. Gorranus. Corn. ^ Lap. John XV. 18. Ferus. Bengel. THE SECOND SUNDA Y AFTER TRINITY. when there were two brethren, one of whom was evil and persecuted the other and slew him, so that if this happened in the morning of the world, when there was but one family, it now is, he says, no wonder if the like hatred is shown against them.* But these are not only words of comfort to those suffering from the persecution of the world as the first Christians, in them St. John exhorts the brethren that they should not grow slack in their affection and cease to love their brethren, the men of the world, because of the hatred shown towards them. The obligation to love, and the blessings which flow from love, are wholly independent of the fact that men return hatred for our love ; and the beloved Apostle proceeds to enumerate the advantages which flow to those who, notwithstanding the hatred of the world, yet continue to love the brethren who treat them thus evilly. Marvel not as if it were some new thing which is happen ing. From the beginning, or from the time when Cain hated and slew his brother, the children of the world, those of whom Cain was the type, have always hated those whose lives reproved the evil which was around them. Marvel not, for the same happened to Him who is our Lord and our Exemplar. If the world hate you, He Himself says, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. And this was not only the lot which befell the Master, it has marked the lives of all His followers, all His servants from the beginning of the world. To remove the wonder of the disciples of Christ, as if some strange thing had befallen them when suffering from the hatred of the world, St. Paul points to the cloud of witnesses whose lives were so many examples of the power of faith over suffering, so many calls to every Christian, that we should run with patience the race that is set before us. St. John here speaks of those who were suffering from the hatred of the world as his own brethren, — my brethren, the only instance in which he so speaks of them,^ — remind ing them by this that he was a partaker of the same lot, that he was a sufferer as they were, and needed the same strength and support which they did; and that brotherly love was incumbent upon them because they were children of God. Marvel not, my brethren, if the world — men of evil '¦ ' " Aliquando tamen quidam mali vitam religiosam piorum landant.imd si miles lis esse exoptant, sed non in quan tum mali et mundani sunt, ait Carthu- eianns, sed quateniis adhuo aliquid boni et spiritualitatis habent." — Fromond. ' " Nolite mirari, fratres (Vulgate). Grajcfe porr6 et SyriacS habetur, cum 'pvonomme fratres mei quod valet ad be- nevolentiam conciliandam." — Lorinus. I ST. JOHN III 13—24. 51 lives, worldly men, those who are under the dominion of the prince of this world*— /wie you as followers of the !,;„„. earth. Saviour. The relations of the Church and the world ^^^^^er™' are — (1) On the part of the world, hatred to the Church, to all those who will live godly in Christ Jesus ; as Cain hated aTim. 111.12. Abel, because his own works were evil and his brother's uoim 111.12. righteous, (2) On the part of every Christian, of every member of Christ, the obligation to return this hatred with good, Ebrard. since he that loveth not his brother abideth in death. The world in all things is opposed to Christ ; its maxims are contrary to the doctrines of Christianity, its practice at variance with the laws of His kingdom. For this reason it hates all those whose lives are a standing rebuke to its own maxims and practices. If the world does not hold up to admiration those who live in ease and luxury and sen suality, yet it extends to them its respect. It tempts men by ambition and earthly dignities, and holds the bait of riches before their eyes as the reward for which they are to strive. These are emphatically the good things of the world. On the other hand, Christ calls his true followers to labour for their souls' salvation, to self-denial of the appe tites of the flesh, to hardness as becometh a good soldier, to 2Tim. ii. 3. a daily taking up of the cross, and to giving up their own will for His service, and for the good of their brethren ; and as a sure reward He promises the good things of the life to come. Those whose maxims, whose aims, whose induce ments, and whose rewards are thus at variance, must needs be opposed the one to the other. Therefore the exhortation, Poiengius, Marvel not, my brethren, if tlie world hate you. Three things are specially the subjects of this day's Epistle, In it — (1) The Apostle arms the believer against the tempta tion to depression or astonishment at the hatred and opposition manifested by the world : Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you. (2) He exhorts them to return good for evil, to love them that persecute them, since he that loveth not his brother abideth in death, (3) He sets before them the delights and the rewards of love — peace of mind, and the consciousness of their sonship, perawus, and acceptance with the Father who is Love. ' " Quid est mundus .' Non ctelum, Mundus est quando in male paritur, non terra, neo ista opera quae Deus dilectores mundi," — Augustine, fecit, sed dilectores mundi 52 THE SECOND SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. ijohnii.9- (14) We know that we have passed from, death LeV.xix.i7. unto life^ because we love the brethren. He that Matt. XXV. 41. iQ^^Qf]^ r^Q^ ji^ig f)rother abideth in death. Bengel. Wesley. We, the faithful children of God, know by that, conviction which faith brings with it, by that moral certainty which results from a good conscience, and from the evidence of our love to others, that we have passed from that state of death in which we once were, and have attained to a better, a higher, a spiritual life,^ because we love the brethren; since we could not love our brethren with that love which God demands from us unless we had been delivered from bondage to death and corruption, and had received of His life who is the life of His people. He that loveth not his Th. Aquinas, brother abideth in death, has his permanent abode there,' goes not out of it, is in the realms of death, and is sub jected to him who was the means by which death entered into the world. From this point the Apostle states two things — (1) The mode of our living in God, love to the brethren, after the example of Christ. (2) The fruits and effects of our dwelling in God, and God in us. The mode of our living. As the life of the body is the soul, so the life of the soul is Christ.* He then who has obtained this life has risen from death, is no longer dead in the world, but is alive through God. And love to our brethren, our fellow- creatures, is a sign and the effects of Corn, k Lap. His grace dwelling in us. For if humility is the fruit of the subjection of our will to God, if purity of heart comes from the sanctifying presence of His Spirit, charity, Chris tian love, is the fruit of our union with Him," an effect Augustine, of the closcst relation of man to God, and of God to man. Hugo de S, Charo, Poiengius, ' CIS T^v l^wrjv — " 17 ?(D)) perpetua felicitas, et quidquid earn antecedit, felicitatis futurte eerta spes, animi tran- quillitas, solatium in rebus afHictis," — Posenmiiller. ^ " Translati sumus de morte ad vitam, nempe a regione mortis quasi humeris Christi portati, ut resurgens morte ociosa veheret ad vitam," — Saimeron. s " Manet, id est, mansionem ha bet : quia inde per se exire nou potest," — Th. Aquinas. « " Charitas enim est vita, quia, ut ait Glossa, Vita carnis anima, vita animsB Deus : charitas vero conjungit animam Deo." — Th. Aquinas. " Sicut mors est separatio animffi a corpore et coujunctio vita, sic separa tio d Deo mors est animse, et cou junctio cum Deo per dilectionem vita. Unde August. : Vera mors est quam homines non timent, separatio animsa h. Deo qui est beata vita animarum." — Peraidus.' " Humilitas nos Deo subjicit, pu- ritas jungit, charitas unit." — Augus tine. I ST. JOHN III 13—24. ^2 Whereas selfishness, then, the being sealed up and bounded by self, is a token of death, the mark of life is our going out of ourselves, our having love, and with it light, and shining before others : not a ceasing from hatred merely, Ebrard. not a mere passive absence of evil, but the presence and the active working of love towards our brethren in our hearts and in our actions.* The soul which is indwelt by Estius. the Spirit of God, which is pervaded by His presence, has in it a power which enables it to exercise the highest of Christian graces, and to show forth to others this evident Gregory. sign of His indwelling.^ We have passed {jJ-era^elBriKaixev) — by the power of God, have been translated not by our own deed, but by His act of love, from the darkness which accompanies hatred into the Gorranus. light which He gives us.' And of this grace these are the tu. Aquinas. tokens — (1) Hatred of sin, of everything that is opposed to God and is a hindrance to His indwelling. (2) The mortification of the flesh and of all evil lusts, the subjugation of self. (8) The love of our brother resulting from the love of God given to us, and moving us to love and sympathy with all His children. Who is weak, and I am not weak ? who is 2 cor'.li^29.' offended, and I burn not ? are the words of a child of God. Her sins which are many, are forgiven ; for she loved much, Luke vu. 47. was said by our Blessed Lord of one who had manifested love to Him personally ; the same declaration He makes to those who love Him in the person of His members : not that their love is the cause of forgiveness, it is His love to us which is the sole cause, but it is love which disposes the heart to receive Divine grace, and so to attain full for giveness. But not merely is this love a disposing cause, Lorinus. it is also the sign of our justification, the testimony of God's presence with us.* Yet the exercise of love towards our * " Qui diligit, benfe vult et bene- quia mortuus virtute sua non potest facit." — Konigsteyn, suscitare seipsum, sed transtulit nos ^ " Quidam, non diligere fratrem, Deus de potestate tenebrarum ereptos in exponunt odisse fratrem : tam hoc loco regnum Filii dilectionis sum. (Col. i. quam sup. ver. 10 ; sed nulla necessitas 13.) Nihilominus aliquando, ut ex est hujus expositionis : imo nee utili- dictis constat, valent idem duo ilia tas. Constat enim non solum odiendoet verba, licet verum sit allatum dis- persequendo, sed et non diligendo et crimen." — ^Lorinus. ^* Ti-anslati sumus charitatis officia non exhibendo, multos et non transivimus, quia alius tulit nos peccare mortaliter, quibus utile est ut de mundo, et non ipsi nos." — Sugo eciant, se manere in morte nisi resipis- de S. Charo, cant" — Estius, * "Mens quae divino spiritu in- ' "Thomas Anglicus observat, non fletur, habet evidentissima signa sua, hie dici, Transimus sed translati sumus, virtutes scilicet et humilitatem, quae si 54 THE SECOND SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. brethren augments and maintains that justification which we have only of the prevenient mercy and love of God mani- Estius. fested to us whilst we were yet sinners. Matt v.21,22. Gal. v. 21 Matt. V. 21, 22. Guillaud. (15) Whosoever hateth. his brother is a murderer: [j'oim1v.2o. and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life Rev. XXI. 8; ,,.,..,. *' abiding m him. The command of God, like the love of God, reaches to and concerns the hearts of men. It is not enough that we do no outward acts of sin. He is an adulterer who lusteth in his heart. He is a murderer in God's sight who con ceives hatred in his heart against his brother. Whosoever hateth his brother is not merely a violator of the commands of God, though this is no light sin, but he i-« a murderer.^ (1) He destroys his own soul, he deprives it of that fife which is the gift of God to man. He deprives his soul of the consciousness of God's presence : Neither will I go with consuming envy ; for such a man shall have no fellowship Wisd. vi. 23. with wisdom. (2) So far as he can, he destroys the soul of his brother Th. Aquinas, by provoking him to a like hatred. Hatred is an act of spiritual homicide. It deprives him who has it of sancti fying grace, in which the life of the soul consists, and without which we cannot attain eternal life. It exposes the soul to all manner of temptation, so much so, that if we would trace back our fall into any act of deadly defiling sin, we should in most instances see that it was when our heart was destitute of the protection of the indwelling Spirit of God, which is with the loving soul, that we yielded to open sin. If in this way a man is a murderer of his own soul, the destroyer of the spiritual life that is in him, he is in various ways the murderer of his brother against whom he cherishes hatred, or for whom he has no such love as the Apostle here speaks of — (1) By provoking him to wrath, by stirring up strife in his heart, ^ (2) By encouraging him in sin ; by not only sinning himself, but by the pleasure which he has in those who commit sin. Lorinus, Prov. X. 12. Bom, i. S2. utraque perfect^ in una mente con- veniunt, liquet quod de prajsentia Sancti Spiritus testimonium ferat." — Oregor. Mag. Lib. Dial. cap. 1. • " Qui maledicit proximo suo in faciem ejus, idem facit, ac si sanguinem ejus effunderit. Synopsis Solear. p. 102, n. 35." — Schoettgen. ' " Glossa, Omnis qui vel ferro per- cutit, vel odio insequitur, bomicida est. Vel alia glossa. Qui ex odio inse quitur fratrem, provocat ad iram et discordiam, et sic quantum in se est cccidit eum in anima." — Th. Aquinas, I ST. JOHN IIL 13—24. 55 (3) By withholding help from him in his necessity. The bread of the needy is their life, he that defraudeth him there- ^'i^'-""^^"- of is a man of blood. (4) By desiring the death of another,' (5) By provoking others to destroy him, (6) By the act itself, by slaying him with violence.^ Th. Aquinas. iSfo murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. Whilst, that *^'™-Carth. is, he is still a murderer, whilst hatred is still in his heart, Ebrard. he hath not eternal life, hath not Christ abiding in him, is not a true member and disciple of Christ who is Eternal Life, Gorranus. he hath not the grace in him by which we obtain eternal life, that seed of glory, which, if we cherish it now by si. obedience to God, transforms us and fits us for eternal life. The meaning of the Apostle may be stated syllogistically. No murderer, he says, hath eternal life. But every one who hates his brother is a murderer. Therefore no one who MenocWus. hates his brother hath eternal life abiding in him. So long pstius. then as a man is a murderer, so long as he nourishes hatred and malice, and an unloving spirit — (1) He hath no hope of eternal life, because he has lost the grace of God from his heart through his sin against his brother. (2) He has no right to eternal life, since a murderer is Lisnard, excluded from the joys of heaven,' God is not with those who are unloving; not with them in the way of which the Apostle is here speaking. He in deed is with all men by His presence, since we cannot go from His sight. He is with us by His power, with us by that reproaching conscience which should lead us back to obedience, with us by the terror of His presence, but He is not with us as a God of love, not with us by His grace, Gorranus, unless we love our brethren. (16) He7^eby perceive we the love of God,^ because '^I'^J;*^' ' " Quem odimua veUemus periisse," ' " Qui proximum odit, dnplicis — Calvin. homicidii reus est. Seipsum enim " Omnis qui proximum suum odit, vita gratise et spe vitse eeternse desti- odio consummate, homicidii reus est, tuit : et proximum jam occidit in corde interno animi affectu et prseparatione suo, quem aegre fert vivere, erga quem spectatis. Quem enim quis odit; periisse tam prave affectus est, ut de ejus morte cupit." — Natalis Alex. gauderet." — Natalis Alex. ^ "Ait Dionys., Triplex est homi- * "II y a seulement dans le Grec cidium. Primum corporale, quod rfiv ciyaTrriv, la charite, Mais dans les toUit esse naturae. Secundum detrac- MSS, du Cardinal Ximene, il y tionis, quod toUit esse famae, occiditque avait comme dans ceux de nostre in- civiUter, Tertium, odii." — Corn, d terprfete, rriv dyairriv roB Stow la Lapide, charite de Dieu, c'est pourquoi nous le 5 6 THE SECOND SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. Eom.T.8. he laid doivn his life for us : and we ought to lay f joiiniv'. sf ' down our lives for the brethren. 11. *' He laid down His life for us on the Cross. This tells us Bengel. at ouco the grcatnoss and the nature of the Father's love for us. He laid down His life ; it was not the compulsion of His enemies, but His own will, which led Him to die; it was a laying down of life in Him who could by His power have overthrown His enemies. It was His love for us Estius. which led Him to death. The example of Christ is a call to us to manifest the same kind of love to the brethren as He did — (1) By the giving up of life itself, if needs be, for our brethren. (2) By dividing to him of our substance, by ministering Th. Aquinas, to his necessities when he needs temporal assistance. If, then, the spiritual needs of our brethren require it, we are to show forth the power of our Lord's love within ns by risking our life, nay, by surrendering our temporal life and Saimeron. our temporal goods for the spiritual life of our brother.* This passage was cited in the days of persecution against the faith, as asserting the duty which was laid upon Chris tians to give up their lives in attestation of the truth of Christ's Gospel, and for the better confirmation of the faith Wordsworth, of their brethren. Deut. XV. 7. Luke iii. 11. (17) But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth^ jamls'ii.Vs. his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of °'°"'' ' compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him f lisons dans la Bible d'Alcala et dans les Bibles royales, et Bede semble I'avoir \vl, quoi qu'il ne soit dans St. August., Le Syriaque et I'Ethiopien le marquent en traduisant, charitatein ejus, sa charite. Quelques-uns entendent l'a mour que le Pere nous a temoigue en nous donnant son Fils, mais il est bien plus naturel de I'entendre de J. C. qu'il a raison d' appellor Dieu, con ces paroles qui suivent, qu il a donne Lui- mime sa vie, le demandeut manifeste- ment." — Amelote. " Potest autem secundum Grascum lectionem intelligi charitas absolute, hoc sensu : Per hoc nobis declaratur debitum charitatis erga fratres, quod Cbristus animam suam pro nobis posuit, hoc enim suum exemplum voluit nos imitari. " — Estius. ' " Tempore etiam pestis ssevientis debet adesse pastor ovibus suis, nee eas sua pra3sentia destituere, ad sacramenta et alia remedia spiritualia pra;standa." — Saimeron. ^ Qtiapiiv signifies here, aa else where, not the mere involuntary see ing, conspicere, in which the eye is merely passive, but the active behold ing or looking at. It is he, who can see before him his brother (dStX^ov) as one who suffers distress, and yet close bis heart agaiust him, who has not the love of GoA."— Ebrard. 1 ST. JOHN III 13—24. 57 WTioso, not those who have much only, but all who have of this world's good, are called upon to distribute to the necessities of others. There are two tests of the reality of our sonship, and of the true character of the charity that is within us — • (1) That we should prefer our brother's spiritual life to our own temporal life, and, if need be, give up this for him. Th. Aquinas. (2) That we should be ready to give and glad to distribute ) lim. vi. is. of our goods to supply the needs of our brethren. From the highest instance of love, from the greatest act of self-sacrifice, the giving up of life for the spiritual life of others, the Apostle here descends to the lower. If we are not called upon to manifest our charity by the former, we have abundant opportunities of showing forth the sincerity of our Christianity in the latter ; nay, if we would rise to great acts, and be able to sacrifice much for the cause of Christ, and in our love for one another, we must daily exercise ourselves in doing smaller acts of sacrifice and ministering to others of this world's good.^ In this way, alms- rerus. giving is made at once the test of the truth of otir profession that we are followers of Christ, and also the means by which Ebrard. the spirit of self-sacrifice is strengthened within us. How dwelleth the love of God in him ? The form of speech here used by the Apostle significantly shows the importance of a spirit of love in the Christian economy. He says not that neglect to satisfy the needs of others out of those goods of this world which have been intrusted to us, is an instance of the defect of our love to our brother, but of the absence of love to God himself. The pretext of loving God, of being His true children, of dwelling in Him and He in us, of having a good hope and assurance of eternal life, is without foundation so long as we love not our brothel", and show our love by acts of self-sacrifice for him. As though Estius. speaking of that which is evidently impossible, he says. How can the love which is from God, and which is directed towards God, dwell in a heart which is hardened by its want of love to others, and fast closed against the necessities of Promond. our brother?^ * "TOV piov — id est, quae ad victum Et sic Lucas usurpat viii. 14 ; xv. 12, et prsesentis vitse usum pertinent, ut 30 ; xxi. 4." — Grotius. sunt alimenta, vestes, pecuniae." — ^ " Qui pauperibus non subvenit se- Natalis Alex. cundum facultatum suarum mensuram " TOV /3ioj/ TOV Kodfiov — /3iO(,' apud et secundum eorum indigeiitiam, cari- Graecos saepe significat ea unde vivitur, tatem Dei non habet, jus non habet ad ut iu proverbo. vitam aeternam, a Christe corpore )3ioc /3iou Sto/ievoQ oiiK iariv Piog. alienus est, mortuum et putre mem- Titalis non est vita, quce victu indiget. brum est." — Natalis Alex. 58 THE SECOND SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY.), And the obligation of showing compassion, and of stretch ing forth the hand to relieve others in their need, is im posed upon us by nature, because men are our brethren by creation, and also because they are made one with us by the Saimeron. taking of man's flesh into union with the nature of God in the Incarnation of the Eternal Son. We are to love, to assist, and to sacrifice ourselves for them, though they be of another faith, though separated from us by distance, or by indifference and hostility. We are to do them good because they are children of the same One God, and are the brethren of Christ. Ezek. xxxiii. 31. Hom. xii. 9. Eph. Iv. 15. James ii. 15, 16. 1 Pet. i. 22. Hugo de S. Charo. Bengel. James ii. 15, Iii. Saimeron. (18) My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue ; but ^?^ deed and in truth. My little children. Thus does St. John move those to whom he is writing to acts of love, by the tenderness of his speech to them. My little children, let us not love merely in word, neither in tongue ; not in word only, but in deed; not with a fluent tongue only, but in truth ;* or as St. James, writing to the same effect, says, If a brother or sister be naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstand ing ye give them not those things ivhich are needful to the body ; what doth it profit ? since they are but idle words. We are not to love in word and in tongue merely. We are indeed to show our love by our words and by our tongue, but we are not to content ourselves with this. We are to console the afllicted, to show sympathy with the poor and those who are in distress, by our speech, as well as by our deeds of love ; to exhort the careless and the ungodly, and to pray for them ; to vindicate those who are unjustly accused, remembering that even substantial acts of self-sacrifice for them are made more acceptable by the kindness of our words, by the love which is shown in our speech,^ ^ "\6yoQ forms the antithe sis to fp- yov, and, accordingly, signifies the mere word. rXwffffa enters in as an intensi fication. A man may love with words (without deeds), yet in such-wise that the words are true and sincere ; much worse is it, when the mere tongue chatters without the heart, and when, therefore, the very words are not sincerely meant. To this dXrjQua forms the antithesis." — Ebrard. ^ " Si amor tantum consistit in verbo, tunc amor desinit, quam- primum verbum desinit. Talis fuit amor Balak et Balaam. Quod si vero non consistit in verbo non dissolvitur : qualis amor fuit Abrahami, Isaaci, Jacobi, et reliquorum Patriarcharum qui ante ipsos fuerunt. Jalkut Itu- beni, fol. 145, 4." — Schoettgen, I ST. JOHN IIL 13—24. 59 (19) And hereby we knoiv that we are of the truth, johnxviu. and shall assure our hearts before Him. 1 Joim i. s. The Apostle here commences the second division of this part of the Epistle, and points out the fruit and advantage to ourselves of our love towards the brethren. If we do the deeds of love, if we have the charity which comes from God, and is acceptable to God, then we know that we are of Hugodes, »7/(7T '• 1 Cliai o. the truth, and our conscience is at rest,* When, from the grace which He gives us, we love the brethren, we know — • (1) That our profession is not hollow and unreal, we know that we are walking truly, (2) We know that we are the children of God, the mem- com. ^ Lap. bers of Christ, the truth. We know that we are of the truth, when we are able to imitate the loving actions of a God of truth by our love to the brethren, for we should be wholly unable to imitate Him if we had not received of His Spirit, if we were not of ih. Aquinas, the truth. For when we do that which is in accordance with our true nature, when we feel towards our brethren true love, and manifest that love to them, ive know that we cannot do this of ourselves, but only by His guidance and through His strength who is the way, the truth, and the life, saimerori, ' to those who follow Him, He loves in truth only, who loves God, who is the Truth, and his brother in God, and after the example of God, and because God has commanded him so to love, and from that Justiniani. spirit which is in Him because he is God's child.^ And shall assure our hearts before Him,. When, that is, we examine ourselves in the presence of God, by the light of His word, and of His Spirit who is Light, and see the marks of His love within us, then have we confidence that He is dwelling in us, and shall possess a conscience quiet and cEcumenius. secure in His love, and a firm trust in His abiding mercy. com. & Lap. (20) For if our heart condemn us, God is greater icor.iv. 4. than our heart, and knoweth all things. ' "The word cvvdSriaic, conscience, implies it in making mention of the is used by Peter and Paul alone of the heart ; for it is the conscience which is sacred writers ; nor is it used in the- tranquillized, and which condemns." — Septuagint more than once, and that in another sense, Eecles. x. 20. For the See also Sanderson, De Conscientia, Hebrew a'5 is rendered Kapdia, the Lect. I. § 3. heart; for instance, 1 Kings ii. 44; " " Simulator caritatis non est filius viii. 38. And so John nowhere uses the veritatis, Christianus vocari non me- word avvUSriiTig, conscience; but here retur." — Natalis Alex. 6o THE SECOND SUNDA Y AFTER TRINITY. For if our heart condemn us at the sight of our want of Corn, a Lap. love, how much more will God, who sees us with a clearer light than that with which we see ourselves, and is a more severe judge, in no wise sparing the guilty. For though conscience be to us a guide, and if our heart be pure its de cisions are right, yet is God greater than our conscience, He is our infallible judge.* Our conscience may deceive us, God cannot, since He • knoweth the hearts of all men. Eras. Hchmidt. Exod. xxxiv. 7. Lorinus. Acts i. 21, Job xxii. 26. EccUis.xiv. 2. Heb. X. 22. 1 John ii. 28 i iv. 17. (Eeumenius. Pliil. i. 6. Hugo de S. Charo. Gregory. Estius. Promond. (21) Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God. If our conscience condemn us not when we examine our selves, then have we boldness or confidence towards God.^ St. John does not say that we are sure of ourselves, but that we have confidence to go on, a ground of reliance upon God and His love to us. We have confidence that He will continue with us, that He will complete that good work which He, and He alone, has begun in us, and that by His grace, if we use this grace aright, we shall persevere unto the end ; we shall be able to say in the words of the pro phet. Heboid ! God is my salvation, I will trust, and not be afraid : for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song ; He also is become my salvation. We may be absolved by human judgment — we cannot escape from the condemnation of conscience, unless that conscience be wholly perverted and depraved by long con tinuance in sin. A pure conscience prescribes hoher motives than any of which man can take cognizance. If such a conscience does not condemn us, but assures us of the sincerity of our love to the brethren, then have we in deed confidence towards God, and may be sure that He will hear us when we pray to Him ; then nothing will interfere to hinder that uplifting of our heart to Him, of which the Apostle goes on to speak. Conscience speaks to man : it hearkens to God, as a servant it must obey God, who is greater than our hearts. ' " Si oculus tuus fuerit nequam, totum corpus tuum tenebrosum erit (Matt. vi. 23). Qui locus sic intelli- gendum est, ut noverimus omnia opera nostra tunc esse muuda et placere in conspectu Dei, si fiant simplici corde, id est, intentione superna, sine illo caritatis, quia et plenitude legis ca ritas." — Augustine. 2 " Fiduciam hahemus, Libertatem quandam loquendi intrepidani, ut vox Graeca Ttappr}qia significat, cura fiducia et magna spe impetrandi quod petitur, quae ex cordis et conscieutiae pmitate nascitur. " — Fromond. I ST. JOHN IIL 13—24. (23) And ivhatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because tve keep His commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.^ This is the fruit of our confidence towards God, that it gives us firm faith in Him, and an answer to the prayer of faith is promised to the follower of Christ. Verily, verily, I say unto you, whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in My name. He will give it you. It is promised to those who ask in the name of Christ ; here in the Epistle of the same Apos tle it is promised to those who keep the commandments of God. To ask in Christ's name is to ask those things which avail to our salvation by Him, and to ask in His strength who has given to ns the commandments of the new law. God's people indeed are answered, not according to their wishes, but according to that which is best for them.^ Thus when St, Paul prayed the Lord thrice, that the thorn in the flesh, which was a trial to him, might depart from him, his prayer was answered, not by the removal of the thorn, but by an increase of grace to endure that affliction. He prayed thrice. To all prayer perseverance must be added, the test of our sincerity, the means by which our prayer is made more sincere. Our Blessed Lord has commended importu nity in our prayers, and bidden us always to pray, and not to faint in our prayers to the throne of Divine grace ; and St. Paul has exhorted us to p)'''<^y without ceasing. The paralytic man lay by the pool of Bethesda for thirty and eight years desiring to be healed of his infirmity, and for thirty and eight years was he prevented, not by his own fault, but by the eagerness of others. At length the Great Healer Himself came by and spake the word of healing, and he was cured of his infirmity. And yet, notwithstand ing this example to encourage us to perseverance in prayer, we grow tired if our prayer be not immediately answered, and in the way which our first words of blindness may pre scribe. God will answer ; we are nowhere told that He will answer at the moment we think best. In our prayer we need faith in Him who is greater than our hearts, and knows not only our necessities, but the remedy which is best for them ; we need patience, by which we are conformed to His will; we need perseverance to keep us instant in prayer. ' " Magna fiducia, magna promissio, etiam quando non facit, quoniam quod sed magna conditio." — Lorinus. videt peti contra salutem, non faciendo ' "Ipse Salvator est non solum potius se exhibet Salvatorem." — Au- quando faoit quod petimus, verum gustine. Ps. X. 17 ; xxxiv. 15 ; Ixvi. 19 ; cxlv. 18. Prov. XV. 29 J xxviii. 9. Jer. xxix. 12. Matt. vii. 8 j xxi. 22. Mark xi. 24. Luke xi. 29. John viii. 29 j ix. SI ; xiv. IS; XV. 7; xvi. 23. James v. 16. 1 Jolin V. 11. (Eeumenius.John xvi. 23. Augustine.Chrysostom. Cyril. Promond. Luke xi. 8. Luke xviii. 1, IThess.r.n. John v. 1—9. chrysostom. Rom. xii. 12. THE SECOND SUNDA Y AFTER -TRINITY. johnvL'kg'f' (23) And this is His commandment. That we SIxti'i.T should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ, f Ti'eJ^.tv. 9. and love one another, as He gave us commandment} 1 Pet. iv. S. ' "^ 1 John ii. 8, St. John reduces religion to these two particulars — (1) Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, as the foundation of our Christian life. (2) Love to the brethren, as the fruit of our sonship, and Hur«. the means by which the grace of God is preserved in us. We are to believe in His name, that is, in Him, for His name means Himself;^ in Him as the only begotten Son of God, according to His Divine nature ; in Jesus Christ Gorr.iuus. truly man in His human nature. We are not merely to believe Him, but to believe in Him ; in our faith we are to live to Him, in our love we are to cleave to Him ; to be united to Him by the bond of a living faith which manifests Th.Aquinas. itsclf in lovo to God aud man. His John xiv. 23; (24) Aud Iw that keepeth Roin. viii.9. dwelleth in Him, and He in him. ¦1 Jolin II. 8, ' ... y.f. lOiiv. 13. ]i^iQH) ijiat He abideth m us, by the Spirit which He 3 commandments And hereby we hath given us. Lienard. 1 Cor. iii. 17. Menochius. He that 'keepeth His commandments. Of course there is a promise made to those who keep all His commandments ; here the reference is specifically to these two command ments. Belief in His name, and love one to another. He that keepeth His commandments is united to God by the gift of sanctiflcation, so that he dwelleth in Him, as the branches abide in the vine, and God in him, as in His own temple and sanctuary. The word dwelleth {ij.evei) is pecu liar to St. John in this sense. He recurs to it again and again, to express the closeness of the relation of God to the * ^^ Kai avTrj erTTtv rj IvToXij aurov "iva TrKjrevaiopiv. Tb avrrj oitio- XoyiKujQ oLKoviTTiov' 'iva y diori t) kv- ToXri avTov ioTi Triarebiiv." — Theo phylact. '^ " In nomen Christi credere, est credere in Christum Ipsum : nam Hebraei solent usurparo nomen pro re significata: non aliud nomen est sub ccelo in quo oporfeat nos salvos fieri, Actor, iv. 12. Diiferunt autem credere in Christum, credere Christo et credere Christum, ut docet S. Tho. 2, 2. q; 2, art. 2. nam credere in Christum est 'credendo eum ire, credendo dibgere, credendo in amore et ejus membris in- corporari,' ait S. August, tract, xxix. in Evang. Joannis ; unde daemones cre- dunt Christum, sed non in Christum." — Fromond. ' " Qui Christi sunt Spiritum Christi habent. Spiritum Christi hahemus quando Christum sumraae charitatis exemplar imitamur." — Guillaud, I ST. JOHN IIL 13—24, 6^ sanctified soul of His creatures. It means far more than simply to be in, rather it is to abide as in a sure dwelling, not as in a mere tabernacle, but in an eternal mansion. God Lorinus. dwells in the hearts of the obedient : — (1) His law remains in their hearts, as a living rule which they obey, (2) His love remains in their hearts, thus making obedi ence not a task, but a delight. (3) They abide in Him under His protection, as subjects abide under the protection of their king. (4) God abides in the hearts of His people by setting up his throne there. (5) Higher and more marvellous than all this, He abides in them by communicating to them of His nature of love, so that there is not onlv aiven unto them exceedina qreat and 2 Ppt 1 A. precious promises, but they are made partakers of the Divine com.'iLap. nature. And God not only makes His dwelling in the heart of the believer. He makes us know that He abideth in us ; and this knowledge we have — (1) Because we are enabled willingly to keep the com mandments of God, and to love our brethren;* and this love we have not of ourselves, but only from His Spirit dwelling in us. (2) This knowledge was at the first given to the Apostles and the disciples of Christ by visible tokens — the fiery tongues and the power to work miracles — evidences of the Spirit given to abide, to dwell for ever in the Church. To Mariana. them at the first was the Spirit given visibly, and to us also by means of their testimony. When, however, the Church needed no visible sign, then not the less was the Spirit given, but given invisibly, enabling the disciples of Christ to overcome temptation, to remain steadfast in the faith notwithstanding the allurements and the hatred of the world, and not to love merely, but to love as brethren, promond. Thus invisibly was the Spirit given, and given in order that they might visibly bring forth fruit, and so evidence to others the presence of that Spirit, The Apostle then calls us to cherish and exhibit this spirit of love to all our brethren by these considerations : (1) By the example of Christ, who laid down His life a * " Si vis nosse quia accepisti Spiri- esto, Non'potest esse dilectio sine spiritu turn Sanctum, interroga cor tuum, ne Dei, dicente Paulo Apostolo : Caritas forte sacramentum habeas, virtutem Dei diffusa est in cordibus Sacramenti non habeas, Interroga cor Spiritum Sanctum qui datus est nobis ' tuum, si est ibi dilectio fratres, securus [Eom. v. 6]. — Augustine. 64 THE SECOND SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. Th. Aquinas. voluntary sacrifice for us and for all those whom we are bidden to love, (2) By the fact that we derive an assurance of our son- ship thereby, and know that we are of the faith by keeping His commandments, (3) By the obligation which we have to keep the com mandments of God, since without this we cannot love Him. (4) From the consoling promise that if we cherish love to our brethren for the sake of Him who loves us, we shall dwell in God, and He will make His abode in us.* ' " Si hoc caritatis mandatum recti observatur, et vera pax et amicitia etiam cum inimicis retinetur, argumento est Dei spiritum, quo filii Dei nuncupamur, . et manere in nobis et vim suam ac po- testatem exercere," — Justiniani. »*» " Praesta, quaesumus, omnipo tens Deus, ut inter innumeros vitas praesentis errores charitatis semper moderamine dirigamur. Per Dominum nostrum Jesum Christum, Amen." — Brev. Bituricense. THE THIRD SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. 1 St. Petee v. 5 — 11. In the Epistle for this day the Christian is warned against his two enemies, the world and the devil. As to the world : — • • (1) Against pride and other sins which come from wealth iiim. vi. 9. and ease, which drown men in destruction and perdition. (2) Against those cares and anxieties which choke the Matt. xiii. 22. word, and he becometh unfruitful. (3) Against the immoderate use of the good things of this life, surfeiting and drunkenness, and cares of this life. Luke xxi. si. Against these the Apostle would arm us : — (1) In order that we may overcome pride he calls upon us to be clothed with humility. (2) Against anxious cares he strengthens us by bidding us cast all our cares upon God. (3) Against intemperance and the immoderate use of the good things of the world he arms us with the call to be sober. As to our spiritual foe, the enemy of God and man, the Apostle calls us — (1) To watchfulness, because of the ever-wakeful malice of Satan, who is ever going about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.'^ (2) To resistance, by reminding us that he is mighty as a roaring lion. (3) To the use of the shield of the faith, for our adver sary is no mere human foe, and we wrestle not with flesh and Peraidus. blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wicked- Ephes. vi. 12. ness in high places. ' " Vigilate, " TTniversum tempus attendas. Libenter debent amici Dei pcenitentiae quaedara est vigilia solenni- vigilare in mundo isto, quia cum dederit talis maguae et aeterni sabbati quod dilectis suis somnum, tunc in pace dor- praestolamur. Nee causaberis diuturni- mient et requiescent." — S. Bernardus tatem vigihae, siaeternitatem solennitatis apud Peraidus. EPIST. VOL. II. E 66 THE THIRD SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY. Prov. iii. 84. Isa. Ivii. 15; Ixvi. 2, Phil. ii. James iv. 6. (5) All of you be subject one to another, and be |°m"xyo. clothed with humility : ^ for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. The weapon of the Spirit by which sin is controlled and overcome, is humility. In the words which immediately precede these the Apostle exhorts the younger to submis sion to the authority of their elders : Ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. He here exhorts — (1) All men to cultivate this grace in their intercourse with each other: All of you be subject one to another ; all, whether inferior or superior, (2) To manifest the same humility towards God : Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God. Be clothed ivith humility, as servants with a servile gar ment,^ Bind it about you so that no foe can take it from you. It must be something which is outwardly evident, must be seen by others, visible above all other virtue as an outer garment over all. It is something which is to be not only in the heart, but to manifest itself by our deeds and words and by all the actions of our life. We are to take occasion, all opportunity, to humble ourselves. And when the Apostle exhorts Christians to be clothed or to be girded about with humility, he recalls the memory of that night when Christ healed the strife amongst the Apostles for pre-eminence by his example and teaching, and left to all His disciples a perfect pattern of humility; for when He humbled Himself to wash His Apostles' feet. He girded or clothed Himself with a towel, the outward sign of a servant, the visible token of His humiliation and His spirit of humility. The exhortation to humility is not addressed merely to those of low estate, nor does it call upon them only to be have with lowliness to those who are placed over them, it Hugo de S, Cjiaro, Wordsworth. Wesley. Leighton. Whitby. Th. Aquinaa. Lorinus.] 1 " The word translated clothed should be ' girt ' or ' girdled,' being derived from the name of a string or band, fastening on a garment, and con nected with a word signifying the apron or cloth with which a person girt him self before doing any servile work. The first clause of the text, translated quite literally, should be all of you gird on humility towards one another." — Bishop Cotton on the Epistles. * " lyKoji^iiiaaaBi signifie selon les Grecs, environnez vous, s<;avoir d'humi- lite, ou selon d'autres, humilitatem volts flxam habete, aiez Vhumilite attaches d vous. Le Syriaque dit, stride amici- miiii, L'Arabe, amplectimini. II est certain que ce mot signifie se reoestir ; mais selon Pollux, c'est d'un habit ser vile, que les esclaves mettaient sur les autres habits et qui s'appellait, dit-il, iyKip^oijia. De sorte que ce verbe convient fort proprement an dessein de I'Apfitre, Eevestez-vous comme d'un habit etroit et servile, de I'humilite envers les autres." — Amelote. I ST. PETER V. 5— II. 67 equally exhorts those who are in high estate to behave with humility to those who are of lower condition than them selves.* An exhortation easy to be obeyed if we only remembered that even the lowliest ai-e members of Christ, and were made in the image and likeness of God, whose children they are. This grace of humility levels the supe- Fromond. rior with the inferior, it at the same time subordinates the inferior to the superior. Hence is it the parent of order, of reverence, of spiritual peace and divine charity. It pro motes outward peace, it procures inward, by removing pride and the causes of anxiety from the mind of the believer, corn, i Lap. So necessary indeed is this grace, that Christ Himself has said. Except ye be converted and become as little children, that is, humble like little children, ye shall not enter into the king- Matt.xviii. s. dom of heaven. It is indeed the greatest of all virtues, the very foundation of the whole spiritual temple, the peculiar and bounteous gift of a bounteous Saviour, If we look for miracles, the soul of the humble man is a perpetual miracle of grace, the supernatural work of an ever-present Saviour, raising the soul from earth without puffing it up, and evi dencing His presence not by the greatness of the sign, as men count greatness, but by the lowliness and patience and long-suffering which are the tokens of His indwelling in the soul. If, then, we would receive this inestimable gift cassian, coi, of God, let us pray Him to empty our heart of self that He ^^' "' '" may fill it with His grace. The heart that is full of pride, and self-sufficiency, and self-love. He cannot fill with this Gorranus. grace, since it is already full of earth, ^ The love that comes from God, the fountain of love, enables us to love our brother as ourselves ; the humility which He works in us causes us to esteem our brother better Lorinus, than ourselves. God resisteth the proud. Haughtiness and pride with respect to men always rest upon haughtiness towards God ; as true lowliness of mind with reference to men can only spring from a true estimate of ourselves, and from the pre sence of God's grace in our hearts. The proud, therefore, are at enmity and antagonism with God, and such He re- steiger, 1 " Omnes et singuU se mntuo'^onore cant," — Natalis Alex. praeveniant, nihil per coutentionem, ^ "Notade vase secundum quod magis neque per inanem gloriam operentur, habet de vacuitate, magis habet de ea sed ex humilitate superiores sibi in- pacitate : si parum, parum : si nihil, vicem existimantes secundum gratiae nihil. Videat ergo quilibet iu seipso dona, quanto majores sunt, humilient quantum habeat de vacuitate humilita- se in omnibus. Agnoscant Praelati ser- tis, et tantum habebit de capacitate vos se esse fldelium, non dominos, tales gratiae gratum facientis, et ex quo dat subditis se praestent, ut non solum gratiam humilibus."— ffojT««Ms. auctoritate, sed magis humilitate clares- 68 THE THIRD SUNDA Y AFTER TRINITY. sisteth, whilst He giveth grace to the humble.^ Prov. iii. SI. the scomers, but he giveth grace to the lowly. He scorneth Job xxii. 29. Prov. xxix. 23. Mutt, xxiii. 12. Luliei. 52; xviii. 14. James iv. 10. . Gorranus. Steiger. Dion. Carth. Th. Aquinas. James iv. 10. Topiarius. Promond. (6) Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you"^ in due time. Humble yourselves, not, be humbled ; let it be your work to humble yourselves before Him, who can humble you by His power, but who calls upon you to exercise your will, and willingly to humble yourselves in His sight. Humble yourselves as His creatures, as the work of His hands, and still more as sinners, who have sunk below creation by your active sins against Him. Humble yourselveSj by the con sideration that all He does is right, and for your good, and accept whatever He may lay upon you without murmur. Humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that is, under the Omnipotent God, under God who is mighty. St, James had said. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, here St, Peter says, under the mighty hand of God, in the change of words teaching us that the true motive for humility is the weakness of the creature as contrasted with the Almightiness of the Creator. God can do all things. He does all things according to His own will, and for our good, who can of ourselves do nothing. And this grace of hu mility has a twofold influence : — (1) Inward, by which we recognize our weakness and sinfulness in the sight of God, This destroys self-confi dence, and in proportion as it does so leads us to cleave the closer to God. (2) External, which prevents our despising others. This destroys in us worldly ambition, and the desire of excelling others. It checks our envy at the success of others, and makes us prompt and willing to serve all our brethren. The mighty hand of God. This is stated as the ground of our humility, (1) He to whom we are to submit is God, our Creator, one who has a right to our obedience, one in whose sight pride is an offence. We are, therefore, to walk with hu mility and godly fear. (2) He is mighty, one whom we cannot resist, even though ' " Sweet dews and showers of grace slide oil the mountains of pride and fall on the low valleys of humble hearts, and make them pleasant and fertile. The swelling heart, puffed up with a fancy of fulness, bath no room for grace. It is lifted up, is not hollowed and fitted to receive and contain the graces that descend from above," — Leighton. " The Lord bestoweth His blessings there, when He findetb the vessels empty." — Th, a Kempis, De Lmit. iv. 15, I 3. 2 " Ut vos exaltet non causam, ut arbitror, sed consequentionem indicat." — Justiniani. I ST. PETER V. s— II, 69 we desire to oppose Him. Hence the repetition in these words. Hand — with reference to God, means power. Here that hand or power is spoken of as mighty. The hand of power, held up and ready to strike those who are proud Lorinus. and lifted up. (3) There is, as in all other acts of obedience, so in this, a reward upon our willing subjection to Him. He will Leighton. exalt in due time those who are of an humble spirit. That he may exalt you, — (1) Lift you from your sins now by His grace, and Royard. (2) Lift you to heaven, to reign with Him in eternal blessedness ; for though these words seem more especially Dion, earth, to refer to that future exaltation which shall be the reward of God's true saints, since exaltation in this world is neces sarily incomplete,* yet must all future reward begin in Theophylact, this life, for the lifting up from our sinful estate is but the foretaste and pledge of that which is perfected in the world to come. This is that due time which is referred to, the day of judgment, and the manifestation of the hidden life of God's saints, yet so as not to exclude the promise of His Lienard. lifting us up when visited by temptation and bowed down by trial in this life. For when affliction comes, when distress Topiarius. surrounds Christians, then, in His own good time, when it is best for them, will God exalt those who have humbled Guiuaud. themselves in His sight.^ There are four marks by which the humble mind may be recognized, — (1) By its obedience to the commands of God, its sub mission to His will, and in this is included its freedom from arrogance and vanity, (2) By its penitence at the remembrance of its past deeds of sin. (3) By its patience whilst under trials which are sent immediately from God, or under those which arise from the opposition of man, (4) By its reverence in the sight of God; and as an ' " 17 ir TaiiGa v\f/