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THE

FIRST EPISTLE OF S. JOHN.

CHAPTER I.

He declares what he has seen and heard of Christ (who is the life eternal) to the end that we may have fellowship with God, and all good through him; yet so if we confess our sins.

I. Quod fuit ab initio, quod audivimus, quod vidimus oculis nostris, quod perspeximus et manus nostræ contrectaverunt de Verbo vitæ,

2. Et vita manifestata est, et vidimus, et testamur, et annuntiamus vobis vitam æternam, quæ erat apud Patrem et apparuit nobis:

3. Quod vidimus et audivimus, annuntiamus vobis, ut et vos societatem habeatis nobiscum, et societas nostra sit cum Patre et cum Filio ejus JESUCHRISTO.

4. Et hæc scribimus vobis ut gaudeatis, et gaudium vestrum sit plenum.

1. That which was 'from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have diligently looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life;

2. (For the life was manifested, and we have seen and do bear witness, and declare unto you the eternal life, which was with the Father, and hath appeared to us ;)

3. That which we have seen and have heard we declare unto you, that you also may have "fellowship with us, and our fellowship may be with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.

4. And these things we write to you, that you may rejoice, and 'your joy may be full.

The opening verses of this Epistle, which many have considered as a preface to the Gospel, seem to us quite the contrary. They

are a preface to what he is about to indite in this Epistle. He shows them who he is, and why they ought to listen to his counsels, and eschew those of the heretics who were trying to undo his work amongst them. All the Church knew him to have been "the Beloved Disciple," and he is now the only survivor of the Apostles. Jerusalem was destroyed twenty years ago, and the links which bound the generation he addressed to the first Christians were being gradually broken. If broken by death, the matter could be tolerated; but broken by heresy was a thing the Apostle thought well to prevent. Hence, his anxiety to enlighten them. The sweetness and unction speak for themselves.

1From the beginning.-His Gospel opens with the words, In the beginning. These words signify eternity. That which, quod, in the neuter gender signifies the mystery of the Incarnation manifested in Our Lord's appearance. Time came in to give a glimpse of eternity, and S. John remembers this glimpse.

2 Seen with our eyes.-Here comes a series of physical proofs, which rise one above the other, until, coming down from the eternal, he is able to certify the temporal, real, corporeal existence of Our Lord. We must remember his twofold object.

The Word of life.-This does not mean preaching, or the Gospel. It means the Aoyos, or Word made flesh, which giveth life to everyone who cometh into this world.

The life. This life is not an abstraction, but an Incarnation. The parenthetic clause here is put in to make us avoid misunderstanding him. This real life, was eternal life with the Father, and appeared to us.

Fellowship.-This is the unity of faith which the new heretics were endeavouring to rend by false teaching.

May be. The Latin and the English would have told better in the indicative mood. There is no verb to correspond in the Greek.

"Your joy may be full.-This is the aim of his writing. He does not wish to rebuke them, but to warn them. The Apostle of charity loves unity, and sees joy only in fratres habitantes in unum.

The Incarnation :

Ist. Union of two natures. 2nd. Union of Creator with

creature.

3rd. Union of Heaven with earth.

Life of the Church:

Ist. Belief in Our Lord's Divinity.

2nd. Unity of Faith under one head.

3rd. Charity in all its branches.

5. Et hæc est annuntiatio quam audivimus ab eo et annuntiamus vobis: Quoniam DEUS lux est, et tenebræ in eo non sunt ullæ.

6. Si dixerimus quoniam societatem habemus cum eo, et in tenebris ambulamus, mentimur, et veritatem non facimus.

7. Si autem in luce ambulamus, sicut et ipse est in luce, societatem habemus ad invicem, et sanguis JESU-CHRISTI, Filii ejus, emundat nos ab omni peccato.

8. Si dixerimus quoniam peccatum non habemus ipsi nos seducimus, et veritas in nobis non est.

9. Si confiteamur peccata nostra, fidelis est et justus ut remittat nobis peccata nostra, et emundet nos ab omni iniqui

tate.

10. Si dixerimus quoniam non peccavimus, mendacem facimus eum, et verbum ejus non est in nobis.

5. And this is the 'declaration which we have heard from him, and declare unto you: That "God is light, and that in him there is no darkness.

6. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and 3walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth.

7. But if we walk in the light, as he also is in the light, we have 'fellowship one towards another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanseth us from all sin.

8. If we say that we have "no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

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The argument of this portion of Grace and the state of sin. light. Truth and innocence are in proportion as we advance in virtue and come nearer to Him.

of the chapter regards the state The first state is called that of perfect only in God, and in us

For this reason are the just styled in the Scriptures children of light, and the sinners and those in error children of darkness or persons sitting in the shadow of death. Evil spirits and demons are called princes of darkness.

Two ways of falling into sin after baptism concern the Apostle here; heresy and breaking the Commandments. The heresies which he had to combat were very like our modern ones. Simon

and others taught that if you were once justified, you were predestined, and if predestined, you could not sin. There is a tinge of modern Methodism and election about this. An error of this kind causes a person to sin on principle. To say that one can avoid all sins, even venial, is a heresy. The Council of Trent defines: "If anyone say that a man once justified can, during the whole period of his life, (without a special privilege of God such as the Church holds has been conferred upon the Blessed Virgin) avoid all sins, even venial ones, let him be anathema."Sess. VI. de Justif, Can. XXIII.

There is another heresy broached by the Reformers, against which the same Council has also hinted an Anathema. They taught that the just sinned even in their good actions. This is condemned in the XXV. Canon of the same Session.

The second sort of sins are those committed by bad Christians, who preserve indeed the unity of the faith, but give it the lie by practice. The case of these is not so bad as those of the others, because if they sin they know they do wrong, and are very far from defending themselves in making a false step.

When commentators, like Cornelius A' Lapide, consider this Epistle as addressed to the Parthians, they are driven to the subterfuge of saying that these Orientals were greater sinners than the Occidentals. This is poor reasoning. The other theory, that the Epistle was written from Patmos for the Christians of Asia about Ephesus, does not require more than the supposition that both kinds of sin were on the increase since the Saint was exiled.

He tells them now how this darkness is to be put away, and light-the light of grace-brought in to take its place. Confession is the one means left to those who fall away, either from faith or merely from justice. This confession must be accompanied by public reparation, if the apostacy has given scandal, and it must be from a contrite heart if the sin be known only to God. S. Chrysostom says: "Penance is contrition in the heart, confession in the mouth, and humility in all one's works."

All commentators, except a few Protestants of the old school, acknowledge that S. John means sacramental confession here. The Greek word in the text is the word used even yet in the Greek liturgy, for sacramental or auricular confession.

Confession (if there be a priest convenient) is necessary for grave sins, and useful for venial sins. It is the one means by

which the merits of Jesus Christ are applied to the soul of a fallen Christian, and the one means which verifies more than any other the words of S. John in the text: "The blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanseth us from all sin," v. 7. The abolition of confession has been a serious thing for people brought up in heresy; but it could not exist when there were no Orders.

1Declaration.-The Apostle writes here authoritatively, and gives a solemn pronouncement of an undying truth.

2God is light.-God is the light inaccessible, the essential light, from whom alone can all truth and sanctity be derived as from a source.

3 Walk in darkness.-This may be error or sin. In the first case we are cut off from the body of the Church. In the second, from the soul of the Church. The first person plural is used in order to make the sentence seem less severe.

Fellowship.-All who are in the union of the Church, make one mystical body of which Christ is the head. Those who err are members torn off. If we are in grace we walk in holiness-to stop is to recede.

All sin.-Every kind of sin, original, actual, mortal, venial, against God, our neighbours, or ourselves-provided we receive it in the sacraments with proper dispositions.

"No sin.-At least venial sins.

"Faithful and just.—He will keep His word which He promised to Peter and the others, as well as their successors. He is just in this, that if you place the conditions He requires, you have a right to forgiveness by virtue of His free promise.

All iniquity. This is against the Montanists.

"Make Him a liar.-He has said Omnis homo mendax.

State of Grace:

Ist. God's light shines in it.

2nd. The soul need never be afraid.

3rd. Death never comes amiss in it.

Confession :

1st. Made with sorrow.

2nd. Of every mortal sin.

3rd. No sin too great to be forgiven.

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