14. “Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him and he in God.”447    1 John iv. 15. [Life; “the Life eternal.”—The Epistle begins and ends with Life, announced and promised (the word occurs thirteen times in the one hundred and ten verses). The intermediate presentation of Love, as the grand efflux from the inner, spiritual life, gives the main theme of St. John, and it is of this that Augustin delights to speak in these discourses.   The life of an intelligent being is in conscious dependence on God. In the fullest sense, “in Him we live.”   Death and life are among the striking contrasts named in the epistle: “the death,” “the life,”—“the death that is truly death, the life that is truly life.”   This life is in Christ. He not only brings it and imparts it, but He is “our Life.” The living and life-giving Christ is manifested in this epistle, and also the death that exists where there is no union, by love, to Him.   The Life, eternal (to distinguish it from the life that now is, the life bounded by sense and time), is not mere prolongation of existence. We must use sensuous images in order to apprehend the idea, but we are to remember that they are not realities in the spiritual order.   The life which Christ gives, enabling men to have life in Him, cannot exist apart from Himself; His seal remains in them, and He abides in them.   The “life eternal,” while future as to its full realization, is present, is begun here and now. “He that believeth on the Son hath eternal life,” and its possession is matter of actual knowledge to those who have this life; “we know that we abide in Him and He in us” (1 John v. 13).   It is a life which unites heaven and earth, bringing into this stage of being “the powers of the world to come.”   A life that satisfies, while it enkindles desire and aspiration: it gives strength to bear present ills in the joyous and assured hope of “a life beyond life.”]—J.H.M. Now we may say it in not many words; “Whosoever shall confess;” not in word but in deed, not with tongue but with the life. For many confess in words, but in deeds deny: “And we have known and believed the love which God hath in us.”448    1 John iv. 16. And again, by what hast thou come to know this? “Love is God.” He hath already said it above, behold he saith it again. Love could not be more exceedingly commended to thee than that it should be called God. Haply thou wast ready to despise a gift of God. And dost thou despise God? “Love is God: and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God dwelleth in him.” Each mutually inhabiteth the other; He that holdeth, and he that is holden. Thou dwellest in God, but that thou mayest be holden: God inhabiteth thee, but that He may hold thee, lest thou fall. Lest haply thou imagine that thou becomest an house of God in such sort as thine house supports thy flesh: if the house in which thou art withdraw itself from under thee, thou fallest; but if thou withdraw thyself, God falleth not. When thou forsakest Him, He is none the less; when thou hast returned unto Him, He is none the greater. 449    Hom. in Ev. xi. 5. Thou art healed, on Him thou wilt bestow nothing; thou art made clean, thou art new-made, thou art set right: He is a medicine to the unhealthy, is a rule for the crooked, is light for the bedarkened, is an habitation for the deserted. All therefore is conferred on thee: see thou imagine not that ought is conferred upon God by thy coming unto Him: no, not so much as a slave. Shall God, forsooth, not have servants if thou like not, if all like not? God needs not the servants, but the servants need God: therefore saith the Psalm, “I have said unto the Lord, thou art my God.”450    Ps. xvi. 2. He is the true Lord. And what saith it? “For of my goods Thou hast no need.” Thou needest the good thou hast by thy servant. Thy servant needeth the good he hath by thee, that thou mayest feed him; thou also needest the good thou hast by thy servant, that he may help thee. Thou canst not draw water for thyself, canst not cook for thyself, canst not run before thy horse, canst not tend thy beast. Thou seest that thou needest the good thou hast by thy servant, thou needest his attendance. Therefore thou art not a true lord, while thou hast need of an inferior. He is the true Lord, who seeks nothing from us; and woe to us if we seek not Him! He seeks nothing from us: yet He sought us, when we sought not Him. One sheep had strayed; He found it, He brought it back on His shoulders rejoicing.451    Luke xv. 4, 5. And was the sheep necessary for the Shepherd, and not rather the Shepherd necessary for the sheep?—The more I love to speak of charity, the less willing am I that this epistle should be finished. None is more ardent in the commending of charity. Nothing more sweet is preached to you, nothing more wholesome drunk by you: but only thus if by godly living ye confirm in you the gift of God. Be not ungrateful for His so great grace, who, though He had one Only Son, would not that He should be alone a Son; but, that He might have brethren, adopted unto Him those who should with Him possess life eternal.

14. Quicumque confessus fuerit quod Jesus est Filius Dei, Deus in ipso manet, et ipse in Deo. Jam non multis dicamus: Qui confessus fuerit, non verbo, sed facto; non lingua, sed vita. Nam multi confitentur verbis, sed factis negant. Et nos cognovimus, et credidimus, quam dilectionem Deus habet in nobis. Et iterum unde cognovisti? Deus dilectio est. Jam dixit illud superius, ecce iterum dicit. Amplius tibi non potuit dilectio commendari, quam ut diceretur Deus. Forte munus Dei contempturus eras. Et Deum contemnis? Deus dilectio est. Et qui manet in dilectione, in Deo manet, et Deus in eo manet. Vicissim in se habitant, qui continet et qui continetur. Habitas in Deo, sed ut continearis: habitat in te Deus, sed ut te contineat, ne cadas. Ne forte sic te putes domum Dei fieri, quomodo domus tua portat carnem tuam: si subtrahat se domus in qua es, cadis; si autem tu te subtrahas, non cadit Deus. Integer est, cum eum deseris; integer, cum ad illum redieris. Tu sanaris, non illi aliquid praestabis; tu mundaris, tu reficeris, tu corrigeris. Ille medicamentum est non sano, regula est pravo, lux est tenebrato, habitatio est deserto. Omnia ergo tibi conferuntur. Vide ne putes Deo aliquid conferri, quando venis ad eum; nec mancipium saltem. Ergo non habebit Deus servos, si tu nolueris, et si omnes noluerint? Deus non indiget servis, sed servi Deo: ideo dicit Psalmus, Dixi Domino, Deus meus es tu. Ipse est verus Dominus. Et quid ait? Quoniam bonorum meorum non eges (Psal. XV, 2). Tu eges bono servi tui. Eget servus bono tuo, ut pascas illum: eges et tu bono servi tui, ut adjuvet te. Non tibi potes aquam implere, non tibi potes coquere, non tibi potes ante equum currere, jumentum tuum non potes curare. Vides quia indiges bono servi tui, obsequio illius indiges. Non es ergo verus dominus, quando indiges inferiore. Ille est verus Dominus qui nihil a nobis quaerit; et vae nobis, si eum non quaeramus. Nihil a nobis quaerit; et quaesivit nos, cum eum non quaereremus. Ovis una erraverat; invenit eam, gaudens in humeris suis reportavit (Luc. XV, 4, 5). Et numquid ovis erat pastori necessaria, et non ovi potius pastor necessarius erat? Quanto libentius de charitate loquor, tanto minus volo finiri Epistolam istam. Nulla est ardentior ad commendandam charitatem. Nihil vobis dulcius praedicatur, nihil salubrius bibitur: sed si bene vivendo confirmetis in vobis munus Dei. Ne sitis ingrati tantae gratiae illius, qui cum haberet Unicum, noluit illum esse unum; sed ut fratres haberet, adoptavit illi, qui cum illo possiderent vitam aeternam