2. “Herein is our love made perfect in us that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as He is, so are we in this world.”455    1 John iv. 17. He tells how each may prove himself, what progress charity has made in him or rather what progress he has made in charity. For if charity is God, God is capable neither of proficiency nor of deficiency: that charity is said to be making proficiency in thee, means only that thou makest proficiency in it. Ask therefore what proficiency thou hast made in charity, and what thine heart will answer thee, that thou mayest know the measure of thy profiting. For he has promised to show us in what we may know Him, and hath said, “In this is love made perfect in us.” Ask, in what? “That we have boldness in the day of judgment.” Whoso hath boldness in the day of judgment, in that man is charity made perfect. What is it to have boldness in the day of judgment? Not to fear lest the day of judgment should come. There are men who do not believe in a day of judgment; these cannot have boldness in a day which they do not believe will come. Let us pass these: may God awaken them, that they may live; why speak we of the dead? They do not believe that there will be a day of judgment; they neither fear nor desire what they do not believe. Some man has begun to believe in a day of judgment: if he has begun to believe, he has also begun to fear. But because he fears as yet, because he hath not yet boldness in the day of judgment, not yet is charity in that man made perfect. But for all that, is one to despair? In whom thou seest the beginning, why despairest thou of the end? What beginning do I see? (sayest thou.) That very fear. Hear the Scripture: “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”456    Prov. i. 7; xv. 13. Well then, he has begun to fear the day of judgment: by fearing let him correct himself, let him watch against his enemies, i.e. his sins; let him begin to come to life again inwardly, and to mortify his members which are upon the earth, as the apostle saith, “Mortify your members which are upon the earth.”457    Col. iii. 5. By the members upon earth he means spiritual wickedness:458    Spiritualia nequitiæ. for he goes on to expound it, “Covetousness, uncleanness,”459    Eph. vi. 12. and the rest which he there follows out. Now in proportion as this man who has begun to fear the day of judgment, mortifies his members which are upon the earth, in that proportion the heavenly members rise up and are strengthened. But the heavenly members are all good works. As the heavenly members rise up, he begins to desire that which once he feared. Once he feared lest Christ should come and find in him the impious whom He must condemn; now he longs for Him to come, because He shall find the pious man whom He may crown. Having now begun to desire Christ’s coming, the chaste soul which desires the embrace of the Bridegroom renounces the adulterer, becomes a virgin within by faith, hope, and charity. Now hath the man boldness in the day of judgment: he fights not against himself when he prays, “Thy kingdom come.”460    Matt. vi. 10. For he that fears lest the kingdom of God should come, fears lest his prayer be heard. How can he be said to pray, who fears lest his prayer be heard? But he that prays with boldness of charity, wishes now that He may come. Of this same desire said one in the Psalm, “And thou, Lord, how long? Turn, Lord, and deliver my soul.”461    Ps. vi. 4. 5. He groaned at being so put off. For there are men who with patience submit to die; but there are some perfect who with patience endure to live. What do I mean? When a person still desires this life, that person, when the day of death comes, patiently endures death: he struggles against himself that he may follow the will of God, and in his mind desires that which God chooseth, not what man’s will chooseth: from desire of the present life there comes a reluctance against death, but yet he takes to him patience and fortitude, that he may with an even mind meet death; he dies patiently. But when a man desires, as the apostle saith, “to be dissolved and to be with Christ,”462    Phil. i. 23, 24. that person, not patiently dies, but patiently lives, delightedly dies. See the apostle patiently living, i.e. how with patience he here, not loves life, but endures it. “To be dissolved,” saith he, “and to be with Christ, is far better: but to continue in the flesh is necessary for your sakes.” Therefore, brethren, do your endeavor, settle it inwardly with yourselves to make this your concern, that ye may desire the day of judgment. No otherwise is charity proved to be perfect, but only when one has begun to desire that day. But that man desires it, who hath boldness in it, whose conscience feels no alarm in perfect and sincere charity.

2. In hoc perfecta est dilectio in nobis, ut fiduciam habeamus in die judicii: quia sicut ille est, et nos sumus in hoc mundo. Dicit quomodo se probet unusquisque, quantum in illo profecerit charitas: vel potius quantum ipse in charitate profecerit. Nam si charitas Deus est, nec proficit nec deficit Deus: sic dicitur proficere in te charitas, quia tu in ea proficis. Interroga ergo quantum in charitate profeceris, et quid tibi respondeat cor tuum, ut noveris mensuram profectus tui. Promisit enim ostendere nobis in quo cognoscamus 2046 eum, et ait, In hoc perfecta est in nobis dilectio. Quaere, in quo? Ut fiduciam habeamus in die judicii. Quisquis fiduciam habet in die judicii, perfecta est in illo charitas. Quid est habere fiduciam in die judicii? Non timere ne veniat dies judicii. Sunt homines qui non credunt diem judicii; isti fiduciam non possunt habere in die quam venturam esse non credunt. Praetermittamus istos: excitet illos Deus, ut vivant; de mortuis utquid loquimur? Non credunt futurum diem judicii, nec timent, nec desiderant quod non credunt. Coepit aliquis credere diem judicii: si coepit credere, coepit et timere. Sed quia timet adhuc, nondum habet fiduciam in die judicii, nondum est in illo perfecta charitas. Numquid tamen desperandum est? In quo vides initium, cur desperas finem? Quod initium video, inquis? Ipsum timorem. Audi Scripturam: Initium sapientiae timor Domini (Eccli. I, 16). Coepit ergo timere diem judicii: timendo corrigat se; vigilet adversus hostes suos, id est, adversus peccata sua; incipiat reviviscere interius, et mortificare membra sua quae sunt super terram, sicut Apostolus dicit, Mortificate membra vestra quae sunt super terram. Spiritualia nequitiae dicit membra super terram: nam sequitur et exponit, Avaritiam, immunditiam (Coloss. III, 5), et caetera quae illic exsequitur. Quantum autem mortificat iste, qui timere coepit diem judicii, membra sua super terram, tantum surgunt et corroborantur membra coelestia. Membra autem coelestia, omnia opera bona. Surgentibus coelestibus membris, incipit desiderare quod timebat. Timebat enim ne veniret Christus, et inveniret impium quem damnaret; desiderat ut veniat, quia inventurus est pium quem coronet. Jam cum coeperit desiderare venientem Christum casta anima, quae desiderat amplexus sponsi, renuntiat adultero; fit virgo interius ipsa fide, spe, et charitate. Habet jam fiduciam in die judicii: non contra se pugnat quando orat, et dicit, Adveniat regnum tuum (Matth. VI, 10). Qui enim timet ne veniat regnum Dei, timet ne exaudiatur. Quomodo orat, qui timet ne exaudiatur? Qui autem orat cum fiducia charitatis, optat jam ut veniat. De ipso desiderio dicebat quidam in Psalmo, Et tu, Domine, usquequo? Convertere, Domine, et erue animam meam (Psal. VI, 4, 5). Gemebat se differri. Sunt enim homines qui cum patientia moriuntur: sunt autem quidam perfecti qui cum patientia vivunt. Quid dixi? Qui adhuc desiderat istam vitam, quando illi venerit dies mortis, patienter tolerat mortem: luctatur adversum se, ut sequatur voluntatem Dei; et hoc potius agit animo, quod eligit Deus, non quod eligit voluntas humana: et ex desiderio vitae praesentis fit lucta cum morte; et adhibet patientiam et fortitudinem, ut aequo animo moriatur: iste patienter moritur. Qui autem desiderat, sicut dicit Apostolus, dissolvi et esse cum Christo, non patienter moritur; sed patienter vivit, delectabiliter moritur. Vide Apostolum patienter viventem, id est, cum patientia hic non amare vitam, sed tolerare. Dissolvi, inquit, et esse cum Christo multo magis optimum manere autem in carne necessarium propter vos (Philipp. I, 2047 23, 24). Ergo, fratres, date operam, intus agite vobiscum, ut desideretis diem judicii. Aliter non probatur perfecta charitas, nisi cum coeperit ille dies desiderari. Ille autem eum desiderat, qui fiduciam habet in illo: ille autem fiduciam habet in illo, cujus conscientia non trepidat in charitate perfecta atque sincera.