47 ["Is," better omitted; also "which."]
50 ["Is," better omitted; also "which."]
51 The last clause, sicut et Deus manet in aeternum, is peculiar to the Latin authorities, S. Cyprian ad Quir. 3, 11, quomodo et, &c. and others in Griesbach. It is not received by the Vulgate.
56 Et amaveris mundum; nonne tuus amor adulterinus aeputabitur?-Mss. et amaveris mundum, delinquis ("and love the world, thou art delinquent"), (and so four in the Bodl. Library). Edd. Am. Bad. Er. et amaveris mundum, amittis Creatorem qui fecit mundum ("and love the world, thou lettest go the Creator who made the world.")-Ben.
4 [Or "a," Westcott.-J. H. M.]
9 Omnium sacramentorum temporaliter pro aeterna salute nostra gestorum: i.e. of the historical facts of both Testaments understood in their inward and spiritual relation to Christ.
11 Supra, Hom. cxxi. and xxvi.
14 Epist. 199, de fine Saec., sec. 17.
15 So a0ntikei/menoj2 Thess. ii. 2, 3, and so the word seems to be interpreted by Tertull. de Praescr. Haer. 4, Antichristi-Christi rebelles. And this is alleged by Theophylact as the traditional interpretation of the Greek Church: pa/ntwj o9 yeu/sthj e0nanti/oj w=n th= alhqei//a h/toi twsXristw= a0ntixristo/j e0sti. "Certainly `Antichrist 0' is the Liar opposed to the Truth, i.e. to Christ." So Oecumenius. But by earlier authorities it is taken in the sense of "false-Christ," or, one that gives himself out for Christ with denial of Jesus Christ. Thus in the Acta Martyrum: Dicit autem Apostolus: Si Satanus, &c. Undeet Antichristus Quasi-Christus. "The Apostle saith: If Satan be transfigured as an angel of light, it is no great matter if his ministers be transfigured." Whence also "Antichrist" means "seeming-Christ." And St. Hippolyt. Portuensis de Antichristo, 6, kata\ pa/nta e0comoiou=sqai bou/letai o9 pla/noj tw= ui9w= tou= Qeou=. "In all things the deceiver will needs make himself like the Son of God." See Mr. Greswell's Exposition of the Parables, i. p. 372. ff.
[Antichrist.-Huther confirms (Meyer, Com. on N. T., 14th part, 4th (German edition) Augustin's definition. "That a0nti expresses not substitution but antagonism is now generally and justly acknowledged;" but he adds "9o a/itixristoj does not mean the enemy of Christ, in general, but the one opposed to Christ, or the `opposition Christ, 0' i.e. the enemy of Christ, who, under the lying pretense of being the true Christ, endeavors to destroy the work of Christ." "One who assuming the guise of Christ, opposes Christ." (Westcott.)
When Huther remarks in reference to the view held by Neander and others, who distinguish, in the apostle's representations of Antichrist, form and idea, viz :-that evil will gradually increase more and more in its contest against Christ, until it has reached its summit, when it will be completely vanquished by the power of Christ; and, as regards form, that this highest energy of evil will appear in one person; "of this distinction Scripture gives no suggestion;" yet, as there appears an intimation of distinct and successive Antichrists (1 John ii. 18, 22; 2 John vii.), and the Antichrist of whom the Apostle's readers "had heard," had not yet come personally, Westcott's interpretation of ii. 18, seems not unreasonable: "Antichrist may be the personification of the principle shown in different Antichrists; or, the person whose appearance is prepared by these particular forms of evil."
Whatever may be thought of Augustin's application of the apostle's description to separatists in his day, that there have been many Antichrists, 1st and 2nd John teach very plainly: and most important, is St. John's description of the "master falsehood," the "denial of true manhead and true Godhead in Christ" which involves the denial of the essential relations of Fatherhood and Sonship in the Divine Nature.-J. H. M.]
17 Two Mss. Benedictionem Eucharistiae "the Benediction of the Eucharist."-Ben. (So Bodl. 242 and 455,-and 813 by correction.)
18 Ut ipsi vobis manifesti sitis. As there is no trace of this reading in either the Greek or Latin authorities it is perhaps not meant to stand as part of the text, though represented as such by the Benedictines. In the following clause Aug. seems to recognize the reading oi=date pa/ntej, dicit omnes cognoscere bonos et malos.
26 Magnum sacramentum, sec. 13, note 3.
36 Song of the Three Holy Children. Ex ore trium puerorum ipse hymnus erat qui ab ignibus defendebat.
37 1 John ii. 23. Omnis qui negat Filium, nec Filium nec Patrem habet: et qui confitetur Filium, Filium et Patrem habet: St. Cyprian, Testimon adv. Jud. ii. 27. Qui negat Filium, neque Patrem habet: qui confitetur Filium, et Filium et Patrem habet: and just so St. Hilar. de Trin. vi. 42. For the Greek, the clause o0 o9mologw=n to\n ui9o\n kai\ to\n pate/ra e@xei is abundantly authenticated by numerous Mss., Vers. Syr. and Aeth., St. Cyril Al. in Joann. ix. sec. 40: and the mission by some Mss. and Oecumen. Theophyl. is sufficiently explained by the similar ending of this and the former clause. The addition et Filium in the latter clause seems to be peculiar to the Latin, and nec Filium in the former to Augustin's copies.
42 Ps. xvii. 4, LXX. and Vulg.
46 1 John ii. 26, 27. Ut sciatis quia unctionem habetis, et unctio quam accepimus ab eo permaneat in nobis. This reading, which is not found in the Greek copies, may have originated in the attempt to explain a difficult construction. The Vulgate keeps close to the Greek: Et vos unctionem quam accepistis ab eo maneat in vobis.
47 Unctionis sacramentum est, virtus ipsa invisibilis: i.e. the unction or chrism which we receive is a sacramentum, a thing in which, as Aug. defines the term, "aliud videtur, aliud intelligitur, one thing is seen, another understood." "Aliud est sacramentum, aliud virtus sacramenti," supra Hom. xxvi. 11.
48 Unctio ipsius, Vulg. ejus, representing the reading to\ au/tou= xrisma: but the truer reading, to\ au0to\ xri/sma, seems to be recognized in the opening of Hom. iv., ipsa unctio docet vos de omnibus.
50 Jam hic videte magnum sacramentum: as above, sec. 7; meaning in both places, that whereas the apostle's words seem at first sight to be contradicted by facts, his true meaning lies deeper and involves a spiritual truth of great importance.