Lecture I: Introductory
Meaning of the words Ethics and Morals—Whether Christian Ethics and Human Ethics are the same—The Ethics of Aristotle—Their great excellence and utility—They refer all morals to life—Exclusion of theology from the Aristotelian Ethics—They are not Ethics for all men—How Aristotle compels one to ask for that which he does not give—Whether the Scriptures supply what we are in search of—The most perfect book, which is merely a book, cannot supply it—The Bible professes to set forth a Life—Its method as a history considered—St. John gives us the result of its discoveries—The first verse of his Epistle tells us of a human Life—It tells us also of a divine Life… 1—18
Lecture II: The Ground of Christian Ethics
What doubts must have arisen in the minds of Christians when they were losing sight of the eyewitnesses of the acts of Christ—St. John’s answer to these doubts—What he had seen and handled—What had been manifested—What he could declare to all—The Word of Life—The Eternal Life—The message concerning God—Fellowship with the Father and the Son—Ethics must start from Good and not from Evil… 19—33
Lecture III: Light and Darkness: Sin and Purification
Use of language drawn from the senses—Its superiority to abstract language—Special fitness of the words Light and Darkness in a letter addressed to the Ephesians—The God of Light—How a Jew regarded the worship of Sun and Moon—Christ the Light of Men—Light enjoyed, not appropriated—What the Apostles said to the worshippers of Light—Connexion of Darkness with Falsehood—Light social; Darkness separating—How we discover the nature of Sin—Cognate words—Sense of Sin awakened by the message that God is Light—Strong in proportion to the strength of that message—Demand for purification—What the purification must reach—The purifying Blood—The Confession of Sin—God’s justice in Forgiveness and Cleansing… 34—52
Lecture IV: The True Idea of Man
St. John and his little children—How the phrase is connected with the business of the letter—The Family—Heathen and Jewish notions of an Advocate—A deeper feeling discoverable at the root of these notions in each—The Representative of the Family—The Representative of Man—Force of St. John’s expression, ‘for the whole world’—Heathen and Jewish idea of Propitiation—Deeper feeling latent beneath these notions—How that feeling was brought out in the Jew by his education—St. John’s doctrine of a Universal Propitiation—How it redeems Prayer from a false and superstitious use and makes it the great organ of humanity… 53—68
Lecture V: Doing and Knowing
The story of the young Ruler in the Gospels—Eternal Life connected with keeping the Commandments—Expression, ‘We do know that we know Him,’ illustrated—How we know that we know a man—Knowledge of God treated by the Apostle as more possible than the knowledge of Men, and as the ground of it—The word ‘keep’ illustrated—Use of a ‘keepsake’—Application to the Ten Commandments—How a Jew could ‘keep’ each of them—God: The Deliverer, Idols, The Name, Rest and Work, Honour of Parents, Murder, Adultery, Stealing, False Witness, Covetousness—St. Paul’s language respecting the Commandments on stone—How he was led to use it—Perfectly consistent with St. John’s—The initiated or perfect man according to certain refined teachers—The initiated or perfect man according to St. John… 69—86
Lecture VI: The Old and New Commandments
Walking and Resting—Use of these expressions—Are they mystical when applied to spiritual creatures, or simple and universal?—How to ascertain their force—The Teachers who opposed the new age to the old—What St. John says of the old time—The Commandments not on stone, but a Word—The Law coming forth from the Word—The Manifestation of the Word the ground of a new Commandment—Wherein it differs from the old—The parable of the good Samaritan—The love of Neighbours, the principle asserted in Law—Christ the Universal Brother—Brotherhood in the Gospel takes the place of Neighbourhood—Application to modern Politics… 87—100
Lecture VII: The Children; The Youths; The Old Men
Whether the Jewish Ordinances were additions to the old Commandments—Whether any Gospel Ordinances were added to the new Commandment—The significance and use of both—The stages of growth in the Christian Family—(1.) The Lesson to the Child; how it is trained by a wise human parent—God’s discipline the archetype of this discipline—Forgiveness a means of securing Obedience, in an individual child—Forgiveness exhibited as a part of the divine order, of the divine character—Forgiveness of Mankind in Christ’s name, the Gospel principle—(2.) The Lesson to the Fathers—Reliance on the Nature of God—(3.) The Lesson to the Young Men—The Evil Spirit overcome; strength to fight—(4.) Repetition of the lessons with significant changes—The Word of God dwelling in the young men… 101—116
Lecture VIII: The World and the Father
The Children of a Family going out into the world—Dangers of the change—Why we should rejoice in it—The World an Order—How the Order becomes a Disorder—God’s love of the World—How can we be told not to love the world seeing we are to be like Him—Effect of the World upon us—Testimony of Wordsworth—Man between God and the World—Man becoming the servant and child of the world loses his strength, his freedom, his power of appreciating the world, his sense of beauty, his capacity of enjoyment, all God’s love of the world—Forms in which the love of the world in its evil sense presents itself—St. John’s classification illustrated—Its practical value—Possibility of loving the outward world with a true and divine love—Quotation from Cowper… 117-133
Lecture IX: The Last Time; The Christ; The Antichrist; The Chrism
Opinion that the Apostles made mistakes about the coming of the last days and of God’s Judgment-Reasons against that opinion-Periods in History-Ancient History according to Guizot the period of national divisions-Modern History the period of Unity and Universality-Popular division of Ancient and Modern History contradicts this doctrine—The Scriptural division into the period before and after the fall of Jerusalem, favours it-That division explains the uniform language of the New Testament-The destruction of Jerusalem a revelation of the Christ and of His Universal Kingdom-That revelation of Christ the end of an age and the beginning of an age-This earth always contemplated by the Apostle, as the seat of Christ’s kingdom - The Revelation of the Christ contemporaneous with the Revelation of the Antichrist, and of many Antichrists -Characteristics of the Christ-Characteristics of the Antichrist -The anointing from the Holy One-How it enabled humble people to ‘know all things’-That phrase illustrated-‘No lie of the Truth’—That phrase illustrated—How we may use St. John’s words in our time… 134—151
Lecture X: The Place of the Doctrine of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, in Christian Ethics
The expression, ‘He that denieth the Son hath not the Father,’ illustrated—How the Apostles regarded a Christ who is not a Son, but an independent being, as an Antichrist—How they regarded a Self-Willed, Independent God, as a false God—How the idea of a Father and a Son was inseparable from the idea of God—How the Universal Baptism was into the Name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Spirit, in whom they are One—‘Abiding in the Father and the Son,’ this phrase illustrated—The Eternal Life the blessing of this abiding—Those who withdrew from the fellowship of the Church denied the existence of a common life for all, of a divine life for any—Connexion of the Anointing of the Spirit with the Unity of the Church illustrated by the 133rd Psalm—This Anointing never withdrawn—Connexion of Theology with Morals—Pope’s line, ‘He can’t be wrong whose life is in the right,’ considered and vindicated…152-167
Lecture XI: Hope; Its Ground, Object, and Effect
The Death of souls—How is it to be explained—The root at which Life may be renewed—The discovery of this root by the Jews and Heathens to whom the Gospel was first preached—The command ‘to abide in it,’ illustrated from St. John’s Gospel—The words ‘that ye may not be ashamed before Him at His coming,’ illustrated—The passage from natural to human emblems—The phrase, ‘He that doeth righteousness is born of Him,’ illustrated—This divine birth the ground of righteous acts—Also the ground of Hope—Hope directed to the appearing of Christ and His manifestation of the Father whose children we are—That appearing treated by the Apostles as no less certain than the rising of the Sun—Hope therefore not dependent on contingencies—Hope of that which is ‘to be’ a continual witness of that which ‘is’—Hope the means of purification—All therefore should be encouraged to hope…168-183
Lecture XII: The Devil and His Works
The Accuser or Slanderer—Was St. John following an old Hebrew tradition in speaking of such a Spirit?—Experience of thoughts that are presented to our Minds—Whence do they come?—To say that we are responsible for them is strictly true, but nothing to the purpose—Suggestion of a Crime involves no obligation to commit it—The words, ‘The Devil sinneth from the beginning,’ considered—Do they involve the notion of Evil being as ancient as Good?—They merely assert the presence of Temptation to Evil in every period of the World’s History—That fact testified of in the Old Testament—But the Tempter little spoken of there—Why the New Testament alludes to him so continually—Christ, the answerer of slanders and accusations against God, against the race of Man, against each member of that race—The Good Seed produces only Good, the Evil Seed only Evil—Why this statement appears to involve a contradiction—St. John no Sentimentalist—Not a Witness for the pleasing side of Morality and of the Gospel, but for facts, be they agreeable or disagreeable…184-199
Lecture XIII: Relation of Love to Righteousness
Justice and Mercy supposed to be characteristics of two different kinds of Men—Proof from experience that each implies the other—Notion that the Righteousness of the Old Testament stands in some sort of opposition to the Love of the New—Answer from the story of the First Murder—The command, ‘Love one another,’ implied in the relation of Cain to Abel—Law could not be broken without an outrage upon Love—But if the Cainites become the Majority!—how St. John deals with this question—The nature of transgression cannot be decided by Statistics—The appeal to experience and conscience—The state of Death; the state of Life—How we know Love—Christ’s Death in what sense a Definition of Love—How Self-Sacrifice is proved to be the Law of Human Life; not an act of Supererogation—Proofs that the Conscience of Men in the Old World and in the New confirms this idea of it—The words, ‘How dwelleth the Love of God in you!’ illustrated—‘Loving in word and tongue’—How to assure our hearts—The condemnation and acquittal of the heart—The commandment to believe and to do…200-214
Lecture XIV: Spiritual Powers in Old Times and in Modern Times
Interest of Working Men in the Substitution of Living Language for School Language—That Living Language very awful—Why it is impossible for us to avoid the subject of spiritual powers and influences—St. John’s recognition of them as widely diffused, and as needing examination—What comes under the head of spiritual powers or influences—The notion of communications from celebrated men who have left the world, considered—The notion of communications from personal friends, considered—The mystery of Memory—The spiritual world made utterly frivolous by those who deal with its secrets in our days—How the Apostles treated the workers with spiritual enchantments in their times—The deliverance from evil spirits, what it meant—The Apostles, asserters of human rights against Men who were trafficking for their own reputation or pelf—The Apostle’s test of Spirits, ‘whether they were of God,’ considered—The two possible meanings for the words, ‘We are of God; he that is of God heareth us, &c.’—Which was St. John’s meaning?—The words, ‘Beloved, let us love one another; Love is of God,’ an answer—Whether those words confine Love to the Church—Difficulty of love within a small circle greater than within a larger one—The assertion ‘God is Love,’ not agreeable to our evil natures, but most offensive to them—It is not ecstatic language, but the scientific explanation of all previous revelations, itself the final revelation—The attempt to make the Incarnation and Death of Christ a limitation of this principle, instead of a proclamation of it, how crushed by St. John—God’s love the only foundation of all human love—All spiritual influences which cannot be referred to this source, must be futile and evil…215-235
Lecture XV: The Perfected Love
The words, ‘The Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the World’ considered in reference to the subject of the last lecture—St. Paul’s Speech to the idolaters at Athens—The blessing of those who believed that in God they lived, and moved, and had their being—Men’s feelings respecting God illustrated by their thoughts of a judgment—St. John’s boldness in the prospect of judgment—The warrant for it—Words, ‘There is no Fear in Love,’ considered—The apparent limitation of them, why it does not apply to that love of which St. John speaks—Words, ‘We love Him because He loveth us,’ considered—Do they refer to the ‘motive of gratitude?’—Love again asserted to be the obedience to a commandment—Love, in our day, supposed to be incompatible with fervent hatred—It is worth nothing unless it be fiery, and intolerant of what is unloving—How we may become worse than our forefathers—How we may become better than our forefathers…236-251
Lecture XVI: Faith and Love-Their Relation to Each Other and to the World
Love and Faith represented as two graces imparted to men—Their respective values a subject of continual dispute—St. John’s method of treating them altogether different—The words ‘Every one who believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God,’ considered—St. John sets Faith as high as St. Paul in the Epistle to the Romans—He places Faith in the same subordination to Love as St. Paul does in the Epistle to the Corinthians—The words, ‘He that loveth Him that begat loveth Him that is begotten of Him,’ explain the previous words, ‘He that loveth not his brother, how can he love God!’—Ground of all love to men in God—Test of our allegiance to God, the love of man—The war with the world—How Faith wins the victory—What faith wins it…252-265
Lecture XVII: The Witnesses
The different worlds in which the Ephesian Christians found themselves—The actual victory of the Son of God over these worlds—Cause of this victory—Can it be ascertained by speaking of Christianity and its high moral code?—How St. John speaks of it—Words, ‘Jesus Christ came by water and blood,’ considered—How the Gospels explain them—How the history of Christendom explains them—How the Spirit witnesses with the Water and the Blood—The spurious text, its irrelevancy to the subject of the passage—How these three witnesses on earth explain the blessings of Christendom, and its sins—The worth of Testimony—Testimonies of God and Man—Outward and inward Testimonies…266-283
Lecture XVIII: The Nature of Prayer-Venial and Mortal Sins
St. John writes to believers in the Son of God that they may believe in Him—What this means—He declares Eternal Life to be given—Why then does he speak of Prayer?—Prayer part of the gift of Life— ‘Praying according to God’s will,’ not the natural notion of prayer—Why it is the complete idea of prayer—How it gives the only practical solution of the problem about the existence of Evil—The limitation to the efficacy of prayer—Mortal sins—The doctrine which has been grounded on the Apostle’s words—These words examined by the light of their context—How the Apostle avoids all definitions of Mortal sins—Motives for defining them—The subject connected with excommunication—How St. Paul treats that subject—Consequences of the Romish doctrine—Cure of it.. 284—302
Lecture XIX: Christian Certainty
What St. John says we may be sure of—(1) ‘He that is born of God doth not commit sin’—How we arrive at this knowledge—How the division of persons as believers and unbelievers robs us of it—How an ETHICAL SOLENCE is possible—(2) ‘We know that we are of God, and that the world lieth in wickedness’—This language considered—Illustration from Galileo’s saying, ‘Nevertheless it moves’—How we may imitate his boldness—What we may affirm—No truth depends on majorities—Uncertainty not certainty leads to persecution—(3) ‘We know that the Son of God is come, and has given us an understanding,’ &c.—How the Ephesians arrived at this knowledge; how we may arrive at it—St. John lived to proclaim the living and true God and to witness against Idolatry… 303—315
Lecture XX: Truth in the Woman and the Man
What the early Church would have expected in a letter from St. John to an Elect Lady—What is actually found there—The Lady a Mother—Truth, the place it holds in St. John’s Ethics—Truth said by the doctors to be found only in Propositions—The Truth of which the Apostle speaks in a Person—It is Truth in which we dwell, and which dwells in us—The command not to bid God speed to the false Teacher, considered—Its application to the first age, and to ours—Wherein the Second and Third Epistles are alike—Wherein they differ-Characteristics of the woman and the man-Truth, the foundation of both their lives—Question respecting the feminine and masculine virtues—The Life of our Lord has not exalted the former above the latter, but has brought them into one-What this Life shows to be the end and aim of Human Life—Is it Happiness? is it Perfection? is it Truth? … 316-341