THE PALACE, LONDONDERRY, _February 6th, 1889_.
MERCIFUL GOD, we beseech Thee to cast Thy bright beams of light upon Thy Church, that it being enlightened by the doctrine of Thy blessed Apostle and Evangelist St. John, may so walk in the light of Thy truth, that it may at length attain to the light of everlasting life, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
[1] I venture to call attention to the rendering "very." It enables the translator to mark the important distinction between two words: αληθης, _factually_ true and real, as opposed to that which in point of fact is mendacious; αληθινος, _ideally_ true and real, that which alone realizes the idea imperfectly expressed by something else. This is one of St. John's favourite words. In regard to αγαπη I have not had the courage of my convictions. The word "charity" seems to me almost providentially preserved for the rendering of that term. It is not without a purpose that ερως is so rigorously excluded from the New Testament. [So also from the Epp. of Ignatius.] The objection that "charity" conveys to ordinary English people the notion of mere material alms is of little weight. If "charity" is sometimes a little _metallic_, is not "love" sometimes a little _maundering_? I agree with Canon Evans that the word, strictly speaking, should be always translated "charity" when alone, "love" when in regimen. Yet I have not been bold enough to put "God is charity" for "God is love."
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THE CONNECTION OF THE EPISTLE WITH THE GOSPEL OF ST. JOHN 21