So says Philo, the good Jew, who knew not Christ; and therefore he says only a part of the truth.  If you wish to learn the whole truth, you must read St. John’s Gospel, and St. Paul’s Epistles, especially this very text; and again, the opening of the Epistle to the Ephesians; and again, that most royal passage in the opening of the Colossians, where he speaks of the Everlasting Being of Christ, who is before all things, and by whom all things consist—­in whom dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily, and in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

Therefore he is rightly called the Rock, the Rock of Ages, the Eternal Rock; because on him all things rest, and have rested since the foundation of the world, being made, and kept together, and ruled, and inspired by him alone.  Therefore he is rightly called the Rock of living waters; for in him are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, and from him they flow forth freely to all who cry to him in their thirst after truth and holiness.  Yes, my friends, by Christ all things live; and therefore, most of all, by Christ our souls live.  To be parted from Christ is death.  To be joined to Christ and the body of Christ is life.

But what life?  The life of the soul.  And what is the life of the soul?  Holiness, righteousness, sanctification, virtue,—­call it what pleases you best.  I shall call it goodness.  That is the only life of the soul.  And why?  Because it is the life of Christ.  That is the only wisdom of the soul.  And why?  Because it is the mind of Christ.  That is the living water.  And why?  Because it flows eternally from Christ.

For who is Christ, but the likeness of God, and the glory of God?  And what is the likeness of God, but goodness; and what is the glory of God, but goodness?  Therefore Christ is goodness itself, as it is written, ‘Now the Lord is that Spirit.’  Yes, if you will believe it, Christ, the only-begotten Son, co-equal and co-eternal, is the very and essential goodness of the Father, coming out everlastingly in action and in life, in himself, and in his people, who are his mystical body, filled with the Spirit of him and his Father; who is the Holy Spirit, the spirit of goodness.  From Christ, and not from any created being, comes all goodness in man or angel.  Comes from Christ?  It were more right, and more according to St. Paul’s own words, to say, that all goodness is Christ; Christ dwelling in a man, Christ forming himself in a man, little by little, step by step, as he grows in grace, in purity, in self-control, in experience, in knowledge, in wisdom, in strength, in patience, in love, in charity; till he comes to the stature of a perfect man, to the measure of the fulness of Christ.

Meanwhile, let the good which a man does be much, or be it little, he must say, ’The good which I do, I do not, but Christ who dwelleth in me.’

For in every age of man, it is Christ who is awakening in him the hunger and thirst after righteousness, and then satisfying it with the only thing which can satisfy them, namely, his most blessed self.