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   Title: NPNF1-06. St. Augustin: Sermon on the Mount; Harmony of the
   Gospels; Homilies on the Gospels
   Creator(s): Schaff, Philip (1819-1893)
   Print Basis: New York: Christian Literature Publishing Co., 1886
   Rights: Public Domain
   CCEL Subjects: All; Proofed; Early Church
   LC Call no: BR60
   LC Subjects:

   Christianity

   Early Christian Literature. Fathers of the Church, etc.
     __________________________________________________________________

    A SELECT LIBRARY

   OF THE

   NICENE AND

   POST-NICENE FATHERS

   OF

   THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH.

   EDITED BY

   PHILIP SCHAFF, D.D., LL.D.,

   PROFESSOR IN THE UNION THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, NEW YORK.

   IN CONNECTION WITH A NUMBER OF PATRISTIC SCHOLARS OF EUROPE AND
   AMERICA.

   VOLUME VI

   ST. AUGUSTIN:

   SERMON ON THE MOUNT

   HARMONY OF THE GOSPELS

   HOMILIES ON THE GOSPELS

   T&T CLARK

   EDINBURGH

   __________________________________________________

   WM. B. EERDMANS PUBLISHING COMPANY

   GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN
     __________________________________________________________________

   Contents.

   __________

   EDITOR'S preface.

   INTRODUCTORY ESSAY: ST. AUGUSTIN AS AN EXEGETE.

   By the Rev. David Schley Schaff.

   OUR LORD'S SERMON ON THE MOUNT.

   Translated by the Rev. William Findlay.

   Revised and Annotated by the Rev. D. S. Schaff.

   Book I.                Explanation of the first part of the sermon
   delivered by our Lord on the Mount, as contained in the fifth chapter
   of Matthew.

   Book II.     On the latter part of our Lord's Sermon on the Mount,
   contained in the sixth and seventh chapters of Matthew.

   the harmony of the gospels.

   Translated by the Rev. S. D. F. Salmond, D.D.

   Edited, with Notes, by the Rev. M. B. Riddle, D.D.

   Introductory Notice by Dr. Riddle.

   Introductory Notice by Dr. Salmond.

   Book I.      The treatise opens with a short statement on the subject
   of the authority of the Evangelists, their number, their order, and the
   different plans of their narratives. Augustin then prepares for the
   discussion of the questions relating to their harmony, by joining issue
   in this book with those who raise a difficulty in the circumstance that
   Christ has left no writing of His own, or who falsely allege that
   certain books were composed by Him on the arts of magic. He also meets
   the objections of those who, in opposition to the evangelical teaching,
   assert that the disciples of Christ at once ascribe more to their
   Master than He really was, when they affirmed that He was God, and
   inculcated what they had not been instructed in by Him, when they
   interdicted the worship of the gods. Against these antagonists he
   vindicates the teaching of the Apostles, by appealing to the utterances
   of the Prophets, and by showing that the God of Israel was to be the
   sole object of worship, who also, although He was the only Deity to
   whom acceptance was denied in former times by the Romans, and that for
   the very reason that He prohibited them from worshipping other gods
   along with Himself, has now in the end made the Empire of Rome subject
   to His Name, and among all nations has broken their idols in pieces
   through the preaching of the Gospel, as He had promised by His prophets
   that the event should be.

   Book II.     In this book Augustin undertakes an orderly examination of
   the Gospel according to Matthew, on to the narrative of the Supper, and
   institutes a comparison between it and the other Gospels by Mark, Luke,
   and John, with the view of demonstrating a complete harmony between the
   four Evangelists throughout all these sections.

   Book III.                This book contains a demonstration of the
   harmony of the Evangelists from the accounts of the Supper on to the
   end of the Gospel, the narratives given by the several writers being
   collated, and the whole arranged in one orderly connection.

   Book IV.                This book embraces a discussion of those
   passages which are peculiar to Mark, Luke, or John.

   sermons on selected lessons of the new testament.

   Translated by the Rev. R. G. MacMullen.

   Edited by Dr. Schaff.

   Preface by Dr. E. B. Pusey.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Preface.

   ------------------------

   This volume contains the exegetical and homiletical writings of St.
   Augustin on the Gospels.

   The seventh volume will be devoted to his Commentary on the Gospel and
   First Epistle of John, and the Soliloquies. It will be finished by the
   1st of next April.

   The eighth and last volume is reserved for his Commentary on the
   Psalms, and will appear in July, 1888.

   These eight volumes will form the most complete edition of St.
   Augustin's Works in the English language, embracing the Edinburgh and
   Oxford translations, and several treatises never before translated,
   with introductions and explanatory notes.

   Arrangements have been made for the regular issue of the Works of St.
   Chrysostom according to the terms of the Publisher's Prospectus, which
   so far has been promptly carried out. The favourable reception of the
   preceding volumes by the public and the press, including some leading
   theological journals of Europe (such as The Church Quarterly Review,
   and Harnack's Theologische Literaturzeitung), will encourage the editor
   and publisher to carry on this Patristic Library with undiminished
   energy and zeal.

   Philip Schaff.

   New York, December, 1887.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Introductory Essay.

   St. Augustin as an Exegete.

   By the Rev. David Schley Schaff

   ------------------------

   The exegetical writings of Augustin are commentaries on Genesis (first
   three chapters), the Psalms, the Gospel and First Epistle of John, the
   Sermon on the Mount, the Epistles to the Romans and Galatians, and a
   Harmony of the Gospels. Many of his commentaries, like those of
   Chrysostom, are expository homilies preached to his congregation at
   Hippo; all are practical rather than grammatical and critical. He only
   covered the first five verses of the first chapter of Romans, and found
   his comments so elaborate, that, from fear of the immense proportions a
   commentary on the whole Epistle would assume, he drew back from the
   task. Augustin's other writings abound in quotations from Scripture,
   and pertinent expositions. His controversies with the Manichaeans and
   Donatists were particularly adapted to render him thorough in the
   knowledge of the Bible, and skilled in its use.

   The opinions of Augustin's ability as an exegete, and the worth of his
   labors in the department of connected Biblical exposition, have greatly
   differed. Some not only represent him at his weakest in this capacity,
   but disparage his exegesis as of inferior merit. Others have given him,
   and some at the present time still give him, a very high rank among the
   chief commentators of the early Church. Pere Simon, as quoted by
   Archbishop Trench (Sermon on the Mount, p. 65), says, "One must needs
   read a vast deal in the exegetical writings of Augustin to light on any
   thing which is good." Reuss expresses himself thus: "The fact is, that
   his exegesis was the weak side of the great man" (Gesch. d. heil.
   Schriften N. T. p. 263). Farrar, in his History of Interpretation (p.
   24), declares his comments to be "sometimes painfully beside the mark,"
   and in general depreciates the value of Augustin's expository writings.

   On the other hand, the student is struck with the profound esteem in
   which Augustin was held as an interpreter of Scripture during the
   Middle Ages. His exposition was looked upon as the highest authority;
   and a saying was current, that, if one had Augustin on his side, it was
   sufficient (Si Augustinus adest, sufficit ipse tibi). So powerful was
   his influence, that Rupert of Deutz, in the preface to his Commentary
   on St. John, deemed it necessary to state, in part in vindication of
   his own effort, that, though the eagle wings of the Bishop of Hippo
   overshadowed the Gospel, he did not exhaust the right of all Christians
   to handle the Gospel. The Reformers quote Augustin more frequently than
   any Father, and were greatly indebted to his writings, especially for
   their views on sin and grace. Among modern opinions according to him a
   high rank in this department may be mentioned two. The Rev. H. Browne,
   in the preface to the translation of Augustin's Homilies on St. John,
   in the Oxford Library of the Fathers (I. vi.), is somewhat extravagant
   in his praise, when he says, that, "as an interpreter of the Word of
   God, St. Augustin is acknowledged to stand at an elevation which few
   have reached, none surpassed." Archbishop Trench, in the essay on
   Augustin as an interpreter of Scripture, prefixed to his edition of the
   Sermon on the Mount, accords equal praise, and speaks specifically of
   the "tact and skill with which he unfolded to others the riches which
   the Word contains" (p. 133).

   The truth certainly is not with those who minimize Augustin's services
   in the department of exposition. Whether we compare him with ancient or
   modern commentators, he will fall behind the greatest in some
   particulars; but in profundity of insight into the meaning of the text,
   in comprehensive knowledge of the whole Scriptures, in simplicity of
   spiritual aim, he stands in the first rank. It is as a contributor to
   theological and religious thought that he asserts his eminence.
   Exposition is something more than bald textual and lexicographical
   comment: it aims also at a spiritual perception of the truth as it is
   in Christ, and requires a capacity to extract, for the spiritual
   nutriment of the reader, the vital forces of the Scriptures. In this
   sense Augustin is eminently worthy of study. Of textual details, he
   gives only the barest minimum of any value. His mistakes, arising out
   of his slender philological apparatus and his reverence for the LXX.,
   are numerous and glaring. He often wanders far away from the plain
   meaning of the text, into allegorical and typical fancies, like the
   other Fathers, and many of the older Protestant commentators. He was
   not prepared for, nor did he aim at, grammatico-historical exegesis in
   the modern sense of the word; but he possessed extraordinary acumen and
   depth, spiritual insight, an uncommon knowledge of Scripture as a
   whole, and a pious intention to bring the truth to the convictions of
   men, and to extend the kingdom of Christ.

   As to Augustin's special equipment for the work of an exegete and on
   his exegetical principles, the following may be added:--

   Exegetical Equipment.

   1. Augustin had no knowledge of Hebrew (Confessions, xi. 3; in this ed.
   vol. i. p. 164). His knowledge of Greek was only superficial, and far
   inferior to that of Jerome (vol. i. p. 9). He depended almost entirely
   on the imperfect old Latin version before its revision by Jerome, and
   was at first even prejudiced against this revision, the so-called
   Vulgate. But it should be remembered that only two of the great
   expositors of the ancient Church were familiar with Hebrew,--Origen and
   Jerome. Augustin knew only a few Hebrew words. In the treatise on
   Christian Doctrine (ii. 11, 16; this ed. vol. ii. p. 540) he adduces
   the words Amen and Hallelujah as being left untranslated on account of
   the sacredness of the original forms, and the words Racha and Hosanna
   as being untranslatable by any single Latin equivalents. In the Sermon
   on the Mount (i. 9, 23) he refers again to Racha, and defends its
   Hebrew origin as against those who derived it from the Greek term
   rhakos (a rag).

   Augustin's linguistic attainments seem to have included familiarity
   with Punic (Sermon on the Mount, ii. 14, 47). The Phoenician origin of
   the North African people, the location of his birthplace and his
   episcopal diocese, furnish an explanation of this.

   2. For the Old Testament, Augustin used, besides the Latin version,
   occasionally the Septuagint, and had at hand the versions of Symmachus,
   Theodotion, and Aquila (Quaest. in Num. 52). He had profound reverence
   for the LXX., and was inclined to give credit to the Jewish tradition
   that each of the translators was confined in a separate cell, and on
   comparing their work, which they had accomplished without communication
   with each other, found their several versions to agree, word for word.
   He held that the original was given through them in Greek by the
   special direction of the Holy Spirit, and in such a way as to be most
   suitable for the Gentiles (Christian Doctrine, ii. 15, 22; this ed. p.
   542). He declared that the Latin copies were to be corrected from the
   LXX., which was as authoritative as the Hebrew. Such a claim for the
   authority of the Greek translation would make a knowledge of the Hebrew
   almost unnecessary.

   This excessive reverence for the LXX. has led Augustin to uphold, in
   his exegesis of the Old Testament, all its errors of translation, which
   a different view, coupled with a knowledge of Hebrew, would in most
   cases have prevented him from accepting. Even at its plain and palpable
   mistakes he takes no offence. He accepts the translation, "Yet three
   days and Nineveh shall be overthrown," as of equal authority with the
   "forty days" of the original, claiming a special symbolic meaning for
   both.

   3. For the New Testament, Augustin used some Latin translation or
   translations older than the Vulgate. He declares the Latin translations
   to be without number (Christian Doctr. ii. 11, 16; this ed. vol. ii. p.
   540). There was already in his day "an endless diversity" of readings
   in the Latin manuscripts. He vindicated for the Greek original the
   claim of final authority, to which the Latin copies were to yield. As
   there was likewise diversity of text among the Greek copies, he laid
   down the rule, that those manuscripts were to be chosen for comparison
   by the Latin student which were preserved in the churches of greater
   learning and research (Christian Doctr. ii. 15, 22; in this ed. ii. p.
   543). Not infrequently does Augustin cite the readings of the Greek. In
   some cases he makes references to passages where there is a conflict of
   text in the Latin authorities. He differs quite largely from Jerome's
   Vulgate, to which he offered opposition, on the ground that a new
   translation might unsettle the faith of some. In these variations of
   construction and language he was sometimes nearer the original than
   Jerome. Sometimes he does not approximate so closely. As a matter of
   interest, and for the convenience of the reader, the differences of
   Augustin's text and the Vulgate will be found, in all important cases,
   noted down in this edition of the Sermon on the Mount.

   Examples of Augustin's improvement upon the Vulgate are the omission of
   the clause, "and despitefully use you" (et calumniantibus vos, Matt. v.
   44), the use of quotidianum panem ("daily bread") instead of
   supersubstantialem, and of inferas ("bring") instead of inducas
   ("lead"), in the fourth and sixth petitions of the Lord's Prayer (Matt.
   vi. 11, 12). In reference to the last passage, it must be said,
   however, that he notes a difference in the Latin mss., some using
   infero, some induco; and while he adopts the former verb, he finds the
   terms equivalent in meaning (Serm. on the Mt. ii. 9, 30).

   4. Augustin's textual and grammatical comments are few in number, but
   they cannot be said to be wanting in all value. A few instances will
   suffice for a judgment of their merit:--

   In the Harmony of the Gospels (ii. 29, 67), writing of the daughter of
   Jairus (Matt. ix. 29), he mentions that some codices contain the
   reading "woman" (mulier) for "damsel." Commenting on Matt. v. 22,
   "Whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause," he includes the
   expression "without a cause" (eike) without even a hint of its
   spuriousness (Serm. on the Mt. i. 9, 25); but in his Retractations (i.
   19. 4) he makes the correction, "The Greek manuscripts do not contain
   sine causa." Tischendorf, Westcott and Hort, the Vulgate and the
   Revised English Version, in agreement with the oldest mss., omit the
   clause. He refers to a conflict of the Greek and Latin text of Matt. v.
   39 ("Whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek"), and follows the
   authority of the Greek in omitting the adjective "right" (Serm. on the
   Mt. i. 19, 58). At Matt. vi. 4 he casts out, on the authority of the
   Greek, the adverb palam ("openly"), which was found in many Latin
   translations (as it is also found in the Textus Receptus, but not in
   the Vulgate, and the Sinaitic, B, D, and other mss.). Commenting on
   Matt. vii. 12, "Wherefore all things whatsoever ye would that men,"
   etc., he refers to the addition of "good" before "things" by the
   Latins, and insists upon its erasure on the basis of the Greek text
   (Serm. on the Mt. ii. 22, 74).

   On occasion, though very rarely, he quotes the Greek, as in the Sermon
   on the Mount (ne tnn kauchesin, i. 17, 51; himation, i. 19, 60), in
   confirmation of his opinions of the text.

   At other times he compares Greek and Latin terms of synonymous or
   kindred meanings. One of the most important of these is the passage
   (City of God, x. 1; this ed. vol. ii. p. 181) where he draws a clear
   distinction between latreia, threskeia, eusebeia, theosebeia. Other
   examples of the kind under review are given by Trench (p. 20 sqq.).

   It is evident that Augustin's equipment was defective from the
   stand-point of the modern critical exegete. It would be wrong, however,
   to say that he shows no concern about textual questions. But his
   exegetical power shows itself in other ways than minute textual
   investigation,--in comprehensive comparison of Scripture with
   Scripture, and penetrating spiritual vision. To these qualities he adds
   a purpose to be exhaustive, sparing no pains to develop the full
   meaning of the passage under review. More exhaustive discussions can
   hardly be found, to take a single example, than that on Matt. v. 25,
   "Agree with thine adversary quickly" (Serm. on the Mt. xi. 31, where,
   however, the view least reasonable is taken), or spiritually
   satisfactory ones than the discussion of the gradation of sin and its
   punishment (Matt. v. 21, 22; Serm. on the Mt. ix. 22), and "Judge not,
   that ye be not judged" (Matt. vii. i), or pungently suggestive than the
   handling of the words of our Lord at the marriage feast at Cana:
   "Woman, what have I to do with thee?" (John ii. 4; Homily VIII.), or
   more indicative of great principles underlying the vindication to the
   evangelists of a true historical character and of independence of each
   other (at least in minor details) than discussions like that about the
   differences in the details of the miracle of the five loaves and two
   fishes, alone common of the miracles to the fourfold Gospel (a sort of
   prelude to works like Blunt's Undesigned Coincidences), and the
   relation of this miracle to the miracle of the seven loaves (Harmony,
   xlvi.-1).

   Exegetical Principles.

   Augustin has laid down in a separate treatise a code of exegetical
   principles. His Christian Doctrine (vol. ii. of this series) is the
   earliest manual of Biblical hermeneutics. In spite of irrelevant and
   lengthy digressions, it contains many suggestions of value, which have
   not been improved upon in modern treatises on the subject.

   1. He emphasizes Hebrew and Greek scholarship as an important aid to
   the expositor, and an essential condition of the interpretation of the
   figurative language of Scripture (ii. 11, 16; 16, 23, this ed., pp.
   539, 543).

   2. He will have his interpreter acquainted with sacred geography (ii.
   29, 45, p. 549), natural history (ii. 16, 24, p. 543; 29, 45, p. 549),
   music (ii. 16, 26, p. 544), chronology (ii. 28, 42, p. 549) and the
   science of numbers (ii. 16, 25, p. 543), natural science generally (ii.
   29, 45 sqq., p. 549 sqq.), history (ii. 28, 43, p. 549), dialectics
   (ii. 31, 48, p. 550), and the writings of the ancient philosophers (ii.
   40, 60, p. 554). He was the first to suggest a work which has been
   realized in our dictionaries of the Bible. Pertinent to the subject he
   says, "What some men have done in regard to all words and names found
   in Scripture, in the Hebrew and Syriac and Egyptian and other tongues,
   taking up and interpreting separately such as were left in Scripture
   without interpretation; and what Eusebius has done in regard to the
   history of the past...I think might be done in regard to other
   matters....For the advantage of his brethren a competent man might
   arrange in their several classes, and give an account of, the unknown
   places, and animals and plants, and trees and stones and metals, and
   other species of things mentioned in Scripture" (ii. 39, 59, p. 554).
   It is, in view of this sage suggestion, almost incomprehensible that
   Augustin pays no attention to these subjects in his commentaries.
   Jerome, on the other hand, is quite rich in these departments.

   3. He presses the view that the Scripture is designed to have more
   interpretations than one (Christ. Doctr. iii. 27, 38 sq.; this ed. p.
   567). Augustin constantly applies this canon (e.g., on the petition,
   "Thy will be done," Sermon on the Mount, ii. 7, 21-23). He adopted the
   seven rules of the Donatist Tichonius as assisting to a deep
   understanding of the Word. These rules relate (1) to the Lord and His
   body, (2) to the twofold division of the Lord's body, (3) to the
   promises and the Law, (4) to species and genus, (5) to times, (6) to
   recapitulation, (7) to the devil and his body (Christ. Doctr. iii. 30,
   42, pp. 568-573). He explains and illustrates these laws at length, but
   denies that they exhaust the rules for discovering the hidden truth of
   Scripture.

   4. He commends the method of interpreting obscure passages by the light
   of passages that are understood, and prefers it before the
   interpretation by reason (Christ. Doctr. iii. 29, 39, p. 567).

   5. The spirit and intent of the interpreter are of more importance than
   verbal accuracy and critical acumen (a qualification not always too
   strictly insisted upon in these modern days of commentators and
   critical Biblical study). One must be in sympathy with the Gospel of
   Christ to interpret its records. [1] Even the mistakes of an exegete,
   properly disposed, may confirm religious faith and character; and so
   far forth are his labors to be commended, though he himself is to be
   corrected, that he err not again after the same manner. "If the
   mistaken interpretation," he says, "tends to build up love, which is
   the end of the commandment, the interpreter goes astray in much the
   same way as a man who, by mistake, quits the highroad, but yet reaches,
   through the fields, the same place to which the road leads" (Christ.
   Doctr. i. 36, 41 sq.; ii. p. 533).

   That Augustin followed his own canons of interpretation, his writings
   show. He does not hesitate to put more than one interpretation upon a
   text (as especially in the Psalms), and none has been more elaborate in
   comparing Scripture with Scripture than he. If he had possessed the
   familiarity with the Hebrew that he recommends so strongly to others,
   he would have been preserved from the misinterpretations with which his
   commentaries on the Old Testament abound.

   Use of Allegory.

   Augustin's use of allegory has exposed him to much harsh criticism.
   What was the practice of all, ought not to be considered a mortal fault
   in one. None of the ancient expositors were free from it. Some of the
   modern expositors, except as their works are designed only as a
   critical arsenal for the student, are defective because of all absence
   of the allegorical element.

   Where Scripture itself has led the way, as in the case of the allegory
   of Hagar and Sarah (Gal. iv.) and other cases, the uninspired penman
   will be pardoned if he follow. The use of the allegorical method,
   however, was carried to the most unreasonable excess, reaching its
   culmination in Gregory's Commentary on Job. That writer finds that the
   patriarch of Uz represents Christ, his sons the clergy, his three
   daughters the three classes of the laity who are to worship the
   Trinity, his friends the heretics, the oxen and she-asses the heathen,
   etc. The frequent extravagance of Augustin, proceeding out of his
   intellectual and Scriptural exuberance, cannot be commended; but it
   will be found that his allegory is seldom commonplace, and mingled with
   it, where it is most vicious, are comments of rare aptness and common
   sense. In the Old Testament he looks upon almost every character and
   event as symbolic of Christ and Christian institutions. But, as Trench
   well says, "it is indeed far better to find Christ everywhere in the
   Old Testament than to find Him nowhere" (p. 54).

   In his effort to display the unity and harmony of all Scripture (to
   which he was forced by the controversy with the Manichaeans) he often
   strains after comparisons; and this came to be so much of a habit with
   him, that, where he had no special purpose to gain, he is guilty of the
   same excess. An instance among many is furnished in the opening
   chapters of the Sermon on the Mount (iv. 11), where a close comparison
   is instituted between the Beatitudes and the seven Spiritual operations
   of Isa. xi. 2, 3. The historical element is nowhere denied, but
   something else is constantly being superinduced upon it, especially in
   the Old Testament.

   A single illustration of Augustin's allegorical interpretation will
   suffice. Turning away from the Psalms, where his imagination is
   particularly fertile along this line, I extract one on the parable of
   the five loaves and two fishes, as found in the XXIV. Homily on John.
   The five loaves mean the five Books of Moses. They are not wheaten, but
   barley, because they belong to the Old Testament. The nature of barley
   is such that it is hard to be got at, as the kernel is set in a coating
   of husk which is tenacious and hard to be stripped off. Such is the
   letter of the Old Testament, enveloped in a covering of carnal
   sacraments. The little lad represents the people of Israel, which, in
   its childishness of mind, carried but did not eat. The two fishes
   signify the persons of the Priest and King, which therefore point to
   Christ. The multiplication of the loaves signifies the exposition into
   many volumes of the five Books of Moses. There were five thousand
   people fed, because they were under the Law, which is unfolded in five
   books. "They sat upon the grass;" that is, they were carnally minded,
   and rested in carnal things. The "fragments" are the truths of hidden
   import which the people cannot receive, and which were therefore
   entrusted to the twelve apostles.

   The excessive taste for this style of interpretation, in which the
   homilists and Biblical writers of a thousand years had revelled, was
   sternly rebuked by the Reformers. Especially did Luther utter his
   protest, on the ground that the fancies into which this method was apt
   to lead had a tendency to shake confidence in the literal truth of the
   sacred volume. He remarks, "Augustin said beautifully that a figure
   proves nothing;" but, probably from the high regard he had for the
   great theologian, he did not condemn his allegorizing exegesis. [2]

   However much the great African bishop may have laid himself open to the
   rebuke of a more critical and mechanical age in this regard and others,
   his exegesis will continue to be admired for the diligence with which
   the sacred text is scanned, the reverent frame of heart with which it
   is approached, and the rich treasures of spiritual truth which it
   brings forth to the willing and devout reader.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [1] On the principle that Davidica intelligit, qui Davidica patitur;
   or, as the German couplet runs,-- "Wer den Dichter will verstehen Muss
   in Dichters Lande gehen."

   [2] The passage is quoted in full by Trench (p. 64). His work, St.
   Augustin on the Sermon on the Mount, 4th ed., London, 1881, contains an
   elaborate introductory essay on Augustin as an Interpreter of
   Scripture. His use of allegory is considered in a separate chapter
   (iv). An older work is by Clausen: Augustinus, Sac. Script. Interpres,
   pp. 267, Berol. 1828.
     __________________________________________________________________
     __________________________________________________________________

   St. AUGUSTIN:

   our lord's sermon on the mount,

   according to matthew.

    [De Sermone Domini in Monte secundum Matthaeum.]

   translated by

   the rev. William Findlay, m.a.,

   larkhall.

   revised and annotated by

   the rev. d. s. schaff,

   kansas city.
     __________________________________________________________________

   our lord's sermon on the mount.

   ------------------------

   Book I.

   Explanation of the first part of the sermon delivered by our Lord on
   the mount, as contained in the fifth chapter of Matthew.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chapter I.

   1. If any one will piously and soberly consider the sermon which our
   Lord Jesus Christ spoke on the mount, as we read it in the Gospel
   according to Matthew, I think that he will find in it, so far as
   regards the highest morals, a perfect standard of the Christian life:
   and this we do not rashly venture to promise, but gather it from the
   very words of the Lord Himself. For the sermon itself is brought to a
   close in such a way, that it is clear there are in it all the precepts
   which go to mould the life. For thus He speaks: "Therefore, whosoever
   heareth these words of mine, and doeth them, I will liken [3] him unto
   a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: and the rain descended,
   and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat [4] upon that house;
   and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock. And every one that
   heareth these words of mine, and doeth them not, I will liken [5] unto
   a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: and the rain
   descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that
   house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it." Since, therefore, He
   has not simply said, "Whosoever heareth my words," but has made an
   addition, saying, "Whosoever heareth these words of mine," He has
   sufficiently indicated, as I think, that these sayings which He uttered
   on the mount so perfectly guide the life of those who may be willing to
   live according to them, that they may justly be compared to one
   building upon a rock. I have said this merely that it may be clear that
   the sermon before us is perfect in all the precepts by which the
   Christian life is moulded; for as regards this particular section a
   more careful treatment will be given in its own place. [6]

   2. The beginning, then, of this sermon is introduced as follows: "And
   when He saw the great [7] multitudes, He went up into a mountain: [8]
   and when He was set, His disciples came unto Him: and He opened His
   mouth, and taught them, saying." If it is asked what the "mountain"
   means, it may well be understood as meaning the greater precepts of
   righteousness; for there were lesser ones which were given to the Jews.
   Yet it is one God who, through His holy prophets and servants,
   according to a thoroughly arranged distribution of times, gave the
   lesser precepts to a people who as yet required to be bound by fear;
   and who, through His Son, gave the greater ones to a people whom it had
   now become suitable to set free by love. Moreover, when the lesser are
   given to the lesser, and the greater to the greater, they are given by
   Him who alone knows how to present to the human race the medicine
   suited to the occasion. Nor is it surprising that the greater precepts
   are given for the kingdom of heaven, and the lesser for an earthly
   kingdom, by that one and the same God, who made heaven and earth. With
   respect, therefore, to that righteousness which is the greater, it is
   said through the prophet, "Thy righteousness is like the mountains of
   God:" [9] and this may well mean that the one Master alone fit to teach
   matters of so great importance teaches on a mountain. Then He teaches
   sitting, as behooves the dignity of the instructor's office; and His
   disciples come to Him, in order that they might be nearer in body for
   hearing His words, as they also approached in spirit to fulfil His
   precepts. "And He opened His mouth, and taught them, saying." The
   circumlocution before us, which runs, "And He opened His mouth,"
   perhaps gracefully intimates by the mere pause that the sermon will be
   somewhat longer than usual, unless, perchance, it should not be without
   meaning, that now He is said to have opened His own mouth, whereas
   under the old law He was accustomed to open the mouths of the prophets.
   [10]

   3. What, then, does He say? "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs
   is the kingdom of heaven." We read in Scripture concerning the striving
   after temporal things, "All is vanity and presumption of spirit;" [11]
   but presumption of spirit means audacity and pride: usually also the
   proud are said to have great spirits; and rightly, inasmuch as the wind
   also is called spirit. And hence it is written, "Fire, hail, snow, ice,
   spirit of tempest." [12] But, indeed, who does not know that the proud
   are spoken of as puffed up, as if swelled out with wind? And hence also
   that expression of the apostle, "Knowledge puffeth up, but charity
   edifieth." [13] And "the poor in spirit" are rightly understood here,
   as meaning the humble and God-fearing, i.e. those who have not the
   spirit which puffeth up. Nor ought blessedness to begin at any other
   point whatever, if indeed it is to attain unto the highest wisdom; "but
   the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;" [14] for, on the
   other hand also, "pride" is entitled "the beginning of all sin." [15]
   Let the proud, therefore, seek after and love the kingdoms of the
   earth; but "blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom
   of heaven." [16]
     __________________________________________________________________

   [3] Similabo. The Vulgate, conforming more closely to the Greek, has
   assimilabitur, "shall be likened."

   [4] Offenderunt; the Vulgate has irruerunt.

   [5] The Vulgate, more closely conforming to the Greek, has similis
   erit.

   [6] The main purpose of the Sermon on the Mount has been variously
   stated. Augustin regards it as a perfect code of morals. Tholuck (Die
   Bergpredigt) calls it "the Magna Charta of the kingdom of heaven."
   Lange says, "The grand fundamental idea is to present the righteousness
   of the kingdom of heaven in its relation to that of the Old Testament
   theocracy." Geikie declares it to be the "formal inauguration of the
   kingdom of God and the Magna Charta of our faith." Edersheim regards it
   as presenting "the full delineation of the ideal man of God, of prayer,
   and of righteousness; in short, of the inward and outward manifestation
   of discipleship." Meyer (Com. 6th ed. p. 210) says that the aim of
   Jesus is, as the One who fulfils the Law and the Prophets, to present
   the moral conditions of participation in the Messianic kingdom. Weiss
   (Leben Jesu) speaks of it as being "as little an ethical discourse as a
   new proclamation of law. It is nothing else than an announcement of the
   kingdom of God, in which is visible everywhere the purpose of Jesus to
   distinguish between its righteousness and the righteousness revealed in
   the Old Testament as well as that taught by the teachers of his day."
   The Sermon on the Mount is a practical discourse, containing little of
   what, in the strict sense, may be termed the credenda of Christianity.
   It is the fullest statement of the nature and obligations of
   citizenship in God's kingdom. It is noteworthy for its omissions as
   well as for its contents. No reference is made to a priesthood, a
   ritual, sacred places, or offerings. There is almost a total absence of
   all that is sensuous and external. It deals with the motives and
   affections of the inner man, and so comes into comparison and contrast
   with the Mosaic law as well as with the Pharisaic ceremonialism of the
   Lord's Day. The moral grandeur of the precepts of the Sermon on the
   Mount has been acknowledged by believer and sceptics alike. Renan (Life
   of Jesus) says, "The Sermon on the Mount will never be surpassed." On
   the 15th of October, 1852, two weeks before he died, Daniel Webster
   wrote and signed his name to the following words, containing a
   testimony to this portion of Scripture, which he also ordered placed
   upon his tombstone: "Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief....My
   heart has assured me and reassured me that the gospel of Jesus Christ
   must be a divine reality. The Sermon on the Mount cannot be a merely
   human production. This belief enters into the very depth of my
   conscience. The whole history of man proves it" (Curtis, Life of
   Webster, ii. p. 684). The relation which the reports of Matthew and
   Luke (vi. 20-49) sustain to each other is ignored by Augustin here
   (who, except in rare cases, omits all critical discussion), but is
   discussed in his Harmony of the Gospels, ii. 19. The agreements are
   numerous. The differences are striking, and concern the matter, the
   arrangement, the language, and the setting of the sermon. Matthew has a
   hundred and seven verses, Luke thirty. Matthew has seven (or eight)
   beatitudes, Luke but four, and adds four woes which Matthew omits.
   According to the first evangelist Jesus spoke sitting on a mountain:
   according to the third evangelist He spoke standing, and in the plain.
   The views are, (1) Matthew and Luke give accounts of the same discourse
   (Origen, Chrysostom, Calvin, Tholuck, Meyer, Keil, Schaff, Weiss). (2)
   They report different sermons spoken at different times (Augustin not
   positively, Storr, Plumptre). This is not probable, as so much of the
   matter in both is identical: both begin with the same beatitude, and
   close with the same parable; and both accounts are followed with the
   report of the healing of the centurion's servant. (3) The two sermons
   were delivered in close succession on the summit of the mountain to the
   disciples, and on the plain to the multitude (Lange). Alford confesses
   inability to reconcile the discrepancy.

   [7] Multas turbas. The Vulgate omits multas.

   [8] The Greek has the definite article to oros. Some, on this ground,
   explain the expression to mean "mountain region." According to the
   Latin tradition of the time of the Crusaders, the exact spot is the
   Horns of Hattin, which Dean Stanley (Sinai and Palestine, Am. ed. p.
   436) and most others adopt. The hill, which is horned like a saddle, is
   south-west of Capernaum, and commands a good view of the Lake of
   Galilee. It seems to meet the requirements of the text. Robinson says
   there are a dozen other hills as eligible as this one. Tholuck enlarges
   upon the "beautiful temple of nature in which the Lord delivered the
   sermon." Matthew Henry says, "When the law was given, the Lord came
   down upon the mountain, now the Lord went up; then He spake in thunder
   and lightning, now in a still, small voice; then the people were
   ordered to keep their distance, now they are invited to draw near,--a
   blessed change!"

   [9] Ps. xxxvi. 6.

   [10] Chrysostom, Euthymius, etc., see in the expression the implication
   that Christ also taught by works. Tholuck, with many modern
   commentators, finds in it a reference to "loud and solemn utterance."

   [11] Eccles. i. 14.

   [12] Ps. cxlviii. 8.

   [13] 1 Cor. viii. 1.

   [14] Ps. cxi. 10.

   [15] Ecclus. x. 13.

   [16] Not the intellectually poor (Fritzsche), nor the poor in worldly
   goods, as we might gather from Luke (vi. 20). Roman-Catholic
   commentators have found here support for the doctrine of voluntary
   poverty (Cornelius `a Lapide, Maldonatus, etc.). The Emperor Julian, in
   allusion to this passage and others like it, said he would only
   confiscate the goods of Christians, that they might enter as the poor
   into the kingdom of heaven (Lett. xliii.). Some (Olearius, Michaelis,
   Paulus) have joined "in spirit" with "blessed." Augustin explains the
   passage of those who are not elated or proud, taking "spirit" in an
   evil sense. In another place he says, "Blessed are the poor in their
   own spirit, rich in God's Spirit, for every man who follows his own
   spirit is proud." He then compares him who subdues his own spirit to
   one living in a valley which is filled with water from the hills (En.
   in Ps. cxli. 4). The most explain of those who are conscious of
   spiritual need (Matt. xi. 28), and are ready to be filled with the
   gospel riches, as opposed to the spiritually proud, the just who need
   no repentance (Tholuck, Meyer, Lange, etc.). "Many are poor in the
   world, but high in spirit; poor and proud, murmuring and complaining,
   and blaming their lot. Laodicea was poor in spirituals, and yet rich in
   spirit; so well increased with goods as to have need of nothing. Paul
   was rich in spirituals, excelling most in gifts and graces and yet poor
   in spirit; the least of the apostles, and less than the least of all
   saints" (M. Henry).
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chapter II.

   4. "Blessed are the meek, for they shall by inheritance possess [17]
   the earth:" that earth, I suppose, of which it is said in the Psalm,
   "Thou art my refuge, my portion in the land of the living." [18] For it
   signifies a certain firmness and stability of the perpetual
   inheritance, where the soul, by means of a good disposition, rests, as
   it were, in its own place, just as the body rests on the earth, and is
   nourished from it with its own food, as the body from the earth. This
   is the very rest and life of the saints. Then, the meek are those who
   yield to acts of wickedness, and do not resist evil, but overcome evil
   with good. [19] Let those, then, who are not meek quarrel and fight for
   earthly and temporal things; but "blessed are the meek, for they shall
   by inheritance possess the earth," from which they cannot be driven
   out. [20]

   5. "Blessed are they that mourn: [21] for they shall be comforted."
   Mourning is sorrow arising from the loss of things held dear; but those
   who are converted to God lose those things which they were accustomed
   to embrace as dear in this world: for they do not rejoice in those
   things in which they formerly rejoiced; and until the love of eternal
   things be in them, they are wounded by some measure of grief. Therefore
   they will be comforted by the Holy Spirit, who on this account chiefly
   is called the Paraclete, i.e. the Comforter, in order that, while
   losing the temporal joy, they may enjoy to the full that which is
   eternal. [22]

   6. "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness:
   for they shall be filled." Now He calls those parties, lovers of a true
   and indestructible good. They will therefore be filled with that food
   of which the Lord Himself says, "My meat is to do the will of my
   Father," which is righteousness; and with that water, of which
   whosoever "drinketh," as he also says, it "shall be in him a well of
   water, springing up into everlasting life." [23]

   7. "Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy." [24] He
   says that they are blessed who relieve the miserable, for it is paid
   back to them in such a way that they are freed from misery.

   8. "Blessed are the pure in heart: [25] for they shall see God." How
   foolish, therefore, are those who seek God with these outward eyes,
   since He is seen with the heart! as it is written elsewhere, "And in
   singleness of heart seek Him." [26] For that is a pure heart which is a
   single heart: and just as this light cannot be seen, except with pure
   eyes; so neither is God seen, unless that is pure by which He can be
   seen. [27]

   9. "Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children
   of God." It is the perfection of peace, where nothing offers
   opposition; and the children of God are peacemakers, because nothing
   resists God, and surely children ought to have the likeness of their
   father. Now, they are peacemakers in themselves who, by bringing in
   order all the motions of their soul, and subjecting them to
   reason--i.e. to the mind and spirit--and by having their carnal lusts
   thoroughly subdued, become a kingdom of God: in which all things are so
   arranged, that that which is chief and pre-eminent in man rules without
   resistance over the other elements, which are common to us with the
   beasts; and that very element which is pre-eminent in man, i.e. mind
   and reason, is brought under subjection to something better still,
   which is the truth itself, the only-begotten Son of God. For a man is
   not able to rule over things which are inferior, unless he subjects
   himself to what is superior. And this is the peace which is given on
   earth to men of goodwill; [28] this the life of the fully developed and
   perfect wise man. From a kingdom of this sort brought to a condition of
   thorough peace and order, the prince of this world is cast out, who
   rules where there is perversity and disorder. [29] When this peace has
   been inwardly established and confirmed, whatever persecutions he who
   has been cast out shall stir up from without, he only increases the
   glory which is according to God; being unable to shake anything in that
   edifice, but by the failure of his machinations making it to be known
   with how great strength it has been built from within outwardly. Hence
   there follows: "Blessed are they which are persecuted for
   righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
     __________________________________________________________________

   [17] Hereditate possidebunt. Vulgate omits hereditate. The passage is
   quoted almost literally in the Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, iii. 7.

   [18] Ps. cxlii. 5.

   [19] Rom. xii. 21.

   [20] The order in which Augustin places this Beatitude is followed in
   Cod. D, and approved by Lachmann, Tischendorf, Neander, and others (not
   Westcott and Hort). The meek not only bear provocation, but quietly
   submit to God's dealings, and comply with His designs. The temporal
   possession promised is one of the few temporal promises in the New
   Testament. The inheritance of the earth is referred to "earthly good
   and possessions," by Chrysostom, Euthymius, Luther, etc.; to conquest
   of the world by the kingdom of God, by Neander, to the actual kingdom
   on this earth, first in its millennial then in its blessed state, by
   Alford; typically to the Messiah kingdom, by Meyer; to the land of the
   living beyond the heavens by Gregory of Nyssa. "Humility and meekness
   have been proved to be a conquering principle in the world's history"
   (Tholuck).

   [21] Lugentes. Greek, penthountes. The Vulgate, qui lugent, which
   Augustin follows, p. 7.

   [22] The mourning is a mourning over sins of their own and others
   (Chrysostom, etc.); too restricted, as is also Augustin's explanation.
   Spiritual mourning in general (Ambrose, Jerome, Tholuck, etc.) sorrow
   according to God (2 Cor. vii. 10). We are helped to the meaning by
   comparing the woe on those that laugh (Luke vi. 22); that is, upon
   those who are satisfied with earthly things, and avoid the seriousness
   of repentance.

   [23] John iv. 34, 14.

   [24] Ipsorum miserabitur; closer to the Greek than the Vulgate ipsi
   misericordiam consequentur. The same thought that underlies the fifth
   petition of the Lord's Prayer, as Augustin also says, Retract. I. xix.
   3.

   [25] Mundi corde; the Vulgate, mundo corde.

   [26] Wisd. i. 1.

   [27] "Pure in heart." "Ceremonial purity does not suffice" (Bengel).
   The singleness of heart which has God's will for its aim, and follows
   integrity with our fellow-men (Tholuck). "Shall see God:" the most
   infinite communion with God (Tholuck). The promise is fulfilled even
   here (Lange, Alford, Schaff, etc.). It concerns only the beatific
   vision in the spiritual body (Meyer). Not a felicity to the impure to
   see God (Henry). Comp. 1 John iii. 2, Rev. xxii. 4, etc. Augustin has a
   brilliant description of the future vision of God in City of God (this
   series, vol. ii. pp. 507-509).

   [28] Luke ii. 14.

   [29] The "peacemakers" not only establish peace within themselves as
   Augustin, encouraged by the Latin word, explains, but diffuse peace
   around about them,--heal the alienations and discords of others, and
   bring about reconciliations in the world; not merely peaceful, but
   peacemakers. "In most kingdoms those stand highest who make war: in the
   Messiah's kingdom the crowning beatitude respects those who make
   peace." The expressions will be remembered, "peace of God" (Phil. iv.
   7); "peace of Christ" (Col. iii. 15); "God of peace" (Rom. xv. 33),
   etc. "If the peacemakers are blessed, woe to the peacebreakers!" (M.
   Henry).
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   Chapter III.

   10. There are in all, then, these eight sentences. For now in what
   remains He speaks in the way of direct address to those who were
   present, saying: "Blessed shall ye be when men shall revile you and
   persecute you." But the former sentences He addressed in a general way:
   for He did not say, Blessed are ye poor in spirit, for yours is the
   kingdom of heaven; but He says, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for
   theirs is the kingdom of heaven:" nor, Blessed are ye meek, for ye
   shall inherit the earth; but, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall
   inherit the earth." And so the others up to the eighth sentence, where
   He says: "Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness'
   sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." After that He now begins to
   speak in the way of direct address to those present, although what has
   been said before referred also to His present audience; and that which
   follows, and which seems to be spoken specially to those present,
   refers also to those who were absent, or who would afterwards come into
   existence.

   For this reason the number of sentences before us is to be carefully
   considered. For the beatitudes begin with humility: "Blessed are the
   poor in spirit," i.e. those not puffed up, while the soul submits
   itself to divine authority, fearing lest after this life it go away to
   punishment, although perhaps in this life it might seem to itself to be
   happy. Then it (the soul) comes to the knowledge of the divine
   Scriptures, where it must show itself meek in its piety, lest it should
   venture to condemn that which seems absurd to the unlearned, and should
   itself be rendered unteachable by obstinate disputations. After that,
   it now begins to know in what entanglements of this world it is held by
   reason of carnal custom and sins: and so in this third stage, in which
   there is knowledge, the loss of the highest good is mourned over,
   because it sticks fast in what is lowest. Then, in the fourth stage
   there is labour, where vehement exertion is put forth, in order that
   the mind may wrench itself away from those things in which, by reason
   of their pestilential sweetness, it is entangled: here therefore
   righteousness is hungered and thirsted after, and fortitude is very
   necessary; because what is retained with delight is not abandoned
   without pain. Then, at the fifth stage, to those persevering in labour,
   counsel for getting rid of it is given; for unless each one is assisted
   by a superior, in no way is he fit in his own case to extricate himself
   from so great entanglements of miseries. But it is a just counsel, that
   he who wishes to be assisted by a stronger should assist him who is
   weaker in that in which he himself is stronger: therefore "blessed are
   the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." At the sixth stage there is
   purity of heart, able from a good conscience of good works to
   contemplate that highest good, which can be discerned by the pure and
   tranquil intellect alone. Lastly is the seventh, wisdom itself--i.e.
   the contemplation of the truth, tranquillizing the whole man, and
   assuming the likeness of God, which is thus summed up: "Blessed are the
   peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God." The eighth,
   as it were, returns to the starting-point, because it shows and
   commends what is complete and perfect: [30] therefore in the first and
   in the eighth the kingdom of heaven is named, "Blessed are the poor in
   spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven;" and, "Blessed are they
   which are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom
   of heaven:" as it is now said, "Who shall separate us from the love of
   Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or
   nakedness, or peril, or sword?" [31] Seven in number, therefore, are
   the things which bring perfection: for the eighth brings into light and
   shows what is perfect, so that starting, as it were, from the beginning
   again, the others also are perfected by means of these stages.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [30] "In the eighth beatitude the other seven are only summed up under
   the idea of the righteousness of the kingdom in its relation to those
   who persecute it; while the ninth is a description of the eighth, with
   reference to the relation in which these righteous persons stand to
   Christ" (Lange).

   [31] Rom. viii. 35.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chapter IV.

   11. Hence also the sevenfold operation of the Holy Ghost, of which
   Isaiah speaks, [32] seems to me to correspond to these stages and
   sentences. But there is a difference of order: for there the
   enumeration begins with the more excellent, but here with the inferior.
   For there it begins with wisdom, and closes with the fear of God: but
   "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." And therefore, if we
   reckon as it were in a gradually ascending series, there the fear of
   God is first, piety second, knowledge third, fortitude fourth, counsel
   fifth, understanding sixth, wisdom seventh. The fear of God corresponds
   to the humble, of whom it is here said, "Blessed are the poor in
   spirit," i.e. those not puffed up, not proud: to whom the apostle says,
   "Be not high-minded, but fear;" [33] i.e. be not lifted up. Piety [34]
   corresponds to the meek: for he who inquires piously honours Holy
   Scripture, and does not censure what he does not yet understand, and on
   this account does not offer resistance; and this is to be meek: whence
   it is here said, "Blessed are the meek." Knowledge corresponds to those
   that mourn who already have found out in the Scriptures by what evils
   they are held chained which they ignorantly have coveted as though they
   were good and useful. Fortitude corresponds to those hungering and
   thirsting: for they labour in earnestly desiring joy from things that
   are truly good, and in eagerly seeking to turn away their love from
   earthly and corporeal things: and of them it is here said, "Blessed are
   they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness." Counsel
   corresponds to the merciful: for this is the one remedy for escaping
   from so great evils, that we forgive, as we wish to be ourselves
   forgiven; and that we assist others so far as we are able, as we
   ourselves desire to be assisted where we are not able: and of them it
   is here said, "Blessed are the merciful." Understanding corresponds to
   the pure in heart, the eye being as it were purged, by which that may
   be beheld which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, and what hath not
   entered into the heart of man: [35] and of them it is here said,
   "Blessed are the pure in heart." Wisdom corresponds to the peacemakers,
   in whom all things are now brought into order, and no passion is in a
   state of rebellion against reason, but all things together obey the
   spirit of man, while he himself also obeys God: and of them it is here
   said, "Blessed are the peacemakers." [36]

   12. Moreover, the one reward, which is the kingdom of heaven, is
   variously named according to these stages. In the first, just as ought
   to be the case, is placed the kingdom of heaven, which is the perfect
   and highest wisdom of the rational soul. Thus, therefore, it is said,
   "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven:"
   as if it were said, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom."
   To the meek an inheritance is given, as it were the testament of a
   father to those dutifully seeking it: "Blessed are the meek, for they
   shall inherit the earth." To the mourners comfort, as to those who know
   what they have lost, and in what evils they are sunk: "Blessed are they
   that mourn, for they shall be comforted." To those hungering and
   thirsting, a full supply, as it were a refreshment to those labouring
   and bravely contending for salvation: "Blessed are they which do hunger
   and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled." To the
   merciful mercy, as to those following a true and excellent counsel, so
   that this same treatment is extended toward them by one who is
   stronger, which they extend toward the weaker: "Blessed are the
   merciful, for they shall obtain mercy." To the pure in heart is given
   the power of seeing God, as to those bearing about with them a pure eye
   for discerning eternal things: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they
   shall see God." To the peacemakers the likeness of God is given, as
   being perfectly wise, and formed after the image of God by means of the
   regeneration of the renewed man: "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they
   shall be called the children of God." And those promises can indeed be
   fulfilled in this life, as we believe them to have been fulfilled in
   the case of the apostles. For that all-embracing change into the
   angelic form, which is promised after this life, cannot be explained in
   any words. "Blessed," therefore, "are they which are persecuted for
   righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." This eighth
   sentence, which goes back to the starting-point, and makes manifest the
   perfect man, is perhaps set forth in its meaning both by the
   circumcision on the eighth day in the Old Testament, and by the
   resurrection of the Lord after the Sabbath, the day which is certainly
   the eighth, and at the same time the first day; and by the celebration
   of the eight festival days which we celebrate in the case of the
   regeneration of the new man; and by the very number of Pentecost. For
   to the number seven, seven times multiplied, by which we make
   forty-nine, as it were an eighth is added, so that fifty may be made
   up, and we, as it were, return to the starting-point: on which day the
   Holy Spirit was sent, by whom we are led into the kingdom of heaven,
   and receive the inheritance, and are comforted; and are fed, and obtain
   mercy, and are purified, and are made peacemakers; and being thus
   perfect, we bear all troubles brought upon us from without for the sake
   of truth and righteousness.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [32] Isa. xi. 2, 3.

   [33] Rom. xi. 20.

   [34] Augustin follows the Septuagint, which has "piety" instead of "the
   fear of the Lord" in the last clause of Isa. xi. 2.

   [35] Isa. lxiv. 4 and 1 Cor. ii. 9.

   [36] This is guarded against misconstruction in the Retract. I. xix. 1.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chapter V.

   13. "Blessed are ye," says He, "when men shall revile you, and
   persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for
   my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad: for great [37] is your reward
   in heaven." Let any one who is seeking after the delights of this world
   and the riches of temporal things under the Christian name, consider
   that our blessedness is within; as it is said of the soul of the Church
   [38] by the mouth of the prophet, "All the beauty of the king's
   daughter is within;" [39] for outwardly revilings, and persecutions,
   and disparagements are promised; and yet, from these things there is a
   great reward in heaven, which is felt in the heart of those who endure,
   those who can now say, "We glory in tribulations: knowing that
   tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience,
   hope: and hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed
   abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us." [40]
   For it is not simply the enduring of such things that is advantageous,
   but the bearing of such things for the name of Christ not only with
   tranquil mind, but even with exultation. For many heretics, deceiving
   souls under the Christian name, endure many such things; but they are
   excluded from that reward on this account, that it is not said merely,
   "Blessed are they which endure persecution;" but it is added, "for
   righteousness' sake." Now, where there is no sound faith, there can be
   no righteousness, for the just [righteous] man lives by faith. [41]
   Neither let schismatics promise themselves anything of that reward; for
   similarly, where there is no love, there cannot be righteousness, for
   "love worketh no ill to his neighbour;" [42] and if they had it, they
   would not tear in pieces Christ's body, which is the Church. [43]

   14. But it may be asked, What is the difference when He says, "when men
   shall revile you," and "when they shall say all manner of evil against
   you," since to revile [44] is just this, to say evil against? [45] But
   it is one thing when the reviling word is hurled with contumely in
   presence of him who is reviled, as it was said to our Lord, "Say we not
   the truth [46] that thou art a Samaritan, and hast a devil?" [47] and
   another thing, when our reputation is injured in our absence, as it is
   also written of Him, "Some said, He is a prophet; [48] others said,
   Nay, but He deceiveth the people." [49] Then, further, to persecute is
   to inflict violence, or to assail with snares, as was done by him who
   betrayed Him, and by them who crucified Him. Certainly, as for the fact
   that this also is not put in a bare form, so that it should be said,
   "and shall say all manner of evil against you," but there is added the
   word "falsely," and also the expression "for my sake;" I think that the
   addition is made for the sake of those who wish to glory in
   persecutions, and in the baseness of their reputation; and to say that
   Christ belongs to them for this reason, that many bad things are said
   about them; while, on the one hand, the things said are true, when they
   are said respecting their error; and, on the other hand, if sometimes
   also some false charges are thrown out, which frequently happens from
   the rashness of men, yet they do not suffer such things for Christ's
   sake. [50] For he is not a follower of Christ who is not called a
   Christian according to the true faith and the catholic discipline.

   15. "Rejoice," says He, "and be exceeding glad: for great is your
   reward in heaven." I do not think that it is the higher parts of this
   visible world that are here called heaven. For our reward, which ought
   to be immoveable and eternal, is not to be placed in things fleeting
   and temporal. But I think the expression "in heaven" means in the
   spiritual firmament, where dwells everlasting righteousness: in
   comparison with which a wicked soul is called earth, to which it is
   said when it sins, "Earth thou art, and unto earth thou shalt return."
   [51] Of this heaven the apostle says, "For our conversation is in
   heaven." [52] Hence they who rejoice in spiritual good are conscious of
   that reward now; but then it will be perfected in every part, when this
   mortal also shall have put on immortality. "For," says He, "so
   persecuted they the prophets also which were before you." In the
   present case He has used "persecution" in a general sense, as applying
   alike to abusive words and to the tearing in pieces of one's
   reputation; and has well encouraged them by an example, because they
   who speak true things are wont to suffer persecution: nevertheless did
   not the ancient prophets on this account, through fear of persecution,
   give over the preaching of the truth.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [37] Multa; Vulgate, copiosa.

   [38] Anima ecclesiastica.

   [39] Ps. xlv. 13.

   [40] Rom. v. 3-5.

   [41] Hab. ii. 4 and Rom. i. 17.

   [42] Rom. xiii. 10.

   [43] Col. i. 24.

   [44] Maledicere.

   [45] Malum dicere.

   [46] Verum. The Vulgate more literally has bene.

   [47] John viii. 48.

   [48] The Vulgate, following the Greek, has bonus,--good man.

   [49] Chap. vii. 12.

   [50] "It is not the suffering but the cause, that makes men martyrs."
   For, says Augustin in another place (En. in Ps. xxxiv. 23), if the
   suffering made the martyr, every mine would be full of martyrs, every
   chain drag them, every one beheaded with the sword be crowned. They who
   suffer for righteousness' sake, suffer for Christ's sake.

   [51] Gen. iii. 19.

   [52] Phil. iii. 20.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chapter VI.

   16. Hence there follows most justly the statement, "Ye are the salt of
   the earth;" showing that those parties are to be judged insipid, who,
   either in the eager pursuit after abundance of earthly blessings, or
   through the dread of want, lose the eternal things which can neither be
   given nor taken away by men. "But [53] if the salt have lost [54] its
   savour, wherewith shall it be salted?" i.e., If ye, by means of whom
   the nations in a measure are to be preserved [from corruption], through
   the dread of temporal persecutions shall lose the kingdom of heaven,
   where will be the men through whom error may be removed from you, since
   God has chosen you, in order that through you He might remove the error
   of others? Hence the savourless salt is "good for nothing, but to be
   cast out, and trodden under foot of men." It is not therefore he who
   suffers persecution, but he who is rendered savourless by the fear of
   persecution, that is trodden under foot of men. For it is only one who
   is undermost that can be trodden under foot; but he is not undermost,
   who, however many things he may suffer in his body on the earth, yet
   has his heart fixed in heaven. [55]

   17. "Ye are the light [56] of the world." In the same way as He said
   above, "the salt of the earth," so now He says, "the light of the
   world." For in the former case that earth is not to be understood which
   we tread with our bodily feet, but the men who dwell upon the earth, or
   even the sinners, for the preserving of whom and for the extinguishing
   of whose corruptions the Lord sent the apostolic salt. And here, by the
   world must be understood not the heavens and the earth, but the men who
   are in the world or love the world, for the enlightening of whom the
   apostles were sent. [57] "A city that is set on [58] an hill cannot be
   hid," i.e. [a city] founded upon great and distinguished righteousness,
   which is also the meaning of the mountain itself on which our Lord is
   discoursing. "Neither do men light a candle [59] and put it under a
   bushel measure." [60] What view are we to take? That the expression
   "under a bushel measure" is so used that only the concealment of the
   candle is to be understood, as if He were saying, No one lights a
   candle and conceals it? Or does the bushel measure also mean something,
   so that to place a candle under a bushel is this, to place the comforts
   of the body higher than the preaching of the truth; so that one does
   not preach the truth so long as he is afraid of suffering any annoyance
   in corporeal and temporal things? And it is well said a bushel measure,
   whether on account of the recompense of measure, for each one receives
   the things done in his body,--"that every one," says the apostle, "may
   there receive [61] the things done in his body;" and it is said in
   another place, as if of this bushel measure of the body, "For with what
   measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again:" [62] --or because
   temporal good things, which are carried to completion in the body, are
   both begun and come to an end in a certain definite number of days,
   which is perhaps meant by the "bushel measure;" while eternal and
   spiritual things are confined within no such limit, "for God giveth not
   the Spirit by measure." [63] Every one, therefore, who obscures and
   covers up the light of good doctrine by means of temporal comforts,
   places his candle under a bushel measure. "But on a candlestick." [64]
   Now it is placed on a candlestick by him who subordinates his body to
   the service of God, so that the preaching of the truth is the higher,
   and the serving of the body the lower; yet by means even of the service
   of the body the doctrine shines more conspicuously, inasmuch as it is
   insinuated into those who learn by means of bodily functions, i.e. by
   means of the voice and tongue, and the other movements of the body in
   good works. The apostle therefore puts his candle on a candlestick,
   when he says, "So fight I, not as one that beateth [65] the air; but I
   keep under my body, and bring it into subjection, lest that by any
   means, when I preach to others, I myself should be found a castaway."
   [66] When He says, however, "that it may give light to all who are in
   the house," I am of opinion that it is the abode of men which is called
   a house, i.e. the world itself, on account of what He says before, "Ye
   are the light of the world;" or if any one chooses to understand the
   house as being the Church, this, too, is not out of place.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [53] "A warning against pride" (Schaff).

   [54] Infatuatum fuerit; Vulgate, evanuerit.

   [55] Others follow Augustin in regarding the connection of this verse
   and the next with the preceding one as very close. All the more must
   they refuse to yield to persecution, as they have a function in the
   world which is well represented by salt and light (Weizsaecker, Meyer,
   etc.). The function of salt is to preserve and to season. With it
   Elisha healed the unwholesome water (2 Kings ii. 21). The use of salt
   in the sacrifices is, no doubt, alluded to (Tholuck). It becomes
   savourless. Dr. Thomson says (Land and Book, ii. 43), "It is a
   well-known fact that the salt in this country (gathered from the
   marshes in dry weather), when in contact with the ground, or exposed to
   air and sun, does become insipid and useless." The disciples are
   appointed to communicate the truth and moral grace, before spoken of in
   the Beatitudes, to counteract the error and corruption in the earth.
   "Earth" not to be confined to "society as then existing, the definite
   form the world then presented" (Lange), but to mankind in general, as
   Augustin below. "Wherewith shall it be salted" does not imply that
   those who have once fallen cannot be reclaimed (Alford). The comment of
   Grotius is good: "Ipsi emendare alios debebent, non autem exspectare ut
   ab aliis ipsi emendarentur" ("They ought to improve others, not expect
   to be themselves improved by others").

   [56] Lumen, also used for a luminary; Vulgate, lux. In a lower and
   derivative sense are the disciples "the light," etc. (Alford), deriving
   their light-giving quality from Him who is the "Light of the world"
   (John viii. 12), so that they become "lights in the world" (Phil. ii.
   15). Augustin (Sermon, ccclxxx.): Johannes lumen illuminatum, Christus
   lumen illuminans.

   [57] "The influence of salt is internal, of light external: hence the
   element in which they work, the earth and the world, both referring to
   mankind; the latter more to its organized external form" (Schaff).

   [58] Constituta; Vulgate, posita. The city was probably visible. Some
   have thought of the village on Mount Tabor, others of an ancient
   fortress, predecessor of the present Safed (Dean Stanley, Thomson);
   certainly not Jerusalem (Weizsaecker).

   [59] Lucerna.

   [60] The Greek has the definite article ton modion.

   [61] 2 Cor. v. 10. Recipiat unusquisque quae gessit in corpore.
   Vulgate, referat unusquisque propria corporis, prout gessit, etc.

   [62] Matt. vii. 2.

   [63] John iii. 34; which words, however, are, as Augustin subsequently
   observed (Retract. I. xix. 3), applicable only to Christ.

   [64] Candelabrum.

   [65] Caedens; Vulgate, verberans.

   [66] 1 Cor. ix. 26, 27. Ne forte aliis predicans...invenir. Vulgate, Ne
   forte cum aliis praedicaverim...efficir.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chapter VII.

   18. "Let your light," [67] says He, "so shine before men, that they may
   see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." If He
   had merely said, "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see
   your good works," He would seem to have fixed an end in the praises of
   men, which hypocrites seek, and those who canvass for honours and covet
   glory of the emptiest kind. Against such parties it is said, "If I yet
   pleased men, I should not be the servant of Christ;" [68] and, by the
   prophet, "They who please men are put to shame, because God hath
   despised them;" and again, "God hath broken the bones of those who
   please men;" [69] and again the apostle, "Let us not be desirous of
   vainglory;" [70] and still another time, "But let every man prove his
   own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in
   another." [71] Hence our Lord has not said merely, "that they may see
   your good works," but has added, "and glorify your Father who is in
   heaven:" so that the mere fact that a man by means of good works
   pleases men, does not there set it up as an end that he should please
   men; but let him subordinate this to the praise of God, and for this
   reason please men, that God may be glorified in him. For this is
   expedient for them who offer praise, that they should honour, not man,
   but God; as our Lord showed in the case of the man who was carried,
   where, on the paralytic being healed, the multitude, marvelling at His
   powers, as it is written in the Gospel, "feared and glorified God,
   which had given such power unto men." [72] And His imitator, the
   Apostle Paul, says, "But they had heard only, that he which persecuted
   us in times past now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed; and
   they glorified [73] God in me."

   19. And therefore, after He has exhorted His hearers that they should
   prepare themselves to bear all things for truth and righteousness, and
   that they should not hide the good which they were about to receive,
   but should learn with such benevolence as to teach others, aiming in
   their good works not at their own praise, but at the glory of God, He
   begins now to inform and to teach them what they are to teach; as if
   they were asking Him, saying: Lo, we are willing both to bear all
   things for Thy name, and not to hide Thy doctrine; but what precisely
   is this which Thou forbiddest us to hide, and for which Thou commandest
   us to bear all things? Art Thou about to mention other things contrary
   to those which are written in the law? "No," says He; "for think not
   that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to
   destroy, but to fulfil."
     __________________________________________________________________

   [67] Lumen; Vulgate, lux. Christ presupposes His righteousness to have
   become the principle of their life. "They were to stand forth openly
   and boldly with the message of the New Testament" ( Lange).

   [68] Gal. i. 10.

   [69] Ps. liii. 5.

   [70] Gal. v. 26.

   [71] Chap. vi. 4.

   [72] Matt. ix. 8.

   [73] Gal. i. 23, 24. Vastabat...glorificabant; Vulgate,
   expugnabat...clarificabant.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chapter VIII.

   20. In this sentence the meaning is twofold. [74] We must deal with it
   in both ways. For He who says, "I am not come [75] to destroy the law,
   but to fulfil," means it either in the way of adding what is wanting,
   or of doing what is in it. Let us then consider that first which I have
   put first: for he who adds what is wanting does not surely destroy what
   he finds, but rather confirms it by perfecting it; and accordingly He
   follows up with the statement, "Verily I say unto you, [76] Till heaven
   and earth pass, one iota or one tittle shall in nowise pass from the
   law, till all be fulfilled." For, if even those things which are added
   for completion are fulfilled, much more are those things fulfilled
   which are sent in advance as a commencement. Then, as to what He says,
   "One iota or one tittle shall in nowise pass from the law," nothing
   else can be understood but a strong expression of perfection, since it
   is pointed out by means of single letters, among which letters "iota"
   is smaller than the others, for it is made by a single stroke; while a
   "tittle" is but a particle of some sort at the top of even that. And by
   these words He shows that in the law all the smallest particulars even
   are to be carried into effect. [77] After that He subjoins: "Whosoever,
   therefore, shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach
   men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven." Hence
   it is the least commandments that are meant by "one iota" and "one
   tittle." And therefore, "whosoever shall break and shall teach [men]
   so,"--i.e. in accordance with what he breaks, not in accordance with
   what he finds and reads,--"shall be called the least in the kingdom of
   heaven;" and therefore, perhaps, he will not be in the kingdom of
   heaven at all, where only the great can be. "But whosoever shall do and
   teach [men] so," [78] --i.e. who shall not break, and shall teach men
   so, in accordance with what he does not break,--"shall be called great
   in the kingdom of heaven." But in regard to him who shall be called
   great in the kingdom of heaven, it follows that he is also in the
   kingdom of heaven, into which the great are admitted: for to this what
   follows refers.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [74] Here begins the second part of the Sermon. In it our Lord sets
   forth His relation as a lawgiver to the Mosaic law, especially as
   currently interpreted according to the letter only (Meyer, Alford
   etc.).

   [75] Veni; Greek, elthon.

   [76] A decisive assertion of authority. Asseveratio gravissima ei
   propria, qui per se ipsum et per suam veritatem asseverat (Bengel). The
   prophet's most emphatic statement was, "Thus saith the Lord." Christ
   speaks in His own name, as the fount of authority (v. 20 and often:
   John iii. 3, xiv. 12, etc.).

   [77] "Christ's words are decisive against all those who would set aside
   the Old Testament as without significance, or inconsistent with the New
   Testament" (Alford). Christ declares the New to be rooted in the Old;
   its consummation, not its destruction. The essence and purport of the
   law, the "whole law," was fulfilled by Him (Meyer). Theophylact well
   compares the law to a sketch, which Christ (like the painter) does not
   destroy, but fills out.

   [78] Sic; Greek, houtos; Vulgate, hic.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chapter IX.

   21. "For I say unto you, that except your righteousness shall exceed
   the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case
   enter into the kingdom of heaven;" [79] i.e., unless ye shall fulfil
   not only those least precepts of the law which begin the man, but also
   those which are added by me, who am not come to destroy the law, but to
   fulfil it, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. But you say
   to me: If, when He was speaking above of those least commandments, He
   said that whosoever shall break one of them, and shall teach in
   accordance with his transgression, is called the least in the kingdom
   of heaven; but that whosoever shall do them, and shall teach [men] so,
   is called great, and hence will be already in the kingdom of heaven,
   because he is great: what need is there for additions to the least
   precepts of the law, if he can be already in the kingdom of heaven,
   because whosoever shall do them, and shall so teach, is great? For this
   reason that sentence is to be understood thus: "But whosoever shall do
   and teach men so, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of
   heaven,"--i.e. not in accordance with those least commandments, but in
   accordance with those which I am about to mention. Now what are they?
   "That your righteousness," says He, "may exceed that of the scribes and
   Pharisees;" for unless it shall exceed theirs, ye shall not enter into
   the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever, therefore, shall break those least
   commandments, and shall teach men so, shall be called the least; but
   whosoever shall do those least commandments, and shall teach men so, is
   not necessarily to be reckoned great and meet for the kingdom of
   heaven; but yet he is not so much the least as the man who breaks them.
   But in order that he may be great and fit for that kingdom, he ought to
   do and teach as Christ now teaches, i.e. in order that his
   righteousness may exceed that of the scribes and Pharisees. The
   righteousness of the Pharisees is, that they shall not kill; the
   righteousness of those who are destined to enter into the kingdom of
   God, that they be not angry without a cause. The least commandment,
   therefore, is not to kill; and whosoever shall break that, shall be
   called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whosoever shall fulfil that
   commandment not to kill, will not, as a necessary consequence, be great
   and meet for the kingdom of heaven, but yet he ascends a certain step.
   He will be perfected, however, if he be not angry without a cause; and
   if he shall do this, he will be much further removed from murder. For
   this reason he who teaches that we should not be angry, does not break
   the law not to kill, but rather fulfils it; so that we preserve our
   innocence both outwardly when we do not kill, and in heart when we are
   not angry.

   22. "Ye have heard" therefore, says He, "that it was said to them of
   old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in
   danger of the judgment. But I say unto you, that whosoever is angry
   with his brother without a cause [80] shall be in danger of the
   judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in
   danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in
   danger of the gehenna of fire." What is the difference between being in
   danger of the judgment, and being in danger of the council, and being
   in danger of the gehenna of fire? [81] For this last sounds most
   weighty, and reminds us that certain stages were passed over from
   lighter to more weighty, until the gehenna of fire was reached. And,
   therefore, if it is a lighter thing to be in danger of the judgment
   than to be in danger of the council, and if it is also a lighter thing
   to be in danger of the council than to be in danger of the gehenna of
   fire, we must understand it to be a lighter thing to be angry with a
   brother without a cause than to say "Raca;" and again, to be a lighter
   thing to say "Raca" than to say "Thou fool." For the danger would not
   have gradations, unless the sins also were mentioned in gradation.

   23. But here one obscure word has found a place, for "Raca" is neither
   Latin nor Greek. The others, however, are current in our language. Now,
   some have wished to derive the interpretation of this expression from
   the Greek, supposing that a ragged person is called "Raca," because a
   rag is called in Greek rhakos; yet, when one asks them what a ragged
   person is called in Greek, they do not answer "Raca;" and further, the
   Latin translator might have put the word ragged where he has placed
   "Raca," and not have used a word which, on the one hand, has no
   existence in the Latin language, and, on the other, is rare in the
   Greek. Hence the view is more probable which I heard from a certain
   Hebrew whom I had asked about it; for he said that the word does not
   mean anything, but merely expresses the emotion of an angry mind.
   Grammarians call those particles of speech which express an affection
   of an agitated mind interjections; as when it is said by one who is
   grieved, "Alas," or by one who is angry, "Hah." And these words in all
   languages are proper names, and are not easily translated into another
   language; and this cause certainly compelled alike the Greek and the
   Latin translators to put the word itself, inasmuch as they could find
   no way of translating it. [82]

   24. There is therefore a gradation in the sins referred to, so that
   first one is angry, and keeps that feeling as a conception in his
   heart; but if now that emotion shall draw forth an expression of anger
   not having any definite meaning, but giving evidence of that feeling of
   the mind by the very fact of the outbreak wherewith he is assailed with
   whom one is angry, this is certainly more than if the rising anger were
   restrained by silence; but if there is heard not merely an expression
   of anger, but also a word by which the party using it now indicates and
   signifies a distinct censure of him against whom it is directed, who
   doubts but that this is something more than if merely an exclamation of
   anger were uttered? Hence in the first there is one thing, i.e. anger
   alone; in the second two things, both anger and a word that expresses
   anger; in the third three things, anger and a word that expresses
   anger, and in that word the utterance of distinct censure. Look now
   also at the three degrees of liability,--the judgment, the council, the
   gehenna of fire. For in the judgment an opportunity is still given for
   defence; in the council, however, although there is also wont to be a
   judgment, yet because the very distinction compels us to acknowledge
   that there is a certain difference in this place, the production of the
   sentence seems to belong to the council, inasmuch as it is not now the
   case of the accused himself that is in question, whether he is to be
   condemned or not, but they who judge confer with one another to what
   punishment they ought to condemn him, who, it is clear, is to be
   condemned; but the gehenna of fire does not treat as a doubtful matter
   either the condemnation, like the judgment, or the punishment of him
   who is condemned, like the council; for in the gehenna of fire both the
   condemnation and the punishment of him who is condemned are certain.
   Thus there are seen certain degrees in the sins and in the liability to
   punishment; [83] but who can tell in what ways they are invisibly shown
   in the punishments of souls? We are therefore to learn how great the
   difference is between the righteousness of the Pharisees and that
   greater righteousness which introduces into the kingdom of heaven,
   because while it is a more serious crime to kill than to inflict
   reproach by means of a word, in the one case killing exposes one to the
   judgment, but in the other anger exposes one to the judgment, which is
   the least of those three sins; for in the former case they were
   discussing the question of murder among men, but in the latter all
   things are disposed of by means of a divine judgment, where the end of
   the condemned is the gehenna of fire. But whoever shall say that murder
   is punished by a more severe penalty under the greater righteousness if
   a reproach is punished by the gehenna of fire, compels us to understand
   that there are differences of gehennas.

   25. Indeed, in the three statements before us, we must observe that
   some words are understood. For the first statement has all the words
   that are necessary. "Whosoever," says He, "is angry with his brother
   without a cause, shall be in danger of the judgment." But in the
   second, when He says, "and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca,"
   there is understood the expression without cause, [84] and thus there
   is subjoined, "shall be in danger of the council." In the third, now,
   where He says, "but whosoever shall say, Thou fool," two things are
   understood, both to his brother and without cause. And in this way we
   defend the apostle when he calls the Galatians fools, [85] to whom he
   also gives the name of brethren; for he does not do it without cause.
   And here the word brother is to be understood for this reason, that the
   case of an enemy is spoken of afterwards, and how he also is to be
   treated under the greater righteousness.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [79] "With all their care, they had not understood the true spirit of
   the law" (Schaff). The rest of the Sermon is largely a comment on this
   verse, Christ giving His interpretation of the law, and the
   righteousness following upon its observance; showing that the purport
   goes beyond the external act of obedience to the purpose of the heart,
   and that in the external act of obedience the real purport might be
   ignored.

   [80] Sine causa. The weight of critical evidence is against this
   clause, which is omitted by Tischendorf, Westcott, and Hort, the
   Vulgate and the Revised Version.

   [81] The "judgment" (krisis) was the local court of seven, which every
   community was enjoined to have (Deut. xvi. 18). The "council" was the
   Sanhedrin, consisting of seventy-two members, sitting in Jerusalem. The
   "gehenna" was the vale of Hinnom, on the confines of Jerusalem, where
   sacrifices were offered to Moloch, and which became the place for
   refuse and the burning of dead bodies. In the New Testament it is
   equivalent to "hell."

   [82] Raca is from the Chald. R+iJ+oQ+#, and is a term of contempt
   equivalent to empty-headed (Thayer's Lexicon). Trench translates, "Oh,
   vain man!"

   [83] It is important "to keep in mind that there is no distinction in
   kind between these punishments, only of degree. The `judgment' (krisis)
   inflicted death by the sword, the Sanhedrin death by stoning, and the
   disgrace of the gehenna followed as an intensification of death; but
   the punishment is one and the same,--death. So also in the subject of
   the similitude. All the punishments are spiritual; all result in
   eternal death, but with various degrees, as the degrees of guilt have
   been" (Alford).

   [84] Augustin helps us to understand how the word eike (without cause)
   in the preceding clause crept into some of the Mss. In Retract. I. xix.
   4 he makes the critical note and correction: "Codices graeci non habent
   sine causa."

   [85] Gal. iii. 1.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chapter X.

   26. Next there follows here: "Therefore, if thou hast brought [86] thy
   gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought
   against thee; leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way;
   first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift."
   From this surely it is clear that what is said above is said of a
   brother: inasmuch as the sentence which follows is connected by such a
   conjunction that it confirms the preceding one; for He does not say,
   But if thou bring thy gift to the altar; but He says, "Therefore, if
   thou bring thy gift to the altar." For if it is not lawful to be angry
   with one's brother without a cause, or to say "Raca," or to say "Thou
   fool," much less is it lawful so to retain anything in one's mind, as
   that indignation may be turned into hatred. And to this belongs also
   what is said in another passage: "Let not the sun go down upon your
   wrath." [87] We are therefore commanded, when about to bring our gift
   to the altar, if we remember that our brother hath ought against us, to
   leave the gift before the altar, and to go and be reconciled to our
   brother, and then to come and offer the gift. [88] But if this is to be
   understood literally, one might perhaps suppose that such a thing ought
   to be done if the brother is present; for it cannot be delayed too
   long, since you are commanded to leave your gift before the altar. If,
   therefore, such a thing should come into your mind respecting one who
   is absent, and, as may happen, even settled down beyond the sea, it is
   absurd to suppose that your gift is to be left before the altar until
   you may offer it to God after having traversed both lands and seas. And
   therefore we are compelled to have recourse to an altogether internal
   and spiritual interpretation, in order that what has been said may be
   understood without absurdity.

   27. And so we may interpret the altar spiritually, as being faith
   itself in the inner temple of God, whose emblem is the visible altar.
   For whatever offering we present to God, whether prophecy, or teaching,
   or prayer, or a psalm, or a hymn, and whatever other such like
   spiritual gift occurs to the mind, it cannot be acceptable to God,
   unless it be sustained by sincerity of faith, and, as it were, placed
   on that fixedly and immoveably, so that what we utter may remain whole
   and uninjured. For many heretics, not having the altar, i.e. true
   faith, have spoken blasphemies for praise; being weighed down, to wit,
   with earthly opinions, and thus, as it were, throwing down their
   offering on the ground. But there ought also to be purity of intention
   on the part of the offerer. And therefore, when we are about to present
   any such offering in our heart, i.e. in the inner temple of God ("For,"
   as it is said, "the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are;" [89]
   and, "That Christ may dwell in the inner man [90] by faith in your
   hearts") if it occur to our mind that a brother hath ought against us,
   i.e. if we have injured him in anything (for then he has something
   against us whereas we have something against him if he has injured us,
   and in that case it is not necessary to proceed to reconciliation: for
   you will not ask pardon of one who has done you an injury, but merely
   forgive him, as you desire to be forgiven by the Lord what you have
   committed against Him), we are therefore to proceed to reconciliation,
   when it has occurred to our mind that we have perhaps injured our
   brother in something; but this is to be done not with the bodily feet,
   but with the emotions of the mind, so that you are to prostrate
   yourself with humble disposition before your brother, to whom you have
   hastened in affectionate thought, in the presence of Him to whom you
   are about to present your offering. For thus, even if he should be
   present, you will be able to soften him by a mind free from
   dissimulation, and to recall him to goodwill by asking pardon, if first
   you have done this before God, going to him not with the slow movement
   of the body, but with the very swift impulse of love; and then coming,
   i.e. recalling your attention to that which you were beginning to do,
   you will offer your gift. [91]

   28. But who acts in a way that he is neither angry with his brother
   without a cause, nor says "Raca" without a cause, nor calls him a fool
   without a cause, all of which are most proudly committed; or so, that,
   if perchance he has fallen into any of these, he asks pardon with
   suppliant mind, which is the only remedy; who but just the man that is
   not puffed up with the spirit of empty boasting? "Blessed" therefore
   "are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Let us
   look now at what follows.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [86] Obtuleris; Vulgate, offers.

   [87] Eph. iv. 26.

   [88] The performance of an act of worship does not atone for an offence
   against a fellow-man. The duties toward God never absolve from man's
   duties to his neighbour. Inter rem sacram magis subit recordatio
   offensarum, quam in strepitu negotiorum (Bengel).

   [89] 1 Cor. iii. 17.

   [90] Eph. iii. 17. In interiore homine, a different construction from
   the Greek, which has eis with the accusative. So Vulgate, in interiorem
   hominem.

   [91] "Discharge of duty to men does not absolve from duty to God." The
   passage has strong bearing upon the relation of morality and religion.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chapter XI.

   29. "Be kindly disposed," [92] says he, "toward thine adversary
   quickly, whiles thou art in the way with him; lest at any time the
   adversary deliver thee to the judge, and the judge deliver thee to the
   officer, and thou be cast into prison. Verily I say unto thee, thou
   shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid the uttermost
   farthing." I understand who the judge is: "For the Father judgeth no
   man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son." [93] I understand
   who the officer is: "And angels," it is said, "ministered unto Him:"
   [94] and we believe that He will come with His angels to judge the
   quick and the dead. I understand what is meant by the prison: evidently
   the punishments of darkness, which He calls in another passage the
   outer darkness: [95] for this reason, I believe, that the joy of the
   divine rewards is something internal in the mind itself, or even if
   anything more hidden can be thought of, that joy of which it is said to
   the servant who deserved well, "Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord;"
   [96] just as also, under this republican government, one who is thrust
   into prison is sent out from the council chamber, or from the palace of
   the judge.

   30. But now, with respect to paying the uttermost farthing, [97] it may
   be understood without absurdity either as standing for this, that
   nothing is left unpunished; just as in common speech we also say "to
   the very dregs," when we wish to express that something is so drained
   out that nothing is left: or by the expression "the uttermost farthing"
   earthly sins may be meant. For as a fourth part of the separate
   component parts of this world, and in fact as the last, the earth is
   found; so that you begin with the heavens, you reckon the air the
   second, water the third, the earth the fourth. It may therefore seem to
   be suitably said, "till thou hast paid the last fourth," in the sense
   of "till thou hast expiated thy earthly sins:" for this the sinner also
   heard, "Earth thou art, and unto earth shall thou return." [98] Then,
   as to the expression "till thou hast paid," I wonder if it does not
   mean that punishment which is called eternal. [99] For whence is that
   debt paid where there is now no opportunity given of repenting and of
   leading a more correct life? For perhaps the expression "till thou hast
   paid" stands here in the same sense as in that passage where it is
   said, "Sit Thou at my right hand, until I make Thine enemies Thy
   footstool;" [100] for not even when the enemies have been put under His
   feet, will He cease to sit at the right hand: or that statement of the
   apostle, "For He must reign, till He hath put all enemies under His
   feet;" [101] for not even when they have been put under His feet, will
   He cease to reign. Hence, as it is there understood of Him respecting
   whom it is said, "He must reign, till He hath put His enemies under His
   feet," that He will reign for ever, inasmuch as they will be for ever
   under His feet: so here it may be understood of him respecting whom it
   is said, "Thou shalt by no means come out thence, till thou hast paid
   the uttermost farthing," that he will never come out; for he is always
   paying the uttermost farthing, so long as he is suffering the
   everlasting punishment of his earthly sins. Nor would I say this in
   such a way as that I should seem to prevent a more careful discussion
   respecting the punishment of sins, as to how in the Scriptures it is
   called eternal; although in all possible ways it is to be avoided
   rather than known.

   31. But let us now see who the adversary himself is, with whom we are
   enjoined to agree quickly, whiles we are in the way with him. For he is
   either the devil, or a man, or the flesh, or God, or His commandment.
   [102] But I do not see how we should be enjoined to be on terms of
   goodwill, i.e. to be of one heart or of one mind, with the devil. For
   some have rendered the Greek word which is found here "of one heart,"
   others "of one mind:" but neither are we enjoined to show goodwill to
   the devil (for where there is goodwill there is friendship: and no one
   would say that we are to make friends with the devil); nor is it
   expedient to come to an agreement with him, against whom we have
   declared war by once for all renouncing him, and on conquering whom we
   shall be crowned; nor ought we now to yield to him, for if we had never
   yielded to him, we should never have fallen into such miseries. Again,
   as to the adversary being a man, although we are enjoined to live
   peaceably with all men, as far as lieth in us, where certainly
   goodwill, and concord, and consent may be understood; yet I do not see
   how I can accept the view, that we are delivered to the judge by a man,
   in a case where I understand Christ to be the judge, "before" whose
   "judgment-seat we must all appear," [103] as the apostle says: how then
   is he to deliver me to the judge, who will appear equally with me
   before the judge? Or if any one is delivered to the judge because he
   has injured a man, although the party who has been injured does not
   deliver him, it is a much more suitable view, that the guilty party is
   delivered to the judge by that law against which he acted when he
   injured the man. And this for the additional reason, that if any one
   has injured a man by killing him, there will be no time now in which to
   agree with him; for he is not now in the way with him, i.e. in this
   life: and yet a remedy will not on that account be excluded, if one
   repents and flees for refuge with the sacrifice of a broken heart to
   the mercy of Him who forgives the sins of those who turn to Him, and
   who rejoices more over one penitent than over ninety-nine just persons.
   [104] But much less do I see how we are enjoined to bear goodwill
   towards, or to agree with, or to yield to, the flesh. For it is sinners
   rather who love their flesh, and agree with it, and yield to it; but
   those who bring it into subjection are not the parties who yield to it,
   but rather they compel it to yield to them.

   32. Perhaps, therefore, we are enjoined to yield to God, and to be
   well-disposed towards Him, in order that we may be reconciled to Him,
   from whom by sinning we have turned away, so that He can be called our
   adversary. For He is rightly called the adversary of those whom He
   resists, for "God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble;"
   [105] and "pride is the beginning of all sin, but the beginning of
   man's pride is to become apostate from God;" [106] and the apostle
   says, "For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the
   death of His Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by His
   life." [107] And from this it may be perceived that no nature [as
   being] bad is an enemy to God, inasmuch as the very parties who were
   enemies are being reconciled. Whoever, therefore, while in this way,
   i.e. in this life, shall not have been reconciled to God by the death
   of His Son, will be delivered to the judge by Him, for "the Father
   judgeth no man, but hath delivered all judgment to the Son;" and so the
   other things which are described in this section follow, which we have
   already discussed. There is only one thing which creates a difficulty
   as regards this interpretation, viz. how it can be rightly said that we
   are in the way with God, if in this passage He Himself is to be
   understood as the adversary of the wicked, with whom we are enjoined to
   be reconciled quickly; unless, perchance, because He is everywhere, we
   also, while we are in this way, are certainly with Him. For as it is
   said, "If I ascend up into heaven, Thou art there; if I make my bed in
   hell, behold, Thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and
   dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall Thy hand lead
   me, and Thy right hand shall hold me." [108] Or if the view is not
   accepted, that the wicked are said to be with God, although there is
   nowhere where God is not present,--just as we do not say that the blind
   are with the light, although the light surrounds their eyes,--there is
   one resource remaining: that we should understand the adversary here as
   being the commandment of God. For what is so much an adversary to those
   who wish to sin as the commandment of God, i.e. His law and divine
   Scripture, which has been given us for this life, that it may be with
   us in the way, which we must not contradict, lest it deliver us to the
   judge, but which we ought to submit to quickly? For no one knows when
   he may depart out of this life. Now, who is it that submits to divine
   Scripture, save he who reads or hears it piously, deferring to it as of
   supreme authority; so that what he understands he does not hate on this
   account, that he feels it to be opposed to his sins, but rather loves
   being reproved by it, and rejoices that his maladies are not spared
   until they are healed; and so that even in respect to what seems to him
   obscure or absurd, he does not therefore raise contentious
   contradictions, but prays that he may understand, yet remembering that
   goodwill and reverence are to be manifested towards so great an
   authority? But who does this, unless just the man who has come, not
   harshly threatening, but in the meekness of piety, for the purpose of
   opening and ascertaining the contents of his father's will? "Blessed,"
   therefore, "are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth." Let us see
   what follows.
     __________________________________________________________________

   [92] Benevolus; Vulgate, consentiens. What is matter of prudence in a
   civil case, becomes matter of life and death in spiritual things. The
   Lord does not intend to inculcate simply a law of worldly prudence as
   asserted by a few modern commentators.

   [93] John v. 22.

   [94] Matt. iv. 11.

   [95] Matt. viii. 12.

   [96] Matt. xxv. 23.

   [97] The word translated "farthing" means literally "a fourth part" and
   on this original sense Augustin's second interpretation is based.

   [98] Gen. iii. 19.

   [99] Universalists have quoted the passage to prove the doctrine that
   punishment will not be endless, others in favor of purgatory. The main
   idea is the inexorable rigor of the divine justice against the
   impenitent. "The whole tone of the passage is that of one who seeks to
   deepen the sense of danger, not to make light of it; to make men feel
   that they cannot pay their debt, though God may forgive it freely"
   (Plumptre).

   [100] Ps. cx. 1.

   [101] 1 Cor. xv. 25.

   [102] "The devil" (Clemens Alex.); "conscience" (Euthymius, Zig.); "the
   man who has done the injury" (Meyer, Tholuck, Lange, Trench, etc.)

   [103] 2 Cor. v. 10. Exhiberi; Vulgate, manifestari.

   [104] Luke xv. 7.

   [105] Jas. iv. 6.

   [106] Ecclus. x. 13, 12.

   [107] Rom. v. 10.

   [108] Ps. cxxxix. 8-10.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chapter XII.

   33. "Ye have heard that it was said to them of old time, Thou shalt not
   commit adultery: but I say unto you, that whosoever looketh on a woman
   to lust after her, hath committed adultery with her already in his
   heart." The lesser righteousness, therefore, is not to commit adultery
   by carnal connection; but the greater righteousness of the kingdom of
   God is not to commit adultery in the heart. Now, the man who does not
   commit adultery in the heart, much more easily guards against
   committing adultery in actual fact. Hence He who gave the later precept
   confirmed the earlier; for He came not to destroy the law, but to
   fulfil it. It is well worthy of consideration that He did not say,
   Whosoever lusteth after a woman, but," Whosoever looketh on a woman to
   lust after her," [109] i.e. turneth toward her with this aim and this
   intent, that he may lust after her; which, in fact, is not merely to be
   tickled [110] by fleshly delight, but fully to consent to lust; so that
   the forbidden appetite is not restrained, but satisfied if opportunity
   should be given.

   34. For there are three things which go to complete sin: the suggestion
   of, the taking pleasure in, and the consenting to. Suggestion takes
   place either by means of memory, or by means of the bodily senses, when
   we see, or hear, or smell, or taste, or touch anything. And if it give
   us pleasure to enjoy this, this pleasure, if illicit, must be
   restrained. Just as when we are fasting, and on seeing food the
   appetite of the palate is stirred up, this does not happen without
   pleasure; but we do not consent to this liking, and [111] we repress it
   by the right of reason, which has the supremacy. But if consent shall
   take place, the sin will be complete, known to God in our heart,
   although it may not become known to men by deed. There are, then, these
   steps: the suggestion is made, as it were, by a serpent, that is to
   say, by a fleeting and rapid, i.e. a temporary, movement of bodies: for
   if there are also any such images moving about in the soul, they have
   been derived from without from the body; and if any hidden sensation of
   the body besides those five senses touches the soul, that also is
   temporary and fleeting; and therefore the more clandestinely it glides
   in, so as to affect the process of thinking, the more aptly is it
   compared to a serpent. Hence these three stages, as I was beginning to
   say, resemble that transaction which is described in Genesis, so that
   the suggestion and a certain measure of suasion is put forth, as it
   were, by the serpent; but the taking pleasure in it lies in the carnal
   appetite, as it were in Eve; and the consent lies in the reason, as it
   were in the man: and these things having been acted through, the man is
   driven forth, as it were, from paradise, i.e. from the most blessed
   light of righteousness, into death [112] --in all respects most
   righteously. For he who puts forth suasion does not compel. And all
   natures are beautiful in their order, according to their gradations;
   but we must not descend from the higher, among which the rational mind
   has its place assigned, to the lower. Nor is any one compelled to do
   this; and therefore, if he does it, he is punished by the just law of
   God, for he is not guilty of this unwillingly. But yet, previous to
   habit, either there is no pleasure, or it is so slight that there is
   hardly any; and to yield to it is a great sin, as such pleasure is
   unlawful. Now, when any one does yield, he commits sin in the heart.
   If, however, he also proceeds to action, the desire seems to be
   satisfied and extinguished; but afterwards, when the suggestion is
   repeated, a greater pleasure is kindled, which, however, is as yet much
   less than that which by continuous practice is converted into habit.
   For it is very difficult to overcome this; and yet even habit itself,
   if one does not prove untrue to himself, and does not shrink back in
   dread from the Christian warfare, he will get the better of under His
   (i.e. Christ's) leadership and assistance; and thus, in accordance with
   primitive peace and order, both the man is subject to Christ, and the
   woman is subject to the man. [113]

   35. Hence, just as we arrive at sin by three steps,--suggestion,
   pleasure, consent,--so of sin itself there are three varieties,--in
   heart, in deed, in habit,--as it were, three deaths: one, as it were,
   in the house, i.e. when we consent to lust in the heart; a second now,
   as it were, brought forth outside the gate, when assent goes forward
   into action; a third, when the mind is pressed down by the force of bad
   habit, as if by a mound of earth, and is now, as it were, rotting in
   the sepulchre. And whoever reads the Gospel perceives that our Lord
   raised to life these three varieties of the dead. And perhaps he
   reflects what differences may be found in the very word of Him who
   raises them, when He says on one occasion, "Damsel, arise;" [114] on
   another, "Young man, [115] I say unto thee, Arise;" [116] and when on
   another occasion He groaned in the spirit, and wept, and again groaned,
   and then afterwards "cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth."
   [117]

   36. And therefore, under the category of the adultery mentioned in this
   section, we must understand all fleshly and sensual lust. For when
   Scripture so constantly speaks of idolatry as fornication, and the
   Apostle Paul calls avarice by the name of idolatry, [118] who doubts
   but that every evil lust is rightly called fornication, since the soul,
   neglecting the higher law by which it is ruled, and prostituting itself
   for the base pleasure of the lower nature as its reward (so to speak),
   is thereby corrupted? And therefore let every one who feels carnal
   pleasure rebelling against right inclination in his own case through
   the habit of sinning, by whose unsubdued violence he is dragged into
   captivity, recall to mind as much as he can what kind of peace he has
   lost by sinning, and let him cry out, "O wretched man that I am! who
   shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus
   Christ." [119] For in this way, when he cries out that he is wretched,
   in the act of bewailing he implores the help of a comforter. Nor is it
   a small approach to blessedness, when he has come to know his
   wretchedness; and therefore "blessed" also "are they that mourn, [120]
   for they shall be comforted."
     __________________________________________________________________

   [109] The Greek pros to epithumesai refers to sin of intent. "The
   particle pros indicates the mental aim" (Tholuck, Meyer, etc.). So
   Augustin, rightly: "Qui hoc fine et hoc animo attenderit."

   [110] Titillari.

   [111] The reading "if" has been proposed by some.

   [112] Gen. iii.

   [113] 1 Cor. xi. 3 and Eph. v. 23.

   [114] Mark v. 41.

   [115] Juvenis; Vulgate, adolescens.

   [116] Luke vii. 14.

   [117] John xi. 33-44.

   [118] Col. iii. 5 and Eph. v. 5.

   [119] Rom. vii. 24, 25.

   [120] Lugentes; Vulgate, qui lugent.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chapter XIII.

   37. In the next place, He goes on to say: "And if thy right eye offend
   thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for
   thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body
   should go [121] into hell." Here, certainly, there is need of great
   courage in order to cut off one's members. [122] For whatever it is
   that is meant by the "eye," undoubtedly it is such a thing as is
   ardently loved. For those who wish to express their affection strongly
   are wont to speak thus: I love him as my own eyes, or even more than my
   own eyes. Then, when the word "right" is added, it is meant perhaps to
   intensify the strength of the affection. [123] For although these
   bodily eyes of ours are turned in a common direction for the purpose of
   seeing, and if both are turned they have equal power, yet men are more
   afraid of losing the right one. So that the sense in this case is:
   Whatever it is which thou so lovest that thou reckonest it as a right
   eye, if it offends thee, i.e. if it proves a hindrance to thee on the
   way to true happiness, pluck it out and cast it from thee. For it is
   profitable for thee, that one of these which thou so lovest that they
   cleave to thee as if they were members, should perish, rather than that
   thy whole body should be cast into hell.

   38. But since He follows it up with a similar statement respecting the
   right hand, "If thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it
   from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should
   perish, and not that thy whole body should go [124] into hell," He
   compels us to inquire more carefully what He has spoken of as an eye.
   And as regards this inquiry, nothing occurs to me as a more suitable
   explanation than a greatly beloved friend: for this, certainly, is
   something which we may rightly call a member which we ardently love;
   and this friend a counsellor, for it is an eye, as it were, pointing
   out the road; and that in divine things, for it is the right eye: so
   that the left is indeed a beloved counsellor, but in earthly matters,
   pertaining to the necessities of the body; concerning which as a cause
   of stumbling it was superfluous to speak, inasmuch as not even the
   right was to be spared. Now, a counsellor in divine things is a cause
   of stumbling, if he endeavours to lead one into any dangerous heresy
   under the guise of religion and doctrine. Hence also let the right hand
   be taken in the sense of a beloved helper and assistant in divine
   works: for in like manner as contemplation is rightly understood as
   having its seat in the eye, so action in the right hand; so that the
   left hand may be understood in reference to works which are necessary
   for this life, and for the body.
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   [121] Eat; Vulgate, mittatur.

   [122] Not literally (Fritzsche). Excision of the members would not of
   itself destroy the lust of the heart.

   [123] So Meyer et al. What Robert South says (Sermon on John vii. 17)
   of the Sermon on the Mount as a whole, can certainly be applied here:
   "All the particulars of Matt. v.-vii. are wrapt up in the doctrine of
   self-denial, prescribing to the world the most inward purity of heart,
   and a constant conflict with all our sensual appetites and worldly
   interests," etc. Augustin's interpretation is correct as far as it
   goes, but it is too restricted. Christ does not here insist upon the
   renunciation of sinful lusts, but upon the evasion of occasions of sin.
   What is harmless and innocent of itself, when through any temperament
   or condition it becomes an occasion of sinning, is to be relinquished.

   [124] Eat. So Vulgate.
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   Chapter XIV.

   39. "It hath been said, Whosoever shall put away his wife, let him give
   her a writing of divorcement." This is the lesser righteousness of the
   Pharisees, which is not opposed by what our Lord says: "But I say unto
   you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of
   fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: [125] and whosoever shall
   marry her that is loosed from her husband committeth adultery." [126]
   For He who gave the commandment that a writing of divorcement should be
   given, did not give the commandment that a wife should be put away; but
   "whosoever shall put away," says He, "let him give her a writing of
   divorcement," in order that the thought of such a writing might
   moderate the rash anger of him who was getting rid of his wife. And,
   therefore, He who sought to interpose a delay in putting away,
   indicated as far as He could to hard-hearted men that He did not wish
   separation. And accordingly the Lord Himself in another passage, when a
   question was asked Him as to this matter, gave this reply: "Moses did
   so because of the hardness of your hearts." [127] For however
   hard-hearted a man may be who wishes to put away his wife, when he
   reflects that, on a writing of divorcement being given her, she could
   then without risk marry another, he would be easily appeased. Our Lord,
   therefore, in order to confirm that principle, that a wife should not
   lightly be put away, made the single exception of fornication; but
   enjoins that all other annoyances, if any such should happen to spring
   up, be borne with fortitude for the sake of conjugal fidelity and for
   the sake of chastity; and he also calls that man an adulterer who
   should marry her that has been divorced by her husband. And the Apostle
   Paul shows the limit of this state of affairs, for he says it is to be
   observed as long as her husband liveth; but on the husband's death he
   gives permission to marry. [128] For he himself also held by this rule,
   and therein brings forward not his own advice, as in the case of some
   of his admonitions, but a command by the Lord when he says: "And unto
   the married [129] I command, yet not I, but the Lord, Let not the wife
   [130] depart from her husband: but and if she depart, let her remain
   unmarried, or be reconciled to her husband: and let not the husband put
   away his wife." [131] I believe that, according to a similar rule, if
   he shall put her away, he is to remain unmarried, or be reconciled to
   his wife. For it may happen that he puts away his wife for the cause of
   fornication, which our Lord wished to make an exception of. But now, if
   she is not allowed to marry while the husband is living from whom she
   has departed, nor he to take another while the wife is living whom he
   has put away, much less is it right to commit unlawful acts of
   fornication with any parties whomsoever. More blessed indeed are those
   marriages to be reckoned, where the parties concerned, whether after
   the procreation of children, or even through contempt of such an
   earthly progeny, have been able with common consent to practise
   self-restraint toward each other: both because nothing is done contrary
   to that precept whereby the Lord forbids a spouse to be put away (for
   he does not put her away who lives with her not carnally, but
   spiritually), and because that principle is observed to which the
   apostle gives expression, "It remaineth, that they that have wives be
   as though they had none." [132]
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   [125] Per alias nuptias, quarum potestatem dat divortium ("by another
   marriage, power of which divorce gives."--Bengel). So also Meyer,
   Alford, etc.

   [126] Solutam a viro...moechatur; Vulgate, dimissam...adulterat.

   [127] Matt. xix. 8.

   [128] Rom. vii. 2, 3.

   [129] In conjugio...mulierem; Vulgate, matrimonio...uxorem.

   [130] In conjugio...mulierem; Vulgate, matrimonio...uxorem.

   [131] 1 Cor. vii. 10, 11.

   [132] 1 Cor. vii. 29.
     __________________________________________________________________

   Chapter XV.

   40. But it is rather that statement which the Lord Himself makes in
   another passage which is wont to disturb the minds of the little ones,
   who nevertheless earnestly desire to live now according to the precepts
   of Christ: "If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother,
   and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own
   life also, he cannot be my disciple." [133] For it may seem a
   contradiction to the less intelligent, that here He forbids the putting
   away of a wife saving for the cause of fornication, but that elsewhere
   He affirms that no one can be a disciple of His who does not hate his
   wife. But if He were speaking with reference to sexual intercourse, He
   would not place father, and mother, and brothers in the same category.
   But how true it is, that "the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and
   they that use violence take it by force!" [134] For how great violence
   is necessary, in order that a man may love his enemies, and hate his
   father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brothers! For He
   commands both things who calls us to the kingdom of heaven. And how
   these things do not contradict each other, it is easy to show under His
   guidance; but after they have been understood, it is difficult to carry
   them out, although this too is very easy when He Himself assists us.
   For in that eternal kingdom to which He has vouchsafed to call His
   disciples, to whom He also gives the name of brothers, there are no
   temporal relationships of this sort. For "there is neither Jew nor
   Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor
   female;" "but Christ is all, and in all." [135] And the Lord Himself
   says: "For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in
   marriage, [136] but are as the angels of God in heaven." [137] Hence it
   is necessary that whoever wishes here and now to aim after the life of
   that kingdom, should hate not the persons themselves, but those
   temporal relationships by which this life of ours, which is transitory
   and is comprised in being born and dying, is upheld; because he who
   does not hate them, does not yet love that life where there is no
   condition of being born and dying, which unites parties in earthly
   wedlock.

   41. Therefore, if I were to ask any good Christian who has a wife, and
   even though he may still be having children by her, whether he would
   like to have his wife in that kingdom; mindful in any case of the
   promises of God, and of that life where this incorruptible shall put on
   incorruption, and this mortal shall put on immortality; [138] though at
   present hesitating from the greatness, or at least from a certain
   degree of love, he would reply with execration that he is strongly
   averse to it. Were I to ask him again, whether he would like his wife
   to live with him there, after the resurrection, when she had undergone
   that angelic change which is promised to the saints, he would reply
   that he desired this as strongly as he reprobated the other. Thus a
   good Christian is found in one and the same woman to love the creature
   of God, whom he desires to be transformed and renewed; but to hate the
   corruptible and mortal conjugal connection and sexual intercourse: i.e.
   to love in her what is characteristic of a human being, to hate what
   belongs to her as a wife. So also he loves his enemy, not in as far as
   he is an enemy, but in as far as he is a man; so that he wishes the
   same prosperity to come to him as to himself, viz. that he may reach
   the kingdom of heaven rectified and renewed. This is to be understood
   both of father and mother and the other ties of blood, that we hate in
   them what has fallen to the lot of the human race in being born and
   dying, but that we love what can be carried along with us to those
   realms where no one says, My Father; but all say to the one God, "Our
   Father:" and no one says, My mother; but all say to that other
   Jerusalem, Our mother: and no one says, My brother; but each says
   respecting every other, Our brother. But in fact there will be a
   marriage on our part as of one spouse (when we have been brought
   together into unity), with Him who hath delivered us from the pollution
   of this world by the shedding of His own blood. It is necessary,
   therefore, that the disciple of Christ should hate these things which
   pass away, in those whom he desires along with himself to reach those
   things which shall for ever remain; and that he should the more hate
   these things in them, the more he loves themselves.

   42. A Christian may therefore live in concord with his wife, whether
   with her providing for a fleshly craving, a