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.

The Prologue.

1. Whereas, in a discourse of no small length and of imperative importance, which we have finished within the compass of one book, we have refuted the folly of those who think that the disciples who have given us these Gospel histories deserve only to be disparagingly handled, for the express reason that no writings are produced by us with the claim of being compositions which have proceeded immediately from the hand of that Christ whom they refuse indeed to worship as God, but whom, nevertheless, they do not hesitate to pronounce worthy to be honoured as a man far surpassing all other men in wisdom; and as, further, we have confuted those who strive to make Him out to have written in a strain suiting their perverted inclinations, but not in terms calculated, by their perusal and acceptance, to set men right, or to turn them from their perverse ways, let us now look into the accounts which the four evangelists have given us of Christ, with the view of seeing how self-consistent they are, and how truly in harmony with each other. And let us do so in the hope that no offence, even of the smallest order may be felt in this line of things in the Christian faith by those who exhibit more curiosity than capacity, in so far as they think that a study of the evangelical books, conducted not in the way of a merely cursory perusal, but in the form of a more than ordinarily careful investigation, has disclosed to them certain matters of an inapposite and contradictory nature, and in so far as their notion is, that these things are to be held up as objections in the spirit of contention, rather than pondered in the spirit of consideration.

LIBER SECUNDUS.

1071

In quo Matthaei Evangelium usque ad coenae narrationem ex ordine pertractat Augustinus, cumque eo comparat alia Marci, Lucae et Joannis Evangelia, demonstrans perpetuam inter quatuor Evangelistas reperiri consensionem.

PROLOGUS.

1. Quoniam sermone non brevi et admodum necessario, quem libro uno complexi sumus, refutavimus eorum vanitatem, qui discipulos Christi Evangelium conscribentes, ideo contemnendos putant, quia ipsius Christi quem licet non ut Deum, tamen ut hominem sapientia longe prae caeteris excellentem honorandum esse non dubitant, nulla scripta proferuntur a nobis; et eum talia scripsisse videri volunt, qualia perversi diligunt, non qualibus lectis et creditis a perversitate corrigi possunt: nunc jam videamus ea quae quatuor Evangelistae de Christo scripserunt, quemadmodum sibi atque inter se congruant; ne quid ex hoc in fide christiana offendiculi patiantur, qui curiosiores quam capaciores sunt, quod non utcumque perlectis, sed quasi diligentius perscrutatis evangelicis Libris, inconvenientia quaedam et repugnantia se deprehendisse existimantes, magis ea contentiose objectanda, quam prudenter consideranda esse arbitrantur.