Chapter I.—On the Authority of the Gospels.
Chapter II.—On the Order of the Evangelists, and the Principles on Which They Wrote.
Chapter IV.—Of the Fact that John Undertook the Exposition of Christ’s Divinity.
Chapter IX.—Of Certain Persons Who Pretend that Christ Wrote Books on the Arts of Magic.
Chapter XIII.—Of the Question Why God Suffered the Jews to Be Reduced to Subjection.
Chapter XVII.—In Opposition to the Romans Who Rejected the God of Israel Alone.
Chapter XIX.—The Proof that This God is the True God.
Chapter XXII.—Of the Opinion Entertained by the Gentiles Regarding Our God.
Chapter XXIII.—Of the Follies Which the Pagans Have Indulged in Regarding Jupiter and Saturn.
Chapter XXVIII.—Of the Predicted Rejection of Idols.
Chapter XXXI.—The Fulfilment of the Prophecies Concerning Christ.
Chapter XXXIV.—Epilogue to the Preceding.
Chapter VI.—On the Position Given to the Preaching of John the Baptist in All the Four Evangelists.
Chapter VII.—Of the Two Herods.
Chapter XII.—Concerning the Words Ascribed to John by All the Four Evangelists Respectively.
Chapter XIII.—Of the Baptism of Jesus.
Chapter XIV.—Of the Words or the Voice that Came from Heaven Upon Him When He Had Been Baptized.
Chapter XVI.—Of the Temptation of Jesus.
Chapter XVII.—Of the Calling of the Apostles as They Were Fishing.
Chapter XVIII.—Of the Date of His Departure into Galilee.
Chapter XIX.—Of the Lengthened Sermon Which, According to Matthew, He Delivered on the Mount.
Chapter XXI.—Of the Order in Which the Narrative Concerning Peter’s Mother-In-Law is Introduced.
Chapter XXIX.—Of the Two Blind Men and the Dumb Demoniac Whose Stories are Related Only by Matthew.
Chapter XVII.—Of the Harmony of the Four Evangelists in Their Notices of the Draught of Vinegar.
Chapter X.—Of the Evangelist John, and the Distinction Between Him and the Other Three.
Chapter LXXVI.—Of the Harmony in Respect of the Order of Narration Subsisting Between Matthew and the Other Two Evangelists in the Accounts Given of the Occasion on Which He Foretold the Destruction of the Temple.
146. Matthew proceeds with his history in the following terms: “And Jesus went out and departed from the temple; and His disciples came to Him for to show Him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said unto them, See ye all these things? Verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another which shall not be thrown down.”688 Matt. xxiv. 1, 2. According to Migne, certain codices add here the clause, “when the disciples were asking the Lord privately what was the sign of His coming.” This incident is related also by Mark, and nearly in the same order. But he brings it in after a digression of some small extent, which is made with a view to mention the case of the widow who put the two mites into the treasury,689 Mark xii. 41-xiii. 2. which occurrence is recorded only by Mark and Luke. For [in proof that Mark’s order is essentially the same as Matthew’s, we need only notice that] in Mark’s version also, after the account of the Lord’s discussion with the Jews on the occasion when He asked them how they held Christ to be David’s son, we have a narrative of what He said in warning them against the Pharisees and their hypocrisy,—a section which Matthew has presented on the amplest scale, introducing into it a larger number of the Lord’s sayings on that occasion. Then after this paragraph, which has been handled briefly by Mark, and treated with great fulness by Matthew, Mark, as I have said, introduces the passage about the widow who was at once so extremely poor, and yet abounded so remarkably. And finally, without interpolating anything else, he subjoins a section in which he comes again into unison with Matthew,—namely, that relating to the destruction of the temple. In like manner, Luke first states the question which was propounded regarding Christ, as to how He was the son of David, and then mentions a few of the words which were spoken in cautioning them against the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. Thereafter he proceeds, as Mark does, to tell the story of the widow who cast the two mites into the treasury. And finally he appends the statement,690 Luke xx. 16-xxi. 6. which appears also in Matthew and Mark, on the subject of the destined overthrow of the temple.691 [Many harmonists insert at this point the events narrated in John xii. 20–50. Augustin does not express an opinion in regard to this passage.—R.]
CAPUT LXXVI. Cum praenuntiavit templi eversionem, quomodo aliis duobus narrandi ordine congruat.
146. Sequitur Matthaeus, et dicit: Et egressus Jesus de templo ibat: et accesserunt discipuli ejus, ut ostenderent ei aedificationes templi. Ipse autem respondens dixit illis, Videtis haec omnia? Amen dico vobis, non relinquetur hic lapis super lapidem qui non destruatur (Matth. XXIV, 1, 2). Marcus etiam commemorat hoc eodem pene ordine, post aliquantam digressionem, ad hoc factam, ut commemoraret de vidua, quae misit duo minuta in gazophylacium (Marc. XII, 41; XIII, 2), quod eum eo Lucas solus commemorat. Nam etiam secundum Marcum, posteaquam illud Dominus egit cum Judaeis, quomodo acciperent Christum filium David, ea narrantur quae dicit de cavendis Pharisaeis et hypocrisi eorum: quem locum Matthaeus latissime persecutus est, et plura ibi dicta narravit: atque ideo post eumdem locum quem breviter perstrinxit Marcus, et copiose digessit Matthaeus, nihil amplius Marcus intulit, sicut dixi, quam de illa vidua pauperrima et uberrima; ac deinde 1150 subjungit ea quibus Matthaeo iterum cohaereret, dicens de templi futura eversione. Lucas quoque post illud de Christo, quomodo esset filius David, pauca de cavenda hypocrisi Pharisaeorum commemorat. Inde sicut Marcus pergit ad viduam, quae duo minuta in gazophylacium misit. Deinde subjungit de templi futura eversione, quod Matthaeus et Marcus (Luc. XX, 46; XXI, 6).