Chapter XIX.—Of the Lengthened Sermon Which, According to Matthew, He Delivered on the Mount.

43. Now, regarding that lengthened sermon which, according to Matthew, the Lord delivered on the mount, let us at present see whether it appears that the rest of the evangelists stand in no manner of antagonism to it. Mark, it is true, has not recorded it at all, neither has he preserved any utterances of Christ’s in any way resembling it, with the exception of certain sentences which are not given connectedly, but occur here and there, and which the Lord repeated in other places. Nevertheless, he has left a space in the text of his narrative indicating the point at which we may understand this sermon to have been spoken, although it has been left unrecited. That is the place where he says: “And He was preaching in their synagogues, and in all Galilee, and was casting out devils.”351    Mark i. 39. Under the head of this preaching, in which he says Jesus engaged in all Galilee, we may also understand that discourse to be comprehended which was delivered on the mount, and which is detailed by Matthew. For the same Mark continues his account thus: “And there came a leper to Him, beseeching Him; and kneeling down to Him, said, If Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean.”352    Mark i. 40. And he goes on with the rest of the story of the cleansing of this leper, in such a manner as to make it intelligible to us that the person in question is the very man who is mentioned by Matthew as having been healed at the time when the Lord came down from the mount after the delivery of His discourse. For this is how Matthew gives the history there: “Now, when He was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed Him; and, behold, there came a leper, and worshipped Him, saying, Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make me clean;”353    Matt. viii. 1, 2. and so on.

44. This leper is also referred to by Luke,354    Luke v. 12, 13. [It seems altogether more probable that the healing of the leper occurred, before the Sermon on the Mount, at the time indicated by Luke.—R.] not indeed in this order, but after the manner in which the writers are accustomed to act, recording at a subsequent point things which have been omitted at a previous stage, or bringing in at an earlier point occurrences which took place at a later period, according as they had incidents suggested to their minds by the heavenly influence, with which indeed they had become acquainted before, but which they were afterwards prompted to commit to writing as they came up to their recollection. This same Luke, however, has also left us a version of his own of that copious discourse of the Lord, in a passage which he commences just as the section in Matthew begins. For in the latter the words run thus: “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven;”355    Matt. v. 3. while in the former they are put thus: “Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God.”356    Luke vi. 20. Then, too, much of what follows in Luke’s narrative is similar to what we have in the other. And finally, the conclusion given to the sermon is repeated in both Gospels in its entire identity,—namely, the story of the wise man who builds upon the rock, and the foolish man who builds upon the sand; the only difference being, that Luke speaks only of the stream beating against the house, and does not mention also the rain and the wind, as they occur in Matthew. Accordingly, it might very readily be believed that he has there introduced the self-same discourse of the Lord, but that at the same time he has omitted certain sentences which Matthew has inserted; that he has also brought in other sayings which Matthew has not mentioned; and that, in a similar manner, he has expressed certain of these utterances in somewhat different terms, but without detriment to the integrity of the truth.

45. This we might very well suppose to have been the case, as I have said, were it not that a difficulty is felt to attach to the circumstance that Matthew tells us how this discourse was delivered on a mount by the Lord in a sitting posture; while Luke says that it was spoken on a plain by the Lord in a standing posture. This difference, accordingly, makes it seem as if the former referred to one discourse, and the latter to another. And what should there be, indeed, to hinder [us from supposing] Christ to have repeated elsewhere some words which He had already spoken, or from doing a second time certain things which He had already done on some previous occasion? However, that these two discourses, of which the one is inserted by Matthew and the other by Luke, are not separated by a long space of time, is with much probability inferred from the fact that, at once in what precedes and in what follows them, both the evangelists have related certain incidents either similar or perfectly identical, so that it is not unreasonably felt that the narrations of the writers who introduce these things are occupied with the same localities and days. For Matthew’s recital proceeds in the following terms: “And there followed Him great multitudes of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis, and from Jerusalem, and from Judæa, and from beyond Jordan. And seeing the multitudes, He went up into a mountain; and when He was set, His disciples came unto Him: and He opened His mouth, and taught them, saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven;”357    Matt. iv. 25, etc. and so forth. Here it may appear that His desire was to free Himself from the great crowds of people, and that for this reason He went up into the mountain, as if He meant to withdraw Himself from the multitudes, and seek an opportunity of speaking with His disciples alone. And this seems to be certified also by Luke, whose account is to the following effect: “And it came to pass in those days, that He went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. And when it was day, He called unto Him His disciples: and of them He chose twelve, whom also He named apostles; Simon, whom He also named Peter, and Andrew his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew, Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Alpheus, and Simon, who is called Zelotes, Judas the brother of James, and Judas Scarioth, which was the traitor. And He came down with them, and stood in the plain, and the company of His disciples, and a great multitude of people out of all Judæa and Jerusalem, and from the sea-coast of Tyre358    Various mss. and editions insert et before the Tyri = both of Tyre, although it is wanting in the Greek. and Sidon, which had come to hear Him, and to be healed of their diseases; and they that were vexed with unclean spirits were healed.359    Qui vexabantur a spiritibus immundis curabantur. And the whole multitude sought to touch Him; for there went virtue out of Him, and healed them all. And He lifted up His eyes on His disciples, and said, Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of heaven;”360    Luke vi. 12–20. and so on. Here the relation permits us to understand that, after selecting on the mountain twelve disciples out of the larger body, whom He also named apostles (which incident Matthew has omitted), He then delivered that discourse which Matthew has introduced, and which Luke has left unnoticed,—that is to say, the one on the mount; and that thereafter, when He had now come down, He spoke in the plain a second discourse similar to the first, on which Matthew is silent, but which is detailed by Luke; and further, that both these sermons were concluded in the same manner.361    [The explanation suggested in § 47 is altogether more probable.—R.]

46. But, again, as regards what Matthew proceeds to state after the termination of that discourse—namely this, “And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people362    Turbæ, multitudes. were astonished at His doctrine,”363    Matt. vii. 28.—it may appear that the speakers there were those multitudes of disciples out of whom He had chosen the twelve. Moreover, when the evangelist goes on immediately in these terms, “And when He was come down from the mountain, great multitudes followed Him; and, behold, there came a leper and worshipped Him,”364    Matt. viii. 1, 2. we are at libertyto suppose that that incident took place subsequently to both discourses,—not only after the one which Matthew records, but also after the one which Luke inserts. For it is not made apparent what length of time elapsed after the descent from the mountain. But Matthew’s intention was simply to indicate the fact itself, that after that descent there were great multitudes of people with the Lord on the occasion when He cleansed the leper, and not to specify what period of time had intervened. And this supposition may all the more readily be entertained, since [we find that] Luke tells us how the same leper was cleansed at a time when the Lord was now in a certain city,—a circumstance which Matthew has not cared to mention.

47. After all, however, this explanation may also be suggested,—namely, that in the first instance the Lord, along with His disciples and no others, was on some more elevated portion of the mountain, and that during the period of His stay there He chose out of the number of His followers those twelve; that then He came down in company with them, not indeed from the mountain itself, but from that said altitude on the mountain, into the plain—that is to say, into some level spot which was found on the slope of the mountain, and which was capable of accommodating great multitudes; and that thereafter, when He had seated Himself, His disciples took up their position next Him, and in these circumstances He delivered both to them and to the other multitudes who were present one discourse, which Matthew and Luke have both recorded, their modes of narrating it being indeed different, but the truth being given with equal fidelity by the two writers in all that concerns the facts and sayings which both of them have recounted. For we have already prefaced our inquiry with the position, which indeed ought of itself to have been obvious to all without the need of any one to give them counsel to that effect beforehand, that there is not [necessarily] any antagonism between writers, although one may omit something which another mentions; nor, again, although one states a fact in one way, and another in a different method, provided that the same truth is set forth in regard to the objects and sayings themselves. In this way, therefore, Matthew’s sentence, “Now when He was come down from the mountain,” may at the same time be understood to refer also to the plain, which there might very well have been on the slope of the mountain. And thereafter Matthew tells the story of the cleansing of the leper, which is also given in a similar manner by Mark and Luke.

CAPUT XIX. De illo sermone prolixo quem secundum Matthaeum habuit in monte.

43. Jam nunc de illo sermone prolixo, quem secundum Matthaeum in monte habuit Dominus, videamus utrum ei caeteri Evangelistae nihil adversari videantur. Marcus quippe non eum commemoravit omnino, nec aliquid ejus simile dixit, nisi quasdam sententias, non contextim, sed sparsim, quas Dominus locis aliis repetivit. Reliquit tamen locum in textu narrationis suae, ubi intelligamus hunc dictum esse sermonem, sed ab eo praetermissum: Et erat, inquit, praedicans in synagogis eorum, et omni Galilaea, et daemonia ejiciens. In hac praedicatione quam dicit eum habuisse in omni Galilaea, intelligitur etiam sermo iste habitus in monte, cujus commemorationem facit Matthaeus. Namque idem Marcus ita sequitur, Et venit ad eum leprosus deprecans eum, et genuflexo dixit: Si vis, potes me mundare (Marc. I, 39, 40), et caetera de hoc leproso mundato talia connectit, ut ipse intelligatur, quem Matthaeus commemorat tunc esse mundatum, quando post illum sermonem Dominus de monte descendit. Sic enim ait Matthaeus: Cum autem descendisset de monte, secutae sunt eum turbae multae. Et ecce leprosus, veniens adorabat eum, dicens: Domine, si vis, potes me mundare (Matth. VIII, 1, 2), et caetera.

44. Hujus leprosi etiam Lucas meminit (Luc. V, 12, 13), non sane hoc ordine, sed ut solent praetermissa recordari, vel posterius facta praeoccupare, sicut divinitus suggerebantur, quae antea cognita, postea recordando conscriberent. Verumtamen idem Lucas sermonem etiam ipse Domini prolixum narravit, ubi etiam sic exorsus est, ut in isto Matthaeus. Hic enim dixit, Beati pauperes spiritu, quoniam ipsorum est regnum coelorum: et ille, Beati pauperes, quia vestrum est regnum Dei. Deinde multa quae sequuntur etiam in Lucae narratione similia sunt. Et ad extremum sermonis ipsa conclusio prorsus eadem reperitur, de homine prudente, qui aedificat super petram, et de stulto qui aedificat super arenam: nisi quod ibi flumen tantum dicit illisum domui, non et pluviam et ventos, sicut Matthaeus. Posset ergo facillime credi eumdem etiam ipse Domini interposuisse sermonem, aliquas autem praetermisisse sententias, quas Matthaeus posuit: item alias posuisse, quas iste non dixit; quasdam etiam non iisdem verbis, custodita tamen veritatis integritate, similiter explicasse.

45. Posset hoc, sicut dixi, facillime credi, nisi moveret quod Matthaeus in monte dicit hunc habitum esse sermonem a Domino sedente; Lucas autem in loco campestri a Domino stante. Haec itaque diversitas facit videri alium fuisse illum, alium istum. Quid enim prohiberet Christum alibi quaedam repetere quae jam antea dixerat, aut iterum quaedam facere quae antea jam fecerat? Non sane istos duos sermones, quorum unum Matthaeus, alterum Lucas inseruit, longa temporis distantia separari, hinc probabiliter 1099 creditur, quod et ante et postea quaedam similia vel eadem ambo narrarunt, ut non absurde sentiatur eorum narrationes haec interponentium in eisdem locis et diebus esse versatas. Nam Matthaeus hoc ita dicit: Et secutae sunt eum turbae multae de Galilaea, et Decapoli, et Jerosolymis, et Judaea et de trans Jordanem. Videns autem turbas ascendit in montem; et cum sedisset, accesserunt ad eum discipuli ejus. Et aperiens os suum docebat eos dicens: Beati pauperes spiritu, quoniam ipsorum est regnum coelorum, et caetera (Matth. IV, 25; VII, 29). Hic potest videri multas turbas vitare voluisse, et ob hoc ascendisse in montem, tanquam secedendo a turbis, ut solis suis discipulis loqueretur. Cui rei videtur attestari etiam Lucas, ita narrans: Factum est autem in illis diebus, exiit in montem orare, et erat pernoctans in oratione Dei. Et cum dies factus esset, vocavit discipulos suos, et elegit duodecim ex ipsis, quos et Apostolos nominavit: Simonem, quem cognominavit Petrum, et Andream fratrem ejus, Jacobum et Joannem, Philippum et Bartholomaeum, Matthaeum et Thomam, Jacobum Alphaei et Simonem qui vocatur Zelotes, Judam Jacobi et Judam Scarioth, qui fuit proditor. Et descendens cum illis stetit in loco campestri, et turba discipulorum ejus, et multitudo copiosa plebis, ab omni Judaea, et Jerusalem, et maritima, et Tyri , et Sidonis, qui venerant ut audirent eum et sanarentur a languoribus suis. Et qui vexabantur a spiritibus immundis, curabantur. Et omnis turba quaerebat eum tangere, quia virtus de illo exibat, et sanabat omnes. Et ipse elevatis oculis in discipulos suos dicebat: Beati pauperes, quia vestrum est regnum Dei, etc. (Luc. VI, 12-49). Hic potest intelligi cum in monte duodecim discipulos elegit ex pluribus, quos Apostolos nominavit, quod Matthaeus praetermisit, tunc illum habuisse sermonem quem Matthaeus interposuit, et Lucas tacuit, hoc est in monte; ac deinde cum descendisset, in loco campestri habuisse alterum similem, de quo Matthaeus tacet, Lucas non tacet: et utrumque sermonem eodem modo esse conclusum.

46. Quod autem Matthaeus isto sermone terminato sequitur et dicit, Et factum est, cum consummasset Jesus verba haec, admirabantur turbae super doctrina ejus, potest videri discipulorum turbas dixisse, ex quibus illos duodecim elegerat. Quod vero mox ait, Cum autem descendisset de monte, secutae sunt eum turbae multae: et ecce leprosus veniens adorabat eum, potest intelligi post utrumque sermonem factum fuisse, non solum quem Matthaeus, verum etiam quem Lucas interponit. Neque enim apparet post descensionem de monte quantum temporis fuerit interpositum; sed hoc solum voluit significare Matthaeus, post illam descensionem multas turbas fuisse cum Domino, quando leprosum mundavit, non quantum temporis interfuerit: praesertim cum eumdem leprosum Lucas jam in civitate posito Domino dicat esse mundatum, quod Matthaeus dicere non curavit.

47. Quanquam etiam illud possit occurrere, in aliqua 1100 excelsiore parte montis primo cum solis discipulis Dominum fuisse, quando ex eis illos duodecim elegit: deinde cum eis descendisse, non de monte, sed de ipsa montis celsitudine in campestrem locum, id est, in aliquam aequalitatem, quae in latere montis erat, et multas turbas capere poterat; atque ibi stetisse donec ad eum turbae congregarentur: ac postea cum sedisset, accessisse propinquius discipulos ejus, atque ita illis caeterisque turbis praesentibus unum habuisse sermonem, quem Matthaeus Lucasque narrarunt, diverso narrandi modo, sed eadem veritate rerum et sententiarum, quas ambo dixerunt. Jam enim praemonuimus, quod et nullo praemonente unicuique sponte videndum fuit, si quis praetermittat aliquid quod alius dicat, non esse contrarium; nec si alius alio modo aliquid dicat, dum eadem rerum sententiarumque veritas explicetur: ut quod Matthaeus ait, Cum autem descendisset de monte, simul etiam de illo campestri loco qui in latere montis esse potuit, intelligatur. Deinde Matthaeus de leproso mundato narrat, quod etiam Marcus et Lucas similiter.