Augustine, Sermo 25 (De uerbis Euangelii Matthaei 12)

Sermon 25. On verse 12 of Psalm 93 [94], Blessed is the man whom Thou shalt instruct, O Lord, etc.

Chapter the First. — 1. The Gospel is the law of the New Testament. The promises of the old Law are to be understood spiritually. When we were singing to God, we said to Him, Blessed is the man whom Thou shalt instruct, O Lord, and shalt teach him out of Thy law. So, then, God's Gospel has sounded, and Zacchaeus has given alms. Learn this. For what law of God is better than the holy Gospel? For it is the law of the New Testament¹, of which the prophet, when he was being read, you heard: Behold, the days come, says the Lord, and I will perfect, upon the house of Jacob, a new testament: not according to the testament which I made with their fathers, when I led them out of the land of Egypt (Jer. 31:31–32). The testament was promised there, fulfilled here; promised through the prophet, fulfilled through the Lord of the prophets. That testament which is called the Old — read it, and see. The law of God was given even then; read it, or hear it when it is read, and see what was promised there. A land was promised you — a land of earth; a land flowing with milk and honey; yet still a land. But if we understand it spiritually (since that land never actually flowed with milk and honey), there is another land that will flow with milk and honey — that land of which it is said, Thou art my hope, my portion in the land of the living (Ps. 141 [142]:6). For this land is a land of the dying.

Chapter II. — Do you seek milk and honey? Taste and see how sweet is the Lord (Ps. 33 [34]:9). His grace is signified by the name of milk and honey: it is sweet, and it nourishes. This grace was figured in the Old Testament, and revealed in the New.

2. The servitude of the old Law, when God is worshipped for the sake of earthly things. That Law, then, on account of those who carnally

are minded, and seek such rewards from God, and wish to worship God for the sake of those things which were promised there, deserved to hear from the apostle Paul that it bears children for bondage (Gal. 4:24). Why? Because it is understood carnally by the Jews. For understood spiritually, it is the Gospel. It bears children for bondage, then. Whom? Those who serve God for the sake of earthly goods. When they have them, they give thanks; when they lack them, they blaspheme. For those who serve God for the sake of these things cannot serve Him with a true heart. For they look to those who do not serve our God: they see them having what they themselves serve God for; and they say in their heart, What do I gain by serving God? Do I have as much as this man who blasphemes every day? He prays, and goes hungry; the other blasphemes, and belches [from plenty]. Whoever attends to these things is merely a man; he is a man of the Old Testament. But whoever worships God in the New Testament ought to hope for a new inheritance, not the old. If you hope for a new inheritance, pass beyond the earth, tread down the heights of the mountains; that is, despise the summit of the proud.

Chapter III. Lift up your heart. But when you have despised and trodden these things down, be humble, lest you fall from the height. Hear, Lift up your heart: but to the Lord, not against the Lord. All the proud have their heart lifted up, but against the Lord. But if you truly wish to have your heart lifted up, hold it towards the Lord. For if you have held your heart lifted up towards the Lord, He Himself holds your heart, lest it fall to the earth.

3. Evil days, from the beginning of sin. Blessed, then, is the man — Blessed is the man whom Thou shalt instruct, O Lord. See, I speak, see, I cry out, see, I set it forth. Who are they that hear me? I know who hear me: Blessed is the man whom Thou shalt instruct, O Lord; he to whom God speaks in his heart, even when I am silent, he himself is the blessed one whom Thou shalt instruct, O Lord, and shalt teach him out of Thy law. What follows? Thus far we have sung: And shalt teach him out of Thy law. That Thou mayest give him rest from the evil days, until a pit be dug for the sinner. He is the man who is instructed by the Lord, he it is who learns from the Lord out of God's law, who is given rest from the evil days, until a pit be dug for the sinner. Hear what this is. There are evil days. Is it, perhaps, that here, ever since we were cast out of Paradise, we have been living out evil days? Our elders, too, mourned their own days, and their grandfathers mourned theirs. No days have ever pleased the men who lived through them. But the days of our elders please those who came after: and to them in their turn those days were pleasing which they themselves did not experience, and for that reason they were pleasing. For what is present has a sharp sense of itself. I do not say that it is brought nearer; rather, it touches the heart daily. Every year we mostly say, when we feel the cold, It has never made such cold before; It has never made such heat before. He Who makes it always makes the same¹. But blessed is the man whom Thou shalt instruct, O Lord: that Thou mayest give him rest from the evil days, until a pit be dug for the sinner.

Chapter IV. — 4. Whence the evil days. The evil days. Are these evil days, perhaps, the ones driven by the circuit of the sun? It is evil men who make evil days: and so nearly the whole world is [evil]. Amid the crowds of the wicked, the scarcity of good grain groans. Let us call back our attention to the

just themselves. They are evil, and they make evil days: what of the just themselves? Are they not, too, in evil days, even within themselves, apart from what they suffer from evil men, among whom they groan? And within themselves, I say, when they are alone, let them attend to themselves, go down into themselves, examine themselves well; they will find evil days in themselves. They do not want war, they want peace: and who does not? And though all refuse war, and all wish for peace, even the man who lives justly, when he turns his eyes upon himself, finds war within himself. Ask me what war this is. Blessed is the man whom Thou shalt instruct, O Lord, and shalt teach him out of Thy law. See, a man asks me what war the just man suffers in himself; teach him out of Thy law, let the Apostle speak: The flesh lusts against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh (Gal. 5:17). And where do I cast off the flesh, if war should sound, if — which God forbid — an enemy should rush in? The man flees, and drags his own war with him, wherever he goes. I do not say this of one who is evil: rather, if he is good, if he lives justly, he finds in himself what the Apostle says, The flesh lusts against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh. In this warfare, how can there be good days?

Chapter V. — 5. Evil days are of profit to the devout, for finding good days. The days, then, are evil: but let us be softened. What does it mean, Let us be softened? Let us not be angry at the divine judgement. Let us say to Him: It is good for me that Thou hast humbled me, that I may learn Thy statutes (Ps. 118 [119]:71). Thou hast cast me down from paradise, Thou hast thrown me out of blessedness: I am in hardship, I am in groaning, my groaning is not hidden from Thee. But it is good for me that Thou hast humbled me, that I may learn Thy statutes. In the evil days I learn to seek the good days. What are the good days? Do not seek them just now: believe me — or rather, believe with me — you will not find them. The evil days will pass, and the good will come: but the good will come to the good, worse to the evil.

6. On what condition the good days are offered. For I too ask you, Who is the man that desires life? I know that all your hearts answer me, For what man is there who does not desire life? I add, And loves to see good days? You all answer, Who is there that does not love to see good days? You answer well; you want life, you want good days. Indeed, when I was saying, Who is the man that desires life? every man answered me, I. Who is the man that desires to see good days? Does not each of you say in silence, I? Hear what follows: Keep your tongue from evil (Ps. 33 [34]:13–14). Now say, I. You seek pardon: now let me find you.

Chapter VI. — The past is past: you may have had an evil tongue, you may have been a whisperer¹, an accuser, a slanderer, a reviler; you may have been all these things. Let these things pass away with the evil days: do not you yourself pass away with the evil days. For there is something you can hold to, so that you do not pass away with them. Human affairs run on like a river: the evil days run on like a river. Hold fast to the wood, lest you be swept away. See, the river runs. For all flesh is grass, and all the glory of the flesh is as the flower of grass. It is hurried on, it passes, the grass has withered, the flower has fallen. To what do I hold myself?

The word of the Lord abides for ever (Isa. 40:6–8).

7. What kind of peace is commanded to be followed. Keep, then, your tongue from evil, and your lips that they speak no guile. You who wanted life, or who want life and good days, turn aside from evil, and do good. Seek peace, which we all desire, both in this mortality of the flesh, and in this frailty of the flesh, and in this most lying vanity. All of you, seek peace. Seek peace, and follow it (Ps. 33 [34]:15). Where is it? Whither do I follow? Which way did it pass? Which way did it pass, that I may follow? It passed through you, but it did not remain in you. To whom do I say this? To the human race: not to each one of you, but to the human race. Through the human race peace itself passed: as it passed, the blind man cried out, in yesterday's reading. And whither did it go? First see what peace is, and see whither it has gone, and follow it. What is peace? Hear the Apostle; he was saying of Christ, He is our peace, Who has made both one (Eph. 2:14). Peace, then, is Christ. Whither did He go? He was crucified, and buried, He rose from the dead, He ascended into heaven. Behold whither peace has gone.

Chapter VII. — Lift up your heart. How do I follow it? Lift up your heart. Hear how you may follow. Every day indeed you hear it briefly, when it is said to you, Lift up your heart; think higher from there, and you follow. Yet hear it also more broadly, so that you may follow the true peace, your peace, the peace which bore war for you; the peace which, while it endured war for you, prayed for the enemies of peace, and said as it hung, Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do (Luke 23:34). There was war, and peace was flowing from the wood. It was flowing, but afterwards what? It ascended into heaven: seek peace. And how will you follow? Hear the Apostle: If you have risen with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God; savour the things that are above, not the things upon the earth. For you are dead, and your life is hidden with Christ in God: when Christ your life shall appear, then you also shall appear with Him in glory (Col. 3:1–4).

Chapter VIII. — Behold the good days: let us desire them; for this let us live, for this let us pray, for this let us give alms.

8. Christ is to be clothed and received in the poor man. Now behold, by God's favour, it is winter: think of the poor, how Christ may be clothed who is naked. When the Gospel was being read, did we not all call Zacchaeus blessed, when Christ looked up at him, intent in the tree that he might see Him passing by? For when could he have hoped [to have Him] dwelling in his house? When He said to him, Come down, Zacchaeus; today I must abide in your house (Luke 19:5), I heard the sighs of your rejoicing. As though you had all been in Zacchaeus, and had received Christ; so the heart of all of you said, O blessed Zacchaeus! The Lord has entered into his house. O blessed [man]! Can it so befall us? Christ is now in heaven. Read out to me, O Christ, the New Testament: make me blessed out of Thy law. Read out, that you may know that you are not cheated of the presence of Christ. Hear Him Who is to judge: When you did it to one of the least of mine, you did it to me (Matt. 25:40). Each one of you waits to receive Christ sitting in heaven: look

to Him lying under the portico; look to the hungry, look to him who suffers cold, look to the needy, look to the stranger. Do what you are wont to do; do what you are not wont to do¹. Teaching grows; let good works grow. You praise the sowing; show forth the harvest. Amen.