Chapter XVII.
56. For in the case of those who are seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, i.e. who are preferring this to all other things, so that for its sake they are seeking the other things, there ought not to remain behind the anxiety lest those things should fail which are necessary to this life for the sake of the kingdom of God. For He has said above, “Your Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.” And therefore, when He had
said, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness,” He did not say, Then seek such things (although they are necessary), but He affirms “all these things shall be added unto you,”406
| 406 Nor is it said, “Seek…in order that all these things may be added:” simply, “and all,” etc., yet largely inclusive,—sanctity and comfort. The comfort follows naturally. The passage is a rebuke to those who condemn the amenities of life and art, and a caution to those who place these things before themselves as a chief end. The passage justifies the statement that religion (or godliness) is profitable for the life that now is. The
Psalmist never saw the righteous forsaken. A traditional saying of Jesus, quoted by Clement, Origen, and Eusebius, runs, “Ask great things, and little things shall be added; ask heavenly things, and earthly things shall be added.”
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i.e. will follow, if ye
seek the former, without any hindrance on your part: lest while ye
seek such things, ye should be turned away from the other; or lest ye should set up two things to be aimed at, so as to
seek both the
kingdom of
God for its own sake, and such necessaries: but these rather for the sake of that other; so shall they not be wanting to you. For ye cannot serve two masters. But the man is attempting to serve two masters, who
seeks both the
kingdom of
God as a great good, and these temporal things. He will not, however, be able to have a single
eye, and to serve the
Lord God alone, unless he take all other things, so
far as they are necessary, for the sake of this one thing,
i.e. for the sake of the
kingdom of
God. But as all who serve as
soldiers receive provisions and pay, so all who
preach the
gospel receive
food and
clothing. But all do not serve as
soldiers for the welfare of the republic, but some do so for what they get: so
also all do not
minister to
God for the welfare of the
Church, but some do so for the sake of these temporal things, which they are to obtain in the shape as it were of provisions and pay; or both for the one thing and for the other. But it has been already said above, “Ye cannot serve two masters.” Hence it is with a single
heart and only for the sake of the
kingdom of
God that we ought to do good to all; and we ought not in doing so to think either of the temporal
reward alone, or of that
along with the
kingdom of
God: all which temporal things He has placed under the category of to-morrow, saying, “Take no thought for to-morrow.”
407
| 407 Cogitare in crastino; Vulgate, solliciti esse in crastinum. There is no uniformity in Augustin’s or the Vulgate’s translation of the Greek μεριμνάω (“take anxious thought”) in this passage.
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For to-morrow is not spoken of except in time, where the future succeeds the past. Therefore, when we do anything good, let us not think of what is temporal, but of what is
eternal; then will that be a good and
perfect work. “For the morrow,” says He, “will be anxious for the things of itself;”
408
| 408 The morrow will bring its own vexations and anxieties. The English version entirely misleads as to the meaning of the special clause, “will take care of itself.” The Revised Version is a literal translation, and at least gives the true sense by implication. But with each day’s temptations and troubles, it is implied, special enablement and deliverance will be provided.
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i.e., so that, when you ought, you will take
food, or drink, or
clothing, that is to say, when necessity itself begins to urge you. For these things will be within reach, because our
Father knoweth that we have need of all these things. For “sufficient unto the day,” says He, “is the
evil thereof;”
409
i.e. it is sufficient that necessity itself will urge us to take such things. And for this reason, I suppose, it is called
evil, because for us it is penal: for it
belongs to this frailty and mortality which we have earned by
sinning. Do not add, therefore, to this
punishment of temporal necessity anything more burdensome, so that you should not only
suffer the want of such things, but should also for the purpose of satisfying this want enlist as a
soldier for
God.
57. In the use of this passage, however, we must be very specially on our guard, lest perchance, when we see any servant of God making provision that such necessaries shall not be wanting either to himself or to those with whose care he has been entrusted, we should decide that he is acting contrary to the Lord’s precept, and is anxious for the morrow.410
| 410 Our Lord’s precept is not against provident forethought,—of which Augustin goes on to give examples,—but against anxious thought which implies distrust of God’s providence. Anxious, fretful, distrustful care for the future, unreliant upon God’s bounty, wisdom, and love (as implied in the address, your heavenly Father) is declared to be unnecessary (25, 26), foolish (27–30), and heathenish (32, “After these things do the Gentiles seek”). The
passages teach trust in God, who is more interested in His children than in the fowls of the air, and will certainly take care of them.
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For the
Lord Himself also, although
angels ministered to Him,
411
yet for the sake of example, that no one might afterwards be scandalized when he observed any of His
servants procuring such necessaries, condescended to have
money bags, out of which whatever might be required for necessary uses might be
provided; of which
bags, as it is written,
Judas, who
betrayed Him, was the
keeper and the
thief.
412
In like manner, the
Apostle Paul also may seem to have taken thought for the morrow, when he said: “Now concerning the collection for the
saints, as I have given order to the
saints of
Galatia, even so do ye: upon the first day of the
week let every one of you lay by him in store
413
| 413 Thesaurizans; Vulgate, recondens.
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what shall seem good unto him, that there be no gatherings when I come. And when I come
414
| 414 Advenero; Vulgate, præsens fuero.
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whomsoever ye shall approve by your letters, them will I send to bring your liberality unto
Jerusalem. And if it be meet that I go also, they shall go with me. Now I will come unto you when I shall pass through
Macedonia: for I shall pass through
Macedonia. And it may be that I will
abide, yea, and
winter with you, that ye may bring me on my
journey whithersoever I go. For I will not see you now by the way; but I
trust to tarry a while with you, if the
Lord permit. But I
will tarry at
Ephesus until
Pentecost.”
415
In the Acts of the
Apostles also it is written, that such things as are necessary for
food were
provided for the future, on account of an impending
famine. For we thus read: “And in these days came
prophets down from
Jerusalem to
Antioch,
416
| 416 Not in the original Greek or Vulgate, but implied in the preceding context.
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and there was great rejoicing. And when we were gathered together,
417
| 417 Not in the original Greek or Vulgate, but implied in the preceding context.
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there stood up one of them named Agabus, and signified by the Spirit that there should be great
dearth throughout all the
world: which came to pass in the days of Claudius Cæsar. Then the
disciples, every one according to his ability, determined to send
relief to the
elders for the
brethren which dwelt in Judæa, which also they did by the
hands of
Barnabas and
Saul.”
418
| 418 Acts xi. 27–30. The clause shows much divergence from the Vulgate in construction.
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And in the case of the necessaries presented to him, wherewith the same
Apostle Paul when setting
sail was laden,
419
food seems to have been furnished for more than a single day. And when the same
apostle writes, “Let him that stole
steal no more: but rather let him labour, working
420
| 420 Operans; Vulgate, operando.
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with his
hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth;”
421
| 421 Eph. iv. 28. Unde tribuere cui opus est; Vulgate, unde tribuat necessitatem patienti.
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to those who misunderstand him he does not seem to keep the
Lord’s
precept, which runs, “Behold the
fowls of the
air; for they sow not, neither do they
reap, nor
gather into
barns;” and, “Consider the
lilies of the
field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin;” while he enjoins the parties in
question to labour, working with their
hands, that they may have something which they may be able to give to others also. And in what he often says of himself,
that he
wrought with his
hands that he might not be burdensome;
422
and in what is written of him, that he joined himself to
Aquila on account of the similarity of their
occupation, in order that they might
work together at that from which they might make a living;
423
he does not seem to have
imitated the
birds of the
air and the
lilies of the
field. From these and such like passages of Scripture, it is sufficiently apparent that our
Lord does not disapprove of it, when one looks after such things in the ordinary way that men do; but only when one enlists as a
soldier of
God for the sake of such things, so that in what he does he
fixes his
eye not on the
kingdom of
God, but on the acquisition of such things.
58. Hence this whole precept is reduced to the following rule, that even in looking after such things we should think of the kingdom of God, but in the service of the kingdom of God we should not think of such things. For in this way, although they should sometimes be wanting (a thing which God often permits for the purpose of exercising us), they not only do not weaken our proposition, but even strengthen it, when it is examined and tested. For, says He, “we
glory in tribulations also; 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.”424
Now, in the mention of his tribulations and labours, the same
apostle mentions that he has had to
endure not only
prisons and shipwrecks and many such like annoyances, but also
hunger and
thirst, cold and
nakedness.
425
But when we read this, let us not
imagine that the
promises of
God have wavered, so that the
apostle suffered hunger and
thirst and
nakedness while seeking the
kingdom and
righteousness of
God, although it is said to us, “
Seek ye first the
kingdom of
God and His
righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you:” since that
Physician to whom we have once for all entrusted ourselves wholly, and from whom we have the
promise of
life present and future, knows such
things just as helps, when He sets them before us, when He takes them away, just as He judges it expedient for us; whom He rules and directs as parties who require both to be
comforted and
exercised in this
life, and after this life to be established and confirmed in perpetual rest. For man also, when he frequently takes away the fodder from his beast of burden, is not depriving it of his care, but rather does what he is doing in the exercise of care.
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