Augustin was an indefatigable preacher. He considered regular preaching an indispensable part of the duty of a bishop. To his homilies we owe most of his exegetical labors. The homilies were delivered extempore, taken down by scribes and slightly revised by Augustin. They retain their colloquial form, devotional tone, frequent repetitions, and want of literary finish. He would rather be deficient in rhetoric than not be understood by the people. He was cheered by the eager attention and acclamations of his hearers, but never fully satisfied with his performance. “My preaching,” he says, “almost always displeases me. I eagerly long for something better, of which I often have an inward enjoyment in my thoughts before I can put them into audible words. Then when I find that my power of expression is not equal to my inner apprehension, I am grieved at the inability of my tongue to answer to my heart” (De Catech. Rudibus, ch. II. 3, in this Series, Vol. III. 284). His chief merit as an interpreter is his profound theological insight, which makes his exegetical works permanently useful. Comp. the introductory essay in the sixth volume.

This volume contains:

I. The Homilies or Tractates on the Gospel of John (In Joannis Evangelium Tractatus CXXIV).¹

1 The manuscripts vary in their headings between Tractatus, Sermones, and Homiliæ. In three copies used by the Benedictine editors the title is thus given: “Aurelii Augustini Doctoris Hippon. Episc. Homiliæ in Evangelium Dom. Jesu secundum Joannem incipiunt, quas ipse colloqendo prius ad populum habuit, et inter loquendum a notariis exceptas, eo quo habitæ sunt ordine, verbum ex verbo postea dictavit.”—Migne III. II. 1378.

II. The Homilies on the First Epistle of John (In Epistolam Joannis ad Parthos²

2 Ad Parthosis a mistake which is found also in some mss. of the Vulgate and has led to different conjectures. See note to the Prologue, and Critical Introductions to the N.T., e.g. that of Weiss (1886), p. 468. He favors the conjecture πρὸς παρθένους, ad virgines, which Clement of Alex. gives as the superscription to the second Epistle of John. Others conjecture τοῦ παρθένου, (virginis), or Ad sparsos, etc.

III. The Soliloquies (in Vol. I., 869–905, Migne’s ed.) were translated for this Library by the Rev. C. C. Starbuck, of Andover, Mass. They were written by Augustin shortly after his conversion (387), and are here added as a specimen of his earliest philosophical writings. Neither the Oxford nor the Clark Series give them a place. King Alfred translated parts of the Soliloquies into the Anglo-Saxon of his day, and a partial translation appeared in 1631, but I have not seen it.

This volume completes Augustin’s exegetical writings on the New Testament. The eighth and last volume will contain his Homilies on the Psalms, as translated for the Oxford Library, and edited by Bishop Coxe. It will be ready for publication in July of this year.

Philip Schaff.

New York, March 23, 1888.

Contents.

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Preface by the General Editor.

Homilies on the Gospel of John.

Translated by Rev. John Gibb, Professor in the Presbyterian Theological College at London, and Rev. James Innes, Panbride.

Homilies on the First Epistle of John.

Translated by Rev. H. Browne, M.A., Canon of Waltham, and formerly Principal of the Chichester Diocesan College.

Revised and edited by Rev. Joseph H. Myers, D.D., Washington, D.C.

Soliloquies.

Translated by Rev. C. C. Starbuck, M.A., Andover, Mass.

E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH