A lengthy work by one of the first systematic theologians, Augustine goes over the details on the major sermon that Jesus gave otherwise known as "The Sermon the Mount." He goes over what each verse and line entails so that we can get a clearer picture of what Augustine believes the Lord Jesus would have meant in the time that he had come to Earth. Also, Augustine treats us with a series of pieces that deal with the way the gospels may all be written in different pieces but that they form a coherent whole. This part of the work is a complete connection of what the total message of the four Gospels entails and how the Bible message would not be complete without them. And then the last part of this book deals with several sermons about the different major themes in the Gospels so that we can take those teachings and apply them to everyday life.

"The Council of Nicaea in 325 AD marked the beginning of a new era in Christianity. For the first time, doctrines were organized into a single creed. The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers did most of their writing during and after this important event in Church history. Unlike the previous era of Christian writing, the Nicene and Post-Nicene era is dominated by a few very important and prolific writers. In Volume VI of the 14-volume collected writings of the Nicenes and Post-Nicenes (first published between 1886 and 1889), readers will find Saint Augustines exegesis on the Gospels and the Sermon on the Mount, which strove to interpret and draw meaning out of the text without incorporating the author's personal agenda or bias. Also included in this volume are a selection of Augustines sermons."

This is the extended and annotated edition including * an extensive biographical annotation about the author and his life Book I. The treatise opens with a short statement on the subject of the authority of the Evangelists, their number, their order, and the different plans of their narratives. Augustine then prepares for the discussion of the questions relating to their harmony, by joining issue in this book with those who raise a difficulty in the circumstance that Christ has left no writing of His own, or who falsely allege that certain books were composed by Him on the arts of magic. He also meets the objections of those who, in opposition to the evangelical teaching, assert that the disciples of Christ at once ascribe more to their Master than He really was, when they affirmed that He was God, and inculcated what they had not been instructed in by Him, when they interdicted the worship of the gods. Against these antagonists he vindicates the teaching of the Apostles, by appealing to the utterances of the Prophets, and by showing that the God of Israel was to be the sole object of worship, who also, although He was the only Deity to whom acceptance was denied in former times by the Romans, and that for the very reason that He prohibited them from worshipping other gods along with Himself, has now in the end made the Empire of Rome subject to His Name, and among all nations has broken their idols in pieces through the preaching of the Gospel, as He had promised by His prophets that the event should be. Book II. In this book Augustine undertakes an orderly examination of the Gospel according to Matthew, on to the narrative of the Supper, and institutes a comparison between it and the other Gospels by Mark, Luke, and John, with the view of demonstrating a complete harmony between the four Evangelists throughout all these sections. Book III. This book contains a demonstration of the harmony of the Evangelists from the accounts of the Supper on to the end of the Gospel, the narratives given by the several writers being collated, and the whole arranged in one orderly connection. Book IV. This book embraces a discussion of those passages which are peculiar to Mark, Luke, or John.