Sermons on Selected Lessons of the New Testament

[XC. Ben.]

On the words of the Gospel, Matthew 22:2 , etc., about the marriage of the king's son; against the Donatists, on charity. Delivered at Carthage in the Restituta.

1. All the faithful know the marriage of the king's son, and his feast, and the spreading of the Lord's Table is open to them all who will. But it is of importance to each one to see how he approaches, even when he is not forbidden to approach It. For the Holy Scriptures teach us that there are two feasts of the Lord; one to which the good and evil come, the other to which the evil come not. So then the feast, of which we have just now heard when the Gospel was being read, has both good and evil guests. All who excused themselves from this feast are evil; but not all those who entered in are good. You therefore who are the good guests at this feast do I address, who have in your minds the words, “He that eats and drinks unworthily, eats and drinks judgment to himself.” All you who are such do I address, that you look not for the good without, that you bear with the evil within.