Page:HalfHoursWithTheSaints.djvu/45



Saints Augustine, Chrysostom, Jerome,  and  Cyprian.

[St. Augustine, the  perfect  model  of  penitents,  was  born,  a.d.  354, at Agaste,  a  small  town  of  Numidia,  in  Africa. Patrick, his  father, after having  been  for  many  years  an  idolater,  embraced  Christianity and received  baptism. As to  St.  Monica,  his  mother,  every  one  knows that she  was  a  model  to  all  Christian  mothers. Through the  prayers of his  saintly  mother,  he  was  converted  when  he  was  thirty-two. At the age  of  forty-two,  he  was  consecrated  Bishop  of  Hippo.

St Augustine  has  ever  been  regarded,  and  justly,  as  the  most learned of  the  bishops  of  his  age,  and  the  doctor  of  all  the  churches. He expired,  tranquilly,  on  the  28th  of  August  430,  aged  seventy-six years, nigh  forty  of  which  had  been  spent  in  the  labours  of  the apostolic ministry.]

The difference  between  the  two  Testaments  may  be  explained  in  two  words — love  and  fear. The one  appertains to the  old  man,  the  other  to  the  new.

This is  the  principal  difference. For the  new  law  is that  which  God  promises  to  impress  upon  the  mind,  to engrave  on  the  heart,  and  that  which  is  written  on  in giving  us  the  Holy  Ghost,  which  diffuses  the  requisite charity to  make  us  love  truth  and  justice.

So that  this  new  law  induces  us  to  love  all  that  it commands,  while  the  laws  engraven  on  a  stone,  only  show the obligations  of  creatures,  and  threats  in  default  of  obedience. It is  this  difference  which  the  Apostle  wished  to