Selected Works of St. Ambrose, Bishop of
Milan
Three Books On the Duties of the Clergy
by
St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan
Return to www.BrainFly.Net
BOOK I.
CHAPTER I.
A Bishop's special office is to teach; St. Ambrose himself, however,
has to learn in order that he may teach; or rather has to teach
what he has not learnt; at any rate learning and teaching with
himself must go on together.
1. I THINK I shall not seem to be taking too much on
myself, if, in the midst of my children, I yield to my desire to teach,
seeing that the master of humility himself has said: "Come, ye
children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the Lord."(1)
Wherein one may observe both the humility and the grace of his
reverence for God. For in saying "the fear of the Lord," which seems to
be common to all, he has described the chief mark of reverence for God.
As, however, fear itself is the beginning of wisdom and the source of
blessedness--for they that fear the Lord are blessed(2)--he has plainly
marked himself out as the teacher for instruction in wisdom, and the
guide to the attainment of blessedness.
2. We therefore, being anxious to imitate his
reverence for God, and not without justification in dispensing grace,
deliver to you as to children those things which the Spirit of Wisdom
has imparted to him, and which have been made clear to us through him,
and learnt by sight and by example. For we can no longer now escape
from the duty of teaching which the needs of the priesthood have laid
upon us, though we tried to avoid it:(3) "For God gave some, apostles;
and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and
teachers."(4)
3. I do not therefore claim for myself the glory of
the apostles (for who can do this save those whom the Son of God
Himself has chosen?); nor the grace of the prophets, nor the virtue of
the evangelists, nor the cautious care of the pastors. I only desire to
attain to that care and diligence in the sacred writings, which the
Apostle has placed last amongst the duties of the saints;(1) and this
very: thing I desire, so that, in the endeavour to teach, I may be able
to learn. For one is the true Master, Who alone has not learnt, what He
taught all; but men learn before they teach, and receive from Him what
they may hand on to others.
4. But not even this was the case with me. For I was
carried off from the judgment seat, and the garb [infulis] of office,
to enter on the priesthood,(2) and began to teach you, what I myself
had not yet learnt. So it happened that I began to teach before I began
to learn. Therefore I must learn and teach at the same time, since I
had no leisure to learn before.(3)
CHAFFER II.
Manifold dangers are incurred by speaking; the remedy for which
Scripture shows to consist in silence.
5. Now what ought we to learn before everything
else, but to be silent, that we may be able to speak? lest my voice
should condemn me, before that of another acquit
2
me; for it is written: "By thy words thou shalt be condemned."(1) What
need is there, then, that thou shouldest hasten to undergo the danger
of condemnation by speaking, when thou cans, be more safe by keeping
silent? How many have I seen to fall into sin by speaking, but scarcely
one by keeping silent; and so it is more difficult to know how to keep
silent than how to speak. I know that most persons speak because they
do not know how to keep silent. It is seldom that any one is silent
even when speaking profits him nothing. He is wise, then, who knows how
to keep silent. Lastly, the Wisdom of God said: "The Lord hath given to
me the tongue of learning, that I should know when it is good to
speak."(2) Justly, then, is he wise who has received of the Lord to
know when he ought to speak. Wherefore the Scripture says well: "A wise
man will keep silence until there is opportunity."(3)
6. Therefore the saints of the Lord loved to keep
silence, because they knew that a man's voice is often the utterance of
sin, and a man's speech is the beginning of human error. Lastly, the
Saint of the Lord said: "I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I
offend not in my tongue."(4) For he knew and had read that it was a
mark of the divine protection for a man to be hid from the scourge of
his own tongue,(5) and the witness of his own conscience. We are
chastised by the silent reproaches of our thoughts, and by the judgment
of conscience. We are chastised also by the lash of our own voice, when
we say things whereby our soul is mortally injured, and our mind is
sorely wounded. But who is there that has his heart clean from the
impurities of sin, and does not offend in his tongue? And so, as he saw
there was no one who could keep his mouth free from evil speaking, he
laid upon himself the law of innocency by a rule of silence, with a
view to avoiding by silence that fault which he could with difficulty
escape in speaking.
7. Let us hearken, then, to the master of
precaution: "I said, I will take heed to my ways;" that is, "I said to
myself: in the silent biddings of my thoughts, I have enjoined upon
myself, that I should take heed to my ways." Some ways there are which
we ought to follow; others as to which we ought to take heed. We must
follow the ways of the Lord, and take heed to our own ways, lest they
lead us into sin. One can take heed if one is not hasty in speaking.
The law says: "Hear, O Israel, the Lord thy God"(1) It said not:
"Speak," but "Hear."Eve fell because she said to the man what she had
not heard from the Lord her God. The first word from God says to thee:
Hear! If thou hearest, take heed to thy ways; and if thou hast fallen,
quickly amend thy way. For: "Wherein does a young man amend his way;
except in taking heed to the word of the Lord?"(2) Be silent therefore
first of all, and hearken, that thou fail not in thy tongue.
8. It is a great evil that a man should be condemned
by his own mouth. Truly, if each one shall give account for an idle
word,(3) how much more for words of impurity and shame? For words
uttered hastily are far worse than idle words. If, therefore, an
account is demanded for an idle word, how much more will punishment be
exacted for impious language?
CHAPTER III.
Silence should not remain unbroken, nor should it arise from idleness.
How heart and mouth must be guarded against inordinate affections.
9. WHAT then? Ought we to be dumb? Certainly not.
For: "there is a time to keep silence and a time to speak."(4) If,
then, we are to give account for an idle word, let us take care that we
do not have to give it also for an idle silence. For there is also an
active silence, such as Susanna's was, who did more by keeping silence
than if she had spoken. For in keeping silence before men she spoke to
God, and found no greater proof of her chastity than silence. Her
conscience spoke where no word was heard, and she sought no judgment
for herself at the hands of men, for she had the witness of the Lord.
She therefore desired to be acquitted by Him, Who she knew could not be
deceived in any way.(5) Yea, the Lord Himself in the Gospel worked out
in silence the salvation of men.(6) David rightly therefore enjoined on
himself not constant silence, but watchfulness.
10. Let us then guard our hearts, let us guard our
mouths. Both have been written about. In this place we are bidden to
take heed to our mouth; in another place thou art told: "Keep thy heart
with all diligence."(7) If David took heed, wilt thou not
3
take heed? If Isaiah had unclean lips--who said: "Woe is me, for I am
undone, for I am a man, and have unclean lips"(1)--if a prophet of the
Lord had unclean lips, how shall we have them clean?
11. But for whom was it written, unless it was for
each one of us: "Hedge thy possession about with thorns, and bind up
thy silver and gold, and make a door and a bar for thy mouth, and a
yoke and a balance for thy words"?(2) Thy possession is thy mind, thy
gold thy heart, thy silver thy speech: "The words of the Lord are pure
words, as silver tried in the fire."(3) A good mind is also a good
possession. And, further, a pure inner life is a valuable possession.
Hedge in, then, this possession of thine, enclose it with thought,
guard it with thorns, that is, with pious care, lest the fierce
passions of the flesh should rush upon it and lead it captive, lest
strong emotions should assault it, and, overstepping their bounds,
carry off its vintage. Guard thy inner self. Do not neglect or contemn
it as though it were worthless, for it is a valuable possession; truly
valuable indeed, for its fruit is not perishable and only for a time,
but is lasting and of use for eternal salvation. Cultivate, therefore,
thy possession, and let it be thy tilling ground.
12. Bind up thy words that they run not riot, and
grow wanton, and gather up sins for themselves in too much talking. Let
them be rather confined, and held back within their own banks. An
overflowing river quickly gathers mud. Bind up also thy meaning; let it
not be left slack and unchecked, lest it be said of thee: "There is no
healing balsam, nor oil, nor bandage to apply."(4) Sobriety of mind has
its reins, whereby it is directed and guided.
13. Let there be a door to thy mouth, that it may be
shut when need arises, and let it be carefully barred, that none may
rouse thy voice to anger, and thou pay back abuse with abuse. Thou hast
heard it read to-day: "Be ye angry and sin not."(5) Therefore although
we are angry (this arising from the motions of our nature, not of our
will), let us not utter with our mouth one evil word, lest we fall into
sin; but let there be a yoke and a balance to thy words, that is,
humility and moderation, that thy tongue may be subject to thy mind.
Let it be held in check with a tight rein; let it have its own means of
restraint, whereby it can be recalled to moderation; let it utter
swords tried by the scales of justice, that thee may be seriousness in
our meaning, weight in our speech, and due measure in our words.
CHAPTER IV.
The same care must be taken that our speech proceed not from evil
passions, but from good motives; for here it is that the devil is
especially on the watch to catch us.
14. IF any one takes heed to this, he will be mild,
gentle, modest. For in guarding his mouth, and restraining his tongue,
and in not speaking before examining, pondering, and weighing his
words--as to whether this should be said, that should be answered, or
whether it be a suitable time for this remark--he certainly is
practising modesty, gentleness, patience. So he will not burst out into
speech through displeasure or anger, nor give sign of any passion in
his words, nor proclaim that the flames of lust are bunting in his
language, or that the incentives of wrath are present in what he says.
Let him act thus for fear that his words, which ought to grace his
inner life, should at the last plainly show and prove that there is
some vice in his morals.
15. For then especially does the enemy lay his
plans, when he sees passions engendered in us; then he supplies tinder;
then he lays snares. Wherefore the prophet says not without cause, as
we heard read to-day: "Surely He hath delivered me from the snare of
the hunter and from the hard word."(1) Symmachus(2) said this means
"the word of provocation;" others "the word that brings disquiet." The
snare of the enemy is our speech--but that itself is also just as much
an enemy to us. Too often we say something that our foe takes hold of,
and whereby he wounds us as though by our own sword. How far better it
is to perish by the sword of others than by our own!
16. Accordingly the enemy tests our arms and clashes
together his weapons. If he sees that I am disturbed, he implants the
points of his darts, so as to raise a crop of quarrels. If I utter an
unseemly word, he sets his snare. Then he puts before me the
opportunity for revenge as a bait, so that in desiring to be revenged,
I may put myself in the snare, and draw the death-knot tight for
myself. If any one feels this enemy is
4
near, he ought to give greater heed to his mouth, lest he make room for
the enemy; but not many see him.
CHAFFER V.
We must guard also against a visible enemy when he incites us by
silence; by the help of which alone we can escape from those greater
than ourselves, and maintain that humility which we must display
towards all.
17. BUT we must also guard against him who can be
seen, and who provokes us, and spurs us on, and exasperates us, and
supplies what will excite us to licentiousness or lust. If, then, any
one reviles us, irritates, stirs us up to violence, tries to make us
quarrel; let us keep silence, let us not be ashamed to become dumb. For
he who irritates us and does us an injury is committing sin, and wishes
us to become like himself.
18. Certainly if thou art silent, and hidest thy
feelings, he is wont to say: "Why are you silent? Speak if you dare;
but you dare not, you are dumb, I have made you speechless." If thou
art silent, he is the more excited. He thinks himself beaten, laughed
at, little thought of, and ridiculed. If thou answerest, he thinks he
has become the victor, because he has found one like himself. For if
thou art silent, men will say: "That man has been abusive, but this one
held him in contempt." If thou return the abuse, they will say: "Both
have been abusive." Both will be condemned, neither will be acquitted.
Therefore it is his object to irritate, so that I may speak and act as
he does. But it is the duty of a just man to hide his feelings and say
nothing, to preserve the fruit of a good conscience, to trust himself
rather to the judgment of good men than to the insolence of a
calumniator, and to be satisfied with the stability of his own
character. For that is: "To keep silence even from good words;"(1)
since one who has a good conscience ought not to be troubled by false
words, nor ought he to make more of another's abuse than of the witness
of his own heart.
19. So, then, let a man guard also his humility. If,
however, he is unwilling to appear too humble, he thinks as follows,
and says within himself: "Am I to allow this man to despise me, and say
such things to my face against me, as though I could not open my mouth
before him? Why should I not also say something whereby I can grieve
him? Am I to let him do me wrong, as though I were not a man, and as
though I could not avenge myself? Is he to bring charges against me as
though I could not bring together worse ones against him?"
20. Whoever speaks like this is not gentle and
humble, nor is he without temptation. The tempter stirs him up, and
himself puts such thoughts in his heart. Often and often, too, the evil
spirit employs another person, and gets him to say such things to him;
but do thou set thy foot firm on the rock. Although a slave should
abuse, let the just man be silent, and if a weak man utter insults, let
him be silent, and if a poor man should make accusations, let him not
answer. These are the weapons of the just man, so that he may conquer
by giving way, as those skilled in throwing the javelin are wont to
conquer by giving way, and in flight to wound their pursuers with
severer blows.
CHAFFER VI.
In this matter we must imitate David's silence and humility, so as not
even to seem deserving of harm.
21. WHAT need is there to be troubled when we hear
abuse? Why do we not imitate him who says: "I was dumb and humbled
myself, and kept silence even from good words"?(1) Or did David only
say this, and not act up to it? No, he also acted up to it. For when
Shimei the son of Gera reviled him, David was silent; and although he
was surrounded with armed men he did not return the abuse, nor sought
revenge: nay, even when the son of Zeruiah spoke to him, because he
wished to take vengeance on him, David did not permit it.(2) He went on
as though dumb, and humbled; he went on in silence; nor was he
disturbed, although called a bloody man, for he was conscious of his
own gentleness. He therefore was not disturbed by insults, for he had
full knowledge of his own good works.
22. He, then, who is quickly roused by wrong makes
himself seem deserving of insult, even whilst he wishes to be shown not
to deserve it. He who despises wrongs is better off than he who grieves
over them. For he who despises them looks down on them, as though he
feels them not; but he who grieves over them is tormented, just as
though he actually felt them.
CHAPTER VII.
How admirably Ps. xxxix. [xxxviii.] takes the place of an introduction.
Incited thereto by this psalm the saint determines to write on duties.
He does this with more reason even than Cicero, who wrote on this
subject to his son. How, further, this is so.
23. NOT without thought did I make use of the
beginning of this psalm, in writing to you, my children. For this psalm
which the Prophet David gave to Jeduthun to sing,(1) I urge you to
regard, being delighted myself with its depth of meaning and the
excellency of its maxims. For we have learnt in those words we have
just shortly touched upon, that both patience in keeping silence and
the duty of awaiting a fit time for speaking are taught in this psalm,
as well as contempt of riches in the following verses, which things are
the chief groundwork of virtues. Whilst, therefore, meditating on this
psalm, it has come to my mind to write "on the Duties."
24. Although some philosophers have written on this
subject,--Panaetius,(2) for instance, and his son amongst the Greek,
Cicero amongst the Latin, writers--I did not think it foreign to my
office to write also myself. And as Cicero wrote for the instruction of
his son,(3) so I, too, write to teach you, my children. For I love yon,
whom I have begotten in the Gospel, no less than if you were my own
true sons. For nature does not make us love more ardently than grace.
We certainly ought to love those who we think will be with us for
evermore. than those who will be with us in this world only. These
often are born unworthy of their race, so as to bring disgrace on their
father; but you we chose beforehand, to love. They are loved naturally,
of necessity, which is not a sufficiently suitable and constant teacher
to implant a lasting love. But ye are loved on the ground of our
deliberate choice, whereby a great feeling of affection is combined
with the strength of our love: thus one tests what one loves and loves
what one has chosen.
CHAPTER VIII.
The word "Duty" has been often used both by philosophers and in the
holy Scriptures; from whence it is derived.
25. SINCE, therefore, the person concerned is one
fit to write on the Duties, let us see whether the subject itself
stands on the same ground, and whether this word is suitable only to
the schools of the philosophers, or is also to be found in the sacred
Scriptures. Beautifully has the Holy Spirit, as it happens, brought
before us a passage in reading the Gospel to-day, as though He would
urge us to write; whereby we are confirmed in our view, that the word
officium, "duty," may also be used with us. For when Zacharias the
priest was struck dumb in the temple, and could not speak, it is said:
"And it came to pass that as soon as the days of his duty [officii]
were accomplished, he departed to his own house."(1) We read,
therefore, that the word officium, "duty," can be used by us.
26.(2) And this is not inconsistent with reason,
since we consider that the word officium (duty) is derived from
efficere (to effect), and is formed with the change of one letter for
the sake of euphony; or at any rate that you should do those things
which injure [officiant] no one, but benefit all.
CHAPTER IX.
A duty is to be chosen from what is virtuous, and from what is useful,
and also from the comparison of the two, one with the other; but
nothing is recognized by Christians as virtuous or useful which is not
helpful to the future life. This treatise on duty, therefore, will not
be superfluous.
27. THE philosophers considered that duties(3) were
derived from what is virtuous and what is useful, and that from these
two one should choose the better. Then, they say, it may happen that
two virtuous or two useful things will clash together, and the question
is, which is the more virtuous, and which the more useful? First,
therefore, "duty" is divided into three sections: what is virtuous,
what is useful, and what is the better of two. Then, again, these three
are divided into five classes; that is, two that are virtuous, two that
are useful, and, lastly, the right judgment as to the choice between
them. The first they say has to do with the moral dignity and integrity
of life; the second with the con-
6
veniences of life, with wealth, resources, opportunities; whilst a
right judgment must underlie the choice of any Of them. This is what
the philosophers say.(1)
28. But we measure nothing at all but that which is
fitting and virtuous, and that by the rule of things future rather than
of things present; and we state nothing to be useful but what will help
us to the blessing of eternal life; certainly not that which will help
us enjoy merely the present time. Nor do we recognize any advantages in
opportunities and in the wealth of earthly goods, but consider them as
disadvantages if not put aside, and to be looked on as a burden, when
we have them, rather than as a loss when expended.
29. This work of ours, therefore, is not
superfluous, seeing that we and they regard duty in quite different
ways. They reckon the advantages of this life among the good things, we
reckon them among the evil things; for he who receives good things
here, as the rich man in the parable, is tormented there; and Lazarus,
who endured evil things here, there found comfort.(2) Lastly, those who
do not read their writings may read ours if they will--if, that is,
they do not require great adornment of language or a skilfully-treated
subject, but are satesfied with the simple charm of the subject itself.
CHAPTER X.
What is seemly is often found in the sacred writings long before it
appears in the books of the philosophers. Pythagoras borrowed the law
of his silence from David. David's rule, however, is the best, for our
first duty is to have due measure in speaking.
30. WE are instructed and taught that "what is
seemly"(3) is put in our Scriptures in the first place. (In Greek it is
called <greek>prepon</greek>) For we read: "A Hymn be-seems
Thee, O God, in Sion," In Greek this is:
<greek>Soi</greek>
<greek>preprepeiumnos</greek> <greek>o</greek>
<greek>Qeos</greek> <greek>en</greek>
<greek>Siwn</greek>.(4) And the Apostle says: "Speak
the things which become sound doctrine."(5) And elsewhere: "For it
beseemed Him through Whom are all things and for Whom are all things,
in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the Captain of their
salvation perfect through sufferings."(6) 31. Was Panaetius or
Aristotle, who also wrote on duty," earlier than David? Why, Pythagoras
himself, who lived before the time of Socrates, followed the prophet
David's steps and gave his disciples a law of silence. He went so far
as to restrain his disciples from the use of speech for five years.
David, on the other hand, gave his law, not with a view to impair the
gift of nature, but to teach us to take heed to the words we utter.
Pythagoras again made his rule, that he might teach men to speak by not
speaking. But David made his, so that by speaking we might learn the
more how to speak. How can there be instruction without exercise, or
advance without practice?
32. A man wishing to undergo a warlike training
daily exercises himself with his weapons. As though ready for action he
rehearses his part in the fight and stands forth just as if the enemy
were in position before him. Or, with a view to acquiring skill and
strength in throwing the javelin, he either puts his own arms to the
proof, or avoids the blows of his foes, and escapes them by his
watchful attention. The man that desires to navigate a ship on the sea,
or to row, tries first on a river. They who wish to acquire an
agreeable style of singing and a beautiful voice begin by bringing out
their voice gradually by singing. And they who seek to win the crown of
victory by strength of body and in a regular wrestling match, harden
their limbs by daily practice in the wrestling school, foster their
endurance, and accustom themselves to hard work.
33. Nature herself teaches us this in the case of
infants, For they first exercise themselves in the sounds of speech and
so learn to speak. Thus these sounds of speech are a kind of practice,
and a school for the voice. Let those then who want to learn to take
heed in speaking not refuse what is according to nature, but let them
use all watchful care; just as those who are on a watch-tower keep on
the alert by watching, and not by going to sleep. For everything is
made more perfect and strong by exercises proper and suitable to itself.
34. David, therefore, was not always silent, but
only for a time; not perpetually nor to all did he refuse to speak; but
he used not to answer the enemy that provoked him, the sinner that
exasperated him. As he says elsewhere: "As though he were deaf he heard
not them that speak vanity and imagine deceit: and as though he were
dumb he opened not his mouth to them."(1) Again, in another place, it
is said: "Answer
7
not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like to him." (1)
35. The first duty then is to have due measure in
our speech. In this way a sacrifice of praise is offered up to God;
thus a godly fear is shown when the sacred Scriptures are read; thus
parents are honoured. I know well that many speak because they know not
how to keep silence. But it is not often any one is silent when
speaking does not profit him. A wise man, intending to speak, first
carefully considers what he is to say, and to whom he is to say it;
also where and at what time. There is therefore such a thing as due
measure in keeping silence and also in speaking; there is also such a
thing as a due measure in what we do. It is a glorious thing to
maintain the right standard of duty.
CHAPTER XI.
It is proved by the witness of Scripture that all duty is either
"ordinary" or "perfect." To which is added a word in praise of mercy,
and an exhortation to practise it.
36. EVERY duty is either "ordinary" or "perfect,"
(2) a fact which we can also confirm by the authority of the
Scriptures. For we read in the Gospel that the Lord said: "If thou wilt
enter into life, keep the commandments. He saith: Which? Jesus said to
him: Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou
shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Honour thy father
and thy mother, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." (8) These
are ordinary duties, to which something is wanting.
37. Upon this the young man says to Him: "All these
things have I kept from my youth up, what lack I yet? Jesus said unto
him: If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell all thy goods and give to the
poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven; and come and follow Me."
(4) And earlier the same is written, where the Lord says that we must
love our enemies, and pray for those that falsely accuse and persecute
us, and bless those that curse us. (5) This we are bound to do, if we
would be perfect as our Father Who is in heaven; Who bids the sun to
shed his rays over the evil and the good, and makes the lands of the
whole universe fertile with rain and dew without any distinction. (6)
This, then, is a perfect duty (the Greeks call it
<greek>katorqwma</greek>), whereby all things are put right
which could have any failings in them.
38. Mercy, also, is a good thing, for it makes men
perfect, in that it imitates the perfect Father. Nothing graces the
Christian soul so much as mercy; mercy as shown chiefly towards the
poor, that thou mayest treat them as sharers in common with thee in the
produce of nature, which brings forth the fruits of the earth for use
to all. Thus thou mayest freely give to a poor man what thou hast, and
in this way help him who is thy brother and companion. Thou bestowest
silver; he receives life. Thou givest money; he considers it his
fortune. Thy coin makes up all his property.
39. Further, he bestows more on thee than thou on
him, since he is thy debtor in regard to thy salvation. If thou clothe
the naked, thou clothest thyself with righteousness; if thou bring the
stranger under thy roof, if thou support the needy, he procures for
thee the friendship of the saints and eternal habitations. That is no
small recompense. Thou sowest earthly things and receivest heavenly.
Dost thou wonder at the judgment of God in the case of holy Job? Wonder
rather at his virtue, in that he could say: "I was an eye to the blind,
and a foot to the lame. I was a father to the poor. Their shoulders
were made warm with the skins of my lambs. The stranger dwelt not at my
gates, but my door was open to every one that came." (1) Clearly
blessed is he from whose house a poor man has never gone with empty
hand. Nor again is any one more blessed than he who is sensible of the
needs of the poor, and the hardships of the weak and helpless. In the
day of judgment he will receive salvation from the Lord, Whom he will
have as his debtor for the mercy he has shown.
CHAPTER XII.
To prevent any one from being checked in the exercise of mercy, he
shows that God cares for human actions; and proves on the evidence of
Job that all wicked men are unhappy in the very abundance of their
wealth.
40. BUT many are kept back from the duty of showing
active mercy, because they suppose that God does not care about the
actions of men, or that He does not know what we do in secret, and what
our conscience has in view. Some again think that His judgment
8
in no wise seems to be just; for they see that sinners have abundance
of riches, that they enjoy honours, health, and children; while, on the
other hand, the just live in poverty and unhonoured, they are without
children, sickly in body, and often in grief.
41. That is no small point. For those three royal
friends of Job declared him to be a sinner, because they saw that he,
after being rich, became poor; that after having many children, he had
lost them all, and that he was now covered with sores and was full of
weals, and was a mass of wounds from head to foot. But holy Job made
this declaration to them: "If I suffer thus because of my sins, why do
the wicked live? They grow old also in riches, their seed is according
to their pleasure, their children are before their eyes, their houses
are prosperous; but they have no fear; there is no scourge from the
Lord on them." (1)
42. A faint-hearted man, seeing this, is disturbed
in mind, and turns his attention away from it. Holy Job, when about to
speak in the words of such a one, began thus, saying: "Bear with me, I
also will speak; then laugh at me. For if I am found fault with, I am
found fault with as a man. Bear, therefore, the burden of my words."
(2) For I am going to say (he means) what I do not approve; but I shall
utter wrong words to refute you. Or, to translate it in another way:
"How now? Am I found fault with by a man?" That is: a man cannot find
fault with me because I have sinned, although I deserve to be found
fault with; for ye do not find fault with me on the ground of an open
sin, but estimate what I deserve for my offences by the extent of my
misfortunes. Thus the faint-hearted man, seeing that the wicked succeed
and prosper, whilst he himself is crushed by misfortune, says to the
Lord: "Depart from me, I desire not the knowledge of Thy ways. (3) What
good is it that we serve Him, or what use to hasten to Him? In the
hands of the wicked are all good things, but He sees not their works."
43. Plato has been greatly praised, because in his
book "on the State," (4) he has made the person who undertook the part
of objector against justice to ask pardon for his words, of which he
himself did not approve; and to say that that character was only
assumed for the sake of finding out the truth and to investigate the
question at issue. And Cicero so far approved of this, that he also, in
his book which he wrote "on the Commonwealth," thought something must
be said against that idea.
44. How many years before these did Job live! He was
the first to discover this, and to consider what excuses had to be made
for this, not for the sake of decking out his eloquence, but for the
sake of finding out the truth. At once he made the matter plain,
stating that the lamp of the wicked is put out, that their destruction
will come; (1) that God, the teacher of wisdom and instruction, is not
deceived, but is a judge of the truth. Therefore the blessedness of
individuals must not be estimated at the value of their known wealth,
but according to the voice of their conscience within them. For this,
as a true and uncorrupted judge of punishments and rewards, decides
between the deserts of the innocent and the guilty. The innocent man
dies in the strength of his own simplicity, in the full possession of
his own will; having a soul filled as it were with marrow. (2) But the
sinner, though he has abundance in life, and lives in the midst of
luxury, and is redolent with sweet scents, ends his life in the
bitterness of his soul, and brings his last day to a close, taking with
him none of those good things which he once enjoyed--carrying away
nothing with him but the price of his own wickedness. (3)
45. In thinking of this, deny if thou canst that a
recompense is paid by divine judgment. The former feels happy in his
heart, the latter wretched; that man on his own verdict is guiltless,
this one a criminal; that man again is happy in leaving the world, this
man grieves over it. Who can be pronounced guiltless that is not
innocent in the sight of his own conscience? "Tell me," he says, "where
is the Covering of his tabernacle; his token will not be found." (4)
The life of the criminal is as a dream. He has opened his eyes. His
repose has departed, his enjoyment has fled. Nay, that very repose of
the wicked, which even while they live is only seeming, is now in hell,
for alive they go down into hell.
46. Thou seest the enjoyments of the sinner; but
question his conscience. Will he not be more foul than any sepulchre?
Thou beholdest his joy, thou admirest the bodily health of his
children, and the amount of his wealth; but look within at the sores
and wounds of his soul, the sadness of his heart. And what shall I say
of his wealth, when
9
thou readest: "For a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the
things which he possesseth"? (1) When thou knowest, that though he
seems to thee to be rich, to himself is poor, and in his own person
refutes thy judgment? What also shall I say of the number of his
children and of his freedom from pain--when he is full of grief and
decides that he will have no heir, and does not wish that those who
copy his ways should succeed him? For the sinner really leaves no heir.
Thus the wicked man is a punishment to himself, but the upright man is
a grace to himself--and to either, whether good or bad, the reward of
his deeds is paid in his own person.
CHAPTER XIII.
The ideas of those philosophers are refuted who deny to God the care of
the whole world, or of any of its parts.
47. BUT let us return to our point, lest we seem to
have lost sight of the break we made in answering the ideas of those
who, seeing some wicked men, rich, joyous, full of honours, and
powerful, whilst many upright men are in want and are weak,--suppose
therefore that God either cares nothing about us (which is what the
Epicureans say), or that He is ignorant of men's actions as the wicked
say--or that, if He knows all things, He is an unjust judge in
allowing the good to be in want and the wicked to have abundance.
But it did not seem out of place to make a digression to meet an idea
of this kind and to contrast it with the feelings of those very persons
whom they consider happy--for they think themselves wretched. I suppose
they would believe themselves more readily than us.
48. After this digression I consider it an easy
matter to refute the rest--above all the declaration of those who think
that God has no care whatever for the world. For instance, Aristotle
declares that His providence extends only to the moon. But what workman
is there who gives no care to his work? Who would forsake and abandon
what he believes himself to have produced? If it is derogatory to rule,
is it not more so to have created? Though there is no wrong
involved in not creating anything, it is surely the height of cruelty
not to care for what one has created.
49. But if some deny God to be the Creator, and so
count themselves amongst the beasts and irrational creatures, what
shall we say of those who condemn themselves to such indignity? They
themselves declare that God pervades all things, that all depend upon
His power, that His might and majesty penetrate all the elements,
--lands, heaven, and seas; yet they think it derogatory to Him to enter
into man's spirit, which is the noblest thing He has given us, and to
be there with the full knowledge of the divine Majesty.
50. But philosophers who are held to be reasonable
laugh at the teacher (1) of these ideas as besotted and licentious. But
what shall I say of Aristotle's idea? He thinks that God is satisfied
with His own narrow bounds, and lives within the prescribed limits of
His kingdom. This, however, is also what the poets' tales tell us. For
they relate that the world is divided between three gods, so that it
has fallen to the lot of one to restrain and rule heaven, to another
the sea, and to a third the lower regions. They have also to take care
not to stir up war one with the other by allowing thoughts and cares
about the belongings of others to take hold of them. In the same way,
Aristotle also declares that God has no care for the earth, as He has
none for the sea or the lower regions. How is it that these
philosophers shut out of their ranks the poets whose footsteps they
follow? (2)
CHAFFER XIV.
Nothing escapes God's knowledge. This is proved by the witness of the
Scriptures and the analogy of the sun, which, although created, yet by
its light or heat enters into all things.
51. NEXT comes the answer to the question, whether
God, not having failed to show care for His work, now fails to have
knowledge of it? Thus it is written: "He that planted the ear, shall He
not hear? He that made the eye, shall He not regard?" (3)
52. This false idea was not unknown to the holy
prophets. David himself introduces men to speak whom pride has filled
and claimed for its own. For what shows greater pride than when men who
are living in sin think it unfit that other sinners should live, and
say: "Lord, how long shall the ungodly, how long shall the ungodly
10
triumph?" (1) And later on: "And yet they say, the Lord shall not
see: neither shall the God of Jacob regard it.'' (2) Whom the prophet
answers, saying: "Take heed, ye unwise among the people: O ye fools,
when will ye understand? He that planted the ear, shall He not hear? or
He that made the eye, shall He not see? He that rebuketh the nations,
shall He not punish? -- He that teacheth man knowledge? The Lord
knoweth the thoughts of man that they are vain." (3) Does He Who
discerns whatsoever is vain not know what is holy, and is He ignorant
of what He Himself has made? Can the workman be ignorant of his own
work? This one is a man, yet he discerns what is hidden in his work;
and God--shall He not know His own work? Is there more depth, then, in
the work than in its author? Has He made something superior to Himself;
the value of which, as its Author, He was ignorant of, and whose
condition He knew not, though He was its Director? So much for these
persons.
53. But we are satisfied with the witness of Him Who
says: "I search out the heart and the reins." (4) In the Gospel, also,
the Lord Jesus says: "Why think ye evil in your hearts? For He knew
they were thinking evil." (5) The evangelist also witnesses to this,
saying: "For Jesus knew their thoughts." (6)
54. The idea of these people will not trouble us
much if we look at their actions. They will not have Him to be judge
over them, Whom nothing deceives; they will not grant to Him the
knowledge of things hidden, for they are afraid their own hidden things
may be brought to light. But the Lord, also, "knowing their works, has
given them over unto darkness. In the night," he says, "he will be as a
thief, and the eye of the adulterer will watch for the darkness,
saying, No eye shall see me; he hath covered up his face." (7) For
every one that avoids the light loves darkness, seeking to be hid,
though he cannot be hid from God, Who knows not only what is
transacted, but also what will be thought of, both in the depths of
space and in the minds of men. Thus, again, he who speaks in the book
Ecclesiasticus says: "Who seeth me? The darkness hath covered me, and
the walls have hidden me; whom do I fear?" (8) But although lying on
his bed he may think thus, he is caught where he never thought of it.
"It shall be," it says, "a shame to him because he knew not what the
fear of the Lord was." (1)
55. But what can be more foolish than to suppose
that anything escapes God's notice, when the sun which supplies the
light enters even hidden spots, and the strength of its heat reaches to
the foundations of a house and its inner chambers? Who can deny that
the depths of the earth, which- the winter's ice has bound together,
are warmed by the mildness of spring? Surely the very heart of a tree
feels the force of heat or cold, to such an extent that its roots are
either nipped with the cold or sprout forth in the warmth of the sun.
In short, wherever the mildness of heaven smiles on the earth, there
the earth produces in abundance fruits of different kinds.
56. If, then, the sun's rays pour their light over
all the earth and enter into its hidden spots; if they cannot be
checked by iron bars or the barrier of heavy doors from getting within,
how can it be impossible for the Glory of God, which is instinct with
life, to enter into the thoughts and hearts of men that He Himself has
created? And how shall it not see what He Himself has created? Did He
make His works to be better and more powerful than He Himself is, Who
made them (in this event) so as to escape the notice of their Creator
whensoever they will? Did He implant such perfection and power in our
mind that He Himself could not comprehend it when He wished?
CHAPTER XV.
Those who are dissatisfied with the fact that the good receive evil,
and the evil good, are shown by the example of Lazarus, and on the
authority of Paul, that punishments and rewards are reserved for a
future life.
57. WE have fully discussed two questions; and this
discussion, as we think, has not turned out quite unfavourably for us.
A third question yet remains; it is this: Why do sinners have abundance
of wealth and riches, and fare sumptuously, and have no grief or
sorrow; whilst the upright are in want, and are punished by the loss of
wives or children? Now, that parable in the Gospel ought to satisfy
persons like these; (2) for the rich man was clothed in purple and fine
linen, and dined sumptuously every day; but the beggar, full of sores,
used to gather the crumbs of his table. After the death of
11
the two, however, the beggar was in Abraham's bosom in rest; the rich
man Was in torment. Is it not plain from this that rewards and
punishments according to deserts await one after death?
58. And surely this is but right. For in a contest
there is much labour needed--and after the contest victory falls to
some, to others disgrace. Is the palm ever given or the crown granted
before the course is finished? Paul writes well; He says: "I have
fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith;
henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the
Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day; and not to me
only, but unto all them also that love His appearing." (1) "In that
day," he says, He will give it--not here. Here he fought, in labours,
in dangers, in shipwrecks, like a good wrestler; for he knew how that
"through much tribulation we must enter into the kingdom of God." (2)
Therefore no one can receive a reward, unless he has striven lawfully;
nor is the victory a glorious one, unless the contest also has been
toilsome.
CHAFFER XVI.
To confirm what has been said above about rewards and punishments, he
adds that it is not strange if there is no reward reserved for some in
the future; for they do not labour here nor struggle. He goes on to say
also that for this reason temporal goods are granted to these persons,
so that they may have no excuse whatever.
59. Is not he unjust who gives the reward before the
end of the contest? Therefore the Lord says in the Gospel: "Blessed are
the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." (3) He said
not: "Blessed are the rich," but "the poor." By the divine judgment
blessedness begins there whence human misery is supposed to spring.
"Blessed are they that hunger, for they shall be filled; Blessed are
they that mourn, for they shall be comforted; Blessed are the merciful,
for God will have mercy on them; Blessed are the pure in heart, for
they shall see God; Blessed are they that are persecuted for
righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven; Blessed are
ye when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all
manner of evil against you for righteousness' sake. Rejoice and be
exceeding glad, for plentiful is your reward in heaven." (4) A reward
future and not present,--in heaven, not on earth,--has He promised
shall be given. What further dost thou expect? What further is due? Why
dost thou demand the crown with so much haste, before thou dost
conquer? Why dost thou desire to shake off the dust and to rest? Why
dost thou long to sit at the feast before the course is finished? As
yet the people are looking on, the athletes are in the arena, and thou
--dost thou already look for ease?
60. Perhaps thou sayest: Why Are the wicked joyous?
why do they live in luxury? why do they not toil with me? It is because
they who have not put down their names to strive for the crown are not
bound to undergo the labours of the contest. They who have not gone
down into the race-course do not anoint themselves with oil nor get
covered with dust. For those whom glory awaits trouble is at hand. The
perfumed spectators are wont to look on, not to join in the struggle,
nor to endure the sun, the hear, the dust, and the showers. Let the
athletes say to them: Come, strive with us. The spectators will but
answer: We sit here now to decide about you, but you, if you conquer,
will gain the glory of the crown and we shall not.
61. They, then, who have devoted themselves to
pleasures, luxury, robbery, gain, or honours are spectators rather than
combatants. They have the profit of labour, but not the fruits of
virtue. They love their ease; by cunning and wickedness they heap up
riches; but they will pay the penalty of their iniquity, though it be
late. Their rest will be in hell, thine in heaven; their home in the
grave, thine in paradise. Whence Job said beautifully that they watch
in the tomb, (1) for they cannot have the calm of quiet rest which he
enjoys who shall rise again.
62. Do not, therefore, understand, or speak, or
think as a child; nor as a child claim those things now which belong to
a future time. The crown belongs to the perfect. Wait till that which
is perfect is come, when thou mayest know--not through a glass as in a
riddle, but face to face (2)--the very form of truth made clear. Then
will be made known why that person was rich who was wicked and a robber
of other men's goods, why another was powerful, why a third had many
children, and yet a fourth was loaded with honours.
63. Perhaps all this happens that the question may
be asked of the robber: Thou
12
wast rich, wherefore didst thou seize on the goods of others? Need did
not force thee poverty did not drive thee to it. Did I not make thee
rich, that thou mightest have no excuse? So, too, it may be said to a
person of power: Why didst thou not aid the widow the orphans also,
when enduring wrong? Wast thou powerless? Couldst thou not help? I made
thee for this purpose, not that thou mightest do wrong, but that thou
mightest check it. Is it not written for thee "Save him that endureth
wrong?" (1) Is it not written for thee: "Deliver the poor and needy out
of the hand of the sinner"? (2) It may be said also to the man who has
abundance of good things: I have blessed thee with children and
honours; I have granted thee health of body; why didst thou not follow
my commands? My servant, what have I done to thee, or how have I
grieved thee? Was it not I that gave thee children, bestowed honours,
granted health to thee? Why didst thou deny me? Why didst thou suppose
that thy actions would not come to my knowledge? Why didst thou accept
my gifts, yet despise my commands?
64. We can gather the same from the example of the
traitor Judas. He was chosen among the Twelve Apostles, and had charge
of the money bag, to lay it out upon the poor, (3) that it might not
seem as though he had betrayed the Lord because he was unhonoured or in
want. Wherefore the Lord granted him this office, that He might also be
justified in him; he would be guilty of a greater fault, not as one
driven to it by wrong done to him, but as one misusing grace.
CHAPTER XVII.
The duties of youth, and examples suitable to that age,
are next put forth.
65. SINCE it has been made sufficiently plain that
there will be punishment for wickedness and reward for virtue, let us
proceed to speak of the duties which have to be borne in mind from our
youth up, (4) that they may grow with our years. (5) A good youth ought
to have a fear of God, to be subject to his parents, to give honour to
his elders, to preserve his purity; he ought not to despise humility,
but should love forbearance and modesty. All these are an ornament to
youthful years. For as seriousness is the true grace of an old man, and
ardour of a young man, so also is modesty, as though by some gift of
nature, well set off in a youth.
66. Isaac feared the Lord, as was indeed but natural
in the son of Abraham; being subject also to his father to such an
extent that he would not avoid death in opposition to his father's
will. (1) Joseph also, though he dreamed that sun and moon and stars
made obeisance to him, yet was subject to his father's will with ready
obedience. (2) So chaste was he, he would not hear even a word unless
it were pure; humble was he even to doing the work of a slave, modest,
even to taking flight, enduring, even to bearing imprisonment, so
forgiving of wrong as even to repay it with good, Whose modesty was
such, that, when seized by a woman, he preferred to leave his garment
in her hands in flight, rather than to lay aside his modesty. (3)
Moses, (4) also, and Jeremiah, (5) chosen by the Lord to declare the
words of God to the people, were for avoiding, through modesty, that
which through grace they could do.
CHAPTER XVIII.
On the different functions of modesty. How it should qualify both
speech and silence, accompany chastity, commend our prayers to God,
govern our bodily motions; on which last point reference is made to two
clerics in language by no means unsuited to its object. Further he
proceeds to say that one's gait should be in accordance with that same
virtue, and how careful one must be that nothing immodest come forth
from one's mouth, or be noticed in one's body. All these points are
illustrated with very appropriate examples.
67. LOVELY, then, is the virtue of modesty, and
sweet is its grace! It is seen not only in actions, but even in our
words, (6) so that we may not go beyond due measure in speech, and that
our words may not have an unbecoming sound. The mirror of our mind
often enough reflects its image in our words. Sobriety weighs out the
sound even of our voice, for fear that too loud a voice should offend
the ear of any one. Nay, in singing itself the first rule is modesty,
and the same is true in every kind of speech, too, so that a man may
gradually learn to praise God, or to sing songs, or even to speak, in
that the principles of modesty grace his advance. 68. Silence, again,
wherein all the other
13
virtues rest, is the chief act of modesty. Only, if it is supposed to
be a sign of a childish or proud spirit, it is accounted a reproach; if
a sign of modesty, it is reckoned for praise. Susanna was silent in
danger,(1) and thought the loss of modesty was worse than loss of life.
She did not consider that her safety should be guarded at the risk of
her chastity. To God alone she spoke, to Whom she could speak out in
true modesty. She avoided looking on the face of men. For there is also
modesty in the glance of the eye, which makes a woman unwilling to look
upon men, or to be seen by them.
69. Let no one suppose that this praise belongs to
chastity alone. For modesty is the companion of purity, in company with
which chastity itself is safer. Shame, again, is good as a companion
and guide of chastity, inasmuch as it does not suffer purity to be
defiled in approaching even the outskirts of danger. This it is that,
at the very outset of her recognition, commends the Mother of the Lord
to those who read the Scriptures, and, as a credible witness, declares
her worthy to be chosen to such an office. For when in her chamber,
alone, she is saluted by the angel, she is silent, and is disturbed at
his entrance,(2) and the Virgin's face is troubled at the strange
appearance of a man's form. And so, though she was humble, yet it was
not because of this, but on account of her modesty, that she did not
return his salutation, nor give him any answer, except to ask, when she
had learnt that she should conceive the Lord, how this should be. She
certainly did not speak merely for the sake of making a reply.
70. In our very prayers, too, modesty is most
pleasing, and gains us much grace from our God. Was it not this that
exalted the publican, and commended him, when he dared not raise even
his eyes to heaven?(3) So he was justified by the judgment of the Lord
rather than the Pharisee, whom overweening pride made so hideous.
"Therefore let us pray in the incorruptibility of a meek and quiet
spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price,"(4) as St. Peter
says. A noble thing, then, is modesty, which, though giving up its
rights, seizing on nothing for itself, laying claim to nothing, and in
some ways somewhat retiring within the sphere of its own powers, yet is
rich in the sight of God, in Whose sight no man is rich. Rich is
modesty, for it is the portion of God. Paul also bids that prayer be
offered up with modesty and sobriety.(1) He desires that this should be
first, and, as it were, lead the way of prayers to come, so that the
sinner's prayer may not be boastful, but veiled, as it were, with the
blush of shame, may merit a far greater degree of grace, in giving way
to modesty at the remembrance of its fault.
71. Modesty must further be guarded in our very
movements and gestures and gait.(2) For the condition of the mind is
often seen in the attitude of the body. For this reason the hidden man
of our heart (our inner self) is considered to be either frivolous,
boastful, or boisterous, or, on the other hand, steady, firm, pure, and
dependable. Thus the movement of the body is a sort of voice of the
soul.
72. Ye remember, my children, that a friend of ours
who seemed to recommend himself by his assiduity in his duties, yet was
not admitted by me into the number of the clergy, because his gestures
were too unseemly. Also that I bade one, whom I found already among the
clergy, never to go in front of me, because he actually pained me by
the seeming arrogance of his gait. That is what I said when he returned
to his duty after an offence committed. This alone I would not allow,
nor did my mind deceive me. For both have left the Church. What their
gait betrayed them to be, such were they proved to be by the
faithlessness of their hearts. The one forsook his faith at the time of
the Arian troubles; the other, through love of money, denied that he
belonged to us, so that he might not have to undergo sentence at the
hands of the Church. In their gait was discernible the semblance of
fickleness, the appearance, as it were, of wandering buffoons.
73. Some there are who in walking perceptibly copy
the gestures of actors,(3) and act as though they were bearers in the
processions, and had the motions of nodding statues, to such an extent
that they seem to keep a sort of time, as often as they change their
step.
74. Nor do I think it becoming to walk hurriedly,
except when a case of some danger demands it, or a real necessity. For
we often see those who hurry come up panting, and with features
distorted. But if there is no reason for the need of such hurry, it
gives cause for just offence. I am not, however,
14
talking of those who have to hurry now and then for some particular
reason, but of those to whom, by the yoke of constant habit, it has
become a second nature. In the case of the former I cannot approve of
their slow solemn movements, which remind one of the forms of phantoms.
Nor do I care for the others with their headlong speed, for they put
one in mind of the ruin of outcasts.
75. A suitable gait is that wherein there is an
appearance of authority and weight and dignity, and which has a calm
collected bearing. But it must be of such a character that all effort
and conceit may be wanting, and that it be simple and plain. Nothing
counterfeit is pleasing. Let nature train our movements. If indeed
there is any fault in our nature, let us mend it with diligence. And,
that artifice may be wanting, let not amendment be wanting.
76. But if we pay so much attention to things like
these, how much more careful ought we to be to let nothing shameful
proceed out of our mouth, for that defiles a man terribly. It is not
food that defiles, but unjust disparagement of others and foul words.
These things are openly shameful. In our office indeed must no word be
let fall at all unseemly, nor one that may give offence to modesty. But
not only ought we to say nothing unbecoming to ourselves, but we ought
not even to lend our ears to words of this sort. Thus Joseph fled and
left his garment, that he might hear nothing inconsistent with his
modesty.(2) For he who delights to listen, urges the other on to speak.
77. To have full knowledge of what is foul is in the
highest degree shameful. To see anything of this sort, if by chance it
should happen, how dreadful that is! What, therefore, is displeasing to
us in others, can that be pleasing in ourselves? Is not nature herself
our teacher, who has formed to perfection every part of our body, so as
to provide for what is necessary and to beautify and grace its form?
However she has left plain and open to the sight those parts which are
beautiful to look upon; among which, the head, set as it were above
all, and the pleasant lines of the figure, and the appearance of the
face are prominent, whilst their usefulness for work is ready to hand.
But those parts in which there is a compliance with the necessities of
nature, she has partly put away and hidden in the body itself, lest
they should present a disgusting appearance, and partly, too, she has
taught and persuaded us to cover them.(3)
78. Is not nature herself then a teacher of modesty?
Following her example, the modesty of men, which I suppose(1) is so
called from the mode of knowing what is seemly,(2) has covered and
veiled what it has found hid in the frame of our body; like that door
which Noah was bidden to make in the side of the ark;(3) wherein we
find a figure of the Church, and also of the human body, for through
that door the remnants of food were cast out. Thus the Maker of our
nature so thought of our modesty, and so guarded what was seemly and
virtuous in our body, as to place what is unseemly behind, and to put
it out of the sight of our eyes. Of this the Apostle says well: "Those
members of the body which seem to be more feeble are necessary, and
those members of the body which we think to be less honourable, upon
these we bestow more abundant honour, and our uncomely parts have more
abundant comeliness."(4) Truly, by following the guidance of nature,
diligent care has added to the grace of the body. In another place(5) I
have gone more fully into this subject, and said that not only do we
hide those parts which have been given us to hide, but also that we
think it unseemly to mention by name their description, and the use of
those members.
79. And if these parts are exposed to view by
chance, modesty is violated; but if on purpose, it is reckoned as utter
shamelessness. Wherefore Ham, Noah's son, brought disgrace upon
himself; for he laughed when he saw his father naked, but they who
covered their father received the gift of a blessing.(6) For which
cause, also, it was an ancient custom in Rome, and in many other states
as well, that grown-up sons should not bathe with their parents, or
sons-in-law with their fathers-in-law,(7) in order that the great duty
of reverence for parents should not be weakened. Many, however, cover
themselves so far as they can in the baths, so that, where the whole
body is bare, that part of it at least may be covered.
80. The priests, also, under the old law, as we read
in Exodus, wore breeches, as it was told Moses by the Lord: "And thou
shalt make them linen breeches to cover their shame: from the loins
even to the thighs they shall reach, and Aaron and his sons shall wear
them, when they enter into the tabernacle of witness, and when they
15
come unto the altar of the holy place to offer sacrifice, that they lay
not sin upon themselves and die."(1) Some of us are said still to
observe this, but most explain it spiritually, and suppose it was said
with a view to guarding modesty and preserving chastity.
CHAPTER XlX.
How should seemliness be represented by a speaker? Does beauty add
anything to virtue, and, if so, how much? Lastly, what care should we
take that nothing conceited or effeminate be seen in us?
81. IT has given me pleasure to dwell somewhat at
length on the various functions of modesty; for I speak to you who
either can recognize the good that is in it in your own cases, or at
least do not know its loss. Fitted as it is for all ages, persons,
times, and places, yet it most beseems youthful and childish years.
82. But at every age we must take care that all we
do is seemly and becoming, and that the course of our life forms one
harmonious and complete whole. Wherefore Cicero(2) thinks that a
certain order ought to be observed in what is seemly. He says that this
lies in beauty, order, and in appointment fitted for action. This, as
he says, it is difficult to explain in words, yet it can be quite
sufficiently understood.
83. Why Cicero should have introduced beauty, I do
not quite understand; though it is true he also speaks in praise of the
powers of the body. We certainly do not locate virtue in the beauty of
the body, though, on the other hand, we do recognize a certain grace,
as when modesty is wont to cover the face with a blush of shame, and to
make it more pleasing. For as a workman is wont to work better the more
suitable his materials are, so modesty is more conspicuous in the
comeliness of the body. Only the comeliness of the body should not be
assumed; it should be natural and artless, unstudied rather than
elaborated, not heightened by costly and glistening garments, but just
clad in ordinary clothing, One must see that nothing is wanting that
one's credit or necessity demands, whilst nothing must be added for the
sake of splendour.
84. The voice, too, should not be languid, nor
feeble, nor womanish in its tone,--such a tone of voice as many are in
the habit of using, under the idea of seeming important. It should
preserve a certain quality, and rhythm, and a manly vigour. For all to
do what is best suited to their character and sex, that is to
attain to beauty of life. This is the best order for movements, this
the employment fitted for every action. But as I cannot approve of a
soft or weak tone of voice, or an effeminate gesture of the body, so
also I cannot approve of what is boorish and rustic. Let us follow
nature. The imitation of her provides us with a principle of
training, and gives us a pattern of virtue.
CHAPTER XX.
If we are to preserve our modesty we must avoid fellowship with
profligate men, also the banquets of strangers, and intercourse with
women; our leisure time at home should be spent in pious and virtuous
pursuits.
85. MODESTY has indeed its rocks--not any that she
brings with her, but those, I mean, which she often runs against, as
when we associate with profligate men, who, under the form of
pleasantry, administer poison to the good. And the latter, if they are
very constant in their attendance at banquets and games, and often join
in jests, enervate that manly gravity of theirs. Let us then take heed
that, in wishing to relax our minds, we do not destroy all harmony, the
blending as it were of all good works. For habit quickly bends nature
in another direction.
86. For this reason I think that what ye wisely do
is befitting to the duties of clerics, and especially to those of the
priesthood--namely, that ye avoid the banquets of strangers, but so
that ye are still hospitable to travellers, and give no occasion for
reproach by reason of your great care in the matter. Banquets with
strangers engross one's attention, and soon produce a love for
feasting. Tales, also, of the world and its pleasures often creep in.
One cannot shut one's ears; and to forbid them is looked on as a sign
of haughtiness. One's glass, too, even against one's will, is filled
time after time. It is better surely to excuse oneself once for all at
one's own home, than often at another's. When one rises sober, at any
rate one's presence need not be condemned by the insolence of another.
87. There is no need for the younger clergy to go to
the houses of widows or virgins, except for the sake of a definite
visit, and in that case only with the eider clergy, that is, with the
bishop, or, if the matter be somewhat important, with the priests. Why
16
should we give room to the world to revile? What need is there for
those frequent visits to give ground for rumours? What if one of those
women should by chance fall? Why shouldst thou undergo the reproach of
another's fall? How many even strong men have been led away by their
passions? How many are there who have not indeed yielded to sin, but
have given ground for suspicion?
88. Why dost thou not spend the time which thou hast
free from thy duties in the church in reading? Why dost thou not go
back again to see Christ? Why dost thou not address Him, and hear His
voice? We address Him when we pray, we hear Him when we read the sacred
oracles of God. What have we to do with strange houses? There is one
house which holds all. They who need us can come to us. What have we to
do with tales and fables? An office to minister at the altar of Christ
is what we have received; no duty to make ourselves agreeable to men
has been laid upon us.
89. We ought to be humble, gentle, mild, serious,
patient. We must keep the mean in all things, so that a calm
countenance and quiet speech may show that there is no vice in our
lives.
CHAPTER XXI.
We must guard against anger, before it arises; if it has already arisen
we must check and calm it, and if we cannot do this either, at least we
should keep our tongue from abuse, so that our passions may be like
boys' quarrels. He relates what Archites said, and shows that David led
the way in this matter, both in his actions and in his writings.
90. LET anger be guarded against.(1) If it cannot,
however, be averted, let it be kept within bounds. For indignation is a
terrible incentive to sin. It disorders the mind to such an extent as
to leave no room for reason. The first thing, therefore, to aim at, if
possible, is to make tranquillity of character our natural disposition
by constant practice, by desire for better things, by fixed
determination. But since passion is to a large extent implanted in our
nature and character, so that it cannot be uprooted and avoided, it
must be checked by reason, if, that is, it can be foreseen. And if the
mind has already been filled with indignation before it could be
foreseen or provided against in any way, we must consider how to
conquer the passion of the mind, how to restrain our anger, that it may
no more be so filled. Resist wrath, if possible; if not, give way, for
it is written: "Give place to wrath."(1)
91. Jacob dutifully gave way to his brother when
angry, and to Rebecca; that is to say, taught by counsels of patience,
he preferred to go away and live in foreign lands, rather than to
arouse his brother's anger; and then to return only when he thought his
brother was appeased.(2) Thus it was that he found such great grace
with God. With what offers of willing service, with what gifts, did he
reconcile his brother to himself again, so that he should not remember
the blessing which had been taken away from him, but should only
remember the reparation now offered?(3)
92. If, then, anger has got the start, and has
already taken possession of thy mind, and mounted into thy heart,
forsake not thy ground. Thy ground is patience, it is wisdom, it is
reason, it is the allaying of indignation. And if the stubbornness of
thy opponent rouses thee, and his perverseness drives thee to
indignation: if thou canst not calm thy mind, check at least thy
tongue. For so it is written: "Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips
that they speak no guile. Seek peace and pursue it."(4) See the peace
of holy Jacob, how great it was! First, then, calm thy mind. If thou
canst not do this, put a restraint upon thy tongue. Lastly, omit not to
seek for reconciliation. These ideas the speakers of the world have
borrowed from us, and have set down in their writings. But he who said
it first has the credit of understanding its meaning.
93. Let us then avoid or at any rate check anger, so
that we may not lose our share of praise, nor yet add to our list of
sins. It is no light thing to calm one's anger. It is no less difficult
a thing than it is not to be roused at all. The one is an act of our
own will, the other is an effect of nature. So quarrels among boys are
harmless, and have more of a pleasant than a bitter character about
them. And if boys quickly come to quarrel one with the other, they are
easily calmed down again, and quickly come together with even greater
friendliness. They do not know how to act deceitfully and artfully. Do
not condemn these children, of whom the Lord says: "Except ye be
converted and become as this child, ye shall not enter into the kingdom
of heaven."(5) So also the Lord Himself, Who is the Power of God, as a
Boy, when He was reviled, reviled not again,
17
when He was struck, struck not back.(1) Set then thy mind on this--like
a child never to keep an injury in mind, never to show malice, but that
all things may be done blamelessly by thee. Regard not the return made
thee by others. Hold thy ground. Guard the simplicity and purity of thy
heart. Answer not an angry man according to his anger, nor a foolish
man according to his folly. One fault quickly calls forth another. If
stones are rubbed together, does not fire break forth?
94. The heathen--(they are wont to exaggerate
everything in speaking)--make much of the saying of the philosopher
Archires(2) of Tarentum, which he spoke to his bailiff: "O you wretched
man, how I would punish you, if I were not angry." But David already
before this had in his indignation held back his armed hand. How much
greater a thing it is not to revile again, than not to avenge oneself!
The warriors, too, prepared to take vengeance against Nabal, Abigail
restrained by her prayers.(5) From whence we perceive that we ought not
only to yield to timely entreaties, but also to be pleased with them.
So much was David pleased that he blessed her who intervened, because
he was restrained from his desire for revenge.
95. Already before this he had said of his enemies:
"For they cast iniquity upon me, and in their wrath they were grievous
to me."(4) Let us hear what he said when overwhelmed in wrath: "Who
will give me wings like a dove, and I will flee away and be at
rest."(5) They kept provoking him to anger, bat he sought quietness.
96. He had also said: Be ye angry and sin not."(6)
The moral teacher who knew that the natural disposition should rather
be guided by a reasonable course of teaching, than be eradicated,
teaches morals, and says: "Be angry where there is a fault against
which ye ought to be angry." For it is impossible not to be roused up
by the baseness of many things;(7) otherwise we might be accounted, not
virtuous, but apathetic and neglectful. Be angry therefore, so that ye
keep free from fault, or, in other words: If ye are angry, do not sin,
but overcome wrath with reason. Or one might put it thus: If ye are
angry, be angry with yourselves, because ye are roused, and ye will not
sin. For he who is angry with himself, because he has been so easily
roused, ceases to be angry with another. But he who wishes to prove his
anger is righteous only gets the more inflamed, and quickly falls into
sin. "Better is he," as Solomon. says, "that restraineth his anger,
than he that taketh a city,"(1) for anger leads astray even brave men.
97. We ought therefore to take care that we do not
get into a flurry, before reason prepares our minds. For oftentimes
anger or distress or fear of death almost deprives the soul of life,
and beats it down by a sudden blow. It is therefore a good thing to
anticipate this by reflection, and to exercise the mind by considering
the matter. So the mind will not be roused by any sudden disturbance,
but will grow calm, being held in by the yoke and reins of reason.
CHAPTER XXII.
on reflection and passion, and on observing propriety of speech, both
in ordinary conversation and in holding discussions.
98. THERE are two kinds of mental motions(2)--those
of reflection and of passion. The one has to do with reflection, the
other with passion. There is no confusion one with the other, for they
are markedly different and unlike. Reflection has to search and as it
were to grind out the truth. Passion prompts and stimulates us to do
something. Thus by its very nature reflection diffuses tranquillity and
calm; and passion sends forth the impulse to act. Let us then be ready
to allow reflection on good things to enter into our mind, and to make
passion submit to reason (if indeed we wish to direct our minds to
guard what is seemly), lest desire for anything should shut out reason.
Rather let reason test and see what befits virtue.
99. And since we have said that we must aim at the
observance of what is seemly,(3) so as to know what is the due measure
in our words and deeds, and as order in speech rather than in action
comes first; speech is divided into two kinds: first, as it is used in
friendly conversation, and then in the treatment and discussion of
matters of faith and justice. In either case we must take care that
there is no irritation. Our language should he mild and quiet, and full
of kindness and courtesy and free from insult. Let there be no
obstinate disputes in our familiar conversations, for they are wont
18
only to bring up useless subjects, rather than to supply anything
useful. Let there be discussion without wrath, urbanity without
bitterness, warning without sharpness, advice without giving offence.
And as in every action of our life we ought to take heed to this, in
order that no overpowering impulse of our mind may ever shut out reason
(let us always keep a place for counsel), so, too, ought we to observe
that rule in our language, so that neither wrath nor hatred may be
aroused, and that we may not show any signs of our greed or sloth.
100. Let our language be of this sort, more
especially when we are speaking of the holy Scriptures. For of what
ought we to speak more often than of the best subject of conversation,
of its exhortation to watch-fulness, its care for good instruction? Let
us have a reason for beginning, and let our end be within due
limits.(1) For a speech that is wearisome only stirs up anger. But
surely it is most unseemly that when every kind of conversation
generally gives additional pleasure, this should give cause of offence!
101. The treatment also of such subjects as the
teaching of faith, instruction on self-restraint, discussion on
justice, exhortation to activity, must not be taken up by us and fully
gone into all at one time, but must be carried on in course, so far as
we can do it, and as the subject-matter of the passage allows. Our
discourse must not be too lengthy, nor too soon cut short, for fear the
former should leave behind it a feeling of aversion, and the latter
produce carelessness and neglect. The address should be plain and
simple, clear and evident, full of dignity and weight; it should not be
studied or too refined, nor yet, on the other hand, be unpleasing and
rough in style.
CHAPTER XXIII.
Jests, although at times they may be quite proper, should be altogether
banished among clerics. The voice should be plain and frank.
102. MEN of the world give many further rules about
the way to speak,(2) which I think we may pass over; as, for instance,
the way jesting should be conducted.(3) For though at times jests may
be proper and pleasant, yet they are unsuited to the clerical life. For
how can we adopt those things which we do not find in the holy
Scriptures?
103. We must also take care that in relating stories
we do not alter the earnest purpose of the harder rule we have set
before us "Woe unto you that laugh, for ye shall weep,"(1) says the
Lord. Do we seek for something to laugh at, that laughing here we may
weep hereafter? I think we ought to avoid not only broad jokes, but all
kinds of jests, unless perchance it is not unfitting at the time for
our conversation to be agreeable and pleasant.
104. In speaking of the voice, I certainly think it
ought to be plain and clear.(2) That it should be musical is a gift of
nature, and is not to be won by exertion. Let it be distinct in its
pronunciation and full of a manly vigour, but let it be free from a
rough and rustic twang. See, too, that it does not assume a theatrical
accent, but rather keeps true to the inner meaning of the words it
utters.
CHAPTER XXIV.
There are three things to be noticed in the actions of our life. First,
our passions are to be controlled by our reason; next, we ought to
observe a suitable moderation in our desires; and, lastly, everything
ought to be done at the fight time and m the proper order. All these
qualities shone forth so conspicuously in the holy men of Old Testament
time, that it is evident they were well furnished with what men call
the cardinal virtues.
105. I THINK I have said enough on the art of
speaking. Let us now consider what beseems an active life. We note that
there are three things(3) to be regarded in connection with this
subject. One is, that passion should not resist our reason. In that way
only can our duties be brought into line with what is seemly. For if
passion yields to reason we can easily maintain what is seemly in our
duties. Next, we must take care rest, either by showing greater zeal or
less than the matter we take up demands, we look as though we were
taking up a small matter with great parade or were treating a great
matter with but little care. Thirdly, as regards moderation in our
endeavours and works, and also with regard to order in doing things and
in the right timing of things, I think that everything should be open
and straightforward.
106. But first comes that which I may call the
foundation of all namely, that our passions should obey our reason. The
second
19
and third are really the same--moderation in either case. There is room
with us for the survey of a pleasing form, which is accounted beauty,
and the consideration of dignity. Next follows the consideration of the
order and the timing of things. These, then, are the three points, and
we must see whether we can show them in perfection in any one of the
saints.
107. First there is our father Abraham,(1) who was
formed and called for the instruction of generations to come. When
bidden to go forth from his own country and kindred and from his
father's house, though bound and held back by many ties of
relationship, did he not give proof that ill him passion was subject to
reason? Who does not delight in the sweet charms of his native land,
his kindred, and his own home? Their sweetness then delighted him. But
the thought of the heavenly command and of an eternal reward influenced
him more. Did he not reflect that he could not take his wife with him
without the greatest danger, unused as she was to hardships, and so
tender to bear insults, and so beautiful as to be likely to arouse the
lust of profligate men? Yet he decided somewhat deliberately to undergo
all this rather than to escape it by making excuses. Lastly, when he
had gone into Egypt, he advised her to say she was his sister, not his
wife.
108. See here what passions are at work! He feared
for the chastity of his wife, he feared for his own safety, he had his
suspicions about the lust of the Egyptians, and yet the reasonableness
of performing his duty to God prevailed with him. For. he thought that
by the favour of God he could be safe everywhere, but if he offended
the Lord he could not abide unharmed even at home. Thus reason
conquered passion, and brought it into subjection to itself.
109. When his nephew was taken captive,(2) without
being terrified or dismayed at the hordes of so many kings, he resumed
the war. And after the victory was gained he refused his share of the
spoil, which he himself had really won. Also, when a son was promised
him, though he thought of the lost vigour of his body, now as good as
dead, and the barrenness of his wife, and his own great age, he
believed God, though it was against the law of nature.(3)
110. Note how everything meets together here.
Passion was not wanting, but it was checked. Here was a mind equable in
action, which neither treated great things as unimportant or little
things as great. Here there was moderation in different affairs, order
in things, fitness of occasion, due measure in words. He was foremost
in faith, conspicuous in virtue, vigorous in battle, in victory not
greedy, at home hospitable, and to his wife attentive.
111. Jacob also, his holy grandson, loved to pass
his time at home free from danger; but his mother wished him to live in
foreign parts, and so give place to his brother's anger.(1) Sound
counsels prevailed over natural feelings. An exile from home, banished
from his parents, yet everywhere, in all he did, he observed due
measure, such as was fitting, and made use of his opportunities at the
right time. So dear was he to his parents at home, that the one, moved
by the promptness of his compliance, gave him his blessing, the other
inclined towards him with tender love. In the judgment of his brother,
also, he was placed first, when he thought that he ought to give up his
food to his brother.(2) For though according to his natural
inclinations he wished for food, yet when asked for it he gave it up
from a feeling of brotherly affection. He was a faithful shepherd of
the flock for his master, an attentive son-in-law to his father-in-law;
he was active in work, sparing in his meals, conspicuous in making
amends, lavish in repaying. Nay, so well did he calm his brother's
anger that he received his favour, though he had feared his enmity.(3)
112. What shall I say of Joseph?(4) He certainly had
a longing for freedom, and yet endured the bonds of servitude. How meek
he was in slavery, how unchanging in virtue, how kindly in prison!
Wise, too, in interpreting, and self-restrained in exercising his
power! In the time of plenty was he not careful? In the time of famine
was he not fair? Did he not praiseworthily do everything in order, and
use opportunities at their season; giving justice to his people by the
restraining guidance of his office?
113. Job also, both in prosperity and adversity, was
blameless, patient, pleasing, and acceptable to God. He was harassed
with pain, yet could find consolation.
114. David also was brave in war, patient in time of
adversity, peaceful at Jerusalem, in the hour of victory merciful, on
committing sin repentant, in his old age foreseeing. He preserved due
measure in his actions, and
20
took his opportunities as they came. He has set them down in the songs
of succeeding years; and so it seems to me that he has by his life no
less than by the sweetness of his hymns poured forth an undying song of
his own merits to God.
115. What duty connected with the chief virtues was
wanting in these men?(1) In the first place they showed prudence, which
is exercised in the search of the truth, and which imparts a desire for
full knowledge; next, justice, which assigns each man his own, does not
claim another's, and disregards its own advantage, so as to guard the
rights of all; thirdly, fortitude, which both in warfare and at home is
conspicuous in greatness of mind and distinguishes itself in the
strength of the body; fourthly, temperance, which preserves the right
method and order in all things that we think should either be done or
said.
CHAPTER XXV.
A reason is given why this book did not open with a discussion of the
above-mentioned virtues. It is also concisely pointed out that the same
virtues existed in the ancient fathers.
116. PERHAPS, as the different classes of duties are
derived from these four virtues, some one may say that they ought to
have been described first of all. But it would have been artificial to
have given a definition of duty at the outset,(2) and then to have gone
on to divide it up into various classes. We have avoided what is
artificial, and have put forward the examples of the fathers of old.
These certainly offer us no uncertainty as regards our understanding
them, and give us no room for subtlety in our discussion of them. Let
the life of the fathers, then, be for us a mirror of virtue, not a mere
collection of shrewd and clever acts. Let us show reverence in
following them, not mere cleverness in discussing them.
117. Prudence held the first place in holy Abraham.
For of him the Scriptures say: "Abraham believed God, and that was
counted to him for righteousness;"(3) for no one is prudent who knows
not God. Again: "The fool hath said, There is no God;"(4) for a wise
man would not say so. How is he wise who looks not for his Maker, but
says to a stone: "Thou art my father"?(5) Who says to the devil as the
Manichaean does: "Thou art the author of my being"?(1) How is Arius(2)
wise, who prefers an imperfect and inferior creator to one who is a
true and perfect one? How can Marcion(3) or Eunomius(4) be wise, who
prefer to have an evil rather than a good God? And how can he be wise
who does not fear his God? For: "The fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom."(5) Elsewhere, too, it stands: "The wise turn not aside from
the mouth of the Lord, but come near Him in their confession of His
greatness."(6) So when the Scripture says: "It was counted to him for
righteousness," that brought to him the grace of another virtue.
118. The chief amongst ourselves have stated that
prudence lies in the knowledge of the truth. But who of them all
excelled Abraham, David, or Solomon in this? Then they go on to say
that justice has regard to the whole community of the human race. So
David said: "He hath dispersed abroad and given to the poor, His
righteousness remaineth for over."(7) The just man has pity. the just
man lends. The whole world of riches lies at the feet of the wise and
the just. The just man regards what belongs to all as his own, and his
own as common property. The man just accuses himself rather than
others. For he is just who does not spare himself, and who does not
suffer his secret actions to be concealed. See now how just Abraham
was! In his old age he begat a son according to promise, and when the
Lord demanded him for sacrifice he did not think he ought to refuse
him, although he was his only son.(8)
119. Note here all these four virtues in one act. It
was wise to believe God, and not to put love for his son before the
commands of his Creator. It was just to give back
21
what had been received. It was brave to restrain natural feelings by
reason. The father led the victim; the son asked where it was: the
father's feelings were hardly tried, but were not overcome. The son
said again: "My father," and thus pierced his father's heart, though
without weakening his devotion to God. The fourth virtue, temperance,
too, was there. Being just he preserved due measure in his piety, and
order in all he had to carry out. And so in bringing what was needed
for the sacrifice, in lighting the fire, in binding his son, in drawing
the knife, in performing the sacrifice in due order; thus he merited as
his reward that he might keep his son.
120. Is there greater wisdom than holy Jacob's, who
saw God face to face and won a blessing?(1) Can there be higher justice
than his in dividing with his brother what he had acquired, and
offering it as a gift?(2) What greater fortitude than his in striving
with God?(3) What moderation so true as his, who acted with such
moderation as regards time and place, as to prefer to hide his
daughter's shame rather than to avenge himself?(4) For being set in the
midst of foes, he thought it better to gain their affections than to
concentrate their hate on himself.
121. How wise also was Noah, who built the whole of
the ark!(5) How just again! For he alone, preserved of all to be the
father of the human race, was made a survivor of past generations, and
the author of one to come; he was born, too, rather for the world and
the universe than for himself. How brave he was to overcome the flood!
how temperate to endure it! When he had entered the ark, with what
moderation he passed the time! When he sent forth the raven and the
dove, when he received them on their return, when he took the
opportunity of leaving the ark, with what moderation did he make use of
these occasions!
CHAPTER XXVI.
In investigating the truth the philosophers have broken through their
own rules. Moses, however, showed himself more wise than they. The
greater the dignity of wisdom, the more earnestly must we strive to
gain it. Nature herself urges us all to do this.
122. IT is said, therefore, that in investigating
the truth, we must observe what is seemly. We ought to look for what is
true with the greatest care. We must not put forward falsehood for
truth, nor hide the truth in darkness, nor fill the mind with idle,
involved, or doubtful matters. What so unseemly as to worship a wooden
thing, which men themselves have made? What shows such darkness as to
discuss subjects connected with geometry and astronomy (which they
approve of), to measure the depths of space, to shut up heaven and
earth within the limits of fixed numbers, to leave aside the grounds of
salvation and to seek for error?
123. Moses, learned as he was in all the wisdom of
the Egyptians,(1) did not approve of those things, but thought that
kind of wisdom both harmful and foolish. Turning away therefrom, he
sought God with all the desire of his heart, and thus saw, questioned,
heard Him when He spoke.(2) Who is more wise than he whom God taught,
and who brought to nought all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and all the
powers of their craft by the might of his works? He did not treat
things unknown as well known, and so rashly accept them. Yet these
philosophers, though they do not consider it contrary to nature, nor
shameful for themselves to worship, and to ask help from an idol which
knows nothing, teach us that these two things mentioned in the words
just spoken, which are in accordance both with nature and with virtue,
ought to be avoided.
124. The loftier the virtue of wisdom is, the more I
say we ought to strive for it, so that we may be able to attain to it.
And that we may have no ideas which are contrary to nature, or are
disgraceful, or unfitting, we ought to give two things, that is, time
and care, to considering matters for the sake of investigating them.
For there is nothing in which man excels all other living creatures
more than in the fact that he has reason, seeks out the origin of
things, thinks that the Author of his being should be searched out. For
in His hand is our life and death; He rules this world by His nod. And
to Him we know that we must give a reason for our actions. For there is
nothing which is more of a help to a good life than to believe that He
will be our judge, Whom hidden things do not escape, and unseemly
things offend, and good deeds delight.
125. In all men, then, there lies, in accordance
with human nature, a desire to search out the truth, which leads us on
to have a longing for knowledge and learning, and
22
infuses into us a wish to seek after it. To excel in this seems a noble
thing to mankind; but there are only few who attain to it. And they, by
deep thought, by careful deliberation, spend no little labour so as to
be able to attain to that blessed and virtuous life, and to approach
its likeness in their actions. "For not he that saith to Me Lord. Lord,
shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth those things
that I say."' To have a desire for knowledge without actions to
correspond--well! I do not know whether that carries anything more with
it.
CHAPTER XXVII.
The first source of duty is prudence, from whence spring three other
virtues; and they cannot be separated or torn asunder, since they are
mutually connected one with the other.
126. THE first source of duty, then, is prudence.(2)
For what is more of a duty than to give to the Creator all one's
devotion and reverence? This source, however, is drawn off into other
virtues. For justice cannot exist without prudence, since it demands no
small amount of prudence to see whether a thing is just or unjust. A
mistake on either side is very serious. "For he that says a just man is
unjust, or an unjust man is just, is accursed with God. Wherefore does
justice(3) abound unto the wicked?"(4) says Solomon. Nor, on the other
hand, can prudence exist without justice, for piety towards God is the
beginning of understanding. On which we notice that this is a borrowed
rather than an original idea among the worldly wise, for piety is the
foundation of all virtues.
127. But the piety of justices is first directed
towards God; secondly, towards one's country; next, towards parents;(6)
lastly, towards all. This, too, is in accordance with the guidance of
nature. From the beginning of life, when understanding first begins to
be infused into us, we love life as the gift of God, we love our
country and our parents; lastly, our companions, with whom we like to
associate. Hence arises true love, which prefers others to self, and
seeks not its own, wherein lies the pre-eminence of justice.
128. It is ingrained in all living creatures,(1)
first of all, to preserve their own safety, to guard against what is
harmful, to strive for what is advantageous. They seek food and
converts, whereby they may protect themselves from dangers, storms, and
sun,--all which is a mark of prudence. Next we find that all the
different creatures are by nature wont to herd together, at first with
fellows of their own class and sort, then also with others. So we see
oxen delighted to be in herds, horses in droves, and especially like
with like, stags, also, in company with stags and often with men. And
what should I say on their desire to have young, and on their
offspring, or even on their passions, wherein the likeness of justice
is conspicuous?
129. It is clear, then, that these and the remaining
virtues are related to one another. For courage, which in war preserves
one's country from the barbarians, or at home defends the weak, or
comrades from robbers, is full of justice; and to know on what plan to
defend and to give help, how to make use of opportunities of time and
place, is the part of prudence and moderation, and temperance itself
cannot observe due measure without prudence. To know a fit opportunity,
and to make return according to what is right, belongs to justice. In
all these, too, large-heartedness is necessary, and fortitude of mind,
and often of body, so that we may carry out what we wish.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
A community rests upon justice and good-will. Two parts of the former,
revenge and private possession, are not recognized by Christians. What
the Stoics say about common property and mutual help has been borrowed
from the sacred writings. The greatness of the glory of justice, and
what hinders access to it.
130. JUSTICE,(2) then, has to do with the society of
the human race, and the community at large. For that which holds
society together is divided into two parts,--justice and good-will,
which also is called liberality and kindness. Justice seems to me the
loftier, liberality the more pleasing, of the two. The one gives
judgment, the other shows goodness.
131. But that very thing is excluded with us which
philosophers think to be the office of justice. For they say that the
first expression of justice is, to hurt no one, except
23
when driven to it by wrongs received. This is put aside by the
authority of the Gospel. For the Scripture wills that the Spirit of the
Son of Man should be in us, Who came to give grace, not to bring
harm.(1)
132. Next they considered it consonant with justice
that one should treat common, that is, public property as public, and
private as private. But this is not even in accord with nature, for
nature has poured forth all things for all men for common use. God has
ordered all things to be produced, so that there should be food in
common to all, and that the earth should be a common possession for
all. Nature, therefore, has produced a common right for all, but greed
has made it a right for a few. Here, too, we are told that the Stoics
taught that all things which are produced on the earth are created for
the use of men, but that men are born for the sake of men, so that
mutually one may be of advantage to another.(2)
133. But whence have they got such ideas but out of
the holy Scriptures? For Moses wrote that God said: "Let us make man in
our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish
of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over
every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth."(3) And David said:
"Thou hast put all things under his feet; all sheep and oxen, yea, and
the beasts of the field, the fowls of the air, and the fishes of the
sea."(4) So these philosophers have learnt from our writings that all
things were made subject to man, and, therefore, they think that all
things were produced also for man's sake.
134. That man was made for the sake of man we find
stated also in the books of Moses, when the Lord says: "It is not good
that man should be alone, let us make him an helpmeet for him."(3) Thus
the woman was given to the man to help him. She should bear him
children, that one man might always be a help to another. Again, before
the woman was formed, it was said of Adam: "There was not found an
help-meet for him."(6) For one man could not have proper help but from
another. Amongst all the living creatures, therefore, there was none
meet for him, or, to put it plainly, none to be his helper. Hence a
woman was looked for to help him.
135. Thus, in accordance with the will of God and
the union of nature, we ought to be of mutual help one to the other,
and to vie with each other in doing duties, to lay all our advantages
as it were before all, and (to use the words of Scripture) to bring
help one to the other from a feeling of devotion or of duty, by giving
money, or by doing something, at any rate in some way or other; so that
the charm of human fellowship may ever grow sweeter amongst us, and
none may ever be recalled from their duty by the fear of danger, but
rather account all things, whether good or evil, as their own
concern.(1) Thus holy Moses feared not to undertake terrible wars for
his people's sake, nor was he afraid of the arms of the mightiest
kings, nor yet was he frightened at the savagery of barbarian nations.
He put on one side the thought of his own safety so as to give freedom
to the people.
136. Great, then, is the glory of justice; for she,
existing rather for the good of others than of self, is an aid to the
bonds of union and fellowship amongst us. She holds so high a place
that she has all things laid under her authority, and further can bring
help to others and supply money; nor does she refuse her services, but
even undergoes dangers for others.
137. Who would not gladly climb and hold the heights
of this virtue, were it not that greed weakens and lessens the power of
such a virtue?(2) For as long as we want to add to our possessions and
to heap up money, to take into our possession fresh lands, and to be
the richest of all, we have cast aside the form of justice and have
lost the blessing of kindness towards all. How can he be just that
tries to take from another what he wants for himself?
138. The desire to gain power also enervates(3) the
perfect strength and beauty of justice. For how can he, who attempts to
bring others under his own power, come forward on behalf of others? And
how can a man help the weak against the strong, when he himself aspires
to great power at the cost of liberty?
CHAPTER XXIX.
Justice should be observed even in war and with enemies. This is proved
by the example of Moses and Elisha. The ancient writers learnt in turn
from the Hebrews to call their enemies by a gentler term. Lastly, the
foundation of justice rests on faith, and its symmetry is perfect in
the Church.
139. How great a thing justice is
can be
24
gathered from the fact that there is no place, nor person, nor time,
with which it has nothing to do. It must even be preserved in all
dealings with enemies.(2) For instance, if the day or the spot for a
battle has been agreed upon with them, it would be considered an act
against justice to occupy the spot beforehand, or to anticipate the
time. For there is some difference whether one is overcome in some
battle by a severe engagement, or by superior skill, or by a mere
chance. But a deeper vengeance is taken on fiercer foes, and on those
that are false as well as on those who have done greater wrongs, as was
the case with the Midianites.(2) For they had made many of the Jewish
people to sin through their women; for which reason the anger of the
Lord was poured out upon the people of our fathers. Thus it came about
that Moses when victorious allowed none of them to live. On the other
hand, Joshua did not attack the Gibeonites, who had tried the people of
our fathers with guile rather than with war, but punished them by
laying on them a law of bondage.(3) Elisha again would not allow the
king of Israel to slay the Syrians when he wished to do so. He had
brought them into the city, when they were besieging him, after he had
struck them with instantaneous blindness, so that they could not see
where they were going, For he said: "Thou shall not smite those whom
thou hast not taken captive with thy spear and with thy sword. Set
before them bread and water, that they may eat and drink and return and
go to their own home."(4) Incited by their kind treatment they should
show forth to the world the kindness they had received. "Thus" (we
read) "there came no more the bands of Syria into the land of
Israel."(5)
140. If, then, justice is binding, even in war, how
much more ought we to observe it in time of peace. Such favour the
prophet showed to those who came to seize him. We read that the king of
Syria had sent his army to lie in wait for him, for he had learnt that
it was Elisha who had made known to all his plans and consultations.
And Gehazi the prophet's servant, seeing the army, began to fear that
his life was in danger. But the prophet said to him: "Fear not, for
they that be with us are more than they that be with them."(6) And when
the prophet asked that the eyes of his servant might be opened, they
were opened. Then Gehazi saw the whole mountain full of horses and
chariots round about Elisha. As they came down to him the prophet says:
"Smite, O God, the army of Syria with blindness." And this prayer being
granted, he says to the Syrians: "Follow me, and I will bring you to
the man whom ye seek." Then saw they Elisha, whom they were
endeavouring to lay hold of, and seeing him they could not hold him
fast.(1) It is clear from this that faith and justice should be
observed even in war; and that it could not but be a disgraceful thing
if faith were violated.
141. So also the ancients used to give their foes a
less harsh name, and called them strangers.(2) For enemies used to be
called strangers after the customs of old. This too we can say they
adopted from our writings; for the Hebrews used to call their foes
"allophyllos," that is, when put into Latin, "alienigenas" (of another
race). For so we read in the first book of Kings: "It came to pass in
those days that they of another race put themselves in array against
Israel."(3)
142. The foundation of justice therefore is faith, 4
for the hearts of the just dwell on faith, and the just man that
accuses himself builds justice on faith, for his justice becomes plain
when he confesses the truth. So the Lord saith through Isaiah: "Behold,
I lay a stone for a foundation in Sion."(5) This means Christ as the
foundation of the Church. For Christ is the object of faith to all; but
the Church is as it were the outward form of justice, she is the common
right of all. For all in common she prays, for all in common she works,
in the temptations of all she is tried. So he who denies himself is
indeed a just man, is indeed worthy of Christ. For this reason Paul has
made Christ to be the foundation, so that we may build upon Him the
works of justice,(6) whilst faith is the foundation. In our works,
then, if they are evil, there appears unrighteousness; if they are
good, justice.
CHAPTER XXX.
On kindness and its several parts, namely, good-will and liberality.
How they are to be combined. What else is further needed for any one to
show liberality in a praiseworthy manner.
143. Now we can go on to speak of kindness, which
breaks up into two parts, goodwill and liberality. Kindness to exist in
perfection must consist of these two qualities. It is not enough just
to wish well; we must
25
also do well. Nor, again, is it enough to do well, unless this springs
from a good source even from a good, will. "For God loveth a cheerful
giver."(1) If we act unwillingly, what is our reward? Wherefore the
Apostle, speaking generally, says: "If I do this thing willingly, I
have a reward, but if unwillingly, a dispensation is given unto me.
"(2) In the Gospel, also, we have received many rules of just
liberality.
144. It is thus a glorious thing to wish well, and
to give freely, with the one desire to do good and not to do harm. For
if we were to think it our duty to give the means to an extravagant man
to live extravagantly, or to an adulterer to pay for his adultery, it
would not be an act of kindness, for there would be no good-will in it.
We should be doing harm, not good, to another if we gave him money to
aid him in plotting against his country, or in attempting to get
together at our expense some abandoned men to attack the Church. Nor,
again, does it look like liberality to help one who presses very hardly
on widows and orphans, or attempts to seize on their property with any
show of violence.
145. It is no sign of a liberal spirit(3) to extort
from one what we give to another, or to gain money unjustly, and then
to think it can be well spent, unless we act as Zacchaeus(4) did, and
restore fourfold what we have taken from him whom we have robbed, and
make up for such heathenish crimes by the zeal of our faith and by true
Christian labour. Our liberality must have some sure foundation.
146. The first thing necessary is to do kindness in
good faith, and not to act falsely when the offering is made. Never let
us say we are doing more, when we are really doing less. What need is
there to speak at all? In a promise a cheat lies hid. It is in our
power to give what we like. Cheating shatters the foundation, and so
destroys the work. Did Peter grow angry only so far as to desire that
Ananias and his wife should be slain?(5) Certainly not. He wished that
others, through knowing their example, should not perish.
147. Nor is it a real act of liberality if thou
givest for the sake of boasting about it, rather than for mercy's sake.
Thy inner feelings give the name to thy acts. As it comes forth from
thee, so will others regard it. See what a true judge thou hast! He
consults with thee how to take up thy work, and first of all he
questions thy mind. "Let not," he says, "thy left hand know what thy
right hand doth."(1) This does not refer to our actual bodies, but
means: Let not him who is of one mind with thee, not even thy brother,
know what thou doest, lest thou shouldst lose the fruit of thy reward
hereafter by seeking here thy price in boastfulness. But that
liberality is real where a man hides what he does in silence, and
secretly assists the needs of individuals, whom the mouth of the poor,
and not his own lips, praises.
148. Perfect liberality is proved by its good faith,
the case it helps, the time and place when and where it is shown. But
first we must always see that we help those of the household of
faith.(2) It is a serious fault if a believer is in want, and thou
knowest it, or if thou knowest that he is without means, that he is
hungry, that he suffer distress, especially if he is ashamed of his
need. It is a great fault if he is overwhelmed by the imprisonment or
false accusation of his family, and thou dost not come to his help. If
he is in prison, and--upright though he is--has to suffer pain and
punishment for some debt (for though we ought to show mercy to all, yet
we ought to show it especially to an upright man); if in the time of
his trouble he obtains nothing from thee; if in the time of danger,
when he is carried off to die, thy money seems more to thee than the
life of a dying man; what a sin is that to thee! Wherefore Job says
beautifully: "Let the blessing of him that was ready to perish come
upon me."(3)
149. God, indeed, is not a respecter of persons, for
He knows all things. And we, indeed, ought to show mercy to all. But as
many try to get help on false pretences, and make out that they are
miserably off; therefore where the case is plain and the person well
known, and no time is to be lost, mercy ought to be shown more readily.
For the Lord is not exacting to demand the utmost. Blessed, indeed, is
he who forsakes all and follows Him, but blessed also is he who does
what he can to the best of his powers with what he has. The Lord
preferred the two mites of the widow to all the gifts of the rich, for
she gave all that she had, but they only gave a small part out of all
their abundance.(4) It is the intention, therefore, that makes the gift
valuable or poor, and gives to things their value. The Lord does not
want us to give away all our goods at once, but to impart them little
by little; unless, indeed, our case is like that of Elisha, who
26
killed his oxen, and fed the people on what he had, so that no
household cares might hold him back, and that he might give up all
things, and devote himself to the prophetic teaching.(1)
150. True liberality also must be tested in this
way:(2) that we despise not our nearest relatives, if we know they are
in want. For it is better for thee to help thy kindred who feel the
shame of asking help from others, or of going to another to beg
assistance in their need. Not, however, that they should become rich on
what thou couldst otherwise give to the poor. It is the facts of the
case we must consider, and not personal feeling. Thou didst not
dedicate thyself to the Lord on purpose to make thy family rich, but
that thou mightest win eternal life by the fruit of good works, and
atone for thy sins by showing mercy. They think perhaps that they are
asking but little, but they demand the price thou shouldst pay for thy
sins. They attempt to take away the fruits of thy life, and think they
are acting rightly.(3) And one accuses thee because thou hast not made
him rich, when all the time he wished to cheat thee of the reward of
eternal life.
151. So far we have given our advice, now let us
look for our authority. First, then, no one ought to be ashamed of
becoming poor after being rich, if this happens because he gives freely
to the poor; for Christ became poor when He was rich, that through His
poverty He might enrich all."(4) He has given us a rule to follow, so
that we may give a good account of our reduced inheritance; whoever has
stayed the hunger of the poor has lightened his distress. "Herein I
give my advice," says the Apostle, "for this is expedient for you, that
ye should be followers of Christ."(5) Advice is given to the good, but
warnings restrain the wrong-doers. Again he says, as though to the
good: "For ye have begun not only to do, but also to be willing, a year
ago."(6) Both of these, and not only one, is the mark of perfection.
Thus he teaches that liberality without good-will, and good-will
without liberality, are neither of them perfect. Wherefore he also
urges us on to perfection, saying:(7) "Now, therefore, perform the
doing of it; that as the will to do it was ready enough in you, so also
there may be the will to accomplish it out of that which ye have. For
if the will be ready, it is accepted according to that a man hath, and
not according to that he hath not. But not so that others should have
plenty, and ye should be in want: but let there be equality,--your
abundance must now serve for their want, that their abundance may serve
for your want; that there may be equality, as it is written: "He that
gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no
lack."(1)
152. We notice how the Apostle includes both
good-will and liberality, as well as the manner, the fruits of right
giving, and the persons concerned. The manner certainly, for he gave
advice to those not perfect: For only the imperfect suffer anxiety. But
if any priest or other cleric, being unwilling to burden the Church,(2)
does not give away all that he has, but does honourably what his office
demands, he does not seem to me to be imperfect. I think also that the
Apostle here spoke not of anxiety of mind, but rather of domestic
troubles.
153. And I think it was with reference to the
persons concerned that he said: "that your abundance might serve for
their want, and their abundance for your want." This means, that the
abundance of the people might arouse them to good works, so as to
supply the want of food of others; whilst the spiritual abundance of
these latter might assist the want of spiritual merits among the people
themselves, and so win them a blessing.
154. Wherefore he gave them an excellent example:
"He that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little
had no lack." That example is a great encouragement to all men to show
mercy. For he that possesses much gold has nothing over, for all in
this world is as nothing; and he that has little has no lack, for what
he loses is nothing already. The whole matter is without loss, for the
whole of it is lost already.
155. We can also rightly understand it thus. He that
has much, although he does not give away, has nothing over. For however
much he gets, he always is in want, because he longs for more. And he
who has little has no lack, for it does not cost much to feed the poor.
In like manner, too, the poor person that gives spiritual blessings in
return for money, although he
27
has much grace, has nothing over. For grace does not burden the mind,
but lightens it.
156. It can further be taken in this way: Thou, O
man, hast nothing over! For how much hast thou really received, though
it may seem much to thee? John, than whom none was greater among those
born of woman, yet was less than he who is least in the kingdom of
heaven.(1)
157. Or once more. The grace of God is never
superabundant, humanly speaking, for it is spiritual. Who can measure
its greatness or its breadth, which one cannot see? Faith, if it were
as a grain of mustard seed, can transplant mountains--and more than a
grain is not granted thee. If grace dwelt fully in thee, wouldst thou
not have to fear lest thy mind should begin to be elated at so great a
gift ? For there are many who have fallen more terribly, from spiritual
heights, than if they had never received grace at all from the Lord.
And he who has little has no lack, for it is not tangible so as to be
divided; and what seems little to him that has is much to him that
lacks.
158. In giving we must also take into consideration
age and weakness; sometimes, also, that natural feeling of shame, which
indicates good birth. One ought to give more to the old who can no
longer supply themselves with food by labour. So, too, weakness of body
must be assisted, and that readily. Again, if any one after being rich
has fallen into want, we must assist, especially if he has lost what he
had from no sin of his own, but owing to robbery or banishment or false
accusation.
159. Perchance some one may say: A blind man sits
here in one place, and people pass him by, whilst a strong young man
often has something given him. That is true; for he comes over people
by his importunity. That is not because in their judgment he deserves
it, but because they are wearied by his begging. For the Lord speaks in
the Gospel of him who had already closed iris door; how that when one
knocks at his door very violently, he rises and gives what is wanted,
because of his importunity.(2)
CHAPTER XXXI.
A kindness received should be returned with a freer hand. This is shown
by the example of the earth. A passage from Solomon about feasting is
adduced to prove the same, and is expounded later in a spiritual sense.
160. IT is also rights that more regard should be
paid to him who has conferred some benefit or girl upon thee, if he
ever is reduced to want. For what is so contrary to one's duty as not
to return what one has received? Nor do I think that a return of equal
value should be made, but a greater. One ought to make up for the
enjoyment of a kindness one has received from another, to such an
extent as to help that person. even to putting an end to his needs. For
not to be the better in returning than in conferring a kindness, is to
be the inferior; for he who was the first to give was the first in
point of time, and also first in showing a kind disposition.
161. Wherefore w e must imitate the nature of the
earth(1) in this respect, which is wont to return the seed she has
received, multiplied a thousand-fold. And so it is written: "As a field
is the foolish man, and as a vineyard is the man without sense. If thou
leavest him, he will be made desolate."(2) As a field also is the wise
man, so as to return the seed given him in fuller measure, as though it
had been lent to him on interest. The earth either produces fruits of
its own accord, or pays back and restores, what it was entrusted with,
in fruitful abundance. In both these ways a return is due from thee,
when thou enterest upon the use of thy father's possession, that thou
mayest not be left to lie as an unfruitful field. It may be that a man
can make an excuse for not giving anything, but how can he excuse
himself for not returning what was given? It is hardly right not to
give anything; it is certainly not right to make no return for kindness
done to oneself.(3)
162. Therefore Solomon says well: "When thou sittest
to eat at the table of a ruler consider diligently what is before thee,
and put forth thine hand, knowing that it behoves thee to make such
preparations. But if thou art insatiable, be not desirous of his
dainties, for they have but a deceptive life."(4) I have written these
words as I wish that we all should follow them. It is a good thing to
do a service, but he who knows not how to return one is very hard. The
earth herself supplies an example of kindliness. She provides fruits of
her own accord, which thou didst not sow; she also returns many-fold
what she has received. It is not right for thee to deny knowledge of
money paid in to thee, and how can it be right to let a service done go
without notice? In the book of Proverbs also it is said: that the
28
repayment of kindness has such great power with God, that through it,
even in the day of destruction, a man may find grace, though his sins
outweigh all else.(1) And why need I bring forward other examples when
the Lord Himself promises in the Gospel a fuller reward to the merits
of the saints, and exhorts us to do good works, saying: "Forgive, and
ye shall be forgiven; give, and it shall be given unto you; good
measure, shaken together and running over, shall men give into your
bosom."(2)
163. But the feasting that Solomon speaks of has not
to do with common food only, but it is to be understood as having to do
with good works. For how can the soul be feasted in better wise than on
good works; or what can so easily fill the mind of the just as the
knowledge of a good work done? What pleasanter food is there than to do
the will of God? The Lord has told us that He had this food alone in
abundance, as it is written in the Gospel, saying: "My food is to do
the will of My Father which is in heaven."(3)
164. In this food let us delight of which the
prophet says: "Delight thou in the Lord."(4) In this food they delight,
who have with wonderful knowledge learnt to take in the higher
delights; who can know what that delight is which is pure and which can
be understood by the mind. Let us therefore eat the bread of wisdom,
and let us be filled with the word of God. For the life of man made in
the image of God consists not in bread alone, but in every word that
cometh from God.(5) About the cup, too, holy Job says, plainly enough:
"As the earth waiteth for the rain, so did they for my words."(6)
CHAPTER XXXII.
After saying what return must be made for the service of the
above-mentioned feast, various reasons for repaying kindness are
enumerated. Then he speaks in praise of good-will, on its results and
its order.
165. IT is therefore a good thing for us to be
bedewed with the exhortations of the divine Scriptures, and that the
word of God should come down upon us like the dew. When, therefore,
thou sittest at the table of that great man, understand who that great
man is. Set in the paradise of delight and placed at the feast of
wisdom, think of what is put before thee! The divine Scriptures are the
feast of wisdom, and the single books the various dishes. Know, first,
what dishes the banquet offers, then stretch forth thy hand, that those
things which thou readest, or which thou receivest from the Lord thy
God, thou mayest carry out in action, and so by thy duties mayest show
forth the grace that was granted thee. Such was the case with Peter and
Paul, who in preaching the Gospel made some return to Him Who freely
gave them all things. So that each of them might say: "By the grace of
God I am what I am, and His grace in me was not in vain, but I laboured
more abundantly than they all."(1)
166. One repays the fruit of a service done him, and
repays it, gold with gold, silver with silver. Another gives his
labour. Another--and I do not know whether he does not do it in fuller
measure--gives but the best wishes of his heart? But what if there is
no opportunity to make a return at hand? If we wish to return a
kindness, more depends on the spirit in which we do it than on the
amount of our property, whilst people will think more of our good-will,
than of our power to make a full return. For a kindness done is
regarded in the light of what one has. A great thing, therefore, is
good-will. For even if it has nothing to give, yet it offers the more,
and though there is nothing in its own possession, yet it gives largely
to many, and does that, too, without loss to itself, and to the gain of
the many. Thus good-will is better than liberality itself. It is richer
in character than the other is in gifts; for there are more that need a
kindness than there are that have abundance.
167. But good-will also goes in conjunction with
liberality, for liberality really starts from it, seeing that the habit
of giving comes after the desire to give. It exists, however, also
separate and distinct. For where liberality is wanting, there good-will
abide's--the parent as it were of all in common, uniting and binding
friendships together. It is faithful in counsel, joyful in times of
prosperity, and in times of sorrow sad. So it happens that any one
trusts himself to the counsels of a man of good-will rather than to
those of a wise one, as David did. For he, though he was the more
farseeing, agreed to the counsels of Jonathan, who was the younger.(3)
Remove good-will out of the reach of men, and it is as though one had
withdrawn the sun from the world.(4) For without it men would no longer
care to show the way to the stranger, to recall the
29
wanderer, to show hospitality (this latter is no small virtue, for on
this point Job praised himself, when he said: "At my doors the stranger
dwelt not, my gate was open to every one who came"),(1) nor even to
give water from the water that flows at their door, or to light
another's candle at their own. Thus good-will exists in all these, like
a fount of waters refreshing the thirsty, and like a light, which,
shining forth to others, fails not them who have given a light to
others from their own light.(2)
168. There is also liberality springing from
good-will, that makes one tear up the bond of a debtor which one holds,
without demanding any of the debt back from him. Holy Job bids us act
thus by his own example.(3) For he that has does not borrow, but he
that has not does not put an end to the agreement. Why, then, if thou
hast no need, dost thou save up for greedy heirs what thou canst give
back immediately, and so get praise for good-will, and that without
loss of money?
169. To go to the root of thereafter--good-will
starts first with those at home, that is with children, parents,
brothers, and goes on from one step to another throughout the world.(4)
Having started from Paradise, it has filled the world. For God set the
feeling of good-will in the man and woman, saying: "They shall be one
flesh,"(5) and (one may add) one spirit. Wherefore Eve also believed
the serpent; for she who had received the gift of good-will did not
think there was ill-will.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
Good-will exists especially in the Church, and nourishes
kindred virtues.
170. GOOD-WILL expands in the body of the Church,(6)
by fellowship in faith, by the bond of baptism, by kinship through
grace received, by communion in the mysteries. For all these bonds
claim for themselves the name of intimacy, the reverence of children,
the authority and religious care of parents, the relationship of
brothers. Therefore the bonds of grace clearly point to an increase of
good-will.
171. The desire to attain to like virtues also
stands one in good stead;(7) just as again good-will brings about a
likeness in character. For Jonathan the king's son imitated the
gentleness of holy David, because he loved him. Wherefore those words:
"With the holy thou shalt be holy,"(1) seem not only to be concerned
with our ordinary intercourse, but also to have some connection with
good-will. The sons of Noah indeed dwelt together, and yet their
characters were not at all alike. Esau and Jacob also dwelt together in
their father's house, but were very unlike. There was, however, no
good-will between them to make the one prefer the other to himself, but
rather a rivalry as to which should first get. the blessing. Since one
was so hard, and the other gentle, good-will could not exist as between
such different characters and conflicting desires. Add to this the fact
that holy Jacob could not prefer the unworthy in son of his father's
house to virtue.
172. But nothing is so harmonious(2) as justice and
impartiality. For this, as the comrade and ally of good-will, makes us
love those whom we think to be like ourselves. Again, good-will
contains also in itself fortitude. For when friendship springs from the
fount of good-will it does not hesitate to endure the great dangers of
life for a friend. "If evils come to me through him," it says, "I will
bear them."(3)
CHAPTER XXXIV.
Some other advantages of
goodwill are here enumerated.
173. GOOD-WILL also is wont to remove the sword of
anger. It is also good-will that makes the wounds of a friend to be
better than the willing kisses of an enemy.(4) Goodwill again makes
many to become one. For if many are friends, they become one; in whom
there is but one spirit and one opinion.(5) We note, too, that in
friendship corrections are pleasing. They have their sting, but they
cause no pain. We are pierced by the words of blame, but are delighted
with the anxiety that good-will shows.
174. To conclude, the same duties are not owed to
all. Nor is regard ever paid to persons, though the occasion and the
circumstances of the case are generally taken into consideration, so
that one may at times have to help a neighbour rather than one's
brother. For Solomon also says: "Better is a neighbour that is near
than a brother far
30
off."(1) For this reason a man generally trusts himself to the
good-will of a friend rather than to the ties of relationship with his
brother. So far does good-will prevail that it often goes beyond the
pledges given by nature.
CHAPTER XXXV.
On fortitude. This is divided into two parts: as it concerns matters of
war and matters at home. The first cannot be a virtue unless combined
with justice and prudence. The other depends to a large extent upon
endurance.
175. WE have discussed fully enough the nature and
force of what is virtuous from the standpoint of justice.(2) Now let us
discuss fortitude, which (being a loftier virtue than the rest) is
divided into two parts, as it concerns matters of war and matters at
home. But the thought of warlike matters seems to be foreign to the
duty of our office, for we have our thoughts fixed more on the duty of
the soul than on that of the body; nor is it our business to look to
arms, but rather to the affairs of peace. Our fathers, however, as
Joshua, the son of Nun, Jerubbaal, Samson, and David, gained great
glory also in war.
176. Fortitude, therefore, is a loftier virtue than
the rest, but it is also one that never stands alone. For it never
depends on itself alone. Moreover, fortitude without justice is the
source of wickedness.(3) For the stronger it is, the more ready is it
to crush the weaker, whilst in matters of war one ought to see whether
the war is just or unjust.
177. David never waged war unless he was driven to
it. Thus prudence was combined in him with fortitude in the battle. For
even when about to fight single-handed against Goliath, the enormous
giant, he rejected the armour with which he was laden.(4) His strength
depended more on his own arm than on the weapons of others. Then, at a
distance, to get a stronger throw, with one cast of a stone, he slew
his enemy. After that he never entered on a war without seeking counsel
of the Lord.(5) Thus he was victorious in all wars, and even to his
last years was ready to fight. And when war arose with the Philistines,
he joined battle with their fierce troops, being desirous of winning
renown, whilst careless of his own safety.(1)
178. But this is not the only kind of fortitude which is
worthy of note. We consider their fortitude glorious, who, with
greatness of mind, "through faith stopped the mouth of lions, quenched
the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness
were made strong."(2) They did not gain a victory in common with many,
surrounded with comrades, and aided by the legions, but won their
triumph alone over their treacherous foes by the mere courage of their
own souls. How unconquerable was Daniel, who feared not the lions
raging round about him. The beasts roared, whilst he was eating.(3)
CHAFFER XXXVI.
One of the duties of fortitude is to keep the weak from receiving
injury; another, to check the wrong motions of our own souls; a third,
both to disregard humiliations, and to do what is right with an even
mind. All these clearly ought to be fulfilled by all Christians, and
especially by the clergy.
179. THE glory of fortitude, therefore, does not
rest only on the strength of one's body or of one's arms, but rather on
the courage of the mind.(4) Nor is the law of courage exercised in
causing, but in driving away all harm. He who does not keep harm off a
friend, if he can, is as much in fault as he who causes it. Wherefore
holy Moses gave this as a first proof of his fortitude in war. For when
he saw an Hebrew receiving hard treatment at the hands of an Egyptian,
he defended him, and laid low the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.(5)
Solomon also says: "Deliver him that is led to death."(6)
180. From whence, then, Cicero and Panaetius, or
even Aristotle, got these ideas is perfectly clear. For though living
before these two, Job had said: "I delivered the poor out of the hand
of the strong, and I aided the fatherless for whom there was no helper.
Let the blessing of him that was ready to perish come upon me."(7) Was
not he most brave in that he bore so nobly the attacks of the devil,
and overcame him with the powers of his mind?(8) Nor have we cause to
doubt the fortitude of him to whom the Lord said: "Gird up thy loins
like a man. Put on loftiness and power. Humble every one that doeth
wrong."(9) The Apostle
37
and to bring about order, wherein that is plainly conspicuous which we
call "decorum," or what is seemly. This is so closely connected with
what is virtuous, that one cannot separate the two.(1) For what is
seemly is also virtuous--and what is virtuous is seemly. So that the
distinction lies rather in the words than in the things themselves.
That there is a difference between them we can understand, but we
cannot explain it.
229. To make an attempt to get some sort of a
distinction between them, we may say that what is virtuous may be
compared to the good health and soundness of the body, whilst what is
seemly is, as it were, its comeliness and beauty. And as beauty seems
to stand above soundness and health and yet cannot exist without them,
nor be separated from them in any way--for unless one has good health,
one cannot have beauty and comeliness--so what is virtuous contains in
itself also what is seemly, so as to seem to start with it, and to be
unable to exist without it. What is virtuous, then, is like soundness
in all our work and undertaking; what is seemly is, as it were, the
outward appearance, which, when joined with what is virtuous, can only
be known apart in our thoughts. For though in some cases it seems to
stand out conspicuous, yet it has its root in what is virtuous, though
the flower is its own. Rooted in this, it flourishes; otherwise it
fails and droops. For what is virtue, but to avoid anything shameful as
though it were death? And what is the opposite of virtue, except that
which brings barrenness and death? If, then, the essence of virtue is
strong and vigorous, seemliness will also quickly spring forth like a
flower, for its root is sound. But if the root of its purpose is
corrupt, nothing will grow out of it.
230. In our writings this is put somewhat more
plainly. For David says: "The Lord reigneth, He is clothed with
splendour."(2) And the Apostle says: "Walk honestly as in the day." (3)
The Greek text has <greek>euschmonws</greek>--and this
really means: with good clothing, with a good appearance. When God made
the first man, He created him with a good figure, with limbs well set,
and gave him a very noble appearance. He had not given him remission of
sins. But afterwards He, Who came in the form of a servant, and in the
likeness of man, renewed him with His Spirit, and poured His grace into
his heart, and put on Himself the splendour (1) of the redemption of
the human race. Therefore the Prophet said: "The Lord reigneth,
He is clothed with splendour." (2) And again he says: "A hymn beseems
Thee, O God, in Sion. "(3) That is: It is right and good to fear Thee,
to love Thee, to pray to Thee, to honour Thee, for it is written: "Let
all things be done decently and in order."(4) But we can also fear,
love, ask, honour men; yet the hymn especially is addressed to God.
This seemliness which we offer to God we may believe to be far better
than other things. It befits also a woman to pray in an orderly dress,
(5) but it especially beseems her to pray covered, and to pray giving
promise of purity together with a good conversation.
CHAPTER XLVI.
A twofold division of what is seemly is given. Next it is shown that
what is according to nature is virtuous, and what is otherwise must be
looked on as shameful. This division is explained by examples.
231. Seemliness, therefore, which stands conspicuous
has a twofold division.(6) For there is what we may call a general
seemliness, which is diffused through all that is virtuous, and is
seen, as one may say, in the whole body. It is also individual, and
shows itself clearly in some particular part. The first has a
consistent form and the perfection of what is virtuous harmonizing in
every action. For all its life is consistent with itself, and there is
no discrepancy in anything. The other is concerned when there is any
special action done in a virtuous course of life.
232. At the same time let us note that it is seemly
to live in accordance with nature, and to pass our time in accordance
with it, and that whatever is contrary to nature is shameful. For the
Apostle asks: "Is it comely that a woman pray unto God uncovered; doth
not nature itself teach you that if a man have long hair, it is a shame
unto him? For it is contrary to nature." And again he says: "If a woman
have long hair, it is a glory unto her."(7) It is according to nature,
since her hair is given her for a veil, for it is a natural veil. Thus
nature arranges for us both character and
38
appearance, and we ought to observe her directions. Would that we could
guard her innocence, and not change what we have received by our
wickedness !
233. We have that general seemliness; for God made
the beauty of this world. We have it also in its parts; for when God
made the light, and marked off the day from the night, when He made
heaven, and separated land and seas, when He set the sun and moon and
stars to shine on the earth, He approved of them all one by one.
Therefore this comeliness, which shone forth in each single part of the
world, was resplendent in the whole, as the Book of Wisdom shows,
saying: "I existed, in whom He rejoiced when He was glad at the
completion of the world." (1) Likewise also in the building up of the
human body each single member is pleasing, but the right adjustment of
the members all together delights us far more. For thus they seem to be
united and fitted in one harmonious whole.
CHAPTER XLVII.
What is seemly should always shine forth in our life. What passions,
then, ought we to allow to come to a head, and which should we restrain?
234. If any one preserves an even tenor in the whole
of life, and method in all that he does, and sees there is order and
consistency in his words and moderation in his deeds, then what is
seemly stands forth conspicuous in his life and shines forth as in some
mirror.
235. There should be besides a pleasant way of
speaking, so that we may win the good-will of those who hear us, and
make ourselves agreeable to all our friends and fellow-citizens, if
possible. Let none show himself to be given to flattery, nor to be
desirous of flattery from any one. The one is a mark of artfulness, the
other of vanity.
236. Let no one ever look down on what another,
least of all a good man, thinks of him, for thus he learns to give
regard to the good. For to disregard the judgment of good men is a sign
of conceitedness or of weakness. One of these arises from pride, the
other from carelessness.
237. We must also guard against the motions of our
soul. The soul must always watch and look after itself, so as to guard
itself against itself. For there are motions in which there is a kind
of passion that breaks forth as it were in a sort of rush. Wherefore in
Greek it is called <greek>ormh</greek>, because it comes
out suddenly with some force. In these there lies no slight force of
soul or of nature. Its force, however, is twofold: on the one side it
rests on passion, on the other on reason, which checks passion, and
makes it obedient to itself, and leads it whither it will; and trains
it by careful teaching to know what ought to be done, and what ought to
be avoided, so as to make it submit to its kind tamer.
238. For we ought to be careful never to do anything
rashly or carelessly, or anything at all for which we cannot give a
reasonable ground. For though a reason for our action is not given to
every one, yet everybody looks into it. Nor, indeed, have we anything
whereby we can excuse ourselves. For though there is a sort of natural
force in every passion of ours, yet that same passion is subject to
reason by the law of nature itself, and is obedient to it.(1) Wherefore
it is the duty of a careful watchman so to keep a lookout, that passion
may not outrun reason nor utterly forsake it, lest by outstripping it
confusion be caused, and reason be shut out, and come tO nothing by
such desertion. Disquiet destroys consistency. Withdrawal shows
cowardice and implies indolence. For when the mind is disquieted
passion spreads wide and far, and in a fierce outburst endures not the
reins of reason and feels not the management of its driver so as to be
turned back. Wherefore as a rule not only is the soul perturbed and
reason lost, but one's countenance gets inflamed by anger or by lust,
it grows pale with fear, it contains not itself in pleasure, and cannot
bear joy.
239. When this happens, then that natural judgment
and weight of character is cast aside, and that consistency which alone
in deed and thought can keep up its own authority and what is seemly,
can no longer be retained.
240. But fiercer passion springs from excessive
anger,' which the pain of some wrong received kindles within us. The
monitions of the psalm which forms the opening of our subject instruct
us on this point. Beautifully, then, has it come about that, in writing
on duties, we used that declaration of our opening passage which also
itself has to do with the direction of duty.
241. But since (as was but right) we there only
touched upon the matter, as to how
39
each one ought to take care not to be disturbed when wrong is done him,
for fear that our preliminary remarks should run to too great length, I
think that I will now discuss it a little more fully. For the occasion
is opportune, as we are speaking on the different parts of temperance,
to see how anger may be checked.
CHAPTER XLVIII.
The argument for restraining anger is given again. Then the three
classes of those who receive wrongs are set forth; to the most perfect
of which the Apostle and David are said to have attained. He takes the
opportunity to state the difference between this and the future life.
242. We wish if we can to point out three classes of
men who receive wrongs in holy Scripture. One of these forms the class
of those whom the sinner reviles, abuses, rides over rough-shod.(1) And
just because justice fails them, shame grows, pain increases. Very many
of my own order, of my own number, are like these. For if any one does
me, who am weak, an injury, perhaps, though I am weak, I may forgive
the wrong done me. If he charges me with an offence I am not such an
one as to be content with the witness of my own conscience, although I
know I am clear of what he brings against me; but I desire, just
because I am weak, to wash out the mark of my inborn shame. Therefore I
demand eye for eye, and tooth for tooth, and repay abuse with abuse.
243. If, however, I am one who is advancing,
although not yet perfect, I do not return the reproaches; and if he
breaks out into abuse, and fills my ears with reproaches, I am silent
and do not answer.
244. But if I am perfect (I say this only by way of
example, for in truth I am weak), if, then, I am perfect, I bless him
that curses me, as Paul also blessed, for he says: "Being reviled we
bless." (2) He had heard Him Who says: "Love your enemies, pray for
them which despitefully use you .and persecute you."(3) And so Paul
suffered persecution and endured it, for he conquered and calmed his
human feelings for the sake of the reward set before him, namely, that
he should become a son of God if he loved his enemies.
245. We call show, too, that holy David was like to
Paul in this same class of virtue. When the son of Shimei cursed him,
and charged him with heavy offences, at the first he was silent and
humbled himself, and was silent even about his good deeds, that is, his
knowledge of good works. Then he even asked to be cursed; for when he
was cursed he hoped to gain divine pity.(1)
246. But see how he stored up humility and justice
and prudence so as to merit grace from the Lord! At first he said:
"Therefore he cursed me, because the Lord hath said unto him that he
should curse. "(2) Here we have humility; for he thought that those
things which are divinely ordered were to be endured with an even mind,
as though he were but some servant lad. Then he said: "Behold my son,
which came forth of my bowels, seeketh my life." (3) Here we have
justice. For if we suffer hard things at the hand of our own family,
why are we angry at what is done to us by strangers? Lastly he says:
"Let him alone that he may curse, for the Lord hath bidden him. It may
be that the Lord will look on my humiliation and requite me good for
this cursing."(4) So he bore not only the abuse, but left the man
unpunished when throwing stones and following him. Nay, more I After
his victory he freely granted him pardon when he asked for it.
247. I have written this to show that holy David, in
true evangelical spirit, was not only not offended, but was even
thankful to his abuser, and was delighted rather than angered by his
wrongs, for which he thought some return would be granted to him. But,
though perfect, he sought something still more perfect. As a man he
grew hot at the pain of his wrongs, but like a good soldier he
conquered, he endured like a brave wrestler. The end and aim of his
patience was the expectation of the fulfilment of the promises, and
therefore he said: "Lord, make me to know mine end and the measure of
my days, what it is: that I may know what is wanting to me."(5) He
seeks, then, that end of the heavenly promises, when each one shall
arise in his own order: "Christ the firstfruits, then they that are
Christ's who have believed in His coming. Then cometh the end."(6) For
when the kingdom is delivered up to God, even the Father, and all the
powers are put down, as the Apostle says, then perfection begins. Here,
then, is the hindrance, here the weakness of the perfect; there full
perfection. Thus it is he asks for those days of eternal life which
are, and not for those which pass away, so that he may know what is
wanting to
40
him, what is the land of promise that bears everlasting fruits, which
is the first mansion in his Father's house, which the second, which the
third, wherein each one will rest according to his merits.
248. We then must strive for that wherein is perfection
and wherein is truth. Here is the shadow, here the image;(1) there the
truth. The shadow is in the law, the image in the Gospel, the truth in
heaven. In old times a lamb, a Calf was offered; now Christ is offered.
But He is offered as man and as enduring suffering. And He offers
Himself as a priest to take away our sins, here in an image, there in
truth,(2) where with the Father He intercedes for us as our Advocate
Here, then, we walk in an image, we see in an image; there face to face
where is full perfection.For all perfection rests in the truth.
CHAPTER XLIX.
We must reserve the likeness of the virtues in ourselves. The
likeness of the devil and of vice must be got rid of, and
especially that of avarice; for this deprives us of liberty, and
despoils those who are in the midst of vanities of the image of God.
249. Whilst, then, we are here let us preserve the
likeness, that there we may attain to the truth. Let the likeness of
justice exist in us, likewise that of wisdom, for we shall come to that
day and shall be rewarded according to our likeness.
250. Let not the adversary find his image in thee,
let him not find fury nor rage; for in these exists the likeness of
wickedness. "Our adversary the devil as a roaring lion seeketh whom he
may kill, whom he may devour." (3) Let him not find desire for gold,
nor heaps of money, nor the appearance of vices, lest he take from thee
the voice of liberty. For the voice of true liberty is heard, when thou
canst say: "The prince of this world shall come, and shall find no part
in me."(4) Therefore, if thou art sure that he will find nothing in
thee, when he comes to search through thee, thou wilt say, as the
patriarch Jacob did to Laban: "Know now if there is aught of
thine with me."(5) Rightly do we account Jacob blessed with whom Laban
could find naught of his. For Rachel had hidden the gold and silver
images of his gods.
251. If, then, wisdom, and faith, and contempt of
the world, and spiritual grace, exclude all faithlessness, thou wilt be
blessed; for thou regardest not vanity and folly and lying. Is it a
light thing to take away from thy adversary the opportunity to speak,
so that he can have no ground to make his complaint against thee? Thus
he who looks not on vanity is not perturbed; but he who looks upon it
is perturbed, and that, too, all to no purpose. Is it not a vain thing
to heap up riches? for surely to seek for fleeting things is vain
enough. And when thou hast gathered them, how dost thou know that thou
shall have them in possession?
252. Is it not vain for a merchant to journey by
night and by day, that he may be able to heap up treasures? Is it not
vain for him to gather merchandise, and to be much perturbed about its
price, for fear he might sell it for less than he gave? that he should
strive everywhere for high prices, and thus unexpectedly call up
robbers against himself through their envy at his much-vaunted
business; or that, without waiting for calmer winds, impatient of
delays, he should meet with shipwreck whilst seeking for gain?
253. And is not he, too, perturbed in vain who with
great toil amasses wealth, though he knows not what heir to leave it
to? Often and often all that an avaricious man has got together with
the greatest care, his spendthrift heir scatters abroad with headlong
prodigality. The shameless prodigal, blind to the present, heedless of
the future, swallows up as in an abyss what took so long to gather.
Often, too, the desired successor gains but envy for his share of the
inheritance, and by his sudden death hands over the whole amount of the
succession, which he has hardly entered upon, to strangers.
254. Why, then, dost thou idly spin a web which is
worthless and fruitless? And why dost thou build up useless heaps of
treasures like spiders' webs? For though they overflow, they are no
good; nay, they denude thee of the likeness of God, and put on thee the
likeness of the earthy. If any one has the likeness of the tyrant, is
he not liable to condemnation? Thou layest aside the likeness of the
Eternal King, and raisest in thyself the image of death. Rather cast
out of the kingdom of thy soul the likeness of the devil, and raise up
the likeness of Christ. Let this shine forth in thee; let this glow
brightly in thy kingdom, that is, thy soul, for it destroys the
likeness of all vices. David says of this: "0 Lord, in Thy
kingdom thou bringest their images to nothing. "(1)
41
For when the Lord has adorned Jerusalem according to His own likeness,
then every likeness of the adversary is destroyed.
CHAPTER L.
The Levites ought to be utterly free from all earthly desires. What
their virtues should be on the Apostle's own showing, and how great
their purity must be. Also what their dignity and duty is, for the
carrying out of which the chief virtues are necessary. He states that
these were not unknown to the philosophers, but that they erred in
their order. Some are by their nature in accordance with duty, which
yet on account of what accompanies them become contrary to duty. From
whence he gathers what gifts the office of the Levites demands. To
conclude, he adds an exposition of Moses' words when blessing the tribe
of Levi.
255. If, then, in the Gospel of the Lord the people
themselves were taught and led to despise riches,(1) how much more
ought ye Levites no longer to be bound down by earthly desires. For
your portion is God. For when their earthly possessions were portioned
out by Moses to the people of our fathers, the Lord suffered not the
Levites to have a share in that earthly possession, (2) for He Himself
would be the strength of their inheritance. Wherefore David says: "The
Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup."(3) Whence we
get the name "Levite," which means: "Himself is mine," or "Himself for
me." Great, then, is his honour, that God should say of him: Himself is
Mine. Or, as was said to Peter about the piece of money found in the
fish's mouth: "Give to them for Me and for thee."(4) Wherefore the
Apostle, when he said: "A bishop should be sober, modest, of good
behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach, not covetous, nor a
brawler, one that rules well his own house," also added: "Likewise must
the deacons be grave, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not
greedy of filthy lucre, holding the mystery of the faith in a pure
conscience. And let them also first be proved, and so let them serve,
being found blameless. "(5)
256. We note how much is required of us. The
minister of the Lord should abstain from wine, so that he may be upheld
by the good witness not only of the faithful but also by those who are
without. For it is right that the witness to our acts and works should
be the opinion of the public at large, that the office be not
disgraced. Thus he who sees the minister of the altar adorned with
suitable virtues may praise their Author, and reverence the Lord Who
has such servants. The praise of the Lord sounds forth where there is a
pure possession and an innocent rule at home.
257. But what shall I say about chastity, when only
one and no second union is allowed? As regards marriage, the law is,
not to marry again, nor to seek union with another wife. It seems
strange to many why impediment should be caused by a second marriage
entered on before baptism, so as to prevent election to the clerical
office, and to the reception of the gift of ordination; seeing that
even crimes are not wont to stand in the way, if they have been put
away in the sacrament of baptism.(1) But we must learn, that in baptism
sin can be forgiven, but law cannot be abolished. In the case of
marriage there is no sin, but there is a law. Whatever sin there is can
be put away, whatever law there is cannot be laid aside in marriage.
How could he exhort to widowhood who himself had married more than once?
258. But ye know that the ministerial office must be
kept pure and unspotted, and must not be defiled by conjugal
intercourse; ye know this, I say, who have received the gifts of the
sacred ministry, with pure bodies, and unspoilt modesty, and without
ever having enjoyed conjugal intercourse. I am mentioning this, because
in some out-of-the-way places, when they enter on the ministry, or even
when they become priests, they have begotten children. They defend this
on the ground of old custom, when, as it happened, the sacrifice was
offered up at long intervals. However, even the people had to be
purified two or three days beforehand, so as to come clean to the
sacrifice, as we read in the Old Testament.(2) They even used to wash
their clothes. If such regard was paid in what was only the figure, how
much ought it to be shown in the reality ! Learn then, Priest and
Levite, what it means to wash thy clothes. Thou must have a pure body
wherewith to offer up the sacraments. If the people were forbidden to
approach their victim unless they washed their clothes, dost thou,
while foul in heart and body, dare to make supplication for others?
Dost thou dare to make an offering for them?
42
259. The duty of the Levites is no light one, for the Lord says of
them: "Behold I have taken the Levites from among the children of
Israel, instead of every first-born that openeth the matrix among the
children of Israel. These shall be their redemption, and the Levites
shall be Mine. For I hallowed unto Me all the first-born in the land of
Egypt."(1) We know that the Levites are not reckoned among the rest,
but are preferred before all, for they are chosen out of all, and are
sanctified like the firstfruits and the firstlings which belong to the
Lord, since the payment of vows and redemption for sin are offered by
them. "Thou shalt not receive them," He says, "among the children of
Israel, but thou shalt appoint the Levites over the tabernacle of
testimony, and over all the vessels thereof, and over all things that
belong to it. They shall bear the tabernacle and all the vessels
thereof, and they shall minister in it, and shall encamp round about
the tabernacle. And when the tabernacle setteth forward the Levites
shall take it down, and when the camp is pitched they shall set up the
tabernacle again. And the stranger that cometh nigh shall surely be put
to death." (2)
260. Thou, then, art chosen out of the whole number
of the children of Israel, regarded as the firstfruits of the sacred
offerings, set over the tabernacle so as to keep guard in the camp of
holiness and faith, to which if a stranger approach, he shall surely
die. Thou art placed there to watch over the ark of the covenant. All
do not see the depths of the mysteries, for they are hid from the
Levites, lest they should see who ought not to see, and they who cannot
serve should take it up. Moses, indeed, saw the circumcision of the
Spirit, but veiled it, so as to give circumcision only in an outward
sign. He saw the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth; he saw the
sufferings of the Lord, but he veiled the unleavened bread of truth in
the material unleavened bread, he veiled the sufferings of the Lord in
the sacrifice of a lamb or a calf. Good Levites have ever preserved the
mystery entrusted to them under the protection of their own faith, and
yet dost thou think little of what is entrusted to thee? First, thou
shalt see the deep things of God, which needs wisdom. Next, thou must
keep watch for the people; this requires justice. Thou must defend the
camp and guard the tabernacle, which needs fortitude. Thou must show
thyself continent and sober, and this needs temperance.
261. These chief virtues, they who are without have
recognized,(1) but they considered that the order resting on society
was higher than that resting on wisdom; though wisdom is the
foundation, and justice the building which cannot stand unless it have
a foundation. The foundation is Christ. (2)
262. First stands faith, which is a sign of wisdom,
as Solomon says, in following his father: "The fear of the Lord is the
beginning of wisdom."(3) And the law says: "Thou shalt love the Lord
thy God, thou shalt love thy neighbour."(4) It is a noble thing to do
one's kindnesses and duties towards the whole of the human race. But it
is ever most seemly that thou shouldst give to God the most precious
thing thou hast, that is, thy mind, (5) for thou hast nothing better
than that. When thou hast paid thy debt to thy Creator, then thou
mayest labour for men, to show them kindness, and to give help; then
thou mayest assist the needy with money, or by some duty, or some
service that lies in the way of thy ministry; by money to support him;
by paying a debt, so as to free him that is bound; by undertaking a
duty, so as to take charge of a trust, which he fears to lose, who has
put it by in trust.
263. It is a duty, then, to take care of and to
restore what has been entrusted to us. But meanwhile a change comes,
either in time or circumstances,(6) so that it is no longer a duty to
restore what one has received. As, for instance, when a man demands
back his money as an open enemy, to use it against his country, and to
offer his wealth to barbarians. Or, if thou shouldst have to restore
it, whilst another stood by to extort it from him by force. If thou
restore money to a raving lunatic when he cannot keep it; if thou give
up to a madman a sword once put by with thee, whereby he may kill
himself, is it not an act contrary to duty to pay the debt? Is it not
contrary to duty to take knowingly what has been got by a thief, so
that he who has lost it is cheated out of it?
264. It is also sometimes contrary to duty to
fulfil a promise, (7) or to keep an oath. As was the case with Herod,
who swore that whatever was asked he would give to the daughter of
Herodies, and so
43
allowed the death of John, that he might not break his word.(1) And
what shall I say of Jephthah,(2) who offered up his daughter in
sacrifice, she having been the first to meet him as he returned home
victorious; whereby he fulfilled the vow which he had made that he
would offer to God whatever should meet him first. It would have been
better to make no promise at all, than to fulfil it in the death of his
daughter.
265. Ye are not ignorant how important it is to look
to this. And so a Levite is chosen to guard the sanctuary, one who
shall never fail in counsel, nor forsake the faith, nor fear death, nor
do anything extravagant, so that in his whole appearance he may give
proof of his earnestness. For he ought to have not only his soul but
even his eyes in restraint, so that no chance mishap may bring a blush
to his forehead. For "whosoever looketh on a woman to desire her hath
already committed adultery with her in his heart."(3) Thus adultery is
committed not only by actual committal of the foul deed, but even by
the desire of the ardent gaze.
266. This seems high and somewhat severe, but in a
high office it is not out of place. For the grace of the Levites is
such that Moses spoke of them as follows in his blessing: "Give to Levi
his men, give Levi his trusted ones, give Levi the lot of his
inheritance, and his truth to the holy men whom they tempted in
temptation, and reviled at the waters of contradiction. Who said to his
father and mother, I know thee not, and knew not his brethren, and
renounced his children. He guarded Thy word and kept Thy testimony."(1)
267. They, then, are His men, His trusty ones, who
have no deceit in their hearts, hide no treachery within them, but
guard His words and ponder them in their heart, as Mary pondered them
;(2) who know not their parents so as to put them before their duty;
who hate the violators of chastity, and avenge the injury done to
purity; and know the times for the fulfilling of their duty, as also
which duty is the greater, which the lesser, and to what occasion each
is suited. In all this they follow that alone which is virtuous. And
who, where there are two virtuous duties, think that which is the more
virtuous must come first. These are in truth tightly blessed.
268. If any one makes known the just works of the
Lord, and offers Him incense, then: "Bless, O Lord, his strength;
accept the work of his hands,"(3) that he may find the grace of the
prophetic blessing with Him Who liveth and reigneth for ever and ever.
Amen.
BOOK II.
CHAPTER I.
Happiness in life is to be gained by living virtuously, inasmuch as
thus a Christian, whilst despising glory and the favour of men, desires
to please God alone in what he does.
I. Is the first book we spoke of the duties(4) which
we thought befitted a virtuous life, whereon no one has ever doubted
but that a blessed life, which the Scripture calls eternal life,
depends. So great is the splendour of a virtuous life that a peaceful
conscience and a calm innocence work out a happy life. And as the risen
sun hides the globe of the moon and the light of the stars, so the
brightness of a virtuous life, where it glitters in true pure glory,
casts into the shade all other things, which, according to the desires
of the body, are considered to be good, or are reckoned in the eyes of
the world to be great and noble.
2. Blessed, plainly, is that life which is not
valued at the estimation of outsiders, but is known, as judge of
itself, by its own inner feelings. It needs no popular opinion as its
reward in any way; nor has it any fear of punishments. Thus the less it
strives for glory, the more it rises above it. For to those who seek
for glory, that reward in the shape of present things is but a shadow
of future ones, and is a hindrance to eternal life, as it is written in
the Scriptures: "Verily, I say unto you, they have received their
reward. "(4) This is said of those who, as it were, with the sound of a
trumpet desire to make known to all the world the liberality they
exercise towards the poor. It is the same, too, in the case of fasting,
44
which is done but for outward show. "They have," he says, "their
reward."
3. It therefore belongs to a virtuous life to show
mercy and to fast in secret; that thou mayest seem to be seeking a
reward from thy God alone, and not from men. For he who seeks it from
man has his reward, but he who seeks it from God has eternal life,
which none can give but the Lord of Eternity, as it is said: "Verily, I
say unto thee, to-day shalt thou be with Me in Paradise."(1) Wherefore
the Scripture plainly has called that life which is blessed, eternal
life. It has not been left to be appraised according to man's ideas on
the subject, but has been entrusted to the divine judgment.
CHAPTER II.
The different ideas of philosophers on the subject of happiness. He
proves, first, from the Gospel that it rests on the knowledge of God
and the pursuit of good works; next, that it may not be thought that
this idea was adopted from the philosophers, he adds proofs from the
witness of the prophets.
4. The philosophers have made a happy life to
depend, either (as Hieronymus(2)) on freedom from pain, or (as
Herillus(3)) on knowledge. For Herillus, hearing knowledge very highly
praised by Aristotle(4) and Theophrastus,(5) made it alone to be the
chief good, when they really praised it as a good thing, not as the
only good; others, as Epicurus,(6) have called pleasure such; others,
as Callipho,(7) and after him Diodorus,(8) understood it in such a way
as to make a virtuous life go in union, the one with pleasure, the
other with freedom from pain, since a happy life could not exist
without it. Zeno,(9) the Stoic, thought the highest and only good
existed in a virtuous life. But Aristotle and Theophrastus and the
other Peripatetics maintained that a happy life consisted in virtue,
that is, in a virtuous life, but that its happiness was made complete
by the advantages of the body and other external good things.
5. But the sacred Scriptures say that eternal life
rests on a knowledge of divine things and on the fruit of good works.
The Gospel bears witness to both these statements. For the Lord Jesus
spoke thus of knowledge: "This is eternal life, to know Thee, the only
true God, and Jesus Christ Whom Thou hast sent,"(1) About works He
gives this answer: "Every one that hath forsaken house, or brethren, or
sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for My
Name's sake, shall receive an hundred-fold, and shall inherit
everlasting life."(2)
6. Let no one think that this was but lately said,
and that it was spoken of by the philosophers before it was mentioned
in the Gospel. For the philosophers, that is to say, Aristotle and
Theophrastus, as also Zeno and Hieronymus, certainly lived before the
time of the Gospel; but they came after the prophets. Let them rather
think how long before even the names of the philosophers were heard of,
both of these seem to have found open expression through the mouth of
the holy David; for it is written: "Blessed is the man whom Thou
instructest, O Lord, and teachest him out of Thy law."(3) We find
elsewhere also: "Blessed is the man that feareth the Lord, he will
rejoice greatly in His commandments, "(4) We have proved our point as
regards knowledge, the reward for which the prophet states to be the
fruit of eternity, adding that in the house of the man that feareth the
Lord, or is instructed in His law and rejoices greatly in the divine
commandments, "is glory and riches; and his justice abideth for ever
and ever."(5) He has further also in the same psalm stated of good
works, that they gain for an upright man the gift of eternal life. He
speaks thus: "Blessed is the man that showeth pity and lendeth, he will
guide his affairs with discretion, surely he shall not be moved for
ever, the righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance,"(6) And
further: "He hath dispersed, he hath given to the poor, his justice
endureth for ever."(7)
7. Faith, then, has [the promise of] eternal life,
for it is a good foundation. Good works, too, have the same, for an
upright man is tested by his words and acts. For
45
if a man is always busy talking and yet is slow to act, he shows by his
acts how worthless his knowledge is: besides it is much worse to know
what one ought to do, and yet not to do what one has learnt should be
done. On the other hand, to be active in good works and unfaithful at
heart is as idle as though one wanted to raise a beautiful and lofty
dome upon a bad foundation. The higher one builds, the greater is the
fall; for without the protection of faith good works cannot stand. A
treacherous anchorage in a harbour perforates a ship, and a sandy
bottom quickly gives way and cannot bear the weight of the building
placed upon it. There then will be found the fulness of reward, where
the virtues are perfect, and where there is a reasonable agreement
between words and acts.
CHAPTER III.
The definition of blessedness as drawn from the Scriptures is
considered and proved. It cannot be enhanced by external good fortune,
nor can it be weakened by misfortune.
8. As, then, knowledge, so far as it stands alone,
is put aside either as worthless, according to the superfluous
discussions of the philosophers,(1) or as but an imperfect idea, let us
now note how clearly the divine Scriptures explain a thing about which
we see the philosophers held so many involved and perplexing ideas. For
the Scriptures state that nothing is good but what is virtuous, and
declare that virtue is blessed in every circumstance, and that it is
never enhanced by either corporal or other external good fortune, nor
is it weakened by adversity. No state is so blessed as that wherein one
is free from sin, is filled with innocence, and is fully supplied with
the grace of God. For it is written: "Blessed is the man that hath not
walked in the counsel of the ungodly, and hath not stood in the way of
sinners, and hath not sat in the seat of pestilence, but in the law of
the Lord was his delight."(2) And again: "Blessed are the undefiled in
the way, who walk in the law of the Lord."(3)
9. Innocence, then, and knowledge make a man
blessed. We have also noted already that the blessedness of eternal
life is the reward for good works. It remains, then, to show that when
the patronage of pleasure or the fear of pain is despised (and the
first of these one abhors as poor and effeminate, and the other as
unmanly and weak), that then a blessed life can rise up in the midst of
pain. This can easily be shown when we read: "Blessed are ye when men
shall revile you and persecute you and shall say all manner of evil
against you for righteousness' sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for
great is your reward in heaven; for so persecuted they the prophets
which were before you."(1) And again: "He that will come after Me, let
him take up his cross and follow Me."(2)
CHAPTER IV.
The same argument, namely, that blessedness is not lessened or added to
by external matters, is illustrated by the example of men of old.
10. There is, then, a blessedness even in pains and
griefs. All which virtue with its sweetness checks and restrains,
abounding as it does in natural resources for either soothing
conscience or increasing grace. For Moses was blessed in no small
degree when, surrounded by the Egyptians and shut in by the sea, he
found by his merits a way for himself and the people to go through the
waters.(3) When was he ever braver than at the moment when, surrounded
by the greatest dangers, he gave not up the hope of safety, but
besought a triumph?
11. What of Aaron? When did he ever think himself
more blessed than when he stood between the living and the dead, and by
his presence stayed death from passing from the bodies of the dead to
the lines of the living?(4) What shall I say of the youth Daniel, who
was so wise that, when in the midst of the lions enraged with hunger,
he was by no means overcome with terror at the fierceness of the
beasts. So free from fear was he, that he could eat, and was not afraid
he might by his example excite the animals to feed on him.(5)
12. There is, then, in pain a virtue that can
display the sweetness of a good conscience, and therefore it serves as
a proof that pain does not lessen the pleasure of virtue. As, then,
there is no loss of blessedness to virtue through pain, so also the
pleasures of the body and the enjoyment that benefits give add nothing
to it. On this the Apostle says well: "What things to me were gain,
those I counted loss for Christ," and he added: "Wherefore I count all
things but loss, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ."(6)
46
13. Moses, too, thought the treasures of Egypt to be
his loss, and thus showed forth in his life the reproach of the Cross
of the Lord. He was not rich when he had abundance of money, nor was he
afterwards poor when he was in want of food, unless, perchance, there
is any one who thinks he was less happy when daily food was wanting to
him and his people in the wilderness. But yet manna, that is, angels'
food, which surely none will dare deny to be a mark of the greatest
good and of blessedness, was given him from heaven; also the daily
shower of meat was sufficient to feed the whole multitude.(1)
14. Bread for food also failed Elijah, that holy
man, had he sought for it; but it seemed not to fail him because he
sought it not. Thus by the daily service of the ravens bread was
brought to him in the morning, meat in the evening.(2) Was he any the
less blessed because he was poor to himself? Certainly not. Nay, he was
the more blessed, for he was rich toward God. It is better to be rich
for others than for oneself. He was so, for in the time of famine he
asked a widow for food, intending to repay it, so that the barrel of
meal failed not for three years and six months, and the oil jar
sufficed and served the needy widow for her daily use all that time
also.(3) Rightly did Peter wish to be there where he saw them. Rightly
did they appear in the mount with Christ in glory,(4) for He Himself
became poor when He was rich.
15. Riches, then, give no assistance to living a
blessed life, a fact that the Lord clearly shows in the Gospel, saying:
"Blessed are ye poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are they
that hunger and thirst now, for they shall be filled. Blessed are ye
that weep now, for ye shall laugh."(5) Thus it is stated as plainly as
possible that poverty, hunger, and pain, which are considered to be
evils, not only are not hindrances to a blessed life, but are actually
so many helps toward it.
CHAPTER V.
Those things which are generally looked on as good are mostly
hindrances to a blessed life, and those which are looked on as evil are
the materials out of which virtues grow. What belongs to blessedness is
shown by other examples.
16. But those things which seem to be good, as
riches, abundance, joy without pain, are a hindrance to the fruits of
blessedness, as is clearly stated in the Lord's own words, when He
said: "Woe to you rich, for ye have received your consolation! Woe unto
you that are full, for ye shall hunger, and to those who laugh, for
they shall mourn ! "(1) So, then, corporal or external good things are
not only no assistance to attaining a blessed life, but are even a
hindrance to it.
17. Wherefore Naboth was blessed, even though he was
stoned by the rich; weak and poor, as opposed to the royal resources,
he was rich in his aim and his religion; so rich, indeed, that he would
not exchange the inheritance of the vineyard received from his father
for the king's money; and on this account was he perfect, for he
defended the rights of his forefathers with his own blood. Thus, also,
Ahab was wretched on his own showing, for he caused the poor man to be
put to death, so as to take possession of his vineyard himself.(2)
18. It is quite certain that virtue is the only and
the highest good; that it alone richly abounds in the fruit of a
blessed life; that a blessed life, by means of which eternal life is
won, does not depend on external or corporal benefits, but on virtue
only. A blessed life is the fruit of the present, and eternal life is
the hope of the future.
19. Some, however, there are who think a blessed
life is impossible in this body, weak and fragile as it is. For in it
one must suffer pain and grief, one must weep, one must be ill. So I
could also say that a blessed life rests on bodily rejoicing, but not
on the heights of wisdom, on the sweetness of conscience, or on the
loftiness of virtue. It is not a blessed thing to be in the midst of
suffering; but it is blessed to be victorious over it, and not to be
cowed by the power of temporal pain.
20. Suppose that things come which are accounted
terrible as regards the grief they cause, such as blindness, exile,
hunger, violation of a daughter, loss of children. Who will deny that
Isaac was blessed, who did not see in his old age, and yet gave
blessings with his benediction?(3) Was not Jacob blessed who, leaving
his father's house, endured exile as a shepherd for pay,(4) and mourned
for the violated chastity of his daughter,(5) and suffered hunger?(6)
Were they not blessed on whose good faith God received witness, as it
is written: "The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the
47
God of Jacob"?(1) A wretched thing is slavery, but Joseph was not
wretched; nay, clearly he was blessed, when he whilst in slavery
checked the lusts of his mistress.(2) What shall I say of holy David
who bewailed the death of three sons,(8) and, what was even worse than
this, his daughter's incestuous connection?(4) How could he be
unblessed from whom the Author of blessedness Himself sprung, Who has
made many blessed? For: "Blessed are they who have not seen yet have
believed."(5) All these felt their own weakness, but they bravely
prevailed over it. What can we think of as more wretched than holy Job,
either in the burning of his house, or the instantaneous death of his
ten sons, or his bodily pains?(6) Was he less blessed than if he had
not endured those things whereby he really showed himself approved?
21. True it is that in these sufferings there is
something bitter, and that strength of mind cannot hide this pain. I
should not deny that the sea is deep because inshore it is shallow, nor
that the sky is clear because sometimes it is covered with clouds, nor
that the earth is fruitful because in some places there is but barren
ground, nor that the crops are rich and full because they sometimes
have wild oats mingled with them. So, too, count it as true that the
harvest of a happy conscience may be mingled with some bitter feelings
of grief. In the sheaves of the whole of a blessed life, if by chance
any misfortune or bitterness has crept in, is it not as though the wild
oats were hidden, or as though the bitterness of the tares was
concealed by the sweet scent of the corn? But let us now proceed again
with our subject.
CHAPTER VI.
On what is useful: not that which is advantageous, but that which is
just and virtuous. It is to be found in losses, and is divided into
what is useful for the body, and what is useful unto godliness.
22. Is the first book we made our division in such a
way as to set in the first place what is virtuous and what is seemly;
for all duties are derived from these. In the second place we set what
is useful. But as at the start we said that there was a difference
between what is virtuous and what is seemly--which one can comprehend
more easily than one can explain--so also when we are thinking of what
is useful, we have to give considerable thought to what is the more
useful.(1)
23. But we do not reckon usefulness by the value of
any gain in money, but in acquiring godliness, as the Apostle says:
"But godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the
life that now is, and of that which is to come."(2) Thus in the holy
Scriptures, if we look carefully we shall often find that what is
virtuous is called useful: "All things are lawful unto me, but all
things are not profitable" [useful].(3) Before that he was speaking of
vices, and so means: It is lawful to sin, but it is not seemly. Sins
rest in one's own power, but they are not virtuous. To live wantonly is
easy, but it is not right. For food serves not God but the belly.
24. Therefore, because what is useful is also just,
it is just to serve Christ, Who redeemed us. They too are just who for
His Name's sake have given themselves up to death, they are unjust who
have avoided it. Of them it says: What profit is there in my blood?(4)
that is: what advance has my justice made? Wherefore they also say:
"Let us bind the just, for he is useless to us,"(5) that is: he is
unjust, for he complains of us, condemns and rebukes us. This could
also be referred to the greed of impious men, which closely resembles
treachery; as we read in the case of the traitor Judas, who in his
longing for gain and his desire for money put his head into the noose
of treachery and fell.
25. We have then to speak of that usefulness which
is full of what is virtuous, as the Apostle himself has laid it down in
so many words, saying: "And this I speak for your own profit, not that
I may cast a snare upon you, but for that which is comely."(6) It is
plain, then, that what is virtuous is useful, and what is useful is
virtuous; also that what is useful is just, and what is just is useful.
I can say this, for I am speaking, not to merchants who are covetous
from a desire to make gain, but to my children. And I am speaking of
the duties which I wish to impress upon and impart to you, whom I have
chosen for the service of the Lord; so that those things which have
been already implanted and fixed in your minds and characters by habit
and training may now be further unfolded to you by explanation and
instruction.
26. Therefore as I am about to speak of what is
useful, I will take up those words of
48
the Prophet: "Incline my heart unto Thy testimonies and not to
covetousness,"(1) that the sound of the word "useful" may not rouse in
us the desire for money. Some indeed put it thus: "Incline my heart
unto Thy testimonies and not to what is useful," that is, that kind of
usefulness which is always on the watch for making gains in business,
and has been bent and diverted by the habits of men to the pursuit of
money. For as a rule most people call that only useful which is
profitable, but we are speaking of that kind of usefulness which is
sought in earthly loss "that we may gain Christ,"(2) whose gain is
"godliness with contentment."(3) Great, too, is the gain whereby we
attain to godliness, which is rich with God, not indeed in fleeting
wealth, but in eternal gifts, and in which rests no uncertain trial but
grace constant and unending.
27. There is therefore a usefulness connected with
the body, and also one that has to do with godliness, according to the
Apostle's division: "Bodily exercise profiteth a little, but godliness
is profitable unto all things."(4) And what is so virtuous as
integrity? what so seemly as to preserve the body unspotted and
undefiled, and its purity unsullied? What, again, is so seemly as that
a widow should keep her plighted troth to her dead husband? What more
useful than this whereby the heavenly kingdom is attained? For "there
are some who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's
sake."(5)
CHAPTER VII.
What is useful is the same as what is virtuous; nothing is more useful
than love, which is gained by gentleness, courtesy, kindness, justice,
and the other virtues, as we are given to understand from the histories
of Moses and David. Lastly, confidence springs from love, and again
love from confidence.
28. There is therefore not only a close intercourse
between what is virtuous and what is useful, but the same thing is both
useful and virtuous. Therefore He Who willed to open the kingdom of
heaven to all sought not what was useful to Himself, but what was
useful for all. Thus we must have a certain order and proceed step by
step from habitual or common acts to those which are more excellent, so
as to show by many examples the advancement of what is useful.
29. And first we may know there is nothing so useful as to be
loved,(1) nothing so useless as not to be loved; for to be hated in my
opinion is simply fatal and altogether deadly. We speak of this, then,
in order that we may take care to give cause for a good estimate and
opinion to be formed of us, and may try to get a place in others'
affections through our calmness of mind and kindness of soul. For
goodness is agreeable and pleasing to all, and there is nothing that so
easily reaches human feelings. And if that is assisted by gentleness of
character and willingness, as well as by moderation in giving orders
and courtesy of speech, by honour in word, by a ready interchange of
conversation and by the grace of modesty, it is incredible how much all
this tends to an increase of love.(2)
30. We read, not only in the case of private
individuals but even of kings, what is the effect of ready and willing
courtesy, and what harm pride and great swelling words have done, so
far as to make even kingdoms to totter and powers to be destroyed. If
any one gains the people's favour by advice or service, by fulfilling
the duties of his ministry or office, or if he encounters danger for
the sake of the whole nation, there is no doubt but that such love will
be shown him by the people that they all will put his safety and
welfare before their own.
31. What reproaches Moses had to bear from his
people ! But when the Lord would have avenged him on those who reviled
him, he often used to offer himself for the people that he might save
them from the divine anger.(3) With what gentle words used he to
address the people, even after he was wronged I He comforted them in
their labours, consoled them by his prophetic declarations of the
future, and encouraged them by his works. And though he often spoke
with God, yet he was wont to address men gently and pleasantly.
Worthily was he considered to stand above all men. For they could not
even look on his face,(4) and refused to believe that his sepulchre was
found.(5) He had captivated the minds of all the people to such an
extent; that they loved him even more for his gentleness than they
admired him for his deeds.
32. There is David too who followed his steps, who
was chosen from among all to rule the people. How gentle and kindly he
was, humble in spirit too, how diligent and ready to show affection.
Before he came to the throne he offered himself in the stead of
49
all.(1) As king he showed himself an equal to all in warfare, and
shared in their labours. He was brave in battle, gentle in ruling,
patient under abuse, and more ready to bear than to return wrongs. So
dear was he to all, that though a youth, he was chosen even against his
will to rule over them, and was made to undertake the duty though he
withstood it. When old he was asked by his people not to engage in
battle, because they all preferred to incur danger for his sake rather
than that he should undergo it for theirs.
33. He had bound the people to himself freely in
doing his duty; first, when he during the division among the people
preferred to live like an exile at Hebron(2) rather than to reign at
Jerusalem; next, when he showed that he loved valour even in an enemy.
He had also thought that justice should be shown to those who had borne
arms against himself the same as to his own men. Again, he admired
Abner, the bravest champion of the opposing side, whilst he was their
leader and was yet waging war. Nor did he despise him when suing for
peace, but honoured him by a banquet.(3) When killed by treachery, he
mourned and wept for him. He followed him and honoured his obsequies,
and evinced his good faith in desiring vengeance for the murder; for he
handed on that duty to his son in the charge that he gave him,(4) being
anxious rather that the death of an innocent man should not be left
unavenged, than that any one should mourn for his own.
34. It is no small thing, especially in the case of
a king, so to perform humble duties as to make oneself like the very
lowest. It is noble not to seek for food at another's risk and to
refuse a drink of water, to contless a sin, and to offer oneself to
death for one's people. This latter David did, so that the divine anger
might be turned against himself, when he offered himself to the
destroying angel and said: "Lo I have sinned: I the shepherd have done
wickedly, but this flock, what hath it done? Let Thy hand be against
me."(5)
35. What further should I say? He opened not his
mouth to those planning deceit, and, as though hearing not, he thought
no word should be returned, nor did be answer their reproaches. When he
was evil spoken of, he prayed, when he was cursed, he blessed. He
walked in simplicity of heart, and fled from the proud. He was a
follower of those unspotted from the world, one who mixed ashes with
his food when bewailing his sins, and mingled his drink with
weeping.(1) Worthily, then, was he called for by all the people. All
the tribes of Israel came to him saying: "Behold, we are thy bone and
thy flesh. Also yesterday and the day before when Saul lived, and
reigned, thou wast he that leddest out and broughtest in Israel. And
the Lord said to thee, Thou shalt feed My people!'(2) And why should I
say more about him of whom the word of the Lord has gone forth to say:
"I have found David according to My heart"?(3) Who ever walked in
holiness of heart and in justice as he did, so as to fulfil the will of
God; for whose sake pardon was granted to his children when they
sinned, and their rights were preserved to his heirs?(4)
36. Who would not have loved him, when they saw how
dear he was to his friends? For as he truly loved his friends, so he
thought that he was loved as much in return by his own friends. Nay,
parents put him even before their own children, and children loved him
more than their parents. Wherefore Saul was very angry and strove to
strike Jonathan his son with a spear because he thought that David's
friendship held a higher place in his esteem than either filial piety
or a father's authority.(5)
37. It gives a very great impetus to mutual love if
one shows love in return to those who love us and proves that one does
not love them less than oneself is loved, especially if one shows it by
the proofs that a faithful friendship gives. What is so likely to win
favour as gratitude? What more natural than to love one who loves us?
What so implanted and so impressed on men's feelings as the wish to let
another, by whom we want to be loved, know that we love him? Well does
the wise man say: "Lose thy money for thy brother and thy friend."(6)
And again: "I will not be ashamed to defend a friend, neither will I
hide myself from him."(7) If, indeed, the words in Ecclesiasticus
testify that the medicine of life and immortality is in a friend;(8)
yet none has ever doubted that it is in love that our best defence
lies. As the Apostle says: "It beareth all things, believeth all
things, hopeth all things, endureth all things; love never faileth."(9)
38. Thus David failed not, for he was
50
dear to all, and wished to be loved rather than feared by his subjects.
Fear keeps the watch of temporal protection, but knows not how to keep
guard permanently.(1) And so where fear has departed, boldness often
creeps in; for fear does not force confidence but affection calls it
forth.
39. Love, then, is the first thing to give us a
recommendation. It is a good thing therefore to have our witness in the
love of many.(2) Then arises confidence, so that even strangers are not
afraid to trust themselves to thy kindness, when they see thee so dear
to many. So likewise one goes through confidence to love, so that he
who has shown good faith to one or two has an influence as it were on
the minds of all, and wins the good-will of all.
CHAPTER VIII.
Nothing has greater effect in gaining good-will than giving advice; but
none can trust it unless it rests on justice and prudence. How
conspicuous these two virtues were in Solomon is shown by his
well-known judgment.
40. Two things, therefore, love and confidence, are
the most efficacious in commending us to others; also this third
quality if thou hast it, namely, what many consider to be worthy of
admiration in thee, and think to be rightly worthy of honour(3) [the
power, in fact, of giving good advice].
41. Since the giving of good advice is a great means
of gaining men's affections, prudence and justice are much needed in
every case. These are looked for by most, so that confidence at once is
placed in him in whom they exist, because he can give useful and
trustworthy advice to whoever wants it. Who will put himself into the
hands of a man whom he does not think to be more wise than himself who
asks for advice? It is necessary therefore that he of whom advice is
asked should be superior to him who asks it. For why should we consult
a man when we do not think that he can make anything more plain than we
ourselves see it?
42. But if we have found a man that by the vigour of
his character, by his strength of mind and influence, stands forth
above all others, and further, is better fitted by example and
experience than others; that can put an end to immediate dangers,
foresee future ones, point out those close at hand, can explain a
subject, bring relief in time, is ready not only to give advice but
also to give help,--in such a man confidence is placed, so that he who
seeks advice can say: "Though evil should happen to me through him, I
will bear it."(1)
43. To a man of this sort then we entrust our safety
and our reputation, for he is, as we said before, just and prudent.
Justice causes us to have no fear of deceit, and prudence frees us from
having any suspicions of error. However, we trust ourselves more
readily to a just than to a prudent man, to put it in the way people
generally do. But, according to the definition of the philosophers,
where there is one virtue, others exist too,(2) whilst prudence cannot
exist without justice. We find this stated also in our writers, for
David says: "The just showeth mercy and lendeth."(3) What the just
lends, he says elsewhere: "A good man is he that showeth mercy and
lendeth, he will guide his words with discretion. "(4)
44. Is not that noble judgment of Solomon full of
wisdom and justice? Let us see whether it is so.(5) "Two women," it
says, "stood before King Solomon, and the one said to him, Hear me, my
lord, I and this woman dwell in one house, and before the third day we
gave birth and bore a son apiece, and were together, there was no
witness in the house, nor any other woman with us, only we two alone.
And her son died this night, because she overlaid it, and she arose at
midnight, and took my son from my breast, and laid it in her bosom, and
her dead child she laid at my breast, And I arose in the morning to
give my child suck, and found him dead. And I considered it at dawn,
and behold it was not my son. And the other woman said, Nay, but the
living is my son, and the dead is thy son."
45. This was their dispute, in which either tried to
claim the living child for herself, and denied that the dead one was
hers. Then the king commanded a sword to be brought and the infant to
be cut in half, and either piece to be given to one, one half to the
one, and one half to the other. Then the woman whose the child really
was, moved by her feelings, cried out: "Divide not the child, my
lord; let it rather be given to her and live, and do not kill it." But
the other answered: "Let it be neither mine nor hers, divide it." Then
the king ordered that the
51
infant should be given to the woman who had said: Do not kill it, but
give it to that woman; "For," as it says, "her bowels yearned upon her
son."(1)
46. It is not wrong to suppose that the mind of God
was in him; for what is hidden from God? What can be more hidden than
the witness that lies deep within; into which the mind of the wise king
entered as though to judge a mother's feelings, and elicited as it were
the voice of a mother's heart. For a mother's feelings were laid bare,
when she chose that her son should live with another, rather than that
he should be killed in his mother's sight.
47. It was therefore a sign of wisdom to distinguish
between secret heart-thoughts, to draw the truth from hidden springs,
and to pierce as it were with the sword of the Spirit not only the
inward parts of the body, but even of the mind and soul. It was the
part of justice also that she who had killed her own child should not
take away another's, but that the real mother should have her own back
again. Indeed the Scriptures have declared this. "All Israel," it says,
"heard of the judgment which the king had judged, and they feared the
king, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to do
judgment."(2) Solomon also himself had asked for wisdom, so that a
prudent heart might be given him to hear and to judge with justice.(3)
CHAPTER IX.
Though justice and prudence are inseparable, we must have respect to
the ideas of people in general, for they make a distinction between the
different cardinal virtues.
48. It is clear also, according to the sacred
Scriptures, which are the older, that wisdom cannot exist without
justice, for where one of these two is, there the other must be also.
With what wisdom did Daniel expose the lie in the false accusation
brought against him by his thorough examination, so that those false
informers had no answer ready to hand!(4) It was a mark of prudence to
convict the criminals by the witness of their own words, and a sign of
justice to give over the guilty to punishment, and to save the innocent
from it.
49. There is therefore an inseparable union between
wisdom and justice; but, generally speaking,(5) the one special form of
virtue is divided up. Thus temperance lies in despising pleasures,
fortitude may be seen in undergoing labours and dangers, prudence in
the choice of what is good, by knowing how to distinguish between
things useful and the reverse; justice, in being a good guardian of
another's rights and protector of its own, thus maintaining for each
his own. We can make this fourfold division in deference to commonly
received ideas; and so, whilst deviating from those subtle discussions
of philosophic learning which are brought forth as though from some
inner recess for the sake of investigating the truth, can follow the
commonly received use and their ordinary meaning. Keeping, then, to
this division, let us return to our subject.
CHAPTER X.
Men entrust their safety rather to a just than to a prudent man. But
every one is wont to seek out the man who combines in himself the
qualities of justice and prudence. Solomon gives us an example of this.
(The words which the queen of Sheba spoke of him are explained.) Also
Daniel and Joseph.
50. We entrust our case to the most prudent man we
can find, and ask advice from him more readily than we do from others.
However, the faithful counsel of a just(1) man stands first and often
has more weight than the great abilities of the wisest of men: "For
better are the wounds of a friend than the kisses of others."(2) And
just because it is the judgment of a just man, it is also the
conclusion of a wise one: in the one lies the result of the matter in
dispute, in the other readiness of invention.
51. And if one connects the two, there will be great
soundness in the advice given, which is regarded by all with admiration
for the wisdom shown, and with love for its justice. And so all will
desire to hear the wisdom of that man in whom those two virtues are
found together, as all the kings of the earth desired to see the face
of Solomon and to hear his wisdom. Nay, even the queen of Sheba came to
him and tried him with questions. She came and spoke of all the things
that were in her heart, and heard all the wisdom of Solomon, nor did
any word escape her.(3)
52. Who she was whom nothing escaped, and that there
was nothing which the truth-loving Solomon did not tell her, learn, O
man, from this which thou hearest her saying: "It was a true report
that I heard in
52
mine own land of thy words and of thy prudence, yet I did not believe
those that told it me until I came, and mine eyes had seen it; and
behold the half was not told me. Thou hast added good things over and
above all that I heard in mine own land. Blessed are thy women and
blessed thy servants, which stand before thee, and that hear all thy
prudence."(1) Recognize the feast of the true Solomon, and who are set
down at that feast; recognize it wisely and think in what land all the
nations shall hear the fame of true wisdom and justice, and with what
eyes they shall see Him, beholding those things which are not seen.
"For the things that are seen are temporal, but the things which are
not seen are eternal."(2)
53. What women are blessed but those of whom it is
said "that many hear the word of God and bring forth fruit"?(3) And
again: "Whosoever doeth the word of God is My father and sister and
mother."(4) And who are those blessed servants, who stand before Him,
but Paul, who said: "Even to this day I stand witnessing both to great
and small;"(5) or Simeon, who was waiting in the temple to see the
consolation of Israel?(6) How could he have asked to be let depart,
except that in standing before the Lord he had not the power of
departing, but only according to the will of God? Solomon is put before
us simply for the sake of example, of whom it was eagerly expected that
his wisdom should be heard.
54. Joseph also when in prison was not free from
being consulted about matters of uncertainty. His counsel(7) was of
advantage to the whole of Egypt, so that it felt not the seven years'
famine, and he was able even to relieve other peoples from their
dreadful hunger.
55. Daniel, though one of the captives, was made the
head of the royal counsellors. By his counsels he improved the present
and foretold the future.(8) Confidence was put in him in all things,
because he had frequently interpreted things, and had shown that he had
declared the truth.
CHAPTER XI.
A third element which tends to gain any one's confidence is shown to
have been conspicuous in Moses, Daniel, and Joseph.
56. But a third point seems also to have
been noted in the case of those who were thought worthy of
admiration(1) after the example of Joseph, Solomon, and Daniel. For
what shall I say of Moses whose advice all Israel always waited for,(2)
whose life caused them to trust in his prudence and increased their
esteem for him? Who would not trust to the counsel of Moses, to whom
the elders reserved for decision whatever they thought beyond their
understanding and powers?
57. Who would refuse the counsel of Daniel, of whom
God Himself said: "Who is wiser than Daniel?"(3) How can men doubt
about the minds of those to whom God has given such grace? By the
counsel of Moses wars were brought to an end, and for his merit's sake
food came from heaven and drink from the rock.
58. How pure must have been the soul of Daniel to
soften the character of barbarians and to tame the lions!(4) What
temperance was his, what self-restraint in soul and body! Not
unworthily did he become an object of admiration to all, when--and all
men do admire this,--though enjoying royal friendships, he sought not
for gold, nor counted the honour given him as more precious than his
faith. For he was willing to endure danger for the law of God rather
than to be turned from his purpose in order to gain the favour of men.
59. And what, again, shall I say of the chastity and
justice of Joseph, whom I had almost passed by, whereby on the one hand
he rejected the allurements of his mistress and refused rewards, on the
other he mocked at death, repressed his fear, and chose a prison? Who
would not consider him a fit person to give advice in a private case,
whose fruitful spirit and fertile mind enriched the barrenness of the
time with the wealth of his counsels and heart?(5)
CHAPTER XII.
No one asks counsel from a man tainted with vice, or from one who is
morose or impracticable, but rather from one of whom we have a pattern
in the Scriptures,
60. We note therefore that in seeking for counsel,
uprightness of life, excellence in virtues, habits of benevolence, and
the charm of good-nature have very great weight. Who seeks for a spring
in the mud? Who wants to drink from muddy water? So
53
where there is luxurious living, excess, and a union of vices, who will
think that he ought to draw from that source? Who does not despise a
foul life? Who will think a man to be useful to another's cause whom he
sees to be useless in his own life? Who, again, does not avoid a
wicked, ill-disposed, abusive person, who is always ready to do harm?
Who would not be only too eager to avoid him?(1)
61. And who will come to a man however well fitted
to give the best of advice who is nevertheless hard to approach? It
goes with him as with a fountain whose waters are shut off. What is the
advantage of having wisdom, if one refuses to give advice? If one cuts
off the opportunities of giving advice, the source is closed, so as no
longer to flow for others or to be of any good to oneself.
62. Well can we refer this to him who, possessing
prudence, has defiled it with the foulness of a vicious life and so
pollutes the water at the source. His life is a proof of a degenerate
spirit.(2) How can one judge him to be good in counsel whom one sees to
be evil in character? He ought to be superior to me, if I am ready to
trust myself to him. Am I to suppose that he is fit to give me advice
who never takes it for himself, or am I to believe that he has time to
give to me when he has none for himself, when his mind is filled with
pleasures, and he is overcome by lust, is the slave of avarice, is
excited by greed, and is terrified with fright? How is there room for
counsel here where there is none for quiet?
63. That man of counsel whom I must admire and look
up to, whom the gracious Lord gave to our fathers, put aside all that
was offensive. His follower he ought to be, who can give counsel and
protect another's prudence from vice; for nothing foul can mingle with
that.
CHAPTER XIII.
The beauty_of wisdom is made plain by the divine testimony. From this
he goes on to prove its connection with the other virtues.
64. Is there any one who would like to be beautiful
in face and at the same time to have its charm spoilt by a beast-like
body and fearful talons? Now the form of virtues is so wonderful and
glorious, and especially the beauty of wisdom, as the whole of the
Scriptures tell us. For it is more brilliant than the sun, and when
compared with the stars far outshines any constellation. Night takes
their light away in its train, but wickedness cannot overcome wisdom.(1)
65. We have spoken of its beauty, and proved it by
the witness of Scripture. It remains to show on the authority of
Scripture(2) that there can be no fellowship between it and vice, but
that it has an inseparable union with the rest of the virtues. "It has
a spirit sagacious, undefiled, sure, holy, loving what is good, quick,
that never forbids a kindness, kind, steadfast, free from care, having
all power, overseeing all things." And again:(3) "She teacheth
temperance and justice and virtue."
CHAPTER XIV.
Prudence is combined with all the virtues, especially
with contempt of riches.
66. Prudence, herefore, works through all things,
she has fellowship with all that is good. For how(4) can she give good
advice unless she have justice too, so that she may clothe herself in
consistency, not fear death, be held back by no alarm, no fear, nor
think it right to be turned aside from the truth by any flattery, nor
shun exile, knowing that the world is the fatherland of the wise man.
She fears not want, for she knows that nothing is wanting to the wise
man, since the whole world of riches is his. What is greater than the
man that knows not how to be excited at the thought of money, and has a
contempt for riches, and looks down as from some lofty vantage-ground
on the desires of men? Men think that one who acts thus is more than
man: "Who is this," it says, "and we will praise him. For wonderful
things hath he done in his life."(5) Surely he ought to be admired who
despises riches, seeing that most place them even before their own
safety.
67. The rule of economy and the authority of
self-restraint befits all, and most of all him who stands highest in
honour; so that no love for his treasures may seize upon such a man,
and that he who rules over free men may never become a slave to money.
It is more seemly that in soul he should be superior to treasures, and
in willing service be subject to his friends. For humility in-
54
creases the regard in which one is held. It is praiseworthy and right
for the chief of men to have no desire for filthy lucre in common
with Syrian traders and Gilead merchants, nor to place all their hope
of good in money, or to count up their daily gains and to
calculate their savings like a hireling.
CHAPTER XV.
Of liberality. To whom it must chiefly be shown, and how men of slender
means may show it by giving their service and counsel.
68. But if it is praiseworthy to have one's soul
free from this failing, how much more glorious is it to gain the love
of the people by liberality which is neither too freely shown to those
who are unsuitable, nor too sparingly bestowed upon the needy.
69. There are many kinds of liberality.(1) Not only
can we distribute and give away food to those who need it from our own
daily supply, so that they may sustain life; but we can also give
advice and help to those who are ashamed to show their want openly, so
long as the common supplies of the needy are not exhausted. I am now
speaking of one set over some office. If he is a priest or almoner, let
him inform the bishop of them, and not withhold the name of any he
knows to be in any need, or to have lost their wealth and to be now
reduced to want; especially if they have not fallen into this trouble
owing to wastefulness in youth, but because of another's theft, or
through loss of their inheritance from no fault of their own, so that
they cannot now earn their daily bread.
70. The highest kind of liberality is, to redeem
captives, to save them from the hands of their enemies, to snatch men
from death, and, most of all, women from shame, to restore children to
their parents, parents to their children, and, to give back a citizen
to his country. This was recognized when Thrace and Illyria were so
terribly devastated.(2) How many captives were then for sale all over
the world! Could one but call them together, their number would have
surpassed that of a whole province. Yet there were some who would have
sent back into slavery those whom the Church had redeemed. They
themselves were harder than slavery itself to look askance at another's
mercy. If they themselves (they said) had come to slavery, they would
be slaves freely. If they had been sold, they would not refuse the
service of slavery. They wished to undo the freedom of others, though
they could not undo their own slavery, unless perchance it should
please the buyer to receive his price again, whereby, however, slavery
would not be simply undone but redeemed.
71. It is then a special quality of liberality to
redeem captives,(1) especially from barbarian enemies who are moved by
no spark of human feeling to show mercy, except so far as avarice has
preserved it with a view to redemption. It is also a great thing to
take upon oneself another's debt, if the debtor cannot pay and is hard
pressed to do so, and where the money is due by right and is only left
unpaid through want. So, too, it is a sign of great liberality to bring
up children, and to take care of orphans.
72. There are others who place in marriage maidens
that have lost their parents, so as to preserve their chastity, and who
help them not only with good wishes but also by a sum of money. There
is also another kind of liberality which the Apostle teaches: "If any
that believeth hath widows let him relieve them, that the Church be not
burdened by supplying them, that it may have enough for those that are
widows indeed."(2)
73. Useful, then, is liberality of this sort; but it
is not common to all. For there are many good men who have but slender
means, and are content with little for their own use, and are not able
to give help to lighten the poverty of others. However, another sort of
kindness is ready to their hand, whereby they can help those poorer
still. For there is a twofold liberality:(3) one that gives actual
assistance, that is, in money; the other, which is busy in offering
active help, is often much grander and nobler.
74. How much grander it was for Abraham to have
recovered his captured son-in-law by his victorious arms,(4) than if he
had ransomed him! How much more usefully did holy Joseph help King
Pharaoh by his counsel to provide for the future. than if he had
offered him money! For money would not have bought back the
fruitfulness of any
55
one state; whilst he by his foresight kept the famine for five years(1)
from the whole of Egypt.
75. Money is easily spent; counsels can never be
exhausted. They only grow the stronger by constant use. Money grows
less and quickly comes to an end, and has failed even kindness itself;
so that the more there are to whom one wants to give, the fewer one can
help; and often one has not got what one thinks ought to be given to
others. But as regards the offer of advice and active help, the more
there are to spend it on, the more there seems to be, and the more it
returns to its own source. The rich stream of prudence ever flows back
upon itself, and the more it has reached out to, so much the more
active becomes all that remains.
CHAPTER XVI.
Due measure must be observed in liberality, that it may not be expended
on worthless persons, when it is needed by worthier ones. However, alms
are not to be given in too sparing and hesitating a way. One ought
rather to follow the example of the blessed Joseph, whose prudence is
commended at great length.
76. It is clear, then,(2) that there ought to be due
measure in our liberality, that our gifts may not become useless.
Moderation must be observed, especially by priests, for fear that they
should give away for the sake of ostentation, and not for justice'
sake. Never was the greed of beggars greater than it is now. They come
in full vigour, they come with no reason but that they are on the
tramp. They want to empty the purses of the poor--to deprive them of
their means of support. Not content with a little, they ask for more.
In the clothes that cover them they seek a ground to urge their
demands, and with lies about their lives they ask for further sums of
money. If any one were to trust their tale too readily, he would
quickly drain the fund which is meant to serve for the sustenance of
the poor. Let there be method in our giving, so that the poor may not
go away empty nor the subsistence of the needy be done away and become
the spoil of the dishonest. Let there be then such due measure that
kindness may never be put aside, and true need never be left neglected.
77. Many pretend they have debts. Let the truth be
looked into. They bemoan the fact that they have been stripped of
everything by robbers. In such a case give credit only if the
misfortune is apparent, or the person is well known; and then readily
give help. To those rejected by the Church supplies must be granted if
they are in want of food. He, then, that observes method in his giving
is hard towards none, but is free towards all, We ought not only to
lend our ears to hear the voices of those who plead, but also our eyes
to look into their needs. Weakness calls more loudly to the good
dispenser than the voice of the poor. It cannot always be that the
cries of an importunate beggar will never extort more, but let us not
always give way to impudence. He must be seen who does not see thee. He
must be sought for who is ashamed to be seen. He also that is in prison
must come to thy thoughts; another seized with sickness must present
himself to thy mind, as he cannot reach thy ears.
78. The more people see thy zeal in showing mercy,
the more will they love thee, I know many priests who had the more, the
more they gave, For they who see a good dispenser give him something to
distribute in his round of duty, sure that the act of mercy will reach
the poor. If they see him giving away either in excess or too
sparingly, they contemn either of these; in the one case because he
wastes the fruits of another's labours by unnecessary payments, on the
other hand because he hoards them in his money bags. As, then,
method(1) must be observed in liberality, so also at times it seems as
though the spur must be applied. Method, then, so that the kindness one
shows may be able to be shown day by day, and that we may not have to
withdraw from a needful case what we have freely spent on waste. A
spur, because money is better laid out in food for the poor than on a
purse for the rich. We must take care test in our money chests we shut
up the welfare of the needy, and bury the life of the poor as it were
in a sepulchre.
79. Joseph could have given away all the wealth of
Egypt, and have spent the royal treasures; but he would not even seem
to be wasteful of what was another's. He preferred to sell the corn
rather than to give it to the hungry. For if he had given it to a few
there would have been none for most. He gave good proof of that
liberality whereby there was enough for all. He opened the storehouses
that all might buy their corn supply, lest if they received it for
nothing, they should give up cultivating the
56
ground. For he who has the use of what is another's often neglects his
own.
80. First of all, then, he gathered up their money,
then their implements, last of all he acquired for the king all their
rights to the ground.(1) He did not wish to deprive all of them of
their property, but to support them in it. He also imposed a general
tax,(2) that they might hold their own in safety. So pleasing was this
to all from whom he had taken the land, that they looked on it, not as
the selling of their rights, but as the recovery of their welfare. Thus
they spoke: "Thou hast saved our lives, let us find grace in the sight
of our Lord."(3) For they had lost nothing of their own, but had
received a new right. Nothing of what was useful to them had failed,
for they had now gained it in perpetuity.
81. O noble man!(4) who sought not for the fleeting
glory of a needless bounty, but set up as his memorial the lasting
benefits of his foresight. He acted so that the people should help
themselves by their payments, and should not in their time of need seek
help from others. For it was surely better to give up part of their
crops than to lose the whole of their rights. He fixed the impost at a
fifth of their whole produce, and thus showed himself clear-sighted in
making provision for the future, and liberal in the tax he laid upon
them. Never after did Egypt suffer from such a famine.
82. How splendidly he inferred the future. First,
how acutely, when interpreting the royal dream, he stated the truth.
This was the king's first dream.(5) Seven heifers came up out of the
river well-favoured and fat-fleshed, and they fed at the banks of the
river. And other bullocks ill-favoured and lean-fleshed came up out of
the river after the heifers, and fed near them on the very edge of the
river. And these thin and wretched bullocks seemed to devour those
others which were so fat and well-favoured. And this was the second
dream.(6) Seven fat ears full and good came up from the ground. And
after them seven wretched ears, blasted with the wind and withered,
endeavoured to take their place. And it seemed that the barren and thin
ears devoured the rich and fruitful ears.
83. This dream Joseph unfolded as follows: that the
seven heifers were seven years, and the seven ears likewise were seven
years,--interpreting the times by the produce of cattle and crops. For
both the calving of a heifer takes a year, and the produce of a crop
fills out a whole year. And they came up out of the river just as days,
years, and times pass by and flow along swiftly like the rivers. He
therefore states that the seven earlier years of a rich land will be
fertile and fruitful but the latter seven years will be barren and
unfruitful, whose barrenness will eat up the richness of the former
time. Wherefore he warns them to see that supplies of corn are got
together in the fruitful years that they may help out the needs of the
coming scarcity.
84. What shall we admire first? His powers of mind,
with which he descended to the very resting-place of truth? Or his
counsel, whereby he foresaw so great and lasting a need? Or his
watchfulness or justice? By his watchfulness, when so high an office
was given him, he gathered together such vast supplies; and through his
justice he treated all alike. And what am I to say of his greatness of
mind? For though sold by his brothers into slavery,(1) he took no
revenge for this wrong, but put an end to their want. What of his
gentleness, whereby by a pious fraud he sought to gain the presence of
his beloved brother whom, under pretence of a well-planned theft, he
declared to have stolen his property, that he might hold him as a
hostage of his love?(2)
85. Whence it was deservedly said to him by his
father: "My son Joseph is enlarged, my son is enlarged, my younger son,
my beloved. My God hath helped thee and blessed thee with the blessing
of heaven above and the blessing of the earth, the earth that hath all
things, on account of the blessings of thy father and thy mother. It
hath prevailed over the blessings of the everlasting hills and the
desires of the eternal hills."(3) And in Deuteronomy: "Thou Who wast
seen in the bush, that Thou mayest come upon the head of Joseph, upon
his pate. Honoured among his brethren, his glory is as the firstling of
his bullocks; his horns are like the horns of unicorns. With his horn
he shall push the nations even to the ends of the earth. They are the
ten thousands of Ephraim and the thousands of Manasseh."(4)
57
CHAPTER XVII.
What virtues ought to exist in him whom we consult. How Joseph and Paul
were equipped with them.
86. Such, then, ought he to be who gives counsel to
another, in order that he may offer himself as a pattern in all good
works, in teaching, in trueness of character, in seriousness. Thus his
words will be wholesome and irreproachable, his counsel useful, his
life virtuous, and his opinions seemly.
87. Such was Paul, who gave counsel to virgins,(1)
guidance to priests,(2) so as to offer himself as a pattern for us to
copy. Thus he knew how to be humble, as also Joseph did, who, though
sprung from the noble family of the patriarchs, was not ashamed of his
base slavery; rather he adorned it with his ready service, and made it
glorious by his virtues. He knew how to be humble who had to go through
the hands of both buyer and seller, and called them, Lord. Hear him as
he humbles himself: "My lord on my account knoweth not what is in his
house, and he hath committed all that he hath to my hand, neither hath
he kept back anything from me but thee, because thou art his wife; how,
then, can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God? "(4) Full of
humility are his words, full, too, of chastity. Of humility, for he was
obedient to his Lord; of an honourable spirit, for he was grateful;(5)
full, also, of chastity, for he thought it a terrible sin to be defiled
by so great a crime.
88. Such, then, ought the man of counsel to be. He
must have nothing dark, or deceptive, or false about him, to cast a
shadow on his life and character, nothing wicked or evil to keep back
those who want advice. For there are some things which one flies from,
others which one despises.(6) We fly .from those things which can do
harm, or can perfidiously and quietly grow to do us hurt, as when he
whose advice we ask is of doubtful honour, or is desirous of money, so
that a certain sum can make him change his mind. If a man acts
unjustly, we fly from him and avoid him. A man that is a pleasure
seeker and extravagant, although he does not act falsely, yet is
avaricious and too fond of filthy lucre; such an one is despised. What
proof of hard work, what fruits of labour, can he give who gives
himself up to a sluggish and idle life, or what cares and anxieties
ever enter his mind?
89. Therefore the man of good counsel says: "I have
learnt in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content."(1) For he
knew that the root of all evils is the love of money,(2) and therefore
he was content with what he had, without seeking for what was
another's. Sufficient for me, he says, is what I have; whether I have
little or much, to me it is much. It seems as though he wanted to state
it as clearly as possible. He makes use of these words: "I am content,"
he says, "with what I have." That means: "I neither have want, nor have
I too much. I have no want, for I seek nothing more. I have not too
much, for I have it not for myself, but for the many." This is said
with reference to money.
90. But he could have said these words about
everything, for all that he had at the moment contented him; that is,
he wanted no greater honour, he sought for no further services, he was
not desirous of vainglory, nor did he look for gratitude where it was
not due; but patient in labours, sure in his merits, he waited for the
end of the struggle that he must needs endure. "I know, " he says, "how
to be abused."(3) An untaught humility has no claim to praise, but only
that which possesses modesty and a knowledge of self. For there is a
humility that rests on fear, one, too, that rests on want of skill and
ignorance. Therefore the Scripture says: "He will save the humble in
spirit."(4) Gloriously, therefore, does he say: "I know how to be
abased;" that is to say, where, in what moderation, to what end, in
what duty, in which office. The Pharisee knew not how to be abased,
therefore he was cast down. The publican knew, and therefore he was
justified.(5)
91. Paul knew, too, how to abound, for he had a rich
soul, though he possessed not the treasure of a rich man. He knew how
to abound, for he sought no gift in money, but looked for fruit in
grace. We can understand his words that he knew how to abound also in
another way. For he could say again: "0 ye Corinthians, our mouth is
open unto you, our heart is enlarged."(6)
92. In all things he was accustomed both to be full
and to be hungry. Blessed is he that knows how to be full in Christ.
Not corporal, but spiritual, is that satiety which knowledge brings
about. And rightly is
58
there need of knowledge: "For man lives not by bread alone, but by
every word of God."(1) For he who knew how to be full also knew how to
be hungry, so as to be always seeking something new, hungering after
God, thirsting for the Lord. He knew how to hunger, for he knew that
the hungry shall eat.(2) He knew, also, how to abound, and was able to
abound, for he had nothing and yet possessed all things.(3)
CHAPTER XVIII.
We learn from the fact of the separation of the ten tribes from King
Rehoboam what harm bad counsellors can do.
93. Justice, then, especially graces men that are
set over any office;(4) on the other hand, injustice fails them and
fights against them. Scripture itself gives us an example, where it
says, that when the people of Israel, after the death of Solomon, had
asked his son Rehoboam to free their neck from their cruel yoke, and to
lighten the harshness of his father's rule, he, despising the counsel
of the old men, gave the following answer at the suggestion of the
young men: "He would add a burden to the yoke of his father, and change
their lighter toils for harder."(5)
94. Angered by this answer, the people said: "We
have no portion in David, nor inheritance in the son of Jesse. Return
to your tents, O Israel. For we will not have this man for a prince or
a leader over us. "(6) So, forsaken and deserted by the people, he
could keep with him scarce two of the ten tribes for David's sake.
CHAPTER XIX.
Many are won by justice and benevolence and courtesy,
but all this must be sincere.
95. It is plain, then, that equity strengthens
empires, and injustice destroys them. How could wickedness hold fast a
kingdom when it cannot even rule over a single family? There is need,
therefore, of the greatest kindness, so that we may preserve not only
the government of affairs in general, but also the rights of
individuals. Benevolence is of the greatest value; for it seeks to
embrace all in its favours, to bind them to itself by fulfilling
duties, and to pledge them to itself by its charm.
96. We have also said that courtesy of speech has
great effect in winning favour. But we want it to be sincere and
sensible, without flattery, lest flattery should disgrace the
simplicity and purity of our address. We ought to be a pattern to
others not only in act but also in word, in purity, and in faith. What
we wish to be thought, such let us be;(1) and let us show openly such
feelings as we have within us. Let us not say an unjust word in our
heart that we think can be hid in silence, for He hears things said in
secret Who made things secret, and knows the secrets of the heart, and
has implanted feelings within. Therefore as though under the eyes of
the Judge let us consider all we do as set forth in the light, that it
may be manifest to all.
CHAPTER XX.
Familiarity with good men is very advantageous to all, especially to
the young, as is shown by the example of Joshua and Moses and others.
Further, those who are unlike in age are often alike in virtues, as
Peter and John prove.
97. It is a very good thing to unite oneself to a
good man. It is also very useful for the young(2) to follow the
guidance of great and wise men. For he who lives in company with wise
men is wise himself; but he who clings to the foolish is looked on as a
fool too. This friendship with the wise is a great help in teaching us,
and also as giving a sure proof of our uprightness. Young men show very
soon that they imitate those to whom they attach themselves. And this
idea gains ground from the fact that in all their daily life they grow
to be like those with whom they have enjoyed intercourse to the full.
98. Joshua the son of Nun became so great, because
his union with Moses was the means not only of instructing him in a
knowledge of the law, but also of sanctifying him to receive grace.
When in His tabernacle the majesty of the Lord was seen to shine forth
in its divine Presence, Joshua alone was in the tabernacle. When Moses
spoke with God, Joshua too was covered by the sacred cloud.(3) The
priests and people stood below, and Joshua and Moses went up the mount
to receive the law. All the people were within the camp;
59
Joshua was without the camp in the tabernacle of witness. When the
pillar of a cloud came down, and God spoke with Moses, he stood as a
trusty servant beside him; and he, a young man, did not go out of the
tabernacle, though the old men who stood afar off trembled at these
divine wonders.
99. Everywhere, therefore, he alone kept close to
holy Moses amid all these wondrous works and dread secrets. Wherefore
it happens that he who had been his companion in this intercourse with
God succeeded to his power.(1) Worthy surely was he to stand forth as a
man who might stay the course of the river,(2) and who might say: "Sun,
stand still," and delay the night and lengthen the day, as though to
witness his victory.(3) Why?--a blessing denied to Moses--he alone was
chosen to lead the people into the promised land. A man he was, great
in the wonders he wrought by faith, great in his triumphs. The works of
Moses were of a higher type, his brought greater success. Either of
these then aided by divine grace rose above all human standing. The one
ruled the sea, the other heaven.(4)
100. Beautiful, therefore, is the union between old
and young. The one to give witness, the other to give comfort; the one
to give guidance, the other to give pleasure. I pass by Lot, who when
young clung to Abraham, as he was setting out.(5) For some perhaps
might say this arose rather owing to their relationship than from any
voluntary action on his part. And what are we to say of Elijah and
Elisha?(6) Though Scripture has not in so many words stated that Elisha
was a young man, yet we gather from it that he was the younger. In the
Acts of the Apostles, Barnabas took Mark with him, and Paul took
Silas(7) and Timothy(8) and Titus.(9)
101. We see also that duties were divided amongst
them according to their superiority in anything. The elders took the
lead in giving counsel, the younger in showing activity. Often, too,
those who were alike in virtue but unlike in years were greatly
rejoiced at their union, as Peter and John were. We read in the Gospel
that John was a young man, even in his own words, though he was behind
none of the elders in merits and wisdom. For in him there was a
venerable ripeness of character and the prudence of the hoarhead. An
unspotted life is the due of a good old age.
CHAPTER XXI.
To defend the weak, or to help strangers, or to perform similar duties,
greatly adds to one's worth, especially in the case of tried men.
Whilst one gets great blame for love of money; wastefulness, also, in
the cue of priests is very much condemned.
102. The regard in which one is held is also very
much enhanced when one rescues a poor man out of the hands of a
powerful one, or saves a condemned criminal from death; so long as it
can be done without disturbance, for fear that we might seem to be
doing it rather for the sake of showing off than for pity's sake, and
so might inflict severer wounds whilst desiring to heal slighter ones.
But if one has freed a man who is crushed down by the resources and
faction of a powerful person,(1) rather than overwhelmed by the deserts
of his own wickedness, then the witness of a great and high opinion
grows strong.
103. Hospitality also serves to recommend many.(2)
For it is a kind of open display of kindly feelings: so that the
stranger may not want hospitality, but be courteously received, and
that the door may be open to him when he comes. It is most seemly in
the eyes of the whole world that the stranger should be received with
honour; that the charm of hospitality should not fail at our table;
that we should meet a guest with ready and free service, and look out
for his arrival.
104. This especially was Abraham's praise,(3) for he
watched at the door. of his tent, that no stranger by any chance might
pass by. He carefully kept a lookout, so as to meet the stranger, and
anticipate him, and ask him not to pass by, saying: "My lord, if I have
found favour in thy sight, pass not by thy servant."(4) Therefore as a
reward for his hospitality, he received the gift of posterity.
105. Lot also, his nephew,(5) who was near to him
not only in relationship but also in virtue, on account of his
readiness to show hospitality, turned aside the punishment of Sodom
from himself and his family.
106. A man ought therefore to be hospitable, kind,
upright, not desirous of what belongs to another, willing to give up
some
60
of his own rights if assailed, rather than to take away another's. He
ought to avoid disputes, to hate quarrels. He ought to restore unity
and the grace of quietness. When a good man gives up any of his own
rights, it is not only a sign of liberality, but is also accompanied by
great advantages. To start with, it is no small gain to be free from
the cost of a lawsuit. Then it also brings in good results, by an
increase of friendship, from which many advantages rise. These become
afterwards most useful to the man that can despise a little something
at the time.
107. In all the duties of hospitality kindly feeling
must be shown to all, but greater respect must be given to the
upright.(1) For "Whosoever receiveth a righteous man, in the name of a
righteous man, shall receive a righteous man's reward,"(2) as the Lord
has said. Such is the favour in which hospitality stands with God, that
not even the draught of cold water shall fail of getting a reward.(3)
Thou seest that Abraham, in looking for guests, received God Himself to
entertain.(4) Thou seest that Lot received the angels.(5) And how dost
thou know that when thou receivest men, thou dost not receive Christ?
Christ may be in the stranger that comes, for Christ is there in the
person of the poor, as He Himself says: "I was in prison and thou
camest to Me, I was naked and thou didst clothe Me."(6).
108. It is sweet, then, to seek not for money but
for grace. It is true(7) that this evil has long ago entered into human
hearts, so that money stands in the place of honour, and the minds of
men are filled with admiration for wealth. Thus love of money sinks in
and as it were dries up every kindly duty; so ,that men consider
everything a loss which is spent beyond the usual amount. But even here
the holy Scriptures have been on the watch against love of money, that
it might prove no cause of hindrance, saying: "Better is hospitality,
even though it consisteth only of herbs."(8) And again: "Better is
bread in pleasantness with peace."(9) For the Scriptures teach us not
to be wasteful, but liberal.
109. There are two kinds of free-giving, one arising
from liberality, the other from wasteful extravagance.(10) It is a mark
of liberality to receive the stranger, to clothe the naked, to redeem
the captives, to help the needy. It is wasteful to spend money on
expensive banquets and much wine. Wherefore one reads: "Wine is
wasteful, drunkenness is abusive."(1) It is wasteful to spend one's own
wealth merely for the sake of gaining the favour of the people.
This they do who spend their inheritance on the games of the
circus, or on theatrical pieces and gladiatorial shows, or even a
combat of wild beasts, just to surpass the fame of their forefathers
for these things. All this that they do is but foolish, for it is not
right to be extravagant in spending money even on good works.
110. It is a right kind of liberality to keep due
measure towards the poor themselves, that one may have enough for more;
and not to go beyond the right limit for the sake of winning favour.
Whatever comes forth out of a pure sincere disposition, that is seemly.
It is also seemly not to enter on unnecessary undertakings, nor to omit
those that are needed.
111. But it befits the priest especially to adorn
the temple of God with fitting splendour, so that the court of the Lord
may be made glorious by his endeavours. He ought always to spend money
as mercy demands. It behoves him to give to strangers what is right.
This must not be too much, but enough; not more than, but as much as,
kindly feeling demands, so that he may never seek another's favour at
the expense of the poor, nor show himself as either too stingy or too
free to the clergy. The one act is unkind, the other wasteful. It is
unkind if money should be wanting for the necessities of those whom one
ought to win back from their wretched employments. It is wasteful if
there should be too much over for pleasure.
CHAPTER XXII.
We must observe a right standard between too great mildness and
excessive harshness. They who endeavour to creep into the hearts of
others by a false show of mildness gain nothing substantial or lasting.
This the example of Absalom plainly enough shows.
112. Moreover, due measure befits even our words and
instructions, that it may not seem as though there was either too great
mildness or too much harshness. Many prefer to be too mild, so as to
appear to be good. But it is certain that nothing feigned or false can
bear the form of true virtue; nay, it cannot even last. At first it
flour-
61
ishes, then, as time goes on, like a floweret it fades and passes away,
but what is true and sincere has a deep root.(1)
113. To prove by examples our assertion that what is
reigned cannot last, but flourishing just for a time quickly fails, we
will take one example of pretence and falsehood from that family, from
which we have already drawn so many examples to show their growth in
virtue.
114. Absalom was King David's son, known for his
beauty, of splendid appearance and in the heyday of youth; so that no
other such man as he was found in Israel.(2) He was without a blemish
from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. He had for himself
a chariot and horses and fifty men to run before him. He rose at early
dawn and stood before the gate in the way, and whoever he knew to be
seeking the judgment of the king, he called to himself, saying: "From
what city art thou?" And he answered: "I thy servant am of one of the
tribes of Israel." And Absalom answered: "Thy words are good and right.
Is there none given thee by the king to hear thee? Who will make me a
judge? And whosoever will come unto me, that hath need of judgment, I
will give him justice." With such words he cajoled them. And when they
came to make obeisance to him, stretching forth his hand he took hold
of them and kissed them.(3) So he turned the hearts of all to himself.
For flattery of this sort quickly finds its way to touch the very
depths of the heart.
115. Those spoilt and ambitious men chose what for a
time seemed an honour to them, and was pleasing and enjoyable. But
whilst that delay took place, which the prophet,(4) being prudent above
all, thought ought to intervene, they could no longer hold out or bear
it. Then David having no doubt about the victory commended his son to
those who went out to fight, so that they should spare him.(5) He would
not engage in the battle himself test he should seem to be taking up
arms against one who was still his son, though attempting to destroy
his father.
116. It is clear, then, that those things are
lasting and sound, which are true and grow out of a sincere and not a
false heart. Those, however, which are brought about by pretence and
adulation can never last for long.
CHAFFER XXIII.
The good faith of those who are easily bought over with money or
flattery is a frail thing to trust to.
117. Who would suppose that those who are bought
over to obedience by money,(1) or those who are allured by adulation,
would ever be faithful to them? For the former are ever ready to sell
themselves, whilst the latter cannot put up with a hard rule. They are
easily won with a little adulation, but if one reproves them by a word,
they murmur against it, they give one up, they go away with hostile
feelings, they forsake one in anger. They prefer to rule rather than to
obey. They think that those whom they ought to have placed over them
ought to be subject to themselves, as though indebted to them by their
kindness.
118. What man is there that thinks those will be
faithful to himself, whom he believes he will have to bind to himself
by money or flattery? For he who takes thy money supposes that he is
cheaply held, and looked down upon, unless the money is paid again and
again. So he frequently expects his price; whilst the other, who is met
with prayer and flattery, is always wanting to be asked.
CHAPTER XXIV.
We must strive for preferment only by right means. An office undertaken
must be carded out wisely and with moderation. The inferior clergy
should not detract from the bishop's reputation by reigned virtues; nor
again, should the bishop be jealous of a cleric, but he should be just
in all things and especially in giving judgment.
119. I think, then, that one should strive to win
preferment, especially in the Church, only by good actions and with a
right aim; so that there may be no proud conceit, no idle carelessness,
no shameful disposition of mind, no unseemly ambition. A plain
simplicity of mind is enough for everything, and commends itself quite
sufficiently.
120. When in office, again, it is not right to be
harsh and severe, nor may one be too easy; lest on the one hand we
should seem to be exercising a despotic power, and on the other to be
by no means filling the office we had taken up.
121. We must strive also to win many by kindnesses
and duties that we can do, and to preserve the favour already shown us.
For they will with good reason forget the
62
benefits of former times if they are now vexed at some great wrong. For
it often enough happens that those one has shown favour to and allowed
to rise step by step, are driven away, if one decides in some unworthy
way to put another before them. But it is seemly for a priest to show
such favour in his kindnesses and his decisions as to guard equity, and
to show regard to the other clergy as to parents.
122. Those who once stood approved should not now
become overbearing, but rather, as mindful of the grace they have
received, stand firm in their humility. A priest ought not to be
offended if either cleric or attendant or any ecclesiastic should win
regard for himself, by showing mercy, or by fasting, or by uprightness
of life, or by teaching and reading. For the grace of the Church is the
praise of the teacher. It is a good thing that the work of another
should be praised, if only it be done without any desire to boast. For
each one should receive praise from the lips of his neighbour, and not
from his own mouth, and each one should be commended by the work he has
done, not merely by the wishes he had.
223. But if any one is disobedient to his bishop and
wishes to exalt and upraise himself, and to overshadow his bishop's
merits by a feigned appearance of learning or humility or mercy, he is
wandering from the truth in his pride; for the rule of truth is, to do
nothing to advance one's own cause whereby another loses ground, nor to
use whatever good one has to the disgrace or blame of another.
124. Never protect a wicked man, nor allow the
sacred things to be given over to an unworthy one; on the other hand,
do not harass and press hard on a man whose fault is not clearly
proved. Injustice quickly gives offence in every case, but especially
in the Church, where equity ought to exist, where like treatment should
be given to all, so that a powerful person may not claim the more, nor
a rich man appropriate the more. For whether we be poor or rich, we are
one in Christ. Let him that lives a holier life claim nothing more
thereby for himself; for he ought rather to be the more humble for it.
125. In giving judgment let us have no respect of
persons. Favour must be put out of sight, and the case be decided on
its merits. Nothing is so great a strain on another's good opinion or
confidence, as the fact of our giving away the cause of the weaker to
the more powerful in any case that comes before us. The same happens if
we are hard on the poor, whilst we make excuses for the rich man when
guilty. Men are ready enough to flatter those in high positions, so as
not to let them think themselves injured, or to feel vexed as though
overthrown. But if thou fearest to give offence then do not undertake
to give judgment. If thou art a priest or some cleric do not urge it.
It is allowable for thee to be silent in the matter, if it be a money
affair, though it is always due to consistency to be on the side of
equity. But in the cause of God, where there is danger to the whole
Church, it is no small sin to act as though one saw nothing.
CHAFFER XXV.
Benefits should be conferred on the poor rather than on the rich, for
these latter either think a return is expected from them, or else they
are angry at seeming to be indebted for such an action. But the poor
man makes God the debtor in his place, and freely owns to the benefits
he has received. To these remarks is added a warning to despise riches.
126. But what advantage is it to thee to show favour
to a rich man? Is it that he is more ready to repay one who loves
him?(1) For we generally show favour to those from whom we expect to
receive a return of favour. But we ought to think far more of the weak
and helpless, because we hope to receive, on behalf of him who has it
not, a recompense from the Lord Jesus, Who in the likeness of a
marriage feast(2) has given us a general representation of virtue. By
this He bids us confer benefits rather on those who cannot give them to
us in return, teaching us to bid to our feasts and meals, not those who
are rich, but those that are poor. For the rich seem to be asked that
they may prepare a banquet for us in return; the poor, as they have
nothing wherewith to make return, when they receive anything, make the
Lord to be our recompense Who has offered Himself as surety for the
poor.
127. In the ordinary course of things, too, the
conferring of a benefit on the poor is of more use than when it is
conferred on the rich. The rich man scorns the benefit and is ashamed
to feel indebted for a favour. Nay, moreover, whatever is offered to
him he takes as due to his merits, as though only a just debt were paid
him; or else he thinks it was but given because the giver expected a
still greater return to be made him by the rich man. So. in accepting a
kindness, the
63
rich man, on that very ground, thinks that he has given more than he
ever received. The poor man, however, though he has no money wherewith
he can repay, at least shows his gratitude. And heroin it is certain
that he returns more than he received. For money is paid in coins, but
gratitude never fails; money grows less by payment, but gratitude fails
when held back, and is preserved when given to others. Next--a thing
the rich man avoids--the poor man owns that he feels bound by the debt.
He really thinks help has been given him, not that it has been offered
in return for his honour. He considers that his children have been
again given him, that his life is restored and his family preserved.
How much better, then, is it to confer benefits upon the good than on
the ungrateful.
128. Wherefore the Lord said to His disciples: "Take
neither gold nor silver nor money."(1) Whereby as with a sickle He cuts
off the love of money that is ever growing up in human hearts. Peter
also said to the lame man, who was always carried even from his
mother's womb: "Silver and gold have I none, but what I have give I
thee. In the Name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, arise and walk."(2) So
he gave not money, but he gave health. How much better it is to have
health without money, than money without health! The lame man rose; he
had not hoped for that: he received no money; though he had hoped for
that. But riches are hardly to be found among the saints of the Lord,
so as to become objects of contempt to them.
CHAPTER XXVI.
How long standing an evil love of money is, is plain from many examples
in the Old Testament. And yet it is plain, too, how idle a thing the
possession of money is.
129. But man's habits have so long applied
themselves to this admiration of money, that no one is thought worthy
of honour unless he is rich.(3) This is no new habit. Nay, this vice
(and that makes the matter worse) grew long years ago in the hearts of
men. When the city of Jericho fell at the sound of the priests'
trumpets, and Joshua the son of Nun gained the victory, he knew that
the valour of the people was weakened through love of money and desire
for gold. For when Achan had taken a garment of gold and two hundred
shekels of silver and a golden ingot(1) from the spoils of the ruined
city, he was brought before the Lord, and could not deny the theft, but
owned it.(2)
130. Love of money, then, is an old, an ancient
vice, which showed itself even at the declaration of the divine law;
for a law was given to check it.(3) On account of love of money Balak
thought Balaam could be tempted by rewards to curse the people of our
fathers.(4) Love of money would have won the day too, had not God
bidden him hold back from cursing. Overcome by love of money Achan led
to destruction all the people of the fathers. So Joshua the son of Nun,
who could stay the sun from setting, could not stay the love of money
in man from creeping on. At the sound of his voice the sun stood still,
but love of money stayed not. When the sun stood still Joshua completed
his triumph, but when love of money went on, he almost lost the victory.
131. Why? Did not the woman Delilah's love of money
deceive Samson, the bravest man of all(5) So he who had torn asunder
the roaring lion with his hands;(6) who, when bound and handed over to
his enemies, alone, without help, burst his bonds and slew a thousand
of them;(7) who broke the cords interwoven with sinews as though they
were but the slight threads of a net; he, I say, having laid his head
on the woman's knee, was robbed of the decoration of his
victory-bringing hair, that which gave him his might. Money flowed into
the lap of the woman, and the favour of God forsook the man.(8)
132. Love of money, then, is deadly. Seductive is
money, whilst it also defiles those who have it, and helps not those
who have it not. Supposing that money sometimes is a help, yet it is
only a help to a poor man who makes his want known. What good is it to
him who does not long for it, nor seek it; who does not need its help
and is not turned aside by pursuit of it? What good is it to others, if
he who has it is alone the richer for it? Is he therefore more
honourable because he has that whereby honour is often lost, because he
has what he must guard rather than possess? We possess what we use, but
what is beyond our use brings us no fruit of possession, but only the
danger of watching.
CHAPTER XXVII.
In contempt of money there is the pattern of justice, which virtue
bishops and clerics ought to aim at together with some others. A few
words are added on the duty of not bringing an excommunication too
quickly into force.
133. To come to an end; we know that contempt of
riches is a form of justice, therefore we ought to avoid love of money,
and strive with all our powers never to do anything against justice,
but to guard it in all our deeds and actions.
134. If we would please God, we must have love, we
must be of one mind, we must follow humility, each one thinking the
other higher than himself. This is true humility, when one never claims
anything proudly for oneself, but thinks oneself to be the inferior.
The bishop should treat the clerics and attendants, who are indeed his
sons, as members of himself, and give to each one that duty for which
he sees him to be fit.
135. Not without pain is a limb of the body cut off
which has become corrupt. It is treated for a long time, to see if it
can be cured with various remedies. If it cannot be cured, then it is
cut off by a good physician. Thus it is a good bishop's desire to wish
to heal the weak, to remove the spreading ulcers, to burn some parts
and not to cut them off; and lastly, when they cannot be healed, to cut
them off with pain to himself. Wherefore that beautiful rule of the
Apostle stands forth brightly, that we should look each one, not on his
own things, but on the things of others.(1) In this way it will never
come about that we shall in anger give way to our own feelings, or
concede more than is right in favour to our own wishes.
CHAPTER XXVIII.
Mercy must be freely shown even though it brings an odium of its own.
With regard to this, reference is made to the well-known story about
the sacred vessels which were broken up by Ambrose to pay for the
redemption of captives; and very beautiful advice is given about the
right use of the gold and silver which the Church possesses. Next,
after showing from the action of holy Lawrence what are the true
treasures of the Church, certain rules are laid down which ought to be
observed in melting down and employing for such uses the consecrated
vessels of the Church.
136. It is a very great incentive to mercy to share in others'
misfortunes, to help the needs of others as far as our means allow, and
sometimes even beyond them. For it is better for mercy's sake to take
up a case, or to suffer odium rather than to show hard feeling. So I
once brought odium on myself because I broke up the sacred vessels to
redeem captives--a fact that could displease the Arians. Not that it
displeased them as an act, but as being a thing in which they could
take hold of something for which to blame me. Who can be so hard,
cruel, iron-hearted, as to be displeased because a man is redeemed from
death, or a woman from barbarian impurities, things that are worse than
death, or boys and girls and infants from the pollution of idols,
whereby through fear of death they were defiled?
137. Although we did not act thus without good
reason, yet we have followed it up among the people so as to confess
and to add again and again that it was far better to preserve souls
than gold for the Lord. For He Who sent the apostles without gold(1)
also brought together the churches without gold. The Church has gold,
not to store up, but to lay out, and to spend on those who need. What
necessity is there to guard what is of no good? Do we not know how much
gold and silver the Assyrians took out of the temple of the Lord?(2) Is
it not much better that the priests should melt it down for the
sustenance of the poor, if other supplies fail, than that a
sacrilegious enemy should carry it off and defile it? Would not the
Lord Himself say: Why didst thou suffer so many needy to die of hunger?
Surely thou hadst gold? Thou shouldst have given them sustenance. Why
are so many captives brought on the slave market, and why are so many
unredeemed left to be slain by the enemy? It had been better to
preserve living vessels than gold ones.
138. To this no answer could be given. For what
wouldst thou say: I feared that the temple of God would need its
ornaments? He would answer: The sacraments need not gold, nor are they
proper to gold only--for they are not bought with gold. The glory of
the sacraments is the redemption of captives. Truly they are precious
vessels, for they redeem men from death. That, indeed, is the true
treasure of the Lord which effects what His blood effected. Then,
indeed, is the vessel of the Lord's blood recognized, when one sees in
either redemption, so that the chalice redeems from the enemy those
whom His blood redeemed from sin.
65
How beautifully it is said, when long lines of captives are redeemed by
the Church: These Christ has redeemed. Behold the gold that can be
tried, behold the useful gold, behold the gold of Christ which frees
from death, behold the gold whereby modesty is redeemed and chastity is
preserved.
139. These, then, I preferred to hand over to you as
free men, rather than to store up the gold. This crowd of captives,
this company surely is more glorious than the sight of cups. The gold
of the Redeemer ought to contribute to this work so as to redeem those
in danger. I recognize the fact that the blood of Christ not only glows
in cups of gold, but also by the office of redemption has impressed
upon them the power of the divine operation.
140. Such gold the holy martyr Lawrence preserved
for the Lord. For when the treasures of the Church were demanded from
him, he promised that he would show them. On the following day he
brought the poor together. When asked where the treasures were which he
had promised, he pointed to the poor, saying: "These are the treasures
of the Church." And truly they were treasures, in whom Christ lives, in
whom there is faith in Him. So, too, the Apostle says: "We have this
treasure in earthen vessels."(1) What greater treasures has Christ than
those in whom He says He Himself lives? For thus it is written: "I was
hungry and ye gave Me to eat, I was thirsty and ye gave Me to drink, I
was a stranger and ye took Me in."(2) And again: "What thou didst to
one of these, thou didst it unto Me."(3) What better treasures has
Jesus than those in which He loves to be seen?
141. These treasures Lawrence pointed out, and
prevailed, for the persecutors could not take them away. Jehoiachim,(4)
who preserved his gold during the siege and spent it not in providing
food, saw his gold carried off, and himself led into captivity.
Lawrence, who preferred to spend the gold of the Church on the poor,
rather than to keep it in hand for the persecutor, received the sacred
crown of martyrdom for the unique and deep-sighted vigour of his
meaning. Or was it perhaps said to holy Lawrence: "Thou shouldst not
spend the treasures of the Church, or sell the sacred vessels "?
142. It is necessary that every one should fill this
office, with genuine good faith and clear-sighted forethought. If any
one derives profit from it for himself it is a crime, but if he spends
the treasures on the poor, or redeems captives, he shows mercy. For no
one can say: Why does the poor man live? None can complain that
captives are redeemed, none can find fault because a temple of the Lord
is built, none can be angry because a plot of ground has been enlarged
for the burial of the bodies of the faithful, none can be vexed because
in the tombs of the Christians there is rest for the dead. In these
three ways it is allowable to break up, melt down, or sell even the
sacred vessels of the Church.
143. It is necessary to see that the mystic cup does
not go out of the Church, lest the service of the sacred chalice should
be turned over to base uses. Therefore vessels were first sought for in
the Church which had not been consecrated to such holy uses. Then
broken up and afterwards melted down, they were given to the poor in
small payments, and were also used for the ransom of captives. But if
new vessels fail, or those which never seem to have been used tot such
a holy purpose, then, as I have already said, I think that all might be
put to this use without irreverence.
CHAPTER XXIX.
The property of widows or of all the faithful, that has been entrusted
to the Church, ought to be defended though it brings danger to oneself.
This is illustrated by the example of Onias the priest, and of Ambrose,
bishop of Ticinum.
144. Great care must be taken that the property
entrusted by widows remains inviolate. It should be guarded without
causing complaint, not only if it belongs to widows, but to any one at
all. For good faith must be shown to all, though the cause of the widow
and orphans comes first.
145. So everything entrusted to the temple was
preserved in the name of the widows alone, as we read in the book of
the Maccabees.(1) For when information was given of the money, which
Simon treacherously had told King Antiochus could be found in large
quantities in the temple at Jerusalem, Heliodorus was sent to look into
the matter. He came to the temple, and made known to the high priest
his hateful information and the reason of his coming.
146. Then the priest said that only means for the
maintenance of the widows and orphans was laid up there. And when Helio-
66
dorus would have gone to seize it, and to claim it on the king's
behalf, the, priests cast themselves before the altar, after putting on
their priestly robes, and with tears called on the living God Who had
given them the law concerning trust-money to show Himself as guardian
of His own commands. The changed look and colour of the high priest
showed what grief of soul and anxiety and tension of mind were his. All
wept, for the spot would fall into contempt, if not even in the temple
of God safe and faithful guardianship could be preserved. Women with
breasts girded, and virgins who usually were shut in, knocked at the
doors. Some ran to the walls, others looked out of the windows, all
raised their hands to heaven in prayer that God would stand by His laws.
147. But Heliodorus, undeterred by this, was eager
to carry out his intention, and had already surrounded the treasury
with his followers, when suddenly there appeared to him a dreadful
horseman all glorious in golden armour, his horse also being adorned
with costly ornaments. Two other youths also appeared in glorious might
and wondrous beauty, in splendour and glory and beauteous array. They
stood round him, and on either side beat the sacrilegious wretch, and
gave him stroke after stroke without intermission. What more need I
say? Shut in by darkness he fell to the ground, and lay there nearly
dead with fear at this plain proof of divine power, nor had he any hope
of safety left within him. Joy returned to those who were in fear, fear
fell on those who were so proud before. And some of the friends of
Heliodorus in their trouble besought Onias, asking life for him, since
he was almost at his last breath.
148. When, therefore, the high priest asked for
this, the same youths again appeared to Heliodorus, clad in the same
garments, and said to him: Give thanks to Onias the high priest, for
whose sake thy life is granted thee. But do thou, having experienced
the scourge of God, go and tell thy friends how much thou hast learnt
of the sanctity of the temple and the power of God. With these words
they passed out of sight. Heliodorus then, his life having come back to
him, offered a sacrifice to the Lord, gave thanks to the priest Onias,
and returned with his army to the king, saying: "If thou hast an enemy
or one who is plotting against thy power, send him thither and thou
wilt receive him back well scourged."
149. Therefore, my sons, good faith must be
preserved in the case of trust-money, and care, too, must be shown.
Your service will glow the brighter if the oppression of a powerful
man, which some widow or orphan cannot withstand, is checked by the
assistance of the Church, and if ye show that the command of the Lord
has more weight with you than the favour of the rich.
150. Ye also remember how often we entered on a
contest against the royal attacks, on behalf of the trust-money
belonging to widows, yea, and to others as well. You and I shared this
in common. I will also mention the late case of the Church at Ticinum,
which was in danger of losing the widow's trust-money that it had
received.(1) For when he who wanted to claim it on some imperial
rescript demanded it, the clergy did not maintain their rights. For
they themselves, having once been called to office and sent to
intervene, now supposed that they could not oppose the emperor's
orders. The plain words of the rescript were read, the orders of the
chief officer of the court were there, he who was to act in the matter
was at hand. What more was to be said? It was handed over.
151. However, after taking counsel with me, the holy
bishop took possession of the rooms to which he knew that the widow's
property had been carried. As it could not be carried away, it was all
set down in writing. Later on it was again demanded on proof of the
document. The emperor repeated the order, and would meet us himself in
his own person. We refused. And when the force of the divine law, and a
long list of passages and the danger of Heliodorus was explained, at
length the emperor became reasonable. Afterwards, again, an attempt was
made to seize it, but the good bishop anticipated the attempt and
restored to the widow all he had received. So faith was preserved, but
the oppression was no longer a cause for fear; for now it is the matter
itself, not good faith, that is in danger.
CHAPTER XXX.
The ending of the book brings an exhortation to avoid ill-will, and to
seek prudence, faith, and the other virtues.
152. My sons, avoid wicked men, guard against the
envious. There is this difference between a wicked and an envious man:
the wicked man is delighted at his own good fortune, but the envious is
tortured at the
67
thought of an other's. The former loves evil, the latter hates good. So
he is almost more bearable who desires good for himself alone, than he
who desires evil for all.
153. My sons, think before you act, and when you
have thought long then do what you consider right. When the opportunity
of a praiseworthy death is given let it be seized at once. Glory that
is put off flies away and is not easily laid hold of again.
154. Love faith. For by his devotion and faith
Josiah(1) won great love for himself from his enemies. For he
celebrated the Lord's passover when he was eighteen years old, as
no one had done it before him. As then in zeal he was superior to
those who went before him, so do ye, my sons, show zeal for
God. Let zeal for God search you through, and devour you, so that
each one of you may say: "The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up.
"(1) An apostle of Christ was called the zealot.(2) But why do I speak
of an apostle? The Lord Himself said: "The zeal of thine house hath
eaten Me up. "(3) Let it then be real zeal for God, not mean earthy
zeal, for that causes jealousy.
155. Let there be peace among you, which
passeth all understanding. Love one another. Nothing is sweeter than
charity, nothing more blessed than peace. Ye yourselves know that I
have ever loved you and do now love you above all others. As the
children of one father ye have become united under the bond of
brotherly affection.
156. Whatsoever is good, that hold fast; and the God
of peace and love be with you in the Lord Jesus, to Whom be honour and
glory, dominion and might, together with the Holy Spirit, for ever and
ever. Amen.
BOOK III.
CHAFFER I.
We are taught by David and Solomon how to take counsel with our own
heart. Scipio is not to be accounted prime author of the saying which
is ascribed to him. The writer proves What glorious things the holy
prophets accomplished in their time of quiet, and shows, by examples of
their and others' leisure moments, that a just man is never alone in
trouble.
I. The prophet David taught us that we should go
about in our heart as though in a large house; that we should hold
converse with it as with some trusty companion. He spoke to himself,
and conversed with himself, as these words show: "I said, I will take
heed to my ways."(2) Solomon his son also said: "Drink water out of
thine own vessels, and out of the springs of thy wells; "(3) that is:
use thine own counsel. For: "Counsel in the heart of a man is as deep
waters."(4) "Let no stranger," it says, "share it with thee. Let the
fountain of thy water be thine own, and rejoice with thy wife who is
thine from thy youth. Let the loving hind and pleasant doe converse
with thee."(5)
2. Scipio,(6) therefore, was not the first to know that he
was not alone when he was alone, or that he was least at leisure when
he was at leisure. For Moses knew it before him, who, when silent, was
crying out;(4) who, when he stood at ease, was fighting, nay, not
merely fighting but triumphing over enemies whom he had not come near.
So much was he at ease, that others held up his hands; yet he was no
less active than others, for he with his hands at ease was overcoming
the enemy, whom they that were in the battle could not conquer.(5) Thus
Moses in his silence spoke, and in his ease laboured hard. And were his
labours greater than his times of quiet, who, being in the mount for
forty days, received the whole law?(6) And in that solitude there was
One not far away to speak with him. Whence also David says: "I will
hear what the Lord God will say within me."(7) How much greater a thing
is it for God to speak with any one, than for a man to speak with
himself!
3. The apostles passed by and their shadows cured
the sick.(8) Their garments were touched and health was granted.
68
4. Elijah spoke the word, and the rain ceased and
fell not on the earth for three years and six months.(1) Again he
spoke, and the barrel of meal failed not, and the cruse of oil wasted
not the whole time of that long famine.(2)
5. But--as many delight in warfare--which is the
most glorious, to bring a battle to an end by the strength of a great
army, or, by merits before God alone? Elisha rested in one place while
the king of Syria waged a great war against the people of our fathers,
and was adding to its terrors by various treacherous plans, and was
endeavouring to catch them in an ambush. But the prophet found out all
their preparations, and being by the grace of God present everywhere in
mental vigour, he told the thoughts of their enemies to his countrymen,
and warned them of what places to beware. And when this was known to
the king of Syria, he sent an army and shut in the prophet. Elisha
prayed and caused all of them to be struck with blindness, and made
those who had come to besiege him enter Samaria as captives.(3)
6. Let us compare this leisure of his with that of
others.(4) Other men for the sake of rest are wont to withdraw their
minds from business, and to retire from the company and companionship
of men; to seek the retirement of the country or the solitude of the
fields, or in the city to give their minds a rest and to enjoy peace
and quietness. But Elisha was ever active. In solitude he divided
Jordan on passing over it, so that the lower part flowed down, whilst
the upper returned to its source. On Carmel he promises the woman, who
so far had had no child, that a son now unhoped for should be born to
her.(5) He raises the dead to life,(6) he corrects the bitterness of
the food, and makes it to be sweet by mixing meal with it.(7) Having
distributed ten loaves to the people for food, he gathered up the
fragments that were left after they had been filled.(8) He makes the
iron head of the axe, which had fallen off and was sunk deep in the
river Jordan, to swim by putting the wooden handle in the water.(9) He
changes leprosy for cleanness,(10) drought for rain,(11) famine for
plenty.(12)
7. When can the upright man be alone, since he is
always with God? When is he left forsaken who is never separated from
Christ? "Who," it says, "shall separate us from the love of Christ? I
am confident that neither death nor life nor angel shall do so."(1) And
when can he be deprived of his labour who never can be deprived of his
merits, wherein his labour receives its crown? By what places is he
limited to whom the whole world of riches is a possession? By what
judgment is he confined who is never blamed by any one? For he is "as
unknown yet well known, as dying and behold he lives, as sorrowful yet
always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing and
yet possessing all things."(2) For the upright man regards nothing but
what is consistent and virtuous. And so although he seems poor to
another, he is rich to himself, for his worth is taken not at the value
of the things which are temporal, but of the things which are eternal.
CHAPTER II.
The discussions among philosophers about the comparison between what is
virtuous and what is useful have nothing to do with Christians. For
with them nothing is useful which is not just. What are the duties of
perfection, and what are ordinary duties? The same words often suit
different things in different ways. Lastly, a just man never seeks his
own advantage at the cost of another's disadvantage, but rather is
always on the lookout for what is useful to others.
8. As we have already spoken about the two former
subjects, wherein we discussed what is virtuous and what is useful,
there follows now the question whether we ought to compare what is
virtuous and useful together, and to ask which we must follow. For, as
we have already discussed the matter as to whether a thing is virtuous
or wicked, and in another place whether it is useful or useless, so
here some think we ought to find out whether a thing is virtuous or
useful.(3)
9. I am induced to do this, lest I should seem to be
allowing that these two are mutually opposed to one another, when I
have already shown them to be one. For I said that nothing can be
virtuous but what is useful, and nothing can be useful but what is
virtuous.(4) For we do not follow the wisdom of the flesh, whereby the
usefulness that consists in an abundance of money is held to be of most
value, but we follow that wisdom which is of God, whereby
69
those things which are greatly valued in this world are counted but as
loss.
10. For this <greek>katorqwma</greek>,
which is duty carried out entirely and in perfection, starts from the
true source of virtue.(1) On this follows another, or ordinary duty.
This shows by its name that no hard or extraordinary practice of virtue
is involved, for it can be common to very many. The desire to save
money is the usual practice with many. To enjoy a well-prepared banquet
and a pleasant meal is a general habit; but to fast or to use
self-restraint is the practice of but few, and not to be desirous of
another's goods is a virtue rarely found. On the other hand, to wish to
deprive another of his property--and not to be content with one's
due--here one will find many to keep company with one. Those (the
philosopher would say) are primary duties--these ordinary.(2) The
primary are found but with few, the ordinary with the many.
11. Again, the same words often have a different
meaning. For instance, we call God good and a man good; but it bears in
each case quite a different meaning.(3) We call God just in one sense,
man in another. So, too, there is a difference in meaning when we call
God wise and a man wise. This we are taught in the Gospel: "Be ye
perfect even as your Father Who is in heaven is perfect. "(4) I read
again that Paul was perfect and yet not perfect. For when he said: "Not
as though I had already attained, either were already perfect; but I
follow after, if that. I may apprehend it. "(5) Immediately he added:
"We, then, that are perfect."(6) There is a twofold form of perfection,
the one having but ordinary, the other the highest worth. The one
availing here, the other hereafter. The one in accordance with human
powers, the other with the perfection of the world to come. But God is
just through all, wise above all, perfect in all.
12. There is also diversity even among men
themselves. Daniel, of whom it was said: "Who is wiser than Daniel?
"(7) was wise in a different sense to what others are. The same may be
said of Solomon, who was filled with wisdom, above all the wisdom of
the ancients, and more than all the wise men of Egypt.(8) To be wise as
men are in general is quite a different thing to being really wise. He
who is ordinarily wise is wise for temporal matters, is wise for
himself, so as to deprive another of something and get it for himself.
He who is really wise does not know how to regard his own advantage,
but looks with all his desire to that which is eternal, and to that
which is seemly and virtuous, seeking not what is useful for himself,
but for all.
13. Let this, then, be our rule,(1) so that we may
never go wrong between two things, one virtuous, the other useful. The
upright man must never think of depriving another of anything, nor must
he ever wish to increase his own advantage to the disadvantage of
another. This rule the Apostle gives thee, saying: "All things are
lawful, but all things are not expedient; all things are lawful, but
all things edify not. Let no man seek his own, but each one
another's."(2) That is: Let no man seek his own advantage, but
another's; let no man seek his own honour, but another's. Wherefore he
says in another place: "Let each esteem other better than themselves,
looking not each one to his own things, but to the things of others."(3)
14. And let no one seek his own favour or his own
praise, but another's. This we can plainly see declared in the book of
Proverbs, where the Holy Spirit says through Solomon: "My son, if thou
be wise, be wise for thyself and thy neighbours; but if thou turn out
evil, thou alone shalt bear it."(4) The wise man gives counsel to
others, as the upright man does, and shares with him in wearing the
form of either virtue.
CHAPTER III.
The rule given about not seeking one's own gain is established, first
by the examples of Christ, next by the meaning of the word, and lastly
by the very form and uses of our limbs. Wherefore the writer shows what
a crime it is to deprive another of what is useful, since the law of
nature as well as the divine law is broken by such wickedness. Further,
by its means we also lose that gift which makes us superior to other
living creatures; and lastly, through it civil laws are abused and
treated with the greatest contempt.
15. If, then, any one wishes to please all, he must
strive in everything to do, not what is useful for himself, but what is
useful for many, as also Paul strove to do. For this is "to be
conformed to the image of Christ,"(5) namely, when one does not strive
for what is another's, and does not deprive another of something so as
to gain it for
70
oneself. For Christ our Lord,(1) though He was in the form of God,
emptied Himself so as to take on Himself the form of man, which He
wished to enrich with the virtue of His works. Wilt thou, then, spoil
him whom Christ has put on? Wilt thou strip him whom Christ has
clothed? For this is what thou art doing when thou dost attempt to
increase thine own advantage at another's loss.
16. Think, O man, from whence thou hast received thy
name--even from the earth,(2) which takes nothing from any one, but
gives freely to all, and supplies varied produce for the use of all
living things. Hence humanity is called a particular and innate virtue
in man, for it assists its partner.
17. The very form of thy body and the uses of thy
limbs teach thee this. Can one limb claim the duties of another? Can
the eye claim for itself the duties of the ear; or the mouth the duties
of the eye; or the hand the service of the feet; or the feet that of
the hands? Nay, the hands themselves, both left and right, have
different duties to do, so that if one were to change the use of
either, one would act contrary to nature. We should have to lay aside
the whole man before we could change the service of the various
members: as if, for instance, we were to try to take food with the left
hand, or to perform the duties of the left hand with the right, so as
to remove the remains of food--unless, of course, need demanded it.
18. Imagine for a moment, and give to the eye the
power to withdraw the understanding from the head, the sense of hearing
from the ears, the power of thought from the mind, the sense of smell
from the nose, the sense of taste from the mouth, and then to assume
them itself, would it not at once destroy the whole order of nature?
Wherefore the Apostle says well: "If the whole body were an eye, where
were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the
smelling?"(3) So, then, we are all one body, though with many members,
all necessary to the body. For no one member can say of another: "I
have no need of thee." For those members which seem to be more feeble
are much more necessary and require greater care and attention. And if
one member suffers, all the members suffer with it.(4)
19. So we see how grave a matter it is to deprive
another, with whom we ought rather to suffer, of anything, or to act
unfairly or injuriously towards one to whom we ought to give a share in
our services. This is a true law of nature, which binds us to show all
kindly feeling, so that we should all of us in turn help one another,
as parts of one body, and should never think of depriving another of
anything, seeing it is against the law of nature even to abstain from
giving help. We are born in such a way that limb combines with limb,
and one works with another, and all assist each other in mutual
service. But if one fails in its duty, the rest are hindered. If, for
instance, the hand tears out the eye, has it not hindered the use, of
its work? If it were to wound the foot, how many actions would it not
prevent? But how much worse is it for the whole man to be drawn aside
from his duty than for one of the members only! If the whole body is
injured in one member, so also is the whole community of the human race
disturbed in one man. The nature of mankind is injured, as also is the
society of the holy Church, which rises into one united body, bound
together in oneness of faith and love. Christ the Lord, also, Who died
for all, will grieve that the price of His blood was paid in vain.
20. Why, the very law of the Lord teaches us that
this rule must be observed, so that we may never deprive another of
anything for the sake of our own advantage. For it says: "Remove not
the bounds which thy fathers have set. "(1) It bids a neighbour's ox to
be brought back if found wandering.(2) It orders a thief to be put to
death.(3) It forbids the labourer to be deprived of his hire,(4) and
orders money to be returned without usury.(5) It is a mark of kindly
feeling to help him who has nothing, but it is a sign of a hard nature
to extort more than one has given. If a man has need of thy assistance
because he has not enough of his own wherewith to repay a debt, is it
not a wicked thing to demand under the guise of kindly feeling a larger
sum from him who has not the means to pay off a less amount? Thou dost
but free him from debt to another, to bring him under thy own hand; and
thou callest that human kindliness which is but a further wickedness.
21. It is in this very matter that we stand before
all other living creatures, for they do not understand how to do good.
Wild beasts snatch away, men share with others. Wherefore the Psalmist
says: "The righteous show-
71
eth mercy and giveth. "(1) There are some, however, to whom the wild
beasts do good. They feed their young with what they get, and the birds
satisfy their brood with food; but to men alone has it been given to
feed all as though they were their own. That is so in accordance with
the claims of nature. And if it is not lawful to refuse to give, how is
it lawful to deprive another? And do not our very laws teach us the
same? They order those things which have been taken from others with
injury to their persons or property to be restored with additional
recompense; so as to check the thief from stealing by the penalty, and
by the fine to recall him from his ways.
22. Suppose, however, that some one did not
fear the penalty, or laughed at the fine, would that make it a worthy
thing to deprive another of his own? That would be a mean vice and
suited only to the lowest of the low. So contrary to nature is it, that
while want might seem to drive one to it, yet nature could never urge
it. And yet we find secret theft among slaves, open robbery among the
rich.
23. But what so contrary to nature as to injure
another for our own benefit? The natural feelings of our own hearts
urge us to keep on the watch for all, to undergo trouble, to do work
for all. It is considered also a glorious thing for each one at risk to
himself to seek the quiet of all, and to think it far more
thankworthy to have saved his country from destruction than to have
kept danger from himself. We must think it a far more noble thing to
labour for our country than to pass a quiet life at ease in the full
enjoyment of leisure.
CHAPTER IV.
As it has been shown that he who injures another for the sake of his
own advantage will undergo terrible punishment at the hand of his own
conscience, it is referred that nothing is useful to one which is not
in the same way useful to all. Thus there is no place among Christians
for the question propounded by the philosophers about two shipwrecked
persons, for they must show love and humility to all.
24. Hence we infer(2) that a man who guides himself
according to the ruling of nature, so as to be obedient to her, can
never injure another. If he injures another, he violates nature, nor
will he think that what he has gained is so much an advantage as a
disadvantage. And what punishment is worse than the wounds of the
conscience within? What judgment harder than that of our hearts,
whereby each one stands convicted and accuses himself of the injury
that he has wrongfully done against his brother? This the Scriptures
speak of very plainly, saying: "Out of the mouth of fools there is a
rod for wrong-doing."(1) Folly, then, is condemned because it causes
wrong-doing. Ought we not rather to avoid this, than death, or loss, or
want, or exile, or sickness? Who would not think some blemish of body
or loss of inheritance far less than some blemish of soul or loss of
reputation?
25. It is clear, then,(2) that all must
consider and hold that the advantage of the individual is the same as
that of all, and that nothing must be considered advantageous except
what is for the general good. For how can one be benefited alone? That
which is useless to all is harmful. I certainly cannot think that he
who is useless to all can be of use to himself. For if there is one law
of nature for all, there is also one state of usefulness for all. And
we are bound by the law of nature to act for the good of all. It is
not, therefore, right for him who wishes the interests of another to be
considered according to nature, to injure him against the law of nature.
26. For if those who run in a race(3) are, as one
hears, instructed and warned each one to win the race by swiftness of
foot and not by any foul play, and to hasten on to victory by running
as hard as they can, but not to dare to trip up another or push him
aside with their hand, how much more in the course of this life ought
the victory to be won by us, without falseness to another and cheating?
27. Some ask(4) whether a wise man ought in case of
a shipwreck to take away a plank from an ignorant sailor? Although it
seems better for the common good that a wise man rather than a fool
should escape from shipwreck, yet I do not think that a Christian, a
just and a wise man, ought to save his own life by the death of
another; just as when he meets with an armed robber he cannot return
his blows, lest in defending his life he should stain his love toward
his neighbour. The verdict on this is plain and clear in the books of
the Gospel. "Put up thy sword, for every one that taketh the sword
shall perish with the sword. "(5) What robber is more hateful than the
persecutor who came to kill Christ? But Christ would
72
not be defended from the wounds of the persecutor, for He willed to
heal all by His wounds.
28. Why dost thou consider thyself greater than
another, when a Christian man ought to put others before himself, to
claim nothing for himself, usurp no honours, claim no reward for his
merits? Why, next, art thou not wont to bear thy own troubles rather
than to destroy another's advantage? For what is so contrary to nature
as not to be content with what one has or to seek what is another's,
and to try to get it in shameful ways. For if a virtuous life is in
accordance with nature--for God made all things very good--then
shameful living must be opposed to it A virtuous and a shameful life
cannot go together, since they are absolutely severed by the law of
nature.
CHAPTER V.
The upright does nothing that is contrary to duty, even though there is
a hope of keeping it secret. To point this out the tale about the ring
of Gyges was invented by the philosophers. Exposing this, he brings
forWard known and true examples from the life of David and John the
Baptist.
29. To lay down here already the result of our
discussion, as though we had already ended it, we declare it a fixed
rule, that we must never aim at anything hut what is virtuous.(1) The
wise man does nothing but what can be done openly and without
falseness,(2) nor does he do anything whereby he may involve himself in
any wrong-doing, even where he may escape notice. For he is guilty in
his own eyes, before being so in the eyes of others; and the publicity
of his crime does not bring him more shame than his own consciousness
of it. This we can show, not by the made-up stories which philosophers
use, but from the true examples of good men.
30. I need not, therefore, imagine a great chasm in
the earth, which had been loosened by heavy rains, and had afterwards
burst asunder, as Plato does.(3) For he makes Gyges descend into that
chasm, and to meet there that iron horse of the fable that had doors in
its sides. When these doors were opened, he found a gold ring on the
finger of a dead man, whose corpse lay there lifeless. He desiring the
gold took away the ring. But when he returned to the king's shepherds,
to whose number he belonged, by chance having turned the stone inwards
towards the palms of his hands, he saw all, yet was seen by none. Then
when he turned the ring to its proper position, he was again seen by
all. On becoming conscious of this strange power, by the use of the
ring he committed adultery with the queen, killed the king, and took
possession of the kingdom after slaying all the rest, who he thought
should be put to death, so that they might be no hindrance to him.
31. Give, says Plato, this ring to a wise man, that
when he commits a fault he may by its help remain unnoticed; yet he
will be none the more free from the stain of sin than if he could not
be hid. The hiding-place of the wise lies not in the hope of impunity
but in his own innocency. Lastly, the law is not laid down for the just
but for the unjust.(1) For the just has within himself the law of his
mind, and a rule of equity and justice. Thus he is not recalled from
sin by fear of punishment, but by the rule of a virtuous life.
32. Therefore, to return to our subject, I will now
bring forward, not false examples for true, but true examples in place
of false. For why need I imagine a chasm in the earth, and an iron
horse and a gold ring found on the fingers of a dead man; and say that
such was the power of this ring, that he who wore it could appear at
his own will, but if he did not wish to be seen, he could remove
himself out of the sight of those who stood by, so as to seem to be
away. This story, of course, is meant to answer the question whether a
wise man, on getting the opportunity of using that ring so as to be
able to hide his crimes, and to obtain a kingdom,--whether, I say, a
wise man would be unwilling to sin and would consider the stain of sin
far worse than the pains of punishment, or whether he would use it for
doing wickedness in the hope of not being found out? Why, I say, should
I need the pretence of a ring, when I can show from what has been done
that a wise man, on seeing he would not only be undetected in his sin,
but would also gain a kingdom if he gave way to it, and who, on the
other hand, noted danger to his own safety if he did not commit the
crime, yet chose to risk his own safety so as to be free from crime,
rather than to commit the crime and so gain the kingdom.
33. When David fled from the face of King Saul,(2)
because the king was seeking him in the desert with three thousand
chosen men
73
to put him to death, he entered the king's camp and found him sleeping.
There he not only did him no injury, but actually guarded him from
being slain by any who had entered with him. For when Abishai said to
him: "The Lord hath delivered thine: enemy into thine hand this day,
'now therefore I will slay him," he answered: "Destroy him not, for who
can stretch forth his hand against the Lord's anointed, and be
guiltless?" And he added: "As the Lore liveth, unless the Lord
shall smite him, or his day shall come to die, or he shall die in
battle, and it be laid to me, the Lord forbid that I should stretch out
my hand against the Lord's anointed."(1)
34. Therefore he did not suffer him to be slain, but
removed only his spear, which stood by his head, and his cruse of
water. Then, whilst all were sleeping, he left the camp and went across
to the top of the hill, and began to reproach the royal attendants, and
especially their general Abner, for not keeping faithful watch over
their lord and king. Next, he showed them where the king's spear and
cruse were which had stood at his head. And when the king called to
him, he restored the spear, and said: "The Lord render to every man his
righteousness and faithfulness, for the Lord delivered thee into my
hand, but I would not avenge myself on the Lord's anointed."(2)
Even whilst he said this, he feared his plots and fled, changing his
place in exile. However, he never put safety before innocency, seeing
that when a second opportunity was given him of killing the king, he
would not use the chance that came to him, and which put in his reach
certain safety instead of fear, and a kingdom instead of exile.
35. Where was the use of the ring in John's case,(3)
who would not have been put to death by Herod if he had kept silence?
He could have kept silence before him so as to be both seen and yet not
killed. But because he not only could not endure to sin himself to
protect his own safety, but could not bear and endure even another's
sin, he brought about the cause of his own death. Certainly none can
deny that he might have kept silence, who in the case of Gyges deny
that he could have remained invisible by the help of the ring.
36. But although that fable has not the force of
truth, yet it has this much to go upon, that if an upright man could
hide himself, yet he would avoid sin just as though he could not
conceal himself; and that he would not hide his person by putting on a
ring, but his life by putting on Christ. As the Apostle says: "Our life
is hid with Christ in God."(1) Let, then, no one here strive to shine,
let none show pride, let none boast. Christ willed not to be known
here, He would not that His Name should be preached in the Gospel
whilst He lived on earth. He came to lie hid from this world. Let us
therefore likewise hide our life after the example of Christ, let us
shun boast-fulness, let us not desire to be made known. It is better to
live here in humility, and there in glory. "When Christ," it says, ''
shall appear, then shall we also appear with Him in glory."(2)
CHAPTER VI.
We ought not to allow the idea of profit to get hold of us. What
excuses they make who get their gains by selling corn, and what answer
ought to be made to them. In connection with this certain parables from
the Gospels and some of the sayings of Solomon are set before our eyes.
37. Let not, therefore, expediency get the better of
virtue, but virtue of expediency. By expediency here I mean what is
accounted so by people generally. Let love of money be destroyed, let
lust die. The holy man says that he has never been engaged in
business.(3) For to get an increase in price is a sign not of
simplicity but of cunning. Elsewhere it says: "He that seeketh a high
price for his corn is cursed among the people."(4)
38. Plain and definite is the statement, leaving no
room for debate, such as a disputatious kind of speaking is wont to
give, when one maintains that agriculture is considered praiseworthy by
all; that the fruits of the earth are easily grown; that the more a man
has sown, the greater will be his meed of praise; further, that the
richer returns of his active labours are not gained by fraud, and that
carelessness and disregard for an uncultivated soil are wont to be
blamed.
39. I have ploughed, he says, carefully. I have sown
freely. I have tilled actively. I have gathered good increase. I have
stored it anxiously, saved it faithfully, and guarded it with care. Now
in a time of famine I
74
sell it, and come to the help of the hungry. I sell my own corn, not
another's. And for no more than others, nay, even at a less price. What
fraud is there here, when many would come to great danger if they had
nothing to buy? Is industry to be made a crime? Or diligence to be
blamed? Or foresight to be abused? Perhaps he may even say : Joseph
collected corn in a time of abundance, and sold it when it was dear. Is
any one forced to buy it at too dear a price? Is force employed against
the buyer? The opportunity to buy is afforded to all, injury is
inflicted on none.
40. When this has been said, and one man's ideas
have carried him so far, another rises and says: Agriculture is good
indeed, for it supplies fruits for all, and by simple industry adds to
the richness of the earth without any cheating or fraud. If there is
any error, the loss is the greater, for the better a man sows, the
better he will reap. If he has sown the pure grain of wheat, he gathers
a purer and cleaner harvest. The fruitful earth returns what she has
received in manifold measure. A good field returns its produce with
interest.
41. Thou must expect payment for thy labour from the
crops of the fruitful land, and must hope for a just return from the
fruitfulness of the rich earth. Why dost thou use the industry of
nature and make a cheat of it? Why dost thou grudge for the use of men
what is grown for all? Why lessen the abundance for the people? Why
make want thy aim? Why make the poor long for a barren season?
For when they do not feel the benefits of a fruitful season, because
thou art putting up the price, and art storing up the corn, they would
far rather that nothing should be produced, than that thou shouldst do
business at the expense of other people's hunger. Thou makest much of
the want of corn, the small supply of food. Thou groanest over the rich
crops of the soil; thou mournest the general plenty, and bewailest the
garners full of corn; thou art on the lookout to see when the crop is
poor and the harvest fails. Thou rejoicest that a curse has smiled upon
thy wishes, so that none should have their produce. Then thou rejoicest
that thy harvest has come. Then thou collectest wealth from the misery
of all, and callest this industry and diligence, when it is but cunning
shrewdness and an adroit trick of the trade. Thou callest it a remedy,
when it is but a wicked contrivance. Shall I call this robbery or only
gain? These opportunities are seized as though seasons for plunder,
wherein, like some cruel waylayer, thou mayest fall upon the stomachs
of men. The price rises higher as though by the mere addition of
interest, but the danger to life is increased too. For then the
interest of the stored-up crops grows higher. As a usurer thou hidest
up thy corn, as a seller thou puttest it up for auction. Why dost thou
wish evil to all, because the famine will grow worse, as though no corn
should be left, as though a more unfruitful year should follow? Thy
gain is the public loss.
42. Holy Joseph opened the garners to all; he did
not shut them up. He did not try to get the full price of the year's
produce, but assigned it for a yearly payment. He took nothing for
himself, but, so far as famine could be checked for the future, he made
his arrangements with careful foresight.
43. Thou hast read how the Lord Jesus in the Gospel
speaks of that corn-dealer who was looking out for a high price, whose
possessions brought him in rich fruits, but who, as though still in
need, said: "What shall I do? I have no room where to bestow my goods.
I will pull down my barns and build greater,"(1) though he could not
know whether in the following night his soul would not be demanded of
him. He knew not what to do, he seemed to be in doubt, just as though
he were in want of food. His barns could not take in the year's supply,
and yet he thought he was in need.
44. Rightly, therefore, Solomon says: "He that
withholdeth corn shall leave it for the nations,"(2) not for his heirs,
for the gains of avarice have nothing to do with the rights of
succession. That which is not rightfully got together is scattered as
though by a wind by outsiders that seize it. And he added: "He who
graspeth at the year's produce is cursed among the people, but blessing
shall be his that imparteth it." Thou seest, then, what is said of him
who distributes the corn, but not of him that seeks for a high price.
True expediency does not therefore exist where virtue loses more than
expediency gains.
75
CHAPTER VII.
Strangers must never be expelled the city in a time of famine. In this
matter the noble advice of a Christian sage is adduced, in contrast to
which the shameful deed committed at Rome is given. By comparing the
two it is shown that the former is combined with what is virtuous and
useful, but the latter with neither.
45. But they, too, who would forbid the city to
strangers(1) cannot have our approval. They would expel them at the
very time when they ought to help, and separate them from the trade of
their common parent. They would refuse them a share in the produce
meant for all, and avert the intercourse that has already begun; and
they are unwilling, in a time of necessity, to give those with whom
they have enjoyed their rights in common, a share in what they
themselves have. Beasts do not drive out beasts, yet man shuts out man.
Wild beasts and animals consider food which the earth supplies to be
common to all. They all give assistance to those like themselves; and
man, who ought to think nothing human foreign to himself, fights
against his own.
46. How much better did he act who, having already
reached an advanced age, when the city was suffering from famine, and,
as is common in such cases, the people demanded that strangers should
be forbidden the city, having the office of the prefectship(2) of the
city, which is higher than the rest, called together the officials and
richer men, and demanded that they should take counsel for the public
welfare. He said that it was as cruel a thing for the strangers to be
expelled as for one man to be cast off by another, and to be refused
food when dying. We do not allow our dogs to come to our table and
leave them unfed, yet we shut out a man. How unprofitable, again, it is
for the world that so many people perish, whom some deadly plague
carries off. How unprofitable for their city that so large a number
should perish, who were wont to be helpful either in paying
contributions or in carrying on business. Another's hunger is
profitable to no man, nor to put off the day of help as long as
possible and to do nothing to check the want. Nay more, when so many of
the cultivators of the soil are gone, when so many labourers are dying,
the corn supplies will fail for the future. Shall we then expel those
who are wont to supply us with food, are we unwilling to feed in a time
of need those who have fed us all along? How great is the assistance
which they supply even at this time. "Not by bread alone does man
live."(1) They are even our own family; many of them even are our own
kindred. Let us make some return for what we have received.
47. But perhaps we fear that want may increase.
First of all, I answer, mercy never fails, but always finds means of
help. Next, let us make up for the corn supplies which are to be
granted to them, by a subscription. Let us put that right with our
gold. And, again, must we not buy other cultivators of the soil if we
lose these? How much cheaper is it to feed than to buy a working-man.
Where, too, can one obtain, where find a man to take the place of the
former? And suppose one finds him, do not forget that, with an ignorant
man used to different ways, one may fill up the place in point of
numbers, but not as regards the work to be done.
48. Why need I say more? When the money was supplied
corn was brought in. So the city's abundance was not diminished, and
yet assistance was given to the strangers. What praise this act won
that holy man from God! What glory among men! He, indeed, had won an
honoured name, who, pointing to the people of a whole province, could
truly say to the emperor: All these I have preserved for thee; these
live owing to the kindness of the senate; these thy council(2) has
snatched from death!
49. How much more expedient was this than that which
was done lately at Rome. There from that widely extended city were
those expelled who had already passed most of their life in it. In
tears they went forth with their children, for whom as being citizens
they bewailed the exile, which, as they said, ought to be averted; no
less did they grieve over the broken bonds of union, the severed ties
of relationship. And yet a fruitful year had smiled upon us. The city
alone needed corn to be brought into it. It could have got help, if it
had sought corn from the Italians whose children they were driving out.
Nothing is more shameful than to expel a man as a foreigner, and yet to
claim his services as though he belonged
76
to us. How canst thou expel a man who lives on his own produce? How
canst thou expel him who supplies thee with food? Thou retainest thy
servant, and thrustest out thy kindred! Thou takest the corn, but
showest no good feeling! Thou takest food by force, but dost not show
gratitude!
50. How wretched this is, how useless! For how can
that be expedient which is not seemly. Of what great supplies from her
corporations has Rome at times been deprived, yet she could not dismiss
them and yet escape a famine, while waiting for a favourable breeze,
and the provisions in the hoped-for ships.
51. How far more virtuous and expedient was that
first-mentioned management! For what is so seemly or virtuous as when
the needy are assisted by the gifts of the rich, when food is supplied
to the hungry, when daily bread fails none? What so advantageous as
when the cultivators are kept for the land, and the country people do
not perish?
52. What is virtuous, then, is also expedient, and
what is expedient is virtuous. On the other hand, what is not expedient
is unseemly, and what is unseemly is also not expedient.
CHAPTER VIII.
That those who put what is virtuous before what is useful are
acceptable to God is shown by the example of Joshua, Caleb, and the
other spies.
53. When could our fathers ever have thrown off
their servitude, unless they had believed that it was not only shameful
but even useless to serve the king of Egypt?
54. Joshua, also, and Caleb, when sent to spy out
the land, brought back the news that the land was indeed rich, but that
it was inhabited by very fierce nations.(1) The people, terrified at
the thought of war, refused to take possession of their land. Joshua
and Caleb, who had been sent as spies, tried to persuade them that the
land was fruitful. They thought it unseemly to give way before the
heathen; they chose rather to be stoned, which is what the people
threatened, than to recede from their virtuous standpoint. The others
kept dissuading, the people exclaimed against it. saying they would
have to fight against cruel and terrible nations; that they would fall
in battle, and their wives and children would be left for a prey.(1)
55. The anger of the Lord burst forth,(2) so that He
would kill all, but at the prayer of Moses He softened His judgment and
put off His vengeance, knowing that He had already sufficiently
punished those who were faithless, even if He spared them meanwhile and
did not slay the unbelievers. However, He said(3) they should not come
to that land which they had refused, as a penalty for their unbelief;
but their children and wives, who had not murmured, and who, owing to
their sex and age, were guiltless, should receive the promised
inheritance of that land. So the bodies of those of twenty years old
and upwards fell in the desert. The punishment of the rest was put
aside. But they who had gone up with Joshua, and had thought fit to
dissuade the people, died forthwith of a great plague.(4) Joshua and
Caleb(5) entered the land of promise together with those who were
innocent by reason of age or sex.
56. The better part, therefore, preferred glory to
safety; the worse part safety to virtue. But the divine judgment
approved those who thought virtue was above what is useful, whilst it
condemned those who preferred what seemed more in accordance with
safety than with what is virtuous.
CHAPTER IX.
Cheating and dishonest ways of making money are utterly unfit for
clerics whose duty is to serve all. They ought never to be involved in
a money affair, unless it is one affecting a man's life. For them the
example of David is given, that they should injure none, even when
provoked; also the death of Naboth, to keep them from preferring life
to virtue.
57. Nothing is more odious than for a man to have no
love for a virtuous life, but instead to be kept excited by an unworthy
business in following out a low line of trade, or to be inflamed by an
avaricious heart, and by day and by night to be eager to damage
another's property, not to raise the soul to the splendour of a
virtuous life, and not to regard the beauty of true praise.
58. Hence rise inheritances sought by cunning words
and gained under pretence of being self-restrained and serious. But
this is absolutely abhorrent to the idea of a Christian man. For
everything gained by craft and got together by cheating loses the merit
of openness. Even amongst those
77
who have undertaken no duty in the ranks of the clergy it is considered
unfitting to seek for the inheritance of another. Let those who are
reaching the end of their life use their own judgment, so that they may
freely make their wills as they think best, since they will not be able
to amend them later. For it is not honourable to divert the savings
that belong to others or have been got together for them. It is further
the duty of the priest or the cleric to be of use if possible to all
and to be harmful to none.(1)
59. If it is not possible to help one without
injuring another, it is better to help neither than to press hard upon
one. Therefore it is not a priest's duty to interfere in money affairs.
For here it must often happen that he who loses his case receives harm;
and then he considers that he has been worsted through the action of
the intervener. It is a priest's duty to hurt no one, to be ready to
help all. To be able to do this is in God's power alone. In a case of
life and death, without doubt it is a grave sin to injure him whom one
ought to help when in danger. But it is foolish to gain others' hate in
taking up money matters, though for the sake of a man's safety great
trouble and toil may often be undertaken. It is glorious in such a case
to run risks. Let, then, this be firmly held to in the priestly duties,
namely, to injure none, not even when provoked and embittered by some
injury.(2) Good was the man who said: "If I have rewarded evil to those
who did me good."(3) For what glory is it if we do not injure him who
has not injured us? But it is true virtue to forgive when injured.
60. What a virtuous action was that, when David
wished rather to spare the king his enemy, though he could have injured
him!(4) How useful, too, it was, for it helped him when he succeeded to
the throne. For all learnt to observe faith to their king and not to
seize the kingdom, but to fear and reverence him. Thus what is virtuous
was preferred to what was useful, and then usefulness followed on what
was virtuous.
61. But that he spared him was a small matter; he
also grieved for him when slain in war, and mourned for him with tears,
saying: "Ye mountains of Gilboa, let neither dew nor rain fall upon
you; ye mountains of death, for there the shield of the mighty is cast
away, the shield of Saul. It is not anointed with oil, but with the
blood of the wounded and the fat of the warriors. The bow of Jonathan
turned not back and the sword of Saul returned not empty. Saul and
Jonathan were lovely and very dear, inseparable in life, and in death
they were not divided. They were swifter than eagles, they were
stronger than lions. Ye daughters of Israel, weep over Saul, who
clothed you in scarlet with your ornaments, who put on gold upon your
apparel. How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle! Jonathan
was wounded even to death. I am distressed for thee, my brother
Jonathan; very pleasant hast thou been unto me. Thy love came to me
like the love of women. How have the mighty fallen and the longed-for
weapons perished!(1)
62. What mother could weep thus for her only son as
he wept here for his enemy? Who could follow his benefactor with such
praise as that with which he followed the man who plotted against his
life? How affectionately he grieved, with what deep feeling he bewailed
him! The mountains dried up at the prophet's curse, and a divine power
filled the judgment of him who spoke it. Therefore the elements
themselves paid the penalty for witnessing the king's death.
63. And what, in the case of holy Naboth, was the
cause of his death, except his regard for a virtuous life? For when the
king demanded the vineyard from him, promising to give him money, he
refused the price for his father's heritage as unseemly, and preferred
to shun such shame by dying. "The Lord forbid it me, that I should give
the inheritance of my fathers unto thee;"(2) that is, that such
reproach may not fall on me, that God may not allow such wickedness to
be attained by force. He is not speaking about the vines--nor has God
care for vines or plots of ground--but he says it of his fathers'
rights. He could have received another or the king's vineyards and been
his friend, wherein men think there is no small usefulness so far as
this world is concerned. But because it was base he thought it could
not be useful, and so he preferred to endure danger with honour intact,
rather than gain what was useful to his own disgrace. I am here again
speaking of what is commonly understood as useful, not that in which
there is the grace of virtuous life.
64. The king could himself have taken it by force,
but that he thought too shameless; then when Naboth was dead he
grieved.(3) The Lord also declared that the woman's cruelty should be
punished by a
78
fitting penalty, because she was unmindful of virtue and preferred a
shameful gain.(1)
65. Every kind of unfair action is shameful. Even in
common things, false weights and unjust measures are accursed. And if
fraud in the market or in business is punished, can it seem free from
reproach if found in the midst of the performance of the duties of
virtue? Solomon says: "A great and a little weight and divers measures
are an abomination before the Lord. "(2) Before that it also says: "A
false balance is abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is
acceptable to Him. "(3)
CHAPTER X.
We are warned not only in civil law, but also in the holy Scriptures,
to avoid fraud in every agreement, as is clear from the example of
Joshua and the Gibeonites.
66. In everything, therefore, good faith is seemly,
justice is pleasing, due measure in equity is delightful. But what
shall I say about contracts, and especially about the sale of land, or
agreements, or covenants? Are there not rules just for the purpose of
shutting out all false deceit,(4) and to make him whose deceit is found
out liable to double punishment? Everywhere, then, does regard for what
is virtuous take the lead; it shuts out deceit, it expels fraud.
Wherefore the prophet David has rightly stated his judgment in general,
saying: "He hath done no evil to his neighbour."(5) Fraud, then,
ought to be wanting not only in contracts, in which the defects of
those things which are for sale are ordered to be recorded (which
contracts, unless the vendor has mentioned the defects, are rendered
void by an action for fraud, although he has conveyed them fully to the
purchaser), but it ought also to be absent in all else. Can-dour must
be shown, the truth must be made known.
67. The divine Scriptures have plainly stated
(not indeed a legal rule of the lawyers but) the ancient judgment of
the patriarchs on deceit, in that book of the Old Testament which is
ascribed to Joshua the son of Nun. When the report had gone forth among
the various peoples that the sea was dried up at the crossing of the
Hebrews; that water had flowed from the rock; that food was supplied
daily from heaven in quantities large enough for so many thousands of
the people; that the walls of Jericho had fallen at the sound of the
holy trumpets, being overthrown by the noise of the shouts of the
people; also, that the king of Ai was conquered and had been hung on a
tree until the evening; then the Gibeonites, fearing his strong hand,
came with guile, pretending that they were from a land very far away,
and by travelling so long had rent their shoes and worn out their
clothing, of which they showed proofs that it was growing old. They
said, too, that their reason for undergoing so much labour was their
desire to obtain peace and to form friendship with the Hebrews, and
began to ask Joshua to form an alliance with them. And he, being as yet
ignorant of localities, and not knowing anything of the inhabitants,
did not see through their deceit, nor did he enquire of God, but
readily believed them.(1)
68. So sacred was one's plighted word held in those
days that no one would believe that others could try to deceive. Who
could find fault with the saints in this, namely, that they should
consider others to have the same feelings as themselves, and suppose no
one would lie because truth was their own companion? They know
not what deceit is, they gladly believe of others what they themselves
are, whilst they cannot suspect others to be what they themselves are
not. Hence Solomon says: "An innocent man believeth every word."(2) We
must not blame his readiness to believe, but should rather praise his
goodness. To know nothing of aught that may injure another, this is to
be innocent. And although he is cheated by another, still he thinks
well of all, for he thinks there is good faith in all.
69. Induced, therefore, by such considerations to
believe them, he made an agreement, he gave them peace, and formed a
union with them. But when he came to their country and the deceit was
found out,--for though they lived quite close they pretended to be
strangers,--the people of our fathers began to be angry at having been
deceived. Joshua, however, thought the peace they had made could not be
broken (for it had been confirmed by an oath), for fear that, in
punishing the treachery of others, he should. be breaking his own
pledge. He made them pay the penalty, however, by forcing them to
undertake the lowest kind of work. The judgment was mild indeed, but it
was a lasting one, for in their duties there abides the punishment of
their ancient cunning,
79
handed down to this day(1) in their hereditary service.
CHAPTER XI.
Having adduced examples of certain frauds found in a few passages of
the rhetoricians, he shows that these and all others are more fully and
plainly condemned in Scripture.
70. I SHALL say nothing of the snapping of fingers,
or the naked dancing of the heir, at entering on an inheritance.(2)
These are well-known things. Nor will I speak of the mass of fishes
gathered up at a pretended fishing expedition to excite the buyer's
desires. For why did he show himself so eager for luxuries and
delicacies as to allow a fraud of this character?
71. What need is there for me to speak of that
well-known story of the pleasant and quiet retreat at Syracuse and of
the cunning of a Sicilian?(3) For he having found a stranger, and
knowing that he was anxious to buy an estate, asked him to his grounds
for a meal. He accepted, and on the following day he came. There the
sight of a great number of fishermen met his eyes, and a banquet laid
out in the most splendid profusion. In the sight of the guests, fishers
were placed in the garden-grounds, where no net had ever been laid
before. Each one in turn presented to the guests what he had taken, the
fish were placed upon the table, and caught the glance of those who sat
there. The stranger wondered at the large quantity of fish and the
number of boats there were. The answer given was, that this was the
great water supply, and that great numbers of fish came there because
of the sweetness of the water. To be brief, he drew on the stranger to
be urgent in getting the grounds, he willingly allows himself to be
induced to sell them, and seemingly with a heavy heart he receives the
money.
72. On the next day the purchaser comes to the
grounds with his friends, but finds no boat there. On asking whether
perhaps the fishermen were observing a festival on that day, he is told
that, with the exception of yesterday, they were never wont to fish
there; but what power had he to proceed against such a fraud, who had
so shamefully grasped at such luxuries? For he who convicts another of
a fault ought himself to be free from it. I will not therefore include
such trifles as these under the power of ecclesiastical censure, for
that altogether condemns every desire for dishonourable gain, and
briefly, with few words, forbids every sharp and cunning action.
73. And what shall I say of him who claims to be the
heir or legatee, on the proof of a will(2) which, though falsified by
others, yet was known to be so by him, and who tries to make again
through another's crime, though even the laws of the state convict him
who knowingly makes use of a false will, as guilty of a wrong action.
But the law of justice is plain, namely, that a good man ought not to
go aside from the truth, nor to inflict an unjust loss on any one, nor
to act at all deceitfully or to take part in any fraud.
74. What is clearer, however, on this point than the
case of Ananias? He acted falsely as regards the price he got for his
land, for he sold it and laid at the apostles' feet part of the price,
pretending it was the whole amount.(2) For this he perished as guilty
of fraud. He might have offered nothing and have acted so without
committing a fraud. But as deceit entered into his action, he gained no
favour for his liberality, but paid the penalty for his artifice.
75. The Lord also in the Gospel rejected those
coming to Him with guile, saying: "The foxes have holes,"(3) for He
bids us live in simplicity and innocency of heart. David also says:
"Thou hast used deceit as a sharp razor,"(4) pointing out by this the
treacherous man, just as an implement of this kind is used to help
adorn a man, yet often wounds him. If any one makes a show of favour
and yet plans deceit after the example of the traitor, so as to give up
to death him whom he ought to guard, let him be looked on in the light
of that instrument which is wont to wound owing to the vice of a
drunken mind and a trembling hand. Thus that man drunk with the wine of
wickedness brought death on the high priest Ahimelech,(5) through a
terrible act of treachery, because he had received the prophet with
hospitality when the king, roused by the stings of envy, was following
him.
80
CHAPTER XII.
We may make no promise that is wrong, and if we have made an unjust
oath, we may not keep it. It is shown that Herod sinned in this
respect. The vow taken by Jephtha is condemned, and so are all others
which God does not desire to have paid to Him. Lastly, the daughter of
Jephtha is compared with the two Pythagoreans and is placed before them.
76. A MAN'S disposition ought to be undefiled and
sound, so that he may utter words without dissimulation and possess his
vessel in sanctification;(1) that he may not delude his brother with
false words nor promise aught dishonourable. If he has made such a
promise it is far better for him not to fulfil it, rather than to
fulfil what is shameful.(2)
77. Often people bind themselves by a solemn oath,
and, though they come to know that they ought not to have made the
promise, fulfil it in consideration of their oath. This is what Herod
did, as we mentioned before.(3) For he made a shameful promise of
reward to a dancer--and cruelly performed it. It was shameful, for a
kingdom was promised for a dance; and it was cruel, for the death of a
prophet is sacrificed for the sake of an oath. How much better perjury
would have been than the keeping of such an oath, if indeed that could
be called perjury which a drunkard had sworn to in his wine-cups, or an
effeminate profligate had promised whilst the dance was going on. The
prophet's head was brought in on a dish,(4) and this was considered an
act of good faith when it really was an act of madness!
78. Never shall I be led to believe that the leader
Jephtha made his vow otherwise than without thought,(5) when he
promised to offer to God whatever should meet him at the threshold of
his house on his return. For he repented of his vow, as afterwards his
daughter came to meet him. He rent his clothes and said: "Alas, my
daughter, thou hast entangled me, thou art become a source of trouble
unto me."(6) And though with pious fear and reverence he took upon
himself the bitter fulfilment of his cruel task, yet he ordered and
left to be observed an annual period of grief and mourning for future
times. It was a hard vow, but far more bitter was its fulfilment,
whilst he who carried it out had the greatest cause to mourn. Thus it
became a rule and a law in Israel from year to year, as it says: "that
the daughters of Israel went to lament the daughter of Jephtha the
Gileadite four days in a year."(1) I cannot blame the man for holding
it necessary to fulfil his vow, but yet it was a wretched necessity
which could only be solved by the death of his child.
79. It is better to make no vow than to vow what God
does not wish to be paid to Him to Whom the promise was made. In the
case of Isaac we have an example, for the Lord appointed a ram to be
offered up instead of him.(2) Therefore it is not always every promise
that is to be fulfilled. Nay, the Lord Himself often alters His
determination, as the Scriptures point out. For in the book called
Numbers He had declared that He would punish the people with death and
destroy them,(3) but afterwards, when besought by Moses, He was
reconciled again to them. And again, He said to Moses and Aaron:
"Separate yourselves from among this congregation that I may consume
them in a moment."(4) And when they separated from the assembly the
earth suddenly clave asunder and opened her mouth and swallowed up
Dathan and Abiram.
80. That example of Jephtha's daughter is far more
glorious and ancient than that of the two Pythagoreans,(5) which is
accounted so notable among the philosophers. One of these, when
condemned to death by the tyrant Dionysius, and when the day of his
death was fixed, asked for leave to be granted him to go home, so as to
provide for his family. But for fear that he might break his faith and
not return, he offered a surety for his own death, on condition that if
he himself were absent on the appointed day, his surety would be ready
to die in his stead. The other did not refuse the conditions of
suretyship which were proposed and awaited the day of death with a calm
mind. So the one did not withdraw himself and the other returned on the
day appointed. This all seemed so wonderful that the tyrant sought
their friendship whose destruction he had been anxious for.
81. What, then, in the case of esteemed and learned
men is full of marvel, that in the case of a virgin is found to be far
more splendid, far more glorious, as she says to her sorrowing father:
"Do to me according to that which hath proceeded out of thy mouth."(6)
But she asked for a delay of two months in order that she might go about
81
with her companions upon the mountains to bewail fitly and dutifully
her virginity now given up to death. The weeping of her companions did
not move her, their grief prevailed not upon her, nor did their
lamentations hold her back. She allowed not the day to pass, nor did
the hour escape her notice. She returned to her father as though
returning according to her own desire, and of her own will urged him on
when he was hesitating, and acted thus of her own free choice, so that
what was at first an awful chance became a pious sacrifice.
CHAPTER XIII.
Judith, after enduring many dangers for virtue's sake, gained very many
and great benefits.
82. SEE! Judith presents herself to thee as worthy
of admiration. She approaches Holophernes, a man feared by the people,
and surrounded by the victorious troops of the Assyrians. At first she
makes an impression on him by the grace of her form and the beauty of
her countenance. Then she entraps him by the refinement of her speech.
Her first triumph was that she returned from the tent of the enemy with
her purity unspotted.(1) Her second, that she gained a victory over a
man, and put to flight the people by her counsel.
83. The Persians were terrified at her daring.(2)
And so what is admired in the case of those two Pythagoreans deserves
also in her case our admiration, for she trembled not at the danger of
death, nor even at the danger her modesty was in, which is a matter of
greater concern to good women. She feared not the blow of one
scoundrel, nor even the weapons of a whole army. She, a woman, stood
between the lines of the combatants--right amidst victorious
arms--heedless of death. As one looks at her overwhelming danger, one
would say she went out to die; as one looks at her faith, one says she
went but out to fight.
84. Judith then followed the call of virtue, and as
she follows that, she wins great benefits. It was virtuous to prevent
the people of the Lord from giving themselves up to the heathen; to
prevent them from betraying their native rites and mysteries, or from
yielding up their consecrated virgins, their venerable widows, and
modest matrons to barbarian impurity, or from ending the siege by a
surrender. It was virtuous for her to be willing to encounter danger on
behalf of all, so as to deliver all from danger.
85. How great must have been the power of her
virtue, that she, a woman, should claim to give counsel on the chiefest
matters and not leave it in the hands of the leaders of the people! How
great, again, the power of her virtue to reckon for certain upon God to
help her! How great her grace to find His help!
CHAPTER XIV.
How virtuous and useful was that which Elisha did. This is compared
with that oft-recounted act of the Greeks. John gave up his life for
virtue's sake, and Susanna for the same reason exposed herself to the
danger of death.
86. WHAT did Elisha follow but virtue, when he
brought the army of Syria who had come to take him as captive into
Samaria, after having covered their eyes with blindness? Then he said:
"O Lord, open their eyes that they may see."(1) And they saw. But when
the king of Israel wished to slay those that had entered and asked the
prophet to give him leave to do so, he answered that they whose
captivity was not brought about by strength of hand or weapons of war
must not be slain, but that rather he should help them by supplying
food. Then they were refreshed with plenty of food. And after that
those Syrian robbers thought they must never again return to the land
of Israel.
87. How much nobler was this than that which the
Greeks once did!(2) For when two nations strove one with the other to
gain glory and supreme power, and one of them had the opportunity to
burn the ships of the other secretly, they thought it a shameful thing
to do so, and preferred to gain a less advantage honourably than a
greater one in shameful wise. They, indeed, could not act thus without
disgrace to themselves, and entrap by this plot those who had banded
together for the sake of ending the Persian war. Though they could deny
it in word, yet they could never but blush at the thought of it.
Elisha, however, wished to save, not destroy, those who were deceived
indeed, though not by some foul act, and had been struck blind by the
power of the Lord. For it was seemly to spare an enemy, and to grant
his life to an adversary when indeed he could have taken it, had he not
spared it.
88. It is plain, then, that whatever is
82
seemly is always useful. For holy Judith by seemly disregard for her
own safety put an end to the dangers of the siege, and by her own
virtue won what was useful to all in common. And Elisha gained more
renown by pardoning than he would have done by slaying, and preserved
those enemies whom he had taken for greater usefulness.
89. And what else did John have in mind but what is
virtuous, so that he could not endure a wicked union even in the king's
case, saying: "It is not lawful for thee to have her to wife."(1) He
could have been silent, had he not thought it unseemly for himself not
to speak the truth for fear of death, or to make the prophetic office
yield to the king, or to indulge in flattery. He knew well that he
would die as he was against the king, but he preferred virtue to
safety. Yet what is more expedient than the suffering which brought
glory to the saint.
90. Holy Susanna, too, when threatened with the fear
of false witness, seeing herself hard pressed on one side by danger, on
the other by disgrace, preferred to avoid disgrace by a virtuous death
rather than to endure and live a shameful life in the desire to save
herself.(2) So while she fixed her mind on virtue, she also preserved
her life. But if she had preferred what seemed to her to be useful to
preserve life, she would never have gained such great renown, nay,
perhaps-and that would have been not only useless but even
dangerous--she might even not have escaped the penalty for her crime.
We note, therefore, that whatsoever is shameful cannot be useful, nor,
again, can that which is virtuous be useless. For usefulness is ever
the double of virtue, and virtue of usefulness.
CHAPTER XV.
After mentioning a noble action of the Romans, the writer shows from
the deeds of Moses that he had the greatest regard for what is virtuous.
91. IT is related as a memorable deed of a Roman
general,(3) that when the physician of a hostile king came to him and
promised to give him poison, he sent him back bound to the enemy. In
truth, it is a noble thing for a man to refuse to gain the victory by
foul acts, after he has entered on the struggle for power. He did not
consider virtue to lie in victory, but declared that to be a shameful
victory unless it was gained with honour.(1)
92. Let us return to our hero Moses, and to loftier
deeds, to show they were both superior as well as earlier. The king of
Egypt would not let the people of our fathers go, Then Moses bade the
priest Aaron to stretch his rod over all the waters of Egypt. Aaron
stretched it out, and the water of the river was turned into blood.(2)
None could drink the water, and all the Egyptians were perishing with
thirst; but there was pure water flowing in abundance for the fathers.
They sprinkled ashes toward heaven, and sores and burning boils came
upon man and beast.(3) They brought down hail mingled with flaming
fire, and all things were destroyed upon the land.(4) Moses prayed, and
all things were restored to their former beauty. The hail ceased, the
sores were healed, the rivers gave their wonted draught.(5)
93. Then, again, the land was covered with thick
darkness for the space of three days, because Moses had raised his hand
and spread out the darkness.(6) All the first-born of Egypt died,
whilst all the offspring of the Hebrews was left unharmed.(7) Moses was
asked to put an end to these horrors, and he prayed and obtained his
request. In the one case it was a fact worthy of praise that he checked
himself from joining in deceit; in the other it was noteworthy how, by
his innate goodness, he turned aside from the foe those divinely
ordered punishments. He was indeed, as it is written, gentle and
meek.(8) He knew that the king would not keep true to his promises, yet
he thought it right and good to pray when asked to do so, to bless when
wronged, to forgive when besought.
94. He cast down his rod and it became a serpent
which devoured the serpents of Egypt;(9) this signifying that the Word
should become Flesh to destroy the poison of the dread serpent by the
forgiveness and pardon of sins. For the rod stands for the Word that is
true--royal--filled with power --and glorious in ruling. The rod became
a serpent; so He Who was the Son of God begotten of the Father became
the Son of man born of a woman, and lifted, like the serpent, on the
cross, poured His healing medicine on the wounds of man. Wherefore the
Lord Himself says: "As
83
Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man
be lifted up."(1)
95. Again, another sign which Moses gave points to
our Lord Jesus Christ. He put his hand into his bosom, and drew it out
again, and his hand was become as snow. A second time he put it in and
drew it out, and it was again like the appearance of human flesh.(2)
This signified first the original glory of the Godhead of the Lord
Jesus, and then the assumption of our flesh, in which truth all nations
and peoples must believe. So he put in his hand, for Christ is the
right hand of God; and whosoever does not believe in His Godhead and
Incarnation is punished as a sinner; like that king who, whilst not
believing open and plain signs, yet afterwards, when punished, prayed
that he might find mercy. How great, then, Moses' regard for virtue
must have been is shown by these proofs, and especially by the fact
that he offered himself on behalf of the people, praying that God would
either forgive the people or blot him out of the book of the living.(3)
CHAPTER XVI.
After saying a few words about Tobit he demonstrates that Raguel
surpassed the philosophers in virtue.
96. TOBIT also clearly portrayed in his life true
virtue, when he left the feast and buried the dead,(4) and invited the
needy to the meals at his own poor table. And Raguel is a still
brighter example. For he, in his regard for virtue, when asked to give
his daughter in marriage, was not silent regarding his daughter's
faults, for fear of seeming to get the better of the suitor by silence.
So when Tobit the son of Tobias asked that his daughter might be given
him, he answered that, according to the law, she ought to be given him
as near of kin, but that he had already given her to six men, and all
of them were dead.(5) This just man, then, feared more for others than
for himself, and wished rather that his daughter should remain
unmarried than that others should run risks in consequence of their
union with her.
97. How simply he settled all the questions of the
philosophers! They talk about the defects of a house, whether they
ought to be concealed or made known by the vendor.(1) Raguel was quite
certain that his daughter's faults ought not to be kept secret. And,
indeed, he had not been eager to give her up--he was asked for her. We
can have no doubt how much more nobly he acted than those philosophers,
when we consider how much more important a daughter's future is than
some mere money affair.
CHAPTER XVII.
With what virtuous feelings the fathers of old hid the sacred fires
when on the point of going into captivity.
98. LET us consider, again, that deed done at the
time of the captivity, which has attained the highest degree of virtue
and glory. Virtue is checked by no adversities, for it rises up among
them, and prevails here rather than in prosperity. 'Mid chains or arms,
'mid flames or slavery (which is harder for freemen to bear than any
punishment), 'midst the pains of the dying, the destruction of their
country, the fears of the living, or the blood of the slain,--amidst
all this our forefathers failed not in their care and thought for what
is virtuous. Amidst the ashes and dust of their fallen country it
glowed and shone forth brightly in pious efforts.
99. For when our fathers were carried away into
Persia,(2) certain priests, who then were in the service of Almighty
God, secretly buried in the valley the fire taken from the altar of the
Lord. There was there an open pit, with no water in it, and not
accessible for the wants of the people, in a spot unknown and free from
intruders. There they sealed the hidden fire with the sacred mark and
in secret. They were not anxious to bury gold or to hide up silver to
preserve it for their children, but in their own great peril, thinking
of all that was virtuous, they thought the sacred fire ought to be
preserved so that impure men might not defile it, nor the blood of the
slain extinguish it, nor the heaps of miserable ruins cover it.
100. So they went to Persia, free only in their
religion; for that alone could not be torn from them by their
captivity. After a length of time,(3) indeed, according to God's good
pleasure, He put it into the Persian king's heart to order the temple
in Judea to be restored, and the regular customs to be again rebuilt at
Jerusalem. To carry out this work of his the Persian king appointed
84
the priest Nehemiah. He took with him the grandchildren of those
priests who on leaving their native soil had hidden the sacred fire to
save it from perishing. But on arriving, as we are told in the history
of the fathers, they found not fire but water. And when fire was
wanting to burn upon the altars, the priest Nehemiah bade them draw the
water, to bring it to him, and to sprinkle it upon the wood. Then, O
wondrous sight! though the sky had been overcast with clouds,
suddenly the sun shone forth, a great fire flamed forth, so that all,
wonder-stricken at such a clear sign of the favour of the Lord, were
filled with joy. Nehemiah prayed; the priests sang a hymn of praise to
God, when the sacrifice was completed. Nehemiah again bade the
remainder of the water to be poured upon the larger stones. And when
this was done a flame burst forth whilst the light shining from off the
altar shone more brightly yet.
101. When this sign became known, the king of Persia
ordered a temple to be built on that spot where the fire had been
hidden and the water afterwards found, to which many gifts were made.
They who were with holy Nehemiah called it Naphthar,(1) --which means
cleansing--by many it is called Nephi. It is to be found also in the
history of the prophet Jeremiah,(2) that he bade those who should come
after him to take of the fire. That is the fire which fell on Moses'
sacrifice and consumed it, as it is written: "There came a fire out
from the Lord and consumed upon the altar all the whole
burnt-offering."(3) The sacrifice must be hallowed with this fire only.
Therefore, also, fire went out from the Lord upon the sons of Aaron who
wished to offer strange fire, and consumed them, so that their dead
bodies were cast forth without the camp.(4)
101. Jeremiah coming to a spot found there a house
like a cave, and brought into it the tabernacle, the ark, and the altar
of incense, and closed up the entrance. And when those who had come
with him examined it rather closely to mark the spot, they could not
discover nor find it. When Jeremiah understood what they wanted he
said: "The spot will remain unknown until God shall gather His people
together and be gracious to them. Then God shall reveal these things
and the majesty of the Lord shall appear."(6)
CHAPTER XVIII.
In the narration of that event already mentioned, and especially of the
sacrifice offered by Nehemiah, is typified the Holy Spirit and
Christian baptism. The sacrifice of Moses and Elijah and the history of
Noah are also referred to the same.
102. WE form the congregation of the Lord. We
recognize the propitiation of our Lord God, which our Propitiator
wrought in His passion. I think, too, we cannot leave out of sight that
fire when we read that the Lord Jesus baptizes with the Holy Spirit and
with fire,(1) as John said in his Gospel. Rightly was the sacrifice
consumed, for it was for sin. But that fire was a type of the Holy
Spirit Who was to come down after the Lord's ascension, and forgive the
sins of all, and Who like fire inflames the mind and faithful heart.
Wherefore Jeremiah, after receiving the Spirit, says: "It became in my
heart as a burning fire flaming in my bones, and I am vile and cannot
bear it."(2) In the Acts of the Apostles, also, when the Holy Spirit
descended upon the apostles and those others who were waiting for the
Promise of the Father, we read that tongues as of fire were distributed
among them.(3) The soul of each one was so uplifted by His influence
that they were supposed to be full of new wine,(4) who instead had
received the gift of a diversity of tongues.
103. What else can this mean--namely, that fire
became water and water called forth fire--but that spiritual grace
burns out our sins through fire, and through water cleanses them? For
sin is washed away and it is burnt away. Wherefore the Apostle says:
"The fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is."(5) And
further on: "If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss:
but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire."(6)
104. This, then, we have stated, so as to prove that
sins are burnt out by means of fire. We know now that this is in truth
the sacred fire which then, as a type of the future remission of sins,
came down upon the sacrifice.
105. This fire is hidden in the time of captivity,
during which sin reigns, but in the time of liberty it is brought
forth. And though it is changed into the appearance of water, yet it
preserves its nature as fire so as to consume the sacrifice. Do not
wonder when thou readest that God the Father
85
said: "I am a consuming fire."(1) And again: "They have forsaken Me,
the fountain of living water."(2) The Lord Jesus, too, like a fire
inflamed the hearts of those who heard Him, and like a fount of waters
cooled them. For He Himself said in His Gospel that He came to send
fire on the earth(3) and to supply a draught of living waters to those
who thirst.(4)
106. In the time of Elijah, also, fire came down
when he challenged the prophets of the heathen to light up the altar
without fire. When they could not do so, he poured water thrice over
his victim, so that the water ran round about the altar; then he cried
out and the fire fell from the Lord from heaven and consumed the
burnt-offering.(5)
107. Thou art that victim. Contemplate in silence
each single point. The breath of the Holy Spirit descends on thee, He
seems to burn thee when He consumes thy sins. The sacrifice which was
consumed in the time of Moses was a sacrifice for sin, wherefore Moses
said, as is written in the book of the Maccabees: "Because the
sacrifice for sin was not to be eaten, it was consumed."(6) Does it not
seem to be consumed for thee when in the sacrament of baptism the whole
outer man perishes? "Our old man is crucified,"(7) the Apostle
exclaims. Herein, as the example of the fathers teaches us, the
Egyptian is swallowed up--the Hebrew arises renewed by the Holy Spirit,
as he also crossed the Red Sea dryshod--where our fathers were baptized
in the cloud and in the sea.(8)
108. In the flood, too, in Noah's time all flesh
died, though just Noah was preserved together with his family.(9) Is
not a man consumed when all that is mortal is cut off from life? The
outer man is destroyed, but the inner is renewed. Not in baptism alone
but also in repentance does this destruction of the flesh tend to the
growth of the spirit, as we are taught on the Apostle's authority, when
holy Paul says: "I have judged as though I were present him that hath
so done this deed, to deliver him unto Satan for the destruction of the
flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of our Lord Jesus
Christ."(10)
109. We seem to have made a somewhat lengthy
digression for the sake of regarding this wonderful mystery, in
desiring to unfold more fully this sacrament which has been revealed to
us, and which, indeed, is as full of virtue as it is full of religious
awe.
CHAPTER XIX.
The crime committed by the inhabitants of Gibeah against the wife of a
certain Levite is related, and from the vengeance taken it is inferred
how the idea of virtue must have filled the heart of those people of
old.
110. WHAT regard for virtue our forefathers had to
avenge by a war the wrongs of one woman which had been brought on her
by her violation at the hands of profligate men! Nay, when the people
were conquered, they vowed that they would not give their daughters in
marriage to the tribe of Benjamin! That tribe had remained without hope
of posterity, had they not received leave of necessity to use deceit.
And this permission does not seem to fail in giving fitting punishment
for violation, since they were only allowed to enter on a union by a
rape, and not through the sacrament of marriage. And indeed it was
right that they who had broken another's intercourse should themselves
lose their marriage rites.
111. How full of pitiful traits is this story! A
man, it says,(1) a Levite, had taken to himself a wife, who I suppose
was called a concubine from the word "concubitus." She some time
afterwards, as is wont to happen, offended at certain things, betook
herself to her father, and was with him four months. Then her husband
arose and went to the house of his father-in-law, to reconcile himself
with his wife, to win her back and take her home again. The woman ran
to meet him and brought her husband into her father's house.
112. The maiden's(2) father rejoiced and went to
meet him, and the man stayed with him three days, and they ate and
rested. On the next day the Levite arose at daybreak, but was detained
by his father-in-law, that he might not so quickly lose the pleasure of
his company. Again on the next and the third day the maiden's father
did not suffer his son-in-law to start, until their joy and mutual
regard was complete. But on the seventh day, when it was already
drawing to a close, after a pleasant meal, having urged the approach of
the coming night, so as to make him think he ought to sleep amongst
friends rather than strangers, he
86
was unable to keep him, and so let him go together with his daughter.
113. When some little progress(1) was made, though
night was threatening to come on, and they were close by the town of
the Jebusites, on the slave's request that his lord should turn aside
there, he refused, because it was not a city of the children of Israel.
He meant to get as far as Gibeah, which was inhabited by the people of
the tribe of Benjamin. But when they arrived there was no one to
receive them with hospitality, except a stranger of advanced age--When
he had looked upon them he asked the Levite: Whither goest thou and
whence dost thou come? On his answering that he was travelling and was
making for Mount Ephraim and that there was no one to take him in, the
old man offered him hospitality and prepared a meal.
114. And when they were satisfied(2) and the tables
were removed, vile men rushed up and surrounded the house. Then the old
man offered these wicked men his daughter, a virgin, and the concubine
with whom she shared her bed, only that violence might not be inflicted
on his guest. But when reason did no good and violence prevailed, the
Levite parted from his wife, and they knew her and abused her all that
night. Overcome by this cruelty or by grief at her wrong, she fell at
the door of their host where her husband had entered, and gave up the
ghost, with the last effort of her life guarding the feelings of a good
wife so as to preserve for her husband at least her mortal remains.
115. When this became known(3) (to be brief) almost
all the people of Israel broke out into war. The war remained doubtful
with an uncertain issue, but in the third engagement the people of
Benjamin were delivered to the people of Israel,(4) and being condemned
by the divine judgment paid the penalty for their profligacy. The
sentence, further,(5) was that none of the people of the fathers should
give his daughter in marriage to them. This was confirmed by a solemn
oath. But relenting at having laid so hard a sentence on their
brethren, they moderated their severity so as to give them in marriage
those maidens that had lost their parents, whose fathers had been slain
for their sins, or to give them the means of finding a wife by a raid.
Because of the villainy of so foul a deed, they who have violated
another's marriage rights were shown to be unworthy to ask for
marriage. But for fear that one tribe might perish from the people,
they connived at the deceit.
116. What great regard our forefathers had for
virtue is shown by the fact that forty thousand men drew the sword
against their brethren of the tribe of Benjamin in their desire to
avenge the wrong done to modesty, for they would not endure the
violation of chastity. And so in that war on both sides there fell
sixty-five thousand warriors, whilst their cities were burnt. And when
at first the people of Israel were defeated, yet unmoved by fear at the
reverses of the war, they disregarded the sorrow the avenging of
chastity cost them. They rushed into the battle ready to wash out with
their own blood the stains of the crime that had been committed.
CHAPTER XX.
After the terrible siege of Samaria was ended in
accordance with Elisha's prophecy, he relates what regard the four
lepers showed for what was virtuous.
117. WHY need we wonder that the people of the Lord
had regard for what was seemly and virtuous when even the lepers--as we
read in the books of the Kings--showed concern for what is virtuous?
118. There was a great famine in Samaria,(1) for the
army of the Syrians was besieging it. The king in his anxiety was
making the round of the guards on the wails when a woman addressed him,
saying: This woman persuaded me to give up my son--and I gave him up,
and we boiled him and did eat him. And she promised that she would
afterwards bring her son and that we should eat his flesh together, but
now she hath hidden her son and will not bring him. The king was
troubled because these women seemed to have fed not merely on human
bodies, but on the bodies of their own children; and being moved by an
example of such awful misery, threatened the prophet Elisha with death.
For he believed it was in his power to break up the siege and to avert
the famine; or else he was angry because the prophet had not allowed
the king to smite the Syrians whom he had struck with blindness.(2)
119. Elisha sat(3) with the elders at Bethel, and
before the king's messenger came to him he said to the elders: "See ye
how the son of that murderess hath sent to take away mine head?" Then
the messenger
87
entered and brought the king's command threatening instant danger to
his life. Him the prophet answered:(1) "To-morrow about this time shall
a measure of fine flour be sold for a shekel, and two measures of
barley for a shekel in the gate of Samaria." Then when the messenger
sent by the king would not believe it, saying: "If the Lord would rain
abundance of corn from heaven, not even so would that come about,"
Elisha said to him: "Because thou hast not believed, thou shall see it
with thine eyes, but shall not eat of it."
120. And suddenly(2) in the camp of Syria was there
heard, as it were, a sound of chariots and a loud noise of horses and
the noise of a great host, and the tumult of some vast battle. And the
Syrians thought that the king of Israel had called to his help in the
battle the king of Egypt and the king of the Amorites, and they fled at
dawn leaving their tents, for they feared that they might be crushed by
the sudden arrival of fresh foes, and would not be able to withstand
the united forces of the kings. This was unknown in Samaria, for they
dared not go out of the town, being overcome with fear and also being
weak through hunger.
121. But there were four lepers(3) at the gate of
the city to whom life was a misery, and to die would be gain. And they
said one to another: "Behold we sit here and die. If we enter into the
city, we shall die with hunger; if we remain here, there are no means
of living at hand for us. Let us go to the Syrian camp, either they
will quickly kill us or grant us the means of safety." So they went and
entered into the camp, and behold, all was forsaken by the enemy.
Entering(4) the tents, first of all on finding food they satisfied
their hunger, then they laid hold of as much gold and silver as they
could. But whilst they were intent on the booty alone, they arranged to
announce to the king that the Syrians had fled, for they thought this
more virtuous than to withhold the information and keep for themselves
the plunder gained by deceit.
122. At this information the peoples went forth and
plundered the Syrian camp. The supplies of the enemy produced an
abundance, and brought about cheapness of corn according to the
prophet's word: "A measure of fine flour for a shekel, and two measures
of barley for a shekel." In this rejoicing of the people, that officer
on whose hand the king leaned died, being crushed and trodden under
foot by the people as the crowds kept hurrying to go out or returned
with great rejoicing.
CHAPTER XXI.
Esther in danger of her life followed the grace of virtue; nay, even a
heathen king did so, when death was threatened to a man most friendly
to him, For friendship must ever be combined with virtue, as the
examples of Jonathan and Ahimelech show.
123. WHY did Queen Esther(1) expose herself to death
and not fear the wrath of a fierce king? Was it not to save her people
from death, an act both seemly and virtuous? The king of Persia himself
also, though fierce and proud, yet thought it seemly to show honour to
the man who had given information about a plot which had been laid
against himself,(2) to save a free people from slavery, to snatch them
from death, and not to spare him who had pressed on such unseemly
plans. So finally he handed over to the gallows(3) the man that stood
second to himself, and whom he counted chief among all his friends,
because he considered that he had dishonoured him by his false counsels.
124. For that commendable friendship which maintains
virtue is to be preferred most certainly to wealth, or honours, or
power. It is not wont to be preferred to virtue indeed, but to follow
after it.(4) So it was with Jonathan, s who for his affection's sake
avoided not his father's displeasure nor the danger to his own safety.
So, too, it was with Ahimelech, who, to preserve the duties of
hospitality, thought he must endure death rather than betray his friend
when fleeing.(6)
CHAPTER XXlI.
Virtue must never be given up for the sake of a friend. If, however,
one has to bear witness against a friend, it must be done with caution.
Between friends what candour is needed in opening the heart, what
magnanimity in suffering, what freedom in finding
fault! Friendship is the guardian of virtues,
which are not to be found but in men of like character. It must be mild
in rebuking and averse to seeking its own advantage; whence it happens
that true friends are scarce among the rich. What is the dignity of
friendship? The treachery of a friend, as it is worse, so it is also
more hateful than another's, as is recognized from the example of Judas
and of Job's friends.
125. NOTHING, then, must be set before
88
virtue; and that it may never be set aside by the desire for
friendship, Scripture also gives us a warning on the subject of
friendship. There are, indeed various questions raised among
philosophers;(1) for instance whether a man ought for the sake of a
friend to plot against his country or not, so as to serve his friend?
Whether it is right to break one's faith, and so aid and maintain a
friend's advantage?
126. And Scripture also says: "A maul, and a sword,
and a sharp arrow, so is a man that beareth false witness against his
friend."(2) But note what it adds. It blames not witness given against
a friend, but false witness. For what if the cause of God or of one's
country compels one to give witness? Ought friendship to take a higher
place than our religion, or our love for our fellow-citizens? In these
matters, however, true witness is required so that a friend may not be
assailed by the treachery of a friend, by whose good faith he ought to
be acquitted. A man, then, ought never to please a friend who desires
evil, or to plot against one who is innocent.
127. Certainly, if it is necessary to give witness,
then, when one knows of any fault in a friend, one ought to rebuke him
secretly--if he does not listen, one must do it openly. For rebukes are
good,(3) and often better than a silent friendship. Even if a friend
thinks himself hurt, still rebuke him; and if the bitterness of the
correction wounds his mind, still rebuke him and fear not. "The wounds
of a friend are better than the kisses of flatterers:"(4) Rebuke, then,
thy erring friend; forsake not an innocent one. For friendship ought to
be steadfast s and to rest firm in true affection. We ought not to
change our friends in childish fashion at some idle fancy.
128. Open thy breast to a friend that he may be
faithful to thee, and that thou mayest receive from him the delight of
thy life. "For a faithful friend is the medicine of life and the grace
of immortality."(6) Give way to a friend as to an equal, and be not
ashamed to be beforehand with thy friend in doing kindly duties. For
friendship knows nothing of pride. So the wise man says: "Do not blush
to greet a friend."(7) Do not desert a friend in time of need, nor
forsake him nor fail him, for friendship is the support of life. Let us
then bear our burdens as the Apostle has taught:(8) for he spoke to
those whom the charity of the same one body had embraced together. If
friends in prosperity help friends, why do they not also in times of
adversity offer their support? Let us aid by giving counsel, let us
offer our best endeavours, let us sympathize with them with all our
heart.
129. If necessary, let us endure for a friend even
hardship. Often enmity has to be borne for the sake of a friend's
innocence; oftentimes revilings, if one defends and answers for a
friend who is found fault with and accused. Do not be afraid of such
displeasure, for the voice of the just says: "Though evil come upon me,
I will endure it for a friend's sake."(1) In adversity, too, a friend
is proved, for in prosperity all seem to be friends. But as in
adversity patience and endurance are needed, so in prosperity strong
influence is wanted to check and confute the arrogance of a friend who
becomes overbearing.
130. How nobly Job when he was in adversity said:
"Pity me, my friends, pity me."(2) That is not a cry as it were of
misery, but rather one of blame. For when he was unjustly reproached by
his friends, he answered: "Pity me, my friends," that is, ye ought to
show pity, but instead ye assail and overwhelm a man with whose
sufferings ye ought to show sympathy for friendship's sake.
131. Preserve, then, my sons, that friendship ye
have begun with your brethren, for nothing in the world is more
beautiful than that. It is indeed a comfort in this life to have one to
whom thou canst open thy heart,(3) with whom thou canst share
confidences, and to whom thou canst entrust the secrets of thy heart.
It is a comfort to have a trusty man by thy side, who will rejoice with
thee in prosperity, sympathize in troubles, encourage in persecution.
What good friends those Hebrew children were whom the flames of the
fiery furnace did not separate from their love of each other!(4) Of
them we have already spoken. Holy David says well: "Saul and Jonathan
were lovely and pleasant, inseparable in their life, in death they were
not divided."(5)
132. This is the fruit of friendship; and so
faith(6) may not be put aside for the sake of friendship. He cannot be
a friend to a man who has been unfaithful to God. Friendship is the
guardian of pity and the teacher of equality, so as to make the
superior equal to the inferior, and the inferior
89
to the superior.(1) For there can be no friendship between diverse
characters,(2) and so the good-will of either ought to be mutually
suited to the other. Let not authority be wanting to the inferior if
the matter demands it, nor humility to the superior. Let him listen to
the other as though he were of like position--an equal, and let the
other warn and reprove like a friend, not from a desire to show off,
but with a deep feeling of love.
134. Let not thy warning be harsh, nor thy rebuke
bitter,(3) for as friendship ought to avoid flattery, so, too, ought it
to be free from arrogance. For what is a friend but a partner in
love,(4) to whom thou unitest and attachest thy soul, and with whom
thou blendest so as to desire from being two to become one; to whom
thou entrustest thyself as to a second self, from whom thou fearest
nothing, and from whom thou demandest nothing dishonourable for the
sake of thine own advantage. Friendship is not meant as a source of
revenue,(5) but is full of seemliness, full of grace. Friendship is a
virtue, not a way of making money. It is produced, not by money, but by
esteem; not by the offer of rewards, but by a mutual rivalry in doing
kindnesses.
134. Lastly, the friendships of the poor are
generally better than those of the rich,(6) and often the rich are
without friends, whilst the poor have many. For true friendship cannot
exist where there is lying flattery. Many try fawningly to please the
rich, but no one cares to make pretence to a poor man. Whatsoever is
stated to a poor man is true, his friendship is free from envy.
135. What is more precious than friendship which is
shared alike by angels and by men? Wherefore the Lord Jesus says: "Make
to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, that they may
receive you into eternal habitations."(7) God Himself makes us friends
instead of servants, as He Himself says: "Ye are My friends if ye do
whatsoever I command you."(8) He gave us a pattern of friendship to
follow. We are to fulfil the wish of a friend, to unfold to him our
secrets which we hold in our own hearts, and are not to disregard his
confidences. Let us show him our heart and he will open his to us.
Therefore He says: "I have called you friends, for I have made known
unto you all things whatsoever I have heard of My Father."(1) A friend,
then, if he is a true one, hides nothing; he pours forth his soul as
the Lord Jesus poured forth the mysteries of His Father.
136. So he who does the will of God is His friend
and is honoured with this name. He who is of one mind with Him, he too
is His friend. For there is unity of mind in friends, and no one is
more hateful than the man that injures friendship. Hence in the traitor
the Lord found this the worst point on which to condemn his treachery,
namely, that he gave no sign of gratitude and had mingled the poison of
malice at the table of friendship. So He says: "It was thou, a man of
like mind, My guide and Mine acquaintance, who ever didst take pleasant
meals with Me."(2) That is: it could not be endured, for thou didst
fall upon Him Who granted grace to thee. "For if My enemy had
reproached Me I could have borne it,(3) and I would have hid Myself
from him who hated Me." An enemy can be avoided; a friend cannot, if he
desires to lay a plot. Let us guard against him to whom we do not
entrust our plans; we cannot guard against him to whom we have already
entrusted them. And so to show up all the hatefulness of the sin He did
not say: Thou, My servant, My apostle; but thou, a man of like mind
with Me; that is: thou art not My but thy own betrayer, for thou didst
betray a man of like mind with thyself.
137. The Lord Himself, when He was displeased with
the three princes who had not deferred to holy Job, wished to pardon
them through their friend, so that the prayer of friendship might win
remission of sins. Therefore Job asked and God pardoned. Friendship
helped them whom arrogance had harmed.(4)
138. These things I have left with you, my children,
that you may guard them in your minds--you yourselves will prove
whether they will be of any advantage. Meanwhile they offer you a large
number of examples, for almost all the examples drawn from our
forefathers, and also many a word of theirs, are included within these
three books; so that, although the language may not be graceful, yet a
succession of old-time examples set down in such small compass may
offer much instruction.
THREE
BOOKS OF ST. AMBROSE, BISHOP OF MILAN,
ON THE HOLY SPIRIT.
TO THE EMPEROR GRATIAN.
BOOK 1.
The choice of Gideon was a figure of our Lord's Incarnation, the
sacrifice of a kid, of the satisfaction for sins in the body of Christ;
that of the bullock, of the abolition of profane rites; and in the
three hundred soldiers was a type of the future redemptic through the
cross. The seeking of various signs by Gideon was also a mystery, for
by the dryness and moistening of the fleece was signified the falling
away of the Jews and the calling of the Gentiles, by the water received
in a baSin the washing of t apostles' feet. St. Ambrose prays that his
own pollution may be washed away, and praises the loving-kindness of
Christ. The same water sent forth by the Son of God effects marvellous
conversions; it cannot, however, be sent by any other, since it is the
pouring forth of the Holy Spirit, Who is subject to no external power.
1. When Jerubbaal, as we read, was beating out
wheat(1) under an oak, he received a message from God in order that he
might bring the people of God from the power of strangers into liberty.
Nor is it a matter of wonder if he was chosen for grace, seeing that
even then, being appointed under the shadow of the holy cross and of
the adorable Wisdom in the predestined mystery of the future
Incarnation, he was bringing forth the visible grains of the fruitful
corn from their hiding places, and was [mystically] separating the
elect of the saints from the refuse of the empty chaff. For these
elect, as though trained with the rod of truth, laying aside the
superfluities of the old man together with his deeds, are gathered in
the Church as in a winepress. or the Church is the winepress of the
eternal fountain, since from her wells forth the juice of the heavenly
Vine.
2. And Gideon, moved by that message, when he heard
that, though thousands of the people failed, God would deliver His own
from their enemies by means of one man,(1) offered a kid, and according
to the word of the Angel, laid its flesh and the unleavened cakes upon
the rock, and poured the broth upon them. And as soon as the Angel
touched them with the end of the staff which he bore, fire burst forth
out of the rock, and so the sacrifice which he was offering was
consumed.(2) By which it seems clear that that rock was a figure of the
Body of Christ, for it is written: "They drank of that rock that
followed them, and that rock was Christ."(3) Which certainly refers not
to His Godhead, but to His Flesh, which watered the hearts of the
thirsting people with the perpetual stream of His Blood.
3. Even at that time was it declared in a mystery
that the Lord Jesus in His Flesh would, when crucified, do away the
sins of the whole world, and not only the deeds of the body, but the
desires of the soul. For the flesh of the kid refers to sins of deed,
the broth to the enticements of desire as it is written: "For the
people lusted' an evil lust, and said, Who shall give us flesh to
eat?"(4) That the Angel then stretched forth his staff, and touched the
rock, from which fire went out,(5) shows that the Flesh of the Lord,
being filled with the Divine Spirit, would burn away all the sins of
human frailty. Wherefore, also, the Lord says: "I am come to send fire
upon the earth."(6)
4. Then the man, instructed and fore-knowing what
was to be, observes the heavenly mysteries, and therefore, according to
the warning, slew the bullock de-
94
stined by his father to idols, and himself offered to God another
bullock seven years old.(1) By doing which he most plainly showed that
after the coming of the Lord all Gentile sacrifices should be done
away, and that only the sacrifice of the Lord's passion should be
offered for the redemption of the people. For that bullock was, in a
type, Christ, in Whom, as Esaias said, dwelt the fulness of the seven
gifts of the Spirit.(2) This bullock Abraham also offered when he saw
the day of the Lord and was glad.(3) He it is Who was offered at one
time in the type of a kid, at another in that of a sheep, at another in
that of a bullock. Of a kid, because He is a sacrifice for sin; of a
sheep, because He is an unresisting victim; of a bullock, because He is
a victim without blemish.
5. Holy Gideon then saw the mystery beforehand. Next
he chose out three hundred for the battle, so as to show that the world
should be freed from the incursion of worse enemies, not by the
multitude of their number, but by the mystery of the cross. And yet,
though he was brave and faithful, he asked of the Lord yet fuller
proofs of future victory, saying: "If Thou wilt save Israel by mine
hand, O Lord, as Thou hast said, behold I will put a fleece of wool on
the threshing-floor, and if there shall be dew on the fleece and
dryness on all the ground, I shall know that Thou wilt deliver the
people by my hand according to Thy promise. And it was so."(4)
Afterwards he asked in addition that dew should descend on all the
earth and dryness be on the fleece.
6. Some one perhaps will enquire whether he does not
seem to have been wanting in faith, seeing that after being instructed
by many signs he asked still more. But how can he seem to have asked as
if doubting or wanting in faith, who was speaking in mysteries? He was
not then doubtful, but careful that we should not doubt. For how could
he be doubtful whose prayer was effectual? And how could he have begun
the battle without fear, unless he had understood the message of God?
for the dew on the fleece signified the faith among the Jews, because
the words of God come down like the dew.
7. So when the whole world was parched with the
drought of Gentile superstition, then came that dew of the heavenly
visits on the fleece. But after that the lost sheep of the house of
Israel(1) (whom I think that the figure of the Jewish fleece shadowed
forth), after that those sheep, I say,(2) "had refused the fountain of
living water," the dew of moistening faith dried up in the breasts of
the Jews, and that divine Fountain turned away its course to the hearts
of the Gentiles. Whence it has come to pass that now the whole world is
moistened with the dew of faith, but the Jews have lost their prophets
and counsellors.
8. Nor is it strange that they should suffer the
drought of unbelief, whom the Lord deprived of the fertilising of the
shower of prophecy, saying: "I will command My clouds that they rain
not upon that vineyard."(3) For there is a health-giving shower of
salutary grace, as David also said: "He came down like rain upon a
fleece. and like drops that drop upon the earth."(4) The divine
Scriptures promised us this rain upon the whole earth, to water the
world with the dew of the Divine Spirit at the coming of the Saviour.
The Lord, then, has now come, and the rain has come; the Lord has come
bringing the heavenly drops with Him, and so now we drink, who before
were thirsty, and with an interior draught drink in that Divine Spirit.
9. Holy Gideon, then, foresaw this, that the nations
of the Gentiles also would drink by the reception of faith, and
therefore he enquired more diligently, for the caution of the saints is
necessary. Insomuch that also Joshua the son of Nun, when he saw the
captain of the heavenly host, enquired: "Art thou for us, or for our
adversaries?"(5) lest, perchance, he might be deceived by some
stratagem of the adversary.
10. Nor was it without a reason that he put the
fleece neither in a field nor in a meadow, but in a threshing-floor,
where is the harvest of the wheat: "For the harvest is plenteous, but
the labourers are few;"(6) because that, through faith in the Lord,
there was about to be a harvest fruitful in virtues.
11. Nor, again, was it without a reason that he
dried the fleece of the Jews, and put the dew from it into a basin, so
that it was filled with water, yet he did not himself wash his feet in
that dew. The prerogative of so great a mystery was to be given to
another. He was being waited for Who alone could wash away the filth of
all. Gideon was not great enough to claim this mystery for himself, but
"the Son of Man
95
came not to be ministered unto, but to minister."(1) Let us, then,
recognize in Whom these mysteries are seen to be accomplished. Not in
holy Gideon, for they were still at their commencement. Therefore the
Gentiles were surpassed, for dryness was still upon the Gentiles, and
therefore did Israel surpass them, for then did the dew remain on the
fleece,
12. Let us come now to the Gospel of God. I find the
Lord stripping Himself of His garments, and girding Himself with a
towel, pouring water into a basin, and washing the disciples' feet.(2)
That heavenly dew was this water, this was foretold, namely, that the
Lord Jesus Christ would wash the feet of His disciples in that heavenly
dew. And now let the feet of our minds be stretched out. The Lord Jesus
wills also to wash our feet, for He says, not to Peter alone, but to
each of the faithful: "If I wash not thy feet thou wilt have no part
with Me."(3)
13. Come, then, Lord Jesus, put off Thy garments,
which Thou didst put on for my sake; be Thou stripped that Thou mayest
clothe us with Thy mercy. Gird Thyself for our sakes with a towel, that
Thou mayest gird us with Thy gift of immortality. Pour water into the
basin, wash not only our feet but also the head, and not only of the
body, but also the footsteps of the soul. I wish to put off all the
filth of our frailty, so that I also may say: "By night I have put off
my coat, how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet, how shall I
defile them?"(4))
14. How great is that excellence! As a servant, Thou
dost wash the feet of Thy disciples; as God, Thou sendest dew from
heaven. Nor dost Thou wash the feet only, but also invitest us to sit
down with Thee, and by the example of Thy dignity dost exhort us,
saying: "Ye call Me Master and Lord, and ye do well, for so I am. If,
then, I the Lord and Master have washed your feet, ye ought also to
wash one another's feet."(5)
15. I, then, wish also myself to wash the feet of my
brethren, I wish to fulfil the commandment of my Lord, I will not be
ashamed in myself, nor disdain what He Himself did first. Good is the
mystery of humility, because while washing the pollutions of others I
wash away my own. But all were not able to exhaust this mystery.
Abraham was, indeed, willing to wash feet,(6) but because of a feeling
of hospitality. Gideon, too, was willing to wash the feet of the Angel
of the Lord who appeared to him,(1) but his willingness was confined to
one; he was willing as one who would do a service, not as one who would
confer fellowship with himself. This is a great mystery which no one
knew. Lastly, the Lord said to Peter: "What I do thou knowest not now,
but shalt know hereafter."(2) This, I say, is a divine mystery which
even they who wash will enquire into. It is not, then, the simple water
of the heavenly mystery whereby we attain to be found worthy of having
part with Christ.
16. There is also a certain water which we put into
the basin of our soul, water from the fleece and from the Book of
Judges; water, too, from the Book of Psalms.(3) It is the water of the
message from heaven. Let, then, this water, O Lord Jesus, come into my
soul, into my flesh, that through the moisture of this rain(4) the
valleys of our minds and the fields of our hearts may grow green. May
the drops from Thee come upon me, shedding forth grace and immortality.
Wash the steps of my mind that I may not sin again. Wash the heel(5) of
my soul, that I may be able to efface the curse, that I feel not the
serpent's bite(6) on the foot of my soul, but, as Thou Thyself hast
bidden those who follow Thee, may tread on serpents and scorpions(7)
with uninjured foot. Thou hast redeemed the world, redeem the soul of a
single sinner.
17. This is the special excellence of Thy
loving-kindness, wherewith Thou hast redeemed the whole world one by
one. Elijah was sent to one widow;(8) Elisha cleansed one;(9) Thou, O
Lord Jesus, hast at this day cleansed a thousand. How many in the city
of Rome, how many at Alexandria, how many at Antioch, how many also at
Constantinople! For even Constantinople has received the word of God,
and has received evident proofs of Thy judgment. For so long as she
cherished the Arians' poison in her bosom, disquieted by neighbouring
wars, she echoed with hostile arms around. But so soon as she rejected
those who were
96
alien from the faith she received as a suppliant the enemy himself, the
judge of kings, whom she had always been wont to fear, she buried him
when dead, and retains him entombed.(1) How many, then, hast Thou
cleansed at Constantinople, how many, lastly, at this day in the whole
world!
18. Damasus cleansed not, Peter cleansed not,
Ambrose cleansed not, Gregory cleansed not;(2) for ours is the
ministry, but the sacraments are Thine. For it is not in man's power to
confer what is divine, but it is, O Lord, Thy gift and that of the
Father, as Thou hast spoken by the prophets, saying: "I will pour out
of My Spirit upon all flesh, and their sons and their daughters shall
prophesy."(3) This is that typical dew from heaven, this is that
gracious rain, as we read: "Agracious rain, dividing for His
inheritance."(4) For the Holy Spirit is not subject to any foreign
power or law, but is the Arbiter of this own freedom, dividing all
things according to the decision of His own will, to each, as we read,
severally as He wills.(5)
CHAPTER I.
St. Ambrose commences his argument by complimenting the Emperor, both
for his faith and for the restitution of the Basilica to the Church;
then having urged that his opponents, if they affirm that the Holy
Spirit is not a servant, cannot deny Him to be above all, adds that the
same Spirit, when He said, "All things serve Thee," showed plainly that
He was distinct from creatures; which point he also establishes by
other evidence.
19. The Holy Spirit, then, is not amongst but above
all things. For (since you, most merciful Emperor, are so fully
instructed concerning the Son of God as to be able yourself to teach
others) I will not detain you longer, as you desire and claim to be
told something more exactly [concerning Him], especially since you
lately showed yourself to be so pleased by an argument of this nature,
as to command the Basilica to be restored to the Church without any one
urging you.
20. So, then, we have received the grace of your
faith and the reward of our own; for we cannot say otherwise than that
it was of the grace of the Holy Spirit, that when all were unconscious
of it, you suddenly restored the Basilica. This is the gift, I say,
this the work of the Holy Spirit, Who indeed was at that time preached
by us, but was working in you.
21 And I do not regret the losses of the previous
time, since the sequestration of that Basilica resulted in the gain of
a sort of usury. For you sequestrated the Basilica, that you might give
proof of your faith. And so your piety fulfilled its intention, which
had sequestered that it might give proof, and so gave proof as to
restore. I did not lose the fruit, and I have your judgment, and it has
been made clear to all that, with a certain diversity of action, there
was in you no diversity of opinion. It was made clear, I say, to all,
that it was not of yourself that you sequestrated, that it was of
yourself when you restored it.
22. Now let us establish by evidence what we have
said. The first point in the discussion is that all things serve. Now
it is clear that all things serve, since it is written: "All things
serve Thee."(1) This the Spirit said through the prophet. He did not
say, We serve, but, "serve Thee," that you might believe that He
Himself is excepted from serving. So, then, since all things serve, and
the Spirit does not serve, the Holy Spirit is certainly not included
amongst all things.
23. For if we say that the Holy Spirit is included
amongst all things, certainly when we read that the Spirit searches the
deep things of God,(2) we deny that God the Father is over all. For
since the Spirit is of God, and is the Spirit of His mouth, how can we
say that the Holy Spirit is included amongst all things, seeing that
God, Whose is the Spirit, is over all, possessing certainly fulness of
perfection and perfect power.
25. But lest the objectors should think that the
Apostle was in error, let them learn whom he followed as his authority
for his belief. The Lord said in the Gospel: "When the Paraclete is
come, Whom I will send to you from My Father, even the Spirit of Truth
which proceedeth from the Father, He shall bear witness of Me."(3) So
the Holy Spirit both proceeds from the Father, and bears witness of the
Son. For the witness Who is both faithful and true bears witness of the
Father, than which witness nothing is more full for the expression of
the Divine Majesty, nothing more clear as to the Unity of the Divine
Power,
97
since the Spirit has the same knowledge as the Son, Who is the witness
and inseparable sharer of the Father's secrets.
26. He excludes, then, the fellowship and number of
creatures from the knowledge of God, but by not excluding the Holy
Spirit, He shows that He is not of the fellowship of creatures. So that
the passage which is read in the Gospel: "For no man hath seen God at
any time, save the Only-begotten Son Who is in the bosom of the Father
He hath declared Him," also pertains to the exclusion of the Holy
Spirit. For how has He not seen God Who searches even the deep things
of God? How has He not seen God Who knows the things which are of God?
How has He not seen God Who is of God? So, since it is laid down that
no one has seen God at any time, whereas the Holy Spirit has seen Him,
clearly the Holy Spirit is excepted. He, then, is above all Who is
excluded from all.
CHAPTER II.
The words, "All things were made by Him," are not a proof that the Holy
Spirit is included amongst all things, since He was not made. For
otherwise it could be proved by other passages that the Son, and even
the Father Himself, must be numbered amongst all things, which would be
similar irreverence.
27. This seems, gracious Emperor, to be a full
account of our right feeling, but to the impious it does not seem so.
Observe what they are striving after. For the heretics are wont to say
that the Holy Spirit is to be reckoned amongst all things, because it
is written of God the Son: "All things were made by Him."(1)
28. How utterly confused is a course of argument
which does not hold to the truth, and is involved in an inverted order
of statements. For this argument would be of value for the statement
that the Holy Spirit is amongst all things, if they proved that He was
made. For Scripture says that all things which were made were made by
the Son; but since we are not taught that the Holy Spirit was made, He
certainly cannot be proved to be amongst all things Who was neither
made as all things are, nor created. To me this testimony is of use for
establishing each point; firstly, that He is proved to be above all
things, because He was not made; and secondly, that because He is above
all things, He is seen not to have been made, and is not to be numbered
amongst those things which were made.
29. But if any one, because the Evangelist stated
that all things were made by the Word, making no exception of the Holy
Spirit (although the Spirit of God speaking in John said: "All things
were made by Him, "and said not we were all things which were made;
whilst the Lord Himself distinctly showed that the Spirit of God spoke
in the Evangelists, saying, "For it will not be you that speak, but the
Spirit of your Father that speaketh in you"),(1) yet if any one, as I
said, does not except the Holy Spirit in this place, but numbers Him
amongst all, he consequently does not except the Son of God in that
passage where the Apostle says: "Yet to us there is one God the Father,
of Whom are all things, and we by Him."(2) But that he may know that
the Son is not amongst all things, let him read what follows, for when
he says: "And one Lord Jesus Christ, by Whom are all things,"(3) he
certainly excepts the Son of God from all, who also excepted the Father.
30. But it is equal irreverence to detract from the
dignity of the Father, or the Son, or the Holy Spirit. For he believes
not in the Father who does not believe in the Son, nor does he believe
in the Son of God who does not believe in the Spirit, nor can faith
stand without the rule of truth. For he who has begun to deny the
oneness of power in the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit
certainly cannot prove his divided faith in points where there is no
division. So, then, since complete piety is to believe rightly, so
complete impiety is to believe wrongly.
31. Therefore they who think that the Holy Spirit
ought to be numbered amongst all things, because they read that all
things were made by the Son, must needs also think that the Son is to
be numbered amongst all things, because they read: "All things are of
God."(4) But, consequently, they also do not separate the Father from
all things, who do not separate the Son from all creatures, since, as
all things are of the Father, so, too, all things are by the Son. And
the Apostle, because of his foresight in the Spirit, used this very
expression, lest he should seem to the impious who had heard that the
Son had said, "That which My Father hath given Me is greater than
all,"(5) to have included the Son amongst all.
98
CHAPTER III.
The statement of the Apostle, that all things are of the Father by the
Son, does not separate the Spirit from Their company, since what is
referred to one Person is also attributed to each. So those baptized in
the Name of Christ are held to be baptized in the Name of the Father
and of the Holy Spirit, if, that is, there is belief in the Three
Persons, otherwise the baptism will be null. This also applies to
baptism in the Name of the Holy Spirit. If because of one passage the
Holy Spirit is separated from the Father and the Son, it will
necessarily follow from other passages that the Father will be
subordinated to the Son. The Son is worshipped by angels, not by the
Spirit, for the latter is His witness, not His servant. Where the Son
is spoken of as being before all, it is to be understood of creatures.
The great dignity of the Holy Spirit is proved by the absence of
forgiveness for the sin against Him. How it is that such sin cannot be
forgiven, and how the Spirit is one.
32. But perhaps some one may say that there was a
reason why the writer said that all things were of the Father, and all
things through the Son,(1) but made no mention of the Holy Spirit, and
would obtain the foundation of an argument from this. But if he
persists in his perverse interpretation, in how many passages will he
find the power of the Holy Spirit asserted, in which Scripture has
stated nothing concerning either the Father or the Son, but has left it
to be understood?
40. Where, then, the grace of the Spirit is
asserted, is that of God the Father or of the Only-begotten Son denied?
By no means; for as the Father is in the Son, and the Son in the
Father, so, too, "the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the
Holy Spirit, Who hath been given us."(2) And as he who is blessed in
Christ is blessed in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the
Holy Spirit, because the Name is one and the Power one; so, too, when
any divine operation, whether of the Father, or of the Son, or of the
Holy Spirit, is treated of, it is not referred only to the Holy Spirit,
but also to the Father and the Son, and not only to the Father, but
also to the Son and the Spirit.
41. Then, too, the Ethiopian eunuch of Queen
Candace, when baptized in Christ, obtained the fulness of the
sacrament. And they who said that they knew not of any Holy Spirit,
although they said that they had been baptized with John's baptism,
were baptized afterwards, because John baptized for the remission of
sins in the Name of the coming Jesus, not in his own. And so they knew
not the Spirit, because in the form in which John baptized they had not
received baptism in the Name of Christ. For John, though he did not
baptize in the Spirit, nevertheless preached Christ and the Spirit. And
then, when he was questioned whether he were perchance himself the
Christ, he answered: "I baptize you with water, but a stronger than I
shall come, Whose shoes I am not worthy to bear, He shall baptize you
with the Holy Spirit and. with fire."(1) They therefore, because they
had been baptized neither in the Name of Christ nor with faith in the
Holy Spirit, could not receive the sacrament of baptism.
42. So they were baptized in the Name of Jesus
Christ,(2) and baptism was not repeated in their case, but administered
differently, for there is but one baptism. But where there is not the
complete sacrament of baptism, there is not considered to be a
commencement nor any kind of baptism. But baptism is complete if one
confess the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. If you deny One you
overthrow the whole. And just as if you mention in words One only,
either the Father, or the Son, or the Holy Spirit, and in your belief
do not deny either the Father, the Son, or the Holy Spirit, the mystery
of the faith is complete, so, too, although you name the Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit, and lessen the power of either the Father, the Son, or
the Holy Spirit, the whole mystery is made empty. And, lastly, they who
had said: "We have not heard if there be any Holy Spirit, were baptized
afterwards in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ."(3) And this was an
additional abundance of grace, for now through Paul's preaching they
knew the Holy Spirit.
43. Nor ought it to seem opposed to this, that
although subsequently mention is not made of the Spirit, He is yet
believed in, and what had not been mentioned in words is expressed in
belief. For when it is said, "In the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ,"
the mystery is complete through the oneness of the Name, and the Spirit
is not separated
99
from the baptism of Christ, since John baptized unto repentance, Christ
in the Spirit.
44. Let us now consider whether as we read that the
sacrament of baptism in the Name of Christ was complete, so, too, when
the Holy Spirit alone is named, anything is wanting to the completeness
of the mystery. Let us follow out the argument that he who has named
One has signified the Trinity. If you name Christ, you imply both God
the Father by Whom the Son was anointed, and the Son Himself Who was
anointed, and the Holy Spirit with Whom He was anointed. For it is
written: "This Jesus of Nazareth, Whom God anointed with the Holy
Spirit."(1) And if you name the Father, you denote equally His Son and
the Spirit of His mouth, if, that is, you apprehend it in your heart.
And if you speak of the Spirit, you name also God the Father, from Whom
the Spirit proceeds, and the Son, inasmuch as He is also the Spirit of
the Son.
45. Wherefore that authority may also be joined to
reason Scripture indicates that we can also be rightly baptized in the
Spirit, when the Lord says: "But ye shall be baptized in the Holy
Spirit."(2) And in another place the Apostle says: "For we were all
baptized in the body itself into one Spirit."(3) The work is one, for
the mystery is one; the baptism one, for there was one death on behalf
of the world; there is, then, a oneness of working, a oneness of
setting forth, which cannot be separated.
46. But if in this place the Spirit be separated
from the operation of the Father and the Son, because it is said, All
things are of
God, and all things are through the Son,(4) then, too, when the Apostle
says of Christ, "Who is over all, God blessed for ever,"(5) He set
Christ not only above all creatures, but (which it is impious to say)
above the Father also. But God forbid, for the Father is not amongst
all things, is not amongst a kind of crowd of His own creatures. The
whole creation is below, over all is the Godhead of the Father, the
Son, and the Holy Spirit. The former serves, the latter rules; the
former is subject, the latter reigns; the former is the work. the
latter the author of the work; the former, without exception, worships,
the latter is worshipped by all without exception.
47. Lastly, of the Son it is written: "And let all
the angels of God worship Him."(6) You do not find, Let the Holy Spirit
worship. And farther on: "To which of the angels said He at any time,
Sit thou on My right hand till I make thine enemies the footstool of
thy feet? Are they not all," says he, "ministering spirits who are sent
to minister?"(1) When he says All, does he include the Holy Spirit?
Certainly not, because Angels and the other Powers are destined to
serve in ministering and obedience to the Son of God.
48. But in truth the Holy Spirit is not a minister
but a witness of the Son, as the Son Himself said of Him: "He shall
bear witness of Me."(2) The Spirit, then, is a witness of the Son. He
who is a witness knows all things, as God the Father is a witness. For
so you read in later passages, for our salvation was confirmed to us by
God bearing witness by signs and wonders and by manifold powers and by
distributions of the Holy Spirit.(3) He who divides as he will is
certainly above all, not amongst all, for to divide is the gift of the
worker, not an innate part of the work itself.
49. If the Son is above all, through Whom our
salvation received its commencement, so that it might be preached,
certainly God the Father also, Who testifies and gives confirmation
concerning our salvation by signs and wonders, is excepted from all. In
like manner the Spirit, Who bears witness to our salvation by His
diversities of gifts, is not to be numbered with the crowd of
creatures, but to be reckoned with the Father and the Son; Who, when He
divides, is not Himself divided by cutting off Himself, for being
indivisible He loses nothing when He gives to all, as also the Son,
when the Father receives the kingdom,(4) loses nothing, nor does the
Father, when He gives that which is His to the Son, suffer loss. We
know, then, by the testimony of the Son that there is no loss in the
division of spiritual grace; for He Who breathes where He wills(5) is
everywhere free from loss. Concerning which power we shall speak more
fully farther on.
50. In the meanwhile, since our intention is to
prove in due order that the Spirit is not to be reckoned amongst all
things, let us take the Apostle, whose words they call in
question, as an authority for this position. For what "all things"
would be, whether visible or invisible, he himself declared when he
said: "For in Him were all things created in the heavens and in
earth."(6) You see that "all things" is spoken of things in the
heavens, and of things in earth, for in
100
the heavens are also invisible things which were made.
51. But that no one should be ignorant of this he
added those of whom he was speaking: "Whether thrones or dominions or
principalities or powers, all things were created by Him and in Him,
and He is before all, and in Him all things consist."(1) Does he, then,
include the Holy Spirit here amongst creatures? Or when he says that
the Son of God is before all things, is he to be supposed to have said
that He is before the Father? Certainly not; for as here he says that
all things were created by the Son, and that all things in the heavens
consist in Him, so, too, it cannot be doubted that all things in the
heavens have their strength in the Holy Spirit, since we read:
"By the word of the Lord were the heavens established and all the
strength of them by the Spirit of His mouth."(2) He, then, is above
all, from Whom is all the strength of things in heaven and things on
earth. He, then, Who is above all things certainly does not serve; He
Who serves not is free; He Who is free has the prerogative of lordship.
52. If I were to say this at first it would be
denied. But in the same manner as they deny the less that the greater
may not be believed, so let us set forth lesser matters first that
either they may show their perfidy in lesser matters, or, if they
grant the lesser matters, we may infer greater from the lesser.
53. I think, most merciful Emperor, that they are
most fully confuted who dare to reckon the Holy Spirit amongst all
things. But that they may know that they are pressed not only by the
testimony of the apostles, but also by that of our Lord; how can they
dare to reckon the Holy Spirit amongst all things, since the Lord
Himself said: "He who shall blaspheme against the Son of Man, it shall
be forgiven him; but he who shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost
shall never be forgiven, either here or hereafter."(3) How, then, can
any one dare to reckon the Holy Spirit amongst creatures? Or who will
so blind himself as to think that if he have injured any creature he
cannot be forgiven in any wise? For if the Jews because they worshipped
the host of heaven were deprived of divine protection, whilst he who
worships and confesses the Holy Spirit is accepted of God, but he who
confesses Him not is convicted of sacrilege without forgiveness:
certainly it follows from this that the Holy Spirit cannot be reckoned
amongst all things, but that He is above all things, an offence against
Whom is avenged by eternal punishment.
54. But observe carefully why the Lord said: "He who
shall blaspheme against the Son of Man it shall be forgiven him, but he
who shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost shall never be forgiven,
either here or hereafter."(1) Is an offence against the Son different
from one against the Holy Spirit? For as their dignity is one, and
common to both, so too is the offence. But if any one, led astray by
the visible human body, should think somewhat more remissly than is
fitting concerning the Body of Christ (for it ought not to appear of
little worth to us, seeing it is the palace of chastity, and the fruit
of the Virgin), he incurs guilt, but he is not shut out from pardon,
which he may attain to by faith. But if any one should deny the
dignity, majesty, and eternal power of the Holy Spirit, and should
think that devils are cast out not in the Spirit of God, but in
Beelzebub, there can be no attaining of pardon there where is the
fulness of sacrilege; for he who has denied the Spirit has denied also
the Father and the Son, since the same is the Spirit of God Who is the
Spirit of Christ.
CHAPTER IV.
The Holy Spirit is one and the same Who spake in the prophets and
apostles, Who is the Spirit of God and of Christ; Whom, further,
Scripture designates the Paraclete, and the Spirit of life and truth.
55. But no one will doubt that the Spirit is one,
although very many have doubted whether God be one. For many heretics
have said that the God of the Old Testament is one, and the God of the
New Testament is another. But as the Father is one Who both spake of
old, as we read, to the fathers by the prophets, and to us in the last
days by His Son;(2) "and as the Son is one, Who according to the tenour
of the Old Testament was offended by Adam,(3) seen by Abraham,(4)
worshipped by Jacob;(5) so, too, the Holy Spirit is one, who energized
in the prophets,(6) was breathed upon the apostles,(7) and was joined
to the Father and the Son in the sacrament of baptism.(8) For David
says of Him: "And take not Thy Holy Spirit from me."(9) And in another
place he said of Him: "Whither shall I go from Thy Spirit?"(10)
101
56. That you may know that the Spirit of God is the
same as the Holy Spirit, as we read also in the Apostle: "No one
speaking in the Spirit of God says Anathema to Jesus and no one can
say, Lord Jesus, but in the Holy Spirit,"(1) the Apostle calls Him the
Spirit of God. He called Him also the Spirit of Christ, as you read:
"But ye are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if so be that the
Spirit of God dwelleth in you."(2) And farther on: "But if the Spirit
of Him Who raised Jesus from the dead dwelleth in you."(3) The same is,
then, the Spirit of God, Who is the Spirit of Christ.
57. The same is also the Spirit of Life, as the
Apostle says: "For the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus hath
delivered me from the law of sin and death."(4)
58. Him, then, Whom the Apostle called the Spirit of
Life, the Lord in the Gospel named the Paraclete, and the Spirit of
Truth, as you find: "And I will ask the Father, and He will give you
another Comforter [Paraclete], that He may be with you for ever, even
the Spirit of Truth, Whom this world cannot receive; because it seeth
Him not, neither knoweth Him."(5) You have, then, the Paraclete Spirit,
called also the Spirit of Truth, and the invisible Spirit. How, then,
do some think that the Son is visible in His Divine Nature, when the
world cannot see even the Spirit?
59. Receive now the saying of the Lord, that the
same is the Holy Spirit Who is the Spirit of Truth, for you read in the
end of this book: "Receive the Holy Spirit."(6) And Peter teaches that
the same is the Holy Spirit Who is the Spirit of the Lord, when he
says: "Ananias, why has it seemed good to thee to tempt and to lie to
the Holy Spirit?"(7) And immediately after he says again to the wife of
Ananias: "Why has it seemed good to you to tempt the Spirit of the
Lord?"(8) When he says "to you," he shows that he is speaking of the
same Spirit of Whom he had spoken to Ananias. He Himself is, then, the
Spirit of the Lord Who is the Holy Spirit.
60. And the Lord Himself made clear that the same
Who is the Spirit of the Father is the Holy Spirit, when according to
Matthew He said that we ought not to take thought in persecution what
we should say: "For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your
Father that speaketh in you,"(9) Again He says according to St. Luke:
"Be not anxious how ye shall answer or speak, for the Holy Spirit of
God shall teach you in that hour what ye ought to say."(1) So, although
many are called spirits, as it is said: "Who maketh His Angels
spirits," yet the Spirit of God is but one.
61. Both apostles and prophets received that one
Spirit, as the vessel of election, the Doctor of the Gentiles, says:
"For we have all drunk of one Spirit;"(2) Him, as it were, Who cannot
be divided, but is poured into souls, and flows into the senses, that
He may quench the burning of this world's thirst.
CHAPTER V.
The Holy Spirit, since He sanctifies creatures, is neither a creature
nor subject to change. He is always good, since He is given by the
Father and the Son; neither is He to be numbered amongst such things as
are said to fail. He must be acknowledged as the source of goodness.
The Spirit of God's mouth, the amender of evils, and Himself good.
Lastly, as He is said in Scripture to be good, and is joined to the
Father and the Son in baptism, He cannot possibly be denied to be good.
He is not, however, said to progress, but to be made perfect in
goodness, which distinguishes Him from all creatures.
62. The Holy Spirit is not, then, of the substance
of things corporeal, for He sheds incorporeal grace on corporeal
things; nor, again, is He of the substance of invisible creatures, for
they receive His sanctification, and through Him are superior to the
other works of the universe. Whether you speak of Angels, or Dominions,
or Powers, every creature waits for the grace of the Holy Spirit. For
as we are children through the Spirit, because "God sent the Spirit of
His Son into our hearts crying, Abba, Father; so that thou art now not
a servant but a son;"(3) in like manner, also, every creature is
waiting for the revelation of the sons of God, whom in truth the grace
of the Holy Spirit made sons of God. Therefore, also, every creature
itself shall be changed by the revelation of the grace of the Spirit,
"and shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty
of the glory of the children of God."(4)
63. Every creature, then, is subject to change, not
only such as has been changed by some sin or condition of the outward
elements, but also such as can be liable to corruption by a hull of
nature, though by careful discipline it be not yet so; for, as we have
shown in a former treatise,(5) the nature of Angels evidently can be
changed. It is certainly fitting to judge that such as is
102
the nature of one, such also is that of others. The nature of the rest,
then, is capable of change, but the discipline is better.
64. Every creature, therefore, is capable of change,
but the Holy Spirit is good and not capable of change, nor can He be
changed by any fault, Who does away the faults of all and pardons their
sins. How, then, is He capable of change, Who by sanctifying works in
others a change to grace, but is not changed Himself.
65. How is He capable of change Who is always good?
For the Holy Spirit, through Whom the things that are good are
ministered to us, is never evil. Whence two evangelists in one and the
same place, in words in differing from each other, have made the same
statement, for you read in Matthew: "If you, being evil, know how to
give good gifts to your children; how much more shall your Father, Who
is in heaven, give good things to them that ask Him."(1) But according
to Luke you will find it thus written: "How much more shall your
heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?"(2) We
observe, then, that the Holy Spirit is good in the Lord's judgment by
the testimony of the evangelists, since the one has put good things in
the place of the Holy Spirit, the other has named the Holy Spirit in
the place of good things. If, then, the Holy Spirit is that which is
good, how is He not good?
66. Nor does it escape our notice that some copies
have likewise, according to St. Luke: "How much more shall your
heavenly Father give a good gift to them that ask Him." This good gift
is the grace of the Spirit, which the Lord Jesus shed forth from
heaven, after having been fixed to the gibbet of the cross, returning
with the triumphal spoils of death deprived of its power, as you find
it written: "Ascending up on high He led captivity captive, and gave
good gifts to men."(3) And well does he say "gifts," for as the Son was
given, of Whom it is written: "Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son
is given;"(4) so, too, is the grace of the Spirit given. But why should
I hesitate to say that the Holy Spirit also is given to us, since. it
is written: "The love of God is shed forth in our hearts by the Holy
Spirit, Who is given to us."(5) And since captive breasts certainly
could not receive Him, the Lord Jesus first led captivity captive, that
our affections being set free, He might pour forth the gift of divine
grace.
67. And He said well "led captivity captive." For
the victory of Christ is the victory of liberty, which won grace for
all, and inflicted wrong on none. So in the setting free of all no one
is captive. And because in the time of the Lord's passion wrong alone
had no part, which had made captive all of whom it had gained
possession, captivity itself turning back upon itself was made captive,
not now attached to Belial but to Christ, to serve Whom is liberty.
"For he who is called in the Lord as a servant is the Lord's
freedman."(1)
68. But to return to the point. "All," says He,
"have gone aside, all together are become unprofitable. There is none
that doeth good, not even one."(2) If they except the Holy Spirit, even
they themselves confess that He is not amongst all; if they do not
except Him, then they, too, acknowledge that He has gone aside amongst
all.
69. But let us consider whether He has goodness in
Himself, since He is the Source and Principle of goodness. For as the
Father and the Son have, so too the Holy Spirit also has goodness. And
the Apostle also taught this when he said: "Now the fruit of the Spirit
is peace, love, joy, patience, goodness."(3) For who doubts that He is
good Whose fruit is goodness. For a good tree brings forth good
fruit."(4)
70. And so if God be good, how shall He Who is the
Spirit of His mouth not be good, Who searcheth even the deep things of
God? Can the infection of evil enter into the deep things of God? And
from this it is seen how foolish they are who deny that the Son of God
is good, when they cannot deny that the Spirit of Christ is good, of
Whom the Son of God says: "Therefore said I that He shall receive of
Mine."(5)
71. Or is the Spirit not good, Who of the worst
makes good men, does away sin, destroys evil, shuts out crime, pours in
good gifts, makes apostles of persecutors, and priests of sinners? "Ye
were," it is said, "sometime darkness, but now are ye light in the
Lord." (6)
72. But why do we put them off? And if they ask for
statements since they do not deny facts, let them hear that the Holy
Spirit is good, for David said: "Let Thy good Spirit. lead me forth in
the right way."(7) For what is the Spirit but full of goodness? Who
though because of His nature He cannot be attained to, yet because of
His goodness
103
can be received by us, filling all things His power, but only partaken
of by the just, simple in substance, rich in virtues, present to each,
dividing of His own to every one, and Himself whole everywhere.
73. And with good cause did the Son of God say: "Go
and baptize all nations in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and
of the Holy Spirit,"(1) not disdaining association with the Holy
Spirit. Why, then, do some take it ill that He Whom the Lord disdained
not in the sacrament of baptism, should be joined in our devotion with
the Father and the Son?
74. Good, then, is the Spirit, but good, not as
though acquiring but as imparting goodness. For the Holy Spirit does
not receive from creatures but is received; as also He is not
sanctified but sanctifies; for the creature is sanctified, but the Holy
Spirit sanctifies. In which matter, though the word is used in common,
there is a difference in the nature. For both the man who receives and
God Who gives sanctity are called holy, as we read: "Be ye holy, for I
am holy."(2) Now sanctification and corruption cannot share the same
nature, and therefore the grace of the Holy Spirit and the creature
cannot be of one substance.
75. Since, then, the whole invisible creation (whose
substance some rightly believe to be reasonable and incorporeal), with
the exception of the Trinity, does not impart but acquires the grace of
the Spirit, and does not share in it but receives it, the whole
commonalty of creation is to be separated from association with the
Holy Spirit. Let them then believe that the Holy Spirit is not a
creature; or, if they think Him a creature, why do they associate Him
with the Father? If they think Him a creature, why do they join Him
with the Son of God? But if they do not think that He should be
separated from the Father and the Son, they do not consider Him to be a
creature, for where the sanctification is one the nature is one.
CHAPTER VI.
Although we are baptized with water and the Spirit, the latter is much
superior to the former, and is not therefore to be separated from the
Father and-the Son.
76. There are, however, many who, because we are
baptized with water and the Spirit, think that there is no difference
in the offices of water and the Spirit, and therefore think that they
do not differ in nature. Nor do they observe that we are buried in the
element of water that we may rise again renewed by the Spirit. For in
the water is the representation of death, in the Spirit is the pledge
of life, that the body of sin may die through the water, which encloses
the body as it were in a kind of tomb, that we, by the power of the
Spirit, may be renewed from the death of sin, being born again in God.
77. And so these three witnesses are one, as John
said: "The water, the blood, and the Spirit."(1) One in the mystery,
not in nature. The water, then, is a witness of burial, the blood is a
witness of death, the Spirit is a witness of life. If, then, there be
any grace in the water, it is not from the nature of water, but from
the presence of the Holy Spirit.
78. Do we live in the water or in the Spirit? Are we
sealed in the water or in the Spirit. For in Him we live and He Himself
is the earnest of our inheritance, as the Apostle says, writing to the
Ephesians I "In Whom believing ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of
promise, Who is an earnest of our inheritance."(2) So we were sealed by
the Holy Spirit, not by nature, but by God, for it is written: "He Who
anointed us is God, Who also sealed us, and gave the earnest of the
Spirit in our hearts."
79. We were then sealed with the Spirit by God. For
as we die in Christ, in order to be born again, so, too, we are sealed
with the Spirit, that we may possess His brightness and image and
grace, which is undoubtedly our spiritual seal. For although we were
visibly sealed in our bodies, we are in truth sealed in our hearts,
that the Holy Spirit may portray in us the likeness of the heavenly
image.
80. Who, then, can dare to say that the Holy Spirit
is separated from the Father and the Son, since through Him we attain
to the image and likeness of God, and through Him, as the Apostle Peter
says, are partakers of the divine nature? In which there is certainly
not the inheritance of carnal succession, but the spiritual connection
of the grace of adoption. And in order that we may know that this seal
is rather on our hearts than on our bodies, the prophet says: "The
light of Thy countenance has been impressed upon us, O Lord, Thou hast
put gladness in my heart."(3)
104
CHAPTER VII.
The Holy Spirit is not a creature, seeing that He is infinite, and was
shed upon the apostles dispersed through all countries, and moreover
sanctifies the Angers also, to whom He makes us equal. Mary was full of
the same likewise, so too, Christ the Lord, and so far all things high
and low. And all benediction has its origin from His operation, as was
signified in the moving of the water at Bethesda.
81. Since then, every creature is confined within
certain limits of its own nature, and inasmuch as those invisible
operations, which cannot be circumscribed by place and bounds, yet are
closed in by the property of their own substance; how can any one dare
to call the Holy Spirit a creature, Who has not a limited and
circumscribed power? because He is always in all things and everywhere,
which assuredly is the property of Divinity and Lordship, for: "The
earth is the Lord's and the fulness thereof."(1)
81. And so, when the Lord appointed His servants the
apostles, that we might recognize that the creature was one thing and
the grace of the Spirit another, He appointed them to different places,
because all could not be everywhere at once. But He gave the Holy
Spirit to all, to shed upon the apostles though separated the gift of
indivisible grace. The persons, then, were different, but the
accomplishment of the working was in all one, because the Holy Spirit
is one of Whom it is said: "Ye shall receive power, even the Holy
Spirit coming upon you, and ye shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem
and in all Judea and Samaria, and unto the ends of the earth."(2)
82. The Holy Spirit, then, is uncircumscribed and
infinite, Who infused Himself into the minds of the disciples
throughout the separate divisions of distant regions, and the remote
bounds of the whole world, Whom nothing is able to escape or to
deceive. And therefore holy David says: "Whither shall I go from Thy
Spirit, or whither shall I flee from Thy face."(3) Of what Angel does
the Scripture say this? of what Dominion? of what Power? of what Angel
do we find the power diffused over many? For Angels were sent to few,
but the Holy Spirit was poured upon whole peoples. Who, then, can doubt
that that is divine which is shed upon many at once and is not seen;
but that that is corporeal which is seen and held by individuals?
83. But in like manner as the Spirit sanctifying the
apostles is not a partaker of human nature; so, too, He sanctifying
Angels, Dominions, and Powers, has no partnership with creatures. But
if any think that the holiness of the Angels is not spiritual, but some
other kind of grace belonging to the property of their nature, they
will forsooth judge Angels to be inferior to men. For since themselves
also confess that they would not dare to compare Angels to the Holy
Spirit, and they cannot deny that the Holy Spirit is shed upon men; but
the sanctification of the Spirit is a divine gift and favour, men who
possess a better kind of sanctification will certainly be found to be
preferred to the Angels. But since Angels come down to men to assist
them, it must be understood that the nature of Angels is higher as it
receives more of the grace of the Spirit, and that the favour awarded
to us and to them comes from the same author.
84. But how great is that grace which makes even the
lower nature of the lot of men equal to the gifts received by Angels,
as the Lord Himself promised, saying: "Ye shall be as the Angels in
heaven." Nor is it difficult, for He Who made those Angels in the
Spirit will by the same grace make men also equal to the Angels.
85. But of what creature can it be said that it
fills all things, as is written of the Holy Spirit: "I will pour My
Spirit upon all flesh."(1) This cannot be said of an Angel. Lastly,
Gabriel himself, when sent to Mary, said: "Hail, full of grace,"(2)
plainly declaring the grace of the Spirit which was in her, because the
Holy Spirit had come upon her, and she was about to have her womb full
of grace with the heavenly Word.
86. For it is of the Lord to fill all things, Who
says: "I fill heaven and earth."(3) If, then, it is the Lord Who fills
heaven and earth, Who can judge the Holy Spirit to be without a share
in the dominion and divine power, seeing that He has filled the world,
and what is beyond the whole world, filled Jesus the Redeemer of the
whole world? For it is written: "But Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit,
departed from Jordan,"(4) Who, then, except one who possessed the same
fulness could fill Him Who fills all things?
87. But test they should object that this was said
according to the flesh, though He alone from Whose flesh went forth
virtue to heal all, was more than all; yet, as the Lord fills all
things, so, too, we read of the Spirit: "For the Spirit of the Lord
filled the whole world."(5) And you find it said of all
105
who had consorted with the Apostles that, "filled with the Holy Spirit
they spoke the word of God with boldness."(1) You see that the Spirit
gives both fulness and boldness, Whose operation the archangel
announces to Mary, saying: "The Holy Spirit shall come on thee."(2)
88. You read, too, in the Gospel that the Angel
descended at the appointed time into the pool and troubled the water,
and he who first went down into the pool was made whole,(3) What did
the Angel declare in this type but the descent of the Holy Spirit,
which was to come to pass in our day, and should consecrate the waters
when invoked by the prayers of the priest? That Angel, then, was a
herald of the Holy Spirit, inasmuch as by means of the grace of the
Spirit medicine was to be applied to our infirmities of soul and mind.
The Spirit, then, has the same ministers as God the Father and Christ.
He fills all things, possesses all things, works all and in all in the
same manner as God the Father and the Son work.
89. What, then, is more divine than the working of
the Holy Spirit, since God Himself testifies that the Holy Spirit
presides over His blessings, saying: "I will put My Spirit upon thy
seed and My blessings upon thy children."(4) For no blessing can be
full except through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Wherefore, too,
the Apostle found nothing better to wish us than this, as He himself
said: "We cease not to pray and make request for you that ye may be
filled with the knowledge of His will, in all wisdom and spiritual
understanding walking worthily of God."(5) He taught, then, that this
was the will of God, that rather by walking in good works and words and
affections, we should be filled with the will of God, Who puts His Holy
Spirit in our hearts. Therefore if he who has the Holy Spirit is filled
with the will of God, there is certainly no difference of will between
the Father and the Son.
CHAPTER VIII.
The Holy Spirit is given by God alone, yet not wholly to each person,
since there is no one besides Christ capable of receiving Him wholly.
Charity is shed abroad by the Holy Spirit, Who, prefigured by the
mystical ointment, is shown to have nothing common with creatures; and
He, inasmuch as He is said to proceed from the mouth of God, must not
be classed with creatures, nor with things divisible, seeing He is
eternal.
90. Observe at the same time that God gives the Holy
Spirit. For this is no work of man, nor girl of man; but He Who is
invoked by the priest is given by God, wherein is the gift of God and
the ministry of the priest. For if the Apostle Paul judged that he was
not able to give the Holy Spirit himself by his own authority, and
considered himself so far unequal to this office that he wished us to
be filled by God with the Spirit,(1) who is sufficient to dare to
arrogate to himself the conferring of this gift? So the Apostle uttered
this wish in prayer, and
did not claim a fight by any authority of his own; he desired to
obtain, he did not presume to command. Peter, too, says that he is not
capable of compelling or restraining the Holy Spirit. For he spoke
thus: "Wherefore if God has granted them the same grace as to us, who
was I that I could resist God?"(2)
91. But perchance they would not be moved by the
example of apostles, and so let us use divine utterances; for it is
written: "Jacob is My servant, I will uphold him; Israel is My elect,
My soul hath upheld him, I put My Spirit upon him."(3) The Lord also
said by Isaiah: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath
anointed Me."(4)
92. Who, then, can dare to say that the substance of
the Holy Spirit is created, at Whose shining in our hearts we behold
the beauty of divine truth, and the distance between the creature and
the Godhead, that the work may be distinguished from its Author? Or of
what creature has God so spoken as to say: "I will pour out of My
Spirit"?(5) He said not Spirit, but "of My Spirit," for we are not able
to receive the fulness of the Holy Spirit, but we receive as much as
our Master divides to us of His own according to His will.(6) For as
the Son of God thought it not robbery that He should be equal to God,
but emptied Himself, that we might be able to receive Him in our minds;
but He emptied Himself not that He was void of His own fulness, but in
order that He, Whose fulness I could not endure, might infuse Himself
into me according to the measure of my capacity, in like manner also
the Father says that He pours out of the Spirit upon all flesh; for He
did not pour Him forth wholly, but that which He poured forth abounded
for all.
93. There was therefore a pouring out upon us of the
Spirit, but upon the Lord Jesus, when He was in the form of man, the
106
Spirit abode, as it is written: "Upon Whom thou shall see the Spirit
descending from heaven, and abiding upon Him, He it is Who baptizeth in
the Holy Spirit."(1) Around us is the liberality of the Giver in
abundant provision, in Him abides for ever the fulness of the Spirit.
He shed forth then what He deemed to be sufficient for us, and what was
shed forth is not separated nor divided; but He has a unity of fulness
wherewith He may enlighten the sight of our hearts according to what
our strength is capable of. Lastly, we receive so much as the advancing
of our mind acquires, for the fulness of the grace of the Spirit is
indivisible, but is Shared in by us according to the capacity of our
own nature.
94. God, then, sheds forth of the Spirit, and the
love of God is also shed abroad through the Spirit; in which point we
ought to recognize the unity of the operation and of the grace. For as
God shed forth of the Holy Spirit, so also "the love of God is shed
abroad in our hearts through the Holy Spirit; "(2) in order that we may
understand that the Holy Spirit is not a work, Who is the dispenser and
plenteous Fount of the divine love.
95. In like manner that you may believe that that
which is shed abroad cannot be common to the creatures but peculiar to
the Godhead, the name of the Son is also poured forth, as you read:
"Thy Name is as ointment poured forth."(3) Of which saying nothing can
surpass the force. For as ointment closed up in a vase keeps in its
perfume, so long as it is confined in the narrow space of that vase,
though it cannot reach many, it yet preserves its strength. But when
the ointment has been poured out of that vase wherein it was enclosed,
it spreads far and wide; so, too, the Name of Christ before His coming
amongst the people of Israel was enclosed in the minds of the Jews as
in some vase. For "God is known in Judah, His Name is great in
Israel;"(4) that is, the Name which the vases of the Jews held confined
in their narrow limits.
96. Even then that Name was indeed great, when it
remained in the narrow limits of the weak and few, but it had not yet
poured forth its greatness throughout the hearts of the Gentiles, and
to the ends of the whole world. But after that He by His coming had
shone throughout the whole world, He spread abroad that divine Name of
His throughout all creatures, not filled up by any addition (for
fulness admits not of increase), but filling up the empty spaces, that
His Name might be wonderful in all the world. The pouring forth, then,
of His Name signifies a kind of abundant exuberance of graces and
copiousness of heavenly goods, for whatever is poured forth flows over
from abundance.
97. So as wisdom which proceeds from the mouth of
God cannot be said to be created, nor the Word Which is uttered from
His heart, nor the power in which is the fulness of the eternal
Majesty; so, too, the Spirit which is poured forth from the mouth of
God cannot be considered to be created, since God Himself has shown
their unity to be such that He speaks of His pouring forth of His
Spirit. By which we understand that the grace of God the Father is the
same as that of the Holy Spirit, and that without an y division or loss
it is divided to the hearts of each. That, then, which is shed abroad
of the Holy Spirit is neither severed, nor comprehended in any
corporeal parts, nor divided.
98. For how can it be credible that the Spirit
should be divided. by any parcelling out? John says of God: "Hereby
know we that He abides in us by the Spirit which He hath given us. "'
But that which abides always is certainly not changed, therefore if it
suffers no change it is eternal. And so the Holy Spirit is eternal, but
the creature is liable to fault, and therefore subject to change. But
that which is subject to change cannot be eternal, and there cannot
therefore be anything in common between the Spirit and the creature,
because the Spirit is eternal, but every creature is temporal.
99. But the Apostle also shows that the Holy Spirit
is eternal, for: "If the blood of bulls and of goats, and the
sprinkling the ashes of an heifer sanctifieth to the purifying of the
flesh, how much more the blood of Christ, Who through the eternal
Spirit offered Himself without spot to God?"(2) Therefore the Spirit is
eternal.
CHAPTER IX.
The Holy Spirit is rightly called the ointment of Christ, and the oil
of gladness; and why. Christ Himself is not the ointment, since He was
anointed with the Holy Spirit. It is not strange that the Spirit should
be called Ointment, since the Father and the Son are also called
Spirit. And there is no confusion between them, since Christ alone
suffered death, Whose saving cross is then spoken of.
100. Now many have thought that the
107
Holy Spirit is the ointment of Christ, And well it is said ointment,
because He is called the oil of gladness, the joining together of many
graces giving a sweet fragrance. But God the Almighty Father anointed
Him the Prince of priests, Who was, not like others anointed in a type
under the Law, but was both according to the Law anointed in the body,
and in truth was full with the virtue of the Holy Spirit from the
Father above the Law.
101. This is the oil of gladness, of which the
prophet says: "God, even Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of
gladness above Thy fellows."(1) Lastly, Peter says that Jesus was
anointed with the Spirit, as you read: "Ye know that word which went
through all Judea beginning from Galilee after the baptism which John
preached, even Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy
Spirit."(2) The Holy Spirit is, then, the oil of gladness.
102. And well did he say oil of gladness, lest you
should think Him a creature; for it is the nature of this sort of oil
that it will by no means mingle with moisture of another kind.
Gladness, too, does not anoint the body, but brightens the inmost
heart, as the prophet said: "Thou hast put gladness in my
heart."(3) So as he loses his pains who wishes to mix oil with
moister matter, because since the nature of oil is lighter than others,
when the others settle, it rises and is separated. How do those
wretched pedlars think that the oil of gladness can by their tricks be
mingled with other creatures, since of a truth corporeal things cannot
be mingled with in corporeal, nor things created with uncreated?
102. And well is that called oil of gladness
wherewith Christ was anointed; for neither was usual nor common oil to
be sought for Him, wherewith either wounds are dressed or heat
assuaged; since the salvation of the world did not seek alleviation for
His wounds, nor the eternal might of His wearied Body demand
refreshment.
103. Nor is it wonderful if He have the oil of
gladness, Who made those about to die rejoice, put off sadness from the
world, destroyed the odour of sorrowful death. And so the Apostle says:
"For we are the good odour of Christ to God;"(4) certainly showing that
he is speaking of spiritual things. But when the Son of God Himself
says: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath anointed
Me,"(5) He points out the ointment of the Spirit. Therefore the Spirit
is the ointment of Christ.
104. Or since the Name of Jesus is as ointment
poured out, if they wish to understand Christ Himself, and not the
Spirit of Christ to be expressed under the name of ointment, certainly
when the Apostle Peter says that the Lord Jesus was anointed with the
Holy Spirit, it is without doubt plain that the Spirit also is called
ointment.
105. But what wonder, since both the Father and the
Son are said to be Spirit. Of which we shall speak more fully when we
begin to speak of the Unity of the Name. Yet since most suitable place
occurs here, that we may not seem to have passed on without a
conclusion, let them read that both the Father is called Spirit, as the
Lord said in the Gospel, "for God is Spirit;"(1) and Christ is called
Spirit, for Jeremiah said: "The Spirit before our face, Christ the
Lord."(2)
106. So, then, both the Father is Spirit and Christ
is Spirit, for that which is not a created body is spirit, but the Holy
Spirit is not commingled with the Father and the Son, but is distinct
from the Father and from the Son. For the Holy Spirit did not die, Who
could not die because He had not taken flesh upon Him, and the eternal
Godhead was incapable of dying, but Christ died according to the flesh.
107. For of a truth He died in that which He took of
the Virgin, not in that which He had of the Father, for Christ died in
that nature in which He was crucified. But the Holy Spirit could not be
crucified, Who had not flesh and bones, but the Son of God was
crucified, Who took flesh and bones, that on that cross the temptations
of our flesh might die. For He took on Him that which He was not that
He might hide that which He was; He hid that which He was that He might
be tempted in it, and that which He was not might be redeemed, in order
that He might call us by means of that which He was not to that which
He was.
108. O the divine mystery of that cross, on which
weakness hangs, might is free, vices are nailed, and triumphal trophies
raised. So that a certain saint said: "Pierce my flesh with nails for
fear of Thee;"(3) he says not with nails of iron, but of fear and
faith. For the bonds of virtue are stronger than those of punishment.
Lastly, his faith bound Peter, when he had followed the Lord as far as
the hall of the high priest, whom no one had bound,
108
and punishment loosened not him, whom faith bound. Again, when he was
bound by the Jews, prayer loosed him, punishment did not hold him,
because he had not gone back from Christ.
109. Therefore do you also crucify sin, that you may
die to sin; he who dies to sin lives to God; do you live to Him Who
spared not His own Son, that in His body He might crucify our passions.
For Christ died for us, that we might live in His revived Body.
Therefore not our life but our guilt died in Him, "Who," it is said,
"bare our sins in His own Body on the tree; that being set free from
our sins we might live in righteousness, by the wound of Whose stripes
we are healed."(1)
110. That wood of the cross is, then, as it were a
kind of ship of our salvation, our passage, not a punishment, for there
is no other salvation but the passage of eternal salvation. Whilst
expecting death I do not feel it; whilst thinking little of punishment
I do not suffer; whilst careless of fear I know it not.
111. Who, then, is He by the wound of Whose stripes
we are healed but Christ the Lord? of Whom the same Isaiah prophesied
His stripes were our healing,(2) of Whom Paul the Apostle wrote in his
epistle: "Who knew no sin, but was made sin for us."(3) This. indeed,
was divine in Him, that His Flesh did no sin, nor did the creature of
the body take in Him sin. For what wonder would it be if the Godhead
alone sinned not, seeing It had no incentives to sin? But if God alone
is free from sin, certainly every creature by its own nature can be, as
we have said, liable to sin.
CHAPTER X.
That the Spirit forgives sin is common to Him with the Father and the
Son, but not with the Angels.
112. Tell me, then, whoever you are who deny the
Godhead of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit could not be liable to sin, Who
rather forgives sin. Does an Angel forgive? Does an Archangel?
Certainly not, but the Father alone, the Son alone, and the Holy Spirit
alone. Now no one is unable to avoid that which he has power to forgive.
113. But perhaps some one will say that the Seraph
said to Isaiah: "Behold, this hath touched thy lips, and shall take
away thine iniquities, and purge away thy sins."(1) Shall take away, he
says, and shall purge, not I will take away, but that fire from the
altar of God, that is, the grace of the Spirit. For what else can we
piously understand to be on the altar of God but the grace of the
Spirit? Certainly not the wood of the forests, nor the soot and coals.
Or what is so in accordance with piety as to understand according to
the mystery that it was revealed by the mouth of Isaiah that all men
should be cleansed by the passion of Christ, Who as a coal according to
the flesh burnt up our sins, as you read in Zechariah: "Is not this a
brand cast forth from the fire? And that was Joshua clothed in filthy
garments."(2)
114. Lastly, that we may know that this mystery of
the common redemption was most clearly revealed by the prophets, you
have also in this place: "Lo, it hath taken away thy sins;"(3) not that
Christ put aside His sins Who did no sin, but that in the flesh of
Christ the whole human race should be loosed from their sins.
115. But even if the Seraph had taken away sin, it
would have been as one of the ministers of God appointed to this
mystery. For thus said Isaiah: "For one of the Seraphim was sent to
me."(4)
CHAPTER XI.
The Spirit is sent to all, and passes not from place to place, for He
is not limited either by time or space. He goes forth from the Son, as
the Son from the Father, in Whom He ever abides: and also comes to us
when we receive. He comes also after the same manner as the Father
Himself, from Whom He can by no means be separated.
116. The Spirit, also, is indeed said to be sent,
but the Seraph to one, the Spirit to all. The Seraph is sent to
minister, the Spirit works a mystery. The Seraph performs what is
commanded, the Spirit divides as He wills. The Seraph passes from place
to place, for he does not fill all things, but is himself filled by the
Spirit. The Seraph comes down with a certain mode of passage according
to his nature, but we cannot think this of the Spirit, of Whom the Son
of God says: "When the Paraclete shall come, even the Spirit of Truth,
Whom I send unto you, Who proceedeth from the Father."(5)
117. For if the Spirit proceeds from a place and
passes to a place, both the Father Himself will be found in a place,
and the
109
Son likewise. If He goes forth from a place, Whom the Father or the Son
sends, certainly the Spirit passing from a place, and making progress,
seems to leave, according to those impious interpretations, both the
Father and the Son like some material body.
118. I am saying this with reference to those who
say that the Spirit comes down by movement. But neither the Father, Who
is above all not only of corporeal nature, but also of the invisible
creation, is circumscribed in any place; nor is the Son, Who, as the
Worker of all creation, is above every creature, enclosed by the places
or times of His own works; nor is the Spirit of Truth as being the
Spirit of God, circumscribed by any corporeal limits, Who since He is
incorporeal is far above the whole rational creation through the
ineffable fulness of His Godhead, having over all things the power of
breathing where He wills, and of inspiring as He wills.[1]
119. The Spirit is not, then, sent as it were from a
place, nor does He proceed as from a place, when He proceeds from the
Son, as the Son Himself, when He says, "I came forth from the Father,
and am come into the world,"[2] destroys all fancies, which can be
reckoned as from place to place. In like manner, also, when we read
that God is within or without, we certainly do not either enclose God
within anybody or separate Him from anybody, but weighing these things
in a deep and ineffable estimation, we comprehend the hiddenness of the
divine nature.
120. Lastly, Wisdom so says that she came forth from
the mouth of the Most High,[3] as not to be external to the Father, but
with the Father; for "the Word was with God;"[4] and not only with God
but also in God; for He says: "I am in the Father and the Father is in
Me."[5] But neither when He goes forth from the Father does He retire
from a place, nor is He separated as a body from a body; nor when He is
in the Father is He as if a body enclosed as it were in a body. The
Holy Spirit also, when He proceeds from the Father and the Son, is not
separated from the Father nor separated from the Son. For how could He
be separated from the Father Who is the Spirit of His mouth? Which is
certainly both a proof of His eternity, and expresses the Unity of this
Godhead.
121. He exists then, and abides always, Who is the
Spirit of His mouth, but He seems to come down when we receive Him,
that He may dwell in us, that we may not be alien from His grace. To us
He seems to come down, not that He does come down, but that our mind
ascends to Him. Of which we would speak more fully did we not remember
that in the former treatise[1] there was set forth that the Father
said: "Let us go down and confound their language,"[2] and that the Son
said: "He that loveth Me will keep My saying, and My Father will love
him, and We will come to Him and make Our abode with Him."[3]
122. The Spirit, then, so comes as does the Father,
for where the Father is there is also the Son, and where the Son is
there is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit, therefore, is not to be
supposed to come separately. But He comes not from place to place, but
from the disposition of the order to the safety of redemption, from the
grace of giving life to that of sanctification, to translate us from
earth to heaven, from wretchedness to glory, from slavery to a kingdom.
123. The Spirit comes, then, as the Father comes.
For the Son said, "I and the Father will come, and will make Our abode
with Him."[4] Does the Father come in a bodily fashion? Thus, then,
comes the Spirit in Whom, when He comes, is the full presence of the
Father and the Son.
124. But who can separate the Spirit from the Father
and the Son, since we cannot even name the Father and the Son without
the Spirit? "For no one saith Lord Jesus, except in the Holy
Spirit?"[5] If, then, we cannot call Jesus Lord except in the Holy
Spirit, we certainly cannot proclaim Him without the Spirit. But if the
Angels also proclaim Jesus to be Lord, Whom no one can proclaim except
in the Spirit, then in them also the office of the Holy Spirit operates.
125. We have proved, then, that the presence and the
grace of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are one, which is so
heavenly and divine that the Son gives thanks therefore to the Father,
saying, "I give thanks to Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
because Thou hast hidden these things from the wise and prudent, and
hast revealed them unto babes."[6]
110
CHAPTER XII.
The peace and grace of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are
one, so also is Their charity one, which showed itself chiefly in the
redemption of man. Their communion with man is also one.
126. Therefore since the calling is one, the grace
is also one. Lastly, it is written: "Grace unto you and peace from God
our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ."[1] You see, then, that we
are told that the grace of the Father and the Son is one, and the peace
of the Father and the Son is one, but this grace and peace is the fruit
of the Spirit, as the Apostle taught us himself, saying: "But the fruit
of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience."[2] And peace is good and
necessary that no one be troubled with doubtful disputations, nor be
shaken by the storm of bodily passions, but that his affections may
remain quietly disposed as to the worship of God, with simplicity of
faith and tranquillity of mind.
127. As to peace we have proved the point; but as to
grace the prophet Zechariah says, that God promised to pour upon
Jerusalem the spirit of grace and mercy,[3] and the Apostle Peter says:
"Repent and be baptized every one of you in the Name of the Lord Jesus
Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the grace of the
Holy Spirit."[4] So grace comes also of the Holy Spirit as of the
Father and the Son. For how can there be grace without the Spirit,
since all divine grace is in the Spirit?
128. Nor do we read only of the peace and grace of
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, but also, faithful Emperor,
of the love and communion. For of love it has been said: "The grace of
our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God."[5] We have heard of
the love of the Father. The same love which is the Father's is also the
Son's. For He Himself said: "He that loveth Me shall be loved of My
Father, and I will love him,"[6] And what is the love of the Son, but
that He offered Himself for us, and redeemed us with His own blood.[7]
But the same love is in the Father, for it is written: "God so loved
the world, that He gave His Only-begotten Son." s
129. So, then, the Father gave the Son, and the Son
gave Himself. Love is preserved and due affection is not wronged, for
affection is not wronged where there is no distress in the giving up.
He gave one Who was willing, He gave One Who offered Himself, the
Father did not give the Son to punishment but to grace. If you enquire
into the merit of the deed, enquire into the description of the
affection. The vessel of election shows plainly the unity of this
divine love, because both the Father gave the Son and the Son gave
Himself. The Father gave, Who "spared not His own Son, but gave Him up
for us all."[1] And of the Son he also says: "Who gave Himself for
me."[2] "Gave Himself," he says. If it be of grace, what do I find
fault with. If it be that He suffered wrong, I owe the more.
130. But learn that in like manner as the Father
gave the Son, and the Son gave Himself, so, too, the Holy Spirit gave
Him. For it is written: "Then was Jesus led by the Spirit into the
wilderness to be tempted by the devil."[3] So, too, the loving Spirit
gave the Son of God. For as the love of the Father and the Son is one,
so, too, we have shown that this love of God is shed abroad by the Holy
Spirit, and is the fruit of the Holy Spirit, because "the fruit of the
Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience."[4]
131. And that there is communion between the Father
and the Son is plain, for it is written: "And our communion is with the
Father and with His Son Jesus Christ."[5] And in another place: "The
communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all."[6] If, then, the peace
of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit is one, the grace one, the
love one, and the communion one, the working is certainly one, and
where the working is one, certainly the power cannot be divided nor the
substance separated. For, if so, how could the grace of the same
working agree ?
CHAPTER XIII.
St. Ambrose shows from the Scriptures that the Name of the Three Divine
Persons is one, and first the unity of the Name of the Son and of the
Holy Spirit, inasmuch as each is called Paraclete and Truth.
132. Who, then, would dare to deny the oneness of
Name, when he sees the oneness of the working. But why should I
maintain the unity of the Name by arguments, when there is the plain
testimony of the Divine Voice that the Name of the Father, the Son, and
the Holy Spirit is one ? For it is written: "Go, baptize all nations in
the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of
111
the Holy Spirit."[1] He said, "in the Name," not "in the Names." So,
then, the Name of the Father is not one, that of the Son another, and
that of the Holy Spirit another, for God is one; the Names are not more
than one, for there are not two Gods, or three Gods.
132. And that He might reveal that the Godhead is
one and the Majesty one, because the Name of the Father, the Son, and
the Holy Spirit is one, and the Son did not come in one Name and the
Holy Spirit in another, the Lord Himself said: "I am come in My
Father's Name, and ye did not receive Me, if another shall come in his
own name ye will receive him."[2]
133. And Scripture makes clear that that which is
the Father's Name, the same is also that of the Son, for the Lord said
in Exodus: "I will go before thee in My Name, and will call by My Name
the Lord before thee."[3] So, then, the Lord said that He would call
the Lord by His Name. The Lord, then, is the Name of the Father and of
the Son.
134. But since the Name of the Father and of the Son
is one, learn that the same is the Name of the Holy Spirit also, since
the Holy Spirit came in the Name of the Son, as it is written: "But the
Paraclete, even the Holy Spirit, Whom the Father will send in My Name,
He shall teach you all things.". But He Who came in the Name of the Son
came also certainly in the Name of the Father, for the Name of the
Father and of the Son is one. Thus it comes to pass that the Name of
the Father and of the Son is also that of the Holy Spirit. For there is
no other Name given under heaven wherein we must be saved.[5]
155. At the same time He showed that the oneness of
the Divine Name must be taught, not the difference, since Christ came
in the oneness of the Name, but Antichrist will come in his own name,
as it is written: "I am come in My Father's Name, and ye did not
receive Me, if another shall come in his own name, ye will receive
him."[6]
156. We are, then, clearly taught by these passages
that there is no difference of Name in the Father, the Son, and the
Holy Spirit; and that that which is the Name of the Father is also the
Name of the Son, and likewise that which is the Name of the Son is also
that of the Holy Spirit, when the Son also is called Paraclete, as is
the Holy Spirit. And therefore does the Lord Jesus say in the Gospel:
"I will ask My Father, and He shall give you another Paraclete, to be
with you for ever, even the Spirit of Truth."[1] And He said well
"another," that you might not suppose that the Son is also the Spirit,
for oneness is of the Name, not a Sabellian confusion of the Son and of
the Spirit.[2]
157. So, then, the Son is one Paraclete, the Holy
Spirit another Paraclete; for John called the Son a Paraclete, as you
find: "If any man sin, we have a Paraclete [Advocate] with the Father,
Jesus Christ."[3] So in like manner as there is a oneness of name, so,
too, is there a oneness of power, for where the Paraclete Spirit is,
there is also the Son.
158. For as the Lord says in this place that the
Spirit will be forever with the faithful, so, too, does He elsewhere
show that He will Himself be forever with the apostles, saying: "Lo, I
am with you always, even to the end of the world."[4] Therefore the Son
and the Spirit are one, the Name of the Trinity is one, and the
Presence one and indivisible.
159. But as we show that the Son is called the
Paraclete, so, too, do we show that the Spirit is called the Truth.
Christ is the Truth, the Spirit is the Truth, for you find in John's
epistle: "For the Spirit is Truth."[5] Not only, then, is the Spirit
called the Spirit of Truth. but also the Truth, as the Son is also
declared to be the Truth, Who says: "I am the Way, the Truth, and the
Life."[6]
CHAPTER XlV.
Each Person of the Trinity is said in the sacred writings to be Light.
The Spirit is designated Fire by Isaiah, a figure of which Fire was
seen in the bush by Moses, in the tongues of fire, and in Gideon's
pitchers. And the Godhead of the same Spirit cannot be denied, since
His operation is the same as that of the Father and of the Son, and He
is also called the light and fire of the Lord's countenance.
160. But why should I argue that as the Father is
light, so, too, the Son is light, and the Holy Spirit is light? Which
certainly pertains to the power of God. For God is Light, as John said:
"For God is Light, and in Him is no darkness."[7]
161. But the Son, too, is Light, because
112
"the Life was the Light of men."[1] And the Evangelist, that he might
show that he was speaking of the Son of God, says of John the Baptist:
"He was not light, but [was sent] to be a witness of the Light. That
was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into this
world." 2 So, then, since God is Light, and the Son of God the true
Light, without doubt the Son of God is true God.
162. And you find elsewhere that the Son of God is
Light: "The people that sat in darkness and in the shadow of death have
seen a great Light."[3] But, which is still more clear, it is said:
"For with Thee is the fount of Life, and in Thy light we shall see
light,"[4] which means that with Thee, O God the Father Almighty, Who
art the Fount of Life, in Thy Son Who is the Light, we shall see the
light of the Holy Spirit. As the Lord Himself shows, saying: "Receive
ye the Holy Spirit,"[5] and elsewhere: "Virtue went out from Him."[6]
163. But who can doubt that the Father is Light,
when we read of His Son that He is the Brightness of eternal Light? For
of Whom but of the Father is the Son the Brightness, Who both is always
with the Father, and always shines, not with unlike but with the same
radiance.
164. And Isaiah shows that the Holy Spirit is not
only Light but also Fire, saying: "And the light of Israel shall be for
a fire."[7] So the prophets called Him a burning Fire, because in those
three points we see more intensely the majesty of the Godhead; since to
sanctify is of the Godhead, to illuminate is the property of fire and
light, and the Godhead is wont to be pointed out or seen in the
appearance of fire: "For our God is a consuming Fire," as Moses said.[8]
165. For he himself saw the fire in the bush, and
had heard God when the voice from the flame of fire came to him saying:
"I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of
Jacob."[9] The voice came from the fire, and the voice was in the bush,
and the fire did no harm. For the bush was burning but was not
consumed, because in that mystery the Lord was showing that He would
come to illuminate the thorns of our body, and not to consume those who
were in misery, but to alleviate their misery; Who would baptize with
the Holy Spirit and with fire, that He might give grace and destroy
sin.[10] So in the symbol of fire God keeps His intention.
166. In the Acts of the Apostles, also, when the
Holy Spirit had descended upon the faithful, the appearance of fire was
seen, for you read thus: "And suddenly there was a sound from heaven,
as though the Spirit were borne with great vehemence, and it filled all
the house where they were sitting, and there appeared unto them cloven
tongues like as of fire."[1]
167. For the same reason was it that when Gideon was
about to overcome the Midianites, he commanded three hundred men to
take pitchers, and to hold lighted torches inside the pitchers, and
trumpets in their right hands. Our predecessors have preserved the
explanation received from the apostles, that the pitchers are our
bodies, fashioned of clay, which know not fear if they burn with the
fervour of the grace of the Spirit, and bear witness to the passion of
the Lord Jesus with a loud confession of the Voice.
168. Who, then, can doubt of the Godhead of the Holy
Spirit, since where the grace of the Spirit is, there the manifestation
of the Godhead appears. By which evidence we infer not a diversity but
the unity of the divine power. For how can there be a severance of
power, where the effect of the working in all is one?
169. What, then, is that fire? Not certainly one
made up of common twigs, or roaring with the burning of the reeds of
the woods, but that fire which improves good deeds like gold, and
consumes sins like stubble. This is undoubtedly the Holy Spirit, Who is
called both the fire and light of the countenance of God; light as we
said above: "The light of Thy countenance has been sealed upon us, O
Lord."[2] What is, then, the light that is sealed, but that of the seal
of the Spirit, believing in Whom, "ye were sealed," he says, "with the
Holy Spirit of promise."[3]
170. And as there is a light of the divine
countenance, so, too, does fire shine forth from the countenance of
God, for it is written: "A fire shall burn in His sight."[4] For the
grace of the day of judgment shines beforehand, that forgiveness may
follow to reward the service of the saints. O the great fulness of the
Scriptures, which no one can comprehend with human genius! O greatest
proof of the Divine Unity For how many things are pointed out in these
two verses !
113
CHAPTER XV.
The Holy Spirit is Life equally with the Father and the Son, in truth
whether the Father be mentioned, with Whom is the Fount of Life, or the
Son, that Fount can be none other than the Holy Spirit.
171. We have said that the Father is Light, the Son
is Light, and the Holy Spirit is Light; let us also learn that the
Father is Life, the Son Life, and the Holy Spirit Life. For John said:
"That which was from the beginning, that which we have heard, and which
we have seen, and have beheld with our eyes, and our hands have handled
concerning the Word of Life; and the Life appeared, and we saw and
testify, and declare to you of that Life which was with the Father."[1]
He said both Word of Life and Life that he might signify both the
Father and the Son to be Life. For what is the Word of Life but the
Word of God? And by this phrase both God and the Word of God are shown
to be Life. And as it is said the Word of Life, so, too, the Spirit of
Life. Therefore, as the Word of Life is Life, so, too, the Spirit of
Life is Life.
172. Learn now that as the Father is the Fount of
Life, so, too, many have stated that the Son is signified as the Fount
of Life;[2] so that, he says, with Thee, Almighty God, Thy Son is the
Fount of Life. That is the Fount of the Holy Spirit,[3] for the Spirit
is Life, as the Lord says: "The words which I speak unto you are Spirit
and Life,"[4] for where the Spirit is, there also is Life; and where
Life is, is also the Holy Spirit.
173. Many, however, consider that in this passage
the Father only is signified by the Fount. Let them, however, notice
what the Scripture relates: "With Thee is the Well of Life." That is,
the Son is with the Father; since the Word was with God, Who was in the
beginning, and was with God.
174. But whether in this place one understands the
Fount to be the Father or the Son, we certainly do not understand a
fount of that water which is created, but the Fount of that divine
grace, that is, of the Holy Spirit, for He is the living water.
Wherefore the Lord said: "If thou knowest the gift of God, and Who He
is that saith to thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldst have asked Him,
and He would have given thee living water."[5]
175. This was the water for which the soul of David
thirsted. The hart desires the fountain of these waters,[1] not
thirsting for the poison of serpents. For the water of the grace of the
Spirit is living, that it may purify the inner parts of the mind, and
wash away every sin of the soul, and purify the transgression of hidden
faults.
CHAPTER XVI.
The Holy Spirit is that large river by which the mystical Jerusalem is
watered. It is equal to its Fount, that is, the Father and the Son, as
is signified in holy Scripture. St. Ambrose himself thirsts for that
water, and warns us that in order to preserve it within us, we must
avoid the devil, lust, and heresy, since our vessels are frail, and
that broken cisterns must be forsaken, that after the example of the
Samaritan woman and of the patriarchs we may find the water of the Lord.
176. But lest perchance any one should speak against
as it were the littleness of the Spirit, and from this should endeavour
to establish a difference in greatness, arguing that water seems to be
but a small part of a Fount, although examples taken from creatures
seem by no means suitable for application to the Godhead; yet lest they
should judge anything injuriously from this comparison taken from
creatures, let them learn that not only is the Holy Spirit called
Water, but also a River, as we read: "From his belly shall flow rivers
of living water. But this He said of the Spirit, Whom they were
beginning to receive, who were about to believe in Him."[2]
177. So, then, the Holy Spirit is the River, and the
abundant River, which according to the Hebrews flowed from Jesus in the
lands, as we have received it prophesied by the mouth of Isaiah.[3]
This is the great River which flows always and never fails. And not
only a river, but also one of copious stream and overflowing greatness,
as also David said: "The stream of the river makes glad the city of
God."[4]
178. For neither is that city, the heavenly
Jerusalem, watered by the channel of any earthly river, but that Holy
Spirit, proceeding from the Fount of Life, by a short draught of Whom
we are satiated, seems to flow more abundantly among those celestial
Thrones, Dominions and Powers, Angels and Archangels, rushing in the
full course of the seven virtues of the Spirit. For if a river rising
above its banks overflows, how much more
114
does the Spirit, rising above every creature, when He touches the as it
were low-lying fields of our minds, make glad that heavenly nature of
the creatures with the larger fertility of His sanctification.
179, And let it not trouble you that either here it
is said "rivers,"[1] or elsewhere "seven Spirits,"[2] for by the
sanctification of these seven gifts of the Spirit, as Isaiah said,[3]
is signified the fulness of all virtue; the Spirit of wisdom and
understanding, the Spirit of counsel and strength, the Spirit of
knowledge and godliness, and the Spirit of the fear of God. One, then,
is the River, but many the channels of the girls of the Spirit. This
River, then, goes forth from the Fount of Life.
180. And here, again, you must not turn aside your
thoughts to lower things, because there seems to be some difference
between a Fount and a River, and yet the divine Scripture has provided
that the weakness of human understanding should not be injured by the
lowliness of the language. Set before yourself any river, it springs
from its fount, but is of one nature, of one brightness and beauty. And
do you assert rightly that the Holy Spirit is of one substance,
brightness, and glory with the Son of God and with God the Father. I
will sum up all in the oneness of the qualities, and shall not be
afraid of any question as to difference of greatness. For in this point
also Scripture has provided for us; for the Son of God says: "He that
shall drink of the water which I will give him, it shall become in him
a well of water springing up unto everlasting life."[4] This well is
clearly the grace of the Spirit, a stream proceeding from the living
Fount. The Holy Spirit, then, is also the Fount of eternal life.
181. You observe, then, from His words that the
unity of the divine greatness is pointed out, and that Christ cannot be
denied to be a Fount even by heretics, since the Spirit, too, is called
a Fount. And as the Spirit is called a river, so, too, the Father said:
"Behold, I come down upon you like a river of peace, and like a stream
overflowing the glory of the Gentiles."[5] And who can doubt that the
Son of God is the River of life, from Whom the streams of eternal life
flowed forth?
182. Good, then, is this water, even the grace of
the Spirit. Who will give this Fount to my breast? Let it spring up in
me, let that which gives eternal life flow upon me. Let that Fount
overflow upon us, and not flow away. For Wisdom says: "Drink water out
of thine own vessels, and from the founts of thine own wells, and let
thy waters flow abroad in thy streets."[1] How shall I keep this water
that it flow not forth, that it glide not away? How shall I preserve my
vessel, lest any crack of sin penetrating it, should let the water of
eternal life exude? Teach us, Lord Jesus, teach us as Thou didst teach
Thine apostles, saying: "Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the
earth, where rust and moth destroy, and where thieves break through and
steal."[2]
182. For He intimates that the thief is the unclean
spirit, who cannot find entrance into those who walk in the light of
good works, but if he has caught any one in the darkness of earthly
desires, and in the midst of the enjoyment of earthly pleasures, he
spoils them of all the flower of eternal virtue. And therefore the Lord
says: "Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither rust
nor moth destroy, and where thieves do not break through and steal. For
where thy treasure is, there will thy heart be also."
183. Our rust is wantonness, our rust is lust, our
rust is luxury, which dim the keen vision of the mind with the filth of
vices. Again, our moth is Arius, our moth is Photinus, who rend the
holy vesture of the Church with their impiety, and desiring to separate
the indivisible unity of the divine power, gnaw the precious veil of
faith with sacrilegious tooth. The water is spilt if Arius has
imprinted his tooth, it flows away if Photinus has planted his sting in
any one's vessel. We are but of common clay, we quickly feel vices. But
no one says to the potter, "Why hast Thou made me thus?"[3] For though
our vessel be but common, yet one is in honour, another in
dishonour.[4] Do not then lay open thy pool, dig not with vices and
crimes, lest any one say: "He hath opened a pool and digged it, and is
fallen into the pit which he made."[5]
184. If you seek Jesus, forsake the broken cisterns,
for Christ was wont to sit not by a pool but by a well. There that
Samaritan roman[6] found Him, she who believed, she who wished to draw
water. Although you ought to have come in early morning, nevertheless
if you come later, even at the sixth hour, you will find Jesus wearied
with His journey. He is weary, but it is through thee, because He has
long sought thee, thy
115
unbelief has long wearied Him. Yet He is not offended if thou only
comest, He asks to drink Who is about to give. But He drinks not the
water of a stream flowing by, but thy salvation; He drinks thy good
dispositions, He drinks the cup, that is, the Passion which stoned for
thy sins, that thou drinking of His sacred blood mightest quench the
thirst of this world.
185. So Abraham gained God after he had dug the
well.[1] So Isaac, while walking by the well, received that wife[2] who
was coming to him as a type of the Church. Faithful he was at the well,
unfaithful at the pool. Lastly, too, Rebecca, as we read, found him who
sought her at the well, and the harlots washed themselves in the blood
in the pool of Jezebel.[3]
BOOK II.
INTRODUCTION.
The Three Persons of the Godhead were not unknown to the judges of old
nor to Moses, for the equality of the Son with the Father, as well as
of the Three Persons amongst Themselves, is laid down both elsewhere
and by him. Samson also enjoyed the assistance of the Holy Spirit, his
history is touched upon and shown to be in some points typical of the
Church and her mysteries. When the Holy Spirit left Samson he fell into
various calamities, and St. Ambrose explains the spiritual significance
of his shorn locks.
I. Even in reading the first book of the ancient
history it is made clear both that the sevenfold grace of the Spirit
shone forth in the judges themselves of the Jews, and that the
mysteries of the heavenly sacraments were made known by the Spirit, of
Whose eternity Moses was not ignorant. Then, too, at the very beginning
of the world, and indeed before its beginning, he conjoined Him with
God, Whom he knew to be eternal before the beginning of the world. For
if any one takes good heed he will recognize in the beginning both the
Father, the Son, and the Spirit. For of the Father it is written: "In
the beginning God created the heaven and the earth."[1] Of the Spirit
it is said: "The Spirit was borne upon the waters.''[2] And well in the
beginning of creation is there set forth the figure of baptism whereby
the creature had to be purified. And of the Son we read that He it is
Who divided light from darkness, for there is one God the Father Who
speaks, and one God the Son Who acts.
2. But, again, that you may not think that there was
assumption in the bidding of Him Who spoke, or inferiority on the part
of Him Who carried out the bidding, the Father' acknowledges the Son as
equal to Himself in the execution of the work, saying: "Let Us make man
after Our image and likeness."[4] For the common image and the working
and the likeness can signify nothing but the oneness of the same
Majesty.
3. But that we may more fully recognize the equality
of the Father and the Son, as the Father spoke, the Son made, so, too,
the Father works and the Son speaks. The Father works, as it is
written: "My Father worketh hitherto."[5] You find it said to the Son:
"Say the word and he shall be healed."[6] And the Son says to the
Father: "I will that where I am, they too shall be with Me."[7] The
Father did what the Son said.
4. But neither was Abraham ignorant of the Holy
Spirit; he saw Three and worshipped One, for there is one God, one
Lord, and one Spirit. And so there is a oneness of honour, because
there is a oneness of power.
5. And why should i speak of all one by one ?
Samson, born by the divine promise, had the Spirit accompanying him,
for we read: "The Lord blessed him, and the Spirit of the Lord began to
be with him in the camp." s And so foreshadowing the future mystery, he
demanded a wife of the aliens, which, as it is written, his father and
mother knew not of, because it was from the Lord. And rightly was he
esteemed stronger than others, because the Spirit of the Lord guided
him, under Whose guidance he alone put to flight the people of the
aliens, and at another time inaccessible to the bite of the lion, he,
unconquerable in his strength, tore him asunder with his hands. Would
that he had been as careful to preserve grace, as strong to overcome
the beast!
116
6. And perhaps this was not only a prodigy of
valour, but also a mystery of wisdom, an utterance of prophecy. For it
does not seem to have been without a purpose that, as he was going to
his marriage, a roaring lion met him, which he tore asunder with his
hands, in whose body, when about to enjoy the wished-for wedlock, he
found a swarm of bees, and took honey from its mouth, which he gave to
his father and mother to eat. The people of the Gentiles which believed
had honey, the people which was before savage is now the people of
Christ.
7. Nor is the riddle without mystery, which he set
forth to his companions: "Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of
the strong came forth sweetness."[1] And there was a mystery up to the
point of the three days in which its answer was sought in vain, which
could not be made known except by the faith of the Church, on the
seventh day, the time of the Law being completed, after the Passion of
the Lord. For thus you find that the apostles did not understand,
"because Jesus was not yet glorified."[2]
8. "What," answer they, "is sweeter than honey, and
what is stronger than a lion?" To which he replied: "If ye had not
farmed with my heifer, you would not have found out my riddle."[3] O
divine mystery! O manifest sacrament! we have escaped from the slayer,
we have overcome the strong one. The food of life is now there, where
before was the hunger of a miserable death. Dangers are changed into
safety, bitterness into sweetness. Grace came forth from the offence,
power from weakness, and life from death.
9. There are, however, who think on the other hand
that the wedlock could not have been established unless the lion of the
tribe of Judah had been slain; and so in His body, that is, the Church,
bees were found who store up the honey of wisdom, because after the
Passion of the Lord the apostles believed more fully. This lion, then,
Samson as a Jew slew, but in it he found honey, as in the figure of the
heritage which was to be redeemed, that the remnant might be saved
according to the election of grace.[4]
10. "And the Spirit of the Lord," it is said, "came
upon him, and he went down to Ascalon, and smote thirty men of
them."[5] For he could not fail to carry off the victory who saw the
mysteries. And so in the garments they receive the reward of wisdom,
the badge of intercourse, who resolve and answer the riddle.
11. Here, again, other mysteries come up, in that
his wife is taken away, and for this foxes set fire to the sheaves of
the aliens. For their own cunning often deceives those who contend
against divine mysteries. Wherefore it is said again in the Song of
Songs: "Take us the little foxes which destroy the vineyards, that our
vineyards may flourish."[1] He said well "little," because the larger
could not destroy the vineyards, though to the strong even the devil is
weak.
12. So, then, he (to sum up the story briefly, for
the consideration of the whole passage is reserved for its own season)
was unconquered so long as he kept the grace of the Spirit, as was the
people of God chosen by the Lord, that Nazarite under the Law. Samson,
then, was unconquered, and so invincible as to be able to smite a
thousand men with the jawbone of an ass;[2] so full of heavenly grace
that when thirsty he found even water in the jawbone of an ass, whether
you consider this as a miracle, or turn it to a mystery, because in the
humility of the people of the Gentiles there would be both rest and
triumph according to that which is written: "He that smiteth thee on
the cheek, turn to him also the other."[3] For by this endurance of
injuries, which the sacrament of baptism teaches, we triumph over the
stings of auger, that having passed through death we may attain to the
rest of the resurrection.
13. Is that, then, Samson who broke ropes twisted
with thongs, and new cords like weak threads? Is that Samson who did
not feel the bonds of his hair fastened to the beam, so long as he had
the grace of the Spirit? He, I say, after the Spirit of God departed
from him, was greatly changed from that Samson Who returned clothed in
the spoils of the aliens, but fallen from his greatness on the knees of
a woman, caressed and deceived, is shorn of his hair.[4]
14. Was, then, the hair of his head of such
importance that, so long as it remained, his strength should endure
unconquered, but when his head was shorn the man should suddenly lose
all his strength? It is not so, nor may we think that the hair of his
head has such power. There is the hair of religion and faith; the hair
of the Nazarite
117
perfect in the Law, consecrated in sparingness and abstinence, with
which she (a type of the Church), who poured ointment on the feet of
the Lord, wiped the feet of the heavenly Word, for then she knew Christ
also after the flesh. That hair it is of which it is said: "Thy hair is
as flocks of goats,"[1] growing on that head of which it is said: "The
head of the man is Christ,"[2] and in another place: "His head is as
fine gold, and his locks like black pine-trees."[3]
15. And so, also, in the Gospel our Lord, pointing
out that some hairs are seen and known, says: "But even the hairs of
your head are all numbered,"[4] implying, indeed, acts of spiritual
virtues, for God does not take care for our hair. Though, indeed, it is
not absurd to believe that literally, seeing that according to His
divine Majesty nothing can be hidden from Him.
16. But what does it profit me, if God Himself knows
all my hairs ? That rather abounds and profits me, if the watchful
witness of good works reward me with the gift of eternal life. And, in
fine, Samson himself, declaring that these hairs are not mystical,
says: "If I be shorn my strength will depart from me."[5] So much
concerning the mystery, let us now consider the order of the passage.
CHAffER I.
The Spirit is the Lord and Power; and in this is not inferior to the
Father and the Son.
17. Above, you read that "the Lord blessed him, and
the Spirit of the Lord began to go with him."[6] Farther on it is said:
"And the Spirit of the Lord came upon him."[7] Again he says: "If I be
shaven, my strength will depart from me."[8] After he was shaven, see
what the Scripture says: "The Lord," he says, "departed from him."[9]
18. You see, then, that He Who went with him,
Himself departed from him. The Same is, then, the Lord, Who is the
Spirit of the Lord, that is, he called the Spirit of God,
Lord, as also the Apostle says: "The Lord is the Spirit, now where the
Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." You find, then, the Holy
Spirit called the Lord; for the Holy Spirit and the Son are not one
Person [unus] but one Substance [unum].
19. In this place he used the word Power, and implied the
Spirit. For as the Father is Power, so, too, the Son is Power, and the
Holy Spirit is Power. Of the Son you have read that Christ is "the
Power of God and the Wisdom of God."[1] We read, too, that the Father
is Power, as it is written: "Ye shall see the Son of Man sitting at the
right hand of the Power of God." + He certainly named the Father Power,
at Whose right hand the Son sits, as you read: "The Lord said unto My
Lord, Sit Thou on My right hand." @ And the Lord Himself named the Holy
Spirit Power, when He said: "Ye shall receive Power when the Holy
Spirit cometh upon you."[4]
CHAPTER II.
The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are One in
counsel.
20. For the Spirit Himself is Power, as you read:
"The Spirit of Counsel and of Power (or might)." s And as the Son is
the Angel of great counsel, so, too, is the Holy Spirit the Spirit of
Counsel, that you may know that the Counsel of the Father, the Son, and
the Holy Spirit is One. Counsel, not concerning any doubtful matters,
but concerning those foreknown and determined.
21. But that the Spirit is the Arbiter of the Divine
Counsel, you may know even from this. For when above 6 we showed that
the Holy Spirit was the Lord of baptism, and read that baptism is the
counsel of God, as you read, "But the Pharisees despised the counsel of
God, not being baptized of Him," 7 it is quite clear that as there can
be no baptism without the Spirit, so, too, the counsel of God is not
without the Spirit.
22. And that we may know more completely that the
Spirit is Power, we ought to know that He was promised when the Lord
said: "I will pour out of ivy Spirit upon all flesh."[8] He, then, Who
was promised to us is Himself Power, as in the Gospel the same Son of
God declared when He said: "And I will send the promise of the Father
upon you, but do you remain in the city until ye be endued with power
from on high."[9]
23. And the Evangelist so far shows that the Spirit
is Power, that St. Luke relates that He came down with great power,
when he says: "And suddenly there was a sound from heaven, as though
the Spirit were borne with great power."[10]
118
24. But, again, that you may not suppose that this
is to be referred to bodily things and perceptible to the senses, learn
that the Spirit so descended as Christ is to descend, as you find:
"They shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power
and majesty."[1]
25. For how should not the power and might be one,
when the work. is one, the judgment one, the temple one, the
life-giving one, the sanctification one, and the kingdom also of the
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit one?
CHAPTER III.
As to know the Father and the Son is life, so is it life to know the
Holy Spirit; and therefore in the Godhead He is not to be separated
from the Father.
26. LET them say, then, wherein they think that
there is an unlikeness in the divine operation. Since as to know the
Father and the Son is life, as the Lord Himself declared, saying: "This
is life eternal to know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, Whom
Thou hast sent,"[2] so, too, to know the Holy Spirit is life. For the
Lord said: "If ye love Me, keep My commandments, and I will ask the
Father and He shall give you another Paraclete, that He may abide with
you for ever, even the Spirit of Truth, Whom the world cannot receive,
because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him, but ye know Him, for He
is with you, and in you."[3]
27. So, then, the world had not eternal life,
because it had not received the Spirit; for where the Spirit is, there
is eternal life; for the Spirit Himself it is Who effects eternal life.
Wherefore I wonder why the Arians stir the question as to the only true
God. For as it is eternal life to know the only true God, so, too, is
it eternal life to know Jesus Christ; so, again, it is eternal life to
know the Holy Spirit, Whom, as also the Father, the world does not see,
and, as also the Son, does not know. But he who is not of this world
has eternal life, and the Spirit, Who is the Light of eternal life,
remains with him for ever.
28. If the knowledge of the only true God confers
the same benefit as the knowledge of the Son and of the Spirit, why do
you sever the Son and the Spirit from the honour of the true God, when
you do not sever Him from conferring the benefit? For of necessity you
must either believe that this is the greatest gift of the only true
Godhead, and will confess the only true Godhead as of the Father, so
also of the Son and of the Holy Spirit; or if you say that he, too, can
give life eternal who is not true God, it will happen that you derogate
rather from the Father, Whose work you do not consider to be the chief
work of the only true Godhead, but one to be compared to the work of a
creature.
CHAPTER IV.
The Holy Spirit gives life, not in a different way from the Father and
the Son, nor by a different working.
29. And what wonder is it the Spirit works Life, Who
quickens as does the Father and as does the Son? And who can deny that
quickening is the work of the Eternal Majesty? For it is written:
"Quicken Thy servant."[1] He, then, is quickened who is a servant, that
is, man, who before had not life, but received the privilege of having
it.
30. Let us then see whether the Spirit is quickened,
or Himself quickens. Now it is written: "The letter killeth, but the
Spirit giveth life."[2] So, then, the Spirit quickens.
31. But that you may understand that the quickening
of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is no separate work, read how there
is a oneness of quickening also, since God Himself quickens through the
Spirit, for Paul said: "He Who raised up Christ from the dead shall
also quicken your mortal bodies because of His Spirit Who dwelleth in
you."[3]
CHAPTER V.
The Holy Spirit, as well as the Father and the Son, is pointed out in
holy Scripture as Creator, and the same truth was shadowed forth even
by heathen writers, but it was shown most plainly in the Mystery of the
Incarnation, after touching upon which, the writer maintains his
argument from the fact that worship which is due to the Creator alone
is paid to the Holy Spirit.
32. But who can doubt that the Holy Spirit gives
life to all things; since both He, as the Father and the Son, is the
Creator of all things; and the Almighty Father is understood to have
done nothing without the Holy Spirit; and since also in the beginning
of the creation the Spirit moved upon the water.
33. So when the Spirit was moving upon the water,
the creation was without grace;
119
but after this world being created underwent the operation of the
Spirit, it gained all the beauty of that grace, wherewith the world is
illuminated. And that the grace of the universe cannot abide without
the Holy Spirit the prophet declared when he said "Thou wilt take away
Thy Spirit, and they will fail and be turned again into their dust.
Send forth Thy Spirit, and they shall be made, and Thou wilt renew all
the face of the earth."[1] Not only, then, did he teach that no
creature can stand without the Holy Spirit, but also that the Spirit is
the Creator of the whole creation.
34. And who can deny that the creation of the earth
is the work of the Holy Spirit, Whose work it is that it is renewed?
For if they desire to deny that it was created by the Spirit, since
they cannot deny that it must be renewed by the Spirit, they who desire
to sever the Persons must maintain that the operation of the Holy
Spirit is superior to that of the Father and the Son, which is far from
the truth; for there is no doubt that the restored earth is better than
it was created. Or if at first, without the operation of the Holy
Spirit, the Father and the Son made the earth, but the operation of the
Holy Spirit was joined on afterwards, it will seem that that which was
made required His aid, which was then added. But far be it from any one
to think this, namely, that the divine work should be believed to have
a change in the Creator, an error brought in by Manicheus.[2]
35. But do we suppose that the substance of the
earth exists without the operation of the Holy Spirit, without Whose
work not even the expanse of the sky endures? For it is written: "By
the Word of the Lord were the heavens established, and all the strength
of them by the Spirit of His Mouth."[3] Observe what he says, that all
the strength of the heavens is to be referred to the Spirit. For how
should He Who was moving[4] before the earth was made, be resting when
it was being made?
36. Gentile writers, following ours as it were
through shadows, because they could not imbibe the truth of the Spirit,
have pointed out in their verses that the Spirit within nourishes
heaven and earth, and the glittering orbs of moon and stars.[5] So they
deny not that the strength of creatures exists through the Spirit, are
we who read this to deny it? But you think that they refer to a Spirit
produced of the air. If they declared a Spirit of the air to be the
Author of all things, do we doubt that the Spirit of God is the Creator
of all things?
37. But why do I delay with matters not to the
purpose? Let them accept a plain proof that there can be nothing which
the Holy Spirit can be said not to have made; and that it cannot be
doubted that all subsists through His operation, whether Angels,
Archangels, Thrones, or Dominions; since the Lord Himself, Whom the
Angels serve, was begotten by the Holy Spirit coming upon the Virgin,
as, according to Matthew, the Angel said to Joseph: "Joseph, thou son
of David, fear not to take Mary thy wife, for that which shall be born
of her is of the Holy Spirit."[1] And according to Luke, he said to
Mary: "The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee."[2]
38. The birth from the Virgin was, then, the work of
the Spirit. The fruit of the womb is the work of the Spirit, according
to that which is written: "Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is
the Fruit of thy womb."[3] The flower from the root is the work of the
Spirit, that flower, I say, of which it was well prophesied: "A rod
shall go forth from the root of Jesse, and a flower shall rise from his
root."[4] The root of Jesse the patriarch is the family of the Jews,
Mary is the rod, Christ the flower of Mary, Who, about to spread the
good odour of faith throughout the whole world, budded forth from a
virgin womb, as He Himself said: "I am the flower of the plain, a lily
of the valley."[5]
39. The flower, when cut, keeps its odour, and when
bruised increases it, nor if torn off does it lose it; so, too, the
Lord Jesus, on the gibbet of the cross, neither failed when bruised,
nor fainted when torn; and when He was cut by that piercing of the
spear, being made more beautiful by the cob our of the outpoured Blood,
He, as it were, grew comely again, not able in Himself to die, and
breathing forth upon the dead the gift of eternal life. On this flower,
then, of the royal rod the Holy Spirit rested.
40. A good rod, as some think, is the Flesh of the
Lord, which, raising itself from its earthly root to heaven, bore
around the whole world the sweet-smelling fruits of religion, the
mysteries of the divine generation, pouring grace on the altars of
heaven.
120
41. So, then, we cannot doubt that the Spirit is
Creator, Whom we know as the Author of the Lord's Incarnation. For who
can doubt when you find in the commencement of the Gospel that the
generation of Jesus Christ was on this wise: "When Mary was espoused to
Joseph, before they came together she was found with child of [ex] the
Holy Spirit."[1]
42. For although most authorities read "de Spiritu,"
yet the Greek from which the Latins translated have
"<greek>ec</greek> <greek>pneumatos</greek>
<greek>agiou</greek>," that is, "ex Spiritu Sancto." For
that which is" of" [ex] any one is either of his substance or of his
power. Of his substance, as the Son, Who says: "I came forth of the
Mouth of the Most High;"[2] as the Spirit, "Who proceedeth from the
Father;"[3] of Whom the Son says: "He shall glorify Me, for He shall
receive of Mine."[4] But of the power, as in the passage: "One God the
Father, of Whom are all things."[5]
43. How, then, was Mary with child of the Holy
Spirit? If as of her substance, was the Spirit, then, changed into
flesh and bones? Certainly not. But if the Virgin conceived as of His
operation and power, who can deny that the Holy Spirit is Creator?
44. How is it, too, that Job plainly set forth the
Spirit as his Creator, saying: "The Spirit of God hath made me"?[6] In
one short verse he showed Him to be both Divine and Creator. If, then,
the Spirit is Creator, He is certainly not a creature, for the Apostle
has separated the Creator and the creature, saying: "They served the
creature rather than the Creator."[7]
45. He teaches that the Creator is to be served by
condemning those who serve the creature, whereas we owe our service to
the Creator. And since he knew the Spirit to be the Creator, he teaches
that we ought to serve Him, saying: "Beware of the dogs, beware of the
evil workers, beware of the concision, for we are the circumcision who
serve the Spirit of God."[8]
46. But if any one disputes because of the
variations of the Latin codices, some of which heretics have falsified,
let him look at the Greek codices, and observe that it is there
written: "<greek>oi</greek>
<greek>pneumati</greek> <greek>Qeou</greek>
<greek>latreuontes</greek>," which is, being translated,
"who serve the Spirit of God."
47. So, then, when the same Apostle says that we
ought to serve the Spirit, who asserts that we must not serve the
creature, but the Creator; without doubt he plainly shows that the Holy
Spirit is Creator, and is to be venerated with the honour due to the
eternal Godhead; for it is written: "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy
God, and Him only shalt thou serve."[1]
CHAPTER VI.
To those who object that according to the words of Amos the Spirit is
created, the answer is made that the word is there understood of the
wind, which is often created, which cannot be said of the Holy Spirit,
since He is eternal, and cannot be dissolved in death, or by an
heretical absorption into the Father. But if they pertinaciously
contend that this passage was written of the Holy Spirit, St. Ambrose
points out that recourse must be had to a spiritual Interpretation, for
Christ by His coming established the thunder, that is, the force of the
divine utterances, and by Spirit is signified the human soul as also
the flesh assumed by Christ. And since this was created by each Person
of the Trinity, it is thence argued that the Spirit, Who has before
been affirmed to be the Creator of all things, was the Author of the
Incarnation of the Lord.
48. Nor does it escape my notice that heretics have
been wont to object that the Holy Spirit appears to be a creature,
because many of them use as an argument for establishing their impiety
that passage of Amos, where he spoke of the blowing of the wind, as the
words of the prophet made clear. For you read thus: "Behold, I am He
that establish the thunders, and create the wind [spirit],[2] and
declare unto man his Christ, that make light and mist, and ascend upon
high places, the Lord God Almighty is His Name."[3]
49. If they make an argument of this, hat he said
"spirit" was created, Esdras aught us that spirit is created, saying in
the fourth book: "And upon the second day Thou madest the spirit of the
firmament,"[4] yet, that we may keep to our point, is it not evident
that in what Amos said the order of he passage shows that the prophet
was speaking of the creation of this world?
50. He begins as follows: "I am the Lord that
establish the thunders and create he wind [spirit]." The order of the
words
121
itself teaches us; for if he had wished to speak of the Holy Spirit, he
would certainly not have put the thunders in the first place. For
thunder is not more ancient than the Holy Spirit; though they be
ungodly, they still dare not say that. And then when we, see what
follows concerning light and mist, is it not plain that what is said is
to be understood of the creation of this world? For we know by
every-day experience, that when we have storms on this earth, thunders
come first, blasts of wind follow on, the sky grows black with mists,
and light shines again out of the darkness. For the blasts of wind are
also called "spirits," as it is written: "Fire and brimstone and the
spirit of storm."[1]
51. And that you might know that he called this
"spirit," he says: "establishing thunders and creating the wind
[spirit]." For these are often created, when they take place. But the
Holy Spirit is eternal, and if any one dares to call Him a creature,
still he cannot say that He is daily created like the blast of the
wind. Then, again, Wisdom herself, speaking after the mystery of the
assumed Body, says: "The Lord created Me."[2] Although prophesying of
things to come, yet, because the coming of the Lord was predestined, it
is not said "creates" but "created Me;" that men might believe that the
Body of Jesus was begotten of the Virgin Mary, not often, but once only.
52. And so, as to that which the prophet declared as
it were of the daily working of God in the thunder and the creation of
the wind, it would be impious to understand any such thing of the Holy
Spirit, Whom the ungodly themselves cannot deny to exist from before
the world. Whence with pious asseveration we testify that He always
exists, and abides ever. For neither can He Who before the world was
moving upon the waters begin to be visible after the world's creation;
or else it would be allowable to suppose that there are many Holy
Spirits, Who come into being by as it were a daily production. Far be
it from any one to pollute himself with such impiety as to say that the
Holy Spirit is frequently or ever created. For I do not understand why
He should be frequently created; unless perchance they believe that He
dies frequently and so is frequently created. But how can the Spirit of
life die? If, then, He cannot die, there is no reason why He should be
often created.
53. But they who think otherwise fall into this
sacrilege, that they do not distinguish the Holy Spirit; who think that
the Word Which was sent forth returns to the Father, and the Spirit
Which was sent forth is reabsorbed into God, so that there should be a
reabsorption[1] and a kind of alternation of one changing himself into
various forms; whereas the distinction between the Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit always abiding and unchangeable, preserves the Unity of its
power.
54. But if any one thinks that the word of the
prophet is to be explained with reference to the Holy Spirit, because
it is said, "declaring unto men His Christ,"[2] he will explain it more
easily of the Lord's Incarnation. For if it troubles you that he said
Spirit, and therefore you think that this cannot well be explained of
the mystery of the taking of human nature, read on in the Scriptures
and you will find that all agrees most excellently with Christ, of Whom
it is thoroughly fitting to think that He established the thunders by
His coming, that is, the force and sound of the heavenly Scriptures, by
the thunder, as it were, of which our minds are struck with
astonishment, so that we learn to be afraid, and pay respect to the
heavenly oracles.
55. Lastly, in the Gospel the brothers of the Lord
were called Sons of Thunder; and when the voice was uttered of the
Father, saying, "I have both glorified it and will glorify it
again,"[3] the Jews said that it thundered on Him. For although they
could not receive the grace of the truth, yet they confessed
unwillingly, and in their ignorance were speaking mysteries, so that
there resulted a great testimony of the Father to the Son. And in the
Book of Job, too, the Scripture says: "And who knows when He will make
the power of His thunder?"[4] Certainly if these words pertained to the
thunders of the heavens, he would have said that their force was
already made, not about to be made.
56. Therefore he referred the thunders to the words
of the Lord, the sound of which went out into all the earth, and we
understand the word "spirit" in this place of the soul, which He took
endowed with reason and perfect;[5] for Scripture often designates
122
the soul of man by the word spirit, as you read: "Who creates the
spirit of man within him."[1] So, too, the Lord signified His Soul by
the word Spirit, when He said: "Into Thy hands I commend My Spirit."[2]
57. And that you might know that he spoke of the
coming down of Jesus, he added that He declared His Christ to men for
in His baptism He declared Him, saying: "Thou art My beloved Son, in
Whom I am well pleased."[3] He declared Him on the mount, saying: "This
is My beloved Son, hear ye Him. "[4] He declared Him in His Passion,
when the sun hid itself, and sea and earth trembled. He declared Him in
the Centurion, who said: "Truly this was the Son of God."[5]
58. We ought, then, to take this whole passage
either to be simply to be understood of that state in which we here
live and breathe, or of the mystery of the Lord's Body; for if here it
had been stated that the Holy Spirit was created, undoubtedly Scripture
would elsewhere have declared the same, as we often read of the Son of
God, Who according to the flesh was both made and created.
59. But it is fitting that we should consider His
Majesty in the very fact of His taking flesh for us, that we may see
His divine power in the very taking of the Body. For as we read that
the Father created the mystery of the Lord's Incarnation, the Spirit
too created it; and so too we read that Christ Himself created His own
Body. For the Father created it, as it is written: "The Lord created
Me,"[6] and in another place, "God sent His Son, made of a woman, made
under the law."[7] And the Spirit created the whole mystery, according
to that which we read, for "Mary was found with child of the Holy
Spirit."[8]
60. You find, then, that the Father created and the
Spirit created; learn, too, that the Son of God also created, when
Solomon says: "Wisdom hath made herself a house."[9] How, then, can the
Holy Spirit Who created the mystery of the Lord's Incarnation, which is
above all created things, be Himself a creature?
61. As we have shown above[10] generally that the
Holy Spirit is our Creator according to the flesh in the outer man, let
us now show that He is our Creator also according to the mystery of
grace. And as the Father creates, so too does the Son create, and so
too the Holy Spirit creates, as we read in the words of Paul: "For it
is the gift of God, not of works, test any one should boast. For we are
His workmanship created in Christ Jesus in good works."[1]
CHAPTER VII.
The Holy Spirit is no less the author of spiritual creation or
regeneration than the Father and the Son. The excellence of that
creation, and wherein it consists. How we are to understand holy
Scripture, when it attributes a body or members to God.
62. So, then, the Father creates in good works, and
the Son also, for it is written: "But as many as received Him, to them
gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them who believe on
His Name; who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor
of the will of man, but of God."[2]
63. In like manner the Lord Himself also testifies
that we are born again of the Spirit according to grace, saying: "That
which is born of the flesh is flesh, because it is born of flesh; and
that which is born of the Spirit is spirit, because God is Spirit.
Marvel not that I said unto you, Ye must be born again. The Spirit
breatheth[3] where He willeth, and thou hearest His voice, but knowest
not whence He cometh or whither He goeth, so is every one who is born
of the Spirit."
64. It is then clear that the Holy Spirit is also
the Author of the grace of the Spirit, since we are created according
to God, that we may be made the sons of God. So when He has taken us
into His kingdom by the adoption of holy regeneration, do we deny Him
that which is His? He has made us heirs of the new birth from above, do
we claim the heritage and reject its Author? But the benefit cannot
remain
123
when its Author is shut out; the Author is not without the gift, nor
the gift without the Author. If you claim the grace, believe the power;
if you reject the power, do not ask for the grace. He who has denied
the Spirit has at the same time denied the gift. For if the Author be
of no account how can His gifts be precious? Why do we grudge the
gifts we ourselves receive, diminish our hopes, repudiate our dignity,
and deny our Comforter?
65. But we cannot deny Him. Far be it from us to
deny that which is so great, since the Apostle says: "But ye brethren,
like Isaac, are the children of promise, but as then, he that is born
after the flesh persecutes him that is after the Spirit."[1] Again
certainly is understood from what has gone before, is born after the
Spirit. He then who is born after the Spirit is born after God. Now we
are born again when we are renewed in our inward affections and lay
aside the oldness or the outer man. And so the Apostle says again: "But
be ye renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new man which
is created according to God in truth and righteousness and
holiness."[2] Let them hear how the Scripture has signified the unity
of the divine operation. He who is renewed in the spirit of his mind
has put on the new man, which is created according to God.
66. That more excellent regeneration is then the
work of the Holy Spirit; and the Spirit is the Author of that new man
which is created after the image of God, which no one will doubt to be
better than this outer man of ours. Since the Apostle has pointed out
that the one is heavenly, the other earthly, when he says: "As is the
heavenly, such also are the heavenly."[3]
67. Since, then, the grace of the Spirit makes that
to be heavenly which it can create earthy, we ought to observe by
reason though we be without instances. For in a certain place holy Job
says: "As the Lord liveth, Who thus judgeth me, and the Almighty, Who
hath brought my soul to bitterness (for the Spirit of God which is in
my nostrils)."[4] He certainly did not here signify by His Spirit the
vital breath and bodily breathing passages, but signifies the nostrils
of the inner man within him, wherewith he gathered in the fragrance of
eternal life, and drew in the grace of the heavenly ointment as with a
kind of twofold sense.
68. For there are spiritual nostrils, as we read, which
the spouse of the Word has, to whom it is said: "And the smell of thy
nostrils; "[1] and in another place: "The Lord smelled a smell of
sweetness."[2] There are, then, as it were, inward members of a man,
whose hands are considered to be in action, his ears in hearing, his
feet in a kind of progress in a good work. And so from what is done we
gather as it were figures of the members, for it is not suitable for us
to imagine anything in the inner man after a fleshly manner.
69. And there are some who suppose that God is
fashioned after a bodily manner, when they read of His hand or finger,
and they do not observe that these things are written not because of
any fashion of a body, since in the Godhead are neither members nor
parts, but are expressions of the oneness of the Godhead, that we may
believe that it is impossible for either the Son or the Holy Spirit to
be separated from God the Father; since the fulness of the Godhead
dwells as it were bodily in the substance of the Trinity. For this
reason, then, is the Son also called the Right Hand of the Father, as
we read: "The Right Hand of the Lord hath done mighty things, the Right
Hand of the Lord hath exalted me."[3]
CHAPTER VIII.
St. Ambrose examines and refutes the heretical argument that because
God is said to be glorified in the Spirit, and not with the Spirit, the
Holy Spirit is therefore inferior to the Father. He shows that the
particle in can be also used of the Son and even of the Father, and
that on the other hand with may be said of creatures without any
infringement on the prerogatives of the Godhead; and that in reality
these prepositions simply imply the connection of the Three Divine
Persons.
70. But what wonder is it if foolish men question
about words, when they do so even about syllables? For some think
that a distinction should be made and that God should be praised in the
Spirit, but not with the Spirit, and consider that the greatness of the
Godhead is to be estimated from one syllable or some custom, arguing
that if they consider that God should be glorified in the Spirit, they
point to some office of the Holy Spirit, but that if they say that God
receives glory or power with the Spirit, they seem to imply some
association and communion of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
71. But who can separate what is in-
124
capable of separation? who can divide that association which
Christ shows to be inseparable? "Go," says He, "baptize all nations in
the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit."[1] Has
He changed either a word or a syllable here concerning the Father or
the Son or the Holy Spirit? Certainly not. But He says, in the
Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. The
expression is the same for the Spirit as for the Father and for
Himself. From which is inferred not any office of the Holy Spirit, but
rather a sharing of honour or of working when we say "in the Spirit."
72. Consider, too, that this opinion of yours tends
to the injury of the Father and the Son, for the latter did not say,
"with the Name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,"
but in the Name, and yet not any office but the power of the Trinity is
expressed in this syllable,
73. Lastly, that you may know that it is not a
syllable which prejudices faith, but faith which commends a syllable,
Paul also speaks in Christ. Christ is not less, because Paul spoke in
Christ, as you find: "We speak before God in Christ."[2] As, then, the
Apostle says that we speak in Christ, so, too, is that which we speak
in the Spirit; as the Apostle himself said: "No man saith Lord Jesus,
except in the Holy Spirit."[3] So, then, in this place not any
subjection of the Holy Spirit, but a connection of grace is signified.
74. And that you may know that distinction does not
depend upon a syllable, he says also in another place: "And these
indeed were you, but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are
justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of
our God."[4] How many instances of this I can bring forward. For it is
written: "Ye are all one in Christ Jesu's,"[5] and elsewhere: "To those
sanctified in Christ Jesus,"[6] and again: "That we might be the
righteousness of God in Him,"[7] and in another place: "Should fall
from the chastity which is in Christ Jesus."[8]
75. But what am I doing? For while I say that like
things are written of the Son as of the Spirit, I am rather leading on
to this, not that because it is written of the Son, therefore it would
appear to be reverently written of the Holy Spirit, but that because
the same is written of the Spirit, therefore men allege that the Son's
honour is lessened because of the Spirit. For say they, Is it written
of God the Father?
76. But let them learn that it is also said of God
the Father: "In the Lord I will praise the word;"[1] and elsewhere: "In
God we will do mighty deeds;"[2] and "My remembrance shall be ever in
Thee;"[3] and "In Thy Name will we rejoice;"[4] and again in another
place: "That his deeds may be manifested, that they are wrought in
God;"[5] and Paul:" In God Who created all things;"[6] and again: "Paul
and Silvanus and Timotheus to the Church of the Thessalonians in God
the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ;"[7] and in the Gospel: "I in the
Father and the Father in Me," and "the Father that dwelleth in Me."[8]
It is also written: "He that glorieth let him glory in the Lord;"[9]
and in another place: "Our life is hid with Christ in God."[10] Did he
here ascribe more to the Son than to the Father in saying that we are
with Christ in God? or does our state avail more than the grace
of the Spirit, so that we can be with Christ and the Holy Spirit
cannot? And when Christ wills to be with us, as He Himself said:
"Father, I will that they whom Thou hast given Me be with Me where I
am,"[11] would He disdain to be with the Spirit? For it is written: "Ye
coming together and my spirit with the power of the Lord Jesus."[12] Do
we then come together in the power of the Lord, and dare to say that
the Lord Jesus would not be willing to come together with the Spirit
Who does not disdain to come together with us?
77. So the Apostle thinks that it makes no
difference which particle you use. For each is a conjunctive particle,
and conjunction does not cause separation, for if it divided it would
not be called a conjunction.
78. What, then, moves yon to say that to God the
Father or to His Christ there is glory, life, greatness, or power, in
the Holy Spirit, and to refuse to say with the Holy Spirit? Is it
that you are afraid of seeming to join the Spirit with the Father and
the Son? But hear what is written of the Spirit: "For the law of
the Spirit is life in Christ Jesus."[13] And in another place God the
Father says: "They shall worship Thee, and in Thee they shall make
supplication." [14] God the Father says that we ought to pray in
Christ; and do you think that it is any derogation to the Spirit if the
glory of Christ is said to be in Him?
125
79. Hear that what you are afraid to acknowledge of
the Spirit, the Apostle did not fear to claim for himself; for he says:
"To be dissolved and to be with Christ is much better."[1] Do you deny
that the Spirit, through Whom the Apostle was made worthy of being with
Christ, is with Christ?
80. What, then, is the reason that you prefer saying
that God or Christ is glorified in the Spirit rather than with the
Spirit? Is it because if you say in the Spirit, the Spirit is
declared to be less than Christ? Although your making the Lord
greater or less is a matter which can be refuted, yet since we read,
"For Christ was made sin for us, that we might be the righteousness of
God in Him,"[2] He is found chiefest in Whom we are found most low. So,
too, elsewhere you read, "For in Him all things consist,"[3] that is,
in His power. And the things which consist in Him cannot be compared to
Him, because they receive from His power the substance whereby they
consist.
81. Do you then understand that God so reigns in the
Spirit that the power of the Spirit, as a kind of source of substance,
imparts to God the origin of His rule? But this is impious. And so our
predecessors[4] spoke of the unity of power of the Father, the Son, and
the Holy Spirit, when they said that the glory of Christ was with the
Spirit, that they might declare their inseparable connection.
82. For how is the Holy Spirit separated from the
Son, since "the Spirit Himself beareth witness with our spirit that we
are sons of God, and if sons, also heirs, heirs, indeed, of God and
joint-heirs with Christ."[5] Who, then, is so foolish as to wish to
dissever the eternal conjunction of the Spirit and Christ, when the
Spirit by Whom we are made joint-heirs with Christ conjoins even what
is severed.
83. "If so be," he says, "we suffer with Him, that
we may be also glorified together." 6 If we then shall be glorified
together with Christ through the Spirit, how do we refuse to admit that
the Spirit Himself is glorified together with Christ? Do we
dissociate the life of Christ and of the Holy Spirit when the Spirit
says that we shall live together with the Son of God? For the
Apostle says: "If we be dead with Christ we believe that we shall also
live with Him;" and then again: "For if we suffer with Him we shall
also live with Him, and not only shall we live with Him, but shall be
also glorified with Him, and not only be glorified but shall also reign
with Him."[1]
84. No division, then, is implied in those
particles, for each is a particle of conjunction. And lastly, we often
find in holy Scripture the one inserted and the other understood, as it
is written: "I will enter into Thy house in whole burnt-offerings,"[2]
that is, "with whole burnt-offerings;" and in another place: "He
brought them forth in silver and gold,"[3] that is, "with silver and
gold." And elsewhere the Psalmist says: "Wilt Thou not go forth with us
in our hosts?"[4] for that which is really meant, "with our hosts." So,
then, in the use of the expression no lessening of honour can be
implied, and nothing ought to be deduced derogatory to the honour of
the Godhead, it is necessary that with the heart man should believe
unto righteousness, and that out of the faith of the heart confession
should be made in the mouth unto salvation. But they who believe not
with the heart spread what is derogatory with their mouth.
CHAPTER IX.
A passage of St. Paul abused by heretics, to prove a distinction
between the Divine Persons, is explained, and it is proved that the
whole passage can be rightly said of each Person, though it refers
specially to the Son. It is then proved that each member of the passage
is applicable to each Person, and as to say,
Him are all things is applicable to the Father, so
may all things are through Him and in Him also be
said of Him.
85. Another similar passage is that which they say
implies difference, where it is written: "But to us there is one
Father, of Whom are all things and we unto Him, and one Lord Jesus
Christ, through Whom are all things, and we through Him."[4] For they
pretend that when it is said "of Him," the matter is signified, when
"through Him, either the instrument of the work or some office, but
when it is said "in Him," either the place or the time in which all
things that are made are seen.
86. So, then, their desire is to prove that there is
some difference of substance, being anxious to make a distinction
between as it were the instrument, and the proper worker or author, and
also between time or place and the instrument. But is the Son, then,
alien as regards His Nature from the Father, because an instrument is
alien from the
126
worker or author? or is the Son alien from the Spirit, because
either time or place is not of the same class as an instrument?
87. Compare now our assertions. They will have it
that matter is of God as though of the nature of God, as when you say
that a chest is made of wood or a statue of stone; that after this
fashion matter has come forth from God, and that the same matter has
been made by the Son as if by some sort of instrument; so that they
declare that the Son is not so much the Artificer as the instrument of
the work; and that all things have been made in the Spirit, as if in
some place or time; they attribute each part severally to each Person
severally and deny that all are in common.
88. But we show that all things are so of God the
Father, that God the Father has suffered no loss because all things are
either through Him or in Him, and yet all things are not of Him as if
of matter; then, too, that all things are through the Lord the Son, so
that He is not deprived of the attribute that all things are of the Son
and in Him; and that all things are in the Spirit, so that we may teach
that all things are through the Spirit, and all things from the Spirit.
89. For these particles, like those of which we have
spoken before, imply each other. For the Apostle did not so say, All
things are of God, and all things are through the Son, as to signify
that the substance of--the Father and the Son could be severed, but
that he might teach that by a distinction without confusion the Father
is one, the Son another. Those particles, then, are not as it were in
opposition to each other, but are as it were allied and agreed, so as
often to suit even one Person, as it is written: "For of Him, and
through Him, and in Him are all things."[1]
90. But if you really consider whence the passage is
taken you will have no doubt that it is said of the Son. For the
Apostle says, according to the prophecy of Isaiah, "Who hath known the
mind of the Lord, or who hath been His counsellor?"[2] And he adds:
"For of Him and in Him are all things." Which Isaiah had said of the
Artificer of all, as you read: "Who hath measured out the water with
his hand, and the heaven with a span, and all the earth with his closed
hand? Who hath placed the mountains in scales and the hills in a
balance? Who hath known the mind of the Lord, or who hath been
His counsellor?"[3]
91. And the Apostle added: "For of Him, and through
Him, and in Him are all things." What is "of Him"? That the nature of
everything is of His will, and He is the Author of all things which
have come into being. "Through Him" means what? That the
establishment and continuance of all things is His girl. What is "in
Him"? That all things by a wonderful kind of longing and unspeakable
love look upon the Author of their life, and the Giver of their graces
and functions, according to that which is written: "The eyes of all
look unto Thee," and "Thou openest Thine hand and fillest every living
creature with Thy good pleasure."[1]
93. And of the Father, too, you may rightly say "of
Him," for of Him was the operative Wisdom, Which of His own and the
Father's will gave being to all things which were not. "Through Him,"
because all things were made through His Wisdom. "In Him," because He
is the Fount of substantial Life, in Whom we live and move and have our
being.
93. Of the Spirit also, as being formed by Him,
strengthened by Him, established in Him, we receive the gift of eternal
life.
94. Since, then, these expressions seem suitable
either to the Father or the Son or the Holy Spirit, it is certain that
nothing derogatory is spoken of in them, since we both say that many
things are of the Son, and many through the Father, as you find it said
of the Son: "That we may be increased through all things in Him, Who is
Christ the Head, from Whom," says he, "the whole body, flamed and knit
together through every joint of the supply for the measure of every
part, maketh increase of the body unto the building up of itself in
love."[2] And again, writing to the Colossians of those who have not
the knowledge of the Son of God, he says: "Because they hold not the
Head, from Whom all the body being supplied and joined together through
joints and bands, increaseth to the increase of God."[3] For we said
above that Christ is the Head of the Church. And in another place you
read: "Of His fulness have all we received."[4] And the Lord Himself
said: "He shall take of Mine and show it unto you."[5] And before, He
said: "I perceive that virtue is gone out of Me."[6]
95. In like manner that you may recognize the Unity,
it is also said of the Spirit: "For he that soweth in the Spirit shall
of the Spirit
127
reap eternal life."[1] And John says: "Hereby we know that He is in us
because He hath given us of His Spirit."[2] And the Angel says: "That
Which shall be born of her is of the Holy Spirit."[3] And the Lord
says: "That which is born of the Spirit is Spirit."[4]
96. So, then, as we read that all things are of the
Father, so, too, that all things can be said to be of the Son, through
Whom are all things; and we are taught by proof that all things are of
the Spirit in Whom are all things.
97. Now let us consider whether we can teach that
anything is through the Father. But it is written: "Paul the servant of
Christ through the will of God;"[5] and elsewhere: "Wherefore thou art
now not a servant but a son, and if a son an heir also through God;"[6]
and again: "As Christ rose from the dead by the glory of God."[7] And
elsewhere God the Father says to the Son: "Behold proselytes shall come
to Thee through Me."[8]
98. You will find many other passages, if you look
for things done through the Father. Is, then, the Father less because
we read that many things are in the Son and of the Son, and find in the
heavenly Scriptures very many things done or given through the Father?
99. But in like manner we also read of many things
done through the Spirit, as you find: "But God hath revealed them to us
through His Spirit;"[9] and in another place: "Keep the good deposit
through the Holy Spirit;"[10] and to the Ephesians: "to be strengthened
through His Spirit;"[11] and to the Corinthians: "To another is given
through the Spirit the word of wisdom;"[12] and in another place: "But
if through the Spirit ye mortify the deeds of the flesh, ye shall
live;"[13] and above: "He Who raised Christ from the dead shall also
quicken your mortal bodies through the indwelling of His Spirit in
you."[14]
100. But perhaps some one may say, Show me that we
can read expressly that all things are of the Son, or that all things
are of the Spirit. But I reply, Let them also show that it is written
that all things are through the Father. But since we have proved that
these expressions suit either the Esther or the Son or the Holy Spirit,
and that no distinction of the divine power can arise from particles of
this kind, there is no doubt but that all things are of Him through
Whom all things are; and that all things are through Him through Whom
all are; and that we must understand that all things are through Him or
of Him in Whom all are. For every creature exists both of the will. and
through the operation and in the power of the Trinity, as it is
written: "Let Us make man after Our image and likeness;"[1] and
elsewhere: "By the word of the Lord were the heavens established, and
all their power by the Spirit of His mouth."[2]
CHAPTER X.
Being about to prove that the will, the calling, and the commandment of
the Trinity is one, St. Ambrose shows that the Spirit called the Church
exactly as the Father and the Son did, and proves this by the selection
of SS. Paul and Barnabas, and especially by the mission of St. Peter to
Cornelius. And by the way he points out how in the Apostle's vision the
calling of the Gentiles was shadowed forth, who having been before like
wild beasts, now by the operation of the Spirit lay aside that
wildness. Then having quoted other passages in support of this view, he
shows that in the case of Jeremiah cast into a pit by Jews, and rescued
by Abdemelech, is a type of the slighting of the Holy Spirit by the
Jews, and of His being honoured by the Gentiles.
101. And not only is the operation of the Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit everywhere one but also there is one and the same
will, calling, and giving of commands, which one may see in the great
and saving mystery of the Church. For as the Father called the Gentiles
to the Church, saying: "I will call her My people which was not My
people, and her beloved who was not beloved;"[3] and elsewhere: "My
house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations,"[4] so, too,
the Lord Jesus said that Paul was chosen by Him to call forth and
gather together the Church, as you find it said by the Lord Jesus to
Ananias: "Go, for he is a chosen vessel unto Me to bear My name before
all nations."[5]
102. As, then, God the Father called the Church, so,
too, Christ called it, and so, too, the Spirit called it, saying:
"Separate Me Paul and Barnabas for the work to which I have called
them." "So," it is added, "having fasted and prayed, they laid hands on
them and sent them forth. And they, being sent forth by the Holy
Spirit, went down to Seleucia."[6] So Paul received the apostle-
128
ship by the will not only of Christ, but also of the Holy Spirit, and
hastened to gather together the Gentiles.
103. And not only Paul, but also, as we read in the
Acts of the Apostles, Peter. For when he had seen in his prayer heaven
opened and a certain vessel tied at the four corners, as it were a
sheet in which were all kinds of four-fooled beasts and wild beasts and
fowls of the air, "a voice came to him saying, Arise, Peter, kill and
eat. And Peter said, Be it far from me, Lord, I have never eaten
anything common or unclean. And again a voice came to him, saying, What
God hath cleansed call not thou common. And this was done three times,
and the vessel was received back into heaven."[1] And so when Peter was
silently thinking over this with himself, and the servants of Cornelius
appointed by the Angel had come to him, the Spirit said to him, "Lo,
men are seeking thee, rise therefore, and go down and go with them;
doubt not, for I have sent thee."[2]
104. How clearly did the Holy Spirit express His own
power I First of all in that He inspired him who was praying, and was
present to him who was entreating; then when Peter, being called, answer
"Lord," and so was found worthy of a second message, because he
acknowledged the Lord. But the Scripture declares Who that Lord was,
for He Whom he had answered spoke to him when he answered. And the
following words show the Spirit clearly revealed, for He Who formed the
mystery made known the mystery.
105. Notice, also, that the appearance of the
mystery three times repeated expressed the operation of the Trinity.
And so in the mysteries[3] the threefold question is put, and the
threefold answer made, and no one can be cleansed but by a threefold
confession. For which reason, also, Peter in the Gospel is asked three
times whether he loves the Lord, that by the threefold answer the bonds
of the guilt he had contracted by denying the Lord might be loosed.
106. Then, again, because the Angel is sent to
Cornelius, the Holy Spirit speaks to Peter: "For the eyes of the Lord
are over the faithful of the earth."[4] Nor is it without a purpose
that when He had said before, "What God hath cleansed call not thou
common,"[1] the Holy Spirit came upon the Gentiles to purify them, when
it is manifest that the operation of the Spirit is a divine operation.
But Peter, when sent by the Spirit, did not wait for the command of God
the Father, but acknowledged that that message was from the Spirit
Himself, and the grace that of the Spirit Himself, when he said: "If,
then, God has granted them the same grace as to us, who was I that I
should resist God?"
107. It is, then, the Holy Spirit Who has delivered
us from that Gentile impurity. For in those kinds of four-fooled
creatures and wild beasts and birds there was a figure of the condition
of man, which appears clothed with the bestial ferocity of wild beasts
unless it grows gentle by the sanctification of the Spirit. Excellent,
then, is that grace which changes the rage of beasts into the
simplicity of the Spirit: "For we also were aforetime foolish,
unbelieving, erring, serving divers lusts and pleasures. But now by the
renewing of the Spirit we begin to be heirs of Christ, and joint-heirs
with the Angels."[2]
108. Therefore the holy prophet David, seeing in the
Spirit that we should from wild beasts become like the dwellers in
heaven, says, "Rebuke the wild beasts of the wood,"[3] evidently
signifying, not the wood disturbed by the running of wild beasts, and
shaken with the roaring of animals, but that wood of which it is
written: "We found it in the fields of the wood."[4] In which, as the
prophet said: "The righteous shall flourish as the palm-tree, and shall
be multipled as the cedar which is in Libanus."[5] That wood which,
shaken in the tops of the trees spoken of in prophecy, shed forth the
nourishment of the heavenly Word. That wood into which Paul entered
indeed as a ravening wolf, but went forth as a shepherd, for "their
sound is gone out into all the earth."[6]
109. We then were wild beasts, and therefore the
Lord said: "Beware of false prophets, which come in sheep's clothing,
but inwardly are ravening wolves."[7] But now, through the Holy Spirit,
the rage of lions, the spots of leopards, the craft of foxes, the
rapacity of wolves, have passed away from our feelings; great, then, is
the grace which has changed earth to heaven, that the conversation of
us, who once were wandering as wild beasts in the woods, might be in
heaven.[8]
129
110. And not only in this place, but also elsewhere
in the same book, the Apostle Peter declared that the Church was built
by the Holy Spirit. For you read that he said: "God, Which knoweth the
hearts of men, bare witness, giving them the Holy Spirit, even as also
to us; and He made no distinction between us and them, purifying their
hearts by faith."[1] In which is to be considered, that as Christ is
the Cornerstone, Who joined together both peoples into one, so, too,
the Holy Spirit made no distinction between the hearts of each people,
but united them.
111. Do not, then, like a Jew, despise the Son, Whom
the prophets foretold; for you would despise also the Holy Spirit, you
would despise Isaiah, you would despise Jeremiah, whom he who was
chosen of the Lord raised with rags and cords from the pit of that
Jewish abode.[2] For the people of the Jews, despising the word of
prophecy, had cast him into the pit. Nor was there found any. one of
the Jews to draw the prophet out, but one Ethiopian Abdemelech, as the
Scripture testifies.
112. In which account is a very beautiful figure,
that is to say, that we, sinners of the Gentiles, black beforehand
through our transgressions, and aforetime fruitless, raised from the
depth the word of prophecy which the Jews had thrust down, as it were,
into the mire of their mind and carnality. And therefore it is written:
"Ethiopia shall stretch out her hand unto God."[3] In which is
signified the appearance of holy Church, who says in the Song of Songs:
"I am black and comely, O daughters of Jerusalem;"[4] black through
sin, comely through grace; black by natural condition, comely through
redemption, or certainly, black with the dust of her labours. So she is
black while fighting, is comely when she is crowned with the ornaments
of victory.
113. And fittingly is the prophet raised by cords,
for the faithful writer said: "The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant
places."[5] And fittingly with rags; for the Lord Himself, when those
who had been first invited to the marriage made excuse, sent to the
partings of the highways, that as many as were found, both bad and
good, should be invited to the marriage. With these rags, then, He
lifted the word of prophecy from the mire.
CHAPTER XI.
We shall follow the example of Abdemelech, if we believe that the Son
and Holy Spirit know all things. This knowledge is attributed m
Scripture to the Spirit, and also to the Son. The Son is glorified by
the Spirit, as also the Spirit by the Son. Also, inasmuch as we read
that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit say and reveal the same
things, we must acknowledge in Them a oneness of nature and knowledge.
Lastly, that the Spirit searcheth the deep things of God is not a mark
of ignorance, since the Father and the Son are likewise said to search,
and Paul, although chosen by Christ, yet was taught by the Spirit.
114. And you, too, shall be Abdemelech,[1] that is,
chosen by the Lord, if you raise the Word of God from the depth of
Gentile ignorance; if you believe that the Son of God is not deceived,
that nothing escapes His knowledge, that He is not ignorant of what is
going to be. And the Holy Spirit also is not deceived, of Whom the Lord
says: "But when He, the Spirit of Truth, shall come, He shall lead you
into all truth."[2] He Who says all passes by nothing, neither the day
nor the hour, neither things past nor things to come.
115. And that you may know that He both knows all
things, and foretells things to come, and that His knowledge is one
with that of the Father and the Son, hear what the Truth of God says
concerning Him: "For He shall not speak from Himself, but what things
He shall hear shall He speak, and He shall declare unto you the things
that are to come."[3]
116. Therefore, that you may observe that He knows
all things, when the Son said: "But of that day and hour knoweth no
one, not even the Angels of heaven,"[4] He excepted the Holy Spirit.
But if the Holy Spirit is excepted from ignorance, how is the Son of
God not excepted?
117. But you say that He numbered the Son of God
also with the Angels. He numbered the Son indeed, but He did not number
the Spirit also. Confess, then, either that the Holy Spirit is greater
than the Son of God, so as to speak now not only as an Arian, but even
as a Photinian,[5] or acknowledge to what yon ought to refer it that He
said that the Son knew not. For as man He could [in His human nature]
be numbered with creatures Who were created.
130
118. But if you are willing to learn that the Son of
God knows all things, and has foreknowledge of all, see that those very
things which you think to be unknown to the Son, the Holy Spirit
received from the Son. He received them, however, through Unity of
Substance, as the Son received from the Father. "He," says He, "shall
glorify Me, for He shall receive of Mine and shall declare it unto you.
All things whatsoever the Father hath are Mine therefore said I, He
shall receive of Mine, and shall declare it unto you."[1] What, then,
is more clear than this Unity? What things the Father hath pertain to
the Son; what things the Son hath the Holy Spirit also has received.
119. Yet learn that the Son knows the day of
judgment. We read in Zechariah: "And the Lord my God shall come, and
all the saints with Him. In that day there shall not be light, but cold
and frost, and it shall be one day, and that day is known unto the
Lord."[2] This day, then, was known unto the Lord, Who shall come with
His saints, to enlighten us by His second Advent.
120. But let us continue the point which we have
commenced concerning the Spirit. For in the passage we have brought
forward you find that the Son says of the Spirit: "He shall glorify
Me." So, then, the Spirit glorifies the Son, as the Father also
glorifies Him, but the Son of God also glorifies the Spirit, as we said
above. He, then, is not weak who is the cause of the mutual glory
through the Unity of the Eternal Light, nor is He inferior to the
Spirit, of Whom this is true that He is glorified by the Spirit.
122. And you too shall be chosen, if you believe
that the Spirit spoke that which the Father spoke, and which the Son
spoke. Paul, in fine, was therefore chosen because he so believed and
so taught, since, as it is written, God "hath revealed to us by His
Spirit that which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath entered
into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that
love Him."[3] And therefore is He called the Spirit of revelation, as
you read: "For God giveth to those who thus prepare themselves the
Spirit of wisdom and revelation, that He may be known."[4]
123. There is, then, a Unity of knowledge, since, as
the Father, Who gives the Spirit of revelation, reveals, so also the
Son reveals, for it is written: "No one knoweth the Son save the
Father, neither doth any one know the Father save the Son, and he to
whom the Son shall will to reveal Him."[1] He said more concerning the
Son, not because He has more than the Father, but lest He should be
supposed to have less. And not unfittingly is the Father thus revealed
by the Son, for the Son knows the Father even as the Father knows the
Son.
124. Learn now that the Spirit too knows God the
Father, for it is written that, "As no one knoweth the things of a man,
save the spirit which is in him, so too the things of God no one
knoweth save the Spirit of God." "No one," he says, "knoweth save the
Spirit of God."[2] Is, then, the Son of God excluded? Certainly not,
since neither is the Spirit excluded, when it is said: "And none
knoweth the Father, save the Son."
125. Therefore the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are
of one nature and of one knowledge. And the Spirit is not to be
numbered with all things which were made by the Son, since He knew the
Father, Whom (as it is written) who can know save the Son? But the Holy
Spirit knows also. What then? When the totality of created things is
spoken of, it follows that the Holy Spirit is not included.
126. Now I should like them to answer what it is in
man which knows the things of a man. Certainly that must be reasonable
which surpasses the other powers of the soul, and by which the highest
nature of man is estimated. What, then, is the Spirit, Who knows the
deep things of God, and through Whom Almighty God is revealed? Is He
inferior in the fulness of the Godhead Who is proved even by this
instance to be of one substance with the Father? Or is He ignorant of
anything Who knows the counsels of God, and His mysteries which have
been hidden[3] from the beginning? What is there that He knows not Who
knows all things that are of God? For "the Spirit searcheth even the
deep things of God."[4]
127. But lest you should think that He searches
things unknown, and so searches that He may learn that which He knows
not, it is stated first that God revealed them to us through His
Spirit, and at the same time in order that you may learn that the
Spirit knows the things which are revealed to us through the Spirit
Himself, it is said subsequently: "For who among men knoweth the things
of a man, save the
131
spirit of the man which is in him? so, too, the things of God knoweth
no one save the Spirit of God."[1] If, then, the spirit of a man knows
the things of a man, and knows them before it searches, can there be
anything of God which the Spirit of God knows not? Of Whom the Apostle
said not without a purpose, "The things of God knoweth no one, save the
Spirit of God;" not that He knows by searching, but knows by nature;
not that the knowledge of divine things is an accident in Him, but is
His natural knowledge.
128. But if this moves you that He said "searcheth,"
learn that this is also said of God, inasmuch as He is the searcher of
hearts and reins. For HimSelf said: "I am He that searcheth the heart
and reins."[2] And of the Son of God you have also in the Epistle to
the Hebrews: "Who is the Searcher of the mind and thoughts."[3] Whence
it is clear that no inferior searches the inward things of his
superior, for to know hidden things is of the divine power alone. The
Holy Spirit, then, is a searcher in like manner as the Father, and the
Son is a searcher in like manner, by the proper signification of which
expression this is implied, that evidently there is nothing which He
knows not, Whom nothing escapes.
129. Lastly, he was chosen by Christ, and taught by
the Spirit. For as he himself witnesses, having obtained through the
Spirit knowledge of the divine secrets, he shows both that the Holy
Spirit knows God, and has revealed to us the things which are of God,
as the Son also has revealed them. And he adds: "But we received, not
the spirit of this world, but the Spirit which is of God, that we might
know the things that are given to us by God, which we also speak, not
in persuasive words of man's wisdom, but in manifestation of the Spirit
and in the power of God."[4]
CHAPTER XII.
After proof that the Spirit is the Giver of revelation equally with the
Father and the Son, it is explained how the same Spirit does not speak
of Himself; and it is shown that no bodily organs are to be thought of
in Him, and that no inferiority is to be supposed from the fact of our
reading that He hears, since the same
would have to be attributed to the Son, and indeed even to the Father,
since He hears the Son. The Spirit then hears and glorifies the Son in
the sense that He revealed Him to the prophets and apostles, by which
the Unity of operation of the Three Persons is inferred; and, since the
Spirit does the same works as the Father, the substance of each is also
declared to be the same.
130. IT has then been proved that like as God has
revealed to us the things which are His, so too the Son, and so too the
Spirit, has revealed the things of God. For our knowledge proceeds from
one Spirit, through one Son to one Father; and from one Father through
one Son to one Holy Spirit is delivered goodness and sanctification and
the sovereign right of eternal power. Where, then, there is a
manifestation of the Spirit, there is the power of God, nor can there
be any distinction where the work is one. And therefore that which the
Son says the Father also says, and that which the Father says the Son
also says, and that which the Father and the Son say the Holy Spirit
also says.
131. Whence also the Son of God said concerning the
Holy Spirit: "He shall not speak from Himself,"[1] that is, not without
the participation of the Father and Myself. For the Spirit is not
divided and separated, but speaks what He hears. He hears, that is to
say, by unity of substance and by the property of knowledge. For He
receives not hearing by any orifices of the body, nor does the divine
voice resound with any carnal measures, nor does He hear what He knows
not; since commonly in human matters hearing produces knowledge, and
yet not even in men themselves is there always bodily speech or fleshly
hearing. For "he that speaketh in tongues," it is said, "speaketh not
to men but to God, for no one heareth, but in the Spirit he speaketh
mysteries."[2]
132. Therefore if in men hearing is not always of
the body, do you require in God the voices of man's weakness, and
certain organs of fleshly hearing, when He is said to hear in order
that we may believe that He knows? For we know that which we have
heard, and we hear beforehand that we may be able to know; but in God
Who knows all things knowledge goes before hearing. So in order to
state that the Son is not ignorant of what the Father wills, we say
that He has heard; but in God there is no sound nor syllable, such as
usually signify the indication of the will; but oneness of will is
comprehended in hidden ways in God, but in us is shown by signs.
133. What means, then, "He shall not speak from
Himself"? This is, He shall not speak without Me; for He speaks the
132
truth, He breathes wisdom. He speaks not without the Father, for He is
the Spirit of God; He hears not from Himself, for all things are of God.
134. The Son received all things from the Father,
for He Himself said:" All things have been delivered unto Me from My
Father."[1] All that is the Father's the Son also has, for He says
again: "All things which the Father hath are Mine."[2] And those things
which He Himself received by Unity of nature, the Spirit by the same
Unity of nature received also from Him, as the Lord Jesus Himself
declares, when speaking of His Spirit: "Therefore said I, He shall
receive of Mine and shall declare it unto you."[3] Therefore what the
Spirit says is the Son's, what the Son hath given is the Father's. So
neither the Son nor the Spirit speaks anything of Himself. For the
Trinity speaks nothing external to Itself.
135. But if you contend that this is an argument for
the weakness of the Holy Spirit, and for a kind of likeness to the
lowliness of the body, you will also make it an argument to the injury
of the Son, because the Son said of Himself: "As I hear I judge,"[4]
and "The Son can do nothing else than what He seeth the Father
doing."[5] For if that be true, as it is, which the Son said: "All
things which the Father hath are Mine,"[6] and the Son according to the
Godhead is One with the Father, One by natural substance, not according
to the Sabellian[7] falsehood; that which is one by the property of
substance certainly cannot be separated, and so the Son cannot do
anything except what He has heard of the Father, for the Word of God
endures forever,[8] nor is the Father ever separated from the operation
of the Son; and that which the Son works He knows that the Father
wills, and what the Father wills the Son knows how to work.
136. Lastly, that one may not think that there is
any difference of work either in time or in order between the Father
and the Son, but may believe tim oneness of the same operation, He
says: "The works which I do He doeth."[9] And again, that one may not
think that there is any difference in the distinction of the works, but
may judge that the will, the working, and the power of the Father and
the Son are the same, Wisdom says concerning the Father: "For
whatsoever things He doeth, the Son likewise doeth the same."[1] So
that the action of neither Person is before or after that of the Other,
but the same result of one operation. And for this reason the Son says
that He can do nothing of Himself, because His operation cannot be
separated from that of the Father. In like manner the operation of the
Holy Spirit is not separated. Whence also the things which He speaks,
He is said to hear from the Father.
137. What if I demonstrate that the Father also
hears the Son, as the Son too hears the Father? For you have it written
in the Gospel that the Son says: "Father, I thank Thee that Thou
heardest Me."[2] How did the Father hear the Son, since in the previous
passage concerning Lazarus the Son spoke nothing to the Father? And
that we might not think that the Son was heard once by the Father, He
added: "And I knew that Thou hearest Me always."[3] Therefore the
hearing is not that of subject obedience, but of eternal Unity.
138. In like manner, then, the Spirit is said to
hear from the Father, and to glorify the Son. To glorify, because the
Holy Spirit taught us that the Son is the Image of the invisible
God,[4] and the brightness of His glory, and the impress of His
substance.[5] The Spirit also spoke in the patriarchs and the prophets,
and, lastly, the apostles began then to be more perfect after that they
had received the Holy Spirit. There is therefore no separation of the
divine power and grace, for although "there are diversities of gifts,
yet it is the same Spirit; and diversities of ministrations, yet the
same Lord; and diversities of operations, yet the same God Who worketh
all in all."[6] There are diversities of offices, not severances of the
Trinity.
139. Lastly, it is the same God Who worketh all in
all, that you may know that there is no diversity of operation between
God the Father and the Holy Spirit; since those things which the Spirit
works, God the Father also works, "Who worketh all in all." For while
God the Father worketh all in all, yet "to one is given through the
Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge, according
to the same Spirit; to another faith, in the same Spirit; to another
the gift of healings, in the one Spirit; to another the working of
miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to
another divers kinds of
133
tongues; to another the interpretation of sayings; but all these
worketh one and the same Spirit, dividing to each one as He will."(1)
140. There is then no doubt but that those things
which the Father worketh, the Spirit worketh also. Nor does He work in
accordance with a command, as he who hears in bodily fashion, but
voluntarily, as being free in His own will, not the servant of the
power of another. For He does not obey as being bidden, but as the
giver He is the controller of His own gifts.
141. Consider meanwhile whether you can say that the
Spirit effects all things which the Father effects; for you cannot deny
that the Father effects those things which the Holy Spirit effects;
otherwise the Father does not effect all things, if He effects not
those things which the Spirit also effects. But if the Father also
effects those things which the Spirit effects, since the Spirit divides
His operations, according to His own will, you must of necessity say,
either that what the Spirit divides He divides according to His own
will, against the will of God the Father; or if you say that the Father
wills the same that the Holy Spirit wills, you must of necessity
confess the oneness of the divine will and operation, even if you do it
unwillingly, and, if not with the heart, at least with the mouth.
142. But if the Holy Spirit is of one will and
operation with God the Father, He is also of one substance, since the
Creator is known by His works. So, then, it is the same Spirit, he
says, the same Lord, the same God.(2) And if you say Spirit. He is the
same; and if you say Lord, He is the same; and if you say God, He is
the same. Not the same, so that Himself is Father, Himself Son, Himself
Spirit [one and the selfsame Person]; but because both the Father and
the Son are the same Power. He is, then, the same in substance and in
power, for there is not in the Godhead either the confusion of
Sabellius nor the division of Arius, nor any earthly and bodily change.
CHAPTER XIII.
Prophecy was not only from the Father and the Son but also from the
Spirit; the authority and operation of the latter on the apostles is
signified to be the same as Theirs; and so we are to understand that
them is unity in the three points of authority, rule, and bounty; yet
need no disadvantage be feared from that participation, since such does
not arise in human friendship. Lastly, it is established that this is
the inheritance of the apostolic faith from the fact that the apostles
are described as having obeyed the Holy Spirit.
143. TAKE, O sacred Emperor, another strong instance
in this question, and one known to you: "In many ways and in divers
manners, God spake to the fathers in the prophets."(1) And the Wisdom
of God said: "I will send prophets and apostles."(2) And "To one is
given," as it is written, "through the Spirit, the word of wisdom; to
another, the word of knowledge, according to the same Spirit; to
another faith, in the same Spirit; to another, the gift of healings, in
the one Spirit; to another, the working of miracles; to another,
prophecy."(3) Therefore, according to the Apostle, prophecy is not only
through the Father and the Son, but also through the Holy Spirit, and
therefore the office is one, and the grace one. So you find that the
Spirit also is the author of prophecies.
144. The apostles also said: "It seemed good to the
Holy Spirit and to us."(4) And when they say, "It seemed good," they
point out not only the Worker of the grace, but also the Author of the
carrying out of that which was commanded. For as we read of God: "It
pleased God;" so, too, when it is said that, "It seemed good to the
Holy Spirit," one who is master of his own power is portrayed.
145. And how should He not be a master Who speaks
what He wills, and commands what He wills, as the Father commands and
the Son commands? For as Paul heard the voice saying to him, "I am
Jesus, Whom thou persecutest,"(5) so, too, the Spirit forbade Paul and
Silas to go into Bithynia. And as the Father spake through the
prophets, so, too, Agabus says concerning the Spirit: "Thus saith the
Holy Spirit, Thus shall the Jews in Jerusalem bind the man, whose is
this girdle."(6) And as Wisdom sent the apostles, saying, "Go ye into
all the world and preach the Gospel,"(7) so, too, the Holy Spirit says:
"Separate Me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called
them."(5) And so being sent forth by the Holy Spirit, as the Scripture
points out farther on, they were distinguished in nothing from the
other apostles, as though they were sent in one way by God the Father,
in another way by Spirit.
146. Lastly, Paul having been sent by the Spirit,
was both a vessel of election on
134
Christ's part, and himself relates that God wrought in him, saying:
"For He that wrought for Peter unto the apostleship of the
circumcision, wrought for me also unto the Gentiles."(1) Since, then,
the Same wrought in Paul Who wrought in Peter, it is certainly evident
that, since the Spirit wrought in Paul, the Holy Spirit wrought also in
Peter. But Peter himself testifies that God the Father wrought in him,
as it is stated in the Acts of the Apostles that Peter rose up and said
to them: "Men and brethren, ye know that a good while ago God made
choice amongst us that the Gentiles should hear the word of the Gospel
from my mouth." See, then, in Peter God wrought the grace of preaching.
And who would dare to deny the operation of Christ in him, since he was
certainly elected and chosen by Christ, when the Lord said: "Feed My
lambs."(2)
147. The operation, then, of the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Spirit is one, unless perchance you, who deny the oneness
of the same operation upon the Apostle, think this; that the Father and
the Spirit wrought in Peter, in whom the Son had wrought, as if the
operation of the Son by no means sufficed for him to the attainment of
the grace. And so the strength of the Father, of the Son, and of the
Holy Spirit being as it were joined and brought together, the work was
manifold, lest the operation of Christ alone should be too weak to
establish Peter.
148. And not only in Peter is there found to be one
operation of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, but also in all
the apostles the unity of the divine operation, and a certain authority
over the dispensations of heaven. For the divine operation works by the
power of a command, not in the execution of a ministry; for God, when
He works, does not fashion anything by toil or art, but "He spake and
they were made."(3) He said, "Let there be light, and there was
light,"(4) for the effecting of the work is comprised in the
commandment of God.
149. We can, then, easily find, if we will consider,
that this royal power is by the witness of the Scriptures attributed to
the Holy Spirit; and it will be made clear that all the apostles were
not only disciples of Christ, but also ministers of the Father, the
Son, and the Holy Spirit. As also the teacher of the Gentiles tells us,
when he says: "God hath set some in the Church, first apostles,
secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers; then miracles, the gift of
healings, helps, governments, divers kinds of tongues."(1)
150. See, God set apostles, and set prophets and
teachers, gave the gift of healings, which you find above to be given
by the Holy Spirit; gave divers kinds of tongues. But yet all are not
apostles, all are not prophets, all are not teachers. Not all, says he,
have the gift of healings, nor do all, says he, speak with tongues.(2)
For the whole of the divine gifts cannot exist in each several man;
each, according to his capacity, receives that which he either desires
or deserves. But the power of the Trinity, which is lavish of all
graces, is not like this weakness.
151. Lastly, God set apostles. Those whom God set in
the Church, Christ chose and ordained to be apostles, and sent them
into the world, saying: "Go ye into all the world, and preach the
Gospel to the whole creation. He that shall believe and be baptized
shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned. And these
signs shall follow them that believe. In My Name shall they cast out
devils, they shall speak with new tongues, they shall take up serpents,
and if they shall drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them, they
shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover."(3) You see the
Father and Christ also set teachers in the Churches; and as the Father
gives the gift of healings, so, too, does the Son give; as the Father
gives the gift of tongues, so, too, has the Son also granted it.
152. In like manner we have heard also above
concerning the Holy Spirit, that He too grants the same kinds of
graces. For it is said: "To one is given through the Spirit the gift of
healings, to another divers kinds of tongues, to another prophecy."(4)
So, then, the Spirit gives the same gifts as the Father, and the Son
also gives them. Let us now learn more expressly what we have touched
upon above, that the Holy Spirit entrusts the same office as the Father
and the Son, and appoints the same persons; since Paul said: "Take heed
to yourselves, and to all the flock in the which the Holy Spirit has
made you overseers to rule the Church of God."(5)
153. There is, then, unity of authority, unity of
appointment, unity of giving. For if you separate appointment and
power, what cause was there [for maintaining] that those whom Christ
appointed as apostles, God the Father
135
appointed, and the Holy Spirit appointed? unless, perhaps, as if
sharing a possession or a right, They, like men, were afraid of legal
prejudice, and therefore the operation was divided, and the authority
distributed.
154. These things are narrow and paltry, even
between men, who for the most part, although they do not agree in
action, yet agree in will. So that a certain person being asked what a
friend is, answered, "A second self." If, then, a man so defined a
friend as to say, he was a second self, that is to say, through a
oneness of love and good-will, how much more ought we to esteem the
oneness of Majesty, in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, when by
the same operation and divine power, either the unity, or certainly
that which is more, the <greek>tautoths</greek>, as it is
called in Greek, is expressed, for <greek>tauto</greek>
signifies "the same," so that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit
have the same; so that to have the same will and the same power does
not arise from the affection of the will, but inheres in the substance
of the Trinity.
155. This is the inheritance of apostolic faith and
devotion, which one may observe also in the Acts of the Apostles.
Therefore Paul and Barnabas obeyed the commands of the Holy Spirit. And
all the apostles obeyed, and forthwith ordained those whom the Spirit
had ordered to be separated: "Separate Me," said He, "Barnabas and
Saul."(1) Do you see the authority of Him Who commands? Consider the
merit of those who obey.
156. Paul believed, and because he believed he cast
off the zeal of a persecutor, and gained a crown of righteousness. He
believed who used to make havoc of the Churches; but being converted to
the faith, he preached in the Spirit that which the Spirit
commanded.(1) The Spirit anointed His champion, and having shaken off
the dust of unbelief, presented him as an insuperable conqueror of the
unbelievers to various assemblies of the ungodly, and trained him by
many sufferings for the prize of his high calling in Christ Jesus.
157. Barnabas also believed, and obeyed because he
believed. Therefore, being chosen by the authority of the Holy Spirit,
Which came on him abundantly, as a special sign of his merits, he was
not unworthy of so great a fellowship. For one grace shone in these
whom one Spirit had chosen.
158. Nor was Paul inferior to Peter, though the
latter was the foundation of the Church, and the former a wise builder
knowing how to make firm the footsteps of the nations who believed;
Paul was not, I say, unworthy of the fellowship of the apostles, but is
easily comparable with the first, and second to none. For he who knows
not that he is inferior makes himself equal.
BOOK III.
CHAPTER I.
Not only were the prophets and apostles sent by the Spirit, but also
the Son of God. This is proved from Isaiah and the evangelists, and it
is explained why St. Luke wrote that the same Spirit descended like a
dove upon Christ and abode upon Him. N:ext, after establishing this
mission of Christ, the writer infers that the Son is sent by the Father
and the Spirit, as the Spirit is by the Father and the Son.
1. IN the former book(2) we have shown by the clear
evidence of the Scriptures that the apostles and prophets were
appointed, the latter to prophesy, the former to preach the Gospel, by
the Holy Spirit in the same way as by the Father and the Son; now we
add what all will rightly wonder at, and not be able to doubt, that the
Spirit was upon Christ; and that as He sent the Spirit, so the Spirit
sent the Son of God. For the Son of God says: "The Spirit of the Lord
is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me, He hath sent Me to preach the
Gospel to the poor, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and sight to
the blind."(2) And having read this from the Book of Isaiah, He says in
the Gospel: "To-day hath this Scripture been fulfilled in your
ears;"(3) that He might point out that it was said of Himself.
2. Can we, then, wonder if the Spirit sent both the
prophets and the apostles, since Christ said: "The Spirit of the Lord
is upon Me"? And rightly did He say "upon Me," because He was speaking
as the Son of Man. For as the Son of Man He
136
was anointed and sent to preach the Gospel.
3. But if they believe not the Son, let them hear
the Father also saying that the Spirit of the Lord is upon Christ. For
He says to John: "Upon whomsoever thou shalt see the Spirit descending
from heaven and abiding upon Him, He it is Who baptizeth with the Holy
Spirit."(1) God the Father said this to John, and John heard and saw
and believed. He heard from God, he saw in the Lord, he believed that
it was the Spirit Who was coming down from heaven. For it was not a
dove that descended, but the Holy Spirit as a dove; for thus it is
written: "I saw the Spirit descending from heaven as a dove."(2)
4. As John says that he saw, so, too, wrote Mark;
Luke, however, added that the Holy Spirit descended in a bodily form as
a dove; you must not think that this was an incarnation, but an
appearance. He, then, brought the appearance before him, that by means
of the appearance he might believe who did not see the Spirit, and that
by the appearance He might manifest that He had a share of the one
honour in authority, the one operation in the mystery, the one gift in
the bath, together with the Father and the Son; unless perchance we
consider Him in Whom the Lord was baptized too weak for the servant to
be baptized in Him.
5. And he said fittingly, "abiding upon Him,"(3)
because the Spirit inspired a saying or acted upon the prophets as
often as He would, but abode always in Christ.
6. Nor, again, let it move you that he said "upon
Him," for he was speaking of the Son of Man, because he was baptized as
the Son of Man. For the Spirit is not upon Christ, according to the
Godhead, but in Christ; for, as the Father is in the Son, and the Son
in the Father, so the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ is both in
the Father and in the Son, for He is the Spirit of His mouth. For He
Who is of God abides in God, as it is written: "But we received not the
spirit of this world, but the Spirit which is of God."(4) And He abides
in Christ, Who has received from Christ; for it is written again: "He
shall take of Mine:"(5) and elsewhere: "The law of the Spirit of life
in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and death."(6) He is,
then, not over Christ according to the Godhead of Christ, for the
Trinity is not over Itself, but over all things: It is not over Itself
but in Itself.
7. Who, then, can doubt that the Spirit sent the
prophets and apostles, since the Son of God says: "The Spirit of the
Lord is. upon Me."[1] And elsewhere: "I am the First, and I am also for
ever, and Mine hand hath rounded the earth, and My right hand hath
established the heaven; I will call them and they shall stand up
together, and shall all be gathered together and shall hear. Who hath
declared these things to them? Because I loved thee I performed thy
pleasure against Babylon, that the seed of the Chaldaeans might be
taken away. I have spoken, and I have called, I have brought him and
have made his way prosperous. Come unto Me and hear ye this. From the
beginning I have not spoken in secret, I was there when those things
were done; and now the Lord God hath sent Me and His Spirit."(2) Who is
it Who says: The Lord God hath sent Me and His Spirit, except He Who
came from the Father that He might save sinners? And, as you hear, the
Spirit sent Him, lest when you hear that the Son sends the Spirit, you
should believe the Spirit to be of inferior power.
8. So both the Father and the Spirit sent the Son;
the Father sent Him, for it is written: "But the Paraclete, the Holy
Spirit, Whom the Father will send in My Name."(3) The Son sent Him, for
He said: "But when the Paraclete is come, Whom I will send unto you
from the Father, even the Spirit of Truth."(4) If, then, the Son and
the Spirit send each other, as the Father sends, there is no
inferiority of subjection, but a community of power.
CHAPTER II.
The Son and the Spirit are alike given; whence not
subjection but one Godhead is shown by Its working.
9. Ash not only did the Father send the Son, but
also gave Him, as the Son Himself gave Himself. For we read: "Grace to
you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, Who gave Himself for
our sins."(5) If they think that He was subject in that He was sent,
they cannot deny that it was of grace that He was given. But He was
given by the Father, as Isaiah said: "Unto us a Child is born, unto us
a Son is given;"(6) but He was given, I dare to say it, by the Spirit
also, Who was sent by the Spirit. For since the prophet has not defined
by whom
137
He was given, he shows that He was given by the grace of the Trinity;
and inasmuch as the Son Himself gave Himself, He could not be subject
to Himself according to His Godhead. Therefore that He was given could
not be a sign of subjection in the God-head.
10. But the Holy Spirit also was given, for it is
written: "I will ask the Father, and He shall give you another
Paraclete."(1) And the Apostle says: "Wherefore he that despiseth these
things despiseth not man but God, Who hath given us His Holy
Spirit."(2) Isaiah, too, shows that both the Spirit and the Son are
given: "Thus," says he, "saith the Lord God, Who made the heaven and
fashioned it, Who stablished the earth, and the things which are in it,
and giveth breath to the people upon it, and the Spirit to them that
walk upon it."(3) And to the Son: "I am the Lord God, Who have called
Thee in righteousness, and will hold Thine hand, and will strengthen
Thee; and I have given Thee for a covenant of My people, for a light of
the Gentiles, to open the eyes of the blind, to bring out of their
fetters those that are bound."(4) Since, then, the Son is both sent and
given, and the Spirit also is both sent and given, They have assuredly
a oneness of Godhead Who have a oneness of action.
CHAPTER III.
The same Unity may also be recognized from the fact that the Spirit is
called Finger, and the Son Right Hand; for the understanding of divine
things is assisted by the usage of human language. The tables of the
law were written by this Finger, and they were afterwards broken, and
the reason. Lastly, Christ wrote with the same Finger; yet we must not
admit any inferiority in the Spirit from this bodily comparison.
11. So, too, the Spirit is also called the Finger of
God, because there is an indivisible and inseparable communion between
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. For as the Scripture called
the Son of God the Right Hand of God, as it is said: "Thy Right Hand, O
Lord, is made glorious in power. Thy Right Hand, O Lord, hath dashed in
pieces the enemy;"(5) so the Holy Spirit is called the Finger of God,
as the Lord Himself says: "But if I by the Finger of God cast out
devils."(6) For in the same place in another book of the Gospel He
named the Spirit of God, as you find: "But if I by the Spirit of God
cast out devils."(1)
12. What, then, could have been said to signify more
expressly the unity of the Godhead, or of Its working, which Unity is
according to the Godhead of the Father, or of the Son, or of the Holy
Spirit, than that we should understand that the fulness of the eternal
Godhead would seem to be divided far more than this body of ours, if
any one were to sever the unity of Substance, and multiply Its powers,
whereas the eternity of the same Godhead is one?
13. For oftentimes it is convenient to estimate from
our own words those things which are above us, and because we cannot
see those things we draw inferences from those which we can see. "For
the invisible things of Him," says the Apostle, "from the creation of
the world are clearly seen, being understood by those things which are
made."(2) And he adds: "His eternal power also and Godhead."(3) Of
which one thing seems to be said of the Son, and another of the Holy
Spirit; that in the same manner as the Son is called the eternal Power
of the Father, so, also, the Spirit, because He is divine, should be
believed to be His eternal Godhead. For the Son, too, because He ever
lives, is eternal life. This Finger, then, of God is both eternal and
divine. For what is there belonging to God which is not eternal and
divine?
14. With this Finger, as we read, God wrote on those
tables of stone which Moses received. For God did not with a finger of
flesh write the forms and portions of those letters which we read, but
gave the law by His Spirit. And so the Apostle says: "For the Law is
spiritual, which, indeed, is written not with ink, but with the Spirit
of the living God; not in tables of stone, but on fleshy tables of the
heart."(4) For if the letter of the Apostle is written in the Spirit,
what hinders us from believing that the Law of God was written not with
ink, but with the Spirit of God, which certainly does not stain but
enlightens the secret places of our heart and mind?
14. Now it was written on tables of stone, because
it was written in a type, but the tables were first broken and cast out
of the hands of Moses, because the Jews fell away from the works of the
prophet. And fitly were the tables broken, not the writing erased. And
do you see that your table be not broken, that your mind and soul be not
138
divided. Is Christ divided? He is not divided, but is one with the
Father; and let no one separate you. from Him. If your faith fails, the
table of your heart is broken. The coherence of your soul is lessened
if you do not believe the unity of Godhead in the Trinity. Your faith
is written, and your sin is written, as Jeremiah said: "Thy sin, O
Judah, is written with a pen of iron and the point of a diamond. And it
is written," he says, "on thy breast and on thy heart."(1) The sin,
therefore, is there where grace is, but the sin is written with a pen,
grace is denoted by the Spirit.
15. With this Finger, also, the Lord Jesus, with
bowed head, mystically wrote on the ground, when the adulteress was
brought before Him by the Jews, signifying in a figure that, when we
judge of the sins of another, we ought to remember our own.
16. And lest, again, because God wrote the Law by
His Spirit, we should believe any inferiority, as it were, concerning
the ministry of the Spirit, or from the consideration of our own body
should think the Spirit to be a small part of God, the Apostle says,
elsewhere, that he does not speak with words of human wisdom, but in
words taught by the Spirit, and that he compares spiritual things with
spiritual; but that the natural man receiveth not the things which
pertain to the Spirit of God.(2) For he knew that he who compared
divine with carnal things was amongst natural things, and not to be
reckoned amongst spiritual men; "for they are foolishness," he says,
"unto him."(3) And so, because he knew that these questions would arise
amongst natural men, foreseeing the future he says: "For who hath known
the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct Him? But we have the mind of
Christ."(4)
CHAPTER IV.
To those who contend that the Spirit because He is called the Finger is
less than the Father, St. Ambrose replies that this would also tend to
the lessening of the Son, Who is called the Right Hand. That these
names are to be referred only to the Unity, for which reason Moses
proclaimed that the whole Trinity worked in the passage of the Red Sea.
And, indeed, it is no wonder that the operation of the Spirit found
place there, where there was a figure of baptism, since the Scripture
teaches that the Three Persons equally sanctify and are operative in
that sacrament.
17. BUT if any one is still entangled in carnal
doubts, and hesitates because of bodily figures, let him consider that
he cannot think rightly of the Son who can think wrongly of the Spirit.
For if some think that the Spirit is a certain small portion of God,
because He is called the Finger of God, the same persons must certainly
maintain that a small portion only is in the Son of God, because He is
called the Right Hand of God.
18. But the Son is called both the Right Hand and
the Power of God; if, then, we consider our words, there can be no
perfection without power; let them therefore take care lest they think
that which it is impious to say, namely, that the Father being but half
perfect in His own Substance received perfection through the Son, and
let them cease to deny that the Son is co-eternal with the Father. For
when did the Power of God not exist? But if they think that at any time
the Power of God existed not, they will say that at some time
Perfection existed not in God the Father, to Whom they think that Power
was at some time wanting.
19. But, as I said, these things are written that we
may refer them to the Unity of the Godhead, and believe that which the
Apostle said, that the fulness of the Godhead dwells bodily in
Christ,(1) which dwells also in the Father, and dwells in the Holy
Spirit; and that, as there is a unity of the Godhead, so also is there
a unity of operation.
20. And this may also be gathered from the Song of
Moses, for he, after leading the people of the Jews through the sea,
acknowledged the operation of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
saying: "Thy Right Hand, O Lord, is glorious in power, Thy Right Hand,
O Lord, hath dashed in pieces the enemy."(2) Here you have his
confession of the Son and of the Father, Whose Right Hand He is. And
farther on, not to pass by the Holy Spirit, He added: "Thou didst send
Thy Spirit and the sea covered them, and the water was divided by the
Spirit of Thine anger."(3) By which is signified the unity of the
Godhead, not an inequality of the Trinity.
21. You see, then, that the Holy Spirit also
co-operated with the Father and the Son, so that just as if the waves
were congealed in the midst of the sea, a wall as it were of water rose
up for the passage of the Jews, and then, poured back again by the
Spirit, overwhelmed the people of the Egyptians. And many think that
from the same origin the pillar of cloud went before the people of the
Jews by day, and the pillar of fire by
139
night, that the grace of the Spirit might protect His people.
22. Now that this operation of God, which the whole
world rightly wonders at, did not take place without the work of the
Holy Spirit, the Apostle also declared when he said that the truth of a
spiritual mystery was prefigured in it, for we read as follows: "For
our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea,
and were all baptized in Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and did all
eat the same spiritual meat, and did all drink the same spiritual
drink."
23. For how without the operation of the Holy Spirit
could there be the type of a sacrament, the whole truth of which is in
the Spirit? As the Apostle also set forth, saying: "But ye were washed,
but ye were sanctified, but ye were justified in the Name of our Lord
Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God."(2)
24. You see, then, that the Father works in the Son,
and that the Son works in the Spirit. And therefore do not doubt that,
according to the order of Scripture, there was in the figure that which
the Truth Himself declared to be in the truth. For who can deny His
operation in the Font, in which we feel His operation and grace?
25. For as the Father sanctifies, so, too, the Son
sanctifies, and the Holy Spirit sanctifies. The Father sanctifies
according to that which is written: "The God of peace sanctify you, and
may your spirit, soul, and body be preserved entire without blame in
the day of our Lord Jesus Christ."(3) And elsewhere the Son says:
"Father, sanctify them in the truth."(4)
26. But of the Son the same Apostle said: "Who was
made unto us wisdom from God, and righteousness, and sanctification,
and redemption."(5) Do you see that He was made sanctification? But He
was made so unto us, not that He should change that which He was, but
that He might sanctify us in the flesh.
27. And the Apostle also teaches that the Holy
Spirit sanctifies. For he speaks thus: "We are bound to give thanks to
God always for you, brethren dearly beloved of the Lord; because God
chose you as first-fruits unto salvation, in sanctification of the
Spirit, and belief of the truth."(6)
28. So, then, the Father sanctifies, the Son also
sanctifies, and the Holy Spirit sanctifies; but the sanctification is
one, for baptism is one, and the grace of the sacrament is one.
CHAPTER V.
The writer sums up the argument he had commenced, and confirms the
statement that unity is signified by the terms finger and right hand,
from the fact that the works of God are the same as are the works of
hands; and that those of hands are the same as those of fingers; and
lastly, that the term hand applies equally to the Son and the Spirit,
and that of finger applies to the Spirit and the Son.
29. BUT what wonder is it if He Who Himself needs n
o sanctification, but abounds therewith, sanctifies each man; since, as
I said, we have been taught that His Majesty is so great, that the Holy
Spirit seems to be as inseparable from God the Father as the finger is
from the body?
30. But if any one thinks that this should be
referred not to the oneness of power, but to its lessening, he indeed
will fall into such madness as to appear to fashion the Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit as it were into one bodily form, and to picture to
himself certain distinctions of its members.
31. But let them learn, as I have often said, that
not inequality but unity of power is signified by this testimony;
inasmuch as things which are the works of God are also the works of
hands, and we read that the same are the works of fingers. For it is
written: "The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament
showeth the work of His hands;"(1) and elsewhere: "In the beginning
Thou didst found the earth, O Lord; and the heavens are the works of
Thy hands."(2) So, then, the works of the hands are the same as the
works of God. There is not therefore any distinction of the work
according to the kind of bodily members, but a oneness of power.
32. But those which are the works of the hands are
also the works of the fingers, for it is equally written: "For I will
behold Thy heavens, the works of Thy fingers, the moon, and the stars,
which Thou hast established."(3) What less are the fingers here said to
have made than the hands, since they made the same as the hands, as it
is written: "For Thou, Lord, hast made me glad through Thy work, and in
the works of Thy hands will I rejoice,"(4)
33. And yet since we read that the Son is the
hand(for it is written: "Hath not My Hand made all these things?"(5)
and elsewhere: "I will place thee in the cleft of the rock, and I will
cover thee with Mine hand, I have placed My hand under the covering of
the rock,"(6) which refers to the mystery of
140
the Incarnation, because the eternal Power of God took on Itself the
covering of a body), it is certainly clear that Scripture used the term
hand both of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
34. And again, since we read that the Spirit is the
finger of God, we think that fingers [in the plural] are spoken of to
signify the Son and Spirit. Lastly, that he may state that he received
the sanctification both of the Son and of the Spirit, a certain saint
says: "Thy hands have made me and fashioned me."(1)
CHAPTER VI.
The Spirit rebukes just as do the Father and the Son; and indeed judges
could not judge without Him, as is shown by the judgments of Solomon
and Daniel, which are explained in a few words, by the way; and no
other than the Holy Spirit inspired Daniel.
35. WHY do we reject like words when we assert the
oneness of power, since the oneness of power extends so far that the
Spirit rebukes, as the Father rebukes, and as the Son rebukes. For so
it is written: "O Lord, rebuke me not in Thine anger, neither chasten
me in Thy displeasure."(2) Then in the forty-ninth [fiftieth] Psalm,
the Lord speaks thus: "I will rebuke thee, and will set thy sins before
thy face"(3) And in like manner the Son said of the Holy Spirit: "When
I go away, I will send the Paraclete to you. And He, when He is come,
will rebuke the world, concerning sin, and concerning righteousness,
and concerning judgment"(4)
36. But whither is the madness of faithless men
leading us, so that we appear to be proving, as if it were a matter of
doubt, that the Holy Spirit rebukes, whereas judges themselves are
unable to judge, except through the Spirit. Lastly, that famous
judgment of Solomon, when, amongst the difficulties arising from those
who were contending, as one, having overlain the child which she had
borne, wished to claim the child of another, and the other was
protecting her own son, he both discovered deceit in the very hidden
thoughts. and affection in the mother's heart, was certainly so
admirable only by the gift of the Holy Spirit For no other sword would
have penetrated the hidden feeling of those women, except the sword of
the Spirit, of which the Lord says: "I am not come to send peace but a
sword."(5) For the inmost mind cannot be penetrated by steel, but by
the Spirit: "For the Spirit of understanding is holy, one only,
manifold, subtle, lively," and, farther on, "overseeing all things."(1)
37. Consider what the prophet says, that He oversees
all things. And so Solomon also oversaw, so that he ordered that sword
to be brought, because while pretending that he intended to divide the
infant, he reflected that the true mother would have more regard for
her son than for her comfort, and would set kindness before right, not
right before kindness. But that she who feigned the feelings of a
mother, blinded by the desire of gaining her end, would think little of
the destruction of him in regard to whom she felt no outgoing of
tenderness. And so that spiritual man, that he might judge all things
(for he that is spiritual judgeth all things),(2) sought in the
feelings the natural disposition which was concealed in the language,
and questioned tenderness that he might set forth the truth. So the
mother overcame by the affection of love, which is a fruit of the
Spirit.
38. He judges in a prophet, for the word of wisdom
is given by the Spirit;(3) how, then, do men deny that the Spirit can
rebuke the world concerning judgment, Who removes doubt from judgment,
and grants the successful issue?
39. Daniel also, unless he had received the Spirit
of God, would never have been able to discover that lustful adultery,
that fraudulent lie. For when Susanna, assailed by the conspiracy of
the elders, saw that the mind of the people was moved by consideration
for the old men, and destitute of all help, alone amongst men,
conscious of her chastity she prayed God to judge; it is written: "The
Lord heard her voice, when she was being led to be put to death, and
the Lord raised up the Holy Spirit of a young youth, whose name was
Daniel."(4) And so according to the grace of the Holy Spirit received
by him, he discovered the varying evidence of the treacherous, for it
was none other than the operation of divine power, that his voice
should make them whose inward feelings were concealed to be known.
41. Understand, then, the sacred and heavenly
miracle of the Holy Spirit She who preferred to be chaste in herself,
rather than in the opinion of the people, she who preferred to hazard
[the reputation of] her innocence, rather than her modesty, who
141
when she was accused was silent, when she was condemed held her peace,
content with the judgment of her own conscience, who preserved regard
for her modesty even in peril, that they who were not able to force her
chastity might not seem to have forced her to petulance; when she
called upon the Lord, she obtained the Spirit, Who made known the
hidden consciousness of the elders.
42. Let the chaste learn not to dread calumny. For
she who preferred chastity to life did not suffer the loss of life, and
retained the glory of chastity. So, too, Abraham, once bidden to go to
foreign lands, and not being held back either by the danger to his
wife's modesty, nor by the fear of death before him, preserved both his
own life and his wife's chastity.(1) So no one has ever repented of
trusting God, and chastity increased devotion in Sarah, and devotion
chastity.
43. And lest any one should perhaps think that, as
the Scripture says, "God raised up the Holy Spirit of a young youth,"
the Spirit in him was that of a man, not the Holy Spirit, let him read
farther on, and he will find that Daniel received the Holy Spirit, and
therefore prophesied. Lastly, too, the king advanced him because he had
the grace of the Spirit For he speaks thus: "Thou, O Daniel, art able,
forasmuch as the Holy Spirit of God is in thee."(2) And farther on it
is written: "And Daniel was set over them, because an excellent Spirit
was in him."(3) And the Spirit of Moses also was distributed to those
who were to be judges.(4)
CHAPTER VII.
The Son Himself does not judge or punish without the Spirit, so that
the same Spirit is called the Sword of the Word. But inasmuch as the
Word is in turn called the Sword of the Spirit, the highest unity of
power is thereby recognized in each.
44. BUT what should we say of the other points? We
have heard that the Lord Jesus not only judges in the Spirit but
punishes also. For neither would He punish Antichrist, whom, as we
read, "the Lord Jesus shall slay with the Spirit of His mouth,"(5)
unless He had before judged of his deserts. Yet here is not a grace
received, but the unity remains undivided, since neither can Christ be
without the Spirit, nor the Spirit without Christ. For the unity of the
divine nature cannot be divided.
45. And since that instance comes before us. that
the Lord Jesus shall slay with the Spirit of His mouth, the Spirit is
understood to be as it were the Sword of the Word. Lastly, in the
Gospel also the Lord Jesus Himself says: "I came not to send peace but
a sword."(1) For He came that He might give the Spirit; and so there is
in His mouth a two-edged sword,(2) which is in truth the grace of the
Spirit So the Spirit is the Sword of the Word.
46. And that you may know that there is no
inequality but unity of nature, the Word also is the Sword of the Holy
Spirit, for it is written: "Taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye
may be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. And take
the helmet of Salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word
of God."(3)
47. Since, then, the Sword of the Word is the Holy
Spirit, and the Sword of the Holy Spirit is the Word of God, there is
certainly in Them oneness of power.
CHAPTER VIII.
The aforesaid unity is proved hereby, that as the Father is said to be
grieved and tempted, so too the Son. The Son was also tempted in the
wilderness, where a figure of the cross was set up in the brazen
serpent: but the Apostle says that the Spirit also was there tempted.
St. Ambrose infers from this that the Israelites were guided into the
promised land by the same Spirit, and that His will and power are one
with those of the Father and the Son.
48. AND we may behold this unity also in other
passages of the Scriptures. For whereas Ezekiel says to the people of
the Jews: "And thou hast grieved Me in all these things, saith the
Lord;"(4) Paul says to the new people in his Epistle: "Grieve not the
Holy Spirit of God, in Whom ye were sealed."(5) Again, whereas Isaiah
says of the Jews themselves: "But they believed not, but grieved the
Holy Spirit;"(6) David says of God: "They grieved the Most High in the
desert, and tempted God in their hearts."(7)
49. Understand also that whereas Scripture in other
places says that the Spirit was tempted, and that God was tempted, it
says also that Christ was tempted; for you have the Apostle saying to
the Corinthians: "Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them tempted,
and perished by serpents."(8)
142
Just was the punishment that the adversaries should feel the venom, who
had not venerated the Maker.
50. And well did the Lord ordain that by the lifting
up of the brazen serpent the wounds of those who were bitten should be
healed; for the brazen serpent is a type of the Cross; for although in
His flesh Christ was lifted up, yet in Him was the Apostle crucified to
the world and the world to him; for he says: "The world hath been
crucified unto me, and I unto the world."(1) "So the world was
crucified in its allurements, and therefore not a real but a brazen
serpent was hanged; because the Lord took on Him the likeness of a
sinner, in the truth. indeed, of His Body, but without the truth of
sin, that imitating a serpent through the deceitful appearance of human
weakness, having laid aside the slough of the flesh, He might destroy
the cunning of the true serpent. And therefore in the Cross of the
Lord, which came to man's help in avenging temptation, I, who accept
the medicine of the Trinity, recognize in the wicked the offence
against the Trinity.
51. Therefore when you find in the book of Moses,
that the Lord being tempted sent serpents on the people of the Jews, it
is necessary that you either confess the Unity of the Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit in the Divine Majesty, or certainly when the writing of the
Apostle says that the Spirit was tempted, it undoubtedly pointed out
the Spirit by the name of Lord. But the Apostle writing to the Hebrews
says that the Spirit was tempted, for you find this: "Wherefore the
Holy Ghost saith this: Today if ye shall hear His voice, harden not
your hearts, like as in the provocation in the day of temptation in the
wilderness, where your fathers tempted Me, proved Me, and saw My works.
Forty years was I near to this generation and said: They do alway err
in their heart; but they did not know My ways, as I sware in My wrath,
If they shall enter into My rest."(2)
52. Therefore, according to the Apostle, the Spirit
was tempted. If He was tempted, He also certainly was guiding the
people of the Jews into the land of promise, as it is written: "For He
led them through the deep, as a horse through the wilderness, and they
laboured not, and like the cattle through the plain. The Spirit came
down from the Lord and guided them."(3) And He certainly ministered to
them the calm rain of heavenly food, He with fertile shower made
fruitful that daily harvest which earth had not brought forth, and
husbandman had not sown.
53. Now let us look at these points one by one. God
had promised rest to the Jews; the Spirit calls that rest His. God the
Father relates that He was tempted by the unbelieving, and the Spirit
says that He was tempted by the same, for the temptation is one
wherewith the one Godhead of the Trinity was tempted by the
unbelieving. God condemns the people of the Jews, so that they cannot
attain to the land flowing with milk and honey, that is, to the rest of
the resurrection; and the Spirit condemns them by the same decree: "If
they shall enter into My rest." It is, then, the decree of one Will,
the excellency of one Power.
CHAPTER IX.
That the Holy Spirit is provoked is proved by the words of St. Peter,
in which it is shown that the Spirit of God is one and the same as the
Spirit of the Lord, both by other passages and by reference to the
sentence of the same Apostle on Ananias and Sapphira, whence it is
argued that the union of the Holy Spirit with the Father and the Son,
as well as His own Godhead, is proved.
54. PERHAPS, however, some one might say that this
passage cannot be specially applied to the Holy Spirit, had not the
same Apostle Peter taught us in another place that the Holy Ghost can
be tempted by our sins, for you find that the wife of Ananias is thus
addressed: "Why have ye agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the
Lord?"(1) For the Spirit of the Lord is the very Spirit of God; for
there is one Holy Spirit, as also the Apostle Paul taught, saying: "But
ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of
God dwelleth in you. But if any man hath not the Spirit of Christ, he
is none of His."(2) He first mentioned the Spirit of God and
immediately adds that the Same is the Spirit of Christ. And having
spoken of the Spirit, that we might understand that where the Holy
Spirit is there is Christ, he added: "But if Christ be in you."(3)
55. Then, in the same way as we here understand that
where the Spirit is there also is Christ; so also, elsewhere, he shows
that where Christ is, there also is the Holy Spirit. For having said:
"Do ye seek a proof of Christ Who speaketh in me?"(4) he says
elsewhere: "For I think that I also
143
have the Spirit of God."(1) The Unity, then, is inseparable, for by the
testimony of Scripture where either the Father or the Son or the Holy
Spirit is designated, there is all the fulness of the Trinity.
56. But Peter himself in the instance we have
brought forward spoke first of the Holy Spirit, and then called Him the
Spirit of the Lord, for you read as follows: "Ananias, why hath Satan
filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Spirit, and to deal fraudulently
concerning the price of the field? While it remained did it not
continue thine own, and when sold was it not in thy power? Why hast
thou conceived this wickedness in thy heart? Thou hast not lied unto
men but unto God."(2) And below he says to the wife: "Why have ye
agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord?"(3)
57. First, we understand that he called the Holy
Spirit the Spirit of the Lord. Then, since he mentioned first the Holy
Spirit and added: "Thou hast not lied unto men but unto God," you must
necessarily either understand the oneness of the Godhead in the Holy
Spirit, since when the Holy Spirit is tempted a lie is told to God; or,
if you endeavour to exclude the oneness of the Godhead, you yourself
according to the words of Scripture certainly believe Him to be God.
58. For if we understand that these expressions are
used both of the Spirit and of the Father, we certainly observe the
unity of truth and knowledge in God the Father and the Holy Spirit, for
falsehood is discovered alike by the Holy Spirit and by God the Father.
But if we have received each truth concerning the Spirit, why do you,
faithless man, attempt to deny what you read? Confess, then, either the
oneness of the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy
Spirit, or the Godhead of the Holy Spirit. Whichever you say, you will
have said each in God, for both the Unity upholds the Godhead and the
Godhead the Unity.
CHAPTER X.
The Divinity of the Holy Spirit is supported by a passage of St. John.
This passage was, indeed, erased by heretics, but it is a vain attempt,
since their faithlessness could thereby more easily be convicted, The
order of the context is considered in order that this passage may be
shown to refer to the Spirit. He is born of the Spirit who is born
again of the same Spirit, of Whom Christ Himself is believed to have
been born and born again. Again, the Godhead of the Spirit is inferred
from two testimonies of St. John; and lastly, it is explained how the
Spirit, the water, and the blood are called witnesses.
59. NOR does the Scripture in this place alone bear
witness to the <greek>qeoths</greek>, that is, the Godhead
of the Holy Spirit; but also the Lord Himself said in the Gospel: "The
Spirit is God."(1) Which passage you, Arians, so expressly testify to
be said concerning the Spirit, that you remove it from your copies,(2)
and would that it were from yours and not also from those of the
Church! For at the time when Auxentius(3) had seized the Church of
Milan with the arms and forces of impious unbelief, the Church of
Sirmium(4) was attacked by Valens and Ursatius, when their priests
[i.e. bishops] failed in faith; this falsehood and sacrilege of yours
was found in the ecclesiastical books. And it may chance that you did
the same in the past.
60. And you have indeed been able to blot out the
letters, but could not remove the faith. That erasure betrayed you
more. that erasure condemned you more; and you were not able to
obliterate the truth, but that erasure blotted out your names from the
book of life. Why was the passage removed, "For God is a Spirit," if it
did not pertain to the Spirit? For if you will have it that the
expression is used of God the Father, you, who think it should be
erased, deny, in consequence, God the Father. Choose which you will, in
each the snare of your own impiety will bind you if you confess
yourselves to be heathen by denying either the Father or the Spirit to
be God. Therefore your confession wherein you have blotted out the Word
of God remains, while you fear the original.
61. You have blotted it out, indeed, in your breasts
and minds, but the Word of
144
God is not blotted out, the Holy Spirit is not blotted out, but turns
away from impious minds; not grace but iniquity is blotted out; for it
is written: "I am He, I am He that blot out thine iniquities."[1]
Lastly, Moses, making request for the people, says: "Blot me out of Thy
book, if Thou sparest not this people."(2) And yet he was not blotted
out, because he had no iniquity, but grace flowed forth.
62. You are, then, convicted by your own confession
that you cannot say it was done with wisdom but with cunning. For by
cunning you know that you are convicted by the evidence of that
passage, and that your arguments cannot apply against that testimony.
For whence else could the meaning of that place be derived, since the
whole tenour of the passage is concerning the Spirit?
63. Nicodemus enquires about regeneration, and the
Lord replies: "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born
again by water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of
God."(3) And that He might show that there is one birth according to
the flesh, and another according to the Spirit, He added: "That which
is born of the flesh is flesh, because it is born of the flesh; and
that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit, because the Spirit is
God."(4) Follow out the whole course of the passage, and you will find
that God has shut out your impiety by the fulness of His statement:
"Marvel not," says He, "that I said, Ye must be born again. The Spirit
breatheth where He listeth, and thou hearest His voice, but knowest not
whence He cometh or whither He goeth, so is every one who is born of
the Spirit."(5)
64. Who is he who is born of the Spirit, and is made
Spirit, but he who is renewed in the Spirit of his mind?(6) This
certainly is he who is regenerated by water and the Holy Spirit, since
we receive the hope of eternal life through the layer of regeneration
and renewing of the Holy Spirit.(7) And elsewhere the Apostle Peter
says: "Ye shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit."(8) For who is he
that is baptized with the Holy Spirit but he who is born again through
water and the Holy Spirit? Therefore the Lord said of the Holy Spirit,
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again by water
and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. And therefore
He declared that we are born of Him in the latter case, through Whom He
said that we were born in the former. This is the sentence of the Lord;
I rest on what is written, not on argument.
65. I ask, however, why, if there be no doubt that
we are born again by the Holy Spirit, there should be any doubt that we
are born of the Holy Spirit, since the Lord Jesus Himself was both born
and born again of the Holy Spirit. And if you confess that He was born
of the Holy Spirit, because you are not able to deny it, but deny that
He was born again, it is great folly to confess what is peculiar to
God, and deny what is common to men. And therefore that is well said to
you which was said to the Jews: "If I told you earthly things and ye
believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you heavenly things?"(1)
66. And yet we find each passage so written in
Greek, that He said not, through the Spirit, but of the Spirit. For it
stands thus: <greek>amhn</greek>,
<greek>amhn</greek>, <greek>legw</greek>
<greek>soi</greek>, <greek>ean</greek>
<greek>mh</greek> <greek>tis</greek>
<greek>gennhqh</greek> <greek>ex</greek>
<greek>udatos</greek> <greek>cai</greek>
<greek>Pneumatos</greek>, that is, of water and the Spirit.
Therefore, since one ought not to doubt that "that which is born of the
Spirit" is written of the Holy Spirit; there is no doubt but that the
Holy Spirit also is God, according to that which is written, "the
Spirit is God."
67. But the same Evangelist, that he might make it
plain that he wrote this concerning the Holy Spirit, says elsewhere:
"Jesus Christ came by water and blood, not in the water only, but by
water and blood. And the Spirit beareth witness, because the Spirit is
truth; for there are three witnesses, the Spirit, the water, and the
blood; and these three are one."(2)
68. Hear how they are witnesses: The Spirit renews
the mind, the water is serviceable for the layer, and the blood refers
to the price. For the Spirit made us children by adoption, the water of
the sacred Font washed us, the blood of the Lord redeemed us. So we
obtain one invisible and one visible testimony in a spiritual
sacrament, for "the Spirit Himself beareth witness to our spirit."(3)
Though the fulness of the sacrament be in each, yet there is a
distinction of office; so where there is distinction of office, there
certainly is not equality of witness.
145
CHAPTER XI.
The objection has been made, that the words of St. John, "The Spirit is
God," are to be referred to God the Father; since Christ afterwards
declares that God is to be worshipped in Spirit and in truth. The
answer is, first, that by the word Spirit is sometimes meant spiritual
grace; next, it is shown that, if they insist that the Person of the
Holy Spirit is signified by the words "in Spirit," and therefore deny
that adoration is due to Him, the argument tells equally against the
Son; and since numberless passages prove that He is to be worshipped,
we understand from this that the same rule is to be laid down as
regards the Spirit. Why are we commanded to fall down before His
footstool? Because by this is signified the Lord's Body, and as the
Spirit was the Maker of this, it follows that He is to be worshipped,
and yet it does not accordingly follow that Mary is to be worshipped.
Therefore the worship of the Spirit is not done away with, but His
union with the Father is expressed, when it is said that the Father is
to be worshipped in Spirit, and this point is supported by similar
expressions.
69. BUT perhaps reference may be made to the fact
that in a later passage of the same book, the Lord again said that God
is Spirit, but spoke of God the Father. For you have this passage in
the Gospel: "The hour now is, when the true worshippers shall worship
the Father in Spirit and truth, for such also doth the Father seek. God
is Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship in Spirit and
truth."(1) By this passage you wish not only to deny the divinity of
the Holy Spirit, but also, from God being worshipped in Spirit, deduce
a subjection of the Spirit.
70. To which point I will briefly answer that Spirit
is often put for the grace of the Spirit, as the Apostle also said:
"For the Spirit Himself intercedeth for us with groanings which cannot
be uttered;"(2) that is, the grace of the Spirit, unless perchance you
have been able to hear the groanings of the Holy Spirit. Therefore here
too God is worshipped, not in the wickedness of the heart, but in the
grace of the Spirit. "For into a malicious soul wisdom does not
enter,"(3) because "no one can call Jesus Lord but in the Holy
Spirit."(4) And immediately he adds: "Now there are diversities of
gifts."(5)
71. Now this cannot pertain to the fulness, nor to
the dividing of the Spirit; for neither does the mind of man grasp His
fulness, nor is He divided into any portions of Himself; but He pours
into [the soul] the gift of spiritual grace, in which God is worshipped
as He is also worshipped in truth, for no one worships Him except he
who drinks in the truth of His Godhead with pious affection. And he
certainly does not apprehend Christ as it were personally, nor the Holy
Spirit personally.
72. Or if you think that this is said as it were
personally of Christ and of the Spirit, then God is worshipped in truth
in like manner as He is worshipped in Spirit. There is therefore either
a like subjection, which God forbid that you should believe, and the
Son is not worshipped; or, which is true, there is a like grace of
Unity, and the Spirit is worshipped.
73. Let us then here draw our inferences and put an
end to the impious questionings of the Arians. For if they say that the
Spirit is therefore not to be worshipped because God is worshipped in
Spirit, let them then say that the Truth is not to be worshipped,
because God is worshipped in truth. For although there be many truths,
since it is written: "Truths are minished from the sons of men;"(1) yet
they are given by the Divine Truth, which is Christ, Who says: "I am
the Way, the Truth, and the Life."(2) If therefore they understand the
truth in this passage from custom, let them also understand the grace
of the Spirit, and there is no stumbling; or if they receive Christ as
the Truth, let them deny that He is to be worshipped.
74. But they are refuted by the acts of the pious,
and by the course of the Scriptures. For Mary worshipped Christ, and
therefore is appointed to be the messenger of the Resurrection to the
apostles,(3) loosening the hereditary bond, and the huge offence of
womankind. For this the Lord wrought mystically, "that where sin had
exceedingly abounded, grace might more exceedingly abound."(4) And
rightly is a woman appointed [as messenger] to men; that she who first
had brought the message of sin to man should first bring the message of
the grace of the Lord.
75. And the apostles worshipped; and therefore they
who bore the testimony of the faith received authority as to the faith.
And the angels worshipped, of whom it is written: "And let all His
angels worship Him."(5)
76. But they worship not only His Godhead but also
His Footstool, as it is written: "And worship His footstool, for it is
holy,"(6) Or if they deny that in Christ the mysteries also of His
Incarnation are to be worshipped,
146
in which we observe as it were certain express traces of His Godhead,
and certain ways of the Heavenly Word; let them read that even the
apostles worshipped Him when He rose again in the glory of His Flesh.(1)
77. Therefore if it do not at all detract from
Christ, that God is worshipped in Christ, for Christ too is
worshipped;(2) it certainly also detracts nothing from the Spirit that
God is worshipped in the Spirit, for the Spirit also is worshipped, as
the Apostle has said: "We serve the Spirit of God,"(3) for he who
serves worships also, as it is said in an earlier passage: "Thou shalt
worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve."(4)
78. But lest any one should perchance seem to elude
the instance we have adduced, let us consider in what manner that which
the prophet says, "Worship His Footstool," appears to refer to the
mystery of the divine Incarnation, for we must not estimate the
footstool from the custom of men. For neither has God a body, neither
is He other than beyond measure, that we should think a footstool was
laid down as a support for His feet. And we read that nothing besides
God is to be worshipped, for it is written: "Thou shalt worship the
Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve." How, then, should the
prophet, brought up under the Law, and instructed in the Law, give a
precept against the Law? The question, then, is not unimportant, and so
let us more diligently consider what the footstool is. For we read
elsewhere: "The heaven is My throne, and the earth the footstool of My
feet."(5) But the earth is not to be worshipped by us, for it is a
creature of God.
79. Let us, however, see whether the prophet does
not say that that earth is to be worshipped which the Lord Jesus took
upon Him in assuming flesh. And so, by foot-stool is understood earth,
but by the earth the Flesh of Christ, which we this day also adore(1)
in the mysteries, and which the apostles, as we said above, adored in
the Lord Jesus; for Christ is not divided but is one; nor, when He is
adored as the Son of God, is He denied to have been born of the Virgin.
Since, then, the mystery of the Incarnation is to be adored, and the
Incarnation is the work of the Spirit, as it is written, "The Holy
Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall
overshadow thee, and that Holy Thing Which shall be born of thee shall
be called the Son of God,"(2) without doubt the Holy Spirit also is to
be adored, since He Who according to the flesh was born of the Holy
Spirit is adored.
80. And let no one divert this to the Virgin Mary;
Mary was the temple of God, not the God of the temple. And therefore He
alone is to be worshipped Who was working in His temple.
81. It makes, then, nothing against our argument
that God is worshipped in Spirit, for the Spirit also is worshipped.
Although if we consider the words themselves, what else ought we to
understand in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, but the unity
of the same power. For what is "must worship in Spirit and in truth"?
If, however, you do not refer this to the grace of the Spirit, nor the
true faith of conscience; but, as we said, personally (if indeed this
word person is fit to express the Divine Majesty), you must take it of
Christ and of the Spirit.
82. What means, then, the Father is worshipped in
Christ, except that the Father is in Christ, and the Father speaks in
Christ, and the Father abides in Christ. Not, indeed, as a body in a
body, for God is not a body; nor as a confused mixture [confusus in
confuso], but as the true in the true, God in God, Light in Light; as
the eternal Father in the co-eternal Son. So not an ingrafting of a
body is meant, but unity of power. Therefore, by unity of power, Christ
is jointly worshipped in the Father when God the Father is worshipped
in Christ. In like manner, then, by unity of the same power
147
the Spirit is jointly worshipped in God, when God is worshipped in the
Spirit.
83. Let us investigate the force of that word and
expression more diligently, and deduce its proper meaning from other
passages. "Thou hast," it is said, "made them all in wisdom."(1) Do we
here understand that Wisdom was without a share in the things that were
made? But "all things were made by Him."(2) And David says: "By the
Word of the Lord were the heavens established."(3) So, then, he
himself who calls the Son of God the maker even of heavenly things, has
also plainly said that all things were made in the Son, that in the
renewal of His works He might by no means separate the Son from the
Father, but unite Him to the Father.
84. Paul, too, says: "For in Him were all things
created in the heavens and in the earth, Visible and invisible."(4)
Does he, then, when he says, "in Him," deny that they were made through
Him? Certainly he did not deny but affirmed it. And further he says in
another place: "One Lord Jesus, through Whom are all things."(5) In
saying, then, "through Him," has he denied that all things were made in
Him, through Whom he says that all things exist? These words, "in Him"
and "with Him," have this force, that by them is understood one and
like in all respects, not contrary. Which he also made clear farther
on, saying: "All things have been created through Him and in Him;"(6)
for, as we said above, Scripture witnesses that these three
expressions, "with Him," and "through Him," and "in Him," are
equivalent in Christ.(7) For you read that all things were made through
Him and in Him.
85. Learn also that the Father was with Him, and He
with the Father, when all things were being made. Wisdom says: "When He
was preparing the heavens I was with Him, when He was making the
fountains of waters."(8) And in the Old Testament the Father, by
saying, "Let Us make,"(9) showed that the Son was to be worshipped with
Himself as the Maker of all things. As, then, those things are said to
have been created in the Son, of which the Son is received as the
Creator; so, too, when God is said to be worshipped in truth by the
proper meaning of the word itself often expressed after the same manner
it ought to be understood, that the Son too is worshipped. So in like
manner is the Spirit also worshipped because God is worshipped in
Spirit, Therefore the Father is worshipped both with the Son and with
the Spirit, because the Trinity is worshipped.
CHAFFER XII.
From the fact that St. Paul has shown that the light of the Godhead
which the three apostles worshipped in Christ is in the Trinity, it is
made clear that the Spirit also is to be worshipped. It is shown from
the words themselves that the Spirit is intended by the apostles. The
Godhead of the same Spirit is proved from the fact that He has a temple
wherein He dwells not as a priest, but as God: and is worshipped with
the Father and the Son; whence is understood the oneness of nature in
Them.
86. BUT does any one deny that the Godhead of the
eternal Trinity is to be worshipped? whereas the Scriptures also
express the inexplicable Majesty of the Divine Trinity, as the Apostle
says elsewhere: "Since God, Who said that light should shine out of
darkness, shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."(1)
87. The apostles truly saw this glory, when the Lord
Jesus on the mount shone with the light of His Godhead: "The apostles,"
it says, "saw it and fell on their face."(2) Do not you think that they
even, as they fell, worshipped, when they could not with their bodily
eyes endure the brightness of the divine splendour, and the glory of
eternal light dulled the keenness of mortal sight? Or what else did
they who saw His glory say at that time, except, "O come let us worship
and fall down before Him"?(3) For "God shined in our hearts to give the
light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus
Christ."(4)
88. Who is He, then, Who shined that we might know
God in the face of Jesus Christ? For he said, "God shined," that the
glory of God might be known in the face of Jesus Christ. Whom else do
we think but the manifested Spirit? Or who else is there besides the
Holy Spirit to Whom the power of the Godhead may be referred? For they
who exclude the Spirit must necessarily bring in another, who may with
the Father and the Son receive the glory of the Godhead.
89. Let us then go back to the same words: "It is
God Who shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the
glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." You have Christ plainly set
forth. For Whose glory is said to give light but that of
148
the Spirit? So, then, he set forth God Himself, since he spoke of the
glory of God; if of the Father, it remains that "He who said that light
should shine out of darkness, and shine in our hearts," be understood
to be the Holy Spirit, for we cannot venerate any other with the Father
and the Son. If, then, you understand the Spirit, Him also has the
Apostle called God; it is necessary, then, that you also confess the
Godhead of the Spirit, who now deny it.
90. But how shamelessly do you deny this, since you
have read that the Holy Spirit has a temple. For it is written: "Ye are
the temple of God, and the Holy Spirit dwelleth in you."(1) Now God has
a temple, a creature has no true temple. But the Spirit, Who dwelleth
in us, has a temple. For it is written: "Your members are temples of
the Holy Spirit."(2)
91. But He does not dwell in the temple as a priest,
nor as a minister, but as God, since the Lord Jesus Himself said: "I
will dwell in them, and will walk among them, and will be their God,
and they shall be My people."(3) And David says: "The Lord is in His
holy temple."(4) Therefore the Spirit dwells in His holy temple, as the
Father dwells and as the Son dwells, Who says: "I and the Father will
come, and will make Our abode with him."(5)
95. But the Father abides in us through the Spirit,
Whom He has given us. How, then, can different natures abide together?
Certainly it is impossible. But the Spirit abides with the Father and
the Son. Whence, too, the Apostle joined the Communion of the Holy
Spirit with the grace of Jesus Christ and the love of God, saying: "The
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the Communion
of the Holy Spirit be with you all."(6)
91. We observe, then, that the Father, the Son, and
the Holy Spirit abide in one and the same [subject] through the oneness
of the same nature. Therefore, He Who dwells in the temple has divine
power, for as of the Father and of the Son, so are we also the temple
of the Holy Spirit; not many temples, but one temple, for it is the
temple of one Power.
CHAPTER XIII.
To those who object that Catholics, when they ascribe Godhead to the
Holy Spirit, introduce three Gods, it is answered, that by the same
argument they themselves bring in two Gods, unless they deny Godhead to
the Son; after which the orthodox doctrine is set forth.
92. BUT what do you fear? Is it that which you have
been accustomed to carp at? lest you should make three Gods. God
forbid; for where the Godhead is understood as one, one God is spoken
of. For neither when we call the Son God do we say there are two Gods.
For if, when you confess the Godhead of the Spirit, you think that
three Gods are spoken of, then, too, when you speak of the Godhead of
the Son because you are not able to deny it, you bring in two Gods. For
it is necessary according to your opinion, if you think that God is the
name of one person, not of one nature, that you either say that there
are two Gods, or deny that the Son is God.
93. But let us free you from the charge of
ignorance, though we do not excuse you from fault For according to our
opinion, because there is one God, one Godhead and oneness of power is
understood. For as we say that there is one God, confessing the Father,
and not denying the Son under the true Name of the Godhead; so, too, we
exclude not the Holy Spirit from the Unity of the Godhead, and do not
assert but deny that there are three Gods, because it is not unity but
a division of power which makes plurality. For how can the Unity of the
Godhead admit of plurality, seeing that plurality is of numbers, but
the Divine Nature does not admit numbers?
CHAPTER XIV.
Besides the evidence adduced above, other passages can be brought to
prove the sovereignty of the Three Persons. Two are quoted from the
Epistles to the Thessalonians, and by collating other testimonies of
the Scriptures it is shown that in them dominion is claimed for the
Spirit as for the other Persons. Then, by quotation of another still
more express passage in the second Epistle to the Corinthians, it is
inferred both that the Spirit is Lord, and that where the Lord is,
there is the Spirit.
94. GOD, then, is One, without violation of the
majesty of the eternal Trinity, as is declared in the instance set
before us. And not in that place alone do we see the Trinity expressed
in the Name of the Godhead; but both in many places, as we have said
also above, and especially in the epistles which the Apostle wrote to
the Thessalonians, he most clearly set forth the Godhead and
sovereignty of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. For you read
as follows:
149
"The Lord make you to increase and abound In love one toward another,
and toward all men, as we also do toward you, to the stablishing of
your hearts without blame in holiness before God and our Father at the
coming of the Lord Jesus."(1)
95. Who, then, is the Lord Who makes us to increase
and abound before God and our Father at the coming of the Lord Jesus?
He has named the Father and has named the Son; Whom, then, has he
joined with the Father and the Son except the Spirit? Who is the Lord
Who establishes our hearts in holiness. For holiness is a grace of the
Spirit, as, too, is said farther on: "In holiness of the Spirit and
belief of the truth."(2)
96. Who, then, do you think is here named Lord,
except the Spirit? And has not God the Father been able to teach you,
Who says: "Upon Whomsoever thou shalt see the Spirit descending and
abiding upon Him, this is He Who baptizeth in the Holy Spirit"?(3) For
the Spirit descended in the likeness of a dove,(4) that He might both
bear witness to His wisdom, and perfect the sacrament of the spiritual
layer, and show that His working is one with that of the Father and the
Son.
97. And that you should not suppose that anything
had fallen from the Apostle by oversight, but that he knowingly and
designedly and inspired by the Spirit designated Him Lord, Whom he felt
to be God, he repeated the same in the second Epistle to the
Thessalonians, saying: "But the Lord direct your hearts in the love of
God and in the patience of Christ."(5) If love be of God and patience
of Christ, it ought to be shown Who is the Lord Who directs, if we deny
that the direction is of the Holy Spirit.
98. But we cannot deny it, since the Lord said of
Him: "I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them
now. But when He, the Spirit of Truth, shall come, He will lead you
into all truth." 6 And David says of Him: "Thy good Spirit shall lead
me into the right
way."(7)
99. See what the voice of the Lord uttered
concerning the Holy Spirit. The Son of God came, and because He had not
yet shed forth the Spirit, He declared that we were living like little
children without the Spirit. He said that the Spirit was to come Who
should make of these little children stronger men, by an increase,
namely, of spiritual age. And this He laid down not that He might set
the power of the Spirit in the first place, but that He might show that
the fulness of strength consists in the knowledge of the Trinity.
100. It is therefore necessary either that you
mention some fourth person besides the Spirit of whom you ought to be
conscious, or assuredly that you do not consider another to be Lord,
except the Spirit Who has been pointed out.
101. But if you require the plain statement of the
words in which Scripture has spoken of the Spirit as Lord, it cannot
have escaped you that it is written: "Now the Lord is the Spirit."(1)
Which the course of the whole passage shows to have been certainly said
of the Holy Spirit. And so let us consider the apostolic statement: "As
often as Moses is read," says he, "a veil is laid over their heart; but
when they shall be turned to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away.
Now the Lord is the Spirit; but where the Spirit of the Lord is, there
is liberty."(2)
102. So he not only called the Spirit Lord, but also
added: "But where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. So we
all with unveiled face, reflecting the glory of the Lord, are formed
anew into the same image from glory to glory, as from the Lord the
Spirit;"(3) that is, we who have been before converted to the Lord, so
as by spiritual understanding to see the glory of the Lord, as it were,
in the minor of the Scriptures, are now being transformed from that
glory which converted us to the Lord, to the heavenly glory. Therefore
since it is + the Lord to Whom we are converted, but
the Lord is that Spirit by Whom we are formed anew, who are converted
to the Lord, assuredly the Holy Ghost is pointed out, for He Who forms
anew receives those who are converted. For how should He form again
those whom He had not received.
103. Though why should we seek for the expression of
words, where we see the expression of unity? For although you may
distinguish between Lord and Spirit, you cannot deny that where the
Lord is, there too is the Spirit, and he who has been converted to the
Lord will have been converted to the Spirit. If you cavil at the
letter, you cannot injure the Unity; if you wish to separate the Unity,
you confess the Spirit Himself as the Lord of power.
150
CHAPTER XV.
Though the Spirit be called Lord, three Lords are not thereby implied;
inasmuch as two Lords are not implied by the fact that the Son in the
same manner as the Father is called Lord in many passages of Scripture;
for Lordship exists in the Godhead, and the Godhead in Lordship, and
these coincide without division in the Three Persons.
104. BUT perhaps, again, you may say: If I call the
Spirit Lord, I shall set forth three Lords. Do you then when you call
the Son Lord either deny the Son or confess two Lords? God forbid, for
the Son Himself said: "Do not serve two lords."(1) But certainly He
denied not either Himself or the Father to be Lord; for He called the
Father Lord, as you read: "I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and
earth."(2) And the Lord spoke of Himself, as we read in the Gospel: "Ye
call Me Master and Lord, and ye do well, for so I am."(3) But He spoke
not of two Lords; indeed He shows that He did not speak of two Lords,
when He warns them: "Do not serve two lords." For there are not two
Lords where the Lordship is but one, for the Father is in the Son and
the Son in the Father, and so there is one Lord.
105. Such, too, was the teaching of the Law: "Hear,
O Israel, the Lord thy God is one Lord,"(4) that is, unchangeable,
always abiding in unity of power, always the same, and not altered by
any accession or diminution. Therefore Moses called Him One, and yet
also relates that the Lord rained down fire from the Lord.(5) The
Apostle, too, says: "The Lord grant unto him to find mercy of the
Lord."(6) The Lord rains down from the Lord; the Lord grants mercy from
the Lord. The Lord is neither divided when He rains from the Lord, nor
is there a separation when He grants mercy from the Lord, but in each
case the oneness of the Lordship is expressed.
106. In the Psalms, too, you find: "The Lord said
unto my Lord."(7) And he did not therefore deny that the Father was his
Lord, because he spoke of the Son as his Lord; but therefore called the
Son his Lord, that you might not think Him to be the Son, but the Lord
of the prophet, as the Lord Himself showed in the Gospel, when He said:
"If David in the Spirit called Him Lord, how is he his Son?"(8) David,
not the Spirit, calls Him Lord in the Spirit. Or if they falsely infer
from this that the Spirit called Him Lord, they must necessarily by a
like sacrilege seem to assert that the Son of God is also the Son of
the Spirit.
107. So, as we do not say that there are two Lords,
when we so style both the Father and the Son, so, too, we do not say
that there are three Lords, when we confess the Spirit to be Lord. For
as it is profane to say that there are three Lords or three Gods, so,
too, is it utter profanity to speak of two Lords or two Gods; for there
is one God, one Lord, one Holy Spirit; and He Who is God is Lord, and
He Who is Lord is God, for the Godhead is in the Lordship, and the
Lordship is in the Godhead.
108. Lastly, you have read that the Father is both
Lord and God: "O Lord my God, I will call upon Thee, hear Thou me."(1)
You find the Son to be both Lord and God, as you have read in the
Gospel, that, when Thomas had touched the side of Christ, he said, "My
Lord and my God."(2) So in like manner as the Father is God and the Son
Lord, so too the Son is God and the Father Lord. The holy designation
changes from one to the other, the divine nature changes not, but the
dignity remains unchangeable. For they are not [as it were]
contributions gathered from bounty, but free-will gifts of natural
love; for both Unity has its special property, and the special
properties are bound together in unity.
CHAPTER XVI.
The Father is holy, and likewise the Son and the Spirit, and so They
are honoured in the same Trisagion: nor can we speak more worthily of
God than by calling Him Holy; whence it is clear that we must not
derogate from the dignity of the Holy Spirit. In Him is all which
pertains to God, since in baptism He is named with the Father and the
Son, and the Father has given to Him to be greater than all, nor can
any one deprive Him of this. And so from the very passage of St. John
which heretics used against His dignity, the equality of the Trinity
and the Unity of the Godhead is established. Lastly, after explaining
how the Son receives from the Father, St. Ambrose shows how various
heresies are refuted by the passage cited.
109. So, then, the Father is holy, the Son is holy,
and the Spirit is holy, but they are not three Holies;(3) for there is
one Holy
151
God, one Lord. For the true holiness is one, as the true Godhead is
one, as that true holiness belonging to the Divine Nature is one.
110. So everything which we esteem holy proclaims
that Sole Holiness. Cherubim and Seraphim with unwearied voices praise
Him and say: "Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord God of Sabaoth.''[1] They
say it, not once, lest you should believe that there is but one; not
twice, lest you should exclude the Spirit; they say not holies[in the
plural], lest you should imagine that there is plurality, but they
repeat thrice and say the same word, that even in a hymn you may
understand the distinction of Persons in the Trinity, and the oneness
of the Godhead and while they say this they proclaim God.
111. We too find nothing of more worth, whereby we
are able to proclaim God, than the calling Him holy. Everything is too
low for God, too low for the Lord. And therefore consider from this
fact also whether one ought at all to derogate from the Holy Spirit,
whose Name is the praise of God. For thus is the Father praised, thus
is the Son also praised, in the same manner as the Spirit also is named
and praised. The Seraphim utter praise, the whole company of the
blessed utter praise, inasmuch as they call God holy, the Son holy, the
Spirit holy.
112. How, then, does He not possess all that
pertains to God, Who is named by priests in baptism with the Father and
the Son, and is invoked in the oblations, is proclaimed by the Seraphim
in heaven with the Father and the Son, dwells in the Saints with the
Father and the Son, is poured upon the just, is given as the source of
inspiration to the prophets? And for this reason in the divine
Scripture all is called because God inspires what the Spirit has spoken.
113. Or if they are unwilling to allow that the Holy
Spirit has all things which pertain to God, and can do all things, let
them say what He has not, and what He cannot do. For like as the Son
has all things, and the Father grudges not to give all things to the
Son according to His nature, having given to Him that which is greater
than all, as the Scripture bears witness, saying: "That which My Father
hath given unto Me is greater than all.''[2] So too the Spirit has of
Christ that which is greater than all, because righteousness knows not
grudging.
114. So, then, if we attend diligently, we
comprehend here also the oneness of the
Divine Power. He says: "That which My Father hath given unto Me is
greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father's
hand. I and the Father are One. "[1] For if we rightly showed above
that the Holy Spirit is the Hand of the Father, the same is certainly
the Hand of the Father which is the Hand of the Son, since the Same is
the Spirit of the Father Who is the Spirit of the Son. Therefore
whosoever of us receives eternal life in this Name of the Trinity, as
he is not torn from the Father; so he is not torn from the Son, so too
he is not torn from the Spirit.
115. Again, from the very fact that the Father is
said to have given to the Son, and the Spirit to have received from the
Son, as it is written: "He shall glorify Me, for He shall take of Mine,
and shall declare it unto you''[2](which He seems to have said rather
of the office of distributing, than of the prerogative of Divine Power,
for those whom the Son redeemed the Spirit also, Who was to sanctify
them, received), from those very words, I say, from which they
construct their sophistry, the Unity of the Godhead is perceived, not
the need of a gift.
116. The Father gave by begetting, not by adoption;
He gave as it were that which was contained in the very prerogative of
the Divine Nature, not what was lacking as it were by favour of His
bounty. And so because the Son acquires persons to Himself as the
Father does; so gives life as does the Father, He expressed His
equality with the Father in the Unity of Power, saying: "I and the
Father are One." For when He says, "I and the Father," equality is
revealed; when He says, "are One," Unity is asserted. Equality excludes
confusion; Unity excludes separation. Equality distinguishes between
the Father and the Son; Unity does not separate the Father and the Son.
117. Therefore, when He says, "I and the Father," He
rejects the Sabellian, for He says that He is one, the Father another;
He rejects the Photinian, for He joins Himself with God the Father.
With the former words He rejects those, for He said: "I and the
Father;" with the latter words He rejects the Arians, for He says: "are
One." Yet in both the former and the latter words He refutes the
heretical violence(I) of the Sabellians, for He said: "We are
One[Substance]," not "We are One[Person]." And(2) of the Arians, for He
said: "I and the Father," not "the Father and I." Which
was certainly not a sign of rudeness, but of dutifulness and
foreknowledge, that we might not think wrongly from the order of the
words, For unity knows no order equality knows no gradation; nor can it
be laid to the Son of God that the Teacher Himself of dutifulness
should offend against dutifulness by rudeness.
CHAPTER XVII.
St. Ambrose shows by instances that the places in which those words
were spoken help to the understanding of the words of the Lord; he
shows that Christ uttered the passage quoted from St. John in Solomon's
porch, by which is signified the mind of a wise man, for he says that
Christ would not have uttered this saying in the heart of a foolish or
contentious man. He goes on to say that Christ is stoned by those who
believe not these words, and as the keys of heaven were given to Peter
for his confession of them, so Iscariot, because he believed not the
same, perished evilly. He takes this opportunity to inveigh against the
Jews who bought the Son of God and sold Joseph. He explains the price
paid for each mystically; and having in the same manner expounded the
murmuring of the traitor concerningMagdalene's ointment, he adds that
Christ is bought in one way by heretics in another way by Catholics,and
that those in vain take to themselves the name of Christians who sever
the Spirit from the Father.
118. IT is worth while to notice in what place the
Lord held this discussion, for His utterances are often[better]
estimated by the kind of places in which He conversed. When about to
fast, He is led(as we read) into the wilderness to render vain the
devil's temptations. For although it deserves praise to have lived
temperately in the midst of abundance, yet the enticements of
temptation are more frequent amongst riches and pleasures. Then the
tempter, in order to try Him, promises Him abundance, and the Lord in
order to overcome cherishes hunger. Now I do not deny that temperance
can exist in the midst of riches; but although he who navigates the sea
often escapes, yet he is more exposed to peril than he who will not go
to sea.
119. Let us consider some other points. When about
to promise the kingdom of heaven, Jesus went up into a mountain. At
another time He leads His disciples through the corn-fields, when about
to sow in their minds the crop of heavenly precepts. so that a
plentiful harvest of souls should ripen. When about to consummate the
work of the flesh which He had taken, having now seen perfection in His
disciples, whom He had established upon the root of His words, He
enters a garden, that He might plant the young olive-trees[1] in the
house of the Lord, and that He might water the just flourishing like a
palm-tree,[2] and the fruitful vine with the stream of His Blood.
120. In this passage too He was walking, as we read,
in Solomon's porch on the day' of the dedication, that is, Christ was
walking in the breast of the wise and prudent, to dedicate his good
affection to Himself. What that porch was the prophet teaches, saying:
"I will walk in the midst of Thy house in the innocency of my
heart."[3] So, then, we have in our own selves the house of God, we
have the halls, we have also the porches, and we have the cents, for it
is written: "Let thy waters flow abroad in thy courts."[4] Open, then,
this porch of thy heart to the Word of God, Who says to thee: "Open thy
mouth wide and I will fill it."[5]
121. Let us, therefore, hear what the Word of God,
walking in the heart of the wise and peaceful, says: "I and My Father
are One."[6] He will not say this in the 'breast of the unquiet and
foolish, for "the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of
God, for they are foolishness unto him."[7] The narrow breasts of
sinners do not take in the greatness of the faith. Lastly, the Jews
hearing, "I and the Father are One, took up stones to stone Him."[8]
122. He who cannot listen to this is a Jew; he who
cannot listen to this stones Christ with the stones of his treachery,
rougher than any rock, and if you believe me, he wounds Christ. For
although He cannot now feel a wound: "For now henceforth we know not
Christ after the flesh,"[9] yet He Who rejoices in the love of the
Church is stoned by the impiety of the Arians.
123. "The law of Thy mouth, O Lord, is good unto me,
I keep Thy commandments.''[10] Thou hast Thyself said that Thou art one
with the Father. Because Peter believed this, he received the keys of
the kingdom of heaven, and without anxiety for himself forgave sins.
Judas, because he believed not this, strangled himself with the cord of
his own wickedness. O the hard stones of unbelieving words! O the
unseemly cord of the betrayer, and the still more hideous
purchase-money of the Jews! O hateful money wherewith either the just
is bought for death, or sold ! Joseph was sold, Jesus Christ was bought,
152
the one to slavery, the Other to death. O detestable inheritance, O
deadly sale, which either sells a brother to suffering or sets a price
on the Lord to destroy Him, the Purchaser of the salvation of all.
124. The Jews did violence to two things which are
chief of all, faith and duty, and in each to Christ the Author of faith
and duty. For both in the patriarch Joseph was there a type of Christ,
and Christ Himself came in the truth of His Body, "Who counted it not
robbery that He should be equal with God, but took on Him the form of a
servant,"[1] because of our fall,that is to say, taking slavery upon
Himself and not shrinking from suffering.
125. In one place the sale is for twenty pieces, in
the other for thirty. For how could His true price be apprehended,
Whose value cannot be limited? There is error in the price because
there is error in the inquiry. The sale is for twenty pieces in the Old
Testament, for thirty in the New; for the Truth is of more value than
the type, Grace is more generous than training, the Presence is better
than the Law, for the Law promised the Coming, the Coming fulfilled the
Law.
126. The Ishmaelites made their purchase for twenty
pieces, the Jews for thirty. And this is no trivial figure. The
faithless are more lavish for iniquity than the faithful for salvation.
It is, however, fitting to consider the quality of each agreement.
Twenty pieces are the price of him sold to slavery, thirty pieces of
Him delivered to the Cross. For although the Mysteries of the
Incarnation and of the Passion must be in like manner matters of
amazement, yet the fulfilment of faith is in the Mystery of the
Passion. I do not indeed value less the birth from the holy Virgin, but
I receive even more gratefully the Mystery of the sacred Body. What is
more full of mercy than that He should forgive me the wrongs done to
Himself? But it is even fuller measure that He gave us so great a gift,
that He Who was not to die because He was God, should die by our death,
that we might live by His Spirit.
127. Lastly, it was not without meaning that Judas
Iscariot valued that ointment at three hundred pence, which seems
certainly by the statement of the price itself to set forth the Lord's
cross. Whence, too, the Lord says: "For she, pouring this ointment on
My body, did it for My burial."[2] Why, then, did Judas value this at
so high a rate?
Because remission of sins is of more value to sinners, and forgiveness
seems to be more precious. Lastly, you find it written: "To whom much
is forgiven the same loveth more." r Therefore sinners themselves also
confess the grace of the Lord's Passion which they have lost, and they
bear witness to Christ who persecuted Him.
128. Or because, "into a malicious soul wisdom does
not enter,"[2] the evil disposition of the traitor uttered this@ and he
valued the suffering of the Lord's body at a dearer rate, that by the
immensity of the price he might draw all away from the faith. And
therefore the Lord offered Himself without price, that the necessity of
poverty might hold no one hack from Christ. The patriarchs sold Him for
a small price that all might buy. Isaiah said: "Ye that have no money
go buy and drink; eat ye without money,"(3) that he might gain him who
had no money. O traitor Judas, thou valuest the ointment of His Passion
at three hundred pence, and sellest His Passion for thirty pence.[4]
Profuse in valuing, mean in selling.
129. So, then, all do not buy Christ at the same
price; Photinus, who buys Him for death, buys Him at one price; the
Arian, who buys Him to wrong Him, at another price; the Catholic, who
buys Him to glorify Him, at another. But he buys Him without money
according to that which is written: "He that hath no money let him buy
without price."[5]
130. "Not all," says Christ, "that say unto Me,
Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven !"[6] Although many
call themselves Christians, and make use of the name, yet not all shall
receive the reward. Both Cain offered sacrifice, and Judas received the
kiss, but it was said to him, "Judas, betrayest thou the Son of Man
with a kiss?"[7] that is, thou fillest up thy wickedness with the
pledge of affection, and sowest hatred with the implement of peace, and
inflictest death with the outward token of love.
131. Let not, then, the Arians flatter themselves
with the employment of the name, because they call themselves
Christians. The Lord will answer them: You set forward My Name, and
deny My Substance, but I do not recognize My Name where My eternal
Godhead is not. That is not My Name which is divided from the Father,
and
154
separated from the Spirit; I do not recognize My Name where I do not
recognize My doctrine; I do not recognize My Name where I do not
recognize My Spirit. For he knows not that he is comparing the Spirit
of the Father to those servants whom He created. Concerning which point
we have already spoken at length.[1]
CHAPTER XVIII.
As he purposes to establish the Godhead of the Holy Spirit by the
points already discussed, St. Ambrose touches again on some of them;
for instance, that He does not commit but forgives sin; that He is not
a creature but the Creator; and lastly, that He does not offer but
receives worship.
132. But to sum up, in order at the end more
distinctly to gather up the arguments which have been used here and
there, the evident glory of the Godhead is proved both by other
arguments, and most especially by these four. God is known by these
marks: either that He is without sin; or that He forgives sin; or that
He is not a creature but the Creator; or that He does not give but
receives worship.
133. So, then, no one is without sin except God
alone, for no one is without sin except God.[2] Also, no one forgives
sins except God alone, for it is also written: "Who can forgive sins
but God alone?"[3] And one cannot be the Creator of all except he be
not a creature, and he who is not a creature is without doubt God; for
it is written: "They worshipped the creature rather than the Creator,
Who is God blessed for ever."[4] God also does not worship, but is
worshipped, for it is written: "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God,
and Him only shall thou serve."[5]
134. Let us therefore consider whether the Holy
Spirit have any of these marks which may bear witness to His Godhead.
And first let us treat of the point that none is without sin except God
alone, and demand that they prove that the Holy Spirit has sin.
135. But they are unable to show us this, and demand
our authority from us, namely, that we should show by texts that the
Holy Spirit has not sinned, as it is said of the Son that He did no
sin.[6] Let them learn that we teach by authority of the Scriptures;
for it is written: "For in Wisdom is a Spirit of understanding, holy,
one only, manifold, subtle, easy to move, eloquent, undefiled." The
Scripture says He is undefiled,
has it lied concerning the Son, that you should believe it to have lied
concerning the Spirit? For the prophet said in the same place
concerning Wisdom, that nothing that defiles enters into her. She
herself is undefiled, and her Spirit is undefiled. Therefore if the
Spirit have not sin, He is God.
136. But how can He be guilty of sin Who Himself
forgives sins? Therefore He has not committed sin, and if He be
without sin He is not a creature. For every creature is exposed to the
capability of sin, and the eternal Godhead alone is free from sin and
undefiled.
137. Let us now see whether the Spirit forgives
sins. But on this point there can be no doubt, since the Lord Himself
said: "Receive ye the Holy Spirit. Whosesoever sins ye forgive they
shall be forgiven."[1] See that sins are forgiven through the Holy
Spirit. But men make use of their ministry for the forgiveness of sins,
they do not exercise the right of any power of their own. For they
forgive sins not in their own name but in that of the Father and of the
Son and of the Holy Spirit. They ask, the Godhead gives, the service is
of man, the gift is of the Power on high.
138. And it is not doubtful that sin is forgiven by
means of baptism, but in baptism the operation is that of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. If, therefore, the Spirit
forgives sin, since it is written, "Who can forgive sins except God
alone?[2] certainly He Who cannot be separated from the oneness of the
name of the Nature is also incapable of being severed from the power of
God. Now if He is not severed from the power of God, how is He severed
from the name of God.
139. Let us now see whether He be a creature or the
Creator. But since we have above[3] most clearly proved Him to be the
Creator, as it is written: "The Spirit of God Who hath made me;"[4] and
it has been declared that the face of the earth is renewed by the
Spirit, and that all things languish without the Spirit,[5] it is clear
that the Spirit is the Creator. But who can doubt this, since, as we
have shown above, not even the generation of the Lord from the Virgin,
which is more excellent than all creatures, is without the operation of
the Spirit?
140. Therefore the Spirit is not a creature, but the
Creator, and He Who is Creator is certainly not a creature. And because
He is not a creature, without doubt He is the
155
Creator Who produces all things together with the Father and the Son.
But if He be the Creator, certainly the Apostle, by saying in
condemnation of the Gentiles, "Who served the creature rather than the
Creator, Who is God blessed for ever,"[1] and by warning men, as I said
above, that the Holy Spirit is to be served, both showed Him to be the
Creator, and because He is the Creator demonstrated that He ought to be
called God. Which he also sums up In the Epistle written to the
Hebrews, saying: "For He that created all things is God.''[2] Let them,
therefore, either say what it is which has been created without the
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, or let them confess that the Spirit also
is of one Godhead with the Father and the Son.
141. The writer taught also that He was to be
worshipped, Whom he called Lord and God. For He Who is the God and Lord
of the Universe is certainly to be worshipped by all, for it is thus
written: "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shall thou
serve."[3]
142. Or let them say where they have read that the
Spirit worships. For it is said of the Son of God: "Let all the Angels
of God worship Him;"[4] we do not read, Let the Spirit worship Him. For
how can He worship Who is not amongst servants and ministers, but,
together with the Father and the Son, has the service of the just under
Him, for it is written: "We serve the Spirit of God."[5] He is,
therefore, to be worshipped by us, Whom the Apostle taught that we must
serve, and Whom we serve we also adore, according to that which is
written, to repeat the same words again: "Thou shall worship the Lord
thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve."
143. Although the Apostle has not omitted even this
point, so as to omit to teach us that the Spirit is to be worshipped.
For since we have demonstrated that the Spirit is in the prophets, no
one can doubt that prophecy is given by the Spirit, and plainly when He
Who is in the prophets is worshipped, the same Spirit is worshipped.
And so you find: "If the whole Church be assembled together, and all
speak with tongues, and there come in one unlearned or unbelieving,
will he not say that ye are mad? But if all prophesy, and there
come in one unlearned and unbelieving, he is convicted by all, he is
judged by all. For the secrets of his heart are made mani-
fest, and so falling down on his face he will worship God, declaring
that God is in truth among you."[1] It is, therefore, God Who is
worshipped, God Who abides and Who speaks in the prophets; but the
Spirit thus abides and speaks, therefore, also, the Spirit is
worshipped.
CHAPTER XIX.
Having proved above that the Spirit abides and speaks in the prophets,
St. Ambrose infers that He knows all things which are of God, and
therefore is One with the Pather and the Son. This same point he
establishes again from the fact that He possesses all that God
possesses, namely, Godhead, knowledge of the heart, truth, a Name above
every name, and power to raise the dead, as is proved from Ezekiel, and
in this He is equal to the Son.
144. And so as the Father and the Son are One,
because the Son has all things which the Father has, so too the Spirit
is one with the Father and the Son, because He too knows all the things
of God. For He did not obtain it by force, so that there should be any
injury as of one who had suffered loss; He did not seize it, lest the
loss should be his from whom it might seem to have been plundered. For
neither did He seize it through need, nor through superiority of
greater power did He take it by force, but He possesses it by unity of
power. Therefore, if He works all these things, for one and the same
Spirit worketh all,[2] how is He not God Who has all things which God
has?
145. Or let us consider what God may have which the
Holy Spirit has not. God the Father has Godhead, and the Son, too, in
Whom dwells the fulness of the Godhead, has it, and the Spirit has it,
for it is written: "The Spirit of God is in my nostrils." [3]
146. God, again, searches the hearts and reins, for
it is written: "God searcheth the hearts and reins."[4] The Son also
has this power, Who said, "Why think ye evil in your hearts?"[5] For
Jesus knew their thoughts. And the Spirit has the same power, Who
manifests to the prophets also the secrets of the hearts of others, as
we said above: "for the secrets of his heart are made manifest," And
why do we wonder if He searches the hidden things of man Who searches
even the deep things of God?
147. God has as an attribute that He is true for it
is written: "Let God be true and every man a liar."[6] Does the Spirit
lie Who is the Spirit of Truth?[7] and Whom we
1
56
have shown to be called the Truth, since John called Him too the Truth,
as also the Son? And David says in the psalm: "Send out Thy light
and Thy truth, they have led me and brought me to Thy holy hill and to
Thy tabernacles."[1] If you consider that in this passage the Son is
the light, then the Spirit is the Truth, or if you consider the Son to
be the Truth, then the Spirit is the light,
148. God has a Name which is above every name, and
has given a name to the Son, as we read that in the Name of Jesus knees
should bow. Let us consider whether the Spirit has this Name. But it is
written
"Go, baptize the nations in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and
of the Holy Spirit,"[2] He has, then, a Name above every name. What,
therefore, the Father and the Son have, the Holy Spirit also has
through the oneness of the Name of His nature.
149. It is a prerogative of God to raise the dead.
"For as the Father raiseth the dead and quickeneth them, so the Son
also quickeneth whom He will."[3] But the Spirit also(by Whom God
raiseth) raiseth them, for it is written: "He shall quicken also your
mortal bodies through His Spirit that dwelleth in you."[4] But that you
may not think this a trivial grace, learn that the Spirit also raises,
for the prophet Ezekiel says: "Come, O Spirit, and breathe upon these
dead, and they shall live. And I prophesied as He commanded me, and the
Spirit of life entered into them, and they lived, and stood up on their
feet an exceeding great company."[5] And farther on God says: "Ye
shall know that I am the Lord, when I shall open your graves, that I
may bring My people out of their graves, and I will give you My Spirit,
and ye shall live."[6]
150. When He spoke of His Spirit, did He mention any
other besides the Holy Spirit? For He would neither have spoken.
of His Spirit as produced by blowing, nor could this Spirit come from
the four quarters of the world, for the blowing of these winds, which
we experience, is partial, not universal; and this spirit by which we
live is also individual, not universal. But it is the nature of the
Holy Spirit to be both over all and in all. Therefore from the words of
the prophet we may see how(the flame-work of the members long since
fallen asunder being scattered) the bones may come together again to
the form of a revived
body, when the Spirit quickens them; and the ashes may come together on
the limbs belonging to them, animated by a disposition to come together
before being formed anew in the appearance of living.
151. Do we not in the likeness of what is done
recognize the oneness of the divine power? The Spirit raises
after the same manner as the Lord raised at the time of His own
Passion, when suddenly in the twinkling of an eye the graves of the
dead were opened, and the bodies living again arose from the tombs, and
the smell of death being removed, and the scent of life restored, the
ashes of those who were dead took again the likeness of the living.
152. So, then, the Spirit has that which Christ has,
and therefore what God has, for all things which the Father has the Son
also has, and therefore He said: "All things which the Father hath are
Mine."[1]
CHAPTER XX.
The river flowing from the Throne of God is a figure of the Holy
Spirit, but by the waters spoken of by David the powers of heaven are
intended. The kingdom of God is the work of the Spirit; and it is no
matter for wonder ff He reigns in this together with the Son, since St.
Paul promises that we too shall reign with the Son.
153. And this, again, is not a trivial matter that
we read that a river goes forth from the throne of God. For you read
the words of the Evangelist John to this purport: "And He showed me a
river of living water, bright as crystal, proceeding out of the throne
of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street thereof, and on
either side, was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruits,
yielding its fruit every month, and the leaves of the tree were for the
healing of all nations."[2]
154. This is certainly the River proceeding from the
throne of God, that is, the Holy Spirit, Whom he drinks who believes in
Christ, as He Himself says: "If any man thirst, let him come to Me and
drink. He that believeth on Me, as saith the Scripture, out of his
belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this spoke He of the
Spirit."[3] Therefore the river is the Spirit.
155. This, then, is in the throne of God, for the
water washes not the throne of God. Then, whatever you may understand
by that water, David said not that it was above the throne of God, but
above the heavens,
for it is written: "Let the waters which are above the heavens praise
the Name of the Lord."[1] Let them praise, he says, not let it praise.
For if he had intended us to understand the element of water, he would
certainly have said, Let it praise, but by using the plural he intended
the Powers to be understood.
156. And what wonder is it if the Holy Spirit is in
the throne of God, since the kingdom of God itself is the work of the
Holy Spirit, as it is written: "For the kingdom of God is not meat and
drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit."[2] And
when the Saviour Himself says, "Every kingdom divided against itself
shall be destroyed,"[3] by adding afterwards, "But if I, by the Spirit
of God, cast out devils, without doubt the kingdom of God is come upon
you."[4] He shows that the kingdom of God is held undivided by
Himself and by the Spirit.
157. But what is more foolish than for any one to
deny that the Holy Spirit reigns together with Christ when the Apostle
says that even we shall reign together with Christ in the kingdom of
Christ: "If we are dead with Him, we shall also live with Him; if we
endure, we shall also reign with Him."[5] But we by adoption, He by
power; we by grace, He by nature.
158. The Holy Spirit, therefore, shares in the
kingdom with the Father and the Son, and He is of one nature with Them,
of one Lordship, and also of one power.
CHAPTER XXI.
Isaiah was sent by the Spirit, and accordingly the same Spirit was seen
by him. What is meant by the revolving wheels, and the divers wings,
and how since the Spirit is proclaimed Lord of Sabaoth by the Seraphim,
certainly none but impious men can deny Him this title.
159. Since, then, He has a share in the kingdom,
what hinders us from understanding that it was the Holy Spirit by Whom
Isaiah was sent? For on the authority of Paul we cannot doubt, whose
judgment the Evangelist Luke so much approved in the Acts of the
Apostles as to write as follows in Paul's words: "Well spake the Holy
Spirit through Isaiah the prophet to our fathers, saying: Go to this
people and say, Ye shall hear with the ear and shall not understand,
and seeing ye shall see and shall not perceive."[6]
160. It is, then, the Spirit Who sent Isaiah. If the
Spirit sent him, it is certainly the Spirit Whom, after Uzziah's death,
Isaiah saw, when he said: "I saw the Lord of Sabaoth sitting upon a
throne, high and lifted up, and the house was full of His majesty. And
the Seraphim stood round about Him, each one had six wings, and with
two they were covering His face, and with two they were covering His
feet, and with two they were flying; and they cried out one to the
other, and said, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Sabaoth, the whole
earth is full of His majesty."[1]
161. If the Seraphim were standing, how were they
flying? If they were flying, how were they standing? If we cannot
understand this, how is it that we want to understand God, Whom we have
not seen?
162. But as the prophet saw a wheel running within a
wheel[2](which certainly does not refer to any appearance to the bodily
sight, but to the grace of each Testament; for the life of the saints
is polished, and so consistent with itself that later portions agree
with the former). The wheel, then, within a wheel is life under the
Law, life under
grace; inasmuch as Jews are within the Church, the Law is included in
grace. For he is within the Church who is a Jew secretly; and
circumcision of the heart is a sacrament within the Church. But that
Jewry is within the Church of which it is written: "In Jewry is God
known;"[3] therefore as wheel runs within wheel, so in like manner the
wings were still, and the wings were flying.
163. In like manner, too, the Seraphim were veiling
His face with two wings, and with two were veiling His feet, and with
two were flying. For here also is a mystery of spiritual wisdom.
Seasons stand, seasons fly; the past stand, the future are flying, and
like the wings of the Seraphim, so they veil the face or the feet of
God; inasmuch as in God, Who has neither beginning nor end, the whole
course of times and seasons, from this knowledge of its beginning and
its end, is at rest. So, then, times past and future stand, the present
fly. Ask not after the secrets of His beginning or His end, for there
is neither. You have the present, but you must praise Him, not question.
164. The Seraphim with unwearied voices praise, and
do you question? And certainly when they do this they show us that we
must not sometimes question about God,
158
but always praise Him. Therefore the Holy Spirit is also the Lord of
Sabaoth. Unless perchance the Teacher Whom Christ chose pleases not the
impious, or they can deny that the Holy Spirit is the Lord of powers,
Who gives whatever powers He Himself wills.
CHAPTER XXII.
In proof of the Unity in Trinity the passage of Isaiah which has been
cited is considered, and it is shown that there is no difference as to
its sense amongst those who expound it of the Father, or of the Son, or
of the Spirit. If He Who was crucified was Lord of glory, so, too, is
the Holy Spirit equal in all things to the Father and the Son, and the
Arians will never be able to diminish His glory.
165. IT is now possible to recognize the oneness of
the majesty and rule in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. For
many say that it was God the Father Who was seen at that time by
Isaiah. Paul says it was the Spirit, and Luke supports him. John the
Evangelist refers it to the Son. or thus has he written of the Son:
"These things spake Jesus, and departed and hid Himself from them. But
though He had done so great signs before them, they did not believe on
Him, that the word of Isaiah might be fulfilled which he spake, Lord,
who hath believed our report, and to whom hath the Arm of the Lord been
revealed?[1] Therefore, they could not believe, because Isaiah said
again, He hath blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, that they
might not see with their eyes and understand with their heart and be
converted, and I should heal them.[2] These things said Isaiah when he
saw His glory, and spake of Him."[3]
166. John says that Isaiah spoke these words, and
revealed most clearly that the glory of the Son appeared to him. Paul,
however, relates that the Spirit said these things. Whence, then, is
this difference?
167. There is, indeed, a difference of words, not of
meaning. For though they
said different things, neither was in error, for both the Father is
seen in the Son, Who said, "He that seeth Me seeth the Father
also,''[1] and the Son is seen in the Spirit; for as "no man says Lord
Jesus, except in the Holy Spirit,"[2] so Christ is seen not by the eye
of flesh, but by the grace of the Spirit. Whence, too, the Scripture
says: "Rise, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ
shall shine upon thee."[3] And Paul, when he had lost his eyesight, how
did he see Christ except in the Spirit?[4] Wherefore the Lord says:
"For to this end I have appeared unto thee, to appoint thee a minister
and a witness of the things wherein thou hast seen Me, and of the
things wherein thou shalt see Me." s For the prophets also received the
Spirit and saw Christ.
168. One, then, is the vision, one the right to
command, one the glory. Do we deny that the Holy Spirit is also the
Lord of
V glory when the Lord of glory was crucified who was born from the Holy
Spirit of the Virgin Mary? For Christ is not one of two, but is one,
and was born as Son of God of the Father before the world; and in the
world born as man by taking flesh.
169. And why should I say that, as the Father and
the Son, so, too, the Spirit is free from stain and Almighty, for
Solomon called Him in Greek <greek>pantosunamou</greek>,
<greek>panepiskopon</greek>, because He is Almighty and
beholds all things,[6] as we showed above to be,[7] is read in the Book
of Wisdom. Therefore the Spirit enjoys honour and glory.
170. Consider now lest perchance something may not
beseem Him, or if this displease thee, O Arian, drag Him down from His
fellowship with the Father and the Son. But if thou choose to drag Him
down thou wilt see the heavens reversed above thee, for all their
strength is from the Spirit. [8] If thou choose to drag Him down, thou
must first lay hands on God, for the Spirit is God. But how wilt thou
drag Him down, Who searcheth the deep things of God?
THE TWO BOOKS OF ST. AMBROSE,
BISHOP OF MILAN, ON THE
DECEASE OF HIS BROTHER SAYTRUS.
BOOK I.
I. WE have brought hither, dearest brethren, my
sacrifice, a sacrifice undefiled, a sacrifice well pleasing to God, my
lord and brother Satyrus. I did not forget that he was mortal, nor did
my feelings deceive me, but grace abounded more exceedingly. And so I
have nothing to complain of, but have cause for thankfulness to God,
for I always desired that if any troubles should await either the
Church or myself, they should rather fall on me and on my house.
Thanks, therefore, be to God, that in this time of common fear, when
everything is dreaded from the barbarian movements, I ended the trouble
of all by my personal grief, and that I dreaded for all which was
turned upon me. And may this be fully accomplished, so that my grief
may be a ransom for the grief of all.
2. Nothing among things of earth, dearest brethren,
was more precious to me, nothing more worthy of love, nothing more dear
than such a brother, but public matters come before private. And should
any one enquire what was his feeling; he would rather be slain for
others than live for himself, because Christ died according to the
flesh for all, that we might learn not to live for ourselves alone.
3. To this must be added that I cannot be ungrateful
to God; for I must rather rejoice that I had such a brother than grieve
that I had lost a brother, for the former is a gift, the latter a debt
to be paid. And so, as long as I might, I enjoyed the loan entrusted to
me, now He Who deposited the pledge has taken it back. There is no
difference between denying that a pledge has been deposited and
grieving at its being returned. In each there is untrustworthiness, and
in each [eternal] life is risked. It is a fault if you refuse
repayment, and piety if you refuse a sacrifice. Since, too, the lender
of money can be made a fool of, but the Author
of nature, the Lender of all that we need, cannot be cheated. And so
the larger the amount of the loan, so much the more gratitude is due
for the use of the capital.
4. Wherefore, I cannot be ungrateful concerning my
brother, for he has given back that which was common to nature, and has
gained what is peculiar to grace alone. For who would refuse the common
lot? Who would grieve that a pledge specially en-trusted to him is
taken away, since the Father gave up His only Son to death for us? Who
would think that he ought to be excepted from the lot of dying, who has
not been excepted from the lot of being born? It is a great mystery of
divine love, that not even in Christ was exception made of the death of
the body; and although He was the Lord of nature, He refused not the
law of the flesh which He had taken upon Him. It is necessary for me to
die, for Him it was not necessary. Could not He Who said of His
servant, "If I will that he tarry thus until I come, what is that to
thee? "[1] not have remained as He was, if so He willed? But by
continuance of my brother's life here, he would have destroyed his
reward and my sacrifice. What is a greater consolation to us than that
according to the flesh Christ also died? Or why should I weep too
violently for my brother, knowing as I do that that divine love could
not die.
5. Why should I alone weep more than others for him
for whom you all weep? I have merged my personal grief in the grief of
all, especially because my tears are of no use, whereas yours
strengthen faith and bring consolation. You who are rich weep, and by
weeping prove that riches gathered together are of no avail for safety,
since death cannot be put off by a money payment, and the last day
carries off alike the
162
rich and the poor. You that are old weep, because in him you fear that
you see the lot of your own children; and for this reason, since you
cannot prolong the life of the body, train your children not to bodily
enjoyment but to virtuous duties. And you that are young weep too,
because the end of life is not the ripeness of old age. The poor too
wept, and, which is of much more worth, and much more fruitful, washed
away his transgressions with their tears. Those are redeeming tears,
those are groanings which hide the grief of death, that grief which
through the plenteousness of eternal joy covers over the feeling of
former grief. And so, though the funeral be that of a private person,
yet is the mourning public; and therefore cannot the weeping last long
which is hallowed by the affection of all,
6. For why should I weep for thee, my most loving brother, who
wast thus torn from me that thou mightest be the brother of all?
For I have not lost but changed my intercourse with thee; before we
were inseparable in the body, now we are undivided in affection; for
thou remainest with me, and ever wilt remain. And, indeed, whilst thou
wast living with me, our country never tore thee from me, nor didst
thou thyself ever prefer our country to me; and now thou art become
surety for that other country, for I begin to be no stranger there
where the better portion of myself already is. I was never wholly
engrossed in myself, but the greater part of each of us was in the
other, yet we were each of us in Christ, in Whom is the whole sum of
all, and the portion of each severally. This grave is more pleasing to
me than thy natal soil, in which is the fruit not of nature but of
grace, for in that body which now lies lifeless lies the better work of
my life, since in this body, too, which I bear is the richer portion of
thyself.
7. And would that, as memory and gratitude are
devoted to thee, so, too, whatever time I have still to breathe this
air, I could breathe it into thy life, and that half of my time might
be struck off from me and be added to thine! For it had been just that
for those, whose use of hereditary property was always undivided, the
period of life should not have been divided, or at least that we, who
always without difference shared everything in common during life,
should not have a difference in our deaths.
8. But now, brother, whither shall I advance, or
whither shall I turn? The ox seeks his fellow, and conceives
itself incomplete, and by frequent lowing shows its
tender longing. if perchance that one is wanting with whom it has been
wont to draw the plough. And shall I, my brother, not long after
thee? Or can I ever forget thee, with whom I always drew the
plough of this life? In work I was inferior, but in love more
Closely bound; not so much fit through my strength, as endurable
through thy patience, who with the care of anxious affection didst ever
protect my side with thine, as a brother in thy love, as a father in
thy care, as older in watchfulness, as younger in respect. So in the
one degree of relationship thou didst expend on me the duties of many,
so that I long after not one only but many lost in thee, in whom alone
flattery was unknown, dutifulness was portrayed. For thou hadst nothing
to which to add by pretence, inasmuch as all was comprised in thy
dutifulness, so as neither to receive addition nor await a change.
9. But whither am I going, in my immoderate grief,
forgetful of my duty, mindful of kindness received? The Apostle calls
me back, and as it were puts a bit upon my sorrow, saying, as you heard
just now: "We would not that ye should be ignorant, brethren,
concerning them that sleep, that ye be not sorrowful, as the rest which
have no hope."[1] Pardon me, dearest brethren. For we are not all able
to say: "Be ye imitators of me, as I also am of Christ."[2] But if you
seek one to imitate, you have One Whom you may imitate. All are not
fitted to teach, would that all were apt to learn.
10. But we have not incurred any grievous sin by our
tears. Not all weeping proceeds from unbelief or weakness. Natural
grief is one thing, distrustful sadness is another, and there is a very
great difference between longing for what you have lost and lamenting
that you have lost it. Not only grief has tears, joy also has tears of
its own. Both piety excites weeping, and prayer waters the couch, and
supplication, according to the prophet's saying, washes the bed,[3]
Their friends made a great mourning when the patriarchs were buried.
Tears, then, are marks of devotion, not producers of grief.[4] I
confess, then, that I too wept, but the Lord also wept. He wept for one
not related to Him, I for my brother. He wept for all in weeping for
one, 'I will weep for thee in all, my brother.
11. He wept for what affected us, not Himself; for
the Godhead sheds no tears;
163
but He wept in that nature in which He was sad; He wept in that in
which He was crucified, in that in which He died, in that in which He
was buried. He wept in that which the prophet this day brought to our
minds: "Mother Sion shall say, A man, yea, a man was made in her, and
the Most High Himself established her."(1) He wept in that nature in
which He called Sion Mother, born in Judaea, conceived by the Virgin.
But according to His Divine Nature He could not have a mother, for He
is the Creator of His mother. So far as He was made, it was not by
divine but by human generation, because He was made man, God was born.
12. But you read in another place: "Unto us a Child
is born, unto us a Son is given."(2) In the word Child is an indication
of age, in that of Son the fulness of the Godhead. Made of His mother,
born of the Father yet the Same Person was both born and given, you
must not think of two but of one. For one is the Son of God, both born
of the Father and sprung from the Virgin, differing in order, but in
name agreeing in one, as, too, the lesson just heard teaches for "a man
was made in her and the Most High Himself established her;"(3) man
indeed in the body, the Most High in power. And though He be God and
man in diversity of nature, yet is He at the same time one in each
nature. One property, then, is peculiar to His own nature, another He
has in common with us, but in both is He one, and in both is He perfect.
13. Therefore it is no subject of wonder that God
made Him to be both Lord and Christ. He made Him Jesus, Him, that is,
Who received the name in His bodily nature; He made Him of Whom also
the patriarch David writes: "Mother Sion shall say, A man, yea, a man
is made in her." But being made man He is unlike the Father, not in
Godhead but in His body; not separated from the Father, but differing
in office, abiding united in power, but separated in the mystery of the
Passion.
14. The treatment of this topic demands more
arguments, by which to demonstrate the authority of the Father, the
special property of the Son, and the Unity of the whole Trinity; but
to-day I have undertaken the office of consolation, not of discussion,
although it is customary in consoling to draw away the mind from its
grief by application to discussion. But I would rather moderate the
grief than alter the affection, that the longing may rather be assuaged
than lulled to sleep. For I have no wish to turn away too far from my
brother, and to be led off by other thoughts, seeing that this
discourse has been undertaken, as it were, for the sake of accompanying
him, that I might follow in affection him departing, and embrace in
mind him whom I see with my eyes. For it gives me pleasure to fix the
whole gaze of my eyes on him, to encompass him with kindly endearments;
whilst my mind is stupefied, and I feel as though he were not lost whom
I am able still to see present; and I think him not dead, my services
to whom I do not as yet perceive to be wanting, services to which I had
devoted the whole of my life and the drawing of every breath.
15. What, then, can I pay back in return for such
kindness and such pains? I had made thee, my brother, my heir; thou
hast left me as the heir; I hoped to leave thee as survivor, and thou
hast left me. I, in return for thy kindnesses, that I might repay thy
benefits, gave wishes; now I have lost my wishes yet not thy benefits.
What shall I, succeeding to my own heir, do? What shall I do who
outlive my own life? What shall I do, no longer sharing this light
which yet shines on me? What thanks, what good offices, can I repay to
thee? Thou hast nothing from me but tears. And perchance, secure of thy
reward, thou desirest not those tears which are all that I have left.
For even when thou wast yet alive, thou didst forbid me to weep, and
didst show that our grief was more pain to thee than thine own death.
Tears are bidden to flow no longer, and weeping is repressed. And
gratitude to thee forbids them too, lest whilst we weep for our loss we
seem to despair concerning thy merits.
16. But for myself at least thou lessenest the
bitterness of that grief; I have nothing to fear who used to fear for
thee. I have nothing which the world can now snatch from me. Although
our holy sister still survives, venerable for her blameless life, thy
equal in character, and not falling short in kindly offices; yet we
both used to fear more for thee, we felt that all the sweetness of this
life was stored up in thee. To live for thy sake was a delight, to die
for thee were no cause of sorrow, for we both used to pray that thou
mightest survive, it was no pleasure that we should survive thee. When
did not our very soul shudder when a dread of this kind touched us? How
were our minds dismayed by the tidings of thy sickness!
17. Alas for our wretched hopes! We
164
thought that he was restored to us whom we see carried off, and we now
recognize that thy departure hence was obtained by thy vows to the holy
martyr Lawrence!(1) And indeed I would that thou hadst obtained not
only a safe passage hence, but also a longer time of life I Thou
couldst have obtained many years of life, since thou wast able to
obtain thy departure hence. And I indeed thank Thee, Almighty
Everlasting God, that Thou hast not denied us at least this last
comfort, that Thou hast granted us the longed-for return of our much
loved brother from the regions of Sicily and Africa; for he was
snatched away so soon after his return as though his death were delayed
for this alone, that he might return to his brethren.
18. Now, I clearly have my pledge which no change
can any more tear from me; I have the relics which I may embrace, I
have the tomb which I may cover with my body, I have the grave on which
I may lie, and I shall believe that I am more acceptable to God,
because I shall rest upon the bones of that holy body. Would that I had
been able in like manner to place my body in the way of thy death!
Hadst thou been attacked with the sword, I would have rather offered
myself to be pierced for thee; had I been able to recall thy life as it
was passing away, I would have rather offered my own.
19. It profited me nothing to receive thy last
breath, nor to have breathed into the mouth of thee dying, for I
thought that either I myself should receive thy death, or should
transfer my life to thee. O that sad, yet sweet pledge of the last
kiss! O the misery of that embrace, in which the lifeless body began to
stiffen, the last breath vanished! I tightened my arms indeed, but had
already lost him whom I was holding; I drew in thy last breath with my
mouth, that I might share thy death. But in some way that breath became
lifegiving to me, and even in death diffused an odour of greater love.
And if I was unable to lengthen thy life by my breath, would that at
least the strength of thy last breath might have been transfused into
my mind, and that our affection might have inspired me with that purity
and innocence of thine. Thou wouldst have left me, dearest brother,
this inheritance, which would not smite the affections with tears of
grief, but commend thine heir by notable grace.
20. What, then, shall I now do, since all the
sweetness, all the solace, in fine, all the charms of that life are
lost to me? For thou wast alone my solace at home, my charm abroad;
thou, I say, my adviser in counsel, the sharer in my cares, the averter
of anxiety, the driver away of sorrow; thou wast the protector of my
acts and the defender of my thoughts; thou, lastly, the only one on
whom rested care of home and of public matters. I call thy holy soul to
witness that, in the building of the church,(1) I often feared lest I
might displease thee. Lastly, when thou camest back thou didst chide
thy delay. So wast thou, at home and abroad, the instructor and teacher
of the priest, that thou didst not suffer him to think of domestic
matters, and didst take thought to care for public matters. But I may
not fear to seem to speak boastingly, for this is thy meed of praise,
that thou, without displeasing any, both didst manage thy brother's
house and recommend his priesthood.
21. I feel, indeed, that my mind is touched by the
repetition of thy services and the enumeration of thy virtues, and yet
in being thus affected I find my rest, and although these memories
renew my grief, they nevertheless bring pleasure. Am I able either not
to think of thee, or ever to think of thee without tears? And shall I
ever be able either not to remember such a brother, or to remember him
without tearful gratitude? For what has ever been pleasant to me that
has not had its source in thee? What, I say, has ever been a pleasure
to me without thee, or to thee without me? Had we not every practice in
common, almost to our very eyesight and our sleep? Were our wills ever
at variance? And what step did we not take in common? So that we almost
seemed in raising our feet to move each others body.
22. But if ever either had to go forth without the
other, one would think that his side was unprotected, one could see his
countenance troubled, one would suppose that his soul was sad, the
accustomed grace, the usual vigour did not shine forth, the loneliness
was a subject of dread to all, and made them fearful of some sickness.
Such a strange thing it seemed to all that we were separated. I
certainly, impatient at my brother's absence, and having it constantly
in mind, kept on turning my head seeking him, as it were, present, and
seemed to myself then to see him and speak to him. But if I
165
was disappointed in my hope, I seemed to myself, as it were, to be
dragging a yoke on my bowed down neck, to advance with difficulty, to
meet others with diffidence, and to return home hurriedly, since it
gave me no pleasure to go farther without thee.
23. But when we both had to go forth, there were not
more steps on the way than words, nor was our pace quicker than our
talk, and it was less for the sake of walking than for the pleasure of
conversing, for each of us hung on the lips of the other. We thought
not of gazing intently on the view as we passed along, but listened to
each other's anxious talk, drank in the kindly expression of the eyes,
and inhaled the delight of the brother's appearance. How I used
silently to admire within myself thy virtues, how I congratulated
myself that God had given me such a brother, so modest, so capable, so
innocent, so simple, so that when I thought of thy innocence I began to
doubt thy capability, when I saw thy capability I could hardly imagine
thy innocence! But thou didst combine both with wonderful perfection.
24. Lastly, what we both had been unable to effect,
thou didst accomplish alone. Prosper, as I hear, congratulated himself
because he thought that on account of my priesthood he need not restore
what he had purloined, but he found thy power alone to be greater than
that of us both together. And so he paid all, and was not ungrateful
for thy moderation, and did not scoff at thy modesty. But for whom,
brother, didst thou seek to gain that? We wished that should be the
reward of thy labours which was the proof of them. Thou didst
accomplish everything, and when having done all thou didst return, thou
alone, who art to be preferred to all, art torn from us; as if thou
hadst put off death for this end, that thou mightest fulfil the office
of affection, and then carry off the palm for capability.
25. How little, dearest brother, did the honours of
this world delight us, because they separated us from one another! And
we accepted them, not because the acquisition of them was to be
desired, but that there might be no appearance of paltry dissimulation.
Or perhaps they were therefore granted to us, that, inasmuch as by thy
early death thou wast about to shatter our pleasure, we might learn to
live without each other.
26. And indeed I recognize the foreboding dread of
my mind, when I often go again through what I have written. I
endeavoured to restrain thee, brother, from visiting Africa thyself,
and wished thee rather to send some one. I was afraid to let thee go
that journey, to trust thee to the waves, and a greater fear than usual
came over my mind; but thou didst arrange the journey, and order the
business, and, as I hear, didst entrust thyself again to the waves in
an old and leaky vessel For since thou wast aiming at speed, thou didst
set caution aside; eager to do me a kindness, thou madest nothing of
thy danger.
27. O deceitful joy! O the uncertain course of
earthly affairs! We thought that he who was returned from Africa,
restored from the sea, preserved after shipwreck, could not now be
snatched from us; but, though on land, we suffered a more
grievous shipwreck, for the death of him whom shipwreck at sea
owing to strong swimming could not kill is shipwreck to us. For
what enjoyment remains to us, from whom so sweet an ornament has
been taken, so bright a light in this world's darkness has been
extinguished? For in him an ornament not only of our family but of the
whole fatherland has perished.
28. I feel, indeed, the deepest gratitude to you,
dearest brethren, holy people, that you esteem my grief as no other
than your own, that you feel this bereavement as having happened to
yourselves, that you offer me the tears of the whole city, of every
age, and the good wishes of every rank, with unusual affection.
For this is not the grief of private sympathy, but as it were a service
and offering of public good-will. And should any sympathy with me
because of the loss of such a brother touch you, I have abundant fruit
from it, I have the pledge of your affection. I might prefer that my
brother were living, but yet public kindness is in prosperity very
pleasant, and in adversity very grateful.
29. And, indeed, so great kindness seems to me to
merit no ordinary gratitude. For not without a purpose are the widows
in the Acts of the Apostles described as weeping when Tabitha was
dead,(1) or the crowd in the Gospel, moved by the widow's tears and
accompanying the funeral of the young man who was to be raised
again.(3) There is, then, no doubt that by your tears the protection of
the apostles is obtained; no doubt, I say, that Christ is moved to
mercy, seeing you weeping. Though He has not now touched the bier, yet
He has received the spirit commended to Him, and if He have not called
the dead by the bodily voice, yet
166
He has by the authority of His divine power delivered my brother's soul
from the pains of death and from the attacks of wicked spirits. And
though he that was dead has not sat up on the bier, yet he has found
rest in Christ; and if he have not spoken to us, yet he sees those
things which are above us, and rejoices in that he now sees higher
things than we. For by the things which we read in the Gospels we
understand what shall be, and what we see at present is a sign of what
is to be.
30. He had no need of being raised again for time,
for whom the raising again for eternity is waiting. For why should he
fall back into this wretched and miserable state of corruption, and
return to this mournful life, for whose rescue from such imminent evils
and threatening dangers we ought rather to rejoice? For if no one
mourns for Enoch, who was translated(1) when the world was at peace and
wars were not raging, but the people rather congratulated him, as
Scripture says concerning him: "He was taken away, lest that wickedness
should alter his understanding,"(2) with how much greater justice must
this now be said, when to the dangers of the world is added the
uncertainty of life. He was taken away that he might not fall into the
hands of the barbarians; he was taken away that he might not see the
ruin of the whole earth, the end of the world, the burial of his
relatives, the death of fellow-citizens; lest, lastly, which is more
bitter than any death, he should see the pollution of the holy virgins
and widows.
31. So then, brother, I esteem thee happy both in
the beauty of thy life and in the opportuneness of thy death. For thou
wast snatched away not from us but from dangers; thou didst not lose
life but didst escape the fear of threatening troubles. For with the
pity of thy holy mind for those near to thee, if thou knewest that
Italy was now oppressed by the nearness of the enemy, how wouldst thou
groan, how wouldst thou grieve that our safety wholly depended on the
barrier of the Alps, and that the protection of purity consisted in
barricades of trees! With what sorrow wouldst thou mourn that thy
friends were separated from the enemy by so slight a division, from an
enemy, too, both impure and cruel, who spares neither chastity nor life.
32. How, I say, couldst thou bear these things which
we are compelled to endure, and perchance (which is more grievous) to
behold virgins ravished, little children torn from the embrace of their
parents and tossed on javelins, the bodies consecrated to God defiled,
and even aged widows polluted? How, I say, couldst thou endure these
things, who even with thy last breath, forgetful of thyself, yet not
without thought for us, didst warn us concerning the invasion of the
barbarians, saying that not in vain hadst thou said that we ought to
flee. Perchance was it because thou didst see that we were left
destitute by thy death, and thou didst it, not out of weakness of
spirit, but from affection, and wast weak with respect to us, but
strong with respect to thyself. For when thou wast summoned home by the
noble man Symmachus thy parent,(1) because Italy was said to be blazing
with war, because thou wast going into danger, because thou wast likely
to fall amongst enemies, thou didst answer that this was the cause of
thy coming, that thou mightest not fail us in danger, that thou
mightest show thyself a sharer in thy brother's peril.
33. Happy, then, was he in so opportune a death,
because he has not been preserved for this sorrow. Certainly thou art
happier than thy holy sister, deprived of thy comfort, anxious for her
own modesty, lately blessed with two brothers, now wretched because of
both, being able neither to follow the one nor to leave the other; for
whom thy tomb is a lodging, and the burying-place of thy body a home.
And would that even this resting-place were safe! Our food is mingled
with weeping and our drink with tears, for thou hast given us the bread
of tears as food, and tears to drink in large measure,(2) nay, even
beyond measure.
34. What now shall I say of myself, who may not die
lest I leave my sister, and desire not to live lest I be separated from
thee? For what can ever be pleasant to me without thee, in whom was
always my whole pleasure? or what satisfaction is it to remain longer
in this life, and to linger on the earth where we lived with pleasure
so long as we lived together? If there were anything which could
delight us here, it could not delight without thee; and if ever we had
earnestly desired to prolong our life, now at any rate we would not
exist without thee.
35. This is indeed unendurable. For what can be
endured without thee, such a companion of my life, such a sharer of my
toil and partaker of my duties? And I could
167
not even make his loss more endurable by dwelling on it beforehand, so
much did my mind fear to think of any such thing concerning him! Not
that I was ignorant of his condition, but a certain kind of prayers and
vows had so clouded the sense of common frailty, that I knew not how to
think anything concerning him except entire prosperity.
36. And then lately, when I was oppressed by a
severe attack (would that it had been fatal), I grieved only that thou
wast not sitting by my couch, and sharing the kindly duty with my holy
sister mightest with thy fingers close my eyes when dead. What had I
wished? What am I now pondering? What vows are wanting? What services
are to succeed? I was preparing one thing, I am compelled to set forth
another; not being the subject of the funeral rites but the minister. O
hard eyes, which could behold my brother dying! O cruel and unkind
hands, which closed those eyes in which I used to see so much! O still
harder neck, which could bear so sad a burden, though it were in a
service full of consolation.
37. Thou, my brother, hadst more justly done these
things for me. I used to expect these services at thy hands, I used to
long for them. But now, having survived my own life, what comfort can I
find without thee, who alone usedst to comfort me when mourning, to
excite my happiness and drive away my sorrow? How do I now behold thee,
my brother, who now addressest no words to me, offerest me no kiss?
Though, indeed, our mutual love was so deeply seated in each of us,
that it was cherished rather by inward affection than made public by
open caresses, for we who professed such mutual trust and love did not
seek the testimony of others. The strong spirit of our brotherhood had
so infused itself into each of us, that there was no need to prove our
love by caresses; but our minds being conscious of our affection, we,
satisfied with our inward love, did not seem to require the show of
caresses, whom the very appearance of each other fashioned for mutual
love; for we seemed, I know not by what spiritual stamp or bodily
likeness, to be the one in the other.
38. Who saw thee, and did not think that he had seen
me? How often have I saluted those who, because they had previously
saluted thee, said that they had been already saluted by me? How many
said something to thee, and related that they had said it to me? What
pleasure, what amusement often was given me by this, because I saw that
they were mistaken in us? What an agreeable mistake, what a pleasant
slip, how innocent a deceit, how sweet a trick! For there was nothing
for me to fear in thy words or acts, and I rejoiced when they were
ascribed to me.
39. But if they insisted all too vehemently that
they had given me some information, I used to smile and answer with
delight: Take care that it was not my brother whom you told. For since
we had everything in common, one spirit and one disposition, yet the
secrets of friends alone were not common property, not that we were
afraid of danger in the communication, but that we might keep faith by
withholding it. Yet if we had a matter to be consulted about, our
counsel was always in common, though the secret was not always made
common. For although our friends spoke to either of us, so that what
they said might reach the other; yet I know that secrets were for the
most part kept with such good faith that they were not imparted even to
the other brother. For this is a convincing proof that was not betrayed
without which had not been imparted to the brother.
40. I confess, then, that being raised by these so
great and excellent benefits to a kind of mental ecstasy, I had ceased
to fear that I might be the survivor, because I thought him more worthy
to live, and therefore received the blow which I am unable to endure,
for the wounds of such pain are more easily borne when dwelt upon
beforehand than when unexpected. Who will now console me full of
sorrows? Who will raise up him that is smitten down? With whom shall I
share my cares? Who will set me free from the business of this world?
For thou wast the manager of our affairs, the censor of the servants,
the decider between brother and sister, the decider not in matters of
strife but of affection.
41. For if at any time there was a discussion
between me and my holy sister on any matter, as to which was the
preferable opinion, we used to take thee as judge, who wouldst hurt no
one, and anxious to satisfy each, didst keep to thy loving affection
and the right measure in deciding, so as to let each depart satisfied,
and gain for thyself the thanks of each. Or if thou thyself broughtest
anything for discussion, how pleasantly didst thou argue! and thy very
indignation, how free from bitterness it was! how was thy discipline
not unpleasant to the servants themselves! since thou didst
168
strive rather to blame thyself before thy brethren than to punish
through excitement! For our profession restrained in us the zeal for
correction, and, indeed, thou, my brother, didst remove from us every
inclination to correct, when thou didst promise to punish and desire to
alleviate.
42. That is, then, evidence of no ordinary prudence,
which virtue is thus defined by the wise. The first of good things is
to know God, and with a pious mind to reverence Him as true and divine,
and to delight in that loveable and desirable beauty of the eternal
Truth with the whole affection of the mind. And the second consists in
deriving from that divine and heavenly source of nature, love towards
our neighbours, since even the wise of this world have borrowed from
our laws. For they never could have obtained those points for the
discipline of men, except from that heavenly fount of the divine law.
43. What, then, shall I say of his reverence in
regard to the worship of God? He, before being initiated in the more
perfect mysteries, being in danger of shipwreck when the ship that bore
him, dashed upon rocky shallows, was being broken up by the waves
tossing it hither and thither, fearing not death but lest he should
depart this life without the Mystery, asked of those whom he knew to be
initiated the divine Sacrament of the faithful; not that he might gaze
on secret things with curious eyes, but to obtain aid for his faith.
For he caused it to be bound in a napkin, and the napkin round his
neck, and so cast himself into the sea, not seeking a plank loosened
from the framework of the ship, by floating on which he might be
rescued, for he sought the means of faith alone. And so believing that
he was sufficiently protected and defended by this, he sought no other
aid.
44. One may consider his courage at the same time,
for he, when the vessel was breaking up, did not as a shipwrecked man
seize a plank, but as a brave man found in himself the support of his
courage, nor did his hope fail nor his expectation deceive him. And
then, when preserved from the waves and brought safe to land in the
port, he first recognized his Leader, to Whom he had committed himself,
and at once after either himself rescuing the servants, or see-lug that
they were rescued, disregarding his goods, and not longing for what was
lost, he sought the Church of God, that he might return thanks for his
deliverance, and acknowledge the eternal mysteries, declaring that
there was no greater duty than thanksgiving. But if not to be grateful
to man has been judged like to murder, how enormous a crime is it not
to be grateful to God!
45. Now it is the mark of a prudent man to know
himself, and, as it has been defined by the wise, to live in accordance
with nature. What, then, is so much in accordance with nature as to be
grateful to the Creator? Behold this heaven, does it not render thanks
to its Creator when He is seen? For "the heavens declare the glory of
God, and the firmament proclaims His handywork."(1) The sea itself when
it is quiet and at rest sets forth a representation of the Divine
Quiet; when it is stirred up, it shows that the wrath on high is
terrible. Do we not all rightly admire the grace of God, when we
observe that senseless nature restrains its waves as it were with sense
and reason, and that the waves know their own limit? And what shall I
say of the earth, which in obedience to the divine command freely
supplies food to all living things; and the fields restore what they
have received multiplied as it were by accumulating interest, and
heaped up.
46. So he who by the guidance of nature had grasped
the methods of the divine work in the ardent vigour of his mind, knew
that thanks should be paid first of all to the Preserver of all; but
inasmuch as he could not repay, he could at least feel grateful. For
the essence of this thankfulness is that when it is offered it is felt,
and by being felt is offered. So he offered thanks and brought away
faith. For he who had felt such protection on the part of the heavenly
Mystery wrapped in a napkin, how much did he expect if he received it
with his mouth and drew it to the very depth of his bosom? How much
more must he have been expecting of that, when received into his
breast, which had so benefited him when covered with a napkin?
47. But he was not so eager as to lay aside caution.
He called the bishop to him, and esteeming that there can be no true
thankfulness except it spring from true faith, he enquired whether he
agreed with the Catholic bishops, that is, with the Roman Church?(2)
And possibly at that place the Church of the district was in schism.
For at that time Lucifer had withdrawn from our communion, and although
he had been an exile for the faith, and had left inheritors
169
of his own faith,(1) yet my brother did not think that there could be
true faith in schism. For though schismatics kept the faith towards
God, yet they kept it not towards the Church of God, certain of whose
limbs they suffered as it were to be divided, and her members to be
torn. For since Christ suffered for the Church, and the Church is the
body of Christ, it does not seem that faith in Christ is shown by those
by whom His Passion is made of none effect, and His body divided.
48. And so though he retained the deposit of faith,
and feared to voyage as debtor of so vast an amount, yet he preferred
to cross over to a place where he could make his payment in safety, for
he was convinced that the payment of thankfulness to God consists in
dispositions and faith, which payment, so soon as he had free access to
the Church, he delayed not to make.(2) And he both received the grace
of God which he longed for, and preserved it when received. Nothing,
then, can be wiser than that prudence which distinguishes between
divine and human matters.
49. Why should I speak of his well-known eloquence
in his forensic duties? What incredible admiration did he excite in the
hall of justice of the high prefecture! But I prefer to speak of those
things which he esteemed, through consideration of the mysteries of
God, to be preferable to human matters.
50. And should any one wish more fully to regard his
fortitude, let him consider how often after his shipwreck with
invincible disregard of this life he crossed the sea and travelled
through widespread regions in his journeys, and at last that at this
very time he did not shrink from danger, but met it. Patient under
injustice, regardless of cold, would that he had been equally
thoughtful in taking precautions. But exactly herein was he blessed,
that he, so long as his bodily strength allowed, spent his life
fulfilling the work of youth, uninterruptedly carrying out what he
wished to do, and paid no attention to his weakness.
51. But in what words can I set forth his
simplicity? By this I mean a certain moderation of character and
soberness of mind. Pardon me, I beseech you, and attribute it to
my grief, if I allow myself to speak somewhat fully about him with whom
I am no longer permitted to converse. And certainly it is an advantage
for you to see that you have performed this kindly office not led by
weak feelings, but by sound judgment; not as impelled by pity for his
death, but moved by desire to do honour to his virtues; for every
simple soul is blessed. And so great was his simplicity, that,
converted as it were into a child, he was conspicuous for the
simplicity belonging to that guileless age, for the likeness of perfect
virtue, and for reflecting as in a mirror innocence of character.
Therefore he entered into the kingdom of heaven, because he believed
the word of God, because he, like a child, rejected the artifices of
flattery, and chose rather to accept with gentleness the pain of
injustice than to avenge himself sharply; he was more ready to listen
to complaints than to guile, ready for conciliation, inaccessible to
ambition, holy in modesty, so that in him one would rather speak of
excess of bashfulness than have to seek for such as is needful.
52. But the foundations of virtue are never in
excess, for modesty does not hinder but rather commends the discharge
of duty. And so was his face suffused with a certain virginal modesty,
showing forth his inward feeling in his countenance, if perchance he
had, coming on a sudden, met some female relative, he was as it were
bowed down and sunk to the earth, though he was not different in
company with men, he seldom lifted up his face, raised his eyes, or
spoke; when he did one of these things, it was with a kind of bashful
modesty of heart, with which, too, the chastity of his body agreed. For
he preserved the gifts of holy baptism inviolate, being pure in body
and still more pure in heart; fearing not less the shame of impurity in
conversation than in his body; and thinking that no less regard was to
be paid to modesty in purity of words than in chastity of body.
53. In fine, he so loved chastity as never to seek a
wife, although in him it was not merely the desire of chastity, but
also the grace of his love for us. But in a wonderful manner he
concealed his feeling as to marriage, and avoided all boastfulness; and
so carefully did he conceal his feeling, that even
170
when we pressed it on him, he appeared rather to postpone wedlock than
to avoid it. So this was the one point with which he did not trust his
brother and sister, not through any doubtful hesitation, but simply
through virtuous modesty.
54. Who, then, could refrain from wondering that a
man in age between a brother and a sister, the one a virgin, the Other
a priest, yet in greatness of soul not below either, should so excel in
two great gifts, as to reflect the chastity of one vocation and the
sanctity of the other, being bound not by profession but by the
exercise of virtue. If, then, lust and anger bring forth other vices, I
may rightly call chastity and gentleness as it were the parents of
virtues; although, as it is the origin of all good things, so too is
piety the seed-plot of other virtues.
55. What, then, shall I say of his economy, a kind
of continence regarding possessions? For he who takes care of his own
does not seek other men's goods, nor is he puffed up by abundance who
is contented with his own. For he did not wish to recover anything
except his own, and that rather that he might not be cheated than that
he might be richer. For he rightly called those who seek other men's
goods hawks of money. But if avarice be the root of all evils,(1) he
who does not seek for money has certainly stripped himself of vices.
56. Nor did he ever delight in more carefully
prepared feasts or many dishes, except when he invited friends, wishing
for what was sufficient for nature, not for superabundance for
pleasure's sake. And, indeed, he was not poor in means, but was so in
spirit.(2) Certainly we ought by no means to doubt of his happiness,
who neither as a wealthy man delighted in riches, nor as a poor man
thought that what he had was scanty.
57. It remains that, to come to the end of the
cardinal virtues, we should notice in him the constituents of justice.
For although virtues are related to each other and connected, still as
it were a more distinct sketch of each is wanted, and especially of
justice. For it being somewhat niggardly towards itself is wholly
devoted to what is without, and whatever it has through a certain
rigour towards self, being carried away by love for all, it pours forth
on its neighbours.
58. But there are many kinds of this virtue. One
towards friends, another towards all men, another with respect to the
worship of God or the relief of the poor. So what he was towards all,
the affection of the people of the province over which he was set
shows; who used to say that he was rather their parent than a judge, a
kind umpire for loving clients, a steadfast awarder of just law.
59. But what he was with his brother and sister,
though all men were embraced in his good-will, our undivided patrimony
testifies, and the inheritance neither distributed nor diminished, but
preserved. For he said that love was no reason for making a will. This,
too, he signified with his last words, when commending those whom he
had loved, saying that it was his choice never to marry a wife, that he
might not be separated from his brother and sister, and that he would
not make a will, lest our feelings should in any point be hurt. Lastly,
though begged and entreated by us, he thought that nothing ought to be
determined by himself, not, however, forgetting the poor, but only
asking that so much should be given to them as should seem just to us.
60. By this alone he gave a sufficient proof of his
fear of God, and set an example of religious feeling as regards men.
For what he gave to the poor he offered to God, since "he that
distributeth to the poor lendeth unto God;"(1) and by requiring what
was just, he left them not a little, but the whole. For this is the
total sum of justice, to sell what one has and give to the pool For he
who "hath dispersed, and hath given to the poor, his righteousness
endureth for ever."(2) So he left us as stewards, not heirs; for the
inheritance is to the heirs a matter of question, the stewardship is a
duty to the poor.
61. So that one may rightly say that the Holy Spirit
has this day told us by the voice of the boy reader: "He that is
innocent in his hands and of a clean heart, who hath not lifted up his
soul to vanity, nor used deceit unto his neighbour, this is the
generation of them that seek the Lord."(3) He, then, shall both ascend
into the hill of the Lord and dwell in the tabernacle of God; because
"he hath walked without spot, he hath worked righteousness, he hath
spoken truth, he hath not deceived his neighbour;"(4) nor did he lend
his money for usury, who always wished [no more than] to retain that
which was inherited.
62. Why should I relate that in his piety
171
he went beyond mere justice, when he, having thought that in
consideration of my office something ought to be given to the unlawful
possessor of our property, declared that I was the author of the
bounty, but made over the receipts of his own share to the common fund.
63. These and other matters, which were then a
pleasure to me, now sharpen the remembrance of my grief. They abide,
however, and always will do so, nor do they ever pass away like a
shadow; for the grace of virtue dies not with the body, nor do natural
life and merits come to an end at the same time, although the use of
natural life does not perish for ever, but rests in a kind of exemption
for a time.
64. For one, then, who has performed such good
deeds, and is rescued from perils, I shall weep rather from longing for
him than for the loss. For the very opportuneness of his death bids us
bear in mind that we must follow him rather with grateful veneration
than grieve for him, for it is written that private grief should cease
in public sorrow. This is said in the prophetical language,(1) not only
to that one woman, who is figured there, but to each, since it seems to
be said to the Church.
65. To me, then, does this message come, and Holy
Scripture says: "Dost thou teach this, is it thus that thou instructest
the people of God? Knowest thou not that thy example is a danger to
others? save that perchance thou complainest that thy prayer is not
heard. First of all this is shameless arrogance, to desire to obtain
for thyself what thou knowest to have been denied to many, even saints,
when thou art aware that God is no respecter of persons?"(2) For
although God is merciful, yet if He always heard all, He would appear
to act no longer of His own free will, but by a kind of necessity.
Then, since all ask, if He were to hear all, no one would die. For how
much dost thou daily pray? Is, then, God's appointment to be made void
in consideration of thee? Why, then, dost thou lament that is sometimes
not obtained, which thou knowest cannot always be obtained?
66. "Thou fool," it says, "above all women, seest
thou not our mourning, and what hath happened to us, how that Sion our
mother is saddened with all sadness, and humbled with humbling. Mourn
now also very sore, since we all mourn, and be sad since we all are
sad, and thou art grieved for a brother. Ask the earth and she shall
tell thee that it is she which ought to mourn, outliving so many that
grow upon her. And out of her," it says, "were all born in the
beginning, and out of her shall others come, and, behold, they walk
almost all into destruction, and a multitude of them is utterly rooted
out. Who, then, ought to make more mourning than she that hath lost so
great a multitude, and not thou, which art sorry but for one?"(1)
67. Let, then, the common mourning swallow up ours
and cut off the bitterness of our private sorrow. For we ought not to
grieve for those whom we see to be set free, and we bear in mind that
so many holy souls are not without a purpose at this time loosed from
the chains of the body. For we see. as if by God's decree, such
reverend widows dying so closely at one time, that it seems to be a
sort of setting out on a journey, not a sinking in death, lest their
chastity in which they have served God their full time should be
exposed to peril. What groans, what mourning, does so bitter a
recollection stir up in me! And if I had no leisure for mourning, yet
in my own personal grief, in the loss of the very flower of so much
merit, the common lot of nature consoled me; and my grief in
consideration of one alone veiled the bitterness of the public funeral
by the show of piety at home.
68. I seek again, then, O sacred Scripture, thy
consolations, for it delights me to dwell on thy precepts and on thy
sentences. How far more easy is it for heaven and earth to pass away,
than for one tittle of the law to fail! But let us now listen to what
is written: "Now," it says, "keep thy sorrow to thyself, and bear with
a good courage the things which have befallen thee. For if thou shall
acknowledge the determination of God to be just, thou shalt both
receive thy son in time, and shalt be praised among women."(2) If this
is said to a woman, how much more to a priest! If such words are said
of a son it is certainly not unfitting that they should be uttered also
concerning the loss of a brother; though if he had been my son I could
never have loved him more. For as in the death of children, the lost
labour and the pain borne to no purpose seem to increase the sorrow;
so, too, in the case of brothers the habits of
172
intercourse and joint occupations inflame the bitterness of grief.
69. But, lo! I hear the Scripture saying: "Do not
continue this discourse, but allow thyself to be persuaded. For how
great are the misfortunes of Sion! Be comforted in regard of the sorrow
of Jerusalem. For thou seest that our holy places are polluted and the
name that was called upon us is almost profaned, they that are ours
have suffered shame, our priests are burnt, our Levites gone into
captivity, our wives are polluted, our virgins suffer violence, our
righteous men are carded away, our little ones given up, our young men
brought in bondage, and our strong men become weak. And, which is the
greatest of all, the seal of Sion hast lost her glory, since now she is
delivered into the hands of them that hate us. Do thou, then, shake off
thy great heaviness, and put from thee the multitude of sorrows, that
the Mighty may be merciful to thee again, and the Highest shall give
thee rest by casing thy labours."(1)
70. So, then, my tears shall cease, for one must
yield to healthful remedies, since there ought to be some difference
between believers and unbelievers. Let them, therefore, weep who cannot
have the hope of the resurrection, of which not the sentence of God but
the strictness of the faith deprives them. Let there be this difference
between the servants of Christ and the worshippers of idols, that the
latter weep for their friends, whom they suppose to have perished for
ever; that they should never cease from tears, and gain no rest from
sorrow, who think that the dead have no rest. But from us, for whom
death is the end not of our nature but of this life only, since our
nature itself is restored to a better state, let the advent of death
wipe away all tears.
71. And certainly if they have ever found any
consolation who have thought that death is the end of sensation and the
failing of our nature, how much more must we find it so to whom the
consciousness of good done brings the promise of better rewards! The
heathen have their consolation, because they think that death is a
cessation of all evils, and as they are without the fruit of life, so,
too, they think that they have escaped all the feeling and pain of
those severe and constant sufferings which we have to endure in this
life. We, however, as we are better supported by our rewards, so, too,
ought we to he more patient through our consolation, for they seem to
be not lost but sent before, whom death is not going to swallow up, but
eternity to receive.
72. My tears shall therefore cease, or if they
cannot cease, I will weep for thee, my brother, in the common sorrow,
and will hide my private groaning in the public grief. For how can my
tears wholly cease, since they break forth at every utterance of thy
name, or when my very habitual actions arouse thy memory, or when my
affection pictures thy likeness, or when recollection renews my grief.
For how canst thou be absent who art again made present in so many
occupations? Thou art present, I say, and art always brought before me,
and with my whole mind and soul do I embrace thee, gaze upon thee,
address thee, kiss thee; I grasp thee whether in the gloomy night or in
the clear light, when thou vouch-safest to revisit and console me
sorrowing. And now the very nights which used to seem irksome in thy
lifetime, because they denied us the power of looking on each other;
and sleep itself, lately, the odious interrupter of our converse, have
commenced to be sweet, because they restore thee to me. They, then, are
not wretched but blessed whose mutual presence fails not, whose care
for each other is not lessened, whose mutual esteem is increased. For
sleep is a likeness and image of death.
73. But if, in the quiet of night, our souls still
cleaving to the chains of the body, and as it were bound within the
prison bars of the limbs, yet are able to see higher and separate
things, how much more do they see these, when in their pure and
heavenly senses they suffer from no hindrances of bodily weakness. And
so when, as a certain evening was drawing on, I was complaining that
thou didst not revisit me when at rest, thou wast wholly present
always. So that, as I lay with my limbs bathed in sleep, while I was
[in mind] awake for thee, thou wast alive to me, I could say, "What is
death, my brother?" For certainly thou wast not separated from me for a
single moment, for thou wast so present with me everywhere, that
enjoyment of each other, which we were unable to have in the
intercourse of this life, is now always and everywhere with us. For at
that time certainly all things could not be present, for neither did
our physical constitution allow it, nor could the sight of each other,
nor the sweetness of our bodily embraces at all times and in all places
be enjoyed. But the pictures in our souls were always present with us,
even when we were not together, and these have not come to an end, but
173
constantly come back to us, and the greater the longing the greater
abundance have we of them.
74. So, then, I hold thee, my brother, and neither
death nor time shall tear thee from me. Tears themselves are sweet, and
weeping itself a pleasure, for by these the eagerness of the soul is
assuaged, and affection being eased is quieted. For neither can I be
without thee, nor ever forget thee, or think of thee without tears. O
bitter days, which show that our union is broken! O nights worthy of
tears, which have lost for me so good a sharer of my rest, so
inseparable a companion! What sufferings would ye cause me, unless the
likeness of him present offered itself to me, unless the visions of my
soul represented him whom my bodily sight shows me no more!
75. Now, now, O brother, dearest to my soul,
although thou art gone by too early a death, happy at least art thou,
who dost not endure these sorrows, and art not compelled to mourn the
loss of a brother, separation from whom thou couldst not long endure,
but didst quickly return and visit him again. But if then thou didst
hasten to banish the weariness of my loneliness, to lighten the sadness
of thy brother's mind, how much more often oughtest thou now to revisit
my afflicted soul, and thyself lighten the sorrow which has its origin
from thee!
76. But the exercise of my office now bids me rest
awhile, and attention to my priestly duties draws my mind away; but
what will happen to my holy sister, who though she moderates her
affection by the fear of God, yet again kindles the grief itself of the
affection by the zeal of her devotion? Prostrate on the ground,
embracing her brother's tomb, wearied with toilsome walking, sad in
spirit, day and night she renews her grief. For though she often breaks
off her weeping by speech, she renews it in prayer; and although in her
knowledge of her Scriptures she excels those who bring consolation, she
makes up for her desire of weeping by the constancy of her prayers,
renewing the abundance of her tears then chiefly, when no one can
interrupt her. So thou hast that which thou mayest pity, not what thou
mayest blame, for to weep in prayer is a sign of virtue. And although
that be a common thing with virgins, whose softer sex and more tender
affection abound in tears at the sight of the common weakness, even
without the feeling of family grief, yet when there is a greater cause
for sorrowing, no limit is set to that sorrow.
77. The means of consolation, then, are wanting
since excuses abound. For thou canst not forbid that which thou
teachest, especially when she attributes her tears to devotion, not to
sorrow, and conceals the course of the common grief for fear of shame.
Console her, therefore, thou who canst approach her soul, and penetrate
her mind. Let her perceive that thou art present, feel that thou art
not departed, that having enjoyed his consolation of whose merit she is
assured, she may learn not to grieve heavily for him, who warned her
that he was not to be mourned for.
78. But why should I delay thee, brother, why should
I wait that my address should die and as it were be buried with thee?
Although the sight and form of thy lifeless body, and its remaining
comeliness and figure abiding here, comfort the eyes, I delay no
longer, let us go on to the tomb. But first, before the people I utter
the last farewell, declare peace to thee, and pay the last kiss. Go
before us to that home, common and waiting for all, and certainly now
longed for by me beyond others. Prepare a common dwelling for him with
whom thou hast dwelt, and as here we have had all things in common, so
there, too, let us know no divided rights.
79. Do not, I pray thee, long put off him who is
desirous of thee, expect him who is hastening after thee, help him who
is hurrying, and if I seem to thee to delay too long, summon me. For we
have not ever been long separated from each other, but thou wast always
wont to return. Nor since thou canst not return again, I will go to
thee; it is just that I should repay the kindness and take my turn.
Never was there much difference in the condition of our life; whether
health or sickness, it was common to both, so that if one sickened the
other fell ill, and when one began to recover, the other, too, was
convalescent. How have we lost our rights? This time, too, we had our
sickness in common, how is it that death was not ours in common?
80. And now to Thee, Almighty God, I commend this
guileless soul, to Thee I offer my sacrifice; accept favourably and
mercifully the gift of a brother, the offering of a priest. I offer
beforehand these first libations of myself. I come to Thee with this
pledge, a pledge not of money but of life, cause me not to remain too
long a debtor of such an amount. It is not the ordinary interest of a
brother's love, nor the common course of nature, which is increased by
such an amount of virtue. I can bear it, if I shall be soon compelled
to pay it.
174
BOOK II.
ON THE BELIEF IN THE RESURRECTION.
1. Is the former book I indulged my longing to some
extent, lest too sharp remedies applied to a burning wound might rather
increase than assuage the pain. And as at the same time I often
addressed my brother, and had him before my eyes, it was not out of
place to let natural feelings have a little play, since they are
somewhat satisfied by tears, soothed by weeping, and numbed by a shock.
For the outward expression of affection is of a soft and tender nature,
it loves nothing extravagant, nothing stern, nothing hard; and patience
is proved by enduring rather than by resisting.
2. So, since the death-day might well, lately, by
the sad spectacle draw aside the mind of a brother, because it occupied
him wholly, now, inasmuch as on the seventh day, the symbol of the
future rest, we return to the grave, it is profitable to turn our
thoughts somewhat from my brother to a general exhortation addressed to
all, and to give our attention to this; so as neither to cling to my
brother with all our minds, lest our feelings overcome us, nor
forgetting such devotion and desert, to turn wholly away from him; and
in truth we should but increase the suffering of our intense grief, if
his death were again the subject of to-day's address.
3. Wherefore we propose, dearest brethren, to
console ourselves with the common course of nature, and not to think
anything hard which awaits all. And therefore we deem that death is not
to be mourned over; firstly, because it is common and due to all; next,
because it frees us from the miseries of this lie and, lastly, because
when in the likeness of sleep we are at rest from the toils of this
world, a more lively vigour is shed upon us. What grief is there which
the grace of the Resurrection does not console? What sorrow is not
excluded by the belief that nothing perishes in death? nay, indeed,
that by the hastening of death it comes to pass that much is preserved
from perishing. So it will happen, dearest brethren, that in our
general exhortation we shall turn our affections to my brother, and
shall not seem to have wandered too far from him, if through hope of
the Resurrection and the sweetness of future glory even in our
discourse he should live again for us.
4. Let us then begin at this point, that we show
that the departure of our loved ones should not be mourned by us. For
what is more absurd than to deplore as though it were a special
misfortune, what one knows is appointed unto all? This were to lift up
the mind above the condition of men, not to accept the common law, to
reject the fellowship of nature, to be puffed up in a fleshly mind, and
not to recognize the measure of the flesh itself. What is more absurd
than not to recognize what one is, to pretend to be what one is not? Or
what can be a sign of less forethought than to be unable to bear, when
it has happened, what one knew was going to happen? Nature herself
calls us back, and draws us aside froth sorrow of this sort by a kind
of consolation of her own. For what so deep mourning is there, or so
bitter grief, in which the mind is not at times relieved? For human
nature has this peculiarity, that although men may be in sad
circumstances, yet if only they be men, they sometimes turn their
thoughts a little away from sadness.
5. It is said, indeed, that there have been certain
tribes who mourned at the birth of human beings, and kept festival at
their deaths, and this not without reason, for they thought that those
who had entered upon this ocean of life should be mourned over, but
that they who had escaped from the waves and storms of this world
should be accompanied by rejoicing not without good reason. And we too
forget the birthdays of the departed, and commemorate with festal
solemnity the day on which they died.(1)
6. Therefore, in accordance with nature, excessive
grief must not be yielded to, test we should seem either to claim for
ourselves either an exceptional superiority of nature, or to reject the
common lot. For death is alike to all, without difference for the poor,
without exception for the rich. And so
175
although through the sin of one alone, yet it passed upon all;(1) that
we may not refuse to acknowledge Him to be also the Author of death,
Whom we do not refuse to acknowledge as the Author of our race; and
that, as through one death is ours, so should be also the resurrection;
and that we should not refuse the misery, that we may attain to the
gift. For, as we read, Christ "is come to save that which was lost,"(2)
and "to be Lord both of the dead and living."(3) In Adam I fell, in
Adam I was cast out of Paradise, in Adam I died; how shall the Lord
call me back, except He find me in Adam; guilty as I was in him, so now
justified in Christ.(4) If, then, death be the debt of all, we must be
able to endure the payment. But this topic must be reserved for later
treatment.
7. It is now our purpose to demonstrate that death
ought not to cause too heavy grief, because nature itself rejects this.
And so they say that there was a law among the Lycians, commanding that
men who gave way to grief should be clothed in female apparel, inasmuch
as they judged mourning to be soft and effeminate in a man. And it is
inconsistent that those who ought to offer their breast to death for
the faith, for religion, for their country, for righteous judgment, and
the endeavour after virtue, should grieve too bitterly for that in the
case of others which, if a fitting cause required, they would seek for
themselves. For how can one help shrinking from that in ourselves which
one mourns with too little patience when it has happened to others? Put
aside your grief, if you can; if you cannot, keep it to yourself.
8. Is, then, all sorrow to be kept within or
repressed? Why should not reason rather than time lighten one's
sadness? Shall not wisdom better assuage that which the passage of time
will obliterate? Further, it seems to me that it is a want of due
feeling with regard to the memory of those whose loss we mourn, when we
prefer to forget them rather than that our sorrow should be lessened by
consolation; and to shrink from the recollection of them, rather than
remember them with thankfulness; that we fear the calling to mind of
those whose image in our hearts ought to be a delight; that we are
rather distrustful than hopeful regarding the acceptance of the
departed, and think of those we loved rather as liable to punishment
than as heirs of immortality.
9. But you may say: We have lost those whom we used
to love. Is not this the common lot of ourselves and the earth and
elements, that we cannot keep for ever what has been entrusted to us
for a time? The earth groans under the plough, is lashed by rains,
struck by tempests, bound by cold, burnt by the sun, that it may bring
forth its yearly fruits; and when it has clothed itself with a variety
of flowers, it is stripped and spoiled of its own adornment. How many
plunderers it has! And it does not complain of the loss of its fruits,
to which it gave birth that it might lose them, nor thereafter does it
refuse to produce what it remembers will be taken from it.
10. The heavens themselves do not always shine with
the globes of twinkling stars, wherewith as with coronets they are
adorned. They are not always growing bright with the dawn of light, or
ruddy with the rays of the sun; but in constant succession that most
pleasing appearance of the world grows dark with the damp chill of
night. What is more grateful than the light? what more pleasant than
the sun? each of which daily comes to an end; yet we do not take it ill
that these have passed away from us, because we expect them to return.
Thou art taught in these things what patience thou oughtest to manifest
with regard to those who belong to thee. If things above pass away from
thee, and cause no grief, why should the passing away of man be mourned?
11. Let, then, grief be patient, let there be that
moderation in adversity which is required in prosperity. If it be not
seemly to rejoice immoderately, is it seemly so to mourn? For want of
moderation in grief or fear of death is no small evil. How many has it
driven to the halter, in how many hands has it placed the sword, that
they might by that very means demonstrate their madness in not enduring
death, and yet seeking it; in adopting that as a remedy which they flee
from as an evil. And because they were unable to endure and to suffer
what is in agreement with their nature, they fall into that which is
contrary to their desire, being separated for ever from those whom they
desired to follow. But this is not common, since nature herself
restrains although madness drives men on.
12. But it is common with women to make public
wailing, as though they feared that their misery might not be known.
They affect soiled clothing, as though the feeling of sorrow consisted
therein; they moisten their unkempt hair with filth; and
176
lastly, which is done habitually in many places, with their clothing
torn and their dress rent in two, they prostitute their modesty in
nakedness, as if they were ready to sacrifice that modesty because they
have lost that which was its reward. And so wanton eyes are excited,
and lust after those naked limbs, which were they not made bare they
would not desire. Would that those filthy garments covered the mind
rather than the bodily form. Lasciviousness of mind is often hidden
under sad clothing, and the unseemly rudeness of dress is used as a
covering to hide the secrets of wanton spirits.
13. She mourns for her husband with sufficient
devotion who preserves her modesty and does not give up her constancy.
The best duties to discharge to the departed are that they live in our
memories and continue in our affection. She has not lost her husband
who manifests her chastity, nor is she widowed as regards her union who
has not changed her husband's name. Nor hast thou lost the heir when
thou assistest the joint-heir, but in exchange for a successor in
perishable things thou hast a sharer in things eternal. Thou hast one
to represent thine heir, pay to the poor what was due to the heir, that
there may remain one to survive, not only the old age of father or
mother, but thine own life. Thou leavest thy successor all the more, if
his share conduce not to luxury in things present, but to the
purchasing of things to come.
14. But we long for those whom we have lost. For two
things specially pain us: either the longing for those we have lost,
which I experience in my own case; or that we think them deprived of
the sweetness of life, and snatched away from the fruits of their toil.
For there is a tender movement of love, which suddenly kindles the
affection, so as to have the effect rather of soothing than of
hindering the pain; inasmuch as it seems a dutiful thing to long
for what one has lost, and so under an appearance of virtue weakness
increases.
15. But why dost thou think that she who has sent
her beloved to foreign parts, and because of military service, or of
undertaking some office, or has discovered that for the purpose of
commerce he has crossed the sea, ought to be more patient than thou who
art left, not because of some chance decision or desire of money, but
by the law of nature? But, you say, the hope of regaining him is shut
out. As though the return of any one were certain! And oftentimes doubt
wearies the mind more where the fear of danger is strong; and it is
more burdensome to fear lest something should happen than to bear what
one already knows has happened. For the one increases the amount of
fear, the other looks forward to the end of its grief.
16. But masters have the right to transfer their
slaves whithersoever they determine. Has not God this right? It is not
granted to us to look for their return, but it is granted us to follow
those gone before. And certainly the usual shortness of life seems
neither to have deprived them of much who have gone before, nor to
delay very long him who remains.
17. But if one cannot mitigate one's grief, does it
not seem unbecoming to wish that because of our longing the whole
course of things should be upset? The longings of lovers are certainly
more intense, and yet they are tempered by regard to what is necessary;
and though they grieve at being forsaken they are not wont to mourn,
rather being deserted they blush at loving too hastily. And so patience
in regret is all the more manifested.
18. But what shall I say of those who think that the
departed are deprived of the sweetness of life? There can be no real
sweetness in the midst of the bitternesses and pains of this life,
which are caused either by the infirmity of the body itself, or by the
discomfort of things happening from without. For we are always anxious
and in suspense as to our wishes for happier circumstances; we waver in
uncertainty, our hope setting before us doubtful things for certain,
inconvenient for satisfactory, things that will fail for what is firm,
and we have neither any strength in our will nor certainty in our
wishes. But if anything happens against our wish, we think we are lost,
and are rather broken down by pain at adversity than cheered by the
enjoyment of prosperity. What good, then, are they deprived of who are
rather freed from troubles?
19. Good health, I doubt not, is more beneficial to
us than bad health is hurtful. Riches bring more delights than poverty
annoyance, the satisfaction in children's love is greater than the
sorrow at their loss, and youth is more pleasant than old age is sad.
How often is the attainment of one's wishes a weariness, and what one
has longed for a regret; so that one grieves at having obtained what
one was not afraid of obtaining. But what fatherland, what pleasures,
can compensate for exile and the bitterness of other penalties? For
even when we have
177
these, the pleasure is weakened either by the disinclination to use or
by the fear of losing them.
20. But suppose that some one remains unharmed, free
from grief, in uninterrupted enjoyment of the pleasures of the whole
course of man's life, what comfort can the soul attain to, enclosed in
the bonds of a body of such a kind, and restrained by the narrow limits
of the limbs? If our flesh shrinks from prison, if it abhors everything
which denies it the power of roaming about; when it seems, indeed, to
be always going forth, with its little powers of hearing or seeing what
is beyond itself, how much more does our soul desire to escape from
that prison-house of the body, which, being free with movement like the
air, goes whither we know not, and comes whence we know not.
21. We know, however, that it survives the body, and
that being set free from the bars of the body, it sees with clear gaze
those things which before, dwelling in the body, it could not see. And
we are able to judge of this by the instance of those who have visions
of things absent and even heavenly in sleep (whose minds, when the body
is as it were buried in sleep, rise to higher things and relate them to
the body). So, then, if death frees us from the miseries of this world,
it is certainly no evil, inasmuch as it restores liberty and excludes
suffering.
22. At this point the right place occurs for arguing
that death is not an evil, because it is the refuge from all miseries
and all evils, a safe harbour of security, and a haven of rest. For
what adversity is there which we do not experience in this life? What
storms and tempests do we not suffer? by what discomforts are we not
harassed? whose merits are spared?
23. The holy patriarch Israel fled from his country,
was exiled from his father, relatives, and home,(1) he mourned over the
shame of his daughter(2) and the death of his son, he endured famine,
when dead he lost his own grave, for he entreated that his bones should
be translated, a lest even in death he should find rest.
24. Holy Joseph experienced the hatred of his
brethren,(4) the guile of those who envied him, the service of slavery,
the mastership of merchantmen, the wantonness of his mistress, the
ignorance of her husband, and the misery of prison.(5)
25. Holy David lost two sons; the one incestuous,(1)
the other a parricide.(2) To have had them was a disgrace, to have lost
them a grief. And he lost a third, the infant whom he loved. Him he
wept for while still alive, but did not long for when dead. For so we
read, that, while the child was sick, David entreated the Lord for him,
and fasted and lay in sackcloth, and when the elders came near to raise
him from the earth, he would neither rise nor eat. But when he heard
that the child was dead, he changed his clothes, worshipped God, and
took food. When this seemed strange to his servants, he answered that
he had rightly fasted and wept while the child was alive, because he
justly thought that God might have mercy, and it could not be doubted
that He could preserve the life of one alive Who could give life to the
departed, but now, when death had taken place, why should he fast, for
he could not now bring back him that was dead, and recall him who was
lifeless. "I," said he, "shall go to him, but he shall not return to
me."(3)
26. O greatest consolation for him who mourns! O
true judgment of a wise man! O wonderful wisdom of one who is a
bond-man! that none should take it ill that anything adverse has
happened to him, or complain that he is afflicted contrary to his
deserts. For who art thou who beforehand proclaimest thy deserts? Why
desirest thou to anticipate Him Who takes cognizance of all? Why dost
thou snatch away the verdict from Him Who is going to judge? This is
permitted not even to the saints, nor has it ever been done by the
saints with impunity. David confesses that he was scourged for this in
his psalm: "Behold, these are the ungodly, who prosper in the world,
they have obtained riches. Therefore I have cleansed my heart in vain,
and washed my hands among the innocent; and I was scourged all the day
long, and my accusation(4) came every morning."(5)
27. Peter also, though full of faith and devotion,
yet because, not yet conscious of our common weakness, he had
presumptuously said to the Lord, "I will lay down my life for Thy
sake,"(6) fell into the trial of his presumption before the cock crowed
thrice.(7) Although, indeed, that trial was a lesson for our salvation,
that we might learn not to think little of the weakness of the
178
flesh, lest through thus thinking little of it we should be tempted. If
Peter was tempted, who can presume? who can maintain that he cannot be
tempted? And without doubt for our sakes was Peter tempted, so that,
the proving of the temptation did not take place in a stronger than
he,(1) but that in him we should learn how, resisting in temptations,
although tried even by care for our lives, we might yet overcome the
sting of the temptation with tears of patience.
28. But that same David, that the difference of his
actions may not perhaps disturb those who cling to the words of
Scripture; that same David, I say, who had not wept for the innocent
infant, wept for the parricide when dead. For at the last, when he was
wailing and mourning, he said, "O my son Absalom, my son Absalom! Who
will grant me to die for thee!"(2) But not only is Absalom the
parricide wept over, Amnon is wept over; not only is the incestuous
wept over, but is even avenged; the one by the scorn of the kingdom,
the other by the exile of his brothers. The wicked is wept over, not
the innocent. What is the cause? What is the reason? There is no little
deliberation with the prudent and confirmation of results with the
wise; for there is great consistency of prudence in so great a
difference of actions, but the belief is one. He wept for those who
were dead, but did not think that he ought to weep for the dead infant,
for he thought that they were lost to him, but hoped that the latter
would rise again.
29. But concerning the Resurrection more will be
said later on; let us now return to our immediate subject. We have set
forth that even holy men have without any consideration for their
merits, suffered many and heavy things in this world, together with
toil and misery. So David, entering into himself, says: "Remember;
Lord, that we are dust; as for man, his days are but as grass; "(3) and
in another place: "Man is like to vanity, his days pass away as a
shadow."(4) For what is more wretched than we, who are sent into this
life as it were plundered and naked, with frail bodies, deceitful
hearts, weak minds, anxious in respect of cares, slothful as to labour,
prone to pleasures.
30. Not to be born is then by far the best,
according to Solomon's sentence. For they also who have seemed to
themselves to excel most in philosophy have followed him. For he,
before these philosophers in time, but later than many of our writers,
spoke thus in Ecclesiastes: "And I praised all the departed, which are
already dead, more than the living, who are yet alive. And better than
both they is he who hath not yet been born, and who hath not seen this
evil work which hath been done under the sun. And I saw all travail,
and all the good of this labour, that for this a man is envied of his
neighbour. And, indeed, this is vanity and vexation of spirit."(1)
31. And who said this but he who asked for and
obtained wisdom, to know how the world was made, and the power of the
elements, the course of the year, and the dispositions of stars, to be
acquainted with the natures of living creatures, the furies of wild
beasts, and the violence of winds, and to understand the thoughts of
man!(2) How, then, should mortal matters be hidden from him, from whom
heavenly things were not hidden? He who penetrated the thoughts of the
woman who was claiming the child of another, who by the inspiration of
divine grace knew the natures of living creatures which he did not
share; could he err or say what was untrue with regard to the
circumstances of that nature, which he found in his own personal
experience?
32. But Solomon was not the only person who felt
this, though he alone gave expression to it. He had read the words of
holy Job: "Let the day perish wherein I was born."(3) Job had
recognized that to be born is the beginning of all woes, and therefore
wished that the day on which he was born might perish, so that the
origin of all troubles might be removed, and wished that the day of his
birth might perish that he might receive the day of resurrection. For
Solomon had heard his father's saying: "Lord, make me to know mine end,
and the number of my days, that I may know what is lacking unto me."(4)
For David knew that what is perfect cannot be grasped here, and
therefore hastened on to those things which are to come. For now we
know in part, and understand in part, but then it will be possible for
that which is perfect to be grasped, when not the shadow but the
reality of the Divine Majesty and eternity shall begin to shine so as
to be gazed upon by us with unveiled face.(3)
179
33. But no one would hasten to the end, except he
were fleeing from the discomfort of this life. And so David also
explained why he hastened to the end, when he said: "Behold Thou hast
made my days old, and my being is as nothing before Thee, surely all
things are vanity, even every man that liveth."(1) Why, then, do we
hesitate to flee from vanity? Or why does it please us to be troubled
to no purpose in this world, to lay up treasures, and not know for what
heir we are gathering them? Let us pray that troubles be removed from
us, that we be taken out of this foolish world, that we may be free
from our daily pilgrimage, and return to that country and our natural
home. For on this earth we are strangers and foreigners; we have to
return thither whence we have come down, we must strive and pray not
perfunctorily but earnestly to be delivered from the guile and
wickedness of men full of words. And he who knew the remedy groaned
that his sojourn was prolonged, and that he must dwell with the unjust
and sinners.(2) What shall I do, who both am sinful and know not the
remedy?
34. Jeremiah also bewails his birth in these words:
"Woe is me, my mother! Why hast thou borne me a man of contention in
all the earth? I have not benefited others, nor has any one benefited
me, my strength hath failed."(3) If, then, holy men shrink from life
whose life, though profitable to us, is esteemed unprofitable to
themselves; what ought we to do who am not able to profit others, and
who feel that it, like money borrowed at interest, grows more heavily
weighted every day with an increasing mass of sins?
35. "I die daily,"(4) says the Apostle. Better
certainly is this saying than theirs who said that meditation on death
was true philosophy, for they praised the study, he exercised the
practice of death. And they acted for themselves only, but Paul,
himself perfect, died not for his own weakness but for ours. But what
is meditation on death but a kind of separation of body and soul, for
death itself is defined as nothing else than the separation of body and
soul? But this is in accordance with common opinion.
36. But according to the Scriptures we have been
taught that death is threefold.(5) One death is when we die to sin, but
live to God. Blessed, then, is that death which, escaping from sin, and
devoted to God, separates us from what is mortal and consecrates us to
Him Who is immortal. Another death is the departure from this life, as
the patriareh Abraham died, and the patriarch David, and were buried
with their fathers; when the soul is set free from the bonds of the
body. The third death is that of which it is said: "Leave the dead to
bury their own dead."(1) In that death not only the flesh but also the
soul dies, for "the soul that sinneth, it shall die."(2) For it dies to
the Lord, through the weakness not of nature but of guilt. But this
death is not the discharge from this life, but a fall through error.
37. Spiritual death, then, is one thing, natural
death another, a third the death of punishment. But that which is
natural is not also penal, for the Lord did not inflict death as a
penalty, but as a remedy. And to Adam when he sinned, one thing was
appointed as a penalty, another for a remedy, when it was said:
"Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten
of the tree of which I had commanded thee that of it alone thou
shouldst not eat, cursed is the ground in thy labor; in sorrow shalt
thou eat its fruit all the days of thy life. Thorns and thistles shall
it bring forth to thee, and thou shalt eat the herb of the field. In
the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat thy bread, till thou return to the
earth from which thou wast taken."(3)
38. Here you have the days of rest from penalties,
for they contain the punishment decreed against the thorns of tiffs
life, the cares of the world, and the pleasures of riches which shut
out the Word. Death is given for a remedy, because it is the end of
evils. For God said not, "Because thou hast hearkened to the voice of
the woman thou shalt return to the earth," for this would have been a
penal sentence, as this one is, "The earth under curse shall bring
forth thorns and thistles to thee;" but He said: "In sweat shall thou
eat thy bread until thou return to the earth." You see that death is
rather the goal of our penalties, by which an end is put to the course
of this life.
39. So, then, death is not only not an evil, but is
even a good thing. So that it is sought as a good, as it is written:
"Men shall seek death and shall not find it."(4) They will seek it who
shall say to the mountains: "Fall on us, and to the hills, Cover
us."(5) That soul, too, shall seek it which has sinned. That rich man
lying in hell shall seek it,
180
who wishes that his tongue should be cooled with the finger of
Lazarus.(1)
40. We see, then, that this death is a gain and life
a penalty, so that Paul says: "To me to live is Christ and to die is
gain."(1) What is Christ but the death of the body, the breath of life?
And so let us die with Him, that we may live with Him. Let there then
be in us as it were a daily practice and inclination to dying, that by
this separation from bodily desires, of which we have spoken, our soul
may learn to withdraw itself, and, as it were placed on high, when
earthly lusts cannot approach and attach it to themselves, may take
upon herself the likeness of death, that she incur not the penalty of
death. For the law of the flesh wars against the law of the mind, and
makes it over to the law of error, as the Apostle has made known to us,
saying: "For I see a law of the flesh in my members warring against the
law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity in the law of sin."(3)
We are all attached, we all feel this; but we are not all delivered.
And so a miserable man am I, unless I seek the remedy.
41. But what remedy? "Who shall deliver me out of
the body of this death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our
Lord."(4) We have a physician, let us use the remedy. Our remedy is the
grace of Christ, and the body of death is our body. Let us therefore be
as strangers to our body, lest we be strangers to Christ. Though we are
in the body, let us not follow the things which are of the body, let us
not reject the rightful claims of nature, but desire before all the
gifts of grace: "For to be dissolved and to be with Christ is far
better; yet to abide in the flesh is more needful for your sakes."(5)
42. But this need is not the case of all, Lord
Jesus; it is not so with me, who am profitable to none; for to me death
is a gain, that I may sin no more. To die is gain to me, who, in the
very treatise in which I comfort others, am incited as it were by an
intense impulse to the longing for my lost brother, since it suffers me
not to forget him. Now I love him more, and long for him more
intensely. I long for him when I speak, I long for him when I read
again what I have written, and I think that I am more impelled to write
this, that I may not ever be without the recollection of him. And in
this I am not acting contrary to Scripture, but I am of the same mind
with Scripture, that I may grieve with more patience, and long with
greater intensity.
43. Thou hast caused me, my brother, not to fear
death, and I only would that my life might die with thine! This Balaam
wished for as the greatest good for himself, when, inspired by the
spirit of prophecy, he said: "Let my soul die in the souls of the
righteous, and let my seed be like the seed of them."(1) And in truth
he wished this according to the spirit of prophecy, for as he saw the
rising of Christ, so also he saw His triumph, he saw His death, but saw
also in Him the everlasting resurrection of men, and therefore feared
not to die as he was to rise again. Let not then my soul die in sin,
nor admit sin into itself, but let it die in the soul of the righteous,
that it may receive his righteousness. Then, too, he who dies in
Christ. is made a partaker of His grace in the Font.
44. Death is not, then, an object of dread, nor
bitter to those in need, nor too bitter to the rich, nor unkind to the
old, nor a mark of cowardice to the brave, nor everlasting to the
faithful nor unexpected to the wise. For how many have consecrated
their life by the renown of their death alone, how many have been
ashamed to live, and have found death a gain! We have read how often by
the death of one great nations have been delivered; the armies of the
enemy have been put to flight by the death of the general, who had been
unable to conquer them when alive.
45. By the death of martyrs religion has been
defended, faith increased, the Church strengthened; the dead have
conquered, the persecutors have been overcome. And so we celebrate the
death of those of whose lives we are ignorant. So, too, David rejoiced
in prophecy at the departure of his own soul, saying: "Precious in the
sight of the Lord is the death of His saints."(2) He esteemed death
better than life. The death itself of the martyrs is the prize of their
life. And again, by the death of those at variance hatred is put an end
to.
46. Why should more be said? By the death of One the
world was redeemed. For Christ, had He Willed, need not have died, but
He neither thought that death should be shunned as though there were
any cowardice in it, nor could He have saved us better than by dying.
And so His death is the life of all. We are signed with the sign(3)
181
of His death, we show forth His death when we pray; when we offer the
Sacrifice we declare His death, for His death is victory, His death is
our mystery, His death is the yearly recurring solemnity of the world.
What now should we say concerning His death, since we prove by this
Divine Example that death alone found immortality, and that death
itself redeemed itself. Death, then, is not to be mourned over, for it
is the cause of salvation for all; death is not to be shunned, for the
Son of God did not think it unworthy of Him, and did not shun it. The
order of nature is not to be loosed, for what is common to all cannot
admit of exception in individuals.
47. And, indeed, death was no part of man's nature,
but became natural; for God did not institute death at first, but gave
it as a remedy. Let us then take heed that it do not seem to be the
opposite. For if death is a good, why is it written that "God made not
death,(1) but by the malice of men death entered into the world"? For
of a truth death was no necessary part of the divine operation, since
for those who were placed in paradise a continual succession of all
good things streamed forth; but because of transgression the life of
man, condemned to lengthened labour, began to be wretched with
intolerable groaning; so that it was fitting that an end should be set
to the evils, and that death should restore what life had lost. For
immortality, unless grace breathed upon it, would be rather a burden
than an advantage.
48. And if one consider accurately, it is not the
death of our being, but of evil, for being continues, it is evil that
perishes. That which has been rises again; would that as it is now free
from sinning, so it were without former guilt! But this very thing is a
proof that it is not the death of being, that we shall be the same
persons as we were. And so we shall either pay the penalty of our sins,
or attain to the reward of our good deeds. For the same being will rise
again, now more honourable for having paid the tax of death. And then
"the dead who are in Christ shall rise first; then, too, we who are
alive," it is said, "shall together with them be caught up in the
clouds into the air to meet the Lord, and so we shall always be with
the Lord."(2) They first, but those that are alive second. They with
Jesus, those that are alive through Jesus. To them life will be sweeter
after rest, and though the living will have a delightful gain, yet they
will be without experience of the remedy.
49. There is, then, nothing for us to fear in death,
nothing for us to mourn, whether life which was received from nature be
rendered up to her again, or whether it be sacrificed to some duty
which claims it, and this will be either an act of religion or the
exercise of some virtue. And no one ever wished to remain as at
present. This has been supposed to have been promised to John, but it
is not the truth. We hold fast to the words, and deduce the meaning
from them. He himself in his own writing(1) denies that there was a
promise that he should not die, that no one from that instance might
yield to an empty hope. But if to wish for this would be an extravagant
hope, how much more extravagant were it to grieve without rule for what
has happened according to rule!
50. The heathen mostly console themselves with the
thought, either of the common misery, or of the law of nature, or of
the immortality of the soul. And would that their utterances were
consistent, and that they did not transmit the wretched soul into a
number of ludicrous monstrosities and figures! But what ought we to do,
whose reward is the resurrection, though many, not being able to deny
the greatness of this gift, refuse to believe in it? And for this
reason will we maintain it, not by one casual argument only, but by as
many as we are able.
51. All things, indeed, are believed to be, either
because of experience, or on grounds of reason, or from similar
instances, or because it is fitting that they be, and each of these
supports our belief. Experience teaches us that we are moved; reason,
that which moves us must be considered the property of another power;
similar instances show that the field has borne crops, and therefore we
expect that it will continue to bear them. Fitness, because even where
we do not think that there will be results, yet we believe that it is
by no means fitting to give up the works of virtue.
52. Each, then, is supported by each. But belief in
the resurrection is inferred most clearly on three grounds, in which
all are included. These are reason, analogy from universal example, and
the evidence of what has happened, since many have risen. Reason is
clear. For since the whole course of our life consists in the union of
body and soul, and the resurrection brings with it
182
either the reward of good works, or the punishment of wicked ones, it
is necessary that the body, whose actions are weighed, rise again. For
how shall the soul be summoned to judgment without the body, when
account has to be rendered of the companionship of itself and the body?
53. Rising again is the lot of all, but there is a
difficulty in believing this, because it is not due to our deserts, but
is the gift of God. The first argument for the resurrection is the
course of the world, and the condition of all things, the series of
generations, the changes in the way of succession, the setting and
rising of constellations, the ending of day and night, and their daily
succession coming as it were again to life. And no other reason can
exist for the fertile temperament of this earth, but that the divine
order restores by the dews of night as much of that moisture from which
all earthly things are produced, as the heat of the sun dries up by
day. Why should I speak of the fruits of the earth? Do they not seem to
die when they fall, to rise again when they grow green once more? That
which is sown rises again, that which is dead rises again, and they are
formed once more into the same classes and kinds as before. The earth
first gave back these fruits, in these first our nature found the
pattern of the resurrection.
54. Why doubt that body shall rise again from body?
Grain is sown, grain comes up again: fruit is sown, fruit comes up
again; but the grain is clothed with blossom and husk. "And this mortal
must put on immortality, and this corruptible must put on
incorruption."(1) The blossom of the resurrection is immortality, the
blossom of the resurrection is incorruption. For what is more fruitful
than perpetual rest? what supplied with richer store than everlasting
security? Here is that abundant fruit, by whose increase man's nature
shoots forth more abundantly after death.
55. But you wonder how what has yielded to
putrefaction can again become solid, how scattered particles can come
together, those that are consumed be made good: you do not wonder how
seeds broken up under the moist pressure of the earth grow green. For
certainly they too, rotting under contact with the earth, are broken
up, and when the fertilising moisture of the soil gives life to the
dead and hidden seeds, and, by the vital warmth, as it were breathes
out a kind of soul of the green herb. Then by little and little nature
raises from the ground the tender stalk of the growing ear, and as a
careful mother folds it in certain sheaths, lest the sharp ice should
hurt it as it grows, and to protect it from too great heat of the sun;
and lest after this the rain should break down the fruit itself
escaping as it were from its first cradle and just grown up, or lest
the wind should scatter it, or small birds destroy it, she usually
hedges it around with a fence of bristling awn.
56. Why should one, then, be surprised if the earth
give back those bodies of men which it has received, seeing that it
gives life to, raises, clothes, protects, and defends whatsoever bodies
of seeds it has received? Cease then to doubt that the trustworthy
earth, which restores multiplied as it were by usury the seeds
committed to it, will also restore the entrusted deposit of the race of
man. And why should I speak of the kinds of trees, which spring up from
seed sown, and with revivified fruitfulness bear again their opening
fruits, and repeat the old shape and likeness, and certain trees being
renewed continue through many generations, and in their endurance
overpass the very centuries? We see the grape rot, and the vine come up
again: a graft is inserted and the tree is born again. Is there this
divine foresight for restoring trees, and no care for men? And He Who
has not suffered to perish that which He gave for man's use, shall He
suffer man to perish, whom he made after His own image?
57. But it appears incredible to you that the dead
rise again? "Thou foolish one, that which thou thyself sowest, does it
not first die that it may be quickened?"(1) Sow any dry seed you
please, it is raised up. But, you answer, it has the life-juice in
itself. And our body has its blood, has its own moisture. This is the
life-juice of our body. So that I think that the objection is exploded
which some allege that a dry twig does not revive, and then endeavour
to argue from this to the prejudice of the flesh. For the flesh is not
dry, since all flesh is of clay, clay comes from moisture--moisture
from the earth. Then, again, many growing plants, though always fresh,
spring from dry and sandy soil, since the earth itself supplies
sufficient moisture for itself. Does the earth then, which continually
restores all things, fail with regard to man? From what has been said
it is clear that we must not doubt that it is rather in accordance with
than contrary to nature; for it is natural that all
183
things living should rise again, but contrary to nature that they
should perish.
58. We come now to a point which much troubles the
heathen, how it can be that the earth should restore those whom the sea
has swallowed up, wild beasts have torn to pieces or have devoured. So,
then, at last we necessarily come to the conclusion that the doubt is
not as to belief in resurrection in general, but as to a part. For,
granted that the bodies of those torn in pieces do not rise again, the
others do so, and the resurrection is not disproved, but a certain
class is an exception. Yet I wonder why they think there is any doubt
even concerning these, as though not all things which are of the earth
return to the earth, and crumble again into earth. And the sea itself
for the most part casts up on neighbouring shores whatever human bodies
it has swallowed. And if this were not so, I suppose we are to believe
that it would not be difficult for God to join together what was
dispersed, to unite what was scattered; God, Whom the universe obeys,
to Whom the dumb elements submit and nature serves; as though it were
not a greater wonder to give life to clay than to join it together.
59. That bird in the country of Arabia, which is
called the Phoenix, restored by the renovating juices of its flesh,
after being dead comes to life again: shall we believe that men alone
are not raised up again? Yet we know this by common report and the
authority of writings,(1) namely, that the bird referred to has a fixed
period of life of five hundred years, and when by some warning of
nature it knows that the end of its life is at hand, it furnishes for
itself a casket of frankincense and myrrh and other perfumes, and its
work and the time being together ended, it enters the casket and dies.
Then from its juices a worm comes forth, and grows by degrees into the
fashion of the same bird, and its former habits are restored, and borne
up by the oarage of its wings it commences once more the course of its
renewed life, and discharges a debt of gratitude. For it conveys that
casket, whether the tomb of its body or the cradle of its resurrection,
in which quitting life it died, and dying it rose again, from Ethiopia
to Lycaonia; and so by the resurrection of this bird the people of
those regions understand that a period of five hundred years is
accomplished. So to that bird the five hundredth is the year of
resurrection, but to us the thousandth:(1) it has its resurrection in
this world, we have ours at the end of the world. Many think also that
this bird kindles its own funeral pile, and comes to life again from
its own ashes.
60. But perhaps nature if more deeply investigated
will seem to give a deeper reason for our belief: let our thoughts turn
back to the origin and commencement of the creation of man. You are men
and women, you are not ignorant of the things which have to do with
human nature, and if any of you have not this knowledge, you know that
we are born of nothing. But how small an origin for being so great as
we are! And if I do not speak more plainly, yet you understand. what I
mean, or rather what I will not say. Whence, then, is this head, and
that wonderful countenance, whose maker we see not? We see the work, it
is fashioned for various purposes and uses. Whence is this upright
figure, this lofty stature, this power of action, this quickness of
perception, this capacity for walking upright? Doubtless the organs of
nature are not known to us, but that which they effect is known. Thou
too wast once seed, and thy body is the seed of that which shall rise
again. Listen to Paul and learn that thou art this seed: "It is sown in
corruption, it shall rise in incorruption; it is sown in dishonour, it
shall rise in glory; it is sown in weakness, it shall rise in power; it
is sown a natural body, it shall rise a spiritual body."(2) Thou also,
then, art sown as are other things, why wonderest thou if thou shall
rise again as shall others? But thou believest as to them, because thou
seest; thou believest not this, because thou seest it not: "Blessed are
they that have not seen, and yet have believed."(3)
61. However, before the season comes, those things
also are not believed, for every season is not suited for the raising
of seeds. Wheat is sown at one time, and comes up at another; at one
time the vine is planted, at another the budding twigs begin to shoot,
the foliage grows luxuriant, and the grape is formed; at one time the
olive is planted, at another time, as though pregnant and loaded with
its offspring of berries, it is bent down by the abundance of its
fruit. But before its own period arrives for each, the produce is
restricted, and that which bears has not the age of bearing in its own
power.
184
One may see the mother of all at one time disfigured with mould, at
another bare of produce, at another green and full of flowers, at
another dried up. Any spot which might wish to be always clothed and
never to lay aside the golden dress of its seeds, or the green dress of
the meadows, would be barren in itself and unendowed with the gain of
its own produce which it would have transferred to others.
62. So, then, even if thou wilt not believe in our
resurrection by faith nor by example, thou wilt believe by experience.
For many products, as the vine, the olive, and different fruits, the
end of the year is the fit time for ripening; and for us also the
consummation of the world, as though the end of the year has set the
fitting time for rising again. And fitly is the resurrection of the
dead at the consummation of the world, test after the resurrection we
should have to fall back into this evil age. For this cause Christ
suffered that He might deliver us from this evil world; lest the
temptations of this world should overthrow us again, and it should be
an injury to us to come again to life, if we came to life again for sin.
63. So then we have both a reason and a time for the
resurrection: a reason because nature in all its produce remains
consistent with itself, and does not fail in the generation of men
alone; a time because all things are produced at the end of the year.
For the seasons of the world consist of one year. What wonder if the
year be one since the day is one. For on one day the Lord hired the
labourers to work in the vineyard, when He said, "Why stand ye here all
the day idle?"(1)
64. The causes of the beginnings of all things are
seeds. And the Apostle of the Gentiles has said that the human body is
a seed.(2) And so in succession after sowing there is the substance
needful for the resurrection. But even if there were no substance and
no cause, who could think it difficult for God to create man anew
whence He will and as He wills. Who commanded the world to come into
being out of no matter and no substance? Look at the heaven, behold the
earth. Whence are the fires of the stars? Whence the orb and rays of
the sun? Whence the globe of the moon? Whence the mountain heights, the
hard rocks, the woody groves? Whence are the air diffused around, and
the waters, whether enclosed or poured abroad? But if God made all
these things out of nothing (for "He spake and they were made, He
commanded and they were created"[1]), why should we wonder that which
has been should be brought to life again, since we see produced that
which had not been?
65. It is a cause for wonder that though they do not
believe in the resurrection, yet in their kindly care they make
provision that the human race should not perish,(2) and so say that
souls pass and migrate into other bodies that the world may not pass
away. But let them say which is the most difficult, for souls to
migrate, or to return; come back to that which is their own, or seek
for fresh dwelling places.
66. But let those who have not been taught doubt.
For us who have read the Law, the Prophets, the Apostles, and the
Gospel it is not lawful to doubt. For who can doubt when he reads: "And
in that time shall all thy people be saved which is written in the
book; and many of them that sleep in the graves of the earth shall
arise with one opening, these to everlasting life, and those to shame
and everlasting confusion. And they that have understanding shall shine
as the brightness of the firmament, and of the just many shall be as
the stars for ever."(3) Well, then, did he speak of the rest of those
that sleep, that one may understand that death lasts not for ever,
which like sleep is undergone for a time, and is put off at its time;
and he shows that the progress of that life which shall be after death
is better than that which is passed in sorrow and pain before death,
inasmuch as the former is compared to the stars, the latter is assigned
to trouble.
67. And why should I bring together what is written
elsewhere: "Thou shalt raise me up and I will praise Thee." Or that
other passage in which holy Job, after experiencing the miseries of
this life, and overcoming all adversity by his virtuous patience,
promised himself a recompense for present evils in the resurrection,
saying: "Thou shall raise up this body of mine which has suffered many
evils."(4) Isaiah also, proclaiming the resurrection to the people,
says that he is the announcer of the Lord's message, for we read thus:
"For the mouth of the Lord hath spoken, and they shall say in that
day."(5) And what the mouth
185
of the Lord declared that the people should say is set forth later on,
where it is written: "Because of Thy fear, O Lord, we have been with
child and have brought forth the Spirit of Thy Salvation, which Thou
hast poured forth upon the earth. They that inhabit the earth shall
fall, they shall rise that are in the graves. For the dew which is from
Thee is health for them but the land of the wicked shall perish. Go O
my people, and enter into thy chambers; hide thyself for a little until
the Lord's wrath pass by."(1)
68. How well did he by the chambers point out the
tombs of the dead, in which for a brief space we are hidden, that we
may be better able to pass to the judgment of God, which shall try us
with the indignation due for our wickednesses. He, then, is alive who
is hidden and at rest, as though withdrawing himself from our midst and
retiring, lest the misery of this world should entangle him with closer
snares, for whom the heavenly oracles affirm by the voices of the
prophets that the joy of the resurrection is reserved, and the
soundness of their freed bodies procured by the divine deed. And dew is
well used as a sign, since by it all vital seeds of the earth are
raised to growth. What wonder is it, then, if the dust and ashes also
of our failing body grow vigorous by the richness of the heavenly dew,
and by the reception of this vital moistening the shapes of our limbs
are refashioned and connected again with each other?
69. And the holy prophet Ezekiel teaches and
describes with a full exposition how vigour is restored to the dry
bones, the senses return, motion is added, and the sinews coming back,
the joints of the human body grow strong; how the bones which were very
dry are clothed with restored flesh, and the course of the veins and
the flow of the blood is covered by the veil of the skin drawn over
them. As we read, the reviving multitude of human bodies seems to
spring up under the very words of the prophet, and one can see on the
widespread plain the new seed shoot forth.
70. But if the wise men of old believed that a crop
of armed men sprang up in the district of Thebes from the sowing of the
hydra's teeth, whereas it is certainly established that seeds of one
kind cannot be changed into another kind of plant, nor bring forth
produce differing from its own seeds, so that men should spring from
serpents and flesh from teeth; how much more, indeed, is it to be
believed that whatever has been sown rises again in its own nature, and
that crops do not differ from their seed, that soft things do not
spring from hard, nor hard from soft, nor is poison changed into blood;
but that flesh is restored from flesh, bone from bone, blood from
blood, the humours of the body from humours. Can ye then, ye heathen,
who are able to assert a change, deny a restoration of the nature? Can
you refuse to believe the oracles of God, the Gospel, and the prophets,
who believe empty fables?
71. But let us now hear the prophet himself, who
speaks thus: "The hand of the Lord was upon me, and the Lord led me
forth in the Spirit, and placed me in the midst of the plain, and it
was full of men's bones; and He led me through them round about, and,
lo, there were very many bones on the face of the plain, and they were
very dry. And He said unto me: Son of man, can these bones live? And I
said: Lord, Thou knowest; and He said to me: Prophesy over these bones,
and thou shalt say unto them: O ye dry bones, hear the word of the
Lord. Thus saith the Lord to these bones: Behold I bring upon you the
Spirit of life, and I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh
upon you, and will stretch skin over you, and will put My Spirit into
you, and ye shall live, and know that I am the Lord. And I prophesied
as He commanded me. And it came to pass when I was prophesying all
these things, lo, there was a great earthquake."(1)
72. Note how the prophet shows that there was
hearing and movement in the bones before the Spirit of life was poured
upon them. For, above, both the dry bones are bidden to hear, as if
they had the sense of hearing, and that upon this each of them came to
its own joint is pointed out by the words of the prophet, for we read
as follows: "And the bones came together, each one to its joint. And I
beheld, and, lo, sinews and flesh were forming upon them, and skin came
upon them from above, and there was no Spirit in them."(2)
73. Great is the lovingkindness of the Lord, that
the prophet is taken as a witness of the future resurrection, that we,
too might see it with his eyes. For all could not be taken as
witnesses, but in that one all we are witnesses, for neither does lying
come upon a holy man, nor error upon so great a prophet.
74. Nor ought it to appear at all impro-
186
bable, that at the command of God the bones were fitted again to their
joints, since we have numberless instances in which nature has obeyed
the commands of heaven; as the earth was bidden to bring forth the
green herb,(1) and did bring it forth; as the rock at the touch of the
rod gave forth water for the thirsting people;(2) and the hard stone
poured forth streams by the mercy of God for those parched with heat.
What else did the rod changed into a serpent(3) signify, than that at
the will of God living things can be produced from those that are
without life? Do you think it more incredible that bones should come
together when bidden, than that streams should be turned back or the
sea flee? For thus does the prophet testify: "The sea saw it and fled,
Jordan was driven back."(4) Nor can there be any doubt about this fact,
which was proved by the rescue of one and the destruction of the other
of two peoples, that the waves of the sea stood restrained, and at the
same time surrounded one people, and poured back upon the other for
their death, that they might overwhelm the one, but preserve the
other.(5) And what do we find in the Gospel itself? Did not the Lord
Himself prove there that the sea grew calm at a word, the clouds were
driven away, the blasts of the winds yielded, and that on the quieted
shores the dumb elements obeyed God?
75. But let us go on with the other points, that we
may observe how by the Spirit of life the dead are quickened, they that
lie in the graves arise, and the tombs are opened: "And He said unto
me: Prophesy, son of man, and say to the Spirit, Come from the four
winds of heaven, O Spirit, and breathe upon these dead, that they may
live. And I prophesied as He eommanded me, and the Spirit of life
entered into them, and they lived, and stood up on their feet, an
exceeding great company. And the Lord spake unto me, saying: Son of
man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. For they say, Our bones
are become dry, our hope is lost, we shall perish. Therefore, prophesy
and say: Thus saith the Lord: Behold I will open your graves, and will
bring you up out of your graves into the land of Israel, and ye shall
know that I am the Lord, when I shall open your graves, and bring forth
My people out of the graves, and shall put My Spirit in you, and place
you in your own land, and ye shall know that I am the Lord; I have
spoken, and I will perform it, saith the Lord."(1)
76. We notice here how the operations of the Spirit
of life are again resumed; we know after what manner the dead are
raised from the opening tombs. And is it in truth a matter of wonder
that the sepulchres of the dead are unclosed at the bidding of the
Lord, when the whole earth from its utmost limits is shaken by one
thunderclap, the sea overflows its bounds, and again checks the course
of its waves? And finally, he who has believed that the dead shall rise
again "in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump (for
the trumpet shall sound),"(2) "shall be caught up amongst the first in
the clouds to meet Christ in the air;"(3) he who has not believed shall
be left, and subject himself to the sentence by his own unbelief.
77. The Lord also shows us in the Gospel, to come
now to instances, after what manner we shall rise again. "For He raised
not Lazarus alone, but the faith of all; and if thou believest, as thou
readest, thy spirit also, which was dead, revives with Lazarus." For
what does it mean, that the Lord went to the sepulchre and cried with a
loud voice, "Lazarus, come forth,"(4) except that He would give us a
visible proof, would set forth an example of the future resurrection?
Why did He cry with a loud voice, as though He were not wont to work in
the Spirit, tO command in silence, but only that He might show that
which is written: "In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last
trump the dead shall rise again incorruptible"?(5) For the raising of
the voice answers to the peal of trumpets. And He cried, "Lazarus, come
forth." Why is the name added, except perchance lest one might seem to
be raised instead of another, or that the resurrection were rather
accidental than commanded.
78. So, then, the dead man heard, and came forth
from the tomb, bound hand and foot with grave cloths, and his face was
bound with a napkin. Conceive, if thou canst, how he makes his way with
closed eyes, directs his steps with bound feet, and moves as though
free with fastened limbs.(6) The bands remained on him but did not
restrain him, his eyes were covered yet they saw. So, then, he saw who
was rising again, who was walking, who was leaving
187
the sepulchre. For when the power of the divine command was working,
nature did not require its own functions, and brought, as it were, into
extremity, obeyed no longer its own course, but the divine will. The
bands of death were burst before those of the grave. The power of
moving was exercised before the means of moving were supplied.(1)
79. If thou marvellest at this, consider Who gave
the command, that thou mayest cease to wonder; Jesus Christ. the Power
of God, the Life, the Light, the Resurrection of the dead. The Power
raised up him that was lying prostrate, the Life produced his steps,
the Light drove away the darkness and restored his sight, the
Resurrection renewed the gift of life.
80. Perchance it may trouble thee that the Jews took
away the stone and loosened the grave cloths, and thou mayest haply be
anxious as to who shall move the stone from thy tomb. As though He Who
could restore the Spirit could not remove the stone; or He Who made the
bound to walk could not burst the bonds; or He Who had shed light upon
the covered eyes could not uncover the face; or He Who could renew the
course of nature could not cleave the stone! But, in order that they
may believe their eyes who will not believe with their heart, they
remove the stone, they see the corpse, they smell the stench, they
loose the grave cloths. They cannot deny that he is dead whom they
behold rising again; they see the signs of death and the proofs of
life. What if, whilst they are busied, they are converted by the very
toil itself? What if, while they hear, they believe their own ears?
What if, while they behold, they are instructed by their own eyes? What
if, while they loose the bonds, they free their own minds? What if,
while Lazarus is being unbound, the people is set free, while they let
Lazarus go, themselves return to the Lord? For, lastly, many who had
come to Mary, seeing what had taken place, believed.
81. And this was not the only instance which our
Lord Jesus Christ set forth, but He raised others also, that we might
at any rate believe more numerous instances. He raised the young man
again, moved by the tears of his widowed mother, when He came and
touched the bier, and said: "Young man, I say unto thee, arise, and he
that was dead sat up and began to speak."(2) As soon as he heard he
forthwith sat up, he forthwith spake. The working of power, then, is
one thing, the order of nature is another.
82. And what shall I say of the daughter of the
ruler of the synagogue, at whose death multitudes were weeping and the
flute-players piping? For the funeral solemnities were being performed
because of the conviction of death. How quickly at the word of the Lord
does the spirit return, the reviving body rise up, and food is taken,
that the evidence of life may be believed!(1)
83. And why should we wonder that the soul is
restored at the word of God, that flesh returns to the bones, when we
remember the dead raised by the touch of the prophet's body?(2) Elijah
prayed, an d raised the dead child.(3) Peter in the name of Christ bade
Tabitha rise and walk,(4) and the poor rejoicing believed for the
food's sake which she ministered to them, and shall we not believe for
our salvation's sake? They purchased the resurrection of another by
their tears, shall we not believe in the purchase of ours by the
Passion of Christ? Who when He gave up the ghost, in order to show that
He died for our resurrection, worked out the course of the
resurrection; for so soon as "He cried again with a loud voice and gave
up the ghost, the earth did quake, and the rocks were rent, and the
tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,
and, going forth out of the tombs after His resurrection, came into the
holy city and appeared unto many."(5)
84. If these things happened when He gave up the
ghost, why should we think them incredible when He shall return to
judgment? especially since this earlier resurrection is a pledge of
that future resurrection, and a pattern of that reality Which is to
come; indeed, it is rather itself truth than a pattern. Who, then, at
the Lord's resurrection opened the graves, gave a hand to those who
were rising, showed them the road to find the holy city? If there was
no one, it was certainly the Divine Power which was working in the
bodies of the dead. Shall one seek for the aid of man where one sees
the work of God?
85. Divine action has no need of human assistance.
God commanded that the heavens should come into existence, and it was
done; He determined that the earth should be created, and it was
created.(6) Who carried together the stones on his shoulders? who
188
supplied the expenses? who furnished assistance to God as He toiled?
These things were made in a moment. Would you know how quickly? "He
spake and they were made."(1) If the elements spring up at a word. why
should the dead not rise at a word? For though they be dead, yet they
once lived, once had the breath of life for feeling, and strength for
acting; and there is a very great difference between not having been
capable of life, and having remained lifeless. The devil said: "Command
this stone that it become bread."(2) He confesses that at the command
of God nature can be transformed, dost thou not believe that at the
command of God nature can be remade?
86. Philosophers dispute about the course of the sun
and the system of the heavens, and there are those who think that these
should be believed when they are ignorant of what they are talking
about. For neither have they climbed up into the heavens, nor measured
the sky, nor examined the universe with their eyes; for none of them
was with God in the beginning, none of them has said of God: "When He
was preparing the heavens I was with Him, I was with Him as a master
workman, I was he in whom He delighted."(3) If, then, they are
believed, is God not believed, Who says: "As the new heavens and the
new earth, which I make to remain before Me, saith the Lord; so shall
your name and your seed abide; and month shall be after month, and
sabbath after sabbath, and all flesh shall come in My sight to worship
in Jerusalem, saith the Lord God; and they shall go forth, and shall
see the limbs of men who have transgressed against Me. For their worm
shall not die and their fire shall not be quenched and they shall be a
sight to all flesh."(4)
87. If the earth and heaven are renewed, why should
we doubt that man, on account of whom heaven and earth were made, can
be renewed? If the transgressor be reserved for punishment, why should
not the just be kept for glory? If the worm of sins does not die, how
shall the flesh of the just perish? For the resurrection, as the very
form of the word shows, is this, that what has fallen should rise
again, that which has died should come to life again.
88. And this is the course and ground of justice,
that since the action of body and soul is common to both(for what the
soul has conceived the body has carried out), each should come into
judgment, and each should be either given over to punishment or
reserved for glory. For it would seem almost inconsistent that, since
the law of the mind fights against the law of the flesh, and the mind
often, when sin dwelling in man acts, does that which it hates; the
mind guilty of a fault shared by another should be subjected to
penalty, and the flesh, the author of the evil, should enjoy rest: and
that should alone suffer which had not sinned alone, or should alone
attain to glory, not having fought alone with the help of grace.
89. The reason, unless I am mistaken, is complete
and just, but I do not require a reason from Christ. If I am convinced
by reason I reject faith. Abraham believed God,(1) let us also believe
Him, that we who are heirs of his race may also be heirs of his faith.
David likewise believed, and therefore did he speak;(2) let us also
believe that we may be able to speak, knowing that "He Who raised up
the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also with Jesus."(3) For God, Who
never lies, promised this; the Truth promised this in His Gospel, when
He said: "This is the will of Him that sent Me, that of all that which
He hath given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the
last day."(4) And He thought it not sufficient to have said this once,
but marked it by express repetition, for this follows: "For this is the
will of My Father, Who sent Me, that every one that seeth the Son and
believeth on Him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up at
the last day."(3)
90. Who was He that said this? He in truth Who when
dead raised up many bodies of the departed. If we believe not God,
shall we not believe evidence? Do we not believe what He promised,
since He did even that which He did not promise? And what reason would
He have had for dying, had He not also had a reason for rising again?
For, seeing that God could not die, Wisdom could not die; and inasmuch
as that could not rise again which had not died, flesh is assumed,
which can die, that whilst that, whose nature it is, dies, that which
had died should rise again. For the resurrection could not be effected
except by man; since, "as by man came death, so too by man came the
resurrection of the dead."(2)
91. So, then, man rose because man died; man was
raised again, but God raised him.
189
Then it was man according to the Flesh, now God is all in all.(1) For
now we know not Christ according to the flesh,(2) but we possess the
grace of that Flesh, so that we know Him the firstfruits of them that
rest,(3) the firstborn of the dead.(4) Now the first-fruits are
undoubtedly of the same nature and kind as the remaining fruits, the
first of which are offered to God as a petition for a richer increase,
as a holy thank-offering for all gifts, and as a kind of libation of
that nature which has been restored. Christ, then, is the firstfruits
of them that rest. But is this of His own who are at rest, who, as it
were, freed from death, are holden by a kind of sweet slumber, or of
all those who are dead? "As in Christ all die, so too in Christ shall
all be made alive."(5) So, then, as the firstfruits of death were in
Adam, so also the firstfruits of the resurrection are in Christ.
92. All men rise again, but let no one lose heart,
and let not the just grieve at the common lot of rising again, since he
awaits the chief fruit of his virtue. All indeed shall rise again,(6)
but, as says the Apostle, "each in his own order." The fruit of the
Divine Mercy is common to all, but the order of merit differs. The day
gives light to all, the sun warms all, the rain fertilises the
possessions of all with genial showers.
93. We are all born, and we shall all rise again,
but in each state, whether of living or of living again, grace differs
and the condition differs. For, "in a moment, in the twinkling of an
eye, at the last trump, the dead shall rise incorruptible and we shall
be changed."(7) Moreover, in death itself some rest, and some live.
Rest is good, but life is better. And so the Apostle rouses him that is
resting to life, saying: "Rise, thou that sleepest, and arise from the
dead, and Christ shall give thee light."(8) Therefore he is aroused
that he may live, that he may be like to Paul, that he may be able to
say: "For we that are alive shall not prevent those that are
asleep."(9) He speaks not here of the common manner of life, and the
breath which we all alike enjoy, but of the merit of the resurrection.
For, having said, "And the dead which are in Christ shall rise first,"
he adds further; "And we that are alive shall together with them be
caught up in the clouds, to meet Christ in the air."(10)
94. Paul certainly is dead, and by his honourable
passion exchanged the life of the body for everlasting glory; did he
then deceive himself when he wrote that he should be caught up alive in
the clouds to meet Christ? We read the same too of Enoch(1) and of
Elijah,(2) and thou too shalt be caught up in the Spirit. Lo the
chariot of Elijah, lo the fire, though not seen are prepared, that the
just may ascend, the innocent be borne forth, and thy life may not know
death. For indeed the apostles knew not death, according to that which
was said: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, many of those standing here
shall not taste death until they see the Son of man coming in His
kingdom."(3) For he lives, who has nothing in him which can die, who
has not from Egypt any shoe or bond, but has put it off before laying
aside the service of this body. And so not Enoch alone is alive, for
not he alone was caught up; Paul also was caught up to meet Christ.
95. The patriarchs also live, for God could not be
called the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, except the dead were
living; for He is not the God of the dead but of the living.(4) And we,
too, shall live if we be willing to copy the deeds and habits of our
predecessors. We are astonished at the rewards of the patriarchs, let
us copy their faithfulness; we tell of their grace, let us follow their
obedience; let us not, enticed by appetite, fall into the snares of the
world. Let us lay hold of the opportunity, of the commandment of the
Law, the mercy of our vocation, the desire of suffering. The patriarchs
went forth from their own land, let us go forth in purpose from the
power of the body; let us go forth in purpose as they in exile; but
they esteemed that not to be exile which the fear of God caused,
necessity did not enforce. They changed their land for another soil,
let us change earth for heaven; they changed in earthly habitation, let
us change in spirit. To them Wisdom showed the heaven illuminated with
stars,(5) let it enlighten the eyes of our heart. Thus does the type
agree with the truth, and the truth with the type.
96. Abraham, ready to receive strangers, faithful
towards God, devoted in ministering, quick in his service, saw the
Trinity in a type;(6) he added religious duty to hospitality, when
beholding Three he worshipped One, and preserving the distinction of
the Persons, yet addressed one Lord, he offered to Three the honour of
his gift, while
190
acknowledging one Power. It was not learning but grace which spoke in
him, and he believed better what he had not learnt than we who have
learnt. No one had falsified the representation of the truth, and so he
sees Three, but worships the Unity. He brings forth three measures of
fine meal, and slays one victim,(1) considering that one sacrifice is
sufficient, but a triple gift; one victim, an offering of three. And in
the four kings,(2) who does not understand that he subjected to himself
the elements of the material creation, and all earthly things in a sign
whereby the Lord's Passion was prefigured? Faithful in war, moderate in
his triumph, in that he preferred not to become richer by the gifts of
men, but by those of God.
97. He believed that he when old could beget a
son,(3) and judged himself when a father able to sacrifice his son; nor
did his fatherly affection tremble when duty aided the right hand of
the old man,(4) for he knew that his son would be more acceptable to
God when sacrificed than when whole. Therefore he brings his
well-beloved son to be sacrificed, and offered promptly him whom he had
received late; nor is he restrained by being called by the name of
father, when his son called him "Father," and he replied, "My son."
Dear pledges of love are these names, but the commands of God are loved
still more. And so although their hearts felt for each other, their
purpose remained firm. The father's hand stretched out the knife over
his son, and the father's heart struck the blow that the sentence might
not fail of being carried out; he feared lest the stroke should miss,
lest his right hand should fail. He felt the movings of fatherly
affection, but did not shrink from the work of submission, and hastened
his obedience, even when he heard the voice from heaven. Let us then
set God before all those whom we love, father, brother, mother, that He
may preserve for us those whom we love, as in the case of Abraham we
behold rather the liberal Rewarder than the servant.
98. The father offered indeed his son, but God is
appeased not by blood but by dutiful obedience. He showed the ram in
the thicket s in the stead of the lad, that He might restore the son to
his father, and yet the victim not fail the priest. And so Abraham was
not stained with his son's blood, nor was God deprived of the
sacrifice. The prophet spoke, and neither yielded to boastfulness nor
continued obstinate, but took the ram in exchange for the lad. And by
this is shown the more how piously he offered him whom he now so gladly
received back. And thou, if thou offer thy gift to God, dost not lose
it. But we are tenacious of our own; God gave His only Son for us,(1)
we refuse ours. Abraham saw this and recognized the mystery, that
salvation should be to us from the Tree, nor did it escape his notice
that in one and the same sacrifice it was One that seemed to be
offered, Another which could be slain.
99. Let us, then, imitate the devotion of Abraham,
let us imitate the goodness of Isaac, let us imitate his purity. The
man was plainly good and chaste, full of devotion towards God, chaste
towards his wife. He returned not evil for evil, yielded to those who
would thrust him out, received them again on their repentance, neither
violent towards insolence, nor stubborn towards kindness. Fleeing from
strife when he went away from others, ready to forgive when he received
them again, and still more lavish of goodness when he forgave them. The
fellowship of his company was sought, he gave in addition a feast of
pleasure.
100. In Jacob, too, let us imitate the type of
Christ, let there be some likeness of his actions in ourselves. We
shall have our share with him, if we imitate him. He was obedient to
his mother, he yielded to his brother, he served his father-in-law, he
sought his wages from the increase, not from a division of the flocks.
There was no covetous division, where his portion brought such gain.
Nor was that sign without a purpose, the ladder from earth to
heaven,(2) wherein was seen the future fellowship between men and
angels through the cross of Christ, whose thigh was paralyzed,(3) that
in his thigh he might recognize the Heir of his body, and foretell by
the paralyzing of his thigh the Passion of his Heir.
101. We see, then, that heaven is open to virtue,
and that this is the privilege not only of a few: "For many shall come
from the east dud from the west, and the north and the south, and shall
sit down in the kingdom of God,"(4) giving expression to the enjoyment
of perpetual rest since the motions of their souls are stilled. Let us
follow Abraham in our habits, that he may receive us into his bosom,
and cherish us with loving embrace, like Lazarus the in-
191
heritor of his humility surrounded by his own special virtues. The
followers of the holy patriarch, approved of God, cherish us not in a
bodily bosom, but in a clothing as it were of good works. "Be not
deceived," says the Apostle, "God is not mocked."(1)
102. We have seen, then, how grave an offence it is
not to believe the resurrection; for if we rise not again, then Christ
died in vain, then Christ rose not again.(3) For if He rose not for us,
He certainly rose not at all, for He had no need to rise for Himself.
The universe rose again in Him, the heaven rose again in Him, the earth
rose again in Him, for there shall be a new heaven and a new earth.(1)
But where was the necessity of a resurrection for Him Whom the claims
of death held not? For though He died as man, yet was He free in hell
itself.
103. Wilt thou know how free? "I am become as a man
that hath no help, free among the dead."(4) And well is He called free,
Who had power to raise Himself, according to that which is written:
"Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up."(5) And
well is He called free, Who had descended to rescue others. For He was
made as a man, not, indeed, in appearance only, but so fashioned in
truth, for He is man, and who shall know Him? For, "being made in the
likeness of men, and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled
Himself, becoming obedient even unto death,"(6) in order that through
that obedience we might see His glory, "the glory as of the
Only-begotten of the Father,"(7) according to Saint John. For thus is
the statement of Scripture preserved, if both the glory of the
Only-begotten and the nature of perfect man are preserved in Christ.
104. And so He needed no helper. For He needed none
when He made the world, so as to need none when He would redeem it. No
legate, no messenger, but the Lord Himself made it whole. "He spake and
it was done."(8) The Lord Himself made it whole, Himself in every part,
because all things were by Him. For who should help Him in Whom all
things were created and by Whom all things consist?(9) Who should help
Him Who makes all things in a moment, and raises the dead at the last
trump? 10 The "last," not as though He could not raise them at the
first, or the second, or the third, but an order is observed, not that
a difficulty may be at last overcome, but that the prescribed number be
accomplished.
105. But it is now time, I think, to speak of the
trumpets since my discourse is nearing its end, that the trumpet may
also be the sign of the finishing of my address. We read of seven
trumpets in the Revelation of John, which seven angels received.(1) And
there you read that when the seventh angel sounded his trumpet, there
was a great voice from heaven, saying: "The kingdom of this world is
become the kingdom of our God and of His Christ, and He shall reign for
ever and ever."(2) The word trumpet is also used for a voice, as you
read: "Behold a door opened in heaven, and the first voice which I
heard, as of a trumpet speaking with me and saying, Come up hither, and
I will show thee the things which must come to pass."(3) We read also:
"Blow up the trumpet at the beginning of the month [the new moon];(4)
and again elsewhere: "Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet."(5)
106. Therefore we ought with all our power to
observe what is the signification of the trumpets, lest, accepting
them, like old women, as part of the story, we should be in danger if
we were to think things unworthy of spiritual teaching, or not
befitting the dignity of the Scriptures. For when we read that our
warfare is not against flesh and blood, but against spiritual hosts of
wickedness, which are in high places,(6) we ought not to think of
weapons of the flesh, but of such as are mighty before God.(7) It is
not enough that one see the trumpet or hear its sound, unless one
understands the signification of the sound. For if the trumpet give an
uncertain sound, how shall one prepare himself for war?(8) Wherefore it
is important that we understand the meaning of the voice of the
trumpet, lest we seem barbarians, when we either hear or utter
trumpet-sounds of this sort. And therefore when we speak, let us pray
that the Holy Spirit would interpret them to us.
107. Let us, then, investigate what we read in the
Old Testament concerning the kinds of trumpets, considering that those
festivals which were enjoined on the Jews by the Law are the shadow of
joys above and of heavenly festivals. For here is the shadow, there the
truth. Let us endeavour to attain to the truth by means of the shadow.
Of which truth the figure is expressed in this manner, where we read
that the Lord said
192
to Moses: "Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh
month, on the first day of the month, shall be a rest unto you, a
memorial of blowing of trumpets, it shall be called holy unto you. Ye
shall not do any servile work, and ye shall kindle a whole
burnt-offering unto the Lord."(1) And in the Book of Numbers: "The Lord
spake unto Moses, saying: Make thee two trumpets of beaten work, of
silver shalt thou make them, and they shall be to thee for calling the
assembly and for the journeying of the camp. And thou shalt blow with
them, and all the congregation shall be gathered together at the door
of the tabernacle of witness. But if thou blow with one trumpet, all
the princes and leaders of Israel shall come to thee; and ye shall blow
a signal with the trumpet the first time, and they shall move the camp
forward, and place it on the east. And ye shall blow a signal with the
trumpet the second time, and they shall move the camp forward, and
place it towards Libanus. And ye shall blow a signal with the trumpet
the third time, and they shall move the camp forward, which shall be
placed towards the north [Boream]. And ye shall blow a signal with the
trumpet the fourth time, and they shall move the camp forward, which
shall be placed towards the north [Aquilonem]. They shall blow a signal
with the trumpet when they move forward. And when ye shall gather
together the assembly, blow with the trumpet, but not the signal. And
the sons of Aaron, the priests, shall blow with the trumpets, and it
shall be for you a statute for ever throughout your generations. But if
ye shall go out to war into your own land, against the adversaries who
resist you, ye shall sound a signal with the trumpets and ye shall be
remembered before the Lord. and have deliverance from your dead. Also
in the days of your gladness, and on your feast days, and on your new
moons, ye shall blow with the trumpets, and at your whole burnt
sacrifices and at your peace-offerings, and it shall be for you for
your memorial before the Lord, saith the Lord."(2)(3)
108. What then? shall we esteem festival days by
eating and drinking? But let no man judge us in respect of eating; "for
we know that the Law is spiritual."(4) "Let no man therefore judge us
in any meats or in drink, or in respect of a feast day or new moons, or
a sabbath day, which are a shadow of the things to come, but the body
is of Christ."(1) Let us, then, seek the body of Christ which the voice
of the Father, from heaven, as it were the last trumpet, has shown to
you at the time when the Jews said that it thundered;(2) the body of
Christ, which again the last trump shall reveal; for "the Lord Himself
shall descend from heaven at the voice of the Archangel, and at the
trump of God, and they that are dead in Christ shall rise again;"(3)
for "where the body is, there too are the eagles,"(4) where the body of
Christ is, there is the truth.
108. The seventh trumpet, then, seems to signify the
sabbath of the week, which is reckoned not only in days and years and
periods (for which reason the number of the jubilee is sacred), but
includes also the seventieth year, when the people returned to
Jerusalem, who had remained seventy years in captivity. In hundreds
also and in thousands the observation of the sacred number is by no
means passed over, for not without a meaning did the Lord say: "I have
left the seven thousand men, who have not bent their knees before
Baal."(5) Therefore the shadow of the future rest is figured in time in
the days, months, and years of this world, and therefore the children
of Israel are commanded by Moses, that in the seventh month, on the
first day of the month, a rest should be established for all at the
"memorial of the trumpets;" and that no servile work should be done,
but a sacrifice be offered to God, because that at the end of the week,
as it were the sabbath of the world, spiritual and not bodily work is
required of us. For that which is bodily is servile, for the body
serves the soul, but innocence makes free, guilt reduces to slavery.
109. It was necessary, then, that spiritual things
should be made known as in a mirror and in a riddle; "For now we see by
means of a mirror, but then face to face."(6) Now we war after the
flesh, then in the Spirit we shall see the divine mysteries. Let, then,
the character of the true law be expressed in our manner of life, who
walk in the image of God, for the shadow of the Law has now passed
away. The carnal Jews had the shadow, the likeness is ours, the reality
theirs who shall rise again. For we
193
know that according to the Law there are these three, the shadow, the
image or likeness, and the reality; the shadow in the Law, the image in
the Gospel, the truth in the judgment. But all is Christ's, and all is
in Christ, Whom now we cannot see according to the reality, but we see
Him, as it were, in a kind of likeness of future things, of which we
have seen the shadow in the Law. So, then, Christ is not the shadow but
the likeness of God, not an empty likeness but the reality. And so the
Law was by Moses, for the shadow was through man, the likeness was
through the Law, the reality through Jesus. For reality cannot proceed
from any other source than from reality.
110. If, then, any one desires to see this
Image of God, he must love God, that he may be loved by God; and be no
longer a servant but a friend, because he has kept the commandments of
God, that he may enter into the cloud where God is.[1] Let him make to
himself two reasonable trumpets of beaten work of proved silver, that
is, composed of precious words and adorned, from which not a harsh
shrill sound with dread-inspiring voice may be uttered, but high thanks
to God may be poured forth with continuous exultation. For by the voice
of such trumpets the dead are raised, not indeed by the sound of the
metal, but aroused by the word of truth. And perchance it is those two
trumpets by which Paul, through the Divine Spirit, spake when he said:
"I will pray with the Spirit, and I will pray with the understanding, I
will sing with the Spirit, and I will sing with the understanding;"[2]
for the one without the other seems by no means to have perfect
utterance.
111. Yet it is not every one's business to sound
each trumpet, nor every one's business to call together the whole
assembly, but that prerogative is granted to the priests alone,[3] and
the ministers of God who sound the trumpets, so that whosoever shall
hear and follow thither where the glory of the Lord is, and shall with
early determination come to the tabernacle of witness, may be able also
to see the divine works, and merit that appointed and eternal home for
the entire succession of his posterity. For then is the war finished
and the enemy put to flight, when the grace of the Spirit and the
energy of the soul act together.
112. And these are salutary trumpets also, if one
believe with the heart, and confess
with the mouth; "For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness,
and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."[1] For with this
twofold trumpet man arrives at that holy land, namely, the grace of the
resurrection. Let them, then, ever sound to thee, that thou mayest ever
hear the voice of God; may the utterances of the Angels and Prophets
ever incite and move thee, that thou mayest hasten to things above.
113. David was thinking of this purpose in his
breast when he said: "For I will pass into the place of the marvellous
tabernacle, even to the house of God, with the voice of exultation and
thanksgiving, the sound of one that feasts."[2] For not only are
enemies overcome by the sound of these trumpets; but without them there
could not be rejoicings, and festivals or new moons. For no one, unless
he have received the promises of the Divine Word, and believes the
message derived therefrom, can keep festivals or new moons, in which he
desires to fill himself, freed from bodily pleasure and secular
occupation, with the light of Christ. And sacrifices themselves cannot
be pleasing to Christ unless confession of the mouth accompanies them,
which according to custom stirs up the people to implore the grace of
God at the priestly oblation.
114. Let us therefore be preachers of the Lord, and
praise Him in the sound of the trumpet,[3] not thinking little or
lightly of its power, but such things as can fill the ear of the mind,
and enter into the depths of our inmost consciousness, so that we think
not that what suits to the body is to be applied to the Godhead, nor
measure the greatness of Divine Power by human might, so as to enquire
how any one can rise again, or with what kind of body he will come, or
how that which has been dissolved can again coalesce, and what is lost
be restored, for all these things are accomplished as soon as they are
determined by the Divine Will. And it is not a sound of a trumpet
distinguishable by the bodily senses which is expected, but the
invisible power of the Majesty of heaven operates; for with God to will
is to do; nor need we enquire into the force required for the
resurrection, but seek its fruit for ourselves. Which will be
accomplished all the more easily, if freed from faults we attain to the
fulness of the spiritual mystery, and the renewed flesh receives grace
from the Spirit, and the soul
194
obtains from Christ the brightness of eterna1 light.
115. But those mysteries pertain not to individuals
only, but to the whole human race. For observe the order of grace
according to the type of the Law. When the first trumpet sounds, it
collects those towards the east, as the chief and elect; when the
second sounds, those nearly equal in merit, who, being placed towards
Libanus, have abandoned the follies of the nations; when the third,
those who as it were, tossed on the sea of this world, have been driven
hither and thither by the waves of this life; when the fourth, those
who have by no means been able sufficiently to soften the hardness of
their hearts by the commandments of spiritual utterance, and therefore
are said to be towards the north--for, according to Solomon, the north
is a hard wind.[1]
116. And so although all are raised again in a
moment, yet all are raised in the order of their merits. And therefore
they rise first, who yielding early to the impulses of devotion, and as
it were going forth before the rising dawn of faith, received the rays
of the eternal Sun. This one may rightly say either of the patriarchs
in the course of the Old Testament, or of the apostles under the
Gospel. And the second are they who, forsaking the rites of the
Gentiles, passed from unholy error under the training of the Church.
So, then, those first were of the fathers, those second of the
Gentiles, for the light of faith took its beginning from those, among
these it will remain to the end of the world. In the third place and in
the fourth, those are raised who are in the south and in the north. The
earth is divided into these four, of these four is the year made up, in
these four is the earth completed, and from these four is the Church
collected. For all who are considered to be joined to holy Church, by
being called by the Divine Name, shall obtain the privilege of the
resurrection and he grace of eternal bliss, for "they shall come from
the east and west, and from the north and south, and shall sit down in
the kingdom of God."[2]
117. For it is no small light wherewith Christ
encompasses His world: since "His going forth is from the height of
heaven, and His progress to the height thereof, nor is there any who
can hide himself from His heat."[3] For with His Goodness He enlightens
all, and wills not to reject but to amend the foolish, and desires not
to exclude
the hard-hearted from the Church, but to soften them. And so the Church
in the Song of Songs and Christ in the Gospel invites them, saying:
"Come unto Me, all ye who labour and are heavy laden, and I will
refresh you; take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am meek and
lowly in heart."[1]
118. And you may recognize also the voice of the
invitation of the Church, for she says: "Awake, O north wind, and come,
thou south, blow upon my garden, and let my ointment flow forth. Let my
brother come down into his garden and eat the fruit of his precious
trees."[2] For knowing even then, O holy Church, that from those also
there would be fruitful works for thee, thou didst promise to thy
Christ fruit from such as they, thou who didst first say that thou wast
brought into the King's chamber. loving His breast above wine, since
thou lovedst Him Who loved thee, soughtest Him Who fed thee, and didst
despise dangers for religion's sake.
119. And then, O Bride, thou art called to come from
Libanus, being in the Lord's judgment all fair and without fault. For
thus it is written: "Thou art all fair, my love, and there is no fault
in thee. Come hither from Libanus, my bride, come hither from
Libanus."[3]
120. Afterwards, thou, fearing no rushing waters, no
torrents coming down from Libanus, callest the north and south winds,
wishing them to blow upon thy garden, that thy ointment may flow forth
upon others, and that thou mayest offer to Christ in others the
manifold fruits of thy productiveness.
121. And therefore "blessed is he who keepeth the
words of this prophecy,"[4] which has revealed the resurrection to us
by clearer testimony, saying: "And I saw the dead, great and small,
standing before the throne, and they opened the books; and another book
was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged out of
the things which were written in the books, according to their works.
And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and hell gave up the
dead which were in it."[5] We must, then, not question how they shall
rise again, whom hell gives up and the sea restores.
122. Hear also when the future grace of the just is
promised: "And I heard,"' he says, "a great voice from the throne
saying: Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He shall dwell
with them, and they
195
shall be His people, and God Himself shall be their God with them: and
He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death shall be no
more, nor mourning, nor crying, nor pain, any more."[1]
123. Compare now, if you will, and contrast this
life with that; and choose, if you then can, unending bodily existence
in toil, and in the wretched misery of such changes as we endure, in
satiety when we have our wishes, in that disgust which attends our
pleasures. If God were willing to let these last for ever, would you
choose them? For if on its own account life is to be escaped
from, that there may be an avoidance of troubles and rest from
miseries, how much more is that rest to be sought for, which shall be
followed by the eternal pleasure of the resurrection to come, where
there is no succession of faults, no enticement to sin?
124. Who is so patient in suffering as not to pray
for death? who has such endurance in weakness as not to wish
rather to die than to live in debility? Who is so brave in sorrow
as not to desire to escape from it even by death? But if we
ourselves are dissatisfied while life lasts, although we know that a
limit is fixed for it, how much more weary should we become of this
life if we saw that the troubles of the body would be with us without
end! For who is there who would wish to be excepted from death?
Or what would be more unendurable than a miserable immortality?
"If in this life only," he says, "we hope in Christ, we are more
miserable than all men; "[2] not because to hope in Christ is
miserable, but because Christ has prepared another life for those who
hope in Him. For this life is liable to sin, that life is reserved for
the reward.
124. And how much weariness do we find that the
short stages of our lives bring us! The boy longs to be a young man;
the youth counts the years leading to riper age; the young man,
unthankful for the advantage of his vigorous time of life, desires the
honour of old age. And so to all there comes naturally the desire of
change, because we are dissatisfied with that which we now are. And
lastly, even the things we have desired are wearisome to us; and what
we have wished to obtain, when we have obtained it, we dislike.
125. Wherefore holy men have not without reason
often lamented their lengthy dwelling here: David[3] lamented it,
Jeremiah[4] lamented it, and Elijah[5] lamented it.
If we believe wise men, and those in whom the Divine Spirit dwelt, they
were hastening to better things; and if we enquire as to the judgment
of others, that we may ascertain that all agree in one opinion, what
great men have preferred death to sorrow, what great men have preferred
it to fear! esteeming forsooth the fear of death to be worse than death
itself. So death is not feared on account of evils which belong to it,
but is preferred to the miseries of life, since the departure of the
dying is desired and the dread of the living is avoided.
126. So be it, then. Granted that the Resurrection
is preferable to this life. What! have philosophers[1] themselves found
anything with which we should have a greater delight to continue than
to rise again? Even those indeed who say that souls are immortal
do not satisfy me, seeing they only allow me a partial redemption. What
grace can that be by which I am not wholly benefited? What life
is that if the operation of God dies out in me? What
righteousness is that which, if death is the end of natural existence.
is common to the sinner and the just? What is that truth, that the soul
should be considered immortal, because it moves itself and is always in
motion? As regards that which in the body is common to us with
beasts, it is perhaps uncertain what happens before the body exists,
and the truth is not to be gathered from these differences but
destroyed.
127. But is their opinion preferable, who[2] say
that our souls, when they have passed out of these bodies, migrate into
the bodies of beasts, or of various other living creatures?
Philosophers, indeed, themselves are wont to argue that these are
ridiculous fancies of poets, such as might be produced by draughts of
the drugs of Circe;[3] and they say that not so much they who are
represented to have undergone such things, as the senses of those who
have invented such tales are changed into the forms of various beasts
as it were by Circe's cup. For what is so like a marvel as to believe
that men could have been changed into the forms of beasts? How much
greater a marvel, however, would it be that the soul which rules man
should take on itself the nature of a beast so opposed to that of man,
and being capable of reason should be able to pass over to an
irrational animal, than that the form of the body should have been
196
changed? You yourselves, who teach these things, destroy what you
teach. For you have given up the production of these portentous
conversions by means of magic incantations.
128. Poets say these things in sport, and
philosophers blame them and at the same time they imagine that those
very things are true of the dead which they consider fictitious as
regards the living. For they who invented such tales did not intend to
assert the truth of their own fable, but to deride the errors of
philosophers, who think that that same soul which was accustomed to
overcome anger by gentle and lowly purpose, can now, inflamed by the
raging impulses of a lion, impatient with anger and with unbridled
rage, thirst for blood and seek for slaughter. Or again, that that
soul, which as it were by royal counsel used to moderate the various
storms of the people, and to calm them with the voice of reason, can
now endure to howl in pathless and desert places after the fashion of a
wolf; or that that soul which, groaning under a heavy burden, used to
low in sad complaint over the labours of the plough, now changed into
the fashion of a man, seeks for horns on his smooth brow;[1] or that
another, which used of old to be borne aloft on rapid wing to the
heights of heaven, now thinks of flight[2] no longer in its power, and
mourns that it grows sluggish in the weight of a human body.
129. Perchance you destroyed Icarus[3] through some
such teaching, because the youth, led on by your persuasion, imagined,
it may be, that he had been a bird. By such means too have many old men
been deceived so as to submit to grievous pain, having unhappily
believed the fables about swans, and thought that they, whilst soothing
their pain with mournful strains, would be able to transmute their gray
hair into downy feathers.
130. How incredible are these things! how odious!
How much more fitting is it to believe in accordance with nature, in
accordance with what takes place in every kind of fruit; to believe in
accordance with the pattern of what has happened, in accordance with
the utterances of prophets, and the heavenly promise of Christ 2 For
what is better than to be sure that the work of God does not perish,
and that those who are made in the image and likeness of God cannot be
transformed into the shapes of beasts; since in truth it is not the
form of the body but of the spirit which is made after the
likeness of God. For in what manner could man, to whom are subjected
the other kinds of living creatures, migrate with the better part of
himself into an animal subjected to himself? Nature does not suffer
this, and if nature did grace would not.
131. But I have seen what you, Gentiles, think of
each other, and indeed it ought not to seem strange that you who
worship beasts should believe that you can be changed into beasts. But
I had rather that you judged better concerning what is due to you, that
you may believe that you will be not in the company of wild beasts, but
in the companionship of angels.
132. The soul has to depart from the surroundings of
this life, and the pollutions of the earthly body, and to press on to
those heavenly companies, though it is for the saints alone, to attain
to them, and to sing praise to God (as in the prophet's words we hear
of those who are harping[1] and saying: "For great are Thy marvellous
works, O Lord God Almighty, just and true are Thy ways, Thou King of
the nations; who shall not fear and magnify Thy Name, for Thou only art
holy, for all nations shall come and worship before Thee"),[2] and to
see Thy marriage feast, O Lord Jesus, in which the Bride is led from
earthly to heavenly things, while all rejoice in harmony, for "to Thee
shall all flesh come,"[3] now no longer subject to transitory things,
but joined to the Spirit, to see the chambers adorned with linen,
roses, lilies, and garlands. Of whom else is the marriage so adorned?
For it is adorned with the purple stripes of confessors, the blood of
martyrs, the lilies of virgins, and the crowns of priests.
133. Holy David desired beyond all else for himself
that he might behold and gaze upon this, for he says: "One thing have I
asked of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the
house of the Lord all the days of my life, and see the pleasure of the
Lord."[4]
134. It is a pleasure to believe this, a joy to hope
for it; and certainly, not to have believed it is a pain, to have lived
in this hope a grace. But if I am mistaken in this, that I prefer to be
associated after death with angels rather than with beasts, I am gladly
mistaken, and so long as I live will never suffer myself to be cheated
of this hope.
135. For what comfort have I left but that I hope to
come quickly to thee, my brother,
197
and that thy departure will not cause a long severance between
us, and that it may be granted me, through thy intercessions,
that thou mayest quickly call me who long for thee. For who is
there who ought not to wish for himself beyond all else that
"this corruptible should put on incorruption, and this mortal put on
immortality"?[1] that we who succumb to death through the frailty of
the body, being raised above nature, may no longer have to fear death.
201
ST.
AMBROSE'S EXPOSITION OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH.
BOOK 1.
PROLOGUE.
The author praises Gratian's zeal for instruction in the Faith, and
speaks lowly of his own merits. Taught of God Himself, the Emperor
stands in no need of human instruction; yet this his devoutness
prepares the way to victory. The task appointed to the author is
difficult: in the accomplishment whereof he will be guided not so much
by reason and argument as by authority, especially that of the Nicene
Council.
1. THE Queen of the South, as we read in the Book of
the Kings, came to hear the wisdom of Solomon.(1) Likewise King Hiram
sent to Solomon that he might prove him.(2) So also your sacred
Majesty, following these examples of old time, has decreed to hear my
confession of faith. But I am no Solomon, that you should wonder at my
wisdom, and your Majesty is not the sovereign of a single people; it is
the Augustus, ruler of the whole world, that has commanded the setting
forth of the Faith in a book, not for your instruction, but for your
approval.
2. For why, august Emperor, should your Majesty
learn that Faith which, from your earliest childhood, you have ever
devoutly and lovingly kept? "Before I formed thee in thy mother's belly
I knew thee," saith the Scripture, "and before thou camest forth out of
the womb I sanctified thee."(3) Sanctification, therefore, cometh not
of tradition, but of inspiration; therefore keep watch over the gifts
of God. For that which no man hath taught you, God hath surely given
and inspired.
3. Your sacred Majesty, being about to go forth to
war, requires of me a book, expounding the Faith, since your Majesty
knows that victories are gained more by faith in the commander, than by
valour in the soldiers. For Abraham led into battle three hundred and
eighteen men,(1) and brought home the spoils of countless foes; and
having, by the power of that which was the sign of our Lord's Cross and
Name,(2) overcome the might of five kings and conquering hosts, he both
avenged his neighbour and gained victory and the ransom of his
brother's son. So also Joshua the son of Nun, when he could not prevail
against the enemy with the might of all his army,(3) overcame by sound
of seven sacred trumpets, in the place where he saw and knew the
Captain of the heavenly host.(4) For victory, then, your Majesty makes
ready, being Christ's loyal servant and defender of the Faith, which
you would have me set forth in writing.
4. Truly, I would rather take upon me the duty of
exhortation to keep the Faith, than that of disputing thereon; for the
former means devout confession, whereas the latter is liable to rash
presumption. Howbeit, forasmuch as your Majesty has no need of
exhortation, whilst I may not pray to be excused from the duty of
loyalty, I will take in hand a bold enterprise, yet modestly withal,
not so much reasoning and disputing concerning the Faith as gathering
together a multitude of witness.(5)
5. Of the Acts of Councils, I shall let that one be
my chief guide which three hundred and eighteen priests, appointed, as
it were, after the judgment of Abraham,(6) made (so
202
to speak) a trophy raised to proclaim their victory over the infidel
throughout the world, prevailing by that courage of the Faith, wherein
all agreed. Verily, as it seems to me, one may herein see the hand of
God, forasmuch as the same number is our authority in the Councils of
the Faith, and an example of loyalty in the records of old.
CHAPTER I.
The author distinguishes the faith from the errors of Pagans,(1) Jews,
and Heretics, and after explaining the significance of the names "God"
and "Lord," shows clearly the difference of Persons in Unity of
Essence.(1) In dividing the Essence, the Arians not only bring in the
doctrine of three Gods, but even overthrow the dominion of the Trinity.
6. Now this is the declaration of our Faith, that we
say that God is One, neither dividing His Son from Him, as do the
heathen,(3) nor denying, with the Jews, that He was begotten of the
Father before all worlds,(4) and afterwards born of the Virgin; nor
yet, like Sabellius,(5) confounding the Father with the
Word, and so maintaining that Father and Son are one and the same
Person; nor again, as doth Photinus,(1) holding that the Son first came
into existence in the Virgin's womb: nor believing, with Arius,(2) in a
number of diverse Powers,(4) and so, like the benighted heathen, making
out more than one God. For it is written: "Hear, O Israel: the Lord thy
God is one God."(3)
7. For God and Lord is a name of majesty, a name of
power, even as God Himself saith: "The Lord is My name,"(5) and as in
another place the prophet declareth: "The Lord Almighty is His
name."(6) God is He, therefore, and Lord, either because His rule is
over all, or because He beholdeth all things, and is feared by all,
without difference.(7)
8. If, then, God is One, one is the name,
203
one is the power, of the Trinity. Christ Himself, indeed, saith: "Go
ye, baptize the nations in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and
of the Holy Spirit."(1) In the name, mark you, not in the names."(2)
9. Moreover, Christ Himself saith: "I and the Father
are One."(3) "One," said He, that there be no separation of power and
nature; but again, "We are," that you may recognize Father and Son,
forasmuch as the perfect Father is believed to have begotten the
perfect Son,(4) and the Father and the Son are One, not by confusion of
Person, but by unity of nature.(5)
10. We say, then, that there is one God, not two or
three Gods, this being the error into which the impious heresy of the
Arians doth run with its blasphemies. For it says that there are three
Gods, in that it divides the Godhead of the Trinity; whereas the Lord,
in saying, "Go, baptize the nations in the name of the Father and of
the Son and of the Holy Spirit," hath shown that the Trinity is of one
power. We confess Father, Son, and Spirit, understanding in a perfect
Trinity both fulness of Divinity and unity of power.(6)
11. "Every kingdom divided against itself shall
quickly be overthrown," saith the Lord. Now the kingdom of the Trinity
is not divided. If, therefore, it is not divided, it is one; for that
which is not one is divided. The Arians, however, would have the
kingdom of the Trinity to be such as may easily be overthrown, by
division against itself. But truly, seeing that it cannot be
overthrown, it is plainly undivided. For no unity is divided or rent
asunder, and therefore neither age nor corruption has any power over
it.(7)
CHAPTER II.
The Emperor is exhorted to display zeal in the Faith. Christ's perfect
Godhead is shown from the unity of will and working which He has with
the Father. The attributes of Divinity are shown to be proper to
Christ, Whose various titles prove His essential unity, with
distinction of Person. In no other way can the unity of God be
maintained.
12. "NOT every one that saith unto Me Lord, Lord,
shall enter into the kingdom of heaven,"(8) saith the Scripture. Faith,
therefore, august Sovereign, must not be a mere matter of performance,
for it is written, "The
zeal of thine house hath devoured me."(1) Let us then with faithful
spirit and devout mind call upon Jesus our Lord, let us believe that He
is God, to the end that whatever we ask of the Father, we may obtain in
His name.(2) For the Father's will is, that He be entreated through the
Son, the Son's that the Father be entreated.(3)
13. The grace of His submission makes for
agreement[with our teaching], and the acts of His power are not at
variance therewith. For whatsoever things the Father doeth, the same
also doeth the Son, in like manner.(4) The Son both doeth the same
things, and doeth them in like manner, but it is the Father's will that
He be entreated in the matter of what He Himself proposeth to do, that
you may understand, not that He cannot do it otherwise, but that there
is one power displayed. Truly, then, is the Son of God to be adored and
worshipped, Who by the power of His Godhead hath laid the foundations
of the world, and by His submission informed our affections.(5)
14. Therefore we ought to believe that God is good,
eternal, perfect, almighty, and true, such as we find Him in the Law
and the Prophets, and the rest of the holy Scriptures,(6) for otherwise
there is no God. For He Who is God cannot but be good, seeing that
fulness of goodness is of the nature of God:(7) nor can God, Who made
time, be in time; nor, again, can God be imperfect, for a lesser being
is plainly imperfect, seeing that it lacks somewhat whereby it could be
made equal to a greater. This, then, is the teaching of our faith--that
God is not evil, that with God nothing is impossible, that God exists
not in time, that God is beneath no being. If I am in error, let my
adversaries prove it.(8)
15. Seeing, then, that Christ is God, He is, by
consequence, good and almighty and eternal and perfect and true; for
these attributes belong to the essential nature of the Godhead. Let our
adversaries, therefore, deny the Divine Nature in Christ,-otherwise
they cannot refuse to God what is proper to the Divine Nature.
16. Further, that none may fall into error, let a
man attend to those signs vouchsafed us by holy Scripture, whereby we
may know the Son. He is called the Word, the Son, the Power of God, the
Wisdom of God.(9)
204
The Word, because He is without blemish; the Power, because He is
perfect; the Son, because He is begotten of the Father; the Wisdom,
because He is one with the Father, one in eternity, one in Divinity.
Not that the Father is one Person with the Son; between Father and Son
is the plain distinction that comes of generation;(1) so that Christ is
God of God, Everlasting of Everlasting, Fulness of Fulness.(2)
17. Now these are not mere names, but signs of power
manifesting itself in works for while there is fulness of Godhead in
the Father, there is also fulness of Godhead in the Son, not diverse,
but one. The Godhead is nothing confused, for it is an unity: nothing
manifold, for in it there is no difference.
18. Moreover, if in all them that believed there
was, as it is written, one soul and one heart:(3) if every one that
cleaveth to the Lord is one spirit,(4) as the Apostle hath said: if a
man and his wife are one flesh:(5) if all we mortal men are, so far as
regards our general nature, of one substance: if this is what the
Scripture saith of created men, that, being many, they are one,(6) who
can in no way be compared to Divine Persons, how much more are the
Father and the Son one in Divinity, with Whom there is no difference
either of substance or of will!
19. For how else shall we say that God is One?
Divinity maketh plurality, but unity of power debarreth quantity of
number, seeing that unity is not number, but itself is the principle of
all numbers.
CHAPTER III.
By evidence gathered from Scripture the unity of Father and Son is
proved, and firstly, a passage, taken from the Book of Isaiah, is
compared with others and expounded in such sort as to show that in the
Son there is no diversity from the Father's nature, save only as
regards the flesh; whence it follows that the Godhead of both Persons
is One. This conclusion is confirmed by the authority of Baruch.
20. Now the oracles(7) of the prophets bear witness
what close unity holy Scripture declares to subsist between the Father
and the Son as regards their Godhead. For thus saith the Lord of
Sabaoth:(8) "Egypt hath
laboured, and the commerce of the Ethiopians and Sabeans: mighty men
shall come over to thee, and shall be thy servants, and in thy train
shall they follow, bound in fetters, and they shall fall down before
thee, and to thee shall they make supplication: for God is in thee, and
there is no God beside thee. For thou art God, and we knew it not, O
God of lsrael."(1)
21. Hear the voice of the prophet: "In Thee," he
saith, "is God, and there is no God beside Thee." How agreeth this with
the Arians' teaching? They must deny either the Father's or the Son's
Divinity, unless they believe, once for all, unity of the same Divinity.
22. "In Thee," saith he, "is God"--forasmuch as the
Father is in the Son. For it is written, "The Father, Who abideth in
Me, Himself speaketh," and "The works that I do, He Himself also
doeth."(2) And yet again we read that the Son is in the Father, saying,
"I am in the Father, and the Father in Me."(3) Let the Arians, if they
can, make away with this kinship(4) in nature and unity in work.
23. There is, therefore, God in God, but not two
Gods; for it is written that there is one God,(5) and there is Lord in
Lord,(6) but not two Lords, forasmuch as it is likewise written: "Serve
not two lords."(7) And the Law saith: "Hear, O lsrael! The Lord thy God
is one God;"(8) moreover, in the same Testament it is written: "The
Lord rained from the Lord."(9) The Lord, it is said, sent rain "from
the Lord." So also you may read in Genesis: "And God said,--and God
made,"(10) and, lower down, "And God made man in the image of God;"(11)
yet it was not two gods, but one God, that made[man]. In the one place,
then, as in the other, the unity of operation and of name is
maintained. For surely, when we read "God of God,"(12) we do not speak
of two Gods.
24. Again, you may read in the forty-fourth
psalm(13) how the prophet not only calls the Father "God" but also
proclaims the Son as God, saying: "Thy throne, O God, is for ever and
ever."(14) And further on: "God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with
the oil of gladness above thy fellows."(15) This God Who anoints, and
God
205
Who in the flesh is anointed, is the Son of God. For what fellows in
His anointing hath Christ, except such as are in the flesh? You see,
then, that God is by God anointed, but being anointed in taking upon
Him the nature of mankind, He is proclaimed the Son of God; yet is the
principle of the Law not broken.
25. So again, when you read, "The Lord rained from
the Lord," acknowledge the unity of Godhead, for unity in operation
doth not allow of more than one individual God, even as the Lord
Himself has shown, saying: "Believe Me, that I am in the Father, and
the Father in Me: or believe Me for the very works' sake."(1) Here,
too, we see that unity of Godhead is signified by unity in operation.
26. The Apostle, careful to prove that there is one
Godhead of both Father and Son, and one Lordship, lest we should run
into any error, whether of heathen or of Jewish ungodliness, showed us
the rule we ought to follow, saying: "One God, the Father, from Whom
are all things, and we in Him, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by Whom are
all things, and we by Him."(2) For just as, in calling Jesus Christ
"Lord," he did not deny that the Father was Lord, even so, in saying,
"One God, the Father," he did not deny true Godhead to the Son, and
thus he taught, not that there was more than one God, but that the
source of power was one, forasmuch as Godhead consists in Lordship, and
Lordship in Godhead, as it is written: "Be ye sure that the Lord, He is
God. It is He that hath made us, and not we ourselves."(3)
27. "In thee," therefore, "is God," by unity of
nature, and "there is no God beside Thee," by reason of personal
possession of the Substance, without any reserve or difference.(4)
28. Again, Scripture speaks, in the Book of
Jeremiah, of One God, and yet acknowledges both Father and Son. Thus we
read: "He is our God, and in comparison with Him none other shall be
accounted of. He hath discovered all the way of teaching, and given it
to Jacob, His servant, and to Israel, His beloved. After these things
He appeared upon earth, and conversed with men."
29. The prophet speaks of the Son, for it was the
Son Himself Who conversed with men, and this is what he says: "He is
our God, and in comparison with Him none other shall be accounted of."
Why do we call Him in question, of Whom so great a prophet saith that
no other can be compared with Him? What comparison of another can be
made, when the Godhead is One? This was the confession of a people set
in the midst of dangers; reverencing religion, and therefore unskilled
in strife of argument.
30. Come, Holy Spirit, and help Thy prophets, in
whom Thou art wont to dwell, in whom we believe. Shall we believe the
wise of this world, if we believe not the prophets? But where is the
wise man, where is the scribe? When our peasant planted figs, he found
that whereof the philosopher knew nothing, for God hath chosen the
foolish things of this world to confound the strong.(1) Are we to
believe the Jews? for God was once known in Jewry. Nay, but they deny
that very thing, which is the foundation of our belief, seeing that
they know not the Father, who have denied the Son.(2)
CHAPTER IV.
The Unity of God is necessarily implied in the order of Nature, in the
Faith, and in Baptism. The gifts of the Magi declare(1) the Unity of
the Godhead;(2) Christ's Godhead and Manhood. The truth of the doctrine
oú the Trinity in Unity is shown in the Angel walking in the
midst of the furnace with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego.
31. ALL nature testifies to the Unity of God,
inasmuch as the universe is one. The Faith declares that there is one
God, seeing that there is one belief in both the Old and the New
Testament. That there is one Spirit, all holy,(3) grace witnesseth,
because there is one Baptism, in the Name of the Trinity. The prophets
proclaim, the apostles hear, the voice of one God. In one God did the
Magi believe, and they brought, in adoration, gold, frankincense, and
myrrh to Christ's cradle, confessing, by the gift of gold, His Royalty,
and with the incense worshipping Him as God. For gold is the sign of
kingdom, incense of God, myrrh of burial.(4)
206
32. What, then, was the meaning of the mystic
offerings in the lowly cattle-stalls, save that we should discern in
Christ the difference between the Godhead and the flesh? He is seen as
man,(1) He is adored as Lord. He lies in swaddling-clothes, but shines
amid the stars; the cradle shows His birth, the stars His dominion;(2)
it is the flesh that is wrapped in clothes, the Godhead that receives
the ministry of angels. Thus the dignity of His natural majesty is not
lost, and His true assumption of the flesh is proved.
33. This is our Faith. Thus did God will that He
should be known by all, thus believed the three children,(3) and felt
not the fire into the midst whereof they were cast, which destroyed and
burnt up unbelievers,(4) whilst it fell harmless as dew upon the
faithful,(5) for whom the flames kindled by others became cold, seeing
that the torment had justly lost its power in conflict with faith. For
with them there was One in the form of an angel,(6) comforting them,(7)
to the end that in the number of the Trinity one Supreme Power might be
praised. God was praised, the Son of God was seen in God's angel, holy
and spiritual grace spake in the children.(8)
CHAPTER V.
The various blasphemies uttered by the Arians against Christ are cited.
Before these are replied to, the orthodox(9) are admonished to beware
of the captious arguments of philosophers, forasmuch as in these
especially did the heretics put their trust.
34. Now let us consider the disputings of the Arians
concerning the Son of God.
35. They say that the Son of God is unlike His
Father. To say this of a man would be an insult.(1)
36. They say that the Son of God had a beginning in
time,(2) whereas He Himself is the source and ordainer of time and all
that therein is.(3) We are men, and we would not be limited to time. We
began to exist once, and we believe that we shall have a timeless
existence. We desire after immortality--how, then, can we deny the
eternity of God's Son, Whom God declares to be eternal by nature, not
by grace?
37. They say that He was created.(4) But who would
reckon an author with his works, and have him seem to be what he has
himself made?
38. They deny His goodness.(5) Their blaspheming is
its own condemnation, and so cannot hope for pardon.
39. They deny that He is truly Son of God, they deny
His omnipotence, in that whilst they admit that all things are made by
the ministry of the Son, they attribute the original source of their
being to the power of God. But what is power, save perfection of
nature?(6)
40. Furthermore, the Arians deny that in
207
Godhead He is One with the Father.(1) Let them annul the Gospel, then,
and silence the voice of Christ. For Christ Himself has said: "I and
the Father are one."(2) It is not I who say this: Christ has said it.
Is He a deceiver, that He should lie?(3) Is He unrighteous, that He
should claim to be what He never was." But of these matters we will
deal severally, at greater length, in their proper place.
41. Seeing, then, that the heretic says that Christ
is unlike His Father, and seeks to maintain this by force of subtle
disputation, we must cite the Scripture: "Take heed that no man make
spoil of you by philosophy and vain deceit, according to the tradition
of men, and after the rudiments of this world, not according to Christ;
for in Him dwelleth all the fulness of Godhead in bodily shape."(4)
42. For they store up all the strength of their
poisons in dialetical disputation, which by the judgment of
philosophers is defined as having no power to establish aught, and
aiming only at destruction. s But it was not by dialectic that it
pleased God to save His people; "for the kingdom of God consisteth in
simplicity of faith, not in wordy contention."(6)
CHAPTER VI.
By way of leading up to his proof that Christ is not
different from the Father, St. Ambrose cites the
more famous leaders of the Arian party, and explains how little their
witness agrees, and shows what de-fence the Scriptures provide against
them.
43. THE Arians, then, say that Christ is unlike the
Father; we deny it. Nay, indeed, we shrink in dread from the word.
Nevertheless I would not that your sacred Majesty should trust to
argument and our disputation. Let us enquire of the Scriptures, of
apostles, of prophets, of Christ. In a word, let us enquire of the
Father, Whose honour these men say they uphold, if the Son be judged
inferior to Him, But insult to the Son brings no honour to the good
Father. It cannot please the good Father, if the Son be judged
inferior, rather than equal, to His Father.
44. I pray your sacred Majesty to suffer me, if for
a little while I address myself particularly to these men. But whom
shall I choose out to cite? Eunomius?(1) or Arius and Aetius,(2) his
instructors? For there are many names, but one unbelief, constant in
wickedness, but in conversation divided against itself; without
difference in respect of deceit, but in common enterprise breeding
dissent. But wherefore they will not agree together I understand not.
45. The Arians reject the person of Eunomius, but
they maintain his unbelief and walk in the ways of his iniquity. They
say that he has too generously published the writings of Arius. Truly,
a plentiful lavishing of error! They praise him who gave the command,
and deny him who executed it! Wherefore they have now fallen apart into
several sects. Some follow after Eunomius or Aetius, others after
Palladius or Demophilus and Auxentius, or the inheritors of this form
of unbelief.(3) Others, again, follow different teachers. Is Christ,
then, divided?(4) Nay; but those who divide Him from the Father do with
their own hands cut themselves asunder.
208
46. Seeing, therefore, that men who agree not
amongst themselves have all alike conspired against the Church of God,
I shall call those whom I have to answer by the common name of
heretics. For heresy, like some hydra of fable, hath waxed great from
its wounds, and, being ofttimes lopped short, hath grown afresh, being
appointed to find meet destruction in flames of fire.(1) Or, like some
dread and monstrous Scylla, divided into many shapes of unbelief, she
displays, as a mask to her guile, the pretence of being a Christian
sect, but those wretched men whom she finds tossed to and fro in the
waves of her unhallowed strait, amid the wreckage of their faith, she,
girt with beastly monsters, rends with the cruel fang of her
blasphemous doctrine.(2)
47. This monster's cavern, your sacred Majesty,
thick laid, as seafaring men do say it is, with hidden lairs, and all
the neighbourhood thereof, where the rocks of unbelief echo to the
howling of her black dogs, we must pass by with ears in a manner
stopped. For it is written: "Hedge thine ears about with thorns ;"(3)
and again: "Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers;"(4) and yet again:
"A man that is an heretic, avoid after the first reproof, knowing that
such an one is fallen, and is in sin, being condemned of his own
judgment."(5) So then, like prudent pilots, let us set the sails of our
faith for the course wherein we may pass by most safely, and again
follow the coasts of the Scriptures.(6)
CHAPTER VII.
The likeness of Christ to the Father is asserted on the authority of
St. Paul, the prophets, and the Gospel, and especially in reliance upon
the creation of man in God's image.
48. THE Apostle saith that Christ is the image of
the Father--for he calls Him the image of the invisible God, the
first-begotten of all creation. First-begotten, mark you,
not first-created, in order that He may be believed to be both
begotten, in virtue of His nature,(1) and first in virtue of His
eternity. In another place also the Apostle has declared that God made
the Son "heir of all things, by Whom also He made the worlds, Who is
the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His
substance."(2) The Apostle calls Christ the image of the Father, and
Arius says that He is unlike the Father. Why, then, is He called an
image, if He hath no likeness? Men will not have their portraits unlike
them, and Arius contends that the Father is unlike the Son, and would
have it that the Father has begotten one unlike Himself, as though
unable to generate His like.
49. The prophets say: "In Thy light we shall see
light;"(3) and again: "Wisdom is the brightness of everlasting light,
and the spotless mirror of God's majesty, the image of His
goodness."(4) See what great names are declared! "Brightness," because
in the Son the Father's glory shines clearly: "spotless minor," because
the Father is seen in the Son:(5) "image of goodness," because it is
not one body seen reflected in another, but the whole power [of the
Godhead] in the Son. The word "image" teaches us that there is no
difference; "expression," that He is the counterpart of the Father's
form; and "brightness" declares His eternity.(6) The "image" in truth
is not that of a bodily countenance, not one made up of colours, nor
modelled in wax, but simply derived from God, coming out from the
Father, drawn from the fountainhead.
50. By means of this image the Lord showed Philip
the Father. saying, "Philip, he that sees Me, sees the Father also. How
then dost thou say, Show us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in
the Father, and the Father in Me?"(7) Yes, he who looks upon the Son
sees, in portrait, the Father.(8) Mark what manner of portrait is
spoken of. It is Truth, Righteousness, the Power of God:(9) not dumb,
for it is the Word; not insensible, for it is Wisdom; not vain and
foolish, for it is Power; not soulless, for iris the Life; not dead,
for it is the Resurrection.(10)
209
You see, then, that whilst an image is spoken of, the meaning is that
it is the Father, Whose image the Son is, seeing that no one can be his
own image.
51. More might I set down from the Son's testimony;
howbeit, lest He perchance appear to have asserted Himself overmuch let
us enquire of the Father. For the Father said, "Let us make man in Our
image and likeness."(1) The Father saith to the Son "in Our image and
likeness," and thou sayest that the Son of God is unlike the Father.
52. John saith, "Beloved, we are sons of God, and it
doth not yet appear what we shall be: we know that if He be revealed,
we shall be like Him."(2) O blind madness O shameless obstinacy I We
are men, and, so far as we may, we shall be in the likeness of God:
dare we deny that the Son is like God?
53. Therefore the Father hath said: "Let us make man
in Our image and likeness." At the beginning of the universe itself, as
I read, the Father and the Son existed, and I see one creation. I hear
Him that speaketh.(3) I acknowledge Him that doeth:(4) but it is of one
image, one likeness, that I read. This likeness belongs not to
diversity but to unity. What, therefore, thou claimest for thyself,
thou takest from the Son of God, seeing, indeed, that thou canst not be
in the image of God, save by help of the image of God.
CHAPTER VIII.
The likeness of the Son to the Father being proved, it is not hard to
prove the Son's eternity, though, indeed, this may be established on
the authority of the Prophet Isaiah and St. John the Evangelist, by
which authority the heretical leaders are shown to be refuted.
54. IT is plain, therefore, that the Son is not
unlike the Father, and so we may confess the more readily that He is
also eternal, seeing that He Who is like the Eternal must needs be
eternal. But if we say that the Father is eternal, and yet deny this of
the Son, we say that the Son is unlike the Father, for the temporal
differeth from the eternal. The Prophet proclaims Him eternal, and the
Apostle proclaims Him eternal; the Testaments, Old and New alike, are
full of witness to the Son's eternity.
55. Let us take them, then, in their order. In the
Old Testament--to cite one out of a
multitude of testimonies--it is written: "Before Me hath there been no
other God, and after Me shall there be none."(1) I will not comment on
this place, but ask thee straight: "Who speaks these words,--the Father
or the Son?" Whichever of the two thou sayest, thou wilt find thyself
convinced, or, if a believer, instructed. Who, then, speaks these
words, the Father or the Son? If it is the Son, He says, "Before Me
hath there been no other God;" if the Father, He says, "After Me shall
there be none." The One hath none before Him, the Other none that comes
after; as the Father is known in the Son, so also is the Son known in
the Father, for whensoever you speak of the Father, you speak also by
implication of His Son, seeing that none is his own father; and when
you name the Son, you do also acknowledge His Father, inasmuch as none
can be his own son. And so neither can the Son exist without the
Father, nor the Father without the Son.(2) The Father, therefore, is
eternal, and the Son also eternal.
56. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was
with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with
God."(3) "Was," mark you, "with God." "Was"--see, we have "was" four
times over. Where did the blasphemer find it written that He "was not."
Again, John, in another passage--in his Epistle--speaketh of "That
which was in the beginning."(4) The extension of the "was" is infinite.
Conceive any length of time you will, yet still the Son "was."(5)
210
57. Now in this short passage our fisherman hath
barred the way of all heresy. For that which was "in the beginning" is
not comprehended in time, is not preceded by any beginning. Let Arius,
therefore, hold his peace.(1) Moreover, that which was "with God" is
not confounded and mingled with Him, but is distinguished by the
perfection unblemished which it hath as the Word abiding with God; and
so let Sabellius keep silence.(2) And "the Word was God," This Word,
therefore, consisteth not in uttered speech, but in the designation of
celestial excellence, so that Photinus' teaching is refuted.
Furthermore, by the fact that in the beginning He was with God is
proven the indivisible unity of eternal Godhead in Father and Son, to
the shame and confusion of Eunomius.(3) Lastly, seeing that all things
are said to have been made by Him, He is plainly shown to be author of
the Old and of the New Testament alike; so that the Manichaean can find
no ground for his assaults.(4) Thus hath the good fisherman
caught them all in one net, to make them powerless to deceive, albeit
unprofitable fish to take.
CHAPTER IX.
St. Ambrose questions the heretics and exhibits their answer, which is,
that the Son existed, indeed, before all time, yet was not co-eternal
with the Father, whereat the Saint shows that they represent the
Godhead as changeable, and further, that each Person must be believed
to be eternal.
58. TELL me, thou heretic,--for the surpassing
clemency of the Emperor grants me this indulgence of addressing thee
for a short space, not that I desire to confer with thee, or am greedy
to hear thy arguments, but because I am willing to exhibit them,--tell
me, I say, whether there was ever a time when God Almighty was not the
Father, and yet was God. "I say nothing about time," is thy answer.
Well and subtly objected! For if thou bringest time into the dispute,
thou wilt condemn thyself, seeing that thou must acknowledge that there
was a time when the Son was not, whereas the Son is the ruler and
creator of time.(2) He cannot have begun to exist after His own work.
Thou, therefore, must needs allow Him to be the ruler and maker of His
work.
59. "I do not say," answerest thou,
211
"that the Son existed not before time;" but when I call Him "Son," I
declare that His Father existed before Him, for, as you say, father
exists before son."[1] But what means this? Thou deniest that
time was before the Son, and yet thou wilt have it that something
preceded the existence of the Son--some creature of time, --and thou
showest certain stages of generation intervening, whereby thou dost
give us to understand that the generation from the Father was a process
in time. For if He began to be a Father, then, in the first instance,
He was God, and afterwards He became a Father. How, then, is God
unchangeable?[2] For if He was first God, and then the Father, surely
He has undergone change by reason of the added and later act of
generation.
60. But may God preserve us from this madness; for
it was but to confute the impiety of the heretics that we brought in
this question. The devout spirit affirms a generation that is not in
time and so declares Father and Son to be co-eternal, and does not
maintain that God has ever suffered change.
61. Let Father and Son, therefore, be associated in
worship, even as They are associated in Godhead; let not blasphemy put
asunder those whom the close bond of generation hath joined together.
Let us honour the Son, that we may honour the Father also, as it is
written in the Gospel.[1] The Son's eternity is the adornment of the
Father's majesty. If the Son hath not been from everlasting, then the
Father hath suffered change; but the Son is from all eternity,
therefore hath the Father never changed, for He is always unchangeable.
And thus we see that they who would deny the Son's eternity would teach
that the Father is mutable.
CHAPTER X.
Christ's eternity being proved from the Apostle's teaching, St. Ambrose
admonishes us that the Divine Generation is not to be thought of alter
the fashion of human procreation, nor to be too curiously pried into.
With the difficulties thence arising he refuses to deal, saying that
whats ever terms, taken from our knowledge of body, are used in
speaking of this Divine Generation, must be understood with a spiritual
meaning.
65. Hear now another argument, showing clearly the
eternity of the Son. The Apostle says that God's Power and Godhead are
eternal, and that Christ is the Power of God--for it is written that
Christ is "the Power of God and the Wisdom of God."[2] If, then, Christ
is the Power of God, it follows that, forasmuch as God's Power is
eternal, Christ also is eternal.
63. Thou canst not, then, heretic, build up a false
doctrine from the custom of human procreation, nor yet gather the
wherewithal for such work from our discourse, for we cannot compass the
greatness of infinite Godhead, "of Whose greatness there is no end,"[3]
in our straitened speech. If thou shouldst seek to give an account of a
man's birth, thou must needs point to a time. But the Divine Generation
is above all things; it reaches far and wide, it rises high above all
thought and feeling. For it is written: "No man cometh to the Father,
save by Me."[4] Whatsoever, therefore, thou dost conceive concerning
the Father--yea, be it even His eternity--thou canst not conceive aught
concerning Him save by the Son's aid, nor can any understanding ascend
to the Father save through the Son. "This is My dearly-beloved Son,"s
the Father saith. "Is"
212
mark you--He Who is, what He is, forever. Hence also David is moved to
say: "O Lord, Thy Word abideth for ever in heaven,"[1]--for what
abideth fails neither in existence nor in eternity.
64. Dost thou ask me how He is a Son, if He have not
a Father existing before Him? I ask of thee, in turn,when, or
how, thinkest thou that the Son was begotten. For me the knowledge of
the mystery of His generation is more than I can attain to,[2]--the
mind fails, the voice is dumb--ay, and not mine alone, but the angels'
also. It is above Powers, above Angels, above Cherubim, Seraphim, and
all that has feeling and thought, for it is written: "The peace of
Christ, which passeth all understanding."[3] If the peace of Christ
passes all understanding, how can so wondrous a generation but be above
all understanding?
65. Do thou, then (like the angels), cover thy face
with thy hands,[4] for it is not given thee to look into surpassing
mysteries I We are suffered to know that the Son is begotten, not to
dispute upon the manner of His begetting. I cannot deny the one; the
other I fear to search into, for if Paul says that the words which he
heard when caught up into the third heaven might not be uttered,[5] how
can we explain the secret of this generation from and of the Father,
which we can neither hear nor attain to with our understanding?
66. But if you will constrain me to the rule of
human generation, that you may be allowed to say that the Father
existed before the Son, then consider whether instances, taken from the
generation of earthly creatures, are suitable to show forth the Divine
Generation.[6] If we speak according to what is customary amongst men,
you cannot deny that, in man, the changes in the father's existence
happen before those in the son's. The father is the first to grow, to
enter old age, to grieve, to weep. If, then, the son is after him in
time, he is older in, experience than the son. If the child comes to be
born, the parent escapes not the shame of begetting.[7]
67. Why take such delight in that rack of
questioning?[1] You hear the name of the Son of God; abolish it, then,
or acknowledge His true nature. You hear speak of the womb--acknowledge
the truth of undoubted begetting.[2] Of His heart--know that here is
God's word.[3] Of H is right hand--confess His power.[4] Of His
face--acknowledge His wisdom.[5] These words are not to be understood,
when we speak of God, as when we speak of bodies. The generation of the
Son is incomprehensible, the Father begets impassibly,[6] and yet of
Himself and in ages inconceivably remote hath very God begotten very
God. The Father loves the Son,[7] and you anxiously examine His Person;
the Father is well. pleased in Him,[8] you, joining the Jews, look upon
Him with an evil eye; the Father knows the Son,[9] and you join the
heathen in reviling Him.[10]
CHAPTER XI.
It cannot be proved from Scripture that the Father existed before the
Son, nor yet can arguments taken from human reproduction avail to this
end, since they bring in absurdities without end. To dare to affirm
that Christ began to exist in the course of time is the height of
blasphemy.
68. You ask me whether it is possible that He Who is
the Father should not be prior in existence. I ask you to tell me when
the Father existed, the Son as yet being not; prove this, gather it
from argument or evidence of Scripture. If you lean upon arguments, you
have doubtless been taught that God's power is eternal. Again, you have
read the Scripture that saith: "O Israel, if thou wilt hearken unto Me,
there shall be no new God in thee, neither shalt thou worship a strange
God."[11] The first of these commands betokens [the Son's] eternity,
the second His possession of an identical nature, so that we can
neither believe Him to have come into existence after the Father, nor
suppose Him the Son of another Divinity. For if He existed not always
with the Father, He is a "new" [God]; if He is not of one Divinity with
the Father, He is a "strange" [God]. But He
213
is not after the Father, for He is not "a new God;" nor is He "a
strange God," for He is begotten of the Father, and because, as it is
written, He is "God above all, blessed for ever."[1]
69. But if the Arians believe Him to be a strange
God, why do they worship Him, when it is written: "Thou shall worship
no strange God"? Else, if they do not worship the Son, let them confess
thereto, and the case is at an end,--that they deceive no one by their
professions of religion. This, then, we see, is the witness of the
Scriptures. If you have any others to produce, it will be your business
to do so.
70. Let us now go further, and gather the truth in
conclusion from arguments. For although arguments usually give place,
even to human evidence, 2 still, heretic, argue as thou wilt.
"Experience teaches us," you say, "that the being which generates is
prior to that which is generated." I answer: Follow our customary
experience through all its departments, and if the rest agree herewith,
I oppose not your claim that your point be granted; but if there be no
such agreement, how can you claim assent on this one point, when in all
the rest you lack support? Seeing, then, that you call for what is
customary, it comes about that the Son, when He was begotten of the
Father, was a little child. You have seen Him an infant, crying in the
cradle. As the years passed, He has gone forward from strength to
strength--for if He was weak with the weakness of things begotten, He
must also have fallen under the weakness, not only of birth, but of
life also.
71. But perchance you run to such a pitch of folly
as not to flinch from asserting these things of the Son of God,
measuring Him, as you do, by the rule of human infirmity. What, then,
if, while you cannot refuse Him the name of God, you are bent to prove
Him, by reason of weakness, to be a man? What if, whilst you
examine the Person of the Son, you are calling the Father in question,
and whilst you hastily pass sentence upon the Former, you include the
Latter in the same condemnation!
72. If the Divine Generation has been subject to the
limits of time,--if we suppose this, borrowing from the custom of human
generation, then it follows, further, that the Father bare the Son in a
bodily womb, and laboured under the burden whilst ten
months sped their courses. But how can generation, as it commonly takes
place, be brought about without the help of the other sex? You
see that the common order of generation was not the commencement, and
you think that the courses of generation, which are ruled by certain
necessities whereunto bodies are subject, have always prevailed. You
require the customary course, I ask for difference of sex: you demand
the supposition of time, I that of order: you enquire into the end, I
into the beginning. Now surely it is the end that depends on the
beginning, not the beginning on the end.
73. "Everything," say you, "that is begotten has a
beginning, and therefore because the Son is the Son, He has a
beginning, and came first into existence within limits of time. Let
this be taken as the word of their own mouth; as for myself, I confess
that the Son is begotten, but the rest of their declaration makes me
shudder. Man, dost thou confess God, and diminish His honour by such
slander? From this madness may God deliver us.
CHAPTER XII.
Further objections to the Godhead of the Son are met by the same
answer--to wit, that they may equally be urged against the Father also.
The Father, then, being in no way confined by time, place, or anything
else created, no such limitation is to be imposed upon the Son, Whose
marvellous generation is not only of the Father, but of the Virgin
also, and therefore, since in His generation of the Father no
distinction of sex, or the like, was involved, neither was it in His
generation of the Virgin.
74. The next objection is this: "If the Son has not
those properties which all sons have, He is no Son." May Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit pardon me, for I would propound the question in all
devoutness. Surely the Father is, and abides for ever: created things,
too, are as God hath ordained them. Is there any one, then, amongst
these creatures which is not subject to the limitations of place, time,
or the fact of having been created, or to some originating cause or
creator,[1] Surely, none. What, then? Is there any one of them
whereof the Father stands in need? So to say were blasphemy.
Cease, then, to apply to the Godhead what is proper only to created
existences, or, if you insist upon forcing the comparison, bethink you
whither your wickedness leads. God forbid that we should even behold
the end thereof.
214
75. We maintain the answer given by piety. God is
Almighty, and therefore God the Father needs none of those things, for
in Him there is no changing, nor any place for such help as we need, we
whose weakness is supported by means of things of this kind. But He Who
is Almighty, plainly He is uncreate, and not confined to any place, and
surpasses time. Before God was not anything--nay, even to speak about
anything being before God is a grave sin. If, then, you grant that in
the nature of God the Father there is nought that implies a being
sustained, because He is God, it follows that nothing of this sort can
be supposed to exist in the Son of God, nothing that connotes a
beginning, or growth, forasmuch as He is "very God of very God."[1]
76. Seeing, then, that we find not the customary
order prevailing, be content, Arian, to believe in a miraculous
generation of the Son. Be content, I say, and if you believe me not, at
least have respect unto the voice of God saying, "To whom have ye
esteemed Me to be like?"[2] and again: "God is not like a man that He
should repent."[3] If, indeed, God works mysteriously, seeing that He
doth not work any work, or fashion anything, or bring it to completion,
by labor of hands, or in any course of days, "for He spake, and they
were made; He gave the word and they were created,"[4] why should we
not believe that He Whom we acknowledge as a Creator, mysteriously
working, discerning it in His works, also begat His Son in a mysterious
manner? Surely it is fitting that He should be regarded as having
begotten the Son in a special and mysterious way. Let Him Who hath the
grace of majesty unrivalled likewise have the glory of mysterious
generation.
77. Not only Christ's generation of the Father, but
His birth also of the Virgin, demands our wonder. You say that the
former is like unto the manner wherein we men are conceived. I will
show--nay more, I will compel you yourself to confess, that the latter
also hath no likeness to the manner of our birth. Tell me how it was
that He was born of Mary, with what law did His conception in a
Virgin's womb agree, how there could be any birth without the seed of a
man, how a maiden could become great with child, how she became a
mother before experience of such intercourse as is between wives and
husbands. There was no [visible] cause,--and yet a son was begotten.
How, then, came about this birth, under a new law?
78. If, then, the common order of human generation
was not found in the case of the Virgin Mary, how can you demand that
God the Father should beget in such wise as you were begotten in?
Surely the common order is determined by difference of sex; for this is
implanted in the nature of our flesh, but where flesh is not, how can
you expect to find the infirmity of flesh? No man calls in
question one who is better than he is: to believe is enjoined upon you,
without permission to question. For it is written, "Abraham believed
God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness."[1] Language is
vain to set forth, not only the generation of the Son, but even the
works of God, for it is written: "All His works are executed in
faithfulness;"[2] His works, then, are done in faithfulness, but not
His generation? Ay, we call in question that which we see not, we
who are bidden to believe rather than enquire of that we see.
CHAPTER XIII.
Discussion of the Divine Generation is continued. St. Ambrose
illustrates its method by the same example as that employed by the
author of the Epistle to the Hebrews. The duty of believing what is
revealed is shown by the example of Nebuchadnezzar and St. Peter. By
the vision granted to St. Peter was shown the Son's Eternity and
Godhead--the Apostle, then, must be believed in preference to the
teachers of philosophy, whose authority was everywhere falling into
discredit. The Arians, on the other hand, are shown to be like unto the
heathen.
79. It will be asked: "In what sort was the Son
begotten?" As one who is for ever, as the Word, as the brightness of
eternal light,[3] for brightness takes effect in the instant of its
coming into existence. Which example is the Apostle's, not mine. Think
not, then, that there was ever a moment of time when God was without
wisdom, any more than that there was ever a time when light was without
radiance. Judge not, Arian, divine things by human, but believe the
divine where thou findest not the human.
80. The heathen king saw in the fire, together with
the three Hebrew children, the form of a fourth, like as of an
angel,[4] and because he thought that this angel excelled all angels,
he judged Him to be the Son of God, Whom he had not read of, but in Whom
215
he believed. Abraham, also, saw Three and adored One.[1] 81. Peter,
when he saw Moses and Elias on the mountain, with the Son of God, was
not deceived as to their nature and glory. For he enquired, not of
them, but of Christ what he ought to do, inasmuch as though he prepared
to do homage to all three, yet he waited for the command of one. But
since he ignorantly thought that for three persons three tabernacles
should be set up, he was corrected by the sovereign voice of God the
Father, saying, "This is My dearly beloved Son: hear ye Him."[2] That
is to say: "Why dost thou join thy fellow-servants in equality with thy
Lord? "This is My Son." Not "Moses is My Son," nor "Elias is My
Son," but "This is My Son." The Apostle was not dull to understand the
rebuke; he fell on his face brought low by the Father's voice and the
glorious beauty of the Son, but he was raised up by the Son, Whose wont
it is to raise up them that are fallen.[3] Then he saw one only,[4] the
Son of God alone, for the servants had withdrawn, that He might be seen
to be Lord alone, Who alone was entitled Son.
82. What, then, was the purpose of that vision,
which signified not that Christ and His servants were equal, but
betokened a mystery, save that it should be made plain to us that the
Law and the Prophets, in agreement with the Gospel, revealed as eternal
the Son of God, Whom they had heralded. When we, therefore, hear of the
Son coming forth of the womb, the Word from the heart, let us believe
that the Son was not fashioned-with hands but begotten of the Father,
not the work of a craftsman but the offspring of a parent.
83. He, therefore, Who said, "This is My Son," said
not, "This is a creature of time," nor "This being is of My creation,
My making, My servant," but "This is My Son, Whom ye see glorified."
This is the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, Who
appeared to Moses in the bush,[5] concerning Whom Moses saith, "He Who
is hath sent me." It was not the Father Who spake to Moses in the bush
or in the desert, but the Son. It was of this Moses-that Stephen said,
"This is He Who was in the church, in the wilderness, with the
Angel."[6] This, then, is He Who gave the Law, Who spake with Moses,
saying, "I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob."
This, then, is the God of the patriarchs, this is the God of the
prophets.
84. It is of the Son, therefore, that we read, thy
mind understandeth the reading, let thy tongue make confession. Away
with arguments, where faith is required; now let dialectic hold her
peace, even in the midst of her schools. I ask not what it is that
philosophers say, but I would know what they do. They sit desolate in
their schools. See the victory of faith over argument. They who dispute
subtly are forsaken daily by their fellows; they who with simplicity
believe are daily increased. Not philosophers but fishermen, not
masters of dialectic but taxi-gatherers, now find credence. The one
sort, through pleasures and luxuries, have bound the world's burden
upon themselves; the other, by fasting and mortification, have cast it
off, and so doth sorrow now begin to win over more followers than
pleasure.
85. Let us now see how far Arians and pagans do
differ. The latter call upon gods, who are different in sex and unequal
in power; the former affirm a Trinity where there is likewise
inequality of power and diversity of Godhead. The pagans assert that
their Gods began to exist once upon a time; the Arians lyingly declare
that Christ began to exist in the course of time. Have they not all
dyed their impiety in the vats of philosophy? But indeed the
pagans do extol that which they worship,[1] the Arians maintain that
the Son of God, Who is God, is a creature.
CHAPTER XIV.
That the Son of God is not a created being is proved by the following
arguments: (I) That He commanded not that the Gospel should be preached
to Himself; (2) that a created being is given over unto vanity; (3)
that the Son has created all things; (4) that we read of Him as
begotten; and (5) that the difference of generation and adoption has
always been understood in those places where both natures --the divine
and the human--are declared to co-exist in Him. All of which testimony
is confirmed by the Apostle's interpretation.
86. It is now made plain, as I believe, your sacred
Majesty, that the Lord Jesus is neither unlike the Father, nor one that
began to exist in course of time. We have yet to confute another
blasphemy, and to show that the Son of God is not a created being.
Herein is the quickening[2] word that we read as our help, for we have
heard the
216
passage read where the Lord saith: "Go ye into all the world, and
preach the Gospel to all creation."[1] He Who saith "all creation"
excepts nothing. How, then, do they stand who call Christ a "creature"?
If He were a creature, could He have commanded that the Gospel should
be preached to Himself? It is not, therefore, a creature, but the
Creator, Who commits to His disciples the work of teaching created
beings.
87. Christ, then, is no created being; for "created
beings are," as the Apostle hath said, "given over to vanity."[2] Is
Christ given over unto vanity? Again, "creation"--according to the same
Apostle--"groans and travails together even until now." What,
then? Doth Christ take any part in this groaning and
travailing--He Who hath set us miserable mourners free from
death? "Creation," saith the Apostle, "shall be set free from the
slavery of corruption."[3] We see, then, that between creation and its
Lord there is a vast difference for creation is enslaved, but "the Lord
is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is
freedom."[4]
88. Who was it that led first into this error, of
declaring Him Who created and made all things to be a creature?
Did the Lord, I would ask, create Himself? We read that "all things
were made by Him, and without Him was nothing made."[5] This being so,
did He make Himself? We real--and who shall deny?--that in wisdom hath
God made all things.[6] If so, how can we suppose that wisdom was made
in itself?
89. We read that the Son is begotten, inasmuch as
the Father saith: "I brought thee forth from the womb before the
morning star"[7] We read of the "first-born" Son,[8] of the
"only-begotten"[9]--first-born, because there is none before Him;
only-begotten, because there is none after Him. Again, we read: "Who
shall declare His generation?"[10] "Generation," mark you, not
"creation." What argument can be brought to meet testimonies so great
and mighty as these?
90. Moreover, God's Son discovers the difference
between generation and grace when He says: "I go up to My Father and
your Father, to My God and your God."[11] He did not say, "I go up to
our Father,"
but "I go up to My Father and your Father." This distinction is the
sign of a difference, inasmuch as He Who is Christ's Father is our
Creator.
91. Furthermore He said, "to My God and your God,"
because although He and the Father are One, and the Father is His
Father by possession of the same nature, whilst God began to be our
Father through the office of the Son, not by virtue of nature, but of
grace--still He seems to point us here to the existence in Christ of
both natures, Godhead and Manhood,--Godhead of His Father, Manhood of
His Mother, the former being before all things, the latter derived from
the Virgin. For the first, speaking as the Son, He called God His
Father, and afterward, speaking as man, named Him as God.
92. Everywhere, indeed, we have witness in the
Scriptures to show that Christ, in naming God as His God, does so as
man. "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? "[1] And again: "From
My mother's womb Thou art My God."[2] In the former place He suffers as
a man; in the latter it is a man who is brought forth from his mother's
womb. And so when He says, "From My mother's womb Thou art My God," He
means that He Who was always His Father is His God from the moment when
He was brought forth from His Mother's womb.
93. Seeing, then, that we read in the Gospel, in the
Apostle, in the Prophets, of Christ as begotten, how dare the Arians to
say that He was created or made? But, indeed, they ought to have
bethought them, where they have read of Him as created, where as made.
For it has been plainly shown that the Son of God is begotten of God,
born of God--let them, then, consider with care where they have read
that He was made, seeing that He was not made God, but born as God, the
Son of God; afterward, however, He was, according to the flesh, made
man of Mary.
94. "But when the fulness of time was come, God sent
His Son, made of a woman, made under the Law."[3] "His Son," observe,
not as one of many, not as His in common with another, but His own, and
in saying "His Son," the Apostle showed that it is of the Son's nature
that His generation is eternal. Him the Apostle has affirmed to have
been afterwards "made" of a woman, in order that the making might be
understood not of the Godhead, but of the putting
217
on of a body--"made of a woman," then, by taking on of flesh; "made
under the Law" through observance of the Law. Howbeit, the former, the
spiritual generation is before the Law was, the latter is after the Law.
CHAPTER XV.
An explanation of Acts ii. 36 and Proverbs viii. 22, which are shown to
refer properly to Christ's manhood alone.
95. To no purpose, then, is the heretics' customary
citation of the Scripture, that "God made Him both Lord and Christ."
Let these ignorant persons read the whole passage, and understand it.
For thus it is written. "God made this Jesus, Whom ye crucified, both
Lord and Christ."(1) It was not the Godhead, but the flesh, that was
crucified. This, indeed, was possible,
cause the flesh allowed of being crucified. It follows not, then, that
the Son of God is a created being.
96. Let us despatch, then, that passage also, which
they do use to misrepresent,-let them learn what is the sense of the
words, "The Lord created Me."(2) It is not "the Father created," but
"the Lord created Me." The flesh acknowledgeth its Lord, praise
declareth the Father: our created nature confesseth the first, loveth,
knoweth the latter. Who, then, cannot but perceive that these words
announce the Incarnation
Thus the Son speaketh of Himself as created in respect of that wherein
he witnesseth to Himself as being man, when He says, "Why seek ye to
kill Me, a man, Who have told you the truth?" He speaketh of His
Manhood, wherein He was crucified, and died, and was buried.
97. Furthermore, there is no doubt but that the
writer set down as past that which was to come; for this is the usage
of prophecy, that things to come are spoken of as though they were
already present or past. For example, in the twenty-first(3) psalm you
have read: "Fat bulls(of Bashan) have beset me," and again:(4) "They
parted My garments among them." This the Evangelist showeth to have
been spoken prophetically of the time of the Passion, for to God
the things that are to come are present, and for Him Who foreknoweth
all things, they are as though they were past and over; as it is
written, "Who hath made the things that are to be."(1)
98. It is no wonder that He should declare His place
to have been set fast before all worlds, seeing that the Scripture
tells us that He was foreordained before the times and ages. The
following passage discovers how the words in question present
themselves as a true prophecy of the Incarnation: "Wisdom hath built
her an house, and set up seven pillars to support it, and she hath
slain her victims. She hath mingled her wine in the bowl, and made
ready her table, and sent her servants, calling men together with a
mighty voice of proclamation, saying: 'He who is simple, let him turn
in to me.'"(2)Do we not see, in the Gospel, that all these things were
fulfilled after the Incarnation, in that Christ discIosed the mysteries
of the Holy Supper, sent forth His apostles, and cried with a loud
voice, saying, "If any man thirst, let him come to Me and drink."(3)
That which followeth, then, answereth to that which went before, and we
behold the whole story of the Incarnation set forth in brief by
prophecy.
99. Many other passages might readily be seen to be
prophecies of this sort concerning the Incarnation, but I will not
delay over books, lest the treatise appear too wordy.
218
CHAPTER XVI.
The Arians blaspheme Christ, if by the words "created" and "begotten"
they mean and understand one and the same thing. If, however, they
regard the words as distinct in meaning, they must not speak of Him, of
Whom they have read that He was begotten, as if He were a created
being. This rule is upheld by the witness of St. Paul, who, professing
himself a servant of Christ, forbade worship of a created being. God
being a substance pure and uncompounded, there is no created nature in
Him; furthermore, the Son is not to be degraded to the level of things
created, seeing that in Him the Father is well pleased.
100. Now will I enquire particularly of the Arians,
whether they think that begotten and created are one and the same. If
they call them the same, then is there no difference betwixt generation
and creation. It follows then, that forasmuch as we also are created
there is between us and Christ and the elements no difference. Thus
much, however, great as their madness is, they will not venture to say.
101. Furthermore--to concede that which is no truth,
to their folly-I ask them, if there is, as they think, no difference in
the words, why do they not call upon Him Whom they worship by the
better title? Why do they not avail themselves of the Father's word?(1)
Why do they reject the title of honour, and use a dishonouring name?
102. If, however, there is--as I think there is--a
distinction between "created" and "begotten," then, when we have read
that He is begotten, we shall surely not understand the same by the
terms "begotten" and "created." Let them therefore confess Him to be
begotten of the Father, born of the Virgin, or let them say how the Son
of God can be both begotten and created. A single nature, above all,
the Divine Being, rejects strife(within itself).
103. But in any case let our private judgment pass:
let us enquire of Paul, who, filled with the Spirit of God, and so
foreseeing these questionings, hath given sentence against pagans in
general and Arians in particular, saying that they were by God's
judgment condemned, who served the creature rather than the Creator.
Thus, in fact, you may read: "God gave them over to the lusts of their
own heart, that they might one with another dishonour their bodies,
they who changed God's truth into a lie, and worshipped and served the
thing created rather than the Creator, Who is God, blessed for ever."(2)
104. Thus Paul forbids me to worship a creature, and
admonishes me of my duty to serve Christ. It follows, then, that Christ
is not a created being. The Apostle calls himself "Paul, a servant of
Jesus Christ,"(1) and this good servant, who acknowledges his Lord,
will likewise have us not worship that which is created. How, then,
could he have been himself a servant of Christ, if he thought that
Christ was a created person? Let these heretics, then, cease either to
worship Him Whom they call a created being, or to call Him a creature,
Whom they feign to worship, lest under colour of being worshippers they
fall into worse impiety. For a domestic is worse than a foreign foe,
and that these men should use the Name of Christ to Christ's dishonour
increaseth their guilt.
105. What better expounder of the Scriptures do we
indeed look for than that teacher of the Gentiles, that chosen
vessel--chosen from the number of the persecutors? He who had been the
persecutor of Christ confesses Him. He had read Solomon more, in any
case, than Arius hath, and he was well learned in the Law, and so,
because he had read, he said not that Christ was created, but that He
was begotten. For he had read, "He spake, and they were made: He
commanded, and they were created.''(2) Was Christ, I ask, made at a
word? Was He created at a command?
106. Moreover, how can there be any created nature
in God? In truth, God is of an uncompounded nature; nothing can be
added to Him, and that alone which is Divine hath He in His nature;
filling all things,(3) yet nowhere Himself confounded with aught;
penetrating all things, yet Himself nowhere to be penetrated; present
in all His fulness at one and the same moment, in heaven, in earth, in
the deepest depth of the sea,(4) to sight invisible, by speech not to
be declared, by feeling not to be measured; to be followed by faith, to
be adored with devotion; so that whatsoever title excels in depth of
spiritual import, in setting forth glory and honour, in exalting power,
this you may know to belong of right to God.
107. Since, then, the Father is well pleased in the
Son; believe that the Son is worthy of the Father, that He came out
from God, as He Himself bears witness, saying: "I went out from God,
and am come;"(5) and again: "I went out from God."(6) He Who proceeded
and came forth
219
from God can have no attributes but such as are proper to God.
CHAPTER XVII.
That Christ is very God is proved from the fact that He is God's own
Son, also from His having been begotten and having come forth from God,
and further, from the unity of will and operation subsisting in Father
and Son. The witness of the apostles and of the centurion--which St.
Ambrose sets over against the Arian teaching--is adduced, together with
that of Isaiah and St. John.
108. Hence it is that Christ is not only God, but
very God indeed--very God of very God, insomuch that He Himself is the
Truth,(1) If, then, we enquire His Name, it is "the Truth;" if we seek
to know His natural rank and dignity, He is so truly the very Son of
God, that He is indeed God's own Son; as it is written, "Who spared not
His own Son, but gave Him up for our sakes,"(2) gave Him up, that is,
so far as the flesh was concerned. That He is God's own Son declares
His Godhead; that He is very God shows that He is God's own Son; His
pitifulness is the earnest of His submission, His sacrifice, of our
salvation.
109. Lest, however, men should wrest the Scripture,
that "God gave Him up," the Apostle himself has said in another
place,(3) "Peace from God the Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, Who
gave Himself for our sins;" and again:(4) "Even as Christ hath loved
us, and given Himself for us." If, then, He both was given up by the
Father, and gave Himself up of His own accord, it is plain that the
working and the will of Father and Son is one.
110. If, then, we enquire into His natural
pre-eminence, we find it to consist in being begotten. To deny that the
Son of God is begotten[of God] is to deny that He is God's own Son, and
to deny Christ to be God's own Son is to class Him with the rest of
mankind, as no more a Son than any of the rest. If, however, we enquire
into the distinctive property of His generation, it is this, that He
came forth from God. For whilst, in our experience, to come out implies
something already existent, and that which is said to come out seems to
proceed forth from hidden and inward places, we, though it be presented
but in short passages, observe the peculiar attribute of the Divine
Generation, that the Son doth not seem to have come forth out of any
place, but as
God from God, a Son from a Father, nor to have had a beginning in the
course of time, having come forth from the Father by being born, as He
Himself Who was born said: "I came forth from the mouth of the Most
High."(1)
111. But if the Arians acknowledge not the Son's
nature, if they believe not the Scriptures, let them at least believe
the mighty works. To whom doth the Father say, "Let us make man?"(2)
save to Him Whom He knew to be His true Son? In Whom, save in one who
was true, could He recognize His Image? The son by adoption is not the
same as the true Son; nor would the Son say, "I and the Father are
one,"(3) if He, being Himself not true, were measuring Himself with One
Who is true. The Father, therefore, says, "Let us make." He Who spake
is true; can He, then, Who made be not true? Shall the honour rendered
to Him Who speaks be withheld from Him Who makes?
112. But how, unless the Father knew Him to be His
true Son, should He commend to Him His will, for perfect co-operation,
and His works, for perfect bringing in out in actuality? Seeing that
the Son worketh the works which the Father doeth, and that the Son
quickens whom He will,(4) as it is written, He is then equal in power
and free in respect of His will. And thus is the Unity maintained,
forasmuch as God's power consists in that the Godhead is proper to each
Person, and freedom lies not in any difference, but in unity of will.
113. The apostles, being storm-tossed in the sea, as
soon as they saw the waters leaping up round their Lord's feet, and
beheld His fearless footsteps on the water, as He walked amid the
raging waves of the sea, and the ship, which was beaten upon by the
waves, had rest as soon as Christ entered it, and they saw the waves
and the winds obeying Him,--then, though as yet they did not believe in
their hearts they believed Him to be God's true Son, saying, "Truly
Thou art the Son of God."(5)
114. To the same effect the confession of the
centurion, and others who were with him, when the foundations of the
world were shaken at the Lord's Passion,--and this, heretic, thou
deniest! The centurion said, "Truly this was the Son of God."(6) "Was"
said the centurion--"Was not" says the Arian. The centurion, then, with
bloodstained hands, but devout mind,
220
declares both the truth and the eternity of Christ's generation; and
thou, O heretic deniest its truth, and makest it matter of time! Would
that thou hadst imbued thy hands rather than thy soul! But thou unclean
even of hand, and murderous of intent, seekest Christ's death, so far
as in thee lies, seeing that thou thinkest of Him as mean and weak;
nay, and this is a worse sin, thou, albeit the Godhead can feel no
wound, still wouldst do thy diligence to slay in Christ, not His Body,
but His Glory.
115. We cannot then doubt that He is very God, Whose
true Godhead even executioners believed in and devils confessed. Their
testimony we require not now, but it is withal greater than your
blasphemies. We have called them in to witness, to put you to the
blush, whilst we have also cited the oracles of God, to the end that
you should believe.
116. The Lord proclaimeth by the mouth of Isaiah:
"In the mouth of them that serve Me shall a new name be called upon,
which shall be blessed over all the earth, and they shall bless the
true God, and they who swear upon earth shall swear by the true
God."(1) These words, I say, Isaiah spake when he saw God's Glory, and
thus in the Gospel it is plainly said that he saw the Glory of Christ
and spoke of Him.(2)
117. But hear again what John the Evangelist hath
written in his Epistle, saying: "We know that the Son of God hath
appeared, and hath given us discernment, to know the Father, and to be
in His true Son Jesus Christ, our Lord. He is very God, and Life
Eternal."(3) John calls Him true Son of God and very God. If, then, He
be very God, He is surely uncreate, without spot of lying or deceit,
having in Himself no confusion, nor unlikeness to His Father.
CHAPTER XVIII.
The errors of the Arians are mentioned in the Nicene Definition of the
Faith, to prevent their deceiving anybody. These errors are recited,
together with the anathema pronounced against them, which is said to
have been not only pronounced at Nicaea, but also twice renewed at
Ariminum.
118. Christ, therefore, is "God of God, Light of
Light, very God of very God; begotten of the Father, not made; of one
substance with the Father."
119. So, indeed, following the guidance
of the Scriptures, our fathers declared, holding, moreover, that
impious doctrines should be included in the record of their decrees, in
order that the unbelief of Arius should discover itself, and not, as it
were, mask itself with dye or face-paint.(1) For they give a false
colour to their thoughts who dare not unfold them openly. After the
manner of the censor's rolls, then, the Arian heresy is not discovered
by name,(2) but marked out by the condemnation pronounced, in order
that he who is curious and eager to hear it should be preserved from
falling by knowing that it is condemned already, before he hears, it
set forth to the end that he should believe.
120. "Those," runs the decree, "who say that there
was a time when the Son of God was not, and that before He was born He
was not, and who say that he was made out of nothing, or is of another
substance or <greek>ousia</greek>,(3) or that He is capable
of changing, or that with Him is any shadow of turning,--them the
Catholic and Apostolic Church declares accursed."
121. Your sacred Majesty has agreed that they who
utter such doctrines are rightly condemned. It was of no determination
by man, of no human counsel, that three hundred and eighteen bishops
met, as I showed above more at length,(4) in Council, but that in their
number the Lord Jesus might prove, by the sign of His Name and Passion,
that He was in the midst, where His own were gathered together.(5) In
the number of three hundred was the sign of His Cross, in that
221
of eighteen was the sign of the Name Jesus.
122. This also was the teaching of the First
Confession in the Council of Ariminum, and of the Second Correction,
after that Council. Of the Confession, the letter sent to the Emperor
Constantine beareth witness, and the Council that followed declares the
Correction.(1)
CHAPTER XIX.
Arius is charged with the first of the above-mentioned errors, and
refuted by the testimony of St. John. The miserable death of the
Heresiarch is described, and the rest of his blasphemous errors are one
by one examined and disproved.
123. Arius, then, says: "There was a time when the
Son of God existed not," but Scripture saith: "He was," not that "He
was not." Furthermore, St. John has written: "In the beginning was the
Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in
the beginning with God."(2) Observe how often the verb "was" appears,
whereas "was not" is nowhere found. Whom, then, are we to believe?--St.
John, who lay on Christ's bosom, or Arius, wallowing amid the out-gush
of his very bowels?--so wallowing that we might understand how Arius in
his teaching showed himself like unto Judas, being visited with like
punishment.
124. For Arius bowels also gushed out--decency
forbids to say where--and so he burst asunder in the midst, falling
headlong, and besmirching those foul lips wherewith he had denied
Christ. He was rent, even as the Apostle Peter said of Judas, because
he bought a field with the price of evil-doing, and falling headlong he
burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out."(3) It was
no chance manner of death, seeing that like wickedness was visited with
like punishment, to the end that those who denied and betrayed the same
Lord might likewise undergo the same torment.
125. Let us pass on to further points. Arius says:
"Before He was born, the Son of God was not," but the Scripture saith
that all things are maintained in existence by the Son's office. How,
then, could He, Who existed not, bestow existence upon others? Again,
when the blasphemer uses the words "when" and "before," he certainly
uses words which are marks of time. How, then, do the Arians deny that
time was ere the Son was, and yet will have things created in time to
exist before the Son, seeing that the very words, "when," "before," and
"did not exist once," announce the idea of time?
126. Arius says that the Son of God came into being
out of nought. How, then, is He Son of God--how was He begotten from
the womb of the Father--how do we read of Him as the Word spoken of the
heart's abundance, save to the end that we should believe that He came
forth, as it is written, from the Father's inmost, unapproachable
sanctuary? Now a son is so called either by means of adoption or by
nature, as we are called sons by means of adoption.(1) Christ is the
Son of God by virtue of His real and abiding nature. How, then, can He,
Who out of nothing fashioned all things, be Himself created out of
nothing?
127. He who knows not whence the Son is hath not the
Son. The Jews therefore had not the Son, for they knew not whence He
was. Wherefore the Lord said to them: "Ye know not whence I came;"(2)
and again: "Ye neither have found out Who I am, nor know My Father,"
for he who denies that the Son is of the Father knows not the Father,
of Whom the Son is; and again, he knows not the Son, because he knows
not the Father.
128. Arius says:"[The Son is] of another Substance."
But what other substance is exalted to equality with the Son of God, so
that simply in virtue thereof He is Son of God? Or what right have the
Arians for censuring us because we speak, in Greek, of the
<greek>ousia</greek>, or in Latin, of the Substantia of
God, when they themselves, in saying that the Son of God is of another
"Substance," assert a divine Substantia.
129. Howbeit, should they desire to dispute the use
of the words "divine Substance" or "divine Nature," they shall easily
be refuted, for Holy Writ oft-times hath spoken of
<greek>ousia</greek> in Greek, or Substantia
222
in Latin, and St. Peter, as we read, would have us become partakers in
the divine Nature. But if they will have it that the Son is of another
"Substance," they with their own lips confute themselves, in that they
both acknowledge the term "Substance," whereof they are so afraid, and
rank the Son on a level with the creatures above which they feign to
exalt Him.
130. Arius calls the Son of God a creature, but "not
as the rest of the creatures." Yet what created being is not different
from another? Man is not as angel, earth is not as heaven, the sun is
not as water, nor light as darkness. Arius' preference, therefore, is
empty--he hath but disguised with a sorry dye his deceitful
blasphemies, in order to take the foolish.
131. Arius declares that the Son of God may change
and swerve. How, then, is He God if He is changeable, seeing that He
Himself hath said: "I am, I am, and I change not"?(1)
CHAPTER XX.
St. Ambrose declares his desire that some angel would fly to him to
purify him, as once the Seraph did to Isaiah--nay more, that Christ
Himself would come to him, to the Emperor, and to his readers, and
finally prays that Gratian and the rest of the faithful may be exalted
by the power and spell of the Lord's Cup, which he describes in mystic
language.
132. Howbeit, now must I needs confess the Prophet
Isaiah's confession, which he makes before declaring the word of the
Lord: "Woe is me, my heart is smitten, for I, a man of unclean lips,
and living in the midst of a people of unclean lips, have seen the Lord
of Sabaoth."(2) Now if Isaiah said "Woe is me," who looked upon the
Lord of Sabaoth, what shall I say of myself, who, being "a man of
unclean lips," am constrained to treat of the divine generation? How
shall I break forth into speech of things whereof I am afraid, when
David prays that a watch may be set over his mouth in the matter of
things whereof he has knowledge?(3) O that to me also one of
the Seraphim would bring the burning coal from the celestial altar,
taking it in the tongs of the two testaments, and with the fire thereof
purge my unclean lips!
133. But forasmuch as then the Seraph came down in a
vision to the Prophet, whilst Thou, O Lord, in revelation of the
mystery hast come to us in the flesh,(1) do Thou, not by any deputy,
nor by any messenger, but Thou Thyself cleanse my conscience from my
secret sins, that I too, erstwhile unclean, but now by Thy mercy made
clean through faith, may sing in the words of David: "I will make music
to Thee upon a harp, O God of Israel, my lips shall rejoice, in all my
song to Thee, and so, too, shall my soul, whom Thou hast redeemed."(2)
134. And so, O Lord, leaving them that slander and
hate Thee, come unto us, sanctify the ears of our sovereign ruler,
Gratian, and all besides into whose hands this little book shall
come--and purge my ears, that no stains of the infidelity they have
heard remain anywhere. Cleanse thoroughly, then, our ears, not with
water of well, river, or rippling and purling brook, but with words
cleansing like water, clearer than any water, and purer than any
snow--even the words Thou hast spoken--"Though your sins be as scarlet,
I will make them white as snow."(3)
135. Moreover, there is a Cup, wherewith Thou dost
use to purify the hidden chambers of the soul, a Cup not of the old
order,(4) nor filled from a common Vine,--a new Cup, brought down from
heaven to earth,(5) filled with wine pressed from the wondrous cluster,
which hung in fleshly form upon the tree of the Cross, even as the
grape hangs upon the Vine. From this Cluster, then, is the Wine that
maketh glad the heart of man,(6) uplifts the sorrowful, is fragrant
with, pours into us, the ecstasy of faith, true devotion, and purity.
136. With this Wine, therefore, O Lord my God,
cleanse the spiritual ears of our sovereign Emperor, to the end that,
just as men, being uplifted with common wine, love rest and quietness,
cast out the fear of death, have no feeling of injuries,(7) seek
not that Which belongs to others, and forget
223
their own; and so he, too, intoxicated with thy wine, may love peace,
and, confident in the exultation of faith, may never know the death of
unbelief, and may display loving patience, have no part in other men's
profanities,(1) and hold the faith of more account even than kindred
and children, as it is written: "Leave all that thou hast, and come,
follow Me."(2)
137. With this Wine, also, Lord Jesus, purify our
senses, that we may adore Thee, and worship Thee, the Creator of things
visible and invisible. Truly, Thou canst not fail of being Thyself
invisible and good, Who hast given invisibility and goodness to the
works of Thy Hands.(1)
BOOK II.
INTRODUCTION.
Twelve names of the Son of God are recounted, being distributed into
three classes. These names are so many proofs of the eternity not only
of the Son, but of the Father also. Furthermore, they are compared with
the twelve stones in the High Priest s breastplate, and their
inseparability is shown by a new distribution of them. Returning to the
comparison with the High Priest's breastplate, the writer sets forth
the beauty of the woven-work and the precious stones of the mystic
raiment, and the hidden meaning of that division into woven-work and
precious stones, which being done, he expounds the comparison drawn by
him, showing that faith must be woven in with works, and adds a short
summary of the same faith, as concerning the Son.
1. ENOUGH hath been said, as I think, your sacred
Majesty, in the book preceding to show that the Son of God is an
eternal being, not diverse from the Father, begotten, not created; we
have also proved, from passages of the Scriptures, that God's true Son
is God,(3) and is declared so to be by the evident tokens of His
Majesty.
2. Wherefore, albeit what hath already been set
forth is plentiful even to overflowing for maintaining the
Faith--seeing that the greatness of a river is mostly judged of from
the manner in which its springs rise and flow forth--still, to the end
that our belief may be the plainer to sight, the waters of our spring
ought, methinks, to be parted off into three channels. There are, then,
firstly, plain tokens declaring essential inherence in the Godhead;
secondly, the expressions of the likeness of the Father and the Son;
and lastly, those of the undoubtable unity of the Divine Majesty. Now
of the first sort are the names "begetting," "God," "Son," "The
Word;"(4) of the second, "brightness," "expression," "mirror," "image;"
and of the third, "wisdom," "power," "truth," "life."(3)
3. These tokens so declare the nature of the Son,
that by them you may know both that the Father is eternal, and that the
Son is not diverse from Him; for the source of generation is He Who
is,(4) and as begotten of the Eternal, He is God; coming forth from the
Father, He is the Son;(5) from God, He is the Word; He is the radiance
of the Father's glory, the expression of His substance,(6) the
counterpart of God,(7) the image of His majesty; the Bounty of Him Who
is bountiful, the Wisdom of Him Who is wise, the Power of the Mighty
One, the Truth of Him Who is true,8 the Life of the Living One.(9) In
agreement, therefore, stand the attributes of Father and Son, that none
may suppose any diversity, or doubt but that they are of one Majesty.
For each and all of these names would we furnish examples of their use
were we not constrained by a desire to maintain our discourse within
bounds.
4. Of these twelve, as of twelve precious stones, is
the pillar of our faith built up. For these are the precious
stones--sardius, jasper, smaragd, chrysolite, and the rest,--woven into
the robe of holy Aaron,(10) even
224
of him who bears the likeness of Christ,(1) that is, of the true
Priest; stones set in gold, and inscribed with the names of the sons of
Israel, twelve stones close joined and fitting one into another, for if
any should sunder or separate them, the whole fabric of the faith falls
in ruins.
5. This, then, is the foundation of our faith--to
know that the Son of God is begotten; if He be not begotten, neither is
He the Son. Nor yet is it sufficient to call Him Son, unless you shall
also distinguish Him as the Only-begotten Son. If He is a creature, He
is not God; if He is not God, He is not the Life; if He is not the
Life, then is He not the Truth.
6. The first three tokens, therefore, that is to
say, the names "generation," "Son," "Only-begotten," do show that the
Son is of God originally and by virtue of His own nature.
7. The three that follow--to wit, the names "God,"
"Life," "Truth," reveal His Power, whereby He hath laid the foundations
of, and upheld, the created world. "For," as Paul said, "in Him we live
and move and have our being;"' and therefore, in the first three the
Son's natural right,(2) in the other three the unity of action
subsisting between Father and Son is made manifest.
8. The Son of God is also called the "image" and
"effulgence" and "expression" [of God], for these names have disclosed
the Father's incomprehensible and unsearchable Majesty dwelling in the
Son, and the expression of His likeness in Him. These three names,
then, as we see, refer to [the Son's] likeness [to the Father].(3)
9. We have yet the operations of Power, Wisdom, and
Justice left, wherewith, severally, to prove [the Son's] eternity.(4)
10. This, then, is that robe, adorned with precious
stones; this is the amice of the true Priest; this the bridal garment;
here is the inspired weaver, who well knew how to weave that work. No
common woven work is it, whereof the Lord spake by His Prophet: "Who
gave to women their skill in weaving? '(5) No common stones again, are
they--stones, as we find them called, "of filling; "(6) for all
perfection depends on this
225
condition, that there be nought lacking. They are stones joined
together and set in gold--that is, of a spiritual kind; the joining of
them by our minds and their setting in convincing argument. Finally
Scripture teaches us how far from common are these stones, inasmuch as,
whilst some brought one kind, and others another, of less precious
offerings, these the devout princes brought, wearing them upon their
shoulders, and made of them the "breastplate of judgment," that is, a
piece of woven work. Now we have a woven work, when faith and action go
together.
11. Let none suppose me to be misguided, in that I
made at first a threefold division, each part containing four, and
afterwards a fourfold division, each part containing three terms. The
beauty of a good thing pleases the more, if it be shown under various
aspects. For those are good things, whereof the texture of the priestly
robe was the token, that is to say, either the Law, or the Church,
which latter hath made two garments for her spouse, as it is
written'--the one of action, the other of spirit, weaving together the
threads of faith and works. Thus, in one place, as we read, she makes a
groundwork of gold, and afterwards weaves thereon blue, and purple,
with scarlet, and white. Again, [as we read] elsewhere, she first makes
little flowerets of blue and other colours, and attaches gold, and
there is made a single priestly robe, to the end that adornments of
diverse grace and beauty, made up of the same bright colours, may gain
fresh glory by diversity of arrangement.
12. Moreover (to complete our interpretation of
these types), it is certain that by refined gold and silver are
designated the oracles of the Lord, whereby our faith stands firm. "The
oracles of the Lord are pure oracles, silver tried in the fire, refined
of dross, purified seven times."(2) Now blue is like the air we breathe
and draw in; purple, again, represents the appearance of water; scarlet
signifies fire; and white linen, earth, for its origin is in the
earth.(3) Of these four elements, again, the human body is composed.(1)
13. Whether, then, you join to faith already present
in the soul, bodily acts agreeing thereto; or acts come first, and
faith be joined as their companion, presenting them to God--here is the
robe of the minister of religion, here the priestly vestment.
14. Faith is profitable, therefore, when her brow is
bright with a fair crown of good works.(2) This faith--that I may set
the matter forth shortly--is contained in the following principles,
which cannot be overthrown. If the Son had His origin in nothing, He is
not Son; if He is a creature, He is not the Creator; if He was made, He
did not make all things; if He needs to learn, He hath no
foreknowledge; if He is a receiver, He is not perfect; if He
progress,(3) He is not God. If He is unlike (the Father) He is not the
(Father's) image; if He is Son by grace, He is not such by nature;(4)
if He have no part in the Godhead, He hath it in Him to sin.(5)"There
is none good, but Godhead."(6)
CHAPTER I.
The Arian argument from S. Mark x. 18, "There is none good but one,
that is, God," refuted by explanation of these words of Christ.
15. THE objection I have now to face, your sacred
Majesty, fills me with bewilderment, my soul and body faint at the
thought that there should be men, or rather not men, but beings with
the outward appearance of men, but inwardly full of brutish folly--who
can, after receiving at the hands of the Lord benefits so many and so
great, say that the Author of all good things is Himself not good.
16. It is written, say they, that "There is none
good but God alone." I acknowledge the Scripture--but there is no
falsehood in the letter; would that there were none in the Arians'
exposition thereof. The written signs are guiltless, it is the meaning
in which they are taken(7) that is to blame. I
226
acknowledge the words as the words of our Lord and Saviour--but let us
bethink ourselves when, to whom, and with what comprehension He speaks.
17. The Son of God is certainly speaking as man, and
speaking to a scribe,--to him, that is, who called the Son of God "Good
Master," but would not acknowledge Him as God. What he believes not,
Christ further gives him to understand, to the end that he may believe
in God's Son not as a good master, but as the good God, for if,
wheresoever the "One God" is named, the Son of God is never sundered
from the fulness of that unity, how, when God alone is said to be good,
can the Only-begotten be excluded from the fulness of Divine Goodness?
The Arians must therefore either deny that the Son of God is God, or
confess that God is good.
18. With divinely inspired comprehension, then, our
Lord said, not "There is none good but the Father alone," but "There is
none good but God alone," and "Father" is the proper name of Him Who
begets. But the unity of God by no means excludes the Godhead of the
Three Persons, and therefore it is His Nature that is extolled.
Goodness, therefore, is of the nature of God, and in the nature of God,
again, exists the Son of God--wherefore that which the predicate
expresses belongs not to one single Person, but to the [complete] unity
[of the Godhead].(1)
19. The Lord, then, doth not deny His goodness--He
rebukes this sort of disciple. For when the scribe said, "Good Master,"
the Lord answered, "Why callest thou Me good? "--which is to say, "It
is not enough to call Him good, Whom thou believest not to be God." Not
such do I seek to be My disciples--men who rather consider My manhood
and reckon Me a good master, than look to My Godhead and believe Me to
be the good God."
CHAPTER II.
The goodness of the Son of God is proved from His works, namely, His
benefits that He showed towards the people of Israel under the Old
Covenant, and to Christians under the New. It is to one's own interest
to believe in the goodness of Him Who is one's Lord and Judge. The
Father's testimony to the Son. No small number of the Jewish people
bear witness to the Son; the Arians therefore are plainly worse than
the Jews. The words of the Bride, declaring the same goodness of Christ.
20. HOWBEIT, I would not that the Son should rely on
the mere prerogative of His nature and the claims of peculiar rights of
His Majesty. Let us not call Him good, if He merit not the title; and
if He merit not this by works, by acts of lovingkindness, let Him waive
the right He enjoys by virtue of His nature, and be submitted to our
judgment. He Who is to judge us disdains not to be brought to judgment,
that He may be "justified in His saying, and clear when He is
judged."(1)
21. Is He then not good, Who hath shown me good
things? Is He not good, Who when six hundred thousand of the people of
the Jews fled before their pursuers, suddenly opened the tide of the
Red Sea, an unbroken mass of waters?--so that the waves flowed round
the faithful, and were walls to them, but poured back and overwhelmed
the unbelievers.(2)
22. Is He not good, at Whose command the seas became
firm ground for the feet of them that fled, and the rocks gave forth
water for the thirsty?(3) so that the handiwork of the true Creator
might be known, when the fluid became solid, and the rock streamed with
water? That we might acknowledge this as the handiwork of Christ, the
Apostle said: "And that rock was Christ."(4)
23. Is He not good, Who in the wilderness fed with
bread from heaven such countless thousands of the people, lest any
famine should assail them, without need of toil, in the enjoyment of
rest?--so that, for the space of forty years, their raiment grew not
old, nor were their shoes worn,(5) a figure to the faithful of the
Resurrection that was to come, showing that neither the glory of great
deeds, nor the beauty of the power wherewith He hath clothed us, nor
the stream of human life is made for nought?
24. Is He not good, Who exalted earth to heaven, so
that, just as the bright companies of stars reflect His glory in the
sky, as in a glass, so the choirs of apostles, martyrs, and priests,
shining like glorious stars, might give light throughout the world.(6)
25. Not only, then, is He good, but He is more. He
is a good Shepherd, not only for
227
Himself, but to His sheep also, "for the good shepherd layeth down his
life for his sheep." Aye, He laid down His life to exalt ours--but it
was in the power of His Godhead that He laid it down and took it again:
"I have power to lay down My life, and I have power to take it. No man
taketh it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. "(1)
26. Thou seest His goodness, in that He laid it down
of His own accord: thou seest His power, in that He took it again--dost
thou deny His goodness, when He has said of Himself in the Gospel, "If
I am good, why is thine eye evil?"(2) Ungrateful wretch what doest
thou? Dost thou deny His goodness, in Whom is thy hope of good
things--if, indeed, thou believest this? Dost thou deny His goodness,
Who hath given us what "eye hath not seen, nor ear heard"?(3)
27. It concerns my interest to believe Him to be
good, for "It is a good thing to trust in the Lord. "(4) It is to my
interest to confess Him Lord, for it is written: "Give thanks unto the
Lord, for He is good."(5)
28. It is to my interest to esteem my Judge to be
good, for the Lord is a righteous Judge to the house of Israel. If,
then, the Son of God is Judge, surely, seeing that the Judge is the
righteous God and the Son of God is Judge, [it follows that] He who is
Judge and Son of God is the righteous God.(6)
29. But perchance thou believest not others, nor the
Son. Hear, then, the Father saying: "My heart hath brought forth out of
its depth the good Word."(7) The Word, then, is good--the Word, of Whom
it is written: "And the Word was with God, and the Word was God."(8)
If, therefore, the Word is good, and the Son is the Word of God,
surely, though it displease the Arians, the Son of God is God. Let them
now at least blush for shame.
30. The Jews used to say: "He is good." Though some
said: "He is not," yet others said: "He is good,"--and ye do all deny
His goodness.
31. He is good who forgives the sin of one man; is
He not good Who has taken away the sin of the world? For it was of Him
that it was said: "Behold the Lamb of God, behold Him Who taketh away
the sin of the world."(9)
32. But why do we doubt? The Church hath believed in
His goodness all these ages, and hath confessed its faith in the
saying: "Let Him kiss me with the kisses of His mouth; for thy breasts
are better than wine;"(1) and again: "And thy throat is like the
goodliest wine." Of His goodness, therefore. He nourisheth us with the
breasts of the Law and Grace, soothing men's sorrows with telling them
of heavenly things; and do we, then, deny His goodness, when He is the
manifestation of goodness, expressing in His Person the likeness of the
Eternal Bounty, even as we showed above that it was written, that He is
the spotless reflection and counterpart of that Bounty?(2)
CHAPTER III.
Forasmuch as God is One, the Son of God is God,
good and true.
33. YET what think ye, who deny the goodness and
true Godhead of the Son of God, though it iS written that there is no
God but One?(3) For although there be gods so-called, would you reckon
Christ amongst them which are called gods, but are not, seeing that
eternity is of His Essence, and that beside Him there is none other
that is good and true God, forasmuch as God is in Him;(4) whilst it
follows from the very nature of the Father, that after Him there is no
other true God, because God is One, neither confounding [the Persons
of] the Father and Son, as the Sabellians do, nor, like the Arians,
severing the Father and the Son. For the Father and the Son, as Father
and Son, are distinct persons, but they admit no division of their
Godhead.
CHAPTER IV.
The omnipotence of the Son of God, demonstrated on the authority of the
Old and the New Testament.
34. SEEING, then, that the Son of God is true and
good, surely He is Almighty God. Can there be yet any doubt on this
point? We have already cited the place where it is read that "the Lord
Almighty is His Name."(5) Because, then, the Son is Lord, and the Lord
is Almighty, the Son of God is Almighty.
35. But hear also such a passage as you
228
can build no doubts upon:(1) "Behold, He cometh," saith the Scripture,
"with the clouds, and every eye shall see Him, and they which pierced
Him, and all the tribes of the earth shall mourn because of Him. Yea,
amen. I am Alpha and Omega, saith the Lord God, Who is, and Who was,
and Who is to come, the Almighty."(2) Whom, I ask, did they pierce? For
Whose coming hope we but the Son's? Therefore, Christ is Almighty Lord,
and God.
36. Hear another passage, your sacred Majesty,--hear
the voice of Christ. "Thus saith the Lord Almighty: After His glory(3)
hath He sent me against the nations which have made spoil of you,
forasmuch as he that toucheth you is as he that toucheth the pupil of
His eye. For lo, I lay my hand upon them which despoiled you, and I
will save you, and they shall be for a spoil, which made spoil of you,
and they shall know that the Lord Almighty hath sent Me." Plainly, He
Who speaks is the Lord Almighty, and He Who hath sent is the Lord
Almighty. By consequence, then, almighty power appertains both to the
Father and to the Son; nevertheless, it is One Almighty God, for there
is oneness of Majesty.
37. Moreover, that your most excellent Majesty may
know that it is Christ which hath spoken as in the Gospel, so also in
the prophet, He saith by the mouth of Isaiah, as though foreordaining
the Gospel: "I Myself, Who spake, am come,"(4) that is to say, I, Who
spake in the Law, am present in the Gospel.
38. Elsewhere, again, He saith: "All things that the
Father hath are Mine."(5) What meaneth He by "all things"? Clearly, not
things created, for all these were made by the Son, but the things that
the Father hath--that is to say, Eternity, Sovereignty, Godhead, which
are His possession, as begotten of the Father. We cannot, then, doubt
that He is Almighty, Who hath all things that the Father hath (for it
is written: "All things that the Father hath are Mine").
CHAPTER V.
Certain passages from Scripture, urged against the Omnipotence of
Christ, are resolved; the writer is also at especial pains to show that
Christ not seldom spoke in accordance with the affections of human
nature.
39. ALTHOUGH it is written concerning God, "Blessed
and only Potentate,"(1) yet I have no misgiving that the Son of God is
thereby severed from Him, seeing that the Scripture entitled God, not
the Father by Himself, the "only Potentate." The Father Himself also
declares by the prophet, concerning Christ, that "I have set help upon
one that is mighty."(2) It is not the Father alone, then, Who is the
only Potentate; God the Son also is Potentate, for in the Father's
praise the Son is praised too.
40. Aye, let some one show what there is that the
Son of God cannot do. Who was His helper, when He made the
heavens,--Who, when He laid the foundations of the world?(3) Had He any
need of a helper to set men free, Who needed none in constituting(4)
angels and principalities?(5)
41. "It is written," say they: "'My Father, if it be
possible, take away this cup from Me.'(6) If, then, He is Almighty, how
comes He to doubt of the possibility?" Which means that, because I have
proved Him to be Almighty, I have proved Him unable to doubt of
possibility.
42. The words, you say, are the words of Christ.
True--consider, though, the occasion of His speaking them, and in what
character He speaks. He hath taken upon Him the substance of man,(7)
and therewith its affections. Again, you find in the place above cited,
that "He went forward a little further, and fell on His face, praying,
and saying: Father, if it be possible."(8) Not as God, then, but as
man, speaketh He, for could God be ignorant of the possibility or
impossibility of aught? Or is anything impossible for God, when the
Scripture saith: "For Thee nothing is impossible "?(9)
43. Of Whom, howbeit, does He doubt--of Himself, or
of the Father? Of Him, surely, Who saith: "Take away from Me,"--being
moved as man is moved to doubt. The prophet reckons nothing impossible
with God. The prophet doubts not; think you that the Son doubts? Wilt
thou put God lower than man? What--God hath doubts of His Father, and
is fearful at the thought of death! Christ, then, is afraid--afraid,
whilst Peter fears nothing. Peter saith:
229
"I will lay down my life for Thy sake."(1) Christ saith: "My soul is
troubled."(2)
44. Both records are true, and it is equally natural
that the person who is the less should not fear, as that He Who is the
greater should endure this feeling, for the one has all a man's
ignorance of the might of death, whilst the other, as being God
inhabiting a body, displays the weakness of the flesh, that the
wickedness of those who deny the mystery of the Incarnation might have
no excuse. Thus, then, hath He spoken, yet the Manichaean believed
not;(3) Valentinus denied,and Marcion judged Him to be a ghost.
45. But indeed He so far put Himself on a level with
man, such as He showed Himself to be in the reality of His bodily
frame, as to say, "Nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou wilt,"(4)
though truly it is Christ's especial power to will what the Father
wills, even as it is His to do what the Father doeth.
46. Here, then, let there be an end of the objection
which it is your custom to oppose to us, on the ground that the Lord
said, "Not as I will, but as Thou wilt;" and again, "For this cause I
came down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him that
sent Me."(5)
CHAPTER VI.
The passages of Scripture above cited are taken as an occasion for a
digression, wherein our Lord's freedom of action is proved from the
ascription to the Spirit of such freedom, and from places where it is
attributed to the Son.
47. Let US now, for the present, explain more fully
why our Lord said, "If it be possible," and so call a truce, as it
were, while we show that He possessed freedom of will. Ye deny--so far
are ye gone in the way of iniquity--that the Son of God had a free
will. Moreover, it is your wont to detract from the Holy Spirit, though
you cannot deny that it is written: "The Spirit doth breathe, where He
will."(6) "Where He will," saith the Scripture, not "where He is
ordered." If, then, the Spirit doth breathe where He will, cannot the
Son do what He will? Why, it is the very same Son of God Who in His
Gospel saith that the Spirit has power to breathe where He will. Doth
the Son, therefore, confess the Spirit to be greater, in that He has
power to do what is not permitted to Himself?
48. The Apostle also saith that "all is the work of
one and the same Spirit, distributing to each according to His
will."(1) "According to His will," mark you--that is, according to the
judgment of a free will, not in obedience to compulsion. Furthermore,
the gifts distributed by the Spirit are no mean gifts, but such works
as God is wont to do,--the gift of healing and of working deeds of
power. While the Spirit, then, distributes as He will, the Son of God
cannot set free whom He will. But hear Him speak when He does even as
He will: "I have willed to do Thy will, O my God;"(2) and again: "I
will offer Thee a freewill offering."(3)
49. The holy Apostle later knew that Jesus had it in
His power to do as He would, and therefore, seeing Him walk upon the
sea, said: "Lord, if it be Thou, bid me come to Thee over the
waters."(4) Peter believed that if Christ commanded, the natural
conditions could be changed, so that water might support human
footsteps, and things discrepant be reduced to harmony and agreement.
Peter asks of Christ to command, not to request: Christ requested not,
but commanded, and it was done--and Arius denies it!
50. What indeed is there that the Father will have,
but the Son will not, or that the Son will have, but the Father will
not? "The Father quickeneth whom He will," and the Son quickeneth whom
He will, even as it is written.s Tell me now whom the Son hath
quickened, and the Father would not quicken. Since, however, the Son
quickeneth whom He will, and the action [of Father and Son] is one, you
see that not only doeth the Son the Father's will, but the Father also
doeth the Son's. For what is quickening but quickening through the
passion of Christ? But the passion of Christ is the Father's will.
Whom, therefore, the Son quickeneth, He quickeneth by the will of the
Father; therefore their will is one.
51. Again, what was the will of the Father, but that
Jesus should come into the world
230
and cleanse us from our sins? Hear the words of the leper: "If Thou
wilt, Thou canst make me clean."(1) Christ answered, "I will," and
straightway health, the effect, followed. See you not that the Son is
master of His own will, and Christ's will is the same as the Father's.
Indeed, seeing that He hath said, "All things that the Father hath are
Mine,"(2) nothing of a certainty being excepted, the Son hath the same
will that the Father hath.
CHAPTER VII
The resolution of the difficulty set forth for consideration is again
taken in hand. Christ truly and really took upon Him a human will and
affections, the source of whatsoever was not in agreement with His
Godhead, and which must be therefore referred to the fact that He was
at the same time both God and an.
52. There is, therefore, unity of will where there
is unity of working; for in God His will issues straightway in actual
effect. But the will of God is one, and the human will another.
Further, to show that life is the object of human will, because we fear
death whilst the passion of Christ depended on the Divine Will, that He
should suffer for us, the Lord said, when Peter would have detained Him
from suffering: "Thou savourest not of the things which be of God, but
the things which be of men."(3)
53. My will, therefore, He took to Himself, my
grief. In confidence I call it grief, because I preach His Cross. Mine
is the will which He called His own, for as man He bore my grief, as
man He spake, and therefore said, "Not as I will, but as Thou wilt."
Mine was the grief, and mine the heaviness with which He bore it, for
no man exults when at the point to die. With me and for me He suffers,
for me He is sad, for me He is heavy. In my stead, therefore, and in me
He grieved Who had no cause to grieve for Himself.
54. Not Thy wounds, but mine, hurt Thee, Lord Jesus;
not Thy death, but our weakness, even as the Prophet saith: "For He is
afflicted for our sakes"(4)--and we, Lord, esteemed Thee afflicted,
when Thou grievedst not for Thyself, but for me.
55. And what wonder if He grieved for all, Who wept
for one? What wonder if, in the hour of death, He is heavy for all, Who
wept when at the point to raise Lazarus from the dead? Then, indeed, He
was moved by a loving sister's tears, for they touched His human
heart,--here by secret grief He brought it to pass that, even as His
death made an end of death, and His stripes healed our scars, so also
His sorrow took away our sorrow.(1)
56. As being man, therefore, He doubts; as man He is
amazed. Neither His power nor His Godhead is amazed, but His soul; He
is amazed by consequence of having taken human infirmity upon Him.
Seeing, then, that He took upon Himself a soul He also took the
affections of a soul,(2) for God could not have been distressed or have
died in respect of His being God. Finally, He cried: "My God, My God,
why hast Thou forsaken Me?"(3) As being man, therefore, He speaks,
bearing with Him my terrors, for when we are in the midst of dangers we
think ourself abandoned by God. As man, therefore, He is distressed, as
man He weeps, as man He is crucified.
57. For so hath the Apostle Paul likewise said:
"Because they have crucified the flesh of Christ."(4) And again the
Apostle Peter saith: "Christ having suffered according to the
flesh."(5) It was the flesh, therefore, that suffered; the Godhead
above secure from death; to suffering His body yielded, after the law
of human nature; can the Godhead die, then, if the soul cannot?" "Fear
not them," said our Lord, "which can kill the body, but cannot kill the
soul."(6) If the soul, then, cannot be killed, how can the Godhead?
58. When we read, then, that the Lord of glory was
crucified, let us not suppose that He was crucified as in His glory.(7)
It is because He Who is God is also man, God by virtue of His Divinity,
and by taking upon Him of the flesh, the man Christ Jesus, that the
Lord of glory is said to have been crucified; for, possessing both
natures, that is,
231
the human and the divine, He endured the Passion in His humanity, in
order that without distinction He Who suffered should be called both
Lord of glory and Son of man, even as it is written: "Who descended
from heaven."(1)
CHAPTER VIII.
Christ's saying, "The Father is greater than I," is explained in
accordance with the principle just established. Other like sayings are
expounded in like fashion. Our Lord cannot, as touching His Godhead, be
called inferior to the Father.
59. It was due to His humanity, therefore, that our
Lord doubted and was sore distressed, and rose from the dead, for that
which fell doth also rise again. Again, it was by reason of His
humanity that He said those words, which our adversaries use to
maliciously turn against Him: "Because the Father is greater than I."(2)
60. But when in another passage we read: "I came out
from the Father, and am come into the world; again, I leave the world,
and go to the Father,"(3) how doth He go, except through death, and how
comes He, save by rising again? Furthermore, He added, in order to show
that He spake concerning His Ascension: "Therefore have I told you
before it come to pass, in order that, when it shall have come to pass,
ye may believe."(4) For He was speaking of the sufferings and
resurrection of His body, and by that resurrection they who before
doubted were led to believe--for, indeed, God, Who is always present in
every place, passes not from place to place. As it is a man who goes,
so it is He Himself Who comes. Furthermore, He says in another place:
"Rise, let us go hence."(5) In that, therefore, doth He go and come,
which is common to Him and to us.
61. How, indeed, can He be a lesser God when He is
perfect and true God Yet in respect of His humanity He is less--and
still you wonder that speaking in the person of a man He called the
Father greater than Himself, when in the person of a man He called
Himself a worm, and not a man, saying: "But I am a worm, and no man;
"(6) and again: "He was led as a sheep to the slaughter."(7)
62. If you pronounce Him less than the Father in
this respect, I cannot deny it; nevertheless, to speak in the words of
Scripture, He was not begotten inferior, but "made lower,"(1) that is,
made inferior. And how was He "made lower," except that, "being in the
form of God, He thought it not a prey that He should be equal with God,
but emptied Himself;"(2) not, indeed, parting with what He was, but
taking up what He was not, for "He took the form of a servant."(3)
63. Moreover, to the end that we might know Him to
have been "made lower," by taking upon Him a body, David has shown that
he is prophesying of a man, saying: "' What is man, that Thou art
mindful of him, or the son of man, but that Thou visitest him? Thou
hast made him a little lower than the angels."(4) And in interpreting
this same passage the Apostle says: "For we see Jesus, made a little
lower than the angels, crowned with glory and honour because that He
suffered death. in order that apart from God He might taste death for
all."(5)
64. Thus, the Son of God was made lower than, not
only the Father, but angels also. And if you will turn this to His
dishonour; [I ask] is then the Son, in respect of His Godhead, less
than His angels who serve Him and minister to Him? Thus, in your
purpose to diminish His honour, you run into the blasphemy of exalting
the nature of angels above the Son of God. But "the servant is not
above his master."(6) Again, angels ministered to Him even after His
Incarnation, to the end that you should acknowledge Him to have
suffered no loss of majesty by reason of His bodily nature, for God
could not submit to any loss of Himself,(7) whilst that which He has
taken of the Virgin neither adds to nor takes away from His divine
power.
65. He, therefore, possessing the fulness of
Divinity and glory,(3) is not, in respect of His Divinity, inferior.
Greater and less are distinctions proper to corporeal existences; one
who is greater is so in respect of rank, or qualities, or at any rate
of age. These terms lose their meaning when we come to treat of the
things of God. He is commonly entitled the greater who instructs and
informs another, but it is not the case with God's Wisdom that it has
been built up by teaching received from another, forasmuch as Itself
hath laid the foundation of all teaching. But how wisely wrote the
Apostle: "In order that apart from God
232
He might taste death for all,"--lest we should suppose the Godhead, not
the flesh, to have endured that Passion!
66. If our opponents, then, have found no means to
prove [the Father] greater [than the Son], let them not pervert words
unto false reports, but seek out their meaning. I ask them, therefore,
as touching what do they esteem the Father the greater? If it is
because He is the Father, then [I answer] here we have no question of
age or of time--the Father is not distinguished by white hairs, nor the
Son by youthfulness --and it is on these conditions that the greater
dignity of a father depends."(1) But "father" and "son" are names, the
one of the parent, the other of the child--names which seem to join
rather than separate; for dutifulness inspires no loss of personal
worth, inasmuch as kinship binds men together, and does not rend them
asunder.
67. If, then, they cannot make the order of nature a
support for any questioning, let them now believe the witness [of
Scripture]. Now the Evangelist testifies that the Son is not lower
[than the Father] by reason of being the Son; nay, he even declares
that, in being the Son, He is equal, saying, "For the Jews sought to
kill Him for this cause, that not only did He break the Sabbath, but
even called God His own Father, making Himself equal to God."(2)
68. This is not what the Jews said--it is the
Evangelist who testifies that, in calling Himself God's own Son, He
made Himself equal to God, for the Jews are not presented as saying,
"For this cause we sought to kill Him;" the Evangelist, speaking for
himself, says, "For the Jews sought to kill Him for this cause."(3)
Moreover, he has discovered the cause, [in saying] that the Jews were
stirred with desire to slay Him because, when as God He broke the
Sabbath, and also claimed God as His own Father, He ascribed to Himself
not only the majesty of divine authority in breaking the Sabbath, but
also, in speaking of His Father, the right appertaining to eternal
equality.
69. Most fitting was the answer which the Son of God
made to these Jews, proving Himself the Son and equal of God.
"Whatsoever things," He said, "the Father hath done, the Son doeth also
in like wise."(1) The Son, therefore, is both entitled and proved the
equal of the Father--a true equality, which both excludes difference of
Godhead, and discovers, together with the Son, the Father also, to Whom
the Son is equal; for there is no equality where there is difference,
nor again where there is but one person, inasmuch as none is by himself
equal to himself. Thus hath the Evangelist shown why it is fitting that
Christ should call Himself the Son of God, that is, make Himself equal
with God.
70. Hence the Apostle, following this revelation,
hath said: "He thought it not a prey that He should be equal with
God."(2) For that which a man has not he seeks to carry off as a prey.
Equality with the Father, therefore, which, as God and Lord, He
possessed in His own substance, He had not as a spoil wrongfully
seized. Wherefore the Apostle added [the words]: "He took the form of a
servant." Now surely a servant is the opposite of an equal. Equal,
therefore, is the Son, in the form of God, but inferior in taking upon
Him of the flesh and in His sufferings as a man. For how could the same
nature be both lower and equal? And how, if [the Son] be inferior, can
He do the same things, in like manner, as the Father doeth? How,
indeed, can there be sameness of operation with diversity of power? Can
the inferior ever work such effects as the greater, or can there be
unity of operation where there is diversity of substance?
71. Admit, therefore, that Christ, as touching His
Godhead, cannot be called inferior [to the Father].(3) Christ speaks to
Abraham: "By Myself have I sworn."(4) Now the Apostle shows that He Who
swears by Himself cannot be lower than any. Thus he saith, "When God
rewarded Abraham with His promise, He swore by Himself, forasmuch as He
had none other that was greater, saying, Surely with blessing will I
bless thee, and with multiplying will I multiply thee."(5) Christ had,
therefore, none greater, and for that cause sware He by Himself.
Moreover, the Apostle has
233
rightly added, "for men swear by one greater than themselves,"
forasmuch as men have one who is greater than themselves, but God hath
none.
72. Otherwise, if our adversaries will understand
this passage as referred to the Father, then the rest of the record
does not agree with it. For the Father did not appear to Abraham, nor
did Abraham wash the feet of God the Father, but the feet of Him in
Whom is the image of the man that shall be.(1) Moreover, the Son of God
saith, "Abraham saw My day, and rejoiced."(2) It is He, therefore, Who
sware by Himself, [and] Whom Abraham saw.
73. And how, indeed, hath He any greater than
Himself Who is one with the Father in Godhead?(3) Where there is unity,
there is no dissimilarity, whereas between greater and less there is a
distinction. The teaching, therefore, of the instance from Scripture
before us, with regard to the Father and the Son, is that neither is
the Father greater, nor hath the Son any that is above Him, inasmuch as
in Father and Son there is no difference of Godhead parting them, but
one majesty.
CHAPTER IX.
The objection that the Son, being sent by the Father, is, in that
regard at least, inferior, is met by the answer that He was also sent
by the Spirit, Who is yet not considered greater than the Son.
Furthermore, the Spirit, in His turn, is sent by the Father to the Son,
in order that Their unity in action might be shown forth. It is our
duty, therefore, carefully to distinguish what utterances are to be
fitly ascribed to Christ as God, and what to be ascribed to Him as man.
74. I have no fears in the matter of that commonly
advanced objection, that Christ is inferior because He was sent. For
even if He be inferior, yet this is not so proved;(4) on the other
hand, His equal title to honour is in truth proved. Since all honour
the Son as they honour the Father,(5) it is certain that the Son is
not, in so far as being sent, inferior.
75. Regard not, therefore, the narrow bounds of
human language, but the plain meaning of the words, and believe facts
accomplished. Bethink you that our Lord Jesus Christ said in Isaiah
that He had been sent by the Spirit.(6) Is the Son, therefore, less
than the Spirit because He was sent by the Spirit? Thus you have the
record, that the Son declares Himself sent by the Father and His
Spirit. "I am the beginning," He saith,(1) "and I live for ever, and My
hand hath laid the foundations of the earth, My right hand hath made
the heaven to stand abidingly;"(2) and further on: "I have spoken, and
I have called; I have brought him, and have made his way to prosper.
Draw ye near to Me, and hear these things: not in secret have I spoken
from the beginning. When they were made, I was there: and now hath the
Lord and His Spirit sent Me."(3) Here, indeed, He Who made the heaven
and the earth Himself saith that He is sent by the Lord and His Spirit.
Ye see, then, that the poverty of language takes not from the honour of
His mission. He, then, is sent by the Father; by the Spirit also is He
sent.
76. And that you may gather that there is no
separating difference of majesty, the Son in turn sends the Spirit,
even as He Himself hath said: "But when the Comforter is come, whom I
will send you from My Father--the Spirit of truth, who cometh forth
from My Father."(4) That this same Comforter is also to be sent by the
Father He has already taught, saying, "But the Comforter, that Holy
Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name. "(5) Behold their unity,
inasmuch as whom God the Father sends, the Son sends also, and Whom the
Father sends, the Spirit sends also. Else, if the Arians will not admit
that the Son was sent, because we read that the Son is the right hand
of the Father, then they themselves will confess with respect to the
Father, what they deny concerning the Son, unless perchance they
discover for themselves either another Father or another Son.
77. A truce, then, to vain wranglings over words,
for the kingdom of God, as it is written, consisteth not in persuasive
words, but in power plainly shown forth. Let us take heed to the
distinction of the Godhead from the flesh. In each there speaks one and
the same Son of God, for each nature is present in Him; yet while it is
the same Person Who speaks, He speaks not always in the same manner.
Behold in Him, now the
234
glory of God, now the affections of man. As God He speaks the things of
God, because He is the Word; as man He speaks the things of man,
because He speaks in my nature.
78. "This is the living bread, which came down from
heaven."(1) This bread is His flesh, even as He Himself said: "This
bread which I will give is My flesh."(2) This is He Who came down from
heaven, this is He Whom the Father hath sanctified and sent into this
world. Even the letter itself teaches us that not the Godhead but the
flesh needed sanctification, for the Lord Himself said, "And I sanctify
Myself for them,"(3) in order that thou mayest acknowledge that He is
both sanctified in the flesh for us, and sanctifies by virtue of His
Divinity.
79. This is the same One Whom the Father sent, but
"born of a woman, born under the law,"(4) as the Apostle hath said.
This is He Who saith: "The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me; wherefore He
hath anointed Me, to bring good tidings to the poor hath He sent
Me:"(5) This is He Who saith: My doctrine is not Mine, but His, Who
sent Me. If any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine,
whether it be of God, or whether I speak of Myself."(6) Doctrine that
is of God, then, is one thing; doctrine that is of man, another; and so
when the Jews, regarding Him as man, called in question His
teaching,(7) and said," How knoweth this man letters, having never
learnt?" Jesus answered and said, "My doctrine is not Mine," for, in
teaching without elegance of letters, He seems to teach not as man, but
rather as God, having not learned, but devised His doctrine.
80. For He hath found and devised all the way of
discipline, as we read above, inasmuch as of the Son of God it hath
been said: "This is our God, and none other shall be accounted of in
comparison with Him, Who hath found all the way of discipline. After
these things He was seen on earth, and conversed with men."(8) How,
then, could He, as divine, not have His own doctrine--He Who hath found
all the way of discipline before He was seen on earth? Or how is He
inferior, of Whom it is said, "None shall be accounted of in comparison
with Him"? Surely He is entitled incomparable, in comparison of Whom
none other can be accounted of--yet so that He cannot be accounted of
before the Father. Now if men suppose that the Father is spoken of,
they shall not escape running into the blasphemy of Sabellius, of
ascribing the assumption of human nature to the Father.
81. Let us proceed with what follows. "He who
speaketh of himself, seeketh his own glory. "(1) See the unity wherein
Father and Son are plainly revelled.(2) He who speaks cannot but be;
yet that which He speaks cannot be solely from Him, for in Him all that
is, is naturally derived from the Father.
82. What now is the meaning of the words "seeketh
his own glory"? That is, not a glory in which the Father has no
part--for indeed the Word of God is His glory. Again, our Lord saith:
"that they may see My glory."(3) But that glory of the Word is also the
glory of the Father, even as it is written: "The Lord Jesus Christ is
in the glory of God the Father."(4) In regard of His Godhead,
therefore, the Son of God so hath His own glory, that the glory of
Father and Son is one: He is not, therefore, inferior in splendour, for
the glory is one, nor lower in Godhead, for the fulness of the Godhead
is in Christ.(5)
83. How, then, you ask, is it written, "Father, the
hour is come; glorify Thy Son?"(6) He Who saith these words needs to be
glorified, say you. Thus far you have eyes to see; the remainder of the
Scripture you have not read, for it proceeds: "that Thy Son may glorify
Thee." Hath ever the Father need of any, in that He is to be glorified
by the Son ?
CHAPTER X.
The objection taken on the ground of the Son's obedience is disproved,
and the unity of power, Godhead, and operation in the Trinity set
forth, Christ's obedience to His mother, to whom He certainly cannot be
called inferior, is noticed.
84. In like manner our adversaries commonly make a
difficulty of the Son's obedience, forasmuch as it is written: "And
235
being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself, and became
obedient even unto death."(1) The writer has not only told us that the
Son was obedient even unto death, but also first shown that He was man,
in order that we might understand that obedience unto death was the
part not of His Godhead but of His Incarnation, whereby He took upon
Himself both the functions and the names belonging to our nature.
85. Thus we have learnt that the power of the
Trinity is one, as we are taught both in and after the Passion itself:
for the Son suffers through His body, which is the earnest of it; the
Holy Spirit is poured upon the apostles: into the Father's hands the
spirit is commended; furthermore, God is with a mighty voice proclaimed
the Father. We have learnt that there is one form, one likeness, one
sanctification, of the Father and of the Son, one activity, one glory,
finally, one Godhead.
86. There is, therefore, but one only God, for it is
written: "Thou shall worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shall thou
serve."(2) One God, not in the sense that the Father and the Son are
the same Person, as the ungodly Sabellius affirms--but forasmuch as
there is one Godhead of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Ghost. But where there is one Godhead, there is one will, one purpose.
87. Again, that thou mayest know that the Father is,
and the Son is, and that the work of the Father and of the Son is one,
follow the saying of the Apostle: "Now may God Himself, and our Father,
and our Lord Jesus Christ direct our way unto you."(3) Both Father and
Son are named, but there is unity of direction,(4) because unity of
power. So also in another place we read: "Now may our Lord Himself,
Jesus Christ, and God and our Father, Who hath loved us, and given us
eternal consolation, and good hope in grace, console and strengthen
your hearts."(5) How perfect a unity it is that the Apostle presents to
us, insomuch that the fount of consolation is not many, but one. Let
doubt be dumb, then, or, if it will not be overcome by reason, let the
thought of our Lord's gracious kindliness bend it.
88. Let us call to mind how kindly our Lord hath
dealt with us, in that He taught us not only faith but manners also.
For, having taken His place in the form of man, He was subject to
Joseph and Mary.(1) Was He less than all mankind, then, because He was
subject? The part of dutifulness is one, that of sovereignty is
another, but dutifulness doth not exclude sovereignty. Wherein, then,
was He subject to the Father's law? In His body, surely, wherein He was
subject to His mother.
CHAPTER XI.
The purpose and healing effects of the Incarnation. The profitableness
of faith, whereby we know that Christ bore all infirmities for our
sakes,--Christ, Whose Godhead revealed Itself in His Passion; whence we
understand that the mission of the Son of God entailed no subservience,
which belief we need not fear lest it displease the Father, Who
declares Himself to be well pleased in His Son.
89. Let us likewise deal kindly, let us persuade our
adversaries of that which is to their profit, "let us worship and
lament before the Lord our Maker."(2) For we would not overthrow, but
rather heal; we lay no ambush for them, but warn them as in duty bound.
Kindliness often bends those whom neither force nor argument will avail
to overcome. Again, our Lord cured with oil and wine the man who, going
down from Jerusalem to Jericho, fell among thieves; having forborne to
treat him with the harsh remedies of the Law or the sternness of
Prophecy.
90. To Him, therefore, let all come who would be
made whole. Let them receive the medicine which He hath brought down
from His Father and made in heaven, preparing it of the juices of those
celestial fruits that wither not. This is of no earthly growth, for
nature nowhere possesseth this compound. Of wondrous purpose took He
our flesh, to the end that He might show that the law of the flesh had
been subjected to the law of the mind, He was incarnate, that He, the
Teacher of men, might overcome as man.
91. Of what profit would it have been to me, had He,
as God, bared the arm of His power, and only displayed His Godhead
inviolate? Why should He take human nature upon Him, but to suffer
Himself to be tempted Under the conditions of my nature and my
weakness? It was right that He should be tempted, that He should suffer
with me. to the end that I might know how to conquer when tempted, how
236
to escape when hard pressed. He overcame by force of continence, of
contempt of riches, of faith; He trampled upon ambition, fled from
intemperance, bade wantonness be far from Him.
93. This medicine Peter beheld, and left His nets,
that is to say, the instruments and security of gain, renouncing the
lust of the flesh as a leaky ship, that receives the bilge, as it were,
of multitudinous passions. Truly a mighty remedy, that not only removed
the scar of an old wound, but even cut the root and source of passion.
O Faith, richer than all treasure-houses; O excellent remedy, healing
our wounds and sins!
93. Let us bethink ourselves of the profitableness
of right belief. It is profitable to me to know that for my sake Christ
bore my infirmities, submitted to the affections of my body, that for
me, that is to say, for every man, He was made sin, and a curse,(1)
that for me and in me was He humbled and made subject, that for me He
is the Lamb, the Vine, the Rock,(2) the Servant, the Son of an
handmaid,(3) knowing not the day of judgment, for my sake ignorant of
the day and the hour.(4)
94. For how could He, Who hath made days and times,
be ignorant of the day? How could He not know the day, Who hath
declared both the season of Judgment to come, and the cause?(5) A
curse, then, He was made not in respect of His Godhead, but of His
flesh; for it is written: "Cursed is every one that hangeth on a
tree."(6) In and after the flesh, therefore, He hung, and for this
cause He, Who bore our curses, became a curse.(7) He wept that thou,
man, mightest not weep long. He endured insult, that thou mightest not
grieve over the wrong done to thee.(8)
95. A glorious remedy--to have consolation of
Christ! For He bore these things with surpassing patience for our
sakes--and we forsooth cannot bear them with common patience for the
glory of His Name! Who may not learn to forgive, when assailed, seeing
that Christ, even on the Cross, prayed,--yea, for them that persecuted
Him? See you not that those weaknesses, as you please to call them, of
Christ's are your strength?(1) Why question Him in the matter of
remedies for us? His tears wash us, His weeping cleanses us,--and there
is strength in this doubt, at least, that if you begin to doubt, you
will despair. The greater the insult, the greater is the gratitude due.
96. Even in the very hour of mockery and insult,
acknowledge His Godhead. He hung upon the Cross, and all the elements
did Him homage.(2) The sun withdrew his rays, the daylight vanished,
darkness came down and covered the land, the earth trembled; yet He Who
hung there trembled not. What was it that these signs betokened, but
reverence for the Creator? That He hangs upon the Cross--this, thou
Arian, thou regardest; that He gives the kingdom of God--this, thou
regardest not. That He tasted of death, thou readest, but that He also
invited the robber into paradise,(3) to this thou givest no heed. Thou
dost gaze at the women weeping by the tomb, but not upon the angels
keeping watch by it.(4) What He said, thou readest: what He did, thou
dost not read. Thou sayest that the Lord said to the Canaanitish woman:
"I am not sent, but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel,"(5) thou
dost not say that He did what He was besought by her to do.
97. Thou shouldst hereby understand that His being
"sent" means not that He was compelled, at the command of another, but
that He acted, of free will, according to His own judgment, otherwise
thou dost accuse Him of despising His Father. For if, according to
thine expounding, Christ had come into Jewry, as one executing the
Father's commands, to relieve the inhabitants of Jewry, and none
besides, and yet before that was accomplished, set free the Canaanitish
woman's daughter from her complaint, surely He was not only the
executor of another's instruction, but was free to exercise His own
judgment. But where there is freedom to act as one will, there can be
no transgressing the terms of one's mission.
98. Fear not that the Son's act displeased the
Father, seeing that the Son Himself
237
saith: "Whatsoever things are His good pleasure, I do always," and "The
works that I do, He Himself doeth."(1) How, then, could the Father be
displeased with that which He Himself did through the Son? For it is
One God, Who, as it is written, "hath justified circumcision in
consequence of faith, and uncircumcision through faith."(2)
99. Read all the Scriptures, mark all diligently,
you will then find that Christ so manifested Himself that God might be
discerned in man. Misunderstand not maliciously the Son's exultation in
the Father, when you hear the Father declaring His pleasure in the Son.
CHAPTER XII.
Do the Catholics or the Arians take the better course to assure
themselves of the favour of Christ as their Judge? An objection
grounded on Ps. cx. 1 is disposed of, it being shown that when the Son
is invited by the Father to sit at His right hand, no subjection is
intended to be signified--nor yet any preferment, in that the Son sits
at the Father's right hand. The truth of the Trinity of Persons in God,
and of the Unity of their Nature, is shown to be proved by the angelic
Trisagion.
100. Howbeit, if our adversaries cannot be turned by
kindness, let us summon them before the Judge. To what Judge, then,
shall we go? Surely to Him Who hath the Judgment. To the Father, then?
Nay, but "the Father judgeth no man, for He hath given all judgment to
the Son."(3) He hath given, that is to say, not as of largess, but in
the act of generation. See, then, how unwilling He was that thou
shouldst dishonour His Son--even so that He gave Him to be thy Judge.
101. Let us see, then, before the judgment which
hath the better cause, thou or I? Surely it is the care of a prudent
party to a suit to gain first the favourable regard of the judge. Thou
dost honour man,--dost thou not honour God? Which of the two, I ask,
wins the favour of the magistrate--respect or contempt? Suppose that I
am in error--as I certainly am not: is Christ displeased with the
honour shown Him? We are all sinners--who, then, will deserve
forgiveness, he who renders worship, or he who displays insolence?
102. If reasoning move thee not, at least let the
plain aspect of the judgment move thee! Raise thine eyes to the Judge,
see Who it is that is seated, with Whom He is seated, and where. Christ
sitteth at the right hand of the Father. If with thine eyes thou canst
not perceive this, hear the words of the prophet: "The Lord said unto
my Lord, Sit Thou on My right hand."(1) The Son, therefore, sitteth at
the right hand of the Father. Tell me now, thou who holdest that the
things of God are to be judged of from the things of this world--say
whether thou thinkest Him Who sits at the right hand to be lower? Is it
any dishonour to the Father that He sits at the Son's left hand? The
Father honours the Son, and thou makest it to be insult! The Father
would have this invitation to be a sign of love and esteem, and thou
wouldst make it an overlord's command! Christ hath risen from the dead,
and sitteth at the right hand of God.
103. "But," you object, "the Father said." Good,
hear now a passage where the Father doth not speak, and the Son
prophesies: "Hereafter ye shall see the Son of Man sitting at the right
hand of power."(2) This He said with regard to taking back to Himself
His body--to Him(3) the Father said: "Sit Thou at My right hand." If
indeed you ask of the eternal abode of the Godhead, He said--when
Pilate asked Him whether He were the King of the Jews--"For this I was
born."(4) And so indeed the Apostle shows that it is good for us to
believe that Christ sitteth at the right hand of God, not by command,
nor of any boon, but as God's most dearly beloved Son. For it is
written for you: "Seek the things that are above, where Christ is,
sitting at the right hand of God; savour the things that are above."(5)
This is to savour the things that be above--to believe that Christ, in
His sitting, does not obey as one who receives a command, but is
honoured as the well-beloved Son. It is with regard, then, to Christ's
Body that the Father saith: "Sit Thou at My right hand, until I make
Thine enemies Thy footstool."
104. If, again, you seek to pervert the sense of
these words, "I will make Thine enemies Thy footstool," I answer that
the Father also bringeth to the Son such as the Son raiseth up and
quickeneth. For "No man," saith Christ, "can come to Me, except the
Father, Which hath sent Me, draw him, and I will raise him up at the
last day."(6) And you say that the Son of God is subject
238
by reason of weakness--the Son, to Whom the Father bringeth men that He
may raise them up in the last day. Seemeth this in your eyes to be
subjection, I pray you, where the kingdom is prepared for the Father,
and the Father bringeth to the Son and there is no place for perversion
of words, since the Son giveth the kingdom to the Father, and none is
preferred before Him?(1) For inasmuch as the Father rendereth to the
Son, and the Son, again, to the Father, here are plain proofs of love
and regard: seeing that They so render, the One to the Other, that
neither He Who receiveth obtaineth as it were what was another's, nor
He That rendereth loseth.
105. Moreover, the sitting at the right hand is no
preferment, nor doth that at the left hand betoken dishonour, for there
are no degrees in the Godhead, Which is bound by no limits of space or
time, which are the weights and measures of our puny human minds. There
is no difference of love, nothing that divideth the Unity.
106. But wherefore roam so far afield? Thou hast
looked upon all around thee, thou hast seen the Judge, thou hast
remarked the angels proclaiming Him. They praise, and thou revilest
Him! Dominations and powers fall down before Him--thou speakest evil of
His Name! All His Saints adore Him. but the Son of God adores not, nor
the Holy Spirit. The seraphim say: "Holy, Holy, Holy!"(2)
107. What meaneth this threefold utterance of the
same name "Holy"? If thrice repeated, why is it but one act of praise?
If one act of praise, why a threefold repetition? Why the threefold
repetition, unless that the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are
one in holiness? The seraph spake the name, not once, lest he should
exclude the Son; not twice, lest he should pass by the Holy Spirit; not
four times, lest he should conjoin created beings [in the praise of the
Creator]. Furthermore, to show that the Godhead of the Trinity is One,
he, after the threefold "Holy," added in the singular number "the Lord
God of Sabaoth." Holy, therefore, is the Father, holy the Son, holy
likewise the Spirit of God, and therefore is the Trinity adored, but
adores not, and is praised, but praises not. As for me, I will rather
believe as the seraphim, and adore after the manner of all the
principalities and powers of heaven.
CHAPTER XIII.
The wicked and dishonourable opinions held by Arians, Sabellians, and
Manichaeans as concerning their Judge are shortly refuted. Christ's
remonstrances regarding the rest of His adversaries being set forth,
St. Ambrose expresses a hope of milder judgment for himself.
108. Let us proceed, then, with your accusations,
and see how you gain the favour of your Judge. Speak now, speak, I say,
and tell Him: "I consider Thee, O Christ, to be unlike Thy Father; "and
He will answer: "Mark, if thou canst, mark, I say, and tell Me wherein
thou holdest Me to differ."
109. Say again: "I judge Thee to be a created
being;" and Christ will reply: "If the witness of two men is true,
oughtest thou not to have believed both Me and My Father, Who hath
called Me His Son?"
110. Then you will say: "I deny Thy [perfect]
goodness;" and He will answer: "Be it unto thee according to thy faith;
so will I not be good to thee."
111. "That Thou art Almighty, I hold not;" and He
will answer, in turn: "Then can I not forgive thee thy sins."
112. "Thou art a subject being." Whereto He will
reply: "Why, then, dost thou seek freedom and pardon of Him Whom thou
thinkest to be subject as a slave?"
113. I see your accusation halt here. I press you
not, forasmuch as I myself know my own sins. I grudge you not pardon,
for I myself would obtain indulgence, but I would know the object of
your prayers. Look, then, whilst I recite before the Judge your
desires. I betray not your sins, but look to behold your prayers and
wishes set forth in their order.
114. Speak, therefore, those desires, which all
alike would have granted to them. "Lord, make me in the image of God."
Whereto He will answer: "In what image? The image which thou hast
denied?"
115. "Make me incorruptible." Surely His reply will
be: "How can I make thee incorruptible, I, Whom thou callest a created
being, and so wouldst make out to be corruptible? The dead shall rise
purified from corruption--dost thou call Him corruptible Whom thou
seest to be God?"
116. "Be good to me." "Why dost thou ask what thou
hast denied [to Me]? I would have had thee to be good, and I said ' Be
ye holy, for I Myself am holy,'(1)
239
and thou settest thyself to deny that I am good? Dost thou then look
for forgiveness of sins? Nay, none can forgive sins, but God alone.(1)
Seeing, then, that to thee I am not the true and only God, I cannot by
any means forgive thee thy sins."
117. Thus let the followers of Arius and Photinus
speak. "I deny Thy Godhead." To whom the Lord will make answer: "'The
fool hath said in his heart: There is no God'(2) Of whom, think you, is
this said?--of Jew or Gentile, or of the devil. Whosoever he be of whom
it is said, O disciple of Photinus, he is more to be borne with, who
held his peace;(3) thou, nevertheless, hast dared to lift up thy voice
to utter it, that thou mightest be proved more foolish than the fool.
Thou deniest My Godhead, whereas I said, 'Ye are gods, and ye are all
the children of the Most Highest?'(4) And thou deniest Him to be God,
Whose godlike works thou seest around thee."
118. Let the Sabellian speak in his turn. "I
consider Thee, by Thyself, to be at once Father and Son and Holy
Spirit." To whom the Lord: "Thou hearest neither the Father nor the
Son. Is there any doubt on this matter? The Scripture itself teaches
thee that it is the Father Who giveth over the judgment, and the Son
Who judges.(5) Thou hast not given ear to My words: 'I am not alone,
but I and the Father, Who sent Me.'"(6)
119. Now let the Manichaean have his word. "I hold
that the devil is the creator of our flesh." The Lord will answer him:
"What, then, doest thou in the heavenly places? Depart, go thy way to
thy creator. 'My will is that they be with Me, whom my Father hath
given Me.' Thou, Manichaean, holdest thyself for a creature of the
devil; hasten, then, to his abode, the place of fire and brimstone,
where the fire thereof is not quenched, lest ever the punishment have
an end."
120. I set aside other heretical--not persons, but portents. What
manner of judgment awaits them, what shall be the form of their
sentence? To all these He will, indeed, reply, rather in sorrow than in
anger: "O My people, what have I done unto thee, wherein have I vexed
thee? Did I not bring thee up out of Egypt, and lead thee out of the
house of bondage into liberty?"(1)
121. But it is not enough to have brought us out of
Egypt into freedom, and to have saved us from the house of bondage: a
greater boon than this, Thou hast given Thyself for us. Thou wilt say
then: "Have I not borne all your sufferings?(2) Have I not given My
Body for you? Have I not sought death, which had no part in My Godhead,
but was necessary for your redemption? Are these the thanks I am to
receive? Is it this that My Blood hath gained, even as I spake in times
past by the mouth of the prophet: 'What profit is there in My Blood,
for that I have gone down to corruption?'(3) Is this the profit, that
you should wickedly deny Me--you, for whom I endured those things?"
122. As for me, Lord Jesu, though I am conscious
within myself of great sin, yet will I say: "I have not denied Thee;
Thou mayest pardon the infirmity of my flesh. My transgression I
confess; my sin I deny not.(4) If Thou wilt Thou canst make me
clean.(5) For this saying, the leper obtained his request. Enter not, I
pray, into judgment with Thy servant.(6) I ask, not that Thou mayest
judge, but that Thou mayest forgive."
CHAPTER XIV.
The sentence of the Judge is set forth, the counter-pleas of the
opposers are considered, and the finality of the sentence, from which
there is no appeal, proved.
123. WHAT verdict do we look for from Christ? That
do I know. Do I say, what verdict will He give? Nay, He hath already
pronounced sentence. We have it in our hands. "Let all," saith He,
"honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not
the Son, honoureth not the Father, Who hath sent Him. "(7)
124. If the sentence please you not, appeal to the
Father, cancel the judgment that the Father hath given. Say that He
hath a Son Who is unlike Him. He will reply: "Then have I lied, I, Who
said to the Son, 'Let us make man in Our image and likeness.'"(8)
125. Tell the Father that He hath created
240
the Son, and He will answer: "Why, then, hast thou worshipped One Whom
thou thoughtest to be a created being?"
126. Tell Him that He hath begotten a Son Who is
inferior to Himself, and He will reply: "Compare Us, and let Us see."
127. Tell Him that you owed no credence to the Son,
whereto He will answer: "Did I not say to thee, ' This is My
well-beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased: hear ye Him'?"(1) What
mean these words "hear ye Him," if not "Hear Him when He saith: 'All
things that the Father hath are Mine' "?(2) This did the apostles hear,
even as it is written: "And they fell upon their faces, and were
greatly afraid."(3) If they who confessed Him fell to the earth, what
shall they do who have denied Him? But Jesus laid His hand upon His
apostles, and raised them up--you He will suffer to lie prone, that ye
may see not the glory ye have denied.
128. Let us look to it, then, forasmuch as whom the
Son condemneth, the Father condemneth also, and therefore let us honour
the Son, even as we honour the Father, that by the Son we may be able
to come to the Father.
CHAPTER XV.
St. Ambrose deprecates any praise of his own merits: in any case, the
Faith is sufficiently defended by the authoritative support of holy
Scripture, to whose voice the Arians, stubborn as the Jews, are deaf.
He prays that they may be moved to love the truth; meanwhile, they are
to be avoided, as heretics and enemies of Christ.
129. These arguments, your Majesty, I have set
forth, briefly and summarily, in the rough, rather than in any form of
full explanation and exact order. If indeed the Arians regard them as
imperfect and unfinished, I indeed confess that they are scarce even
begun; if they think that there be any still to be brought forward, I
allow that there be well-nigh all; for whereas the unbelievers are in
uttermost need of arguments, the faithful have enough and to spare.
Indeed, Peter's single confession was abundant to warrant faith in
Christ: "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God;"(4) for it is
enough to know His Divine Generation, without division or diminution,
being neither derivation nor creation.(5)
130. This, indeed, is declared in the books of Holy
Writ, one and all, and yet is still doubted by misbelievers: "For," as
it is written, "the heart of this people is become gross, and with
their ears they have been dull of hearing, and their eyes have they
darkened, lest ever they should see with their eyes, and hear with
their ears, and understand in their heart."(1) For, like the Jews, the
Arians' wont is to stop their ears, or make an uproar, as often as the
Word of salvation is heard.
131. And what wonder, if unbelievers doubt the word
of man, when they refuse to believe the Word of God? The Son of God, as
you will find it written in the Gospel, said: "Father, glorify Thy
Name," and from heaven was heard the voice of the Father, saying: "I
have both glorified it, and again will glorify."(2) These words the
unbelievers heard, but believed not. The Son spake, the Father
answered, and the Jews said: "A peal of thunder answered Him;" others
said: "An angel spake to Him."(3)
132. Paul, moreover, as it is written in the Acts of
the Apostles,(4) when by the Voice of Christ he received the call of
grace, several companions journeying with him at the same time, alone
said that he had heard Christ's Voice. Thus, your sacred Majesty, he
who believes, hears--and he hears, that he may believe, whilst he who
believes not, hears not, nay, he will not, he cannot hear, lest he
should believe!
133. As for me, indeed, would that they might have a
will to hear, that they might believe--to hear with true love and
meekness, as men seeking what is true, and not assailing all truth. For
it is written that we pay no heed to "endless fables and genealogies,
which do rather raise disputes than set forward the godly edification,
which is in faith. But the aim of the charge is love from a pure heart,
and a good conscience, and faith unfeigned, whence some have erred and
betaken themselves to empty babbling, desirous of being teachers
241
of the law, without understanding the words they say, nor the things
whereof they speak with assurance."(1) In another place also the same
Apostle saith: "But foolish and ignorant questionings do thou avoid."(2)
134. Such men, who sow disputes--that is to say,
heretics--the Apostle bids us leave alone. Of them he says in yet
another place, that "certain shall depart from the faith, giving heed
to deceitful spirits, and the doctrines of devils."(3)
135. John, likewise, saith that heretics are
Antichrists,(4) plainly marking out the Arians. For this [Arian] heresy
began to be after all other heresies, and hath gathered the poisons of
all. As it is written of the Antichrist, that "he opened his
mouth to blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His Name, and to make war
with His saints,"(5) so do they also dishonour the Son of God, and His
martyrs have they not spared. Moreover, that which perchance Antichrist
will not do, they have falsified the holy Scriptures. And thus he who
saith that Jesus is not the Christ, the same is Antichrist; he who
denies the Saviour of the world, denies Jesus; he who denies the Son,
denies the Father also, for it is written; "Every one which denieth the
Son, denieth the Father likewise."(6)
CHAPTER XVI.
St. Ambrose assures Gratian of victory, declaring that it has been
foretold in the prophecies of Ezekiel. This hope is further stayed upon
the emperor's piety, the former disasters being the punishment of
Eastern heresy.(7) The book doses with a prayer to God, that He will
now show His mercy, and save the army, the land, and the sovereign of
the faithful.
136. I must no further detain your Majesty, in this
season of preparation for war, and the achievement of victory over the
Barbarians. Go forth, sheltered, indeed, under the shield of faith, and
girt with the sword of the Spirit; go forth to the victory, promised of
old time, and foretold in oracles given by God.
137. For Ezekiel, in those far-off days, already
prophesied the minishing of our people, and the Gothic wars, saying:
"Prophesy, therefore, Son of Man, and say: O Gog, thus saith the
Lord--Shalt thou not, in that day when My people Israel shall be
established to dwell in peace, rise up and come forth from thy place,
from the far north, and many nations with thee, all riders upon horses,
a great and mighty gathering, and the valour of many hosts? Yea, go up
against my people Israel, as clouds to cover the land, in the last
days."(1)
138. That Gog is the Goth, whose coming forth we
have already seen, and over whom victory in days to come is promised,
according to the word of the Lord: "And they shall spoil them, who had
been their despoilers, and plunder them, who had carried off their
goods for a prey, saith the Lord. And it shall be in that day, that I
will give to Gog"--that is, to the Goths--"a place that is famous, for
Israel an high-heaped tomb of many men, of men who have made their way
to the sea, and it shall reach round about, and close the mouth of the
valley, and there [the house of Israel shall] overthrow Gog and all his
multitude, and it shall be called the valley of the multitude of Gog:
and the house of Israel shall overwhelm them, that the land may be
cleansed."(2)
139. Nor, furthermore, may we doubt, your sacred
Majesty, that we, who have undertaken the contest with alien unbelief,
shall enjoy the aid of the Catholic Faith that is strong in you.
Plainly indeed the reason of God's wrath has been already made
manifest, so that belief in the Roman Empire was first overthrown,
where faith in God gave way.(3)
140. No desire have I to recount the deaths,
tortures, and banishments of confessors, the offices of the faithful
made into presents for traitors.(4) Have we not heard, from all along
the border,--from Thrace, and through Dacia by the river, Moesia, and
all Valeria of the Pannonians,--a mingled tumult of blasphemers
preaching and barbarians invading? What profit could neighbours so
bloodthirsty bring us, or how could the Roman State be safe with such
defenders?(5)
242
141. Enough, yea, more than enough, Almighty God,
have we now atoned for the deaths of confessors, the banishment of
priests, and the guilt of wickedness so overweening, by our own blood,
our own banishment--sufficiently plain is it that they, who have broken
faith, cannot be safe. Turn again, O Lord, and set up the banners of
Thy faith.
142. No military eagles, no flight of birds,(1) here
lead the van of our army, but Thy Name, Lord Jesus, and Thy worship.
This is no land of unbelievers, but the land whose custom it is to send
forth confessors--Italy; Italy, ofttimes tempted, but never drawn away;
Italy, which your Majesty hath long defended, and now again rescued
from the barbarian. No wavering mind in our emperor, but faith firm
fixed.
143. Show forth now a plain sign of Thy Majesty,
that he who believes Thee to be the true Lord of Hosts, and Captain of
the armies of heaven; he who believes that Thou art the true Power and
Wisdom of God, no being of time nor of creation, but even as it is
written, the eternal Power and Divinity of God,(1) may, upheld by the
aid of thy Might Supreme, win the prize of victory for his Faith.
BOOK III.
CHAPTER I.
Statement of the reasons wherefore the matters, treated of shortly in
the two former, are dealt with more at length in the three later books.
Defence of the employment of fables, which is supported by the example
of Holy Writ, wherein are found various figures of poetic fable, in
particular the Sirens, which are figures of sensual pleasures, and
which Christians ought to be taught to avoid, by the words of Paul and
the deeds of Christ.
1. FORASMUCH as your most gracious Majesty had laid
command upon me to write for your own instruction some treatise
concerning the Faith, and had yourself called me to your presence and
encouraged my timidity, I, being as one on the eve of battle,(2)
composed but two books only, for the pointing out of certain ways and
paths by which our faith progresses.
2. Seeing, however, that certain malicious minds,
bent on sowing disputes, have not yet exhausted the force of their
assaults, whilst your gracious Majesty's pious anxiety calls me to
further labours, inasmuch as you desire to try in more things him whom
you have proved in a few, I am resolved to deal somewhat more
particularly with the matters whereof I have already treated in a few
words, lest it should be thought, not that I have advanced those
propositions in quietness and confidence, but that I, having asserted
them, doubted and so abandoned their defence.
3. Again, seeing that we spoke of the Hydra and
Scylla (I. vi. 46), and brought them in by way of comparison, to show
how we must beware, whether of the ever-renewed outgrowths of
infidelity, or the ill-omened shipwrecks made upon its shallows, if any
one holds that such embellishments of an argument, borrowed from the
romances of poets, are unlawful, and, from lack of opportunity to speak
evil of my faith, assails something in my language, then let him know
that not only phrases but complete verses of poetry have been woven
into the text of Holy Writ.
4. Whence, for instance, came that verse, "His
offspring truly are we,"(2) whereof Paul, by prophetic experience,(3)
taught, makes use? The course of prophetic speech avoids neither the
Giants(4) nor the Valley of the Titans,(5) and Isaiah spake of sirens
and the
243
daughters of ostriches.(1) Jeremiah also hath prophesied concerning
Babylon, that the daughters of sirens shall dwell therein,(2) in order
to show that the snares of Babylon, that is, of the tumult of this
world, are to be likened to stories of old-time lust, that seemed upon
this life's rocky shores to sing some tuneful song, but deadly withal,
to catch the souls of youth,--which the Greek poet himself tells us
that the wise man escaped through being bound, as it were, in the
chains of his own prudence.(3) So hard a thing, before Christ's coming,
was it esteemed, even for the stronger, to save themselves from the
deceitful shows and allurements of pleasure.
5. But if the poet judged the enticement of worldly
pleasure and licence destructive of men's minds and a sure cause of
shipwreck, what ought we to think, for whom it hath been written:
"Train not the flesh in concupiscence"?(4) And again: "I chastise my
body and bring it into servitude, lest whilst I preach to others, I
myself become a castaway."(5)
6. Truly, Christ won salvation for us, not by luxury
but by fasting. Moreover, it was not to obtain favour for Himself, but
to instruct us, that He fasted. Nor yet did He hunger because He was
overcome by the weakness of the body, but by His hunger He proved that
He had verily taken upon Himself a body; that so He might teach us that
He had taken not only our body, but also the weaknesses of that body,
even as it is written: "Surely He hath taken our infirmities and borne
our sicknesses."(6)
CHAPTER II.
The incidents properly affecting the body which Christ for our sake
took upon Him are not to be accounted to His Godhead, in respect
whereof He is the Most Highest. To deny which is to say that the Father
was incarnate. When we read that God is one, and that there is none
other beside Him, or that He alone has immortality, this must be
understood as true of
Christ also, not only to avoid the sinful heresy above-mentioned
(Patripassianism), but also because the activity of the Father and the
Son is declared to be one and the same.
7. IT was a bodily weakness, then, that is to say, a
weakness of ours, that He hungered; when He wept, and was sorrowful
even unto death, it was of our nature. Why ascribe the properties and
incidents of our nature to the Godhead? That He was even, as we are
told, "made," is a property of a body. Thus, indeed, we read: "Sion our
mother shall say: 'He is a man,' and in her He was made man, and the
Most High Himself laid her foundations."(1) "He was made man," mark
you, not "He was made God."(2)
8. But what is He Who is at once the Most High and
man, what but "the Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus
Who gave Himself as a ransom for us"?(3) This place indeed
refers properly to His Incarnation, for our redemption was made by His
Blood, our pardon comes through His Power, our life is secured through
His Grace. He gives as the Most High, He prays as man. The one is the
office of the Creator, the other of a Redeemer. Be the gifts as
distinct as they may, yet the Giver is one, for it was fitting(4) that
our Maker should be our Redeemer.
9. Who indeed can deny that we have plain evidence
that Christ is the Most High? He who knows otherwise makes the
sacrament of Incarnation to be the work of God the Father.(5) But that
Christ is the Most High is removed beyond doubt by what Scripture hath
said in another place, concerning the mystery of the Passion:
"The Most High sent forth His Voice, and the earth was
shaken."(6) And in the Gospel you may read: "And thou, child, shalt be
called the Prophet of the Highest; for thou shalt go before the face of
the Lord, to prepare His ways."(7) Who is "the Highest"? The Son of
God. He, then, Who is the Most High God is Christ.
10. Again, whilst God is everywhere said to be One
God, the Son of God is not separated from this Unity. For He Who is the
244
Most High is alone, as it is written: "And let them know that Thy Name
is the Lord: Thou alone art Most High over all the earth."(1)
11. And so the adversaries' injurious conclusion is
rejected with contempt and disgrace, which they drew from the Scripture
speaking of God: "Who alone hath immortality and dwelleth in light
unapproachable;(2) for these words are written of God which Name
belongs equally to Father and to Son.
12. If, indeed, wheresoever they read the Name of
God, they deny that there is any thought of the Son [as well as the
Father], they blaspheme, inasmuch as they deny the Son's Divine
Sovereignty, and they shall appear as though they shared the sinful
error of the Sabellians in teaching the Incarnation of the Father. Let
them, indeed explain how they can fail to interpret in a sense
blasphemous to the Father the words of the Apostle: "In Whom ye did
also rise again, by faith in the working of God, Who raised Him from
the dead."(3) Let them also take warning from what follows of what they
are running upon--for this is what comes after: "And though ye were
dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He quickened us
with Him, pardoning us all our offences, blotting out the handwriting
of the Ordinance, which was opposed to us, and removed it from our
midst, nailing it to His Cross, divesting Himself of the flesh."(4)
13. We are not, then, to suppose that the Father Who
raised the flesh is alone [God]; nor, again, are we to suppose the like
of the Son, Whose Body s was raised again. He Who raised, did surely
also quicken; and He who quickened, also pardoned sins; He who pardoned
sins, also blotted out the handwriting; He Who blotted out the
handwriting, also nailed it to the Cross: He who nailed it to the
Cross, divested Himself of the flesh. But it was not the Father Who
divested Himself of the flesh; for not the Father, but, as we read, the
Word was made flesh.(6) You see, then, that the Arians, in dividing the
Father from the Son, run into danger of saying that the Father endured
the Passion.
14. We, however, can easily show that the words
treat of the Son's action, for the Son Himself indeed raised His own
Body again, as He Himself said: "Destroy this Temple, and in three days
I will raise it again."(1) And He Himself quickens us together with His
Body: "For as the Father raiseth the dead and quickeneth them, so also
the Son quickeneth Whom He will."(2) And He Himself hath granted
forgiveness for sins, saying, "Thy sins be forgiven thee."(3) He too
hath nailed the handwriting of the record to His Cross, in that He was
crucified, and suffered in the body. Nor did any divest Himself of the
flesh, save the Son of God, Who invested Himself therewith. He,
therefore, Who hath achieved the work of our resurrection is plainly
pointed out to be very God.
CHAPTER III.
That the Father and the Son must not be divided(4) is
proved by the words of the Apostle, seeing that it is
befitting to the Son that He should be blessed, only
Potentate, and immortal, by nature, that is, and not by grace, as even
the angels themselves are immortal, and that He should dwell in the
unapproachable light. How it is that the Father and the Son are alike
and equally said to be "alone."
15. When, therefore, you read the Name "God,"
separate neither Father nor Son, for the Godhead of the Father and the
Son is one and the same, and therefore separate them not, when you read
the words "blessed and only Potentate,"(5) for the words are spoken of
God, even as you may read: "I charge thee before God, Who quickeneth
all things."(6) Christ also indeed doth quicken, and therefore the Name
of God is meetly given both to the Father and to the Son, inasmuch as
the effect of their activity is in agreement. Let us go on to the words
following: "I Charge thee," he says, "before God, Who quickeneth all
things, and Jesus Christ."(7)
16. The Word is in God, even as it is written: "In
God will I praise His Word."(8) In God is His Eternal Power, even
Jesus; in [speaking of] God, therefore, the Apostle hath witnessed to
the unity of the Godhead, whilst by the Name of Christ he hath
witnessed to the sacrament of the Incarnation.
17. Furthermore, to show that he hath spoken of the
Incarnation of Christ, he added: "Who bore witness under Pontius Pilate
with the good confession," [I charge thee] "keep undefiled the
commandment, until the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ,
245
Which in His own good time the blessed and only Potentate shall
manifest, the King of kings and Lord of lords, Who alone hath
immortality, and dwelleth in light unapproachable, Whom no man hath
seen, nor can see."(1) Those words, then, are written with regard to
God, of which Name the dignity and truth are common to [both the Father
and] the Son.
18. Why, then, should there be no thought of the Son
in this place, seeing that all these things hold good of the Son also?
If they do not so, then deny His Godhead, and so mayest thou deny what
is proper to be said of God. His Blessedness cannot be denied, Who
bestows blessings, for "Blessed are they whose iniquities are
forgiven."(2) He cannot but be called "Blessed," Who hath given us
wholesome teaching, even as it is written: "Which is according to the
Gospel of the beauty of the Blessed God."(3) His Power cannot be
denied, of Whom the Father saith: "I have laid help upon One that is
mighty."(4) And who dare refuse to acknowledge Him to be immortal, when
He Himself bath made others also immortal, as it is written of the
Wisdom of God: "By her shall I possess immortality."(5)
19. But the immortality of His Nature is one thing,
that of ours is another. Things perishable are not to be compared to
things divine. The Godhead is the one only Substance that death cannot
touch, and therefore it is that the Apostle, though knowing both the
[human] soul and angels to be immortal, declared that God only had
immortality. In truth, even the soul may die: "The soul that sinneth,
it shall die,"(6) and an angel is not absolutely immortal, his
immortality depending on the will of the Creator.(7)
20. Do not hastily reject this, because Gabriel dies
not, nor Raphael, nor Uriel.(8) Even in their nature there is a
capacity of sin, though not one of improvement by discipline,(1) for
every reasonable creature is exposed to influences from without itself,
and liable to judgment. It is on the influences which work upon us that
the award of judgment, and corruption, or advance to perfection, do
depend, and therefore Ecclesiastes saith: "For God shall bring all His
work to judgment."(2) Every creature, then, has within it the
possibility of corruption and death, even though it do not [at present]
die or commit sin; nor, if in anything it deliver not itself over to
sin, hath it this boon of its immortal nature, but of discipline or of
grace. Immortality, then, that is of a gift is one thing: immortality
without the possibility of change is another.(3)
21. Do we deny the immortality of Christ's
Godhead,(4) because He tasted death for all in the flesh? Then is
Gabriel better than Christ, for Gabriel never died, but Christ gave up
the ghost. But the servant is not above his lord,(5) and we must
discern the weakness of flesh from the eternity of Godhead. Christ's
Death had its source in the flesh, immortality is of the nature of
Christ's sovereignty. But if the Godhead brought it to pass that the
flesh saw not corruption, the flesh being surely by nature liable to
corruption, how could the Godhead itself have died?
22. And how is it that the Son dwelleth not in light
unapproachable, if He is in the bosom of the Father, if the Father is
Light, and the Son also is Light, because God is Light?(6) Or, if we
suppose some other light, beside the Light of the Godhead, to be the
unapproachable Light, is, then, this Light better than the Father, so
that He is not in that Light, Who, as it is written, is both with the
Father and in the Father?(7) Let men, therefore, not exclude the
thought of the Son, when they read only of "God"--and let
246
them not exclude that of the Father, when they read of "the Son"
only.(1)
23. On earth, the Son is not without(2) the Father,
and thou thinkest that the Father is without the Son in heaven? The Son
is in the flesh--(when I say "He is in the flesh" or "He is on earth,"
I speak as though we lived in the days whose story is in the Gospel,
for now we no longer know Christ "after the flesh"(3))--He is in the
flesh, and He is not alone, as it is written: "And I am not alone,
because the Father is with Me,"(4) and think you that the Father dwells
alone in the Light?
24. Lest you should regard this argument as mere
speculation take this sentence of authority. "No man," saith the
Scripture,(5) "hath seen God at any time, save the Only-begotten Son,
Who is in the bosom of the Father; He hath revealed Him."(6) How can
the Father be in solitude, if the Son be in the bosom of the Father?
How doth the Son reveal Him, Whom He seeth not? The Father, then,
exists not alone.
25. Observe now what the "solitude" of the Father
and of the Son is. The Father is alone, because there is no other
Father; the Son is alone, because there is no other Son; God is alone,
because the Godhead of the Trinity is One.
CHAPTER IV.
We are told that Christ was only "made" so far as regards the flesh.
For the redemption of mankind He needed no means of aid, even as He
needed none in order to His Resurrection, whereas others, in order to
raise the dead, had need of recourse to prayer. Even when Christ
prayed, the prayer was offered by Him in His capacity as human; whilst
He must be accounted divine from the fact that He commanded (that such
and such things should be done). On this point the devil's testimony is
truer than the Arians' arguments. The discussion concludes with an
explanation of the reason why the title of "mighty" is given to the Son
of Man.
26. IT is now sufficiently made plain that the
Father is not God in solitude, without the Son, and that the Son cannot
be thought of as God alone, without the Father, for it is in respect of
His flesh(7) that we read that the Son of God was "made," not in
respect of His generation from God the Father.
27. Indeed, in what sense He was "made" He has
declared by the mouth of the holy patriarch, saying: "For My soul is
filled with sorrow to overflowing, and My life hath drawn near unto
hell. I have been counted with them that go down into the pit; I have
been made as a man free, without help, amongst the dead."(1) Here,
then, we read: "I have been made as a man," not "I have been made as
God;" and again: "My soul overfloweth with sorrows." "My soul," mark
you, not "My Godhead." He was "made" in so far as that was concerned
wherein He was due to hell,(2) wherein He was reckoned with others, for
the Godhead admits of no likeness which may be ground for classing it
with others. Yet mark how the majesty of Godhead shows itself in
Christ, even in that flesh which was appointed to death. Although He
was "made" as a man, and "made" as flesh, yet He was made free amongst
the dead, "free, without help."
28. But how can the Son say here that He was without
help, when it has already been said: "I have laid help upon One that is
mighty"?(3) Distinguish here also the two natures present. The flesh
hath need of help, the Godhead hath no need. He is free, then, because
the chains of death had no hold upon Him. He was not made prisoner by
the powers of darkness, it is He Who exerted power amongst them.(4) He
is "without help," because He Himself, the Lord, hath by no office of
messenger or ambassador, but by His own might, saved His people. How
could He, Who raised others to life, require any help in order to raise
His own body?
29. And though men also have raised the dead, still
they did this not of their own power, but in the Name of Christ. To ask
is one thing, to command is another; to obtain is different from
bestowing.
30. Elijah, then, raised the dead, but he prayed--he
did not command.(5) Elisha raised one to life after laying himself upon
the dead body, in accordance with its posture;(6) and, again, the very
contact of Elisha's corpse gave life to the dead, that the prophet
might foreshow the coming of Him, Who, being sent in the likeness of
sinful flesh,(7) should, even after His burial, raise the dead to life.
247
31. Peter, again, when he healed Aeneas, said: "In
the Name of Jesus of Nazareth, rise and walk."(1) Not in his own name,
but in the Name of Christ. But "rise" is a command; on the other hand,
it is an instance of confidence in one's right,(2) not an arrogant
claim to power, and the authority of the command stood in the effective
influence of the Name, not in its own might. What answer, then, make
the Arians? Peter commands in the Name of Christ,--this on the one
hand: on the other, they will have it that the Son of God did not
command, but requested.
32. We read, they objected, of His uttering a
prayer.(3) But take note of the difference. He prays as Son of Man, He
commands as Son of God. Will you not ascribe unto the Son of God what
even the devil has ascribed? Will you accuse yourselves of greater
wickedness than Satan's? The devil saith: "If Thou be the Son of God,
command this stone that it become bread."(4) Satan saith "command," you
say "entreat." The devil believes that, at the word of God's Son, the
nature of an elementary substance may be exchanged for that of a
composite one; you think that, unless the Son of God prefers a request,
even His Will cannot be done. Again, the devil thinks that the Son of
God is to be esteemed from His power,(5) you that He is to be esteemed
from His infirmity. The devil's temptations are more tolerable than the
Arians' disputings.
33. Let us not, then, be troubled if we find the Son
of Man entitled "mighty" in one place, and yet in another, that the
Lord of glory was crucified.(6) What might is greater than sovereignty
over the powers of heaven? But this was in the hands of Him Who ruled
over thrones, principalities, angels; for, although He was amongst the
wild beasts, as it is written, yet angels ministered to Him, that you
may perceive the difference between what is proper to the Incarnation,
and what is proper to Sovereignty. So far as His flesh is concerned,
then, He endures the assault of wild beasts; in regard of His
Godhead,(7) He is adored by angels.
34. We have learnt, then, that He was made man, and
that His being made must be referred to His manhood. Furthermore, in
another passage of Scripture, you may read: "Who was made for Him of
the seed of David,"(1) that is to say, in respect of the flesh He was
"made" of the seed of David, but He was God begotten of God before the
worlds.
CHAPTER V.
Passages brought forward from Scripture to show that "made" does not
always mean the same as "created;" whence it is concluded that the
letter of Holy Writ should not be made the ground of captious
arguments, after the manner of the Jews, who, however, are shown to be
not so bad as the heretics, and thus the principle already set forth is
confirmed anew.
35. AT the same time, becoming(3) does not always
imply creation; for we read: "Lord, Thou art become our refuge,"(3) and
"Thou hast become my salvation."(4) Plainly, here is no statement of
the fact or purpose of a creation, but God is said to have become my
"refuge" and have turned to my "salvation,"(5) even as the Apostle hath
said: "Who became for us(6) Wisdom from God, and Righteousness, and
Sanctification, and Redemption,"(7) that is, that Christ was "made" for
us, of the Father, not created. Again, the writer has explained in the
sequel in what sense he says that Christ was made Wisdom for us: "But
we preach the Wisdom of God in doctrine of mystery, which Wisdom is
hidden, foreordained by God before the existence of the world s for our
glory, and which none of the princes of this world knew, for had they
known they would never have crucified the Lord of glory."(9) When the
mystery of the Passion is set forth, surely there is no speaking of an
eternal process of generation.
36. The Lord's Cross, then, is my wisdom; the Lord's
Death my redemption; for we are redeemed with His precious blood, as
the Apostle Peter bath said.(10) With His blood, then, as man, the Lord
redeemed us, Who also, as God, hath forgiven sins.(11)
248
37. Let us not, therefore, lay snares as it were in
words, and eagerly seek out entanglements therein; let us not, because
misbelievers make out the written word to mean that it means not, set
forth only what this letter bears on the face of it, instead of the
underlying sense. This way went the Jews to destruction, despising the
deep-hidden meaning, and following only after the bare form of the
word, for "the letter killeth, but the Spirit maketh alive."(1)
38. And yet, of these two grievous impieties, to
ascribe to the Godhead what is true only of manhood is perchance more
detestable than to attribute to spirit what belongs only to letter. The
Jews feared to believe in manhood taken up into God, and therefore have
lost the grace of redemption, because they reject that on which
salvation depends; the Arians degrade the majesty of Godhead to the
weakness of humanity. Detestable as are the Jews, who crucified the
Lord's flesh, more detestable still do I hold them who have believed
that the Godhead of Christ was nailed to the Cross. So one who ofttimes
had dealings with Jews said: "An heretic avoid, after once reproving
him"(3)
39. Nor, again, are these men careful to avoid doing
dishonour to the Father, in their impious application of the fact, that
Christ was "made" Wisdom for us, to His incomprehensible generation,
that transcends all limits and divisions of time; for, leaving it out
of account that dishonour done to the Son is an insult to the Father,
they do even carry their blasphemy in assault upon the Father, of Whom
it is written: "Let God be made truthful, but every man a liar."(3) If
indeed they think that the Son is spoken of, they do not foreclose
against His generation,(4) but in that they rest on the authority of
this text they do confess that which they reject, namely, that Christ
is God, and true God.
40. It would be a lengthy matter were I to pass in
review each several place where we read of His being "made," not indeed
by nature, but by way of gracious dispensation. Moses, for example,
saith: "Thou art made my Helper and Protector, to save me;"(5) and
David: "Be unto me for a God of salvation, and an house of refuge, that
Thou mayest save me;"(6) and Isaiah: "He is become an Helper for every
city that is lowly."(7) Of a surety the holy men say not to God: "Thou
hast been created," but "By Thy grace Thou art made a Protector and
Helper unto us."
CHAPTER VI.
In order to dispose of an objection grounded on a text in St. John, St.
Ambrose first shows that the Arian interpretation lends countenance to
the Manichaeans; then, after setting forth the different ways of
dividing the words in this same passage, he shows plainly that it
cannot, without dishonour to the Father, be understood with such
reference to the Godhead as the Arians give it, and expounds the true
meaning thereon.
41. WE have no reason, therefore, to fear the
argument which the Arians, in their reckless manner of expounding, use
to construct, showing that the Word of God was "made," for, say they,
it is written: "That which has been made in Him is life."(1)
42. First of all, let them understand that if they
make the words "That which has been made" to refer to the Godhead, they
entangle themselves in the difficulties raised by the Manichaeans, for
these people argue: "If that which has been made in Him is life, then
there is something which has not been made in Him, and is death," so
that they may impiously bring in two principles. But this teaching the
Church condemns.
43. Again, how can the Arians prove that the
Evangelist actually said this? The most part of those who are learned
in the Faith read the passage as follows: "All things were made by Him,
and without Him was not anything made that has been made." Others read
thus: "All things were made by Him, and without Him was nothing made."
Then they proceed: "What has been made," and to this they join the
words "in Him;" that is to say, "But whatsover is has been made in
Him." But what mean the words "in Him"? The Apostle tells us, when he
says: "In Him we have our being, and live, and move."(2)
44. Howbeit, let them read the passage as they will,
they cannot diminish the majesty of God the Word, in referring to His
Person,(3) as subject, the words "That which was made,"(4) without also
doing dishonour to God the Father, of Whom it is written: "But he who
doeth the truth cometh to the light, that his works may be made
manifest that they are wrought in
249
God."(1) See then--here we read of man's works being wrought in God,
and yet for all that we cannot understand the Godhead as the subject of
them. We must either recognize the works as wrought through Him, as the
Apostle's affirmation showeth that "all things are through Him, and
were created in Him, and He is before all, and all things exist
together in Him,"(2) or, as the witness of the text here cited teaches
us, we ought to regard the virtues whereby the fruit of life eternal is
gained, as wrought in God--chastity, piety, devoutness, faith, and
others of this kind, whereby the will of God is expressed.(3)
45. Just as the works, then, are the expression of
the will and power of God the Father, so are they of Christ's, even as
we read: "Created in Christ in good works;"(4) and in the psalm: "Peace
be made in Thy power;"(5) and again: "In wisdom hast Thou made them
all."(6) "In wisdom hast Thou made," mark you--not "Thou hast made
wisdom;" for since all things have been made in wisdom, and Christ is
the Wisdom of God, then this Wisdom is plainly not an accident, but a
substance, and an everlasting one, but if the Wisdom hath been made,
then is it made in a worse condition than all things, forasmuch as it
could not, by itself, be made Wisdom. If, then, being made is
oftentimes referred to something accidental, not to the essence of a
thing, so may creation also be referred to some end had in view.(7)
CHAPTER VII.
Solomon's words, "The Lord created Me," etc., mean that Christ's
Incarnation was done for the redemption of the Father's creation, as is
shown by the Son's own words. That He is the "beginning" may be
understood from the visible proofs of His virtuousness, and it is shown
how the Lord opened the ways of all virtues, and was their true
beginning.
46. HEREBY we are brought to understand that the
prophecy of the Incarnation, "The Lord created me the beginning of His
ways for His works,"(8) means that the Lord Jesus was created of the
Virgin for the redeeming of the Father's works. Truly, we cannot doubt
that this is spoken of the mystery of the Incarnation, forasmuch as the
Lord took upon Him our flesh, in order to save the works of His hands
from the slavery of corruption, so that He might, by the sufferings of
His own body, overthrow him who had the power of death. For Christ's
flesh is for the sake of things created, but His Godhead existed before
them, seeing that He is before all things, whilst all things exist
together in Him.(1)
47. His Godhead, then, is not by reason of creation,
but creation exists because of the Godhead; even as the Apostle showed,
saying that all things exist because of the Son of God, for we read as
follows: "But it was fitting that He, through Whom and because of Whom
are all things, after bringing many sons to glory, should, as Captain
of their salvation, be made perfect through suffering."(2) Has he not
plainly declared that the Son of God, Who, by reason of His Godhead,
was the Creator of all, did in after time, for the salvation of His
people, submit to the taking on of the flesh and the suffering of death?
48. Now for the sake of what works the Lord was
"created" of a virgin, He Himself, whilst healing the blind man, has
shown, saying: "In Him must I work the works of Him that sent Me."(3)
Furthermore He said in the same Scripture, that we might believe Him to
speak of the Incarnation: "As long as I am in this world, I am the
Light of this world,"(4) for, so far as He is man, He is in this world
for a season, but as God He exists at all times. In another place, too,
He says: "Lo, I am with you even unto the end of the world."(5)
49. Nor is there any room for questioning with
respect to "the beginning," seeing that when, during His earthly life,
He was asked, "Who art Thou?" He answered: "The beginning, even as I
tell you."(6) This refers not only to the essential nature of the
eternal Godhead, but also to the visible proofs of virtues, for hereby
hath He proved Himself the eternal God, in that He is the beginning of
all things, and the Author of each several virtue, in that He is the
Head of the Church, as it is written: "Because He is the Head of the
Body, of the Church;(7) Who is the beginning, first-begotten from the
dead."(8)
50. It is clear, then, that the words "be-
250
ginning of His ways," which, as it seems, we must refer to the mystery
of the putting on of His body, are a prophecy of the Incarnation. For
Christ's purpose in the Incarnation was to pave for us the road to
heaven. Mark how He says: "I go up to My Father and your Father, to My
God and your God."(1) Then, to give you to know that the Almighty
Father appointed His ways to the Son, after the Incarnation,(2) you
have in Zechariah the words of the angel speaking to Joshua clothed in
filthy garments: "Thus saith the Lord Almighty: If thou wilt walk in My
ways and observe My precepts."(3) What is the meaning of that filthy
garb save the putting on of the flesh?
51. Now the ways of the Lord are, we may say,
certain courses taken in a good life, guided by Christ, Who says, "I am
the Way, and the Truth, and the Life."(4) The way, then, is the
surpassing power of God, for Christ, is our way, and a good way, too,
is He, a way which hath opened the kingdom of heaven to believers.(5)
Moreover, the ways of the Lord are straight, as it is written: "Make
Thy ways known unto me, O Lord."(6) Chastity is a way, faith is a way,
abstinence is a way. There is, indeed, a way of virtue, and there is a
way of wickedness; for it is written: "And see if there be any way of
wickedness in me."(7)
52. Christ, then, is the beginning of our virtue. He
is the beginning of purity, Who taught maidens not to look for the
embraces of men,(8) but to yield the purity of their bodies and minds
to the service of the Holy Spirit rather than to a husband. Christ is
the beginning of frugality, for He became poor, though He was rich.(9)
Christ is the beginning of patience, for when He was reviled, He
reviled not again, when He was struck, He did not strike back. Christ
is the beginning of humility, for He took the form of a servant, though
in the majesty of His power He was equal with God the Father.(10) From
Him each several virtue has taken its origin.
53. For this cause, then, that we might learn these
divers virtues, "a Son was given us, Whose beginning was upon His
shoulder."(11) That "beginning" is the Lord's Cross--the beginning of
strong courage, wherewith a way has been opened for the holy martyrs to
enter the sufferings of the Holy War.
CHAPTER VIII.
The prophecy of Christ's Godhead and Manhood, contained in the verse of
Isaiah just now cited, is unfolded, and its force in refuting various
heresies demonstrated.
54. THIS beginning did Isaiah see, and therefore he
says: "A Child is born, a Son is given to us," as also did the Magi,
and therefore worshipped they, when they saw the little One in the
stable, and said: "A Child is born," and, when they saw the star,
declared, "A Son is given to us." On the one hand, a gift from
earth--on the other, a gift from heaven--and both are One Person,
perfect in respect of each, without any changeableness in the Godhead,
as without any taking away from the fulness of the Manhood. One Person
did the Magi adore, to one and the same they offered their gifts, to
show that He Who was seen in the stall was the very Lord of heaven.
55. Mark how the two verbs differ in their import:
"A Child is born, a Son is given." Though born of the Father, yet is He
not born, but given to us, forasmuch as the Son is not for our sakes,
but we for the Son's. For indeed He was not born to us, being born
before us, and the maker of all things created: nor is He now brought
to life for the first time, Who was always, and was in the
beginning;(1) on the other hand, that which before-time was not is born
to us. Again we find it thus recorded, how that the angel, when he
spoke to the shepherds, said that He had been born: "Who is this day
born to us a Saviour, Who is Christ the Lord, in the city of David."(2)
To us, then, was born that which was not before--that is, a child of
the Virgin, a body from Mary--for this was made after man had been
created, whereas [the Godhead] was before us.
56. Some manuscripts read as follows: "A Child is
born to us a Son is given to us;"(3) that is to say, He, Who is Son of
God, is born as Mary's child for us, and given to us. As for the fact
that He is "given," listen to the prophet's words: "And grant us Thy
salvation."(4) But that which is above
251
us is given: what is from heaven is given: even as indeed we read
concerning the Spirit, that "the love of God is shed abroad in our
hearts by the Holy Spirit, Who is given unto us."(1)
57. But note how this passage is as water upon fire
to a crowd of heresies. "A Child is born to us," not to the Jews; "to
us," not to the Manichaeans; "to us," not to the Marcionites. The
prophet says "to us," that is, to those who believe, not to
unbelievers. And He indeed, in His pitifulness, was born for all, but
it is the disloyalty of heretics that hath brought it to pass that the
birth of Him Who was born for all should not profit all. For the sun is
bidden to rise upon the good and the bad, but to them that see not
there is no appearance of sunrise.
58. Even as the Child, then, is born not unto all,
but unto the faithful: so the Son is given to the faithful and not to
the unbelieving. He is given to us, not to the Photinians; for they
affirm that the Son of God was not given unto us, but was born and
first began to exist amongst us. To us is He given, not to the
Sabellians, who will not hear of a Son being given, maintaining that
Father and Son are one and the same. Unto us is He given, not unto the
Arians, in whose judgment the Son was not given for salvation, but sent
over subject and inferior, to whom, moreover, He is no "Counsellor,"
inasmuch as they hold that He knows nought of the future, no Son, since
they believe not in His eternity, though of the Word of God it is
written: "That which was in the beginning;" and again: "In the
beginning was the Word."(2) To return to the passage we set before us
to discuss. "In the beginning," saith the Scripture, "before He made
the earth, before He made the deeps, before He brought forth the
springs of water, before all the hills He begat Me."(3)
CHAPTER IX.
The preceding quotation from Solomon's Proverbs
receives further explanation.
59. PERCHANCE you will ask how I came to cite, as
referring to the Incarnation of Christ, the place, "The Lord created
Me," seeing that the creation of the universe took place before the
Incarnation of Christ? But consider that the use of holy Scripture is
to speak of things to come as though already past, and to make
intimation of the union of two natures, Godhead and Manhood, in Christ,
lest any should deny either His Godhead or His Manhood.
60. In Isaiah, for example, you may read: "A Child
is born unto us, and a Son is given unto us;" so here also [in the
Proverbs] the prophet sets forth first the creation of the flesh, and
joined thereto the declaration of the Godhead, that you might know that
Christ is not two, but One, being both begotten of the Father before
the worlds, and in the last times(1) created of the Virgin. And thus
the meaning is: I, Who am begotten before the worlds, am He Who was
created of mortal woman, created for a set purpose.
61. Again, immediately before the declaration, "The
Lord created Me," He says, "I will tell of the things which are from
eternity," and before saying, "He begat," He premised, "In the
beginning, before He made the earth, before all hills." In its extent,
the preposition "before" reaches back into the past without end or
limit, and so "Before Abraham was, I am,"(2) clearly need not mean
"after Adam," just as "before the Morning Star"(3) need not mean "after
the angels." But when He said "before," He intended, not that He was
included in any one's existence, but that all things are included in
His, for thus it is the custom of Holy Writ to show the eternity of
God. Finally, in another passage you may read: "Before the mountains
were brought forth, or ever the earth and the world were made, Thou art
from everlasting to everlasting."(4)
62. Before all created things, then, is the Son
begotten; within all and for the good of all is He made; begotten of
the Father, above the Law,(5) brought forth of Mary, under the Law.(6)
CHAPTER X.
Observations on the words of John the Baptist (John i. 30), which may
be referred to divine fore-ordinance, but at any rate, as explained by
the foregoing considerations, must be understood of the Incarnation.
The precedence of Christ is mystically expounded, with reference to the
history of Ruth.
63. BUT [say they] it is written: "After me cometh a
Man, Who is made before me, because He was before me;"(7) and so they
252
argue: "See, He Who was aforetime is 'made.'" Let us take the words by
themselves. "After me cometh a Man." He, then, Who came is a Man, and
this is the Man Who "was made." But the word "man" connotes sex, and
sex is attributed to human nature, but never to the Godhead.
64. I might argue: The Man [Christ Jesus] was in
pre-existence so far as His body was foreknown, though His power is
from everlasting--for both the Church and the Saints were foreordained
before the worlds began. But here I lay aside this argument, and urge
that the being made concerns not the Godhead, but the nature of the
Incarnation, even as John himself said: "This is He of Whom I said:
After me cometh a Man, Who was made before me."
65. The Scripture, then, having, as I showed above,
discovered the twofold nature in Christ, that you might understand the
presence of both Godhead and Manhood, here begins with the flesh; for
it is the cutsom of Holy Writ to begin without fixed rule sometimes
with the Godhead of Christ, and descend to the visible tokens of
Incarnation; sometimes, on the other hand, to start from its humility,
and rise to the glory of the Godhead, as oftentimes in the Prophets and
Evangelists, and in St. Paul. Here, then, after this use, the writer
begins with the Incarnation of our Lord, and then proclaims His
Divinity, not to confound, but to distinguish, the human and the
divine. But Arians, like Jew vintners,(1) mix water with the wine,
confounding the divine generation with the human, and ascribing to the
majesty of God what is properly said only of the lowliness of the flesh.
66. I have no fears of a certain objection they are
likely to put forward, namely, that in the words cited we have "a
man"--for some have, "Who cometh after me." But here, too, let them
observe what precedes. "The Word," it is said, "was made flesh."(2)
Having said that the Word was made flesh, the Evangelist added no
mention of man. We understand "man" there in the mention of "flesh,"
and "flesh" by the mention of "man." After the statement made, then,
that "the Word was made flesh," there was no need here to particularly
mention "man," whom he already intended by using the name "flesh."
67. Later on, St. John uses the lamb, that "taketh
away the sins of the world," as an example; and to teach you plainly
the Incarnation of Him, of Whom he had spoken before, he says: "This is
He of Whom I said before: After me cometh a Man, Who is made before
me," to wit, of Whom I said that He was "made" as being man, not as
being God. However, to show that it was He Who was before the worlds,
and none other, that became flesh, lest we should suppose two Sons of
God, he adds: "because He was before me." If the words "was made" had
referred to the divine generation, what need was there that the writer
should add this, and repeat himself? But, having first said, with
regard to the Incarnation only, "After me cometh a Man, Who is made
before me," he added: "because He was before me," because it was
needful to teach the eternity of [Christ's] Godhead; and this is the
reason why St. John acknowledged Christ's priority, that He, Who is His
own Father's eternal Power, may be presented as on that account duly
preferred.(1)
68. But the abounding activity of the spiritual
understanding makes it a pleasing exercise to sally forth and drive
into a corner the Arians, who will understand the term "made" in this
passage, not of the manhood, but of the Godhead [of Christ]. What
ground, indeed, is left for them to take their stand upon, when the
Baptist has declared that "after me cometh One Who is made before me,"
that is, Who, though in the course of earthly life He comes after me,
yet is placed above the degree of my worth and grace, and Who has title
to be worshipped as God. For the words "cometh after me" belong to an
event in time, but "was before me" signify Christ's eternity; and "is
made before me" refer to His pre-eminence, forasmuch as, indeed, the
mystery of the Incarnation is above human deserving.(2)
253
69. Again, St. John Baptist also taught in less
weighty language what ideas they were he had combined, saying: "After
me cometh a Man, Whose shoes I am not worthy to bear," setting forth at
least the more excellent dignity [of Christ], though not the eternity
of His Divine Generation. Now these words are so fully intended of the
Incarnation, that Scripture hath given us, in an earlier book, a human
counterpart of the mystic sandal. For, by the Law, when a man died, the
marriage bond with his wife was passed on to his brother, or other man
next of kin, in order that the seed of the brother or next of kin might
renew the life of the house, and thus it was that Ruth, though she was
foreign-born, but yet had possessed a husband of the Jewish people, who
had left a kinsman of near relation, being seen and loved of Boaz
whilst gleaning and maintaining herself and her mother-in-law with that
she gleaned, was yet not taken of Boaz to wife, until she had first
loosed the shoe from [the foot of] him whose wife she ought, by the
Law, to have become.(1)
70. The story is a simple one, but deep are its
hidden meanings, for that which was done was the outward betokening of
somewhat further. If indeed we should rack the sense so as to fit the
letter exactly, we should almost find the words an occasion of a
certain shame and horror, that we should regard them as intending and
conveying the thought of common bodily intercourse; but it was the
foreshadowing of One Who was to arise from Jewry--whence Christ was,
after the flesh--Who should, with the seed of heavenly teaching, revive
the seed of his dead kinsman, that is to say, the people, and to Whom
the precepts of the Law, in their spiritual significance, assigned the
sandal of marriage, for the espousals of the Church.
71. Moses was not the Bridegroom, for to him cometh
the word, "Loose thy shoe from off thy foot,"(2) that he might give
place to his Lord. Nor was Joshua, the son of Nun, the Bridegroom, for
to him also it was told, saying, "Loose thy shoe from off thy foot,"(3)
test, by reason of the likeness of his name, he should be thought the
spouse of the Church. None other is the Bridegroom but Christ alone, of
Whom St. John said: "He Who hath the bride is the Bridegroom."(1) They,
therefore, loose their shoes, but His shoe cannot be loosed, even as
St. John said: "I am not worthy to loose the latchet of His shoe."(2)
72. Christ alone, then, is the Bridegroom to Whom
the Church, His bride, comes from the nations, and gives herself in
wedlock; aforetime poor and starving, but now rich with Christ's
harvest; gathering in the hidden bosom of her mind handfuls of the rich
crop and gleanings of the Word, that so she may nourish with fresh food
her who is worn out, bereaved by the death of her son, and starving,
even the mother of the dead people,--leaving not the widow and
destitute, whilst she seeks new children.
73. Christ, then, alone is the Bridegroom, grudging
not even to the synagogue the sheaves of His harvest. Would that the
synagogue had not of her own will shut herself out! She had sheaves
that she might herself have gathered, but, her people being dead, she,
like one bereaved by the death of her son, began to gather sheaves,
whereby she might live, by the hand of the Church--the which sheaves
they who come in joyfulness shall carry, even as it is written: "Yet
surely shall they come with joy, bringing their sheaves with them."(3)
74. Who, indeed, but Christ could dare to claim the
Church as His bride, whom He alone, and none other, hath called from
Libanus, saying: "Come hither from Libanus, my bride; come hither from
Libanus"?(4) Or of Whom else could the Church have said: "His throat is
sweetness, and He is altogether desirable"?(5) And seeing that we
entered upon this discussion from speaking of the shoes of His
feet,--to Whom else but the Word of God incarnate can those words
apply? "His legs are pillars of marble, set upon bases of gold."(6) For
Christ alone walks in the souls and makes His path in the minds of His
saints, in which, as upon bases of gold and foundations of precious
stone the heavenly Word has left His footprints ineffaceably impressed.
75. Clearly we see, then, that both the man and the
type point to the mystery of the Incarnation.
254
CHAPTER XI.
St. Ambrose returns to the main question, and shows that whenever
Christ is said to have "been made" (or "become"), this must be
understood with reference to His Incarnation, or to certain
limitations. In this sense several passages of Scripture--especially of
St. Paul--are expounded. The eternal Priesthood of Christ, prefigured
in Melchizedek. Christ possesses not only likeness, but oneness with
the Father.
76. When, therefore, Christ is said to have been
"made," to have "become," the phrase relates, not to the substance of
the Godhead, but often to the Incarnation--sometimes indeed to a
particular office; for if you understand it of His Godhead, then God
was made into an object of insult and derision inasmuch as it is
written: "But thou hast rejected thy Christ,(1) and brought Him to
nought; thou hast driven Him to wander;" and again: "And He was made
the derision of His neighbours."(2) Of His neighbours, mark you--not of
them of His household, not of them who clave to Him, for "he who
cleaveth to the Lord is one Spirit;"(3) he who is neighbour doth not
cleave to Him. Again, "He was made a derision," because the Lord's
Cross is to Jews a stumbling-block, and to Greeks is foolishness:(4)
for to them that are wise He is, by that same Cross, made higher than
the heavens, higher than angels, and is made the Mediator of the better
covenant, even as He was Mediator of the former.
77. Mark how I repeat the phrase; so far am I from
seeking to avoid it. Yet take notice in what sense He is "made."
78. In the first place, "having made purification,
He sitteth on the right hand of Majesty on high, being made so much
better than the angels."(5) Now where purification is, there is a
victim; where there is a victim, there is also a body; where a body is,
there is oblation; where there is the office of oblation, there also is
sacrifice made with suffering.
79. In the next place, He is the Mediator of a
better covenant. But where there is testamentary disposition, the death
of the testator must first come to pass,(6) as it is written a little
further on. Howbeit, the death is not the death of His eternal Godhead,
but of His weak human frame.
80. Furthermore, we are taught how He is made
"higher than the heavens." "Unspotted," saith the Scripture,(1)
"separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; not having
daily need, as the priests have need, to offer a victim first for his
own sins, and then for those of the people. For this He did by
sacrificing Himself once and for all." None is said to be made higher,
save he who has in some respect been lower; Christ, then, is, by His
sitting at the right hand of the Father, made higher in regard of that
wherein, being made lower than the angels, He offered Himself to suffer.
81. Finally, the Apostle himself saith to the
Philippians, that "being made in the likeness of man, and found in
outward appearance as a man, He humbled Himself, being made obedient
even unto death."(2) Mark that, in regard whereof He is "made," He is
made, the Apostle saith, in the likeness of man, not in respect of
Divine Sovereignty, and He was made obedient unto death, so that He
displayed the obedience proper to man, and obtained the kingdom
appertaining of right to Godhead.
82. How many passages need we cite further in
evidence that His "being made" must be understood with reference to His
Incarnation, or to some particular dispensation? Now whatsoever is
made, the same is also created, for "He spake and they were made; He
gave also the word, and they were created."(3) "The Lord created me."
These words are spoken with regard to His Manhood; and we have also
shown, in our First Book, that the word "created" appears to have
reference to the Incarnation.
83. Again, the Apostle himself, by declaring that no
worship is to be rendered to a created existence, has shown that the
Son has not been created, but begotten, of God.(4) At the same time he
shows in other places what there was in Christ that was created, in
order to make plain in what sense he has read in Solomon's book: "The
Lord created Me."
84. Let us now review a whole passages in order.
"Seeing, then, that the sons have parts of flesh and blood, He too
likewise was made to have part in the same, to the end that by death He
might overthrow him who had the power of death."(6) Who, then, is He
Who would have us to be partakers in His own flesh and blood? Surely
the Son of God. How, save by means of the flesh, was He made partaker
with us,(7) or by
255
what, save by bodily death, brake He the chains of death? For Christ's
endurance of death was made the death of Death.(1)This text, then,
speaks of the Incarnation.
85. Let us see what follows: "For He did not indeed
[straightway] put on Him the nature of angels, but that of Abraham's
seed. And thus was He able to be made like to His brethren in all
things throughout, that He might become a compassionate and faithful
Prince, a Priest unto God, to make propitiation for the sins of the
people; for in that He Himself suffered He is able also to help them
that are tempted. Wherefore, brethren most holy, ye who have each his
share in a heavenly calling, look upon the Apostle and High Priest of
our confession, Jesus, regard His faithfulness to His Creator, even as
Moses was in his house."(2) These, then, are the Apostle's words.
86. You see what it is in respect whereof the writer
calls Him created.: "In so far as He took upon Him the seed of
Abraham;" plainly asserting the begetting of a body. How, indeed, but
in His body did He expiate the sins of the people? In what did He
suffer, save in His body--even as we said above: "Christ having
suffered in the flesh"? In what is He a priest, save in that which He
took to Himself from the priestly nation?(3)
67. It is a priest's duty to offer something, and,
according to the Law, to enter into the holy places by means of blood;
seeing, then, that God had rejected the blood of bulls and goats, this
High Priest was indeed bound to make passage and entry into the holy of
holies in heaven through His own blood, in order that He might be the
everlasting propitiation for our sins. Priest and victim, then, are
one; the priesthood and sacrifice are, however, exercised under the
conditions of humanity, for He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and
He is a priest after the order of Melchizedek.(4)
88. Let no man, therefore, when he beholds an order
of human establishment, contend that in it resides the claim of
Divinity;(5) for even that Melchizedek, by whose office Abraham offered
sacrifice, the Church doth certainly not hold to be an angel (as some
Jewish triflers do), but a holy man and priest of God, who, prefiguring
our Lord,(6) is described as "without father or mother, without history
of his descent, without beginning and without end,"(1) in order to show
beforehand the coming into this world of the eternal Son of God, Who
likewise was incarnate and then brought forth without any father,
begotten as God without mother, and was without history of descent, for
it is written: "His generation who shall declare?"(2)
89. This Melchizedek, then, have we received as a
priest of God made upon the model of Christ, but the one we regard as
the type, the other as the original. Now a type is a shadow of the
truth, and we have accepted the royalty of the one in the name of a
single city, but that of the other as shown in the reconciliation of
the whole world; for it is written: "God was in Christ, reconciling the
world to Himself;"(3) that is to say, [in Christ was] eternal Godhead:
or, if the Father is in the Son, even as the Son is in the Father, then
Their unity in both nature(4) and operation is plainly not denied.
90. But how, indeed, could our adversaries justly
deny this, even if they would, when the Scripture saith: "But the
Father, Who abideth in Me, even He doeth the works;" and "The works
that I do, He Himself worketh"?(5) Not "He also doeth the works," but
one should regard it as similarity rather than unity of work; in
saying, "The things that I do, He Himself doeth," the Apostle has left
it clear that we ought to believe that the work of the Father and the
work of the Son is one.
91. On the other hand, when He would have
similarity, not unity, of works, to be understood, He said: "He that
believeth in Me, the works which I do, shall he do also."(6) Skilfully
inserting here the word "also," He hath allowed us similarity, and yet
hath not ascribed natural unity. One, therefore, is the work of the
Father and the work of the Son, whether the Arians please so to think
or not.
CHAPTER XII.
The kingdom of the Father and of the Son is one and undivided, so
likewise is the Godhead of each.
92. I WOULD now ask how they suppose the kingdom of
the Father and the Son to be divided, when the Lord hath said, as we
showed above: "Every kingdom divided against itself shall be speedily
overthrown."(7)
256
93. Indeed, it was to debar the impious teaching of
Arian enmity that Saint Peter himself asserted the dominion of the
Father and the Son to be one, saying: "Wherefore, my brethren, labour
to make your calling and election sure, for so doing you shall not go
astray, for thus your entrance into the eternal realm of God and our
Lord and Saviour(1) Jesus Christ shall be granted with the greater
abundance of grace.(2)
94. Now, if it be thought that Christ's dominion
alone is spoken of, and the place be therefore understood in such sense
that the Father and the Son are regarded as divided in authority--yet
it will be still acknowledged that it is the dominion of the Son, and
that an eternal one, and thus not only will two kingdoms, separate, and
so liable to fail, be brought in, but, furthermore, inasmuch as no
kingdom is to be compared with God's kingdom, which they cannot,
however greatly they may desire to, deny to be the kingdom of the Son,
they must either turn back upon their opinion, and acknowledge the
kingdom of the Father and the Son to be one and the same; or they must
ascribe to the Father the government of a lesser kingdom--which is
blasphemy; or they must acknowledge Him, Whom they wickedly declare to
be inferior in respect of Godhead, to possess an equal kingdom, which
is inconsistent.
95. But this [their teaching] squares not agrees
not, holds not [with its premisses]. Let them confess, then, that the
kingdom is one, even as we confess and prove, not indeed on our own
evidence, but upon testimony vouchsafed from heaven.
96. To begin with, learn, from further testimonies
[of Scripture], how that the kingdom of heaven is also the kingdom of
the Son: "Verily, verily, I say unto you, that there are some amongst
those which stand here with us, who shall not taste death, until they
see the Son of Man coming into His kingdom."(3) There is therefore no
room for doubt that the kingdom appertaineth to the Son of God.
97. Now learn that the kingdom of the Son is the
very same as the kingdom of the Father: "Verily, I say unto you that
there be some of those which stand around us, who shall not taste death
until they see the kingdom of God coming in power."(4) So far, indeed,
is it one kingdom, that the reward is one, the inheritor is one and the
same, and so also the merit, and He Who promises [the reward].
98. How can it but be one kingdom, above all when
the Son Himself hath said of Himself: "Then shall the righteous shine
like the sun in the kingdom of My Father"?(1) For that which is the
Father's, by fitness to His majesty, is also the Son's, by unity in the
same glory."(2) The Scripture, therefore, hath declared the kingdom to
be the kingdom both of the Father and of the Son.
99. Now learn that where the kingdom of God is
named, there is no putting aside of the authority either of the Father
or of the Son, because both the kingdom of the Father and the kingdom
of the Son is included under the single name of God, saying: "When ye
shall see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the
kingdom of God."(3) Do we deny that the prophets are in the kingdom of
the Son, when even to a dying robber who said, "Remember me, when Thou
comest into Thy kingdom," the Lord made answer: '(6)Verily, I say unto
thee, to-day shalt thou be with Me in paradise."(4) What, indeed, do we
understand by being in the kingdom of God, if not the having escaped
eternal death? But they who have escaped eternal death see the Son of
Man coming into His kingdom.
100. How, then, can He not have in His power that
which He gives, saying: "To thee will I give the keys of the kingdom of
heaven"?(5) See the gulf between [the one and the other]. The servant
opens, the Lord bestows; the One through Himself, the other through
Christ; the minister receives the keys, the Lord appoints powers: the
one is the right of a giver, the other the duty of a steward.
101. See now yet another proof that the kingdom, the
government, of the Father and the Son is one. It is written in the
Epistle to Timothy: "Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the
government of God, our Saviour, and Christ Jesus, our Hope."(6) One,
therefore, the kingdom of the Father and the Son is plainly declared to
be, even as Paul the Apostle also asserted, saying: "For know this,
that no shameless person, none that is impure, or covetous (which
meaneth idolatry), hath inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of
God."(7) It is, therefore, one kingdom, one Godhead.
257
102. Oneness in Godhead the Law hath proved, which
speaks of one God,(1) as also the Apostle, by saying of Christ; "In
Whom dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily."(2) For if, as the
Apostle saith, all the fulness of the Godhead, bodily, is in Christ,
then must the Father and the Son be confessed to be of one Godhead; or
if it is desired to sunder the Godhead of the Son from the Godhead of
the Father, whilst the Son possesses all the fulness of the Godhead
bodily, what is supposed to be further reserved, seeing that nothing
remains over and above the fulness of perfection? Therefore the Godhead
is one.
CHAPTER XIII.
The majesty of the Son is His own, and equal to that of the Father, and
the angels are not partaken, but beholders thereof.
103. Now, we having already laid down that the
Father and the Son are of one image and likeness,(3) it remains for us
to show that They are also of one majesty. And we need not go far
afield for proof, inasmuch as the Son Himself has said of Himself:
"When the Son of Man shall come in His majesty, and all the angels with
Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His majesty."(4) Behold,
then, the majesty of the Son declared! What lacketh He yet, Whose
uncreated majesty cannot be denied?(5) Majesty, then, belongeth to the
Son.
104. Let our adversaries now hold it proved beyond
doubt that the majesty of the Father and of the Son is one, forasmuch
as the Lord Himself hath said: "For he who shall be ashamed of Me and
of My words, of Him shall the Son of Man be ashamed, when He cometh in
His majesty and His Father's, and the majesty of the holy angels."(6)
What is the force of the words "and the majesty of the holy angels,"
but that the servants derive honour from the worship of their Lord?
105. The Son, therefore, ascribed His majesty to His
Father as well as to Himself, not, indeed, in such sort that the angels
should share in that majesty on equal terms with the Father and the
Son, but that they should behold the surpassing glory of God; for truly
not even angels possess a majesty of their own, after the manner in
which Scripture speaks of the Son: "When He shall sit upon the throne
of His majesty," but they stand in the presence, that they may see the
glory of the Father and the Son, in such degrees of vision as they are
either worthy of or able to bear.
106. Furthermore, the God-given words themselves
declare their own meaning, that you may understand that glory of the
Father and the Son not to be held in common with them by angels, for
thus they run: "But when the Son of Man shall come in His majesty, and
all the angels with Him." Again, to show that His Father's majesty and
glory and His own majesty and glory are one and the same, our Lord
Himself saith in another book: "And the Son of Man shall confound him,
when He shall come in the glory of His Father, with the holy
angels."(1) The angels come in obedience, He comes in glory: they are
His retainers, He sits upon His throne: they stand, He is seated--to
borrow terms of the daily dealings of human life, He is the Judge: they
are the officers of the court. Note that He did not place first His
Father's divine majesty, and then, in the second place, His own and the
angels', lest He should seem to have made out a sort of descending
order, from the highest to lower natures. He placed His own majesty
first, and then spoke of His Father's, and the majesty of the angels
(because the Father could not appear lower than they), in order that He
might not, by placing mention of Himself between that of His Father and
that of the angels, seem to have made out some ascending scale, leading
from angels to the Father through increase of His own dignity; nor,
again, be believed to have, contrariwise, shown a descent from the
Father to angels, entailing diminution of that dignity. Now we who
confess one Godhead of the Father and the Son suppose no such order of
distinction as the Arians do.(2)
CHAFFER XIV.
The Son is of one substance with the Father.
108. AND now, your Majesty, with regard to the
question of the substance, why need I tell you that the Son is of one
substance
258
with the Father, when we have read that the Son is the image of the
Father's substance, that you may understand that there is nothing
wherein, so far as Godhead is regarded, the Son differs from the Father.
109. In virtue of this likeness Christ said: "All
things that the Father hath are Mine."(1) We cannot, then, deny
substance to God, for indeed He is not unsubstantial, Who hath given to
others the ground of their being, though this be different in God from
what it is in the creature. The Son of God, by Whose agency all things
endure,(2) could not be unsubstantial.
110. And therefore, the Psalmist saith: "My bones
are not hidden, which Thou didst make in secret, and my substance in
the underworld."(3) For to His power and Godhead, the things that
before the foundation of the world were done, though their magnificence
was [as yet] invisible, could not be hidden. Here, then, we find
mention of "substance."
111. But it may be objected that the mention of His
substance is the consequence of His Incarnation. I have shown that the
word "substance" is used more than once, and that not in the sense of
inherited possessions, as you would construe it. Now, if it please you,
let us grant that, in accordance with the mystic prophecy, the
substance of Christ was present in the underworld--for truly He did
exert His power in the lower world to set free, in the soul which
animated His own body, the souls of the dead, to loose the bands of
death, to remit sins.(4)
112. And, indeed, what hinders you from
understanding, by that substance, His divine substance, seeing that God
is everywhere, so that it hath been said to Him: "If I go up into
heaven, Thou art there; if I go down into hell, Thou art present."(5)
113. Furthermore, the Psalmist hath in the words
following made it plain that we must understand the divine substance to
be mentioned when he saith: "Thine eyes did see My being, [as] not the
effect of working;"(1) inasmuch as the Son is not made, nor one of
God's works, but the begotten Word of eternal power. He called Him
"<greek>acatergaston</greek>," meaning that the Word
neither made nor created, is begotten of the Father without the
witnessing presence of any created being. Howbeit, we have abundance of
testimony besides this. Let us grant that the substance here spoken of
is the bodily substance, provided you also yourself say not that the
Son of God is something effected by working, but confess His uncreated
Godhead.
114. Now I know that some assert that the mystic
incarnate form was uncreated, forasmuch as nothing was done therein
through intercourse with a man, because our Lord was the offspring of a
virgin. If, then, many have, on the strength of this passage, asserted
that neither that which was brought forth of Mary was produced by
creative operation, dare you, disciple of Arius, think that the Word of
God is something so produced?
115. But is this the only place where we read of
"substance"? Hath it not also been said in another passage: "The gates
of the cities are broken down, the mountains are fallen, and His
substance is revealed"?(2) What, does the word mean something created
here also? Some, I know, are accustomed to say that the substance is
substance in money. Then, if you give this meaning to the word, the
mountains fell, in order that some one's possessions of money might be
seen.
116. But let us remember what mountains fell, those,
namely, of which it hath been said: "If ye shall have faith as a grain
of mustard seed ye shall say to this mountain: Be thou removed, and be
thou cast into the sea!"(3) By mountains, then, are meant high things
that exalt themselves.(4)
117. Moreover, in the Greek, the rendering is this:
"The palaces are fallen." What palaces, save the palace of Satan, of
whom the Lord said: "How shall His kingdom stand?"(5) We are reading,
therefore, of the things which are the devil's palaces as being very
mountains, and therefore in the fall of those palaces from the hearts
of the faithful, the truth stands revealed, that Christ,
259
Son of God, is of the Father's eternal substance. What, again, are
those mountains of bronze, from the midst of which four chariots come
forth?(1)
118. We behold that height, lifting up itself
against the knowledge of God, cast down by the word of the Lord, when
the Son of God said: "Hold thy peace, and come forth, thou foul
spirit."(2) Concerning whom the prophet also said: "Behold, I am come
to thee, thou mount of corruption!"(3)
119. Those mountains, then, are fallen,(4) and it is
revealed that in Christ was the substance of God, in the words of those
who had seen Him: "Truly Thou art the Son of God,"(5) for it was in
virtue of divine, not human power, that He commanded devils. Jeremiah
also saith: "Make mourning upon the mountains, and beat your breasts
upon the desert tracks, for they have failed; forasmuch as there are no
men, they have not heard the word of substance: from flying fowl to
beasts of burden, they trembled, they have failed."(6)
120. Nor has it escaped us, that in another place
also, setting forth the frailties of man's estate, in order to show
that He had taken upon Himself the infirmity of the flesh, and the
affections of our minds, the Lord said, by the mouth of His prophet:
"Remember, O Lord, what My substance is,"(7) because it was the Son of
God speaking in the nature of human frailty.(8)
121. Of Him the Scripture saith, in the passage
cited,(9) in order to discover the mysteries of the Incarnation: "But
Thou hast rejected, O Lord, and counted for nought--Thou hast cast out
Thy Christ.(10) Thou hast overthrown the covenant made with Thy
Servant, and trampled His holiness in the earth."(11) What was it, in
regard whereof the Scripture called Him "Servant," but His
flesh?--seeing that "He did not hold equality with God as a prey, but
emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made into the
likeness of men, and found in fashion as a man."(1) So, then, in that
He took upon Himself My nature, He was a servant, but by virtue of His
own power He is the Lord.
122. Furthermore, what meaneth it that thou readest:
"Who hath stood in the truth (substantia) of the Lord?" and again: "Now
if they had stood in My truth, and had given ear to My words, and had
taught My people, I would have turned them from their follies and
transgressions"?(2)
CHAPTER XV.
The Arians, inasmuch as they assert the Son to be "of another
substance," plainly acknowledge substance in God. The only reason why
they avoid the use of this term is that they will not, as Eusebius of
Nico-media has made it evident, confess Christ to be the true Son of
God.
123. How can the Arians deny the substance of
God?(3) How can they suppose that the word "substance" which is found
in many places of Scripture ought to be debarred from use, when they
themselves do yet, by saying that the Son is
"<greek>eteroousios</greek>," that is, of another
substance, admit substance in God?
124. It is not the term itself, then, but its force
and consequences, that they shun, because they will not confess the Son
of God to be true [God].(4) For though the process of the divine
generation cannot be comprehended in human language, still the Fathers
judged that their faith might be fitly distinguished by the use of such
a term, as against that of "<greek>eteroousios</greek>,"
following the authority of the prophet, who saith: "Who hath stood in
the truth (substantia) of the Lord, and seen His Word?"(5) Arians,
therefore, admit the term "substance" when it is used so as to square
with their blasphemy; contrariwise, when it is adopted in accordance
with the pious devotion of the faithful, they reject and dispute
against it.
125. What other reason can there be for their
unwillingness to have the Son spoken of as
"<greek>omoousios</greek>," of the same substance, with the
Father, but that they are unwilling
260
to confess Him the true Son of God? This is betrayed in the letter of
Eusebius of Nicomedia. "If," writes he, "we say that the Son is true
God and uncreate, then we are in the way to confess Him to be of one
substance (<greek>omoousios</greek>) with the Father." When
this letter had been read before the Council assembled at Nicaea, the
Fathers put this word in their exposition of the Faith. because they
saw that it daunted their adversaries; in order that they might take
the sword, which their opponents had drawn, to smite off the head of
those opponents' own blasphemous heresy.(1)
126. Vain, however, is their plea, that they avoid
the use of the term, because of the Sabellians;(2) whereby they betray
their own ignorance, for a being is of the same substance
(<greek>omoousion</greek>) with another, not with itself.
Rightly, then, do we call the Son
"<greek>omoousios</greek>" (of the same substance), with
the Father, forasmuch as that term expresses both the distinction of
Persons and the unity of nature.
127. Can they deny that the term
"<greek>ousia</greek>" is met with in Scripture, when the
Lord has spoken of bread, that is,
"<greek>epiousios</greek>,"(3) and Moses has written
"<greek>umeis</greek> <greek>esesqe</greek>
<greek>moi</greek> <greek>laos</greek>
<greek>periousios</greek>"?(4) What does
"<greek>ousia</greek>" mean, whence comes the name, but
from "<greek>ousa</greek> <greek>aei</greek>,"
(5) "that which endures for ever? For He Who is, and is for ever, is
God; and therefore the Divine Substance, abiding everlastingly, is
called <greek>ousia</greek>. Bread is
<greek>epiousios</greek>, because, taking the substance of
abiding power from the substance of the Word, it supplies this to heart
and soul, for it is written: "And bread strengtheneth man's heart."(1)
128. Let us, then, keep the precepts of our
forefathers, nor with rude and reckless daring profane the symbols
bequeathed to us. That sealed book of prophecy, whereof we have heard,
neither elders, nor powers, nor angels, nor archangels, ventured to
open; for Christ alone is reserved the peculiar right of opening it.(2)
Who amongst us dare unseal the book of the priesthood, sealed by
confessors, and long hallowed by the testimony of many?(3) They who
have been constrained to unseal, nevertheless have since, respecting
the deceit put upon them, sealed again; they who dared not lay
sacrilegious hands upon it, have stood forth as martyrs and confessors.
How can we deny the Faith held by those whose victory we proclaim?
CHAPTER XVI.
In order to forearm the orthodox against the stratagems of the Arians,
St. Ambrose discloses some of the deceitful confessions used by the
latter, and shows by various arguments, that though they sometimes call
the Son "God," it is not enough, unless they also admit His equality
with the Father.
129. LET none fear, let none tremble; he who
threatens gives the advantage to the faithful. The soothing balms of
deceitful men are poisoned--then must we be on our guard against them,
when they pretend to preach that they do deny. Thus were those
aforetime, who lightly trusted to them, deceived, so that they fell
into the snares of treachery, when they thought all was good faith.
130. "Let him be accursed," say they, "who says that
Christ is a creature, after the manner of the rest of created beings."
Plain folks have heard this, and put faith in it, for, as it is
written, "the simple man believes every word."(4) Thus have they heard
and believed, being taken in by the first sound thereof, and, like
birds, eager for the
261
bait of faith, have not noted the net spread for them, and so, pursuing
after faith, have caught the hook of ungodly deceit. Wherefore "be ye
wise as serpents," saith the Lord, "and harmless as doves."(1) Wisdom
is put foremost, in order that harmlessness may be unharmed.
131. For those are serpents, such as the Gospel
intends, who put off old habits, in order to put on new manners:
"Putting off the old man, together with his acts, and putting on the
new man, made in the image of Him Who created him."(2) Let us learn
then, the ways of those whom the Gospel calls the serpents, throwing
off the slough of the old man, that so, like serpents, we may know how
to preserve our life and beware of fraud.
132. It would have been sufficient to say, "Accursed
be he who saith that Christ is a created being." Why, then, Arian, dost
thou mingle poison with the good that is in thy confession, and so
defile the whole body of it? For by addition of "after the manner of
the rest of created beings," you deny not that Christ is a being
created, but that He is a created being like [all] others--for created
being you do entitle Him, albeit you assign to Him dignity transcending
the rest of creation. Furthermore, Arius, the first teacher of this
ungodly doctrine, said that the Son of God was a perfect created being,
and not as the rest of created beings. See you, then, how that you have
adopted language bequeathed you from your father. To deny that Christ
is a being created is enough: why add "but not as the rest of beings
created"? Cut away the gangrened part, lest the contagion spread--it is
poisonous, deadly.
133. Again, you say sometimes that Christ is God.
Nay, but so call Him true God, as meaning, that you acknowledge Him to
possess the fulness of the Father's Godhead--for there are gods, so
called, alike in heaven or upon earth. The name "God," then, is not to
be used as a mere manner of address and mention, but with the
understanding that you affirm, of the Son, that same Godhead which the
Father hath, as it is written: "For as the Father hath life in Himself,
so hath He given to the Son also to have life in Himself;"(3) that is
to say, He hath given it to Him, as to His Son, through begetting
Him--not by grace, as to one indigent.
134. "And He hath given Him power to execute
judgment, because He is the Son of Man."(1) Note well this addition,
that you may not take occasion, upon a word, to preach falsehood. You
read that He is the Son of Man; do you therefore deny that He accepts
[the power given]? Deny God, then, if all things proper to God are not
given to the Son, for whereas He has said, "All things that the Father
hath are Mine,"(2) why not acknowledge that all the properties and
attributes of Divinity are in the Son [as they are in the Father]? For
He who saith, "All things that the Father hath are Mine," what does He
except as having not?
135. Why is it that you recount "with insistence"
and in such sincere language, Christ's raising the dead to life,
walking upon the waters, healing the sicknesses of men? These powers,
indeed, He has given to His bondmen to display as well as Himself. They
do the more arouse my wonder when seen present in men, forasmuch as God
hath given them power so
great. I would hear somewhat concerning Christ that is His distinctly
and peculiarly, and cannot be held in common with Him by created
beings, now that He is begotten, the only Son of God, very God of very
God, sitting at the Father's right hand.
136. Wheresoever I read of the Father and Son
sitting side by side, I find the Son always upon the right hand. Is
that because the Son is above the Father? Nay, we say not so; but He
Whom God's love honours is dishonoured by man's ungodliness. The Father
knew that doubts as concerning the Son must needs be sown, and He hath
given us an example of reverence for us to follow after, lest we
dis-honour the Son.
CHAPTER XVII.
An objection based on St. Stephen's vision of the Lord standing is
disposed of, and from the prayers of the same saint, addressed to the
Son of God, the equality of the Son with the Father is shown.
137. THERE is just one place, in which Stephen hath
said that he saw the Lord Jesus standing at the right hand of God.(3)
Learn now the import of these words, that you may not use them to raise
a question upon. Why (you would ask) do we read every where else of the
Son as sitting at the right hand of God, but in one place of His
standing? He sits as Judge of quick and
262
dead; He stands as His people's Advocate. He stood, then, as a Priest,
whilst He was offering to His Father the sacrifice of a good martyr; He
stood, as the Umpire, to bestow, as it were, upon a good wrestler the
prize of so mighty a contest.
138. Receive thou also the Spirit of God, that thou
mayest discern those things, even as Stephen received the Spirit; and
thou mayest say, as the martyr said: "Behold, I see the heavens opened,
and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God."(1) He who hath
the heavens opened to him, seeth Jesus at the right hand of God: he
whose soul's eye is closed, seeth not Jesus at the right hand of God.
Let us, then, confess Jesus at God's right hand, that to us also the
heavens may be opened. They who confess otherwise close the gates of
heaven against themselves.
139. But if any urge in objection that the Son was
standing, let them show upon this passage that the Father was seated,
for though Stephen said that the Son of Man was standing, still he did
not further say here that the Father was sitting.
140. Howbeit, to make it more abundantly clear and
known that the standing implied no dishonour, but rather sovereignty,
Stephen prayed to the Son, being desirous to commend himself the more
to the Father, saying: "Lord Jesu, receive my spirit."(2) Again, to
show that the sovereignty of the Father and of the Son is one and the
same, he prayed again, saying, "Lord, lay not this sin to their
charge."(1) These are the words that the Lord, in His own Passion,
speaks to the Father, as the Son of Man--these the words of Stephen's
prayer, in his own martyrdom to the Son of God. When the same grace is
sought of both the Father and the Son, the same power is affirmed of
each.
141. Otherwise, if our opponents will have it that
Stephen addressed himself to the Father, let them consider what, on
their own showing, they affirm. We indeed are unmoved by their
arguments; howbeit, let them, to whom the letter and sequence is all
important, take notice that the first petition is addressed to the Son.
Now we, even on their understanding of the passage, prove from it the
unity of the Father's and the Son's majesty; for when the Son is
addressed in prayer as well as the Father, the equality which the
prayer assigns points to unity in action. But if they will not allow
that the Son was addressed with the title "Lord," we see that they do
indeed seek to deny that He is Lord.
142. Seeing, however, that so great a martyr's crown
has been brought forth, let us abate the eagerness of disputation, and
bring to-day's discourse to a close. Let us sing the praises of the
holy martyr, as is fitting always after a mighty conflict--the martyr
bleeding indeed from the enemy's blows, but rewarded with the crown
bestowed by Christ.
BOOK IV.
CHAPTER I.
The marvel is, not that men have failed to know Christ, but that they
have not listened to the words of the Scriptures. Christ, indeed, was
not known, even of angels, save by revelation, nor again, by His
forerunner. Follows a description of Christ's triumphal ascent into
heaven, and the excellence of its glory over the assumption of certain
prophets. Lastly, from exposition of the conversation with angels upon
this occasion, the omnipotence of the Son is proved, as against the
Arians.
1. ON consideration, your Majesty, of the reason
wherefore men have so far gone astray, or that many--alas!--should
follow diverse ways of belief concerning the Son of God, the marvel
seems to be, not at all that human knowledge has been baffled in
dealing with superhuman things, but that it has not submitted to the
authority of the Scriptures.
2. What reason, indeed, is there to wonder, if by
their worldly wisdom men failed to comprehend the mystery of God the
Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, in Whom all the treasures of wisdom
and knowledge are hidden,(2) that mystery of which not even angels have
been able to take knowledge, save by revelation?
263
3. For who could by force of imagination, and not by
faith, follow the Lord Jesus, now descending from the highest heaven to
the shades below, now rising again from Hades to the heavenly places;
in a moment self-emptied, that He might dwell amongst us, and yet never
made less than He was, the Son being ever in the Father and the Father
in the Son?
4. Even Christ's forerunner, though only in so far
as representing the synagogue,(1) doubted concerning Him, even he who
was appointed to go before the face of the Lord, and at last sending
messengers, enquired: "Art Thou He that should come, or do we look for
another?"(2)
5. Angels, too, stood spellbound in wonder at the
heavenly mystery. And so, when the Lord rose again, and the heights of
heaven could not bear the glory of His rising from the dead, Who of
late, so far as regarded His flesh, had been confined in the narrow
bounds of a sepulchre, even the heavenly hosts doubted and were amazed.
6. For a Conqueror came, adorned with wondrous
spoils, the Lord was in His holy Temple, before Him went angels and
archangels, marvelling at the prey wrested from death, and though they
knew that nothing can be added to God from the flesh, because all
things are lower than God, nevertheless, beholding the trophy of the
Cross, whereof "the government was upon His shoulder," and the spoils
borne by the everlasting Conqueror, they, as if the gates could not
afford passage for Him Who had gone forth from them, though indeed they
can never o'erspan His greatness--they sought some broader and more
lofty passage for Him on His return--so entirely had He remained
undiminished by His self-emptying.
7. However, it was meet that a new way should be
prepared before the face of the new Conqueror--for a Conqueror is
always, as it were, taller and greater in person than others; but,
forasmuch as the Gates of Righteousness, which are the Gates of the Old
and the New Testament, wherewith heaven is opened, are eternal, they
are not indeed changed, but raised, for it was not merely one man but
the whole world that entered, in the person of the All-Redeemer.
8. Enoch had been translated, Elias caught up, but
the servant is not above his Master. For "No man hath ascended into
heaven, but He Who came down from heaven;"(1) and even of Moses, though
his corpse was never seen on earth, we do nowhere read as of one
abiding in celestial glory, unless it was after that the Lord, by the
earnest of His own Resurrection, burst the bonds of hell and exalted
the souls of the godly. Enoch, then, was translated, and Elias caught
up; both as servants, both in the body, but not after resurrection from
the dead, nor with the spoils of death and the triumphal train of the
Cross, had they been seen of angels.
9. And therefore [the angels] descrying the approach
of the Lord of all, first and only Vanquisher of Death, bade their
princes that the gates should be lifted up, saying in adoration, "Lift
up the gates, such as are princes amongst you, and be ye lifted Up, O
everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in."(2)
10. Yet there were still, even amongst the hosts of
heaven, some that were amazed, overcome with astonishment at such pomp
and glory as they had never yet beheld, and therefore they asked: "Who
is the King of glory?"(3) Howbeit, seeing that the angels (as well as
ourselves) acquire their knowledge step by step, and are capable of
advancement, they certainly must display differences of power and
understanding, for God alone is above and beyond the limits imposed by
gradual advance, possessing, as He does, every perfection from
everlasting.
11. Others, again,--those, to wit, who had been
present at His rising again, those who had seen or who already
recognized Him,made reply: "It is the Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord
mighty in battle."
12. Then, again, sang the multitude of angels, in
triumphal chorus: "Lift up the gates, O ye that are their princes, and
be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come
in."
13. And back again came the challenge of them that
stood astonished: "Who is that King of glory? For we saw Him having
neither form nor comeliness;(4) if then it be not He, who is that King
of glory?"
14. Whereto answer they which know: "The Lord of
Hosts, He is the King of glory." Therefore, the Lord of Hosts, He is
the Son. How then do the Arians call Him fallible, Whom we believe to
be Lord of Hosts, even as we believe of the Father? How can they draw
distinctions between
264
the sovereign powers of Each, when we have found the Son, even as also
the Father, entitled "Lord of Saboath"? For, in this very passage, the
reading in many copies is: "The Lord of Sabaoth, He is the King of
glory." Now the translators have, for the "Lord of Sabaoth," rendered
in some places "the Lord of Hosts," in others "the Lord the King," and
in others "the Lord Omnipotent." Therefore, since He Who ascended is
the Son, and, again, He Who ascended is the Lord of Sabaoth, it surely
follows that the Son of God is omnipotent!
CHAPTER II.
None can ascend to heaven without faith; in any case, he who hath so
ascended thither will be cast out wherefore, faith must be zealously
preserved. We ourselves each have a heaven within, the gates whereof
must be opened and be raised by confession of the Godhead of Christ,
which gates are not raised by Arians, nor by those who seek the Son
amongst earthly things, and who must therefore, like the Magdalene, be
sent back to the apostles, against whom the gates of hell shall not
prevail. Scriptures are cited to show that the servant of the Lord must
not diminish aught of his Master's honour.
15. WHAT shall we do, then? How shall we ascend unto
heaven? There, powers are stationed, principalities drawn up in order,
who keep the doors of heaven, and challenge him who ascends. Who shall
give me passage, unless I proclaim that Christ is Almighty? The gates
are shut,--they are not opened to any and every one; not every one who
will shall enter, unless he also believes according to the true Faith.
The Sovereign's court is kept under guard.
16. Suppose, however, that one who is unworthy hath
crept up, hath stolen past the principalities who keep the gates of
heaven, hath sat down at the supper of the Lord; when the Lord of the
banquet enters, and sees one not clad in the wedding garment of the
Faith, He will cast him into outer darkness, where is weeping and
gnashing of teeth,(1) if he keep not the Faith and peace.
17. Let us, therefore, keep the wedding garment
which we have received, and not deny Christ that which is His own,
Whose omnipotence angels announce, prophets foretel, apostles witness
to, even as we have already shown above.(2)
18. Perchance, indeed, the prophet hath spoken of
His entering in not only with regard to the gates of the universal
heaven; for there be other heavens also where-into the Word of God
passeth, whereof it is said: "We have a great Priest, a High Priest,
Who hath passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God."(1) What
are those heavens, but even the heavens whereof the prophet sayeth that
"the heavens declare the glory of God"?(2)
19. For Christ standeth at the door of thy soul.
Hear Him speaking. "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man
open to Me, I will come in to him, and I will sup with him, and he with
Me."(3) And the Church saith, speaking of Him: "The voice of my brother
soundeth at the door."(4)
20. He stands, then--but not alone, for before Him
go angels, saying: "Lift up the gates, O ye the princes." What gates?
Even those of the which the Psalmist sings in another place also: "Open
to me the gates of righteousness."(5) Open, then, thy gates to Christ,
that He may come into thee--open the gates of righteousness, the gates
of chastity, the gates of courage and wisdom.
21. Believe the message of the angels: "Be ye lift
up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in, the Lord
of Sabaoth." Thy gate is the loud confession made with faithful voice;
it is the door of the Lord, which the Apostle desires to have opened
for him, as he says: "That a door of the word may be opened for me, to
proclaim the mystery of Christ."(6)
22. Let thy gate, then, be opened to Christ, and let
it be not only opened, but lifted up, if, indeed, it be eternal and not
condemned to ruin; for it is written: "And be ye lift up, ye
everlasting doors." The lintel was lift up for Isaiah, when the seraph
touched his lips and he saw the Lord of Sabaoth.
23. Thy gates shall be lifted up, then, if thou
believest the Son of God to be eternal, omnipotent, above and beyond
all praise and understanding, knowing all things, both past an d to
come, whilst if thou judgest Him to be of limited power and knowledge,
and subordinate, thou liftest not up the everlasting doors.
24. Be thy gates lifted up, then, that Christ may
come in unto thee, not such a Christ as the Arians take Him to
be--petty, and weak, and menial--but Christ in the form of God, Christ
with the Father; that He may enter such as He is, exalted above the
heaven and all things; and that He may send forth upon thee His holy
Spirit. It is expedient
265
for thee that thou shouldst believe that He hath ascended and is
sitting at the right hand of the Father, for if in impious thought thou
detain Him amongst things created and earthly, if He depart not for
thee, ascend not for thee, then to thee the Comforter shall not come,
even as Christ Himself hath told us: "For if I go not away, the
Comforter will not come unto you, but if I depart, I will send Him unto
you."(1)
25. But if thou shouldst seek Him amongst earthly
beings, even as Mary of Magdala sought Him, take heed lest He say to
thee, as unto her: "Touch Me not, for I am not yet ascended unto My
Father."(2) For thy gates are narrow--they give me no passage--they
cannot be lifted up, and therefore I cannot come in.
26. Go thy way, therefore, to my brethren--that is,
to those everlasting doors, which, as soon as they see Jesus, are
lifted up. Peter is an "everlasting door," against whom the gates of
hell shall not prevail.(3) John and James, the sons of thunder, to
wit,(4) are "everlasting doom." Everlasting are the doors of the
Church, where the prophet, desirous to proclaim the praises of Christ,
says: "That I may tell all thy praises in the gates of the daughter of
Sion."(5)
27. Great, therefore, is the mystery of Christ,
before which even angels stood amazed and bewildered. For this cause,
then, it is thy duty to worship Him, and, being a servant, thou
oughtest not to detract from thy Lord. Ignorance thou mayest not plead,
for to this end He came down, that thou mayest believe; if thou
believest not, He has not come down for thee, has not suffered for
thee. "If I had not come," saith the Scripture, "and spoken with them,
they would have no sin: but now have they no excuse for their sin. He
that hateth Me, hateth My Father also."(6) Who, then, hates Christ, if
not he who speaks to His dishonour?--for as it is love's part to
render, so it is hate's to withdraw honour.(7) He who hates, calls in
question; he who loves, pays reverence.
CHAPTER III.
The words, "The head of every man is Christ ... and the head of Christ
is God" misused by the Arians, are now turned back against them, to
their confutation. Next, another passage of Scripture, commonly taken
by the same heretics as a ground of objection, is called in to show
that God is the Head of Christ, in so far as Christ is human, in regard
of His Manhood, and the unwisdom of their opposition upon the text, "He
who planteth He who watereth are one," is displayed. After which
explanations, the meaning of the doctrine that the Father is in the
Son, and the Son in the Father, and that the faithful are in Both, is
expounded.
28. Now let us examine some other objections raised
by the Arians. It is written, say they, that "the head of every man is
Christ, and the head of woman is man, and the head of Christ is
God."(1) Let them, if they please, tell me what they mean by this
objection--whether to join together, or to dissociate, these four
terms. Suppose they mean to join them, and say that God is the Head of
Christ in the same sense and manner as man is the head of woman. Mark
what a conclusion they fall into. For if this comparison proceeds on
the supposed equality of the terms of it, and these four--woman, man,
Christ, and God--are viewed together as in virtue of a likeness
resulting from their being of one and the same nature, then woman and
God will begin to come under one definition.
29. But if this conclusion be not satisfactory, by
reason of its impiety, let them divide, on what principle they will.
Thus, if they will have it that Christ stands to God the Father in the
same relation as woman to man, then surely they pronounce Christ and
God to be of one substance, inasmuch as woman and man are of one nature
in respect of the flesh, for their difference is in respect of sex.
But, seeing that there is no difference of sex between Christ and His
Father, they will acknowledge then that which is one, and common to the
Son and the Father, in respect of nature, whereas they will deny the
difference lying in sex.
30. Does this conclusion content them? Or will they
have woman, man, and Christ to be of one substance, and distinguish the
Father from them? Will this, then, serve their turn? Suppose that it
will, then observe what they are brought to. They must either confess
themselves not merely Arians, but very Photinians, because they
acknowledge only the Manhood of Christ, Whom they judge fit only to be
placed on the same scale with human beings. Or else they must, however
contrary to their leanings, subscribe to our belief, by which we
dutifully and in godly fashion maintain that which they have come at by
an ira-
266
pious course of thought, that Christ is indeed, after His divine
generation,(1) the power of God, whilst after His putting on of the
flesh, He is of one substance with all men in regard of His flesh,
excepting indeed the proper glory of His Incarnation,(2) because He
took upon Himself the reality, not a phantom likeness, of flesh.
31. Let God, then, be the Head of Christ, with
regard to the conditions of Manhood. Observe that the Scripture says
not that the Father is the Head of Christ; but that God is the Head of
Christ, because the Godhead, as the creating power, is the Head of the
being created. And well said [the Apostle] "the Head of Christ is God;"
to bring before our thoughts both the Godhead of Christ and His flesh,
implying, that is to say, the Incarnation in the mention of the name of
Christ, and, in that of the name of God, oneness of Godhead and
grandeur of sovereignty.
32. But the saying, that in respect of the
Incarnation God is the Head of Christ, leads on to the principle that
Christ, as Incarnate, is the Head of man, as the Apostle has clearly
expressed in another passage, where he says: "Since man is the head of
woman, even as Christ is the Head of the Church;"(3) whilst in the
words following he has added: "Who gave Himself for her."(4) After His
Incarnation, then, is Christ the head of man, for His self-surrender
issued from His Incarnation.
33. The Head of Christ, then, is God, in so far as
His form of a servant, that is, of man, not of God, is considered, But
it is nothing against the Son of God, if, in accordance with the
reality of His flesh, He is like unto men, whilst in regard of His
Godhead He is one with the Father, for by this account of Him we do not
take aught from His sovereignty, but attribute compassion to Him.
34. But who can with a good conscience deny the one
Godhead of the Father and the Son, when our Lord, to complete His
teaching for His disciples, said: "That they may be one, even as we
also are one."(4) The record stands for witness to the Faith, though
Arians turn it aside to suit their heresy; for, inasmuch as they cannot
deny the Unity so often spoken of, they endeavour to diminish it, in
order that the Unity of Godhead subsisting between the Father and the
Son may seem to De such as is unity of devotion and faith amongst men,
though even amongst men themselves community of nature makes unity
thereof.
35. Thus with abundant clearness we disprove the
objection commonly raised by Arians, in order to loosen the Divine
Unity, on the ground that it is written: "But he who planteth and he
who watereth are one." This passage the Arians, if they were wise,
would not quote against us; for how can they deny that the Father and
the Son are One, if Paul and Apollos are one, both in nature and in
faith? At the same time, we do grant that these cannot be one
throughout, in all relations, because things human cannot bear
comparison with things divine.(1)
36. No separation, then, is to be made of the Word
from God the Father, no separation in power, no separation in wisdom,
by reason of the Unity of the Divine Substance. Again, God the Father
is in the Son, as we ofttimes find it written, yet [He dwells in the
Son] not as sanctifying one who lacks sanctification, nor as filling a
void, for the power of God knows no void. Nor, again, is the power of
the one increased by the power of the other, for there are not two
powers, but one Power; nor does Godhead entertain Godhead, for there
are not two Godheads, but one Godhead. We, contrariwise, shall be One
in Christ through Power received [from another] and dwelling in us.
37. The letter [of the unity] is common, but the
Substance of God and the substance of man are different. We shall be,
the Father and the Son. [already] are, one; we shall be one by grace,
the Son is so by substance. Again, unity by conjunction is one thing,
unity by nature another. Finally, observe what it is that Scripture
hath already recorded: "That they may all be one, as Thou, Father, art
in Me, and I in Thee."(2)
38. Mark now that He said not "Thou in us, and we in
Thee," but "Thou in Me, and I in Thee," to place Himself apart from His
creatures. Further He added: "that they also may be in Us," in order to
separate here His dignity and His Father's from us,
267
that our union in the Father and the Son may appear the issue, not of
nature, but of grace, whilst with regard to the unity of the Father and
the Son it may be believed that the Son has not received this by grace,
but possesses by natural right of His Sonship.
CHAPTER IV.
The passage quoted adversely by heretics, namely, "The Son can do
nothing of Himself," is first explained from the words which follow;
then, the text being examined, word by word, their acceptation in the
Arian sense is shown to be impossible without incurring the charge of
impiety or absurdity, the proof resting chiefly on the creation of the
world and certain miracles of Christ.
39. Again, another objection that the Arians bring
up, denying that the Power of the Father and the Son can be one and the
same, is rested on His saying: "Verily, verily, I say unto you; the Son
can do nothing of Himself, but what He hath seen the Father doing."(1)
And therefore they affirm that the Son has done nothing of Himself, and
can do nothing, save what He hath seen the Father doing.
40. O wise foreknowledge of the arguments of
unbelievers, which made further provision of means whereby to answer
questions, by adding the words that follow: "For whatsoever the Father
doeth, the same doeth the Son also, in like fashion,"(2) for this
indeed is the sequel. Why, then, is it written: "The Son doeth the same
things," and not "such like things," but that thou mightest judge that
in the Son there is unity in the Father's works, not imitation of them?
41. But to put their proofs in turn upon trial: I
would have them answer the question, whether the Son sees the works of
the Father. Does He see, I ask, or not? If He sees them, then He also
does them; if He does them, let heretics cease to deny the omnipotence
of Him Whom they confess able to do all things that He has seen the
Father doing.
42. But what are we to understand by "hath seen"?
Has the Son any need of bodily eyes? Nay, if they will affirm this of
the Son, they will make out in the Father also a need of bodily
activity,(3) in order that the Son may see that which He Himself is to
do.
43. Furthermore, what mean the words: "The Son can
do nothing of Himself"? Let us put this question, and debate it. Now is
there anything impossible to God's Power and Wisdom? These, observe,
are names of the Son of God, Whose Might is certainly not a gift
received from another, but just as He is the Life,(1) not depending
upon another's quickening action, but Himself quickening others,
because He is the Life; so also He is Wisdom,(2) not as one that is
ignorant acquiring wisdom, but making others wise from His own store;
so, too, He is Power,(3) not as having through weakness obtained
increase of strength, but being Himself Power, and bestowing power upon
the strong.
44. How, then, does Power assert, as it were, under
oath: "Verily, verily I say unto you," which means: "Of a truth, of a
truth, I tell you"?(4) Truly, then, Thou speakest, Lord Jesus, and dost
affirm, repeating indeed thy solemn declaration, that Thou canst do
nothing, save what Thou hast seen the Father doing. Thou didst make the
universe. Did Thy Father then make another universe, for Thee to take
as a model? So must Thy blasphemers confess that there are two, or a
multitude of universes, as philosophers affirm, and thus also entangle
themselves in this heathen error,(5) or, if they will follow the truth,
let them say that what Thou hast made, Thou didst make, without any
pattern.
45. Tell me, Lord, when Thou sawest Thy Father
incarnate, and walking upon the sea, for I know not, I hold it impious
to believe this thing of the Father, knowing that Thou only hast taken
our flesh upon Thee. When sawest Thou the Father at a marriage-feast,
turning water into wine?(6) Nay, but I have read that Thou alone art
the only Son, begotten of the Father. I have been taught that Thou
alone, in the mystery of the Incarnation, wast born of the Holy Ghost
and the Virgin. The things, then, which we have cited as Thy doings,
the Father did not, but Thou alone, without guidance of any work done
by Thy Father, for the purchase of the world's salvation with Thy
Blood, didst come forth spotless from the Virgin's womb.
46. When they say, "The Son can do nothing of
Himself," they indeed except nothing, so that one blasphemer has even
said: "He cannot make even a gnat,"(7)
268
mocking with so headstrong profanity and with insolence so overweening
the majesty of Supreme Power; yet perhaps they may think the mystery of
Thine Incarnate Life a needful exception. But say, Lord Jesu, what
earth the Father made without Thee. For without Thee He made no heaven,
seeing that it is written: "By the Word of the Lord were the heavens
established."
47. But neither did the Father make the earth
without Thee, for it is written: "All things were made by Him, and
without Him was not anything made."(1) For if the Father made aught
without Thee, God the Word, then not all things were made by the Word,
and the Evangelist lies. Whereas if all things were made by the Word,
and if by Thee all things begin to be, which before were not, then
surely Thou Thyself, of Thyself, hast made what Thou didst not see made
by the Father; though perchance our adversaries may have recourse to
that theory of Plato, and place before Thee the ideas supposed by
philosophers, which, indeed, we know have been exploded by philosophers
themselves. On the other hand, if Thou Thyself hast of Thyself made all
things, vain are the assertions of the unbelieving, which ascribe
progress in learning to the Maker of all, Who of Himself supplies the
teaching of His craft.
48. But if heretics deny that either the heavens or
the earth were made by Thee, let them take heed into what a gulf they
are by their own madness hurling themselves, seeing that it is written:
"Perish the gods, which have not made heaven and earth."a Shall He then
perish, O Arian, Who has found and saved that which had perished? But
to purpose.
CHAPTER V.
Continuing the exposition of the disputed passage, which he had begun,
Ambrose brings forward four reasons why we affirm that something cannot
be, and shows that the first three fail to apply to Christ, and infers
that the only reason why the Son can do nothing of Himself is His Unity
in Power with the Father.
49. In what sense can the Son do nothing of Himself?
Let us ask what it is that He cannot do. There are many different sorts
of impossibilities. One thing is naturally impossible, another is
naturally possible, but impossible by reason of some weakness. Again,
there are things which are rendered possible by strength, impossible by
unskilfulness or weakness, of body and mind. Further, there are things
which it is impossible to change, by reason of the law of an
unchangeable purpose, the endurance of a firm will, and, again,
faithfulness in friendship.
50. To make this clearer, let us consider the matter
in the light of examples. It is impossible for a bird to pursue a
course of learning in any science or become trained to any art: it is
impossible for a stone to move in any direction, inasmuch as it can
only be moved by the motion of another body. Of itself, then, a stone
is incapable of moving, and passing from its place. Again, an eagle
cannot be taught in the ways of human learning.
51. It is, to take another example, impossible for a
sick man to do a strong man's work; but in this case the reason of the
impossibility is of a different kind, for the man is rendered unable,
by sickness, to do what he is naturally capable of doing. In this case,
then, the cause of the impossibility is sickness, and this kind of
impossibility is different from the first, since the man is hindered by
bodily weakness from the possibility of doing.(1)
52. Again, there is a third cause of impossibility.
A man may be naturally capable, and his bodily health may allow of his
doing some work, which he is yet unable to do by reason of want of
skill, or because his rank in life disqualifies him; because, that is,
he lacks the required learning or is a slave.(2)
53. Which of these three different causes of
impossibility, think you, which we have enumerated (setting aside the
fourth) can we meetly assign to the case of the Son of God ? Is He
naturally insensible and immovable, like a stone? He is indeed a stone
of stumbling to the wicked, a cornerstone for the faithful;(3) but He
is not insensible, upon Whom the faithful affection of sentient peoples
are stayed. He is not an immovable rock, "for they drank of a Rock that
followed them, and that Rock was Christ."(4) The work of the Father,
then, is not rendered impossible to Christ by diversity of nature.
54. Perchance we may suppose some things were made
impossible for Him by reason of weakness. But He was not weakly Who
could heal the weaknesses of others by His word of authority. Seemed
269
He weak when bidding the paralytic take up his bed and walk?(1) He
charged the man to perform an action of which health was the necessary
condition, even whilst the patient Was yet praying a remedy for his
disease. Not weak was the Lord of hosts when He gave sight to the
blind,(2) made the crooked to stand upright, raised the dead to
life,(3) anticipated the effects of medicine at our prayers, and cured
them that besought Him, and when to touch the fringe of His robe was to
be purified.(4)
55. Unless, peradventure, you thought it was
weakness, you wretches, when you saw His wounds. Truly, they were
wounds piercing His Body, but there was no weakness betokened by that
wound, whence flowed the Life of all, and therefore was it that the
prophet said: "By His stripes we are healed."(5) Was He, then, Who was
not weak in the hour when He was wounded, weak in regard of His
Sovereignty? How, then, I ask? When He commanded the devils, and
forgave the offences of sinners?(6) Or when He made entreaty to the
Father?
56. Here, indeed, our adversaries may perchance
enquire: "How can the Father and the Son be One, if the Son at one time
commands, at another entreats?" True, They are One; true also, He both
commands and prays: yet whilst in the hour when He commands He is not
alone, so also in the hour of prayer He is not weak. He is not alone,
for whatsoever things the Father doeth, the same things doeth the Son
also, in like manner. He is not weak, for though in the flesh He
suffered weakness for our sins yet that was the chastisement of our
peace upon Him,(7) not lack of sovereign Power in Himself.
57. Moreover, that thou mayest know that it is after
His Manhood that He entreats, and in virtue of His Godhead that He
commands, it is written for thee in the Gospel that He said to Peter:
"I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not."(8) To the same
Apostle, again, when on a former occasion he said, "Thou art the
Christ, the Son of the living God," He made answer: "Thou art Peter,
and upon this Rock will I build My Church, and I will give thee the
keys of the kingdom of heaven."(9) Could He not, then, strengthen the
faith of the man to whom, acting on His own authority, He gave the
kingdom, whom He called the Rock, thereby declaring him to be the
foundation of the Church? Consider, then, the manner of His entreaty,
the occasions of His commanding. He entreats, when He is shown to us as
on the eve of suffering: He commands, when He is believed to he the Son
of God.
58. We see, then, that two sorts of impossibility
furnish no explanation,(1) inasmuch as the Power of God can be neither
insensible nor weakly. Will you then proffer the third kind [as an
account of the matter], namely, that He can do nothing, just as an
unskilled apprentice can do nothing without his master's instructions,
or a slave can do nothing without his lord. Then didst Thou speak
falsely, Lord Jesu, in calling Thyself Master and Lord, and Thou didst
deceive Thy disciples by Thy words: "Ye call Me Master and Lord, and ye
say well, for so I am."(2) Nay, but Thou, O Truth, wouldst never have
deceived men, least of all them whom Thou didst call friends.(3)
59. Yet if our enemies sunder Thee from the Creator,
as being unskilled, let them see how they affirm that skill was lacking
to Thee, that is to say, to the Divine Wisdom; for all that, however,
they cannot divide the unity of substance that Thou hast with the
Father. It is not, indeed, by nature, but by reason of ignorance, that
the difference exists between the craftsman and the unskilled; but
neither is handicraft attributable to the Father, nor ignorance to
Thee, for there is no such thing as ignorant wisdom.
60. Therefore, if insensibility is no attribute of
the Son, and if neither weakness, nor ignorance, nor servility, let
unbelievers put it to their minds for meditation that both by nature
and sovereignty the Son is One with the Father, and by its working His
power is not at cross-purpose with the Father, inasmuch as "all things
that the Father hath done, the Son doeth likewise," for no one can do
in like fashion the same work that another has done, unless he shares
in the unity of the same nature, whilst he is also not inferior in
method of working.
61. Yet I would still enquire what it is that the
Son cannot do, unless He see the Father doing it. I will take the
fool's line, and propound some examples drawn from things of a lower
world. "I am become a fool; ye have compelled me."(4) What indeed is
more foolish than to debate over the majesty of God, which rather
occasions questionings, than godly instruction which is in faith.(5)
But to arguments let argu-
270
ments reply; let words make answer to them, but love to us, the love
which is in God, issuing of a pure heart and good conscience and faith
unfeigned. And so I stickle not to introduce even the ludicrous for the
confutation of so vain a thesis.
62. How, then, does the Son see the Father? A horse
sees a painting, which naturally it is unable to imitate. Not thus does
the Son behold the Father. A child sees the work of a grown man, but he
cannot reproduce it; certainly not thus, again, does the Son see the
Father.
63. If, then, the Son can, by virtue of a common
hidden power of the same nature which He has with the Father, both see
and act in an invisible manner, and by the fulness of His Godhead
execute every decree of His Will, what remains for us but to believe
that the Son, by reason of indivisible unity of power, does nothing,
save what He has seen the Father doing, forasmuch as because of His
incomparable love the Son does nothing of Himself, since He wills
nothing that is against His Father's Will? Which truly is the proof not
of weakness but of unity.(1)
CHAPTER VI.
The fourth kind of impossibility ( 49) is now taken into consideration,
and it is shown that the Son does nothing that the Father approves not,
there being between Them perfect unity of will and power.
64. The Son, moreover,--to consider now our fourth
premiss,--is not self-assertive, for He, the Divine Assessor,(2) hath
done nought that is not in agreement with His Father's Will. Further,
the Father hath seen the things that the Son made, and pronounced them
very good; for so it is written in Genesis: "And God said, Let there be
light; and there was light. And God saw the light that it was good."(3)
65. Now, did the Father say on that occasion, "Let
there be such light as I Myself have made," or "Let there be
light"--light having as yet not existed; or did the Son ask what sort
of light the Father made?(4) Nay, the Son made light, according to His
own Will, and so far in accordance with the Father's good pleasure,
that He approved. It is of new, original work by the Son that the place
speaks.
66. Again, if, as Arian, expositions of the
Scriptures make out, it is a discredit to the Son to have made what He
saw, whereas the Scriptures present Him as having made what He [before]
saw not, and to have given being to things which as yet were not, what
should they say of the Father, Who praised that He had seen, as though
He could not have foreseen the things that were to be made?
67. The Son, therefore, sees the Father's work in
like manner as the Father sees the Son's, and the Father praises not
the work as one would praise work of another's doing, but recognizes it
as His own, for "whatsoever things the Father hath done, the same doeth
the Son, in like manner." [So was it written, that] you might
understand one and the same work to be the work both of the Father and
of the Son. And thus the Son does nothing save what is approved of by
the Father, praised by the Father, willed by the Father, because His
whole Being is of the Father; and He is not as the created being, which
commits many faults, ofttimes offending the Will of its Creator, in
lusting after and falling into sin. Nought, then, is of the Son's
doing, save what is pleasing to the Father, forasmuch as one Will, one
Purpose, is Theirs, one true Love, one effect of action.
68. Furthermore, to prove to you that it comes of
Love, that the Son can do nothing of Himself save what He hath seen the
Father doing, the Apostle has added to the words, "Whatsoever the
Father hath done, the same things doeth the Son also, in like manner,"
this reason: "For the Father loveth the Son," and thus Scripture refers
the Son's inability to do, whereof it testifies, to unity in Love that
suffers no separation or disagreement.
69. But if the inseparableness of the Persons in
Love rest, as it truly does, upon [identity of] nature, thou surely
they are also inseparable, for the same reason, in action, and it is
impossible that the work of the Son should not be in agreement with the
Father's Will, when what the Son works, the Father works also, and what
the Father works, the Son works also, and what the Son speaks, the
Father speaks also, as it is written: "My Father, Who dwelleth in Me,
He it is that speaketh, and the works that I do He Himself doeth."(1)
For the Father appointed nought
271
save by the exercise of His Power and Wisdom, forasmuch as He made all
things wisely, as it is written: "In wisdom hast Thou made them all"(1)
and likewise, God the Word made nought without the Father's
participation.
70. Not without the Father does He work; not without
His Father's Will did He offer Himself for that most holy Passion, the
Victim slain for the salvation of the whole world;(2) not without His
Father's Will concurring did He raise the dead to life. For example,
when He was at the point to raise Lazarus to life, He lifted up His
eyes and said, "Father, I thank Thee, for that Thou hast heard Me. And
I knew that Thou dost always hear Me, but for the sake of the multitude
that standeth round I spake, that they may believe that Thou hast sent
Me,"(3) in order that, though speaking agreeably to His assumed
character of man, in the flesh,(4) He might still express His oneness
with the Father in will and operation, in that the Father hears all and
sees all that the Son wills, and therefore also the Father sees the Son
s doings, hears the utterances of His Will, for the Son made no
request, and yet said that He had been heard.
71. Again, we cannot suppose that the Father hears
not all, whatsoever the Son's will resolves; and to show that He is
always heard by the Father, not as a servant, not as a prophet, but as
Son, He said: "And I knew that Thou dost always hear Me, but for the
sake of the multitude which standeth round I spake, that they may
believe that Thou hast sent Me."
72. It is for our sakes, therefore, that He renders
thanks, lest we should suppose that the Father and the Son are one and
the same Person, when we hear of one and the same work being wrought by
the Father and the Son. Further, to show us that His rendering of
thanks had not been the tribute due from one wanting in power, that, on
the contrary, He, as Son of God, ever claimed for Himself the
possession of divine authority, He cried, "Lazarus, come forth." Here,
surely, is the voice of command, not of prayer.
CHAPTER VII.
The doctrine had in view for enforcement is corroborated by the truth
that the Son is the Word of the
Father--the Word, not in the sense in which we
understand the term, but a living and active
Word. This being so, we cannot deny Him to
be of the same Will, Power, and Substance
with the Father.
73. To return, however, to what we had in hand
before, and finish the task set before us. The Son, as the Word.
carries out His Father's Will. Now, a word, as we understand and use
it, is an utterance. There are syllables and sounds, which, however,
are not at variance with the thought of our mind, and what we apprehend
and are affected by inwardly we give token of by the testimony of the
spoken word, which, as it were, works [for us]. But the words we speak
have no direct efficacy in themselves, it is the Word of God alone,
which is neither an utterance, nor an "inward concept," as they call
it, but works efficaciously, is living, and has healing power.
74. Wouldst thou know what is the nature of the
Word--hear the Scriptures. "For the Word of God is living and mighty,
yea, working effectually, sharp and keener than any the sharpest sword,
piercing even to the sundering of soul and spirit, of limbs and
marrow."(1)
75. Hearest thou, then, the Word of God, and wilt
separate Him from the Father's Will and Power? Thou hearest Him called
the living Word, the healing Word--seek not then to compare Him with
the word of our mouth; for if the word we utter, through it have not
eyes to see, nor ears to hear, yet speaks, and still the knowledge of
what it speaks is wrought by virtue of hidden mysteries of man's
nature, how can he escape the charge of blasphemy, who requires that
some sort of bodily vision and hearing shall go along with the Godhead
in the Word of God, and thinks that the Son can do nothing of Himself,
save what He shall have seen the Father doing, though (as we have said)
there is in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit the same Will, both to do
and not to do, and the same Power, by reason of unity in the same
substance.
76. But if, though men are, as a rule, different in
respect of their thoughts and feelings, they yet agree as to the
meaning of a single proposition, what ought we to think as concerning
the Father and the Son of God, seeing that in the Substance of the
Godhead there is that is imitated by human love?
77. Let us, however, suppose--as our adversaries
would have it--that the Son does, as it were, copy the pattern of that
which He has seen His Father doing. But
272
even this, we must confess, means that He is of the same substance, for
none can completely imitate the working of another, unless he be one
with him in the same nature.
CHAPTER VIII.
The heretical objection, that the Son cannot be equal to the Father,
because He cannot beget a Son, is turned back upon the authors of it.
From the case of human nature it is shown that whether a person begets
offspring or not, has nothing to do with his power. Most of all must
this be true since, otherwise, the Father Himself would have to be
pronounced wanting in power. Whence it follows that we have no right to
judge of divine things by human, and must take our stand upon the
authority of Holy Writ, otherwise we must deny all power either to the
Father or to the Son.
78. There is a fool's demurrer, your Majesty, which
certain persons are given to raising, in order to show the Father and
the Son to be not equal together, saying that the Father is Almighty,
because He hath begotten the Son, but that the Son is not Almighty,
because He hath not been able to beget.
79. But see how wild is their blasphemy, how their
philosophers' logic confutes itself. For the raising of this question
must lead either to their confessing with their own mouths that the Son
is co-eternal with the Father, or, if they impose a beginning upon the
Son's existence, to their assigning of necessity a beginning to the
Father's power. When, therefore, they deny that the Son is Almighty,
they are on the road to assert--which is impious--that the Father began
to be Almighty by help of the Son.
80. For if the Father is Almighty by reason of
begetting the Son, then, certainly, either the Son is co-eternal with
the Father, because if the Father is eternally Almighty, then the Son
also is eternal, or, if there was a time when there was not an eternal
Son, there was by consequence a time when there was not an Almighty
Father. For when they would make out that there was a time when the Son
began to be, they are sliding back into [the error of] saying that the
Father's Power also has not been from everlasting, but began to be in
consequence of the generation of the Son. So, in their desire to do
dishonour to the Son of God, they do so increase His honour as to seem
to make Him, contrary to all right belief, the source of His Father's
Power, though the Son saith, "All things that the Father hath are
Mine"(1)--that is to say, not the things which He has bestowed upon the
Father, but which He has received from the Father, by right as the Son
Whom the Father has begotten.
81. And therefore we do declare the Son to be
Eternal Power;(1) if, then, His Power and Godhead be eternal, surely
His Sovereignty is eternal also. He, then, who dishonours the Son
dishonours the Father, and is an enemy and offender against duty and
love. Let us honour the Son, in Whom the Father is well pleased, for it
is the Father's pleasure that praise be given to the Son, in Whom He
Himself is well pleased.
82. Let us, however, make answer to the conclusion
they strive to establish; but we seem to have sought, in pursuit of a
personal appeal, to escape from the difficulty of treating the question
before us. The Father, they say, has begotten a Son; the Son has not.
What proof is this that they are not equal? To beget is the Father's
natural function, as a Father, and no necessary outcome of His
Sovereign Power.(2) Furthermore, dutiful regard places persons on an
equality with each other, and does not sunder them. Again, our own
experience of what holds good amongst us frail mortals teaches us that
it may frequently happen that weak men have sons, whilst stronger men
have not; that slaves have children, whilst their masters are
childless; and that the poor beget offspring, whilst rich men are
unblessed with any.
83. But if our adversaries say that this too may be
the result of infirmity, inasmuch as men may desire to beget children,
but be unable to do so; then, though things divine are not to be judged
of and determined by things human, yet let them understand that with
men also, as with God, whether one has children or no, is not dependent
upon or derived of his authoritative power, but upon the personal
attributes of a father, and that begetting lies not in the power of our
will, but is contingent upon our qualities of body; for if it were a
matter of sovereign authority, then the mightier king would have the
greater number of sons. To have sons, then, or to be childless,
therefore, is not in necessary connection or relation to sovereign
authority. Is it, then, so with nature?
84. If you [my Arian adversaries] regard what you
object as natural weakness, and rely upon examples taken from the
nature of mankind, remember that the Father's nature is the same as the
Son's, and therefore you
273
do either confess the Son to be a true Son, and dishonour the Father in
the Person of the Son, by reason of Their unity in one and the same
Nature (for as the Father is by Nature God, so also is the Son; whereas
the Apostle says that the "gods many" are not so by nature, but are
only so called); or, if you deny Him to be a true Son, that is to say,
possessing the same Nature, then He is not begotten, and if the Son is
not begotten, the Father did not beget Him.
85. The conclusion we come at, therefore, on the
line of your persuasion, is that God the Father is not Almighty,
because He could not beget, if He did not beget the Son, but created
Him. But forasmuch as the Father is Almighty, He being, as you hold,
the Almighty in so far as He is the only Author of Being, then surely
He has begotten His Son, and not created Him. Howbeit, we ought to
believe His word before yours. He says: "I have begotten,"(1) and that
more than once, witnessing to Himself as begetting.
86. It is no sign, then, of infirmity, whether of
nature or authority, in Christ, that He has not begotten, for to beget,
as we have already said ofttimes, bears no relation to supremacy of
authority, but to a personal property in a nature.(2) For if the
Omnipotence of the Father is thereby constituted, that He hath a Son,
then He might have been more Almighty had He begotten more Sons.
87. Then is His power exhausted in the begetting of
One? Nay, but I will show that Christ also hath sons, whom He begets
every day, but with that generation, or rather regeneration, which is
related to personal authority rather than nature, for adoption is the
exercise and bestowal of authority, and generation the manifestation of
a property, as Scripture itself hath taught us: for John saith that "He
was in this world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew
Him not. He came to His own, and His own received Him not. But as many
as received Him, to them gave He power(3) to become sons of God, to
them which believe in His Name."(4)
88. We say, therefore, that it is the function and
exercise of His Authority that He has made us sons of God, whereas the
oracles of God discover that His generation is in relation to personal
attribute, for the Wisdom of God saith: "I came forth out of the mouth
of the Most High,"(5) that is to say not of compulsion, but free, not
under bond of authority, but born in a hidden birth, according to
personal powers of Supreme Sovereignty and rightfulness of authority.
Again, concerning the same Wisdom, Which is the Lord Jesus, the Father
saith in another place: "Out of the womb I begat Thee, before the
morning star."(1)
89. Now this He said, not to make us think of a
bodily womb,(2) but to show that true generation is His proper
activity,(3) for if we understand the words as speaking of generation
from a body, then [we imply] the Father Almighty conceived and brought
forth in travail. But far be it from us that we should make this weak
bodily frame the measure of God's greatness. The word "womb" represents
the hidden mystery, the inner sanctuary of the Father's being, into
which neither angels nor archangels nor powers nor dominations, nor any
created nature, hath been able to enter. For the Son is always with the
Father, and in the Father--with the Father, by virtue of the
distinction, without division, proper to the Eternal Trinity;(4) in the
Father, by reason of the essential unity of the Divine Nature.
90. What room here, then, for one to sit in judgment
upon the Godhead, to call in question the Father and the Son,--the One
for begetting, the Other for not begetting. No man condemns his servant
or handmaid for begetting (or bearing) offspring; but those Arians
condemn Christ for not begetting--they do condemn Him, for they
privately pass sentence of condemnation upon Him, when they take from
His glory and dignity. The question, why they have not begotten
offspring, does not lead those who are joined in marriage into loss of
their love, or denial of each other's merits, but the Arians, because
Christ hath not begotten a Son, make light of His sovereignty.
91. Why, ask they, is the Son not a Father? Because,
on the other side, the Father is not a Son. Why has not Christ
begotten? Even because the Father is not begotten. Yet the Son stands
none the lower, because He is not a Father; nor the Father, because He
is not a Son, for the Son said: "All things that the Father hath are
Mine"(5)--so truly is generation involved in the Father's per-
274
sonal attributes, and comes not by mere right of sovereignty.
92. The Substance of the Trinity is, so to say, a common Essence in
that which is distinct,(1) an incomprehensible, ineffable Substance. We
hold the distinction, not the confusion of Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit; a distinction without separation; a distinction without
plurality;(2) and thus we believe in Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as
each existing from and to eternity in this divine and wonderful
Mystery: not in two Fathers, nor in two Sons, nor in two Spirits.
For "there is one God, the Father, of Whom are all things, and we in
Him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, by Whom are all things, and we by
Him."(3) There is One born of the Father, the Lord Jesus, and
therefore He is the Only-begotten. "There is also One Holy
Spirit,"(4) as the same Apostle hath said. So we believe,so we read, so
we hold. We know the fact of distinction, we know nothing of the hidden
mysteries; we pry not into the causes, but keep the outward signs
vouchsafed unto us.
93. O monstrous wickedness, that they who have no
power over their own procreation should claim and usurp power to
enquire into the Divine Generation! Let them deny, them, that the Son
is equal to the Father, forasmuch as He hath not begotten; let them
deny that the Son is equal to the Father, because He hath a Father! But
if they talked after this fashion about men, who sometimes desire to
beget sons, yet cannot, we should call it an insult, just as we should
so call it, if of two men, one having sons and the other childless, the
latter were said to be inferior to the former on that ground. So
monstrous also, I say, does it seem, in regard simply to men, that one
should therefore be esteemed the more lightly because he hath a father.
Peradventure, indeed, the Arians suppose that Christ is in the position
of one in a family, and frets because He is not set free and
independent of His Father's authority, and is not empowered to
administer the estate. But Christ is not under tutelage; nay, rather
has He abolished all tutelage.(5)
94. How then, let them tell us, would they have
these things to be?--a true generation, the true Son begotten of God
the Father, that is, of the Substance of the Father, or of another
substance? If they say "begotten of the Father, that is, of the
Substance of God," well and good, for then they acknowledge the Son as
begotten of the Substance of the Father. If, then, they are of one
Substance, surely they are also of one sovereign Power. Whereas, if the
Son is begotten of another substance, how can the Father be Almighty,
and the Son not Almighty? For what advantage hath God, if He have made
His Son of another substance, when confessedly the Son, on His part,
hath of another substance made us sons of God? The Son, therefore, is
either of one Substance with the Father, or of one sovereign Power.
95. Our adversaries' question, then, falls flat,
because they cannot judge Christ--or rather, because He is clear, when
He is judged.(1) They are worthy, however, to be condemned upon their
own sentence, who raise this question against us, for if the Son be
therefore not equal to the Father, because He hath not begotten a Son,
then by all means let them who sow discussions of this kind(2) confess,
if they have not children, that their very servants are to be preferred
before themselves, inasmuch as they cannot be the equals of those who
have children--whereas, if they have children, let them regard the
merit thereof as due not to themselves, but of right to their sons.
96. The objection, then, holds not together, that
the Son cannot be equal to the Father, by reason of the Father having
begotten the Son, whilst the Son has begotten no Son of Himself, for
the spring: begets the stream, though the stream begets no spring out
of itself, and light begets radiance, and not radiance light, yet the
nature of radiance and light is one.(3)
CHAPTER IX.
Various quibbling arguments, advanced by the Arians to show that the
Son had a beginning of existence, are considered and refuted, on the
ground that whilst the Arians plainly prove nothing, or if they prove
anything, prove it against themselves, (inasmuch as He Who is the
beginning of all cannot Himself have a beginning), their reasonings do
not even hold true with regard to facts of human existence. Time could
not be before He was, Who is the Author of time--if indeed at some time
He was not in existence, then the Father was without His Power and
Wisdom. Again, our own human experience shows that a person is said to
exist before he is born.
97. Now that our opponents have failed to maintain
their objection against the truth of
275
His Son's equality with the Father, on the ground of His Generation,
let them see that their well known device of controversy, their stock
misrepresentation, is frustrated. Their common use is to propound this
riddle: "How can the Son be equal with the Father? If He is a Son, then
before He was begotten He was not in existence. If He was in existence,
why was He begotten?" And men who advance difficulties raised by Arius
yet sturdily deny that they are Arians.
98. Accordingly, they demand our answer, intending,
if we say, "The Son existed before He was begotten," to meet us with a
subtle retort, that "If so, then, before He was begotten, He was
created, and there is no difference between Him and the rest of created
beings, for He began to be a creature before He began to be the Son."
To which they add: "Why was He begotten, when He was already in
existence? Because He was imperfect, and in order that He might
afterwards be made more perfect?" Whilst if we reply that the Son did
not exist before He was begotten, they will immediately reply: "Then by
being begotten He was brought into existence, not having existed before
He was begotten," so as to lead on from this to the conclusion that
"the Son existed, when He did not exist.":
99. But let those who propound this difficulty and
endeavour to enwrap the truth in a cloud tell us themselves whether the
Father exerts His power of begetting within or without limits of time.
If they say "within limits of time," then they will attribute to the
Father what they object against the Son, so as to make the Father seem
to have begun to be what He was not before. If their answer is "without
such limits," then what is left them but to resolve for themselves the
problem they have propounded, and acknowledge that the Son is not
begotten under limits and conditions of time, since they deny that the
Father so begets?
100. If the Son, then, is not begotten within limits
of time, we are free to judge that nothing can have existed before the
Son, Whose being is not confined by time. If, indeed, there was
anything in being before the Son, then it instantly follows that in Him
were not created all things in heaven or in earth, and the Apostle is
shown to have erred in so setting it down in his Epistle,(2) whereas,
if before He was begotten there was nothing, I see not wherefore He,
before Whom none was, should be said to have been after any.
101. With the consideration whereof we must join
another most blasphemous objection of theirs, which covers a subtle
purpose to confuse the sense and understanding of simple folk. They ask
whether everything that comes to an end had also at any time a
beginning. If they are told that what has an end also had a beginning,
then they return to the charge with the question whether the Father has
ceased to beget His Son. This by our consent being granted them, they
conclude that the generation of the Son had a beginning. The which if
you allow, it seems to follow that if the Generation had a beginning,
it appears to have begun in Him Who was begotten; so that one, who had
not existed before, may be called "begotten"--their intent being to
close the inquiry by laying down as conclusive that there was a time
when the Son existed not.
102. Besides this, there are other vain objections,
such as persons of their glibness of tongue would readily urge. If, say
they, the Son is the Word of the Father, then He is called "begotten,"
inasmuch as He is the Word. But then since He is the Word, He is not a
work. Now the Father has spoken "in divers manners,"(1) whence it
follows that He has begotten many Sons, if He has spoken His Word, not
created it as a work of His hands. O fools, talking as though they knew
not the difference between the word uttered and the Divine Word,
abiding eternally, born of the Father--born, I say, not uttered
only--in Whom is no combination of syllables, but the fulness of the
eternal Godhead and life without end!(2)
103. Follows another blasphemy, whereby they enquire
whether it was of His own free will, or on compulsion, that the Father
begat [His Son], intending, if we say, "Of His own free will," that we
should appear as though we acknowledged that the Father's Will preceded
the [Divine] Generation, and to answer that there being something that
preceded the existence of the Son, the Son is not co-eternal with the
Father, or that He, like the rest of the world, is a being created,
forasmuch as it is written, "He hath made all things, as many as He
would,"(3) though this is spoken, not of the Father and
276
the Son, but of those creatures which the Son made. Whereas if we
answered that the Father begat [His Son] on compulsion, we should seem
to have attributed infirmity to the Father.
104. But in the eternal Generation there is no
foregoing condition, neither of will, nor of unwillingness, and
therefore I can neither say that the Father begat of His free Will, nor
yet that He begat on compulsion, for to beget depends not upon
possibility as determined by will, but rather appears to stand in a
certain right and property of the hidden being of the Father. For just
as the Father is not good because He wills to be so, or is compelled to
be so, but is above these conditions--is good, that is, by
nature,--even so the putting forth of His generative power is neither
of will nor of necessity.
105. Yet let us grant their proposal, Granted that
the Generation depends on the Will of Him Who generates; when do they
say that this act of will took place? If it was in the beginning, then,
plainly; the Son was in the beginning. If the Will is eternal, then the
Son also is eternal. If the Will began to exist, then God the Father,
as He was, was so displeased with Himself, that He made a change in His
condition, that is to say, without His Son He was displeasing to
Himself; in His Son He began to be well pleased.
106. To follow out the consequences thereof. If the
Father conceived, after the manner of human nature, a desire to beget,
then did He also pass through all the experiences which befal men
before the birth takes place--but we find that generation is not
determined merely by will, but is an object of wish.
107. Thus do they betray their own ungodliness, who
would have it that Christ's generation had a beginning, in order that
it may seem, not that true begetting of the Word abiding, but the
utterance of words that pass and are forgotten, and that by intrusion
of [the premiss of] a multitude of sons, they may [be warranted to]
deny Christ's personal possession of the divine attributes, to the end
that He may be regarded as neither the only-begotten nor the
first-begotten Son; and lastly, that given the belief that His
existence had a beginning, it may also be deemed as appointed to have
an end.
108. But neither had the Son of God any beginning,
seeing that He already was at the beginning, nor shall He come to an
end, Who is the Beginning and the End of the Universe;(1) for being the
Beginning, how could He take and receive that which He already had,(2)
or how shall He come to an end, being Himself the End of all things, so
that in that End we have an abiding-place without end? The Divine
Generation is not an event occurring in the course of time, and within
its limits, and therefore before it time is not, and in it time has no
place.
109. Again, their aimless and futile question finds
no loophole for entry, even when directed upon the creation itself;(3)
nay, indeed, temporal existences appear, in certain cases, to admit of
no division of time. For instance, light generates radiance, but we can
neither conceive that the radiance begins to exist after the light, nor
that the light is in existence before the radiance, for where there is
a light,(4) there is radiance, and where there is radiance there is
also a light; and thus we can neither have a light without radiance,
nor radiance without light, because both the light is in the radiance,
and the radiance in the light. Thus the Apostle was taught to call the
Son "the Radiance of the Father's Glory,"(5) for the Son is the
Radiance of His Father's light, co-eternal, because of eternity of
Power; inseparable, by unity of brightness.
110. If then we can neither understand the mystery
of, nor dissociate, these created objects in the sky above us, which we
see, can we comprehend Him Whom we see not, Who is above every created
existence, God, as He is in the very Holy of Holies of His own
Generation? Can we make time a barrier between Him and the Son, when
all time is the creation of the Son?
111. Let them cease therefore, and say no more that
before He was begotten the Son was not. For the word "before" is a mark
of time, whereas the Generation is before
277
all times,(1) and therefore that which comes after aught comes not
before it, and the work cannot be before the maker, seeing that
necessarily objects made take their commencement from the craftsman who
makes them. How can the customary action of any created object be
regarded as existing prior to the maker of it, whilst all time is a
creation, and every creation has taken its being from its creator?
112. I would, therefore, further examine our
opponents, who esteem themselves so cunning, and have them make good
the application of their theory to human existence, seeing that they
use it to disparage the glory of God's Existence, and keep far away
from any confession of an inscrutable mystery in the Divine Generation.
I would have them find ground for their objection in the facts of human
generation. Of God's Son they assert that before He was begotten He was
not,--that is to say, they say this of the Wisdom, the Power, the Word
of God, Whose Generation knows nothing prior to itself. But if, as they
would have us believe, there was a time when the Son existed not (the
which it is blasphemy to affirm), then there was a time when God lacked
the fulness of Divine Perfection, if afterwards He passed through a
process of begetting a Son.
113. To show them, however, the weakness and
transparency of their objection, though it has no real relation to any
truth, divine or human, I will prove to them that men have existed
before they were born. Else, let them show that Jacob, who whilst yet
hidden in the secret chamber of his mother's womb supplanted his
brother, had not been appointed and ordained, ere ever he was born;(2)
let them show that Jeremiah had not likewise been so, before his birth,
-Jeremiah, to whom the message comes: "Before I formed thee in thy
mother's womb, I knew thee; and before thou camest forth from the
belly, I sanctified thee, and appointed thee for a prophet amongst the
nations."(3) What testimony can we have stronger than the case of this
great prophet, who was sanctified before he was born, and known before
he was shaped?
114. What, again, shall I say of John, of whom his
holy mother testifies that, whilst he yet lay in her womb, he perceived
in spirit(4) the presence of his Lord, and leaped for joy, as we
remember it to be written, his mother saying: "For lo, as soon as the
voice of the salutation entered mine ears, the babe leaped in my womb
for joy."(1) Was he, then, who prophesied, in existence or not? Nay,
surely he was--surely he was in being who worshipped his Maker; he was
in being who spake in his mother's womb. And so Elisabeth was filled
with the spirit of her son, and Mary sanctified by the Spirit of hers,
for thus you may find it recorded, that "the babe leaped in her womb,
and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost."(2)
115. Consider the proper force of each word.
Elisabeth was indeed the first to hear the voice of Mary, but John was
first to feel His Lord's gracious Presence. Sweet is the harmony of
prophecy with prophecy, of woman with woman, of babe with babe. The
women speak words of grace, the babes move hiddenly, and as their
mothers approach one another, so do they engage in mysterious converse
of love; and in a twofold miracle, though in diverse degrees of honour,
the mothers prophesy in the spirit of their little ones. Who, I ask,
was it that performed this miracle? Was it not the Son of God, Who made
the unborn to be?
116. Thus your objection fails of reconcilement with
the truths of human existence--can it attain thereto with divine
mysteries? What mean you by your principle that "before He was begotten
He was not"? Was the Father engaged for some time in conception, so
that certain epochs passed away before the Son was begotten? Was He,
like women, in travail of birth, so that just this travail? What would
you? Why seek we to pry into divine mysteries? The Scriptures tell me
the necessary effects of the Divine Generation,(3) not how it is done.
CHAPTER X.
The objection that Christ, on the showing of St. John, lives because of
the Father, and therefore is not to be regarded as equal with the
Father, is met by the reply that for the Life of the Son, in respect of
His Godhead, there has never been a time when it began; and that it is
dependent upon none, whilst the passage in question must be understood
as referring to the His human life, as is shown by His speaking there
of His body and blood. Two expositions of the passage are given, the
one of which is shown to refer to Christ's Manhood, whilst the second
teaches His equality with the Father, as also His likeness with men.
Rebuke is administered to the Arians for the insult which they are
seeking to inflict upon the Son, and the sense in which the Son can be
said to live "because of" the Father is explained, as also the
278
union of life with our the divine Life. A further objection, based upon
the Son's prayer that He may be glorified by the Father, is briefly
refuted.
118. There are not a few who raise this further
objection, that it is written: "As the living Father hath sent Me, and
I live by the Father; so he that eateth Me, liveth also by Me."(1)
"How," ask they, "is the Son equal with the Father, when He has said
that He lives by the Father?"
119. Let those who oppose us on this ground tell us
first what the Life of the Son is. Is it a life bestowed by the Father
upon one lacking life? But how could the Son ever fail to possess life,
He Himself being the Life, as He says, "I am the Way, the Truth, and
the Life."' Truly, His life is eternal, even as His power is eternal.
Was there a time, then, when (so to speak) Life possessed not itself?
120. Bethink you what is read this day concerning
the Lord Jesus, that "He died for our sakes, to the end that whether we
wake or whether we sleep, we may live with Him."(3) He Whose Death is
Life, is not His Godhead Life, seeing that the Godhead is Life eternal?
121. But is His Life truly in the Father's power?
Why, He showed that even His bodily life was not in the power of any
other, as we have it on record: "I lay down My life, that I may take it
again. No man taketh it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have
power to lay it down, and again I have power to take it. This
commandment have I received of My Father."(4)
122. Is His divine Life then to be regarded as
depending upon the power of another, when His bodily life was subject
to no other power but His own? For it would have been the power of
another, but for the Unity of power. But just as He gives us to
understand that His laying down His life was done of His own power, and
of His free Will, so also He teaches us, in laying it down in obedience
to His Father's command, the unity of His own with the Father's Will.
123. If, then, there has neither been slime when the
Life of the Son took a commencement, nor any power to which it has been
subjected, let us consider what His meaning was when He said: "Even as
the living Father hath sent Me, and I live by the Father"? Let us
expound His meaning as best we can; nay, rather let Him expound it
Himself.
124. Take notice, then, what He said in an earlier
part of His discourse. "Verily, verily, I say unto you." He first
teaches thee how thou oughtest to listen. "Verily, verily, I say unto
you, unless ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink His blood, ye
shall have no life in you."(1) He first premised that He was speaking
as Son of Man; dost thou then think that what He hath said, as Son of
Man, concerning His Flesh and His Blood, is to be applied to His
Godhead?
125. Then He added: "For My Flesh is meat indeed,
and My Blood is drink [indeed]."(2) Thou hearest Him speak of His Flesh
and of His Blood, thou perceivest the sacred pledges, [conveying to us
the merits and power] of the Lord's death,(3) and thou dishonourest His
Godhead. Hear His own words: "A spirit hath not flesh and bones."(4)
Now we, as often as we receive the Sacramental Elements, which by the
mysterous efficacy of holy prayer are transformed into the Flesh and
the Blood, "do show the Lord's Death."(5)
126. Then, alter calling on us to take notice that
He speaks as Son of Man, and frequent repeated mention of His Flesh and
His Blood, He adds: "Even as the living Father hath sent Me, and I live
by the Father, so he that eateth Me, he also liveth by Me." How then do
they suppose that we are to understand these words?--for the comparison
can be shown as a double one. The first comparison being after the
following manner: "Even as the living Father hath sent Me, I live by
the Father;" the second: "Even as the living Father hath sent Me, and I
live by the Father, so also he that eateth Me, he too liveth by Me."
127. If our adversaries choose the former, the
meaning is this, that, "as I am sent by the Father and am come down
from the Father, so (in accordance therewith) I live by the Father."
But in what character was He sent, and came down, save as Son of Man,
even as He Himself said before: "No man hath ascended into heaven, save
He that hath come down from heaven as Son of Man."(6) Then, just as He
was sent and came down as Son of Man, so as Son of Man He lives by the
Father. Furthermore, he that eateth Him, as eating the Son of Man, doth
himself also live by the Son of Man. Thus, He has compared the effect
of His Incarnation to His coming.
279
128. But if they choose the second method, do we not
infer both the equality of the Son with the Father, and His likeness to
men, together, though in clear mutual distinction? For what is the
meaning of the words, "Even as He Himself liveth by the Father, so we
also live by Him," but that the Son so quickeneth a man, as the Father
hath in the Son quickened human nature?(1) "For as the Father raiseth
the dead and quickeneth them, so also the Son quickeneth whom He
will,"(2) as the Lord Himself hath already said.
129. Thus the equality of the Son to the Father is
established simply upon unity in the action of quickening, since the
Son so quickeneth as the Father doth. Acknowledge therefore the
eternity of His Life and Sovereignty. Again, our likeness with the Son
is discovered, and a certain unity with Him in the flesh,(3) because
that, like as the Son of God was quickened in the flesh(4) by the
Father, so also is man quickened; for thus it is written, that as God
raised Jesus Christ from the dead, so we also, as men, are quickened by
the Son of God.(5)
130. According to this interpretation, then,
immortality is not only applied to our condition by grace of bounty,
but is also proclaimed as the property of Godhead--the latter, because
it is the Godhead which quickeneth; the former, because manhood is
quickened in Christ.
131. But if any would apply the force of either
comparison to Christ's Godhead, then the Son of God is put on one
footing with men, so that the Son of God lives by the Father just as we
live by the Son of God. But the Son of God bestows eternal life by free
gift, we cannot so do. If then He be placed on a level with us, He too
does not bestow this gift. Let Arius' disciples then have the due
reward of their faith--which is, not to obtain eternal life of the Son.
132. I would now go further. If our opponents are
pleased to apply the teaching of this passage to the principle of the
eternity of the Divine Substance, let them hear a third exposition:
Does not our Lord plainly appear to say that as the Father is a living
Father, so too the Son also lives?-and who can but observe that here we
must understand a reference to unity of Life, forasmuch as the same
Life is the Life of the Father and the Life of the Son? "For as the
Father hath Life in Himself, so hath He
given to the Son also to have Life in Himself."(1) He hath given--by
reason of unity with Him. He hath given, not to take away, but that He
may be glorified in the Son. He hath given, not that He, the Father,
might keep guard over it, but that the Son might have it in possession.
133. But the Arians think that they must oppose
hereto the fact that He had said, "I live by the Father." Of a
certainty (suppose that they conceive the words as referring to His
Godhead) the Son lives by the Father, because He is the Son begotten of
the Father,--by the Father, because He is of one Substance with the
Father,--by the Father, because He is the Word given forth from the
heart of the Father,(2) because He came forth from the Father, because
He is begotten of the "bowels of the Father,"(3) because the Father is
the Fountain and Root of the Son's being.
134. But peradventure they may urge: "If you hold
that the Son, in saying, 'And I live by the Father,' spoke of the unity
of life subsisting between the Father and the Son, does it not follow
that He discovered the unity of life between the Son and mankind in
saying that 'he that eateth Me, the same liveth by Me'?"
135. Even so. Just as I confess the unity of
celestial Life subsisting in Father and Son by reason of the unity of
the substance of the Godhead, so too, save as concerns the prerogatives
of the Divine Nature or those which are the effect of the Incarnation
of our Lord, I affirm of the Son a participation of spiritual life with
us by virtue of the unity of His Manhood with ours, for "as is the
heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly."(4) Further, even as in
Him we sit at the right hand of the Father, not in the sense that we
share His throne, but that we rest in the Body of Christ--even as, I
say, we have part in Christ's session by reason of corporal unity, so
too we live
280
in Christ by reason of unity of our bodies with His Body.
136. Not only, then, have I no fears of the text, "I
live by the Father," but I should have none, even though Christ had
said, "I live by help of the Father.
137. Now another objection commonly urged by them
starts from the text: "This sickness is not unto death, but for the
glory of God, to the end that His Son may be
glorified by Him."(2) But not only is the Son glorified through the
Father and by the Father, as it is written: "Glorify Me, Father;"(3)
and again: "Now hath the Son of Man been glorified, and God hath been
glorified in Him, and God glorifieth Him,"(4) but the Father also is
glorified through the Son and by the Son, for Truth hath said: "I have
glorified Thee upon earth."
138. Even as the Son, therefore, is glorified
through the Father, so too He lives by the Father. There are some who
have been led by consideration of these words to the supposition that
[the Greek] "<greek>doxa</greek>" means "opinion, belief,"
rather than "glory," and therefore have interpreted as follows: "I have
given thee a <greek>doxa</greek> upon earth, I have
finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do, and now, O Father, give
me a <greek>doxa</greek>" that is to say: "I have taught
men so to believe concerning Thee, as to know that Thou art the true
God; do Thou also establish in them, concerning Me, the belief that I
am Thy Son, and very God."
CHAPTER XI.
The particular distinction which the Arians endeavoured to prove upon
the Apostle's teaching that all things are "of" the Father and
"through" the Son, is overthrown, it being shown that in me passage
cited the same Omnipotence is ascribed both to Father and to Son, as is
proved from various texts, especially from the words of St. Paul
himself, in which heretics foolishly find a reference to the Father
only, though indeed there is no diminution or inferiority of the Son's
sovereignty proved, even by such a reference. Finally, the three
phrases, "of Whom," "through Whom," "in Whom," are shown to suppose or
imply no difference (of power), and each and all to hold true of the
Three Persons.
139. Now we come to that laughable method, attempted
by some, of showing a difference of Power to subsist between
Father and Son, on the strength of apostolic testimony, it being
written "But for us there is One God, the Father, of Whom are all
things, and we in Him, and One Lord, Jesus Christ, through Whom are all
things, and we through Him."(1) It is urged that no small difference in
degree of Divine Majesty is signified in the affirmation that all
things are "of" the Father, and "through" the Son. Whereas nothing is
clearer than that here a plain reason is given of the Omnipotence of
the Son, inasmuch as whilst all things are "of" the Father, none the
less are they all "through" the Son.(2)
140. The Father is not "amongst" all things, for to
Him it is confessed that "all things serve Thee."(3) Nor is the Son
reckoned "amongst" all things, for "all things were made by
Him,"(4) and "all things exist together(5) in Him, and He is above all
the heavens."(6) The Son, therefore, exists not "amongst" but above all
things, being, indeed, after the flesh, of the people,(7) of the Jews,
but yet at the same time God over all, blessed for ever,s having a Name
which is above every name,(9) it being said of Him, "Thou hast put all
things in subjection under His feet."(10) But in making all things
subject to Him, He left nothing that is not subject, even as the
Apostle hath said.(11) But suppose that the Apostle's words were
intended with reference to the Incarnate Lord; how then can we doubt
the incomparable majesty of His Divine Generation?
141. Certain it is, then, that between Father and
Son there can be no difference of Power. Nay, so far is such difference
from being present, that the same Apostle has said that all things are
"of" Him, by Whom are all things, as followeth: "For of Him and through
Him and in Him are all things."(12)
142. Now if, as they suppose, it is the Father alone
Who is spoken of, it cannot be that He is at once Omnipotent because
all things are of Him, and not Omnipotent because all things are
through Him.(13) On
281
their own showing, then, they will declare the Father lacking in Power,
and not Omnipotent, or at the least they will be confessing with their
own mouth, all against their will though it be, the Omnipotence of the
Son as well as of the Father.
143. Howbeit, let them decide whether they will
understand this affirmation as made concerning the Father. If they do
so decide then all things are "through" Him also. If they decide that
it is the Son Who is spoken of, then all things are "of" Him as well as
"of" the Father. But if all things are "through" the Father also, then
surely there is no argument for diminishing from the honour due to the
Son; and if all things are "of" the Son, the Son must be honoured in
like manner as the Father is.
144. In case our opponents should suspect that we
are taking advantage of some intrusion of a single spurious verse into
the text, let us review the whole passage. "O depth of the riches of
God's wisdom and knowledge!" exclaims the Apostle, "how un-searchable
are His judgments, and His ways past finding out! For Who hath known
the mind of the Lord, or who hath been His counsellor? Or who hath been
first to give unto Him, and shall be recompensed? For of Him and
through Him and in Him are all things. To Him be glory for ever!"(1)
145. Who, then, think they, is here spoken of--the
Father or the Son? If it be the Father--then we answer that the Father
is not the Wisdom of God, for the Son is. But what is there that is
impossible to Wisdom, of Whom it is written: "Seeing that she is
almighty and abiding, she maketh all things new m herself"?(2) We
read of Wisdom, then, not as approaching, but as abiding.(3) Thus have
you the authority of Solomon to teach you of the Omnipotence and
Eternity of Wisdom, and of her Goodness as well, for it is written:
"But malice overcometh not Wisdom."(4)
146. But to purpose. "How unsearchable," saith the
Apostle, "are His judgments!" Now if "the Father hath given
all judgment to the Son,"(1) it seems that the Father + points to the
Son as Judge.
147. But now, to show us that He is speaking of the
Son, not of the Father, St. Paul proceeds: "Who was first in giving to
Him?" For "the Father hath given to the Son," but it was as
acknowledging the rights of Him Whom He has begotten, not by way of
largess. Therefore, it being undeniable that the Son has received at
the hands of the Father, as it is written, "All things have been given
unto Me of My Father,"(3) yet, in saying, "Who was first in giving to
Him?" the Apostle has not denied that the Son has received gifts of the
Father, by virtue of His Nature, but he has indeed shown that, of
Father and Son, Neither can be said to be before the Other, forasmuch
as, albeit the Father has given gifts unto the Son, yet He has not so
bestowed them as upon one that began to be after Him; because the
uncreate and incomprehensible Trinity, Which is of One Eternity and
Glory, admits neither difference of time nor degree of precedence.
148. If, however, we hold ourselves more bound to
observe those Greek manuscripts which show
"<greek>tis</greek> <greek>prosedwken</greek>
<greek>autw</greek>" it is clear that He to Whom nothing
can be added is not unequal to Him Who is perfect and complete.
Therefore, if this passage from the Apostle, in its entirety, is better
understood with reference to the Son, we see that we must also believe
concerning the Son, that all things are of Him, even as it is written:
"For of Him and through Him and in Him are all things."
149. Be it so, nevertheless, that they suppose the
passage to be intended of the Father, then let us call to mind that
even as we read of all things being of Him, so too we read of all
things being through Him, that is to say, the authority of the Father
and of the Son is extended over the whole created universe. And, though
we have already proved the Omnipotence of the Son by the Omnipotence of
the Father,(4) still--forasmuch as they are ever bent upon
disparagement--let them consider that they disparage the Father as well
as the Son. For if the Son be limited in might, because all things are
through Him, do we say further, that the Father likewise is limited,
because all things are through Him also?
150. But to bring them to understand that
282
these phrases involve no difference, I will once again show that it is
the same person, "of" whom anything is, and "through" whom anything is,
and that we read of things being related in both these ways to the
Father. For we find: "Faithful is God, through Whom ye were called into
the fellowship of His Son."(1) Let our adversaries weigh the meaning of
the Apostle's words. We are called "through" the Father--they raise no
controversy: we are created "through" the Son--and this they have set
down as a mark of inferiority.(2) The Father has called us into
fellowship with His Son, and this truth we, as in duty bound, devoutly
receive. The Son has created all things, and Arius' followers imagine
that here they have not the decree of a free Will, but a forced
service, slavishly performed!
151. Again, to obtain fuller understanding that,
forasmuch as we are called through the Father into fellowship with His
Son, there is no difference of Power in the Father and the Son, [note
that] the fellowship itself has its beginning of the Son, as it is
written: "For from His fulness have we all received," though, if we
follow the Greek text of the Gospel, we ought to render "of His
fulness."(3)
152. See, then, how there is fellowship both through
the Father and of the Son, and yet not a different fellowship, but one
and the same. "And that our fellowship be with the Father and with His
Son Jesus Christ."(4)
153. Observe, further, that Scripture speaks of our
having one fellowship not only "of" the Father and the Son, but also
"of" the Holy Spirit. "The grace of Our Lord Jesus Christ," saith the
Apostle, "and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be
with you all."(5)
154. Now, I ask, wherein does He, through Whom are
all things, appear less than He, of Whom are all things? Is it because
He is declared to be the Worker? But the Father also works, for He is
true who said, "My Father worketh hitherto, and I work."(6) Therefore,
even as the Father worketh, so worketh the Son also; and so He Who
worketh is not limitary in power nor abject, for the Father also
worketh; which being so, that which is common to the Son with the
Father, or even which the Son has by the Father, ought not to be the
less esteemed, lest heretics further dishonour the Father in the Person
of the Son.
155. Not to be passed over for silencing the
disputings of Arian misbelief are those words of the same Saint John,
which he set down in another Scripture: "If ye know that He is just,
know that he which doeth righteousness is born of Him."(1) But who is
righteous, save the Lord, Who loveth righteousness?(2) Or whom--as the
foregoing texts warn us--have we to assure us of everlasting life, if
we have not the Son? If, therefore, the Son of God hath promised us
everlasting life, and He is righteous, surely we are born "of" Him.
Else, if our adversaries deny that we are born of the Son by grace,
they likewise deny His righteousness.
156. Thou must therefore believe that all things are
of the Son of God [even as of God the Father, for even as God is the
Father of all, so likewise is the Son the Author and Creator of all. We
see, then, the vanity of this their questioning, forasmuch as it holds
good of the Son [as of the Father], that "of Him and through Him and in
Him are all things."
157. We have shown how all things are "of" Him, and
likewise how all things are also "through" Him. Who then doubts that
all things are "in" Him, when another Scripture saith: "For in Him are
all things founded, that are in the heavens, and in Him they were
created, and He is before all things, and all things consist in Him"?
(Col. i. 16). Of Him, then, thou hast grace; Himself thou hast for thy
Creator; in Him thou findest the foundation of all things.
CHAPTER XII.
The comparison, found in the Gospel of St. John, of the Son to a Vine
and the Father to a husbandman, must be understood with reference to
the Incarnation. To understand it with reference to the Divine
Generation is to doubly insult the Son, making Him inferior to St.
Paul, and bringing Him down to the level of the rest of mankind, as
well as in like manner the Father also, by making Him not merely to be
on one footing with the same Apostle, but even of no account at all.
The Son, indeed, in so far as being God, is also the husbandman, and,
as regards His Manhood, a grape-cluster. True statement of the Father's
pre-eminence.
158. There is yet another Scripture, which our
opponents commonly object against us, in order to prove their division
of the Godhead of the Father from the Godhead of the
283
Son, namely, our Lord's words in the Gospel: "I am the true Vine and My
Father is the Husbandman." The vine and the husbandman, say they, are
of different natures, and the vine is in the power of the husbandman.
159. Thus, then, ye would have us believe that the
Son, as touching His Godhead, is like to a vine, so that without a
vine-dresser He is nothing, and may be neglected or even rooted up.
Thus ye juggle up a lie from the letter of the Scripture which sayeth
that our Lord called Himself the Vine, intending thereby the mystery of
His Incarnation.(1) Howbeit, if ye are bent on it that we dispute upon
the letter, I too confess, yea, I proclaim, that the Son called Himself
the Vine. For woe be to me, if I deny the pledge(2) of the salvation of
His people!
160. How then do you purpose to understand the truth
that the Son of God called Himself the Vine? If you interpret the
saying with respect to the Substance of His Godhead, and if you suppose
such a diversity of Godhead between the Father and the Son as there is
of nature between a husbandman and a vine, you do double insult both to
Father and to Son--to the Son, because if, as you affirm, He is, as
touching His Godhead, beneath a husbandman, then must He on the same
showing be esteemed lower than the Apostle Paul, forasmuch as Paul
indeed called himself a husbandman, as we find it written: "I have
planted, Apollos hath watered: but God hath given the increase."(3)
Will you have Paul, then, to be better than the Son of God?
161. Thus far the one insult. As for the other, it
lies herein, that if the Son is the Vine in respect of His
eternally-begotten Person, then, He having said: "I am the Vine, ye are
the branches,"(4) that divinely-begotten One appears to be of one
substance with us. But" who is like unto Thee among the gods, O
Lord?"(5) as it is written; and again, in the Psalms: "For who is there
among the clouds that shall be equal to the Lord? Or who among the sons
of God shall be like unto God."(6)
162. Moreover, ye disparage not only the Son, but
the Father also. For if the term "husbandman" is to comprehend in its
designation all the prerogative of the Father's Sovereignty, then,
seeing that Paul too is a husbandman, you set the Apostle, to whom you
deny that the Son is equal, on an even footing with the Father.
163. Again, it being written, "But neither he which
planteth is anything, nor he that watereth; but God, Who giveth the
increase,"(1) you will rest the fulness of the Father's Majesty in a
name which, as you see, stands for weakness. For if he that planteth is
nothing, and he that watereth is nothing, but it is God, Who giveth the
increase [Who is all], observe what your blasphemy intends--even to
expose the Father to contempt under the title of a husbandman, and to
demand another God to provide the increase of the Father's labour.
Wickedly, therefore, do they think to extol the Dignity of God the
Father by this use of the term "husbandman," in which God the Father is
brought down to the level of man, as being designated by a common title.
164. Yet what wonder if, as ye heretics would have
it, the Father is to be exalted above a Son Whose Godhead differs not a
whir from the common condition of mankind? If ye suppose the Son to
have been entitled the Vine with respect to His Godhead, then do ye
esteem Him not only as liable to corruption and subject to changes of
wind and weather, but even as partaking of manhood only, forasmuch as
the Vine and its branches are of one nature, so that the Son of God
appears, not to have taken upon Him our flesh, through the mystery of
Incarnation, but to have altogether sprung into being from the flesh.
165. But I will indeed openly confess that His
flesh, though born in a new and mysterious birth, was yet of the same
nature with ours, and that this is the pledge of our salvation, not the
source of the Divine Generation. He indeed is the Vine, for He bears my
sufferings, whensoever manhood, hitherto frail, leans on Him and so
matures with plenteous fruit of renewed devotion.
166. Yet if the husbandman's power allure thee, tell
me, prithee, who it was that spake in the prophet, saying: "0 Lord,
make it known to me, that I may know; then saw I their thoughts. I was
led as a harmless lamb to the slaughter and knew it not: they took
counsel together against me, saying, Come, let us throw wood into his
bread."(2) For if the Son here speaks of the mystery of His coming
Incarnation--for it were blasphemy to suppose that the words are spoken
concerning the Father--then surely it is the Son Who speaks in an
earlier passage: "I have planted thee as a fruitful vine--how art Thou
become bitter, and a wild vine?"(3)
284
167. And thus thou seest that the Son also is the
husbandman,--the Son, of one Name with the Father, one work, one
dignity and Substance. If, then, the Son is both Vine and Husbandman,
plainly we infer the meaning of the Vine with regard to the mystery of
the Incarnation.
168. But not only has our Lord called Himself a
Vine--He has also given Himself, by the voice of the prophet, the title
of a Grape-cluster--even when Moses, at the command of the Lord, sent
spies to the Valley of the Cluster.(1) What is that valley but the
humility of the Incarnation and the fruitfulness of the Passion? I
indeed think that He is called the Cluster, because that from the Vine
brought out of Egypt, that is, the people of the Jews, there grew a
fruit for the world's good. No man, truly, can understand the Cluster
as a token of the Divine Generation--or if there be any who so
understand it, they leave no conclusion open but that we should believe
that Cluster to have sprung from the Vine: And thus in their folly they
attribute to the Father that which they refuse to believe of the Son.
169. But if there be now left no room for doubt that
the Son of God is called the Vine with respect and intention to His
Incarnation,(1) you see what hidden truth it was to which our Lord had
regard in saying, "The Father is greater than I."(2) For after this
premised, He proceeded immediately: "I am the true Vine, and My Father
is the Husbandman," that you might know that the Father is greater in
so far as He dresses and tends our Lord's flesh, as the husbandman
dresses and tends his vines. Further, our Lord's flesh is that which
could increase in stature with age,(3) and be wounded through
suffering, to the end that the whole human race might rest guarded from
the pestilent heat of the pleasures of this world, under the shadow of
the Cross whereon Its limbs are spread.
BOOK V.
PROLOGUE.
Who is a faithful and wise servant? His reward is pointed out in the
case of Peter, as also in the case of Paul. Ambrose, being anxious to
follow Paul's guidance, wished this book to be added to the others, for
it could not be included in the preceding one. The subject for
discussion is then stated, and the reason for such a discussion given.
He must needs be pardoned, for usury is to be demanded from every
servant for the money which has been entrusted to him. Their
faithfulness is the usury desired in his own case. He will be happy if
he may hope for a reward; but he does not look so much for the
recompense of the saints, as for exemption from punishment. He urges
all to seek to merit this.
1. "Who, then, is a faithful and wise servant, whom
his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due
season? Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall
find so doing." (2) Not worthless is this servant: some great one ought
he to be. Let us think who he may be.
2. It is Peter, chosen by the Lord Himself to feed
His flock, who merits thrice to hear the words: "Feed My little lambs;
feed My lambs; feed My sheep."(3) And so, by feeding well the flock of
Christ with the
food of faith, he effaced the sin of his former fall. For this reason
is he thrice admonished to feed the flock; thrice is he asked whether
he loves the Lord, in order that he may thrice confess Him, Whom he had
thrice denied before His Crucifixion.(4)
3. Blessed also is that servant who can say: "I have
fed you with milk and not with meat; for hitherto ye were not able to
bear it."(5) For he knew how to feed them. Who of us can do this? Who
of us can truly say: "To the weak became Ins weak, that I might gain
the weak"?(6)
4. Yet he, being so great a man, and chosen by
Christ for the care of His flock, so as to strengthen the weak and to
heal the sick,--he, I say, rejects forthwith after one admonition(7) a
heretic from the fold entrusted to him, for fear that the taint of one
erring sheep might infect the whole flock with a spreading sore. He
further bids that foolish questions and contentions be avoided.(8)
5. How, then, shall we act, being but ignorant
dwellers set amongst these fresh tares in the old-standing harvest
field?(9) If
285
we are silent, we shall seem to be giving way; and if we contend
against them, there is the fear that we too shall be held to be carnal.
For it is written of matters of this sort, which beget strife: "The
servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle unto all, apt to
teach, patient, with moderation instructing those that oppose
themselves."(1) And in another place: "If any man is contentious, we
have no such custom, neither the Church of God."(2) For this reason it
was our intention to write somewhat, in order that our writings might
without any din answer the impiety of heretics on our behalf.
6. And so we prepare to commence this our Fifth
Book, O Emperor Augustus. For it was but right that the Fourth Book
should end with our discussion on the Vine, lest otherwise we should
seem to have overloaded that book with a tumultuous mass of subjects,
rather than to have filled it with the fruit of the spiritual vineyard.
On the other hand, it was not seemly that the gathering of the vintage
of the faith should be left unfinished, whilst there was still all
abundance of such great matters for discussion.
7. In the Fifth Book, therefore, we speak of the
indivisible Godhead of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost
(omitting, however, a full discussion on the Holy Ghost), being urged
by the teaching of the Gospel to let out on interest to human minds the
five talents(3) of the faith entrusted to these five books being as it
were the principal; lest perhaps when the Lord comes, and finds His
money hidden in the earth, He may say to me: "Thou wicked and slothful
servant, thou knewest that I reap where I do not sow; and gather where
I have not strawed; thou oughtest therefore to have put My money to the
exchangers, that at My coming I might have received Mine Own,"(4) or as
it stands in another book: "And I," it says, "at My coming might have
received it with usury."(5)
8. I pray those to pardon me, whom the boldness of
such a lengthy address displeases. The thought of my office compels me
to entrust to others what I have received. "We are stewards of the
heavenly mysteries."(6) We are ministers, but not all alike. "But," it
says, "even as the Lord gave to every man, I have planted; Apollos
watered; but God gave the increase."(7) Let each one then strive that
be may be able to receive a reward according to his labour.
"For we are labourers together with God," as the Apostle said; "we are
God's husbandry, God's building."(1) Blessed therefore is he who sees
such usury on his principal; blessed too is he who beholds the fruit of
his work; blessed again is he "who builds upon the foundation of faith,
gold, silver, precious stones."(2)
9. Ye who hear or read these words are all things to
us. Ye are the usury of the money-lender,--the usury on speech, not on
money; ye are the return given to the husbandman; ye are the gold, the
silver, the precious stones of the builder. In your merits lie the
chief results of the labours of the priest; in your souls shines forth
the fruit of a bishop's work; in your progress glitters the gold of the
Lord; the silver is increased if ye hold fast the divine words. "The
words of the Lord are pure words, as silver tried in the fire; proved
on the earth, purified seven times."(3) Ye therefore will make the
lender rich, the husbandman to abound in produce; ye will prove the
master-builder to be skilful. I do not speak boastfully; for I do not
desire so much my own advantage as yours.
10. Oh that I might safely say of you at that time:
"Lord, Thou gavest me five talents, behold I have gained five other
talents;"(4) and that I might show the precious talents of your
virtues! "For we have a treasure in earthen vessels."(5) These are the
talents which the Lord bids us spiritually to trade with, or the two
coins of the New and the Old Testament, which that Samaritan in the
Gospel left for the man robbed by the thieves, for the purpose of
getting his wounds healed.(6)
11. Neither do I, my brethren, with greedy desires,
long for this, so that I may be set over many things; the recompense I
get from the fact of your advance is enough for me. Oh that I may not
be found unworthy of that which I have received! Let those things which
are too great for me be assigned to better men. I demand them not! Yet
mayest Thou say, O Lord: "I will give unto this last, even as unto
thee."(7) Let the man that deserves it receive authority over ten
cities.(8)
12. Let him be such an one as was Moses, who wrote
the Ten Words of the Law. Let him be as Joshua, the son of Nun, who
subdued five kings, and brought the Gibeonites into subjection, that he
might be the figure of a Man of his own name Who was
286
to come, by Whose power all fleshly lust should be overcome, and the
Gentiles should be converted, so that they might follow the faith of
Jesus Christ rather than their former pursuits and desires. Let him be
as David, whom the young maidens came to meet with songs, saying: "Saul
hath triumphed over thousands, David over ten thousands."(1)
13. It is enough for me, if I am not thrust out into
the outer darkness, as he was, who hid the talent entrusted to him in
the earth so to speak, of his own flesh. This the ruler of the
synagogue did, and the other rulers of the Jews; for they
employed(2),(3) the words of the Lord, which had been entrusted to
them, on the ground as it were of their bodies; and, delighting in the
pleasures of the flesh, sunk the heavenly trust as though into the pit
of an overweening heart.
14. Let us then not keep the Lord's money buried and
hidden in the flesh; nor let us hide our one talent in a napkin;(4) but
like good money-changers let us ever weigh it out with labour of mind
and body, with an even and ready will, that the word may be near, even
in thy mouth and in thy heart.(5)
15. This is the word of the Lord, this is the
precious talent, whereby thou art redeemed. This money must often be
seen on the tables of souls, in order that by constant trading the
sound of the good coins may be able to go forth into every land, by the
means of which eternal life is purchased. "This is eternal life," which
Thou, Almighty Father, givest freely, that we may know "Thee the only
true God, and Jesus Christ Whom Thou hast sent."(6)
CHAPTER I.
How impious the Arians are, in attacking that on which human happiness
depends. John ever unites the Son with the Father, especially where he
says: "That they may know Thee, the only true God, etc." In that place,
then, we must understand the words "true God" also of the Son; for it
cannot be denied that He is God, and it cannot be said He is a false
god, and least of all that He is God by appellation only. This last
point being proved from the Apostle's words, we rightly confess that
Christ is true God.
16. Wherefore let the Arians observe, how impious
they are in calling in question our hope and the object of our desires.
And since they are wont to cry out on this point above all others,
saying that Christ is distinct from the only and true God, let us
confute their impious ideas so far as lies in our power.
17. For on this point they ought rather to
understand, that this is the benefit, this the reward of perfect
virtue, namely, this divine and incomparable gift, that we may know
Christ together with the Father, and not separate the Son from the
Father; as also the Scriptures do not separate them. For the following
tells rather for the unity than for the diversity of the Divine
Majesty, namely, that the knowledge of the Father and of the Son gives
us the same recompense, and one and the same honour; which reward no
man will have but he that has known both the Father and the Son. For as
the knowledge of the Father procures eternal life, so also does the
knowledge of the Son.
18. Therefore as the Evangelist forthwith at the
outset joined the Word with God the Father in his devout confession of
faith, saying: "And the Word was with God;"(1) and here too, in writing
the words of the Lord: "That they may know Thee, the only true God, and
Jesus Christ Whom Thou hast sent,"(2) he has undoubtedly, by thus
connecting Them, bound together the Father and the Son, so that no one
may separate Christ as true God from the majesty of the Father, for
union does not dissever.
19. Therefore in saying, "That they may know Thee,
the only true God, and Jesus Christ Whom Thou hast sent," he put an end
to the Sabellians, and has also put the Jews out of court,--those at
any rate who heard him speak; so that the former might not suppose the
Same to be the Father as the Son, which they might have done if he had
not added also Christ, and that the latter might not sever the Son from
the Father.
20. But, I ask, why do they not think we ought to
gather and understand this from what has been already said; that as he
has declared the Father to be only, true God, so we may understand
Jesus Christ also to be only, true God? For it could not be expressed
in any other way, for fear he might seem to be speaking of two Gods.
For neither do we speak of two Gods; and yet we confess the Son to be
of the same Godhead with the Father.
21. May we ask, therefore, on what grounds they
think a distinction is made in the Godhead, and whether they deny
Christ to be God? But they cannot deny it. Do they deny Him to be true
God ? But if they
287
deny Him to be true God, let them say whether they declare Him to be a
false God, or God by appellation only. For according to the Scriptures
the word "God" is used either of the true God, or by appellation only,
or of a false god. True God as the Father; God by appellation as the
saints; a false god like the demons and idols. Let them say then how
they will acknowledge and describe the Son of God. Do they suppose the
name of God to have been falsely assumed; or was there in truth merely
an indwelling of God within Him, as it were by appellation only?
22. I do not think they can say the name was falsely
assumed, and so involve themselves in the open wickedness of blasphemy;
lest they should betray themselves on the one hand to the demons and
idols, and on the other to Christ, by insinuating that the name of God
was falsely given to Him. But if they think He is called God because He
had an indwelling of the Godhead within Him,--as many holy men were
(for the Scripture calls them Gods to whom the word of God
came),(1)--they do not place Him before other men, but think He is to
be compared with them; so that they consider Him to be the same as He
has granted other men to be, even as He says to Moses: "I have made
thee a god unto Pharaoh."(2) Wherefore it is also said in the Psalms:
"I have said, ye are gods."(3)
23. This idea of these blasphemers Paul puts aside;
for he said: "For though there be that are called gods, whether in
heaven or in earth."(4) He said not: "There be
gods," but "There be that are called gods." But "Christ, as it is
written, "is the same yesterday and to-day."(5) "He is," it says; that
is, not only in name but also in truth.
24. And well is it written: "He is the same
yesterday and to-day," so that the impiety of Arius might find no room
to pile up its profanity. For he, in reading in the second psalm of the
Father saying to the Son, "Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten
Thee,"(6) noted the word "to-day," not "yesterday," referring this
which was spoken of the assumption of our flesh to the eternity of the
divine generation; of which Paul also says in the Acts of the Apostles:
"And we declare unto you the promise which was made to our fathers: for
God has fulfilled the same to our children, in that He hath raised up
the Lord Jesus Christ again, as it is written in the second psalm: Thou
art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee."(1) Thus the Apostle, filled
with the Holy Ghost, in order that he might destroy that fierce madness
of his, said: "The same, yesterday, to-day, and for ever." "Yesterday"
on account of His eternity; "to-day" on account of His taking to
Himself a human body.
35. Christ therefore is, and always is; for He, Who
is, always is. And Christ always is, of Whom Moses says: "He that is
hath sent me."(2) Gabriel indeed was, Raphael was, the angels were; but
they who sometime have not been are by no means with equal reason said
always to be. But Christ, as we read, "was not it is, and, it is not,
but, it is was in Him."(3) Wherefore it is the property of God alone to
be, Who ever is.
26. Therefore if they dare not say He is God by
appellation, and it is a mark of deep impiety to say He is a false god,
it remains that He is true God, not unlike to the true Father, but
equal to Him. And as He sanctifies and justifies whom He will,(4) not
by assuming that power from without Himself, but having within Himself
the power of sanctification, how is He not true God? For the Apostle
called Him indeed true God, Who according to His nature was God, as it
is written: "Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto
them, who by nature were not gods;"(5) that is, who could not be true
gods, for this title by no means belonged to them by nature.
CHAPTER II.
Since it has been proved that the Son is true God, and in that is not
interior to the Father, it is shown that by the word solus (alone) when
used of the Father in the Scriptures, the Son is not excluded; nay,
that this expression befits Him above all, and Him alone. The Trinity
is alone, not amongst all, but above all. The Son alone does what the
Father does, and alone has immortality. But we must not for this reason
separate Him from the Father in our controversies. We may, however,
understand that passage of the Incarnation. Lastly the Father is shut
out from a share in the redemption of men by those who would have the
Son to be separated from Him.
27. We have fully demonstrated by passages of
Scripture, in the earlier books, that Christ is true, yea, very true
God. Therefore if Christ, as it has been taught, is true God, let us
enquire why they desire to separate the Son from the Father, when they
read that the Father is the only true God.
288
28. If they say that the Father alone is true God,
they cannot deny that God the Son alone is the Truth; for Christ is the
Truth. Is the Truth then something inferior to Him that is true, seeing
that according to the use of terms a man is called true from the word
"truth," as also wise from wisdom, just from justice? We donor deem it
so between the Father and the Son. For there is nothing wanting to the
Father, because the Father is full of truth; and the Son, because He is
the Truth, is equal to Him that is true.
29. But that they may know, when they see the word
"alone," that the Son is in no wise to be separated from the Father,
let them remember it was said by God in the Prophets: "I stretched
forth the heavens alone."(1) The Father certainly did not stretch them
forth without the Son. For the Son Himself, Who is the Wisdom of God,
says: "When He prepared the heavens I was present with Him."(2) And
Paul declares that it was said of the Son: "Thou, Lord, in the
beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are
the work of Thy hands."(3) Whether therefore the Son made the heavens,
as also the Apostle would have it understood, whilst He Himself
certainly did not alone spread out the heavens without the Father; or
as it stands in the Book of Proverbs: "The Lord in wisdom hath rounded
the earth, in understanding hath He prepared the heavens;"(4) it is
proved that neither the Father made the heavens alone without the Son,
nor yet the Son without the Father. And yet He who spread out the
heavens is said to be alone.
30. To show indeed how plainly we must understand
the expression "alone" of the Son (although we may never believe that
He did anything without the knowledge of the Father), we have here also
another passage, where it is written: "Which alone spreadeth out the
heavens, and walketh as it were on a pavement over the sea."(5) For the
Gospel of the Lord has taught us that it was not the Father but the Son
that walked upon the sea, when Peter asked Him, saying, "Lord, bid me
come unto Thee."(6) But even prophecy itself gives proof of this. For
holy Job prophesied of the coming of the Lord; of Whom he said in truth
that He would vanquish the great Leviathan,(7) and it was done. For
that dread Leviathan that is, the devil, He smote, and struck down,
and laid low in the last times by the adorable Passion of His own
Body.(1)
31. The Son therefore is only and true God for this
also is assigned to the Son as His sole right. For of no created being
can it be accurately said that he is alone. How can he to whom
fellowship in creation belongs be separated from the rest, as though he
were alone? Thus man is seen to be a rational being amongst all earthly
creatures, yet he is not the only rational being; for we know that the
heavenly works of God also are rational, we confess that angels and
archangels are rational beings. If then the angels are rational, man
cannot be said to be the only rational being.
32. But they say that the sun can be said to be
alone, because there is no second sun. But the sun himself has many
things in common with the stars, for he travels across the heavens, he
is of that ethereal and heavenly substance, he is a creature, and is
reckoned amongst all the works of God. He serves God in union with all,
blesses Him with all, praises Him with all.(2) Therefore he cannot
accurately be said to be alone, for he is not set apart from the rest.
33. Wherefore since no created being can be compared
with the Godhead of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, Which is
alone, not amongst all, but over all (our declaration concerning the
Spirit being meanwhile held back); as the Father is said to be the only
true God, because He has nothing in common with others; so also is the
Son alone the Image of the true God, He alone is the Hand of the
Father, He alone is the Virtue and Wisdom of God.
34. Thus the Son alone does what the Father does;
for it is written: "Whatsoever things I do, He doth."(3) And since the
work of the Father and of the Son is one, it is well said of the Father
and the Son, that God worked alone; wherefore also when we speak of the
Creator, we own both the Father and the Son. For assuredly when Paul
said, "Who served the creature more than the Creator,"(4) he neither
denied the Father to be the Creator, from Whom are all these things,
nor yet the Son, through Whom are all things.(5)
35. And it does not seem out of agreement with this
that it is written: "Who alone hath immortality."(6) For how could He
not have immortality Who has life in Himself? He has it in His nature;
He has it in His essential Being; and He has it not as a temporal
289
grace, but owing to His eternal Godhead. He has it not by way of a gift
as a servant, but by peculiar fight of His Generation, as the
co-eternal Son. He has it, too, as has the Father. "For as the Father
hath life in Himself, so also hath He given to the Son to have life in
Himself."(1) As He has it, it says, so He has given it. Thou hast
learnt already how He gave it,(2) that thou mayest not think it to be a
free gift of grace, when it is a secret of His generation. Since, then,
there is no divergence of life between the Father and the Son, how can
it be supposed that the Father alone has immortality, whilst the Son
has it not?
36. Wherefore let them understand that in this
passage the Son is not to be separated from the Father, Who is the only
true God. For they cannot prove that the Son is not the only and true
God, especially as here also it may be gathered, as I have said, that
Christ too is true and only God; or the passage may at least be
understood partly in reference to the Godhead of the Father and the
Son, and partly to the Incarnation of Christ: for knowledge is not
perfect unless it confesses Jesus Christ from eternity to be
only-begotten God, true Son of God, and, according to the flesh,
begotten of a Virgin. Which also this very Evangelist has taught us
elsewhere, saying: "Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is
come in the flesh, is of God."(3)
37. Lastly, the whole of our passage teaches us that
it is not improper in this verse to understand a reference to the
sacrament of the Incarnation. For thus it is written: "Father, the hour
is come, glorify Thy Son."(4) When, therefore, He states that the hour
is come, and prays to be glorified, how can one suppose Him to have
spoken but only in accordance with the assumption of our flesh? For the
Godhead has no fixed moments of time, nor does eternal light stand in
need of glorification. Therefore in the only true God, Who is the
Father, we also understand the only true Son of God to be in accordance
with the unity of the Godhead. And in the name of Jesus Christ, which
He received when born of the Virgin, we acknowledge the sacrament of
the Incarnation.
38. But if they wish to separate the Son, when they
read that the Father is the only true God, I suppose that when they
read of the Incarnation of the Son: "This is the stone which was set at
naught of you builders, which is become the head of the corner;" and
further: "There is none other name under heaven given among men,
whereby we must be saved;"(1) then they imagine the Father is to be cut
off from the benefit of imparting salvation to us. But there is neither
salvation without the Father, nor eternal life without the Son.
CHAPTER III.
To the objection of the Arians, that two Gods are introduced by a unity
of substance, the answer is that a plurality of Gods is more likely to
be inferred from diversity of substance. Further, their charge recoils
upon themselves. Manifold diversity is the reason why two men cannot be
said to be one man, though all men are called individually man, where a
unity of nature is referred to. There is one nature alone in them, but
there is wholly a unity in the Divine Persons. Therefore the Son is not
to be severed from the Father, especially as they dare not deny that
worship is due to Him.
39. BUT the Arians maintain the following: If you
say that, as the Father is the only true God, so also is the Son, and
confess that the Father and the Son are both of one substance, you
introduce not one God, but two. For they who are of one substance seem
not to be one God but two Gods. Just as two men or two sheep or more
are spoken of, but a man and a sheep are not spoken of as two men or
two sheep, but as one man and one sheep.
40. This is what the Arians say; and by this cunning
argument they attempt to catch the more simple-minded. However if we
read the divine Scriptures we shall find that plurality occurs rather
amongst those things which are of a diverse and different substance,
that is, <greek>eterousia</greek>. We have this set forth
in the books of Solomon, in that passage in which he said: "There are
three things impossible to understand, yea, a fourth which I know not,
the track of an eagle in the air, the way of a serpent upon a rock, the
path of a ship in the sea, and the way of a man in his youth."(2) An
eagle and a ship and a serpent are not of one family and nature, but of
a distinguishable and different substance, and yet they are three. On
the testimony of Scripture, therefore, they learn that their arguments
are against themselves.
41. Therefore, in saying that the substance of the
Father and of the Son is diverse and their Godhead distinguishable,
they themselves assert there are two Gods.
290
But we, when we confess the Father and' the Son, in declaring them
still to be of one Godhead, say that there are not two Gods, but one
God. And this we establish by the word of the Lord. For where there are
several, there is a difference either of nature or of will and work.
Lastly, that they may be refuted on their own witness, two men are
mentioned: But though they are of one nature by right of birth, yet in
time and thought and work and place, they are apart; and so one man
cannot be spoken of under the signification and number of two; for
there is no unity where there is diversity. But God is said to be one,
and the glory and completeness of the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Spirit is thus expressed.
42. Such, indeed, is the truth of unity that, when
the nature alone of human birth or of human flesh is indicated, one man
is the term used for the many, as it is written "The Lord is my helper,
I will not fear what man can do unto me;"(1) that is, not the one
person of a man, but the one flesh, the one frailty of human birth. It
added also: "It is better to trust in the Lord than to trust in
man."(2) Here, too, it did not denote one particular man, but a
universal condition. Then, immediately after it added, speaking of
many: "It is better to put confidence in the Lord than to put
confidence in princes."(3) Where man is spoken of, as we have already
said, there the common unity of the nature, which exists between all is
indicated; but where the princes are mentioned, there is a certain
distinction between their different powers.
43. Amongst men, or in men, there exists a unity in
some one thing, either in love, or desire, or flesh, or devotion, or
faith. But a universal unity, that embraces within itself all things
agreeably to the divine glory, is the property of the Father, the Son,
and the Holy Spirit alone.
44. Wherefore the Lord also, in pointing out the
diversity that exists among men, who have nothing in common that can
tend towards the unity of an indivisible substance, says: "In your law
it is written that the testimony of two men is true."(4) But though He
had said, "The testimony of two men is true," when He came to the
testimony of Himself and His Father, He said not: "Our testimony is
true, for it is the testimony of two Gods;" but: "I am One that bear
witness of Myself, and the Father that sent Me beareth witness of Me.",
Earlier He also says: "If I judge, My judgment is true; for I am not
alone, but I and the Father that sent Me."(2) Thus, both in one place
and the other, He indicated both the Father and the Son, but neither
implied the plurality, nor severed the unity of their divine Substance.
45. It is plain, then, that whatsoever is of one
substance cannot be severed, even though it be not single, but one. By
singleness I mean that which the Greeks call
<greek>monoths</greek>. Singleness has to do with a person;
unity with a nature. That those things which are of a different
substance are Wont to be called, not one alone, but many, though
already proved on the testimony of the prophet, the Apostle himself has
stated in so many words, saying: "For though there be that are called
gods, whether in heaven or in earth."(3) Dost thou see, then, that
those who are of different substances, and not of the verity of one
nature, are called "gods"? But the Father and the Son, being of one
substance, are not two Gods, but "One God, the Father, of Whom are all
things, and one Lord Jesus Christ, through Whom are all things."(4)
"One God," he says, "and one Lord Jesus;" and above: "One God, not two
Gods;" and then: "One Lord, not two Lords."(5)
46. Plurality, therefore, is excluded, but the unity
is not destroyed. But as, on the one hand, when we read of the Lord
Jesus, we do not dissociate the Father, as I have already said, from
the prerogative of ruling, because He has that in common with the Son;
so, on the other hand, when we read of the only true God, the Father,
we cannot sever the Son from the prerogative of the only true God, for
He has that in common with the Father.
47. Let them say what they feel or what they think,
when we read: "Thou shall worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shall
thou serve."(6) Do they think Christ should not be worshipped, and that
He Ought not to be served? But if that woman of Canaan who worshipped
Him,(7) merited to gain what she asked for, and the Apostle Paul, who
confessed himself to be the servant of Christ in the very outset of his
letters, merited to be an Apostle "not of men, neither by man, but by
Jesus Christ;"(8) let them say what they think should follow. Would
they prefer to join with Arius in a league of treachery, and so show,
by denying Christ to be the only true God, that
291
they consider He should neither be worshipped nor served? Or would they
sooner go in company with Paul, who in serving and worshipping Christ
did not disown in word and heart the only true God, Whom he
acknowledged with dutiful service?
CHAPTER IV.
It is objected by heretics that Christ offered worship to His Father.
But instead it is shown that this must be referred to His humanity, as
is clear from an examination of the passage. However, it also offers
fresh witness to His Godhead, as we often see it happening in other
actions that Christ did.
48. BUT if any one were to say that the Son worships
God the Father, because it is written, "Ye worship ye know not what, we
know what we worship,"(1) let him consider when it was said, and to
whom, and to whose wishes it was in answer.
49. In the earlier verses of this chapter it was
stated, not without reason, that Jesus, being weary with the journey,
was sitting down, and that He asked a woman of Samaria to give Him
drink;(2) for He spoke as man; for as God He could neither be weary nor
thirst.
50. So when this woman addressed Him as a Jew, and
thought Him a prophet, He answers her, as a Jew who spiritually taught
the mysteries of the Law: "Ye worship ye know not what, we know what we
worship." "We," He says; for He joined Himself with men. But how is He
joined with men, but according to the flesh? And to show that He
answered as being incarnate, He added: "for salvation is of the
Jews."(3)
51. But immediately after this He put aside His
human feelings, saying: "But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true
worshippers shall worship the Father."(4) H e said not: "We shall
worship." This He would certainly have said, if He had a share in our
obedience.
52. And when we read that Mary worshipped Him,(5) we
ought to learn that it is not possible for Him under the same nature
both to worship as a servant, and to be worshipped as Lord; but rather
that as man He is said to worship among men, and that as Lord He is
worshipped by His servants.
53. Many things therefore we read and believe, in
the light of the sacrament of the Incarnation. But even in the very
feelings of our human nature we may behold the Divine Majesty. Jesus is
wearied with His journey, that He may refresh the weary; He desires to
drink, when about to give spiritual drink to the thirsty; He was
hungry, when about to supply the food of salvation to the hungry; He
dies, to live again; He is buried, to rise again; He hangs upon the
dreadful tree, to strengthen those in dread; He veils the heaven with
thick darkness, that He may give light; He makes the earth to shake,
that He may make it strong; He rouses the sea, that He may calm it; He
opens the tombs of the dead, that He may show they are the homes of the
living; He is made of a Virgin, that men may believe He is born of God;
He feigns not to know, that He may make the ignorant to know; as a Jew
He is said to worship, that the Son may be worshipped as true God.
CHAPTER V.
Ambrose answers those who press the words of the Lord to the mother of
Zebedee's children, by saying that they were spoken out of kindness,
because Christ was unwilling to cause her grief. Ample reason for such
tenderness is brought forward. The Lord would rather leave the granting
of that request to the Father, than declare it to be impossible. This
answer of Christ's, however, is not to His detriment, as is shown both
by His very words, and also by comparing them with other passages.
54. "How," they say, "can the Son of God be the only
true God, like to the Father, when He Himself said to the sons of
Zebedee: 'Ye shall drink indeed of My cup; but to sit on My right hand
or on My left, is not Mine to give to you, but to those for whom it has
been prepared of My Father'?"(1) This, then, is, as you desire, your
proof of divine inequality; though in it you ought rather to reverence
the Lord's kindness and to adore His grace; if, that is, you could but
perceive the deep secrets of the virtue and wisdom of God.
55. For think of her who, with and for her sons,
makes this request. It is a mother, who in her anxiety for the honour
of her sons, though somewhat unrestrained in the measure of her
desires, may for all that yet find pardon. It is a mother, old in
years, devout in her zeal, deprived of consolation; who at that time,
when she might have been helped and supported by the aid of her able
bodied offspring, suffered her children to leave her, and preferred the
reward her sons should receive in following
292
Christ to her own pleasure. For they when called by the Lord, at the
first word, as we read, left their nets and their father and followed
Him.(1)
56. She then, somewhat yielding to the devotion of a
mother's zeal, besought the Saviour, saying: "Grant that these my two
sons may sit the one on Thy right hand, the other on Thy left in Thy
kingdom."(2) Although it was an error, it was an error of a mother's
affections; for a mother's heart knows no patience. Though eager for
the object of her desires, yet her longing was pardonable, for she was
not greedy for money, but for grace. Not shameless was her request, for
she thought not of herself, but of her children. Contemplate the
mother, reflect upon her.
57. But it is nothing wonderful if the feelings of
parents for their children seem nothing to you, who think the love of
the Almighty Father for His only-begotten Son a trifling matter. The
Lord of heaven and earth was ashamed (to speak as accords with the
assumption of our flesh and the virtues of the soul)--He was ashamed, I
say, and, to use His own word, disturbed, to refuse a share even in His
own seat to a mother making request for her sons. You maintain
sometimes that the proper Son of the eternal God stands to give
service, at other times you would have His co-session to be as that of
an attendant, that is, not because there is a oneness of majesty, but
because it is the order of the Father; and you deny to the Son of God,
Who is true God, that which He plainly was unwilling to refuse to men.
58. For He thought of the mother's love, who solaced
her old age with the thought of her sons' reward, and, though harassed
with a mother's longings, endured the absence of those dearest pledges
of her love.
59. Think also of the woman, that is, the weaker
sex, whom the Lord had not yet strengthened by His own Passion. Think,
I say, of a descendant of Eve, the first woman, sinking under the
inheritance of unrestrained passion, which had been passed on to all;
one, too, whom the Lord had not yet redeemed with His own Blood, and
from whom He had not yet washed out in His Blood the desire implanted
in the hearts of all for unbounded honour even beyond what is right.
Thus the woman offended owing to an inherited tendency to wrong.
60. And what wonder if a mother should strive to win
preference for her children (which is far better than if she had done
it for herself), when even the Apostles themselves, as we read, strove
amongst themselves, as to who should have the preference?(1)
61. The physician, therefore, ought not to wound a
mother who has been deprived of all, nor a suffering mind, with
shameful reproaches, lest when the request had been made and had been
proudly denied, she should grieve over the condemnation of her petition
as being unreasonable.
62. Lastly, the Lord, Who knew that a mother's
affection is to be honoured, answered not the woman, but her sons,
saying: "Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of?" When
they say: "We are able," Jesus says to them: "Ye shall drink indeed of
My cup; but to sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to give
to you, but to those for whom it is prepared of My Father."(2)
63. How patient and kind the Lord is; how deep is
His wisdom and good His love! For wishing to show that the disciples
asked for no slight thing, but one they could not obtain, He reserved
His own peculiar rights for His Father's honour, not fearing to detract
aught from His own rights: "Who thought it not robbery to be equal with
God;"(3) and loving, too, His disciples (for "He loved them," as it is
written, "unto the end"),(4) He was unwilling to seem to refuse to
those whom He loved what they desired; He, I say, the good and holy
Lord, Who would rather keep some of His own prerogative secret, than
lay aside aught of His love. "For charity suffereth long, and is kind;
charity envieth not, and seeketh not her own."(5)
64. Lastly, that you may learn it was no sign of
weakness, but rather of tenderness, that He said: "It is not Mine to
give to you;" note that when the sons of Zebedee make the request
without their mother, He said nothing about the Father; for thus it is
written: "It is not Mine to give to you, but those for whom it has been
prepared."(6) So the Evangelist Mark has stated it. But when the mother
makes this request on her sons' behalf, as we find it in Matthew, He
says: "It is not Mine to give to you, but to those for whom it has been
prepared of My Father."(7) Here He added: "of My Father," for a
mother's feelings demanded greater tenderness.
65. But if they think that by saying,
293
"For whom it hath been prepared of My Father," He assigned greater
power to His Father, or detracted aught from His own; let them say
whether they think there is any detraction from the Father's power,
because the Son in the Gospel says of the Father: "The Father judgeth
no man."(1)
66. But if we think it impious to believe that the
Father has handed over all judgment to the Son in such wise that He has
it not Himself,--for He has it, and cannot lose what the Divine Majesty
has by its very nature,--we ought to consider it equally impious to
suppose that the Son cannot give what either men can merit, or any
creature can receive; especially as He Himself has said: "I go unto My
Father, and whatsoever ye shall ask of Him in My name, that will I
do."(2) For if the Son cannot give what the Father can give, the Truth
has lied, and cannot do what the Father has been asked for in His name.
He therefore did not say: "For whom it has been prepared of My Father,"
in order that requests should be made only of the Father. For all
things which are asked of the Father, He has declared that He will
give. Lastly, He did not say: "Whatsoever ye shall ask of Me, that will
I do;" but: "Whatsoever ye shall ask of Him in My name, that will I do."
CHAPTER VI.
Wishing to answer the above-stated objection somewhat more fully, he
maintains that this request, had it not been impossible in itself,
would have been possible for Christ to grant; especially as the Father
has given all judgment to Him; which gift we must understand to have
been given without any feature of imperfection. However, he proves that
the request must be reckoned amongst the impossibilities. To make it
really possible, he teaches that Christ's answer must be taken in
accordance with His human nature, and shows this next by an exposition
of the passage. Lastly, he once more confirms the reply he as given on
the impossibility of Christ's session.
67. I Ask now whether they think the request made by
the wife and sons of Zebedee was possible or impossible to human
circumstances, or to any created being? If it was possible, how is it
that He Who made all things which were not had not the power of
granting a seat to His apostles on His right hand and on His left? or
how was it that He, to Whom the Father gave all judgment, could not
judge of men's merits?
68. We know well in what way He gave it; for how did
the Son, who created all things out of nothing, receive it as though in
want? Had He not the judgment of those whose natures He had made? The
Father gave all judgment to the Son, "that all men should honour the
Son, even as they honour the Father."(1) It is not therefore the power
of the Son, but our knowledge of it, that increases; nor does what is
learnt by us add aught to His being, but only to our advantage; so that
by knowing the Son of God, we may have eternal life.
69. As, then, in our knowledge of the Son of God His
honour, but our profit, not His, is concerned; if any one thinks that
the power of GOd is augmented by that honour, He must also believe that
God the Father can receive augmentation; for He is glorified by our
knowledge of Him, as is the Son: as it is written on the word of the
Son: "I have glorified Thee upon the earth."(2) Therefore if that which
was asked for was at all possible, it certainly was in the power of the
Son to grant it.
70. Let them show, if they consider it possible, who
of men or of other created beings sits either on the right hand or the
left of God. For the Father says to the Son: "Sit Thou on My right
hand."(3) Therefore if any one sits on the right hand of the Son, the
Son is found to be sitting (to speak in human wise) between Himself and
the Father.
71. A thing impossible for man, then, was asked of
Him. But He was unwilling to say that men could not sit with Him;
seeing that He desired His divine glory should be veiled, and not
revealed before He rose again.(4) For before this, when He had appeared
in glory between His attendants Moses and Elias, He had warned His
disciples that they should tell no man what they had seen.
72. Therefore if it was not possible for men or
other created beings to merit this, the Son ought not to seem to have
less power because He gave not to His apostles, what the Father has not
given to men or other created beings. Or else let them say to which of
them He has given it. Certainly not to the angels; of whom Scripture
says that all the angels stood round about the throne.(5) Thus Gabriel
said that he stands, as it says: "I am Gabriel that stand before
God."(6)
73. Not to the angels, then, has He given it, nor to
the elders who worship Him that sitteth; for they do not sit upon the
seat of
294
majesty, but as the Scripture has said, round about the throne; for
there are four and twenty other seats, as we have it in the Revelation
of John: "And upon the seats four and twenty elders sitting."(1) In the
Gospel also the Lord Himself says: "When the Son of Man shall sit in
the throne of His glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging
the twelve tribes of Israel."(2) He did not say that a share in His own
throne could be given to the apostles, but that there were those other
twelve thrones; which, however, we ought not to think of as referring
to actual sitting down, but as showing the happy issue of spiritual
grace.
74. Lastly, in the Book of the Kings, Micaiah the
prophet said: "I saw the Lord God of Israel sitting on His throne, and
all the host of heaven standing around Him, on His right hand and on
His left."(3) How then, when the angels stand on the right hand and on
the left of the Lord God, when all the host of heaven stands, shall men
sit on the right hand of God or on His left, to whom is promised as a
reward for virtue likeness to the angels, as the Lord says: "Ye shall
be as the angels in heaven?"(4) "As the angels," He says, not "more
than the angels."
75. If, then, the Father has given nothing more than
the Son, the Son certainly has given nothing less than the Father.
Therefore the Son can in no wise be less than the Father.
76. Suppose, however, that it had been possible for
men to obtain what was desired; what does it mean when He says: "But to
sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to give to you"?(5)
What is "Mine"? Above He said: "Ye shall drink indeed of My cup;" and
again He added: "It is not Mine to give to you." Above He said "Mine,"
and again lower down He said "Mine." He made no change. And so the
earlier passages tell us why He said "Mine."
77. For being asked by a woman as man to allow her
sons to sit on His right hand and His left, because she asked Him as
man, the Lord also as though only man answered concerning His Passion:
"Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of?"(6)
78. Therefore because He spoke according to the
flesh of the Passion of His Body, He wished to show that according to
the flesh He left behind Him an example and pattern to us of the
endurance of suffering; but that according to His position as man He
could not grant them fellowship in the throne above. This is the reason
why He said: "It is not Mine;" as also in another place He says: "My
doctrine is not Mine."(1) It is not, He says, spoken after my flesh;
for the words which are divine belong not to the flesh.
79. But how plainly He showed His tenderness for His
disciples, whom He loved, saying first: "Will ye drink of My cup?" For
as He could not grant what they sought, He offered them something else,
so that He might mention what He would assign to them, before He denied
them anything; in order that they might understand that the failure lay
more in the equity of their request to Him, than in the wish of their
Lord to show kindness.
80. "Ye shall indeed drink of My cup," He says; that
is, "I will not refuse you the suffering, which My flesh will undergo.
For all that I have taken on Myself as man, ye can imitate. I have
granted you the victory of suffering, the inheritance of the cross.
'But to sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to give to
you."' He did not say, "It is not Mine to give," but: "It is not Mine
to give to you;" meaning by this, not that He lacked the power, but
that His creatures were wanting in merit.
81. Or take in another way the words: "It is not
Mine to give to you," that is. "It is not Mine, for I came to teach
humility; it is not Mine, for I came, not to be ministered unto, but to
minister; it is not Mine, for I show justice, not favour."
82. Then, speaking of the Father, He added: "For
whom it has been prepared," to show that the Father also is not wont to
give heed merely to requests, but to merits; for God is not a respecter
of persons.(2) Wherefore also the Apostle says: "Whom He did foreknow,
He also did predestinate."(3) He did not predestinate them before He
knew them, but He did predestinate the reward of those whose merits He
foreknew.
83. Rightly then is the woman checked, who demanded
what was impossible, as a special kind of privilege from Him the Lord,
Who of His own free gift granted not only to two apostles, but to all
the disciples, those things which He had adjudged to be given to the
saints; and that too without a prayer from any one, as it is written:
"Ye shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of
Israel."(4)
84. Therefore, although we may think the
295
demand to have been possible, there is no room for false attacks.
However, when I read that the seraphim stand,(1) how can I
suppose that men may sit on the right hand or the left of the Son of
God? The Lord sits upon the cherubim, as it says: "Thou that sittest
upon the cherubim, show myself."(2) And how shall the apostles sit upon
the cherubim?
85. And I do not come to this conclusion of my own
mind, but because of the utterances of our Lord's own mouth. For the
Lord Himself later on, in commending the apostles to the Father, says:
"Father, I will that they also whom Thou hast given Me be with Me where
I am."(3) But if He had thought that the Father would give the divine
throne to men, He would have said: "I will that where I sit, they also
may sit with Me." But He says: "I will that they be with Me," not "that
they may sit with Me;" and "where I am," not "as I am."
86. Then follow the words: "That they may see My
glory." Here too He did not say: "that they may have My glory," but
"that they may see" it. For the servant sees, the Lord possesses; as
David also has taught us, saying: "That I may see the delight of the
Lord."(4) And the Lord Himself in the Gospel has revealed it, stating:
"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."(5) "They shall
see," He says; not "They shall sit with God upon the cherubim."
87. Let them therefore cease to think little of the
Son of God according to His Godhead, lest they should think little also
of the Father. For he who believes wrongly of the Son cannot think
rightly of the Father; he who thinks wrongly of the Spirit cannot think
rightly of the Son. For where there is one dignity, one glory, one
love, one majesty, whatsoever thou thinkest is to be withdrawn in the
case of any one of the Three Persons, is withdrawn from all alike, For
that can never have completeness which thou canst separate and divide
into various portions.
CHAPTER VII.
Objection is taken to the following passage: "Thou hast loved them, as
Thou hast loved Me." To remove it, he shows first the impiety of the
Arian explanation; then compares these words with others; and lastly,
takes the whole passage into consideration. Hence he gathers that the
mission of Christ, although it is to be received according to the
flesh, is not to His detriment. When this is proved he shows how the
divine mission takes place.
88. THERE are some, O Emperor Augustus, who in their
desire to deny the unity of the divine Substance, strive to make little
of the love of the Father and the Son, because it is written: "Thou
hast loved them, as Thou hast loved Me."(1) But when they say this,
what else do they do but adopt a likeness of comparison between the Son
of God and men?
89. Can men indeed be I loved by God as the Son is,
in Whom the Father is well-pleased?(2) He is well-pleasing in Himself;
we through Him. For those in whom God sees His own Son after His own
likeness, He admits through His Son into the favour of sons. So that as
we go through likeness unto likeness, so through the Generation of the
Son are we called unto adoption. The eternal love of God's Nature is
one thing, that of grace is another.
90. And if they start a debate on the words that are
written: "And Thou hast loved them, as Thou hast loved Me," and think a
comparison is intended; they must think that the following also was
said by way of comparison: "Be ye merciful, as your Father Which is in
heaven is merciful;"(3) and elsewhere: "Be ye perfect, as My Father
Which is in heaven is perfect."(4) But if He is perfect in the fulness
of His glory, we are but perfect according to the growth of virtue
within us. The Son also is loved by the Father according to the fulness
of a love that ever abideth, but in us growth in grace merits the love
of God.
91. Thou seest, then, how God has given grace to
men, and dost thou wish to dissever the natural and indivisible love of
the Father and the Son? And dost thou still strive to make nothing of
words, where thou dost note the mention of a unity of majesty?
92. Consider the whole of this passage, and see from
what standpoint He speaks; for thou hearest Him saying: "Father,
glorify Thou Me with the glory which I had with Thee before the world
was."(5) See how He speaks from the standpoint of the first man. For He
begs for us in that request those things which, as Man, He remembered
were granted in paradise before the Fall, as also He spoke of it to the
thief at His Passion: "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, today shall
thou be with Me in paradise."(6) This is the glory before the world was.
296
But He used the word "world" instead "men," as also thou hast it: "Lo!
the whole world goeth after Him;"(1) and again "That the world may know
that Thou hast sent Me."(2)
93. But that thou mightest know the great God, even
the life-giving and Almighty Son of God, He has added a proof of His
majesty by saying: "And all Mine are Thine, and Thine are Mine."(3) He
has all things, and dost thou turn aside the fact that He was sent, to
wrong Him?
94. But if thou dost not accept the truth of His
mission according to the flesh, as the Apostle spoke of it,(4) and dost
raise out of a mere word a decision against it, to enable thee to say
that inferiors are wont to be sent by superiors; what answer wilt thou
give to the fact that the Son was sent to men? For if thou dost think
that he who is sent is inferior to him by whom he is sent, thou must
learn also that an inferior has sent a superior, and that superiors
have been sent to inferiors. For Tobias sent Raphael the archangel,(5)
and an angel was sent to Balsam,(6) and the Son of God to the Jews.
95. Or was the Son of God inferior to the Jews to
whom He was sent? For of Him it is written: "Last of all He sent unto
them His only Son, saying, They will reverence My Son."(7) And mark
that He mentioned first the servants, then the Son, that thou mayest
know that God, the only-begotten Son according to the power of His
Godhead, has neither name nor lot in common with servants. He is sent
forth to be reverenced, not to be compared with the household.
96. And rightly did He add the word "My," that we
might believe He came, not as one of many, nor as one of a lower nature
or of some inferior power, but as true from Him that is true, as the
Image of the Father's Substance.
97. Suppose, however, that he who is sent is
inferior to him by whom he is sent. Christ then was inferior to Pilate;
for Pilate sent Him to Herod. But a word does not prejudice His power.
Scripture, which says that He was sent from the Father, says that He
was sent from a ruler.
98. Wherefore, if we sensibly hold to those things
which be worthy of the Son of God, we ought to understand Him to have
been sent in such a way that the Word of God, out of the
incomprehensible and ineffable mystery of the depths of His majesty,
gave Himself for comprehension to our minds, so far as we could lay
hold of Him, not only when He "emptied" Himself, but also when He dwelt
in us, as it is written: "I will dwell in them."(1) Elsewhere also it
stands that God said: "Go to, let us go down and confound their
language."(2) God, indeed, never descends from any place; for He says:
"I fill heaven and earth."(3) But He seems to descend when the Word of
God enters our hearts, as the prophet has said: "Prepare ye the way of
the Lord, make His paths straight."(4) We are to do this, so that, as
He Himself promised, He may come together with the Father and make His
abode with us.(5) It is clear, then, how He comes.
CHAPTER VIII.
Christ, so far as He is true Son of God, has no Lord, but only so far
as He is Man; as is shown by His words in which He addressed at one
time the Father, at another the Lord. How many heresies are silenced by
one verse of Scripture! We must distinguish between the things that
belong to Christ as Son of God or as Son of David. For under the latter
title only must we ascribe it to Him that He was a servant. Lastly, he
points out that many passages cannot be taken except as referring to
the Incarnation.
99. WHEREFORE also it is plain how He calls Him
Lord, Whom He knew as Father. For He says: "I confess to Thee, Father,
Lord of heaven and earth."(6) First Wisdom spoke of His own Father, and
then proclaimed Him Lord of creation. For this reason the Lord shows in
His Gospel that no lordship is exercised where there is a true
offspring, saying: "What think ye of Christ? Whose Son is He? They say
unto Him, The son of David. Jesus saith to them, How then doth David in
spirit call Him Lord, saying: The Lord said unto my Lord: Sit Thou on
My right hand"? Then he added: "If David in spirit then call Him Lord.
how is He his son? And no man was able to answer Him a word."(7)
100. With what care did the Lord provide for the
faith in this witness because of the Arians! For He did not say: "The
spirit calls Him Lord," but that "David spake in spirit;" in order that
men might believe that as He is his, that is, David's son according to
the flesh, so also He is his Lord and God according to His Godhead.
Thou seeest, then, that there is a distinction between the
297
titles that are used of relationship and of lordship.
101. And rightly did the Lord speak of His own
Father, but of the Lord of heaven and earth; so that thou, when thou
readest of the Father and the Lord, mayest understand it is the Father
of the Son, and the Lord of Creation. In the one title rests the claim
of nature, in the other the authority to rule. For taking on Himself
the form of a servant, He calls Him Lord, because He has submitted to
service; being equal to Him in the form of God, but being a servant in
the form of His body: for service is the due of the flesh, but lordship
is the due of the Godhead. Wherefore also the Apostle says: "The God of
our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory,"(1) that is, terming Him
God of the adoption of humanity but the Father of glory. Did God have
two Sons, Christ and Glory? Certainly not. Therefore if there is one
Son of God, even Christ, Christ is Glory. Why dost thou strive to
belittle Him who is the glory of the Father?
102. If then the Son is glory, and the Father is
glory (for the Father of glory cannot be anything else than glory),
there is no separation of glories, but glory is one. Thus glory is
referred to its own proper nature, but lordship to the service of the
body that was assumed. For if the flesh is subject to the soul of a
just man as it is written: "I chastise my body and bring it into
subjection;"(2) how much more is it subject to the Godhead, of Which it
is said: "For all things serve Thee"?(3)
103. By one question the Lord has shut out both
Sabellians and Photinians and Arians. For when He said that the Lord
spoke to the Lord, Sabellius is set aside, who will have it that the
same Person is both Father and Son. Photinus is set aside, who thinks
of Him merely as man; for none could be Lord of David the King, but He
Who is God, for it is written: "Thou shalt worship the Lord 'thy God,
and Him only shalt thou serve."(4) Would the prophet who ruled under
the Law act contrary to the Law? Arius is set aside, who hears that the
Son sits on the right hand of the Father; so that if he argues from
human ways, he refutes himself, and makes the poison of his blasphemous
arguments to flow back upon himself. For in interpreting the inequality
of the Father and the Son by the analogy of human habits (wandering
from the truth in either case), he puts Him first Whom he makes little
of, confessing Him to be the First, Whom he hears to be at the right
hand. The Manichaean also is set aside, for he does not deny that He is
the Son of David according to the flesh, Who, at the cry of the blind
men, "Jesus, Thou Son of David, have mercy on us,"' was pleased at
their faith and stood and healed them. But He does deny that this
refers to His eternity, if He is called Son of David alone by those who
are false.
104. For "Son of God" is against Ebion,(2) "Son of
David," is against the Manichees; 3 "Son of God" is against
Photinus,(4) "Son of David" is against Marcion;(5) "Son of God" is
against Paul of Samosata,(6) "Son of David" is against Valentinus;(7)
"Son of God" is against Arius and Sabellius, the inheritors of heathen
errors. "Lord of David "is against the Jews, who beholding the Son of
God in the flesh, in impious madness believed Him to be only man.
105. But in the faith of the Church one and the same
is both Son of God the Father and Son of David. For the mystery of the
Incarnation of God is the salvation of the whole of creation, according
to that which is written: "That without God He should taste death for
every man;"(8) that is, that every creature might be redeemed without
any suffering at the price of the blood of the Lord's Divinity, as it
stands elsewhere: "Every creature shall be delivered from the bondage
of corruption."(9)
106. It is one thing to be named Son according to
the divine Substance, it is another thing to be so called according to
the adoption of human flesh. For, according to the divine Generation,
the Son is equal to God the Father; and, according to the adoption of a
body, He is a servant to God the Father. "For," it says, "He took upon
Him the form of a servant."(10) The Son is, however, one and the same.
On the other hand, according to His glory, He is Lord to the holy
patriarch David, but his Son in the line of actual descent, not
abandoning aught of His own, but acquiring for Himself the rights that
go with the adoption into our race.
107. Not only does He undergo service in the
character of man by reason of His descent from David, but also by
reason of His name, as it is written: "I have found David My
Servant;"(11) and elsewhere: "Behold I
298
will send unto you My Servant, the Orient is His name.(1) And the Son
Himself says: "Thus saith the Lord, that formed Me from the womb to be
His servant, and said unto Me: It is a great thing for Thee to be
called My Servant. Behold I have set Thee up for a witness to My
people, and a light to the Gentiles, that Thou mayest be for salvation
unto the ends of the earth."(2) To whom is this said, if not to Christ?
Who being in the form of God, emptied Himself and took upon Him the
form of a servant.(3) But what can be in the form of God, except that
which exists in the fulness of the Godhead?
108. Learn, then, what this means: "He took upon Him
the form of a servant." It means that He took upon Him all the
perfections of humanity in their completeness, and obedience in its
completeness. And so it says in the thirtieth Psalm: "Thou hast set my
feet in a large room. I am made a reproach above all mine enemies. Make
Thy face to shine upon Thy servant."(4) "Servant" means the Man in whom
He was sanctified; it means the Man in whom He was anointed; it means
the Man in whom He was made under the law, made of the Virgin; and, to
put it briefly, it means the Man in whose person He has a mother, as it
is written: "O Lord, I am Thy Servant, I am Thy Servant, and the Son of
Thy hand-maid;"(5) and again: "I am cast down and sore humbled."(6)
109. Who is sore humbled, but Christ, Who came to
free all through His obedience? "For as by one man's disobedience many
were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made
righteous."(7) Who received the cup of salvation? Christ the High
Priest, or David who never held the priesthood, nor endured suffering?
Who offered the sacrifice of Thanksgiving?(8)
110. But that is insufficient; take again: "Preserve
My soul, for I am holy."(9) Did David say this of himself? Nay, He says
it, Who also says: "Thou wilt not leave My soul in hell, neither wilt
Thou suffer Thine Holy One to see corruption."(10) The Same then says
both of these.
111. He has added further: "Save Thy Servant;"(11)
and, further on: "Give Thy strength to Thy servant, and to the Son of
Thy handmaid;"(12) and, elsewhere, that is, m Ezekiel: "And I will set
up one Shepherd over them, and He shall rule them, even My Servant
David. He shall feed them, and He shall be their Shepherd. And I the
Lord will be their God, and My Servant David a prince among them."(1)
Now David the Son of Jesse was already dead. Therefore he speaks of
Christ, Who for our sakes was made the Son of a handmaiden in the form
of man; for according to His divine Generation He has no Mother, but a
Father only: nor is He the fruit of earthly desire, but the eternal
Power of God.
112. And so, also, when we read that the Lord said:
"My time is not yet full come;"(2) and: "Yet a little while I am with
you;" and: "I go unto Him that sent Me;"(3) and: "Now is the Son of Man
glorified;"(4) we ought to refer all this to the sacrament of the
Incarnation. But when we read: "And God is glorified in Him, and God
hath glorified Him;" s what doubt is there here, where the Son is
glorified by the Father, and the Father is glorified by the Son?
113. Next, to make clear the faith of the Unity, and
the Union of the Trinity, He also said that He would be glorified by
the Spirit, as it stands: "He shall receive of Mine, and shall glorify
Me."(6) Therefore the Holy Spirit also glorifies the Son of God. How,
then, did He say: "If I glorify Myself, My glory is nothing."(7) Is
then the glory of the Son nothing? It is blasphemy to say so, unless we
apply these words to His flesh; for the Son spoke in the character of
man, for by comparison with the Godhead, there is no glory of the flesh.
114. Let them cease from their wicked objections
which are but thrown back upon their own falseness. For they say, it is
written: "Now is the Son of Man glorified." I do not deny that it is
written: "The Son of Man is glorified." But let them see what follows:
"And God is glorified in Him." I can plead some
excuse for the Son of Man, but He has none for His Father; for the
Father took not flesh upon Himself. I can plead an excuse, but do not
use it. He has none, and is falsely attacked. I can either understand
it in its plain sense, or I can apply to the flesh what concerns the
flesh. A devout mind distinguishes between the things which are spoken
after the flesh or after the Godhead. An impious mind turns aside to
the dishonour of the Godhead, all that is said with regard to the
littleness of the flesh.
299
CHAPTER IX.
The saint meets those who in Jewish wise object to the order of the
words: "In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the oly Ghost,"
with the retort that the Son also is often placed before the Father;
though he first points out that an answer to this objection has been
already given by him.
115. WHY is it that the Arians, after the Jewish
fashion, are such false and shameless interpreters of the divine words,
going indeed so far as to say that there is one power of the Father,
another of the Son, and another of the Holy Ghost, since it is written:
"Go ye, teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and
of the Son and of the Holy Ghost"? And why do they make a distinction
of divine power owing to the mere order of words?
116. Though I have already given this very witness
for a unity of majesty and name in my former books, yet if they make
this the ground of debate, I can maintain on the testimony of the
Scriptures that the Son is mentioned first in many places, and that the
Father is spoken of after Him. Is it therefore a fact that, because the
name of the Son is placed first, by the mere accident of a word, as the
Arians would have it, the Father comes second to the Son? God forbid, I
say, God forbid. Faith knows nothing of such order as this;it knows
nothing of a divided honour of the Father and the Son. I have not read
of, nor heard of, nor found any varying degree in God. Never have I
read of a second, never of a third God. I have read of a first God,(1)
I have heard of a first and only God.
117. If we pay such excessive regard to order, then
the Son ought not to sit at the right hand of the Father, nor ought He
to call Himself the First and the Beginning. The Evangelist was wrong
in beginning with the Word and not with God, where he says: "In the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God."(2) For, according
to the order of human usage, he ought to name the Father first. The
Apostle also was ignorant of their order, who says: "Paul the servant
of Jesus Christ, called to be an Apostle, separated unto the Gospel of
Go;"(3) and elsewhere: "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the
love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost."(4) If we follow the
order of the words, he has placed the Son first, and the Father second.
But the order of the words is often changed; and therefore thou
oughtest not to question about order or degree, in the case of God the
Father and His Son, for there is no severance of unity in the Godhead.
CHAPTER X.
The Arians openly take sides with the heathen in attacking the words:
"He that believeth on Me, believeth not on Me," etc. The true meaning
of the passage is unfolded; and to prevent us from believing that the
Lord forbade us to have faith in Him, it is shown how He spoke at one
time as God, at another as Man. After bringing forward examples of
various results of that faith, he shows that certain other passages
also must be taken in the same way.
118. LAST of all, to show that they are not
Christians, they deny that we are to believe on Christ, saying that it
is written: Me that believeth on Me, believeth not on Me, but on Him
that sent Me."(1) I was awaiting this confession; why did you delude me
with your quibbles? I knew I had to contend with heathens. Nay, they
indeed are converted, but ye are not. If they believe, that the
sacrament [of Baptism] is safe; ye have received it, and destroyed it,
or perchance it has never been received, but was unreal(1) from the
first.
119. It is written, they say: "He that believeth on
Me, believeth not on Me, but on Him that sent Me." But see what
follows, and see how the Son of God wishes to be seen; for it
continues: "And he that seeth Me, seeth Him that sent Me,"(3) for the
Father is seen in the Son. Thus, He has explained what He had spoken
earlier, that he who confesses the Father believes on the Son. For he
who knows not the Son, neither knows the Father. For every one that
denies the Son has not the Father, but he that confesses the Son has
both the Father and the Son.(4)
120. What, then, is the meaning of "Believeth not on
Me"? That is, not on that which you can perceive in bodily form, nor
merely on the man whom you see. For He has stated that we are to
believe not merely on a man, but that thou mayest believe that Jesus
Christ Himself is both God and Man. Wherefore, for both reasons He
says: "I came not from Myself;"(3) and again: "I am the beginning, of
which also I speak to you."(6) As Man He came not from Himself; as Son
of God He takes not
300
His beginning from men; but "I am," He says, "Myself 'the beginning of
which also I speak to you.' Neither are the words which I speak human,'
but divine."
121. Nor is it right to believe that He denied we
were to believe on Him, since He Himself said: "That whosoever
believeth on Me should not abide in darkness;"(1) and in another place
again: "For this is the will of My Father that sent Me, that every one
that seeth the Son, and believeth on Him, may have eternal life;"(2)
and again: "Ye believe in God, believe also in Me."(3)
122. Let no one, therefore, receive the Son without
the Father, because we read of the Son. The Son hath the Father, but
not in a temporal sense, nor by reason of His passion, nor owing to His
conception, nor by grace. I have read of His Generation, I have not
read of His Conception. And the Father says: "I have begotten;"(4) He
does not say: "I have created." And the Son calls not God His Creator
in the eternity of His divine Generation, but Father.
123. He represents Himself also now in the character
of man, now in the majesty of God; now claiming for Himself oneness of
Godhead with the Father, now taking upon Him all the frailty of human
flesh; now saying that He has not His own doctrine, and now that He
seeks not His own will; now pointing out that His testimony is not
true, and now that it is true. For He Himself has said: "If I bear
witness of Myself, My witness is not true."(5) Later on He says: "If I
bear witness of Myself, My witness is true."(6)
124. And how is Thy testimony, Lord Jesus, not true?
Did not he who believed it, though he hung upon the cross, and paid the
penalty for the crime he owned to, cast aside the deserts of the robber
and gain the reward of the innocent?(7)
125. Was Paul deceived, who received his sight,
because he believed;(8) which sight he had lost, before he believed?
126. And did Joshua, the son of Nun, err in
recognizing the leader of the heavenly host?(9) But after he believed,
be forthwith conquered, being found worthy to triumph in the battle of
faith. Again, he did not lead forth his armed ranks into the fight, nor
did he overthrow the ramparts of the enemy's walls, with battering rams
or other engines of war, but with the sound of the seven trumpets of
the priests. Thus the blare of the trumpet and the badge of the priest
brought a cruel war to an end.
127. A harlot saw this; and she who in the
destruction of the city lost all hope of any means of safety, because
her faith had conquered, bound a scarlet thread in her window, and thus
uplifted a sign of her faith and the banner of the Lord's Passion;(1)
so that the semblance of the mystic blood, which should redeem the
world, might be in memory. So, without, the name of Joshua was a sign
of victory to those who fought; within, the semblance of the Lord's
Passion was a sign of salvation to those in danger. Wherefore, because
Rahab understood the heavenly mystery, the Lord says in the Psalm: "I
will be mindful of Rahab and Babylon that know Me."(2)
128. How, then, is Thy testimony not true, O Lord,
except it be given in accordance with the frailty of man? For "every
man is a liar."(3)
129. Lastly, to prove that He spoke as man, He says:
"The Father that sent Me, He beareth witness of Me."(4) But His
testimony as God is true, as He Himself says: "My record is true: for I
know whence I come, and whither I go, but ye know not whence I come,
and whither I go. Ye judge after the flesh."(5) They judge then not
after the Godhead but after the manhood, who think that Christ had not
the power of bearing witness.
130. Therefore, when thou hearest: "He that
believeth, believeth not on Me;" or: "The Father that sent Me, He gave
Me a commandment;"(6) thou hast now learnt whither thou oughtest to
refer those words. Lastly, He shows what the commandment is, saying: "I
lay down My life, that I may take it again. No man taketh it from Me,
but I lay it down of Myself."(7) Thou seest, then, what is said so as
to show He had full power to lay down or to take up His life; as He
also said: "I have power to lay it down, and I have power again to take
it up. This commandment have I received of My Father."(8)
131. Whether, then, a command, or, as some Latin
manuscripts have it, a direction was given, it was certainly not given
to Him as God, but as incarnate man, with reference to the victory He
should gain in undergoing His Passion.
301
CHAPTER XI.
We must refer the fact that Christ is said to speak nothing of Himself,
to His human nature. After explaining how it is fight to say that He
hears and sees the Father as being God, He shows conclusively, by a
large number of proofs, that the Son of God is not a creature.
132. ARE we indeed to bring the Son of God to such a
low estate that He may not know how to act or speak, except as He
hears, and are we to suppose that a fixed measure of action or of
speech is assigned to Him, because it is written: "I speak not of
Myself," and, further on: "As the Father hath said unto Me, even so I
speak"?(1) But those words have reference to the obedience of the
flesh, or else to the faith in the Unity. For many learned men allow
that the Son hears, and that the Father speaks to the Son through the
unity of their Nature; for that which the Son, through the unity of
their will, knows that the Father wills, He seems to have heard.
133. Whereby is meant no personal duty, but an
indivisible sentence of co-operation. For this does not signify any
actual hearing of words, but the unity of will and of power, which
exists both in the Father and in the Son. He has stated that this
exists also in the Holy Spirit, in another place, saying, "For He shall
not speak of Himself, but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He
speak,"(2) so that we may learn that whatsoever the Spirit says, the
Son also says; and whatsoever the Son says, the Father says also; for
there is one mind and one mode of working in the Trinity. For, as the
Father is seen in the Son, not indeed in bodily appearance, but in the
unity of the Godhead, so also the Father speaks in the Son, not with a
voice of earth, not with a human sound, but in the unity of Their work.
So when He had said: "The Father that dwelleth in Me, He speaketh; and
the works that I do, He doeth;"(3) He added: "Believe Me, that I am in
the Father, and the Father in Me; or else believe Me for the very
work's sake."(4)
134. This is what we understand according to the
whole course of the holy Scriptures; but the Arians, who will not think
of God the things that be right, may be put to silence by an example
just suited to their deserts; that they may not believe everything in
carnal fashion, since they themselves do not see the works of their
father the devil with bodily eyes. So the Lord has declared of their
fellows the Jews, saying: "Ye do what ye have seen your father
doing;"(1) though they are reproved not because they saw the work of
the devil, but because they did his will, since the devil unseen works
out sin in them in accordance with their own wickedness, We have
written this, as the Apostle did, because of the folly of these
traitors.(2)
135. But we have sufficiently proved by examples
from Scripture that it is a property of the unity of the divine majesty
that the Father should abide in the Son, and that the Son should seem
to have heard from the Father those things which He speaks. How else
can we understand the unity of majesty than by the knowledge that the
same deference is paid to the Father and the Son? For what can be
better put than the Apostle's saying that the Lord of glory was
crucified?(3)
136. The Son then is the God of glory and the Lord
of glory, but glory is not subject to creatures; the Son therefore is
not a creature.
137. The Son is the Image of the Father's
Substance;(4) but every creature is unlike that divine Substance, but
the Son of the Father is not unlike God; therefore the Son is not a
creature.
138. The Son thought it not robbery to be equal with
God;(5) but no creature is equal with God, the Son, however, is equal;
therefore the Son is not a creature.
139. Every creature is changeable; but the Son of
God is not changeable; therefore the Son of God is not a creature.
140. Every creature meets with chance occurrences of
good and evil after the powers of its nature, and also feels their
passing away; but nothing can pass away from or bring addition to the
Son of God in His Godhead; therefore the Son of God is not a creature.
141. Every work of His God will bring into
judgment;(6) but the Son of God is not brought into judgment; for He
Himself judges; therefore the Son of God is not a creature.
142. Lastly, that thou mayest understand the unity,
the Saviour in speaking of His sheep says: "No man is able to pluck
them out of My hand. My Father Which gave them to Me is greater than
all, and no man is able to pluck them out of My Father's hand. I and My
Father are one."(7)
143. So the Son gives life as does the
302
Father. "For as the Father raiseth up the dead and quickeneth them,
even so the Son quickeneth whom He will."(1) So the Son raises up as
does the Father: so too the Son preserves as does the Father. He Who is
not unequal in grace, how is He unequal in power? So also the Son does
not destroy, as neither does the Father. Therefore lest any one should
believe there were two Gods, or should imagine a diversity of power, He
said that He was one with His Father. How can a creature say that?
Therefore the Son of God is not a creature.
144. It is not the same thing to rule as to serve;
but Christ is both a King and the Son of a King. The Son of God
therefore is not a servant. Every creature, however, gives
service. But the Son of God, Who makes servants become the sons of God,
does not give service.Therefore the Son of God is not a servant.
CHAPTER XII.
He confirms what has been already said, by the parable of the rich man
who went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom; and shows
that when the Son delivers up the kingdom to the Father, we must not
regard the fact that the Father is said to put all things in subjection
under Him, in a disparaging way. Here we are the kingdom of Christ, and
in Christ's kingdom. Hereafter we shall be in the kingdom of God, where
the Trinity will reign together.
145. Is divine fashion has He represented that
parable of the rich man, who went to a far-off country to receive a
kingdom, and to return,(2) thus describing Himself in the substance of
the Godhead, and of His Manhood. For He being rich in the fulness of
His Godhead, Who was made poor for us though He was rich and an eternal
King," and the Son of an eternal King; He, I say, went to a foreign
country in taking on Him a body, for He entered upon the ways of men as
though upon a strange journey, and came into this world to preparefor
Himself a kingdom from amongst us.
146. Jesus therefore came to this earth to receive
for Himself a kingdom from us, to whom He says: "The kingdom of God is
within you."(3) This is the kingdom which Christ has received, this the
kingdom which He has delivered to the Father. For how did He receive
for Himself a kingdom, Who was a King eternal? "The Son of Man
therefore came to receive a kingdom and to return." The Jews were
unwilling to acknowledge Him, of whom He says: "They which would not
that I should reign over them, bring hither and slay them."(1)
147. Let us follow the course of the Scriptures. He
Who came will deliver up the kingdom to God the Father; and when He has
delivered up the kingdom, then also shall He be subject to Him, Who has
put all things in subjection under Him, that God may be all in all.(2)
If the Son of God has received the kingdom as Son of Man, surely as Son
of Man also He will deliver up what He has received. If He delivers it
up as Son of Man, as Son of Man He confesses His subjection indeed
under the conditions of the flesh, and not in the majesty of His
Godhead.
148. And dost thou make objections and contemn Him,
because God has put all things in subjection under Him, when thou
hearest that the Son of Man delivers up the kingdom to God, and hast
read, as we said in our earlier books: "No man can come to Me, except
the Father draw him; and I will raise him up at the last day"?(3) If we
follow it literally, see rather and notice the unity of honour each
gives to other: The Father has put all things in subjection under the
Son, and the Son delivers the kingdom to the Father. Say now which
is the greater, to deliver up, or to raise up to
life? Do we not after human fashion speak of the service of
delivering up, and the power of raising to life? But both the Son
delivers up to the Father, and also the Father to the Son. The Son
raises to life, and the Father also raises to life, Let them create the
fiction of a blasphemous division where there is a unity of power.
149. Let the Son then deliver up His kingdom to the
Father. The kingdom which He delivers up is not lost to Christ, hut
grows. We are the kingdom, for it was said to us: "The kingdom of God
is within you."(4) And we are the kingdom, first of Christ, then of the
Father; as it is written: "No man cometh to the Father, but by Me."(5)
When I am on the way, I am Christ's; when I have passed through, I am
the Father's; but everywhere through Christ, and everywhere under Him.
150. It is a good thing to be in the kingdom of
Christ, so that Christ may be with us; as He Himself says: "Lo I am
with you always, even unto the end of the world."(6) But it is better
to be with Christ:
303
"For to depart and be with Christ is far better."(1) Though we are
under sin in this world, Christ is with us, that "by the obedience of
one man many may be made just."(2) And if I escape the sin of this
world, I shall begin to be with Christ. And so He says: "I will come
again, and receive you unto Myself;"(3) and further on: "I will that
where I am, there ye may be also with Me."(4)
151. Therefore we are now under Christ's rule,
whilst we are in the body, and are not yet stripped of the form of a
servant, which He put upon Him, when He "emptied Himself." But when we
shall see His glory, which He had before the world was, we shall be in
the kingdom of God, in which are the patriarchs and prophets, of whom
it is written: "When ye shall see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all
the prophets in the kingdom of God;"(5) and shall thus acquire a deeper
knowledge of God.
152. But in the kingdom of the Son the Father also
reigns; and in the kingdom of the Father the Son also reigns: for the
Father is in the Son, and the Son in the Father; and in whomsoever the
Son dwells, in him also the Father dwells; and in whomsoever the Father
dwells, in him also the Son dwells, as it is written: "Both I and My
Father will come to Him, and make Our abode with Him."(6) Thus as there
is one dwelling, so also there is one kingdom. Yea, and so far is the
kingdom of the Father and of the Son but one, that the Father receives
what the Son delivers, and the Son does not lose what the Father
receives. Thus in the one kingdom there is a unity of power. Let no one
therefore sever the Godhead between the Father and the Son.
CHAPTER XIII.
With the desire to learn what subjection to Christ means after putting
forward and rejecting various ideas of subjection, he runs through the
Apostle s words; and so puts an end to the blasphemous opinions of the
heretics on this matter. The subjection, which is shown to be future,
cannot concern the Godhead, since there has always been the greatest
harmony of wills between the Father and the Son. Also to that same Son
in His Godhead all things have indeed been made subject; but they are
said to be not yet subject to Him in this sense, because all men do not
obey His commands. But after that they have been made subject, then
shall Christ also be made subject in them, and the Father's work be
perfected.
153. BUT if the one name and right of God belong to
both the Father and the Son, since the Son of God is also true God, and
a King eternal, the Son of God is not made subject in His Godhead. Let
us then, Emperor Augustus, think how we ought to regard His subjection.
154. How is the Son of God made subject? As the
creature to vanity? But it is blasphemous to have any such idea of the
Substance of the Godhead.
155. Or as every creature is to the Son of God, for
it is rightly written: "Thou hast put all things in subjection under
His feet"?(1) But Christ is not made subject to Himself.
156. Or as a woman to a man, as we read: "Let the
wives be subject to their husbands;"(2) and again: "Let the woman learn
in silence in all subjection"?(3) But it is impious to compare a man to
the Father, or a woman to the Son of God.
157. Or as Peter said: "Submit yourselves to every
human creature"?(4) But Christ was certainly not so subject.
158. Or as Paul wrote: "Submitting yourselves
mutually to God and the Father in the fear of Christ"?(5) But Christ
was not subject either in His own fear, nor in the fear of another
Christ. For Christ is but one. But note the force of these words, that
we are subject to the Father, whilst we also fear Christ.
159. How, then, do we understand His subjection?
Shall we review the whole chapter which the Apostle wrote, so as to
give no appearance of having falsely withheld anything, or of having
weakened its force with intention to deceive? "If in this life only,"
he says, "we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. But
if Christ is risen from the dead, He is the first-fruits of them that
sleep."(6) Ye see how he discusses the question of Christ's
Resurrection.
160. "' For since by one man,'" he says, "came
death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam
all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But each one in his
own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's,
who have believed in His coming. Then cometh the end, when He shall
have delivered up the kingdom to God,even the Father, when He shall
have put down all rule and authority and power. For He must reign until
He hath put all enemies under His feet. The last enemy that shall be
destroyed is death; for He hath put all things under His
304
feet. But when He saith, all things are put under Him, it is manifest
that He is excepted Which did put all things under Him. But when all
things shall be subdued unto Him, then shall the Son also Himself be
subject unto Him, that put all things under Him, that God may be all in
all."(1) Thus also the same Apostle said to the Hebrews: "But now we
see not yet all things put under Him."(2) We have heard the whole of
the Apostle's discourse.
161. How, then, do we speak of His subjection? The
Sabellians and Marcionites say that this subjection of Christ to God
the Father will be in such wise that the Son will be re-absorbed into
the Father. If, then, the subjection of the Word means that God the
Word is to be absorbed into the Father; then whatsoever is made subject
to the Father and the Son will be absorbed into the Father and the Son,
that God may be all and in all His creatures. But it is foolish to say
so. There is therefore no subjection through re-absorption. For there
are other things which are made subject, those, that is to say, which
are created, and there is Another, to Whom that subjection is made. Let
the expounders of a cruel re-absorption keep silence.
162. Would that they too were silent, who, as they
cannot prove that the Word of God and Wisdom of God can be re-absorbed,
attribute the weakness of subjection to His Godhead, saying that it is
written: "But when all things shall be subdued unto Him, then shall the
Son also Himself be subject unto Him."(3)
163. We see, then, that the Scripture states that He
is not yet made subject, but that this is to come: Therefore now the
Son is not made subject to God the Father. In what, then, do ye say
that the Son will be made subject? If in His Godhead, He is not
disobedient, for He is not at variance with the Father; nor is He made
subject, for He is not a servant, but the only Son of His own proper
Father. Lastly, when He created heaven, and formed the earth, He
exercised both power and love. There is therefore no subjection as that
of a servant in the Godhead of Christ. But if there is no subjection
then the will is free.
164. But if they think of this as the subjection of
the Son, namely, that the Father makes all things in union with His
will, let them learn that this is really a proof of inseparable power.
For the unity of Their will is one that began not in time, but ever
existed. But where there is a constant unity of will, there can be no
weakness of temporal subjection. For if He were made subject through
His nature, He would always remain m subjection; but since He is said
to be made subject in time, that subjection must be part of an assumed
office and not of an everlasting weakness: especially as the eternal
Power of God cannot change His state for a time, neither can the right
of ruling fall to the Father in time. For if the Son ever will be
changed in such wise as to be made subject in His Godhead, then also
must God the Father, if ever He shall gain more power, and have the Son
in subjection to Himself in His Godhead, be considered now in the
meantime inferior according to your explanation.
165. But what fault has the Son been guilty of, that
we should believe that He could hereafter be made subject in His
Godhead? Has he as man seized for Himself the right to sit at His
Father's side, or has He claimed for Himself the prerogative of His
Father's throne, against His Father's will? But He Himself says: "For I
do always those things that please Him."(1) Therefore if the Son
pleases the Father in all things, why should He be made subject, Who
was not made subject before?
166. Let us see then that there be not a subjection
of the Godhead, but rather of us in the fear of Christ, a truth so full
of grace, and so full of mystery. Wherefore, again, let us weigh the
Apostle's words: "But when all things shall be subdued unto Him, then
shall the Son also Himself be subject unto Him that put all things
under Him: that God may be all in all." What then dost thou say? Are
not all things now subject unto Him? Are not the choirs of the saints
made subject? Are not the angels, who ministered to Him when on the
earth."(2) Are not the archangels who were sent to Mary to foretell the
coming of the Lord? Are not all the heavenly hosts? Are not the
cherubim and seraphim, are not thrones and dominions and powers which
worship and praise Him?
167. How, then, will they be brought into
subjection? In the way that the Lord Himself has said. "Take My yoke
upon you."(3) It is not the fierce that bear the yoke, but the humble
and the gentle. This clearly is no base subjection for men, but a
glorious one: "that in the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, of
things in heaven and things beneath; and that every tongue
305
should confess that Jesus is Lord in the glory of God the Father."(1)
But for this reason all things were not made subject before, for they
had not yet received the wisdom of God, not yet did they wear the easy
yoke of the Word on the neck as it were of their mind. "But as many as
received Him," as it is written, "to them gave He power to become the
sons of God."(2)
168. Will any one say that Christ is now made
subject, because many have believed? Certainly not. For Christ's
subjection lies not in a few but in all. For just as I do not seem to
be brought into subjection, if the flesh in me as yet lusts against the
spirit, and the spirit against the flesh,(3) although I am in part
subdued; so because the whole Church is the one body of Christ, we
divide Christ as long as the human race disagrees. Therefore Christ is
not yet made subject, for His members are not yet brought into
subjection. But when we have become, not many members, but one spirit,
then He also will become subject, in order that through His subjection
"God may be all and in all."
169. But as Christ is not yet made subject, so is
the work of God not yet perfected; for the Son of God said: "My meat is
to do the will of My Father that sent Me, and to finish His work."(4)
What manner of doubt is there that the subjection of the Son in me iS
still in the future, in whom the work of the Father is unfinished,
because I myself am not yet perfect? I, who make the work of God to be
unfinished, do I make the Son of God to be in subjection? But that is
not a matter of wrong, it is a matter of grace. For in so far as we are
made subject, it is to our profit, not to that of the Godhead, that we
are made subject to the law, that we are made subject to grace. For
formerly, as the Apostle himself has said, the wisdom of the flesh was
at enmity with God, for "it was not made subject to the law,"(5) but
now it is made subject through the Passion of Christ.
CHAPTER XIV.
He continues the discussion of the difficulty he has entered upon, and
teaches that Christ is not subject but only according to the flesh.
Christ, however, whilst in subjection in the Flesh, still gave proofs
of His Godhead. He combats the idea that Christ is made subject in
This. The humanity indeed, which He adopted, has been so far made
subject in us, as ours has been raised in that very humanity of His.
Lastly, we are taught, when that same
subjection of
Christ will take
place.
170. HOWEVER, lest anyone should cavil, see what
care Scripture takes under divine inspiration. For it shows to us
in what Christ is made subject to God, whilst it also
teaches us in what He made the universe subject to Himself.
And so it says: "Now we see not yet all things put under Him."(1) For
we see Jesus made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of
death.(2) It shows therefore that He was made lower in taking on Him
our flesh. What then hinders Him from openly showing His subjection in
taking on Him our flesh, through which He subjects all things to
Himself, whilst He Himself is made subject in it to God the Father?
171. Let us then think of His subjection. "Father,"
He says, "if Thou be willing, remove this cup from Me; nevertheless not
My will but Thine be done."(3) Therefore that subjection will be
according to the assumption of human nature; as we read: "Being found
in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, being made obedient unto
death."(4) The subjection therefore is that of obedience; the obedience
is that of death; the death is that of the assumed humanity; that
subjection therefore will be the subjection of the assumed humanity.
Thus in no wise is there a weakness in the Godhead, but there is such a
discharge of pious duty as this.
172. See how I do not fear their intentions. They
allege that He must be subject to God the Father, I say He was subject
to Mary His Mother. For it is written of Joseph and Mary: "He was
subject unto them."(5) But if they think so, let them say how the Deity
was made subject to men.
173. Let not the fact that He is said to have been
made subject work against Him, Who receives no hurt from the fact that
He is called a servant, or is stated to have been crucified, or is
spoken of as dead. For when He died He lived; when He was made subject
He was reigning; when He was buried He revived again. He offered
Himself in subjection to human power, yet at another time He declared
He was the Lord of eternal glory. He was before the judge, yet claimed
for Himself a throne at the right hand of God, as Judge forever. For
thus it is written: "Hereafter ye shall see the Son of Man sitting on
the right hand of the power of God, and coming in the
306
clouds of heaven."(1) He was scourged by the Jews, and commanded the
angels; He was born of Mary under the law;(2) He was before Abraham
above the law. On the cross He was revered by nature; the sun fled; the
earth trembled; the angels became silent. Could the elements see the
Generation of Him Whose Passion they feared to see? And will they
uphold the subjection of an adorable Nature in Him, in Whom they could
not endure the subjection of the body?
174. But since the Father, the Son, and the Holy
Spirit are of one Nature, the Father certainly will not be in
subjection to Himself. And therefore the Son will not be in subjection
in that in which He is one with the Father; test it should seem that
through the unity of the Godhead the Father also is in subjection to
the Son. Therefore, as upon that cross it was not the fulness of the
Godhead, but our weakness that was brought into subjection, so also
will the Son hereafter become subject to the Father in the
participation of our nature, in order that when the lusts of the flesh
are brought into subjection the heart may have no care for riches, or
ambition, or pleasures; but that God may be all to us, if we live after
His image and likeness, as far as we can attain tO it, through all.
175. The benefit has passed, then, from the
individual to the community; for in His flesh He has tamed the nature
of all human flesh. Thus, according to the Apostle : "As we have borne
the image of the earthly, so also shall we bear the image of the
heavenly."(3) This thing certainly cannot come to pass except in the
inner man. Therefore, "laying aside all these," that is those things
which we read of: "anger, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication;"(4)
as he also says below: "Let us, having put off the old man with his
deeds, put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the
image of Him that created Him."(5)
176. And that thou mightest know that when he says:
"That God may be all in all," he does not separate Christ from God the
Father, he also says to the Colossians: "Where there is neither male
nor female, Jew nor Greek, Barbarian nor Scythian, bond nor free, but
Christ is all and in all."(6) So also saying to the Corinthians: "That
God may be all and in all," he comprehended in that the unity and
equality of Christ with God the Father, for the Son is not separated
from the Father. And in like manner as the Father worketh all and in
all, so also Christ worketh all in all. If, then, Christ also worketh
all in all, He is not made subject in the glory of the Godhead, but in
us. But how is He made subject in us, except in the way in which He was
made lower than the angels, I mean in the sacrament of His body? For
all things which served their Creator from their first beginning seemed
not as yet to be made subject to Him in that.
177. But if thou shouldst ask how He was made
subject in us, He Himself shows us, saying: "I was in prison, and ye
came unto Me; I was sick, and ye visited Me: Inasmuch as ye have done
it unto one of the least of these ye have done it unto Me."(1) Thou
hearest of Him as sick and weak, and art not moved. Thou hearest of Him
in subjection, and art moved, though He is sick and weak in Him in whom
He is in subjection, in whom He was made sin and a curse for us.
178. As, then, He was made sin and a curse not on
His own account but on ours, so He became subject in us not for His own
sake but for ours, being not in subjection in His eternal Nature, nor
accursed in His eternal Nature. "For cursed is every one that hangeth
on a tree."(2) Cursed He was, for He bore our curses; in subjection,
also, for He took upon Him our subjection, but in the assumption of the
form of a servant, not in the glory of God; so that whilst he makes
Himself a partaker of our weakness in the flesh, He makes us partakers
of the divine Nature in His power. But neither in one nor the other
have we any natural fellowship with the heavenly Generation of Christ,
nor is there any subjection of the Godhead in Christ. But as the
Apostle has said that on Him through that flesh which is the pledge of
our salvation, we sit in heavenly places,(3) though certainly not
sitting ourselves, so also He is said to be subject in us through the
assumption of our nature.
179. For who is so mad as to think, as we have said
already,(4) that a seat of honour is due to Him at the right hand of
God the Father, when that is granted to Christ according to the flesh
by the Father of His Generation, even a seat of a heavenly and equal
power? The angels worship, and dost thou attempt to overthrow the
throne of God with impious presumption?
180. It is written, thou sayest, that "when we were
dead in sins, He hath quickened us
307
in Christ, by Whose grace ye are saved, and hath raised us up together,
and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. I
acknowledge that it is so written; but it is not written that God
suffers men to sit on His right hand, but only to sit there in the
Person of Christ. For He is the foundation of all, and is the head of
the Church,(2) in Whom our common nature according to the flesh has
merited the right to the heavenly throne. For the flesh is honoured as
having a share in Christ Who is God, and the nature of the whole human
race is honoured as having a share in the flesh.
181. As we then sit in Him by fellowship in our
fleshly nature, so also He, Who through the assumption of our flesh was
made a curse for us (seeing that a curse could not fall upon the
blessed Son of God), so, I say, He through the obedience of all will
become subject in us; when the Gentile has believed, and the Jew has
acknowledged Him Whom he crucified; when the Manichaean has worshipped
Him, Whom he has not believed to have come in the flesh; when the Arian
has confessed Him to be Almighty, Whom he has denied; when, lastly, the
wisdom of God, His justice, peace, love, resurrection, is in all.
Through His own works and through the manifold forms of virtues Christ
will be in us in subjection to the Father. And when, with vice
renounced and crime at an end, one spirit in the heart of all peoples
has begun to cleave to God in all things, then will God be all and in
all.(3)
CHAPTER XV.
He briefly takes up again the same points of dispute, and shrewdly
concludes from the unity of the divine power in the Father and the Son,
that whatever is said of the subjection of the Son is to be referred to
His humanity alone. He further confirms this on proof of the love,
which exists alike in either.
182. Let us then shortly sum up our conclusion on
the whole matter. A unity of power puts aside all idea of a degrading
subjection. His giving up of power, and His victory as conqueror won
over death, have not lessened His power. Obedience works out
subjection. Christ has taken obedience upon Himself, obedience even to
taking on Him our flesh, the cross even to gaining our salvation. Thus
where the work lies, there too is the Author of the work. When
therefore, all things have become subject to Christ, through Christ's
obedience, so that all bend their knees in His name, then He Himself
will be all in all. For now, since all do not believe, all do not seem
to be in subjection. But when all have believed and done the will of
God, then Christ will be all and in all. And when Christ is all and in
all, then will God be all and in all; for the Father abides ever in the
Son. How, then, is He shown to be weak, Who redeemed the weak?
183. And lest thou shouldst by chance attribute to
the weakness of the Son, that it is written, that God hath put all
things in subjection under Him; learn that He has Himself brought all
things into subjection to Himself, for it is written: "Our conversation
is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus,
Who shall change our vile body that it may be fashioned like unto His
glorious body according to the working, whereby He is able to subdue
all things unto Himself."(1) Thou has learnt, therefore, that He can
subdue all things unto Himself according to the working of His Godhead.
184. Learn now how He receives all things in
subjection according to the flesh, as it is written: "Who wrought in
Christ, raising Him from the dead, and setting Him at His own right
hand in the heavenly places, above principality and power and might and
dominion and every name that is named not only in this world, but also
in that which is to come; and hath put all things under His feet."(2)
According to the flesh then all things are given to Him in subjection;
according to which also He was raised from the dead, both in His human
soul and His rational subjection.
185. Many nobly interpret that which is written:
"Truly my soul will be in subjection to God;"(3) He said soul not
Godhead, soul not glory. And that we might know that the Lord has
spoken through the prophet of the adoption of our human nature, He
added: "How long will ye cast yourselves upon a man?"(4) As also He
says in the Gospel: "Why do ye seek to kill Me, a man?"(5) And He added
again: "Nevertheless they desired to refuse My price, they ran in
thirst, they blessed with their mouth, and cursed with their heart."(6)
For the Jews, when Judas brought back the price,(7) would not receive
it, running on in the thirst of madness, for they refused the grace of
a spiritual draught.
186. This is the reverent interpretation of
subjection, for since this is the office of the
308
Lord's Passion, He will be subject in us in that in which He suffered.
Do we ask wherefore? That "neither angels, nor powers, nor height, nor
depth, nor things present, nor things to come, nor any other creature
may separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus."(1) we
see then, from what has been said, that no creature is excepted; but
that every one, of whatever kind it may be, is enumerated among those
he mentioned above.
187. At the same time, we must also think of the
words which, after first saying "Who shall separate us from the love of
Christ?"(2) he wrote next: "Neither death, nor life, nor any other
creature can separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ
Jesus." we see, then, that the love of God is the same as the love of
Christ. Thus it was not without reason that he wrote of the love of
God, "which is in Christ Jesus," lest otherwise thou mightest imagine
that the love of God and of Christ was divided. But there is nothing
that love divides, nothing that the eternal Godhead cannot do, nothing
that is unknown to the Truth, or deceives Justice, or escapes the
notice of Wisdom.
CHAPTER IV.
The Arians are condemned by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of David:
for they dare to limit Christ s knowledge. The passage cited by them in
proof of this is by no means free from suspicion of having been
corrupted. But to set this right, we must mark the word "Son." For
knowledge cannot fail Christ as Son of God, since He is Wisdom; nor the
recognition of any part, for He created all things. It is not possible
that He, who made the ages, cannot know the future, much less the day
of judgment. Such knowledge, whether it concerns anything great or
small, may not be denied to the Son, nor yet to the Holy Spirit.
Lastly, various proofs are given from which we can gather that this
knowledge exists in Christ.
188. Wherefore we ought to know that they who make
such statements are accursed and condemned by the Holy Spirit. For whom
else but the Arians in chief does the prophet condemn, seeing that they
say that the Son of God knows neither times nor years. For there is
nothing which God is ignorant of; and Christ, yea the most high Christ,
is God, for He is "God over all."(3)
189. See how horrified holy David is at such men, in
limiting the knowledge of the Son of God. For thus it is written: "They
are not in the troubles of other men, neither will they be scourged
with men; therefore their pride has laid hold on them; they are covered
with their wickedness and blasphemy; their iniquity hath stood forth as
it were with fatness; they have passed on to the thoughts of their
heart. "(1) Truly he condemns those who think that divine things are to
be regarded in the light of the thoughts of the heart. For God is not
subject to arrangement or order; seeing that we do not perceive even
those very things, which are common among men and often occur in the
history of the human race, to turn out always after the arrangement of
some stated rule, but often to happen suddenly in some secret and
mysterious manner.
190. "They have thought," he says, "and have spoken
wickedness. They have spoken wickedness against the Most High. They
have set their mouth against heaven."(2) We see then that he condemns,
as guilty of wicked blasphemy, those who claim for themselves the fight
to arrange the heavenly secrets after the semblance of our human nature.
191. And they have said: "How hath God known? And is
there knowledge in the Most High?"(3) Do not the Arians echo this
daily, saying that all knowledge cannot exist in Christ? For He, they
say, stated that He knew not the day nor hour. Do they not say, how did
He know, while they maintain that He could not know anything but what
He heard and saw, and apply by a blasphemous interpretation that which
concerns the unity of the divine Nature to weaken His power?
192. It is written, they say: "But of that day and
that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven,
neither the Son, but the Father only."(4) First of all the ancient
Greek manuscripts do not contain the words, "neither the Son." But it
is not to be wondered at if they who have corrupted the sacred
Scriptures, have also falsified this passage. The reason for which it
seems to have been inserted is perfectly plain, so long as it is
applied to unfold such blasphemy.
193. Suppose however that the Evangelist wrote thus.
The name of "Son" embraces both natures. For He is also called Son of
Man, so that in the ignorance attached to the assumption of our nature,
He seems not to have known the day of the judgment to come. For how
could the Son
309
of God be ignorant of the day, seeing that the treasures of the wisdom
and knowledge of God are hidden in Him?(1)
194. I ask then, whether He had this knowledge by
reason of His Being, or by chance? For all knowledge comes to us either
through nature, or by learning. It is supplied by nature, as for
instance to a horse to enable it to run, or to a fish to enable it to
swim. For they do this without learning. On the other hand, it is by
learning that a man is enabled to swim. For he could not do so unless
he had learnt. Since therefore nature enables dumb animals to do and to
know what they have not learnt, why shouldst thou give an opinion on
the Son of God, and say whether He has knowledge by instruction or by
nature? If by instruction, then He was not begotten as Wisdom, and
gradually began to be perfect, but was not always so. But if He has
knowledge by nature, then He was perfect in the beginning, He came
forth perfect from the Father; and so needed no foreknowledge of the
future.
195. He therefore was not ignorant of the days; for
it does not fall to the lot of the Wisdom of God to know in part and in
part to be ignorant. For how can He who made all things be ignorant of
a part, since it is a less thing to know than to make. For we know many
things which we cannot make, neither do we all know things in the same
way but we know them in part. For a countryman knows the force of the
wind and the courses of the stars in one way--the inhabitant of a city
knows them in another way--and a pilot in yet a third way. But although
all do not know all things, they are said to know them; but He alone
knows all things in full, Who made all things. The pilot knows for how
many watches Arcturus continues, what sort of a rising of Orion he will
discover, but he knows nothing of the connection of the Vergiliae and
of the other stars, or of their number or names, as does He "Who
numbers the multitude of stars, and calleth them all by their
names;"(2) Whom indeed the power of His work cannot escape.
196. How then do you wish the Son of God to have
made these things? Like a signet ring which does not feel the
impression it makes? But the Father made all things in wisdom,(3) that
is, He made all things through the Son, who is the Virtue and Wisdom of
God.(4) But it befits such Wisdom as that to know both the powers and
the causes of His own works. Thus the Creator of all things could not
be ignorant of what He did--or be without knowledge of what He had
Himself given. Therefore He knew the day which He made.
197. But thou sayest that He knows the present and
does not know the future. Though this is a foolish suggestion, yet that
I may satisfy thee on Scriptural grounds, learn that He made not only
what is past, but also what is future, as it is written: "Who made
things to come."(1) Elsewhere too Scripture says: "By whom also He made
the ages, who is the brightness of His glory and the express Image of
His Person."(2) Now the ages are past and present and future+ How then
were those made which are future, unless it is that His active power
and knowledge contains within itself the number of all the ages? For
just as He calls the things that are not as though they were, s so has
He made things future as though they were. It cannot come to pass that
they should not be. Those things which He has directed to be,
necessarily will be. Therefore He who has made the things that are to
be, knows them in the way in which they will be.
198. If we are to believe this about the ages, much
more must we believe it about the day of judgment, on the ground that
the Son of God has knowledge of it, as being already made by Him. For
it is written: "According to Thine ordinance the day will continue."(4)
He did not merely say "the day continues," but even "will continue," so
that the things which are to come might be governed by His ordinance+
Does He not know what He ordered? "He who planted the ear, shall He not
hear? He that formed the eye shall He not see?"(5)
199. Let us however see if by chance there may be
some great thing, which could be beyond the knowledge of its Creator;
or at least let them choose whether they will think of something great
and superior to other things, or something very little and mean. If it
is very little and mean, it is no loss, to speak after our fashion, to
know nothing of worthless and petty things. For as it is a sign of
power to know the greatest things, it seems rather to be a sign of
inferior work to look upon what is worth less. Thus He is freed from
fastidiousness, yet is not deprived of His power.
200. But if they think it a great and im-
310
portant thing to know the day of judgment: Let them say what is greater
or better than God the Father. He knows God the Father, as He Himself
says: "No man knoweth the Father but the Son and he to whomsoever the
Son will reveal Him."(1) I say, does He know the Father and yet not
know the day? So then ye believe that He reveals the Father, and yet
cannot reveal the day?
201. Next because you make certain grades, so as to put the Father
before the on, and the Son before the Holy Spirit, tell me whether the
Holy Spirit knew the day of judgment For no thing is written of Him in
this place. You deny it entirely. But what if I show you He knew it?
For it is written: "But God hath revealed them to us by His Spirit, for
the Spirit searcheth all things, yea the deep things of God."(2)
Wherefore, because He searches the deep things of God, since God knows
the day of judgment, the Spirit also knows it. For He knows all that
God knows, as also the Apostle states, saying: "For what man knoweth
the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him, even so
the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God."(3) Take heed
therefore lest either by denying that the Holy Spirit knows, you should
deny that the Father knows; (For the things of God, the Spirit of God
also knows, but the things which the Spirit of God does not know, are
not the things of God). Or by confessing that the Spirit of God knows,
what you deny that the Son of God knows, you should put the Spirit
before the Son in opposition to your own declaration. But to hesitate
on this point is not only blasphemous but also foolish.
202. Now consider how knowledge is acquired, and let
us show that the Son Himself proved that He knew the day. For what we
know we make clear either by mention of time or place or signs or
persons, or by giving their order. How then did He not know the day of
judgment Who described both the hour and the place of judgment, and the
signs and the cases?
203. And so thou hast it: "In that hour he which
shall be on the housetop let him not come down to take his goods out of
his house, and he that is in the field, let him likewise not return
back."(4) To such a point in the future did He know the issues of
dangers, that He even showed the means of safety to those in danger.
204. Could the Lord be ignorant of a day Who Himself said
of Himself that the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath?(1)
205. He has also elsewhere marked out a place, when
He said to His disciples who were showing Him the building of the
temple, "Do ye see all these things? Verily I say unto you, there shall
not be left one stone upon another which shall not be thrown down."(2)
206. When questioned also about a sign by His
disciples, He answered: "Take heed that ye be not deceived. For many
shall come in My name, saying I am Christ;"(3) and further on He says:
"and great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and
pestilences, and terrors from heaven, and there shall be great
signs."(4) Thus He has described both persons and signs.
207. In what manner He tells that the armies will
surround Jerusalem, or that the times of the Gentiles are to be
fulfilled, and in what order,--all this is disclosed to us by the
witness of the Gospel words. Therefore He knew all things.
CHAPTER XVII.
Christ acted for our advantage in being unwilling to reveal the day of
judgment. This is made plain by other words of our Lord and by a not
dissimilar passage from Paul's writings. Other passages in which
the same ignorance seems to be attributed to the Father are brought
forward to meet those who are anxious to know why Christ answered His
disciples, as though He did not know. From these Ambrose argues against
them that if they admit ignorance and inability in the Father, they
must admit that the same Substance exists in the Son as in the Father;
unless they prefer to accuse the Son of falsehood; since it belongs
neither to Him nor to the Father to deceive, but the unity of both is
pointed out in the passage named.
208. But we ask for what reason He was unwilling to
state the time. If we ask it, we shall not find it is owing to
ignorance, but to wisdom. For it was not to our advantage to know; in
order that we being ignorant of the actual moments of judgment to come,
might ever be as it were on guard, and set on the watch-tower of
virtue, and so avoid the habits of sin; lest the day of the Lord should
come upon us in the midst of our wickedness. For it is not to our
advantage to know but rather to fear the future; for it is written: "Be
not high-minded but fear."(5)
209. For if He had distinctly stated the day, he
would seem to have laid down a rule
311
of life for that one age which was nearest to the judgment, and the
just man in the earlier times would be more negligent, and the sinner
more free from care. For the adulterer cannot cease from the desire of
committing adultery unless he fears punishment day by day, nor can the
robber forsake the hiding places in the woods where he dwells, unless
he knows punishment is hanging over him day by day. For impurity
generally spurs them on, but fear is irksome to the end.
210. Therefore I have said that it was not to our
advantage to know; nay, it is to our advantage to be ignorant, that
through ignorance we might fear, through watchfulness be corrected, as
He Himself said: "Be ye ready, for ye know not at what hour the Son of
Man cometh."(1) For the soldier does not know how to watch in the camp
unless he knows that war is at hand.
211. Wherefore at another time also the Lord Himself
when asked by his Apostles (Yes, for they did not understand it as
Arius did, but believed that the Son of God knew the future. For unless
they had believed this, they would never have asked the question.)--the
Lord, I say, when asked when He would restore the kingdom to Israel,
did not say that He did not know, but says: "It is not for you to know
the times or years, which the Father hath put in His own power."(2)
Mark what He said: It is not for you to know ! Read again, "It is not
for you.' "For you,' He said, not "for Me," for now He spoke not
according to His own perfection but as was profitable to the human body
and our soul. "For you therefore He said, not "for Me."
212. Which example the Apostle also followed: "But
of the times and seasons, brethren," he says, "ye have no need that I
write unto you."(3) Thus not even the Apostle himself, the servant of
Christ, said that he knew not the seasons, but that there was no need
for the people to be taught; for they ought ever to be armed with
spiritual armour, that the virtue of Christ may stand forth in each
one. But when the Lord says: "Of the times which the Father hath put in
His own power, "(4) He certainly cannot be without a share in His
Father's knowledge, in whose power He is by no means without a share.
For power grows out of wisdom and virtue; and Christ is both of these.
213. But you ask, why did He not refuse His disciples as
one who knew, but would not say; and, why did He state instead that
neither the angels nor the Son knew?' I too will ask you why God says
in Genesis: "I will go down now, and see whether they have done
altogether according to the cry that is come unto Me. And if not, that
I may know."(2) Why does Scripture also say of God: "And the Lord came
down to see the city and the tower, which the sons of men builded."(3)
Why also does the prophet say in the Book of the Psalms: "The Lord
looked down upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did
understand, and that did seek God"?(4) Just as though in one place, if
God had not descended, and in the other, if He had not looked down, He
would have been ignorant either of men's work or of their merits.
214. But in the Gospel of Luke also thou hast the
same, for the Father says: "What shall I do? I will send My beloved
Son; it may be that they will reverence Him."(5) In Matthew and in Mark
thou hast: "But He sent His only Son, saying: they will reverence My
Son;"(6) In one book He says: "It may be that they will reverence My
Son; "(7) and is in doubt as though He does not know; for this is the
language of one in doubt. But in the two other books He says: "They
will reverence My Son;" that is, He declares that reverence will be
shown.
215. But God can neither be in doubt, nor can He be
deceived. For he only is in doubt, who is ignorant of the future; and
he is deceived, who has predicted one thing, whilst another has
happened. Yet what is plainer than the fact that Scripture states the
Father to have said one thing of the Son, and that the same Scripture
proves another think to have taken place? The Son was beaten, He was
mocked, was crucified, and died.(8) He suffered much worse things in
the flesh than those servants who had been appointed before. Was the
Father deceived, or was He ignorant of it, or was He unable to give
help? But He that is true cannot make a mistake; for it is written:
"God is faithful Who doth not lie."(9). How was He ignorant, Who knows
all? What could He not do, Who could do all?
216. Yet if either He was ignorant, or had not power
(for you would sooner agree to say that the Father did not know than
own that the Son knows), you see from this very
312
fact that the Son is of one Substance with the Father; seeing that the
Son like the Father (to speak in accordance with your foolish ideas)
does not know all things, and cannot do all things. For I am not so
eager or rash in giving praise to the Son as to dare to say that the
Son can do more than the Father; for I make no distinction of power
between the Father and the Son.
217. But perhaps you say that the Father did not say
so, but that the Son erred about the Father. So now you convict the Son
not only of weakness, but also of blasphemy and lying. However if you
do not believe the Son with regard to the Father, neither may you
believe Him with regard to that. For if He wished to deceive us in
saying that the Father was in doubt as though He knew not what would
take place, He wished also to deceive us about Himself in saying that
He did not know the future. It would be far more endurable for Him to
stretch the veil of ignorance in front of that which He does of His own
accord, than that He should seem to be deluded by a result contrary to
what He had foretold in the things He had declared of His Father.
218. But neither is the Father deceived not does the
Son deceive. It is the custom of the holy Scriptures to speak thus, as
the examples I have already given, and many others testify, so that God
feigns not to know what He does know. In this then a unity of Godhead,
and a unity of character is proved to exist in the Father and in the
Son; seeing that, as God the Father hides what is known to Him, so also
the Son, Who is the image of God in this respect, hides what is known
to Him.
CHAPTER XVIII.
Wishing to give a reason for the Lord's answer to the apostles, he
assigns the one received to Christ's tenderness. Then when another
reason is supplied by others he confesses that it is true; for the Lord
spoke it by reason of His human feelings. Hence he gathers that the
knowledge of the Father and the Son is equal, and that the Son is not
inferior to the Father. After having set beside the text, in which He
is said to be inferior, another whereby He is declared to be equal, he
censures the rashness of the Arians in judging about the Son, and shows
that whilst they wickedly make Him to be inferior, He is rightly called
a Stone by Himself.
219. We have been taught therefore that the Son of
God is not ignorant of the future. If they confess this, I too--that I
may now answer why He declared that neither angels, nor the Son, but
only the Father knows--call to mind His wonted love for His disciples
also in this passage, and His grace, which by its very frequency ought
to have been known to all. For the Lord, filled with deep love for His
disciples, when they asked from Him what He thought unprofitable for
them to know, prefers to seem ignorant of what He knows, rather than to
refuse an answer. He loves rather to provide what is useful for us,
than to show His own power.
220. There are, however, some not so faint-hearted
as I. For I would rather fear the deep things of God, than be wise.
There are some, however, relying on the words: "And Jesus increased in
age and in wisdom and in favour with God and man,"(1) who boldly say,
that according to His Godhead indeed He could not be ignorant of the
future, but that in His assumption of our human state He said that He
as Son of Man was in ignorance before His crucifixion. For when He
speaks of the Son, He does not speak as it were of another; for He
Himself is our Lord the Son of God and the Son of a Virgin. But by a
word which embraces both, He guides our mind, so that He as Son of Man
according to His adoption of our ignorance and growth of knowledge,
might be believed as yet not fully to have known all things. For it is
not for us to know the future. Thus He seems to be ignorant in that
state in which He makes progress. For how does He progress according to
His Godhead, in Whom the fulness of the Godhead dwells?(2) Or what is
there which the Son of God does not know, Who said: "Why think ye evil
in your hearts?"(3) How does He not know, of Whom Scripture says: "But
Jesus knew their thoughts"?(4)
221. This is what others say, but I--to return to my
former point, where I stated it was written of the Father: "It may be
they will reverence My Sen,"--I think indeed this was written in order
that the Father, as He was speaking of men, might also seem to have
spoken with human feelings. But still more am I inclined to think that
the Son Who went about with men, and lived the life of man, and took
upon Him our flesh, assumed also our feelings; so that after our
ignorance He might say He knew not, though there was not anything He
did not know. For though He seemed to be a man in the reality of His
body, yet was He Life, and Light, and virtue came out of Him,(5) to
heal the
313
wounds of the injured by the power of His Majesty.
222. Ye see then that this matter has been solved
for you, since the saying of the Son is referred to the assumption of
our state in its fulness, and it was thus written concerning the
Father, in order that you might cease to cavil at the Son.
223. There was nothing then of which the Son of God
was ignorant, for there was nothing of which the Father was ignorant.
But if the Son was ignorant of nothing, as we now conclude, let them
say in what respect they wish Him to seem to be inferior. If God has
begotten a Son inferior to Himself, He has granted Him less. If He has
granted Him less, He either wished to give less, or could only give
less. But the Father is neither weak nor envious, seeing that there was
neither will nor power before the Son. For wherein is He inferior, Who
has all things even as the Father has them? He has received all things
from the Father by right of His Generation,(1) and has shown forth the
Father wholly by the glory of His Majesty.
224. It is written, they say: "For the Father is
greater than I."(2) It is also written: "He thought it not robbery to
be equal with God"(3) It is written again that the Jews wished to kill
Him, because He said He was the Son of God, making Himself equal with
God.(4) It is written: "I and My Father are one."(5) They read "one"
they do not read "many." Can He then be both inferior and equal in the
same Nature? Nay, the one refers to His Godhead, the other to His flesh.
225. They say He is inferior: I ask who has measured
it, who is of so overweening a heart, as to place the Father and the
Son before his judgment seat to decide upon which is the greater? "My
heart is not haughty nor are mine eyes raised unto vanity,"(6) says
David. King David feared to raise his heart in pride in human affairs,
but we raise ours even in opposition to the divine secrets. Who shall
decide about the Son of God? Thrones, dominions, angels, powers? But
archangels give attendance and serve Him, cherubim and seraphim
minister to Him and praise Him. Who then decides about the Son of God,
on reading that the Father Himself knows the Son, but will not judge
Him. "For no man knoweth the Son, but the Father."(7) "Knoweth" it
says, not "judgeth." It is one thing to know, another to judge. The
Father has knowledge in Himself. The Son has no power superior to
Himself. And again: "No man knoweth the Father, but the Son;" and He
Himself knows the Father, as the Father knows Him.
226. But thou sayest that He said He was inferior,
He said also He was a Stone. Thou sayest more and yet dost impiously
attack Him. I say less and with reverence add to His honour. Thou
sayest He is inferior and confessest Him to be above the angels. I say
He is less than the angels, yet do not take from His honour; for I do
not refute His Godhead, but I do proclaim His pity.
CHAPTER XIX.
The Saint having turned to God the Father, explains why he does not
deride that the Son is inferior to the Father, then he declares it is
not for him to measure the Son of God, since it was given to an
angel--nay, perhaps even to Christ as man--to measure merely Jerusalem.
Arius, he says, has shown himself to be an imitator of Satan. It is a
rash thing to hold discussions on the divine Generation. Since so great
a sign of human generation has been given by Isaiah, we ought not to
make comparisons in divine things. Lastly he shows how carefully we
ought to avoid the pride of Arius, by putting before us various
examples of Scriptures.
227. To Thee now, Almighty Father, do I direct my
words with tears. I indeed have readily called Thee inapproachable,
incomprehensible, inestimable; but I dared not say Thy Son was inferior
to Thyself. For when I read that He is the Brightness of Thy glory, and
the Image of Thy Person,(1) I fear lest, in saying that the Image of
Thy Person is inferior, I should seem to say that Thy Person is
inferior, of which the Son is the Image; for the fulness of Thy Godhead
is wholly in the Son. I have often read, I freely believe, that Thou
and Thy Son and the Holy Spirit are boundless, unmeasurable,
inestimable, ineffable. And therefore I cannot appraise Thee so as to
weigh Thee.
228. But be it so, that I desired with a daring and
rash spirit to measure Thee? From whence, I ask, shall I measure Thee,
The prophet saw a line of flax with which the angel measured Jerusalem.
An angel was measuring, not Arius. And he was measuring Jerusalem, not
God. And perchance even an angel could not measure Jerusalem, for it
was a man. Thus it is written: "I raised mine eyes and saw and beheld a
man, and in his hand there was a
314
line of flax."(1) He was a man, for a type of the body that was to be
assumed was thus shown. He was a man, of whom it was said: "There
cometh a man after me, Whose shoe's latchet I am not worthy to
unloose."(2) Therefore Christ in a type measures Jerusalem. Arius
measures God.
229. Even Satan transforms himself into an angel of
light;(3) what wonder then if Arius imitates his Author in taking upon
himself what is forbidden? Though his father the devil did it not in
his own case, that man with intolerable blasphemy assumes to himself
the knowledge of divine secrets and the mysteries of the heavenly
Generation. For the devil confessed the true Son of God, Arius denies
Him.
230. If, then, I cannot measure Thee, Almighty
Father, can I without blasphemy discuss the secrets of Thy Generation?
Can I say there is anything more or less between Thee and Thy Son when
He Himself Who was begotten of Thee, says: "All things which the Father
hath are Mine."(4) Who has made Me a judge and a divider of human
affairs? This the Son says,(5) and do we claim to make a division and
to give judgment between the Father and the Son? A right feeling of
duty avoids arbiters even in the division of an inheritance. And shall
we become arbiters, to divide between Thee and Thy Son the glory of the
uncreated Substance?
231. "This generation," it says, "is an evil
generation. It seeketh a sign, and there shall no sign be given it, but
the sign of Jonas the prophet."(6) A sign of the Godhead then is not
given, but only of the Incarnation. Thus when about to speak of the
Incarnation the prophet says: "Ask thee a sign." And when the king had
said: "I will not ask, neither will I tempt the Lord," the answer was:
"Behold a Virgin shall conceive."(7) Therefore we cannot see a sign of
the Godhead, and do we seek a measure of it? Alas! woe is me! we
impiously dare to discuss Him, to Whom we cannot worthily pray!
232. Let the Arians see to what they do. I have
unlawfully compared Thee, O Father, with Thy works in saying that Thou
art greater than all. If greater than Thy Son, as Arius maintains, I
have judged wickedly. Concerning Thee first will that judgment be. For
no choice can be made except by comparison, nor can anyone be put
before another without a decision being first given on Himself.
233. It is not lawful for us to swear by heaven, but
it is lawful to judge about God. Yet Thou hast given to Thy Son alone
judgment over all.
234. John feared to baptize the flesh of the Lord,
John forbade Him, saying: "I have need to be baptized of Thee, and
comest Thou to me?"(1) And shall I bring Christ under my judgment.?
235. Moses excuses himself from the Priesthood,
Peter is for avoiding the obedience demanded in the Ministry; and does
Arius examine even the deep things of God? But Arius is not the Holy
Spirit. Nay, it was said even to Arius and to all men: "Seek not that
which is too deep for thee."
236. Moses is prevented from seeing the face of
God;(3) Arius merited to see it in secret. Moses and Aaron among His
Priests. Moses who appeared with the Lord in glory, that Moses then saw
only the back parts of God in appearance; Arius beholds God wholly face
to face! But" no one," it says, "can see My face and live."(4)
237. Paul also speaks of inferior beings: "We know
in part and we prophesy in part."(5) Arius says: "I know God altogether
and not in part." Thus Paul is inferior to Arius, and the vessel of
election knows in part, but the vessel of perdition knows wholly. "I
know," he says, "a man, whether in the body or out of the body, I
cannot tell, God knoweth, how he was caught up into Paradise and heard
unspeakable words."(6) Paul carried up to the third heaven, knew not
himself; Arius rolling in filth, knows God. Paul says of himself: "God
knows;" Arius says of God: "I know."
238. But Arius was not caught up to heaven, although
he followed him who with accursed boastfulness presumed on what was
divine, saying: "I will set my throne upon the clouds; I will be like
the Most High."(7) For as he said: "I will be like the Most High," so
too Arius wishes the Most High Son of God to seem like himself, Whom he
does not worship in the eternal glory of His Godhead, but measures by
the weakness of the flesh.
315
ON THE MYSTERIES .
INTRODUCTION.
The writer explains in the commencement of this
treatise that his object was to set forth, for the benefit of those
about to be baptized, the rites and meaning of that Sacrament, as well
as of Confirmation and the Holy Eucharist. For all these matters were
treated with the greatest reserve in the Early Church, for fear of
profanation by the heathen, and it was the custom, as in the case of
the well-known Catechetical Lectures of St. Cyril of Jerusalem, to
explain them to the catechumens during the latter part of Lent.
Treatises of this kind possess therefore a special
interest, as in them we find clearly stated the full teaching of the
Church at the time when those addresses which have come down to our
times were drawn up.
St Ambrose goes through and explains the greater
part, first of the rites usual at the time of solemn baptism, pointing
out the deep truths and mysteries underlying these outward things. He
then treats Confirmation, referring to the seven gifts of the Holy
Spirit; and lastly, speaks of the Holy Eucharist, especially setting
forth the doctrine of the Real Presence.
Some writers in and since the sixteenth century have
endeavoured to prove that this treatise has been falsely attributed to
St. Ambrose, but there can be no real doubt on the matter, as is
conclusively shown by the Benedictine Editors, and now universally
admitted. The treatise was composed for use during Lent, but in what
year cannot be fixed, possibly, from reference made to the treatise De
Patriarchis, about A.D. 387.
317
THE BOOK OF ST. AMBROSE, BISHOP OF MILAN,
CONCERNING THE MYSTERIES.(1)
CHAPTER I.
St. Ambrose states that after the explanations he has already given of
holy living, he will now explain the Mysteries. Then after giving his
reasons for not having done so before, he explains the mystery of the
opening of the ears, and shows how this was of old done by Christ
Himself.
1. We have spoken daily upon subjects connected with
morals, when the deeds of the Patriarchs or the precepts of the
Proverbs were being read, in order that being taught and instructed by
these you might grow accustomed to enter the ways of the ancients and
to walk in their paths, and obey the divine commands; in order that
being renewed by baptism you might hold to that manner of life which
beseems those who are washed.
2. The season now warns us to speak of the
Mysteries, and to set forth the purport of the sacraments, which if we
had thought it well to teach before baptism to those who were not yet
initiated, we should be considered rather to have betrayed than to have
portrayed the Mysteries. And then, too, another reason is that the
light itself of the Mysteries will shed itself with more effect upon
those who are expecting they know not what, than if any discourse had
come beforehand.
3. Open, then, your ears, inhale the good savour of
eternal life which has been breathed upon you by the grace of the
sacraments; which was signified to you by us, when, celebrating the
mystery of the opening,(2) we said, "Epphatha, which is, Be opened,"(1)
that whosoever was coming in quest of peace might know what he was
asked, and be bound to remember what he
answered. 4. Christ
made use of this mystery in the Gospel, as we read, when He healed him
who was deaf and dumb. But He touched the mouth, because he who was
healed was dumb and was a man, as regards one point that he might open
his mouth with the sound of the voice given to him; as regards the
other point because that touch was seemly towards a man, but would have
been unseemly towards a woman.
CHAPTER II.
What those who were to be initiated promised on entering the Church, of
the witnesses to these promises, and wherefore they then turned
themselves to the East.
5. AFTER this the Holy of holies(2) was opened to
you, you entered the sanctuary of regeneration; recall what you were
asked, and remember what you answered. You renounced the devil and his
works, the world with its luxury and pleasures. That utterance of yours
is preserved not in the tombs of the dead, but in the book of the
living.
6. You saw there the deacon, you saw the priest, you
saw the chief priest [i.e. the bishop]. Consider not the bodily forms,
but the grace of the Mysteries. You spoke in the presence of the
angels, as it is written: "For the priest's lips keep knowledge, and
they seek the law at his mouth, for he is the angel of the Lord
Almighty."(3)
318
There is no place for deception nor for denial. He is an angel who
proclaims the kingdom of Christ and eternal life. He is to be esteemed
by you not according to his appearance, but according to his office.
Consider what he delivered, reflect upon the rule of life he gave you,
recognize his position.
7. You entered, then, that you might discern your
adversary, whom you were to renounce as it were to his face, then you
turned to the east; for he who renounces the devil turns to Christ, and
beholds Him face to face.
CHAPTER III.
St. Ambrose points out that we must consider the divine presence and
working in the water and the sacred ministers, and then brings forward
many Old Testament figures of baptism.
8. What did you see? Water, certainly, but not water
alone; you saw the deacons ministering there, and the bishop asking
questions and hallowing. First of all, the Apostle taught you that
those things are not to be considered "which we see, but the things
which are not seen, for the things which are seen are temporal, but the
things which are not seen are eternal."(1) For you read elsewhere:
"That the invisible things of God, since the creation of the world, are
understood through those things which have been made; His eternal power
also and Godhead are estimated by His works."(2) Wherefore also the
Lord Himself says: "If ye believe not Me, believe at least the
works."(3) Believe, then, that the presence of the Godhead is there. Do
you believe the working, and not believe the presence? Whence should
the working proceed unless the presence went before?
9. Consider, however, how ancient is the mystery
prefigured even in the origin of the world itself. In the very
beginning, when God made the heaven and the earth, "the Spirit," it is
said, "moved upon the waters."(4) He Who was moving upon the waters,
was He not working upon the waters? But why should I say, "working"? As
regards His presence He was moving. Was He not working Who was moving?
Recognize that He was working in that making of the world, when the
prophet says: "By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, and all
their strength by the spirit of His mouth."(1) Each statement rests
upon the testimony of the prophet, both that He was moving and that He
was working. Moses says that He was moving, David testifies that he was
working.
10. Take another testimony. All flesh was corrupt by
its iniquities. "My Spirit," says God, "shall not remain among men,
because they are flesh."(2) Whereby God shows that the grace of the
Spirit is turned away by carnal impurity and the pollution of grave
sin. Upon which, God, willing to restore what was lacking, sent the
flood and bade just Noah go up into the ark. And he, after having, as
the flood was passing off, sent forth first a raven which did not
return, sent forth a dove which is said to have returned with an olive
twig.(3) You see the water, you see the wood [of the ark], you see the
dove, and do you hesitate as to the mystery?
11. The water, then, is that in which the flesh is
dipped, that all carnal sin may be washed away. All wickedness is there
buried. The wood is that on which the Lord Jesus was fastened when He
suffered for us. The dove is that in the form of which the Holy Spirit
descended, as you have read in the New Testament, Who inspires in you
peace of soul and tranquillity of mind. The raven is the figure of sin,
which goes forth and does not return, if, in you, too, inwardly and
outwardly righteousness be preserved.
12. There is also a third testimony, as the Apostle
teaches us: "For all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed
through the sea, and were all baptized to Moses in the cloud and in the
sea."(4) And further, Moses himself says in his song: "Thou sentest Thy
Spirit, and the sea covered them."(5) You observe that even then holy
baptism was prefigured in that passage of the Hebrews, wherein the
Egyptian perished, the Hebrew escaped. For what else are we daily
taught in this sacrament but that guilt is swallowed up and error done
away, but that virtue and innocence remain unharmed?
13. You hear that our fathers were under the cloud,
and that a kindly cloud, which cooled the heat of carnal passions. That
kindly cloud overshadows those whom the Holy Spirit visits. At last it
came upon the Virgin Mary, and the Power of the Highest overshadowed
her,(6) when she conceived Redemption for the race of men. And that
319
miracle was wrought in a figure through Moses. If, then, the Spirit was
in the figure, is He not present in the reality, since Scripture says
to us: "For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by
Jesus Christ."(1)
14. Marah was a fountain of most bitter water: Moses
cast wood into it and it became sweet.(2) For water without the
preaching of the Cross of the Lord is of no avail for future salvation,
but, after it has been consecrated by the mystery of the saving cross,
it is made suitable for the use of the spiritual layer and of the cup
of salvation. As, then, Moses, that is, the prophet, cast wood into
that fountain, so, too, the priest utters over this font the
proclamation of the Lord's cross, and the water is made sweet for the
purpose of grace.
15. You must not trust, then, wholly to your bodily
eyes; that which is not seen is more really seen, for the object of
sight is temporal, but that other eternal, which is not apprehended by
the eye, but is discerned by the mind and spirit.
16. Lastly, let the lessons lately gone through from
the Kings teach you. Naaman was a Syrian, and suffered from leprosy,
nor could he be cleansed by any. Then a maiden from among the captives
said that there was a prophet in Israel, who could cleanse him from the
defilement of the leprosy. And it is said that, having taken silver and
gold, he went to the king of Israel. And he, when he heard the cause of
his coming, rent his clothes, saying, that occasion was rather being
sought against him, since things were asked of him which pertained not
to the power of kings. Elisha, however, sent word to the king, that he
should send the Syrian to him, that he might know there was a God in
Israel. And when he had come, he bade him dip himself seven times in
the river Jordan.
17. Then he began to reason with himself that he had
better waters in his own country, in which he had often bathed and
never been cleansed of his leprosy; and so remembering this, he did not
obey the command of the prophet, yet on the advice and persuasion of
his servants he yielded and dipped himself. And being forthwith
cleansed, he understood that it is not of the waters but of grace that
a man is cleansed.(3)
18. Understand now who is that young maid among the
captives. She is the congregation gathered out of the Gentiles, that
is, the Church of God held down of old by the captivity of sin, when as
yet it possessed not the liberty of grace, by whose counsel that
foolish people of the Gentiles heard the word of prophecy as to which
it had before been in doubt. Afterwards, however, when they believed
that it ought to be obeyed, they were washed from every defilement of
sin. And he indeed doubted before he was healed; you are already
healed, and therefore ought not to doubt,
CHAPTER IV.
That water does not cleanse without the Spirit is shown by the witness
of John and by the very form of the administration of the sacrament.
And this is also declared to be signified by the pool in the Gospel and
the man who was there healed. In the same passage, too, is shown that
the Holy Spirit truly descended on Christ at His baptism, and the
meaning of this mystery is explained.
19. The reason why you were told before not to
believe only what you saw was that you might not say perchance, This is
that great mystery "which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither has
it entered into the heart of man. "(1) I see water, which I have been
used to see every day. Is that water to cleanse me now in which I have
so often bathed without ever being cleansed? By this you may recognize
that water does not cleanse without the Spirit.
20. Therefore read that the three witnesses in
baptism, the water, the blood, and the Spirit,(2) are one, for if you
take away one of these, the Sacrament of Baptism does not exist. For
what is water without the cross of Christ? A common element, without
any sacramental effect. Nor, again, is there the Sacrament of
Regeneration without water: "For except a man be born again of water
and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God."(3) Now,
even the catechumen believes in the cross of the Lord Jesus, wherewith
he too is signed; but unless he be baptized in the Name of the Father,
and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, he cannot receive remission of
sins nor gain the gift of spiritual grace.
21. So that Syrian dipped himself seven times(4)
under the law, but you were baptized in the Name of the Trinity, you
confessed the Father. Call to mind what you did: you confessed the Son,
you confessed the Holy Spirit. Mark well the order of things in this
faith: you died to the world,
320
and rose again to God. And as though buried to the world in that
element, being dead to sin, you rose again to eternal life. Believe,
therefore, that these waters are not void of power.
22. Therefore it is said: "An angel of the Lord went
down according to the season into the pool, and the water was troubled;
and he who first after the troubling of the water went down into the
pool was healed of whatsoever disease he was holden."(1) This pool was
at Jerusalem, in which one was healed every year, but no one was healed
before the angel had descended. Because of those who believed not the
water was troubled as a sign that the angel had descended. They had a
sign, you have faith; for them an angel descended, for you the Holy
Spirit; for them the creature was troubled, for you Christ Himself, the
Lord of the creature, works.
23. Then one was healed, now all are made whole; or
more exactly, the Christian people alone, for in some even the water is
deceitful.(2) The baptism of unbelievers heals not but pollutes. The
Jew washes pots and cups, as though things without sense were capable
of guilt or grace. But do you wash this living cup of yours, that in it
your good works may shine and the glory of your grace be bright. For
that pool was as a type, that you might believe that the power of God
descends upon this font.
24. Lastly, that paralytic was waiting for a man.
And what man save the Lord Jesus, born of the Virgin, at Whose coming
no longer the shadow should heal men one by one, but the truth should
heal the whole. He it is, then, Whose coming down was being waited for,
of Whom the Father said to John the Baptist: "Upon Whom thou shalt see
the Spirit descending and abiding upon Him, this is He Who baptizeth
with the Holy Spirit."(3) And John bare witness of Him, and said: "I
saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove and abiding upon
Him."(4) And why did the Spirit descend like a dove, but in order that
you might see, that you might acknowledge, that that dove also which
just Noah sent forth from the ark was a likeness of this dove, that you
might recognize the type of the sacrament?
25. Perhaps you may object: Since that was a real
dove which was sent forth, and the Spirit descended like a dove, how is
it that we say that the likeness was there and the reality here,
whereas in the Greek it is written that the Spirit descended in the
likeness of a dove? But what is so real as the Godhead which abides for
ever? Now the creature cannot be the reality, but only a likeness,
which is easily destroyed and changed. So, again, because the
simplicity of those who are baptized ought to be not in appearance but
in reality, and the Lord says: "Be ye wise as serpents and simple as
doves."(1) Rightly, then, did He descend like a dove, in order to
admonish us that we ought to have the simplicity of the dove. And
further we read of the likeness being put for the reality, both as
regards Christ: "And was found in likeness as a man;"(2) and as regards
God the Father: "Nor have ye seen His likeness."(3)
CHAPTER V.
Christ is Himself present in Baptism, so that we need not consider the
person of His ministers. A brief explanation of the confession of the
Trinity as usually uttered by those about to be baptized.
26. Is there, then, here any room left for doubt,
when the Father clearly calls from heaven in the Gospel narrative, and
says: "This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased"?(4) When the
Son also speaks, upon Whom the Holy Spirit showed Himself in the
likeness of a dove? When the Holy Spirit also speaks, Who came down in
the likeness of a dove? When David, too, speaks: "The voice of the Lord
is above the waters, the God of glory thundered, the Lord above many
waters"?(5) When Scripture testifies that at the prayer of Jerubbaal,
fire came down from heaven,(6) and again, when Elijah prayed, fire was
sent forth and consecrated the sacrifice.(7)
27. Do not consider the merits of individuals, but
the office of the priests. Or, if you look at 'the merits, consider the
priest as Elijah. Look upon the merits of Peter also, or of Paul, who
handed down to us this mystery which they had received of the Lord
Jesus. To those [of old] a visible fire was sent that they might
believe; for us who believe, the Lord works invisibly; for them that
happened for a figure, for us for warning. Believe, then, that the Lord
Jesus is present at the invocation of the priest, Who said: "Where two
or three are, there am I also."(3)
321
How much where the Church is, and where His Mysteries are, does He
vouchsafe to impart His presence!
28. You went down,then (into the water), remember
what you replied to the questions, that you believe in the Father, that
you believe in the Son, that you believe in the Holy Spirit. The
statement there is not: I believe in a greater and in a less and in a
lowest person, but you are bound by the same guarantee of your own
voice, to believe in the Son in like manner as you believe in the
Father; and to believe in the Holy Spirit in like manner as you believe
in the Son, with this one exception, that you confess that you must
believe in the cross of the Lord Jesus alone.
CHAPTER VI.
Why they who come forth from the layer of baptism are anointed on
the head; why, too, after baptism, their feet
are washed, and what sins are remitted in each
case.
29. After this, you went up to the priest, consider
what followed. Was it not that of which David speaks: "Like the
ointment upon the head, which went down to the beard, even Aaron's
beard"?(1) This is the ointment of which Solomon, too, says: "Thy Name
is ointment poured out, therefore have the maidens loved Thee and drawn
Thee."(2) How many souls regenerated this day have loved Thee, Lord
Jesus, and have said: "Draw us after Thee, we are running after the
odour of Thy garments,"(3) that they might drink in the odour of Thy
resurrection.
30. Consider now why this is done, for "the eyes of
a wise man are in his head ;"(4) therefore the ointment flows down to
the beard, that is to say, to the beauty of youth; and therefore,
Aaron's beard, that we, too, may become a chosen race, priestly and
precious, for we are all anointed with spiritual grace for a share in
the kingdom of God and in the priesthood.
31. You went up from the font; remember the Gospel
lesson. For our Lord Jesus Christ in the Gospel washed the feet of His
disciples. When He came to Simon Peter, Peter said: "Thou shalt never
wash my feet."(5) He did not perceive the mystery, and therefore he
refused the service, for he thought that the humility of the servant
would be injured, if he patiently allowed the Lord to minister to him.
And the Lord answered him: "If I wash not thy feet, thou wilt have no
part with Me." Peter, hearing this, replies: "Lord, not my feet only,
but also my hands and my head." The Lord answered: "He that is washed
needeth not save to wash his feet but is clean every whit."(1)
32. Peter was clean, but he must wash his feet, for
he had sin by succession from the first man, when the serpent overthrew
him and persuaded him to sin. His feet were therefore washed, that
hereditary sins might be done away, for our own sins are remitted
through baptism.
33. Observe at the same time that the mystery
consists in the very office of humility, for Christ says: "If I, your
Lord and Master, have washed your feet; how much more ought you to wash
one another's feet." For, since the Author of Salvation Himself
redeemed us through His obedience, how much more ought we His servants
to offer the service of our humility and obedience.
CHAPTER VII.
The washing away of sins is indicated by the white robes of the
catechumens, whence the Church speaks of herself as black and comely.
Angels marvel at her brightness as at that of the flesh of the Lord.
Moreover, Christ Himself commended His beauty to His Spouse under many
figures. The mutual affection of the one for the other is described.
34. After this white robes were given to you as a
sign that you were putting off the covering of sins, and putting on the
chaste veil of innocence, of which the prophet said: "Thou shalt
sprinkle me with hyssop and I shall be cleansed, Thou shalt wash me and
I shall be made whiter than snow."(2) For he who is baptized is seen to
be purified both according to the Law and according to the Gospel:
according to the Law, because Moses sprinkled the blood of the lamb
with a bunch of hyssop;(3) according to the Gospel, because Christ's
garments were white as snow, when in the Gospel He showed forth the
glory of His Resurrection. He, then, whose guilt is remitted is made
whiter than snow. So that God said by Isaiah: "Though your sins be as
scarlet, I will make them white as snow."(4)
35. The Church, having put on these garments through
the layer of regeneration, says in the Song of Songs: "I am black
322
and comely, O daughters of Jerusalem." Black through the frailty of her
human condition, comely through the sacrament of faith. And the
daughters of Jerusalem beholding these garments say in amazement "Who
is this that cometh up made white?"(2) She was black, how is she now
suddenly made white?
36. The angels, too, were in doubt when Christ
arose; the powers of heaven were in doubt when they saw that flesh was
ascending into heaven. Then they said: "Who is this King of glory?" And
whilst some said "Lift up your gates, O princes, and be ye lift up, ye
everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in."(3) In Isaiah,
too, we find that the powers of heaven doubted and said: "Who is this
that cometh up from Edom, the redness of His garments is from Bosor, He
who is glorious in white apparel?"(4)
37. But Christ, beholding His Church, for whom He
Himself, as you find in the book of the prophet Zechariah, had put on
filthy garments, now clothed in white raiment, seeing, that is, a soul
pure and washed in the layer of regeneration, says: "Behold, thou art
fair, My love, behold thou art fair, thy eyes are like a dove's,"(5) in
the likeness of which the Holy Spirit descended from heaven. The eyes
are beautiful like those of a dove, because in the likeness of a dove
the Holy Spirit descended from heaven.
38. And farther on: "Thy teeth are like a flock of
sheep that are shorn, which are come up from the pool, which all bear
twins, and none is barren among them, thy lips are as a cord of
scarlet."(6) This is no slight praise. First by the pleasing comparison
to those that are shorn; for we know that goats both feed in high
places without risk, and securely find their food in rugged places, and
then when shorn are freed from what is superfluous, The Church is
likened to a flock of these, having in itself the many virtues of those
souls which through the layer lay aside the superfluity of sins, and
offer to Christ the mystic faith and the grace of good living, which
speak of the cross of the Lord Jesus.
39. The Church is beautiful in them. So that God the
Word says to her: "Thou art all fair, My love, and there is no blemish
in thee," for guilt has been washed away. "Come hither from Lebanon, My
spouse, come hither from Lebanon, from the beginning of faith wilt thou
pass through and pass on,"(1) because, renouncing the world, she passed
through things temporal and passed on to Christ. And again, God the
Word says to her: "How beautiful and sweet art thou made, O love, in
thy delights! Thy stature is become like that of a palm-tree, and thy
breasts like bunches of grapes."
40. And the Church answers Him, "Who will give Thee
to me, my Brother, that didst suck the breasts of my mother? If I find
Thee without, I will kiss Thee, and indeed they will not despise me. I
will take Thee, and bring Thee into the house of my mother; and into
the secret chamber of her that conceived me. Thou shalt teach me."(3)
You see how, delighted with the gifts of grace, she longs to attain to
the innermost mysteries, and to consecrate all her affections to
Christ. She still seeks, she still stirs up His love, and asks of the
daughters of Jerusalem to stir it up for her, and desires that by their
beauty, which is that of faithful souls, her spouse may be incited to
ever richer love for her.
41. So that the Lord Jesus Himself, invited by such
eager love and by the beauty of comeliness and grace, since now no
offences pollute the baptized, says to the Church: "Place Me as a seal
upon thy heart, as a signet upon thine arm;"(4) that is, thou art
comely, My beloved, thou art all fair, nothing is wanting to thee.
Place Me as a seal upon thine heart, that thy faith may shine forth in
the fulness of the sacrament. Let thy works also shine and set forth
the image of God in the Whose image thou wast made. Let no persecution
lessen thy love, which many waters cannot quench, nor many rivers drown.
42. And then remember that you received the seal of
the Spirit; the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of
counsel and strength, the spirit of knowledge and godliness, and the
spirit of holy fear,(5) and preserved what you received. God the Father
sealed you, Christ the Lord strengthened you, and gave the earnest of
the Spirit in your heart,(6) as you have learned in the lesson from the
Apostle.(7)
323
CHAPTER VIII.
Of the mystical feast of the altar of the Lord. Lest any should
think lightly of it, St. Ambrose shows that it
is of higher antiquity than the sacred rites of
the Jews, since it was foreshadowed in the
sacrifice of Melchisedech, and far better than the manna,
as being the Body of Christ.
43. The cleansed people, rich with these adornments,
hastens to the altar of Christ, saying: "I will go to the altar of God,
to God Who maketh glad my youth;"(1) for having laid aside the slough
of ancient error, renewed with an eagle's youth, it hastens to approach
that heavenly feast. It comes, and seeing the holy altar arranged,
cries out: "Thou hast prepared a table in my sight." David introduces
the people as speaking, where he says: "The Lord feedeth me, and
nothing shall be wanting to me, in a place of good pasture hath He
placed me. He hath led me forth by the water of refreshment." And
later: "For though I walk in the midst of the shadow of death, I will
fear no evils, for Thou art with me. Thy rod and Thy staff have
comforted me. Thou hast prepared in my sight a table against them that
trouble me. Thou hast anointed my head with oil, and Thy inebriating
cup, how excellent it is!"(2)
44. We must now pay attention, lest perchance an y
one seeing that what is visible (for things which are invisible cannot
be seen nor comprehended by human eyes), should say, "God rained down
manna and rained down quails upon the Jews,"(5) but for the Church
beloved of Him the things which He has prepared are those of which it
is said: "That eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it
entered into the heart of man, what things God hath prepared for them
that love Him."(4) So, lest any one should say this, we will take great
pains to prove that the sacraments of the Church are both more ancient
than those of the synagogue, and more excellent than the manna.
45. The lesson of Genesis just read shows that they
are more ancient, for the synagogue took its origin from the law of
Moses. But Abraham was far earlier, who, after conquering the enemy,
and recovering his own nephew, as he was enjoying his victory, was met
by Melchisedech, who brought forth those things which Abraham
reverently received. It was not Abraham who brought them forth, but
Melchisedech, who is introduced without father, without mother, having
neither beginning of days, nor ending, but like the Son of God, of Whom
Paul says to the Hebrews: "that He remaineth a priest for ever," Who in
the Latin version is called King of righteousness and King of peace.
46. Do you recognize Who that is? Can a man be king
of righteousness, when himself he can hardly be righteous? Can he be
king of peace, when he can hardly be peaceable? He it is Who is without
mother according to His Godhead, for He was begotten of God the Father,
of one substance with the Father; without a father according to His
Incarnation, for He was born of a Virgin; having neither beginning nor
end, for He is the beginning and end of all things, the first and the
last. The sacrament, then, which you received is the gift not of man
but of God; brought forth by Him Who blessed Abraham the father of
faith, whose grace and deeds we admire.
47. We have proved the sacraments of the Church to
be the more ancient, now recognize that they are superior. In very
truth it is a marvellous thing that God rained manna on the fathers,
and fed them with daily food from heaven; so that it is said, "So man
did eat angels' food."(1) But yet all those who ate that food died in
the wilderness, but that food which you receive, that living Bread
which came down from heaven, furnishes the substance of eternal life;
and whosoever shall eat of this Bread shall never die, and it is the
Body of Christ.
49. Now consider whether the bread of angels be more
excellent or the Flesh of Christ, which is indeed the body of life.
That manna came from heaven, this is above the heavens; that was of
heaven, this is of the Lord of the heavens; that was liable to
corruption, if kept a second day, this is far from all corruption, for
whosoever shall taste it holly shall not be able to feel corruption.
For them water flowed from the rock, for you Blood flowed from Christ;
water satisfied them for a time, the Blood satiates you for eternity.
The Jew drinks and thirsts again, you after drinking will be beyond the
power of thirsting; that was in a shadow, this is in truth.
49. If that which you so wonder at is but shadow,
how great must that be whose very shadow you wonder at. See now
324
what happened in the case of the fathers was shadow: "They drank, it is
said, of that Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ. But
with many of them God was not well pleased, for they were overthrown in
the wilderness. Now these things were done in a figure concerning
us."(1) You recognize now which are the more excellent, for light is
better than shadow, truth than a figure, the Body of its Giver than the
manna from heaven.
CHAPTER IX.
In order that no one through observing the outward part should waver in
faith, many instances are brought forward wherein the outward nature
has been changed, and so it is proved that bread is made the true body
of Christ. The treatise then is brought to a termination with certain
remarks as to the effects of the sacrament, the disposition of the
recipients, and such like.
50. Perhaps you will say, "I see something else, how
is it that you assert that I receive the Body of Christ?" And this is
the point which remains for us to prove. And what evidence shall we
make use of? Let us prove that this is not what nature made, but what
the blessing consecrated, and the power of blessing is greater than
that of nature, because by blessing nature itself is changed.
51. Moses was holding a rod, he cast it down and it
became a serpent.(2) Again, he took hold of the tail of the serpent and
it returned to the nature of a rod. You see that by virtue of the
prophetic office there were two changes, of the nature both of the
serpent and of the rod. The streams of Egypt were running with. a pure
flow of water; of a sudden from the veins of the sources blood began to
burst forth, and none could drink of the river. Again, at the prophet's
prayer the blood ceased, and the nature of water returned.(3) The
people of the Hebrews were shut in on every side, hemmed in on the one
hand by the Egyptians, on the other by the sea; Moses lifted up his
rod, the water divided and hardened like walls, and a way for the feet
appeared between the waves.(4) Jordan being turned back, returned,
contrary to nature, to the source of its stream.(5) Is it not clear
that the nature of the waves of the sea and of the river stream was
changed? The people of the fathers thirsted, Moses touched the rock,
and water flowed out of the rock.(6) Did not grace work a result
contrary to nature, so that the rock poured forth water, which by
nature it did not contain? Marsh was a most bitter stream, so that the
thirsting people could not drink. Moses cast wood into the water, and
the water lost its bitterness, which grace of a sudden tempered.(1) In
the time of Elisha the prophet one of the sons of the prophets lost the
head from his axe, which sank. He who had lost the iron asked Elisha,
who cast in a piece of wood and the iron swam. This, too, we clearly
recognize as having happened contrary to nature, for iron is of heavier
nature than water.
52. We observe, then, that grace has more power than
nature, and yet so far we have only spoken of the grace of a prophet's
blessing. But if the blessing of man had such power as to change
nature, what are we to say of that divine consecration where the very
words of the Lord and Saviour operate? For that sacrament which you
receive is made what it is by the word of Christ. But if the word of
Elijah had such power as to bring down fire from heaven, shall not the
word of Christ have power to change the nature of the elements? You
read concerning the making of the whole world: "He spake and they were
made, He commanded and they were created."(2) Shall not the word of
Christ, which was able to make out of nothing that which was not, be
able to change things which already are into what they were not? For it
is not less to give a new nature to things than to change them.
53. But why make use of arguments? Let us use the
examples He gives, and by the example of the Incarnation prove the
truth of the mystery. Did the course of nature proceed as usual when
the Lord Jesus was born of Mary? If we look to the usual course, a
woman ordinarily conceives after connection with a man. And this body
which we make is that which was born of the Virgin. Why do you seek the
order of nature in the Body of Christ, seeing that the Lord Jesus
Himself was born of a Virgin, not according to nature? It is the true
Flesh of Christ which crucified and buried, this is then truly the
Sacrament of His Body.
54. The Lord Jesus Himself proclaims: "This is My
Body."(3) Before the blessing of the heavenly words another nature is
spoken of, after the consecration the Body is signified. He Himself
speaks of His Blood. Before the consecration it has another name,
325
after it is called Blood. And you say, Amen, that is, It is true. Let
the heart within confess what the mouth utters, let the soul feel what
the voice speaks.
55. Christ, then, feeds His Church with these
sacraments, by means of which the substance of the soul is
strengthened, and seeing the continual progress of her grace, He
rightly says to her: "How comely are thy breasts, my sister, my spouse,
how comely they are made by wine, and the smell of thy garments is
above all spices. A dropping honeycomb are thy lips, my spouse, honey
and milk are under thy tongue, and the smell of thy garments is as the
smell of Lebanon. A garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse, a garden
enclosed, a fountain sealed."(1) By which He signifies that the mystery
ought to remain sealed up with you, that it be not violated by the
deeds of an evil life, and pollution of chastity, that it be not made
known to thou, for whom it is not fitting, nor by garrulous
talkativeness it be spread abroad amongst unbelievers. Your
guardianship of the faith ought therefore to be good, that integrity of
life and silence may endure unblemished.
56. For which reason, too, the Church, guarding the
depth of the heavenly mysteries, repels the furious storms of wind, and
calls to her the sweetness of the grace of spring, and knowing that her
garden cannot displease Christ, invites the Bridegroom, saying: "Arise,
O north wind, and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, and let my
ointments flow down. Let my Brother come down to His garden, and eat
the fruit of His trees."(2) For it has good trees and fruitful, which
have dipped their roots in the water of the sacred spring, and with
fresh growth have shot forth into good fruits, so as now not to be cut
with the axe of the prophet, but to abound with the fruitfulness of the
Gospel.
57. Lastly, the Lord also, delighted with their
fertility, answers: "I have entered into My garden, My sister, My
spouse; I have gathered My myrrh with My spices, I have eaten My meat
with My honey, I have drunk My drink with My milk."(3) Understand, you
faithful, why He spoke of meat and drink. And there is no doubt that He
Himself eats and drinks in us, as you have read that He says that in
our persons He is in prison.(1)
58. Wherefore, too, the Church, beholding so great
grace, exhorts her sons and her friends to come together to the
sacraments, saying: "Eat, my friends, and drink and be inebriated, my
brother."(3) What we eat and what we drink the Holy Spirit has
elsewhere made plain by the prophet, saying, "Taste and see that the
Lord is good, blessed is the man that hopeth in Him."(3) In that
sacrament is Christ, because it is the Body of Christ, it is therefore
not bodily food but spiritual. Whence the Apostle says of its type:
"Our fathers ate spiritual food and drank spiritual drink,"(4) for the
Body of God is a spiritual body; the Body of Christ is the Body of the
Divine Spirit, for the Spirit is Christ, as we read: "The Spirit before
our face is Christ the Lord."(5) And in the Epistle of Peter we read:
"Christ died for us."(6) Lastly, that food strengthens our heart, and
that drink "maketh glad the heart of man,"(7) as the prophet has
recorded.
59. So, then, having obtained everything, let us
know that we are born again, but let us not say, How are we born again?
Have we entered a second time into our mother's womb and been born
again? I do not recognize here the course of nature. But here there is
no order of nature, where is the excellence of grace. And again, it is
not always the course of nature which brings about conception, for we
confess that Christ the Lord was conceived of a Virgin, and reject the
order of nature. For Mary conceived not of man, but was with child of
the Holy Spirit, as Matthew says: "She was found with child of the Holy
Spirit."(8) If, then, the Holy Spirit coming down upon the Virgin
wrought the conception, and effected the work of generation, surely we
must not doubt but that, coming down upon the Font, or upon those who
receive Baptism, He effects the reality of the new birth.
329
TWO BOOKS OF ST. AMBROSE, BISHOP
OF MILAN,
CONCERNING REPENTANCE.
BOOK I.
CHAPTER I.
St. Ambrose writes in praise of gentleness, pointing out how needful
that grace is for the rulers of the Church, and commended to them by
the meekness of Christ. As the Novatians have fallen away from this,
they cannot be considered disciples of Christ. Their pride and
harshness are inveighed against.
1. IF the highest end of virtue is that which aims
at the advancement of most, gentleness is the most lovely of all, which
does not hurt even those whom it condemns, and usually renders those
whom it condemns worthy of absolution. Moreover, it is the only virtue
which has led to the increase of the Church which the Lord sought at
the price of His own Blood, imitating the lovingkindness of heaven, and
aiming at the redemption of all, seeks this end with a gentleness which
the ears of men can endure, in presence of which their hearts do not
sink, nor their spirits quail.
2. For he who endeavours to amend the faults of
human weakness ought to bear this very weakness on his own shoulders,
let it weigh upon himself, not cast it off. For we read that the
Shepherd in the Gospel(1) carried the weary sheep, and did not cast it
off. And Solomon says: "Be not overmuch righteous;"(2) for restraint
should temper righteousness. For how shall he offer himself to you for
healing whom you despise, who thinks that he will be an object of
contempt, not of compassion, to his physician?
3. Therefore had the Lord Jesus compassion upon us
in order to call us to Himself, not frighten us away. He came in
meekness, He came in humility, and so He said: "Come unto Me, all ye
that labour and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you.''(1) So, then,
the Lord Jesus refreshes, and does not shut out nor east off, and fitly
chose such disciples as should be interpreters of the Lord's will, as
should gather together and not drive away the people of God. Whence it
is clear that they are not to be counted amongst the disciples of
Christ, who think that harsh and proud opinions should be followed
rather than such as are gentle and meek; persons who, while they
themselves seek God's mercy, deny it to others, such as are the
teachers of the Novatians, who call themselves pure.(2)
4. What can show more pride than this, since the
Scripture says: "No one is free from sin, not even an infant of a day
old;"(3) and David cries out: "Cleanse me from my sin."(4) Are they
more holy than David, of whose family Christ vouchsafed to be born in
the mystery of the Incarnation, whose descendant is that heavenly Hall
which received the world's Redeemer in her virgin womb? For what is
more harsh than to inflict a penance which they do not relax, and by
refusing pardon to take away the incentive to penance and
repentance?(5) Now no one can repent to good purpose unless he hopes
for mercy.
CHAPTER II.
The assertion of the Novatians that they refuse communion only to the
lapsed agrees neither with the teaching of holy Scripture nor with
their own. And whereas they allege as a pretext their reverence for
330
the divine power, they really are contemning it,
inasmuch as it is a sign of low estimation not
to use the whole of a power entrusted to one.
But the Church rightly claims the power of binding
and loosing, which heretics have not, inasmuch
as she has received it from the Holy Spirit,
against Whom they act presumptuously.
5. BUT they say that those should not be restored to
communion who have fallen into denial(1) of the faith. If they made the
crime of sacrilege the only exception to receiving forgiveness, they
would be acting harshly indeed, and, as it would seem, would be in
opposition to the divine utterances only, while consistent with their
own assertions. For when the Lord forgave all sins, He made an
exception of none. But since, as it were after the fashion of the
Stoics, they think that all sins are equal in gravity, and assert that
he who has stolen a common fowl, as they say, no less than he who has
smothered his father, should be for ever excluded from the divine
mysteries, how can they select those guilty of one special offence,
since even they themselves cannot deny that it is most unjust that the
penalty of one should extend to many?(3)
6. They affirm that they are showing great reverence
for God, to Whom alone they reserve the power of forgiving sins. But in
truth none do Him greater injury than they who choose to prune His
commandments and reject the office entrusted to them. For inasmuch as
the Lord Jesus Himself said in the Gospel: "Receive ye the Holy Spirit
whosesoever sins ye forgive they are forgiven unto them, and
whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained,"(3) Who is it that
honours Him most, he who obeys His bidding or he who rejects it?
7. The Church holds fast its obedience on either
side, by both retaining and remitting sin; heresy is on the one side
cruel, and on the other disobedient; wishes to bind what it will not
loosen, and will not loosen what it has bound, whereby it condemns
itself by its. own sentence. For the Lord willed that the power of
binding and of loosing should be alike, and sanctioned each by a
similar condition. So he who has not the power to loose has not the
power to bind. For as, according to the Lord's word, he who has the
power to bind has also the power to loose, their teaching destroys
itself, inasmuch as they who deny that they have the power of loosing
ought also to deny that of binding. For how can the one be allowed and
the other disallowed? It is plain and evident that either each is
allowed or each is disallowed in the case of those to whom each has
been given. Each is allowed to the Church, neither to heresy, for this
power has been entrusted to priests alone. Rightly, therefore, does the
Church claim it, which has true priests; heresy, which has not the
priests of God,(1) cannot claim it. And by not claiming this power
heresy pronounces its own sentence, that not possessing priests it
cannot claim priestly power. And so in their shameless obstinacy a
shamefaced acknowledgment meets our view.
8. Consider, too, the point that he who has received
the Holy Ghost has also received the power of forgiving and of
retaining sin. For thus it is written: "Receive the Holy Spirit:
whosesoever sins ye forgive, they are forgiven unto them, and
whosesoever sins ye retain, they are retained."(20 So, then, he who has
not received power to forgive sins has not received the Holy Spirit.
The office of the priest is a gift of the Holy Spirit, and His right it
is specially to forgive and to retain sins. How, then, can they claim
His gift who distrust His power and His right?
9. And what is to be said of their excessive
arrogance? For although the Spirit of God is more inclined to mercy
than to severity, their will is opposed to that which He wills, and
they do that which He wills not; whereas it is the office of a judge to
punish, but of mercy to forgive. It would be more endurable, Novatian,
that thou shouldst forgive than that thou shouldst bind. In the one
case thou wouldst assume the right as one who rarely offended; in the
other thou wouldst forgive as one who had fellow-feeling with the
misery of sin.
CHAPTER III.
To the argument of the Novatians, that they only deny forgiveness in
the case of greater sins, St. Ambrose replies, that this is also an
offence against God, Who gave the power to forgive all sins, but that
of course a more severe penance must follow in case of graver sins. He
points out likewise that this distinction as to the gravity of sins
assigns, as it were, severity to God, Whose mercy in the Incarnation is
overlooked by the Novatians.
10. BUT they say that, with the exception of graver
sins, they grant forgiveness to those of less weight. This is not the
teach-
331
ing of your father, Novatian, who thought that no one should be
admitted to penance, considering that what he was unable to loose he
would not bind,(1) lest by binding he should inspire the hope that he
would loose. So that your father is condemned by your own sentence, you
who make a distinction between sins, some of which you consider that
you can loose, and others which you consider to be without remedy. But
God does not make a distinction, Who has promised His mercy to all, and
granted to His priests the power of loosing without any exception. But
he who has heaped up sin must also increase his penitence. For greater
sins are washed away by greater weeping. So neither is Novatian
justified, who excluded all from pardon; nor are you, who imitate and,
at the same time, condemn him, for you diminish zeal for penance where
it ought to be increased, since the mercy of Christ has taught us that
graver sins must be made good by greater efforts.
11. And what perversity it is to claim for
yourselves what can be forgiven, and, as you say, to reserve to God
what cannot be forgiven. This would be to reserve to oneself the cases
for mercy, to God those for severity. And what as to that saying: "Let
God be true but every man a liar, as it is written, That Thou mightest
be justified in Thy words, and overcome when Thou art judged"?(2) In
order, then, that we may recognize that the God of mercy is rather
prone to indulgence than to severity, it is said: "I desire mercy
rather than sacrifice."(3) How, then, can your sacrifice, who refuse
mercy, be acceptable to God, since He says that He wills not the death
of a sinner, but his correction?(4)
12. Interpreting which truth, the Apostle says: "For
God, sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin
condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the Law might be
fulfilled in us."(5) He does not say "in the likeness of flesh," for
Christ took on Himself the reality not the likeness of flesh; nor does
He say in the likeness of sin, for He did no sin, but was made sin for
us. Yet He came "in the likeness of sinful flesh;" that is, He took on
Him the likeness of sinful flesh, the likeness, because it is written:
"He is man, and who shall know Him?"(6) He was man in the flesh,
according to His human nature, that He might be recognized, but in
power was above man, that He might not be recognized, so He has our
flesh, but has not the failings of this flesh.
13. For He was not begotten, as is every man, by
intercourse between male and female, but born of the Holy Spirit and of
the Virgin; He received a stainless body, which not only no sins
polluted, but which neither the generation nor the conception had been
stained by any admixture of defilement. For we men are all born under
sin, and our very origin is in evil, as we read in the words of David:
"For lo, I was conceived in wickedness, and in sin did my mother bring
me forth." (1) Therefore the flesh of Paul was a body of death, as he
himself says: "Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?"(2)
But the flesh of Christ condemned sin, which He felt not at His birth,
and crucified by His death, so that in our flesh there might be
justification through grace, in which before there had been pollution
by guilt.
14. What, then, shall we say to this, except that
which the Apostle said: "If God is for us, who is against us? He who
spared not His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, how has He not with
Him also given us all things? Who shall lay a charge against the elect?
It is God Who justifieth, who is he that shall condemn? It is Christ
Who died, yea, Who also rose again, Who is at the right hand of God,
Who also maketh intercession for us."(3) Novatian then brings charges
against those for whom Christ intercedes. Those whom Christ has
redeemed unto salvation Novatian condemns to death. Those to whom
Christ says: "Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me, for I am
gentle,"(4) Novatian says, I am not gentle. On those to whom Christ
says: "Ye shall find rest for your souls, for My yoke is pIeasant and
My burden is light,"(5) Novatian lays a heavy burden and a hard yoke.
CHAPTER IV.
St. Ambrose proceeds with the proof of the divine mercy, and shows by
the testimony of the Gospels that it prevails over severity, and he
adduces the instance of athletes to show that of those who have denied
Christ before men, all are not to be esteemed alike.
15. ALTHOUGH what has been said sufficiently shows
how inclined the Lord Jesus is to mercy, let Him further instruct us
with His own words, when He would arm us against the assaults of
persecution. "Fear
332
not," He says, "those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul, but
rather fear Him Who can cast both body and soul into hell."(1) And
farther on: "Every one, therefore, who shall confess Me before men, him
will I also confess before My Father, Who is in heaven, but he who
shall deny Me before men, him will I also deny before My Father, Who is
in heaven."(2)
16. Where He says that He will confess, He will
confess "every one."(3) Where He speaks of denying, He does not speak
of denying "every one." For, whereas in the former clause He says,
"Every one who shall confess Me, him will I confess," we should expect
that in the following clause He would also say, "Every one who shall
deny Me." But in order that He might not appear to deny every one, He
concludes: "But he who shall deny Me before men, him will I also deny."
He promises favour to every one, but He does not threaten the penalty
to every one. He makes more of that which is merciful. He makes less of
what is penal.
17. And this is written not only in that book of the
Gospel of the Lord Jesus, which is written according to Matthew, but it
is also to be read in that which we have according to Luke,(4) that we
might know that neither had thus related the saying by chance.
18. We have said that it is thus written. Let us now
consider the meaning. "Every one," He says, "who shall confess Me,"
that is to say, of whatever age, of whatever condition he may be, who
shall confess Me, he shall have Me as the Rewarder of his confession.
Whereas the expression is, "every one," no one who shall confess is
excluded from the reward. But it is not said in like manner, "Every one
who shall deny shall be denied," for it is possible that a man overcome
by torture may deny God in word, and yet worship Him in his heart.
19. Is the case the same with him who denies
voluntarily, and with him whom torture, not his own will, has led to
denial? How unfit were it, since with men credit is given for endurance
in a struggle, that one should assert that it had no value with God !
For often in this world's athletic contests the public crown together
with the victors even the vanquished whose conduct has been ap-proved,
especially if perchance they have seen that they lost the victory by
some trick or fraud. And shall Christ suffer His athletes, whom He has
seen to yield for a moment to severe torments, to remain without
forgiveness?
20. Shall not He take account of their toil, Who
will not cast off for ever even those whom He casts off? For David
says: "God will not cast off for ever,"(1) and in opposition to this
shall we listen to heresy asserting, "He does cast off for ever"? David
says: "God will not for ever cut off His mercy from generation to
generation, nor will He forget to be merciful."(2) This is the
prophet's declaration, and there are those who would maintain a
forgetfulness of mercy on God's part.
CHAPTER V.
The objection from the unchangeablehess of God is answered from several
passages of Scripture, wherein God promises forgiveness to sinners on
their repentance. St. Ambrose also shows that mercy will e more readily
accorded to such as have sinned, as it were, against their will,
which he illustrates by the case of prisoners taken in war, and by
language put into the mouth of the devil.
21. But they say that they make these assertions in
order not to seem to make God liable to change, as He would be if He
forgave those with whom He was angry. What then? Shall we reject the
utterances of God and follow their opinions? But God is not to be
judged by the statements of others, but by His own words. What mark of
His mercy have we more ready at hand than that He Himself, through the
prophet Hoses, is at once merciful as though reconciled to those whom
in His anger He had threatened? For He says: "O Ephraim, what shall I
do unto thee, or what shall I do unto thee, O Judah? Your kindness,"
etc.(3) And further on: "How shall I establish thee? I will make thee
as Admah, and as Zeboim."(4) In the midst of His indignation He
hesitates, as it were, with fatherly love, doubting how He can give
over the wanderer to punishment; for although the Jew deserves it, God
yet takes counsel with Himself. For immediately after having said, "I
will make thee as Admah and as Zeboim," which cities, owing to their
nearness to Sodom, suffered together in like destruction, He adds, "My
heart is turned against Me, My compassion is aroused, I will not do
according to the fierceness of Mine anger."
333
22. Is it not evident that the Lord Jesus is angry
with us when we sin in order that He may convert us through fear of His
indignation? His indignation, then, is not the carrying out of
vengeance, but rather the working out of forgiveness, for these are His
words: "If thou shalt turn and lament, thou shall be saved.''(1) He
waits for our lamentations here, that is, in time, that He may spare us
those which shall be eternal. He waits for our tears, that He may pour
forth His goodness. So in the Gospel, having pity on the tears of the
widow, He raised her son. He waits for our conversion, that He may
Himself restore us to grace, which would have continued with us had no
fall overtaken us. But He is angry because we have by our sins incurred
guilt, in order that we may be humbled; we are humbled, in order that
we may be found worthy rather of pity than of punishment.
23. Jeremiah, too, may certainly teach when he says:
"For the Lord will not cast off for ever; for after He has humbled, He
will have compassion according to the multitude of His mercies, Who
hath not humbled from His whole heart nor cast off the children of
men."(2) This passage we certainly find in the Lamentations of
Jeremiah, and from it, and from what follows, we note that the Lord
humbles all the prisoners of the earth under His feet,(3) in order that
we may escape His judgment. But He does not bring down the sinner even
to the earth with His whole heart Who raises the poor even from the
dust and the needy from the dunghill. For He brings not down with His
whole heart Who reserves the intention of forgiving.
24. But if He brings not down every sinner with His
whole heart, how much less does He bring down him with His whole heart
who has not sinned with his whole heart! For as He said of the Jews:
"This people honoureth Me with their lips, but their heart is far from
Me,"(4) so perhaps He may say of some of the fallen: "They denied Me
with their lips, but in heart they are with Me. It was pain which
overcame them, not unfaithfulness which turned them aside."(5) But some
without cause refuse pardon to those whose faith the persecutor himself
confessed up to the point of striving to overcome it by torture. They
denied the Lord once, but confess Him daily; they denied Him in word,
but confess Him with groans, with cries, and with tears; they confess
Him with willing words, not under compulsion. They yielded, indeed, for
a moment to the temptation of the devil, but even the devil afterwards
departed from those whom he was unable to claim as his own. He yielded
to their weeping, he yielded to their repentance, and after making them
his own lost those whom he attached when they belonged to Another.
25. Is not the case such as when any one carries
away captive the people of a conquered city? The captive is led away,
but against his will. He must of necessity go to foreign lands, does
not willingly make the journey; he takes his native land with him in
his heart, and seeks an opportunity to return. What then? When any such
return, does any one urge that they should not be received; with less
honour indeed, but with readier will, that the enemy may have nothing
with which to reproach them? If you pardon an armed man who was able to
fight, do you not pardon him in whom faith alone waged the battle?
26. If we were to enquire what is the opinion of the
devil concerning those who have fallen after this sort, would he not
probably reply: "This people honours me with their lips, but their
heart is far from me? For how can he be with me who does not depart
from Christ? Without any cause do they appear to honour me who keep the
doctrine of Jesus, and I thought that they would teach mine. They
condemn me all the more when they forsake me after trial. Indeed Jesus
is more glorified in these, when He receives them on their return to
Him. All the angels rejoice, for in heaven there is greater joy over
one sinner that repents, than over ninety and nine just persons who
need not repentance. I am triumphed over in heaven and on earth. Christ
loses nothing when they who came to me with weeping return with longing
to the Church, and I am in danger even as regards my own, who will
learn that in reality there is nothing here where men are led on by
present rewards, but that there must be very much there where groans
and tears and fasts are preferred to my feasts."
CHAPTER VI.
The Novatians, by excluding such from the banquet of Christ, imitate
not indeed the good Samaritan, but the proud lawyer, the priest, and
the Levite who are blamed in the Gospel, and are indeed worse than
these.
334
these? For what is it When you refuse the hope of forgiveness but to
shut out? But the Samaritan did not pass by the man who had been left
half dead by the robbers; he dressed his wounds with oil and wine,
first pouring in oil in order to comfort them; he set the wounded man
on his own beast, on which he bore all his sins; nor did the Shepherd
despise His wandering sheep.
28. But you say: "Touch me not." You who wish to
justify yourselves say, "He is not our neighbour," being more proud
than that lawyer who wished to tempt Christ, for he said "Who is my
neighbour?" He asked, you deny, going on Iike that priest, like that
Levite passing by him whom you ought to have taken and tended, and not
receiving them into the inn for whom Christ paid the two pence, whose
neighbour Christ bids you to become that you might show mercy to him.
For he is our neighbour whom not only a similar condition has joined,
but whom mercy has bound to us. You make yourself strange to him
through pride, in vain puffing up yourself in your carnal mind, and not
holding the Head.(1) For if you held the Head you would consider that
you must not forsake him for whom Christ died. If you held the Head you
would consider that the whole body, by joining together rather than by
separating, grows unto the increase of God(2) by the bond of charity
and the rescue of a sinner.
29. When, then, you take away all the fruits of
repentance, what do you say but this: Let no one who is wounded enter
our inn, let no one be healed in our Church? With us the sick are not
cared for, we are whole, we have no need of a physician, for He Himself
says: "They that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick"
CHAPTER VII.
St. Ambrose, addressing Christ, complains of the Novatians, and shows
that they have no part with Christ, Who wishes all men to be saved.
30. So, then, Lord Jesus, come wholly to Thy Church,
since Novatian makes excuse. Novatian says, "I have bought a yoke of
oxen," and he puts not on the light yoke of Christ, but lays upon his
shoulders a heavy burden which he is not able to bear. Novatian held
back Thy servants by whom he was invited, treated them contemptuously
and slew them, polluting them with the stain of a reiterated baptism.
Send forth, therefore, into the highways, and gather together good and
bad, (1) bring the weak, the blind, and the lame into Thy Church.
Command that Thy house be filled, bring in all unto Thy supper, for
Thou wilt make him whom Thou shalt call worthy, if he follow Thee. He
indeed is rejected who has not the wedding garment, that is, the
vestment of charity, the veil of grace. Send forth I pray Thee to all.
31. Thy Church does not excuse herself from Thy
supper, Novatian makes excuse. Thy family says not, "I am whole, I need
not the physician," but it says: "Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be
healed; save me, and I shall be saved."(2) The likeness of Thy Church
is that woman who went behind and touched the hem of Thy garment,
saying within herself: "If I do but touch His garment I shall be
whole."(3) So the Church confesses her wounds, but desires to be healed.
32. And Thou indeed, O Lord, desirest that all
should be healed, but all do not wish to be healed. Novatian wishes
not, who thinks that he is whole. Thou, O Lord, sayest that Thou art
sick, and feelest our infirmity in the least of us, saying: "I was sick
and ye visited Me." (4) Novatian does not visit that least one in whom
Thou desirest to be visited. Thou saidst to Peter when he excused
himself from having his feet washed by Thee: "If I wash not thy feet,
thou wilt have no part with Me."(5) What fellowship, then, can they
have with Thee, who receive not the keys of the kingdom of heaven,
saying that they ought not to remit sins?
33. And this confession is indeed rightly made by
them, for they have not the succession of Peter, who hold not the chair
of Peter, which they rend by wicked schism; and this, too, they do,
wickedly denying that sins can be forgiven even in the Church, whereas
it was said to Peter: "I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of
heaven. and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound also in
heaven, and whatsoever thou shall loose on earth shall be loosed also
in heaven."(6) And the vessel of divine election himself said: "If ye
have forgiven anything to any one, I forgive also, for what I have
forgiven I have done it for your sakes in the person of Christ."(7)
Why, then, do they read Paul's writings, if they think that he has
erred so wickedly as to claim for himself the right of his Lord? But he
claimed what he had re-
335
ceived, he did not usurp that which was not due to him.
CHAPTER VIII.
It was the Lord's will to confer great gifts on His disciples. Further,
the Novatians confute themselves by the practices of laying on of hands
and of baptism, since it is by the same power that sins are remitted in
penance and in baptism. Their conduct is then contrasted with that of
our Lord.
34. IT is the will of the Lord that His disciples
should possess great powers; it is His will that the same things which
He did when on earth should be done in His Name by His servants. For He
said: "Ye shall do greater things than these.''(1) He gave them power
to raise the dead. And whereas He could Himself have restored to Saul
the use of his sight, He nevertheless sent him to His disciple Ananias,
that by his blessing Saul's eyes might be restored, the sight of which
he had lost.(2) Peter also He bade walk with Himself on the sea, and
because he faltered He blamed him for lessening the grace given him by
the weakness of his faith.(3) He Who Himself was the light of the world
granted to His disciples to be the light of the world through grace.
(4) And because He purposed to descend from heaven and to ascend
thither again, He took up Elijah into heaven to restore him again to
earth at the time which should please Him. And being baptized with the
Holy Spirit and with fire, He foreshadowed the Sacrament of Baptism at
the hands of John.(5)
35. And in fine He gave all gifts to His disciples,
of whom He said: "In My Name they shalt cast out devils; they shall
speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and if they shall
drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on
the sick, and they shall do well."(6) So, then, He gave them all
things, but there is no power of man exercised in these things, in
which the grace of the divine gift operates.
36. Why, then, do you lay on hands, and believe it
to be the effect of the blessing, if perchance some sick person
recovers? Why do you assume that any can be cleansed by you from the
pollution of the devil? Why do you baptize if sins cannot be remitted
by man? If baptism is certainly the remission of all sins, what
difference does it make whether priests claim that this power is given
to them in penance or at the font? In each the mystery is one.
37. But you say that the grace of the mysteries
works in the font. What works, then, in penance? Does not the Name of
God do the work? What then? Do you, when you choose, claim for
yourselves the grace of God, and when you choose reject it? But this is
a mark of insolent presumption, not of holy fear, when those who wish
to do penance are despised by you. You cannot, forsooth, endure the
tears of the weepers; your eyes cannot bear the coarse clothing, the
filth of the squalid; with proud eyes and puffed-up hearts you delicate
ones say with angry tones, "Touch me not, for I am pure.
38. The Lord said indeed to Mary Magdalene, "Touch
Me not," (1) but He Who was pure did not say, "because I am pure." Do
you, Novatian, dare to call yourself pure, whilst, even if you were
pure as regards your acts, you would be made impure by this saying
alone? Isaiah says: "O wretched that I am, and pricked to the heart;
for that being a man, and having unclean lips, I dwell also in the
midst of a people having unclean lips,''(2) and do you say, "I am
clean," when, as it is written, not even an infant of a day
old is pure?(3) David says, "And cleanse me from my sin,"(4) whom for
his tender heart the grace of God often cleansed; are you pure who are
so unrighteous as to have no tenderness, as to see the mote in your
brother's eye, but not to consider the beam which is in your own eye?
For with God no one who is unjust is pure. And what is more unjust than
to desire to have your sins forgiven you, and yet yourself to think
that he who entreats you ought not to be forgiven? What is more unjust
than to justify yourself in that wherein you condemn another, whilst
you yourself are committing worse offences ?
39. Then, too, the Lord Jesus when about to
consecrate s the forgiveness of our sins replied to John, who said: "I
ought to be baptized of Thee, and comest Thou to me? Suffer it now, for
thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness."(6) And the Lord
indeed came to a sinner, though indeed He had no sin, and desired to be
baptized, having no need of cleansing; who, then, can tolerate you, who
think there is no need for you to be cleansed by penance, because you
say you are cleansed by grace, as though it were now impossible for you
to sin?
336
CHAPTER IX.
By collating similar passages with I Sam. iii. 25, St. Ambrose shows
that the meaning is not that no one shall intercede, but that the
intercessor must be worthy as were Moses and Jeremiah, at whose prayers
we read that God spared lsrael.
40. BUT you Say, It is written: "If a man sin
against the Lord, who shall entreat for him?"(1) First of all, as I
already said before, I might allow you to make that objection if you
refused penance to those only who denied the faith. But what difficulty
does that question produce? For it is not written, "No one shall
entreat for him;" but, "Who shall entreat?" that is to say, the
question is, Who in such a case can entreat? The entreaty is not
excluded.
41. Then you have in the fifteenth Psalm "Lord, who
shall dwell in Thy tabernacle, or who shall rest upon Thy holy
hill?"(2) It is not that no one, but that he who is approved shall
dwell there, nor does it say that no one shall rest, but he who is
chosen shall rest. And that you may know that this is true, it is said
not much later in the twenty-fourth Psalm: "Who shall ascend into the
hill of the Lord, or who shall stand in His holy place?"(3) The writer
implies, not any ordinary person, or one of the common sort, but only a
man of excellent life and of singular merit. And that we may understand
that when the question is asked, Who? it does not imply no one, but
some special one is meant, after having said "Who shall ascend into the
hill of the Lord ?" the Psalmist adds: "He that hath clean hands and a
pure heart, who hath not lift up his mind unto vanity."(4) And
elsewhere it is said: "Who is wise and he shall understand these
things?"(5) And in the Gospel: "Who is the faithful and wise steward,
whom the Lord shall set over His household to give them their measure
of wheat in due season?" (6) And that we may understand that He speaks
of such as really exist, the Lord added: "Blessed is that servant, whom
his Lord when He cometh shall find so doing."(7) And I am of opinion
that where it is said, "Lord, who is like unto Thee?"(8) it is not
meant that none is like, for the Son is the image of the Father.
42. We must then understand in the same manner, "Who
shall entreat for him ?" as implying: It must be some one of excellent
life who shall entreat for him who has sinned against the Lord. The
greater the sin, the more worthy must be the prayers that are sought.
For it was not any one of the common people who prayed for the Jewish
people, but Moses, (1) when forgetful of their covenant they worshipped
the head of the calf. Was Moses wrong? Certainly he was not wrong in
praying, who both merited and obtained that for which he asked. For
what should such love not obtain as that of his when he offered himself
for the people and said: "And now, if Thou wilt forgive their sin,
forgive; but if not, blot me out of the book of life."(2) We see that
he does not think of himself, like a man full of fancies and scruples,
whether he may incur the risk of some offence, as Novatian says he
dreads that he might, but rather, thinking of all and forgetful of
himself, he was not afraid test he should offend, so that he might
rescue and free the people from danger of offence.
43. Rightly, then, is it said: "Who shall entreat
for him?" It implies that it must be such an one as Moses to offer
himself for those who sin, or such as Jeremiah, who, though the Lord
said to him, "Pray not thou for this people,"(3) and yet he prayed and
obtained their forgiveness. For at the intercession of the prophet, and
the entreaty of so great a seer, the Lord was moved and said to
Jerusalem, which had meanwhile repented for its sins, and had said: "O
Almighty Lord God of Israel, the soul in anguish, and the troubled
spirit crieth unto Thee, hear, O Lord, and have mercy."(4) And the Lord
bids them lay aside the garments of mourning, and to cease the
groanings of repentance, saying: "Put off, O Jerusalem, the garment of
thy mourning and affliction. and clothe thyself in beauty, the glory
which God hath given thee for ever."(5)
CHAPTER X.
St. John did not absolutely forbid that prayer should be made for those
who "sin unto death," since he knew that Moses, Jeremiah, and Stephen
had so prayed, and he himself implies that forgiveness is not to be
denied them.
44. Such intercessors, then, must be sought for
after very grievous sins, for if any ordinary persons pray they are not
heard.
45. So that point of yours will have no
337
weight, which you take from the Epistle of John, where he says: "He who
knows that his brother sinneth a sin not unto death, let him ask, and
God will give him life, because he sinned not unto death. There is a
sin unto death: not concerning it do I say, let him ask."(1) He was not
speaking to Moses and Jeremiah, but to the people, who must seek
another intercessor for their sins; the people, for whom it is
sufficient they entreat God for their lighter faults, and consider that
pardon for weightier sins must be reserved for the prayers of the just.
For how could John say that graver sins should not be prayed for, when
he had read that Moses prayed and obtained his request, where there had
been wilful casting off of faith, and knew that Jeremiah also had
entreated?
46. How could John say that we should not pray for
the sin unto death, who himself in the Apocalypse wrote the message to
the angel of the Church of Pergamos? "Thou hast there those that hold
the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to put a stumbling-block
before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and
to commit fornication. So hast thou also them that hold the doctrines
of the Nicolaitans. Repent likewise, or else I will come to thee
quickly."(2) Do you see that the same God Who requires repentance
promises forgiveness? And then He says: "He that hath ears let him hear
what the Spirit saith to the churches: To him that overcometh will I
give to eat of the hidden manna."(3)
47. Did not John himself know that Stephen prayed
for his persecutors, who had not been able even to listen to the Name
of Christ, when he said of those very men by whom he was being stoned:
"Lord, lay not this sin to their charge"?(4) And we see the result of
this prayer in the case of the Apostle, for Paul, who kept the garments
of those who were stoning Stephen, not long after became an apostle by
the grace of God, having before been a persecutor.
CHAPTER XI.
The passage quoted from St. John's Epistle is confirmed by another in
which salvation is promised to those who believe in Christ, which
refutes the Novatians who try to induce the lapsed to believe, although
denying them pardon. Furthermore, many who had lapsed have received the
grace of martyrdom, whilst the example of the good Samaritan shows that
we must not abandon those in whom even the faintest amount of faith is
still alive.
48. SINCE, then, we have spoken of the general
Epistle of St. John, let us enquire whether the writings of John in the
Gospel agree with your interpretation. For he writes that the Lord
said: "God so loved this world, that He gave His only-begotten Son,
that every one that believeth on Him should not perish but have
everlasting life."(1) If, then, you wish to reclaim any one of the
lapsed, do you exhort him to believe, or not to believe? Undoubtedly
you exhort him to believe. But, according to the Lord's words, he who
believes shall have everlasting life. How, then, will you forbid to
pray for him, who has a claim to everlasting life? since faith is of
divine grace, as the Apostle teaches where he speaks of the differences
of gifts, for "to another is given faith by the same Spirit."(2) And
the disciples say to the Lord: "Increase our faith."(3) He then who has
faith has life, and he who has life is certainly not shut out from
pardon; "that every one," it is said, "that believeth on Him should not
perish." Since it is said, Every one, no one is shut out, no one is
excepted, for He does not except him who has lapsed, if only afterwards
he believes effectually.
49. We find that many have at length recovered
themselves after a fall, and have suffered for the Name of God. Can we
deny fellowship with the martyrs to these to whom the Lord Jesus has
not denied it? Do we dare to say that life is not restored to those to
whom Christ has given a crown? As, then, a crown is given to many after
they have lapsed, so, too, if they believe, their faith is restored,
which faith is the gift of God, as you read: "Because unto you it hath
been granted by God not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer in
His behalf."(4) Is it possible that he who has the gift of God should
not have His forgiveness?
50. Now it is not a single but a twofold grace that
every one who believes should also suffer for the Lord Jesus. He, then,
who believes receives his grace, but he receives a second, if his faith
be crowned by suffering. For neither was Peter without grace before he
suffered, but when he suffered he received a second gift. And many who
have not had the grace to suffer for Christ have nevertheless had the
grace of believing on Him.
51. Therefore it is said: "That every.
338
one that believeth in Him should not perish." Let no one, that is, of
whatever condition, after whatever fall, fear that he will perish. For
it may come to pass that the good Samaritan of the Gospel may find some
one going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, that is, falling back from
the martyr's conflict to the pleasures of this life and the comforts of
the world; wounded by robbers, that is, by persecutors, and left half
dead; that good Samaritan, Who is the Guardian of our souls (for the
word Samaritan means Guardian),(1) may, I say, not pass by him but tend
and heal him.(2)
52. Perchance He therefore passes him not by,
because He sees in him some signs of life, so that there is hope that
he may recover. Does it not seem to you that he who has fallen is half
alive if faith sustains any breath of life? For he is dead who wholly
casts God out of his heart. He, then, who does not wholly cast Him out,
but under pressure of torments has denied Him for a time, is half dead.
Or if he be dead, why do you bid him repent, seeing he cannot now be
healed? If he be half dead, pour in oil and wine, not wine without oil,
that may be the comfort and the smart. Place him upon thy beast, give
hint over to the host, lay out two pence for his cure, be to him a
neighbour. But you cannot be a neighbour unless you have compassion on
him; for no one can be called a neighbour unless he have healed, not
killed, another. But if you wish to be called a neighbour, Christ says
to you: "Go and do likewise."(3)
CHAPTER XII.
Another passage of St. John is considered. The necessity of keeping the
commandments of God may be complied with by those who, having fallen,
repent, as well as by those who have not fallen, as is shown in the
case of David.
53. LET us consider another similar passage:" He
that believeth on the Son hath eternal life, but he that believeth not
the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him."(4)
That which abideth has certainly had a commencement, and that from some
offence, viz., that first he not believe. When, then, any one believes,
the wrath of God departs and life comes. To believe,
then, in Christ is to gain life, for "he that believeth in Him is not
judged."(1)
54. But with reference to this passage they allege
that he who believes in Christ ought to keep His sayings, and say that
it is written in the Lord's own words: "I am come a light into this
world, that whosoever believeth in Me may not abide in darkness. And if
any man hear My word and keep it, I judge him not."(2) He judges not,
and do you judge? He says, "that whosoever believeth on Me may not
abide in darkness," that is, that if he be in darkness he may not
remain therein, but may amend his error, correct his fault, and keep My
commandments, for I have said, "I will not the death of the wicked, but
the correction."(3) I said above that he that believeth on Me is not
judged, and I keep to this: "For I am not come to judge the world, but
that the world may be saved through Me."(4) I pardon willingly, I
quickly forgive, "I will have mercy rather than sacrifice,"(5) because
by sacrifice the just is rendered more acceptable, by mercy the sinner
is redeemed. "I come not to call the righteous but sinners."(6)
Sacrifice was under the Law, in the Gospel is mercy. "The Law was given
by Moses, grace by Me."(7)
55. And again further on He says: "He that despiseth
Me, and receiveth not My words, hath one that judgeth him."(8) Does he
seem to you to have received Christ's words who has not corrected
himself? Undoubtedly not. He, then, who corrects himself receives His
word, for this is His word, that every one should turn back from sin.
So, then, of necessity you must either reject this saying of His, or if
you cannot deny it you must accept it.
56. It is also necessary that he who leaves off
sinning must keep the commandments of God and renounce his sins. We
ought not, then, to interpret this saying of him who has always kept
the commandments, for if this had been His meaning He would have added
the word always, but by not adding it He shows that He was speaking of
him who has kept what he has heard, and what he heard has led him to
correct his faults; he has then kept what he has heard.
57. But how hard it is to condemn to penance for
life one who even afterwards keeps the commandments of the Lord, let
Him teach us Himself Who has not refused forgiveness. Even to those who
do not keep His commandments, as you read in the
339
Psalm: "If they profane My statutes and keep not My commandments, I
will visit their offences with the rod and their sins with scourges,
but My mercy will I not take from them."(1) So, then, He promises mercy
to all.
58. Yet that we may not think that this mercy is
without judgment, there is a distinction made between those who have
paid continual obedience to God's commandments, and those who at some
time, either by error or by compulsion, have fallen. And that you may
not think that it is only our arguments which press you, consider the
decision of Christ, Who said: "If the servant knew his Lord's will and
did it not, he shall be beaten with many stripes, but if he knew it
not, he shall be beaten with few stripes."(2) Each, then, if he
believes, is received, for God "chasteneth every son whom He
receiveth,"(3) and him whom He chasteneth He does not give over unto
death, for it is written: "The Lord hath chastened me sore, but He hath
not given me over unto death."(4)
CHAPTER XIII.
They who have committed a "sin unto death" are not to be abandoned, but
subjected to penance, according to St. Paul. Explanation of the phrase
"Deliver unto Satan." Satan can afflict the body, but these afflictions
bring spiritual profit, showing the power of God, Who thus turns
Satan's devices against himself.
59. LASTLY, Paul teaches us that we must not abandon
those who have committed a sin unto death, but that we must rather
coerce them with the bread of tears and tears to drink, yet so that
their sorrow itself be moderated. For this is the meaning of the
passage: "Thou hast given them to drink in large measure,"(5) that
their sorrow itself should have its measure, lest perchance he who is
doing penance should be consumed by overmuch sorrow, as was said to the
Corinthians: "What will ye? Shall I come to you with a rod, or in love
and a spirit of meekness?"(6) But even the rod is not severe, since he
had read: "Thou shalt beat him indeed with the rod, but shalt deliver
his soul from death."(7)
60. What the Apostle means by the rod is shown by
his invective against fornication,(8) his denunciation of incest, his
reprehension of pride, because they were puffed up who ought rather to
be mourning, and lastly, his
sentence on the guilty person, that he should be excluded from
communion, and delivered to the adversary, not for the destruction of
the soul but of the flesh. For as the Lord did not give power to Satan
over the soul of holy Job, but allowed him to afflict his body,(1) so
here, too, the sinner is delivered to Satan for the destruction of the
flesh, that the serpent might lick the dust(2) of his flesh, but not
hurt his soul.
61. Let, then, our flesh die to lusts, let it be
captive, let it be subdued, and not war against the law of our mind,
but die in subjection to a good service, as in Paul, who buffeted his
body that he might bring it into subjection, in order that his
preaching might become more approved, if the law of his flesh agreed
and was consonant with the law of his flesh. For the flesh dies when
its wisdom passes over into the spirit, so that it no longer has a
taste for the things of the flesh, but for the things of the spirit.
Would that I might see my flesh growing weak, would that I were not
dragged captive into the law of sin, would that I lived not in the
flesh, but in the faith of Christ! And so there is greater grace in the
infirmity of the body than in its soundness.
62. Having explained Paul's meaning, let us now
consider the words themselves, in what sense he said that he had
delivered him to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, for the devil
it is who tries us. For he brings ailments on each of our limbs, and
sickness on our whole bodies. And then, too, he smote holy Job with
evil sores from the feet to the head, because he had received the power
of destroying his flesh, when God said: "Behold, I give him up unto
thee, only preserve his life."(3) This the Apostle took up in the same
words, giving up this man to Satan for the destruction of the flesh,
that his spirit might be saved in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.(4)
63. Great is the power, great is the gift, which
commands the devil to destroy himself. For he destroys himself when he
makes the man whom he is seeking to overthrow by temptation stronger
instead of weak, because whilst he is weakening the body he is
strengthening his soul. For sickness of the body restrains sin, but
luxury sets on fire the sin of the flesh.
64. The devil is then deceived so as to wound
himself with his own bite, and to arm against himself him whom he
thought to weaken. So he armed holy Job the more
340
after he wounded him, who, with his whole. body covered with sores,
endured indeed the bite of the devil, but felt not his poison. And so
it is well said of him, "Thou shalt draw out the dragon with an hook,
thou wilt play with him as with a bird, thou shall bind him as a boy
doth a sparrow, thou shalt lay thine hand upon him."(1)
65. You see how he is mocked by Paul, so that, like
the child in prophecy, he lays his hand on the hole of the asp, and the
serpent injures him not; he draws him out of his hiding-places, and
makes of his venom a spiritual antidote, so that what is venom becomes
a medicine, the venom serves to the destruction of the flesh, it
becomes medicine to the healing of the spirit. For that which hurts the
body benefits the spirit.
66. Let, then, the serpent bite the earthy part of
me, let him drive his tooth into my flesh, and bruise my body; and may
the Lord say of me: "I give him up unto thee, only preserve his life."
How great is the power of Christ, that the guardianship of man is made
a charge even to the devil himself, who always desires to injure him.
Let us then make the Lord Jesus favourable to ourselves. At the command
of Christ the devil himself becomes the guardian of his prey. Even
unwillingly he carries out the commands of heaven, and, though cruel,
obeys the commands of gentleness.
67. But why do I commend his obedience? Let him be
ever evil that God may be ever good, Who converts his ill-will into
grace for us. He wishes to injure us, but cannot if Christ resist him.
He wounds the flesh but preserves the life. And then it is written:
"Then shall the wolves and the lambs feed together, the lion and the ox
shall eat straw, and they shall not hurt nor destroy in My holy
mountain, saith the Lord."(2) For this is the sentence of condemnation
on the serpent: "Dust shall be thy food."(3) What dust? Surely that of
which it is said: "Dust thou art, and into dust shall thou return.
CHAPTER XIV.
St. Ambrose explains that the flesh given to Satan for destruction is
eaten by the serpent when the soul is set free from carnal desires. He
gives, therefore, various rules for guarding the senses, points out the
snares laid for us by means of pleasures, and exhorts his hearers not
to fear the destruction of the flesh by the serpent.
68. THE serpent eats this dust, if the Lord
Jesus is favourable to us, that our spirit may not sympathize with the
weakness of the flesh, nor be set on fire by the vapours of the flesh
and the heat of our members. "It is better to marry than to burn,"(1)
for there is a flame which burns within. Let us not then suffer this
fire to approach the bosom of our minds and the depths of our hearts,
lest we burn up the covering of our inmost hearts, and lest the
devouring fire of lust consume this outward garment of the soul and its
fleshy veil, but let us pass through the fire.(2) And should any one
fall into the fire of love let him leap over it and pass forth; let him
not bind to himself adulterous lust with the bands of thoughts, let him
not tie knots around himself by the fastenings of continual reflection,
let him not too often turn his attention to the form of a harlot, and
let not a maiden lift her eyes to the countenance of a youth. And if by
chance she has looked and is caught, how much more will she be
entangled if she gazes with curiosity.
69. Let custom itself teach us. A woman covers her
face with a veil for this reason, that in public her modesty may be
safe, That her face may not easily meet the gaze of a youth, let her be
covered with the nuptial veil, so that not even in chance meetings she
might be exposed to the wounding of another or of herself, though the
wound of either were indeed hers. But if she cover her head with a veil
that she may not accidentally see or be seen(for when the head is
veiled the face is hidden), how much more ought she to cover herself
with the veil of modesty, so as even in public to have her own secret
place.
70. But granted that the eye has fallen upon
another, at least let not the inward affection follow. For to have seen
is no sin, but one must be careful that it be not the source of sin.
The bodily eye sees, but let the eye of the heart be closed; let
modesty of mind remain. We have a Lord Who is both strict and
indulgent. The prophet indeed said: "Look not upon the beauty of a
woman that is all harlot."(3) But the Lord said: "Whoever shall look on
a woman to lust after her, hath committed adultery with her already in
his heart."(4) He does not say, "Whosoever shall look hath committed
adultery," but "Whosoever shall look on her to last after her." He
condemned not the look but sought out the inward affection. But that
modesty is praiseworthy
341
which has so accustomed itself to close the bodily eyes as often not to
see what we really behold. For we seem to behold with the bodily sight
whatever meets us; but if there be not joined to this any attention of
the mind, the sight also, according to what is usual in the body, fades
away, so that in reality we see rather with the mind than with the body.
71. And if the flesh has seen the flame, let us not
cherish that flame in our bosoms, that is, in the depths of the heart
and the inward part of the mind. Let us not instil this fire into our
bones, let us not bind bonds upon ourselves, let us not join in
conversation with such as may be the cause to us of unholy fires. The
speech of a maiden is a snare to a youth, the words of a youth are the
bonds of love.
72. Joseph saw the fire when the woman eager for
adultery spoke to him.(1) She wished to catch him with her words. She
set the snares of her lips, but was not able to capture the chaste man.
For the voice of modesty, the voice of gravity, the rein of caution,
the care for integrity, the discipline of chastity, loosed the woman's
chains. So that unchaste person could not entangle him in her meshes.
She laid her hand upon him; she caught his garment, that she might
tighten the noose around him. The words of a lascivious woman are the
snares of lust, and her hands the bonds of love; but the chaste mind
could not be taken either by snares or by bonds. The garment was cast
off, the bonds were loosed, and because he did not admit the fire into
the bosom of his mind, his body was not burnt.
73. You see, then, that our mind is the cause of our
guilt. And so the flesh is innocent, but is often the minister of sin.
Let not, then, desire of beauty overcome you. Many nets and many snares
are spread by the devil. The look of a harlot is the snare of him who
loves her. Our own eyes are nets to us, wherefore it is written: "Be
not taken with thine eyes."(2) So, then, we spread nets for ourselves
in which we are entangled and hampered. We bind chains on ourselves, as
we read: "For every one is bound with the chains of his own sins."(3)
74. Let us then pass through the fires of youth and
the glow of early years; let us pass through the waters, let us not
remain therein, lest the deep floods shut us in. Let us rather pass
over, that we too may say: "Our soul has passed over the stream,"(4)
for he who has passed over is safe. And lastly, the Lord speaks thus:
"If thou pass through the water, I am with thee, the rivers shall not
overflow thee."(1) And the prophet says: "I have seen the wicked
exalted above the cedars of Libanus, and I passed by, and lo, he was
not." Pass by things of this world, and you will see that the high
places of the wicked have fallen. Moses, too, passing by things of this
world, saw a great sight and said: "I will turn aside and see this
great sight,"(2) for had he been held by the fleeting pleasures of this
world he would not have seen so great a mystery.
75. Let us also pass over this fire of lust, fearing
which Paul--but fearing for us, inasmuch as by buffeting his body he
had come no longer to fear for himself--says to us: "Flee
fornication."(3) Let us then flee it as though following us, though
indeed it follows not behind us, but within our very selves. Let us
then diligently take heed lest while we are fleeing from it we carry it
with ourselves. For we wish for the most part to flee, but if we do not
wholly cast it out of our mind, we rather take it up than forsake
it. Let us then spring over it, lest it be said to us: "Walk ye in the
flame of your fire, which ye have kindled for yourselves."(4) For as he
who "takes fire into his bosom burns his clothes,"(5) so he who walks
upon fiery coals must of necessity burn his feet, as it is written:
"Can one walk upon coals of fire and not burn his feet?"(6)
76. This fire is dangerous, let us then not feed it
with the fuel of luxury. Lust is fed by feastings, nourished by
delicacies, kindled by wine, and inflamed by drunkenness. Still more
dangerous than these are the incentives of words, which intoxicate the
mind as it were with a kind of wine of the vine of Sodore. Let us be on
our guard against abundance of this wine, for when the flesh is
intoxicated the mind totters, the heart wavers, the heart is carried to
and fro. And so with regard to each that precept is useful wherein
Timothy is warned: "Drink a little wine because of thy frequent
infirmities."(7) When the body is heated, it excites the glow of the
mind; when the flesh is chilled with the cold of disease the spirit is
chilled; when the body is in pain, the mind is sad, but the sadness
shall become joy.
77. Do not then fear if your flesh be eaten away,
the soul is not consumed. And so
342
David says that he does not fear, because the enemy were eating up his
flesh but not his soul, as we read: "When evil-doers come near upon me
to eat up my flesh, my foes who trouble me, they were weakened and
fell."(1) So the serpent works overthrow for himself alone, therefore
is he who has been injured by the serpent given over to the serpent
that he may raise up again him whom he cast down, and the overthrow of
the serpent may be the raising again of the man. And Scripture
testifies that Satan is the author of this bodily suffering and
weakness of the flesh, where Paul says: "There was given unto me a
thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, that I should
not be exalted."(2) So Paul learned to heal even as he himself had been
made whole.
CHAPTER XV.
Returning from this digression, St. Ambrose explains what is the
meaning of St. Paul where he speaks of coming "with a rod or in the
spirit of meekness." One who has grievously fallen is to be separated,
but to be again restored to religious privileges when he has
sufficiently repented. The old leaven is purged out when the hardness
of the letter is tempered by the meal of a milder interpretation. All
should be sprinkled with the Church's meal and fed with the food of
charity, lest they become like that envious elder brother, whose
example is followed by the Novatians.
78. THAT faithful teacher, having promised one of
two things, gave each. He came with a rod, for he separated the guilty
man from the holy fellowship. And well is he said to be delivered to
Satan who is separated from the body of Christ. But he came in love and
with the spirit of meekness, whether because he so delivered him up as
to save his soul, or because he afterwards restored to the sacraments
him whom he had before separated.
79. For it is needful to separate one who has
grievously fallen, lest a little leaven corrupt the whole lump. And the
old leaven must be purged out, or the old man in each person; that is,
the outward man and his deeds, he who among the people has grown old in
sin and hardened in vices. And well did he say purged, not cast forth,
for what is purged is not considered wholly valueless, for to this end
is it purged, that what is of value be separated from the worthless,
but that which is cast forth is considered to have in itself nothing of
value.
80. The Apostle then judged that the sinner should
then at once be restored to the heavenly sacraments if he himself
wished to be cleansed. And well is it said "Purge," for he is purged as
by certain things done by the whole people, and is washed in the tears
of the multitude, and redeemed from sin by the weeping of the
multitude, and is purged in the inner man. For Christ granted to His
Church that one should be redeemed by means of all, as she herself was
found worthy of the coming of the Lord Jesus, in order that through One
all might be redeemed.
81. This is Paul's meaning which the words make more
obscure. Let us consider the exact words of the Apostle: "Purge out,"
says he, "the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, even as ye are
unleavened."(1) Either that the whole Church takes up the burden of the
sinner, with whom she has to suffer in weeping and prayer and pain,
and, as it were, covers herself with his leaven, in order that by means
of all that which is to be done away in the individual doing penance
may be purged by a kind of contribution and commixture of compassion
and mercy offered with manly vigor.(2) Or one may understand it as that
woman in the Gospel teaches us, who is a type of the Church, when she
hid the leaven in her meal, till all was leavened, and the whole could
be used as pure.
82. The Lord taught me in the Gospel what leaven is
when He said: "Do ye not understand that I said not concerning bread,
Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees?"(3) Then, it is
said, they understood that He spake not of bread, but that they should
beware of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees. This leaven,
then--that is, the doctrine of the Pharisees and the contentiousness of
the Sadducees--the Church hides in her meal, when she softened the hard
letter of the Law by a spiritual interpretation, and ground it as it
were in the mill of her explanations, bringing out as it were from the
husks of the letter the inner secrets of the mysteries, and setting
forth the belief in the Resurrection, wherein the mercy of God is
proclaimed, and wherein it is be-
343
lieved that the life of those who are dead is restored.
83. Now this comparison seems to be not unfitly
brought forward in this place, since the kingdom of heaven is
redemption from sin, and therefore we all, both bad and good, are
mingled with the meal of the Church that we all may be a new lump. But
that no one may be afraid that an admixture of evil leaven might injure
the lump, the Apostle said: "That ye may be a new lump, even as ye are
unleavened;"(1) that is to say, This mixture will render you again
such, as in the pure integrity of your innocence. If we thus have
compassion, we are not stained with the sins of others, but we gain the
restoration of another to the increase of our own grace, so that our
integrity remains as it was. And therefore he adds: "For Christ our
Passover is sacrificed for us; "(2) that is, the Passion of the Lord
profited all, and gave redemption to sinners who repented of the sins
they had committed.
84. Let us then keep the feast on good food, doing
penance yet joyful in our redemption, for no food is sweeter than
kindness and gentleness. Let no envy towards the sinner who is saved be
mingled with our feasts and joy, lest that envious brother, as is set
forth in the Gospel, exclude himself from the house of his Father,
because he grieved at the reception of his brother, at whose lasting
exile he was wont to rejoice.
85. And you Novatians cannot deny that you are like
him, who, as you say, do not come together to the Church because by
penance a hope of return had been given to those who had lapsed. But
this is only a pretence, for Novatian contrived his schism through
grief at his loss of the episcopal office.
86. But do you not understand that the Apostle also
prophesied of you and says to you: "And ye are puffed up and did not
rather mourn, that he who did this deed might be taken away from among
you"?(3) He is, then, wholly taken away when his sin is done away, but
the Apostle does not say that the sinner is to be shut out of the
Church who counsels his cleansing.
CHAPTER XVI.
Comparison between the apostles and Novatians. The fitness of the
words, "Ye know not what spirit ye are of," when applied to them. The
desire of penance is extinguished by them when they take away its
fruit. And thus are sinners deprived of the promises of Christ, though,
indeed, they ought not to be too soon admitted to the mysteries. Some
examples of repentance.
87. INASMUCH, then, as the Apostle forgave sins, by
what authority do you say that they are not to be forgiven? Who has the
most reverence for Christ, Paul or Novatian? But Paul knew that the
Lord was merciful. He knew that the Lord Jesus was offended more by the
harshness of the disciples than by their pitifulness.
88. Furthermore, Jesus rebuked James and John when
they spoke of bringing down fire from heaven to consume those who
refused to receive the Lord, and said to them: "Ye know not whose
spirit ye are of; for the Son of Man is not come to destroy men's lives
but to save them."(1) To them, indeed, He said, "Ye know not whose
spirit ye are of," who were of His spirit; but to you He says, "Ye are
not of My spirit, who hold not fast My clemency, who reject My mercy,
who refuse repentance which I willed to be preached by the apostles in
My Name."
89. For it is in vain that you say that you preach
repentance who remove the fruits of repentance. For men are led to the
pursuit of anything either by rewards or results, and every pursuit
grows slack by delay. And for this reason the Lord, in order that the
devotion of His disciples might be increased, said that every one who
had left all that was his, and followed God, should receive sevenfold
more both here and hereafter.(2) First of all He promised the reward
here, to do away with the tedium of delay, and again hereafter, that we
might learn to believe that rewards will also be given to us hereafter.
Present rewards are then an earnest of those hereafter.
90. If, then, any one, having committed hidden sins,
shall nevertheless diligently do penance, how shall he receive those
rewards if not restored to the communion of the Church? I am willing,
indeed, that the guilty man should hope for pardon, should seek it with
tears and groans, should seek it with the aid of the tears of all the
people, should implore forgiveness; and if communion be postponed two
or three times, that he should believe that his entreaties have not
been urgent enough, that he must increase his tears, must come again
even in greater trouble, clasp the feet of the faithful with his arms,
kiss them, wash them with tears, and not let them go, so that the Lord
Jesus may say of him too: "His sins which are many are forgiven, for he
loved much."(8)
344
91. I have known penitents whose countenance was
furrowed with tears, their cheeks worn with constant weeping, who
offered their body to be trodden under foot by all, who with faces ever
pale and worn with fasting bore about in a yet living body the likeness
of death.
CHAPTER XVII.
That gentleness must be added to severity, as is shown in the case of
St. Paul at Corinth. The man had been baptized, though the Novatians
argue against it. And by the word "destruction" is not meant
annihilation but severe chastening.
92. Why do we postpone the time of pardon for those
who have mortified themselves, who during life have done themselves to
death? "Sufficient," says St. Paul, "to such a one is this punishment
which is inflicted by the many; so that contrariwise, ye should rather
forgive him and comfort him, lest by any means he should be swallowed
up with overmuch sorrow."(1) If the punishment which is inflicted by
the many is sufficient for condemnation, the intercession which is made
by many is also sufficient for the remission of sin. The Master of
morals, Who both knows our weakness and is the interpreter of the will
of God, wills that comfort should be given, lest sorrow through the
weariness of long delay should swallow up the penitent.
93. The Apostle then forgave him, and not only
forgave him, but desired that love to him should again grow strong. He
who is loved receives not harshness but mercy. And not only did he
himself forgive him only, but willed that all should forgive him, and
says that he forgave for the sake of others, lest many should be longer
saddened on account of one. "To whom," says he, "ye have forgiven
anything, I forgive also, for I also have forgiven for your sakes in
the person of Christ, for we are not ignorant of his devices.''(2)
Rightly can he be on his guard against the serpent who is not ignorant
of his devices, of which there are so many to our detriment. He is
always desirous to do harm, always desirous to circumvent us, that he
may cause death; but we ought to take heed lest our remedy become an
occasion of triumph for him; for we are circumvented by him, if any one
perish through overmuch sorrow, who might be set free by pitifulness.
94. And that we may know that this person was
baptized, he added: "I wrote to you in my epistle to have no company
with fornicators, not altogether with fornicators of this world."(1)
And farther on he adds: "But now I write unto you not to keep company
if any man that is named a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an
idolator."(2) Those whom he has joined together under one penalty, he
willed to attain together to forgiveness. "If any be such," he says,
"with him not to eat."(3) How severe he is with the obstinate, how
indulgent to those who seek. Against those rises up in arms the injury
done to Christ, whilst the calling upon Christ aids these.
95. But lest any one be perplexed because it is
written: "I have delivered such an one unto Satan for the destruction
of the flesh,
and should say: How can he attain forgiveness whose whole flesh has
perished, seeing that it is evident that man was redeemed both in body
and soul, and is saved in both and that neither the soul without the
body, nor yet the body without the soul, since both are united by their
fellowship in the deeds that have been done, can be without fellowship
either in punishment or in reward? Let this suffice for an answer to
him:That "destruction" does not mean the complete annihilation of the
flesh, but its chastening. For as he who is dead to sin lives to God,
so the allurements of the flesh perish, and the flesh dies to its
lusts, in order that it may live again to purity and to other good
works.
96. And what more suitable example can we take than
one from our common mother? For the earth itself, from which we are all
taken, when it is not worked and cultivated, seems to be desert; and
the field dies to the vines or olive-trees with which it was planted,
and yet it does not lose its own nutritive power, which is, as it were,
its life. And then later, when cultivation begins once more, and the
seed is sown for which the land seems suitable, it breaks forth again
more fruitful than before with its products. It is not, then, anything
so strange if our flesh is said to die, and yet is understood to be
subdued rather than annihilated.
345
BOOK II.
CHAPTER I.
St. Ambrose gives additional rules concerning repentance, and
shows that it must not be delayed.
1. Although in the former book we have written many
things which may tend to the more perfect practice of repentance, yet
inasmuch as a great deal more may be added, we will continue the repast
so as not to seem to have relinquished the provisions of our teaching
only half consumed.
2. For repentance must be taken in hand not only
anxiously, but also quickly, lest perchance that father of the house in
the Gospel who planted a fig-tree in his vineyard should come and seek
fruit on it, and finding none, say to the vine-dresser: "Cut it down,
why doth it cumber the ground?"(1) And unless the vine-dresser should
intercede and say: "Lord, let it alone this year also, until I dig
about it and dung it, and if it bear fruit--well; but if not let it be
cut down."(2)
3. Let us then dung this field which we possess, and
imitate those hard-working farmers, who are not ashamed to satiate the
land with rich dung and to scatter the grimy ashes over the field, that
they may gather more abundant crops.
4. And the Apostle teaches us how to dung it,
saying: "I count all things but dung, that I may gain Christ,"(3)
and he, through evil report and good report, attained to pleasing
Christ. For he had read that Abraham, when confessing himself to be but
dust and ashes,(4) in his deep humility found favour with God. He had
read how Job, sitting among the ashes,(5) regained all that he had
lost.(6) He had heard in the utterance of David, how God "raiseth the
poor out of the dust, and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill."(7)
5. Let us then not be ashamed to confess our sins
unto the Lord. Shame indeed there is when each makes known his sins,
but that shame, as it were, ploughs his land, removes the
ever-recurring brambles, prunes the thorns, and gives life to the
fruits which he believed were dead. Follow him who, by diligently
ploughing his field, sought for eternal fruit: "Being reviled we bless,
being persecuted we endure, being defamed we entreat, we are made as
the offscouring of the world."(1) If you plough after this fashion you
will sow spiritual seed. Plough that you may get rid of sin and gain
fruit. He ploughed so as to destroy in himself the last tendency to
persecution. What more could Christ give to lead us on to the pursuit
of perfection, than to convert and then give us for a teacher one who
was a persecutor?
CHAPTER II.
A passage quoted by the heretics against repentance is explained in two
ways, the first being that Heb. vi. 4 refers to the impossibility of
being baptized again; the second, that what is impossible with man is
possible with God.
6. Being then refuted by the clear example of the
Apostle and by his writings, the heretics yet endeavour to resist
further, and say that their opinion is supported by apostolic
authority, bringing forward the passage in the Epistle to the Hebrews:
"For it is impossible that those who were once enlightened, and have
tasted the heavenly gift, and have been made partakers of the Holy
Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the
world to come, should if they fall away be again renewed unto
repentance, crucifying again the Son of God, and put Him to open
shame."(2)
7. Could Paul teach in opposition to his own act? He
had at Corinth forgiven sin through penance, how could he himself speak
against his own decision? Since, then, he could not destroy what he had
built, we must assume that what he says was different from, but not
contrary to, what had gone before. For what is contrary is opposed to
itself, what is different has ordinarily another meaning. Things which
are contrary are not such that one can support the other. Inasmuch,
then, as the Apostle spoke of remitting penance, he could not be silent
as to those who thought that baptism was to be repeated. And it was
right first of all to remove our anxiety, and to let us know that even
after baptism, if any sinned their sins
346
could be forgiven them, lest a false belief in a reiterated baptism
should lead astray those who were destitute of all hope of forgiveness.
And secondly, it was right to set forth in a well-reasoned argument
that baptism is not to be repeated.
8. And that the writer was speaking of baptism is
evident from the very words in which it is stated that it is impossible
to renew unto repentance those who were fallen, inasmuch as we are
renewed by means of the layer of baptism, whereby we are born again, as
Paul says himself: "For we are buried with Him through baptism into
death, that, like as Christ rose from the dead through the glory of the
Father, so we, too, should walk in newness of life."(1) And in another
place: "Be ye renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new
man which is created after God."(2) And elsewhere again: "Thy youth
shall be renewed like the eagle,"(3) because the eagle after death is
born again from its ashes, as we being dead in sin are through the
Sacrament of Baptism born again to God, and created anew. So, then,
here as elsewhere, he teaches one baptism. "One faith," he says, "one
baptism."(4)
9. This, too, is plain, that in him who is baptized
the Son of God is crucified, for our flesh could not do away sin unless
it were crucified in Jesus Christ. And then it is written that: "All we
who were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death."(5)
And farther on: "If we have been planted in the likeness of His death,
we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing that our
old man was fastened with Him to His cross."(6) And to the Colossians
he says: "Buried with Him by baptism, wherein ye also rose again with
Him."(7) Which was written to the intent that we should believe that He
is crucified in us, that our sins may be purged through Him, that He,
Who alone can forgive sins, may nail to His cross the handwriting which
was against us.(8) In us He triumphs over principalities and powers, as
it is written of Him: "He made a show of principalities and powers,
triumphing over them in Himself."(9)
10. So, then, that which he says in this Epistle to
the Hebrews, that it is impossible for those who have fallen to be
"renewed unto repentance, crucifying again the Son of God, and putting
Him to open shame," must be considered as having reference to baptism,
wherein we crucify the Son of God in ourselves, that the world may be
by Him crucified for us, who triumph, as it were, when we take to
ourselves the likeness of His death, who put to open shame upon His
cross principalities and powers, and triumphed over them, that in the
likeness of His death we, too, might triumph over the principalities
whose yoke we throw off. But Christ was crucified once, and died to sin
once, and so there is but one, not several baptisms.
11. But what of the passage wherein the doctrine of
baptisms is spoken of? Because under the Law there were many baptisms
or washings, he rightly rebukes those who forsake what is perfect and
seek again the first principles of the word. He teaches us that the
whole of the washings under the Law are done away with, and that there
is one baptism in the sacraments of the Church. But he exhorts us that
leaving the first principles of the word we should go on to perfection.
"And this," he says, "we will do, if God permits,"(1) for no one can be
perfect without the grace of God.
12. And indeed I might also say to any one who
thought that this passage spoke of repentance, that things which are
impossible with men are possible with God; and God is able whensoever
He wills to forgive us our sins, even those which we think cannot be
forgiven. And so it is possible for God to give us that which it seems
to us impossible to obtain. For it seemed impossible that water should
wash away sin, and Naaman the Syrian(2) thought that his leprosy could
not be cleansed by water. But that which was impossible God made to be
possible, Who gave us so great grace. In like manner it seemed
impossible that sins should be forgiven through repentance, but Christ
gave this power to His apostles, which has been transmitted to the
priestly office. That, then, has become possible which was impossible.
But, by a true reasoning, he convinces us that the reiteration by any
one of the Sacrament of Baptism is not permitted.
CHAPTER III.
Explanation of the parable of the Prodigal Son, in which St. Ambrose
applies it to refute the teaching of the Novatians, proving that
reconciliation ought not to be refused to the greatest offender upon
suitable proof of repentance.
13. And the Apostle does not contradict
347
the plain teaching of Christ, Who set forth, as a comparison of a
repentant sinner, one going to a foreign country after receiving all
his substance from his father, wasted it in riotous living, and later,
when feeding upon husks, longed for his father's bread and then gained
the robe, the ring, the shoes, and the slaying of the calf,(1) which is
a likeness of the Passion of the Lord, whereby we receive forgiveness.
14. Well is it said that he went into a foreign
country who is cut off from the sacred altar, for this is to be
separated from that Jerusalem which is in heaven, from the citizenship
and home of the saints. For which reason the Apostle says: "Therefore
now ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with
the saints and of the household of God."(2)
15. "And," it is said, "wasted his substance."
Rightly, for he whose faith halts in bringing forth good works does
consume it. For, "faith is the substance of things hoped for, the
evidence of things not seen."(3) And faith is a good substance, the
inheritance of our hope.
16. And no wonder if he was perishing for hunger,
who lacked the divine nourishment, impelled by the want of which he
says: "I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him: Father,
I have sinned against heaven, and before thee." Do you not see it
plainly declared to us, that we are urged to prayer for the sake of
gaining the sacrament? and do you wish to take away that for the sake
of which penance is undertaken? Deprive the pilot of the hope of
reaching port, and he will wander uncertainly here and there on the
waves. Take away the crown from the athlete, and he will fail and lie
on the course. Take from the fisher the power of catching his booty,
and he will cease to cast the nets. How, then, can he, who suffers
hunger in his soul, pray more earnestly to God, if he has no hope of
the heavenly food?
17. "I have sinned," he says, "against heaven, and
before thee." He confesses what is clearly a sin unto death, that you
may not think that any one doing penance(4) is rightly shut out
from pardon. For he who has sinned against heaven has sinned either
against the kingdom of heaven, or against his own soul, which is a sin
unto death, and against God, to Whom alone is said: "Against Thee only
have I sinned, and done evil before Thee."(1)
18. So quickly does he gain forgiveness, that, as he
is coming, and is still a great way off, his father meets him, gives
him a kiss, which is the sign of sacred peace; orders the robe to be
brought forth, which is the marriage garment, which if any one have
not, he is shut out from the marriage feast; places the ring on his
hand, which is the pledge of faith and the seal of the Holy Spirit;
orders the shoes to be brought out, (2) for he who is about to
celebrate the Lord's Passover, about to feast on the Lamb, ought to
have his feet protected against all attacks of spiritual wild beasts
and the bite of the serpent; bids the calf to be slain, for "Christ our
Passover hath been sacrificed."(3) For as often as we receive the Blood
of the Lord, we proclaim the death of the Lord.(4) As, then, He was
once slain for all, so whensoever forgiveness of sins is granted, we
receive the Sacrament of His Body, that through His Blood there may be
remission of sins.
19. Therefore most evidently are we bidden by the
teaching of the Lord to confer again the grace of the heavenly
sacrament on those guilty even of the greatest sins, if they with open
confession bear the penance due to their sin.
CHAPTER IV.
St. Ambrose turns against the Novatians themselves another objection
concerning blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, showing that it consists
in an erroneous belief, proving this by St. Peter's words against Simon
Magus, and other passages, exhorting the Novatians to return to the
Church, affirming that such is our Lord's mercy that even Judas would
have found forgiveness had he repented.
20. But we have heard that you are accustomed to
bring forward as an objection that which is written: "Every sin and
blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men, but blasphemies against the
Spirit shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever shall speak a word
against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him, but whosoever shall
speak against the Holy Spirit, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in
this world, nor in that which is to come."(5) By which quotation the
whole of your assertion is destroyed and done away, for it is written:
"Every sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men."
348
Why, then, do you not remit them? Why do you bind chains which you do
not loose? Why do you tie knots which you do not unfasten? Forgive the
others, and deal with those who you think are bound for ever by the
authority of the Gospel for sinning against the Holy Spirit.
21. But let us consider the case of those whom the
Lord so binds, going back to the words before the passage quoted, that
we may understand it more clearly: The Jews were saying: "This man doth
not cast out devils, but by Beelzebub, prince of the devils." Jesus
replied: "Every kingdom divided against itself shall be destroyed, and
every city or house divided against itself shall not stand; for if
Satan casteth out Satan, he is divided against himself, how then shall
his kingdom stand? But if I cast out devils by Beelzebub, by whom do
your sons cast them out?"(1)
22. Now we see plainly here that the words are
expressly used of those who were saying that the Lord Jesus cast out
devils through Beelzebub, to whom the Lord gave that answer, because
they were of the heritage of Satan, who compared the Saviour of all to
Satan, and attributed the grace of Christ to the kingdom of the devil.
And that we might know that He was speaking of this blasphemy, He
added: "O generation of vipers, how can ye speak good, being yourselves
evil?" He says, then, that those who thus speak attain not to
forgiveness.
23. Then, when Simon, depraved by long practice of
magic, had thought he could gain by money the power of conferring the
grace of Christ and the infusion of the Holy Spirit, Peter said: "Thou
hast neither part nor lot in this faith, for thy heart is not right
with God. Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray the Lord,
if per-chance this thought of thy heart may be forgiven thee, for I see
that thou art in the bond of iniquity and in the bitterness of
gall."(2) We see that Peter by his apostolic authority condemns him who
blasphemes against the Holy Spirit through magic vanity, and all the
more because he had not the clear consciousness of faith. And yet he
did not exclude him from the hope of forgiveness, for he called him to
repentance.
24. The Lord then replies to the blasphemy of the
Pharisees, and refuses to them the grace of His power, which consists
in the remission of sins, because they asserted that His heavenly power
rested on the help of the devil. And He affirms that they act with
satanic spirit who divide the Church of God, so that He includes the
heretics and schismatics of all times, to whom He denies forgiveness,
for every other sin is concerned with single persons, this is a sin
against all. For they alone wish to destroy the grace of Christ who
rend asunder the members of the Church for which the Lord Jesus
suffered, and the Holy Spirit was given us.
25. Lastly, that we may know that He is speaking of
those who destroy the unity of the Church, we find it written: "He that
is not with Me is against Me, and he that gathered not with Me,
scattereth."(1) And that we might know that He is speaking of these, He
at once added: "Therefore I say unto you, every sin and blasphemy shall
be forgiven unto men, but blasphemies against the Spirit shall not be
forgiven unto men." When He says, "Therefore say I unto you," is it not
evident that He intended the words following to be laid to heart by us
beyond the others? And He rightly added: "A good tree bringeth forth
good fruits, but a bad tree bringeth forth bad fruits,''(2) for an evil
association cannot produce good fruits. The tree, then, is the
association; the fruits of the good tree are the children of the Church.
26. Return, then, to the Church, those of you who
have wickedly separated yourselves. For He promises forgiveness to all
who are converted, since it is written: "Whosoever shall call on the
Name of the Lord shall be saved."(3) And lastly, the Jewish people who
said of the Lord Jesus, "He hath a devil,"(4) and "He casteth out
devils through Beelzebub," and who crucified the Lord Jesus, are, by
the preaching of Peter, called to baptism, that they may put away the
guilt of so great a wickedness.
27. But what wonder is it if you should deny
salvation to others, who reject your own, though they lose nothing who
seek for penance from you? For I suppose that even Judas might through
the exceeding mercy of God not have been shut out from forgiveness, if
he had expressed his sorrow not before the Jews but before Christ. "I
have sinned," he said, "in that I have betrayed righteous blood."(5)
Their answer was: "What is that to us, see thou to that." What other
reply do you give, when one guilty of a smaller sin confesses his deed
to you? What do you answer but this: "What is that to us, see thou to
that"? The halter
349
followed on those words, but the punishment is all the more severe, the
smaller the sin is.
28. But if they be not converted, do you at least
repent, who by many a slip have fallen from the lofty pinnacle of
innocence and faith. We have a good Lord, Whose will it is to forgive
all, Who called you by the prophet, and said: "I, even I, am He that
blotteth out transgressions, and I will not remember, but do thou
remember, and let us plead together. ''(1)
CHAPTER V.
As to the words of St. Peter to Simon Magus, from which the Novatians
infer that there was no forgiveness for the latter, it is pointed out
that St. Peter, knowing his evil heart, might well use words of doubt,
and then by some Old Testament instances it is pointed out that
"perchance" does not exclude forgiveness. The apostles transmitted to
us that penitence, the fruits of which are shown in the case of David.
St. Ambrose then adduces the example of the Ephraimites, whose
penitence must be followed in order to gain the divine mercy and the
sacraments.
29. The Novatians bring up a question from the words
of the Apostle Peter. Because he said, "if perchance," they think that
he did not imply that forgiveness would be granted on repentance. But
let them consider concerning whom the words were spoken: of Simon, who
did not believe through faith, but was meditating trickery. So too the
Lord to him who said, "Lord, I will follow Thee withersoever Thou
goest," replied, "Foxes have holes."(2) For e knew that the man's
sincerity was not wholly perfect. If, then, the Lord refused to him who
was not baptized permission to follow Him, because He saw that he was
not sincere, do you wonder that the Apostle did not absolve him who
after baptism was guilty of deceit, and whom he declared to be still in
the bond of iniquity?
30. But let this be my answer to them. As to myself,
I say that Peter did not doubt, and I do not think that so great a
question can be burked by the questionable interpretation of a single
word. For if they think that Peter doubted, did God doubt, Who said to
the prophet Jeremiah: "Stand in the court of the Lord's house, and thou
shall give an answer to all Judah, to those who come to worship in the
Lord's house, even all the words which I have appointed for thee to
answer them. Keep not back a word, perchance they will hearken and be
converted."(1) Let them say, then, that God also knew not what would
happen.
31. But ignorance is not implied in that word, but
the common custom of holy Scripture is observed, in order to simplicity
of utterance. Inasmuch as the Lord says also to Ezekiel: "Son of man, I
will send thee unto the house of Israel, to those who have angered Me,
both themselves and their fathers, unto this day, and thou shall say
unto them, Thus saith the Lord, if perchance they will hear and be
afraid."(2) Did He not know that they could or could not be converted?
So, then, that expression is not always a proof of doubt.
32 Lastly, the wise men of this world, who stake all
their reputation on expressions and words, do not everywhere use the
Latin word forte, "perchance," or its Greek equivalent
<greek>taka</greek>, as an expression of doubt. And so they
say that their earliest poet used the words,
. . . <greek>h</greek> <greek>taka</greek>
<greek>khrh</greek>
. . . ,<greek>esomai</greek>
which is, "I shall soon be a widow;" and the passage goes on:
, . . <greek>taka</greek> <greek>gar</greek>
<greek>se</greek> <greek>katakneousin</greek>
A<greek>kaioi</greek> <greek>pantes</greek>
<greek>eformhqentes</greek>.(3)
But he had no doubt that when all were Joining in the attack one might
well be laid low by all.
33. But let us use our own instances rather than
foreign ones. You find in the Gospel that the Son Himself says of the
Father (when He had sent His servants to His vineyard, and they had
been slain), that the Father said, "I will send My well-beloved Son,
perchance they will reverence Him."(4) And in another place the Son
says of Himself: "Ye know neither Me nor My Father; for if ye knew Me,
ye would perchance know My Father also."(5)
34. If, then, Peter used those words which were used
by God without any prejudice to His knowledge, why should we not assume
that Peter also used them without prejudice to his belief? For he could
not doubt concerning the gift of Christ, Who had given him the power of
forgiving sins; especially
350
since he was bound not to leave any place for the craftiness of
heretics who desire to deprive men of hope, in order the more easily to
insinuate into the despairing their opinion as to the reiteration of
baptism.
35. But the apostles, having this baptism according
to the direction of Christ, taught repentance, promised forgiveness,
and remitted guilt, as David taught when he said: "Blessed are they
whose transgressions are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed
is the man to whom the Lord hath not imputed sin."(1) He calls each
blessed both him whose sins are remitted by the font, and him whose sin
is covered by good works. For he who repents ought not only to wash
away his sin by his tears, but also to cover and hide his former
transgressions by amended deeds, that sin may not be imputed to him.
36. Let us, then, cover our falls by our subsequent
acts; let us purify ourselves by tears, that the Lord our God may hear
us when we lament, as He heard Ephraim when weeping, as it is written:
"I have surely heard Ephraim weeping."(2) And He expressly repeats the
very words of Ephraim: "Thou hast chastised me and I was chastised,
like a calf I was not trained."(3) For a calf disports itself, and
leaves its stall, and so Ephraim was untrained like a calf far away
from the stall; because he had forsaken the stall of the Lord, followed
Jeroboam,(4) and worshipped the calves, which future event was
prophetically indicated through Aaron,(5) namely, that the people of
the Jews would fall after this manner. And so repenting, Ephraim says:
"Turn Thou me, and I shall be turned, for Thou art the Lord my God.
Surely in the end of my captivity I repented, and after I learned I
mourned over the days of confusion, and subjected myself to Thee
because I received reproach and made Thee known.''(6)
37. We see how to repent, with what words and with
what acts, that the days of sin are called "days of confusion;" for
there is confusion when Christ is denied.
38. Let us, then, submit ourselves to God, and not
be subject to sin, and when we ponder the remembrance of our offences,
let us blush as though at some disgrace, and not speak of them as a
glory to us, as some boast of overcoming modesty, or putting down the
feeling of justice. Let our conversion be such, that we who did not
know God may now ourselves declare Him to others, that the Lord, moved
by such a conversion on our part, may answer to us: "Ephraim is from
youth a dear son, a pleasant child, for since My words are concerning
him, I will verily remember him, therefore have I hastened to be over
him; I will surely have mercy on him, saith the Lord."(1)
39. And what mercy He promises us, the Lord also
shows, when He says further on: "I have satiated every thirsty soul,
and have satisfied every hungry soul. Therefore, I awaked and beheld,
and My sleep was sweet unto Me."(2) We observe that the Lord promises
His sacraments to those who sin. Let us, then, all be converted to the
Lord.
CHAPTER VI.
St. Ambrose teaches out of the prophet Isaiah what they must do who
have fallen. Then referring to our Lord's proverbial expression
respecting piping and dancing, he condemns dances. Next by the example
of Jeremiah he sets forth the necessary accompaniments of repentance.
And lastly, in order to show the efficacy of this medicine of penance,
he enumerates the names of many who have used it for themselves or for
others.
40. But if they be not converted, do you at least
repent, who by many a slip have fallen from the lofty pinnacle of
innocence and faith. We have a good Lord, Whose will it is to forgive
all, Who called you by the prophet and said: "I, even I, am He that
blotteth out thy transgressions, and I will not remember, but do thou
remember that we may plead together." "I," He says, "will not remember,
but do thou remember," that is to say, "I do not recall those
transgressions which I have forgiven thee, which are covered, as it
were, with oblivion, but do thou remember them. I will not remember
them because of My grace, do thou remember them in order to correction;
remember, thou mayest know that the sin is forgiven, boast not as
though innocent, that thou aggravate not the sin, but thou wilt be
justified, confess thy sin." For a shamefaced confession of sins looses
the bands of transgression.
41. You see what God requires of you, that you
remember that grace which you have received, and boast not as though
you had not received it. You see by how complete a promise of remission
He draws you to confession. Take heed, lest by resisting the
commandments of God you fall into the
351
offence of the Jews, to whom the Lord Jesus said: "We piped to you and
ye danced not; we wailed and ye wept not."(1)
42. The words are ordinary words, but the mystery is
not ordinary. And so one must be on one's guard, lest, deceived by any
common interpretation of this saying, one should suppose that the
movements of wanton dances and the madness of the stage were commended;
for these are full of evil in youthful age. But the dancing is
commended which David practised before the ark of God. For everything
is seemly which is done for religion, so that we need be ashamed of no
service which tends to the worship and honouring of Christ.
43. Dancing, then, which is an accompaniment of
pleasures and luxury, is not spoken of, but spiritually such as that
wherewith one raises the eager body, and suffers not the limbs to lie
slothfully on the ground, nor to grow stiff in their accustomed tracks.
Paul danced spiritually, when for us he stretched forward, and
forgetting the things which were behind, and aiming at those which were
before, he pressed on to the prize of Christ.(2) And you, too, when you
come to baptism, are warned to raise the hands, and to cause your feet
wherewith you ascend to things eternal to be swifter. This dancing
accompanies faith, and is the companion of grace.
44. This, then, is the mystery. "We piped to you,"
singing in truth the song of the New Testament, "and ye danced not."
That is, did not raise your souls to the spiritual grace. "We wailed,
and ye wept not." That is, ye did not repent. And therefore was the
Jewish people forsaken, because it did not repent, and rejected grace.
Repentance came by John, grace by Christ. He, as the Lord, gives the
one; the other is proclaimed, as it were, by the servant. The Church,
then, keeps both that it may both attain to grace and not cast away
repentance, for grace is the gift of One Who confers it; repentance is
the remedy of the sinner.
45. Jeremiah knew that penitence was a great remedy,
which he in his Lamentations took up for Jerusalem, and brings forward
Jerusalem itself as repenting, when he says: "She wept sore in the
night, and her tears are on her cheeks, nor is there one to comfort her
of all who love her. The ways of Sion do mourn."(3) And he says
further: "For these things I weep, my eyes have grown dim with weeping,
because he who used to comfort me is gone far from me.''(1) We notice
that he thought this the bitterest addition to his woes, that he who
used to comfort the mourner was gone far from him. How, then, can you
take away the very comfort by refusing to repentance the hope of
forgiveness?
46. But let those who repent learn how they ought to
carry it out, with what zeal, with what affection, with what intention
of mind, with what shaking of the inmost bowels, with what conversion
of heart: "Behold," he says, "O Lord, that I am in distress, my bowels
are troubled by my weeping, my heart is turned within me."(2)
47. Here you recognize the intention of the soul,
the faithfulness of the mind, the disposition of the body: "The elders
of the daughters of Sion sat," he says, "upon the ground, they put dust
upon their heads, they girded themselves with haircloth, the princes
hung their heads to the ground, the virgins of Jerusalem fainted with
weeping, my eyes grew dim, my bowels were troubled, my glory was poured
on the earth."(3)
48. So, too, did the people of Nineveh mourn, and
escaped the destruction of their city.(4) Such is the remedial power of
repentance, that God seems because of it to change His intention. To
escape is, then, in your own power; the Lord wills to be entreated, He
wills that men should hope in Him, He wills that supplication should be
made to Him. Thou art a man, and wiliest to be asked to forgive, and
dost thou think that God will pardon thee without asking Him?
49. The Lord Himself wept over Jerusalem, that,
inasmuch as it would not weep itself, it might obtain forgiveness
through the tears of the Lord. He wills that we should weep in order
that we may escape, as you find it in the Gospel: "Daughters of
Jerusalem, weep not for Me, but weep for yourselves."(5)
50. David wept, and obtained of the divine mercy the
removal of the death of the people who were perishing, when of the
three things proposed for his choice he selected that in which he might
have the most experience of the divine mercy. Why do you blush to weep
for your sins, when God commanded even the prophets to weep for the
people?
51. And, lastly, Ezekiel was bidden to weep for
Jerusalem, and he took the book,
352
at the beginning of which was written "Lamentation, and melody, and
woe,"(1) two things sad and one pleasant, for he shall be saved in the
future who has wept most in this age. "For the heart of the wise is in
the house of mourning, and the heart of fools in the house of
feasting."(2) And the Lord Himself said: "Blessed are ye that weep now,
for ye shall laugh."(3)
CHAPTER VII.
An exhortation to mourning and confession of sins for Christ is moved
by these and the tears of the Church. Illustration from the story of
Lazarus. After showing that the Novatians are the successors of those
who planned to kill Lazarus, St. Ambrose argues that the full
forgiveness of every sin is signified by the odour of the ointment
poured by Mary on the feet of Christ; and further, that the Novatian
heretics find their likeness in Judas, who grudged and envied when
others rejoiced.
52. Let us, then, mourn for a time, that we may
rejoice for eternity. Let us fear the Lord, let us anticipate Him with
the confession of our sins, let us correct our backslidings and amend
our faults, lest of us too it be said: "Woe is me, my soul, for the
godly man is perished from the earth, and there is none amongst men to
correct them."(4)
53. Why do you fear to confess your sins to our good
Lord? "Set them forth," He says, "that thou mayest be justified." The
rewards of justification are set before him who is still guilty of sin,
for he is justified who voluntarily confesses his own sin; and lastly,
"the just man is his own accuser in the beginning of his speaking."(5)
The Lord knows all things, but He waits for your words, not that He may
punish, but that He may pardon. It is not His will that the devil
should triumph over you and accuse you when you conceal your sins. Be
beforehand with your accuser: if you accuse yourself, you will
fear no accuser; if you report yourself, though you were dead you shall
live.
54. Christ will come to your grave, and if He finds
there weeping for you Martha the woman of good service, and Mary who
carefully heard the Word of God, like holy Church which has chosen the
best part, He will be moved with compassion, when at your death He
shall see the tears of many and will say: "Where have ye laid him?"(6)
that is to say, in what condition of guilt is he? in which rank of
penitents? I would see him for whom ye weep, that he himself may move
Me with his tears. I will see if he is already dead to that sin for
which forgiveness is entreated.
55. The people will say to Him, "Come and see."(1)
What is the meaning of "Come"? It means, Let forgiveness of sins come,
let the life of the departed come, the resurrection of the dead, let
Thy kingdom come to this sinner also.
56. He will come and will command that the stone be
taken away which his fall has laid on the shoulders of the sinner. He
could have removed the stone by a word of command, for even inanimate
nature is wont to obey the bidding of Christ. He could by the silent
power of His working have removed the stone of the sepulchre, at Whose
Passion the stones being suddenly removed many sepulchres of the dead
were opened, but He bade men remove the stone, in very truth indeed,
that the unbelieving might believe what they saw, and see the dead
rising again, but in a type that He might give us the power of
lightening the burden of sins, the heavy pressure as it were upon the
guilty. Ours it is to remove the burdens, His to raise again, His to
bring forth from the tombs those set free from their bands.
57. So the Lord Jesus, seeing the heavy burden of
the sinner, weeps, for the Church alone He suffers not to weep. He has
compassion with His beloved, and says to him that is dead, "Come
forth,"(2) that is, "Thou who liest in darkness of conscience, and in
the squalor of thy sins, as in the prison-house of the guilty, come
forth, declare thy sins that thou mayest be justified. "For with the
mouth confession is made unto salvation."(3)
58. If you have confessed at the call of Christ the
bars will be broken, and every chain loosed, even the stench of the
bodily corruption be grievous. For he had been dead four days and his
flesh stank in the tomb; but He Whose flesh saw no corruption was three
days in the sepulchre, for He knew no evils of the flesh, which
consists of the substances of the four elements. However great, then,
the stench of the dead body may be, it is all done away so soon as the
sacred ointment has shed its odour; and the dead rises again, and the
command is given to loose his hands who till now was in sin; the
covering is taken from his face which veiled the truth of the grace
which he had received. But since he has received for-
353
giveness, the command is given to uncover his face, to lay bare his
features. For he whose sin is forgiven has nothing whereof to be
ashamed.
59. But in the presence of such grace given by the
Lord, of such a miracle of divine bounty, when all ought to have
rejoiced, the wicked were stirred up and gathered a council against
Christ,(1) and wished moreover to kill Lazarus also.(2) Do you not
recognize that you are the successors of those whose hardness you
inherit? For you too are angry and gather a council against the Church,
because you see the dead come to life again in the Church, and to be
raised again by receiving forgiveness of their sins. And thus, so far
as m you, you desire to slay again through envy those who are raised to
life.
60. But Jesus does not revoke His benefits, nay,
rather He amplifies them by additions of His liberality, He anxiously
revisits him who was raised again, and rejotting in the gift of the
restored life, He comes to the feast which His Church has prepared for
Him, at which he who had been dead is found as one amongst those
sitting down with Christ.
61. Then all wonder who look upon him with the pure
gaze of the mind, who are free from envy, for such children the Church
has. They wonder, as I said, how he who yesterday and the day before
lay in the tomb is one of those sitting with the Lord Jesus.
62. Mary herself pours ointment on the feet of the
Lord Jesus.(3) Perchance for this reason on His feet, because one of
the lowliest has been snatched from death, for we are all the body of
Christ,(4) but others perchance are the more honourable members. The
Apostle was the mouth of Christ, for he said," Ye seek a proof of
Christ that speaketh in me."(5) The prophets through whom He spake of
things to come were His month, would that I might be found worthy to be
His foot, and may Mary pour on me her precious ointment, and anoint me
and wipe away my sin.
63. What, then, we read concerning Lazarus we ought
to believe of every sinner who is converted, who, though he may have
been stinking, nevertheless is cleansed by the precious ointment of
faith. For faith has such grace that there where the dead stank the day
before, now the whole house is filled with good odour.
64. The house of Corinth stank, when it was written
concerning it: "It is reported that there is fornication among you, and
such fornication as is not even among the Gentiles. ''(1) There was a
stench, for a little leaven had corrupted the whole lump. A good odour
began when it was said: "If ye forgive anything to any one I forgive
also. For what I also have forgiven, for your sakes have I done it in
the person of Christ."(2) And so, the sinner being set free, there was
great joy in that place, and the whole house was filled with the odour
of the sweetness of grace. Wherefore the Apostle, knowing well that he
had shed upon all the ointment of apostolic forgiveness, says: "We are
a sweet savour of Christ unto God in them that are saved."(3)
65. At the pouring forth, then, of this ointment all
rejoice; Judas alone speaks against it.(4) So, too, now he who is a
sinner speaks against it, he who is a traitor blames it, but he is
himself blamed by Christ, as he knows not the remedy of the Lord's
death, and understands not the mystery of that so great burial. For the
Lord both suffered and died that He might redeem us from death. This is
manifest from the most excellent value from His death, which is
sufficient for the absolution of the sinner, and his restoration
to fresh grace; so that all may come and wonder at his sitting at table
with Christ, and may praise God, saying: "Let us eat and feast, for he
was dead and is alive again, had perished and is found."(5) But any one
devoid of faith objects: "Why does He eat with publicans and sinners?"
This is his answer: "They that are whole have no need of the physician,
but they that are sick."(6)
CHAPTER VIII.
In urging repentance St. Ambrose turns to his own case, expressing the
wish that he could wash our Lord's feet like the woman in the Gospel,
which is a great pattern of penitence, though such as cannot attain to
it find acceptance. He prays for himself, especially that he may sorrow
with sinners, who are better than himself. Those for whom Christ died
are not to be contemned.
66. Snow, then, your wound to the Physician that He
may heal it. Though you show it not, He knows it, but waits to hear
your voice. Do away your scars by tears. Thus did that woman in the
Gospel, and wiped out the stench of her sin; thus did she
354
wash away her fault, when washing the feet of Jesus with her tears.
67. Would that Thou, Lord Jesus, mightest reserve
for me the washing off from Thy feet of the stains contracted since
Thou walkest in me ! O that Thou mightest offer to me to cleanse the
pollution which I by my deeds have caused on Thy steps! But whence can
I obtain living water, wherewith I may wash Thy feet? If I have no
water I have tears, and whilst with them I wash Thy feet I trust to
cleanse myself. Whence is it that Thou shouldst say to me: "His sins
which are many are forgiven, because he loved much"? I confess that I
owe more, and that more has been forgiven me who have been called to
the priesthood from the tumult and strife of the law courts and the
dread of public administration; and therefore I fear that I may be
found ungrateful, if I, to whom more has been forgiven, love less.
68. But all are not able to equal that woman, who
was deservedly preferred even to Simon, who was giving the feast to the
Lord; who gave a lesson to all who desire to gain forgiveness, by
kissing the feet of Christ, washing them with her tears, wiping them
with her hair, and anointing them with ointment.
69. In a kiss is the sign of love, and therefore the
Lord Jesus says: "Let her kiss Me with the kisses of her mouth.''(1)
What is the meaning of the hair, but that you may learn that, having
laid aside all the pomp of worldly trappings, you must implore pardon,
throw yourself on the earth with tears, and prostrate on the ground
move pity. In the ointment, too, is set forth the savour of a good
conversation. David was a king, yet he said: "Every night will I wash
my bed, I will water my couch with tears.'' (2) And therefore he
obtained such a favour, as that of his house the Virgin should be
chosen, who by her child-bearing should bring forth Christ for us.
Therefore is this woman also praised in the Gospel.
70. Nevertheless if we are unable to equal her, the
Lord Jesus knows also how to aid the weak, when there is no one who can
prepare the feast, or bring the ointment, or carry with her a spring of
living water. He comes Himself to the sepulchre.
71. Would that Thou wouldst vouchsafe to come to
this sepulchre of mine, O Lord Jesus, that Thou wouldst wash me with
Thy tears, since in my hardened eyes I possess not such tears as to be
able to wash away my offence. If Thou shalt weep for me l shall be
saved; if I am worthy of Thy tears I shall cleanse the stench of all my
offences; if I am worthy that Thou weep but a little, Thou wilt call me
out of the tomb of this body and will say: "Come forth," that my
meditations may not be kept pent up in the narrow limits of this body,
but may go forth to Christ, and move in the light, that I may think no
more on works of darkness but on works of light. For he who thinks on
sins endeavours to shut himself up within his own consciousness.
72. Call forth, then, Thy servant. Although bound
with the chain of my sins I have my feet fastened and my hands tied;
being now buried in dead thoughts and works, yet at Thy call I shall go
forth free, and shall be found one of those sitting at Thy feast, and
Thy house shall be filled with precious ointment. If Thou hast
vouchsafed to redeem any one, Thou wilt preserve him. For it shall be
said, "See, he was not brought up in the bosom of the Church, nor
trained from childhood, but hurried from the judgment-seat, brought
away from the vanities of this world, growing accustomed to the singing
of the choir instead of the shout of the crier, but he continues in the
priesthood not by his own strength, but by the grace of Christ, and
sits among the guests at the heavenly table.
73. Preserve, O Lord, Thy work, guard the gift which
Thou hast given even to him who shrank from it. For I knew that I was
not worthy to be called a bishop, because I had devoted myself to this
world, but by Thy grace I am what I am. And I am indeed the least of
all bishops, and the lowest in merit; yet since I too have undertaken
some labour for Thy holy Church, watch over this fruit, and let not him
whom when lost Thou didst call to the priesthood, to be lost when a
priest. And first grant that I may know how with inmost affection to
mourn with those who sin; for this is a very great virtue, since it is
written: "And thou shall not rejoice over the children of Judah in the
day of their destruction, and speak not proudly in the day of their
trouble."(1) Grant that so often as the sin of any one who has fallen
is made known to me I may suffer with him, and not chide him proudly,
but mourn and weep, so that weeping over another I may mourn for
myself, saying, "Tamar hath been more righteous than I."(2)
74. Perchance a maiden may have fallen, deceived and
hurried away by those occa-
355
sions which are the sources of sins. Well, we who are older sin too. In
us, too, the law of this flesh wars against the law of our mind, and
makes us captives of sin, so that we do what we would not.(1) Her youth
is an excuse for her, I now have none, for she ought to learn, we ought
to teach. So that "Tamar hath been more righteous than I."
75. We inveigh against some one's covetousness, let
us call to mind whether we ourselves have never done anything
covetously; and if we have, since covetousness is the root of all
evils, and is working in our bodies like a serpent secretly under the
earth, let each of us say: "Tamar hath been more righteous than I."
76. If we have been seriously moved against any one,
a layman may act hastily for a smaller matter than a bishop. Let us
ponder that with ourselves and say, He who is reproved for quick temper
is more righteous than I. For if we thus speak, we guard ourselves
against this, that the Lord Jesus or one of His disciples should say to
us: "Thou beholdest the mote in thy brother's eye, but beholdest not
the beam which is in thine own eye. Thou hypocrite, cast out first the
beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see to cast out the mote
out of thy brother's eye."(2)
77. Let us, then, not be ashamed to say that our
fault is more serious than that of him whom we think we must reprove,
for this is what Judah did who reprimanded Tamar, and remembering his
own fault said: "Tamar is more righteous than I." In which saying there
is a deep mystery and a moral precept; and therefore is his offence not
reckoned to him, because he accused himself before he was accused by
others.
78. Let us, then, not rejoice over the sin of any
one, but rather let us mourn, for it is written: "Rejoice not against
me, O my enemy, because I have fallen, for I shall arise; for if I sit
in darkness the Lord shall be a light unto me, I will bear the
indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against Him, until He
maintain my cause, and execute judgment for me, and bring me forth to
the light. and I shall behold His righteousness. Mine enemy, too, shall
see it and shall be covered with confusion, which said unto me, Where
is the Lord thy God? Mine eyes shall behold her, and she shall be for
treading down as the mire in the streets,"(3) And this not
unreservedly, for he who rejoices at the fall of another rejoices at
the victory of the devil. Let us, then, rather mourn when we hear that
one has perished for whom Christ died, Who despises not even the straw
in time of harvest.
79. O that He may not cast away this straw at His
harvest, the empty stalks of my produce; but may He gather it in, as is
said by some one: "Woe is me, for I am become as one that gathereth
straw in harvest, and grape gleanings in the vintage,"(1) that He may
eat of the firstfruits at least of His grace in me, though He approve
not the later fruit.
CHAPTER IX.
In what way faith is necessary for repentance. Means for paying our
debts, in which work, prayer, tears, and fasting are of more value than
money. Some instances are adduced, and St. Ambrose declares that
generosity is profitable, but only when joined with faith; it is,
moreover, liable to certain defects. He goes on to speak of some
defects in repentance, such as too great haste in seeking
reconciliation, considering abstinence from sacraments all that is
needed, of committing sin in hope of repenting later.
80. So, then, it is fitting for us to believe both
that sinners must repent and that forgiveness is to be given on
repentance, yet still as hoping for forgiveness as granted upon faith,
not as a debt, for it is one thing to earn, and an other presumptuously
to claim a right. Faith asks for forgiveness, as it were, by covenant,
but presumption is more akin to demand than to request. Pay first that
which you owe, that you may be in a position to ask for what you have
hoped. Come with the disposition of an honest debtor, that you may not
contract a fresh liability, but may pay that which is due of the
existing debt with the possessions of your faith.
81. He who owes a debt to God has more help towards
payment than he whets indebted to man. Man requires money for money,
and this is not always at the debtor's command. God demands the
affection of the heart, which is in our own power. No one who owes a
debt to God is poor, except one who has made himself poor. And even if
he have nothing to sell, yet has he wherewith to pay. Prayer, fasting,
and tears are the resources of an honest debtor, and much more abundant
than if one from the price of his estate offered money without faith.
82. Ananias was poor, when after selling his land he
brought the money to the
356
apostles, and was not able with it to pay his debt, but involved
himself the more.(1) That widow was rich who cast her two small pieces
into the treasury, of whom Christ said: "This poor widow hath cast in
more than they all."(2)For God requires not money but faith.
83. And I do not deny that sins may be l diminished
by liberal gifts to the poor, but only if faith commend what is spent.
For what would the giving of one's whole property benefit without
charity?
84. There are some who aim at the credit of
generosity for pride alone, because they wish thereby to gain the good
opinion of the multitude for leaving nothing to themselves; but whilst
they are seeking rewards in this life, they are laying up none for the
life to come, and having received their reward here they cannot hope
for it there.
85. Some again, having, through impulsive excitement
and not after long consideration, given their possessions to the
Church, think that they can claim them back. These gain neither the
first nor the second reward, for the gift was made thoughtlessly, its
recall sacrilegiously.
86. Some repent of having distributed their property
to the poor. But they who are doing penance must not repent of this,
lest they repent of their own repentance. For many seek for penance
through fear of future punishment, being conscious of their sins, and
having received their penance are held back by fear of the public
entreaties. These persons seem to have sought for repentance for their
evil deeds, but to exercise it for their good ones.
87. Some seek penance because they wish to be at
once restored to communion. These wish not so much to loose themselves
as to bind the priest, for they do not put off the guilt from their own
conscience, but lay it on that of the priest, to whom the command is
given: "Give not that which is holy to the dogs, neither cast your
pearls before the swine;"(3) that is to say, that partaking of the holy
Communion is not to be allowed to those polluted with impurity.
88. And so one may see those walking in other
attire, who ought to be weeping and groaning because they had defiled
the robe of sanctification and grace; and women loading their ears with
pearls, and weighing down their necks, who had better have bent
to Christ than to gold, and who ought to be weeping for themselves,
because they have lost the pearl from heaven.
89. There are, again, some who think that it is
penitence to abstain from the heavenly sacraments. These are too cruel
judges of themselves, who prescribe a penalty for themselves but refuse
the remedy, who ought to be mourning over their self-imposed penalty,
because it deprives them of heavenly grace.
90. Others think that licence is granted them to
sin, because the hope of penitence is before them, whereas penitence is
the remedy, not an incentive to sin. For the salve is necessary for the
wound, not the wound for the salve, since a salve is sought because of
the wound, the wound is not wished for on account of the salve. The
hope which is put off to a future season is but feeble, for every
season is uncertain, and hope does not outlive all time.
CHAPTER X.
In order to do away with the feeling of shame which holds back
the guilty from public
penance, St. Ambrose points out the advantage
of prayers offered by the whole Church,
and sets forth the example of
saints who have sorrowed. Then, after reproving those who
imagine that penance may be often repeated, he
points on the difficulty of repentance,
and how it is to be carried out.
91. CAN any one endure that you should blush to
entreat God, when you do not blush to entreat a man? That you should be
ashamed to entreat Him Who knows you fully, when you are not ashamed to
confess your sins to a man who knows you not?(1) Do you shrink from
witnesses and sympathizers in your prayers, when, if you have to
satisfy a man, you must visit many and entreat them to be kind enough
to intervene; when you throw yourself at a man's knees, kiss his feet,
bring your children, still unconscious of guilt, to entreat also for
their father's pardon? And you disdain to do this in the Church in
order to entreat God, in order to gain for yourself the support of the
holy congregation; where there is no cause for shame, except indeed not
to confess, since we are all sinners, amongst whom he is the most
praiseworthy who is the most humble; he is the most just who feels
himself the lowest.
92. Let the Church, our Mother, weep for
357
you, and wash away your guilt with her tears; let Christ see you
mourning and say, "Blessed are ye that are sad, for ye shall rejoice."
It pleases Him that many should entreat for one. In the Gospel, too,
moved by the widow's tears, because many were weeping for her, He
raised her son. He heard Peter more quickly when He raised Dorcas,
because the poor were mourning over the death of the woman. He also
forthwith forgave Peter, for he wept most bitterly. And if you weep
bitterly Christ will look upon you and your guilt shall leave you. For
the application of pain does away with the enjoyment of the wickedness
and the delight of the sin. And so while mourning over our past sins we
shut the door against fresh ones, and from the condemnation of our
guilt there arises as it were a training in innocence.
93. Let, then, nothing call you away from penitence,
for this you have in common with the saints, and would that such
sorrowing for sin as that of the saints were copied by you. David, as
it were, "ate ashes for bread, and mingled his drink with weeping,"(1)
and therefore now rejoices the more because he wept the more: "Mine
eyes ran down," he said, "with rivers of water."(2)
94. John wept sore,(3) and, as he tells us, the
mysteries of Christ were revealed to him. But that woman who, when she
was in sin and ought to have wept, nevertheless rejoiced, and covered
herself with a robe of purple and scarlet,(4) and adorned herself with
much gold and precious stones, now mourns the misery of eternal weeping.
95. Deservedly are they blamed who think that they
often do penance, for they are wanton against Christ. For if they went
through their penance in truth, they would not think that it could be
repeated again; for as there is but one baptism, so there is but one
course of penance, so far as the outward practice goes, for we must
repent of our daily faults, but this latter has to do with lighter
faults, the former with such as are graver.
96. But I have more easily found such as had
preserved their innocence than such as had fittingly repented. Does any
one think that that is penitence where there still exists the striving
after earthly honours, where wine flows, and even conjugal connection
takes place? The world must be renounced; less sleep must be indulged
in than nature demands; it must be broken by groans, interrupted by
sighs, put aside by prayers; the mode of life must be such that we die
to the usual habits of life. Let the man deny himself and be wholly
changed, as in the fable they relate of a certain youth, who left his
home because of his love for a harlot, and, having subdued his love,
returned; then one day meeting his old favourite and not speaking to
her, she, being surprised and supposing that he had not recognized her,
said, when they met again, "It is I." "But," was his answer, "I am not
the former I."
97. Well then did the Lord say: "If any man will
come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow
Me."(1) For they who are dead and buried in Christ ought not again to
make their conclusions as though. living in the world. "Touch not," it
is said, nor attend to those things which tend to corruption by their
very use,(2) for the very customs of this life corrupt integrity."
CHAPTER XI.
The possibility of repentance is a reason why baptism should not be
deferred to old age, a practice which is against the will of God in
holy Scripture. But it is of no use to practise penance whilst still
serving lusts. These must be first subdued.
98. GOOD, then, is penitence, and if there were no
place for it, every one would defer the grace of cleansing by baptism
to old age. And a sufficient reason is that it is better, to have a
robe to mend, than none to put on; but as that which has been repaired
once is restored, so that which is frequently mended is destroyed.
99. And the Lord has given a sufficient warning to
those who put off repentance, when He says: "Repent ye, for the kingdom
of heaven is at hand."(3) We know not at what hour the thief will come,
we know not whether our soul may be required of us this next night. God
cast Adam out of Paradise immediately after his fault; there was no
delay. At once the fallen were severed from all their enjoyments that
they might do penance; at once God clothed them with garments of skins,
not of silk.(4)
100. And what reason is there for putting
358
off? is it that you may sin yet more? Then because God is good you are
evil, and "despise the riches of His goodness and long-suffering."(1)
But the goodness of the Lord ought rather to draw you to repentance.
Wherefore holy David says to all: "Come, let us worship and fall down
beford Him, and mourn before our Lord Who made us."(2) But for a sinner
who has died without repentance, because nothing remains but to mourn
grievously and to weep, you find him groaning and saying: "O my son
Absalom I my son Absalom!"(3) For him who is wholly dead mourning is
without alleviation.
101. But of those who as exiles and banished from
their ancestral homes, which the holy law of Moses had assigned them,
will be entangled in the errors of the world, you hear him saying: "By
the waters of Babylon we sat down and wept, when we remembered
Zion."(4) He sets forth the wailings of those who have fallen, and
shows that they who are living in this condition of passing time and
changing circumstances ought to repent, after the example of those who,
as a reward for sin, had been led into miserable captivity.
102. But nothing causes such exceeding grief as when
any one, lying under the captivity of sin, calls to mind whence he has
fallen, because he turned aside to carnal and earthly things, instead
of directing his mind in the beautiful ways of the knowledge of God.
103. So you find Adam concealing himself, when he
knew that God was present, and wishing to be hidden when called by God
with that voice which wounded the soul of him who was hiding: "Adam,
where art thou?"(5) That is to say, Wherefore hidest thou thyself? Why
art thou concealed? Why dost thou avoid Him, Whom thou once didst long
to see? A guilty conscience is so burdensome that it punishes itself
without a judge, and wishes for covering, and yet is bare before God.
104. And so no one in a state of sin ought to claim
a right to or the use of the sacraments, for it is written: "Thou hast
sinned, be still."(6) As David says in the Psalm lately quoted: "We
hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof;" and again:
"How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?"(1) For if the
flesh wars against the mind, and is not subject to the guidance of the
Spirit, that is a strange land which is not subdued by the toil of the
cultivator, and so cannot produce the fruits of charity, patience, and
peace. It is better, then, to be still when you cannot practise the
works of repentance, lest in the very acts of repentance there be that
which afterward will need further repentance. For if it be once entered
upon and not rightly carried out, it obtains not the result of a first
repentance and takes away the use of a later one.(2)
105. When, then, the flesh resists, the soul must be
intent upon God, and if results do not follow, let not faith fail. And
if the enticements of the flesh come upon us, or the powers of the
enemy attack us, let the soul keep in submission to God. For we are
then specially oppressed when the flesh yields. And some there are who
trouble heavily the wretched soul, seeking to deprive it of all
protection. To which case the words apply: "Ruse it, ruse it, even to
the foundations."(3)
106. And David, pitying her,, says: "O wretched
daughter of Babylon."(4) Wretched indeed, as being the daughter of
Babylon, when she ceased to be the daughter of Jerusalem.(5) And yet he
calls for a healer for her, and says: "Blessed is he who shall take thy
little ones and dash them against the rock."(6) That is to say, shall
dash all corrupt and filthy thoughts against Christ, Who by His fear
and His rebuke will break down all motions against reason, so as, if
any one is seized by an adulterous love, to extinguish the fire, that
he may by his zeal put away the love of a harlot, and deny himself that
he may gain Christ.
107. We have then learned that we must do penance,
and this at a time when the heat of luxury and sin is giving way; and
that we, when under the dominion of sin, must show ourselves God
fearing by refraining, rather than allowing ourselves in evil
practices. For if it is said to Moses when he was desiring to draw
nearer: "Put off thy shoes from off thy feet,"(7) how much
359
more must we free the feet of our soul from the bonds of the body, and
clear our steps from all connection with this world.
NOTE ON THE PENITENTIAL DISCIPLINE OF THE
EARLY CHURCH.
It was always believed in the Church that the power
of binding and loosing had been entrusted by our Lord to His apostles,
and by them handed on to their successors in the ministry. The earlier
practice would seem to have been short and simple: exclusion from
Communion, some outward discipline, not always continued for a long
period, and reconciliation on true repentance, these matters being
decided by the bishop at his discretion. Gradually the practice became
more systematized, various periods of discipline were prescribed for
various sins, and the time for this discipline was lengthened.
There were three parts in the discipline of
Penitence as a whole:
1. Confession,
<greek>exomologhsis</greek>, a term used frequently of the
whole course.
2. Penance, properly so called, i.e. the
mortifications, fasting, etc., prescribed.
3. Reconciliation, performed solemnly by the bishop,
often at Easter.
The confession was probably in private to the
bishop, who determined whether any public confession should be made or
not. But as only great sins--at first, idolatry, adultery, and murder
(peccata mortalia)--were punished by outward penance, it was clear that
the sin must have been very grievous.
The Montanists taught that the Church had not power
to forgive great sins, and this led to clearing the doctrine, and from
the middle of the third century, even those who had lapsed into
idolatry were admitted to penance.
Hermas already says: <greek>tois</greek>
<greek>doulois</greek> <greek>touqeou</greek>
<greek>metanoia</greek> <greek>esti</greek>
<greek>mia</greek> Mand. iv. 1. And this rule seems to have
been maintained as regards the formal penance and reconciliation, not
as implying doubt of possible forgiveness, but as a matter of
discipline, and this rule deprived those who fell a second time from
communion at least till their deathbed.
For this public penance the Greek words are
<greek>metanoia</greek> and
<greek>exomologhsis</greek>; the Latin, penitentia and
frequently exomologesis. As the word penitentia includes not merely
sorrow for sin and change of heart, but also penance, or the penalty
inflicted by authority, and is used in such phrases as penitentiam
agere or facere, it has been necessary in the translation of the De
Penitentia to vary the English terms, and to use sometimes repentance,
sometimes penance.
For further information on this subject, the reader
is referred specially to the Articles, Buss-Disciplin, in the Freiburg
Kirchen-Lexikon, by Wetzer and Welte; and to those on Exomologesis,
Penitence, and Reconciliation, in the Dict. of Christian Anti quities,
where other authorities and references will be found.
THREE BOOKS OF ST. AMBROSE, BISHOP OF MILAN,
CONCERNING VIRGINS, TO MARCELLINA, HIS SISTER.
BOOK I.
CHAPTER I.
St. Ambrose, reflecting upon the account he will have to give of his
talents, determines to write, and consoles himself with certain
examples of God's mercy. Then recognizing his own deficiencies desires
that he may be dealt with like the fig-tree in the Gospel, and
expresses a hope that words will not fail him in his endeavour to
preach Christ.
1. IF, according to the decree of heavenly truth, we
have to give account of every idle word which we have spoken,(1) and if
every servant will incur no small blame when his lord returns, who,
either like a timid money-lender or covetous owner, has hidden in the
earth the talents of spiritual grace which were entrusted to him in
order that they might be multiplied by increasing interest, I, who,
although possessed of but moderate ability, yet have a great necessity
laid on me of making increase of the sayings of God entrusted to me,
must rightly fear lest an account of the profit of my words be demanded
of me, especially seeing that the Lord exacts of us effort, not profit.
Wherefore I determined to write something, since, too, my words are
listened to with greater risk to modesty than when they are written,
for a book has no feeling of modesty.
2. And so distrusting indeed my own ability, but
encouraged by the instances of divine mercy, I venture to compose an
address, for when God willed even the ass spoke.(2) And I will open my
mouth long dumb. that the angel may assist me also, engaged in the
burdens of this world, for He can do away with the hindrances of
unskilfulness. Who in the ass did away those of
nature. In the ark of the Old Testament the priest's rod budded;(1)
with God it is easy that in Holy Church a flower should spring from our
knots also. And why should we despair that God should speak in men, Who
spoke in the thorn bush?(2) God did not despise the bush, and would He
might give light also to my thorns. Perhaps some may wonder that there
is some light even in our thorns; some our thorns will not burn; there
will be some whose shoes shall be put off their feet at the sound of my
voice, that the steps of the mind may be freed from bodily hindrances.
3. But these things are gained by holy men. Would
that Jesus would cast a glance upon me still lying under that barren
fig-tree,(3) and that my fig-tree might also after three years bear
fruit.(4) But whence should sinners have so great hope? Would that at
least that Gospel dresser of the vineyard, perhaps already bidden to
cut down my fig-tree, would let it alone this year also, until he dig
about it and dung it, that he may perchance lift the helpless out of
the dust, and lift the poor out of the mire.(5) Blessed are they who
bind their horses under the vine and olive,(6) consecrating the course
of their labours to light and joy: the fig-tree, that is, the tempting
attraction of the pleasures of the world, still overshadows me, low in
height, brittle for working, soft for use, and barren of fruit.
4. And perhaps some one may wonder why I, who cannot
speak, venture to write. And yet if we consider what we read in the
writings of the Gospel, and the deeds of the priests, and the holy
prophet Zacharias is
364
taken as an instance, he will find that there is something which the
voice cannot explain, but the pen can write. And if the name John
restored speech to his father,(1) I, too, ought not to despair that
although dumb I may yet receive speech, if I speak of Christ, of Whom,
according to the prophet's word: "Who shall declare the generation?"(2)
And so as a servant I will announce the family of the Lord, for the
Lord has consecrated to Himself a family even in this body of humanity
replete with frailty.
CHAPTER II.
This treatise has a favourable beginning, since it is the birthday of
the holy Virgin Agnes, of whose name, modesty, and martyrdom St.
Ambrose speaks in commendation, but more especially of her age, seeing
that she, being but twelve years old, was superior to terrors,
promises, tortures, and death itself, with a courage wholly worthy of a
man.
5. AND my task begins favourably, that since to-day
is the birthday of a virgin, I have to speak of virgins, and the
treatise has its beginning from this discourse. It is the birthday of a
martyr, let us offer the victim. It is the birthday of St. Agnes, let
men admire, let children take courage, let the married be astounded,
let the unmarried take an example. But what can I say worthy of her
whose very name was not devoid of bright praise? In devotion beyond her
age, in virtue above nature, she seems to me to have borne not so much
a human name, as a token of martyrdom, whereby she showed what she was
to be.
6. But I have that which may assist me. The name of
virgin is a title of modesty. I will call upon the martyr, I will
proclaim the virgin. That panegyric is long enough which needs no
elaboration, but is within our grasp. Let then labour cease, eloquence
be silent. One word is praise enough. This word old men and young and
boys chant. No one is more praiseworthy than he who can be praised by
all There are as many heralds as there are men, who when they speak
proclaim the martyr.
7. She is said to have suffered martyrdom when
twelve years old. The more hateful was the cruelty, which spared not so
tender an age, the greater in truth was the power of faith which found
evidence even in that age. Was there room for a wound in that small
body? And she who had no room
for the blow of the steel had that wherewith to conquer the steel. But
maidens of that age are unable to bear even the angry looks of parents,
and are wont to cry at the pricks of a needle as though they were
wounds. She was fearless under the cruel hands of the executioners, she
was unmoved by the heavy weight of the creaking chains, offering her
whole body to the sword of the raging soldier, as yet ignorant of
death, but ready for it. Or if she were unwillingly hurried to the
altars, she was ready to stretch forth her hands to Christ at the
sacrificial fires, and at the sacrilegious altars themselves, to make
the sign of the Lord the Conqueror,(1) or again to place her neck and
both her hands in the iron bands, but no band could enclose such
slender limbs.
8. A new kind of martyrdom! Not yet of fit age for
punishment but already ripe for victory, difficult to contend with but
easy to be crowned, she filled the office of teaching valour while
having the disadvantage of youth. She would not as a bride so hasten to
the couch, as being a virgin she joyfully went to the place of
punishment with hurrying step, her head not adorned with plaited hair,
but with Christ. All wept, she alone was without a tear. All wondered
that she was so readily prodigal of her life, which she had not yet
enjoyed, and now gave up as though she had gone through it. Every one
was astounded that there was now one to bear witness to the Godhead,
who as yet could not, because of her age, dispose of herself. And she
brought
it to pass that she should be believed concerning God, whose evidence
concerning man would not be accepted. For that which is beyond nature
is from the Author of nature.
9. What threats the executioner used to make her
fear him, what allurements to persuade her, how many desired that she
would come to them in marriage! But she answered: "It would be an
injury to my spouse to look on any one. as likely to please me. He who
chose me first for Himself shall receive me. Why are you delaying,
executioner? Let this body perish which can be loved by eyes which I
would not." She stood, she prayed, she bent down her neck. You could
see the executioner tremble, as though he himself. had been condemned,
and his right hand shake, his face grow pale, as he feared the peril of
another, while the maiden feared not for her own. You have then in one
victim
365
a twofold martyrdom, of modesty and of religion. She both remained a
virgin and she obtained martyrdom.
CHAPTER III.
Virginity is praised on many grounds, but chiefly because it brought
down the Word from heaven, and hence its pursuit, which existed in but
few under the old covenant, has spread to countless numbers.
10. AND now the love of purity draws me on, and you,
my holy sister, even though not speaking in your silent habit, to say
something about virginity, test that which is a principal virtue should
seem to be passed by with only a slight reference. For virginity is not
praiseworthy because it is found in martyrs, but because itself makes
martyrs.
11. But who can comprehend that by human
understanding which not even nature has included in her laws? Or who
can explain in ordinary language that which is above the course of
nature? Virginity has brought from heaven that which it may imitate on
earth. And not unfittingly has she sought her manner of life from
heaven, who has found for herself a Spouse in heaven. She, passing
beyond the clouds, air, angels, and stars, has found the Word of God in
the very bosom of the Father, and has drawn Him into herself with her
whole heart. For who having found so great a Good would forsake it? For
"Thy Name is as ointment poured out, therefore have the maidens loved
Thee, and drawn Thee."(1) And indeed what I have said is not my own,
since they who marry not nor are given in marriage are as the angels in
heaven. Let us not, then, be surprised if they are compared to the
angels who are joined to the Lord of angels. Who, then, can deny that
this mode of life has its source m heaven, which we don't easily find
on earth, except since God came down into the members of an earthly
body? Then a Virgin conceived, and the Word became flesh that flesh
might become God.
12. But some one will say: "But Elijah is seen to
have had nothing to do with the embraces of bodily love." And therefore
was he carried by a chariot into heaven,(2) therefore he appeared
glorified with the Lord,(3) and therefore he is to come as the
forerunner of the Lord's advent.(4) And Miriam taking the timbrel led
the dances
with maidenly modesty.(1) But consider whom she was then representing.
Was she not a type of the Church, who as a virgin with unstained spirit
joins together the religious gatherings of the people to sing divine
songs? For we read that there were virgins appointed also in the temple
at Jerusalem. But what says the Apostle? "These things happened to them
in a figure, that they might be signs of what was to come."(2) For the
figure is shown in few, the life exists in many.
13. But in truth after that the Lord, coming in our
flesh, joined together the Godhead and flesh without any confusion or
mixture, then the practice of the life of heaven spreading throughout
the whole world was implanted in human bodies. This is that which
angels ministering on earth signified should come to pass,(3) which
ministry should be offered to the Lord with the service of an unstained
body. This is that heavenly service which the host of rejoicing angels
spoke of for the earth,(4) We have, then, the authority of antiquity
from of old, the fulness of the setting forth from Christ Himself.
CHAPTER IV.
The comeliness of virginity never existed amongst the heathen, neither
with the vestal virgins, nor amongst philosophers, such as Pythagoras.
14. I CERTAINLY have not this in common with the
heathen, nor in regard to it am I associated with barbarians, nor
practise it with other animals, with whom, although we breathe one and
the same vital air, and have a common condition of an earthly body, and
from whom we differ not in the mode of generation, in this point alone
we nevertheless avoid the reproach of likeness, that virginity is aimed
at by the heathen, but when consecrated it is violated, it is attacked
by barbarians, and is unknown to others.
15. Who will allege to me the virgins of Vesta. and
the priests of Pallas? What sort of chastity is that which is not of
morals, but of years, which is appointed not for ever, but for a term!
Such purity is all the more wanton of which the corruption is put off
for a later age. They teach their virgins ought not to persevere, and
are unable to do so, who have set a term to virginity. What sort of a
religion is that
366
in which modest maidens are bidden to be immodest old women? Nor is she
modest who is bound by law, and she immodest who is set free by law. O
the mystery! O the morals! where chastity is enforced by law and
authority given for lust! And so she is not chaste, who is constrained
by fear; nor honourable, who is hired for a price; nor is that modesty
which, exposed to the daily importunity of lascivious eyes, is attacked
by disgraceful looks. Exemptions are bestowed upon them, prices are
offered them, as though to sell one's chastity were not the greatest
sign of wantonness. That which is promised for a price is given up for
a price; is made over for a price; is considered to have its price. She
who is wont to sell her chastity knows not how to redeem it.
16. What shall I say of the Phrygian rites, in which
immodesty is the rule, and that too of the weaker sex? What of the
orgies of Bacchus, where the mystery of the rites is an incentive to
lust? Of what sort can the lives of priests be, then, where the
adulteries of the gods are matters of religion. So then they have no
sacred virgins.
17. Let us see whether perchance the precepts of
philosophers have formed any, for they are wont to claim the teaching
of all virtues. A certain Pythagorean virgin is spoken of in story,
whom a tyrant was endeavouring to compel to reveal the secret, and lest
it should be possible even in her torments for revelation to be
extorted from her, she bit off her tongue and spat it in the tyrant's
face, that he who would not make an end of questioning might not have
aught to question.
18. But that same virgin, so constant in mind, was
overcome by lust, though she could not be overcome by torments. And so
she who could keep the secret of her mind could not conceal the shame
of her body. She overcame nature, but observed not discipline. How she
would desire that her speech had existed as a defence of her chastity!
So she was not unconquered on every side, for although the tyrant could
not find out that which he sought, yet he did find what he sought not.
19. How much stronger are our virgins, who overcome
even those powers which they do not see; whose victory is not only over
flesh and blood, but also over the prince of this world, and ruler of
this age! In age, Agnes indeed was less, but in virtue greater,
triumphing over more, more constant in her confidence; she did not
destroy her tongue through fear, but kept it for a trophy. For there
was nothing in her which she feared to betray, since that which she
acknowledged was holy, not sinful. And so the former merely concealed
her secret, the latter bore witness to the Lord, and confessed Him in
her body, Whom her age did not yet suffer to confess.
CHAPTER V.
Heaven is the home of virginity, and the Son of God
its Author, Who though He was a Virgin before the
Virgin, yet being of the Virgin took the
Virgin Church as His bride. Of her we have all
been born. Some of her gifts are enumerated. Her daughters
have a special excellence in that virginity is
not a matter of
precept, and that it is a most powerful help in the pursuit
of piety.
20. IT is the custom in encomiums to speak of
country and parentage of the subject, that the greatness of the
offspring may be enhanced by mention of the father. Now I, who have not
undertaken to praise but to set forth virginity, yet think it to the
purpose to make known its country and its parent. First, let us settle
where is its country. Now, if one's country be there where is the home
of one's birth, without doubt heaven is the native country of chastity.
And so she is a stranger here, but a denizen there.
21. And what is virginal chastity but purity free
from stain? And whom can we judge to be its author but the immaculate
Son of God, Whose flesh saw no corruption, Whose Godhead experienced no
infection?. Consider, then, how great are the merits of virginity.
Christ was before the Virgin, Christ was of the Virgin. Begotten indeed
of the Father before the ages, but born of the Virgin for the ages. The
former was of His own nature, the latter is for our benefit. The former
always was, the latter He willed.
22. Consider, too, another merit of virginity.
Christ is the spouse of the Virgin, and if one may so say of virginal
chastity, for virginity is of Christ, not Christ of virginity. He is,
then, the Virgin Who was espoused, the Virgin Who bare us, Who fed us
with her own milk, of whom we read: "How great things hath the virgin
of Jerusalem done! The teats shall not fail from the rock, nor snow
from Lebanon, nor the water which is borne by the strong wind."(1) Who
is this virgin that is watered with the streams of the Trinity, from
whose rock waters flow, whose teats fail not, and whose honey is poured
forth? Now, according to the Apostle, the rock is Christ.(2) Therefore,
367
from Christ the teats fail not, nor brightness from God, nor the river
from the Spirit. This is the Trinity which waters their Church, the
Father, Christ, and the Spirit.
23. But let us now come down from the mother
to the daughters. "Concerning virgins," says the Apostle, "I have
no commandment of the Lord."(1) If the teacher of the Gentiles had
none, who could have one? And in truth he had no commandment, but he
had an example. For virginity cannot be commanded, but must be wished
for, for things which are above us are matters for prayer rather than
under mastery. "But I would have you," he says, "be without
carefulness. For he who is without a wife is careful for the things
which are the Lord's, how he may please God.And the virgin taketh
thought for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy in body and in
spirit. For she that is married taketh thought for the things of the
world, how she may please her husband."(2)
CHAPTER VI.
St. Ambrose explains that he is not speaking against marriage, and
proceeds to compare the advantages and disadvantages of the single and
married state.
24. I AM not indeed discouraging marriage, but am
enlarging upon the benefits of virginity. "He who is weak," says the
Apostle, "eateth herbs."(3) I consider one thing necessary, I admire
another. "Art thou bound to a wife? Seek not to be loosed. Art thou
free from a wife? Seek not a wife."(4) This is the command to those who
are. But what does he say concerning virgins? "He who giveth his virgin
in marriage doeth well, and he who giveth her not doeth better."(5) The
one sins not if she marries, the other, if she marries not, it is for
eternity. In the former is the remedy for weakness, in the latter the
glory of chastity. The former is not reproved, the latter is praised.
25. Let us compare, if it pleases you, the
advantages of married women with that which awaits virgins. Though the
noble woman boasts of her abundant offspring, yet the more she bears
the more she endures. Let her count up the comforts of her children,
but let her likewise count up the troubles. She marries and weeps. How
many vows does she make with tears. She conceives, and her fruitfulness
brings
her trouble before offspring. She brings forth and is ill. How sweet a
pledge which begins with danger and ends in danger. which will cause
pain before pleasure! It is purchased by perils, and is not possessed
at her own will.
26. Why speak of the troubles of nursing, training,
and marrying? These are the miseries of those who are fortunate. A
mother has heirs, but it increases her sorrows. For we must not speak
of adversity, lest the minds of the holiest parents tremble. Consider,
my sister, how hard it must be to bear what one must not speak of. And
this is in this present age. But the days shall come when they shall
say: "Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare."(1) For
the daughters of this age are conceived, and conceive; but the daughter
of the kingdom refrains from wedded pleasure, and the pleasure of the
flesh, that she may be holy in body and in spirit.
27. Why should I further speak of the painful
ministrations and services due to their husbands from wives, to whom
before slaves God gave the command to serve?(2) And I mention these
things that they may comply more willingly, whose reward, if approved,
is love; if not approved, punishment for the fault.
28. And in this position spring up those incentives
to vice, in that they paint their faces with various colours, fearing
not to please their husbands; and from staining their faces, come to
think of staining their chastity. What madness is here, to change the
fashion of nature and seek a painting, and while fearing a husband's
judgment to give up their own. For she is the first to speak against
herself who wishes to change that which is natural to her. So, while
studying to please others, she displeases herself. What truer witness
to thy unsightliness do we require, O woman, than thyself who art
afraid to be seen? If thou art beautiful, why hidest thou thyself? If
unsightly, why dost thou falsely pretend to beauty, so as to have
neither the satisfaction of thy own conscience, nor of the error of
another? For he loves another, thou desirest to please another. And art
thou angry if he love another, who is taught to do so in thy own
person? Thou art an evil teacher of thy own injury.
29. And next, what expense is necessary that even a
beautiful wife may not fail to please? Costly necklaces on the one hand
368
hang on her neck, on the other a robe woven with gold is dragged along
the ground. Is this display purchased, or is it a real possession? And
what varied enticements of perfumes are made use of! The ears are
weighed down with gems, a different colour from nature is dropped into
the eyes. What is there left which is her own, when so much is changed?
The married woman loves her own perceptions, and does she think that
this is to live?
30. But you, O happy virgins, who know not such
torments, rather than ornaments, whose holy modesty, beaming in your
bashful cheeks, and sweet chastity are a beauty, ye do not, intent upon
the eyes of men, consider as merits what is gained by the errors of
others. You, too, have indeed your own beauty, furnished by the
comeliness of virtue, not of the body, to which age puts not an end,
which death cannot take away, nor any sickness injure. Let God alone be
sought as the judge of loveliness, Who loves even in less beautiful
bodies the more beautiful souls. You know nothing of the burden and
pain of childbearing, but more are the offspring of a pious soul, which
esteems all as its children, which is rich in successors, barren of all
bereavements, which knows no deaths, but has many heirs.
31. So the holy Church, ignorant of wedlock, but
fertile in bearing, is in chastity a virgin, yet a mother in offspring.
She, a virgin, bears us her children, not by a human father, but by the
Spirit. She bears us not with pain, but with the rejoicings of the
angels. She, a virgin, feeds us, not with the milk of the body, but
with that of the Apostle, wherewith he fed the tender age of the people
who were still children.(1) For what bride has more children than holy
Church, who is a virgin in her sacraments and a mother to her people,
whose fertility even holy Scripture attests, saying, "For many more are
the children of the desolate than of her that hath an husband"?(2) She
has not an husband, but she has a Bridegroom, inasmuch as she, whether
as the Church amongst nations, or as the soul in individuals, without
any loss of modesty, she weds the Word of God as her eternal Spouse,
free from all injury, full of reason.
CHAPTER VII.
St. Ambrose exhorts parents to train their children to
virginity, and sets before them the troubles arising
from their desire to have grandchildren. He says however that he does
not forbid marriage, but rather defends it against heretics who oppose
it. Still setting virginity before marriage, he speaks of the beauty of
their spouse, and of the gifts wherewith He adorns them, and applies to
these points certain vetoes of the Song of Songs.
32. You have heard, O parents, in what virtues and
pursuits you ought to train your daughters, that you may possess those
by whose merits your faults may be redeemed. The virgin is an offering
for her mother, by whose daily sacrifice the divine power is appeased.
A virgin is the inseparable pledge of her parents, who neither troubles
them for a dowry, nor forsakes them, nor injures them in word or
deed.(1)
33. But some one perhaps wishes to have
grandchildren, and to be called grandfather. In the first place, such a
one gives up what is his own, while seeking what is another's, and is
already losing what is certain, while hoping to gain what is uncertain;
he gives away his own riches, and still more is asked for; if he does
not pay the dowry, it is exacted; if he lives long, he becomes a
burden. This is to buy a son-in-law, not to gain one who would sell a
sight of their daughter to her parents. Was she borne so long in her
mother's womb in order that she might pass under the power of another?
And so the parents take the charge of setting off their virgin that she
may so be the sooner removed from them.
34. Some one may say, Do you, then, discourage
marriage? Nay, I encourage it, and condemn those who are wont to
discourage it, so much so, that indeed I am wont to speak of the
marriages of Sarah, Rebecca, and Rachel, and other women of old time,
as instances of singular virtues. For he who condemns marriage,
condemns the birth of children, and condemns the fellowship of the
human race, continued by a series of successive generations. For how
could generation succeed generation in a continual order, unless the
gift of marriage stirred up the desire of offspring? Or how could one
set forth that Isaac went to the altar of God as a victim of his
father's piety, or that Israel, when yet in the body, saw God,(2) and
gave a holy name to the people while speaking against that whereby they
came into being? Those men, though wicked, have one point at any rate,
wherein they are up-proved even by the wise persons, that in
369
speaking against marriage they declare that they ought not to have been
born.
35. I do not then discourage marriage, but
recapitulate the advantages of holy virginity. This is the gift of few
only, that is of all. And virginity itself cannot exist, unless it have
some mode of coming into existence. I am comparing good things with
good things, that it may be clear which is the more excellent. Nor do I
allege any opinion of my own, but I repeat that which the Holy Spirit
spake by the prophet: "Blessed is the barren that is undefiled."(1)
36. First of all, in that which those who purpose to
marry desire above all things, that they may boast of the beauty of
their husband, they must of necessity confess that they are inferior to
virgins, to Whom alone it is suitable to say: "Thou art fairer than the
children of men, grace is poured on Thy lips."(2) Who is that Spouse?
One not given to common indulgences, not proud of possessing riches,
but He Whose throne is for ever and ever. The king's daughters share in
His honour: "At Thy right hand stood the queen in a vesture of gold,
clothed with variety of virtues. Hearken, then, O daughter, and
consider, and incline thine ear, and forget thine own people and thy
father's house; for the king hath desired thy beauty, for He is thy
God."(3)
37. And observe what a kingdom the Holy Spirit by
the witness of the divine Scriptures has assigned to thee--gold, and
beauty; gold, either because thou art the bride of the Eternal King, or
because having an unconquered mind, thou art not taken captive by the
allurements of pleasures, but rulest over them like a queen. Gold
again, because as that metal is more precious when tried by fire, so
the appearance of the virginal body, consecrated to the Divine Spirit,
gains an increase of its own comeliness, for who can imagine a
loveliness greater than the beauty of her who is loved by the King,
approved by the judge, dedicated to the Lord, consecrated to God; ever
a bride, ever unmarried, so that neither does love suffer an ending,
nor modesty loss.
38. This is indeed true beauty, to which nothing is
wanting, which alone is worthy to hear the Lord saying: "Thou art all
fair, My love, and no blemish is in thee. Come hither from Lebanon, My
spouse, come hither from Lebanon. Thou shalt pass and pass through from
the beginning of faith, from the top of Sanir and Hermon, from the dens
of the lions, from the mountains of the leopards."(1) By which
references is set forth the perfect and irreproachable beauty of a
virgin soul, consecrated to the altars of God, not moved by perishable
things amidst the haunts and dens of spiritual wild beasts, but intent,
by the mysteries of God, on being found worthy of the Beloved, Whose
breasts are full of joy. For "wine maketh glad the heart of man."(2)
39. "The smell of thy garments," says He, "is above
all spices."(3) And again: "And the smell of thy garments is like the
smell of Lebanon."(4) See what progress thou settest forth, O Virgin.
Thy first odour is above all spices, which were used upon the burying
of the Saviour,(5) and the fragrance arises from the mortified motions
of the body, and the perishing of the delights of the members. Thy
second odour, like the odour of Lebanon, exhales the incorruption of
the Lord's body, the flower of virginal chastity.
CHAPTER VIII.
Taking the passage concerning the honeycomb in the Song of Songs, he
expounds it, comparing the sacred virgins to bees.
40. LET, then, your work be as it were a honeycomb,
for virginity is fit to be compared to bees, so laborious is it, so
modest, so continent. The bee feeds on dew, it knows no marriage couch,
it makes honey. The virgin's dew is the divine word, for the words of
God descend like the dew. The virgin's modesty is unstained nature. The
virgin's produce is the fruit of the lips, without bitterness,
abounding in sweetness. They work in common, and their fruit is in
common.
41. How I wish you, my daughter, to be an imitator
of these bees, whose food is flowers, whose offspring is collected and
brought together by the mouth. Do imitate her, my daughter. Let no veil
of deceit be spread over your words; let them have no covering of
guile, that they may be pure, and full of gravity.
42. And let an eternal succession of merits be
brought forth by your mouth. Gather not for yourself alone (for how do
you know when your soul shall be required of you?), lest leaving your
granaries heaped full with corn, which will be a help neither to your
life nor to your merits, you be hurried thither where you cannot take
your treasure with you. Be rich then, but towards the poor,
370
that as they share in your nature they may also share your goods.
43. And I also point out to you what flower is to be
culled, that one it is Who said: "I am the Flower of the field, and the
Lily of the valleys, as a lily among thorns,"(1) which is a plain
declaration that virtues are surrounded by the thorns of spiritual
wickedness, so that no one can gather the fruit who does not approach
with caution.
CHAPTER IX.
Other passages from the Song of Songs are considered with relation to
the present subject, and St. Ambrose exhorting the virgin to seek for
Christ, points out where He may be found. A description of His
perfections follows, and a comparison is made between virgins and the
angels.
44. TAKE, then, O Virgin, the wings of the Spirit,
that you may fly far above all vices, if you wish to attain to Christ:
"He dwelleth on high, but beholdeth lowly things;"(2) and His
appearance is as that of a cedar of Lebanon, which has its foliage in
the clouds, its roots in the earth. For its beginning is from heaven,
its ending on earth, and it produces fruit very close to heaven. Search
diligently for so precious a flower, if perchance you may find it in
the recesses of your breast, for it is most often to be enjoyed in
lowly places.
45. It loves to grow in gardens, in which Susanna,
while walking, found it, and was ready to die rather than it should be
violated. But what is meant by the gardens He Himself points out,
saying: "A garden enclosed is My sister, My spouse, a garden enclosed,
a fountain sealed;"(3) because in gardens of this kind the water of the
pure fountain shines, reflecting the features of the image of God, test
its streams mingled with mud from the wallowing places of spiritual
wild beasts should be polluted. For this reason, too, that modesty of
virgins fenced in by the wall of the Spirit is enclosed lest it should
lie open to be plundered. And so as a garden inaccessible from without
smells of the violet is scented with the olive, and is resplendent with
the rose, that religion may increase in the vine, peace in the olive,
and the modesty of consecrated virginity in the rose. This is the odour
of which the patriarch Jacob smelt when he heard his father say: "See
the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which is full."(4) For
although the field of the holy patriarch was full of almost all fruits,
the other brought forth its crops with greater labour, the latter
flowers.
46. To work, then, O Virgin, and if you wish your
garden to be sweet after this sort, enclose it with the precepts of the
prophets: "Set a watch before thy mouth, and a door to thy lips,"(1)
that you, too, may be able to say: "As the apple-tree among the trees
of the wood, so is my Beloved among the sons. In His shadow I delighted
and sat down, and His fruit was sweet to my palate.(2) I found Him Whom
my soul loved, I held Him and would not let him go. My beloved came
down into His garden to eat the fruit of His trees.(3) Come, my
Beloved, let us go forth into the field.(4) Set me as a signet upon
Thine heart, and as a seal upon Thine arm.(5) My Beloved is white and
ruddy."(6) For it is fitting, O Virgin, that you should fully know Him
Whom you love, and should recognize in Him all the mystery of His
Divine Nature and the Body which He has assumed. He is white fittingly,
for He is the brightness of the Father; and ruddy, for He was born of a
Virgin. The colour of each nature shines and glows in Him. But remember
that the marks of His Godhead are more ancient in Him than the
mysteries of His body, for He did not take His origin from the Virgin,
but, He Who already existed came into the Virgin.
47. He Who was spoiled by the soldiers, Who was
wounded by the spear, that He might heal us by the blood of His sacred
wounds, will assuredly answer you (for He is meek and lowly of heart,
and gentle in aspect): "Arise, O north wind, and come, O south, and
blow upon My garden, that My spices may flow out."(7) For from all
parts of the world has the perfume of holy religion increased, and the
limbs of the consecrated Virgin have glowed. "Thou art beautiful, O my
love, as Tirzah, comely as Jerusalem."(8) So it is not the beauty of
the perishable body, which will come to an end with sickness or old
age, but the reputation for good deserts, subject to no accidents and
never to perish, which is the beauty of virgins.
48. And since you are worthy to be compared not now
with men but with heavenly beings, whose life you are living on earth,
receive from the Lord the precepts you are to observe: "Set Me as a
signet upon thine heart, and as a seal upon thine arm;"(9) that clearer
proofs of your prudence and actions may be set forth, in which Christ
the
371
Figure of God may shine, Who, equalling fully the nature of the Father,
has expressed the whole which He took of the Father's Godhead. Whence
also the Apostle Paul says that we are sealed in the Spirit;(1) since
we have in the Son the image of the Father, and in the Spirit the seal
of the Son. Let us, then, sealed by this Trinity, take more diligent
heed, lest either levity of character or the deceit of any
unfaithfulness unseal the pledge which we have received in our hearts.
49. But let fear secure this for the holy virgins,
for whom the Church first provided such protection, who, anxious for
the prosperity of her tender offspring, herself as a wall with breasts
as many towers,(2) increases her care for them, until, the fear of
hostile attack being at an end, she obtains by the care of a mother's
love peace for her vigorous children. Wherefore the prophet says:
"Peace be on thy virtue, and abundance in thy towers."(3)
50. Then the Lord of peace Himself, after having
embraced in His strong arms the vineyards committed to Him, and
beholding their shoots putting forth buds, with glad looks, tempers the
breezes to the young fruits, as Himself testifies, saying: "My vineyard
is in My sight, a thousand for Solomon, and two hundred who keep the
fruit thereof."(4)
51. Above it is said: "Sixty strong men round about
its offspring, armed with drawn swords, and expert in warlike
discipline,"(5) here there are a thousand and two hundred. The number
has increased, where the fruit has increased, for the more holy each
is, the more is he guarded. So Elisha the prophet showed the hosts of
angels who were present to guard him; so Joshua the son of Nun
recognized the Captain of the heavenly host. They, then, who are able
also to fight for us are able to guard the fruit that is in us. And for
you, holy virgins, there is a special guardianship, for you who with
unspotted chastity keep the couch of the Lord holy. And no wonder if
the angels fight for you who war with the mode of life of angels.
Virginal chastity merits their guardianship whose life it attains to.
52. Why should I continue the praise of chastity in
more words? For chastity has made even angels. He who has preserved it
is an angel; he who has lost it a devil. And hence has religion also
gained its name. She is a virgin who is the bride of God, a harlot who
makes gods for herself. What shall I say of the resurrection of which
you already hold the rewards: "For in the resurrection they will
neither be given in marriage, nor marry, but shall be," He says, "as
the angels in heaven."(1) That which is promised to us is already
present with you, and the object of your prayers is with you; ye are of
this world, and yet not in this world. This age has held you, but has
not been able to retain you.
53. But what a great thing it is that angels because
of incontinence fell from heaven into this world, that virgins because
of chastity passed from the world into heaven. Blessed virgins, whom
the delights of the flesh do not allure, nor the defilement of
pleasures cast down. Sparing food and abstinence in drink train them in
ignorance of vices, seeing they keep them from knowing the causes of
vices. That which causes sin has often deceived even the just. In this
way the people of God after they sat down to eat and drink denied
God.(2) In this way, too, Lot knew not, and so endured his daughters'
wickedness.(3) So, too, the sons of Noah going backward covered their
father's nakedness, which he who was wanton saw, he who was modest
blushed at and dutifully hid, fearful of offending if he too saw it.(4)
How great is the power of wine, so that wine made him naked which the
waters of the deluge could not.
CHAPTER IX.
Finally, another glory of virginity is mentioned, that it is free from
avarice. St. Ambrose, addressing his sister, reminds her of the great
happiness of those who are free from those troubles as to luxury and
vanity which come upon those who are about to marry.
WHAT then? What happiness it is that no desire of possessions inflames
you! The poor man demands what you have, he does not ask for what you
have not. The fruit of your labour is a treasure for the needy, and two
mites, if they be all one has, are wealth on the part of the giver.
54. Listen, then, my sister, from what you
escape. For it is not for me to teach nor for you to learn what you
ought to guard against, for the practice of perfect virtue does not
require teaching, but instructs others. You see how like she is to the
litters at processions, who lays herself out to please, attracting to
herself the look and gaze of
372
all; less beautiful is she because she strives to please, for she
displeases the people before she pleases her husband. But in you the
rejection of all care for spendour is far more becoming, and the very
fact that you do not adorn yourselves is an ornament.
55. Look at the ears pierced with wounds, and pity
the neck weighed down with burdens. That the metals are different does
not lighten the suffering. In one case a chain binds the neck, in
another a fetter encloses the foot. It makes no difference whether the
body be loaded with gold or with iron. Thus the neck is weighed down
and the steps are hindered. The price makes it no better, except that
you women are afraid lest that which causes you suffering be lost. What
is the difference whether the sentence of another or your own condemn
you? Nay, you, even more wretched than those, are condemned by public
justice, since they desire to be set free, you to be bound.
56. But how wretched a position, that she who is
marriageable is in a species of sale put up as it were to auction to be
bid for, so that he who offers the highest price purchases her. Slaves
are sold on more tolerable conditions, for they often choose their
masters; if a maiden chooses it is an offence, if not it is an insult.
And she, though she be beautiful and comely, both fears and wishes to
be seen; she wishes it that she may sell herself for a better price;
she fears lest the fact of her being seen should itself be unbecoming.
But what absurdities of wishes and fears and suspicions are there as to
how the suitors will turn out, lest a poor man may beguile her, or a
rich one contemn her, lest a handsome suitor mock her, lest a noble one
despise her.
CHAPTER XI.
St. Ambrose answers objections made to the uselessness of his
exhortations in favour of virginity, and brings forward instances of
virgins especially in various places he mentions, and speaks of their
zeal in the cause.
57. SOME one may say, you are always singing the
praises of virgins. What shall I do who am always singing them and have
no success? But this is not my fault. Then, too, virgins come from
Placentia to be consecrated, or from Bononia, and Mauritania, in order
to receive the veil here. You see a striking thing here. I treat the
matter here, and persuade those who are elsewhere. If this be so, let
me treat the subject elsewhere, that I may persuade you.
58. What is it, then, that even they who hear me not
follow my teaching, and those who hear me follow me not? For I have
known many virgins who had the desire, but were prevented from going
forward by their mothers, and, which is more serious, mothers who were
widows, to whom I will now address myself. For if your daughters
desired to love a man, they could, by law, choose whom they would. Are
they, then, who are allowed to choose a man not allowed to choose God?
59. Behold how sweet is the fruit of modesty, which
has sprung up even in the affections of barbarians. Virgins coming from
the most distant on this and that side of Mauritania desire to be
consecrated here; and though all the families be in bonds, yet modesty
cannot be bound. She who mourns over the hardship of slavery avows an
eternal kingdom.
60. And what shall I say of the virgins of Bononia,
a fertile band of chastity, who, forsaking worldly delights, inhabit
the sanctuary of virginity?(1) Not being of the sex which lives in
common, attaining m their common chastity to the number of twenty, and
fruit to an hundredfold, leaving their parents' dwelling they press
into the houses of Christ, as soldiers of unwearied chastity; at one
time singing spiritual songs, they provide their sustenance by labour,
and seek with their hands supplies for their liberality.
61. But if the attraction of searching for virgins
has grown strong (for they beyond others follow up the search and watch
for purity), they follow up their hidden prey with the greatest
perseverance to its very chambers; or, if the flight of any one shall
have seemed more free, one may see them rise on the wing, hear the
rustling of their feathers, and the bursting of applause; so as to
surround the one on wing with a chaste band of modesty, until rejoicing
in that fair companionship, forgetful of her father's house, she enters
the regions of modesty and the fenced-in home of chastity.
CHAPTER XII.
It is very desirable that parents should encourage the desire for the
virgin life, but more praiseworthy when the love of God draws a maiden
even against their will. The violence of parents and the loss of
property are not to be feared, and an instance of this is related by
St. Ambrose.
62. IT is a good thing, then, that the zeal
373
of parents, like favouring gales, should aid a virgin; but it is more
glorious if the fire of tender age even without the incitement of those
older of its own self burst forth into the flame of chastity. Parents
will refuse a dowry, but you have a wealthy Spouse, satisfied with
Whose treasures you will not miss the revenues of a father's
inheritance. How much is poverty to chastity superior to bridal gifts!
63. And yet of whom have you heard as ever, because
of her desire for chastity, having been deprived of her lawful
inheritance? Parents speak against her, but are willing to be overcome.
They resist at first because they are afraid to believe; they often are
angry that one may learn to overcome; they threaten to disinherit to
try whether one is able not to fear temporal loss; they caress with
exquisite allurements to see if one cannot be softened by the
inducement of various pleasures. You are being exercised, O virgin,
whilst you are being urged. And the anxious entreaties of your parents
are your first battles. Conquer your affection first, O maiden. If you
conquer your home, you conquer the world.
64. But suppose that the loss of your patrimony
awaits you; are not the future realms of heaven a compensation for
perishable and frail possessions? For if we believe the heavenly
message, "there is no one who has forsaken house, or parents, or
brethren, or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God's sake, who
shall not receive sevenfold more in this present time, and in the world
to come shall have everlasting life."(1) Entrust your faith to God, who
entrust your money to man; lend to Christ. The faithful keeper of the
deposit of your hope pays the talent of your faith with manifold
interest. The Truth does not deceive, Justice does not circumvent,
Virtue does not deceive. But if you believe not God's word, at least
believe instances.
65. Within my memory a girl once noble
in the world, now more noble in the sight of God, being urged to a
marriage by her parents and kinsfolk, took refuge at the holy altar.
Whither could a virgin better flee, than thither where the Virgin
Sacrifice is offered? Nor was even that the limit of her boldness. She,
the oblation of modesty, the victim of chastity, was standing at the
altar of God, now placing upon her head the right hand of the priest,
asking his prayers, and now impatient at the righteous delay, placing
the top of her head under the altar. "Can any better veil," she said,
"cover me better than the altar which consecrates the veils themselves?
Such a bridal veil is most suitable on which Christ, the Head of all,
is daily consecrated. What are you doing, my kinsfolk? Why do you still
trouble my mind with seeking marriage ? I have long since provided for
that. Do you offer me a bridegroom? I have found a better. Make the
most you can of my wealth, boast of his nobility, extol his power, I
have Him with Whom no one can compare himself, rich in the world,
powerful in empire, noble in heaven. If you have such an one, I do not
reject the choice; if you do not find such, you do me not a kindness,
my relatives, but an injury."
66. When the others were silent, one burst forth
somewhat roughly: "If," he said, "your father were alive, would he
suffer you to remain unmarried?" Then she replied with more religion
and more restrained piety: "And perchance he is gone that no one may be
able to hinder me.
Which answer concerning her father, but warning as to himself, he made
good by his own speedy death. So the others, each of them, fearing the
same for himself, began to assist and not to hinder her as before, and
her virginity involved not the loss of the property due to her, but
also received the reward of her integrity. You see, maidens, the reward
of devotion, and do you, parents, be warned by the example of
transgression.
374
BOOK II.
CHAFFER I.
In this book St. Ambrose purposes to treat of the training of virgins,
using examples rather than precepts, and explains why he does so in
writing rather than by word of mouth.
1. Is the former book I wished(though I was not
able) to set forth how great is the gift of virginity, that the grace
of the heavenly gift might of itself invite the reader. In the second
book it is fitting that the virgin should be instructed and, as it
were, be educated by the teaching of suitable precepts.
2. But, inasmuch as I am feeble in advising and
unequal to teaching(for he who teaches ought to excel him who is
taught), lest I should seem to have abandoned the task I have
undertaken, or to have taken too much upon myself, I thought it better
to instruct by examples than by precepts; for more progress may be made
by means of an example, inasmuch as that which has been already done is
considered to be not difficult, and that which has been tried to be
expedient, and that which has been transmitted in sucession to us by a
kind of hereditary practice of ancestral virtue to be binding in
religion.
3. But if any one rebukes me for presumption, let
him rather rebuke me for zeal, because I thought that I ought not to
refuse even this to the virgins who asked it of me. For I preferred
rather to run the risk of perilling my own modesty, than not to fulfil
the wish of those whose pursuits even our God favours with kindly
approbation.
4. Nor can the mark of presumption be set on my
task, since, when they had those from whom they could learn, they
sought my good-will rather than my teaching, and my zeal may be
excused, since when they had the guidance of a martyr for the
observance of discipline, I did not think it superfluous if I could
turn the persuasion of my discourse into an allurement to profession.
He who teaches with facility restrains fault with severity; I, who
cannot teach, entice.
5. And because many who were absent desired to have
the use of my discourse, I compiled this book, in order that holding in
their hands the substance of what my voice had uttered to them, they
might not think that he whom they were holding failed them. But let us
go on with our plan.
CHAPTER II.
The life of Mary is set before virgins as an example, and her many
virtues are dwelt upon, her chastity, humility, hard life, love of
retirement, and the like; then her kindness to others, her zeal in
learning, and love of frequenting the temple. St. Ambrose then sets
forth how she, adorned with all these virtues, will come to meet the
numberless bands of virgins and lead them with great triumph to the
bridal chamber of the Spouse.
6. LET, then, the life of Mary be as it were
virginity itself, set forth in a likeness, from which, as from a
mirror, the appearance of chastity and the form of virtue is reflected.
From this you may take your pattern of life, showing, as an example,
the clear rules of virtue: what you have to correct, to effect, and to
hold fast.
7. The first thing which kindles ardour in learning
is the greatness of the teacher. What is greater than the Mother of
God? What more glorious than she whom Glory Itself chose? What more
chaste than she who bore a body without contact with another body? For
why should I speak of her other virtues? She was a virgin not only in
body but also in mind, who stained the sincerity of its disposition by
no guile, who was humble in heart, grave in speech, prudent in mind,
sparing of words, studious in reading, resting her hope not on
uncertain riches, but on the prayer of the poor, intent on work, modest
in discourse; wont to seek not man but God as the judge of her
thoughts, to injure no one, to have goodwill towards all, to rise up
before her elders, not to envy her equals, to avoid boastfulness, to
follow reason, to love virtue. When did she pain her parents even by a
look? When did she disagree with her neighbours? When did she despise
the lowly? When did she avoid the needy? Being wont only to go to such
gatherings of men as mercy would not blush at, nor modesty pass by.
There was nothing gloomy in her eyes, nothing forward in her words,
nothing unseemly in her acts, there was not a silly movement, nor
unrestrained step, nor was her voice petulant, that the very appearance
375
of her outward being might be the image of her soul, the representation
of what is approved. For a well-ordered house ought to be recognized on
the very threshold, and should show at the very first entrance thatno
darkness is hidden within, as our soul hindered by no restraints of the
body may shine abroad like a lamp placed within.
8. Why should I detail her spareness of food, her
abundance of services--the one abounding beyond nature, the other
almost insufficient for nature? And there were no seasons of slackness,
but days of fasting, one upon the other. And if ever the desire for
refreshment came, her food was generally what came to hand, taken to
keep off death, not to minister to comfort. Necessity before
inclination caused her to sleep, and yet when her body was sleeping her
soul was awake, and often in sleep either went again through what had
been read, or went on with what had been interrupted by sleep, or
carried out what had been designed, or foresaw what was to be carried
out.
9. She was unaccustomed to go from home, except for
divine service, and this with parents or kinsfolk. Busy in private at
home, accompanied by others abroad, yet with no better guardian than
herself, as she, inspiring respect by her gait and address, progressed
not so much by the motion of her feet as by step upon step of virtue.
But though the Virgin had other persons who were protectors of her
body, she alone guarded her character; she can learn many points if she
be her own teacher, who possesses the perfection of all virtues, for
whatever she did is a lesson. Mary attended to everything as though she
were warned by many, and fulfilled every obligation of virtue as though
she were teaching rather than learning.
10. Such has the Evangelist shown her, such did the
angel find her, such did the Holy Spirit choose her. Why delay about
details? How her parents loved her, strangers praised her, how worthy
she was that the Son of God should be born of her. She, when the angel
entered, was found at home in privacy, without a companion, that no one
might interrupt her attention or disturb her; and she did not desire
any women as companions, who had the companionship of good thoughts.
Moreover, she seemed to herself to be less alone when she was alone.
For how should she be alone, who had with her so many books, so many
archangels, so many prophets?
11. And so, too, when Gabriel visited
her,(1) did he find her, and Mary trembled, being disturbed, as though
at the form of a man, but on hearing his name recognized him as one not
unknown to her. And so she was a stranger as to men, but not as to the
angel; that we might know that her ears were modest and her eyes
bashful. Then when saluted she kept silence, and when addressed she
answered, and she whose feelings were first troubled afterwards
promised obedience.
12. And holy Scripture points out how modest she was
towards her neighbours. For she became more humble when she knew
herself to be chosen of God, and went forthwith to her kinswoman in the
hill country, not in order to gain belief by anything external, for she
had believed the word of God. "Blessed," she said, "art thou who didst
believe."(2) And she abode with her three months. Now in such an
interval of time it is not that faith is being sought for, but kindness
which is being shown. And this was after that the child, leaping in his
mother's womb, had saluted the mother of the Lord, attaining to reason
before birth.
13. And then, in the many subsequent wonders, when
the barren bore a son, the virgin conceived, the dumb spake, the wise
men worshipped, Simeon waited, the stars gave notice. Mary, who was
moved by the angel's entrance, was unmoved by the miracles. "Mary," it
is said, "kept all these things in her heart,"(3) Though she was the
mother of the Lord, yet she desired to learn the precepts of the Lord,
and she who brought forth God, yet desired to know God.
14. And then, how she also went every year to
Jerusalem at the solemn day of the passover, and went with Joseph.
Everywhere is modesty the companion of her singular virtues in the
Virgin. This, without which virginity cannot exist, must be the
inseparable companion of virginity. And so Mary did not go even to the
temple without the guardianship of her modesty.
15. This is the likeness of virginity. For Mary was
such that her example alone is a lesson for all. If, then, the author
displeases us not, let us make trial of the production, that whoever
desires its reward for herself may imitate the pattern. How many kinds
of virtues shine forth in one Virgin! The secret of modesty, the banner
of faith, the service of devotion, the Virgin within the house, the
companion for the ministry, the mother at the temple.
376
16. Oh! how many virgins shall she meet, how many
shall she embrace and bring to the Lord, and say: "She has been
faithful to her espousal, to my Son; she has kept her bridal couch with
spotless modesty." How shall the Lord Himself commend them to His
Father, repeating again those words of His: "Holy Father, these are
they whom I have kept for Thee, on whom the Son of Man leant His head
and rested; I ask that where I am there they may be with Me."(1) And if
they ought to benefit not themselves only, who lived not for themselves
alone, one virgin may redeem her parents, another her brothers. "Holy
Father, the world hath not known Me, but these have known Me, and have
willed not to know the world."(2)
17. What a procession shall that be, what joy of
applauding angels when she is found worthy of dwelling in heaven who
lived on earth a heavenly life! Then too Mary,(3) taking her timbrel,
shall stir up the choirs of virgins, singing to the Lord because they
have passed through the sea of this world without suffering from the
waves of this world.(4) Then each shall rejoice, saying: "I will go to
the altar of God; to God Who maketh my youth glad;"(5) and, "I will
offer unto God thanksgiving, and pay my vows unto the Most High."(6)
18. Nor would I hesitate to admit you to the altars
of God, whose souls I would without hesitation call altars, on which
Christ is daily offered for the redemption of the body. For if the
virgin's body be a temple of God, what is her soul, which, the ashes,
as it were, of the body being shaken off, once more uncovered by the
hand of the Eternal Priest, exhales the vapour of the divine fire.
Blessed virgins, who emit a fragrance through divine grace as
gardens do through flowers, temples through religion, altars through
the priest.
CHAPTER III.
St. Ambrose having set forth the Virgin Mary as a pattern for life,
adduces Thecla as a model for learning how to die. Thecla suffered not
from the beasts to whom she was condemned, but on the contrary received
from them signs of reverence. He then proceeds to introduce a more
recent example.
19. LET, then, holy Mary instruct you in the
discipline of life, and Thecla teach you how to be offered, for she,
avoiding nuptial intercourse, and condemned through her husband's rage,
changed even the disposition of wild beasts by their reverence for
virginity. For being made ready for the wild beasts, when avoiding the
gaze of men, she offered her vital parts to a fierce lion, caused those
who had turned away their immodest looks to turn them back modestly.
20. The beast was to be seen lying on the ground,
licking her feet, showing without a sound that it could not injure the
sacred body of the virgin. So the beast reverenced his prey, and
forgetful of his own nature, put on that nature which men had lost. One
could see, as it were, by some transfusion of nature, men clothed with
savageness, goading the beast to cruelty, and the beast kissing the
feet of the virgin, teaching them what was due from men. Virginity has
in itself so much that is admirable, that even lions admire it. Food
did not induce them though kept without their meal; no impulse hurried
them on when excited;anger did not exasperate them when stirred up, nor
did their habits lead them blindly as they were wont, nor their own
natural disposition possess them with fierceness. They set an example
of piety when reverencing the martyr; and gave a lesson in favor of
chastity when they did nothing but kiss the virgin s feet, with their
eyes turned to the ground, as though through modesty, fearing that any
male, even a beast, should see the virgin naked.
21. Some one will say: "Why have you brought forward
the example of Mary, as if any one could be found to imitate the Lord's
mother? And why that of Thecla, whom the Apostle of the Gentiles
trained? Give us a teacher of our own sort if you wish for disciples."
I will, therefore, set before you a recent example of this sort, that
you may understand that the Apostle is the teacher, not of one only,
but of all.
CHAPTER IV.
A virgin at Antioch, having refused to sacrifice to idols, was
condemned to a house of ill-fame, whence she escaped unharmed, having
changed clothes with a Christian soldier. Then when he was condemned
for this, she returned and the two contended for the prize of
martyrdom, which was at last given to each.
22. There was lately at Antioch a virgin who avoided
being seen in public, but the more she shrank from men's eyes, the more
they longed for her. For beauty which is heard of but not seen is more
desired, there being two incentives to passion, love and knowledge--so
long as nothing is met with
377
which pleases less; and that which pleases is thought to be of more
worth, because the eye is not in this case the judge by investigation,
but the mind inflamed with love is full of longing. And so the holy
virgin, lest their passions should be longer fed by the desire of
gaining her, professed her intention of preserving her chastity, and so
quenched the fires of those wicked men, that she was no longer loved,
but informed against.
23. So a persecution arose. The maiden, not knowing
how to escape, and afraid lest she might fall into the hands of those
who were plotting against her chastity, prepared her soul for heroic
virtue, being so religious as not to fear death, so chaste as to expect
it. The day of her crown arrived. The expectation of all was at its
height. The maiden is brought forward, and makes her twofold
profession, of religion and of chastity. But when they saw the
constancy of her profession, her fear for her modesty, her readiness
for tortures, and her blushes at being looked on, they began to
consider how they might overcome her religion by setting chastity
before her, so that, having deprived her of that which was the
greatest, they might also deprive her of that which they had left. So
the sentence was that she should either sacrifice, or be sent to a
house of ill-fame. After what manner do they worship their gods who
thus avenge them, or how do they live themselves who give sentence
after this fashion?
24. And the virgin, not hesitating about her
religion, but fearful as to her chastity, began to reflect, What am I
to do? Each crown, that of martyrdom and that of virginity, is grudged
me to-day. But the name of virgin is not acknowledged where the Author
of virginity is denied. How can one be a virgin who cherishes a harlot?
How can one be a virgin who loves adulterers? How a virgin if she seeks
for a lover? It is preferable to have a virgin mind than a virgin body.
Each is good if each be possible; if it be not possible, let me be
chaste, not to man but to God. Rahab, too, was a harlot, but after she
believed in God, she found salvation.(1) And Judith adorned herself
that she might please an adulterer, but because she did this for
religion and not for love, no one considered her an adulteress.(2) This
instance turned out well. For if she who entrusted herself to religion
both preserved her chastity and her country, perhaps I, by preserving
my religion, shall also
preserve my chastity. But if Judith had preferred her chastity to her
religion, when her country had been lost, she would also have lost her
chastity.
25. And so, instructed by such examples, and at the
same time bearing in mind the words of the Lord, where He says:
"Whosoever shall lose his life for My sake, shall find it,"(1) she
wept, and was silent, that the adulterer might not even hear her
speaking, and she did not choose the wrong done to her modesty, but
rejected wrong done to Christ. Consider whether it was possible for her
to suffer her body to be unchaste, who guarded even her speech.
26. For some time my words have been becoming
bashful, and fear to laud on or describe the wicked series of what was
done. Close your ears, ye virgins! The Virgin of God is taken to a
house of shame, But now unclose your ears, ye virgins,
The Virgin of Christ can be exposed to shame, but cannot be
contaminated. Everywhere she is the Virgin of God, and the Temple of
God, and houses of ill-fame cannot injure chastity, but chastity does
away with the ill-fame of the place.
27. A great rush of wanton men is made to the place.
Listen, ye holy virgins, to the miracles of the martyr, forget the
name of the place. The door is shut within, the hawks cry
without; some are contending who shall first attack the prey. But she,
with her hands raised to heaven, as though she had come to a house of
prayer, not to a resort of lust, says: "O Christ, Who didst tame the
fierce lions for the virgin Daniel,(2) Thou canst also tame the fierce
minds of men. Fire became as dew to the Hebrew children,(3) the water
stood up for the Jews, of Thy mercy, not of its own nature.(4) Susanna
knelt down for punishment and triumphed over her adulterous
accusers,(5) the right hand withered which violated the gifts of Thy
temple;(6) and now thy temple itself is violated; suffer not
sacrilegious incest, Thou Who didst not suffer theft. Let Thy Name be
now again glorified in that I who came here for shame, may go away a
virgin!"
28. Scarcely had she finished her prayer, when, lo!
a man with the aspect of a terrible warrior burst in. How the virgin
trembled before him to whom the trembling people gave way. But she did
not forget what she had read. "Daniel," said she, "had gone to see the
punishment of Susanna, and alone pronounced her guiltless,(7) whom the
people
378
had condemned. A sheep may be hidden in the shape of this wolf. Christ
has His soldiers also, Who is Master of legions.(1) Or, perchance, an
executioner has come in. Fear not, my soul, such an one makes martyrs.
O Virgin! thy faith has saved thee."
29. And the soldier said to her: "Fear not, sister,
I pray you. I, a brother, am come hither to save life, not to destroy
it. Save me, that you yourself may be saved. I came in like an
adulterer, to go forth, if you will, as a martyr. Let us change our
attire, mine will fit you, and yours will fit me, and each for Christ.
Your robe will make me a true soldier, mine will make you a virgin. You
will be clothed well, I shall be unclothed even better that the
persecutor may recognize me. Take the garment which will conceal the
woman, give me that which shall consecrate me a martyr. Put on the
cloak which will hide the limbs of a virgin, but preserve her modesty.
Take the cap which will cover your hair and conceal your countenance.
They who have entered houses of ill-fame are wont to blush. When you
have gone forth, take care not to look back, remembering Lot's wife,(2)
who lost her very nature because she looked back at what was unchaste,
though with chaste eyes. And be not afraid lest any part of the
sacrifice fail. I will offer the victim to God for you, do you offer
the soldier to Christ for me. You have served the good service of
chastity, the wages of which are everlasting life; you have the
breastplate of righteousness, which protects the body with spiritual
armour, the shield of faith with which to ward off wounds, and the
helmet of salvation,(3) for there is the defence of our salvation where
Christ is, since the man is the head of the woman. and Christ of the
virgin.
30. Whilst saying this he put off his cloak. This
garment has been up to this time suspected of being that of a
persecutor and adulterer. The virgin offered her neck, the soldier his
cloak. What a spectacle that was, what a manifestation of grace when
they were contending for martyrdom in a house of ill-fame! Let the
characters be also considered, a soldier and a virgin, that is, persons
unlike in natural disposition, but alike by the mercy of God, that the
saying might be fulfilled: "Then the wolves and the lambs shall feed
together."(4) Behold the lamb and the wolf not only feed to-
gether but are also offered together. Why should I say more? Having
changed her garment, the maiden flies from the snare, not now with
wings of her own, seeing she was borne on spiritual wings, and(a sight
which the ages had never seen) she leaves the house of ill-fame a
virgin, but a virgin of Christ.
31. But they who were looking with their eyes, yet
saw not, raged like robbers for prey, or wolves for a lamb. One who was
more shameless went in. But when he took in the state of the matter
with his eyes, he said, What is this? A maiden entered, now a man is to
be seen here. This is not the old fable of a hind instead of a maiden,
but in truth a virgin become a soldier. I had heard but believed not
that Christ changed water into wine; now He has begun also to change
the sexes. Let us depart hence whilst we still are what we were. Am I
too changed who see things differently from what I believe them to be?
I came to a house of ill-fame, and see a surety.(1) And yet I go forth
changed, for I shall go out chaste who came in unchaste.
32. When the affair was known, because a crown was
due to such a conqueror, he was condemned for the virgin who was seized
for the virgin, and so not only a virgin but a martyr came forth from
the house of ill-fame. It is reported that the maiden ran to the place
of punishment, and that they both contended for death. He said: "I am
condemned to death, the sentence let you go free when it retained me."
And she replied: "I did not choose you as my surety on pain of death,
but as a guarantee for my chastity. If chastity be attacked, my sex
remains; if blood is sought, I desire none to give bail for me, I have
the means to pay. The sentence was pronounced on me, which was
pronounced for me. Undoubtedly, if I had offered you as security for my
debt, and in my absence the judge had assigned your property to the
creditor, you would share the sentence with me, and I should pay your
obligations with my patrimony. Were I to refuse, who would not judge me
worthy of a shameful death? How much more am I bound where there is a
question of death? Let me die innocent, that I may not die guilty. In
this matter there is no middle course; to-day I shall either be guilty
of your blood or a martyr in my own. If I came back quickly, who dares
to shut me out? If I delayed, who dares acquit me? I owe a greater
379
debt to the laws who am guilty not only of my own flight, but also of
the death of another. My limbs are equal to death, which were not equal
to dishonour. A virgin can accept a wound who could not accept
contumely. I avoided disgrace, not martyrdom. I gave up my robe to you;
I did not alter my profession. And if you deprive me of death, you will
not have rescued but circumvented me. Beware, pray, of resisting,
beware of venturing to contend with me. Take not away the kindness you
have conferred on me. In denying me the execution of this sentence, you
are setting up again the former one. For the sentence is changed for a
former one. If the latter binds me not, the former one does. We can
each satisfy the sentence if you suffer me to be slain first. From you
they can exact no other penalty, but her chastity is in danger with a
virgin. And so you will be more glorious if you are seen to have made a
martyr of an adulteress. than to have made again an adulteress of a
martyr."
33. What do you think was the end? The two
contended, and both gained the victory, and the crown was not divided,
but became two. So the holy martyrs, conferring benefits one on the
other, gave the one the impulse and the other the result to their
martyrdom.
CHAPTER V.
The story of the two Pythagorean friends, Damon and Pythias, is related
by St. Ambrose, who points out that the case mentioned in the last
chapter is more praiseworthy. A comparison is instituted between the
treatment of their gods by heathen without any punishment, and
Jeroboam's irreverence with its punishment.
34. AND the schools of the philosophers laud Damon
and Pythias--the Pythagoreans--to the skies, of whom one, when
condemnned to death, asked for time to set his affairs in order.
whereupon, the tyrant, in his cunning, not supposing that such could be
found, asked for a bondsman who should suffer the penalty if the other
delayed his return. I do not know which act of the two was the more
noble. The one found the bondsman, the other offered himself. And so
while he who was condemned met with some delay, the bondsman with calm
countenance did not refuse death. As he was being led forth his friend
returned, and offered his neck to the axe. Then the tyrant, wondering
that friendship was dearer to philosophers than life, asked himself to
be received into friendship by those
whom he had condemned. The grace of Virtue was so great that it moved
even a tyrant.
35. These things are worthy of praise; but are
inferior to our instance. For those two were men, with us one was a
virgin, who had first to be superior to her sex; those were friends,
these were unknown to each other; those offered themselves to one
tyrant, these to many tyrants; and these more cruel, for in the former
case the tyrant spared them, these slew them; with the former one was
bound by necessity, with these the will of each was free. In this, too,
the latter were the wiser, that with those the end of their zeal was
the pleasure of friendship, with these the crown of martyrdom, for they
strove for men, these for God.
36. And since we have mentioned that man who was
condemned, it is fitting to add what he thought of his gods, that you
may judge how weak they are whom their own followers deride. For he,
having come into the temple of Jupiter, bade them take off the fillet
of gold with which his image was crowned, and to put on one of wool
instead, saying that the golden fillet was cold in winter and heavy in
summer. So he derided his god as being unable to bear either a weight
or cold. He, too, when he saw the golden beard of Aesculapius, bade
them remove it, saying that it was not fit for the son to have a beard
when the father had none. Again, he took away the golden bowls from the
images which held them, saying that he ought to receive what the gods
gave. For. said he, men make prayers to receive good things from the
gods, and nothing is better than gold; if, however, gold be evil, the
gods ought not to have it; if it be good, it is better that men should
have it who know how to use it.
37. Such objects of ridicule were they, that neither
could Jupiter defend his garment, nor Aesculapius his beard, for Apollo
had not yet begun to grow one; nor could all those who are esteemed
gods keep the golden bowls which they were holding, not fearing the
charge of theft so much as not having any feeling. Who, then, would
worship them, who can neither defend themselves as gods nor hide
themselves as men?
38. But when in the temple of our God, that wicked
king Jeroboam took away the gifts which his father had laid up, and
offered to idols upon the holy altar, did not his right hand, which he
stretched out, wither, and his idols, which he called upon,
380
were not able to help him? Then, turning to the Lord, he asked for
pardon, and at once his hand which had withered by sacrilege was healed
by true religion. So complete an example was there set forth in one
person, both of divine mercy and wrath when he who was sacrificing
suddenly lost his right hand, but when penitent received forgiveness.(1)
CHAPTER VI.
St. Ambrose, in concluding the second book, ascribes any good there may
be in it to the merits of the virgins, and sets forth that it was right
before laying down any severe precepts to encourage them by examples,
as is done both in human teaching and in holy Scripture.
39. I, WHO have been not yet three years a bishop,
have prepared this offering for you, holy virgins, although untaught by
my own experience, yet having learnt much from your mode of life. For
what experience could have grown up in so short a time of being
initiated in religion? If you find any flowers herein, gather
them together in the bosom of your lives. These are not precepts for
virgins, but instances taken from virgins. My words have sketched the
likeness of your virtue, you may see the reflection of your gravity, as
it were, in the mirror of this discourse. If you have received any
pleasure from my ability, all the fragrance of this book is yours. And
since there are as many opinions as there are persons, if there be
anything simple in my treatise let all read it; if anything stronger,
let the more mature prove it; if anything modest, let it cleave to the
breast and tinge the cheeks; if there be anything flowery, let the
flowery age of youth not disdain it.
40. We ought to stir up the love of the bride, for
iris written: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God."(2) At bridal feasts
we ought to adorn the hair at least with some ornaments of prayer, for
it is written: "Smite the hands together, and strike with the foot."(3)
We ought to scatter roses on those uninterrupted bridals. Even in these
temporal marriages the bride is received with acclamation before she
receives commands, lest hard commands should hurt her, before love
cherished by kindness grows strong.
41. Horses learn to love the sound of patting their
necks, that they may not refuse the yoke, and are first trained with
words of enticement before the stripe of discipline. But when the horse
has submitted its neck to the yoke, the rein pulls in, and the spur
urges on, and its companions draw it, and the driver bids it. So, too,
our virgin ought first to play with pious love, and admire the golden
supports of the heavenly marriage couch on the very threshold of
marriage, and to see the door-posts adorned with wreaths of leaves, and
to taste the delight of the musicians playing within; that she may not
through fear withdraw herself from the Lord's yoke, before she obeys
His call.
42. "Come, then, hither from Lebanon, My spouse,
come hither from Lebanon, thou shalt pass and pass through."(1) This
verse must be often repeated by us, that at least being called by the
words of the Lord, she may follow if there be any who will not trust
the words of man. We have not formed this power for ourselves, but have
received it; this is the heavenly teaching of the mystic song: "Let Him
kiss me with the kisses of His mouth, for Thy breasts are better than
wine, and the odor of Thy ointments is above all spices. Thy name is as
ointment poured forth."(2) The whole of that place of delights sounds
of sport, stirs up approval, calls forth love. "Therefore," it
continues, "have the maidens loved Thee and have drawn Thee, let us run
after the odour of Thy ointments. The King hath brought me into His
chamber."(3) She began with kisses, and so attained to the chamber.
43. She, now so patient of hard toil, and of
practised virtue, as to open the bars with her hand, go forth into the
field, and abide in strongholds, at the beginning ran after the odour
of the ointment; soon when she is come into the chamber the ointment is
changed. And see whither she goes: "If it be a wall," it is said, "we
will build upon it towers of silver."(4) She who sported with kisses
now builds towers that, encircled with the precious battlements of the
saints, she may not only render fruitless the attacks of the enemy, but
also erect the safe defences of holy merits.
381
BOOK Ill.
CHAPTER I.
St. Ambrose now goes back to the address of Liberius when he gave the
veil to Marcellina. Touching on the crowds pressing to the bridal feast
of that Spouse Who feeds them all, he passes on to the fitness of her
profession on the day on which Christ was born of a Virgin, and
concludes with a fervent exhortation to love Him.
1. INASMUCH as I have digressed in what I have
said in the two former hooks, it is now time, holy sister, to
reconsider those precepts of Liberius(1) of blessed memory which you
used to talk over with me, as the holier the man the more pleasing is
his discourse. For he, when on the Nativity of the Saviour in the
Church of St. Peter you signified your profession of virginity by your
change of attire(2) (and what day could be better than that on which
the Virgin received her child?) whilst many virgins were standing round
and vying with each other for your companionship. "You," said he, "my
daughter, have desired a good espousal. You see how great a crowd has
come together for the birthday of your Spouse, and none has gone away
without food. This is He, Who, when invited to the marriage feast,
changed water into wine.(3) He, too, will confer the pure sacrament of
virginity on you who before were subject to the vile elements of
material nature. This is He Who fed four thousand in the wilderness
with five loaves and two fishes."(4) He could have fed more; if more
had been there to be fed, they would have been. And now He has called
many to your espousal, but it is not now barley bread, but the Body
from heaven which is supplied.
2. To-day, indeed, He was born after the manner of
men, of a Virgin, but was begotten of the Father before all things,
resembling His mother in body, His Father in power. Only-begotten on
earth, and Only-begotten in heaven. God of God, born of a Virgin,
Righteousness from the Father, Power from the Mighty One, Light of
Light, not unequal to His Father; nor separated in
power, not confused by extension of the Word or enlargement as though
mingled with the Father, but distinguished from the Father by virtue of
His generation. He is your Brother,(1) without Whom neither things in
heaven, nor things in the sea, nor things on earth consist. The good
Word of the Father, Which was, it is said, "in the beginning,"(2) here
you have His eternity. "And," it is said," the Word was with God."(3)
Here you have His power, undivided and inseparable from the Father.
"And the Word was God."(4) Here you have His unbegotten Godhead, for
your faith is to be drawn from the mutual relationship.
3. Love him, my daughter, for He is good. For, "None
is good save God only."(5) For if there be no doubt that the Son is
God, and that God is good, there is certainly no doubt that God the Son
is good. Love Him I say. He it is Whom the Father begat before the
morning star,(6) as being eternal, He brought Him forth from the womb
as the Son; He uttered him from His heart,(7) as the Word. He it is in
Whom the Father is well pleased;(8) He is the Arm of the Father, for He
is Creator of all, and the Wisdom(9) of the Father, for He proceeded
from the mouth of God;(10) the Power of the Father, because the fulness
of the Godhead dwelleth in Him bodily.(11) And the Father so loved Him,
as to bear Him in His bosom, and place Him at His right hand, that you
may learn His wisdom, and know His power.
4. If, then, Christ is the Power of God, was God
ever without power? Was the Father ever without the Son? If the Father
of a certainty always was, of a certainty the Son always was. So He is
the perfect Son of a perfect Father. For he who derogates from the
power, derogates from Him Whose is the power. The Perfection of the
Godhead does not admit of inequality. Love, then, Him Whom the Father
loves, honour Him Whom the Father honours, for "he that honoureth not
the Son, honoureth not the Father,"(12) and "whoso denieth the Son,
hath not the Father."(13) So much as to the faith.
382
CHAPTER II.
Touching next upon the training of a virgin, he speaks of moderation in
food and drink, and of restraint upon the impulses of the mind,
introducing some teaching upon the fable of the death and resurrection
of Hippolytus, and advises the avoidance of certain meats.
5. BUT sometimes even when faith is to be relied
upon, youth is not trusted. Use wine, therefore, sparingly, in order
that the weakness of the body may not increase, not for pleasurable
excitement, for each alike kindles a flame, both wine and youth. Let
fasts also put a bridle on tender age, and spare diet restrain the
unsubdued appetites with a kind of rein. Let reason check, hope subdue,
and fear curb them. For he who knows not how to govern his desires,
like a man run away with by wild horses, is overthrown, bruised, torn,
and injured.
6. And this is said to have happened to a youth for
his love of Diana. But the fable is coloured with poet's tales, that
Neptune, stirred with grief at his rival being preferred, sent madness
upon his horses, whereby his great power might be set forth in that he
overcame the youth, not by strength, but by fraud. And from this event
a yearly sacrifice is celebrated for Diana, when a horse is offered at
her altar. And they say that she was a virgin, and (of which even
harlots would be ashamed) yet could love one who did not love her. But
as far as I am concerned let their fables have authority, for though
each be criminal, it is yet a less evil that a youth should have been
so enamoured of an adulteress as to perish, than that two gods should,
as they relate, contend for committing adultery, and that Jupiter
avenged the grief of his daughter who played the harlot on the
physician who cured the wound of him who had violated Diana in the
woods, a most excellent huntress, no doubt, not of wild beasts, but of
lust: yet also of wild beasts, so that she was worshipped naked.
7. Let them ascribe, then, to Neptune the mastery
over madness, in order to fix on him the crime of unchaste love. Let
them ascribe to Diana the rule over the woods, wherein she dwelt, so as
to establish the adultery which she practised. Let them ascribe to
Aesculapius the restoration of the dead so long as they confess that
when struck by lightning he himself escaped not. Let them also ascribe
to Jupiter the thunderbolts which he did not possess, so that they
witness to the disgrace with which he was laden.
8. And I think that one should sparingly eat all
kinds of food which cause heat to the limbs, for flesh drags down even
eagles as they fly. But within you let that bird of which we read, "Thy
youth shall be renewed like the eagle's,"(1) holding its course on
high, swift in its virgin flight, be ignorant of the desire for
unnecessary food. The gathering of banquets and salutations must be
avoided.
CHAPTER III.
Virgins are exhorted to avoid visits, to observe modesty, to be silent
during the celebration of the Mysteries after the example of Mary. Then
after narrating the story of a heathen youth, and saying of a poet, St.
Ambrose relates a miracle wrought by a holy priest.
9. I WILL, too, that visits amongst the younger,
except such as may be due to parents and those of like age, be few. For
modesty is worn away by intercourse, and boldness breaks forth,
laughter creeps in, and bashfulness is lessened, whilst politeness is
studied. Not to answer one who asks a question is childishness, to
answer is nonsense. I should prefer, therefore, that conversation
should rather be wanting to a virgin, than abound. For if women are
bidden to keep silence in churches, even about divine things, and to
ask their husbands at home, what do we think should be the caution of
virgins, in whom modesty adorns their age, and silence commends their
modesty.
10. Was it a small sign of modesty that when Rebecca
came to wed Isaac, and saw her bridegroom, she took a veil,(2) that she
might not be seen before they were united? Certainly the fair virgin
feared not for her beauty, but for her modesty. What of Rachel, how
she, when Jacob's kiss had been taken,(3) wept and groaned, and would
not have ceased weeping had she not known him to be a kinsman? So she
both observed what was due to modesty, and omitted not kindly
affection. But if it is said to a man: "Gaze not on a maid, lest she
cause thee to fall,"(4) what is to be said to a consecrated virgin,
who, if she loves, sins in mind; if she is loved, in act also?
11. The virtue of silence, especially in Church, is
very great. Let no sentence of the divine lessons escape you; if you
give ear, restrain your voice, utter no word with your lips which you
would wish to recall,
383
but let your boldness to speak be sparing. For in truth in much
speaking there is abundance of sin.(1) To the murderer it was said:
"Thou hast sinned, be silent,"(2) that he might not sin more; but to
the virgin it must be said, "Be silent lest thou sin." For Mary, as we
read, kept in heart all things that were said concerning her Son,(3)
and do you, when any passage is read where Christ is announced as about
to come, or is shown to have come, not make a noise by talking, but
attend. Is anything more unbecoming than the divine words should be so
drowned by talking, as not to be heard, believed, or made known, that
the sacraments should be indistinctly heard through the sound of
voices, that prayer should be hindered when offered for the salvation
of all?
12. The Gentiles pay respect to their idols by
silence, of which this instance is given: As Alexander, the king of the
Macedonians, was sacrificing, the sleeve of a barbarian lad who was
lighting the lamp for him caught fire and burnt his body, yet he
remained without moving and neither betrayed the pain by a groan, nor
showed his suffering by silent tears. Such was the discipline of
reverence in a barbarian lad that nature was subdued. Yet he feared not
the gods, who were no gods, but the king. For why should he fear those
who if the same fire had caught them would have burnt?
13. How much better still is it where a youth at his
father's banquet is bidden not to betray by coarse gestures his
unchaste loves. And do you, holy virgin, abstain from groans, cries,
coughing, and laughter at the Mystery. Can you not at the Mystery do
what he did at a banquet? Let virginity be first marked by the voice,
let modesty close the mouth, let religion remove weakness, and habit
instruct nature. Let her gravity first announce a virgin to me, a
modest approach, a sober gait, a bashful countenance, and let the march
of virtue be preceded by the evidence of integrity. That virgin is not
sufficiently worthy of approval who has to be enquired about when she
is seen.
14. There is common story how, when the excessive
croaking of frogs was resounding in the ears of the faithful people,
the priest of God bade them be silent, and show reverence to the sacred
words, and then at once the noise was stilled. Shall then the marshes
keep silence and not the frogs? And shall irrational animals
re-acknowledge by reverence what they know not by nature? While the
shamelessness of men is such, that many care not to pay that respect to
the religious feelings of their minds, which they do to the pleasure of
their ears.
CHAPTER IV.
Having summed up the address of Liberius, St. Ambrose passes on to the
virtues of his sister, especially her fasts, which however he advises
her to moderate to some extent, and to exercise herself in other
matters, after the example which he adduces. Especially he recommends
the Lord's Prayer, and the repetition of Psalms by night, and the
recitation of the Creed before daylight.
15. AFTER such a fashion did Liberius of holy memory
address you, in words beyond the reality of practice in most cases, but
coming short of your performance, who have not only attained to the
whole of discipline by your virtue, but have surpassed it in your zeal.
For we are bidden to practise fasting, but only for single days; but
you, multiplying nights and days, pass untold periods without food, and
if ever requested to partake of some, and to lay aside your book a
little while, you at once answer: "Man doth not live by bread alone,
but by every word of God."(1) Your very meals consisted but of what
food came to hand, so that fasting is to be preferred to eating what
was repugnant; your drink is from the spring, your weeping and prayer
combine, your sleep is on your book.
16. These kings were suited to younger years, whilst
he was ripening with the gray hairs of age; but when a virgin has
gained the triumph over her subdued body, she should lessen her toil,
that she may be preserved as teacher for a younger age. The vine laden
with the fruitful branches of full growth soon breaks unless it be from
time to time kept back. But whilst it is young let it grow rank, and as
it grows older be pruned, so as not to grow into a forest of twigs, or
die deprived of life by its exceptive produce. A good husbandman by
tending the soil keeps the vine in excellent order, protects it from
cold, and guards it from being parched by the mid-day sun. And he works
his land by turns, or if he will not let it lie fallow, he alternates
his crops, so that the fields may rest through change of produce. Do
you too, a veteran in virginity, at least sow the fields of your breast
with different seeds, at one time with moderate sustenance, at another
with sparing fasts,
384
with reading, work, and prayer, that change of toil may be as a truce
for rest.
17. The whole land does not produce the same
harvest. On one side vines grow on the hills, on another you can see
the purple olives, elsewhere the scented roses. And after leaving the
plough, the strong husbandman with his fingers scrapes the soil to
plant the roots of flowers, and with the rough hands wherewith he turns
the bullocks striving amongst the vines, he gently presses the udders
of the sheep. The land is the better the more numerous are its fruits.
So do you, following the example of a good husbandman, avoid cleaving
your soil with perpetual fastings as if with deep ploughings. Let the
rose of modesty bloom in your garden, and the lily of the mind, and let
the violet beds drink from the source of sacred blood. There is a
common saying, "What you wish to perform abundantly, sometimes do not
do at all." There ought to be something to add to the days of Lent, but
so that nothing be done for the sake of ostentation, but of religion.
18. Frequent prayer also commends us to God. For if
the prophet says, "Seven times a day have I praised Thee,"(1) though he
was busy with the affairs of a kingdom, what ought we to do, who read:
"Watch and pray that ye enter not into temptation"?(2) Certainly our
customary prayers ought to be said with giving of thanks, when we rise
from sleep, when we go forth, when we prepare to receive food, after
receiving it, and at the hour of incense,(3) when at last we are going
to rest.
19. And again in your bed-chamber itself, I would
have you join psalms in frequent interchange with the Lord's prayer,
either when you wake up, or before sleep bedews your body, so that at
the very commencement of rest sleep may find you free from the care of
worldly matters, meditating upon the things of God. And, indeed, he who
first found out the name of Philosophy itself,(4) every day before he
went to rest, had the flute-player play softer melodies to soothe his
mind disturbed by worldly cares. But he, like a man washing tiles,
fruitlessly desired to drive away worldly things by worldly means, for
he was, indeed, rather besmearing himself with fresh mud, in seeking a
reward from pleasure, but let us, haying wiped off the filth of earthly
vices, purify our utmost souls from every defilement of the flesh.
20. We ought, also, specially to repeat the Creed,
as a seal upon our hearts, daily, before light, and to recur to it in
thought whenever we are in fear of anything. For when is the soldier in
his tent or the warrior in battle without his military oath?
CHAPTER V.
St. Ambrose, speaking of tears, explains David's saying, "Every night
wash l my couch with my tears," and
goes on to speak of Christ bearing our griefs and infirmities.
Everything should be referred to His honour, and we ought to rejoice
with spiritual joy, but not after a worldly fashion.
21. AND who can now fail to understand that the holy
prophet said for our instruction: "Every night will I wash my couch and
water my bed with my tears"?(1) For if you take it literally for his
bed, he shows that such abundance of tears should be shed as to wash
the bed and water it with tears, the couch of him who is praying, for
weeping has to do with the present, rewards with the future, since it
is said: "Blessed are ye that weep, for ye shall laugh;"(2) or if we
take the word of the prophet as applied to our bodies, we must wash
away the offences of the body with tears of penitence. For Solomon made
himself a bed of wood from Lebanon, its pillars were of silver, its
bottom of gold, its back strewn with gems.(3) What is that bed but the
fashion of our body? For by gems is set forth the splendour of the
brightness of the air, fire is set forth by the gold, water by silver,
and earth by wood, of which four elements the human body consists, in
which our soul rests, if it do not exist deprived of rest by the
roughness of hills or the damp ground, but raised on high, above vices,
supported by the wood. For which reason David also says: "The Lord will
send him help upon his bed of pain."(4) For how can that be a bed of
pain which cannot feel pain, and which has no feeling? But the body of
pain is like the body of that death, of which it is said: "O wretched
man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?"(5)
22. And since I have inserted a clause in which
mention is made of the Lord's Body, lest any one should be troubled at
reading that the Lord took a body of pain, let him remember that the
Lord grieved and wept
385
over the death of Lazarus,(1) and was wounded in His passion, and that
from the wound there went forth blood and water,(2) and that He gave up
His Spirit. Water for washing, Blood for drink, the Spirit for His
rising again. For Christ alone is to us hope, faith, and love--hope in
His resurrection, faith in the layer, and love in the sacrament.
23. And as He took a body of pain, so too He turned
His bed in His weakness.(3) for He converted it to the benefit of human
flesh. For by His Passion weakness was ended, and death by His
resurrection. And yet you ought to mourn for the world but to rejoice m
the Lord, to be sad for penitence but joyful for grace, though, too,
the teacher of the Gentiles by a wholesome precept has bidden to weep
with them that weep, and to rejoice with them that do rejoice.(4)
24. But let him who desires to solve the whole
difficulty of this question have recourse to the same Apostle.
"Whatsoever ye do," says he, "in word or deed, do all in the Name of
our Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks to God the Father by Him."(5) Let
us then refer all our words and deeds to Christ, Who brought life out
of death, and created light out of darkness. For as a sick body is at
one time cherished by warmth, at another soothed by cool applications,
and the variation of remedies, if carried out according to the
direction of the physician, is healthful, but if done in opposition to
his orders increases the sickness; so whatever is paid to Christ is a
remedy, whatever is done by our own will is harmful.
25. There ought then to be the joy of the mind,
conscious of right, not excited by unrestrained feasts, or nuptial
concerts, for in such modesty is not safe, and temptation may be
suspected where excessive dancing accompanies festivities. I desire
that the virgins of God should be far from this. For as a certain
teacher of this world has said: "No one dances when sober unless he is
mad."(6) Now if, according to the wisdom of this world, either
drunkenness or madness is the cause of dancing, what a warning is given
to us amongst the instances mentioned in the Divine Scriptures, where
John, the forerunner of Christ, being beheaded at the wish of a dancer,
is an instance that the allurements of dancing did more harm than the
madness of sacrilegious anger.
CHAPTER VI.
Having mentioned the Baptist, St. Ambrose enters into a description of
the events concerning his death, and speaks against dancing and the
festivities of the wicked.
26. AND since we must not cursorily pass by the
mention of so great a man, let us consider who he was, by whom, on what
account, how, and at what time he was slain. A just man, he is put to
death by adulterers, and the penalty of a capital crime is turned off
by the guilty on to the judge. Again the reward of the dancer is the
death of the prophet. Lastly (a matter of honour even to all
barbarians), the cruel sentence is given in the midst of banqueting and
festivities, and the news of the deadly crime is carried from the
banquet to the prison, and then from the prison to the banquet. How
many crimes are there in one wicked act!
27. A banquet of death is set out with royal
luxury,(1) and when a larger concourse than usual had come together,
the daughter of the queen, sent for from within the private apartments,
is brought forth to dance in the sight of men. What could she have
learnt from an adulteress but loss of modesty? Is anything so conducive
to lust as with unseemly movements thus to expose in nakedness those
parts of the body which either nature has hidden or custom has veiled,
to sport with the looks, to turn the neck, to loosen the hair? Fitly
was the next step an offence against God. For what modesty can there be
where there is dancing and noise and clapping of hands?
28. "Then," it is said, "the king being pleased,
said unto the damsel, that she should ask of the king whatsoever she
would. Then he swore that if she asked he would give her even the half
of his kingdom."(2) See how worldly men themselves judge of their
worldly power, so as to give even kingdoms for dancing. But the damsel,
being taught by her mother, demanded that the head of John should be
brought to her on a dish. That which is said that "the king was sorry,
"(3) is not repentance on the part of the king, but a confession of
guilt, which is, according to the wont of the divine rule, that they
who have done evil condemn themselves by their own confession. "But for
their sakes which sat with him," it is said. What is more base than
that a murder should be committed in order
386
not to displease those who sat at meat? "And," it follows, "for his
oath's sake." What a new religion! He had better have forsworn himself.
The Lord therefore in the Gospel bids us not to swear at all,(1) that
there be no cause for perjury, and no need of offending. And so an
innocent man is slain that an oath be not violated. I know which to
have in the greatest horror. Perjury is more endurable than are the
oaths of tyrants.
29. Who would not think when he saw some one
running from the banquet to the prison, that orders had been given to
set the prophet free? Who, I say, having heard that it was Herod's
birthday, and of the state banquet, and the choice given to the damsel
of choosing whatever she wished, would not think that the man was sent
to set John free? What has cruelty in common with delicacies? What have
death and pleasure in common? The prophet is hurried to suffer at a
festal time by a festal order, by which he would even wish to be set
free; he is slain by the sword, and his head is brought on a platter.
This dish was well suited to their cruelty, in order that their
insatiate savageness might be feasted.
30. Look, most savage king, at the sights
worthy of thy feast. Stretch forth thy right hand, that nothing be
wanting to thy cruelty, that streams of holy blood may pour down
between thy fingers. And since the hunger for such unheard-of cruelty
could not be satisfied by banquets, nor the thirst by goblets, drink
the blood pouring from the still flowing veins of the cut-off head.
Behold those eyes, even in death, the witnesses of thy crime, turning
away from the sight of the delicacies. The eyes are closing, not so
much owing to death, as to horror of luxury. That bloodless golden
mouth, whose sentence thou couldst not endure, is silent, and yet thou
fearest. Yet the tongue, which even after death is wont to observe its
duty as when living, condemned, though with trembling motion, the
incest. This head is borne to Herodias: she rejoices, she exults as
though she had escaped from the crime, because she has slain her judge.
31. What say you, holy women? Do you see what
you ought to teach, and what also to unteach your daughters? She
dances, but she is the daughter of an adulteress. But she who is
modest, she who is chaste, let her teach her daughter religion, not
dancing. And do you, grave and prudent men, learn to avoid the banquets
of hateful men. If such are the banquets, what will be the judgment of
the impious?
CHAPTER VII.
In reply to Marcellina, who had asked what should be thought of those
who to escape violence killed themselves, St. Ambrose replies by
narrating the history of Pelagia, a virgin, with her mother and sister,
and goes on to speak of the martyrdom of the blessed Sotheris, one of
their own ancestors.
32. As I am drawing near the close of my address,
you make a good suggestion, holy sister, that I should touch upon what
we ought to think of the merits of those who have cast themselves down
from a height, or have drowned themselves in a river, lest they should
fall into the hands of persecutors, seeing that holy Scripture forbids
a Christian to lay hands on himself. And indeed as regard; virgins
placed in the necessity of preserving their purity, we have a plain
answer, seeing that there exists an instance of martyrdom.
33. Saint Pelagia(1) lived formerly at Antioch,
being about fifteen years old, a sister of virgins, and a virgin
herself. She shut herself up at home at the first sound of persecution,
seeing herself surrounded by those who would rob her of her faith and
purity, in the absence of her mother and sisters, without any defence,
but all the more filled with God. "What are we to do, unless," says she
to herself, "thou, a captive of virginity, takest thought? I both wish
and fear to die, for I meet not death but seek it. Let us die if we are
allowed, or if they will not allow it, still let us die. God is not
offended by a remedy against evil, and faith permits the act. In truth,
if we think of the real meaning of the word, how can what is voluntary
be violence? It is rather violence to wish to die and not to be able.
And we do not fear any difficulty. For who is there who wishes to die
and is not able to do so, when there are so many easy ways to death?
For I can now rush upon the sacrilegious altars and overthrow them, and
quench with my blood the kindled fires. I am not afraid that my right
hand may fail to deliver the blow, or that my breast may
387
shrink from the pain. I shall leave no sin to my flesh. I fear not that
a sword will be wanting. I can die by my own weapons, I can die without
the help of an executioner, in my mother's bosom."
34. She is said to have adorned her head, and to
have put on a bridal dress, so that one would say that she was going to
a bridegroom, not to death. But when the hateful persecutors saw that
they had lost the prey of her chastity, they began to seek her mother
and sisters. But they, by a spiritual flight, already held the field of
chastity, when, as on the one side, persecutors suddenly threatened
them, and on the other, escape was shut off by an impetuous river, they
said, what do we fear? See the water, what hinders us from being
baptized? And this is the baptism whereby sins are forgiven, and
kingdoms are sought. This is a baptism after which no one sins. Let the
water receive us, which is wont to regenerate. Let the water receive
us, which makes virgins. Let the water receive us, which opens heaven,
protects the weak, hides death, makes martyrs. We pray Thee, God,
Creator of all things, let not the water scatter our bodies, deprived
of the breath of life; let not death separate our obsequies, whose
lives affection has always conjoined; but let our constancy be one, our
death one, and our burial also be one.
35. Having said these words, and having slightly
girded up the bosom of their dress, to veil their modesty without
impeding their steps, joining hands as though to lead a dance, they
went forward to the middle of the river bed, directing their steps to
where the stream was more violent, and the depth more abrupt. No one
drew back, no one ceased to go on, no one tried where to place her
steps, they were anxious only when they felt the ground, grieved when
the water was shallow, and glad when it was deep. One could see the
pious mother tightening her grasp, rejoicing in her pledges, afraid of
a fall test even the stream should carry off her
daughters from her. "These victims, O Christ," said she, "do I offer as
leaders of chastity, guides on my journey, and companions of my
sufferings."
37. But who would have cause to wonder that they had
such constancy whilst alive, seeing that even when dead they preserved
the position of their bodies unmoved? The water did not lay bare their
corpses, nor did the rapid course of the river roll them along.
Moreover, the holy mother, though without sensation, still maintained
her loving grasp, and held the sacred knot which she had tied, and
loosed not her hold in death, that she who had paid her debt to
religion might die leaving her piety as her heir. For those whom she
had joined together with herself for martyrdom, she claimed even to the
tomb.
38. But why use instances of people of another race
to you, my sister, whom the inspiration of hereditary chastity has
taught by descent from a martyred ancestor? For whence have you learnt
who had no one from whom to learn, living in the country, with no
virgin companion, instructed by no teacher? You have played the part
then not of a disciple, for this cannot be done without teaching, but
of an heir of virtue.
39. For how could it come to pass that holy Sotheris
should not have been the originator of your purpose, who is an ancestor
of your race? Who, in an age of persecution, borne to the heights of
suffering by the insults of slaves, gave to the executioner even her
face, which is usually free from injury when the whole body is
tortured, and rather beholds than suffers torments; so brave and
patient that when she offered her tender cheeks to punishment, the
executioner failed in striking before the martyr yielded under the
injuries. She moved not her face, she turned not away her countenance,
she uttered not a groan or a tear. Lastly, when she had overcome other
kinds of punishment, she found the sword which she desired.
391
THE TREATISE OF ST.
AMBROSE, BISHOP OF MILAN.
CONCERNING WIDOWS.
CHAPTER I.
After having written about virgins, it seemed needful to say something
concerning widows, since the Apostle joins the two classes together,
and the latter are as it were teachers of the former, and far superior
to those who are married. Elijah was sent to a widow, a great mark of
honour; yet widows are not honourable like her of Sarepta, unless they
copy her virtues, notably hospitality. The avarice of men is rebuked,
who forfeit the promises of God by their grasping.
1. Since I have treated of the honour of virgins in
three books, it is fitting now, my brethren, that a treatise concerning
widows should come in order; for I ought not to leave them without
honour, nor to separate them from the commendation belonging to
virgins, since the voice of the Apostle has joined them to virgins,
according to what is written: "The unmarried woman and the virgin
careth for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body
and in spirit."(1) For in a certain manner the inculcation of virginity
is strengthened by the example of widows. They who have preserved their
marriage bed undefiled are a testimony to virgins that chastity is to
be preserved for God. And it is almost a mark of no less virtue to
abstain from marriage, which was once a delight, than to remain
ignorant of the pleasures of wedlock. They are strong in each point, in
that they regret not wedlock, the faith of which they keep, and
entangle not themselves with wedded pleasures, lest they appear weak
and not able to take care of themselves.
2. But in this particular virtue is contained also
the prizes of liberty. For: "The wife is bound as long as her husband
liveth; but if her husband fall asleep she is freed: let her marry whom
she will, only in the Lord. But she will be happier if she so abide,
after my judgment, for I think I also have the Spirit of God."(1)
Evidently, then, the Apostle has expressed the difference, having said
that the one is bound, and stated that the other is happier, and that
he asserts not so much as the result of his own judgment, as of the
infusion of the Spirit of God; that the decision should be seen to be
heavenly, not human.
3. And what is the teaching of the fact that at that
time when the whole human race was afflicted by famine and Elias was
sent to the widow?(2) And see how for each is reserved her own special
grace. An angel is sent to the Virgin,(3) a prophet to the widow.
Notice, farther, that in one case it is Gabriel, in the other Elisha.
The most excellent chiefs of the number of angels and prophets are seen
to be chosen. But there is no praise simply in widowhood, unless there
be added the virtues of widowhood. For, indeed, there were many widows,
but one is preferred to all, in which fact it is not so much that
others are called back from their pursuit as that they are stimulated
by the example of virtue.
4. What is said at first makes the ears attentive,
although the simplicity itself of the understanding has weight to
attract widows to the pattern of virtue; since each seems to excel, not
according to her profession, but her merit, and the grace of
hospitality is not lost sight of by God, Who, as He Himself related in
the Gospel, rewards a cup of cold water with the exceeding recompense
of eternity, and compensates the small measure of meal and oil by an
unfailing abundance of plenty ever coming in. For if one of the
heathen(4) has said that all the possessions of friends should be
common, how much more ought those of relatives to be common! For we are
relatives who are bound into one body.
5. But we are not bound by any prescribed limit of
hospitality. For why do you think
392
that what is of this world is private property when this world is
common? Or why do you consider the fruits of the earth are private,
when the earth itself is common property? "Behold," He said, "the fowls
of the air, they sow not, neither do they reap."(1) For to those to
whom nothing is private property nothing is wanting, and God, the
master of His own word, knows how to keep His promise. Again, the birds
do not gather together, and yet they eat, for our heavenly Father feeds
them. But we turning aside the warnings of a general utterance to our
private advantage, God says: "Every tree which has in it the fruit of a
tree yielding seed shall be to you for meat, and to every beast, and to
every bird, and to everything that creepeth upon the earth."(2) By
gathering together we come to want, and by gathering together we are
made empty. For we cannot hope for the promise, who keep not the
saying. It is also good for us to attend to the precept of hospitality,
to be ready to give to strangers, for we, too, are strangers in the
world.
6. But how holy was that widow, who, when pinched by
extreme hunger. observed the reverence due to God, and was not using
the food for herself alone, but was dividing it with her son, that she
might not outlive her dear offspring. Great is the duty of affection,
but that of religion brings more return. For as no one ought to be set
before her son, so the prophet of God ought to be set before her son
and her preservation. For she is to be believed to have given to him
not a little food, but the whole support of her life, who left nothing
for herself. So hospitable was she that she gave the whole, so full of
faith that she believed at once.
CHAPTER II.
The precepts of the Apostle concerning a widow indeed are laid down,
such as, that she bring up children, attend to her parents, desire to
please God, show herself irreproachable, set forth a ripeness of
merits, have been the wife of one man. St. Ambrose notes, however, that
a second marriage was not condemned by St. Paul, and adds that widows
must have a good report for virtue with all. The reasons why younger
widows are to be avoided, and what is meant by its being better to
marry than to burn. St. Ambrose then goes on to speak of the dignity of
widows, shown by the fact that any injury done to them is visited by
the anger of God.
7. So, then, a widow is not only marked off by
bodily abstinence, but is distinguished by virtue, to whom I do not
give commandments, but the Apostle. I am not the only person to do them
honour, but the Doctor of the Gentiles did so first, when he said:
"Honour widows that are widows indeed. But if any widow have children
or nephews, let her first learn to govern her own house, and to requite
her parents."(1) Whence we observe that each inclination of affection
ought to exist in a widow, to love her children and to do her duty to
her parents. So when discharging her duty to her parents she is
teaching her children, and is rewarded herself by her own compliance
with duty, in that what she performs for others benefits herself.
8. "For this," says he, "is acceptable with God."
(2) So that if thou, O widow, carest for the things of God, thou
oughtest to follow after that which thou hast learnt to be well
pleasing to God. And, indeed, the Apostle somewhat farther back,(3)
exhorting widows to the pursuit of continence, said that they mind the
things of the Lord. But elsewhere, when a widow who is approved is to
be selected, she is bidden not only to bear in mind but also to hope in
the Lord: "For she that is a widow indeed," it is said, "and desolate,
must hope in God, and be instant in supplications and prayers night and
day."(4) And not without reason does he show that these ought to be
blameless, to whom, as virtuous works are enjoined, so, too, great
respect is paid, so that they are honoured even by bishops.
9. And of what kind she ought to be who is chosen
the description is given in the words of the teacher himself: "Not less
than threescore years old, having been the wife of one man."(5) Not
that old age alone makes the widow,(6) but that the merits of the widow
are the duties of old age. For she certainly is the more noble who
represses the heat of youth, and the impetuous ardour of youthful age,
desiring neither the tenderness of a husband, nor the abundant delights
of children, rather than one who, now worn out in body, cold in age, of
ripe years, can neither grow warm with pleasures, nor hope for
offspring.
10. Nor in truth is any one excluded from the
devotion of widowhood, if after entering upon a second marriage, which
the precepts of the Apostle certainly do not condemn as
393
though the fruit of chastity were lost, if she be again loosed from her
husband. She will have, indeed, the merit of her chastity, even if it
be tardy, but she will be more approved who has tried a second
marriage, for the desire of chastity is conspicuous in her, for the
other old age or shame seems to have put an end to marrying.
11. Nor yet is bodily chastity alone the strong
purpose of the widow, but a large and most abundant exercise of virtue.
"Well reported of for good works, if she have brought up children; if
she have lodged strangers; if she have washed the saints' feet; if she
have ministered to those suffering tribulation; if, lastly, she have
followed after every good work."(1) You see how many practices of
virtue he has included. He demands, first of all, the duty of piety;
secondly, the practice of hospitality and humble service; thirdly, the
ministry of mercy and liberality in assisting; and, lastly, the
performance of every good work.
12. And he, therefore, that the younger should be
avoided,(2) because they are not able to fulfil the requirements of so
high a degree of virtue. For youth is prone to fall because the heat of
various desires is inflamed by the warmth of glowing youth, and it is
the part of a good doctor to keep off the materials of sin. For the
first exercise in training the soul is to turn away sin, the second to
implant virtue. Yet, since the Apostle knew that Anna, the widow of
fourscore years, from her youth was a herald of the works of the Lord,
I do not think that he thought that the younger should be excluded from
the devotion of widowhood, especially as he said: "It is better to
marry than to burn."(3) For certainly he recommended marriage as a
remedy, that she who would else perish might be saved; he did not
prescribe the choice that one who could contain should not follow
chastity, for it is one thing to succour one who is falling, another to
persuade to virtue.
13. And what shall I say of human judgments, since
in the judgments of God the Jews are set forth as having offended the
Lord in nothing more than violating what was due to the widow and the
rights of minors? This is proclaimed by the voices of the prophets as
the cause which brought upon the Jews the penalty of rejection. This is
mentioned as the only cause which will mitigate the wrath of God
against their sin. if they honour the widow, and execute true judgment
for minors, for thus we read: "Judge the fatherless, deal justly with
the widow, and come let us reason together, saith the Lord."(1)
And elsewhere: "The Lord shall maintain the orphan and the widow."(2)
And again: "I will abundantly bless her widow."(3) Wherein also the
likeness of the Church is foreshadowed. You see, then, holy widows,
that that office which is honoured by the assistance of divine grace
must not be degraded by impure desire.
CHAFFER III.
St. Ambrose returns to the story of the widow of Sarepta, and shows
that she represented the Church, hence that she was an example to
virgins, married women, and widows. Then he refers to the prophet as
setting forth Christ, inasmuch as he foretold the mysteries and the
rain which was to come. Next he touches upon and explains the twofold
sign of Gideon, and points out that it is not in every one's power to
work miracles, and that the Incarnation of Christ and the rejection of
the Jews were foreshadowed in that account.
14. To return to what was treated of above,(4) what
is the meaning of the fact that when there was a very great famine in
all the land, yet the care of God was not wanting to the widow, and the
prophet was sent to sustain her? And when in this story the Lord warns
me that He is about to speak in truth,(5) He seems to bid my ears
attend to a mystery. For what can be more true than the mystery of
Christ and the Church? Not, then, without a purpose is one preferred
amongst many widows. Who is such an one, to whom so great a prophet who
was carried up into heaven, should be guided, especially at that time
when the heaven was shut for three years and six months, when there was
a great famine in the whole land? The famine was everywhere, and yet
notwithstanding this widow did not want. What are these three years?
Are they not, perchance, those in which the Lord came to the earth and
could not find fruit on the fig-tree, according to that which is
written: "Behold, there are three years that I came seeking fruit on
this fig-tree, and find none."(6)
15. This is assuredly that widow of whom it was
said: "Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not, break forth and cry, thou
that availest not with child; for many are the children of the
desolate, more than of her who hath an husband."(7) And well is she a
widow of whom it is well said: "Thou
394
shalt not remember thy shame and thy widowhood, for I am the Lord Who
make thee."(1) And perchance therefore is she a widow who has lost her
Husband indeed in the suffering of His body, but in the day of judgment
shall receive again the Son of Man Whom she seemed to have lost. "For a
short time have i forsaken thee,"(2) He says, in order that, being
forsaken, she may the more gloriously keep her faith.
16. All, then, have an example to imitate, virgins,
married women, and widows. And perchance is the Church therefore a
virgin, married, and a widow, because they are one body in Christ. She
is then that widow for Whose sake when there was a dearth of the
heavenly Word on earth, the prophets were appointed, for there was a
widow who was barren, yet reserved her bringing forth for its own time.
17. So that his person does not seem to us of small
account, who by his word moistened the dry earth with the dew of
heaven, and unlocked the closed heavens certainly not by human power.
For who is he who can open the heavens except Christ, for Whom daily
out of sinners food is gathered, an increase for the Church? For it is
not in the power of man to say: "The barrel of meal shall not waste,
and the cruse of oil shall not fail, until the day on which the Lord
shall send rain on the earth,''(8) For though it be the rule of the
prophets to speak thus, the voice is in truth that of the Lord. And so
it is stated first: "For thus saith the Lord."(4) For it is of the Lord
to vouch for a continuance of heavenly sacraments, and to promise that
the grace of spiritual joy shall not fail, to grant the defences of
life, the seals of faith, the gifts of virtues.
18. But what does this mean: "Until the day on which
the Lord shall send rain on the earth"? except that He, too, "shall
come down like rain upon a fleece, and like the drops that water the
earth."(5) In which passage is disclosed the mystery of the old history
where Gideon, the warrior of the mystic conflict, receiving the pledge
of future victory, recognized the spiritual sacrament in the vision of
his mind, that that rain was the dew of the Divine Word, which first
came down on the fleece, when all the earth was parched with continual
drought, and by a second true sign, moistened the floor of all the
earth with a shower, whilst dryness was upon the fleece.(6)
19. For the prescient man observed the sign of the
future growth of the Church. For first in Judges the dew of the divine
utterance began to give moisture (for "in Jewry is God known"),(1)
whilst the whole earth remained without the dew of faith. But when
Joseph's flock began to deny God, and by venturing on various enormous
offences to incur guilt before God, then when the dew of the heavenly
shower was poured on the whole earth, the people of the Jews began to
grow dry and parched in their own unbelief, when the clouds of prophecy
and the healthful shower of the Apostles watered the holy Church
gathered together from all parts of the world. This is that rain, now
condensed from earthly moisture, now from mountain mists, but diffused
throughout the whole world in the salutary shower of the heavenly
Scriptures.
20. By this example, then, it is shown that not all
can merit the miracles of divine power, but they who are aided by the
pursuits of religious devotion, and that they lose the fruits of divine
working who are devoid of reverence for heaven. It is also shown in a
mystery that the Son of God, in order to restore the Church, took upon
Himself the mystery of a human body, casting off the Jewish people,
from whom the counsellor and the prophet and the miracles of the divine
benefits were taken away, because that as it were by a kind of national
blemish they were not willing to believe in the Son of God.
CHAPTER IV.
By the example of Anna St. Ambrose shows what ought to be the life of
widows, and shows that she was an example of chastity at every age.
From this he argues that there are three degrees of the same virtue,
all of which are included in the Church, and sets forth several
examples in Mary, in Anna, and in Susanna. But, he adds, the state of
virginity is superior to either of the others, but that a widow ought
to take greater care for the preservation of her good name.
21. Scripture then teaches as how much grace is
conferred by unity, and how great is the gift of divine blessing in
widows. And since such honour is given them by God, we must observe
what mode of life corresponds thereto; for Anna shows what widows ought
to be, who, left destitute by the early death of her husband, yet
obtained the reward of full praise, being intent not less on the duties
of religion than on the pursuit of chastity. A widow, it is said, of
395
fourscore and four years, a widow who departed not from the temple, a
widow who served God night and day with fastings and with prayers.(1)
22. You see what sort of person a widow is said to
be, the wife of one man, tested also by the progress of age, vigorous
in religion, and worn out in body, whose resting-place is the temple,
whose conversation is prayer, whose life is fasting, who in the times
of day and night by a service of unwearied devotion, though the body
acknowledge old age, yet knows no age in her piety. Thus is a widow
trained from her youth, thus is she spoken of in her age, who has kept
her widowhood not through the chance of time, nor through weakness of
body, but by large-heartedness in virtue. For when it is said that she
was for seven years from her virginity with her husband, it is a
setting forth that the things which are the support of her old age
began in the aims of her youth.
23. And so we are taught that the virtue of chastity
is threefold, one kind that of married life, a second that of
widowhood, and the third that of virginity, for we do not so set forth
one as to exclude others. These result each in that which belongs to
each. The training of the Church is rich in this, that it has those
whom it may set before others, but has none whom it rejects, and would
that it never could have any! We have so spoken of virginity as not to
reject widowhood, we so reverence widows as to reserve its own honour
for wedlock. It is not our precepts but the divine sayings which teach
this.
24. Let us remember then how Mary, how Anna, and how
Susanna are spoken of. But since not only must we celebrate their
praises but also follow their manner of life, let us remember where
Susanna,(2) and Anna,(3) and Mary(4) are found, and observe how each is
spoken of with her special commendation, and where each is mentioned,
she that is married in the garden, the widow in the temple, the virgin
in her secret chamber.
25. But in the former the fruit is later, in
virginity it is earlier; old age proves them, virginity is the praise
of youth, and does not need the help of years, being the fruit of every
age. It becomes early years, it adorns youth, it adds to the dignity of
age, and at all ages it has the gray hairs of its righteousness, the
ripeness of its gravity, the veil of modesty, which does hinder
devotion and increases religion. For we see by what follows that holy
Mary went every year with Joseph to Jerusalem on the solemn day of the
passover.(1) Everywhere in company with the Virgin is eager devotion
and a zealous sharer of her chastity. Nor is the Mother of the Lord
puffed up, as though secure of her own merits, but the more she
recognized her merit, the more fully did she pay her vows, the more
abundantly did she perform her service, the more fully did she
discharge her office, the more religiously did she perform her duty and
fill up the mystic time.
26. How much more then does it beseem you to be
intent on the pursuit of chastity, t you leave any place for
unfavourable opinion who have the evidence of your modesty and your
behaviour alone. For a virgin, though in her also character rather than
the body has the first claim, puts away calumny by the integrity of her
body, a widow who has lost the assistance of being able to prove her
virginity undergoes the inquiry as to her chastity not according to the
word of a midwife, but according to her own manner of life. Scripture,
then, has shown how attentive and religious should be the disposition
of a widow.
CHAPTER V.
Liberality to the poor is recommended by the example of the widow m the
Gospel, whose two mites were preferred to the large gifts of the rich.
The two mites are treated as mystically representing the two
Testaments. What that treasure is for which we are taught to offer,
after the example of the wise men, three gifts, or after that of the
widow, two. St. Ambrose concludes the chapter by an exhortation to
widows to be zealous in good works.
27. In the same book, too, but in another place, we
are taught how fitting it is to be merciful and liberal towards the
poor, and that this feeling should not be checked by the consideration
of our poverty, since liberality is determined not by the amount of our
possessions, but by the disposition of giving. For by the voice of the
Lord that widow is preferred to all of whom it was said: "This widow
hath cast in more than all."(2) In which instance the Lord
characteristically teaches all, that none should be held back from
giving assistance through shame at his own poverty, and that the rich
should not flatter themselves that they seem to give more than the
poor. For the piece of money out of a small stock is richer than
treasures out of abundance, because it is not the
396
amount that is given but the amount that remains which is considered.
No one gives more than she who has left nothing for herself.
28. Why do you, rich woman, boast yourself by
comparison with the poor, and when you are all loaded with gold, and
drag along the ground a costly robe, desire to be honoured as though
she were inferior and small in comparison with your riches, because you
have surpassed the needy with your gifts? Rivers too overflow, when
they are too full, but a draught from a brook is more pleasant. New
wine foams while fermenting, and the husbandman does not consider as
lost that which runs over. While the harvest is being threshed out,
grains of corn fall from the groaning floor; but though the harvests
fail, the barrel of meal wastes not, and the cruse full of oil gives
forth.(1) But the draught emptied the casks of the rich, while the tiny
cruse of oil of the widow gave abundance. That, then, is to be reckoned
which you give for devotion, not what you cast forth disdainfully. For
in fine, no one gave more than she who fed the prophet with her
children's nourishment. And so since no one gave more, no one had
greater merit. This has a moral application.
29. And considering the mystical sense, one must not
despise this woman casting in two mites into the treasury. Plainly the
woman was noble who in the divine judgment was found worthy to be
preferred to all. Perchance it is she who of her faith has given two
testaments for the help of man, and so no one has done more. Nor could
any one equal the amount of her gift, who joined faith with mercy. Do
you, then, whoever you are, who exercise your life the practice of
widowhood, not hesitate to cast into the treasury the two mites, full
of faith and grace.
30. Happy is she who out of her treasure brings
forth the perfect image of the King. Your treasure is wisdom, your
treasure is chastity and righteousness, your treasure is a good
understanding, such as was that treasure from which the Magi, when they
worshipped the Lord, brought forth gold, frankincense, and myrrh;(2)
setting forth by gold the power of a king, venerating God by the
frankincense, and by myrrh acknowledging the resurrection of the body.
You too have this treasure if you look into yourself: "For we have this
treasure in earthen vessels."(3) You have gold which you can give, for
God does not exact of you the precious gift of shining metal, but that
gold which at the day of judgment the fire shall be unable to consume.
Nor does He require precious gifts, but the good odour of faith, which
the altars of your heart send forth and the disposition of a religious
mind exhales.
31. From this treasure, then, not only the three
gifts of the Magi but also the two mites of the widow are taken, on
which the perfect image of the heavenly King shines forth, the
brightness of His glory and the image of His substance. Precious, too,
are those hardly earned gains of chastity which the widow gives of her
labour and daily task, continually night and day working at her task,
and by the wakeful labour of her profitable chastity gathering
treasure; that she may preserve the couch of her deceased husband
unviolated, be able to support her dear children, and to minister to
the poor. She is to be preferred to the rich, she it is who shall not
fear the judgment of Christ.
32. Strive to equal her, my daughters: "It is good
to be zealously affected in a good thing."(1) "Covet earnestly the best
gifts"(2) The Lord is ever looking upon you, Jesus looks upon you when
He goes to the treasury, and you think that of the gain of your good
works assistance is to be given to those in need. What is it, then,
that you should give your two mites and gain in return the Lord's Body?
Go not, then, empty into the sight of the Lord your God,(3) empty of
mercy, empty of faith, empty of chastity; for the Lord Jesus is wont to
look upon and to commend not the empty, but those who are rich in
virtues. Let the maiden see you at work, let her see you ministering to
others. For this is the return which you owe to God, that you should
make your return to God from the progress of others. No return is more
acceptable to God than the offerings of piety.
CHAPTER VI.
Naomi is an instance of a widow receiving back from her daughter-in-law
the fruits of her own good training, and is a token that necessary
support will never fail the good widow. And if her life appears sad,
she is happy, since the promises of the Lord are made to her. St.
Ambrose then touches upon the benefits of weeping.
33. Does the widow Naomi seem to you of small
account, who supported her widowhood on the gleanings from another's
har-
397
vest, and who, when heavy with age, was supported by her
daughter-in-law?(1) It is a great benefit both for the support and for
the advantage of widows, that they so train their daughters-in-law as
to have in them a support in full old age, and, as it were, payment for
their teaching and reward for their training. For to her who has well
taught and well instructed her daughter-in-law a Ruth will never be
wanting who will prefer the widowed life of her mother-in-law to her
father's house, and if her husband also be dead, will not leave her,
will support her in need, comfort her in sorrow, and not leave her if
sent away; for good instruction will never know want. So that Naomi,
deprived of her husband and her two sons, having lost the offspring of
her fruitfulness, lost not the reward of her pious care, for she found
both a comfort in sorrow and a support in poverty.
34. You see, then, holy women, how fruitful a widow
is in the offspring of virtues, and the results of her own merits,
which cannot come to an end. A good widow, then, knows no want, and if
she be weary through age, in extreme poverty, yet she has as a rule the
reward of the training she has given. Though the nearest to herself
have failed, she finds those not so near akin to cherish their mother,
revere their parent, and by the trifling gifts for her support desire
to gain the fruit of their own kindness, for richly are gifts to a
widow repaid. She asks food and pays back treasures.
35. But she seems to spend sad days, and to pass her
time in tears. And she is the more blessed in this, for by a little
weeping she purchases for herself everlasting joys, and at the cost of
a few moments gains eternity. To such it is well said: "Blessed are ye
that weep, for ye shall laugh."(2) Who then would prefer the deceitful
appearances of present joys to the pleasure of future freedom from
anxiety? Does he seem to us an insignificant authority, the elect
forefather of the Lord after the flesh, who ate ashes as it were bread,
and mingled his drink with weeping,(3) and by his tears at night gained
for himself the joy of redemption in the morning? Whence did he gain
that great joy except that he greatly wept, and, as it were, at the
price of his tears obtained the grace of future glory for himself.
36. The widow has, then, this excellent
recommendation, that while she mourns her husband she also weeps for
the world, and the redeeming tears are ready, which shed for the dead
will benefit the living. The weeping of the eyes is fitted to the
sadness of the mind, it arouses pity, lessens labour, relieves grief,
and preserves modesty, and she no longer seems to herself so wretched,
finding comfort in tears Which are the pay of love and proofs of pious
memory.
CHAPTER VII.
By the example of Judith is shown that courage is not wanting in
widows; her preparation for her visit to Holofernes is dwelt upon, as
also her chastity and her wisdom, her sobriety and moderation. Lastly,
St. Ambrose, after demonstrating that she was no less brave than
prudent, sets forth her modesty after her success.
37. BUT bravery also is usually not wanting to a
good widow. For this is true bravery, which surpasses the usual nature
and the weakness of the sex by the devotion of the mind, such as was in
her who was named Judith,(1) who of herself alone was able to rouse up
from utter prostration and defend from the enemy men broken down by the
siege, smitten with fear, and pining with hunger. For she, as we read,
when Holofernes, dreaded after his success in so many battles, had
driven countless thousands of men within the walls; when the armed men
were afraid, and were already treating about the final surrender, went
forth outside the wall, both excelling that army which she delivered,
and braver than that which she put to flight.
38. But in order to learn the dispositions of ripe
widowhood, run through the course of the Scriptures. From the time when
her husband died she laid aside the garments of mirth, and took those
of mourning. Every day she was intent on fasting except on the Sabbath
and the Lord's Day and the times of holy days, not as yielding to
desire of refreshment, but out of respect for religion. For this is
that which is said: "Whether ye eat or drink, all is to be done in the
name of Jesus Christ,"(2) that even the very refreshment of the body is
to have respect to the worship of holy religion. So then, holy
Judith,(3) strengthened by lengthened mourning and by daily fasting,
sought not the enjoyments of the world regardless of danger, and strong
in her contempt for death. In order to accomplish her stratagem she put
on that robe of mirth, wherewith in her husband's lifetime she was wont
398
to be clothed, as though she would give pleasure to her husband, if she
freed her country. But she saw another man whom she was seeking to
please, even Him, of Whom it is said: "After me cometh a Man Who is
preferred before me."(1) And she did well in resuming her bridal
ornaments when about to fight, for the reminders of wedlock are the
arms of chastity, and in no other way could a widow please or gain the
victory.
39. Why relate the sequel? How she amongst thousands
of enemies, remained chaste. Why speak of her wisdom, in that she
designed such a scheme? She chose out the commander, to ward off from
herself the insolence of inferiors, and prepare an opportunity for
victory. She reserved the merit of abstinence and the grace of
chastity. For unpolluted, as we read, either by food or by adultery,
she gained no less a triumph over the enemy by preserving her chastity
than by delivering her country.
40. What shall I say of her sobriety? Temperance,
indeed, is the virtue of women. When the men were intoxicated with wine
and buried in sleep, the widow took the sword, put forth her hand, cut
off the warrior's head. and passed unharmed through the midst of the
ranks of the enemy. You notice, then, how much drunkenness can injure a
woman, seeing that wine so weakens men that they are overcome by women.
Let a widow, then, be temperate, pure in the first place from wine,
that she may be pure from adultery. He will tempt you in vain, if wine
tempts you not. For if Judith had drunk she would have slept with the
adulterer. But because she drank not, the sobriety of one without
difficulty was able both to overcome and to escape from a drunken army.
41. And this was not so much a work of her hands, as
much more a trophy of her wisdom. For having overcome Holofernes by her
hand alone, she overcame the whole army of the enemies by her wisdom.
For hanging up the head of Holofernes, a deed which the wisdom of the
men had been unable to plan, she raised the courage of her countrymen,
and broke down that of the enemy. She stirred up her own friends by her
modesty, and struck terror into the enemy so that they were put to
flight and slain. And so the temperance and sobriety of one widow not
only subdued her own nature, but, which is far more, even made men more
brave.
42. And yet she was not so elated by this success,
though she might well rejoice and exult by right of her victory, as to
give up the exercises of her widowhood, but refusing all who desired to
wed her she laid aside her garments of mirth and took again those of
her widowhood, not caring for the adornments of her triumph, thinking
those things better whereby vices of the body are subdued than those
whereby the weapons of an enemy are overcome.
CHAPTER VIII.
Though many other widows came near to Judith in virtue, St. Ambrose
proposes to speak of Deborah only. What a pattern of virtue she must
have been for widows, who was chosen to govern and defend men. It was
no small glory to her that when her son was over the host he refused to
go forth to battle unless she would go also. So that she led the army
and foretold the result. In this story the conflicts and triumphs of
the Church, and her spiritual weapons, are set forth, and every excuse
of weakness is taken from women.
43. AND in order that it may not seem as if only one
widow had fulfilled this inimitable work, it seems in no Way doubtful
that there were many others of equal or almost equal virtue, for good
seed corn usually bears many ears filled with grains. Doubt not. then,
that that ancient seed-time was fruitful in the characters of many
women. But as it would be tedious to include all, consider some, and
especially Deborah,(1) whose virtue Scripture records for us.
44. For she showed not only that widows have no need
of the help of a man, inasmuch as she, not at all restrained by the
weakness of her sex, undertook to perform the duties of a man, and did
even more than she had undertaken. And, at last, when the Jews were
being ruled under the leadership of the judges, because they could not
govern them with manly justice, or defend them with manly strength, and
so wars broke out on all sides, they chose Deborah,(2) by whose
judgment they might be ruled. And so one widow both ruled many
thousands of men in peace, and defended them from the enemy. There were
many judges in Israel, but no woman before was a judge, as after Joshua
there were many judges but none was a prophet. And I think that her
judgeship has been narrated, and her deeds de-
399
scribed, that women should not be restrained from deeds of valour by
the weakness of their sex. A widow, she governs the people; a widow,
she leads armies; a widow, she chooses generals; a widow, she
determines wars and orders triumphs. So, then, it is not nature which
is answerable for the fault or which is liable to weakness. It is not
sex, but valour which makes strong.
45. And in time of peace there is no complaint, and
no fault is found in this woman whereas most of the judges were causes
of no small sins to the people. But when the Canaanites, a people
fierce in battle and rich in troops, successively joined them, showed a
horrible disposition against the people of the Jews, this widow, before
all others, made all the preparations for war. And to show that the
needs of the household were not dependent on the public resources, but
rather that public duties were guided by the discipline of home life,
she brings forth from her home her son as leader of the army, that we
may acknowledge that a widow can train a warrior; whom, as a mother,
she taught, and, as judge, placed in command, as, being herself brave,
she trained him, and, as a prophetess, sent to certain victory.
46. And lastly, her son Barak shows the chief part
of the victory was in the hands of a woman when he said: "If thou wilt
not go with me I will not go, for I know not the day on which the Lord
sendeth His angel with me."(1) How great, then, was the might of that
woman to whom the leader of the army says, "If thou wilt not go I will
not go." How great, I say, the fortitude of the widow who keeps not
back her son from dangers through motherly affection, but rather with
the zeal of a mother exhorts her son to go forth to victory, while
saying that the decisive point of that victory is m the hand of a woman!
47. So, then, Deborah foretold the event of the
battle. Barak, as he was bidden, led forth the army; Jael carried off
the triumph, for the prophecy of Deborah fought for her, who in a
mystery revealed to us the rising of the Church from among the
Gentiles, for whom should be found a triumph over Sisera, that is, over
the powers opposed to her. For us, then, the oracles of the prophets
fought, for us those judgments and arms of the prophets won the
victory. And for this reason it was not the people of the Jews but Jael
who gained the victory over the enemy. Unhappy, then, was that people
which could not follow up by the virtue of faith the enemy, whom it had
put to flight. And so by their fault salvation came to the Gentiles, by
their sluggishness the victory was reserved for us.
48. Jael then destroyed Sisera, whom however the
band of Jewish veterans had put to flight under their brilliant'
leader, for this is the interpretation of the name Barak; for often, as
we read, the sayings and merits of the prophets procured heavenly aid
for the fathers. But even at that time was victory being prepared over
spiritual wickedness for those to whom it is said in the Gospel: "Come,
ye blessed of My Father, take possession of the kingdom prepared for
you from the foundation of the world.''(2) So the commencement of the
victory was from the Fathers, its conclusion is in the Church.
49. But the Church does not overcome the powers of
the enemy with weapons of this world, but with spiritual arms, "which
are mighty through God to the destruction of strongholds and the high
places of spiritual wickedness."(3) And Sisera's thirst was quenched
with a bowl of milk, because he was overcome by wisdom, for what is
healthful for us as food is deadly and weakening to the power of the
enemy. The weapons of the Church are faith, the weapons of the Church
are prayer, which overcomes the enemy.
50. And so according to this history a woman, that
the minds of women might be stirred up, became a judge, a woman set all
in order, a woman prophesied, a woman triumphed, and joining in the
battle array taught men to war under a woman's lead. But in a mystery
it is the battle of faith and the victory of the Church.
51. You, then, who are women have no excuse because
of your nature. You who are widows have no excuse because of the
weakness of your sex, nor can you attribute your changeableness to the
loss of the support of a husband. Every one has sufficient protection
if courage is not wanting to the soul. And the very advance of age is a
common defence of chastity for widows; and grief for the husband who is
lost, regular work, the care of the house, anxiety for children,
frequently ward off wantonness hurtful to the soul; while the very
mourning attire, the funeral solemnities, the constant weeping, and
grief impressed on the sad brow in deep wrinkles, restrains wanton
400
eyes, checks lust, turns away forward looks. The sorrow of regretful
affection is a good guardian of chastity, guilt cannot find an entrance
if vigilance be not wanting.
CHAPTER IX.
To an objection that the state of widowhood might indeed be endurable
if circumstances were pleasant, St. Ambrose replies that pleasant
surroundings are more dangerous than even trouble; and goes to show by
examples taken from holy Scripture, that widows may find much happiness
in their children and their sons-in-law. They should have recourse to
the Apostles, who are able to help us, and should entreat for the
intercessions of angels and martyrs. He touches then on certain
complaints respecting loneliness, and care of property, and ends by
pointing out the unseemliness of a widow marrying who has daughters
either married already or of marriageable age.
52. YOU have learnt, then, you who are widows, that
you are not destitute of the help of nature, and that you can maintain
sound counsel. Nor, again, are you devoid of protection at home, who
are able to claim even the highest point of public power.
53. But perhaps some one may say that widowhood is
more endurable for her who enjoys prosperity, but that widows are soon
broken down by adversity, and easily succumb. On which point not only
are we taught by experience that enjoyment is more perilous for widows
than difficulties, but by the examples in the Scriptures that even in
weakness widows are not usually without aid,(1) and that divine and
human support is furnished more readily to them than to others, if they
have brought up children and chosen sons-in-law well. And, finally,
when Simon's mother-in-law was lying sick with violent fever, Peter and
Andrew besought the Lord for her: "And He stood over her and commanded
the fever and it left her, and immediately she arose and ministered
unto them."(2)
54. "She was taken," it is said, "with a great
fever, and they besought him for her."(3) You too have those near you
to entreat for you. You have the Apostles near, you have the Martyrs
near; if associated with the Martyrs in devotion, you draw near them
also by works of mercy. Do you show mercy and you will be close
to Peter. It is not relationship by blood but affinity of virtue which
makes near, for we walk not in the flesh but in the Spirit. Cherish,
then, the nearness of Peter and the affinity of Andrew, that they may
pray for you and your lusts give way. Touched by the word of God you,
who lay on the earth, will then forthwith rise up to minister to
Christ. "For our conversation is in heaven, whence also we look for the
Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ."(1) For no one lying down can minister
to Christ Minister to the poor and you have ministered to Christ. "For
what ye have done unto one of these," He says, "ye have done unto
Me."(2) You, widows, have then assistance, if you choose such
sons-in-law for yourselves, such patrons and friends for your posterity.
55. So Peter and Andrew prayed for the widow. Would
that there were some one who could so quickly pray for us, or better
still, they who prayed for the mother-in-law, Peter and Andrew his
brother. Then they could pray for one related to them, now they are
able to pray for us and for all. For you see that one bound by great
sin is less fit to pray for herself, certainly less likely to obtain
for herself. Let her then make use of others to pray for her to the
physician. For the sick, unless the physician be called to them by the
prayers of others, cannot pray for themselves. The flesh is weak, the
soul is sick and hindered by the chains of sins, and cannot direct its
feeble steps to the throne of that physician. The angels must be
entreated for us, who have been to us as guards; the martyrs must be
entreated, whose patronage we seem to claim for ourselves by the pledge
as it were of their bodily remains. They can entreat for our sins, who,
if they had any sins, washed them in their own blood; for they are the
martyrs of God, our leaders, the beholders of our life and of our
actions. Let us not be ashamed to take them as intercessors for our
weakness, for they themselves knew the weaknesses of the body, even
when they overcame.
56. So, then, Peter's mother-in-law found some to
pray for her. And you, O widow, find those who will pray for you, if as
a true widow and desolate you hope in God, continue instant in
supplications, persist in prayers,(3) treat your body as dying daily,
that by dying you may live again; avoid pleasures, that you, too, being
sick, may be healed. "For she that liveth in pleasure is dead while she
liveth."(4)
57. You have no longer any reason for marrying, you
have some to intercede for you. Say not, "I am desolate." This is the
complaint of one who wishes to marry.
401
Say not, "I am alone." Chastity seeks solitude: the modest seek
privacy, the immodest company. But you have necessary business; you
have also one to plead for you. You are afraid of your adversary; the
Lord Himself will intervene with the judge and say: "Judge for the
fatherless, and justify the widow."(1)
58. But you wish to take care of your inheritance.
The inheritance of modesty is greater, and this a widow can guard
better than one married. A slave has done wrong. Forgive him, for it is
better that you should bear with another's fault than expose it. But
you wish to marry. Be it so. The simple desire is no crime. I do not
ask the reason, why is one invented? If you think it good, say so; if
unsuitable, be silent. Do not blame God, do not blame your relatives,
saying that protection fails you. Would that the wish did not fail! And
say not that you are consulting the interests of your children, whom
you are depriving of their mother.
59. There are some things permissible in the
abstract, but not permissible on account of age. Why is the bridal of
the mother being prepared at the same time with that of the daughters,
and often even afterwards? Why does the grown-up daughter learn to
blush in the presence of her mother's betrothed rather than her own? I
confess that I advised you to change your dress, but not to put on a
bridal veil; to go away from the tomb, not to prepare a bridal couch.
What is the meaning of a newly-married woman who already has
sons-in-law? How unseemly it is to have children younger than one's
grand-children!
CHAPTER X.
St. Ambrose returns again to the subject of Christ, speaking of His
goodness in all misery. The various ways in which the good Physician
treats our diseases, and the quickness of the healing if only we do not
neglect to call upon Him. He touches upon the moral meaning of the
will, which he shows was manifested in Peter's mother-in-law, and
lastly points out what a minister of Christ and specially a bishop
ought to be, and says that they specially must rise through grace.
60. BUT let us return to the point, and not, while
we are grieving over the wounds of our sins, leave the physician, and
whilst ministering to the sores of others, let our own go on
increasing. The Physician is then here asked for. Do not fear, because
the Lord is great, that perhaps He will not condescend to come to one
who is sick, for He often comes to us from heaven; and is wont to visit
not only the rich but also the poor and the servants of the poor.(1)
And so now He comes, when called upon, to Peter's mother-in-law. "And
He stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her, and
immediately she arose and ministered unto them."(2) As He is worthy of
being remembered, so, too, is He worthy of being longed for, worthy,
too, of love, for His condescension to every single matter which
affects men, and His marvellous acts. He disdains not to visit widows,
and to enter the narrow rooms of a poor cottage.As God He commands, as
man He visits.
61. Thanks be to the Gospel, by means of which we
also, who saw not Christ when He came into this world, seem to be with
Him when we read His deeds, that as they, to whom He drew near,
borrowed faith from Him, so may He, when we believe His deeds, draw
near to us.
61. Do you see what kinds of healing are with Him?
He commands the fever, He commands the unclean spirits, at another
place He lays hands on them. He was wont then to heal the sick, not
only by word but also by touch. And do you then, who burn with many
desires, taken either by the beauty or by the fortune of some one,
implore Christ, call in the Physician, stretch forth your right hand to
Him, let the hand of God touch your inmost being, and the grace of the
heavenly Word enter the veins of your inward desires, let God's right
hand strike the secrets of your heart. He spreads clay on the eyes of
some that they may see,(3) and the Creator of all teaches us that we
ought to be mindful of our own nature, and to discern the vileness of
our body; for no one can see divine things except one who through
knowledge of his vileness cannot be puffed up. Another is bidden to
show himself to the priest, that he may for ever be free from the
scales of leprosy.(4) For he alone can preserve his purity, both of
body and soul, who knows how to show himself to that priest, Whom we
have received as an Advocate for our sins, and to Whom is plainly said:
"Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedech." (5)
63. And be not afraid that there will be any delay
in healing. He who is healed by Christ has no hindrances. You must
402
use the remedy which you have received; and as soon as He has given the
command, the blind man sees, the paralytic walks, the dumb speaks, the
deaf hears, she that has a fever ministers, the lunatic is delivered.
And do you, then, who ever after an unseemly fashion languish for
desire of anything, entreat the Lord, show Him your faith, and fear no
delay. Where there is prayer, the Word is present, desire is put to
flight, lust departs. And be not afraid of offending by confession,
take it rather as a right, for you who were before afflicted by an
intense disease of the body will begin to minister to Christ.
64. And in this place can be seen the disposition of
the will of Peter's mother-in-law, from which she received for herself,
as it were, the seed corn of what was to come, for to each his will is
the cause of that which is to come. For from the will springs wisdom,
which the wise man takes in marriage to himself, saying: "I desire to
make her my spouse."(1) This will, then, which at first was weak and
languid under the fever of various desires, afterwards by the office of
the apostles rose up strong to minister unto Christ.
65. At the same time it is also shown what he ought
to be who ministers to Christ, for first he must be free from the
enticements of various pleasures, he must be free from inward languor
of body and soul, that he may minister the Body and Blood of Christ.
For no one who is sick with his own sins, and far from being whole, can
minister the remedies of the healing of immortality. See what thou
doest, O priest, and touch not the Body of Christ with a fevered hand.
First be healed that thou mayest be able to minister. If Christ bids
those who are now cleansed, but were once leprous, to show themselves
to the priests,(2) how much more is it fitting for the priest himself
to be pure. That widow, then, cannot take it ill that I have not spared
her, since I spare not myself.
66. Peter's mother-in-law, it is written, rose up
and ministered to them. Well is it said, rose up, for the grace of the
apostleship was already furnishing a type of the sacrament. It is
proper to the ministers of Christ to rise, according to that which is
written: "Awake, thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead.
CHAPTER XI.
Having shown that the pretexts usually alleged for second marriages
have no weight, St. Ambrose declares that
he does not condemn them, though from the
Apostle's words he sets forth their inconveniences,
though the state of those twice married
is approved in the Church, and he takes
occasion to advert to those heretics who forbid them. And
he says that it is because the strength
of different persons varies that chastity
is not commanded, but only recommended.
67. I say, then, that widows who have been in the
habit of giving neither are in want of their necessary expenses, nor of
help, who in very great dangers have often guarded the resources of
their husbands; and further, I think that the good offices of a husband
are usually made up for to them by sons-in-law and other relatives, and
that God's mercy is more ready to help them, and therefore, when there
is no special cause for marrying, the desire of so doing should not
exist.
68. This, however, I say as a counsel, we do not
order it as a precept, stirring up the wills of widows rather than
binding them. for I do not forbid second marriages, only I do not
advise them. The consideration of human weakness is one thing, the
grace of chastity is another. I say more, I do not forbid second, but
do not approve of often repeated marriages, for not everything is
expedient which is lawful: "All things are lawful to me," says the
Apostle, "but all things are not expedient."(1) As, also, to drink wine
is lawful, but, for the most part. it is not expedient.
69. It is then lawful to marry, but it is more
seemly to abstain, for there are bonds in marriage. Do you ask what
bonds? "The woman who is under a husband is bound by the law so long as
her husband liveth; but if her husband be dead she is loosed from the
law of her husband."(2) It is then proved that marriage is a bond by
which the woman is bound and from which she is loosed. Beautiful is the
grace of mutual love, but the bondage is more constant. "The wife hath
not power of her own body, but the husband."(3) And lest this bondage
should seem to be rather one of sex than of marriage, there follows:
"Likewise, also, the husband hath not power of his own body, but the
wife." How great; then, is the constraint in marriage, which subjects
even the stronger to the other; for by mutual constraint each is bound
to serve. Nor if one wishes to refrain can he withdraw his neck from
the yoke, for he is subject to the incontinence of the other. It is
said: "Ye are bought with a price, be
403
not ye servants of men."(1) You see how plainly the servitude of
marriage is defined. It is not I who say this, but the Apostle; or,
rather. it is not he, but Christ, Who spoke in him. And he spoke of
this servitude in the case of good married people. For above you read:
"The unbelieving husband is sanctified by his believing wife; and the
unbelieving wife by her believing husband.(2) And further on: "But if
the unbelieving depart, let him depart. A brother or a sister is not
bound in such cases."(3) If, then, a good marriage is servitude, what
is a bad one, when they cannot sanctify, but destroy one another?
70. But as I exhort widows to keep the grace of
their gift, so, too, I incite women to observe ecclesiastical
discipline, for the Church is made up of all. Though it be the flock of
Christ, yet some are fed on strong food, others are still nourished
with milk, who must be on their guard against those wolves who are
hidden in sheep's clothing, pretending to all appearance of continence,
but inciting to the foulness of incontinence. For they know how severe
are the burdens of chastity, since they cannot touch them with the tips
of their fingers; they require of others that which is above measure,
when they themselves cannot even observe any measure, but rather give
way under the cruel weight. For the measure of the burden must always
be according to the strength of him who has to bear it; otherwise,
where the bearer is weak, he breaks down with the burden laid upon him;
for too strong meat chokes the throats of infants.
71. And so as ill a multitude of bearers their
strength is not estimated by that of a few; nor do the stronger receive
their tasks in accordance with the weakness of others, but each is
allowed to bear as great a burden as he desires, the reward increasing
with the increase of strength; so, too, a snare is not to be set for
women, nor a burden of continence beyond their strength to be taken up,
but it must be left to each to weigh the matter for herself, not
compelled by the authority of any command, but incited by increase of
grace. And so for different degrees of virtue a different reward is set
forth, and one thing is not blamed that another may be praised; but all
are spoken of, in order that what is best may be preferred.
CHAPTER XII.
The difference between matters of precept and of counsel is treated of;
as shown in the case of the young man in the Gospel, and the difference
of the rewards set forth both for counsels and precepts is spoken of.
72. Marriage, then, is honourable, but chastity is
more honourable, for "he that giveth his virgin ill marriage doeth
well, but he that giveth her not in marriage doeth better. (1) That,
then, which is good need not be avoided, but that which is better
should be chosen. And so it is not laid upon any, but set before him.
And, therefore, the Apostle said well: "Concerning virgins I have no
commandment of the Lord, yet I give my counsel."(2) For a command is
issued to those subject, counsel is given to friends. Where there is a
commandment, there is a law; where counsel, there is grace. A
commandment is given to enforce what is according to nature, a counsel
to incite us to follow grace. And, therefore, the Law was given to the
Jews, but grace was reserved for the elect. The Law was given that,
through fear of punishment, it might recall those who were wandering
beyond the limits of nature, to their observance, but grace to incite
the elect both by the desire of good things, and also by the promised
rewards.
73. You will see the difference between precept and
counsel, if you remember the case of him in the Gospel, to whom it is
first commanded to do no murder, not to commit adultery, not to bear
false witness; for that is a commandment which has a penalty for its
transgression. But when he said that he had fulfilled all the
commandments of the Law, there is given to him a counsel that he should
sell all that he had and follow the Lord,(3) for these things are not
imposed as commands, but are offered as counsels. For there are two
ways of commanding things, one by way of precept, the other by way of
counsel. And so the Lord in one way says: "Thou shalt not kill," where
He gives a commandment; in the other He says: "If thou wilt be perfect,
sell all that thou hast." He is, then, not bound by a commandment to
whom the choice is left.
74. And so they who have fulfilled the commandments
are able to say: "We are unprofitable servants, we have done that which
was our duty to do."(4) The virgin does not say this, nor he who sold
all his goods, but they rather await the stored-up
404
rewards like the holy Apostle who says: "Behold we have forsaken all
and followed Thee, what shall we have therefore? "(1) He says not, like
the unprofitable servant, that he has done that which was his duty to
do, but as being profitable to his Master, because he has multiplied
the talents entrusted to him by the increase he has gained, having a
good conscience, and without anxiety as to his merits he expects the
reward of his faith and virtue. And so it is said to him and the
others: "Ye which have followed Me, in the regeneration, when the Son
of Man shall sit in the throne of His glory, shall also yourselves sit
upon twelve thrones, judging the tribes of Israel."(2) And to those who
had faithfully preserved their talents He promises rewards indeed,
though smaller saying: "Because thou hast been faithful over a few
things, I will make thee ruler over many things.(3) Good faith. then,
is due, but mercy is in the rewards. He who has kept good faith has
deserved that good faith should be kept with him; he who has made good
profit, because he has not sought his own benefit, has gained a claim
to a heavenly reward.
CHAPTER XIII.
St. Ambrose, treating of the words in the Gospel concerning eunuchs,
condemns those who make themselves such. Those only deserve praise who
have through continence gained the victory over themselves, but no one
is to be compelled to live this life, as neither Christ nor the Apostle
laid down such a law, so that the marriage vow is not to be blamed,
though that of chastity is better.
75. So, then, a commandment to this effect is not
given, but a counsel is. Chastity is commanded entire continence
counselled. "But all men cannot receive this saying, but they to whom
it is given. For there are eunuchs which were so born from their
mothers womb,"(4) in whom exists a natural necessity not the virtue of
chastity. "And there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs," of
their own will, that is, not of necessity. "And there are eunuchs which
were made eunuchs of men .... "(5) And, therefore, great is the grace
of continence in them, because it is the will, not incapacity, which
makes a man continent. For it is seemly to preserve the gift of divine
working whole. And let them not think it too little not to be impeded
by the inclination of the body, for if the reward for going through
that conflict is taken from their reach, the matter of sin is also
removed, and though they cannot receive the crown, no more can they be
overcome. They have other kinds of virtues by which they ought to
commend themselves if their faith be firm, their mercifulness abundant,
avarice far from them, grace abundant. But in them there is no fault,
for they are ignorant of the act of sin.
76. The case is not the same of those who mutilate
themselves, and I touch upon this point advisedly, for there are some
who look ripen it as a holy deed to check by the evil violence of this
sort. And though I am not willing to express my own opinion concerning
them, though decisions of our forefathers are in existence; but then
consider whether this tends not rather to a declaration of weakness
than to a reputation for strength. On this principle no one should
fight lest he be overcome, nor make use of his feet, fearing the danger
of stumbling, nor let his eyes do their office because he fears a fall
through lust. But what does it profit to cut the flesh, when there may
be guilt even in a look? "For whosoever looketh on a woman to lust
after her hath committed adultery already with her in his heart. "(1)
And likewise she who looks on a man to lust after him commits adultery.
It becomes us, then, to be chaste, not weak, to have our eyes modest,
not feeble.
77. No one, then, ought, as many suppose, to
mutilate himself, but rather gain the victory; for the Church gathers
in those who conquer, not those who are defeated. And why should I use
arguments when the words of the Apostle's command are at hand? For you
find it thus written: "I would that they were mutilated who desire that
you should be circumcised." + For why should the means of gaining a
crown and of the practice of virtue be lost to a man who is born to
honour, equipped for victory? how can he through courage of soul
mutilate himself? "There be eunuchs which have made themselves eunuchs
for the kingdom of heaven's sake."(3)
78. This, however, is not a commandment given to
all, but a wish set before all. For he who commands must always keep to
the exact scope of the commandments, and he who distributes tasks must
observe equity in looking into them, for: "A false balance is
abomination to the Lord. "(4) There is, then,
405
an excess and a defect in weight, but the Church accepts neither, for:
"Excessive and defective weights and divers measures, both of them are
alike abominable in the sight of the Lord."(1) There are tasks which
wisdom apportions, and apportions according to the estimate of the
virtue and strength of each. "He that is able to receive it let him
receive it." +
79. For the Creator of all knows that the
dispositions of each are different, and therefore incited virtue by
rewards, instead of binding weakness by chains. And he, the teacher of
the Gentiles, the good guide of our conduct, and instructor of our
inmost affections, who had learnt in himself that the law of the flesh
resists the law of the mind, but yields to the grace of Christ, he
knows, I say, that various movements of the mind are opposed to each
other; and, therefore, so expresses his exhortations to chastity, as
not to do away with the grace of marriage, nor has he so exalted
marriage as to check the desire of chastity. But beginning with the
recommendation of chastity, he goes on to remedies against
incontinence, and having set before the stronger the prize of their
high calling, he suffers no one to faint by the way; approving those
who take the lead so as not to make little of those who follow. For he,
himself, had learnt that the Lord Jesus gave to some barley bread(3)
lest they should faint by the way, and administered His Body to
others,(4) that they might strive for the kingdom.
80. For the Lord Himself did not impose this
commandment, but invited the will, and the Apostle did not lay down a
rule, but gave a counsel.(5) But this not a man's counsel as to things
within the compass of man's strength, for he acknowledges that the gift
of divine mercy was bestowed upon him, that he might know how
faithfully to set first the former, and to arrange the latter. And,
therefore, he says: "I think," not, I order, but, "I think that this is
good because of the present distress."(6)
81. The marriage bond is not then to be shunned as
though it were sinful, but rather declined as being a galling burden.
For the law binds the wife to bear children in labour and in sorrow,
and is in subjection to her husband, for that he is lord over her. So,
then, the married woman, but not the widow, is subject to labour and
pain in bringing forth children, and she only that is married, not she
that is a virgin, is under the power of her husband. The virgin is free
from all these things, who has vowed her affection to the Word of God,
who awaits the Spouse of blessing with her lamp burning with the light
of a good will. And so she is moved. by counsels, not bound by chains.
CHAPTER XIV.
Though a widow may have received no commandment, yet she has received
so many counsels that she ought not to think little of them. St.
Ambrose would be sorry to lay any snare for her, seeing that the field
of the Church grows richer as a result of wedlock, but it is absolutely
impossible to deny that widow-hood, which St. Paul praises, is
profitable. Consequently, he speaks severely about those who have
proscribed widowhood by law.
82. BUT neither has the widow received any command,
but a counsel; a counsel, however, not given once only but often
repeated. For, first, it is said: "It is good for a man not to touch a
woman."(1) And again: "I would that all men were even as I myself; "(2)
axed once more: "It is good for them if they remain even as I; "(3) and
a fourth time: "It is good for the present distress."(4) And that it is
well pleasing to the Lord, and honourable, and, lastly, that
perseverance in widowhood is happier, he lays down not only as his own
judgment, but also as an aspiration of the Holy Spirit. Who, then, can
reject the kindness of such a counsellor? Who gives the reins to the
will, and advises in the case of others that which he has found
advantageous by his own experience, he who is not easy to catch up, and
is not hurt at being equalled. Who, then, would shrink from becoming
holy in body and spirit, since the reward is far above the toil, grace
beyond need, and the wages above the work?
83. And this, I say, not in order to lay a snare for
others, but that as a good husbandman of the land entrusted to me, I
may see this field of the Church to be fruitful, at one time blossoming
with the flowers of purity, at another time strong in the gravity of
widow-hood, and yet again abounding with the fruits of wedlock. For
though they be diverse, yet they are the fruits of one field; there are
not so many lilies in the gardens as ears of corn in the fields, and
many more fields are prepared for receiving seed than lie fallow after
the crops are gathered in.
84. Widowhood is, then, good, which is so often
praised by the judgment of the apostles, for it is a teacher of the
faith
406
and a teacher of chastity. Whereas they who honour the adulteries and
the shame of their gods appointed penalties for celibacy and
widowhood;(1) that zealous in pursuit of crimes they might punish the
study of virtues; under the pretext, indeed, of seeking increase of the
population, but in reality that they might put an end to the purpose of
chastity. For the soldier, when his time is ended, lays aside his arms,
and leaving the rank which he held, is dismissed as a veteran to his
own land, that he may obtain rest after the toils of a laborious life,
and cause others to be more ready to undergo labour in the hope of
future repose. The labourer, too, as he grows too old, entrusts the
guiding of the plough to others, and worn out by the toil of his youth,
enjoys in his old age that which his foresight has cared for, still
ready to prune the vine rather than to press the grapes, so as to check
the luxuriance of early life, and to cut off with his pruning knife the
wantonness of youth, teaching, as it were, that blessed fruitfulness is
to be aimed at even in the vine.
85. In like manner the widow, as a veteran, having
served her time, though she lays aside the arms of married life, yet
orders the peace of the whole house: though now freed from carrying
burdens, she is yet watchful for the younger who are to be married; and
with the thoughtfulness of old age she arranges where more pains would
be profitable, where produce would be more abundant, which is fitted
for the marriage bond. And so, if the field is entrusted to the elder
rather than to the younger, why should you think that it is more
advantageous to be a married woman than a widow? But, if the
persecutors of the faith have also been the persecutors of widowhood,
most certainly by those who hold the faith, widowhood is not to be
shunned as a penalty, but to be esteemed as a reward.
CHAPTER XV.
St. Ambrose meets the objection of those who make the desire of having
children an excuse for second marriage, and especially in the case of
those who have children of their former marriage; and points out the
consequent troubles of disagreements amongst the children, and even
between the married persons, and gives a warning against a wrong use of
Scripture instances in this matter.
86. PERHAPS, however, it may seem good
to some that marriage should again be entered upon for the sake of
having children. But if the desire of children be a reason for
marrying, certainly where there are children, the reason does not
exist. And is it wise to wish to have a second trial of that
fruitfulness which has already been tried in vain, or to submit to the
solitude which you have already borne? This is the case of those who
have no children.
87. Then, too, she who has borne children, and has
lost them (for she who has a hope of bearing children will have an
intenser longing), does not she, I say, seem to herself to be covering
over the deaths of her lost children by the celebration of a second
marriage? Will she not again suffer what she is again seeking? and does
she not shrink at the graves of her hopes, the memories of the
bereavements she has suffered, the voices of the mourners? Or, when the
torches are lit and night is coming on, does she not think rather that
funeral rites are being prepared than a bridal chamber? Why, then, my
daughter, do you seek again those sorrows which you dread, more than
you look for children whom you no longer hope for? If sorrow is so
grievous, one should rather avoid than seek that which causes it.
88. And what advice shall I give to you who have
children? What reason have you for marrying? Perhaps foolish
light-mindedness, or the habit of incontinence, or the consciousness of
a wounded spirit is urging you on. But counsel is given to the sober,
not to the drunken, and so my words are addressed to the free
conscience which is whole in each respect. She that is wounded has a
remedy, she that is upright a counsel. What do you intend to do then,
my daughter? Why do you seek for heirs from without when you have your
own? You are not desiring of children, for you have them, but servitude
from which you are free. For this true servitude, in which love is
exhausted, which no longer the charm of virginity, and early youth,
full of holy modesty and grace, excites; when offences are more felt,
and rudeness is more suspected, and agreement less common, which is not
bound fast by love deeply rooted by time, or by beauty in its prime of
youth. Duty to a husband is burdensome, so that you are afraid to love
your children and blush to look at them; and a cause of disagreement
arises from that which ordinarily causes mutual love to increase the
tender affections of parents. You wish to give birth to offspring who
will be not the
407
brothers but the adversaries of your children. For what is to bring
forth other children other than to rob the children which you have, who
are deprived alike of the offices of affection and of the profit of
their possessions.
89. The divine law has bound together husband and
wife by its authority, and yet mutual love remains a difficult matter.
For God took a rib from the man, and formed the woman so as to join
them one to the other, and said: "They shall be one flesh."(1) He said
this not of a second marriage but of the first, for neither did Eve
take a second husband, nor does holy Church recognize a second
bridegroom. "For that is a great mystery in Christ and in the
Church.(2) Neither, again, did Isaac know another wife besides
Rebecca,(3) nor
bury his father, Abraham, with any wife but Sarah."(1)
90. But in holy Rachel(2) there was rather the
figure of a mystery than a true order of marriage. Notwithstanding, in
her, also, we have something which we can refer to the grace of the
first marriage, since he loved her best whom he had first betrothed,
and deceit did not shut out his intention, nor the intervening marriage
destroy his love for his betrothed. And so the holy patriarch has
taught us, how highly we ought to esteem a first marriage, since he
himself esteemed his first betrothal so highly. Take care, then, my
daughter, lest you be both unable to hold fast the grace of marriage,
and also increase your own troubles.
409
THE
LETTERS OF ST. AMBROSE.
Of the 91 Epistles considered genuine by the
Benedictine Editors, sixty-three are referred by them to fairly certain
dates,(1) and a large number of these would well be worth translation,
throwing as they do so clear a light on the events of St. Ambrose's
life, and in many cases on the history of the period. Only a few are
here presented to the reader.
Perhaps some others might have been better selected,
but if they were to be so few, it seemed as if these would give the
best general impression of the indomitable energy and fearless
constancy of the great Bishop.
411
SELECTIONS FROM THE LETTERS OF ST. AMBROSE.
MEMORIAL OF SYMMACHUS, THE PREFECT OF THE CITY.
Symmachus in the name of the heathen members of the Senate asks that
the Altar of Victory, which had been removed by Gratian, should be
restored in the Senate House, and that oaths should be taken there as
of old. He argues that the example of former Emperors should be
followed as to the things which they retained, not which their
abolished. Rome expects this of them, and no injury can accrue to the
treasury in consequence, whereas it is unjust to confiscate legacies to
the Vestal Virgins and ancient rites.
There was a determined move on the part of
Symmachus, Prefect of the city, and other heathen to regain the
observances of their religion. He was perhaps the leading man of the
day at Rome, equally renowned as a statesman, a scholar, and an orator.
In A.D. 382 he headed a deputation of the Senate to the Emperor Gratian
to request the replacement of the Altar of Victory in the Senate House,
and the restoration of their endowments to the Vestal Virgins and the
colleges of priests. There was a counter-petition on the part of the
Christian senators forwarded through Pope Damasus, and Gratian refused
to receive the deputation. In 384 the attempt was repeated, and these
letters or memorials have to do with this application to Valentinian
II., the brother of Gratian, who was now Emperor of the West; this
attempt was also foiled.
It would seem that he took part in missions for the
same purpose to Theodosius after the defeat of Maximus, and to
Valentinian II. in A.D. 392, and again unsuccessfully. In the next
year, Eugenius, who had been made Emperor by Flavian and Arbogastes,
restored the Altar of Victory, which however was finally removed by
Theodosius after the defeat of Eugenius and Arbogastes. Probably
Symmachus made a final attempt
in 403 or 404, but fruitlessly.[See Dict.
Christ. Biog. s.v. Symmachus.]
The statue and Altar of Victory in ques-
tion had been first removed by Constantius, son of Constantine, when at
Rome, A.D. 356, but were restored by Julian with other heathen symbols
and rites. Valentinian I.
tolerated them, but possibly(at any rate for some time), as St. Ambrose
says, did so in ignorance[Ep. XVII. 16]. They were once more removed by
Gratian, and then the action of Symmachus comes in. It may be mentioned
that though a heathen he was on intimate terms with Damasus, St.
Ambrose, and many leading Christians.
The three Epistles or rather "Memorials" which
follow refer to this part of the death-struggle of paganism.
EPISTLE XVII.
This Epistle was written when Symmachus sent his memorial to
Valentinian II. St. Ambrose presses on the Emperor the consideration
that it is his business to defend religion, and not superstition. The
memorial was sent without the adhesion of the Christian senators, and
therefore did not represent that body. He warns Valentinian that if he
accedes to the request he will incur the censures of the Church,
besides acting in a manner derogatory to the memory of his father and
brother.
Ambrose, Bishop, to the most blessed Prince and most Christian Emperor
Valentinian.
I. As all men who live under the Roman sway engage
in military service under you, the Emperors and Princes of the world,
so too do you yourselves owe service to Almighty God and our holy
faith. For salvation is not sure unless everyone worship in truth the
true God, that is the God of the Christians, under Whose sway are all
things; for He alone is the true God, Who is to be worshipped from the
bottom of the heart; for "the gods of the heathen," as Scripture says,
"are devils,"(1)
2. Now everyone is a soldier of this true God, and
he who receives and worships
4
12
Him in his inmost spirit, does not bring to His service dissimulation,
or pretence, but earnest faith and devotion. And if, in fine, he does
not attain to this, at least he ought not to give any countenance to
the worship of idols and to profane ceremonies. For no one deceives
God, to whom all things, even the hidden things of the heart, are
manifest.
3. Since, then, most Christian Emperor, there is due
from you to the true God both faith and zeal, care and devotion for the
faith, I wonder how the hope has risen up to some, that you would feel
it a duty to restore by your command altars to the gods of the heathen,
and furnish the funds requisite for profane sacrifices; for whatsoever
has long been claimed by either the imperial or the city treasury you
will seem to give rather from your own funds, than to be restoring what
is theirs.
4. And they are complaining of their losses, who
never spared our blood, who destroyed the very buildings of the
churches. And they petition you to grant them privileges, who by the
last Julian law(1) denied us the common right of speaking and teaching,
and those privileges whereby Christians also have often been deceived;
for by those privileges they endeavoured to ensnare some, partly
through inadvertence, partly in order to escape the burden of public
requirements; and, because all are not found to be brave, even under
Christian princes, many have lapsed.
5. Had these things not been abolished I could prove
that they ought to be done away by your authority; but since they have
been forbidden and prohibited by many princes throughout nearly the
whole world, and were abolished at Rome by Gratian(2) of august memory,
the brother of your Clemency, in consideration of the true faith, and
rendered void by a rescript; do not, I pray you, either pluck up what
has been established in accordance with the faith, nor rescind your
brother's precepts. In civil matters if he established anything, no one
thinks that it ought to be treated lightly, while a precept about
religion is trodden under foot.
6. Let no one take advantage of your youth; if he be
a heathen who demands this, it is not right that he should bind your
mind
with the bonds of his own superstition; but by his zeal he ought to
teach and admonish you how to be zealous for the true faith, since he
defends vain things with all the passion of truth. I myself advise you
to defer to the merits of illustrious men, but undoubtedly God must be
preferred to all.
7. If we have to consult concerning military
affairs, the opinion of a man experienced in warfare should be waited
for, and his counsel be followed; when the question concerns religion,
think upon God. No one is injured because God is set before him. He
keeps his own opinion. You do not compel a man against his will to
worship what he dislikes. Let the same liberty be given to you, O
Emperor, and let every one bear it with patience, if he cannot extort
from the Emperor what he would take it ill if the Emperor desired to
extort from him. A shuffling spirit is displeasing to the heathen
themselves, for everyone ought freely to defend and maintain the faith
and purpose of his own mind.
8. But if any, Christians in name, think that any
such decree should be made, let not bare words mislead your mind, let
not empty words deceive you. Whoever advises this, and whoever decrees
it, sacrifices. But that one should sacrifice is more tolerable than
that all should fall. Here the whole Senate of Christians is in danger.
9. If to-day any heathen Emperor should build an
altar, which God forbid, to idols, and should compel Christians to come
together thither, in order to be amongst those who were sacrificing, so
that the smoke and ashes from the altar, the sparks from the sacrilege,
the smoke from the burning might choke the breath and throats of the
faithful; and should give judgment in that court where members were
compelled to vote after swearing at the altar of an idol(for they
explain that an altar is so placed for this purpose, that every
assembly should deliberate under its sanction, as they suppose, though
the Senate is now made up with a majority of Christians), a Christian
who was compelled with a choice such as this to come to the Senate,
would consider it to be persecution, which often happens, for they are
compelled to come together even by violence. Are these Christians, when
you are Emperor, compelled to swear at a heathen altar? What is an
oath, but a confession of the divine power of Him Whom you invoke as
watcher over your good faith? When you are Emperor, this is sought and
demanded. that you should command an
413
altar to be built, and the cost of profane sacrifices to be granted.
10. But this cannot be decreed without sacrilege,
wherefore I implore you not to decree or order it, nor to subscribe to
any decrees of that sort. I, as a priest of Christ, call upon your
faith, all of us bishops would have joined in calling upon you, were
not the report so sudden and incredible, that any such thing had been
either suggested in your council, or petitioned for by the Senate. But
far be it from the Senate to have petitioned this, a few heathen are
making use of the common name. For, nearly two years ago, when the same
attempt was being made, holy Damasus, Bishop of the Roman Church,
elected by the judgment of God, sent to me a memorial, which the
Christian senators in great numbers put forth, protesting that they had
given no such authority, that they did not agree with such requests of
the heathen, nor give consent to them, and they declared publicly and
privately that they would not come to the Senate, if any such thing
were decreed. Is it agreeable to the dignity of your, that is
Christian, times, that Christian senators should be deprived of their
dignity, in order that effect should be given to the profane will of
the heathen? This memorial I sent to your Clemency's brother,(1) and
from it it was plain that the Senate had made no order about the
expenses of superstition.
11. But perhaps it may be said, why were they not
before present in the Senate when those petitions were made? By not
being present they sufficiently say what they wish, they said enough in
what they said to the Emperor. And do we wonder if those persons
deprive private persons at Rome of the liberty of resisting, who are
unwilling that you should be free not to command what you do not
approve, or to maintain your own opinion?
12. And so, remembering the legation(2) lately
entrusted to me, I call again upon your faith. I call upon your own
feelings not to determine to answer according to this petition of the
heathen, nor to attach to an answer of such a sort the sacrilege of
your subscription. Refer to the father of your Piety, the Emperor
Theodosius, whom you have been wont to consult in almost all matters of
greater importance. Nothing is
greater than religion, nothing more exalted than faith.
13. If it were a civil cause the right of reply
would be reserved for the opposing party; it is a religious cause, and
I the bishop make a claim. Let a copy of the memorial which has been
sent be given me, that I may answer more fully, and then let your
Clemency's father be consulted on the whole subject, and vouchsafe an
answer. Certainly if anything else is decreed, we bishops cannot
contentedly suffer it and take no notice; you indeed may come to the
church, but will find either no priest there, or one who will resist
you.
14. What will you answer a priest who says to you,
"The church does not seek your gifts, because you have adorned the
heathen temples with gifts. The Altar of Christ rejects your gifts,
because you have made an altar for idols, for the voice is yours, the
hand is yours, the subscription is yours, the deed is yours. The Lord
Jesus refuses and rejects your service, because you have served idols,
for He said to you: 'Ye cannot serve two masters.'(1) The Virgins
consecrated to God have no privileges from you, and do the Vestal
Virgins claim them? Why do you ask for the priests of God, to whom you
have preferred the profane petitions of the heathen? We cannot take up
a share of the errors of others."
15. What will you answer to these words? That you
who have fallen are but a boy? Every age is perfect in Christ, every
age is full of God. No childhood is allowed in faith, for even children
have confessed Christ against their persecutors with fearless mouth.
16. What will you answer your brother? Will he not
say to you, "I did not feel that I was overcome, because I left
you as Emperor; I did not grieve at dying, because I had you as my
heir; I did not mourn at leaving my imperial command, because I
believed that my commands, especially those concerning divine religion,
would endure through all ages. I had set up these memorials of piety
and virtue, I offered up these spoils gained from the world, these
trophies of victory over the devil, these I offered up as gained from
the enemy of all, and in them is eternal victory. What more could my
enemy take away from me? You have abrogated my decrees, which so far he
who took up arms(2) against me did not do. Now do I receive a more
terrible wound in that my decrees are condemned by my
414
brother. My better part is endangered by you, that was but the death of
my body, this of my reputation. Now is my power annulled, and what is
harder, annulled by my own family, and that is annulled, which even my
enemies spoke well of in me. If you consented of your own free will,
you have condemned the faith which was mine; if you yielded
unwillingly, you have betrayed your own. So, too, which is more
serious, I am in danger in your person.
16. What will you answer your father also? who with
greater grief will address you, saying, "You judged very ill of me, my
son, when you supposed that I could have connived at the heathen. No
one ever told me that there was an altar in the Roman Senate House, I
never believed such wickedness as that the heathen sacrificed in the
common assembly of Christians and heathen, that is to say that the
Gentiles should insult the Christians who were present, and that
Christians should be compelled against their will to be present at the
sacrifices. Many and various crimes were committed whilst I was
Emperor. I punished such as were detected; if any one then escaped
notice, ought one to say that I approved of that of which no one
informed me? You have judged very ill of me, if a foreign superstition
and not my own faith preserved the empire."
17. Wherefore, O Emperor, since you see that if you
decree anything of that kind, injury will be done, first to God, and
then to your father and brother, I implore you to do that which you
know will be profitable to your salvation before God.
THE MEMORIAL OF SYMMACHUS, PREFECT OF THE CITY.
Symmachus addresses his memorial in the name of the Senate, nominally
to the three Emperors, Valentinian, Theodosius, and Arcadius, though
really to the first of these alone, who was sole Emperor of the West.
The memorial sets forth a request that the old religion should be
restored, and the Altar of Victory again erected in the Senate House,
that the ancient customs might be observed. The example of the late
emperors should be followed in what they maintained, not in what they
did away. The treasury Would suffer no loss, whilst it is unjust that
the Vestal Virgins and priests should be deprived of ancient legacies,
a sacrilege which the gods punished by a famine. The memorial is drawn
up with consummate skill, both in what is brought forward and in what
is left unsaid.
I. As soon as the most honourable Senate, always
devoted to you, knew that crimes were made amenable to law, and that
the reputation of late times was being purified
by pious princes, it, following the example of a more favourable time,
gave utterance to its long suppressed grief, and bade me be once again
the delegate to utter its complaints.(1) But through wicked men
audience as refused me by the divine(2)Emperor,
otherwise justice would not have been wanting, my lords and emperors,
of great renown, Valentinian, Theodosius, and Arcadius, victorious and
triumphant, ever august.
2. In the exercise, therefore, of a twofold office,
as your Prefect I attend to public business, and as delegate I
recommend to your notice the charge laid on me by the citizens. Here is
no disagreement of wills, for men have now ceased to believe that they
excel in courtly zeal, if they disagree. To be loved, to be reverenced,
to be esteemed is more than imperial sway. Who could endure that
private disagreement should injure the state? Rightly does the
Senate censure those who have preferred their own power to
the reputation of the prince.
3. But it is our task to watch on behalf of your
Graces. For to what is it more suitable that we defend the institutions
of our ancestors, and the rights and destiny of our country, than to
the glory of these times, which is all the greater when you understand
that you may not do anything contrary to the custom of your ancestors?
We demand then the restoration of that condition of religious affairs
which was so long advantageous to the state. Let the rulers of each
sect and of each opinion be counted up; a late one(3) practised the
ceremonies of his ancestors, a later(4) did not put them away. If the
religion of old times does not make a precedent, let the connivance of
the last(5) do so.
4. Who is so friendly with the barbarians as not to
require an Altar of Victory? We will be careful henceforth, and avoid a
show of such things. But at least let that honour be paid to the
name(6) which is refused to the goddess--your fame, which will
last for ever, owes much and will owe still more to victory. Let those
be averse to this power, whom it has never benefited. Do you refuse to
desert a patronage which is friendly to your triumphs? That power is
wished for by all, let no one deny that what he acknowledges is to be
desired should also be venerated.
415
5. But even if the avoidance of such an omen(1) were
not sufficient, it would at least have been seemly to abstain from
injuring the ornaments of the Senate House. Allow us, we beseech you,
as old men to leave to posterity what we received as boys. The love of
custom is great. Justly did the act of the divine Constantius last but
for a short time. All precedents ought to be avoided by you, which you
know were soon abolished. We are anxious for the permanence of your
glory and your name, that the time to come may find nothing which needs
correction.
6. Where shall we swear to obey your laws and
commands? by what religious sanction shall the false mind be terrified,
so as not to lie in bearing witness? All things are indeed filled with
God, and no place is safe for the perjured, but to be urged in the very
presence of religious forms has great power in producing a fear of
sinning. That altar preserves the concord of all, that altar appeals to
the good faith of each, and nothing gives more authority to our decrees
than that the whole of our order issues every decree as it were under
the sanction of an oath. So that a place will be opened to perjury, and
this will be determined by my illustrious Princes, whose honour is
defended by a public oath.
7. But the divine Constantius is said to have done
the same. Let us rather imitate the other actions of that Prince, who
would have undertaken nothing of the kind, if any one else had
committed such an error before him. For the fall of the earlier sets
his successor right, and amendment results from the censure of a
previous example. It was pardonable for your Grace's ancestor in so
novel a matter to fail in guarding against blame. Can the same excuse
avail us if we imitate what we know to have been disapproved?
8. Will your Majesties listen to other actions of
this same Prince, which you may more worthily imitate? He diminished
none of the privileges of the sacred virgins, he filled the priestly
offices with nobles, he did not refuse the cost of the Roman
ceremonies, and following the rejoicing Senate through all the streets
of the eternal city, he contentedly beheld the shrines with unmoved
countenance, he read the names of the gods inscribed on the pediments,
he enquired about the origin of the temples, and expressed admiration
for their builders. Although he himself followed another religion, he
maintained its own for the empire, for everyone has his own customs,
everyone his own rites. The divine Mind has distributed different
guardians and different cults to different cities. As souls are
separately given to infants as they are born, so to peoples the genius
of their destiny. Here comes in the proof from advantage, which most of
all vouches to man for the gods. For, since our reason is wholly
clouded, whence does the knowledge of the gods more rightly come to us,
than from the memory and evidence of prosperity? Now if a long period
gives authority to religious customs, we ought to keep faith with so
many centuries, and to follow our ancestors, as they happily followed
theirs.
9. Let us now suppose that Rome is present and
addresses you in these words: "Excellent princes, fathers of your
country, respect my years to which pious rites have brought me. Let me
use the ancestral ceremonies, for I do not repent of them. Let me live
after my own fashion, for I am free. This worship subdued the world to
my laws, these sacred rites repelled Hannibal from the walls, and the
Senones from the capitol. Have I been reserved for this, that in my old
age I should be blamed? I will consider what it is thought should be
set in order, but tardy and discreditable is the reformation of old
age."
10. We ask, then, for peace for the gods of our
fathers and of our country. It is just that all worship should be
considered as one. We look on the same stars, the sky is common, the
same world surrounds us. What difference does it make by what pains
each seeks the truth? We cannot attain to so great a secret by one
road; but this discussion is rather for persons at ease, we offer now
prayers, not conflict.
11. With what advantage to your treasury are the
prerogatives of the Vestal Virgins diminished? Is that refused under
the most bountiful emperors which the most parsimonious have granted?
Their sole honour consists in that, so to call it, wage of chastity. As
fillets are the ornament of their heads, so is their distinction drawn
from their leisure to attend to the offices of sacrifice. They seek for
in a measure the empty name of immunity, since by their poverty they
are exempt from payment. And so they who diminish anything of their
substance increase their praise, inasmuch as virginity dedicated to the
public good increases in merit when it is without reward.
416
12. Let such gains as these be far from the purity
of your treasury. Let the revenue of good princes be increased not by
the losses of priests, but by the spoils of enemies. Does any gain
compensate for the odium? And because no charge of avarice falls upon
your characters, they are the more wretched whose ancient revenues are
diminished. For under emperors who abstain from what belongs to others,
and resist avarice, that which does not move the desire of him who
takes it, is taken solely to injure the loser.
13. The treasury also retains lands bequeathed to
virgins and ministers by the will of dying persons. I entreat you,
priests of justice, let the lost right of succession be restored to the
sacred persons and places of your city. Let men dictate their wills
without anxiety, and know that what has been written will be
undisturbed under princes who are not avaricious. Let the happiness in
this point of all men give pleasure to you, for precedents in this
matter have begun to trouble the dying. Does not then the religion of
Rome appertain to Roman law? What name shall be given to the taking
away of property which no law nor accident has made to fail. Freedmen
take legacies, slaves are not denied the just privilege of making
wills; only noble virgins and the ministers of sacred rites are
excluded from property sought by inheritance. What does it profit the
public safety to dedicate the body to chastity, and to support the
duration of the empire with heavenly guardianship, to attach the
friendly powers to your arms and to your eagles, to take upon oneself
vows efficacious for all, and not to have common rights with all? So,
then, slavery is a better condition, which is a service rendered to
men. We injure the State, whose interest it never is to be ungrateful.
14. And let no one think that I am defending the
cause of religion only. for from deeds of this kind have arisen all the
misfortunes of the Roman race. The law of our ancestors honoured the
Vestal Virgins and the ministers of the gods with a moderate
maintenance and just privileges. This grant remained unassailed till
the time of the degenerate money-changers, who turned the fund for the
support of sacred chastity into hire for common porters. A general
famine followed upon this, and a poor harvest disappointed the hopes of
all the provinces. This was not the fault of the earth, we impute no
evil influence to the stars. Mildew did not injure the crops, nor wild
oats destroy the corn; the year failed through the sacrilege, for it
was necessary that what was refused to religion should be denied to all.
15. Certainly, if there be any instance of this
evil, let us impute such a famine to the power of the season. A deadly
wind has been the cause of this barrenness, life is sustained by trees
and shrubs, and the need of the country folk has betaken itself once
more to the oaks of Dodona.(1) What similar evil did the provinces
suffer, so long as the public charge sustained the ministers of
religion? When were the oaks shaken for the use of men, when were the
roots of plants torn up, when did fertility on all sides forsake the
various lands, when supplies were in common for the people and for the
sacred virgins? For the support of the priests was a blessing to the
produce of the earth, and was rather an insurance than a bounty. Is
there any doubt that what was given was for the benefit of all, seeing
that the want of all has made this plain?
16. But some one will say that public support is
only refused to the cost of foreign religions. Far be it from good
princes to suppose that what has been given to certain persons from the
common property can be in the power of the treasury. For as the State
consists of individuals, that which goes out from it becomes again the
property of individuals. You rule over all; but you preserve his own
for each individual; and justice has more weight with you than
arbitrary will. Take counsel with your own liberality whether that
which you have conferred on others ought to be considered public
property. Sums once given to the honour of the city cease to be the
property of those who have given them, and that which at the
commencement was a gift, by custom and time becomes a debt. Any one is
therefore endeavouring to impress upon your minds a vain fear, who
asserts that you share the responsibility of the givers unless you
incur the odium of withdrawing the girls.
17. May the unseen guardians of all sects be
favourable to your Graces, and may they especially, who in old time
assisted your ancestors, defend you and be worshipped by us. We ask for
that state of religious matters which preserved the empire for the
divine parent(2) of your Highnesses, and
417
furnished that blessed prince with lawful heirs. That venerable father
beholds from the starry height the tears of the priests, and considers
himself censured by the violation of that custom which he willingly
observed.
18. Amend also for your divine brother that which he
did by the counsel of others, cover over the deed which he knew not to
be displeasing to the Senate. For it is allowed that legation was
denied access to him, lest public opinion should reach him. It is for
the credit of former times, that you should not hesitate to abolish
that which is proved not to have been the doing of the prince.
EPISTLE XVIII.
Reply of St. Ambrose to the Memorial of Symmachus, in which after
complimenting Valentinian he deals with three points of the Memorial.
He replies to his opponent's personification of Rome in a singularly
tilling manner, and proves that the famine spoken of by Symmachus had
nothing to do with the cessation of heathen rites.
AMBROSE, Bishop, to the most blessed prince and most
gracious Emperor Valentianus, the august.
1. Since the illustrious Symmachus, Prefect of the
city, has sent petition to your Grace that the altar, which was taken
away from the Senate House of the city of Rome, should be restored to
its place; and you, O Emperor, although still young in years and
experience, yet a veteran in the power of faith, did not approve the
prayer of the heathen, I presented a request the moment I heard of it,
in which, though I stated such things as it seemed necessary to
suggest, I requested that a copy of the Memorial might be given to me.
2. So, then, not being in doubt as to your faith,
but anxiously considering the risk, and sure of a kindly consideration,
I am replying in this document to the assertions of the Memorial,
making this sole request, that you will not expect elegance of language
but the force of facts. For, as the divine Scripture teaches, the
tongue of wise and studious men is golden, which, gifted with
glittering words and shining with the brilliancy of splendid utterance
as if of some rich colour, captivates the eyes of the mind with the
appearance of beauty and dazzles with the sight. But this gold, if you
consider it carefully, is of value outwardly but within is base metal.
Ponder well, I pray you, and examine the sect of the heathen, their
utterances, sound, weighty, and grand, but defend what is without
capacity for truth. They speak of God and worship idols.
3. The illustrious Prefect of the city has in his
Memorial set forth three propositions which he considers of force: that
Rome, as he says, asks for her rites again, that pay be given to her
priests and Vestal Virgins, and that a general famine followed upon the
refusal of the priests' stipends.
4. In his first proposition Rome complains with sad
and tearful words, asking, as he says, for the restoration of the rites
of her ancient ceremonies. These sacred rites, he says, repulsed
Hannibal from the walls, and the Senones from the Capitol. And so at
the same time that the power of the sacred rites is proclaimed, their
weakness is betrayed. So that Hannibal long insulted the Roman rites,
and while the gods were fighting against him, arrived a conqueror at
the very walls of the city. Why did they suffer themselves to be
besieged, for whom their gods were fighting in arms?
5. And why should I say anything of the Senones,
whose entrance into the inmost Capitol the remnant of the Romans could
not have prevented, had not a goose by its frightened cackling betrayed
them? See what sort of protectors the Roman temples have. Where was
Jupiter at that time? Was he speaking in the goose?
6. But why should I deny that their sacred rites
fought for the Romans? For Hannibal also worshipped the same gods. Let
them choose then which they will. If these sacred rites conquered in
the Romans, then they were overcome in the Carthaginians; if they
triumphed in the Carthaginians, they certainly did not benefit the
Romans.
7. Let, then, that invidious complaint of the Roman
people come to an end. Rome has given no such charge. She speaks with
other words. "Why do you daily stain me with the useless blood of the
harmless herd? Trophies of victory depend not on the entrails of the
flocks, but on the strength of those who fight. I subdued the world by
a different discipline. Camillus was my soldier, who slew those who had
taken the Tarpeian rock, and brought back the standards taken from the
Capitol; valour laid those low whom religion had not driven off. What
shall I say of Attilius [Regulus], who gave the service of his death?
Africanus found his triumphs not amongst the altars of the Capitol, but
amongst the lines of Hannibal. Why do you bring forward the rites of
our ancestors? I hate the rites of Neros. Why should I speak of the Em-
418
perors of two months,' and the ends of rulers closely joined to their
commencements. Or is it perchance a new thing for the barbarians to
cross their boundaries? Were they, too, Christians in whose wretched
and unprecedented cases, the one, a captive Emperor, and, under the
other, the captive world made manifest that their rites which promised
victory were false. Was there then no Altar of Victory? I mourn over my
downfall, my old age is tinged with that shameful bloodshed. I do not
blush to be converted with the whole world in my old age. It is
undoubtedly true that no age is too late to learn. Let that old age
blush which cannot amend itself. Not the old age of years is worthy of
praise but that of character. There is no shame in passing to better
things. This alone was common to me with the barbarians, that of old I
knew not God. Your sacrifice is a rite of being sprinkled with the
blood of beasts. Why do you seek the voice of God in dead animals? Come
and learn on earth the heavenly warfare; we live here, but our warfare
is there. Let God Himself, Who made me, teach me the mystery of heaven,
not man, who knew not himself. Whom rather than God should I believe
concerning God? How can I believe you, who confess that you know not
what you worship?
8. By one road, says he, one cannot attain to so
great a secret. What you know not, that we know by the voice of God.
And' what you seek by fancies, we have found out from the very Wisdom
and Truth of God. Your ways, therefore, do not agree with ours. You
implore peace for your gods from the Emperors, we ask for peace for the
Emperors themselves from Christ. You worship the works of your own
hands, we think it an offence that anything which can be made should be
esteemed God. God wills not that He should be worshipped in stones.
And, in fine, your philosophers themselves have ridiculed these things.
9. But if you deny Christ to be God, because you
believe not that He died (for you are ignorant that death was of the
body not of the Godhead, which has brought it to pass that now no one
of those who believe dies), what is more thoughtless than you who
honour with insult, and disparage with honour, for you consider a piece
of wood to be your god. O worship full of insult! You believe not that
Christ could die, O perversity rounded on respect!
10. But, says he, let the altars be restored to the
images, and their ornaments to the shrines. Let this demand be made of
one who shares in their superstitions; a Christian Emperor has learnt
to honour the altar of Christ alone. Why do they exact of pious hands
and faithful lips the ministry to their sacrilege? Let the voice of our
Emperor utter the Name of Christ alone, and speak of Him only, Whom he
is conscious of, for, "the King's heart is in the hand of the Lord."(1)
Has any heathen Emperor raised an altar to Christ? While they demand
the restoration of things which have been, by their own example they
show us how great reverence Christian Emperors ought to pay to the
religion which they follow, since heathen ones offered all to their
superstitions.
11a. We began long since, and now they follow those
whom they excluded. We glory in yielding our blood, an expense moves
them. We consider these things in the place of victories, they think
them loss. Never did they confer on us a greater benefit than when they
ordered Christians to be beaten and proscribed and slain. Religion made
a reward of that which unbelief thought to be a punishment. See their
greatness of soul! We have increased through loss, through want,
through punishment; they do not believe that their rites can continue
without contributions.
11. Let the Vestal Virgins, he says, retain their
privileges. Let those speak thus, who are unable to believe that
virginity can exist without reward, let those who do not trust virtue,
encourage by gain. But how many virgins have the promised rewards
gained for them? Hardly are seven Vestal Virgins received. See the
whole number whom the fillets and chaplets for the head, the dye of the
purple robes, the pomp of the litter surrounded by a company of
attendants, the greatest privileges, immense profits, and a prescribed
time of virginity have gathered together.
12. Let them lift up the eyes of soul and body, let
them look upon a people of modesty, a people of purity, an assembly of
virginity. Not fillets are the ornament
419
of their heads, but a veil common in use but ennobled by chastity, the
enticement of beauty not sought out but laid aside, none of those
purple insignia, no delicious luxuries, but the practice of fasts, no
privileges, no gains; all things, in fine, of such a kind that one
would think them restrained from enjoyment whilst practising their
duties. But whilst the duty is being practised the enjoyment of it is
aroused. Chastity is increased by its own sacrifices. That is not
virginity which is bought with a price, and not kept through a love of
virtue; that is not purity which is bought by auction for money, which
is bid for a time. The first victory of chastity is to conquer the
desire of wealth, for the pursuit of gain is a temptation to modesty.
Let us, however, lay down that bountiful provision should be granted to
virgins. What an amount will overflow upon Christians! What treasury
will supply such riches? Or if they think that gifts should be
conferred on the Vestals alone, are they not ashamed that they who
claimed the whole for themselves under heathen Emperors should think
that we ought to have no common share under Christian Princes?
13. They complain, also, that public support is not
considered due to their priests and ministers. What a storm of words
has resounded on this point! But on the other hand even the inheritance
of private property is denied us by recent laws,(1) and no one
complains; for we do not consider it an injury, because we grieve not
at the loss. If a priest seeks the privilege of declining the municipal
burdens,(2) he has to give up his ancestral and all other property. If
the heathen suffered this how would they urge their complaint, that a
priest must purchase the free time necessary for his ministry by the
loss of all his patrimony, and buy the power to exercise his public
ministry at the expense of all his private means; and, alleging his
vigils for the public safety, must console himself with the reward of
domestic want, because he has not sold a service but obtained a favour.
14. Compare the cases. You wish to excuse a decurio,
when it is not allowed the Church to excuse a priest. Wills are written
on behalf of ministers of the temples, no profane person is excepted,
no one of the lowest condition, no one shamelessly immodest, the clergy
alone are excluded from the common right, by whom alone common prayer
is offered for all, and common service rendered, no legacies even of
grave widows, no gifts are permitted. And where no fault can be found
in the character, a penalty is notwithstanding imposed on the office.
That which a Christian widow has bequeathed to the priests of a temple
is valid, her legacy to the ministers of God is invalid. And I have
related this not in order to complain, but that they may know what I do
not complain of; for I prefer that we should be poorer in money than in
grace.
15. But they say that what has been given or left to
the Church has not been touched. Let them also state who has taken away
gifts from the temples, which has been done to Christians,(1) If these
things had been done to the heathen the wrong would have been rather a
requital than an injury. Is it now only at last that justice is alleged
as a pretext, and a claim made for equity? Where was this feeling when,
after plundering the goods of all Christians, they grudged them the
very breath of life, and forbade them the use of that last burial
nowhere denied to any dead? The sea restored those whom the heathen had
thrown into it, This is the victory of faith, that they themselves now
blame the acts of their ancestors whose deeds they condemn. But what
reason is there in seeking benefits from those whose deeds they condemn?
16. No one, however, has denied gifts to the
shrines, and legacies to the soothsayers, their land alone has been
taken away, because they did not use religiously that which they
claimed in right of religion. Why did they not practise what we did if
they allege our example? The Church has no possessions of her own
except the Faith. Hence are her returns, her increase. The possessions
of the Church are the maintenance of the poor.(2) Let them count up how
many captives the temples have ransomed, what food they have
contributed for the poor, to what exiles they have supplied the means
of living. Their lands then have been taken away, not their rights.
420
17. See what was done, and a public famine avenged,
as they say, the sad impiety that what was before profitable only for
the comfort of the priests began to be profitable to the use of all.
For this reason then, as they say, was the bark shipped from the
copses, and fainting men's mouths supped up the unsavoury sap. For this
reason changing corn for the Chaonian acorn, going back once more to
the food of cattle and the nourishment of wretched provisions, they
shook the oaks and solaced their dire hunger in the woods. These,
forsooth, were new prodigies on earth which had never happened before,
while heathen superstition was fervent throughout the world! When in
truth before did the crop mock the prayers of the grasping husbandman
with empty straw, and the blade of corn sought in the furrows fail the
hope of the rustic crew?
18. And from what did the Greeks derive the oracles
of their oaks except from their thinking that the support of their
sylvan food was the gift of heavenly religion? For such do they believe
to be the girls of their gods. Who but heathen people worshipped the
trees of Dodona, when they gave honour to the sorry food of the
woodland? It is not likely that their gods in anger inflicted on them
as a punishment that which they used when appeased to confer as a gift.
And what justice would there be if, being grieved that support was
refused to a few priests, they denied it to all, since the vengeance
would be more unbearable than the fault? The cause, then, is not
adequate to bring such suffering on a failing world, as that the
full-grown hope of the year should perish suddenly while the crops were
green.
19. And, certainly, many years ago the lights of the
temples were taken away throughout the world; has it only now at length
come into the mind of the gods of the heathen to avenge the injury? And
did the Nile fail to overflow in its accustomed course, in order to
avenge the losses of the priests of the city, whilst it did not avenge
its own?
20. But let it be that they suppose that the
injuries done to their gods were avenged in the past year. Why have
they been unnoticed in the present year? For now neither do the country
people feed upon tom up roots, nor seek refreshment from the berries of
the wood, nor pluck its food from thorns, but joyful in their
prosperous labours, while wondering at their harvest, made up for their
fasting by the full accomplishment of their wishes; for the earth
rendered her produce with interest.
21. Who, then, is so unused to human matters as to
be astonished at the differences of years? And yet even last year we
know that many provinces abounded with produce. What shall I say of the
Gauls which were more productive than usual? The Pannonias sold corn
which they had not sown, and Phaetia Secunda experienced harm of her
own fertility, for she who was wont to be safe in her scarcity, stirred
up an enemy against herself by her fertility. The fruits of the autumn
fed Liguria and the Venetias. So, then, the former year did not wither
because of sacrilege, and the latter flourished with the fruits of
faith. Let them too deny if they can that the vineyards abounded with
an immense produce. And so we have both received a harvest with
interest and possess the benefit of a more abundant vintage.
22. The last and most important point remains,
whether, O Emperors, you ought to restore those helps which have
profiled you; for he says: ' Let them defend you, and be worshipped by
us.' This it is, most faithful princes, which we cannot endure, that
they should taunt us that they supplicate their gods in your names, and
without your commands, commit an immense sacrilege, interpreting your
shutting your eyes as consent. Let them have their guardians to
themselves, let these, if they can, protect their worshippers. For, if
they are not able to help those by whom they are worshipped, how can
they protect you by whom they are not worshipped?
23. But, he says, the rites of our ancestors ought
to be retained. But what, seeing that all things have made progress
towards what is better? The world itself, which at first was compacted
of the germs of the elements throughout the void, in a yielding sphere,
or was dark with the shapeless confusion of the work as yet without
order, did it not afterwards receive (the distinction between sky, sea,
and earth being established), the forms of things whereby it appears
beautiful? The lands freed from the misty darkness wondered at the new
sun. The day does not shine in the beginning, but as time proceeds, it
is bright with increase of light, and grows warm with increase of heat.
24. The moon herself, by which in the prophetic
oracles the Church is represented, when first rising again, she waxes
to her monthly age, is hidden from us in darkness, and filling up her
horns little by little, so
421
completing them opposite to the sun, glows with the brightness of clear
shining.
25. The earth in former times was without experience
of being worked for fruits; afterwards when the careful husbandman
began to lord it over the fields, and to clothe the shapeless soil with
vines, it put off its wild disposition, being softened by domestic
cultivation.
26. The first age of the year itself, which has
tinged us with a likeness to itself as things begin to grow, as it goes
on becomes springlike with flowers soon about to fall and grows up to
full age in fruits at the end.
27. We too, inexperienced in age, have an infancy of
our senses, but changing as years go on, lay aside the rudiments of our
faculties.
28. Let them say, then, that all things ought to
have remained in their first beginnings, that the world covered with
darkness is now displeasing, because it has brightened with the shining
of the sun. And how much more pleasant is it to have dispelled the
darkness of the mind than that of the body, and that the ray of faith
should have shone than that of the sun. So, then, the primeval state of
the world as of all things has passed away, that the venerable old age
of hoary faith might follow. Let those whom this touches find
fault with the harvest, because its abundance comes late; let them
find fault with the vintage, because it is at the close of the
year; let them find fault with the olive, because it is the latest of
fruits.
29. So, then, our harvest is the faith of souls; the
grace of the Church is the vintage of merits, which from the beginning
of the world flourished in the Saints, but in the last age has spread
itself over the people, that all might notice that the faith of Christ
has entered minds which were not rude (for there is no crown of victory
without an adversary), but the opinion being exploded which before
prevailed, that which was true is rightly preferred.
30. If the old rites pleased, why did Rome also take
up foreign ones? I pass over the ground hidden by costly building, and
shepherds' cottages glittering with degenerate gold. Why, that I may
reply to the very matter which they complain of, have they eagerly
received the images of captured cities, and conquered gods, and the
foreign rites of alien superstition? Whence is the pattern
for Cybele washing her chariots in a stream counterfeiting the Almo?
Whence were the Phrygian bards, and the deities of unjust Carthage
always hateful to the Romans? And her whom the Africans worship as
Celestis, the Persians as Nitra, and the greater number as Venus,
according to a difference of name, not a variety of deities. So they
believed that Victory was a goddess, which is certainly a gift, not a
power; is granted and does not rule, results from the aid of legions
not the power of religions. Is that goddess then great whom the number
of soldiers claims, or the event of battle gives?
31. They ask to have her altar erected in the Senate
House of the city of Rome, that is where the majority who meet together
are Christians! There are altars in all the temples, and an altar also
in the temple of Victories. Since they take pleasure in numbers they
celebrate their sacrifices everywhere. To claim a sacrifice on this one
altar, what is it but to insult the Faith? Is it to be borne that a
heathen should sacrifice and a Christian be present? Let them imbibe,
he says, let them imbibe, even against their will, the smoke with their
eyes, the music with their ears, the ashes with their throats, the
incense with their nostrils, and let the dust stirred up from our
hearths cover their faces though they detest it. Are not the baths,
thecolonnades, the streets filled with images sufficient for
them? Shall there not be a common lot in that common assembly?
The faithful portion of the senate will be bound by the voices of those
that call upon the gods, by the oaths of those that swear by them. If
they oppose they will seem to exhibit their falsehood, if they
acquiesce, to acknowledge what is sacrilege.
32. Where, says he, shall we swear obedience to your
Grace's laws and decrees? Does then your mind, which is contained in
the laws, gain assent and bind to faithfulness by heathen ceremonies?
The faith is attacked, not only of those who are present but also of
those who are absent, and what is more, O Emperors, your faith, too, is
attacked, for you compel if you command. Constantius of august memory,
though not yet initiated in the sacred Mysteries, thought that he would
be polluted if he saw that altar. He commanded it to be removed, he did
not command it to be replaced. The removal has the authority of an act,
the restoration has not that of a command.
33. Let no one flatter himself because he is absent.
He who joins himself to others in mind is more present than he whose
assent is given by bodily presence. For it is more to be united in mind
than to be joined in body. The Senate has you as the presidents who
convene the assembly, it
422
comes together for you; it gives its conscience to you, not to the gods
of the heathen; it prefers you to its children, but not to its faith.
This is a love to be desired, this is a love greater than any dominion,
if faith which preserves dominion be secure.
34. But perhaps it may move some that if this be so,
a most faithful Emperor(1) has been forsaken, as if forsooth the reward
of merits were to be estimated by the transitory measure of things
present. For what wise man is ignorant that human affairs are ordered
in a kind of round and cycle, for they have not always the same
success, but their state varies and they suffer vicissitudes.
35. Whom have the Roman temples sent out more
prosperous than Cneius Pompeius? Yet, when he had encompassed the earth
with three triumphs, defeated in battle, a fugitive from war, and an
exile beyond the bounds of his own empire, he fell by the hand of an
eunuch of Canopus.
36. Whom has the whole land of the East given to the
world more noble than Cyrus, king of the Persians? He too, after
conquering the most powerful princes who opposed him, and retaining
them, when conquered, as prisoners, perished, overthrown by the arms of
a woman.(2) And that king who was acknowledged to have treated even the
vanquished with honour, had his head cut off, placed in a vessel full
of blood, and was bidden to be satiated, being thus subject to the
mocking of a woman's power. So in the course of that life of his like
is not repaid by like, but far otherwise.
37. And whom do we find more devoted to sacrificing
than Hamilcar, leader of the Carthaginians?(3) Who, having offered
sacrifice between the ranks during the whole time of the battle, when
he saw that his side was conquered, threw himself into the fire which
he was feeding, that he might extinguish even with his own body those
fires which he had found to profit him nothing.
38. What, then, shall I say of Julian? Who, having
credulously trusted the answers of the soothsayers, destroyed his own
means of retreat.(4) Therefore even in like cases there is not a like
offence, for our promises have deceived no one.
39. I have answered those who provoked me as though
I had not been provoked, for my object was to refute the Memorial, not
to expose superstition. But let their very memorial make you, O
Emperor, more careful. For after narrating of former princes, that the
earlier of them practised the ceremonies of their fathers, and the
later did not abolish them; and saying in addition that, if the
religious practice of the older did not make a precedent, the
connivance of the later ones did; it plainly showed what you owe, both
to your faith, viz., that you should not follow the example of heathen
rites, and to your affection, that you should not abolish the decrees
of your brother. For if for their own side alone they have praised the
connivance of those princes, who, though Christians, yet in no way
abolished the heathen decrees, how much more ought you to defer to
brotherly love, so that you, who ought to overlook some things even if
you did not approve them in order not to detract from your brother's
statutes, should now maintain what you judge to be in agreement both
with your own faith, and the bond of brotherhood.
EPISTLE XX.
St. Ambrose relates to his sister the events at Milan connected with
the demand of the Arians for a basilica, and how the people rose up in
opposition. Then that on the second day the basilica had been occupied
by soldiers, who however fraternized with the Catholics. He gives a
sketch of his address, comparing their trials to those of Job, more
particularly those caused by his wife, and other cases owing to women.
Though the basilica was surrendered, he himself had been threatened by
a notary, but this did not trouble him. He adapts the story of Jonah to
the present circumstances, relates the joy, of the people at recovering
their church, Valentiuian's words to his courtiers, and the behaviour
of Calligonus to himself. The date of the letter is Easter, A.D. 385.
1. SINCE in almost all your letters you enquire
anxiously about the Church, you shall hear what is taking place. The
day after I received your letter, in which you said you were troubled
by dreams, the pressure of heavy troubles began to be felt. And this
time it was not the Portian basilica, that is the one outside the
walls, which was demanded, but the new basilica, that is the one within
the walls, which is larger.
2. First of all some great men, counsellors of
state, begged of me to give up the basilica, and to manage that the
people should make no disturbance. I replied, of course, that the
temple of God could not be surrendered by a Bishop.
3. On the following day this answer was approved by
the people in the Church; and
423
the Prefect(1) came there, and began to persuade us to give up at least
the Portian basilica, but the people clamoured against it. He then went
away implying that he should report to the Emperor.
4. The day after, which was Sunday, after the
lessons and the sermon, when the Catechumens were dismissed, I was
teaching the creed to certain candidates(2) in the baptistery of the
basilica. There it was reported to me that they had sent decani(3) from
the palace, and were putting up hangings,(4) and that part of the
people were going there. I, however, remained at my ministrations, and
began to celebrate mass.(5)
5. Whilst offering the oblation, I heard that a
certain Castulus, who, the Arians said, was a priest, had been seized
by the people. Passers-by had come upon him in the streets. I began to
weep bitterly, and to implore God in the oblation that He would come to
our aid, and that no one's blood be shed in the Church's cause, or at
least that it might be my blood shed for the benefit not of my people
only, but also for the unbelievers themselves. Not to say more, I sent
priests and deacons and rescued the man from violence.
6. Thereupon the heaviest sentences were decreed,
first upon the whole body of merchants. And so during the holy days of
the last week of Lent, when usually the bonds of debtors are loosed,
chains were heard grating, were being placed on the necks of
innocent persons, and two hundred pounds' weight of gold was required
within three days' time. They replied that they would give as much or
twice as much, if demanded, so that only they might preserve their
faith. The prisons were full of trades-people.
7. All the officials of the palace, that is the
recorders, the commissioners, the apparitors of the different
magistrates, were commanded to keep away from what was going on, on the
pretence that they were forbidden to take part in any sedition; many
very heavy penalties were threatened against men of position, if they
did not surrender the basilica. Persecution was raging, and had they
but opened the floodgates, they seemed likely to break out into every
kind of violence.
8. The Counts and Tribunes come and urged me to
cause the basilica to be quickly surrendered, saying that the Emperor
was exercising his rights since everything was under his power. I
answered that if he asked of me what was mine, that is, my land, my
money, or whatever of this kind was my own, I would not refuse it,
although all that I have belonged to the poor, but that those things
which are God's are not subject to the imperial power. "If my patrimony
is required, enter upon it, if my body, I will go at once. Do you wish
to cast me into chains, or to give me to death? it will be a pleasure
to me. I will not defend myself with throngs of people, nor will I
cling to the altars and entreat for my life, but will more gladly be
slain myself for the altars."
9. I was indeed Struck with horror when I learnt
that armed men had been sent to take possession of the basilica, lest
while the people were defending the basilica, there might be some
slaughter which would tend to the injury of the whole city. I prayed
that I might not survive the destruction of so great a city, or it
might be of the whole of Italy. I feared the odium of shedding blood, I
offered my own neck. Some Gothic tribunes were present, whom I
accosted, and said, "Have you received the gift of Roman rights in
order to make yourselves disturbers of the public peace? Whither will
you go, if things here are destroyed?"
10. Then I was desired to restrain the people; I
answered that it was in my power not to excite them; but in God's hands
to quiet them. And that if they thought that I was urging them on, they
ought at once to punish me, or that I ought to be sent to any desert
part of the earth they chose. After I had said this, they departed, and
I spent the whole day in the old basilica, and thence went home to
sleep, that if any one wanted to carry me off he might find me ready.
11. Before day when I left the house the basilica
was surrounded by soldiers. It is said that the soldiers had intimated
to the Emperor that if he wished to go forth he could do so; that they
would be in attendance, if they saw him go to join the Catholics; if
not that they would go to the assembly which Ambrose had convened.
12. None of the Arians dared to go forth, for there
was not one among the citizens, only a few of the royal family, and
some of the Goths. And they as of old they made
424
use of their waggons as dwellings, now make the Church their waggon.
Wherever that woman goes, she carries with her all assemblage.
13. I heard that the Basilica was surrounded by the
groaning of the people, but whilst the lessons were being read, I was
informed that the new Basilica also was full of people, that the crowd
seemed greater than when they were all free, and that a Reader was
being called for. In short, the soldiers themselves who seemed to have
occupied the Basilica, when they knew that I had ordered that the
people should abstain from communion with them, began to come to our
assembly. When they saw this, the minds of the women were troubled, and
one rushed forth. But the soldiers themselves said that they had come
for prayer not for fighting. The people uttered some cries. With great
moderation, with great instancy, with great faithfulness they begged
that we would go to that Basilica. It was said, too, that the people in
that Basilica were demanding my presence.
14. I then commenced the following address. You have
heard, my children, the reading of the book of Job, which, according to
the appointed order and season,(1) is being gone through. By experience
the devil also knew that this book would be explained, in which all the
power of his temptations is shown and made clear, and so to-day he
roused himself with greater vigour. But thanks be to our God, who has
so established you with faith and patience. I had mounted the pulpit to
praise Job alone, and I have found in you all Jobs to praise. In each
of you Job lives again, in each the patience and valour of that saint
has shone forth again. For what more resolute could have been said by
Christian men, than what the Holy Spirit has to-day spoken in you? We
request, O Augustus, we do not fight, we do not fear, but we request.
This beseems Christians both to wish for peace and tranquillity, and
not to suffer constancy of faith and truth to be checked by fear. For
the Lord is our Leader, "Who is the Saviour of them that hope in
Him."(2)
15. But let us come to the lessons before us. You
see that permission is given to the devil, that the good may be tested.
The evil one envies all progress in good, he tempts us in divers way.
He tried holy Job in his possessions, in his children, in pain of body.
The stronger is tried in his own person, the weaker in that of another.
And he was desirous of carrying off my riches which I possess in you,
and wished to dissipate this patrimony of your tranquillity. And he
strove to deprive me of yourselves also, my good children, for whom I
daily renew the Sacrifice, you he endeavoured to involve in the ruin as
it were of a public disturbance. I have then already been assailed by
two kinds of temptation. And perhaps because the Lord our God knows me
to be too weak, He has not yet given him power over my body. Though
myself may desire it, though I offer myself, He deems me yet it may be
unequal to this conflict, and exercises me with divers labours. And Job
did not begin with that conflict but finished with it.
16. But Job was tried by accumulated tidings of
evils, he was also tried by his wife, who said, "Speak a word against
God and die."(1) You see what terrible things are of a sudden stirred
up, the Goths, armed men, the heathen, the fines of the merchants, the
sufferings of the Saints. You observe what was commanded, when the
order was given "surrender the Basilica;" that is "speak a word against
God and die. And not only, speak against God," but, Do something
against Him. For the command was, surrender the altars of God.
17. So, then, we are prepared by the imperial
commands, but are strengthened by the words of Scripture, which
replies: "Thou hast spoken as one of the foolish." That temptation then
is no light one, for, we know that those temptations are more severe
which arise through women. For even Adam(2) was overthrown by Eve,
whereby it came to pass that he erred from the Divine commandments. And
when he recognized his error, feeling the reproach of a guilty
conscience, he would fain have hidden himself, but he could not be
hidden, and so God said to him: "Adam, where art thou?"(3) that is,
what wast thou before? where hast thou now begun to be? Where had I
placed thee? Whither hast thou wandered? Thou ownest that thou art
naked because thou hast lost the robe of a good faith. Those are leaves
with which thou now seekest to veil thyself. Thou hast rejected
the fruit, thou desired to hide under the leaves of the Law, but thou
art betrayed. Thou hast desired to depart from the Lord thy God for the
sake of one woman, therefore thou fleest from Him Whom thou soughtest
before to see. Thou hast chosen
425
to hide thyself with one woman, to forsake the Mirror of the world, the
abode in Paradise, the grace of Christ.
18. Why should I relate that Jezebel,(1) also
persecuted Elisha after a bloodthirsty fashion? or that Herodias(2)
caused John the Baptist to be slain? Individuals persecuted
individuals; but for me, whose merits are far inferior, the trials are
all the harder. My strength is less, but I have more danger. Of women
change follows on change, their hatreds alternate, their falsehoods
vary, elders assemble together, wrong done to the Emperor is made a
pretence. What is then the reason of such severe temptation against me,
a mere worm; except that they are attacking not me but the Church?
19. At last the command was given: Surrender the
Basilica. My reply was, it is not lawful for me to surrender it, nor
advantageous for you, O Emperor, to receive it. By no right can you
violate the house of a private person, and do you think that the House
of God may be taken away
It is asserted that everything is lawful for the Emperor, that all
things are his. My answer is: Do not, O Emperor, lay on yourself the
burden of such a thought as that you have any imperial power over those
things which belong to God.(3) Exalt not yourself, but if you desire to
reign long, submit yourself to God, It is written: "The things which
are God's to God, those which are Caesar's to Caesar."(4) The palaces
belong to the Emperor, the churches to the Bishop. Authority is
committed to you over public, not over sacred buildings. Again the
Emperor was stated to have declared: I also ought to have one Basilica.
My answer was: It is not lawful for you to have it. What have you to do
with an adulteress? For she is an adulteress who is not joined to
Christ in lawful wedlock.
20. Whilst I was treating on this matter, tidings
were brought me that the royal hangings were taken down, and the
Basilica filled with people, who were calling for my presence, so I at
once turned my discourse to this, and said: How high and how deep are
the oracles of the Holy Spirit! We said at Matins, as you, brethren,
remember, and made the response with the greatest grief of mind: "O
God, the heathen are come into Thine inheritance,"(5) And in very deed
the heathen came, and even worse than the heathen came; for the
Goths(1) came, and men of different nations; they came with weapons and
surrounded and occupied the Basilica. We in our ignorance of Thy
greatness mourned over this, but our want of foresight was in error.
21. The heathen are come, and in very truth are come
into Thine inheritance, for they who came as heathen have become
Christians. Those who came to invade Thine inheritance, have been made
coheirs with God. I have those as protectors whom I considered to be
adversaries. That is fulfilled which the Prophet sang of the Lord Jesus
that "His dwelling is in peace," and "There brake He the horns of the
bows, the shield, the sword and the battle."(2) For whose girl is this,
whose work is this but Thine, Lord Jesus? Thou sawest armed men coming
to Thy temple; on the one hand the people wailing and coming in throngs
so as not to seem to surrender the Basilica of God, on the other hand
the soldiers ordered to use violence. Death was before my eyes, lest
madness should gain any footing whilst things were thus. Thou, O Lord,
didst come between, and madest of twain one.(3) Thou didst restrain the
armed men, saying, If ye run together to arms, if those shut up in My
temple are troubled, "what profit is there in My blood." Thanks then be
unto Thee, O Christ. No ambassador, no messenger, but Thou, O Lord,
hast saved Thy people, "Thou hast put off my sackcloth and girded me
with gladness."(5)
22. I said these things, wondering that the
Emperor's mind could be softened by the zeal of the soldiers, the
entreaties of the Counts, and the supplication of the people. Meanwhile
I was told that a notary had been sent to me, to bring me orders. I
retired a little, and he intimated the order to me. What were you
thinking of, he said, in acting against the Emperor's decree? I
replied: I do not know what has been decreed, and I have not been
informed of what has been unadvisedly done. He asked: Why did you send
priests to the Basilica? If you are a tyrant I wish to know it, that I
may know how to prepare against you. I replied by saying that I had
done nothing hastily regarding the Church. That at the time when I
heard that the Basilica was occupied by soldiers,
426
I only gave freer utterance to groans, and that when many were
exhorting me to go thither, I said: I cannot surrender the basilica,
but I may not fight. But after I heard that the royal hangings had been
taken away, when the people were urging me to go thither, I sent some
priests; that I would not go myself, but said, I believe in Christ that
the Emperor himself will treat with us.
23. If these acts looked like tyranny, that I had
arms, but only in the Name of Christ, that I had the power of offering
my own body. Why, I said, did he delay to strike, if he thought me a
tyrant? That by ancient right imperial power had been given by bishops,
never assumed, and it was commonly said that emperors had desired the
priesthood, rather than priests the imperial power. That Christ
withdrew lest He should be made a king. That we had our own power; for
the power of a bishop was his weakness. "When I am weak," says the
Apostle, "then I become strong."(1) But let him against whom God has
not stirred up an adversary beware lest he make a tyrant for himself.
That Maxim us did not say that I was the tyrant of Valentinian, he
complained that by the intervention of my legation he had been unable
to cross over into Italy.(2) And I added that priests had never been
tyrants, but had often suffered from them.
24. We passed that whole day in sadness, but the
imperial hangings were cut by boys in derision. I could not return
home, because the soldiers who were guarding the basilica were all
around. We repeated Psalms with the brethren in the smaller basilica of
the Church.
25. On the following day the Book of Jonah(3) was
read according to custom, after the completion of which I began this
discourse. A book has been read, brethren, in which it is foretold that
sinners shall be converted. Their acceptance takes place because that
which is to happen is looked forward to at present. I added that the
just man had been willing even to incur blame, in order not to see or
denounce the destruction of the city. And because the sentence was
mournful he was also saddened that the gourd had withered up. God too
said to the prophet: "Art thou sad because of the gourd?" and Jonah
answered: "I am sad."(4) And the Lord then said, that if he grieved
that the gourd was withered, how much should He Himself care for the
salvation of so many people. And therefore that He had put away the
destruction which had been prepared for the whole city.
26. And without further delay, tidings are brought
that the Emperor had commanded the soldiers to retire from the
basilica, and that the sums which had been exacted of the merchants
should be restored. How great then was the joy of the whole
people! how just their applause! and how abundant their thanks!
And it was the day on which the Lord was delivered up for us, on which
penance is relaxed in the Church. The soldiers vied with each other in
bringing in these tidings, rushing to the altars, giving kisses, the
mark of peace. Then I recognized that God had smitten the early worm
that the whole city might be preserved.
27. These things were done, and would that all
was at an end! but the Emperor's words full of excitement foreshadow
future and worse troubles. I am called a tyrant, and even more than a
tyrant. For when the Counts were entreating the Emperor to go to the
Church, and said that they were doing this at the request of the
soldiers, he answered: If Ambrose bade you, you would deliver me up to
him in chains. You can think what may be coming after these words. All
shuddered when they heard them, but he has some by whom he is
exasperated.
28. Lastly, too, Calligonus, the chief chamberlain,
ventured to address me in peculiar language. Do you, said he, whilst I
am alive treat Valentinian with contempt? I will take your head from
you. My reply was, God grant you to fulfil your threat; for then I
shall suffer as bishops do, you will act as do eunuchs. Would that God
might turn them away from the Church, let them direct all their weapons
against me, let them satisfy their thirst with my blood.
427
LETTER XXI.
St. Ambrose excuses himself for not having gone to the consistory when
summoned, on the ground that in matters of faith no one but bishops
could rightly judge, and that he was not contumacious because he would
not suffer wrong to be done to his own order. And he adds that
Auxentius would perhaps choose as judges either Jews or unbelievers,
that is, persons hostile to Christ. He says further that he is willing
to discuss the matters in dispute at a synod, and that he would have
told the Emperor his word of mouth what he is now writing, but that his
fellow bishops and the people would not suffer him to do so.
AMBROSE, Bishop, to the most gracious Emperor and
blessed Augustus, Valentinian.
1. Dalmatius, the tribune and notary, summoned me by
the orders of your Clemency, as he asserted, demanding that I should
also choose judges, as Auxentius had done. He did not mention the names
of those who had been asked for, but he added that there was to be a
discussion in the consistory, and that the judgment of your piety would
give the decision.
2. To this I make, as I think, a suitable answer. No
one ought to consider me contumacious when I affirm what your father of
august memory not only replied by word of mouth,(1) but also sanctioned
by his laws, that, in a matter of faith, or any ecclesiastical
ordinance, he should judge who was not unsuited by office, nor
disqualified by equity, for these are the words of the rescript. That
is, it was his desire that priests should judge concerning priests.
Moreover, if a bishop were accused of other matters also, and a
question of character was to be enquired into, it was also his will
that this should be reserved for the judgment of bishops.
3. Who, then, has answered your Clemency
contumaciously? He who desires that you should be like your father, or
he that wishes you to be unlike him? Unless, perhaps, the judgment of
so great an Emperor seems to any persons of small account, whose faith
has been proved by the constancy of his profession,(2) and his wisdom
declared by the continual improvement of the State.
4. When have you heard, most gracious Emperor, that
laymen gave judgment concerning a bishop in a matter of faith? Are we
so prostrate through the flattery of some as to be unmindful of the
rights of the priesthood, and do I think that I can entrust to others
what God has given me? If a bishop is to be taught by a layman, what
will follow? Let the layman argue, and the bishop listen, let the
bishop learn of the layman. But undoubtedly, whether we go through the
series of the holy Scriptures, or the times of old, who is there who
can deny that, in a matter of faith,--in a matter I say of
faith,--bishops are wont to judge of Christian emperors, not emperors
of bishops.
5. You will, by the favour of God, attain to a riper
age, and then you will judge what kind of bishop he is who subjects the
rights of the priesthood to laymen. Your father, by the favour of God a
man of riper age, used to say: It is not my business to judge between
bishops. Your Clemency now says: I ought to judge. And he, though
baptized in Christ, thought himself unequal to the burden of such a
judgment, does your Clemency, who have yet to earn for yourself the
sacrament of baptism, arrogate to yourself a judgment concerning the
faith, though ignorant of the sacrament of that faith?
6. I can leave it to be imagined what sort of judges
he will have chosen. since he is afraid to publish their names. Let
them simply come to the Church, if there are any to come; let them
listen with the people, not for every one to sit as judge, but that
each may examine his own disposition, and choose whom to follow. The
matter is concerning the bishop of that Church: if the people hear him
and think that he has the best of the argument, let them follow him, I
shall not be jealous.
7. I omit to mention that the people have themselves
already given their judgment. I am silent as to the fact that they
demanded of your father him whom they now have.(1) I am silent as to
the promise of your father that if he who was chosen would undertake
the bishopric there should be tranquillity. I acted on the faith of
these promises.
8. But if he boasts himself of the approval of some
foreigners, let him be bishop there from whence they are who think that
he ought to receive the name of bishop. For I neither recognize him as
a bishop, nor know I whence he comes.
428
9. And how, O Emperor, are we to settle a matter on
which you have already declared your judgment, and have even
promulgated laws,(1) so that iris not open to any one to judge
otherwise? But when you laid down this law for others, you laid it down
for yourself as well. For the Emperor is the first to keep the laws
which he passes. Do you, then, wish me to try how those who are chosen
as judges will either come, contrary to your decision, or at least
excuse themselves, saying that they cannot act against so severe and so
stringent a law of the Emperor?
10. But this would be the act of one contumacious,
not of one who knew his position. See, O Emperor, you are already
yourself partially rescinding your law, would that it were not
partially but altogether! for I would not that your law should be set
above the law of God. The law of God has taught us what to follow;
human laws cannot teach us this. They usually extort a change from the
fearful, but they cannot inspire faith.
11. Who, then, will there be, who when he reads that
at one instant through so many provinces the order was given, that
whoever acts against the Emperor shall be beheaded, that whoever does
not give up the temple of God shall at once be put to death; who, say,
is there who will be able either alone or with a few others to say to
the Emperor: I do not approve of your law? Priests are not allowed to
say this, are then laymen allowed? And shall he judge concerning the
faith who either hopes for favour or is afraid of giving offence?
12. Lastly, shall I myself choose laymen for judges,
who, if they upheld the truth of their faith, would be either
proscribed or put to death, as that law passed concerning the faith
decrees? Shall I then expose these men either to denial of the truth or
to punishment?
13. Ambrose is not of sufficient importance to
degrade the priesthood on his own account. The life of one is not of so
much value as the dignity of all priests, by whose advice I gave those
directions, when they intimated that there might perchance be some
heathen or Jew chosen by Auxentius, to whom I should give a triumph
over Christ, if I entrusted to him a judgment concerning Christ. What
else pleases them but to hear of some insult to Christ? What else can
please them unless(which God forbid) the
Godhead of Christ should be denied? Plainly they agree well with the
Arian who says that Christ is a creature, which also heathen and Jews
most readily acknowledge.
14. This was decreed at the Synod of Ariminum, and
rightly do I detest that council, following the rule of the Nicene
Council, from which neither death nor the sword can detach me, which
faith the father of your Clemency also. Theodosius, the most blessed
Emperor, both approved and follows. The Gauls hold this faith, and
Spain, and keep it with the pious confession of the Divine Spirit.
15. If anything has to be discussed I have learnt to
discuss it in church as those before me did. If a conference is to be
held concerning the faith, there ought to be a gathering of Bishops, as
was done under Constantine, the Prince of august memory, who did not
promulgate any laws beforehand, but left the decision to the Bishops.
This was done also under Constantius, Emperor of august memory, the
heir of his father's dignity. But what began well ended otherwise, for
the Bishops had at first subscribed an unadulterated confession of
faith, but since some were desirous of deciding concerning the faith
inside the palace, they managed that those decisions of the Bishops
should be altered by fraud. But they immediately recalled this
perverted decision, and certainly the larger number at Ariminum
approved the faith of the Nicene Council and condemned the Arian
propositions.
16. If Auxentius appeals to a synod, in order to
discuss points concerning the faith(although it is not necessary that
so many Bishops should be troubled for the sake of one man, who, even
if he were an angel from heaven, ought not to be preferred to the peace
of the Church), when I hear that a synod is gathering, I, too, will not
be wanting. Repeal, then, the law if you wish for a disputation.
17. I would have come, O Emperor, to your
consistory, and have made these remarks in your presence, if either the
Bishops or the people had allowed me, but they said that matters
concerning the faith ought to be treated in the church, in presence of
the people.
18. And I wish, O Emperor, that you had not given
sentence that I should go into banishment whither I would. I went out
daily. No one guarded me. You ought to have appointed me a place
wherever you would, for I offered myself for anything. But now the
clergy say to me, "There is not much difference whether you voluntarily
429
leave the altar of Christ or betray it, for if you leave it you will
betray it."
19. And I wish it were clearly certain to me that
the Church would by no means be given over to the Arians. I would then
willingly offer myself to the will of your piety. But if I only am
guilty of disturbance, why is there a command to invade all other
churches? I would it were established that no one should trouble the
churches, and then I could wish that whatever sentence seems good
should be pronounced concerning me.
20. Vouchsafe, then, O Emperor, to accept the reason
for which I could not come to the consistory. I have never learned to
ap-
pear in the consistory except on your behalf,(1) and I am not able to
dispute within the palace, who neither know nor wish to know the
secrets of the palace.
21. I, Ambrose, Bishop, offer this memorial to the
most gracious Emperor, and most blessed Augustus Valentinian.
430
SERMON AGAINST AUXENTIUS ON THE GIVING UP OF THE BASILICAS.
To calm the anxiety of the people over the imperial decree, he lays his
answer before them, and adds that he did not go to the consistory,
because he was afraid of losing the basilica. Then, first challenging
his opponents to a discussion in the church, he says that he is not
terrified at their weapons; and also, after recalling his answer on the
subject of the sacred vessels, declares that he is ready for the
contest. The will of God, he maintains, cannot be frustrated, nor can
His protection be overcome, yet He is ready too to suffer m His
servants. Since he has not already been taken before this, it is plain
that the heretics are causing this disturbance for no reason whatever.
Next, after applying Naboth's history and Christ's entry into Jerusalem
to the present state of affairs, he censures Auxentius' cruel law,
answers the Arians' objections, and states that he will gladly discuss
the matter in the presence of the people. Auxentius, he adds, has been
already condemned by the pagans, whom he had chosen to sit as judges,
as he had been condemned by Paul and by Christ. The heretic had
forgotten the year before, when he had made the same appeal to
Cµsar; and the Arians, in stirring up ill-will against the
servants of Christ, are much worse than the Jews: for the Church does
not belong to Caesar, but displays the image of Christ. Then adding to
these a few more words on his answer and his hymns, he declares that he
is not disobedient, that the Emperor is a son of the Church, and that
Auxentius is worse than a Jew,
1. I SEE that you are unusually disturbed, and that
you are closely watching me. I wonder what the reason is? Is it that
you saw or heard that I had received an imperial order at the hands of
the tribunes, to the effect that I was to go hence, whither I would,
and that all who wished might follow me? Were you afraid that I should
desert the Church and forsake you in fear for my own safety? But you
could note the message I sent, that the wish to desert the Church had
never entered my mind; for I feared the Lord of the universe more than
an earthly emperor; and if force were to drag me from the Church, my
body indeed could be driven out, but not my mind. I was ready, if he
were to do what royal power is wont to do, to undergo the fate a priest
has to bear.
2. Why, then, are you disturbed? I will never
willingly desert you, though if force is used, I cannot meet it. I
shall be able to grieve, to weep, to groan; against weapons, soldiers,
Goths, my tears are my weapons, for these are a priest's defence. I
ought not, I cannot resist in any other way; but to fly and forsake the
Church is not my way; lest any one should suppose I did so from fear of
some heavier punishment. You yourselves know that I am wont to show
respect to our emperors, but
not to yield to them, to offer myself freely to punishment, and not to
fear what is prepared for me.
3. Would that I were sure the Church would never be
given over to heretics. Gladly would I go to the Emperor's palace, if
this but fitted the office of a priest, and so hold our discussion in
the palace rather than the church. But in the consistory Christ is not
wont to be the accused but the judge. Who will deny that the cause of
faith should be pleaded in the church? If any one has confidence let
him come hither; let him not seek the judgment of the Emperor, which
already shows its bias, which clearly proves by the law that is passed
that he is against the faith; neither let him seek the expected
goodwill of certain people who want to stand well with both sides. I
will not act in such a way as to give any one the chance of making
money out of a wrong to Christ.
4. The soldiers around, the clash of the arms
wherewith the church is surrounded, do not alarm my faith, but they
disquiet me from fear that in keeping me here you might meet with some
danger to your lives. For I have learnt by now not to be afraid, but I
do begin to have more fear for you. Allow, I beg you, your bishop to
meet his foes. We have an adversary who assails us, for our adversary
"the devil goeth about, as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may
devour,"(1) as the Apostle said. He has received, no doubt, he has
received(we are not deceived, but warned of this) the power to tempt in
this wise, lest I might perhaps by the wounds of my body be drawn away
from the earnestness of my faith. You have read how the devil tempted
holy Job in these many ways, and how at last he sought and obtained
power to try his body, which he covered with sores.
5. When it was suggested that I should give up the
vessels of the Church, I gave the following answer: I will willingly
give up whatever of my own property is demanded, whether it is estates,
or house, or gold, or silver--anything, in fact, which is in my power.
But I cannot take aught away from the temple of God; nor can I give up
what I have received to guard and not to give up. In doing this I am
acting for the Emperor's good, for it would neither be right for me to
give it up, nor for him to receive it. Let him listen to the words of a
free-spoken bishop, and if he wishes to do what is best for himself,
let him cease to do wrong to Christ.
431
6. These words are full of humility, and as I think
of that spirit which a bishop ought to show towards the Emperor. But
since "our contest is not against flesh and blood, but also"(which is
worse) "against spiritual wickedness in high places,"(1) that tempter
the devil makes the struggle harder by means of his servants, and
thinks to make trial of me by the wounds of my flesh. I know, my
brethren, that these wounds which we receive for Christ's sake are not
wounds that destroy life, but rather extend it. Allow, I pray, the
contest to take place. It is for you to be the spectators. Reflect that
if a city has an athlete, or one skilled in some other noble art, it is
eager to bring him forward for a contest. Why do you refuse to do in a
more important matter what you are wont to wish in smaller affairs? He
fears not weapons nor barbarians who fears not death, and is not held
fast by any pleasures of the flesh.
7. And indeed if the Lord has appointed me for this
struggle, in vain have you kept sleepless watch so many nights and
days. The will of Christ will be fulfilled. For our Lord Jesus is
almighty, this is our faith: and so what He wills to be done will be
fulfilled, and it is not for us to thwart the divine purpose.
8. You heard what was read to-day: The Saviour
ordered that the foal of an ass should be brought to Him by the
apostles, and bade them say, if any one withstood them: "The Lord hath
need of him."(2) What if now, too, He has commanded that foal of an
ass, that is, the foal of that animal which is wont to bear a heavy
burden, as man must, to whom is said: "Come unto Me all ye that labour
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest; take My yoke upon you,
for it is easy; "(3) what if, I say, He has commanded that foal to be
brought to Him now, sending forth those apostles, who, having put off
their body, wear the semblance of the angels unseen by our eyes? If
withstood by any, will they not say: The Lord hath need of him? If, for
instance, love of this life, or flesh and blood, or earthly
intercourse(for perhaps we seem pleasing to some), were to withstand
them? But he who loves me here, would show his love much more if he
would suffer me to become Christ's victim, for "to depart and be with
Christ is much better, though to abide in the flesh is more needful for
you."(4) There is nothing therefore
for you to fear, beloved brethren. For I know that whatever I may
suffer, I shall suffer for Christ's sake. And I have read that I ought
not to fear those that can kill the flesh.(1) And I have heard One Who
says: "He that loseth his life for My sake shall find it."(2)
9. Wherefore if the Lord wills, surely no one will
resist. And if as yet He delay my struggle, what do you fear? It is not
bodily guardianship but the Lord's providence that is wont to fence in
the servant of Christ.
10. You are troubled because you have found the
double doors open, which a blind man in seeking his chamber is said to
have unfastened. In this you learn that human watchfulness is no
defence. Behold! one who has lost the gift of sight has broken through
all our defences, and escaped the notice of the guards. But the Lord
has not lost s the guard of His mercy. Was it not also discovered two
days ago, as you remember, that a certain entrance on the left side of
the basilica was open, which you thought had been shut and secured?
Armed men surrounded the basilica, they tried this and the other
entrance, but their eyes were blinded so that that could not see the
one that was open. And you know well that it was open many nights.
Cease, then, to be anxious; for that will take place which Christ
commands and which is for the best.
11. And now I will put before you examples from the
Law. EIiseus was sought by the king of Syria; an army had been sent to
capture him; and he was surrounded on all sides. His servant began to
fear, for he was a servant, that is, he had not a free mind, nor had he
free powers of action. The holy prophet sought to open his eyes, and
said: "Look and see how many more are on our side than there are
against us."(4) And he beheld, and saw thousands of angels. Mark
therefore that it is those that are not seen rather than those that are
seen that guard the servants of Christ. But if they guard you, they do
it in answer to your prayers: for you have read that those very men,
who sought Eliseus, entered Samaria, and came to him whom they desired
to take. Not only were they unable to harm him, but they were
themselves preserved at the intercession of the man against whom they
had
come.
432
12. The Apostle Peter also gives you an example of
either case.(1) For when Herod sought him and took him, he was put into
prison. For the servant of God had not got away, but stood firm without
a thought of fear. The Church prayed for him, but the Apostle slept in
prison, a proof that he was not in fear. An angel was sent to rouse him
as he slept, by whom Peter was led forth out of prison, and escaped
death for a time.
13. And Peter again afterwards, when he had overcome
Simon, in sowing the doctrine of God among the people, and in teaching
chastity, stirred up the minds of the Gentiles. And when these sought
him, the Christians begged that he would withdraw himself for a little
while. And although he was desirous to suffer, yet was he moved at the
sight of the people praying, for they asked him to save himself for the
instruction and strengthening of his people. Need I say more? At night
he begins to leave the town, and seeing Christ coming to meet him at
the gate, and entering the city, says: Lord, whither goest Thou? Christ
answers: I am coming to be crucified again. Peter understood the divine
answer to refer to his own cross, for Christ could not be crucified a
second time, for He had put off the flesh by the passion of the death
which He had undergone; since: "In that He died, He died unto sin once,
but in that He liveth, He liveth unto God."(2) So Peter understood that
Christ was to be crucified again in the person of His servant.
Therefore he willingly returned; and when tile Christians questioned
him, told them the reason. He was immediately seized, and glorified the
Lord Jesus by his cross.
14. You see, then, that Christ wills to suffer in
His servants. And what if He says to this servant, "I will that he
tarry, follow thou Me,"(3) and wishes to taste the fruit of this tree?
For if His meat was to do the will of His Father,(4) so also is it His
meat to partake of our sufferings. Did He not, to take an example from
our Lord Himself,--did He not suffer when He willed, and was He not
found when He was sought? But when the hour of His passion had not yet
come, He passed through the midst of those that sought Him,(5) and
though they saw Him they could not hold Him fast. This plainly shows us
that when the Lord wills, each one is found and taken, but because the
time is put off, he is not held fast, al-
though he meets the eyes of those who seek him.
15. And did not I myself go forth daily to pay
visits, or go to the tombs of the martyrs? Did I not pass by the royal
palace both in going and returning? Yet no one laid hands on me, though
they had the intention of driving me out, as they afterwards gave out,
saying, Leave the city, and go where you will. I was, I own, looking
for some great thing, either sword or fire for the Name of Christ, yet
they offered me pleasant things instead of sufferings; but Christ's
athlete needs not pleasant things but sufferings. Let no one, then,
disturb you, because they have provided a carriage,(1) or because hard
words, as he thinks them, have been uttered by Auxentius, who calls
himself bishop.
16. Many stated that assassins had been despatched,
that the penalty of death had been decreed against me. I do not fear
all that, nor am I going to desert my position here. Whither shall I
go, when there is no spirit that is not filled with groans and tears;
when throughout the Churches Catholic bishops are being expelled, or if
they resist, are put to the sword, and every senator who does not obey
the decree is proscribed. And these things were written by the hand and
spoken by the mouth of a bishop who, that he might show himself to be
most learned, omitted not an ancient warning. For we read in the
prophet that he saw a flying sickle.(2) Auxentius, to imitate this,
sent a flying sword through all cities. But Satan, too, transforms
himself into an angel of light,(3) and imitates his power for evil.
17. Thou, Lord Jesus, hast redeemed the world in one
moment of time: shall Auxentius in one moment slay, as far as he can,
so many peoples, some by the sword, others by sacrilege? He seeks my
basilica with bloody lips and gory hands. Him to-day's chapter answers
well: "But unto the wicked said God: Wherefore dost thou declare My
righteousness?"(4) That is, there is no union between peace and
madness, there is no union between Christ and Belial.(3) You remember
also that we read to-day of Naboth, a holy man who owned his own
433
vineyard, being urged on the king's request to give it up. When the
king after rooting up the vines intended to plant common herbs, he
answered him: "God forbid that I should give up the inheritance of my
fathers."(1) The king was grieved, because what belonged by right to
another had been refused him on fair grounds, but had been unfairly got
by a woman's device. Naboth defended his vines with his own blood. And
if he did not give up his vineyard, shall we give up the Church of
Christ?
18. Was the answer that I gave then contumacious?
For when summoned I said: God forbid that I should give up the
inheritance of Christ. If Naboth gave not up the inheritance of his
fathers, shall I give up the inheritance of Christ? And I added
further: God forbid that I shall give up the inheritance of my fathers,
that is, the inheritance of Dionysius, who died in exile in the cause
of the faith; the inheritance of the Confessor Eustorgius, the
inheritance of Mysocles and of all the faithful bishops of bygone days.
I answered as a bishop ought to answer: Let the Emperor act as an
emperor ought to. He must take away my life rather than my faith.
19. But to whom shall I give it up? Today's lesson
from the Gospel ought to teach us what is asked for and by whom it is
asked. You have heard read that when Christ(2) sat upon the foal of an
ass, the children cried aloud, and the Jews were vexed. At length they
spoke to the Lord Jesus, bidding Him to silence them. He answered: "If
these should hold their peace, the stones will cry out."(3) Then on
entering the temple, He cast out the money-changers, and the tables,
and those that sold doves in the temple of God. That passage was read
by no arrangement of mine, but by chance; but it is well fitted to the
present time. The praises of Christ are ever the scourges of the
unfaithful. And now when Christ is praised, the heretics say that
sedition is stirred up. The heretics say that death is being prepared
for them, and truly they have their death in the praises of Christ. For
how can they bear His praises, Whose weakness they maintain. And so
to-day, when Christ is praised, the madness of the Arians is scourged.
20. The Gerasenes could not bear the presence of
Christ;(4) these, worse than the Gerasenes, cannot endure the praises
of Christ. They see boys singing of the glory
of Christ, for it is written: "Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings
Thou hast perfected praise."(1) They mock at their tender age, so full
of faith, and say: "Behold, why do they cry out?" But Christ answers
them: "If these should hold their peace, the stones will cry out,"(2)
that is, the stronger will cry out, both youths and the more mature
will cry out, and old men will cry out; these stones now firmly laid
upon that stone of which it is written: "The stone which the builders
rejected is become the head of the corner."(3)
21. Invited, then, by these praises, Christ enters
His temple,(4) and takes His scourge and drives the money-changers out
of the temple. For He does not allow the slaves of money to be in His
temple, nor does He allow those to be there who sell seats. What are
seats but honours? What are the doves but simple minds or souls that
follow a pure and clear faith? Shall I, then, bring into the temple him
whom Christ shuts out? For he who sells dignities and honours will be
bidden to go out. He will be bidden to go out who desires to sell the
simple minds of the faithful.
22. Therefore, Auxentius is cast out. Mercurius is
shut out. The portent is one, the names are two! That no one might know
who he was, he changed his name so as to call himself Auxentius,
because there had been here an Arian bishop, named Auxentius. He did
this to deceive the people over whom the other had had power. He
changed his name, but he did not change his falseness. He puts off the
wolf, yet puts on the wolf again. It is no help to him that he has
changed his name; whatever happens he is known. He is called by one
name in the parts of Scythia, he is called by another here. He has a
name for each country he lives in. He has two names already, and if he
were to go elsewhere from here, he will have yet a third. For how will
he endure to keep a name as a proof of such wickedness? He did less in
Scythia, and was so ashamed that he changed his name. Here he has dared
to do worse things, and will he be ready to be betrayed by his name
wherever he goes? Shall he write the death warrant of so many people
with his own hand, and yet be able to be unshaken in mind?
23. The Lord Jesus shut a few out of His temple, but
Auxentius left none. Jesus with a scourge drove them out of His temple,
434
Auxentius with a sword; Jesus with a scourge, Mercurius with an axe.
The holy Lord drives out the sacrilegious with a scourge; the impious
man pursues the holy with a sword. Of him you have well said to-day:
Let him take away his laws with him. He will take them, although he is
unwilling; he will take with him his conscience, although he takes no
writing; he will take with him his soul inscribed with blood although
he will not take a letter inscribed with ink. It is written: "Juda, thy
sin is written with a pen of iron and with the point of a diamond, and
it is graven upon thy heart,"(1) that is, it is written there, whence
it came forth.
24. Does he, a man full of blood and full of murder,
dare to make mention to me of a discussion? He who thinks that they
whom he could not mislead by his words are to be slain with the sword,
giving bloody laws with his mouth, writing them with his hand, and
thinking that the law can order a faith for man to hold. He has not
heard what was read to-day: "That a man is not justified by the works
of the law,"(2) or "I, through the law, am dead to the law, that I may
live unto God,"(3) that is, by the spiritual law he is dead to the
carnal interpretation of the law. And we, by the law of our Lord Jesus
Christ, are dead to this law, which sanctions such perfidious decrees.
The law did not gather the Church together, but the faith of Christ.
For the law is not by faith, but "the just man lives by faith."(4)
Therefore, faith, not the law, makes a man just, for justice is not
through the law, but through the faith of Christ. But he who casts
aside his faith and pleads for that the claims of the law, bears
witness that he is himself unjust; for the just man lives by faith.
25. Shall any one, then, follow this law, whereby
the Council of Ariminum is confirmed, wherein Christ was said to be a
creature. But say they: "God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made
under the law."(5) And so they say "made," that is, "created." Do they
not consider these very words which they have brought forward; that
Christ is said to have been made, but of a woman; that is, He was
"made" as regards his birth from a Virgin, Who was begotten of the
Father as regards His divine generation? Have they read also to-day,
"that Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse
for us"?(6)
Was Christ a curse in His Godhead? But why He is called a curse
the Apostle tells us, saying that it is written: "Cursed is every one
that hangeth on a tree,"(1) that is, He Who in his flesh bore our
flesh, in His body bore our infirmities and our curses, that He might
crucify them; for He was not cursed Himself, but was cursed in thee. I
So it is written elsewhere: "Who knew no sin, but was made sin for us,
for He bore our sins,(2) that he might destroy them by the Sacrament of
His Passion."
26. These matters, my brethren, I would discuss more
fully with him in your presence; but knowing that you are not ignorant
of the faith, he has avoided a trial before yon, and has chosen some
four or five heathen to represent him, if that is he has chosen any,
whom I should like to be present in our company, not to judge
concerning Christ, but to hear the majesty of Christ. They, however,
have already given their decision concerning Auxentius, to whom they
gave no credence as he pleaded before them day by day. What can be more
of a condemnation of him than the fact, that without an adversary he
was defeated before his own judges? So now we also have their opinion
against Auxentius.
27. And that he has chosen heathen is rightly to be
condemned; for he has disregarded the Apostle's command, where he says:
"Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the
unjust and not before the saints? Do ye not know the saints shall judge
the world?"(3) And below he says: "Is it so, that there is not a wise
man among you, who can judge between heathen? But brother goeth to law
with brother, and that before the unbelievers."(4) You see, then, that
what he has introduced is against the Apostle's authority. Do you
decide, then, whether we are to follow Auxentius or Paul as our master.
28. But why speak of the Apostle, when the Lord
Himself cries through the prophet: "Hearken unto Me, My people, ye who
know judgment, in whose heart is My law."(5) God says: "Hearken unto
Me, My people, ye that know judgment." Auxentius says: Ye know not
judgment. Do you see how he condemns God in you, who rejects the voice
of the heavenly oracle: "Hearken unto Me, My people," says the Lord. He
says not, "Hearken, ye Gentiles," nor does He say, "Hearken, ye Jews."
For they who had been the people of the Lord
435
have now become the people of error, and they who were the people of
error have begun to be the people of God; for they have believed on
Christ. That people then judges in whose heart is the divine, not the
human law, the law not written in ink, but in the spirit of the living
God;(1) not set down on paper, but stamped upon the heart. Who then,
does you a wrong, he who refuses, or he who chooses to be heard by you?
29. Hemmed in on all sides, he betakes himself to
the wiles of his fathers. He wants to stir up ill-will on the Emperor's
side, saying that a youth, a catechumen ignorant of the sacred
writings, ought to judge, and to judge in the consistory. As though
last year when I was sent for to go to the palace, when in the presence
of the chief men the matter was discussed before the consistory, when
the Emperor wished to seize the basilica, I was cowed then at the sight
of the royal court, and did not show the firmness a bishop should, or
departed with diminished claims. Do they not remember that the people,
when they knew I had gone to the palace, made such a rush that they
could not resist its force; and all offered themselves to death for the
faith of Christ as a military officer came out with some light troops
to disperse the crowd? Was not I asked to calm the people with a long
speech? Did I not pledge my word that no one should invade the basilica
of the church? And though my services were asked for to do an act of
kindness, yet the fact that the people came to the palace was used to
bring ill-will upon me.They wish to bring me to this now again.
30. I recalled the people, and yet I did not escape
their ill-will, which ill-will, however, I think we ought rather to
tempt than fear. For why should we fear for the Name of Christ? Unless
perchance I ought to be troubled because they say: "Ought not the
Emperor to have one basilica, to which to go, and Ambrose wants to have
more power than the Emperor, and so refuses to the Emperor the
opportunity of going forth to church?" When they say this, they desire
to lay hold of my words, as did the Jews who tried Christ with cunning
words, saying: "Master, is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar or
not?"(2) Is ill-will always stirred up against the servants of God on
Caesar's account, and does impiety make use of this with a view to
starting a slander, so as to shelter itself under the imperial name?
and can they say that they do not share in
the sacrilege of those whose advice they follow?
31. See how much worse than the Jews the Arians are.
They asked whether He thought that the right of tribute should be given
to Caesar; these want to give to Caesar the right of the Church. But as
these faithless ones follow their author, so also let us answer as our
Lord and Author has taught us. For Jesus seeing the wickedness of the
Jews said to them: Why tempt ye Me? show Me a penny. When they had
given it, He said: "Whose image and superscription hath it?"(1) They
answered and said: Caesar's. And Jesus says to them: "Render unto
Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are
God's."(2) So, too, I say to these who oppose me: Show me a penny.
Jesus sees Caesar's penny and says: Render unto Caesar the things that
are Caesar's, and unto God the things that are God's. Can they in
seizing the basilicas of the church offer Caesar's penny?
32. But in the church I only know of one Image, that
is the Image of the unseen God, of Which God has said: "Let us make man
in Our image and Our likeness;"(3) that Image of Which it is written,
that Christ is the Brightness of His glory and the Image of His
Person.(4) In that Image I perceive the Father, as the Lord Jesus
Himself has said: "He that seeth Me seeth the Father."(5) For this
Image is not separated from the Father, which indeed has taught me the
unity of the Trinity, saying: "I and My Father are One,"(6) and again:
"All things that the Father hath are Mine."(7) Also of the Holy Spirit,
saying that the Spirit is Christ's, and has received of Christ, as it
is written: "He shall receive of Mine, and shall declare it unto
you."(8)
33. How, then, did we not answer humbly enough? If
he demand tribute, we do not refuse it. The lands of the Church pay
tribute. If the Emperor wants the lands, he has the power to claim
them, none of us will interfere. The contributions of the people are
amply sufficient for the poor. Do not stir up ill-will in the matter of
the lands. Let them take them if it is the Emperor's will. I do not
give them, but I do not refuse them. They ask for gold. I can say:
Silver and gold I do not ask for. But they stir up ill-will because
gold is spent. I am not afraid of such ill-will as this. I have
dependents. My dependents are Christ's poor. I know how to collect this
treasure.
436
On that they may even charge me with this crime, that I have spent
money on the poor I and if they make the charge that I seek for defence
at their hands, I do not deny it; nay, I solicit it. I have my defence,
but it consists in the prayers of the poor. The blind and the lame, the
weak and the old, are stronger than hardy warriors. Lastly, gifts to
the poor make God indebted to us, for it is written: "He that giveth to
the poor, lendeth to God."(1) The guards of warriors often do not merit
divine grace.
34. They declare also that the people have been led
astray by the strains of my hymns.(2) I certainly do not deny it. That
is a lofty strain, and there is nothing more powerful than it. For what
has more power than the confession of the Trinity which is daily
celebrated by the mouth of the whole people? All eagerly vie one with
the other in confessing the faith, and know how to praise in verse the
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. So they all have become teachers, who
scarcely could be disciples.
35. What could show greater obedience than that we
should follow Christ's example, "Who, being found in fashion as a man,
humbled Himself and became obedient even unto death?"(3) Accordingly He
has freed all through His obedience. "For as by one man's disobedience
many were made sinners, so by the obedience of One shall many be made
righteous."(4) If, then, He was obedient, let them receive the rule of
obedience: to which we cling, saying to those who stir up ill-will
against us on the Emperor's side: We pay to Caesar what is Caesar's,
and to God what is God's. Tribute is due to Caesar, we do not deny it.
The Church belongs to God, therefore it ought not to be assigned to
Caesar. For the temple of God cannot be Caesar's by right.
37. That this is said with respectful feeling for
the Emperor, no one can deny. For what is more full of respect than
that the Emperor should be called the son of the Church. As it is said,
it is said without sin, since it is said with the divine favour. For
the Emperor is within the Church, not above it. For a good emperor
seeks the aid of the Church and does not refuse it. As I say this with
all humility, so also I state it with firmness. Some threaten us with
fire, sword, exile; we have learnt as servants of Christ not to fear.
To those who have no fear, nothing is ever a serious cause of dread.
Thus too is it written: "Arrows of infants their blows have become."(1)
37. A sufficient answer, then,seems to have been
given to their suggestion. Now I ask them, what the Saviour asked: "The
baptism of John, was it from heaven or men?"(2) The Jews could not
answer Him. If the Jews did not make nothing of the baptism of John,
does Auxentius make nothing of the baptism of Christ? For that is not a
baptism of men, but from heaven, which the angel of great counsel(3)
has brought to us, that we might be justified to God. Wherefore, then,
does Auxentius hold that the faithful ought to be rebaptized, when they
have been baptized in the name of the Trinity, when the Apostle says:
"One faith, one baptism"?(4) And wherefore does he say that he is man's
enemy, not Christ's, seeing that he despises the counsel of God and
condemns the baptism which Christ has granted us to redeem our sins.
LETTER XXII.
St, Ambrose in a letter to his sister gives an account of the finding
of the bodies of SS. Gervasius and Protasius, and of his addresses to
the people on that occasion. Preaching from Psalm xix., he
allegorically expounded the "heavens "to represent the martyrs and
apostles, and the "day" he takes to be their confession. They were
humbled by God, and then raised again. He then gives an account of the
state in which their bodies were found, and of their translation to the
basilica. In another address he speaks of the joy of the Catholics and
the malice of the Arians who denied the miracles that were being
wrought, as the Jews used to do, and points out that their faith is
quite different from that of the martyrs, and that since the devils
acknowledge the Trinity, and they do not, they are worse than the very
devils themselves.
To the lady, his sister, dearer to him than his eyes and life, Ambrose
Bishop.
1. As I do not wish anything which takes place here
in your absence to escape the knowledge of your holiness, you must know
that we have found some bodies of holy martyrs. For after I had
dedicated the basilica,(5) many, as it were, with one mouth began to
address me, and said: Consecrate this as you did the Roman basilica.
And I answered: "Certainly I will if I find any
437
relics of martyrs." And at once a kind of prophetic ardour seemed to
enter my heart.
2. Why should I use many words? God favoured
us, for even the clergy were afraid who were bidden to clear away the
earth from the spot before the chancel screen of SS. Felix and Nabor. I
found the fitting signs, and on bringing in some on whom hands were to
be laid,(1) the power of the holy martyrs became so manifest, that even
whilst I was still silent, one(2) was seized and thrown prostrate at
the holy burial-place. We found two men of marvellous stature, such as
those of ancient days. All the bones were perfect, and there was much
blood. During the whole of those two days there was an enormous
concourse of people. Briefly we arranged the whole in order, and as
evening was now coming on transferred them to the basilica of
Fausta,(3) where watch was kept during the night, and some received the
laying on of hands. On the following day we translated the relics to
the basilica called Ambrosian. During the translation a blind man was
healed.(4)I addressed the people then as follows:
3. When I considered the immense and unprecedented
numbers of you who are here gathered together, and the gifts of divine
grace which have shone forth in the holy. martyrs, I must confess that
I felt myself unequal to this task, and that I could not express in
words what we can scarcely conceive in our minds or take in with our
eyes. But when the course of holy Scripture began to be read, the Holy
Spirit Who spake in the prophets granted me to utter something worthy
of so great a gathering, of your expectations, and of the merits of the
holy martyrs.
4. "The heavens," it is said, "declare the glory of
God."(5) When this Psalm is read, it occurs to one that not so much the
material elements as the heavenly merits seem to offer praise worthy of
God. And by the chance of this day's lessons it is made clear what
"heavens" declare the glory of God. Look at the holy relics at my right
hand and at my left, see men of heavenly conversation, behold the
trophies of a heavenly mind. These are the heavens which declare
the glory of God, these are His handiwork which the firmament
proclaims. For not worldly enticements, but the grace of the divine
working, raised them to the firmament of the most sacred Passion, and
long before by the testimony of their character and virtues bore
witness of them, that they continued steadfast against the dangers of
this world.
5. Paul was a heaven, when he said: "Our
conversation is in heaven."(1) James and John were heavens, and then
were called" sons of thunder";(2) and John, being as it were a heaven,
saw the Word with God.(3) The Lord Jesus Himself was a heaven of
perpetual light, when He was declaring the glory of God, that glory
which no man had seen before. And therefore He said: "No man hath seen
God at any time, except the only-begotten Son, Who is in the bosom of
the Father, He hath declared Him."(4) If you seek for the handiwork of
God, listen to Job when he says: "The Spirit of God Who hath made
me."(5) And so strengthened against the temptations of the devil, he
kept his footsteps constantly without offence. But let us go on to what
follows.
6. "Day," it is said, "unto day uttereth speech."(6)
Behold the true days, where no darkness of night intervenes. Behold the
days full of life and eternal brightness, which uttered the word of
God, not in speech which passes away, but in their inmost heart, by
constancy in confession, and perseverance in their witness.
7. Another Psalm which was read says: "Who is like
unto the Lord our God, Who dwelleth on high, and regardeth lowly things
in heaven and in the earth?"(7) The Lord regarded indeed lowly things
when He revealed to His Church the relics of the holy martyrs lying
hidden under the unnoted turf, whose souls were in heaven, their bodies
in the earth: "raising the poor out of the dust, and lifting the needy
from the mire,"(8) an d you see how He hath "set them with the princes
of His people."(9) Whom are we to esteem as the princes of the people
but the holy martyrs? amongst whose number Protasius and Gervasius long
unknown are now enrolled, who have caused the Church of Milan, barren
of martyrs hitherto, now as the mother of many children, to rejoice in
the distinctions and instances of her own sufferings.
438
8. Nor let this seem at variance with the true
faith: "Day unto day uttereth the word;" soul unto soul, life unto
life, resurrection unto resurrection; "and night unto night showeth
knowledge;"(1) that is, flesh unto flesh, they, that is, whose passion
has shown to all the true knowledge of the faith. Good are these
nights, bright nights, not without stars: "For as star differeth from
star in brightness, so too is the resurrection of the dead."(2)
9. For not without reason do many call this the
resurrection of the martyrs. I do not say whether they have risen for
themselves, for us certainly the martyrs have risen. You know--nay, you
have yourselves seen--that many are cleansed from evil spirits, that
very many also, having touched with their hands the robe of the saints,
are freed from those ailments which oppressed them; you see that the
miracles of old time are renewed, when through the coming of the Lord
Jesus grace was more largely shed forth upon the earth, and that many
bodies are healed as it were by the shadow of the holy bodies. How many
napkins are passed about! how many garments, laid upon the holy relics
and endowed with healing power, are claimed! All are glad to touch even
the outside thread, and whosoever touches will be made whole.
10. Thanks be to Thee, Lord Jesus, that at this time
Thou hast stirred up for us the spirits of the holy martyrs, when Thy
Church needs greater protection.(3) Let all know what sort of champions
I desire, who are able to defend, but desire not to attack. These have
I gained for you, O holy people, such as may help all and injure none.
Such defenders do I desire, such are the soldiers I have, that is, not
soldiers of this world, but soldiers of Christ. I fear no ill-will on
account of them, the more powerful their patronage is the greater
safety is there in it. And I wish for their protection for those very
persons who grudge them to me. Let them come, then, and see my
attendants. I do not deny that I am surrounded by such arms: "Some
trust in chariots, and some in horses, but we will boast in the Name of
the Lord our God."(4)
11. The course of divine Scripture relates that
Elisha, when surrounded by the army of the Syrians, told his servant,
who was
afraid, not to fear; "for," said he, "they that be for us are more than
those against us;"(1) and in order to prove this, he prayed that the
eyes of Gehazi might be opened, and when they were opened, he saw that
numberless hosts of angels were present. And we, though we cannot see
them, yet feel their presence. Our eyes were shut, so long as the
bodies of the saints lay hidden. The Lord opened our eyes, and we saw
the aids wherewith we have been often protected. We used not to see
them, but yet we had them. And so, as though the Lord had said to us
when trembling, "See what great martyrs I have given you," so we with
opened eyes behold the glory of the Lord, which is passed in the
passion of the martyrs, and present in their working. We have escaped,
brethren, no slight lead of shame; we had patrons and knew it not. We
have found this one thing, in which we seem to excel those who have
gone before us. That knowledge of the martyrs, which they lost, we have
regained.
12. The glorious relics are taken out of an ignoble
burying-place, the trophies are displayed under heaven. The tomb is wet
with blood. The marks of the bloody triumph are present, the relics are
found undisturbed in their order, the head separated from the body. Old
men now repeat that they once heard the names of these martyrs and read
their titles. The city which had carried off the martyrs of other
places had lost her own. Though this be the gift of God, yet I cannot
deny the favour which the Lord Jesus has granted to the time of my
priesthood, and since I myself am not worthy to be a martyr, I have
obtained these matryrs for you.
13. Let these triumphant victims be brought to the
place where Christ is the victim. But He upon the altar, Who suffered
for all; they beneath the altar, who were redeemed by His Passion. I
had destined this place for myself, for it is fitting that the priest
should rest there where he has been wont to offer, but I yield the
right hand portion to the sacred victims; that place was due to the
martyrs. Let us, then, deposit the sacred relics, and lay them up m a
worthy resting-place, and let us celebrate the whole day with faithful
devotion.
14. The people called out and demanded that the
deposition of the martyrs should be postponed until the Lord's day, but
at length it was agreed that it should take place the following day. On
the following
439
day again I preached to the people on this sort.
15. Yesterday I handled the verse, "Day unto day
uttereth speech,"(1) as my ability enabled me; to-day holy Scripture
seems to me not only to have prophesied in former times, but even at
the present. For when I behold your holy celebration continued day and
night, the oracles of the prophet's song have declared that these days,
yesterday and to-day, are the days of which it is most opportunely
said: "Day unto day uttereth speech;" and these the nights of which it
is most fittingly said that "Night unto night showeth knowledge." For
what else but the Word of God have you during these two days uttered
with inmost affection, and have proved yourselves to have the knowledge
of the faith.
16. And they who usually do so have a grudge against
this solemnity of yours; and since because of their envious disposition
they cannot endure this solemnity, they hate the cause of it, and go so
far in their madness as to deny the merits of the martyrs, whose deeds
even the evil spirits confess. But this is not to be wondered at since
such is the faithlessness of unbelievers that the confession of the
devil is often more easy to endure. For the devil said: "Jesus, Son of
the living God, why art Thou come to torment us before the time ?"(2)
And the Jews hearing this, even themselves denied Him to be the Son of
God. And at this time you have heard the devils crying out, and
confessing to the martys that they cannot bear their sufferings, and
saying, "Why are ye come to torment us so severely?" And the Arians
say: "These are not martys, and they cannot torment the devil, nor
deliver any one, while the torments of the devils are proved by their
own words, and the benefits of the martyrs are declared by the
restoring of the healed, and the proof of those that are loosed.
17. They deny that the blind man received sight, but
he denies not that he is healed. He says: I who could not see now see.
He says: I ceased to be blind, and proves it by the fact. They deny the
benefit, who are unable to deny the fact.(3) The man is known: so long
as he was well he was employed in the public service; his name is
Severus, a butcher by trade. He had given up his occupation when this
hindrance betel him. He calls for evidence those persons by whose
kindness he was supported; he adduces those as able to affirm the truth
of his visitation whom he had as witnesses of his blindness. He
declares that when he touched the hem of the robe of the martyrs,
wherewith the sacred relics were covered, his sight was restored.
18. Is not this like that which we read in the
Gospel? For we praise the power of the same Author in each case, nor
does it be a work or a gift, since He confers a gift in His works, and
works in His gift. For that which He gave to others to be done, this
His Name effects in the work of others. So we read in the Gospel, that
the Jews, when they saw the gift of healing in the blind man, called
for the testimony of his parents, and asked: "How doth your son see?"
when he said: "Whereas I was blind, now I see."(1) And in this case the
man says, "I was blind and now I see." Ask others if you do not believe
me; ask strangers if you think his parents are in collusion with me.
The obstinacy of these men is more hateful than that of the Jews, for
the latter, when they doubted, at least asked his parents; the others
enquire in secret and deny in public, incredulous not as to the work,
but as to its Author.
19. But I ask what it is that they do not believe;
is it whether any one can be aided by the martyrs? This is the same
thing as not to believe Christ, for He Himself said: "Ye shall do
greater things than these."(2) How? By those martyrs whose merits have
been long efficacious, whose bodies were long since found? Here I ask,
do they bear a grudge against me, or against the holy martyrs? If
against me, are any miracles wrought by me? by my means or in my name?
Why, then, grudge me what is not mine? If it be against the martyrs
(for if they bear no grudge against me, it can only be against them),
they show that the martyrs were of another faith than that which they
believe. For otherwise they would not have any feeling against their
works, did they not judge that they have not the faith which was in
them, that faith established by the tradition of our forefathers, which
the devils themselves cannot deny, but the Arians do.
21. We have to-day heard those on whom hands were
laid say, that no one can be
440
saved unless he believe in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit;
that he is dead and buried who denies the Holy Spirit, and believes not
the almighty power of the Trinity. The devil confesses this, but the
Arians refuse to do so. The devil says: Let him who denies the Godhead
of the Holy Spirit be so tormented as himself was tormented by the
martyrs.
22. I do not accept the devil's testimony but his
confession. The devil spoke unwillingly, being compelled and tormented.
That which wickedness suppresses, torture extracts. The devil yields to
blows, and the Arians have not yet learned to yield. How great have
been their sufferings, and yet. like Pharaoh, they are hardened by
their calamities! The devil said, as we find it written: "I know Thee
Who Thou art, Thou art the Son of the living God."(1) And the Jews
said: "We know not whence He is."(2) The evil spirits said to-day,
yesterday, and during the night, We know that ye are martyrs. And the
Arians say, We know not, we will not understand, we will not believe.
The evil spirits say to the martyrs, Ye are come to destroy us. The
Arians say, The torments of the devils are not real but fictitious and
made-up tales. I have heard of many things being made up, but no one
has ever been able to feign that he was an evil spirit. What is the
meaning of the torment we see in those on whom hands are laid? What
room is there here for fraud? what suspicion of pretence?
23. But I will not make use of the voice of evil
spirits in support of the martyrs. Their holy sufferings are proved by
the benefits they confer. These have persons to judge of them, namely,
those who are cleansed, and witnesses, namely, those who are set free.
That voice is better than that of devils, which the soundness of those
utters who came infirm; better is the voice which blood sends forth,
for blood has a loud voice reaching from earth to heaven. You have read
how God said: "Thy brother's blood crieth unto Me."(3) This blood cries
by its colour, the blood cries by the voice of its effects, the blood
cries by the triumph of its passion. We have acceded to your request,
and have postponed till to-day the deposition of the relics which was
to have taken place yesterday.
LETTER XL.
St. Ambrose begs Theodosius to listen to him, as he cannot be silent
without great risk to both. He points out that Theodosius though
God-fearing may be led astray, and points out that his decision
respecting the restoration of the Jewish synagogue is full of peril,
exposing the bishop to the danger of either acting against the truth or
of death. The case of Julian is referred to, and the reasons given for
the imperial rescript are met, especially by the plea that the Jews had
burnt many churches. St. Ambrose touches on the temple of the
Valentinians, whom he declares to be worse than heathen, and points out
what a door would be opened to the calumnies of the Jews and a triumph
over Christ Himself. The Emperor is lastly warned by the example of
Maximus not to take the part of Jews or heretics, and is urged to
clemency.
Ambrose, Bishop, to the most clement prince, and blessed Emperor,
Theodosius the Augustus.
1. I am continually harassed by almost incessant
cares, most blessed Emperor, but I have never been in such anxiety as
at present, since I see that I must take heed that there be nothing
which may be ascribed to me savouring even of sacrilege. And so I
entreat you to listen with patience to what I say. For, if I am
unworthy to be heard by you, I am unworthy to offer for you, who have
been entrusted by you with your vows and prayers. Will you not yourself
hear him whom you wish to be heard for you? Will you not hear him
pleading his own cause whom you have heard for others? And do you not
fear for your own decision, lest by thinking him unworthy to be heard
by you, you make him unworthy to be heard for you?
2. But it is neither the part of an emperor to
refuse liberty of speech, nor of a priest not to say what he thinks.
For there is nothing in you emperors so popular and so estimable as to
appreciate freedom in those even who are in subjection to you by
military obedience. For this is the difference between good and bad
princes, that the good love liberty, the bad slavery. And there is
nothing in a priest so full of peril as regards God, or so base in the
opinion of men, as not freely to declare what he thinks. For it is
written: "I spoke of Thy testimonies before kings, and was not ashamed;
"(1) and in another place: "Son of man, I have set Thee a watchman unto
the house of Israel, in order," it is said, "that if the righteous doth
turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, because thou hast not
given him warning," that is, hast not told him what to guard against,
"the memory of his righteousness shall not be retained, and I will
require his blood at thine hand. But if thou warn the righteous that he
sin not, and he doth not sin, the righteous shall surely live because
thou hast warned him, and thou shalt deliver thy soul." (2)
3. I had rather then, O Emperor, have fellowship
with you in good than in evil, and therefore the silence of the priest
ought to displease your Clemency, and his freedom to please you. For
you are involved in the risk of my silence, but are aided by the
benefit of my freedom. I am not, then, officiously intruding in things
where I ought not, nor interfering in the affairs of others. I am
obeying the commands of God. And I do this first of all out of love for
you, good-will toward you, and desire of preserving your well-doing. If
I am not believed in this, or am forbidden to act on this feeling, I
speak in very truth for fear of offending God. For if my peril would
set you free, I would patiently offer myself for you, though not
willingly, for I had rather that without my peril you might be
acceptable to God and glorious. But if the guilt of silence and
dissimulation on my part would both weigh me down and not set you free,
I had
441
rather that you should think me too importunate, than useless and base.
Since it is written, as the holy Apostle Paul says, whose teaching you
cannot controvert: "Be instant, in season, out of season, reprove,
entreat, rebuke with all patience and doctrine."(1)
4. We, then, also have One Whom it is even more
perilous to displease, especially since even emperors are not
displeased when every one discharges his own office, and you patiently
listen to every one making suggestions in his own sphere, nay, you
rebuke him if he act not according to the order of his service. Can
this, then, seem to you offensive in priests, which you willingly
accept from those who serve you; since we speak not what we wish, but
what we are bidden? For you know the passage: "When ye shall stand
before kings and rulers, take no thought what ye shall speak, for it
shall be given you in that hour what ye shall speak; for it is not ye
that speak, but the Spirit of your Father Who speaketh in you."(2) And
if I were speaking in state causes, although justice must be observed
even in them, I should not feel such dread if I were not listened to,
but in the cause of God whom will you listen to, if not to the priest,
at whose greater peril sin is committed? Who will dare to tell you the
truth if the priest dare not?
5. I know that you are Godfearing, merciful, gentle,
and calm, having the faith and fear of God at heart, but often some
things escape our notice. "Some have a zeal of God, but not according
to knowledge."(3) And I think that we ought to take care lest this also
come upon faithful souls. I know your piety towards God, your
lenity towards men, I myself am bound by the benefits of your
favour. And therefore I fear the more, I am the more anxious; lest even
you condemn me hereafter by your own judgment, because through my want
of openness or my flattery you should not have avoided some fault. If I
saw that you sinned against me, I ought not to keep silence, for it is
written: "If thy brother sin against thee, rebuke him at first, then
chide him sharply before two or three witnesses. If he will not hear
thee, tell the Church."(4) Shall I, then, keep silence in the
cause of God?Let us, then, consider what I have to fear.
6. A report was made by the military Count of the
East that a synagogue had been burnt, and that this was done at the
instigation of the Bishop. You gave command that the others should be
punished, and the synagogue be rebuilt by the Bishop himself. I do not
urge that the Bishop's account ought to have been waited for, for
priests are the calmers of disturbances, and anxious for peace, except
when even they are moved by some offence against God, or insult to the
Church. Let us suppose that that Bishop was too eager in the matter of
burning the synagogue, and too timid at the judgment-seat, are not you
afraid, O Emperor, lest he comply with your sentence, lest he fail in
his faith?
7. Are you not also afraid, lest, which will happen,
he oppose your Count with a refusal? He will then be obliged to make
him either an apostate(1) or a martyr, either of these alien to the
times, either of them equivalent to persecution, if he be compelled
either to apostatize or to undergo martyrdom. You see in what direction
the issue of the matter inclines. If you think the Bishop firm, guard
against making a martyr of a firm man; if you think him vacillating,
avoid causing the fall of one who is frail. For he has a heavy
responsibility who has caused the weak to fall.
8. Having, then, thus stated the two sides of the
matter, suppose that the said Bishop says that he himself kindled the
fire,(2) collected the crowd, gathered the people together, in order
not to lose an opportunity of martyrdom, and instead of the weak to put
forward a stronger athlete. O happy falsehood, whereby one gains for
others acquittal, for himself grace! This it is, O Emperor, which I,
too, have requested, that you would rather take vengence on me, and if
you consider this a crime, would attribute it to me. Why order judgment
against one who is absent? You have the guilty man present, you hear
his confession. I declare that I set fire to the synagogue, or at least
that I ordered those who did it, that there might not be a place where
Christ was denied. If it be objected to me that I did not set the
synagogue on fire here, I answer, it began to be burnt by the judgment
of God, and my work came to an end. And if the very truth be asked, I
was the more slack because I did not expect that it would be punished.
Why should I do that
442
which as it was unavenged would also be without reward? These words
hurt modesty but recall grace, lest that be done whereby an offence
against God most High may be committed.
9. But let it be granted that no one will cite the
Bishop to the performance of this task, for I have asked this of your
Clemency, and although I have not yet read that this edict is revoked,
let us notwithstanding assume that it is revoked. What if others more
timid offer that the synagogue be restored at their cost; or that the
Count, having found this previously determined, himself orders it to be
rebuilt out of the funds of Christians? You, O Emperor, will have an
apostate Count, and to him will you entrust the victorious standards?
Will you entrust the labarum, consecrated as it is by the Name of
Christ, to one who restores the synagogue which knows not Christ? Order
the labarum to be carried into the synagogue, and let us see if they do
not resist.
10. Shall, then, a place be made for the unbelief of
the Jews out of the spoils of the Church, and shall the patrimony,
which by the favour of Christ has been gained for Christians, be
transferred to the treasuries of unbelievers? We read that Of old
temples were built for idols of the plunder taken from Cimbri, and the
spoils of other enemies. Shall the Jews write this inscription on the
front of their synagogue: "The temple of impiety, erected from the
plunder of Christians"?
11. But, perhaps, the cause of discipline moves you,
O Emperor. Which, then, is of greater importance, the show of
discipline or the cause of religion? It is needful that judgment should
yield to religion.
12. Have you not heard, O Emperor, how, when Julian
had commanded that the temple of Jerusalem should be restored, those
who were clearing the rubbish were consumed by fire?(1) Will you not
beware lest this happen now again? For you ought not to have commanded
what Julian commanded.
13. But what is your motive? Is it because a public
building of whatever kind has been burnt, or because it was a
synagogue? If you are moved by the burning of a building of no
importance (for what could there be in so mean a town?), do you not
remember, O Emperor, how many prefects' houses have been burnt at Rome,
and no one inflicted punishment for it? And, in truth, if any emperor
had desired to punish the deed sharply, he would have injured the cause
of him who had suffered so great a loss. Which, then, is more fitting,
that a fire in some part of the buildings of Callinicum, or of the city
of Rome, should be punished, if indeed it were right at all? At
Constantinople lately, the house of the bishop was burnt and your
Clemency's son interceded with his father, praying that you would not
avenge the insult offered to him, that is, to the son of the emperor,
and the burning of the episcopal house. Do you not consider, O Emperor,
that if you were to order this deed to be punished, he would again
intervene against the punishment? That favour was, however, fittingly
obtained by the son from the father, for it was worthy of him first to
forgive the injury done to himself. That was a good division in the
distribution of favour, that the son should be entreated for his own
loss, the father for that of the son. Here there is nothing for you to
keep back for your son. Take heed, then, lest you derogate aught from
God.
14. There is, then, no adequate cause for such a
commotion, that the people should be so severely punished for the
burning of a building, and much less since it is the burning of a
synagogue, a home of unbelief, a house of impiety, a receptacle of
folly, which God Himself has condemned. For thus we read, where the
Lord our God speaks by the mouth of the prophet Jeremiah: "And I will
do to this house, which is called by My Name, wherein ye trust, and to
the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I have done to
Shiloh, and I will cast you forth from My sight, as I cast forth your
brethren, the whole seed of Ephraim. And do not thou pray for that
people, and do not thou ask mercy for them, and do not come near Me on
their behalf, for I will not hear thee. Or seest thou not what they do
in the cities of Judah?"(1) God forbids intercession to be made for
those.
15. And certainly, if I were pleading according to
the law of nations, I could tell how many of the Church's basilicas the
Jews burnt in the time of the Emperor Julian: two at Damascus, one of
which is scarcely now repaired, and this at the cost of the Church, not
of the Synagogue; the other basilica still is a rough mass of shapeless
ruins. Basilicas were burnt at Gaza, Ascalon, Berytus, and in almost
every place in those parts, and no one demanded
443
punishment. And at Alexandria a basilica was burnt by heathen and Jews,
which surpassed all the rest. The Church was not avenged, shall the
Synagogue be so?
16. Shall, then, the burning of the temple of the
Valentinians be also avenged? But what is but a temple in which is a
gathering of heathen? Although the heathen invoke twelve gods, the
Valentinians worship thirty-two AEons whom they call gods. And I have
found out concerning these also that it is reported and ordered
that some monks should be punished, who, when the Valentinians were
stopping the road on which, according to custom and ancient use, they
were singing psalms as they went to celebrate the festival of the
Maccabees, enraged by their insolence, burnt their hurriedly-built
temple in some country village.
17. How many have to offer themselves to such a
choice, when they remember that in the time of Julian, he who threw
down an altar, and disturbed a sacrifice, was condemned by the judge
and suffered martyrdom? And so the judge who heard him was never
esteemed other than a prosecutor, for no one thought him worthy of
being associated with, or of a kiss. And if he were not now dead, I
should fear, O Emperor, that you would take vengeance on him, although
he escaped not the vengeance of heaven, outliving his own heir.
18. But it is related that the judge was ordered to
take cognizance of the matter, and that it was written that he ought
not to have reported the deed, but to have punished it, and that the
money chests which had been taken away should be demanded. I will omit
other matters. The buildings of our churches were burnt by the Jews,
and nothing was restored, nothing was asked back, nothing demanded. But
what could the Synagogue have possessed in a far distant town, when the
whole of what there is there is not much; there is nothing of value,
and no abundance? And what then could the scheming Jews lose by the
fire? These are artifices of the Jews who wish to calumniate us, that
because of their complaints, an extraordinary military inquiry may be
ordered, and a soldier sent, who will, perhaps, say what one said once
here, O Emperor, before your accession: "How will Christ be able to
help us who fight for the Jews against Christ, who are sent to avenge
the Jews? They have destroyed their own armies, and wish to destroy
ours."
19. Further, into what calumnies will they not break
out, who by false witness calumniated even Christ? Into what calumnies
will not men break out who are liars, even in things belonging to God?
Whom will they not say to have been the instigators of that sedition?
Whom will they not assail, even of those whom they recognize not, that
may gaze upon the numberless ranks of Christians in chains, that they
may see the necks of the faithful people bowed in captivity, that the
servants of God may be concealed in darkness, may be beheaded, given
over to the fire, delivered to the mines, that their sufferings may not
quickly pass away?
20. Will you give this triumph over the Church of
God to the Jews? this trophy over Christ's people, this exultation, O
Emperor, to the unbelievers? this rejoicing to the Synagogue, this
sorrow to the Church? The people of the Jews will set this solemnity
amongst their feast-days, and will doubtless number it amongst those on
which they triumphed either over the Amorites, or the Canaanites, or
were delivered from the hand of Pharaoh, King of Egypt, or of
Nebuchodonosor, King of Babylon. They will add this solemnity, in
memory of their having triumphed over the people of Christ.
21. And whereas they deny that they themselves are
bound by the Roman laws, and repute those laws as criminal, yet now
they think that they ought to be avenged, as it were, by the Roman
laws. Where were those laws when they themselves set fire to the roofs
of the sacred basilicas? If Julian did not avenge the Church because he
was an apostate, will you, O Emperor, avenge the injury done to the
Synagogue, because you are a Christian?
22. And what will Christ say to you afterwards? Do
you not remember what He said by the prophet Nathan to holy David?(1)
"I have chosen thee the youngest of thy brethren, and from a private
man have made thee emperor. I have placed of the fruit of thy seed on
the imperial throne. I have made barbarous nations subject unto thee, I
have given thee peace, I have delivered thine enemy captive into thy
power. Thou hadst no corn for provision for thine army, I opened to
thee the gates, I opened to thee their stores by the hand of the
enemies themselves. Thy enemies gave to thee their provisions which
they had prepared for themselves. I troubled the counsels of thy enemy,
so that he made himself bare. I so lettered the usurper of the empire
himself and bound his mind, that whilst he still had means of
444
escape, yet with all belonging to him, as though for fear lest any
should escape thee, he shut himself in. His officer and forces on the
other element,(1) whom before I had scattered, that they might not join
to fight against thee, I brought together again to complete thy
victory. Thy army, gathered together from many unsubdued nations, I
bade keep faith, tranquillity, and concord as if of one nation. When
there was the greatest danger lest the perfidious designs of the
barbarians should penetrate the Alps, I conferred victory on thee
within the very wall of the Alps, that thou mightest conquer without
loss. Thus, then, I caused thee to triumph over thy enemy, and thou
givest My enemies a triumph over My people."
23. Is it not on this account that Maximus was
forsaken, who, before the days of the expedition, hearing that a
synagogue had been burnt in Rome, had sent an edict to Rome, as if he
were the upholder of public order? Wherefore the Christian people said,
No good is in store for him. That king has become a Jew, we have heard
of him as a defender of order, and Christ, Who died for sinners, soon
tested him. If this was said of words, what will be said of punishment?
And then at once he was overcome by the Franks and the Saxons, in
Sicily, at Siscia, at Petavio, in a word everywhere. What has the
believer in common with the unbeliever? The instances of his unbelief
ought to be done away with together with the unbeliever himself. That
which injured him, that wherein he who was conquered offended, the
conqueror ought not to follow but to condemn.
24. I have, then, recounted these things not as to
one who is ungrateful, but have enumerated them as rightly bestowed, in
order that, warned by them, you, to whom more has been given, may love
more. When Simon answered in these words the Lord Jesus said: "Thou
hast judged rightly."(2) And straightway turning to the woman who
anointed His feet with ointment, setting forth a type of the Church, He
said to Simon: "Wherefore I say unto thee, her sins which are many are
forgiven, since she loved much. But he to whom less is forgiven loveth
less."(3) This is the woman who entered into the house of the Pharisee,
and cast off the Jew, but gained Christ. For the Church shut out the
Synagogue, why is it now again attempted that in the servant of Christ
the Synagogue should exclude the Church from the bosom of faith, from
the house of Christ?
25. I have brought these matters together in this
address, O Emperor, out of love and zeal for you. For I owe it to your
kindnesses (whereby, at my request, you have liberated many from exile,
from prison, from the extreme penalty of death) that I should not fear
even offending your feelings for the sake of your own salvation (no one
has greater confidence than he who loves from his heart, certainly no
one ought to injure him who takes thought for him); that I may not lose
in one moment that favour granted to every priest and received by me
for so many years; and yet it is not the loss of favour which I
deprecate but the peril to salvation.
26. And yet how great a thing it is, O Emperor, that
you should not think it necessary to enquire or to punish in regard to
a matter as to which up to this day no one has enquired, no one has
ever inflicted punishment. It is a serious matter to endanger your
salvation for the Jews. When Gideon(1) had slain the sacred calf, the
heathen said, The gods will themselves avenge the injury done to them.
Who is to avenge the Synagogue? Christ, Whom they slew, Whom they
denied? Will God the Father avenge those who do not receive the Father,
since they have not received the Son? Who is to avenge the heresy of
the Valentinians? How can your piety avenge them, seeing it has
commanded them to be excluded, and denied them permission to meet
together? If I set before you Josiah as a king approved of God, will
you condemn that in them which was approved in him?(2)
27. But at any rate if too little confidence is
placed in me, command the presence of those bishops whom you think fit,
let it be discussed, O Emperor, what ought to be done without injury to
the faith, If you consult your officers concerning pecuniary causes,
how much more just is it that you should consult the priests of God in
the cause of religion.
28. Let your Clemency consider from how many
plotters, how many spies the Church suffers. If they come upon a slight
crack, they plant a dart in it. I speak after the manner of men, but
God is feared more than men, Who is rightly set before even emperors.
If any one thinks it right that deference should be paid to a friend, a
parent, or a neighbour, I am right in judging that deference should be
paid to God,
445
and that He should be preferred to all. Consult, O Emperor, your own
advantage, or suffer me to consult mine.
29. What shall I answer hereafter, if it be
discovered that, by authority given from this place, Christians have
been slain by the sword, or by clubs, or thongs knotted with lead? How
shall I explain such a fact? How shall I excuse it to those bishops,
who now mourn bitterly because some, who have discharged the office of
the priesthood for thirty and many more years, or other ministers of
the Church, are withdrawn from their sacred office, and set to
discharge municipal duties?(1) For if they who war for you serve for a
stated time of service, how much more ought you to consider those who
war for God. How, I say, shall I excuse this to the bishops, who make
complaint concerning the clergy, and write that the Churches are wasted
by a serious attack upon them?
30. I was desirous that this should come to the
knowledge of your Clemency. You will, when it pleases you, vouchsafe to
consider and give order according to your will, but exclude and cast
out that which troubles me, and troubles me rightly. You do yourself
whatever you order to be done, even if he, your officer, do not do it.
I much prefer that you should be merciful, than that he should not do
what he has been ordered.
31. You have those(2) for whom you ought yet to
invite and to merit the mercy of the Lord in regard to the Roman
Empire; you have those for whom you hope even more than for yourself;
let the grace of God for them, let their salvation appeal to you in
these words of mine. I fear that you may commit your cause to the
judgment of others. Everything is still unprejudiced before you. On
this point I pledge myself to our God for you, do not fear your
oath.(3) Is it possible that that should displease God which is amended
for His honour? You need not alter anything in that letter, whether it
be sent or is not yet sent. Order another to be written, which shall be
full of faith, full of piety. For you it is possible to change for the
better, for me it is not possible to hide the truth.
32. You forgave the Antiochians the insult offered
to you;(4) you have recalled the daughters of your enemy, and given
them to be brought up by a relative; you sent sums of money to the
mother of your enemy from your own treasury. This so great piety, this
so great faith towards God, will be darkened by this deed. Do not you,
then, I entreat, who spared enemies in arms, and preserved your
adversaries, think that Christians ought to be punished with such
eagerness.
33. And now, O Emperor, I beg you not to disdain to
hear me who am in fear both for yourself and for myself, for it is the
voice of a Saint which says: "Wherefore was I made to see the misery of
my people?"(1) that I should commit an offence against God. I, indeed,
have done what could be done consistently with honour to you, that you
might rather listen to me in the palace, lest, if it were necessary,
you should listen to me in the Church.
LETTER XLI.
St. Ambrose in this letter to his sister continues the account of the
matters contained in his letter to Theodosius, and of a sermon which he
subsequently delivered before the Emperor, with the result that the
Emperor, when St. Ambrose refused to offer the Sacrifice before
receiving a promise that the objectionable order should be revoked,
yielded.
THE BROTHER TO HIS SISTER.
1. You were good enough to write me word that your
holiness was still anxious, because I had written that I was so, so
that I am surprised that you did not receive my letter in which I wrote
word that satisfaction had been granted me. For when it was reported
that a synagogue of the Jews and a conventicle of the Valentinians had
been burnt by Christians at the instigation of the bishop, an order was
made while I was at Aquileia, that the synagogue should be rebuilt, and
the monks punished who had burnt the Valentinian building. Then since I
gained little by frequent endeavours, I wrote and sent a letter to the
Emperor, and when he went to church I delivered this discourse.
2. In the book of the prophet it is written: "Take
to thyself the rod of an almond tree."(2) We ought to consider why the
Lord said this to the prophet, for it was not written without a
purpose, since in the Pentateuch too we read that the almond rod of
Aaron the priest, after being long laid up, blossomed.
446
For the Lord seems to signify by the rod that the prophetic or priestly
authority ought to be straightforward, and to advise not so much what
is pleasant as what is expedient.
3. And so the prophet is bidden to take an almond
rod, because the fruit of this tree is bitter in its rind, hard in its
shell, and inside it is pleasant, that after its likeness the prophet
should set forth things bitter and hard, and should not fear to
proclaim harsh things. Likewise also the priest; for his teaching,
though for a time it may seem bitter to some, and like Aaron's rod be
long laid up in the ears of dissemblers, yet after a time, when it is
thought to have dried up, it blossoms.
4. Wherefore also the Apostle says: "What will ye,
shall I come to you with a rod, or in love and in the spirit of
gentleness?"(1) First he made mention of the rod, and like the almond
rod struck those who were wandering, that he might afterwards comfort
them in the spirit of meekness. And so meekness restored him whom the
rod had deprived of the heavenly sacraments. And to his disciple he
gave similar injunctions, saying: "Reprove, beseech, rebuke.''(2) Two
of these are hard, one is gentle, but they are hard only that they may
soften; for as to suffering from excess of gall, bitter food or drink
seems sweet, and on the other hand sweet food is bitter, so where the
mind is wounded it grows worse under the influence of pleasurable
flattery, and again is made sound by the bitterness of correction.
5. Let thus much be gathered from the passage of the
prophet, and let us now consider what the lesson from the Gospel
contains: "One of the Pharisees invited the Lord Jesus to eat with him,
and He entered inte the Pharisee's house and sat down. And behold a
woman, who was a sinner in the city, when she knew that Jesus sat at
meat in the Pharisee's house, brought an alabaster box of ointment, and
standing behind at His feet, began to wash His feet with her tears."
And then he read as far as this place: "Thy faith hath saved thee, go
in peace."(3) How simple, I went on to say, is this Gospel lesson in
words, how deep in its counsels! And so because the words are those of
the "Great Counsellor,"(4) let us consider their depth.
6. Our Lord Jusus Christ judged that men could more
readily be bound and led on to do the things that are right by kindness
than by fear, and that love avails more than dread for correction. And
so, when He came, being born of a Virgin, He sent forth His grace, that
sin might be forgiven in baptism in order to make us more grateful to
Himself. Then if we repay Him by services befitting men who are
grateful, He has declared in this woman that there will be a reward for
this grace itself to all men. For if He had forgiven only our original
debt, He would have seemed more cautious than merciful, and more
careful for our correction than magnificent in His rewards. It is only
the cunning of a narrow mind that tries to entice, but it is fitting
for God that those whom He has invited by grace He should lead on by
increase of that grace. And so He first bestows on us a gift by
baptism, and afterwards gives more abundantly to those who serve Him
faithfully. So, then, the benefits of Christ are both incentives and
rewards of virtue.
7. And let no one be startled at the word
"creditor."(1) We were before under a hard creditor, who was not to be
satisfied and paid to the full but by the death of the debtor. The Lord
Jesus came, He saw us bound by a heavy debt. No one could pay his debt
with the patrimony of his innocence. I could have nothing of my own
wherewith to free myself. He gave to me a new kind of acquittance,
changing my creditor because I had nothing wherewith to pay my debt.
But it was sin, not nature, which had made us debtors, for we had
contracted heavy debts by our sins, that we who had been free should be
bound, for he is a debtor who received any of his creditor's money. Now
sin is of the devil; that wicked one has, as it were, these riches in
his possession. For as the riches of Christ are virtues, so crimes are
the wealth of the devil. He had reduced the human race to perpetual
captivity by the heavy debt of inherited liability, which our
debt-laden ancestor had transmitted to his posterity by inheritance.
The Lord Jesus came, He offered His death for the death of all, He
poured out His Blood for the blood of all.
8. So, then, we have changed our creditor, not
escaped wholly, or rather we have escaped, for the debt remains but the
interest is cancelled, for the Lord Jesus said, "To those who are in
bonds, Come out, and to those who are in prison, Go forth;"(2) so your
sins are forgiven. All, then, are forgiven, nor is there any one whom
He has not loosed. For thus it is written, that He has
447
forgiven "all trangressions, doing away the handwriting of the
ordinance that was against us."(1) Why, then, do we hold the bonds of
others, and desire to exact the debts of others, while we enjoy our own
remission? He who forgave all, required of all that what every one
remembers to have been forgiven to himself, he also should forgive
others.
9. Take care that you do not begin to be in a worse
case as creditor than as debtor, like the man in the Gospel,(2) to whom
his lord forgave all his debt, and who afterwards began to exact from
his fellow-servant that which he himself had not paid, for which reason
his master being angry, exacted from him, with the bitterest
reproaches, that which he had before forgiven him. Let us, therefore,
take heed lest this happen to us, that by not forgiving that which is
due to ourselves, we should incur the payment of what has been forgiven
us, for thus is it written in the words of the Lord Jesus: "So shall My
Father, Which is in heaven, do also unto you, if ye from your hearts
forgive not every one his brother."(3) Let us, then, forgive few things
to whom many have been forgiven, and understand that the more we
forgive the more acceptable shall we be to God, for we are the more
well pleasing to God, the more we have been forgiven.
10. And, finally, the Pharisee, when the Lord asked
him, "which of them loved him most,"(4) answered, "I suppose that he to
whom he forgave most." And the Lord replied. "Thou hast judged rightly.
"(5) The judgment of the Pharisee is praised, but his affection is
blamed. He judges well concerning others, but does not himself believe
that which he thinks well of in the case of others. You hear a Jew
praising the discipline of the Church, extolling its true grace,
honouring the priests of the Church; if you exhort him to believe he
refuses, and so follows not himself that which he praises in us. His
praise, then, is not full, because Christ said to him: "Thou hast
rightly judged," for Cain also offered rightly, but did not divide
rightly, and therefore God said to him: "If thou offerest rightly, but
dividest not rightly, thou hast sinned, be still."(6) So, then, this
man offered rightly, for he judges that Christ ought to be more loved
by Christians, because He has forgiven us many sins; but he divided not
rightly, because he thought that He could be ignorant of the sins of
men Who forgave the sins of men.
11. And, therefore, He said to Simon: "Thou seest
this woman. I entered into thine house, and thou gavest Me no water for
My feet, but she hath washed My feet with her tears."(1) We are all the
one body of Christ, the head of which is God, and we are the members;
some perchance eyes, as the prophets; others teeth, as the apostles,
who have passed the food of the Gospel preached into our breasts, and
rightly is it written: "His eyes shall be bright with wine. and his
teeth whiter than milk."(2) And His hands are they who are seen to
carry out good works, His belly are they who distribute the strength of
nourishment on the poor. So, too, some are His feet, and would that I
might be worthy to be His heel! He, then, pours water upon the feet of
Christ, who forgives the very lowest their offences, and while
delivering those of low estate, yet is washing the feet of Christ.
12. And he pours water upon the feet of Christ, who
purifies his conscience from the defilement of sin, for Christ walks in
the breast of each. Take heed, then, not to hare your conscience
polluted, and so to begin to defile the feet of Christ. Take heed lest
He encounter a thorn of wickedness in you, whereby as He walks in you
His heel may be wounded. For this was why the Pharisee gave no water
for the feet of Christ, that he had not a soul pure from the filth of
unbelief. For how could he cleanse his conscience who had not received
the water of Christ? But the Church both has this water and has tears.
For faith which mourns over former sins is wont to guard against fresh
ones. Therefore, Simon the Pharisee, who had no water, had also, of
course, no tears. For how should he have tears who had no penitence?
For since he believed not in Christ he had no tears. For if he had had
them he would have washed his eyes, that he might see Christ, Whom,
though he sat at meat with Him, he saw not. For had he seen Him, he
would not have doubted of His power.
13. The Pharisee had no hair, inasmuch as he could
not recognize the Nazarite; the Church had hair, and she sought the
Nazarite, Hairs are counted as amongst the superfluities of the body,
but if they be anointed, they give forth a good odour, and are an
ornament to the head; if they be not anointed with oil, are a burden.
So, too, riches are a burden if you know not how to use them, and
sprinkle them not with the odour of Christ. But if you nourish the poor,
448
if you wash their wounds and wipe away their filth, you have indeed
wiped the feet of Christ.
14. "Thou gavest Me no kiss, but she from the time
she came in hath not ceased to kiss My feet."(1) A kiss is the sign of
love. Whence, then, can a Jew have a kiss, seeing he has not known
peace, nor received peace from Christ when He said: "My peace I give
you, My peace I leave you."(2) The Synagogue has not a kiss, but the
Church has, who waited for Him, who loved Him, who said: "Let Him kiss
me with the kisses of His mouth."(3) For by His kisses she wished
gradually to quench the burning of that long desire, which had grown
with looking for the coming of the Lord, and to satisfy her thirst by
this gift. And so the holy prophet says: "Thou shalt open my mouth, and
it shall declare Thy praise."(4) He, then, who praises the Lord Jesus
kisses Him, he who praises Him undoubtedly believes. Finally, David
himself says: "I believed, therefore have I spoken;"(5) and before:
"Let my mouth be filled with Thy praise, and let me sing of Thy
glory."(6)
15. And the same Scripture teaches you concerning
the infusion of special grace, that he kisses Christ who receives the
Spirit, where the holy prophet says: "I opened my mouth and drew in the
Spirit."(7) He, then, kisses Christ who confesses Him: "For with the
heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession
is made unto salvation.''(8) He, again, kisses the feet of Christ who,
when reading the Gospel, recognizes the acts of the Lord Jesus, and
admires them with pious affection, and so piously he kisses, as it
were, the footprints of the Lord Jesus as He walks. We kiss Christ,
then, with the kiss of communion: "Let him that readeth understand."(9)
16. Whence should the Jew have this kiss? For he who
believed in His coming, believed not in His Passion. For how can he
believe that He has suffered Whom he believes not to have come? The
Pharisee, then, had no kiss except perchance that of the traitor Judas.
But neither had Judas the kiss; and so when he wished to show to, the
Jews that kiss which he had promised as the sign of betrayal, the Lord
said to him: "Judas, betrayest thou the Son of Man with a kiss?"(10)
that is, you, who have not the love marked by the kiss, offer a kiss.
You offer a kiss who know not the mystery of the kiss. It is not the
kiss of the lips which is sought for, but that of the heart and soul.
17. But you say, he kissed the Lord. Yes, he kissed
Him indeed with his lips. The Jewish people has this kiss, and
therefore it is said: "This people honoureth Me with their lips, but
their heart is far from Me."(1) So, then, he who has not faith and
charity has not the kiss, for by a kiss the strength of love is
impressed. When love is not, faith is not, and affection is not, what
sweetness can there be in kisses?
18. But the Church ceases not to kiss the feet of
Christ, and therefore in the Song of Songs she desires not one but many
kisses,(2) and like Holy Mary she is intent upon all His sayings, and
receives all His words when the Gospel or the Prophets are read, and
"keeps all His sayings in her heart. "(3) So, then, the Church alone
has kisses as a bride, for a kiss is as it were a pledge of espousals
and the prerogative of wedlock. Whence should the Jew have kisses, who
believes not in the Bridegroom? Whence should the Jew have kisses, who
knows not that the Bridegroom is come?
19. And not only has he no kisses, but neither has
he oil wherewith to anoint the feet of Christ, for if he had oil he
would certainly, before now, soften his own neck.
Moses says: "This people is stiff-necked,"(4) and
the Lord says that the priest and the Levite passed by, and neither of
them poured oil or wine into the wounds of him who had been wounded by
robbers;(5) for they had nothing to pour in, since if they had had oil
they would have poured it into their own wounds. But Isaiah declares:
"They cannot apply ointment nor oil nor bandage."(6)
20. But the Church has oil wherewith she dresses the
wounds of her children, lest the hardness of the wound spread deeply;
she has oil which she has received secretly. With this oil Asher washed
his feet as it is written: "A blessed son is Asher, and he shall be
acceptable to his brothers, and shall dip his feet in oil."(7) With
this oil, then, the Church anoints the necks of her children, that they
may take up the yoke of Christ; with this oil she anointed the Martyrs,
that she might cleanse them from the dust of this world; with this oil
she anointed the Confessors, that they might not yield to their
labours, nor sink down through weariness;
449
that they might not be overcome by the heat of this world; and she
anointed them in order to refresh them with the spiritual oil.
21.The Synagogue has not this oil, inasmuch as she
has not the olive, and understood not that dove which brought back the
olive branch after the deluge.(1) For that Dove descended afterwards
when Christ was baptized, and abode upon Him, as John testified in the
Gospel, saying: "I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove,
and He abode upon Him."(2) But how could he see the Dove, who saw not
Him, upon Whom the Spirit descended like a dove?
22. The Church, then, both washes the feet of Christ
and wipes them with her hair. and anoints them with oil, and pours
ointment upon them, because not only does she care for the wounded and
cherish the weary, but also sprinkles them with the sweet odour of
grace; and pours forth the same grace not only on the rich and
powerful, but also on men of lowly estate. She weighs all with equal
balance, gathers all in the same bosom, and cherishes them in the same
lap.
23. Christ died once, and was buried once, and
nevertheless He wills that ointment should daily be poured on His feet.
What, then, are those feet of Christ on which we pour ointment? The
feet of Christ are they of whom He Himself says: "What ye have done to
one of the least of these ye have done to Me."(3) These feet that woman
in the Gospel refreshes, these feet she bedews with her tears; when sin
is forgiven to the lowliest, guilt is washed away, and pardon granted.
These feet he kisses, who loves even the lowest of the holy people.
These feet he anoints with ointment, who imparts the kindness of his
gentleness even to the weaker. In these the martyrs, in these the
apostles, in these the Lord Jesus Himself declares that He is honoured.
24. You see how ready to teach the Lord is, that He
may by His own example provoke you to piety, for He is ready to teach
when He rebukes. So when accusing the Jews, He says: "O My people, what
have I done to thee, or wherein have I troubled thee, or wherein have I
wearied thee? Answer Me. Is it because I brought thee out of the land
of Egypt, and delivered thee from the house of bondage?" adding: "And I
sent before thy face Moses and Aaron and Miriam."(4) Remember what
Balaam conceived against thee,(5) seeking the aid of magic art, but I
suffered him not to hurt thee. Thou wast indeed weighed down an exile
in foreign lands, thou wast oppressed with heavy burdens. I sent before
thy face Moses and Aaron and Miriam, and he who spoiled the exile was
first spoiled himself. Thou who hadst lost what was thine, didst obtain
that which was another's, being freed from the enemies who were hedging
thee in, and safe in the midst of the waters thou sawest the
destruction of thine enemies, when the same waves which surrounded and
carried thee on thy way, pouring back, drowned the enemy.(1) Did I not,
when food was lacking to thee passing through the desert, supply a rain
of food, and nourishment around thee, whithersoever thou wentest? Did I
not, after subduing all thine enemies, bring thee into the region of
Eshcol?(2) Did I not deliver up thee Sihon, King of the Amorites(3)
(that is, the proud one, the leader of them that provoked thee)? Did I
not deliver up to thee alive the King of Ai,(4) whom after the ancient
curse thou didst condemn to be fastened to the wood and raised upon the
cross? Why should I speak of the troops of the five kings which were
slain(5) in endeavouring to deny thee the land given to thee? And now
what is required of thee in return for all this, but to do judgment and
justice, to love mercy, and to be ready to walk with the Lord thy
God?(6)
25. And what was His expostulation by Nathan the
prophet to King David himself, that pious and gentle man? I, He said,
chose thee the youngest of thy brethren, I filled thee with the spirit
of meekness, I anointed thee king by the hand of Samuel,(7) in whom I
and My Name dwelt. Having removed that former king, whom an evil spirit
stirred up to persecute the priests of the Lord, I made thee triumph
after exile. I set upon thy throne of thy seed one not more an heir
than a colleague. I made even strangers subject to thee, that they who
attacked might serve thee, and wilt thou deliver My servants into the
power of My enemies, and wilt thou take away that which was My
servant's, whereby both thyself wilt be branded with sin, and My
adversaries will have whereof to rejoice.
26. Wherefore, O Emperor, that I may now address my
words not only about you, but to you, since you observe how severely
the Lord is wont to censure, see that the more glorious you are become,
the more utterly you submit to your Maker. For it is written: "When the
Lord thy God shall
450
have brought thee into a strange land, and thou shalt eat the fruits of
others, say not, My power and my righteousness hath given me this, for
the Lord thy God hath given it to thee;"(1) for Christ in His mercy
hath conferred it on thee, and therefore, in love for His body, that
is, the Church, give water for His feet, kiss His feet, so that you may
not only pardon those who have been taken in sin, but also by your
peaceableness restore them to concord, and give them rest Pour ointment
upon His feet that the whole house in which Christ sits may be filled
with thy ointment, and all that sit with Him may rejoice in thy
fragrance, that is, honour the lowest, so that the angels may rejoice
in their forgiveness, as over one sinner that repenteth,(2) the
apostles may be glad, the prophets be filled with delight. For the eyes
cannnot say to the hand: "We have no need of thee, nor the head to the
feet, Ye are not necessary to me."(3) So, since all are necessary,
guard the whole body of the Lord Jesus, that He also by His heavenly
condescension may preserve your kingdom.
27. When I came down from the pulpit, he said to me:
"You spoke about me." I replied: "I dealt with matters intended for
your benefit." Then he said: "I had indeed decided too harshly about
the repairing of the synagogue by the bishop, but that has been
rectified. The monks commit many crimes." Then Timasius the general
began to be over-vehement against the monks, and I answered him: "With
the Emperor I deal as is fitting, because I know that he has the fear
of God, but with you, who speak so roughly, one must deal otherwise."
28. Then, after standing for some time, I said to
the Emperor: "Let me offer for you without anxiety, set my mind at
ease." As he continued sitting and nodded, but did not give an open
promise, and I remained standing, he said that he would amend the
edict. I went on at once to say that he must end the whole
investigation, lest the Count should use the opportunity of the
investigation to do any injury to the Christians. He promised that it
should be so. I said to him, "I act on your promise," and repeated, "I
act on your promise." "Act," he said, "on my promise." And so I went to
the altar, whither I should not have gone unless he had given me
a distinct promise. And indeed so great was the grace attending the
offering, that I felt myself that that favour granted by the Emperor
was very acceptable to our God, and that the divine presence was not
wanting. And so everything was done as I wished.
LETTER LI.
Addressed to the Emperor Theodosius after the massacre at
Thessalonica.(1) St. Ambrose begins by stating his reasons for not
having met the Emperor on his return to Milan. He then mentions the
sentiments of the bishops with regard to the slaughter at Thessalonica,
and points out that repentance for that deed is necessary to obtain
forgiveness and a victory over the devil, the instigator to that crime.
St. Ambrose could not offer the sacrifice in the Emperor's presence,
and, as truly loving the Emperor, grieves and yet hopes.
1. The memory of your old friendship is pleasant to
me, and I gratefully call to mind the kindnesses which, in reply to my
frequent intercessions, you have most graciously conferred on others.
Whence it may be inferred that I did not from any ungrateful feeling
avoid meeting you on your arrival, which I had always before earnestly
desired. And I will now briefly set forth the reason for my acting as I
did.
2. I saw that from me alone in your court the
natural right of hearing was withdrawn, so that I was deprived also of
the office of speaking; for you were frequently troubled because
certain matters which had been decided in your consistory had come to
my knowledge. I, therefore, am without a part in the common privilege,
since the Lord Jesus says: "That nothing is hidden, which shall not be
made known."(2) I, therefore, as reverently as I could, complied with
the imperial will, and took heed that neither yourself should have any
reason for displeasure, when I effected that nothing should be related
to me of the imperial decrees; and that I, when present, either should
not hear, through fear of all others, and so incur the reputation of
connivance, or should hear in such a fashion that my ears might be
open, my utterance prevented, that I might not be able to utter what I
had heard lest I should injure and bring in peril those who had
incurred the suspicion of treachery.
3. What, then, could I do? Should I not hear? But I
could not close my ears with the wax of the old fables. Should I utter
what I heard? But I was bound to be on my guard in my words against
that which I
451
feared in your commands, namely, lest some deed of blood should be
committed. Should I keep silence? But then my conscience would be
bound, my utterance taken away, which would be the most wretched
condition of all. And where would be that text? If the priest speak not
to him that erreth, he who errs shall die in his sin, and the priest
shall be liable to the penalty because he warned not the erring.(1)
4. Listen, august Emperor. I cannot deny that you
have a zeal for the faith; I do confess that you have the fear of God.
But you have a natural vehemence, which, if any one endeavours to
soothe, you quickly turn to mercy; if any one stirs it up, you rouse it
so much more that you can scarcely restrain it. Would that if no one
soothe it, at least no one may inflame it! To yourself I willingly
entrust it, you restrain yourself, and overcome your natural vehemence
by the love of piety.
5. This vehemence of yours I preferred to commend
privately to your own consideration, rather than possibly raise it by
any action of mine in public. And so I have preferred to be somewhat
wanting in duty rather than in humility, and that other, should rather
think me wanting in priestly authority than that you should find me
lacking in most loving reverence, that having restrained your vehemence
your power of deciding on your counsel should not be weakened. I excuse
myself by bodily sickness, which was in truth severe, and scarcely to
be lightened but by great care. Yet I would rather have died than not
wait two or three days for your arrival. But it was not possible for me
to do so.
6. There was that done in the city of the
Thessalonians of which no similar record exists, which I was not able
to prevent happening; which, indeed, I had before said would be most
atrocious when I so often petitioned against it, and that which you
yourself show by revoking it too late you consider to be grave,(2) this
I could not extenuate when done. When it was first heard of, a synod
had met because of the arrival of the Gallican Bishops. There was not
one who did not lament it, not one who thought lightly of it; your
being in fellowship with Ambrose was no excuse for your deed. Blame for
what had been done would have been heaped more and more on me, had no
one said that your reconciliation to our God was necessary.
7. Are you ashamed, O Emperor, to do that which the
royal prophet David, the forefather of Christ, according to the flesh,
did? To him it was told how the rich man who had many flocks seized and
killed the poor man's one lamb, because of the arrival of his guest,
and recognizing that he himself was being condemned m the tale, for
that he himself had done it, he said: "l have sinned against the
Lord.''(1) Bear it, then, without impatience, O Emperor, if it be said
to you: "You have done that which was spoken of to King David by the
prophet. For if you listen obediently to this, and say: "I have sinned
against the Lord," if you repeat those words of the royal prophet: "O
come let us worship and fall down before Him, and mourn before the Lord
our God. Who made us,"(2) it shall be said to you also: "Since thou
repentest, the Lord putteth away thy sin, and thou shalt not die,"(3)
8. And again, David, after he had commanded the
people to be numbered, was smitten in heart, and said to the Lord: "I
have sinned exceedingly, because I have commanded this, and now, O
Lord, take away the iniquity of Thy servant, for I have transgressed
exceedingly."(4) And the prophet Nathan was sent again to him, to offer
him the choice of three things, that he should select the one he
chose--famine in the land for three years, or that he should flee for
three months before his enemies, or mortal pestilence in the land for
three days. And David answered: "These three things are a great strait
to me, but let me fall into the hand of the Lord, for very many are His
mercies, and let me not fall into the hands of man."(5) Now his fault
was that he desired to know the number of the whole of the people which
was with him, which knowledge he ought to have left to God alone.
9. And, we are told, when death came upon the
people, on the very first day at dinner time, when David saw the angel
smiting the people, he said: "I have sinned, and I, the shepherd, have
done wickedly, and this flock, what hath it done? Let Thine hand be
upon me, and upon my father's house.''(6) And so it repented the Lord,
and He commanded the angel to spare the people, and David to offer a
sacrifice, for sacrifices were then offered for sins; sacrifices are
now those of penitence. And
452
so by that humbling of himself he became more acceptable to God, for it
is no matter of wonder that a man should sin, but this is
reprehensible, if he does not recognize that he has erred, and humble
himself before God.
10. Holy Job, himself also powerful in this world,
says: "I hid not my sin, but declared it before all the people."(1) His
son Jonathan said to the fierce King Saul himself: "Do not sin against
thy servant David;"(2) and: "Why dost thou sin against innocent blood,
to slay David without a cause?"(3) For, although he was a king, yet he
would have sinned if he slew the innocent. And again, David also, when
he was in possession of the kingdom, and had heard that innocent Abner
had been slain by Joab, the leader of his host, said: "I am guiltless
and my kingdom is guiltless henceforth and for ever of the blood of
Abner, the son of Ner,"(4) and he fasted for sorrow.
11. I have written this, not in order to confound
you, but that the examples of these kings may stir you up to put away
this sin from your kingdom, for you will do it away by humbling your
soul before God. You are a man, and it has come upon you, conquer it.
Sin is not done away but by tears and penitence. Neither angel can do
it, nor archangel. The Lord Himself, Who alone can say, "I am with
you,"(5) if we have sinned, does not forgive any but those who repent.
12. I urge, I beg, I exhort, I warn, for it is a
grief to me, that you who were an example of unusual piety, who were
conspicuous for clemency, who would not suffer single offenders to be
put in peril, should not mourn that so many have perished. Though you
have waged battle most successfully, though in other matters, too, you
are worthy of praise, yet piety was ever the crown of your actions. The
devil envied that which was your most excellent possession. Conquer him
whilst you still possess that wherewith you may conquer. Do not add
another sin to your sin by a course of action which has injured many.
13. I, indeed, though a debtor to your kindness, for
which I cannot be ungrateful, that kindness which has surpassed that of
many emperors, and has been equalled by one only; I, I say, have no
cause for a charge of contumacy against you, but have cause for fear; I
dare not offer the sacrifice if you intend to be present. Is that which
is not allowed after shedding the blood of one innocent person, allowed
after shedding the blood of many? I do not think so.
14. Lastly, I am writing with my own hand that which
you alone may read. As I hope that the Lord will deliver me from all
troubles, I have been warned, not by man, nor through man, but plainly
by Himself that this is forbidden me. For when I was anxious, in the
very night in which I was preparing to set out, you appeared to me in a
dream to have come into the Church, and I was not permitted to offer
the sacrifice. I pass over other things, which I could have avoided,
but I bore them for love of you, as I believe. May the Lord cause all
things to pass peaceably. Our God gives warnings in many ways, by
heavenly signs, by the precepts of the prophets; by the visions even of
sinners He wills that we should understand, that we should entreat Him
to take away all disturbances, to preserve peace for you emperors, that
the faith and peace of the Church, whose advantage it is that emperors
should be Christians and devout, may continue.
15. You certainly desire to be approved by God. "To
everything there is a time,"(1) as it is written: "It is time for Thee,
Lord, to work."(2) "It is an acceptable time, O Lord."(3) You shall
then make your offering when you have received permission to sacrifice,
when your offering shall be acceptable to God. Would it not delight me
to enjoy the favour of the Emperor, to act according to your wish, if
the case allowed it? And prayer by itself is a sacrifice, it obtains
pardon, when the oblation would bring offence, for the one is a sign of
humility, the other of contempt. For the Word of God Himself tells us
that He prefers the performance of His commandments to the offering of
sacrifice. God proclaims this, Moses declares it to the people, Paul
preaches it to the Gentiles. Do that which you understand is most
profitable for the time. "I prefer mercy," it is said, "rather than
sacrifice."(4) Are they not, then, rather Christians in truth who
condemn their own sin, than they who think to defend it? "The just is
an accuser of himself in the beginning of his words."(5) He who accuses
himself when tie has sinned is just, not he who praises himself.
16. I wish, O Emperor, that before this I
453
had trusted rather to myself, than to your habits. When I consider that
you quickly pardon, and quickly revoke your sentence, as you have often
done; you have been anticipated, and I have not shunned that which I
needed not to fear. But thanks be to the Lord, Who willeth to chastise
His servants, that He may not lose them. This I have in common with the
prophets, and you shall have it in common with the saints.
17. Shall I not value the father of Gratian more
than my very eyes? Your other holy pledges also claim pardon. I
conferred beforehand a dear name on those to whom I bore a common love.
I follow you with my love, my affection, and my prayers. If you believe
me, be guided by me; if, I say, you believe me, acknowledge what I say;
if you believe me not, pardon that which I do, in that I set God before
you. May you, most august Emperor, with your holy offspring, enjoy
perpetual peace with perfect happiness and prosperity.
LETTER LVII.
St. Ambrose informs the Emperor Eugenius why he was absent from Milan.
He then proceeds to reprove him for his conduct with regard to heathen
worship. This was, he says, the reason why he did not write sooner, and
he promises that for the future he will treat him with the same freedom
as the other emperors.
AMBROSE, Bishop, to the most gracious Emperor
Eugenius.
1. The cause of my departure was the fear of the
Lord, to Whom, so far as I am able, I am accustomed to refer all my
acts, and never to turn away my mind from Him, nor to make more of any
man than of the grace of Christ. For I do no one an injury, if I set
God before all, and, trusting in Him, I am not afraid to tell you
emperors my thoughts, such as they are. And so I will not keep silence
before you, O Emperor, as to things respecting which I have not kept
silence before other emperors. And that I may keep the order of the
matters, I will go through, one by one, the things which have to do
with this matter.
2. The illustrious Symmachus, when prefect of the
city, had memorialized(1) the Emperor Valentinian the younger of august
memory, requesting that he would command that what had been taken away
should be restored to the temples. He performed his part in accordance
with his zeal and his religion. And I also, as Bishop, was bound to
recognize my part. I presented two petitions(1) to the Emperors, in
which I pointed out that a Christian man could not contribute to the
cost of the sacrifices; that I indeed had not been the cause of their
being abolished, but I certainly did urge that they should not be
decreed; and lastly, that he himself would seem to be giving not
restoring those sums to the images. For what he had not himself taken
away, he could not, as it were, restore, but of his own will to grant
towards the expenses of superstition. Lastly, that, if he did it,
either he must not come to the Church, or, if he came, he would either
not find a priest there, or he would find one withstanding him in the
Church. Nor could it be alleged in excuse that he was a catechumen,
seeing that catechumens are not allowed to contribute to the idols'
expenses.
3. My letters were read in the consistory. Count
Bauto, a man of the highest rank of military authority was present, and
Rumoridus, himself also of the same dignity, addicted to the worship of
the gentile nations from the first years of his boyhood. Valentinian at
that time listened to my suggestion, and did nothing but what the rule
of our faith required. And they yielded to his officer.
4. Afterwards I plainly addressed the most clement
Emperor Theodosius, and hesitated not to speak to his face. And he,
having received a similar message from the Senate, though it was not
the request of the whole Senate, at length assented to my
recommendation, and so I did not go near him for some days, nor did he
take it ill, for he knew that I was not acting for my own advantage,
but was not ashamed to say in the sight of the king that which was for
the profit of himself and of my own soul.(2)
5. Again a legation sent into Gaul from the Senate
to the Emperor Valentinian of august memory could procure nothing; and
then I was certainly absent, and had not written anything at that time
to him.
6. But when your Clemency took up the reins of
government it was afterwards discovered that favours of this kind had
been granted to men, excellent indeed in matters of state but in
religion heathens. And it may, perhaps, be said, august Emperor, that
you did not make any restitution to temples, but presented gifts to men
who had deserved well of you. But you know that we must constantly act
in the cause of God,
454
as is often done in the cause of liberty, also not only by priests, but
also by those who are in your armies, or are reckoned in the number of
those who dwell in the provinces. When you became Emperor envoys
requested that you would make restitution to the temples, and you did
not do it; others came a second time and you resisted, and afterwards
you thought fit that this should be granted to those very persons who
made the petition.
7. Though the imperial power be great, yet consider,
O Emperor, how great God is. He sees the hearts of all, He questions
the inmost conscience, He knows all things before they happen, He knows
the inmost things of your breast. You do not suffer yourselves to be
deceived, and do you desire to conceal anything from God? Has not this
come into your mind? For although they acted with such perseverance,
was it not your duty, O Emperor, to resist with still greater
perseverance because of the reverence due to the most high and true and
living God, and to refuse what was an offence against His holy law?
8. Who grudges your having given what you would to
others? We are not scrutinizers of your liberality, nor envious of the
advantages of others, but are interpreters of the faith. How will you
offer your gifts to Christ? Not many but will put their own estimate on
what you have done, all will do so on your intentions. Whatever they do
will be ascribed to you; whatever they do not do, to themselves.
Although you are Emperor, you ought to be all the more subject to God.
How shall the ministers of Christ dispense your gifts?
9. There was a question of this sort in former
times, and yet persecution itself yielded to the faith of our fathers,
and heathendom gave way. For when in the city of Tyre the quinquennial
game was being kept, and the intensely wicked King of Antioch had come
to witness it, Jason appointed officers of sacred rites, who were
Antiochians, to carry three hundred didrachms of silver from Jerusalem,
and give them to the sacrifice of Hercules.(1) But the fathers did not
give the money to the heathen, but having sent faithful men declared
that that money should not be spent on sacrifices to the gods, because
it was not fitting, but on other expenses, And it was decreed that
because he had said that the money was sent for the sacrifice of
Hercules, it ought to be taken for that for which it was sent; but,
because they, who had brought it, because of their zeal and religion,
pleaded that it should not be used for the sacrifice, but for other
expenses, the money was given for the building of ships. Being
compelled they sent it, but it was not used for sacrifice, but for
other expenses of the state.
10. Now they who had brought the money might, no
doubt, have kept silence, but would have done violence to their faith,
because they knew whither the money was being carried, and therefore
they sent men who feared God to contrive that what was sent should be
assigned, not to the temple, but to the cost of ships. For they
entrusted the money to those who should plead the cause of the sacred
Law, and He Who absolves the conscience was made judge of the matter.
If they when in the power of another were so careful, there can be no
doubt what you, O Emperor, ought to have done. You, at any rate, whom
no one compelled, whom no one had in his power, ought to have sought
counsel from the priest.
11. And I certainly when I then resisted, although I
was alone in resistance, was not alone in what I wished, and was not
alone in what I advised. Since, then, I am bound by my own words both
before God and before all men, I felt that nothing else was allowable
or needful for me but to act for myself, because I could not well trust
you. I kept back and concealed my grief for a long time; I thought it
not right to intimate anything to anybody, now I may no longer
dissemble, nor is it open to me to keep silence. For this reason also
at the commencement of your reign I did not reply when you wrote to me,
because I foresaw that this would happen. Then at last, when you
required a letter, because I had not written a reply, I said: This is
the reason that I think this will be extorted from him.
12. But when a reason for exercising my office
arose, I both wrote and petitioned for those who were in anxiety about
themselves, that I might show that in the canse of God I felt a
righteous fear, and that I did not value flattery above my own soul;
but in those matters in which it is fitting that petitions should be
addressed to you. I also pay the deference due to authority, as it is
written: "Honour to whom honour is due, tribute to whom tribute."(2)
For since I deferred from the bottom of my heart to a private person,
how could I not defer to the Emperor? But do you who
455
desire that deference be paid to you suffer us to pay deference to Him
Whom you are desirous to be proved the Author of your power.
LETTER LXI.
St. Ambrose explains his absence from Milan on the arrival of the
Emperor Theodosius after his victory over Eugenius,(1) and after
expressing his thankfulness for that success he promises obedience to
the Emperor's will, and while commending his piety urges him to be
merciful to the conquered.
AMBROSE, to the Emperor Theodosius. 1. You thought, most blessed
Emperor, so far as I gathered from your letter, that I kept away from
the city of Milan, because I believed that your cause was forsaken by
God. But I was not so wanting in foresight, nor so unmindful in my
absence of your virtue and merits, as not to anticipate that the aid of
Heaven would be with your piety, with which you would rescue the Roman
Empire from the cruelty of a barbarian robber, and the dominion of an
unworthy usurper.
2. I therefore made haste to return thither, as soon
as I knew that he, whom I thought it right to avoid,(2) was now gone,
for I had not deserted the Church of Milan, entrusted to me by the
judgment of God, but avoided the presence of him who had involved
himself in sacrilege. I returned, therefore, about the Calends of
August, and have resided here since that day. Here, too, O Augustus,
your letter found me.
3. Thanks be to our Lord God, Who responded to your
faith and piety, and has restored the form of ancient sanctity,
suffering us to see in our time that which we wonder at in reading the
Scriptures, namely, such a presence of the divine assistance s in
battle, that no mountain heights delayed the course of your approach,
no hostile arms were any hindrance.
4. For these mercies you think that I ought to
render thanks to the Lord our God, and being conscious of your merits,
I will do so willingly, Certainly that offering will be acceptable to
God which is offered in your name, and what a mark of faith and
devotion is this l Other emperors, immediately upon a victory, order
the erection of triumphal arches, or other monuments of their triumphs;
your Clemency prepares an offering for God, and desires that oblation
and thanksgiving should be presented by the priests to the Lord.
5. Though I be unworthy and unequal to such an
office and the offering of such acknowledgments, yet will I describe
what I have done. I took the letter of your Piety with me to the altar.
I laid it upon the altar. I held it in my hand whilst I offered the
Sacrifice; so that your faith might speak by my voice, and the
Emperor's letter discharge the function of the priestly oblation.
6. In truth, the Lord is propitious to the Roman
Empire, since He has chosen such a prince and father of princes, whose
virtue and power, established on such a triumphant height of dominion,
rests on such humility, that in valour he has surpassed emperors and
priests in humility. What can I wish? What can I desire? You have
everything, and therefore I will endeavour to gain the sum of my
desires. You, O Emperor, are pitiful, and of the greatest clemency.
7. And for yourself, I desire again and again an
increase of piety, than which God has given nothing more excellent,
that by your clemency the Church of God, as it delights in the peace
and tranquillity of the innocent, so, too, may rejoice in the pardon of
the guilty. Pardon especially those who have not offended before. May
the Lord preserve your Clemency. Amen.
LETTER LXII.
St. Ambrose excuses himself for having omitted an opportunity of
writing to the Emperor, but is now sending a letter by the hands of a
deacon, requesting forgiveness for some of Eugenius' followers who had
sought the protection of the Church, especially in consideration of the
miraculous aid which had been vouchsafed to the Emperor.
AMBROSE, to the Emperor Theodosius. 1. Although I
lately wrote to your Clemency even a second time, it did not seem to me
that I had responded sufficiently to the duty of intercourse by
answering as it were in turn, for I have been so bound by frequent
benefits from your Clemency, that I cannot repay what I owe by any
services, most blessed and august Emperor.
2. And so just as the first opportunity was not to
be lost by me, when, through your chamberlain, I was able to thank your
Clemency and to pay the duty of an address,
456
especially lest my not having written before should seem to have been
owing to sloth rather than necessity, so, too, I had to seek some
manner of rendering to your Piety my dutiful salutations.
3. And rightly do I send my son, the deacon Felix,
to bear my letter, and, at the same time, to present to you my duty, in
my place, and also a memorial on behalf of those who have fled to the
Church, the Mother of your Piety, seeking mercy. I have been unable to
endure their tears without anticipating by my entreaty the coming of
your Clemency.
4. It is a great boon that I ask, but I ask it from
him to whom the Lord has granted great and unheard-of things, from him
whose clemency I know, and whose piety I have as a pledge. For your
victory is considered to have been granted to you after the ancient
manner, and with the old miracles, a victory such as was granted to
holy Moses, and holy Joshua, son of Nave, and Samuel, and David, not by
human calculations, but by the outpouring of heavenly grace. Now we
expect an equal amount of gentleness with that by virtue of which so
great a victory has been gained.
457
EPISTLE LXIII.
Limenius, Bishop of Vercellae, having died, the see remained long
vacant owing to domestic factions. St. Ambrose, therefore, as Exarch,
writes to the Christians at Vercellae, and commences by reference to
the speedy and unanimous election of Eusebius, a former Bishop, and
reminds them of the presence of Christ as a reason for concord, He
refers next to two apostate monks, Sarmatio and Barbatianus, and
inveighs against sensuality, which degrades men below the beasts.
Thence he passes to the virtues required in a bishop, referring again
to Eusebius, and to Dionysius, Bishop of Milan, comparing the clerical
and monastic lives, and ends with exhortations to Christian virtue. The
letter seems to have been written A.D. 396.
AMBROSE, a servant of Christ, called to be a Bishop,
to the Church of Vercellae, and to those who call on the Name of our
Lord Jesus Christ, Grace be fulfilled unto you in the Holy Spirit from
God the Father and His only-begotten Son.
1. I am spent with grief that the Church of God
which is among you is still without a bishop, and now alone of all the
regions of Liguria and AEmilia, and of the Venetiae all the and other
neighbouring parts of Italy needs that care which other churches were
wont to ask for themselves from it; and what is a greater source of
shame to myself, the tension amongst you which causes the obstacle is
laid to my charge. Now since there are dissensions among you, how can
we decree anything, or you elect, or anyone agree to undertake this
office amongst those who are at variance which he could hardly sustain
amongst those who are at unity.
2. Is this the training of a confessor, are these
the offspring of those righteous fathers who, as soon as they saw,
approved of holy Eusebius, whom they had never known before, preferring
him to their fellow-citizens, and he was no sooner amongst them than he
was approved, and much more when they had observed him. Justly did he
turn out so great a man, whom the whole Church elected, justly was it
believed that he whom all had demanded was elected by the judgment of
God. It is fitting then that you follow the example of your parents,
especially since you who have been instructed by a holy confessor ought
to be so much better than your fathers, as a better teacher has taught
and instructed you, and to manifest a sign of your moderation and
concord by agreeing in your request[1] for a Bishop.
3. For if according to the Lord's saying, that which
two shall have agreed upon on earth concerning anything which they
shall ask, shall be done for them, as He says, by My Father, Who is in
heaven, for: "Where two or three are gathered together in My Name,
there am I in the midst of them,[1] how much less, where the full
congregation is gathered in the Name of the Lord. Where the demand of
all is unanimous, ought we to doubt that the Lord Jesus is there as the
Author of that desire, and the Hearer of the petition, the Presider
over the ordination, and the Giver of the grace?
4. Make yourselves then to appear worthy that Christ
should be in your midst. For where peace is, there is Christ, for
Christ is Peace; and where righteousness is, there is Christ, for
Christ is Righteousness. Let Him be in the midst of you, that you may
see Him, lest it be said to you also: "There standeth One in the midst
of you, Whom ye see not."[2] The Jews saw not Him in Whom they believed
not; we look upon Him by devotion, and behold Him by faith.
5. Let Him therefore stand in your midst, that the
heavens, which declare the glory of God,[3] may be opened to you, that
you may do His will, and work His works. He who sees Jesus, to him are
the heavens opened as they were opened to Stephen, when he said:
"Behold I see the heavens opened and Jesus standing at the right hand
of God."[4] Jesus was standing as his advocate, He was standing as
though anxious, that He might help His athlete Stephen in his conflict,
He was standing as though ready to crown His martyr.
6. Let Him then be standing for you, that you may
not be afraid of Him sitting; for when sitting He judges, as Daniel
says: "The thrones were placed, and the books were opened, and the
Ancient of days did sit."[5] But in the eighty-first[second] Psalm it
is written: "God stood in the congregation of gods, and decideth among
the gods."[6] So then when He sits He judges, when He stands He
decides, and He judges concerning the imperfect, but decides among the
gods. Let Him stand for you as a defender, as a good shepherd, lest the
fierce wolves assault you.
7. And not in vain is my warning turned to this
point; for I hear that Sarmatio and Barbatianus[7] are come to you,
foolish talkers,
458
who say that there is no merit in abstinence no grace in a frugal life,
none in virginity, that all are valued at one price, that they are mad
who chasten their flesh with fastings, that they may bring it into
subjection to the spirit. But if he had thought it madness, Paul the
Apostle would never himself have acted thus, nor written to instruct
others. For he glories in it, saying: "But I chasten my body, and bring
it into bondage, lest, after preaching to others, I myself should be
found reprobate."[1] So they who do not chasten their body, and desire
to preach to others, are themselves esteemed reprobates.
8. For is there anything so reprobate as that which
excites to luxury, to corruption, to wantonness, as the incentive to
lust, the enticer to pleasure, the fuel of incontinence, the firebrand
of desire? What new school has sent out these Epicureans?
Not a school of philosophers, as they themselves say, but of unlearned
men who preach pleasure, persuade to luxury, esteem chastity to be of
no use. They were with us, but they were not of us,[2] for we are not
ashamed to say what the Evangelist John said. But when settled here
they used to fast at first, they were enclosed within the monastery,
there was no place for luxury, the opportunity of mocking and disputing
was cut off.
9. This these dainty men could not endure. They went
abroad, then when they desired to return they were not received; for I
had heard many thinks which necessitated my being cautious; I
admonished them, but effected nothing. And so boiling over they began
to disseminate such things as made them the miserable enticers to all
vices. They utterly lost the benefit of having fasted; they lost the
fruits of their temporary continence. And so now they with Satanic
eagerness envy the good works of others, the fruit of which themselves
have failed to keep.
10. What virgin can hear that there is no reward for
her chastity and not groan? Far be it from her to believe this
easily, and still more to lay aside her zeal, or change the intention
of her mind. What widow, when she learnt that there was no profit in
her widowhood, would choose to preserve her marriage faith and live in
sorrow, rather than give herself up to a happier condition? Who,
bound by the marriage-bond, if she hear that there is no honour in
chastity, might not be tempted by careless levity of body or
mind? And for this reason the Church in the holy lessons, and in
the addresses of her priests, proclaims the praise of chastity and the
glory of virginity.
11. In vain, then, does the Apostle say: "I wrote to
you, in an Epistle, not to mingle with fornicators;"[1] and lest
perchance they should say, We are not speaking of all the fornicators
of the world, but we say that he who has been baptized in Christ ought
not now to be esteemed a fornicator, but his life, whatever it is, is
accepted of God,[2] the Apostle has added "Not at all[meaning] with the
fornicators of this world," and farther on, "If any that is named a
brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolator, or a reviler, or
a drunkard, or an extortioner, with such an one not even to eat. For
what have I to do with judging them that are without?"[3] And to the
Ephesians: "But fornication, and all uncleanness, and covetousness let
it not even be named among you, as becometh saints."[4] And immediately
he adds: "For this ye know, that no immodest person, nor unclean, nor
covetous, which is an idolator, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of
Christ and of God."[5] It is clear that this is said of the baptized,
for they receive the inheritance, who are baptized into the death of
Christ[6] and are buried together with Him, that they may rise again
with Him. Therefore they are heirs of God, and joint heirs with
Christ:[7] heirs of God, because the grace of Christ is conveyed to
them; joint-heirs with Christ, because they are renewed into His life;
heirs also of Christ; because to them is given by His death as it were
the inheritance of the testator.
12. These then ought to take heed to themselves who
have that which they may lose, rather than they who have it not. These
ought to act with greater care, these ought to guard against the
allurements of vice, or incentives to error, which arise chiefly from
food and drink. For "the people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up
to play."[8]
13. Epicurus[9] himself also, whom these persons
think they should follow rather than the apostles, the advocate of
pleasure, although he denies that pleasure brings in evil, does not
deny that certain things result from it from which evils are generated;
and asserts in fine that the life of the luxurious which is filled with
pleasures does not seem to be reprehensible, unless it be disturbed by
the fear either of pain or of death. But
459
how far he is from the truth is perceived even from this, that he
asserts that pleasure was originally created in man by God its author,
as Philomarus[1] his follower argues in his Epitomae, asserting that
the Stoics are the authors of this opinion.
14. But Holy Scripture refutes this, for it teaches
us that pleasure was suggested to Adam and Eve by the craft and
enticements of the serpent. Since, indeed, the serpent itself is
pleasure, and therefore the passions of pleasure are various and
slippery, and as it were infected with the poison of corruptions, it is
certain then that Adam, being deceived by the desire of pleasure, fell
away from the commandment of God and from the enjoyment of grace. How
then can pleasure recall us to paradise, seeing that it alone deprived
us of it?
15. Wherefore also the Lord Jesus, wishing to make
us more strong against the temptations of the devil, fasted when about
to contend with him, that we might know that we can in no other way
overcome the enticements of evil. Further, the devil himself hurled the
first dart of his temptations from the quiver of pleasure, saying: "If
Thou be the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.''[2]
After which the Lord said: "Man doth not live by bread alone, but by
every word of God;"[3] and would not do it, although He could, in order
to teach us by a salutary precept to attend rather to the pursuit of
reading than to pleasure. And since they say that we ought not to fast,
let them prove for what cause Christ fasted, unless it were that His
fast might be an example to us. Lastly, in His later words He taught us
that evil cannot be easily overcome except by our fasting, saying:
"This kind of devils is not cast out but by prayer and fasting."[4]
16. And what is the intention of the Scripture which
teaches us that Peter fasted, and that the revelation concerning the
baptism of Gentiles was made to him when fasting and praying,[5] except
to show that the Saints themselves advance when they fast. Finally,
Moses received the Law when he was fasting;[6] and so Peter when
fasting was taught the grace of the New Testament. Daniel too by virtue
of his fast stopped the mouths of the lions and saw the events of
future times.[7] And what safety can there be for us unless we wash
away our sins by fasting, since ScriptUre says that fasting and alms do
away sin? [1]
17. Who then are these new teachers who reject the
merit of fasting? Is it not the voice of heathen who say, "Let us eat
and drink?" whom the Apostle well ridicules, when he says: "If after
the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what
advantageth it me if the dead rise not? Let us eat and drink, for
to-morrow we die.''[2] That is to say, What profited me my contention
even unto death, except that I might redeem my body? And it is
redeemed in vain if there is no hope of the resurrection. And,
consequently, if all hope of the resurrection is lost, let us eat and
drink, let us not lose the enjoyment of things present, who have none
of things to come. It is then for them to indulge in meats and drinks
who hope for nothing after death.
18. Rightly then does the Apostle, arguing against
these men, warn us that we be not shaken by such opinions, saying: "Be
not deceived, evil communications corrupt good manners. Be ye
righteously sober and sin not, for some have no knowledge of God."[3]
Sobriety, then, is good, for drunkenness is sin.
19. But as to that Epicurus himself, the defender of
pleasure, of whom, therefore, we have made frequent mention in order to
prove that these men are either disciples of the heathen and followers
of the Epicurean sect or himself, whom the very philosophers exclude
from their company as the patron of luxury, what if we prove him to be
more tolerable than these men? He declares, as Demarchus[4] asserts,
that neither drinking, nor banquets, nor offspring, nor embraces of
women, nor abundance of fish, and other such like things which are
prepared for the service of a sumptuous banquet, make life sweet, but
sober discussion. Lastly, he added that those who do not use the
banquets of society in excess, use them with moderation. He who
willingly makes use of the juices of plants alone together with bread
and water, despises feasts on delicacies, for many inconveniences arise
from them. In another place they also say: It is not excessive
banquets, nor drinking which give rise to the enjoyment of pleasure,
but a life of temperance.
20. Since, then, philosophy has disowned those men,
is the Church not to exclude them? Seeing, too, that they,
because they
460
have a bad cause, frequently fall foul of themselves by their own
assertions. For, although their chief opinion is that there is no
enjoyment of pleasure except such as is derived from eating and
drinking, yet understanding that they cannot, without the greatest
shame, cling to so disgraceful a definition, and that they are forsaken
by all, they have tried to colour it with a sort of stain of specious
arguments; so that one of them has said: Whilst we are aiming at
pleasure by means of banquets and songs, we have lost that which is
infused into us by the reception of the Word, whereby alone we can be
saved.
21. Do not they by these various arguments show
themselves to us as differing and disagreeing one with the other? And
Scripture too condemns them, not passing over those whom the Apostle
refuted, as Luke, who wrote the book as a history, tells us in the Acts
of the Apostles, "And certain also of the Epicurean and Stoic
philosophers disputed with him. And some said, What does this babbler
mean? And others said, He seemeth to be a setter forth of new
gods."[1]
22. Yet from this hand too the Apostle did not go
forth without success, since even Dionysius the Areopagite together
with his wife Damaris and many others believed. And so that company of
most learned and eloquent men showed themselves overcome in a simple
discussion by the example of those who believed. What then do those men
mean, who endeavour to prevent those whom the Apostle has gained, and
whom Christ has redeemed with His own blood? asserting that the
baptized ought not to give themselves to the discipline of the virtues,
that revellings injure them not, nor abundance of pleasures; that they
are foolish who go without them, that virgins ought to marry, bear
children, and likewise widows to repeat that converse with man which
they have once experienced with ill results; and that even if they can
contain, they are in error who will not again enter the marriage bond.
23. What then? Would you have us put off the
man in order to put on the beast, and stripping ourselves of Christ,
clothe ourselves or be superclothed with the garments of the
devil? But since the very teachers of the heathen did not think
that honour and pleasure could be joined together, because they would
seem thus to class beasts with men, shall we as it were infuse the
habits of beasts into the human breast, and inscribe on the reasonable
mind the unreasoning ways of wild beasts?
24. And yet there are many kinds of animals, which,
when they have lost their fellow, will not mate again, and spend their
time as it were in solitary life; many too live on simple herbs, and
will not quench their thirst except at a pure stream; one can also
often see dogs refrain from food forbidden them, so that they close
their famishing mouths if restraint is bidden them. Must men then be
warned against that wherein brutes have learned not to transgress?
26. But what is more admirable than abstinence,
which makes even the years of youth to ripen, so that there is an old
age of character? For as by excess of food and by drunkenness
even mature age is excited, so the wildness of youth is lessened by
scanty feasts and by the running stream. An external fire is
extinguished by pouring on water, it is then no wonder if the inward
heat of the body is cooled by draughts from the stream, for the flame
is fed or fails according to the fuel. As hay, straw, wood, oil, and
such like things are the nourishment which feeds fire, if you take them
away, or do not supply them, the fire is extinguished. In like manner
then the heat of the body is supported or lessened by food, it is
excited by food and lessened by food. Luxury then is the mother of lust.
27. And is not temperance agreeable to nature, and
to that divine law, which in the very beginning of all created things
gave the springs for drink and the fruits of the trees for food?
After the Flood the just man found wine a source of temptation to
him.[1] Let us then use the natural drink of temperance, and would that
we all were able to do so. But because all are not strong the Apostle
said: "Use a little wine because of thy frequent infirmities."[2] We
must drink it then not for the sake of pleasure, but because of
infirmity, and therefore sparingly as a remedy, not in excess as a
gratification.
28. Lastly, Elijah, whom the Lord was training to
the perfection of virtue, found at his head a cake and a cruse of
water; and then fasted in the strength of that food forty days and
forty nights.[3] Our fathers, when they passed across the sea on
foot,[4] drank water not wine. Daniel and the Hebrew children, fed with
their peculiar food,[5] and with water to drink, overcame, the former
the fury of the lions;[6] the latter saw the
461
burning fire play around their limbs with harmless touch.[1]
26. And why should I speak of men? Judith, in no way
moved by the luxurious banquet of Holophernes, carried off the triumph
of which men's arms despaired, solely in right of her temperance;
delivered her country from occupation and slew the leader of the
expedition with her own hands.[2] A clear proof both that his luxury
had enervated that warrior, terrible to the nations, and that
temperance made this woman stronger than men. In this case it was not
in her sex that nature was surpassed, but she overcame by her diet.
Esther by her fasts moved a proud king.[3] Anna, who for eighty-four
years in her widowhood had served God with fasts and prayers day and
night in the temple,[4] recognized Christ, Whom John, the master of
abstinence, and as it were a new angel on earth, announced.
30. O foolish Elisha, for feeding the prophets with
wild and bitter gourds![5] O Ezra forgetful of Scripture, though he did
restore the Scriptures from memory![6] foolish Paul, who glories in
fastings,[7] if fastings profit nothing.
31. But how should that not be profitable by which
our sins are purged? And if you offer this with humility and with
mercy, your bones, as Isaiah said, shall be fat, and you shall be like
a well-watered garden.[8] So, then, your soul shall grow fat and its
virtues also by the spiritual richness of fasting, and your fruits
shall be multiplied by the fertility of your mind, so that there may be
in you the inebriation of soberness, like that cup of which the Prophet
says: "Thy cup which inebriates, how excellent it is!"[9]
32. But not only is that temperance worthy of praise
which moderates food, but also that which moderates lust. Since it is
written: "Go not after thy lusts, and deny thy appetite. If thou givest
her desires to thy soul, thou wilt be a joy to thine enemies;"[10] and
farther on; "Wine and women make even wise men to fall away; "[11] So
that Paul teaches temperance even in marriage itself; for he who is
incontinent in marriage is a kind of adulterer, and violates the law of
the Apostle.
33. And why should I tell how great is the grace of
virginity, which was found worthy to be chosen by Christ, that it might
be even the bodily temple of God, in which as we read the fulness of
the Godhead dwelt bodily.[1] A Virgin conceived the Salvation of the
world, a Virgin brought forth the life of all. Virginity then ought not
to be left to itself, seeing that it benefited all in Christ. A Virgin
bore Him Whom this world cannot contain or support. And when He was
born from His mother's womb, He yet preserved the fence of her chastity
and the inviolate seal of her virginity. And so Christ found in the
Virgin that which He willed to make His own, that which the Lord of all
might take to Himself Further, our flesh was cast out of Paradise by a
man and woman and was joined to God through a Virgin.
34. What shall I say concerning the other Mary,[2]
the sister of Moses, who as leader of the women passed on foot the
straits of the sea?[3] By the same gift Thecla also was reverenced by
the lions, so that the unfed beasts stretched at the feet of their prey
prolonged a holy fast, and harmed the virgin neither with wanton look
nor claw, since virginity is injured even by a look.
35. Again, with what reverence for virginity has the
holy Apostle spoken: "Concerning virgins I have no commandment of the
Lord, but I give my counsel, as having obtained mercy of the Lord."[4]
He has received no commandment, but a counsel, for that which beyond
the law is not commanded, but is rather advised by way of counsel.
Authority is not assumed but grace is shown, and this is not shown by
anyone, but by him who obtained mercy from the Lord. Are then the
counsels of these men better than those of the apostles? The
Apostle says, "I give my counsel," but they think it right to dissuade
any from cultivating virginity.
36. And we ought to recognize what commendation of
it the prophet, or rather Christ in the prophet, has uttered in a short
verse; "A garden enclosed," says He, "is My sister, My spouse, a garden
enclosed, a sealed fountain."[5] Christ says this to the Church, which
he desires to be a virgin, without spot, without a wrinkle. A fertile
garden is virginity, which can bear many fruits of good odour. A garden
enclosed, because it is everywhere shut in by the wall of chastity. A
sealed fountain, because virginity is the source and origin of modesty,
having to keep inviolate the seal of purity, in which source the image
of God is reflected, since the purity of simplicity agrees also with
chastity of the body.
462
37. And no one can doubt that the Church is a
virgin, who also in the Epistle to the Corinthians is espoused and
presented as a chaste virgin to Christ.[1] So in the first Epistle he
gives his counsel, and esteems the gift of virginity as good, since it
is not disturbed by any troubles of the present time, nor polluted by
any of its defilements nor shaken by any storms; in the later Epistle
he brings a spouse to Christ, because he is able to certify the
virginity of the Church in the purity of that people.
38. Answer me now, O Paul, in what way thou givest
counsel for the present distress.[2] "Because he that is without a wife
is careful," he says, "for the things of the Lord, how he may please
God." And he adds, "The unmarried woman and the virgin think of the
things of the Lord, that they may be holy in body and spirit."[3] She
has then her wall against the tempests of this world, and so fortified
by the defence of divine protection she is disturbed by none of the
blasts of this world. Good then is counsel, because there is advantage
in counsel, but there is a bond in a commandment. Counsel attracts the
willing, commandment binds the unwilling. If then anyone has followed
counsel, and not repented, she has gained an advantage; but if she has
repented, she has no ground for blaming the Apostle, for she ought
herself to have judged of her own weakness; and so she is responsible
for her own will, inasmuch as she bound herself by a bond and knot
beyond her power to bear.
39. And so like a good physician, desiring to
preserve the stability of virtue in the strong, and to give health to
the weak, he gives counsel to the one, and points out the remedy to the
others: "He that is weak eateth herbs,"[4] let him take a wife; he that
has more power let him seek the stronger meat of virtue. And rightly he
added: "For he who being steadfast hath settled in his own heart,
having no necessity, but hath power over his own will, and hath
determined this in his own heart, to keep his own virgin, doeth well.
So then both he who giveth his own virgin in marriage, doeth well; and
he that giveth her not in marriage, doeth better. A woman is bound by
the law, for so long a time as her husband liveth. But if her husband
have fallen asleep, she is freed, let her marry whom she will, only in
the Lord. But she will be more happy if she abide as she is, after my
counsel, for I think that I also have the Spirit of the Lord."[1] This
is to have the counsel of God, to search diligently into all things,
and to advise things that are best, and to point out those that are
safest.
40. A careful guide points out many paths, that each
may walk along the one which he prefers and considers suitable to
himself, so long as he comes upon one by which he can reach the camp.
The path of virginity is good, but being high and steep requires the
stronger wayfarers. Good also is that of widowhood, not so difficult as
the former, but being rocky and rough, it requires more cautious
travellers. Good too is that of marriage; being smooth and even it
reaches the camp of the saints by a longer circuit. This way is taken
by most. There are then the rewards of virginity, there are the merits
of widowhood, there is also a place for conjugal modesty. There are
steps and advances in each and every virtue.
41. Stand therefore firm in your hearts, that no one
overthrow you, that no one be able to make you fall. The Apostle has
taught us what it is "to stand," that is what was said to Moses: "The
place whereon thou standest is holy ground;"[2] for no one stands
unless he stand by faith, unless he stands fixed in the determination
of his own heart. In another place also we read: "But do thou stand
here with Me."[3] Each sentence was spoken by the Lord to Moses, both
"Where thou standest is holy ground," and "Stand here with Me," that
is, thou standest with Me, if thou stand firm in the Church. For the
very place is holy, the very ground is fruitful with sanctity and
fertile with harvests of virtues.
42. Stand then in the Church, stand where I appeared
to thee, where I am with thee. Where the Church is, there is the most
solid resting place for thy mind, there the support of thy soul, where
I appeared to thee in the bush. Thou art the bush, I am the fire; the
fire in the bush, I in the flesh. Therefore am I the fire, that I may
give light to thee, that I may consume thy thorns, that is, thy sins.
and show thee My grace.
43. Standing firm then in your hearts, drive away
from the Church the wolves which seek to carry off prey. Let there be
no sloth in you, let not your mouth be evil nor your tongue bitter. Do
not sit in the council of vanity; for it is written, "I have not sat in
the council of vanity."[4] Do not listen to those who speak against
their neighhours,
463
lest whilst you listen to others, you be stirred up yourselves to speak
against your neighbours, and it be said to each of you "Thou satest and
spakest against thy brother."[1]
44. Men sit when speaking against others, they stand
when they praise the Lord, to whom it is said: "Behold now, praise the
Lord, all ye servants of the Lord, ye that stand in the house of the
Lord."[2] He who sits to speak of the bodily habit, is as it were
loosened by ease, and relaxes the energy of his mind. But the careful
watchman, the active searcher, the watchful guardian, who keeps the
outposts of the camp, stands. The zealous warrior, too, who desires to
anticipate the designs of the enemy, stands in array before he is
expected.
45. "Let him that standeth take heed lest he
fall."[3] He who stands does not give way to detraction, for it is the
tales of those at ease in which detraction is spread abroad, and
malignity betrayed. So that the prophet says: "I have hated the
congregation of the malignant, and will not sit with the ungodly."[4]
And in the thirty-sixth Psalm, which he has filled with moral precepts,
he has put at the very beginning: "Be not malignant amongst the
malignant, neither be envious of those who do iniquity."[5] Malignancy
is more harmful than malice, because malignancy has neither pure
simplicity nor open malice, but a hidden ill-will. And it is more
difficult to guard against what is hidden than against what is known.
For which reason too our Saviour warns us to beware of malignant
spirits, because they would catch us by the appearance of sweet
pleasures and a show of other things, when they hold forth honour to
entice us to ambition, riches to avarice, power to pride.
46. And so both in every action, and especially in
the demand for a bishop, by whom [as a pattern] the life of all is
formed malignity ought to be absent; so that the man who is to be
elected out of all, and to heal all, may be preferred to all by a calm
and peaceful decision. For "the meek man is the physician of the
heart."[6] And the Lord in the Gospel called Himself this, when He
said: "They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are
sick."[7]
47. He is the good Physician, Who has taken upon Him
our infirmities, has healed our sicknesses, and yet He, as it is
written,
honoured not Himself to be made a High Priest, but He Who spake to Him.
The Father said: "Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee."[1]
As He said in another place: "Thou art a Priest for ever after the
order of Melchisedech." Who, since He was the type of all future
priests, took our flesh upon Him, that "in the days of His flesh He
might offer prayers and supplications with a loud voice and tears; and
by those things which He suffered, though He was the Son of God, might
seem to learn obedience, which He taught us, that He might be made to
us the Author of Salvation?"[2] And at last when His sufferings were
completed, as though completed and made perfect Himself, He gave health
to all, He bore the sin of all.
48. And so He Himself also chose Aaron as priest,
that not the will of man but the grace of God should have the chief
part in the election of the priest;[3] not the voluntary offering of
himself, nor the taking it upon himself, but the vocation from heaven,
that he should offer gifts for sins who could be touched for those who
sinned, for He Himself, it is said, bears our weakness.[4] No one ought
to take this honour upon himself but they are called of God, as was
Aaron,[5] and so Christ did not demand but received the priesthood.
49. Lastly, when the succession derived through
family descent from Aaron, contained rather heirs of the family than
sharers in his righteousness, there came, after the likeness of that
Melchisedech, of whom we read in the Old Testament, the true
Melchisedech, the true King of peace, the true King of righteousness,
for this is the interpretation of the Name, "without father, without
mother, without genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of
life,"[6] which also refers to the Son of God, Who in His Divine
Generation had no mother, was in His Birth of the Virgin Mary without a
father; begotten before the ages of the Father alone, born in this age
of the Virgin alone, and certainly could have no beginning of days
seeing He "was in the beginning."[7] And how could He have any end of
life, Who is the Author of life to all? He is "the Beginning and
the Ending."[8] But this also is referred to Him as an example, that a
priest ought to be without father and without mother, since in him it
is not nobility of family, but holi-
464
ness of character and pro-eminence in virtue which is elected.
50. Let there be in him faith and ripeness of
character, not one without the other, but let both meet together in one
with good works and deeds. For which reason the Apostle Paul wishes
that we should be imitators of them, who, as he says, "by faith and
patience"[1] possess the promises made to Abraham, who by patience was
found worthy to receive and to possess the grace of the blessing
promised to him. avid the prophet warns us that we should be imitators
of holy Aaron, and has set him amongst the Saints of God to be imitated
by us, saying: "Moses and Aaron among his priests, and Samuel among
those that call upon His Name."[2]
51. A man clearly worthy to be proposed that all
should follow him was he, for when a terrible death on account of the
rebels was spreading over the people, he offered himself between the
dead and the living, that he might arrest death, and that no more
should perish.[3] A man truly of priestly mind and soul, who as a good
shepherd with pious affection offered himself for the Lord's flock. And
so he broke the sting of death, restrained its violence, refused it
further course. Affection aided his deserts, for he offered himself for
those who were resisting him.
52. Let those then who dissent learn to fear to
rouse up the Lord, and to appease His priests. What! did not the
earthquake swallow up Dathan, Abiron, and Korah because of their
dissension?[4] For when Korah, Dathan, and Abiron had stirred up two
hundred and fifty men against Moses and Aaron to separate themselves
from them, they rose up against them and said: "Let it suffice you that
all the congregation are holy, every one, and the Lord is amongst
them."[5]
53. Whereupon the Lord was angry and spoke to the
whole congregation. The Lord considered and knew those that were His,
and drew His saints to. Himself; and those whom He chose not, He did
not draw to Himself. And the Lord commanded that Korah and all those
who had risen up with him against Moses and Aaron the priests of the
Lord should take to themselves censers, and put on incense,[6] that he
who was chosen of the Lord might be established as holy among the
Levites of the Lord,
54. And Moses said to Korah: "Hear me,
ye sons of Levi: Is this a small thing unto you, that God hath
separated you from the congregation of Israel, and brought you near to
Himself, to minister the service of the Tabernacle of the Lord."[1] And
farther on, "Seek ye the priesthood also, so that thou and all thy
congregation are gathered against the Lord. And what is Aaron that ye
murmur about him?"[2]
55. Considering, then, what causes of offence
existed, that unworthy persons desired to discharge the offices of the
priesthood, and therefore were causing dissensions; and were murmuring
in censure of the judgment of God in the choice of His priest, the
whole people were seized with a great fear, and dread of punishment
came upon them all. But when all implore that all perish not for the
insolence of few, those guilty of the wickedness are marked out; and
two hundred and fifty men with their leaders are separated from the
whole body of the people; and then the earth with a groan cleaves
asunder in the midst of the people, a deep gulf opens, the offenders
are swallowed up, and are so removed from all the elements of this
world, as neither to pollute the air by breathing it, nor the heavens
by beholding them, nor the sea by their touch, nor the earth by their
sepulchres.
56. The punishment ceased, but the wickedness ceased
not; for from this very thing a murmuring rose among them that the
people had perished through the priests. In His wrath at this, the Lord
would have destroyed them all, had He not been moved first by the
prayers of Moses and Aaron, and afterwards also at the intervention of
His priest Aaron (the humiliation of their forgiveness being thereby
greater), He willed to give their lives to those whose privilege they
had repudiated.
57. Miriam the prophetess herself, who with her
brothers had crossed the straits of the sea on foot, because, being
still ignorant of the mystery of the Ethiopian woman, she had murmured
against her brother Moses, broke out with leprous spots,[3] so that she
would scarcely have been freed from so great a plague, unless Moses had
prayed for her. Although this murmuring refers to the type of the
Synagogue, which is ignorant of the mystery of that Ethiopian woman,
that is the Church gathered out of the nations, and murmurs with daily
reproaches, and envies that people through whose faith itself also
shall be delivered
465
from the leprosy of its unbelief, according to what we read that:
"blindness in part has happened unto Israel, until the fulness of the
Gentiles be come in, and so all Israel shall be saved.[1]
58. And that we may observe that divine grace rather
than human works in priests, of the many rods which Moses had received
according to the Tribes, and had laid up, that of Aaron alone
blossomed. And so the people saw that the gift of the Divine vocation
is to be looked for in a priest, and ceased from claiming equal grace
for a human choice though they had before thought that a similar
prerogative belonged to themselves. But what else does that rod show,
but that priestly grace never decays, and in the deepest lowliness has
in its office the flower of the power committed to it, or that this
also is refered to in mystery? Nor do we think that it was
without a purpose that this took place near the end of the life of
Aaron the priest. It seems to be shown that the ancient people, full of
decay through the oldness of the long-continued unfaithfulness of the
priests, being fashioned again in the last times to zeal in faith and
devotion by the example of the Church, will again send forth with
revived grace its flowers dead through so many ages.
59. But what does this signify, that after Aaron was
dead, the Lord commanded, not the whole people, but Moses alone, who is
amongst the priests, to clothe Aaron's son Eleazar with the priest's
garments, except that we should understand that priest must consecrate
priest, and himself clothe him with the vestments, that is, with
priestly virtues; and then, if he has seen that nothing is wanting to
him of the priestly garments, and that all things are perfect, should
admit him to the sacred altars. For he who is to supplicate for the
people ought to be chosen of God and approved by the priests, lest
there be anything which might give serious offence in him whose office
it is to intercede for the offences of others. For the virtue of a
priest must be of no ordinary kind, since he has to guard not only from
nearness to greater faults, but even the very least. He must also be
prompt to have pity, not recall a promise, restore the fallen, have
sympathy with pain, preserve meekness, love piety, repel or keep down
anger, must be as it were a trumpet to excite the people to
devotion, or to soothe them to
tranquillity.
60. It is an old saying: Accustom yourself to be
consistent, that your life may set forth as it were a picture, always
preserving the same representation which it has received. How can he be
consistent who at one time is inflamed by anger, at another blazes up
with fierce indignation, whose face now burns, and now again is changed
to paleness, varying and changing colour every moment? But let it be
so, let it be natural for one to be angry, or that there is generally a
cause, it is a man's duty to restrain anger, and not to be carried away
like a lion by fury, so as not to know to be quieted, not to spread
tales, nor to embitter family quarrels; for it is written: "A wrathful
man diggeth up sin"[1] He will not be consistent who is double-minded;
he cannot be consistent who cannot restrain himself when angry, as to
which David well says: "Be ye angry and sin not."[2] He does not govern
his anger, but indulges his natural disposition, which a man cannot
indeed prevent but may moderate. Therefore even though we are angry,
let our passion admit only such emotion as is according to nature, not
sin contrary to nature. For who would endure that he should not be able
to govern himself, who has undertaken to govern others?
61. And so the Apostle has given a pattern,
saying that a bishop must be blameless,[3] and in another place: "A
bishop must be without offence, as a steward of God, not proud, not
soon angry, not given to wine, not a striker, not greedy of filthy
lucre."[4] For how can the compassion of a dispenser of alms an the
avarice of a covetous man agree together?
62. I have set down these things which I have been
told are to be avoided, but the Apostle is the Master of virtues, and
he teaches that gainsayers are to be convicted with patience,[5] who
lays down that one should be the husband of a single wife,[6] not in
order to exclude him form the right of marriage (for this is beyond the
force of the precept), but that by conjugal chastity he may preserve
the grace of his baptismal washing; nor again that he may be induced by
the Apostle's authority to beget children in the priesthood; for the
speaks of having children, not of begetting them, or marrying again.
63. And I have thought it well not to pass by this
point, because many contend that having one wife is said of the time
after Baptism; so that the fault whereby any
466
obstacle would ensue would be washed away in baptism. And indeed all
faults and sins are washed away; so that if anyone have polluted his
body with very many whom he has bound to himself by no law of marriage,
all the sins are forgiven him, but if any one have contracted a second
marriage it is not done away; for sin not law is loosed by the layer,
and as to baptism there is no sin but law. That then which has to do
with law is not remitted as though it were sin, but is retained. And
the Apostle has established a law, saying: "If any man be without
reproach the husband of one wife."[1] So then he who is without blame
the husband of one wife comes within the rule for undertaking the
priestly office; he, however, who has married again has no guilt of
pollution, but is disqualified for the priestly prerogative.
64. We have stated what is according to the law, let
us state in addition what is according to reason. But first we must
notice that not only has the Apostle laid down this rule concerning a
bishop or priest, but that the Fathers in the Nicene Council[2] added
that no one who has contracted a second marriage ought to be admitted
amongst the clergy at all. For how can he comfort or honour a widow, or
exhort her to preserve her widowhood, and the faith pledged to her
husband, which he himself has not kept in regard to his former
marriage? Or what difference would there be between people and
priest, if they were bound by the same laws? The life of a priest
ought to excel that of others as does his grace, for he who binds
others by his precepts ought himself to keep the precepts of the law.
65. How I resisted my ordination, and lastly, when I
was compelled, endeavoured that it might at least be deferred, but the
prescribed rule did not prevail against the popular eagerness. Yet the
Western Bishops approved of my ordination by their decision, the
Eastern by an example of the same kind.[3] And yet the ordination of a
neophyte is forbidden, lest he should be lifted up by pride.[4]
If the ordination was not postponed it was because of constraint, and
if humility suitable to the priestly office be not wanting, where there
is no reason blame will not be imputed to him.
66. But if so much consideration is needed in other
churches for the ordination of a bishop, how much care is required in
the Church of Vercellae, where two things seem to be equally required
of the bishop, monastic rule and church discipline? For Eusebius
of holy memory was the first in Western lands to bring together these
differing matters, both while living in the city observing the rules of
the monks, and ruling the Church with fasting and temperance. For the
grace of the priesthood is much increased if the bishop constrain young
men to the practice of abstinence, and to the rule of purity; and
forbid them though living in the city, the manners and mode of life of
the city.
67. From such a rule sprang those great men, Elijah,
Elisha, John the son of Elizabeth, who clothed in sheepskins, poor and
needy, and afflicted with pain, wandered in deserts,[1] in hollows and
thickets of mountains, amongst pathless rocks, rough caves, pitfalls
and marshes, of whom the world was not worthy. From the same, Daniel,
Ananias, Azarias, and Misael,[2] who were brought up in the royal
palace, were fed meagrely as though in the desert, with coarse food,
and ordinary drink. Rightly did those royal slaves prevail over
kingdoms, despise captivity, shaking off its yoke, subdue powers,
conquer the elements, quench the nature of fire, dull the flames, blunt
the edge of the sword, stop the mouths of lions;[3] they were found
most strong when esteemed to be most weak, and did not shrink from the
mockings of men, because they looked for heavenly rewards; they did not
dread the darkness of the prison, on whom was shining the beauty of
eternal light.
68. Following these, holy Eusebius went forth out of
his country, and from his own relatives, and preferred a foreign
wandering to ease at home. For the faith also he preferred and chose
the hardships of exile, in conjunction with Dionysius[4] of holy
memory, who esteemed a voluntary exile above an Emperor's friendship.
And so these illustrious men, surrounded with arms, closed in by
soldiers, when torn away from the larger
467
Church, triumphed over the imperial power, because by earthly shame
they purchased fortitude of soul, and kingly power; they from whom the
band of soldiers and the din of arms could not tear away the faith
subdued the raging of the brutal mind, which was unable to hurt the
saints. For, as you read in Proverbs, "the king's wrath is as the wrath
of a lion."[1]
69. He confessed that he was overcome when he asked
them to change their determination, but they thought their pen stronger
than swords of iron. Then it was unbelief which was wounded so that it
fell, not the faith of the saints; they did not desire a tomb in their
own country, for whom was reserved a home in the heavens. They wandered
over the whole earth, "having nothing and yet possessing all
things."[2] Wherever they were sent, they esteemed it a place full of
delights, for nothing wanting to them in whom the riches of faith
abounded. Lastly, they enriched others, being themselves poor as to
earthly means, rich in grace. They were tried but not killed, in
fasting, in labours, in watchings, in vigils. Out of weakness they came
forth strong. They did not wait for the enticements of pleasure who
were satiated by fasting; the burning summer did not parch those whom
the hope of eternal grace refreshed, nor did the cold of icy regions
break them down, whose devotion was ever budding afresh with glowing
devotion; they feared not the chains of men whom Jesus had set free;
they desired not to be rescued from death, who expected to be raised
again by Christ.
70. And at last holy Dionysius requested in his
prayers, that he might end his life in exile, for fear that he might,
if he returned home, find the minds of the people or the clergy
disturbed through the teaching or practice of the unbelievers, and he
obtained this favour, so that he bore with him the peace of the Lord
with a quiet mind. Thus as holy Eusebius first raised the standard of
confessorship, so blessed Dionysius in his exile gave up his life with
honour higher even than martyrs.
71. Now this patience in holy Eusebius grew strong
by the discipline of the monastery, and from the custom of hard
endurance he derived the power of enduring hardships. For who doubts
that in stricter Christian devotion these two things are the most
excellent, the offices of the clergy and the rule of the monks? The
former is a discipline
which accustoms to courteousness and good morals, the latter to
abstinence and patience; the former as it were on an open stage, the
latter in secret; the one is visible, the other hidden. And so he who
was a good athlete said: "We are made a spectacle to this world and to
Angels."[1] Worthy indeed was he to be gazed upon by Angels, when he
was striving to attain the prize of Christ, when he was striving to
lead on earth the life of Angels, and overcome the wickedness of
spirits in heaven, for he wrestled with spiritual wickedness.[2]
Rightly did the world gaze upon him, that it might imitate him.
72. The one life, then, is on the open arena, the
other hidden as in a cave; the one is opposed to the confusion of the
world, the other to the desires of the flesh; the one subdues, the
other shuns the pleasures of the body; the one was more agreeable, the
other more safe; the one ruling, the other restraining itself, in order
to be wholly Christ's, for to the perfect it is said: "He who will come
after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow
Me."[3] Now he follows Christ who is able to say: "It is no longer I
that live, but Christ liveth ill me."[4]
73. Paul denied himself, when, knowing that chains
and tribulations awaited him in Jesusalem, he willingly offered himself
to danger, saying: "Nor do I count my life dear to myself, if only I
can accomplish my course, and the ministry of the Word, which I have
received of the Lord Jesus."[5] And at last, though many were standing
round, weeping and beseeching him, he did not change his mind, so stern
a censor of itself is ready faith.
74. The one then contends, the other retires; the
one overcomes incitements, the other flees from them; by the one the
world is triumphed over, the other rejoices over it; to the one the
world is crucified, or itself is crucified to the world,[6] to the
other it is unknown; the one endures more frequent temptations, and so
has the greater victory, the other falls less often, and keeps guard
more easily.
75. Elijah himself too, that the word spoken by his
mouth might be confirmed, was sent by the Lord to hide himself by the
brook Cherith.[7] Ahab threatened, Jezebel threatened, Elijah was
afraid and rose up, and then "went in the strength of that spiritual
meat forty days and forty nights
468
unto Horeb the mount of God; "[1] and entered into a cave and rested
there; and afterwards was sent to anoint kings. He was then inured to
patience by dwelling in solitude, and, as though fed to the fatness of
virtue by the homely food, went on more strong.
76. John, too, grew up in the desert, and baptized
the Lord, and there first practised constancy, that afterwards he might
rebuke kings.
77. And since in speaking of holy Elijah's dwelling
in the desert, we have passed by without notice the names of places
which were not given without a purpose, it seems well to go back to
what they signify. Elijah was sent to the brook Cherith, and there the
ravens nourished him, bringing him bread in the morning, for it
"strengthens man's heart."[2] For how should the prophet be nourished
except by mystical food? At evening flesh was supplied.
Understand what you read, for Cherith means "understanding," Horeb
signifies "heart" or "as a heart," Beersheba also is interpreted "the
well of the seventh," or "of the oath."
78. Elijah went first to Beersheba, to the mysteries
and sacraments of the divine and holy Law, next he is sent to the
brook, to the stream of the river which makes glad the City of God.[3]
You perceive the two Testaments of the One Author; the old Scripture as
a well deep and obscure, whence you can only draw with labour; it is
not full, for He Who was to fill it was not yet come, Who afterwards
said: "I am come not to destroy but to fulfil the Law."[4] And so the
Saint is bidden of the Lord to pass over to the stream, for he who has
drunk of the New Testament, not only is a river, but also "from his
belly shall flow rivers of living water," s rivers of understanding,
rivers of meditation, spiritual rivers, which, however, dried up in the
times of unbelief, lest the sacrilegious and unbelieving should drink.
79. At that place the ravens recognized the Prophet
of the Lord, whom the Jews did not recognize. The ravens fed him, whom
that royal and noble race were persecuting. What is Jezebel, who
persecuted him but the Synagogue, vainly fluent, vainly abounding in
the Scriptures, which it neither keeps nor understands? What
ravens fed him but those whose young call upon Him, to whose cattle He
gives food as we read; "to the young ravens that call upon Him."[6]
Those
ravens knew whom they were feeding, who were close upon understanding,
and brought food to that stream of sacred knowledge.
80. He feeds the prophet, who understands and keeps
the things that are written. Our faith gives him sustenance, our
progress gives him nourishment; he feeds upon our minds and senses, his
discourse is nourished by our understanding. In the morning we give him
bread, who, being placed in the light of the Gospel, bestow on him the
settled strength of our hearts. By these things he is nourished, by
these he is strong, with these he fills the mouths of those who fast,
to whom the unbelief of the Jews supplied no food of faith. To them
every prophetic utterance is but fasting diet, the interior richness of
which they do not see; empty and thin, such as cannot fatten their jaws.
81. Perhaps they brought him flesh in the evening,
as it were stronger food, such as the Corinthians, whose minds were
weak, could not take, and were therefore fed by the Apostle with
milk.[1] So, stronger meat was brought in the evening of the world, in
the morning bread. And so, because the Lord commanded this food to be
supplied, that word of prophecy may be suitably addressed to Him in
this place: "Thou wilt give joy in the outgoings of morning and
evening;"[2] and, farther on: "Thou hast prepared their food, for so is
its preparation."[3]
82. But I think that enough has been said of the
Master, let us now go on to the lives of the disciples, who have given
themselves to His praise and celebrate it with hymns day and night. For
this is the service of the Angels, to be always occupied in the praises
of God, to propitiate and entreat the Lord with frequent prayers. They
attend to reading, or occupy their minds with continual labours, and
separated from the companionship of women, afford safe protection to
each other. What a life is this, in which is nothing to fear, much to
imitate! The pain of fasting is compensated by tranquillity of mind, is
lightened by practice, aided by leisure, or beguiled by occupation; is
not burdened with worldly cares, nor occupied with uncongenial
troubles, nor weighed down with the distractions of the city.
83. You perceive what kind of teacher must be found
for the preservation or teaching of this gift, and we can find him, if
you assist by unanimity, if you forgive one
469
another should any one think himself injured by another. For it is not
the only kind of justice, not to injure him who has not injured us, but
also to forgive him who has most injured us. We are often injured by
the fraud of another, by the guile of a neighbour; do we consider it a
mark of virtue, to avenge guile by guile, or to repay fraud by fraud ?
For if justice is a virtue it should be free from offence, and should
not repel wickedness by wickedness. For what virtue is it that the same
thing should be done by you which you yourself punish in another? That
is the spreading of wickedness not its punishment, for it makes no
difference whom one injures, whether a just man or an unjust, seeing
one ought not to injure anyone. Nor does it make any difference in what
way one bears ill will, whether from a desire of revenging oneself, or
from a wish to injure, since in neither case is ill will free from
blame. For to bear ill will is the same thing as to be unjust, and so
it is said to thee: "Bear not ill will amongst those that bear ill
will, and emulate not those that do unrighteousness ;"(1) and above; "I
have hated the congregation of them that bear ill will."(2) He
clearly comprehends all and makes no exception, he lays hold of ill
will and asks not the cause.
84. But what better pattern can there be than that
of Divine justice ? For the Son of God says: "Love your enemies; "(3)
and again: "Pray for those that persecute you and speak against
you."(4) So far does He remove the desire of vengeance from the perfect
that He commands charity towards those who injure them. And since He
had said in the Old Testament: "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay."(5) He
says in the Gospel, that we are to pray for those who have injured us,
that He Who has said that He will avenge, may not do so; for it is His
will to pardon at your desire with which according to His promise He
agrees. But if you seek for you know that the unjust is more severely
punished by his own convictions than by judicial severity.
85. And since no one can be without some
adversities, let us take care that they do not happen to us through our
own fault. For no one is more severely condemned by the judgment of
others, than a foolish man, who is the cause of his misfortunes, is
condemned by his own. For which reason we should decline matters which
are full of trouble and contention, which have no advantage, but cause
hindrances. Although we ought to take care not to have to repent our
decisions or acts. For it is the part of a prudent man to look forward,
so as not often to have to repent, for never to repent belongs to God
alone. But what is the fruit of righteousness, but tranquillity of mind
? Or what is to live righteously but to live with tranquility ? Such as
is the pattern of the master, such is the condition of the whole house.
But if these things are requisite in a house, how much more in the
Church, "where we, both rich and poor, bond and free, Greek anti
Scythian, noble and common, are all one in Christ Jesus."(1)
86. Let no man suppose that because he is rich, more
deference is to be paid him. In the Church he is rich who is rich in
faith, for the faithful has a whole world of riches. What wonder is it
if the faithful possesses the world, who possesses the inheritance of
Christ, which is of more value than the world ? "Ye were redeemed with
the Precious Blood,"(2) was certainly said to all, not to the rich
only. But if you will be rich, obey him who says: "Be ye holy in all
your conversation."(3) He is speaking not to the rich only but to all;
for He judges without respect of persons, as the Apostle His faithful
witness says. And therefore says he: "Spend the time of your
sojourning here,"(4) not in luxury, or fastidiousness, nor
haughtiness of heart, but in fear. On this earth you have time not
eternity, do you use the time as those who must pass hence.
87. Do not trust in riches; for all such things are
left here, faith alone will accompany you. And righteousness indeed
will go with you if faith has led the way. Why do riches entice you ?
"Ye were not redeemed with gold and silver," with possessions, or silk
garments, "from your vain conversation, but with the precious Blood of
Christ. "(5) He then is rich who is an heir of God, a joint heir with
Christ. Despise not the poor man, he has made you rich. " This poor man
cried, and the Lord heard him."(6) Do not reject a poor man, Christ
when He was rich became poor, and became poor because of you, that by
His poverty He might make you rich.(7) Do not then as though rich exalt
yourself, He sent forth His apostles without money.
88. And the first of them said: "Silver and gold
have I none."(8) He glories in
470
poverty as though shunning contamination. "Silver and gold," he says,
"I have none,"--not gold and silver. He knows not their order in value
who knows not the use of them. "Silver and gold have I none," but I
have faith. I am rich enough in the Name of Jesus, "which is above
every name."(1) I have no silver, neither do I require any; I have no
gold, neither do I desire it, but I have what you rich men have not, I
have what even you would consider to be of more value, and I give it to
the poor, namely that I say in the Name of Jesus: "Be strengthened, ye
weak hands, and ye feeble knees. "(2)
89. But if you will be rich, you must be poor. Then
shall you in all things be rich, if you are poor in spirit. It is not
property which makes rich, but the spirit.
90. There are those who humble themselves in
abundance of riches, and they act rightly and prudently, for the law of
nature is sufficiently rich for all, according to which one may soon
find what is more than enough; but for lust any abundance of riches is
still penury. Again, no one is born poor but becomes so. Poverty then
is not in nature but in our own feelings, and so to find oneself rich
is easy for nature, but hard for lust. For the more a man has gained
the more he thirsts for gain, and burns as it were with a kind of
intoxication from his lusts.
91. Why do you seek for a heap of riches as though
it were necessary ? Nothing is so necessary as to know that this is not
necessary. Why do you throw the blame on the flesh ? It is not the
belly in the body but avarice in the mind which makes a man insatiable.
Does the flesh take away the hope of the future ? Does the flesh
destroy the sweetness of spiritual grace ? Does the flesh hinder faith?
Is it the flesh which attributes any weight to vain opinions as it were
to insane masters ? The flesh prefers frugal moderation, by which it is
freed from burdens, is clothed with health, because it has laid aside
its care and has obtained tranquillity.
92. But riches themselves are not blameable. For
"the ransom of a man's life are his riches,"(3) since he that gives to
the poor redeems his soul.(4) So that even in these material riches
there is place for virtue. You are like steersmen in the vast sea. If a
man steers his course well, he quickly passes over the sea so as to
attain to the port, but one who knows not how to direct his property is
drowned together with his freight. And so it is written: "The wealth of
rich men is a most strong city."(1)
93. And what is that city but Jerusalem which is in
heaven, in which is the kingdom of God ? This is a good possession
which brings eternal fruit. A good possession which is not left here,
but is possessed there. He who possesses this says: "The Lord is my
portion."(2) He says no(4), My portion stretches and extends from this
boundary to that. Nor does he say, My portion is amongst such and such
neighbours, except perchance amongst the apostles, amongst the
prophets, amongst the saints of the Lord, for this is the righteous
man's portion. He does not say, My portion is in the meadows, or in the
woods, or the plains, except perchance those wooded plains in which the
Church is found, of which it is written: "We found it in the wooded
plains."(3) He does not say, My portion consists of herds of horses,
for "a horse is a vain thing for safety."(4) He does not say, My
portion consists of herds of oxen, asses, or sheep; except perchance he
reckons himself amongst those which know their Owner, and wishes to
company with the ass which does not shun the cribs of Christ; and that
Sheep is his portion which was led to the slaughter, and that Lamb
which was dumb before the shearer, and opened not His mouth,(6) in
Whose humiliation judgment has been exalted. Well does he say "before
the shearer," for He laid aside what was additional, not His own
essence, on the cross, when He laid aside His Body, but lost not His
Divinity.
94. It is not then everyone who can say, "The Lord
is my portion." The covetous man cannot, for covetousness draws near
and says: Thou art my portion, I have thee in subjection, thou hast
served me, thou hast sold thyself to me with that gold, by that
possession thou hast adjudged thyself to me. The luxurious man says
not: Christ is my portion, for luxury comes and says: Thou art my
portion, I made thee mine in that banquet, I caught thee in the net of
that feast, I hold thee by the bond of thy gluttony. Dost thou not know
that thy table was more valued by thee than thy life ? I refute thee by
thine own judgment, deny if thou canst, but thou canst not. And in fine
thou hast reserved nothing for thy life, thou hast spent it all for thy
table. The adulterer cannot say: "The Lord is my portion;" for lust
comes and says: I am
471
thy portion, thou didst bind thyself to me in the love of that maiden,
by a night with that harlot thou hast come under my laws and into my
power. The traitor cannot say: "Christ is my portion," for at once the
wickedness of his sin rushes on him and says: He is deceiving Thee,
Lord Jesus, he is mine.
95. We have an example of this, for when Judas had
received the bread from Christ the devil entered into his heart, as
though claiming his own property, as though retaining his right to his
own portion, as though saying: He is not Thine but mine; clearly he is
my servant, Thy betrayer, plainly he is mine. He sits at table with
Thee, and serves me; with Thee he feasts, but is fed by me; from Thee
he receives bread, from me money; with Thee he drinks, and has sold Thy
Blood to me. And he proved how truly he spoke. Then Christ departed
from him, Judas also himself left Jesus and followed the devil.
96. How many masters has he who has forsaken the One
! But let us not forsake Him. Who would forsake Him Whom they follow
bound with chains indeed, but chains of love, which set free and do not
bind, those chains in which they who are bound boast, saying: "Paul the
bondservant of Jesus Christ, and Timothy."(1) It is more glorious for
us to be bound by Him, than to be set free and loosed from others. Who
then would flee from peace ? Who would flee from salvation ? Who would
flee from mercy ? Who would flee from redemption ?
97. You see, my sons, what has been the end of those
who followed these things, how being dead they yet work. Let us study
to gain the diligence of those the glory of whose virtues we admire,
and what we praise in others, let us silently recognize in ourselves.
Nothing effeminate, nothing feeble attains to praise. "The kingdom of
heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force."(2) The
fathers ate the lamb in haste. Faith hastens, devotion is quick, hope
is active, it loves not objections of the mind, but to pass from
fruitless ease to the fruits of toil. Why do you put off till tomorrow
? You can gain to-day; and must guard against not attaining the one and
losing the other. The loss even of one hour is no slight one, one hour
is a portion of our whole life.
98. There are young persons who desire quickly to
attain to old age, so as no longer to be subject to the will of their
elders; and there are also old men who would wish if they could to
return again to youth. And I approve of neither desire, for the young,
disdainful of things present, as it were ungratefully desire a change
in their way of living, the old wish for its lengthening, whereas youth
can grow old in character, and old age grow green with action. For it
is discipline as much as age which brings amendment of character. How
much the more then ought we to raise our hopes to the kingdom of God,
where will be newness of life, and where will be a change of grace not
of age !
99. Reward is not obtained by ease or by sleep. The
sleeper does no work, ease brings no profit, but rather loss. Esau by
taking his ease lost the blessing of the first-born, for he preferred
to have food given to him rather than to seek it. Industrious Jacob
found favour with each parent.
100. And yet although Jacob was superior in virtue
and favour, he yielded to his brother's anger, who grieved that his
younger brother was preferred to him. And so it is written: "Give place
to wrath,"(1) lest the wrath of another draw you also into sin, when
you wish to resist, and to avenge yourself. You can put away sin both
from him and from yourself, if you think well to yield. Imitate the
patriarch who by his mother's counsel went far away. And who was the
mother ? Rebecca, that is, Patience. For who but Patience could have
given this counsel ? The mother loved her son, but preferred that he
should be cut off from herself rather than from God. And so because the
mother was good, she benefited both her sons, but to the youngest she
gave a blessing which he could keep; yet she preferred not one son to
the other as sons; but the active to the easy-going, the faithful to
the unbelieving.
101. And so since he was separated from his parents
through piety not on account of impiety, he talked with God, he
increased in riches, in children, and in favour. Nor was he elated by
these things when he met his brother; but humbly bowed down to him, not
indeed considering him the pitiless, the furious, the degenerate, but
Him Whom he reverenced in him. And so he bowed down seven times, which
is the number of remission, for he was not bowing down to man, but to
Him Whom he foresaw in the Spirit, as hereafter to come in human flesh
to take away the sins of the world.(2) And this mystery is unfolded to
you in the answer
472
given to Peter, when he said: "If my brother trespass against me how
often shall I forgive him ? Until seven times ? ": You see that
remission of sins is a type of that great Sabbath, of that rest of
everlasting grace, and therefore is given by contemplation.
102. But what is the meaning of his having arranged
his wives and children and all his servants, and ordered that they
should bow down to the earth ? It was certainly not to the element of
earth, which is often filled with blood, in which is the workshop of
all crimes, which often is rough with huge rocks, or broken cliffs, or
barren and hungry soil, but as to that Flesh which is to be for our
salvation. And perchance this is that mystery which the Lord taught,
when He said: "Not only seven times, but even seventy times seven."(2)
103. Do you then forgive injuries done to you that
you may be children of Jacob. Be not provoked as was Esau. Imitate holy
David, who as a good master left us what we should follow, saying:
"Instead of loving me they spake against me, but I prayed,"(3) and when
he was reviled, he prayed. Prayer is a good shield, wherewith contumely
is kept away, cursing is repelled and often is turned back on those who
utter it, so that they are wounded by their own weapons. "Let them
curse," he says, "but bless Thou. "(4) The curse of man is to be sought
for, which procures the blessing of the Lord.
104. And for the rest, most dear brethren, consider
that Jesus suffered without the gate, and do you go forth out of this
earthly city, for your city is Jerusalem which is above. Let your
conversation be there, that you may say: "But our conversation is in
heaven."(5) Therefore did Jesus go forth out of the city, that you
going out of this world may be above the world. Moses alone, who saw
God, had his tabernacle without the camp when he talked with God;(6)
and the blood indeed of the victims which were offered for sin, was
brought to the altar, but the bodies were burnt without the camp ;(7)
for no one placed amidst the evil of this world can lay aside sin, nor
is his blood accepted of God, except he go forth from the defilement of
this body.
105. Love hospitality, whereby holy Abraham found
favour, and received Christ as his guest, and Sarah already worn with
age gained a son; Lot also escaped the fire of the destruction of
Sodom. You too can receive Angels if you offer hospitality to
strangers. What shall I say of Rahab who by this means found safety ?
106. Compassionate those who are bound with chains,
as though bound with them. Comfort those in sorrow; for, "It is better
to go into the house of mourning than into the house of rejoicing. "(1)
From the one is gained the merit of a good work, from the other a lapse
into sin. Lastly, in the one case you still hope for the reward, in the
other you have already received it. Feel with those who are afflicted
as if also afflicted with them.
107. Let a wife show deference, not be a slave to
her husband; let her show herself ready to be ruled not coerced. She is
not worthy of wedlock who deserves chiding. Let a husband also guide
his wife like a steersman, honour her as the partner of his life, share
with her as a joint heir of grace.
108. Mothers, wean your children, love them, but
pray for them that they may long live above this earth, not on the
earth but above it, for there is nothing long-lived on this earth, and
that which lasts long is but short and very frail. Warn them rather to
take up the Cross of the Lord than to love this life.
109. Mary, the mother of the Lord stood by her Son's
Cross; no one has taught me this but the holy Evangelist St. John.(2)
Others have related how the earth was shaken at the Lord's passion, the
sky was covered with darkness, the sun withdrew itself;(3) that the
thief was after a faithful confession received into paradise.(4) John
tells us what the others have not told, how the Lord fixed on the Cross
called to His mother, esteeming it of more worth that, victorious over
His sufferings, He rendered her the offices of piety, than that lie
gave her a heavenly kingdom. For if it be according to religion to
grant pardon to the thief, it is a mark of much greater piety that a
mother is honoured with such affection by her Son. "Behold," He says,
"thy Son". ... "Behold thy mother."(5) Christ testified from the Cross,
and divided the offices of piety between the mother and the disciple.
The Lord made not only a public but also a private testament, and John
signed this testament of His, a witness worthy of so great a Testator.
A good testament not of money but of eternal life, which was written
not with ink but with
473
the Spirit of the living God, Who says: "My tongue is the pen of
a quickly writing scribe."(1)
110. Nor was Mary below what was becoming the mother
of Christ. When the apostles fled, she stood at the Cross, and with
pious eyes beheld her Son's wounds, for she did not look for the death
of her Offspring, but the salvation of the world. Or perchance, because
that "royal hall "(2) knew that the redemption of the world would be
through the death of her Son, she thought that by her death also she
might add something to the public weal. But Jesus did not need a helper
for the redemption of all, Who saved all without a helper. Wherefore
also He says: "I am become like a man without help, free among the
dead."(3) He received indeed the affection of His mother, but sought
not another's help.
111. Imitate her, holy mothers, who in her only
dearly beloved Son set forth so great an example of maternal virtue;
for neither have you sweeter children, nor did the Virgin seek the
consolation of being able to bear another son.
112. Masters, command your servants not as being
below you in rank, but as remembering that they are sharers of the same
nature as yourselves.(1) Servants, serve your masters with good will,
for each ought patiently to support that to which he is born, and be
obedient not only to good but also to froward masters. For what thanks
has your service if you zealously serve good masters ? But if you thus
serve the froward also you gain merit; for the free also have no
reward, if when they transgress they are punished by the judges, but
this is their merit to suffer without transgressing. And so you, if
contemplating the Lord Jesus you serve even difficult masters with
patience, will have your reward. Since the Lord Himself suffered, the
just at the hand of the unjust, and by His wonderful patience nailed
our sins to His Cross, that he who shall imitate Him may wash away his
sins in His Blood.
113. In fine, turn all to the Lord Jesus. Let your
enjoyment of this life be with a good conscience, your endurance of
death with the hope of immortality, your assurance of the resurrection
through the grace of Christ; let truth be with simplicity, faith with
confidence, abstinence with holiness, industry with soberness,
conversation with modesty, learning without vanity; let there be
soberness of doctrine, faith without the intoxication of heresy. The
grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.
End of Etext Three Books On the Duties of the Clergy by St. Ambrose,
Bishop of Milan
Return to www.BrainFly.Net