Part 19

6. Now then it behoves you spiritually to consider what Christ bestows; for He distributed among the people silver tried by the fire of the heavenly oracles, and to the desires of the people He told out money stamped with the Royal image. No one could give more than He Who gave all. He satisfied the hungry, He replenished the needy, He enlightened the blind, He redeemed the captives, He raised the palsied, He restored the dead, nay, what is more, He gave absolution to the guilty and forgave their sins. These are the two pence which the Church cast in, after having received them from Christ. And what are the two pence but the price of the New and Old Testament? The price of the Scripture is our faith, for it is according to the intelligence and will of each that what we read therein is valued. So then the remission of sins is the price of both Testaments, and is announced in type by the Lamb, and accomplished in verity by Christ.

Sidenote: Exod. xii. 3. Lev. xii. 2.

Sidenote: S. Luke xxiv. 7.

Sidenote: S. Matt. iii. 11.

7. You understand therefore that the purification of seven days brought with it also the purification of three days. The purification of seven days is according to the Law, which, under the semblance of the sabbath that now is, announced a spiritual sabbath; the purification of three days is according to Grace, and is sealed by the witness of the Gospel, for the Lord rose on the third day. Where a penalty for sin is prescribed there also must penitence be, where remission of sins is accorded there follows Grace. Penitence precedes, Grace follows. So that there can neither be penitence without Grace, nor Grace without penitence, for penitence must first condemn sin, that Grace may abolish it. Wherefore John, fulfilling the type of the Law, baptized unto repentance, Christ unto Grace.

Sidenote: Eccles. xi. 2.

Sidenote: Hosea i. 2.

8. Now the seventh day denotes the mystery of the Law, the eighth that of the Resurrection, as you have in Ecclesiastes, _Give a portion to seven and also to eight_. In the prophet Hosea also you have read that it was said to him, _Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms for fifteen pieces of silver_, seeing that by the double price of the Old and New Testament, that is, by the full price of faith, that woman is hired who was attended by a vagrant and licentious train of ♦sojourners.

Sidenote: Ib. iii. 2.

Sidenote: S. Matt. v. 17.

9. _And I bought her to me_, saith the prophet, _for fifteen pieces of silver, and for an homer of barley, and an half homer of barley and a measure[154] of wine[155]_. By barley is signified that the imperfect are called to the Faith that they may be made perfect, by the homer is understood a full measure, by the half homer a half measure. The full measure is the Gospel, the half measure is the Law, the fulfilment of which is the New Testament. Thus the Lord Himself saith, _I am not come to destroy the Law, but to fulfil_.

Sidenote: Isa. xxxviii. 8.

Sidenote: Mal. iv. 2.

Sidenote: Gal. i. 18.

10. Nor is it without meaning that we read in the Psalms of David of fifteen degrees, and that the sun had risen fifteen degrees, when Hezekiah the righteous king received a new supply of life. Hereby was signified the coming of the Sun of Righteousness, Who was about to enlighten by His presence these fifteen steps of the Old and New Testament whereby our faith mounts up to life eternal. And this leads me to believe that what was read this day from the Apostle of his remaining fifteen days with Peter has a mystical meaning; for it appears that while the holy Apostles held various discourses among themselves upon the interpretation of the Divine Scriptures a full and bright light fell upon them, and the shades of ignorance were dispersed. But now let us come to the absolution of the woman taken in adultery.

Sidenote: S. John viii. 15.

Sidenote: Ib. 4, 5. Lev. xx. 8.

11. A woman accused of adultery was brought by the Scribes and Pharisees to the Lord Jesus with the malicious intent, that, if He was to acquit her, He might seem to annul the Law, if He condemned her, that He might seem to have changed the purpose of His coming, since He came to remit the sins of all men. To the same purport He said above[156], _I judge no man_. So when they brought her they said, _This woman was taken in adultery, in the very act; now Moses in the Law commanded us that such should be stoned, but what sayest Thou?_

Sidenote: v. 7.

12. While they were saying this, Jesus stooped down and wrote with His finger on the ground. And as they waited for His answer, He lifted up His head and said, _He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her_. What can be more Divine than this sentence, that he should punish sins who is himself free from sin? For how can we endure one who takes vengeance on guilt in another and excuses it in himself? When a man ♦condemns in another what he commits himself, does he not rather pronounce his own condemnation?

Sidenote: S. Matt. vii. 3.

13. Thus He spake, and wrote upon the ground. What then did He write? This, _Thou beholdest the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye_. For lust is like a mote, it is quickly kindled, quickly consumed; the sacrilegious perfidy which led the Jews to deny the Author of their salvation declared the magnitude of their crime.

Sidenote: Jer. xvii. 13.

Sidenote: S. Luke x. 20.

14. He wrote upon the ground with the finger with which He had written the Law. Sinners’ names are written in the earth, those of the just in heaven, as He said to His disciples, _Rejoice, because your names are written in heaven_. And He wrote a second time, that you may know that the Jews were condemned by both Testaments.

15. When they heard these words they went out one after another, beginning at the eldest, and sat down thinking upon themselves. _And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst._ It is well said that they went out who chose not to be with Christ. Without is the letter, within are the mysteries. For in the Divine lessons they sought, as it were, after the leaves of trees, and not after the fruit; they lived in the shadow of the Law, and could not discern the Sun of Righteousness.

Sidenote: S. John xvi. 32.

Sidenote: Ib. i. 29.

16. Finally, when they departed Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. Jesus about to remit sin remains alone, as He says Himself, _Behold the hour cometh, yea is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave Me alone_; for it was no messenger, no herald, but the Lord Himself Who saved His people. He remains alone, because in the remission of sins no man can

## participate with Christ. This is the gift of Christ alone, Who _took

away the sins of the world_. The woman too was counted worthy to be absolved, seeing that, on the departure of the Jews, she remained alone with Jesus.

Sidenote: Ib. viii. 10.

17. Then Jesus lifted up His head, and said to the woman, _Where are those thine accusers, hath no man condemned thee? She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee, go, and sin no more._ See, O reader, these Divine mysteries, and the mercy of Christ. When the woman is accused, Christ stoops His head, but when the accusers retire He lifts it up again; thus we see that He would have no man condemned, but all absolved.

Sidenote: S. Matt. xx. 23.

18. By the words, _Hath no man condemned thee?_ He briefly overthrows all the quibbles of heretics, who say that Christ knows not the day of judgment. He Who says, _But to sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to give_, says also in this place, _Hath no man condemned thee?_ How is it that He asks concerning that which He saw? It is for our sakes that He asks, that we might know the woman was not condemned. And such is the wont of the human mind, often to enquire concerning that which we know. The woman too answered, _No man, Lord_, that is to say, Who can condemn when Thou dost not condemn? Who can punish another under such a condition as Thou hast attached to his sentence?

19. The Lord answered her, _Neither do I condemn thee_. Observe how He has modified His own sentence; that the Jews might have no ground of allegation against Him for the absolution of the woman, but by complaining only draw down a charge upon themselves; for the woman is dismissed not absolved; and this because there was no accuser, not because her innocence was established. How then could they complain, who were the first to abandon the prosecution of the crime, and the execution of the punishment?

20. Then He said to her who had gone astray, _Go, and sin no more_. He reformed the criminal, He did not absolve the sin. Faults are condemned by a severer sentence, whenever a man hates his own sin, and begins the condemnation of it in himself. When the criminal is put to death, it is the person rather than the ♦transgression which is punished, but when the transgression is forsaken, the absolution of the person becomes the punishment of the sin. What is the meaning then of, _Go, and sin no more_? It is this; Since Christ hath redeemed thee, suffer thyself to be corrected by Grace; punishment would not reform but only afflict thee. Farewell, my son, and love me as a son, for I on my part love you as a parent.

LETTER XXVII. A.D. 387.

WHO Irenæus was to whom the series of letters from xxvii. to xxxiii. are addressed is not ascertained. From the affectionate and parental way in which S. Ambrose addresses him, and from Irenæus’ applying to him for elucidation of his difficulties in the study of Holy Scripture, it is probable that he was one who had been trained, perhaps converted by him. The Benedictine Editors think that he must have been one of his Milan Clergy. All the letters are occupied in expounding passages of the Old Testament, or in solving questions connected with it; they are specimens of his method of mystical interpretation, in which he took great delight.

In this Letter he begins a reply to a question on Exodus viii. 26. and then goes off into a mystical interpretation of Rachel and Leah, making them an allegory, as S. Paul does Hagar and Sarah.

AMBROSE TO IRENÆUS, GREETING.

Sidenote: Exod. viii. 26.

Sidenote: Gen. xlvi. 34.

1. YOU tell me that you have felt a difficulty in the text _We shall sacrifice the abomination of the Egyptians to the Lord our God_. But you had the means of solving it, for it is written in the book of Genesis, that _a shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians_, and this not on account of the shepherd himself, but of his flocks. For the Egyptians were tillers of the ground, but Abraham and Jacob, and afterwards Moses and David, were shepherds, and in this function exercised a certain kingly discipline.

2. The Egyptians then hated sacrifices which were duly offered; the pursuit of virtue, that is, which is perfect and replete with discipline. But that which these evil men hated is in the sight of the good sincere and pious. The licentious man hates the works of virtue, the glutton shrinks from them. And so the Egyptian’s body, loving the charms of pleasure, has an aversion to the virtues of the soul, hates its rule, and shrinks from the discipline of virtue, and all such like works.

3. But what the Egyptian shrinks from――he who is an Egyptian rather than a man,――that do thou, who hast the knowledge of what befits man, embrace and follow: and shun those things which they pursue and choose; for these two things cannot agree together, wisdom and folly. Thus as wisdom and continence remove themselves from those who are, as it were, in the ranks of unwisdom and intemperance, so no foolish and ♦incontinent man has any part in what belongs to the goods and heritage of the wise and continent man.

Sidenote: Gen. xxxi. 14, 15.

4. Again, those women who were sanctified by their marriage, Leah and Rachel, (the one meaning ‘wearied,’ the other ‘strong breath’[157]) from aversion not to the ties of kindred but to their differing manners, and informed by the much tried Jacob, that he desired to depart in order to shun the envy and sloth of Laban and his sons, made answer thus: _Is there yet any portion or inheritance for us in our father’s house? Are we not counted of him strangers? for he hath sold us, and hath quite devoured also all our money?_ Observe first that the slothful and envious man alienates from himself one who labours and keeps strict discipline; he flies from her and seeks to separate himself. Finding that they will be burthensome to him he thinks he has gained by their removal, and esteems this to be his reward, and this the point of his pleasure.

Sidenote: Ib. v. 16.

5. Now let us hear how what virtue has, sloth has not: for they say, _For all the riches which God hath taken from our father, that is ours, and our children’s_. Rightly do they say that they were taken away by God’s appointment, for it is He Who created the good, for whose sake the slothful are despoiled; for weak and evil men cannot apprehend the beauty of the Divine inheritance; and thus the resolute, and he who hath in him the spirit of a brave man, succeeds to it. But who is strong but God alone Who regulates and governs all things?

Sidenote: Isa. liv. 17.

Sidenote: Ps. cxix. 57.

Sidenote: Ib. 111.

6. To these therefore the heritage of God is justly due. Wherefore Isaiah also says, _There is an heritage for them that believe in the Lord_. Well saith he, _There is an heritage_, for this is the sole heritage, there is no other. For neither is blind treasure an heritage, nor have any transitory things the advantage of an heritage; that alone is an heritage wherein God is the portion. Wherefore the Saint of the Lord saith, _Thou art my portion, O Lord_, and again, _Thy testimonies have I claimed as mine heritage for ever_. You see what are the possessions of the just, the commandments of God, His oracles, His precepts, hereby he is enriched, hereby he is fed, hereby he is delighted as by all manner of riches.

7. Now Leah and Rachel, possessing these, required not their father’s riches, for therein there was base coin, a senseless outward show, destitute of spiritual vigour. Again, being rich and liberal themselves they accounted their father rather indigent than rich. For no one who

## participates in good and liberal discipline deems any foolish man to

be rich, but poor and needy, and even abject; and this although he overflow with royal riches, and in the pride of his gold boasts of his own power.

Sidenote: Ps. xviii. 26.

8. The society of such we must shun then, even though they be united to us by the ties of kindred: the conversation of the foolish is to be avoided, for it infects and discolors the mind, for as _with the clean thou shalt be clean_, so _with the froward thou shalt be froward_. For it frequently happens that one who listens to an intemperate man against his own resolution, much as he himself desires to maintain the rule of continence, is yet stained by the hue of folly, and thus discipline and insolence truly prove themselves contrary and repugnant to each other.

Sidenote: Gen. xxxi. 14.

9. Hence when much-tried Jacob inquired their opinion, they utter the words of virtue now proved by long exercise, _Is there yet any portion or inheritance for us in our father’s house?_ that is, ‘Do you ask us whether we wish to depart from him? As if you knew not that we have no desire of his society, nor are we possessed with that thirst for riches and delight in luxury which is so sweet to most worldlings. These are the things which we deem miserable and alien to our feelings, these are the things which we deem to be full of poverty and want.’

10. They add also the cause of their departure, that Laban had lost the true glory and those stores of good treasure in which we are born. Vigour of mind has been given us, and the good coinage of God’s image and likeness, which is a spiritual coinage. He lost these because he preferred the splendour of this world to things true and profitable for his true life; for the beauty of these things escapes one who is ignorant of the good things of God, while in his judgment of what is beautiful he deludes and deceives himself. Hear then his words and judge.

Sidenote: Gen. xxxi. 27.

11. He pursued holy Jacob and his daughters, thinking haply to find upon them some of his own vices, and thus to have a plea for reclaiming them to himself, censuring the righteous, whereas he himself was refuted by reason, and could give no answer or reply why he had any right to detain him. _Wherefore_, says he, _didst thou not tell me, that I might have sent thee away?_ Wherein he discloses what it was the just man feared, namely, such attendance, such a convoy, lest he should go forth escorted by such a company: in the first place because it behoved him not to submit himself to the service of many masters, so as to be dismissed by Laban as a servant: and next because this man, intent upon good discipline and desirous of following the true path of virtue, sought no man to guide him but the heavenly oracles. These, said he, have commanded me to depart from hence and now accompany me on my journey.

12. But how wouldst thou have dismissed me, he would say? Would it have been with such joy as thine which is full of sadness, with cymbals namely and instruments of ill-modulated harmony, and with the sweet notes of flutes sounding forth unpleasing strains, dissonant sounds, discordant noises, mute voices, cymbals jarring upon the sense? Didst thou believe that I could be delighted, that I be recalled by such things? It is from them that I fled, nor do I fear thy reproachful words. I fled that such things might not follow me, that I might receive no present from thee on my departure.

13. It is not by such guides as these that we arrive at the Church of Christ, to which Jacob was bending his steps, to carry down thither the wealth of the nations and the riches of the Gentiles, that he might transplant thither his posterity, flying from the shadows of empty things, preferring to senseless images of virtues their breathing beauty, and serious things to outward show. You see how the Gentiles deck out their banquets, and proclaim their feasts; but such things are hateful to pious minds, for by their means many are deceived, they are captivated by pleasant food, by the bands of dancers, while they fly from our fasts, deeming them irksome to them, and noxious and troublesome to the body.

Sidenote: Ps. xii. 7.

14. Or didst thou think that I should desire thy gold? But thou hast not _gold tried by_ that _fire_ wherein the just are proved. Or was it silver that I desired? But thou hast not silver, for thou possessest not the brightness of the heavenly words. But perhaps I hoped that thou wouldst give me some of thy slaves to serve me? Nay, I seek for free men, and not the slaves of sin. But perhaps companions of my journey and guides of my path were necessary? Would that they had power to follow me! for I would have shewn them the ways of the Lord. But ye who know not God, how can ye know His ways? The elect of the Lord walk in His ways, not every one who enters them, and yet no man is excluded.

Sidenote: Gen. xxx. 32.

15. Let him who is prepared follow, let him enter upon the way which leads to Mesopotamia; so that he who seeks that country may pass through the waters, the waters of Tigris and Euphrates, the waters of courage and righteousness, through the tears of penitence, the baptism of grace. Here is the path of the army of God, for all who are in the Church are God’s soldiers. There is that flock marked with divers virtues, which Jacob chose for himself; for every soul which is not so marked is unlearned and uninstructed, ignorant of discipline: but that which is marked is rich in works and fertile in grace.

Sidenote: Ib. xxxiv. 25. sqq.

Sidenote: Ib. xxxii. 24.

Sidenote: 1 Cor. xiii. 4.

16. Let him who comes to it first be reconciled to his angry brother. Let him who comes to it inhabit Shechem, that precious and active laboratory of virtue, where injured chastity is so deeply avenged. Let him who comes to it wrestle with God, that he may inure himself to imitate Him, that he may come in contact with the humility of Christ and His sufferings. Let him take up his cross and follow Christ. Lastly, a good combatant _envieth not, is not puffed up_, nay, he even blesses his antagonist with a like gift.

Sidenote: Rom. v. 3, 4, 5.

17. Let us then follow holy Jacob and his ways, that we may reach these sufferings, these combats, that we may reach the shoulder[158], that we may attain to patience, the mother of the faithful, and to their father Isaac, that is, one capable of delight[159], abounding in joy. For where patience is, there also is joy, for after tribulation comes patience, and _patience worketh experience_, wherein is _hope, whereby we are not ashamed_, for whoso is not ashamed the cross of Christ, neither will Christ be ashamed of him.

Farewell, my son; blush not to ask questions of your father, as you blush not to glory in the sufferings of Christ.

LETTER XXVIII. A.D. 387.

S. AMBROSE in this Letter maintains that Pythagoras derived much of his wisdom from a knowledge of the Hebrew Scriptures, and dwells on his maxim, ‘not to follow the beaten track,’ as one specially addressed to the priesthood.

AMBROSE TO IRENÆUS, GREETING.

Sidenote: Exod. iii. 5.

Sidenote: Josh. v. 15.

Sidenote: Exod. xxiv. 13, 14.