Part 22

5. The other likewise is procured from the Gentiles, and both are the Spouse of the One Word, which is a great mystery. And this is set forth to you in the book of Kings; since David had two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess and Abigail whom he obtained afterwards; the first more severe, the latter full of mercy and grace, an hospitable and liberal soul, who saw the Father with open face, having beheld His glory; she who received the divine dew of paternal Grace, as the interpretation of the name signifies. Now what is the dew of the Father, but the Word of God, Who has filled the hearts of all with the moisture of faith and justice?

Sidenote: Ib. 32.

Sidenote: Ib. 35.

Sidenote: Cant. ii. 14.

6. Well therefore does the true David say to this soul what was said to Abigail, _Blessed is the Lord God of Israel which sent thee this day to meet me_. And again he says to her, _Go up in peace to thine house; see, I have hearkened to thy voice, and have accepted thy person_. Lastly in the Song of Solomon these are the words of the Bridegroom to the Bride, _Let me see thy countenance; let me hear thy voice_.

7. And at the time she was dismissed, for she had another husband who in Hebrew was called Nabal, which in Latin means foolish, a man harsh, inhospitable, uncourteous, ungrateful, who knew not how to repay good offices; but after his death, she was _set free from the law of her husband_, and the prophet David took her to wife. By this marriage the mystery of the Church which was to be called from among the Gentiles is signified, for she, having lost the husband to whom she had been married, became converted to Christ, bringing with her a dowry of piety, of humility and faith, enriched also with the patrimony of mercy.

Sidenote: Ps. xliv. 15.

Sidenote: Mic. iv. 4.

8. But in this place it is not this wife, but that Ahinoam, who was evilly disposed towards her brother, wherefore her brother was made a trouble to her, and in their person it is said, _thou makest us to be a bye-word among the heathen, and that the people shake their heads at us_. The devil, finding her off her guard, fell upon her as a lion, and deprived her of her charms, rooted up _her vine and fig-tree_ under which she used to repose, and caused her fruit to wither.

Sidenote: Joel i. 8.

Sidenote: Hosea iv. 6.

9. But now God, having compassion on them, thus dried up and withered by drought, saith to the prophet, _Lament to Me for virgin girded with sackcloth and for the husband of her youth_, that is to say, over the dead husband of this soul or of the Synagogue. And with her He expostulates in another place, forasmuch as she had forgotten her resolution, forgotten His grace, had wandered from discipline, and had lost her former affections as a wife. Lastly therefore He reproves her with His words, calling to mind and repeating her tenderness and her expressions of affection: ‘Didst Thou not call me one of Thy household, the parent and guide of Thy virginity.’

Sidenote: 1 Cor. xi. 14.

Sidenote: Eph. iv. 13.

10. Wherefore for this soul, to whom through her infidelity the Word of God is dead, and this Virgin Word is dead also, He appoints grief and brings in an Intercessor, that so she may be called to penitence, and may thereby earn compassion. But she who is of prudent understanding and very beautiful to look upon, was gained for him, like Abigail, in battle; her adversaries were conquered, and her husband, he who, surrounded by spiritual wickedness, struggled and fought not to lose his beautiful wife, being dead. On her, her victorious and loving Spouse confers sweetness and grace, cleansing her from all that might obscure her beauty, and taking off from her the garments of her captivity, that so, laying aside all the hairs of her head, that is, the curls of sins, which seem to be superfluous parts of our person (for _if a man have long hair it is a shame unto him_), she may strive to come _in the unity of the faith, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ_, that she may lay aside all trouble of mind, and founded in love may grow up in the Lord Jesus, and make increase of the whole body.

Sidenote: Deut. xxi. 12.

Sidenote: Ib. 12.

Sidenote: Eccles. ii. 14.

Sidenote: Deut. xxi. 13.

Sidenote: Jer. xvii. 12. Vulg.

11. This is that soul whom the Law shews to thee under the figure of a beautiful woman, and _if thou seest her among the captives, and hast a desire unto her, that thou wouldest have her to thy wife_, it says to thee, _thou shalt bring her home to thine house_, that thou mayest commit to her the whole interior of thy house, the possession of all thy secrets, that thou mayest take away her superfluities, and cut off her transgressions; and with a razor not too sharp, lest it come to evil, may cut off the slough of thy passions, and thy idle senses. Wherefore it is said, _she shall shave her head_, that so the _wise man’s eyes_ that _are in his head_ may meet with no hindrance. And _she shall remain_, it is said, _in thine house a full month_, bewailing the sins of her nativity, and the lies of her wicked father the devil, who would fain _gather what he hath not laid_, that so, cleansed by the purification of this mystic number, she may obtain the keys of marriage.

Sidenote: Deut. xxi. 13.

Sidenote: Wisd. viii. 19.

Sidenote: Cant. iii. 4.

12. And it is well said, _After that thou shalt go in unto her_, bidding thee to enter wholly into thy soul, and collect thyself within her, and so dwell in her that thou mayest be not in the flesh but in the spirit, and purpose to associate her to thyself in the commerce of life, knowing that she will communicate to thee of her goods, and that filled with her grace thou mayest say, _I was a witty child, and had a good spirit_; and she may answer thee, _I will take thee, and bring thee into my mother’s house, and unto the chamber of her that conceived me. A good mother of souls in that Jerusalem which is in heaven._

Sidenote: Deut. xxi. 14.

13. She then shall be thy life, she shall find thee and kiss thee. _And it shall be, if thou hast no delight in her_, because she chastiseth her body, and bringeth it into slavery, thou shalt not suffer her to be a slave, that is, to the lusts of the body, nor subject her to the flesh, but suffer her to remain free; thou shalt not alienate her, for this were to sell her, nor shalt thou despise her, but shalt allow her to serve God in the chastity of faith and sobriety of good works. Farewell: love me, for I love you.

LETTER XXXII. A.D. 387.

S. AMBROSE in this Letter applies the words of Jeremiah about the partridge (Jer. xvii. 11.) to Satan, and from it sets forth the way in which Jesus Christ has overcome him, and rescued man from his power.

AMBROSE TO IRENÆUS, GREETING.

Sidenote: Jer. xvii. 11.

Sidenote: 1 Kings iv. 33.

1. _THE partridge hath cried, she hath gathered what she hath not hatched[167]._ From the conclusion of my last letter I may borrow the opening of the ensuing. The question has been much mooted: with a view therefore of solving it, let us consider what natural history tells us of the nature of this bird. For it is the part of no little sagacity to consider even this, for Solomon knew the nature _of beasts and of fowl, and of creeping things and of fishes_!

2. Now this bird is said to be full of craft, fraud, and guile, skilled in the ways of deceiving the fowler, and experienced in the arts of turning him aside from her young ones; omitting no artful stratagem which may draw off the pursuer from her nest and lurking place. And we know that on observing his approach, she beguiles him until she has given her offspring the signal and opportunity for flight. As soon as she perceives they have escaped, she also withdraws herself, leaving her enemy deluded by her treacherous wiles.

3. It is said also to be a bird which copulates indiscriminately, and that the male bird rushes eagerly on the female, and burns with unrestrained desires. Wherefore it has been thought suitable to compare this impure malicious and deceitful creature with the adversary and circumventor of the human race, with him who is the arch-deceiver and author of impurity.

Sidenote: Gen. iii. 4, 5.

Sidenote: Exod. v. 2.

Sidenote: Num. xvi. 2.

Sidenote: Exod. xxxii. 1.

Sidenote: S. Matt. xxvii. 23–25.

Sidenote: 1 Sam. viii. 5.

4. _The partridge then cried_, he that is, who derives his name from destroying[168]: even Satan, which in Latin means the adversary[169]. He cried first in Eve, he cried in Cain, he cried in ♦Pharaoh, in Dathan, Abiram, ♦Korah. He cried in the Jews, when they demanded gods to be made for them, while the law was being given to Moses. He cried again, when they said of the Saviour, _Let Him be crucified, let Him be crucified_, and, _His blood be on us and on our children_. He cried, when they required that a king should be given them, that they might revolt from the Lord God their King. He cried in every one who was vain and faithless.

Sidenote: Gen. i. 27.

Sidenote: Jer. xvii. 11.

Sidenote: Isa. lxiii. 1.

5. And by these cries he gathered to himself a people whom he had not created; for God made man after His own likeness and image, and the Devil drew man to himself by the allurements of his voice: He gathered to himself the nations of the Gentiles, _getting riches not by right_[170]. Wherefore it is a common saying concerning the rich and covetous man, that he is a partridge gathering riches not by right. But my Jesus, as a good Judge, does all things with righteousness[171], for He came saying, as it is written, _I speak righteousness and judgement[172] of salvation_.

Sidenote: Gen. iv. 10.

Sidenote: Exod. xiv. 15.

Sidenote: Josh. i. 1.

Sidenote: Ps. cxix. 146.

Sidenote: Isa. xl. 6.

Sidenote: Prov. ix. 5.

Sidenote: Hab. ii. 11.

Sidenote: S. Matt. xxvii. 46.

Sidenote: S. Luke xxiii. 43.

Sidenote: Jer. xvii. 11.

6. By that grace then He despoiled that partridge the Devil, took from him the ill-gotten riches, even the multitude that followed Him, recalled from error the souls of the Gentiles, and the minds of the nations that wandered from the way. And since He knew that they were beguiled by the voice of the Devil, and in order that He might Himself loose the bonds and chains of ancient error, He cried first in Abel, the voice of whose blood cried out. He cried in Moses, to whom He said, _Wherefore criest thou unto Me?_ He cried in Joshua, He cried in David, who says, _Unto Thee do I call, help me_. He cried too in all the Prophets. Wherefore He says also to Isaiah, _Cry_, and Isaiah answers, _What shall I cry?_ He cried in Solomon, calling to all with a very loud voice in the power ♦of Wisdom, _Come eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled_. He cried also in His Body, as the _Beam out of the timber_. He cried that He might deceive and circumvent the lurking Enemy, saying, _My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me_. He cried that He might spoil him of his prey, replying to the thief, _Verily I say unto thee, this day shalt thou be with Me in Paradise_. Wherefore when Jesus cried, straightway that partridge was left by those whom he had gathered _in the midst of his days_.

7. Wherefore some have thought that this also agrees with the nature of the partridge, forasmuch as it steals the eggs of others, and hatches them with its own body, seeking by this treachery to gain for itself the offspring of others. But when she whose eggs have been stolen, or nest invaded, or her young have been tempted by a fraudulent resemblance, and deceived by the appearance of beauty, when she, I say, perceives this, she ‘picks out the crow’s eyes[173]’ as the saying is, and, being inferior in strength, puts on and arms herself with cunning. And when all the labour she has bestowed on their nurture has exhausted her store of food, and her young ones have begun to grow up, she utters her cries, and calls to her offspring with the trumpet (as it were) of affection. And they, roused by this natural sound, recognise their mother, and desert their pretended parent. And thus, seeking to gather what he has not hatched, he loses those whom he thought to bring up.

Sidenote: Rom. vi. 8.

8. Not without need therefore was it that Jesus also cried; it was in order that the whole universe which had been deceived by the voice, the allurements, the art, the specious beauty of the partridge, and enticed by his treacherous wiles, and had wandered from the true Author of their being, might be recalled by the voice of her true Parent, might abandon this deceiver, and desert him _in the midst of his days_, that is, before the end of this world. From him the Lord Jesus has rescued us, and called us to eternal life. Wherefore now, _being dead to the world we live to God_.

Sidenote: 1 Cor. i. 27.

Sidenote: Ib. iii. 18.

9. When then this partridge shall have been completely forsaken by his false children, then that foolish one whom God has chosen and who has confounded the wise man, will be saved. Wherefore _if any man seemeth to be wise in this world let him become a fool, that he may be wise_.

Farewell my son, and love me, as indeed you do, for I love you.

LETTER XXXIII.

S. AMBROSE in this Letter explains more fully the text of Deut. (xxi. 15 &c.) which he had alluded to in Letter xxi. and makes the _two wives_ represent qualities.

AMBROSE TO IRENÆUS, GREETING.

Sidenote: Deut. xxi. 15.

1. IN a previous letter I said that the soul ought to be delivered from its adversaries, and a bond of life which shall be inseparable entered into with it. And inasmuch as my discourse took as a proof of its assertion that passage in the Book of Deuteronomy which speaks of the man who had two wives, one beloved and the other hated, you seem to have felt much concern lest any one should suppose this man had taken to himself two souls, which is impossible.

2. But you yourself know that sometimes, when Scripture uses allegory, it refers some things to the figure of the Synagogue, some to that of the Church; some things to the soul, others to the mystery of the Word, others to souls of different kinds and qualities, which he who has spiritual discernment can distinguish. And so I conceive that it is not two souls, but different qualities of the same soul, which are treated of in the following chapter of the Law. For there is an amiable kind of soul, which desires pleasure, which shuns labour, shrinks from compunction, slights the judgments of God. It is amiable because it seems gentle and sweet for the time, and one that soothes rather than distresses the mind. But there is another severer kind, which is consumed with zeal for God, which, like a strict wife, will not permit or suffer her consort to commit whoredoms, allows no indulgence to the body, gives no licence to delight or pleasure, renounces the hidden deeds of shame, devotes herself to arduous labours and to severe perils.

Sidenote: Ib. 16.

Sidenote: Exod. xiii. 2. S. Luke ii. 23.

3. If therefore both have borne children, _he may not_, it is said, _when he maketh his sons to inherit that which he hath, make the son of the beloved first[174] before the son of the hated, which is indeed the first_. The meaning of which I conceive not to be so much a simple preference as between two first ones, but rather a declaration that the son of the hated wife alone has the prerogative of being first. Now the word ‘primitivus’ means as first-born[175], and the first-born are holy, for _every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord_. Nevertheless all first-born are not holy, for Esau who was the first-born was not holy.

Sidenote: Numb. iii. 12, 13.

Sidenote: Heb. xii. 22.

Sidenote: Gen. xxix. 34.

4. But the holy are the first-born, for it is written in Numbers; _Behold, I have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel instead of all the first-born that openeth the matrix among the children of Israel. For on the day that I smote all the first-born in the land of Egypt, I hallowed unto Me all the first-born in Israel._ Wherefore He took the Levites for the first-born, as being holy, for we know that the holy are first-born from the Epistle to the Hebrews, where it is written, _But ye are come to Mount Sion, and unto the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of Angels and to the Church of the first-born_. Wherefore as the first-born of the Church are holy, so also are the Levites, for they also are the first-born. For it is not by the order of their birth but by the gift of sanctification that they are holy; Levi being the third son of Leah and not the first.

Sidenote: Ps. lviii. 3.

Sidenote: Gal. i. 15.

Sidenote: S. John i. 26.

5. But he who is sanctified himself opens the womb. What womb? Hear the words, _As soon as they are born they go astray_. As you have understood the first-born who opens the womb, so understand here the womb of the good mother, from which it is not saints, but sinners who go astray. But the Levites are taken away from the midst of Israel, because they have nothing in common with the people, whose earthly first-born are destroyed. The first-born of the world are of another mother, from whose womb Paul was separated when he was called to the grace of God. He received the Word Who is in the midst of our hearts. Whence it is said also, _There standeth One among you, Whom ye know not_.

Sidenote: Deut. xxi. 16.

Sidenote: Gen. xlv. 22.

6. This digression then of ours from one part of the Law to the other, for the purpose of shewing that the first-born is not the son of the beloved, that is of the more remiss and voluptuous wife, has not been needless, although the words of the chapter before us express the same truth: _He may not make the son of the beloved first-born before the son of the hated, which is indeed the first-born_. He is indeed the first-born who is the holy son of a holy mother; just as she is indeed the mother, from whose womb not her true sons but sinners go astray. Wherefore the former is not the son of the true mother, nor the true first-born, but as though he were so, subsistence is indeed provided for him that he may not want, but he is not honoured, that he may become rich. But the other has received double from all, that he may abound; just as in Genesis each of the patriarchs had two changes of raiment given to them by their brother Joseph, when they were sent back to their father to tell him that he whom he had believed to be dead was found.

Sidenote: Deut. xxi. 17.

Sidenote: Rev. i. 8.

Sidenote: Gen. xxi. 10.

7. Thus the first-born has received the prerogative of inheritance, as the Scripture says, _He is the beginning of his strength, the right of the first-born is his_. Thus from the first-born Son of God the first-born are holy, and from that beginning, (for He is the Beginning and the Ending,) the beginning is called holy, the beginning is the son to whom the prerogative of the first-fruits is due, according to that which was said to Abraham, _Cast out this bondwoman and her son, for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac_.

Sidenote: Ib. xxi. 12.

8. Now the Divine Oracle teaches us that this relates to the inheritance of virtues rather than that of mercy, for the Lord says, _In all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice; for in Isaac shall thy seed be called_. What other inheritance was there in Isaac which could ennoble his father, but that of sanctity? The son of the handmaid indeed he set over the Gentiles, as bestowing upon him a simple portion of his patrimony, but to the son of Sarah he gave a double portion, for on him he bestowed not only temporal but also heavenly and eternal things.

Farewell: love me, for I love you.

LETTER XXXIV.

HORONTIANUS asks whether the soul is from heaven. S. Ambrose first refers him to the Book of Esdras, and then dwells upon S. Paul’s statement in Rom. viii.

AMBROSE TO HORONTIANUS[176], GREETING.

1. YOU have enquired of me whether the soul is formed of a heavenly substance; for you are too well instructed to suppose that the soul is made of blood or fire or any harmony of nerves, as the common herd of philosophers believe, nor as that patrician sect of them, the descendants of Plato assert, does that which moves of itself and is not moved by others appear to you to be the soul, nor indeed have you approved that fifth kind of element which the keen genius of Aristotle has introduced, namely a kind of[177] perfection of which the essence of the soul might be (as it were) framed and compounded.

2. On this subject I advise you to read the book of Esdras, who despised these trifles of the philosophers, and with a deeper wisdom which he had gathered from Revelation, pointed out that the soul is of a nobler substance.

Sidenote: Rom. viii. 20, 21.

Sidenote: Acts xvii. 28.