Part 32

8. Nor has the Apollinarian venom any cause for complaining because it is thus it written, _And being found in fashion[228] as a man_, for Jesus is not hereby denied to be man, for in another place Paul himself calls Him, _The Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus_, but rather His manhood is established. For it is the custom and manner of Scripture so to express itself, and we read also in the Gospel, _And we beheld His glory, the glory as of the Only-begotten of the Father_. In the same way therefore that He is called _as_ the only-begotten, yet it is not denied that He is truly the only-begotten Son of God, so He is said to be _as_ man, yet it is not denied that the perfection of manhood existed in Him.

Sidenote: Phil. ii. 7.

Sidenote: Gal. iv. 4.

Sidenote: Ps. cxix. 91.

Sidenote: Ib. lxxxix. 20, 26, 27.

Sidenote: Ib. lxxxvi. 2.

9. While, then, He was in the form of a servant, humbled even unto death, He yet remained in the glory of God. What injury then was His state of subjection to Him? We read that He was made a servant, because we read that He was made of a Virgin and created in the flesh, for every creature is a servant, as the Prophet says; _For all things serve Thee_. Wherefore also God the Father says, _I have found David My servant, with My holy oil have I anointed him. He shall call Me, Thou art my Father, my God, and my strong salvation; and I will make him My first-born_; and in another Psalm, _Preserve Thou my soul for I am holy: save Thy servant_, and afterwards in the same Psalm, _Give Thy strength unto Thy servant, and help the son of Thy handmaid_. Thus I have collected the words of the Father and of the Son, that I may answer not with human arguments but by the Divine oracles.

Sidenote: Ps. xxxi. 5.

Sidenote: Ib. 8.

Sidenote: Ib. 11.

Sidenote: Ib. 16.

Sidenote: Isa. xlix. 1–3.

Sidenote: Ib. xli. 8.

Sidenote: S. John i. 18.

10. In another passage He says, _Into Thy hands I commend My spirit_, and, _Thou hast set My feet in a large room_, and, _I became a reproof among all Mine enemies_. And in the same Psalm, _Shew Thy servant the light of Thy countenance_. By the mouth of Isaiah too the Son of God Himself says, _From my mother’s womb the Lord hath called My name, and He hath made My mouth like a sharp sword, in the shadow of His hand hath He hid Me, and made Me a polished shaft; in His quiver hath He hid Me; and said unto Me, Thou art My servant, O Israel_. For the Son of God is also called Israel, as in another place, _But thou, Israel, My Servant Jacob, whom I have chosen_. For He alone hath truly not only seen but also declared God the Father.

Sidenote: Isa. xlix. 3, 4, 5.

Sidenote: Isa. xlix. 6.

Sidenote: Ib. xlii. 6. xlix. 6.

Sidenote: Ezek. xxxiv. 23, 24.

Sidenote: Zech. iii. 8.

Sidenote: Ib. iii. 3.

11. And it goes on, _In whom I will be glorified. Then I said, I have laboured in vain, I have spent my strength for nought, and in vain: yet surely my judgment is with the Lord, and my work with my God. And now saith the Lord that formed me from the womb to be His servant, to bring Jacob again to Him and Israel._ Who hath gathered the people of God but Christ? Who is glorified before the Lord? Who is the Power of God? He to Whom the Father hath said, _It is a light thing that Thou shouldest be My servant_[229], and He to Whom He says _Behold, I will give Thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles, that Thou mightest be My Salvation unto the end of the earth_. Of Him He has also spoken by the mouth of the prophet Ezekiel, saying, _I will set up one Shepherd over them, and He shall feed 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._ Now king David was already dead, and therefore the true David, the truly humble, the truly meek, the true Son of God, strong of hand, is announced by this name; he also is intended in the book of the prophet Zechariah, where God the Father says, _Behold I will send my servant, the Orient[230] is His name_. Did then His being _clothed in filthy garments_ deprive the Sun of righteousness of the brightness of His Godhead?

12. And why need I say more? Shall we deem servitude to be a state of greater weakness than that of being made sin, of being a curse, a reproach, than the infirmities which He bore for our sakes that we might be saved from them? For He was made all of these that He might relieve the world from them. But they will not admit that He was made a servant, a reproach, a curse, because they affirm that the Word and the flesh are of one substance, and say, Because He redeemed us He is called a servant, and ought to be called sin. And they do not perceive this to be the glory of Christ, that in His Incarnation He took upon Him the state of a servant that He might restore liberty to all; He bore our sins, that He might take away the sin of the world.

Sidenote: Gal. iii. 13.

Sidenote: Is. xlix. 4.

Sidenote: Phil. ii. 16.

13. He was made a servant, He was made sin and a curse, that thou mightest cease to be a servant of sin, and that He might absolve thee from the curse of the Divine judgment. He therefore took upon Him thy curse, for _Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree_. He was made a curse upon the cross, that thou mightest be blessed in the kingdom of God. He was disgraced, He was vilified and set at nought. He said, _I have laboured in vain_, through Whom Paul was enabled to say, _I have not laboured in vain_. This He did that He might confer on His servants the fruit of good works and the glory of the preaching of the Gospel, whereby the world might be released from the burthen of its toil.

Sidenote: Jer. xvii. 11.

14. On hearing these things _the partridge[231] was left in the midst of her days_, she who cried _that she might gather the things which she did not lay_, and was overcome by the voice of the Lord Jesus. And even now is she preparing for flight.

Farewell; love me, for I love you.

LETTER XLVII. A.D. 390.

THIS brief letter was sent with a book which Sabinus had asked for. It is a friendly invitation to a regular correspondence, as bringing friends together in spirit who are severed in body.

AMBROSE TO SABINUS.

1. I HAVE transmitted the volume you asked for, written more clearly and neatly than the one which I had previously sent, in order that by the facility of its perusal your judgment of it might be unimpeded. For the original copy was written not for appearance, but for use, for I do not always employ a scribe, especially at night, at which time I am unwilling to be a trouble and a burthen to others, and further, because the words I am then dictating flow on with a kind of impetuosity, and in a rapid stream.

Sidenote: Ps. xlv. 2.

2. But as I am desirous to select with precision the words which my old age employs in its familiar intercourse, and to proceed with a slow step, I think the use of my own hands in writing befits me better; that I may seem rather to conceal my words than lustily give vent to them; and may not have to blush at the presence of him who is writing for me, but, having no one in the secret of my words, may weigh what I write with eye as well as with ears. For, in the words of Scripture, the tongue is swifter than the hand; _My tongue is the pen of a ready writer_.

Sidenote: Gal. vi. 11.

3. And though you may perhaps say that the swiftness is here attributed to the writer, the meaning will nevertheless not escape you that it is only the swiftness of a ready writer which can take down the words of the prophetic tongue. The Apostle Paul also wrote with his own hand, as he says himself, _I have written unto you with mine own hand_. He did it to show honour, we do it from bashfulness.

4. But while your judgement of my book is still in suspense, let us entertain each other by letters; the advantage whereof is that although severed from each other by distance of space we may be united in affection; for by this means the absent have the image of each other’s presence reflected back upon them, and conversation by writing unites the severed. By this means also we interchange thoughts with our friend, and transpose our mind into his.

5. Now if, according to your admonition, there is any savour of ancient writings in our letters, not only do our minds seem to be united by this progress in true doctrine, but also the form and fashion of a more intimate converse seems to be set forth, in that the discussion which is thus entered upon by mutual inquiry and reply appears to place in presence of each other those friends who in this manner challenge and engage one another.

Sidenote: 1 Cor. v. 3.

6. And why need I produce the example of our ancestors, who by their letters have instilled faith into the minds of the people, and have written to whole nations together, and have shewn themselves to be present although writing from a distance, according to the words of the Apostle, that he was _absent in body, but present in spirit_, not only in writing but also in judging. Again, he condemned them while absent by epistle, and also absolved them by epistle; for the epistle of Paul was a certain image of his presence and form of his work.

Sidenote: 2 Cor. x. 10.

Sidenote: Ib. 11.

7. For the epistles of the Apostles were not, like those of others, _weighty and powerful, but his bodily presence weak, and his speech contemptible_, but his letter was of that kind that such as was the substance of his work such also was the form of his precept; for _such_, says he, _as we are in word by letters when absent, such will we be also in deed when we are present_. He imprinted the image of his presence on his letters, he declared its fruit and testimony in his work.

Farewell; love me, as indeed you do, for I love you.

LETTER XLVIII.

S. AMBROSE in this letter begs Sabinus to examine the books which he sends to him carefully, and to criticise them freely, as a proof of true friendship, and at the same time adding to the value of the works.

AMBROSE TO SABINUS.

1. YOU have sent me back my volumes, and I shall hold them in greater esteem owing to your judgment. I have therefore sent you others, not so much because I was delighted at wishing for your favourable judgment, as of that truth which I have asked and you have promised to declare to me; for should any thing strike you I would rather it had the correction of your judgment before it goes abroad beyond the power of recal, than that you should praise what is blamed by others. It is on this account that I have requested to have your opinion of those things which you asked me to write, for I have not so much desired that what I publish from time to time should be read by you, as that they should be submitted to the account which your judgment shall take of them. And this judgment, as one said of old, will not require[232] a long sitting and delay. For surely it is easy for you to judge of my writings.

2. Thus far, on your invitation, I have thought it right to proceed; it is now your part to discern clearly and examine carefully what requires correction, that you may thus escape being inculpated in those faults which may have stolen unawares upon myself. For somehow over and above that want of caution which envelops me as with a mist, every one is beguiled in what he himself writes, and its faults escape his ear. And as a man takes pleasure in his children even though deformed, so also is a writer flattered by his own discourses however ungraceful. How frequently are words put forth uncautiously or understood less charitably than one means; or some ambiguity escapes from us; things, moreover, which are to be subjected to the judgment of others we ought to weigh not so much by our own as by another’s opinion, and to separate from it every grain of malevolence.

3. Be so kind therefore as to lend an ear of keen attention, peruse the whole thoroughly, test my discourses, see whether they contain, not rhetorical charms and persuasive words, but a sound faith and a sober confession. Affix a mark on words of doubtful weight and which are deceitful in the scales, that the adversary may not make out any thing to tell in his favour. Let him meet with defeat if he enters into the contest. That book is in a bad condition, which cannot be defended without a champion; for a book which goes forth without a mediator has to speak for itself; my book however shall not go forth from me, unless it receive authority from you. When then you bid it go forth, and give your word for it, let it be left to its own keeping.

Sidenote: 1 Cor. iv. 20.

Sidenote: S. Matt. xxviii. 19.

Sidenote: Col. ii. 9.

Sidenote: Phil. ii. 7, 8.

4. But, since _the kingdom of God is not in word but in power_, if a word offend you consider the _power_ of its profession. By profession I mean that decision of faith which we hold, as handed down by our fathers, against the Sabellians and Arians, that we worship God the Father and His Only-begotten Son and the Holy Spirit, that this Trinity is of one Substance Majesty and Divinity; that in this _Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost_, we _baptize_, as it is written; that the Son, co-eternal with the Father, took upon Him our flesh, born of the Holy Spirit and of the Virgin Mary, equal to the Father as touching His Godhead, in the form of God, that is, in all the fulness of the Godhead Which _dwells in Him_, as the Apostle says, _bodily_; Who, in the person of man, _took upon Him the form of a servant, and humbled Himself even unto death_.

Sidenote: Heb. vi. 18.

5. Wherefore as against Photinus this is our sentence, and as against Apollinaris it is also a proper safeguard; our confession, namely, that as in the form of God He lacked nothing of the Divine nature and fulness, so in that human form there was nothing wanting in Him so as to cause Him to be judged imperfect as Man; for He came in order to save man altogether. Truly it would not have been fitting that He Who had accomplished a perfect work in others should suffer it to be imperfect in Himself; for if aught was wanting to Him as Man, then He did not redeem the whole man, and if He did not redeem the whole man, He deceived us, for He said that He had come in order to save the whole man. But since it is _impossible for God to lie_, He deceived us not; wherefore, seeing that He came to redeem and save the whole man, He took upon Him the whole of that which belonged to human perfection.

6. Such, as you will remember, is my belief. Should my words in any passage raise a doubt, still they will not raise any prejudice as to my faith, for if the mind continue stedfast, it extends its protection over ambiguous language, and preserves it from error.

7. This preface then I send you, and will insert it, if you please, in the books of our letters, and place it among their number; that so it may be recommended by your name, and by our letters to each other our mutual love in the Lord, may be increased: that, finally, you may so read as to give me your judgment, and to communicate to me whatever may strike you, for true love is proved by constancy. For the present we have chosen that which old men find more easy, the writing of letters in ordinary and familiar language: subjoining, should such present itself, any appropriate passage from the sacred Scriptures. Farewell, my brother, and love one who is your lover, for I greatly love you.

LETTER XLIX. A.D. 390.

S. AMBROSE says that he never feels less solitary, than when by himself writing to a friend. He then dwells on the benefit of solitude; especially in that we may then have God present with us, and lay open our souls to Him.

AMBROSE TO SABINUS.

1. SINCE you also take pleasure in receiving my letters, by means of which, although separated from each other, we discourse together as if present, I will for the future more frequently converse with you by letter when I am alone. For[233] I am never less alone than when I seem to be so, nor ever less at leisure than in the intervals of labour. For then I summon at pleasure whom I will, and associate to myself those whom I love most or find most congenial; no man interrupts or intrudes upon us. Then it is that I more intimately enjoy you, that I confer with you in the Scriptures, that we converse together more at length.

Sidenote: S. Luke i. 35.

Sidenote: Acts x. 10.

Sidenote: Gen. iii. 8.

2. Mary was alone when addressed by the Angel, alone when the _Holy Ghost came upon her, and the power of the Highest overshadowed her_. She was alone when she effected the salvation of the world, and conceived the Redemption of the universe. Peter was alone when the mystery of the sanctification of the Gentiles all over the world was made known to him. Adam was alone, and he fell not, because his mind adhered to God. But when the woman was joined to him he lost his power of abiding by the celestial precepts, and therefore he hid himself when God walked in Paradise.

3. And even now, while I read the sacred Scriptures, God walks in Paradise. The book of Genesis, wherein the virtues of the Patriarchs bud forth, is Paradise; Deuteronomy, wherein grow the precepts of the Law, is also Paradise, wherein the tree of life brings forth good fruit, and diffuses over all nations the precepts of eternal hope.

Sidenote: S. Matt. v. 44.

Sidenote: Ib. xix. 21.

Sidenote: S. Luke vi. 29.

Sidenote: Heb. iv. 13.

4. So when I hear, _Love your enemies_, when I hear, _Sell that thou hast, and give to the poor_; when I hear, _unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other_; when I hear these things and do not perform them, nay, when I barely love him who loves me, when I will not part with what I have, when I desire to avenge the injuries I have received, and to recover what has been wrested from me, whereas the Scripture bids me give up more than I have been asked for or deprived of, I perceive that I am acting contrary to the commands of God. Thus opening the eyes of my conscience, I perceive that God is present and walking with me; I desire to hide, I desire to clothe myself; but I am naked in His sight unto Whom _all things are naked and opened_! I am abashed therefore, and desire to conceal the shame of my crimes as though they were the secret members of my body; but since God sees all things, since I am manifest to Him, though covered with leaves and shaded by thickets, I think to conceal myself from Him by the covering of my body. This is that coat of skins, in which Adam was clothed when he was cast out of Paradise, neither shielded from the cold, nor protected from scorn, but exposed to misery as well as guilt.

Sidenote: Gen. iii. 8.

Sidenote: Ib. i. 27.

Sidenote: S. John xvi. 32.

5. From whence it appears that it is when alone that we offer ourselves to God, that we open to Him our souls, that we put off the cloak of fraud. Adam was alone when placed in Paradise; alone also when made in the image of God: but when cast out of Paradise he was not alone. The Lord Jesus was alone when He redeemed the world; for it was no herald or messenger, but the Lord Himself alone Who redeemed His people, although He, in Whom the Father always dwells, can never be alone. Let us also then be alone, that the Lord may be with us. Farewell: love me, for I also love you.

LETTER L.

THIS letter contains an interesting discussion of the question how an evil man like Balaam could be employed by God to utter true prophecies, and deals with other difficulties which arise out of Balaam’s history.

AMBROSE TO CHROMATIUS.

Sidenote: Heb. vi. 18.

Sidenote: Rom. iii. 4.

1. DOES God lie? Truly He lies not, because it is impossible for God to lie. And further, does this impossibility arise from infirmity? No, truly, for how can He be Almighty if He cannot do all things? What then is impossible to Him? Not that which is difficult to His Power, but what is contrary to His Nature. _It is impossible_, it is said, _for Him to lie_. This impossibility comes not of infirmity, but of Power and Majesty, for truth admits not of falsehood, nor God’s Power of the weakness of error. Wherefore _let God be true and every man a liar_.

2. The truth therefore is always in Him; _He remains faithful_; change or _deny Himself He cannot_. But if He deny that He is true, He lies, but to lie belongs not to power but to weakness. Nor can He change, for His nature admits not infirmity. This impossibility therefore comes of His fulness, which cannot be diminished or increased, not of infirmity, which, in that it increases itself, is weak. Whence we gather that this impossibility on the part of God is indeed most powerful. For what can be more powerful than to be ignorant of all infirmity?

Sidenote: 1 Cor. i. 25.

3. There is however another _weakness of God_ which _is stronger than men_, and a _foolishness of God_ which _is wiser than men_, but this has reference to the Cross, the former to His Godhead. If then His weakness is strength, how can that which comes of His power be weak? Let it therefore be an axiom with us that God lies not.

Sidenote: Deut. xviii. 10.