Part 4

20. The half-shekel may also be understood of the Old Testament, the whole shekel for the price of both Testaments, for according to the Law every one was redeemed by the Law, but he who is redeemed according to the Gospel, pays the half-shekel according to the Law, he is redeemed by the Blood of Christ according to grace, having a double redemption both of devotion and of Blood. For not even faith alone is sufficient for perfection, unless the redeemed also obtain the grace of Baptism, and receive the Blood of Christ. Good then is that half-shekel which is paid to God.

Sidenote: Rev. i. 8.

Sidenote: Deut. vi. 4.

21. The half-shekel is not a penny[15], but is different. Again, in the penny is the image of Cæsar, in the half-shekel the image of God, for it is of one God, and formed after God Himself. Beginning from One it is infinitely diffused, and again, from the Infinite all things come back to one, as their end, for God is both the beginning and the end of all things. Wherefore arithmeticians have not called ‘one’ a number, but an element of number. And this we have said because it is written, _I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending_; and, _Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is One Lord_.

22. Be thou then, after the likeness of God, one and the same; not sober to-day, drunken to-morrow; to-day pacific, to-morrow quarrelsome; to-day frugal, to-morrow immoderate; for each person is changed by diversity of manners and becomes another man, in whom that which he was is not recognized, while he begins to be that which he was not, degenerate from himself. It is a grievous thing to be changed for the worse. Be then as the image on the half-shekel, immutable, keeping daily the same deportment. Seeing the half-shekel, observe the image, that is, seeing the Law, observe in the Law Christ the Image of God; for He _is the Image of the invisible_ and incorruptible _God_; let Him be displayed before thee as in the mirror of the Law. Confess Him in the Law, that thou mayest know Him again in the Gospel. If thou hast known Him in His precepts, acknowledge Him in works. Farewell, and if you do not think that this shekel has been committed to me unprofitably, doubt not to commit to me a second time whatever you may have to communicate.

LETTER VIII. A.D. 381.

S. AMBROSE in this letter answers the objections raised against the Scriptures, that they were not written according to the rules of art, and illustrates his argument with various passages.

AMBROSE TO JUSTUS.

Sidenote: Acts ii. 4.

1. VERY many deny that the Sacred writers wrote according to the rules of art. Nor do we contend for the contrary; for they wrote not according to art, but according to grace, which is above all art; for they wrote that which the Spirit gave them to speak. And yet they who wrote on art made use of their writings from which to frame their art, and to compose its comments and rules.

Sidenote: αἴτιον, ὕλη, ἀποτέλεσμα. Gen. xxii. 7.

Sidenote: Ib. 8.

2. Again, in art there are principally required, a cause, a subject, and an end. When then we read that holy Isaac said to his father, _Behold the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering_, which of these is wanting? For he who asks, doubts, he who answers the query pronounces and solves the doubt. _Behold the fire_, that is the cause, _and the wood_, that is ὕλη, which in Latin is ‘materia,’ what third thing remains but the end, which the son asked for, saying, _Where is the lamb for a burnt-offering_, and the father replied, _My son, God will provide Himself a lamb for a burnt offering_?

Sidenote: Ps. iv. 5.

3. Let us discuss for a little while the mystery. _God shewed a ram hanging by his horns._ Now the ram is the Word, full of tranquillity, moderation, and patience; whereby is shewn that Wisdom is a good sacrifice, and that He was well skilled in the mode of meritorious propitiation. Wherefore the Prophet also says, _Offer the sacrifice of righteousness_. And so it is a sacrifice both of righteousness and of wisdom.

4. Here then is a mind fervent and glowing as fire which worketh; here is the thing to be understood, that is the subject-matter, where is the third, the understanding? Behold the colour, where is the seeing? behold the object of sense, where is the sense itself? For matter is not seen by all, and therefore God gives the gift of understanding, and feeling, and seeing.

5. The Word of God then is the end or completion; that is, the determination and completion of the discussion, which is communicated to the more prudent, and confirms things doubtful. Well do even they who believed not in the Coming of Christ refute themselves, so that they confess what they think to deny. For they say that the ram is the Word of God, and yet believe not the mystery of the Passion, whereas in that mystery is the Word of God, in Whom the Sacrifice was fulfilled.

Sidenote: Exod. xvi. 15, 16.

6. Wherefore let us first kindle within us the fire of the mind, that it may work within us. Let us seek for the subject-matter, what it is that nourishes the mind, as if we were looking for it in darkness. For neither did the Fathers know what manna was: they found manna, it is said, declaring it to be the Discourse and word of God, from Whom all instruction as from a perennial fountain flows and is derived.

Sidenote: Exod. xvi. 4.

Sidenote: Ib. 15.

7. This is that heavenly food. And it is signified by the Person of the Speaker, _Behold I will rain bread from heaven for you_. The ‘cause’ then we have in the operation of God, Who waters our minds with the dew of wisdom; the ‘subject-matter’ we have in that the minds which see and taste it are delighted, and inquire whence comes this which is brighter than light, sweeter than honey. They have their answer from the text of Scripture: _This is the bread which the Lord hath given you to eat_; and this is the Word of God, Which God appointed and ordained, whereby the minds of the prudent are fed and comforted, which is white and sweet, enlightening the minds of the hearers with the splendour of truth, and soothing them with the sweetness of virtue.

Sidenote: Ib. iii. 11–14.

Sidenote: 2 Cor. i. 19.

Sidenote: Exod. iv. 1.

Sidenote: Ib. 10.

Sidenote: Ib. 12.

8. The Prophet had learned in himself what was the ‘cause’ of the thing to be completed. For when he was sent to the king of Egypt to deliver the people of God, he says, _Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh_, and deliver my people from the king’s power? the Lord answers, _I will be with thee_. Moses asked again, _What shall I say unto them, if they ask, Who is the Lord that hath sent thee, and what is His Name?_ The Lord said, _I am that I am, thou shalt say_, I AM _hath sent me unto you_. This is the true Name of God――Eternity. Wherefore the Apostle also says of Christ, _For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, Who was preached among you by us, by me and Silvanus and Timotheus, was not Yea and Nay, but in Him was Yea_. Moses answered, _But behold they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice, for they will say, The Lord hath not appeared unto thee_. Then He gave him power to work miracles, that it might be believed that he was sent by God. A third time Moses says, _I am not eloquent, but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue; how shall Pharaoh hear me?_ the Lord answers, _Go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say_.

Sidenote: Exod. iii. 12.

9. These intermingled questions and answers contain the seeds and science of wisdom. The ‘end’ or ‘completion’ too is good, for He says, _I will be with thee_! And although He had given him power to work miracles, yet as he was still doubtful, that we might know that signs are for them that believe not, but the promise for believers, the weakness of his deserts or of his purpose receives this answer, _I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say_! Thus a perfect ‘end’ is preserved.

Sidenote: S. Matt. vii. 7.

Sidenote: Ib. x. 19, 20.

10. This you have also in the Gospel, _Ask, and it shall be given you, seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you_. Ask from the ‘cause,’ that is, from the Author. You have as your subject-matter things spiritual which cause you to seek; _knock, and_ God the Word _opens to you_. That which asks is the mind, which works like fire; it is in things spiritual that the glow of the mind works, as fire on wood; God the Word opens unto you, this is the ‘end.’ We have also in another part of the Gospel these words of our Lord, _But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak, for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you_.

Sidenote: Gen. xxvii. 20.

Sidenote: Ib. xxxi. 33.

11. These words too of Isaac you have in Genesis, _How is it that thou hast found it so quickly, my son? And he said, Because the Lord thy God brought it to me._ The Lord is the end. He who seeks in the Lord finds. And thus Laban who sought not in the Lord, for he sought idols, found not.

Sidenote: Ib. xxvii. 4.

12. And he has well observed the rules[16] and distinctions as they are called. The first is _Go and take me some venison, that I may eat_. He excites and inflames his mind with the fire, as it were, of his exhortation, that he may labour and seek. The second is, _How is it that thou hast found it so quickly?_ This is in the form of a question; the third is an answer, _Because the Lord thy God brought it to me_. The ‘end’ is God, Who concludes and perfects all things, of Whom we are not to doubt.

13. And there is a ‘distinction’ too as to spontaneous things; If you sow not, you shall not reap[17]; for although culture calls forth seeds, yet nature by a certain spontaneous impulse, worketh in them that they spring up.

Sidenote: 1 Cor. iii. 6, 7.

14. Wherefore the Apostle says, _I have planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth, but God That giveth the increase!_ God gives to you in the spirit, and the Lord sows in your heart. Take care then that He breathe life and sow in you, that you may reap; for if you sow not, neither shall you reap. This is a sort of admonition to you to sow. If you sow not you shall not reap, is a proverb. The end agrees with the beginning; the seed is the beginning, the harvest the end.

15. Learn, he says, of me; nature aids the learner, and God is the Author of nature. It is of God too that we learn well, for it is a natural gift to learn well; the hard of heart learn not. Nature, which is preserved by the Divine bounty, gives the increase. The final consummation God giveth, that is, the most excellent and Divine Nature and Essence of the Trinity.

Farewell: love us, as you do, for we love you.

COUNCIL OF AQUILEIA A.D. 381.

THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE COUNCIL OF AQUILEIA AGAINST THE HERETICS PALLADIUS AND SECUNDIANUS.

THE official Record of the Proceedings of this Council seems to be inserted among S. Ambrose’s Letters, partly because S. Ambrose took the leading part in them, and partly because they form the subject of the next series of letters, directly of the four first, and more indirectly of the two next, all of which, though written in the name of the Bishops of Italy, we may presume to have been S. Ambrose’s composition. The Council was held in the year 381 A.D., the same year in which the Second General Council was held at Constantinople. It will be remembered that that Council, being summoned by Theodosius, then Emperor of the East, consisted of Eastern Bishops only. At this time Arianism, though rife in the East, seems not to have been prevalent in the West. S. Ambrose says, (Letter xi. 1.) ‘as regards the West, two individuals only have been found to dare to oppose the Council with profane and impious words, men who had previously disturbed a mere corner of Dacia Ripensis.’ These two men were Palladius and Secundianus. Palladius appears to have applied to Gratian to call a General Council, on the plea that he was falsely accused of Arianism, in 379 A.D. Gratian granted his request, but afterwards, as we learn from his letter read at the Council, on the representation of S. Ambrose that such a question as the soundness or heresy of two Bishops might be settled by a Council of the Bishops of the Diocese of Italy, he so far altered his original order as to summon only these, giving permission for others to attend if they pleased. This reconsideration, and perhaps also the troubles that prevailed in the Empire at the time, (Tillemont Vie de S. Ambr. ch. xxiii.) caused such delay that it was not till towards the end of 381 A.D. that the Council assembled under the presidency of S. Valerian Bishop of Aquileia. The Bishops of Italy, with deputies from Gaul, Africa, and Illyria, to the number of thirty two or thirty three (see note[37]) met at Aquileia at the beginning of September. The discussion recorded in the ‘Gesta’ took place probably on Septr. 3rd (see note[18]) but S. Ambrose’s words in § 2 imply that previous discussions had been held of which no Record had been taken, (diu citra acta tractavimus.)

The proceedings commence by the reading of the Emperor’s Mandate. Palladius then raises objections on the ground of the absence of the Bishops from the East, and charges S. Ambrose with having tricked the Emperor into summoning only a small Council, and declines to take part in a Council which is not General. After some discussion on this point S. Ambrose proposes that Arius’ letter from Nicomedia to S. Alexander should be read in detail, and Palladius called upon to condemn each heretical proposition. Palladius argues upon each, but eventually returns to his refusal to answer except in a General Council. In the end all the Bishops pronounce their decisions one by one, all agreeing that Palladius’ doctrine was heretical and that he should be deposed. Secundianus is then more briefly dealt with in the same way. It would seem that the Record is incomplete, as the number of Bishops who give their decision is only 25, and the account of Secundianus’ case ends abruptly without recording any decision. It may be from the same cause that the Record itself is in one or two places seemingly defective, and the sense confused.

Secundianus is not mentioned again in History. Of Palladius it is said by Vigilius, Bishop of Thapsus in Africa, who lived in the latter part of the 5th Century, that after S. Ambrose’s death he wrote a reply to his writings against Arianism, which Vigilius himself answered (Tillemont Vie de S. Ambr. xxvi.).

The genuineness of the Gesta has been disputed by Père Chifflet, who maintained that they were a forgery of the Vigilius mentioned above: his arguments however are satisfactorily refuted by Tillemont in an elaborate note. (Vol. x. p. 738. note 15. on S. Ambr. Life.)

1. IN the consulship of the illustrious SYAGRIUS and EUCHERIUS, on the 3rd day of September[18], the under-mentioned Bishops[19], sitting in council in the church at Aquileia, namely, VALERIAN, Bishop of Aquileia, AMBROSE, EUSEBIUS, LIMENIUS, ANEMIUS, SABINUS, ABUNDANTIUS, ARTEMIUS, CONSTANTIUS, JUSTUS, PHILASTER, CONSTANTIUS, THEODORUS, ALMACHIUS, DOMNINUS, AMANTIUS, MAXIMUS, FELIX, BASSIANUS, NUMIDIUS, JANUARIUS, PROCULUS, HELIODORUS, JOVINUS, FELIX, EXUPERANTIUS, DIOGENES, MAXIMUS, MACEDONIUS, CASSIANUS, MARCELLUS, and EUSTATHIUS, Bishops:

Ambrose, Bishop, said;

2. ‘We have long been dealing with the matter without any Records[20], and now, since our ears are assailed with such sacrilegious words on the part of Palladius and Secundianus, that one can scarce believe that they could have so openly blasphemed, and that they may not attempt hereafter by any subtlety to deny their own words, though the testimony of such eminent Bishops does not admit of doubt, still as it is the pleasure of all the Bishops, let Records be made, that no one may be able to deny his own profession. Do you therefore, holy men, declare what is your pleasure.’

All the Bishops said, ‘It is our pleasure.’

Ambrose, Bishop, said, ‘Our discussions must be confirmed by the Emperor’s Letter, as the subject requires, so that they may be quoted.’

3. The Letter is read by Sabinianus a Deacon;

“Desirous to make our earliest efforts to prevent dissension among Bishops from uncertainty what doctrines they should reverence, we had ordered the Bishops to come together into the city of Aquileia, out of the diocese[21] which has been confided to the merits of your Excellency. For controversies of dubious import could not be better disentangled than by our constituting the Bishops themselves expounders of the dispute that has arisen, so that the same persons from whom come forth the instructions of doctrine may solve the contradictions of discordant teaching.

4. “Nor is our present order different from our last: we do not alter the tenour of our command, but we correct the superfluous numbers that would have assembled. For as Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, eminent both for the merits of his life and the favour of God, suggests that there is no occasion for numbers in a case in which the truth, though in the hands of a few supporters, would not suffer from many antagonists, and that he and the Bishops of the adjoining cities of Italy would be more than sufficient to meet the assertions of the opposite party, we have judged it right to refrain from troubling venerable men by bringing into strange lands any one who was either loaded with years, or disabled with bodily weakness, or in the slender circumstances of honourable poverty;[22] etc.”

5. AMBROSE, Bishop, said; ‘This is what a Christian Emperor has ordained. He has not thought fit to do an injury to the Bishops: he has constituted the Bishops themselves Judges. And therefore since we sit together in a Council of Bishops, answer to what is proposed to you. Arius’s letter has been read: it shall be recited now again, if you think proper. It contains blasphemies from the beginning; it says that the Father alone is eternal. If you think that the Son of God is not everlasting, support this doctrine in what manner you please: if you think it is a doctrine to be condemned, condemn it. Here is the Gospel, and the Apostle[23]: all the Scriptures are at hand. Support it from what quarter you please, if you think that the Son of God is not everlasting.’

6. PALLADIUS said; ‘You have contrived, as appears by the sacred document[24] which you have brought forward, that this should not be a full and General Council: in the absence of our Colleagues we cannot answer.’

Ambrose, Bishop, said: ‘Who are your colleagues?’

Palladius said: ‘The Eastern Bishops.’

7. AMBROSE, Bishop, said: ‘Inasmuch as in former times the usage of Councils has been that the Eastern Bishops should be appointed to hold them in the East, and the Western Bishops in the West, we, having our place in the West, are come together to the city of Aquileia according to the Emperor’s command. Moreover, the Prefect of Italy has issued letters, that if the Eastern Bishops chose to meet, they should be allowed to do so; but inasmuch as they know that the custom is that the Council of the Eastern Bishops should be in the East and of the Western in the West, they have therefore thought fit not to come.’

8. PALLADIUS said: ‘Our Emperor Gratian commanded the Eastern Bishops to come: do you deny that he did so? the Emperor himself told us that he had commanded the Eastern Bishops to come.’

Ambrose, Bishop, said: ‘He certainly commanded them, in that he did not forbid them to come hither.’

Palladius said: ‘But your prayer has prevented their coming: under a pretence of benevolence you have obtained this, and so put the Council off.’

9. AMBROSE, Bishop, said: ‘There is no occasion to wander any longer from the subject: answer now. Did Arius say rightly that the Father alone is eternal? and did he say this in agreement with the Scriptures or not?’

Palladius said: ‘I do not answer you.’

Constantius, Bishop, said: ‘Do not you answer when you have so long blasphemed?’

Eusebius, Bishop, said: ‘But you are under an obligation to express frankly the faith you claim the right to hold. If a heathen were to ask of you in what way you believe in Christ, you would be bound not to be ashamed to confess.’

10. SABINUS, Bishop, said: ‘It was your own request that we would answer: we come together this day according to your wish, and upon your own solicitation, and we have not waited for our other brethren, who might have come. It is therefore not open to you to wander from the subject. Do you say that Christ was created? or do you say that the Son of God is everlasting?’

Palladius said: ‘I have told you already: we said we would come and prove that you have not done well to take advantage of the Emperor.’

Ambrose, Bishop, said: ‘Let Palladius’s letter be read to shew whether he sent us this message, and it will appear that even now he is deceiving.’

Palladius said: ‘Let it be read by all means.’

The Bishops said: ‘When you saw the Emperor at Sirmium, did you address him, or was it he that pressed you?’ And they added: ‘What do you answer to this?’

Palladius answered: ‘He said to me, “Go.” We said: “Are the Eastern Bishops summoned to attend?” He said, “They are.” Should we have come if the Eastern Bishops had not been summoned?’

11. AMBROSE, Bishop, said: ‘Let the matter of the Eastern Bishops stand over. I enquire at present into your sentiments. Arius’s letter has been read to you: you are in the habit of denying that you are an Arian. Either condemn Arius now, or defend him.’

Palladius said: ‘It is not within the compass of your authority to ask this of me.’

Eusebius, Bishop, said: ‘We do not believe that the religious Emperor said other than he wrote. He has ordered the Bishops to meet: it is impossible that he said to you and no one else contrary to his own letter, that the case was not to be discussed without the presence of the Eastern Bishops.’

Palladius said: ‘He did, if the Italian Bishops alone were ordered to assemble.’