Part 42

10. Judas moreover could not obtain a remedy, although he said, _I have sinned, in that I have betrayed the innocent blood_, for he cherished within his breast strange fire, which urged him on to destroy himself. He was not worthy to be healed, for he wept not through conversion of his inmost mind, nor did he diligently do penance; for such is the love of the Lord Jesus that He would have granted pardon even to him, had he waited for the mercy of Christ.

Sidenote: S. John iv. 34.

Sidenote: Isa. xxx. 15.

11. This fault therefore the priests cannot remove, nor the sin of him who offers himself in guile, and still harbours a desire of transgressing. For they cannot eat of that which is full of fraud, and has the serpent’s scar within; for the food of the priest lies in the remission of sins. Wherefore Christ the chief of Priests says, _My meat is to do the will of My Father which is in heaven_. What is the will of God but this, _In returning and rest shall ye be saved_? In the guileful man therefore there is no food. Neither again can he taste the sweetness of a feast whose conscience is not sincere and pure; for the bitterness of fraud takes away the sweetness of the viands; and an evil conscience will not permit penitence to refresh and feed the guilty soul.

Sidenote: Lev. xvi. 27.

12. Such affections therefore, such petitions, such penitence are neither useful nor a pleasure to the priests. And that he-goat offered as an whole burnt offering for sin was deservedly burnt, because strange fire was found in the sacrifice. On that account it was not a pleasing and acceptable sacrifice to God; for that is not accepted which has not been approved among the riches of sincerity and truth.

Sidenote: Ib. xvi. 8.

Sidenote: S. Matt. xxiv. 40

13. And so elsewhere also you read of two he-goats, one whereon was the lot of the Lord, the other that of the scape-goat, and that that whereon was the lot of the Lord was offered and sacrificed, while the one whereon was the lot of the scape-goat was sent into the wilderness to take away the iniquities of the people, or of any sinner. For as there are _two men in the field, and one of them shall be taken and the other left_, so are there two he-goats, one of which is used for sacrifice, and the other sent into the wilderness. The one is of no use, neither to be eaten nor fed upon by the sons of the priests. For as in matters of food, what is good is eaten, what is useless or bad is thrown away, in the same way we call good works festive, as fit for eating.

Sidenote: Lev. xxv. 6.

14. It will not therefore be pleasing to the Lord if the priest eat of a sacrifice which presents a deceptive offering, not the sincerity of a diligent confession. And therefore that goat is to be sent into the wilderness, where our fathers wandered, where they wandered and could not attain to the land of the resurrection, but the memory of them passed from the land. Hear again what are festive works. _And the sabbath of the land shall be meat for you._ For rest in God, which causes tranquillity of mind, is festive and refreshing. And now let us also rest from discoursing.

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

LETTER LXVIII.

AN explanation of the text, _Thy heaven shall be brass and thy earth iron_.

AMBROSE TO ROMULUS.

Sidenote: Deut. xxviii. 23.

Sidenote: 1 Kings xvii. 1. S. Luke iv. 25.

1. BEING yourself in the country I am surprised at your having been led to inquire of me the reason why God should have said, _And thy heaven shall be brass, and thy earth iron_. For the very appearance of the country and its present fertility might teach us how great is the mildness of the air, and how genial is the climate, when God vouchsafes to give plenty, but when sterility, how all things are closed up, how dense the air, so as to seem hardened into the very substance of brass. Elsewhere also you read that in the days of Elijah _the heaven was shut up three years and six months_.

2. By the heaven then being brass is signified its being shut up, and refusing its use to the earth. The earth also is iron, for it ♦withholds its produce, and with hostile rigour excludes from its fructifying soil the seeds thrown upon it, which its wont is to cherish as in the bosom of a tender mother. For when does iron bring forth fruit, when does brass melt into showers?

3. Those impious men therefore He threatens with miserable famine, that they who know not how to shew filial piety to the common Lord and Father of all, may be deprived of the support of His paternal clemency, that the heaven may be to them as brass, and the air condensed into the substance of metal; that the earth may be to them as iron, deprived of its natural productions, and as is usually the case with poverty, a sower of strife. For they who are in want of food commit robberies, that at the expense of others they may relieve their own hunger.

Sidenote: Exod. xvi. 4.

4. If further the offence of the inhabitants be so great that God stirs up and brings war upon them, then their land is truly iron, bristling with crops of spears, and stripped of its own fruit, fruitful as regards punishment, barren as regards nourishment. But where is abundance? _Behold I will rain bread for you, saith the Lord._

Farewell; love me, for I also love you.

LETTER LXIX.

IN this Letter S. Ambrose answers a question propounded to him as to the ground of the severity of the Mosaic Law against those who disguised their sex.

AMBROSE TO IRENÆUS, GREETING.

Sidenote: Deut. xxii. 5.

1. YOU have referred to me, as to a father, the inquiry which has been made of you, why the Law was so severe in pronouncing those unclean who used the garments of the other sex, whether they were men or women, for it is written, _The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither shall a man put on a woman’s garment; for all that do so are an abomination unto the Lord_.

2. Now, if you will consider it well, that which nature herself abhors must be incongruous. For why do you not wish to be thought a man, seeing that you are born such? why do you assume an appearance which is foreign to you? why do you play the woman, or you, O woman, the man? Nature clothes each sex in their proper raiment. Moreover in men and women, habits, complexion, gestures, gait, strength and voice are all different.

3. So also in the rest of the animal creation; the form, the strength, the roar of the lion and lioness, of the bull and heifer are different. Deer also differ as much in form as they do in sex, so that you may distinguish the stag from the hind even at a distance. But in the case of birds the similitude between them and men, as regards covering, is still closer; for in them Nature distinguishes their sex by their very plumage. The peacock is beautiful, but the feathers of its consort are not variegated with equal beauty. Pheasants also have different colours to mark the difference of the sexes. And so with poultry. How sonorous is the cock’s voice, night by night performing his natural office of calling us from sleep by crowing. They do not change their form; why then do we desire to change ours?

4. A Greek custom has indeed prevailed for women to wear men’s tunics as being shorter. Be it allowed however that they should imitate the nature of the more worthy sex; but why should men choose to assume the appearance of the inferior? A falsehood is base even in word, much more in dress. So in the heathen temples, where there is a false faith, there also is a false nature. It is there considered holy for men to assume women’s garments, and female gestures. And therefore the Law says that every man who puts on a woman’s garment is an abomination unto the Lord.

Sidenote: 1 Cor. xiv. 34, 35.

Sidenote: Gen. iii. 16.

Sidenote: 1 Tim. ii. 11, 12.

5. I conceive however that it is spoken not so much of garments as of manners, and of our habits and actions, in that one kind of act becomes a man, the other a woman. Wherefore the Apostle also says, as the interpreter of the Law, _Let your women keep silence in the Churches; for it is not permitted unto them to speak, but they are to be under obedience, as also saith the Law. And if they will learn anything, let them ask their husbands at home._ And to Timothy: _Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection; but I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man_.

6. But how unseemly is it for a man to do the works of a woman! As for those who curl their hair, like women, let them conceive also, let them bring forth. Yet the one sex wears veils, the other wages war. Let them however be excused who follow their national usages, barbarous though they be, the Persians and Goths and Armenians. Nature is superior to country.

Sidenote: 1 Cor. xi. 13–15.

7. And what shall we say of others who think it belongs to luxury to have in their service slaves wearing curls and ornaments of the neck? It is but just that chastity should be lost where the distinction of sexes is not preserved, a point wherein the teaching of nature is unambiguous, according to the Apostle’s words; _Is it comely that a woman pray unto God uncovered? Doth not even nature itself teach you that if a man have long hair it is a shame unto him: but if a woman hath long hair, it is a glory unto her; for her hair is given her for a covering._ Such is the answer which you may make to those who have referred to you.

Farewell; love me as a son, for I love you as a father.

LETTER LXX.

S. AMBROSE in this Letter considers a part of the prophecy of Micah as describing the recovery of a fallen soul.

AMBROSE TO HORONTIANUS.

1. THE Prophets indeed announced the gathering together of the Gentiles, and the future establishment of the Church; but as the Church sees not only the continuous progress of strong souls, but likewise the relapse of weak ones, and their subsequent conversion, we are able to gather from the Prophetical books both how the gracious and strong soul advances without stumbling, and also how the weak soul falls, and how she repairs her falls and recovers her steps.

Sidenote: Mic. v. 2.

2. Accordingly as in the Song of Songs we read of this continuous progress of blessed souls, so let us now consider, as set forth in the prophet Micah, concerning whom we have begun to speak, the conversion of a fallen soul. For it is not without good reason that the prophet’s words, _But thou Bethlehem Ephratah_, excited your attention. For how can that house where Christ was born be the house of wrath? Such is, indeed, what the name of the place signifies, but certain mysterious operations are declared thereby.

Sidenote: Ib. i. 1.

Sidenote: S. Matt. xi. 27.

Sidenote: Mic. i. 1.

3. Let us first consider what Micah signifies in Latin. It means ‘Who is from God,’ or as we find elsewhere ‘who is this man,’ the son of the Morasthite, that is, the heir? Now, who is this heir, but the Son of God, Who says, _All things are given unto Me of My Father_; and Who, being Himself the Heir, would have us His co-heirs. And well may we say ‘Who is that man?’ not one of the people, but chosen to receive the grace of God, in whom the Holy Spirit speaks, who began to prophesy _in the days of Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah kings of Judah_. By which order is signified the course of the vision, for the progress is from the times of evil kings to that of a good king.

Sidenote: Ib. iv. 8.

Sidenote: Isa. v. 2.

4. Thus as the afflicted soul was first oppressed under evil kings, let us consider what was the progress of her conversion. Being weak she was overthrown, and all her fences were made as a way for the passers-by, or for the inroads of passion; dissolved in luxury and pleasure, she was trodden down and removed from the presence of the Lord. Her _tower was decayed_, that tower which, as we read in the song of Isaiah, was placed in the midst of a choice vineyard. Now this is the case with the tower, when the vine is withered, and her flock wanders; but when the verdure of the vine comes back, or the sheep returns, it grows bright again, for nothing is so decayed as iniquity, or so bright as righteousness.

Sidenote: Rev. i. 8.

Sidenote: Mic. iv. 9.

Sidenote: Ib.

Sidenote: S. Luke xiii. 11.

5. To this tower the sheep is recalled, when the soul is recalled from her relapse, and in that sheep that reign of Christ returns, which was in the beginning, for He is _the Beginning and the Ending_, even the beginning of our salvation. Still the soul is first severely rebuked, in that she has grievously transgressed, and she is asked, _Why hast thou learnt evil? was there no king in thee?_ that is, thou hadst a king to govern and protect thee, thou oughtest not to have strayed from the path of righteousness, nor to have left the ways of the Lord, Who imparted to thee sense and reason. Where were thy thoughts and counsels, whereby by innate vigour thou mightest have guarded against unrighteousness and warded off transgression? Why have _pangs taken thee, as a woman in travail_; that thou shouldest be in labour of iniquity, and bring forth unrighteousness? For there is no greater grief than for a man to wound his conscience with the sword of sin; nor is there any heavier burden than the weight of sin and the load of transgression. It bows down the soul, it bends it even to the earth, so that it cannot raise itself. Heavy, my son, heavy indeed is the weight of sin. Thus that woman in the Gospel, who was bowed together, and thus bore the semblance of a heavy-laden soul, could be made straight by Christ alone.

Sidenote: Mic. iv. 10.

Sidenote: Rom. v. 3–5.

6. To such a soul it is said, _Be in pain and labour to bring forth, O daughter of Sion_. For the pains of child-birth work tribulation, and _tribulation patience, and patience experience, and experience hope, and hope maketh not ashamed_. At the same time all that is opposed to virtue is plucked up and cast forth, lest its seeds should remain behind and revive, and put out new buds and fruit.

Sidenote: Mic. iv. 13.

7. Nor is it without a meaning that horns and hoofs were given to her, that she might bruise all the sheaves of the floor, like the calf of Mount Lebanon. For unless the sheaves were bruised, and the straw winnowed, the corn that is within cannot be found and separated. Wherefore let the soul that would advance in virtue first bruise and thrash out its superfluous passions, that so, when the harvest is come, it may shew forth its fruits. How many are the weeds which choke the good seed! These must first be rooted out, that they may not destroy the fertile crop of the soul.

Sidenote: Prov. xiii. 24.

Sidenote: Ps. lxxxix. 32.

Sidenote: Ecclus. xxx. 1.

8. Then the provident guide of the soul has regard to this, that he may circumscribe her pleasures and cut off her desires, that she may not delight herself in them. That father’s corrections are profitable, who spares not the rod, that he may render his son’s soul obedient to salutary precepts. For he visits with a rod, as we read, _I will visit their offences with the rod_. And so he who smites the soul of the Israelites with a rod on the cheek, by this Divine punishment instructs her in the discipline of patience. But no man need despair who is chastised and corrected, for he who loveth his son chastiseth him. Let no man therefore despair of a remedy.

Sidenote: Mic. v. 2.

Sidenote: S. Luke ii. 4.

Sidenote: S. John vi. 50.

Sidenote: S. Matt. ii. 18.

9. Behold therefore, that house which was to thee ‘the house of one seeing wrath,’ is become ‘the house of bread;’ where rage was, there is now piety; where the slaughter of the Innocents, there now the redemption of all mankind, as it is written, _But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall He come forth that is Ruler in Israel_. Bethlehem is the house of bread; Ephratah the house of one seeing wrath. This is the interpretation of these names. In Bethlehem Christ was born of Mary, but Bethlehem is the same as Ephratah. Thus Christ was born in the house of wrath, and therefore it is no longer a house of wrath, but the house of bread, for it received that _bread which came down from heaven_. But Ephratah is the house of one that was wrath, because while Herod searches there for Christ, he commands the Innocents to be slain, wherefore _In Rama was there a voice heard, Rachel weeping for her children_.

Sidenote: Ps. cxxxii. 6.

Sidenote: S. Luke i. 42.

Sidenote: Gen. xxxv. 19.

10. But let no man fear any longer; for that rest which David sought after _is heard of at Ephrata_, and _found in the fields of the wood_. A wood, as yet, was the assembly of the Gentiles, but after it believed in Christ it became fruitful, receiving the fruit of the blessed womb. And Rachel died in childbirth, because even then, as the patriarch’s wife, she saw the wrath of Herod, which spared not the tenderest age. Or again, because in Ephratah she gave birth to that Benjamin who excelling in beauty came last in the order of the mystery, I mean Paul, who before his birth caused no small grief to his Mother, by persecuting her sons. And she died, and was buried there, that we, dying and being buried together with Christ, may rise again in His Church. Therefore according to another interpretation, Ephratah signifies ‘enriched or filled with fruit.’

Sidenote: Mic. v. 2.

Sidenote: S. Matt. ii. 6.

Sidenote: S. Matt. ♦xxv. 40.

11. Now here, that is, in the book of the Prophet, we find the expression, thou art ὀλιγοστός, that is, one of few. But in Matthew we find, _And thou, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, art not among the few_. In one the expression is house of Ephratah, in the other house of Juda; but this is a difference of words not of meaning. For inwardly Judæa saw this exhibition of wrath, outwardly she suffered it. And she is among the few, because they are few who enter the house of bread by the narrow way. But he is not among the few, that is among those that make progress, who knows not Christ. Nor is she the least, who is the house of blessing, and the receptacle of Divine grace; yet in this she is the least, for any thing which is offered to Christ seems to be offered to her. And he who seeks for the Church seeks for Christ; and He is either honoured or despised in every little one, wherefore He says Himself, _Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these, ye have done it unto Me_.

Sidenote: Gen. xxxv. 19.

Sidenote: Ps. cxxix. 8.

Sidenote: Ib. cxxvi. 7.

12. Now that Bethlehem is the very same place as Ephratah we learn from the passage in Genesis, which says, _And Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem_. Holy Rachel, being a type of the Church, was buried in the way, that they who go by might say, _The Lord prosper you_, and _they shall come again with joy_.

Sidenote: 1 Cor. x. 17.

13. Wherefore every soul which receives that bread which comes down from heaven is the house of bread, that is, the Bread of Christ, being nourished and supported and having its heart strengthened by that heavenly bread which dwells within it. Hence Paul also says, _For we being many are one bread_. Every faithful soul is Bethlehem, as Jerusalem also is said to be, which has the peace and tranquillity of that Jerusalem which is above, in heaven. That is the true Bread which, when broken into pieces, fed all men.

14. The fifth version[279] has the words, ‘the house of Bread.’ For ‘Beth’ signifies a house, and ‘lehem’ signifies bread. From the other versions I imagine that the unbelief of the Jews, who feared to convict themselves, either led the writers to omit it or others to erase it.

Sidenote: Jud. xix. 2.

15. And that Bethlehem is of the tribe of Judah we learn from that passage in the book of Judges, where the Levite took to him a concubine out of Bethlehem-judah, and his concubine was incensed against him, and returned to her father’s house in Bethlehem-judah.

Sidenote: Mic. v. 2.

Sidenote: Ps. xix. 5.

Sidenote: Mic. v. 3.

Sidenote: Is. liv. 1.

16. Now Christ’s _goings forth were from everlasting_[280], because our life[281] then commenced, when He _went forth to run His course_, and gave to Israel the day of salvation. _Until the time ♦that she which travaileth hath brought forth._ To that soul to which Christ hath come fruitfulness or bringing forth hath come also; so it was with the Church, who has _brought more than she that had children_; who has brought forth seven, that is, a lawful peaceful and tranquil progeny. Now that soul begins to conceive, and Christ to be formed in her, which welcomes Him on His arrival and is so fed by His plenty that she is in want of nothing, and other souls by seeing her return unto the way of salvation.

Sidenote: Mic. v. 5.

Sidenote: Rom. viii. 37.

17. _And there shall be peace to him_, but it is by temptations that he must be tried; then, when he has shut out or repulsed vain thoughts, when he has subdued all the motions of his rising passions, when distress and persecution and hunger and peril and the sword press hard upon him, will the value of his peace and tranquillity be tested. Then, it is said, _shall be peace_; because in all these things _we are conquerors through Him that loved us_, because we trust in Him that neither death nor the power of temptations shall cast off or separate us from His love. He will send temptations, that the just may be proved. The Lord sends temptations, not that He wishes any man to be beguiled, but because the weak are for the most part vanquished by temptation, whilst the strong are proved by them.

Sidenote: Mic. v. 7.

Sidenote: Ib. 8.

Sidenote: S. Matt. xiii. 43.