1. GREAT is my desire that as I remember you though far away, and in
spirit am present with you, so I may be with you in bodily presence
also. Hasten then, holy Bishop[1] of God; come and teach me, who am
already a sincere believer; not that I am eager for controversy, or
seek to apprehend God in words rather than with my mind, but that the
revelation of His Godhead may sink more deeply into an enlightened
breast.
Sidenote: creaturam.
2. For He will teach me, He Whom I deny not, but confess to be my God
and my Lord, not cavilling at that created nature in Him, which I see
also in myself. That I can add nothing to Christ I acknowledge, but I
am desirous by declaring the Son to commend myself to the Father also;
for in God I can fear no jealousy; nor will I suppose myself such an
eulogist as that I can exalt His divinity by my words. Weak and frail,
I proclaim Him according to my power, not according to His Majesty.
3. I beg you to bestow upon me the Treatise[2] you gave me before,
adding to it an orthodox discussion on the Holy Spirit: prove, I
beseech you, both by Scripture and reason, that He is God. God keep you
for many years, my father, servant of the eternal God, Whom we worship,
even Jesus Christ.
LETTER I.
A.D. 379.
IN this letter S. Ambrose replies to the preceding. He
apologises for not coming at once to Gratian, and, after
praising his humility and faith, promises to come before long,
and meanwhile sends him the two books (duos libellos) of the
Treatise De Fide, which he had before composed at Gratian’s
request, begging for time to write on the subject of the Holy
Spirit.
AMBROSE BISHOP TO THE BLESSED EMPEROR
AND MOST CHRISTIAN PRINCE, GRATIAN.
1. IT was not lack of affection, most Christian Prince, (for I can
give you no title more true or more illustrious than this,) it was not,
I repeat, lack of affection, but modesty which put a restraint upon
that affection, and hindered my coming to meet your Grace. But if I
did not meet you on your return in person, I did so in spirit, and with
my prayers, wherein the duties of a priest more especially lie. Meet,
did I say? Nay, when was I absent? I who followed you with an entire
affection, who clung to you in thought and heart; and surely it is by
our souls that we are present to one other most intimately. I studied
your route day by day; transported by my solicitude to your camp by
night and day, I shielded it with my watchful prayers, prayers, if not
of prevailing merit, yet of unremitting affection.
2. And in offering these for your safety we benefited ourselves. This
I say without flattery, which you require not, and I deem unbefitting
my office, but with the greatest regard to the favour you have shewn
me. Our Judge Himself, Whom you acknowledge and in Whom you devoutly
believe, knoweth that my heart is refreshed by your faith, your safety,
your glory, and that not only my public duty but my personal affection
leads me to offer these prayers. For you have restored to me quiet in
the Church, you have stopped the mouths (would that you had stopped
the hearts) of the traitors, and this you have done not less by the
authority of your faith than of your power.
Sidenote: S. Matt. xxv. 40.
3. What shall I say of your late letter? the whole is written with your
own hand, so that the very characters tell of your faith and devotion.
Thus Abraham of old, when ministering entertainment to his guests,
slew a calf with his own hand, and had not, in this sacred service, the
assistance of others. But he, a private man, ministered to the Lord and
His Angels, or to the Lord in His Angels, you, the Emperor, honour with
your royal condescension the lowest of Bishops. And yet the Lord is
served when His minister is honoured; for He hath said, _Inasmuch as ye
have done it unto one of the least of these, ye have done it unto Me_.
4. But is it only this lofty humility which I praise in the Emperor,
and not rather that faith, which you have rightly expressed with a mind
conscious of your desert, or which He Whom you deny not hath taught
you? For who but He could have taught you not to cavil at that created
nature in Him which you see in yourself? Nothing could have been said
more pious or more accurate; for to call Christ a creature savours of a
contemptuous cavil, not of a reverent confession. Again, what could be
more unworthy, than to suppose Him to be like as we ourselves are? Thus
you have instructed me, from whom you profess your wish to learn, for I
never read nor heard anything better.
Sidenote: S. John xiv. 21.
5. Again, how pious, how admirable that expression, that you fear
no jealousy in God! From the Father you anticipate a recompense for
your love of the Son, yet you acknowledge that your praise of the Son
can add nothing to Him, only you wish by praising the Son to commend
yourself to the Father also. This He alone hath taught you, Who hath
said, _He that loveth Me, shall be loved of My Father_.
6. You go on to say that you, weak and frail as you are, do not suppose
yourself such an eulogist as that you can exalt His divinity by your
words, but that you preach Him according to your power, not according
to His Majesty. This weakness is mighty in Christ, as the Apostle
has said, _When I am weak, then I am strong_. This humility excludes
frailty.
7. Certainly I will come, and that speedily, as you command, that I may
be present with you and hear and read these things, as they are newly
spoken by you. But I have sent two small volumes, for which, approved
as they have been by your grace, I shall have no fears; I must plead
for time to write on the Spirit, knowing as I do what a judge I shall
have of my treatise.
8. Meanwhile however your sentiments and belief concerning our Lord
and Saviour, transferred from the Son, form an abundant assertion to
express our faith in the everlasting Godhead of the Holy Spirit, in
that you cavil not at that created nature in Him which you find in
yourself, and suppose not that God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
can be jealous of His own Spirit. For that which is separated from
communion with the creature is divine.
9. If the Lord will, I will in this also comply with your Majesty’s
wishes; that as you have received the grace of the Holy Spirit, so also
you may know that He, holding so high a place in the Divine glory, has
in His own Name a right to our veneration.
10. May Almighty God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, vouchsafe, my
Lord the Emperor, chosen by Divine providence, most glorious Sovereign,
may He vouchsafe to keep your majesty in all happiness and prosperity
to an advanced age, and establish your kingdom in perfect glory and in
perpetual peace.
LETTER II.
A.D. 379.
WE gather from the letter itself that Constantius, to whom it
is addressed was a newly appointed Bishop, but of what see does
not appear. In § 27 S. Ambrose commends to his care the see of
Forum Cornelii, which was vacant at the time, as being in his
neighbourhood. The grounds on which the Benedictine Editors
fix the date seem rather vague. Its interest however is not
historical: it is simply hortatory, urging on Constantius
the fulfilment of the duties of his new office, and setting
before him the chief subjects to which his preaching should
be addressed. From S. Ambrose calling him ‘my son’ (§ 27) it
would seem that he was either one of his own clergy, or had been
in some way under his guidance. It is interesting as shewing
how a great Bishop of that age dwelt upon the relations of the
Episcopate, not merely to the Clergy under him as their superior,
but to the laity of his diocese as their chief teacher.