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.’