11. In the next place I will produce to you instances from the Old
Testament. Elisha was sought after by the king of Syria, an army was
sent to take him, he was surrounded on every side, his servant began
to fear, because he was a servant, that is, his mind was not free, nor
had he freedom of action. The holy prophet prayed that his eyes might
be opened, and said, _Look and see how many more are on our side than
against us_. And he looked up and saw thousands of Angels. You see then
that the servants of Christ are protected rather by invisible than by
visible beings. But when they keep guard around you, they have been
called to do so by your prayers; for you have read that those very men
who sought for Elisha on entering Samaria came upon the very man whom
they wished to capture, yet they were not able to injure him, but were
saved by the intercession of the very man against whom they came.
12. Take the Apostle Peter too as an example of both these things. When
Herod sought after and took him, he was put in prison; for the servant
of God had not fled but stood firm and without fear. The Church prayed
for him, but the Apostle was asleep in the prison, a proof that he
feared not. An Angel was sent to rouse him from his sleep, and by him
Peter was brought out of prison and for the time escaped death.
Sidenote: Rom. vi. 10.
13. The same Peter, afterwards, after overcoming Simon, by spreading
the precepts of God among the people and preaching chastity, stirred up
the minds of the heathen against him: and when they sought to put him
to death the Christians besought him to retire for a little while. And
although he was desirous of suffering, yet he was moved by the sight
of the people praying, for they besought him to reserve himself for
the instruction and confirmation of the people. To be brief: as he
set out from the walls by night, he saw Christ meeting him in the gate
and entering the city, whereupon he said, ‘Lord, whither goest Thou?’
Christ answered, ‘I am coming to be crucified again.’ This Divine
response Peter understood to refer to his own cross, for Christ, Who
had put off the flesh by undergoing the suffering of death could not
again be crucified, _For in that He died, He died unto sin once, but in
that He liveth, He liveth unto God_. Wherefore Peter understood that
Christ was again to be crucified in His servant; and so he turned back
of his own accord, and when the Christians asked him why, he told them
what he had seen, and was immediately seized, and honoured the Lord
Jesus by his cross.
Sidenote: S. John xxi. 22.
14. Ye see then that Christ wills to suffer in His servants. What if He
saith to this servant also, _I will that he tarry, but follow thou Me_?
what if He wills to taste of the fruit from this tree? For if it was
His meat to do His Father’s Will, it is His meat also to feed upon the
sufferings of His servants. To take an example from our Lord Himself,
did He not suffer when He willed, and was He not found when they sought
for Him? But when the hour of His passion had not arrived, He passed
through the midst of them who sought for Him, and they who saw Him
could not detain Him. Wh ich evidently shews that when the Lord wills,
each man is found and taken, while he whose time is not come although
he meet the eyes, is not captured.
15. And did I not go out daily to make visits, or go to the tomb of
the Martyrs? Did I not in going and returning pass close by the Royal
palace? And yet no man arrested me, though they wished to drive me from
the city, as they shewed afterwards by saying, ‘Leave this city, and
go where thou wilt.’ I expected, I confess, something great, to be
burned or slain with the sword for the name of Christ, but they offered
me delights in the place of sufferings; and yet the soldiers of Christ
seeks not for delights but for sufferings. Wherefore let no man trouble
you by the intelligence that they have prepared a carriage[115], or
that Auxentius, who calls himself Bishop, has uttered what he thinks
terrible words.
Sidenote: 2 Cor. xi. 14.
16. Many said that executioners had been sent, that the punishment of
death had been decreed; I fear them not, nor will I desert my post.
For whither should I go to find a place that is not full of nothing
but tears and groans? For in every Church the Catholic clergy are
ordered to be cast forth; if they resist, to be put to death; all the
senators[116] who do not obey this mandate, to be proscribed. And it
is a Bishop who writes these orders with his own hand and dictates them
with his own mouth, who to prove his learning omitted not an ancient
precedent; for we read in the prophet that he saw a flying sickle[117],
and in imitation of this Auxentius sent a winged sword through all the
cities. And thus _Satan transforms himself into an Angel of light_, and
imitates his power for evil purposes.
Sidenote: Ps. l. 16.
Sidenote: 2 Cor. vi. 15.
Sidenote: 1 Kings xxi. 3.
17. Thou, Lord Jesus, hast in one moment redeemed the world; shall
Auxentius in one moment, so far as in him lies, slay so many people,
some with the sword, others by sacrilege[118]? My Basilica he sought
with a mouth and hands of blood, and to him our present Lesson may be
well applied, _Unto the ungodly, saith God, why dost thou preach my
laws?_ that is, There is no concord between peace and wrath, _between
Christ and Belial_. You remember also how in the Lesson of to-day that
holy man Naboth, the owner of a vineyard, was requested by the king to
surrender it to him, that he might root up the vines and plant it with
common herbs, and that he answered, _God forbid that I should give thee
the inheritance of my fathers_; and that king was grieved that what
belonged of right to another was refused him when he claimed it as
his right, and only gained by the deceit of a woman’s artifice. Naboth
then defended his vineyard even with his own blood; if he would not
surrender his vineyard, shall we surrender the Church of Christ?
18. How then did I reply contumaciously? When summoned, I said, ‘God
forbid that I should surrender Christ’s heritage. If Naboth would not
surrender the heritage of his fathers, shall I surrender Christ’s
heritage?’ I added moreover, ‘God forbid that I should surrender the
heritage of my fathers, the heritage of Dionysius, who died in exile
for the Faith, of the Confessor Eustorgius, of Myrocles, and of all
the faithful Bishops of old time.’ I answered as becomes a Bishop, let
the Emperor act as becomes an Emperor. He shall deprive me of my life
sooner than my Faith.
Sidenote: S. Luke xix. 40.
19. But to whom am I to surrender it? The Lesson just read from the
Gospel ought to teach us what it is that is demanded, and by whom.
Ye heard it read that, when Christ was sitting on the ass’s colt, the
children cried out, and the Jews were indignant, appealing to the Lord
Jesus, and saying that He should bid them hold their peace, but He
replied, _If these were to hold their peace, the very stones would
cry out_. Then He entered the Temple, and cast out the moneychangers,
and their tables, and those that sold doves in the Temple of God. This
Lesson was read by no direction of ours, but by chance; but it suits
well with the present time. For the praises of Christ are always as
it were scourges to misbelievers. And now when Christ is praised the
heretics say that we are exciting sedition, the heretics say that they
were thereby threatened with death; and truly the praises of Christ
are death to them. For how can they bear His praises Whose weakness
they are proclaiming! Wherefore to this day the praises of Christ are
a scourge to the madness of the Arians.
Sidenote: Ps. viii. 2.
Sidenote: Ps. cxviii. 22.
20. The Gerasenes could not bear the presence of Christ, these men,
worse than the Gerasenes, cannot even bear the praises of Christ. They
see children singing the glory of Christ; for it is written, _Out of
the mouth of babes and sucklings Thou hast perfected praise_. They
deride their tender years so full of faith, and ask, Why do they cry
out? But Christ answers them, _If these should hold their peace the
very stones would cry out_, that is, the stranger will cry out, the
young men too will cry out, the more mature will cry out, the old men
also: stones built into that Stone of Whom it is written, _The stone
which the builders disallowed is become the head-stone of the corner_.
21. Christ then, invited by these praises, enters His Temple, and takes
His ♦scourge and drives out the moneychangers. For He will not permit
those who are slaves of money to be in His Temple, He will not suffer
those to be there who sell seats. What are _seats_, but honours? What
are _doves_, but simple minds, or souls which embrace a sincere and
pure faith? Shall I then introduce into the Temple him whom Christ
excludes? For he is commanded to go forth who sells dignities and
honours, he is commanded to go forth who would sell the simple minds
of the faithful.
22. Wherefore Auxentius is cast forth, Mercurianus is excluded. This
is one portent under two names. That it might not be known who he was,
he changed his name, and, as there had been here Auxentius the Arian
Bishop, so he, to deceive the people whom the other had influenced,
called himself Auxentius. Thus he changed his name, but his perfidy he
could not change; he put off wolf, and yet put on wolf. It avails him
not to have changed his name, what he really is is known. He was known
by one name in the regions of Scythia, he is called by another here, he
has names differing according to his country. Now therefore he has two
names, and if from hence he goes elsewhere he will have a third also.
For how will he endure to keep a name which betrays the greatness of
his crime? In Scythia he did less wickedly, and yet he was so ashamed
as to change his name; here he has dared to do more heinous things, and
will he be willing wherever he goes to be betrayed by his name? After
writing with his own hand the death warrant of so many people, will he
be able to retain his senses unshaken?
Sidenote: Jer. xvii. 1.
23. The Lord Jesus drove out a few from His temple, Auxentius left no
one. Jesus casts men out of His temple with a scourge, Auxentius with a
sword; Jesus with a rod, Mercurianus with an axe. Our holy Lord drives
out the sacrilegious with a scourge, this wicked man persecutes the
godly with the sword. Of him ye have to-day said well; ‘let him carry
his laws away with him.’ He shall carry them though he desire it not,
he shall carry with him his conscience, though he carry not the writing,
he shall carry his own soul inscribed in blood, although he carry not a
letter inscribed with ink. _Thy sin, O Judah, is written with a pen of
iron and with the point of a diamond_, and _it is graven in thy heart_,
graven that is in the place from whence it came forth.
Sidenote: Gal. ii. 19.
Sidenote: Gal. iii. 11.
24. Does he moreover, stained as he is with blood and slaughter, dare
to mention discussion to me? Those whom he fails to deceive by his
arguments he sentences to be smitten with the sword, and he dictates
bloody laws with his mouth, writing them with his hand, and thinking
that the law can impose a Creed on men. He has never heard what was
read to-day, _A man is not justified by the works of the law_, or, _I
by the law am dead to the law that I might live to God_, that is, by
the spiritual law he is dead to the carnal interpretation of the law.
Let us too by the law of our Lord Jesus Christ die to this law which
sanctions the decrees of perfidy. It is not the law which has gathered
together the Church, but the faith of Christ. For the law is not of
faith: _But the just shall live by faith_. It is faith then, not the
law, which makes a man just, because righteousness is not by the law,
but by the faith of Christ. But he who rejects faith, and takes law for
his rule, bears witness to his own unrighteousness, for _the just shall
live by faith_.
Sidenote: Gal. iv. 4.
Sidenote: Gal. iii. 13.
Sidenote: Ib.
Sidenote: 2 Cor. v. 21.
25. Shall any then follow this law confirming the Council of Ariminum
wherein Christ is called a creature? But they say, _God sent His Son,
made of a woman, made under the Law_. So then He is _made_ they say,
that is, created. Will they not consider this very text which they
have produced; that Christ is said to be made, but _made of a woman_,
that is, He according to His birth from the Virgin was _made_, Who was
according to His Divine generation born of the Father? They read too
to-day that Christ _redeemed us from the curse of the Law, being made
a curse for us_. Was Christ a curse according to His Divinity? But why
He should be called a curse the Apostle teaches thee, alleging the text,
_Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree_, that is, He Who in His
flesh took upon Him our flesh, in His body carried our griefs and our
curses that He might crucify them, for He is cursed, not in Himself,
but in thee. Lastly, you have in another place, _Who knew no sin, but
was made sin for us_, for He took upon Him our sins, to do away with
them by the Sacrament of His Passion.
26. These points, my brethren, I would have discussed more fully with
you in his presence, but he, being aware that you were not ignorant
of the Faith, fled from your scrutiny, and chose as his advocates,
if indeed he chose any, four or five heathens, whom I would willingly
have now present in our general assembly, not for them to judge of
Christ, but that they might hear the majesty of Christ. They however
have already pronounced concerning Auxentius, for when he daily
argued before them they gave him no credit. What can be a greater
condemnation of him than that he was defeated without an adversary
before his own judges? Thus we now have their own sentence against
Auxentius.
Sidenote: 1 Cor. vi. 1, 2.
Sidenote: Ib. vi. 5.
27. And justly is he to be condemned for choosing heathen judges, for
he disregarded the Apostle’s precept who says _Dare any of you, having
a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before
the saints? Do you not know that the saints shall judge the world?_ And
below he says, _Is it so that there is not a wise man among you, no not
one that shall be able to judge between his brethren? but brother goeth
to law with brother, and that before the unbelievers?_ Ye see that what
he offered is contrary to the Apostle’s authority. Choose whether we
should follow Auxentius or Paul as our master?
Sidenote: Isa. li. 7.
Sidenote: 2 Cor. iii. 3.
28. But why should I speak of the Apostle, when our Lord Himself cries
by the Prophet, _hearken unto Me My people, ye that know righteousness,
in whose heart is My law_. God says, _hearken unto Me My people, ye
that know righteousness_. Auxentius says, Ye know not righteousness.
Do ye not see that he now, who rejects the declaration of the heavenly
oracles, despises God in you? _Hearken unto Me My people_; saith the
Lord. He says not, Hearken ye Gentiles; He says not, Hearken ye Jews.
For now they that were the people of God are become the people of error,
and they who were the people of error have become the people of God,
because they have believed in Christ. Wherefore that people are judges,
in whose heart is the Divine, not human, law; the law _written not with
ink, but with the Spirit of the living God_; not inscribed on paper but
stampt upon the heart; the law of grace not of blood. Who is it then
who wrongs you, he who refuses or he who chooses to be heard by you?
29. Hemmed in on all sides, he has recourse to the wiles of his fathers.
He wishes to excite odium against me in regard to the Emperor, saying,
that a youth yet a catechumen and ignorant of the sacred Scriptures,
ought to judge, and to judge in the Consistory. As if last year, when
I was summoned to the palace, when in the presence of the nobles the
matter was argued before the Consistory, when the Emperor wished to
take away the Basilica, I was then cowed by the sight of the Imperial
court, and had not maintained the constancy of a priest, or had
suffered our rights to be infringed there. Do they not remember that
when the people knew I had gone to the palace they rushed in with an
onset that nothing could withstand; and when a Military Count came
forth with some light troops to disperse the multitude they all offered
themselves to death for the Faith of Christ? Was I not then requested
to make a long speech to soothe the people? Did I not pledge my faith
that no one should invade the Church’s Basilica? And although my good
offices were requested as a kindness, yet the coming of the populace to
the palace was made a ground of charge against me; into the same odium
then they wish me again to fall.
Sidenote: S. Matt. xxii. 17.
30. I recalled the people, and yet I did not escape odium, and this
odium ought, I conceive, to be controuled rather than feared. For
what should we fear for the name of Christ? Unless perhaps this which
they say ought to move me; ‘And ought not the Emperor then to have one
Basilica to go to; and does Ambrose desire to be more powerful than the
Emperor, so as to exclude him from the liberty of attending Church?’
When they say this, they wish to lay hold of my words, like the Jews
who tempted Christ with empty words, saying, _Master, is it lawful
to give tribute to Cæsar or not?_ Must the servants of God always be
exposed to odium on Cæsar’s account? And does impiety, with a view to
calumny, seek to use the Imperial name as a cloak? And can they protest
that they do not partake of the sacrilege of these men, whose guidance
they follow?
Sidenote: Ib. 18. sqq.
31. Yet see how much worse the Arians are than the Jews. The latter
enquired of Christ whether He thought that the right of tribute should
be rendered to Cæsar; the former are willing to surrender to the
Emperor the rights of the Church. But like traitors, they follow their
master, and so let us answer what our Lord and Master hath taught us.
For Jesus perceiving the treachery of the Jews, said unto them, _Why
tempt ye Me, shew Me a penny. And when they gave it to Him, He said,
Whose image and whose superscription is this? They answered, Cæsar’s.
Jesus replied, Render therefore unto Cæsar the things that are Cæsar’s,
and unto God the things that are God’s._ Thus I also say to them who
find fault with me, _Shew Me a penny_. Jesus saw the penny was Cæsar’s,
and said, _Render unto Cæsar ♦the things that are Cæsar’s, and unto God
the things that are God’s_. Can they from the seizure of the Basilicas
of the Church offer the penny of Cæsar?
Sidenote: Gen. i. 26.
Sidenote: Heb. i. 3.
Sidenote: S. John xiv. 9.
Sidenote: Ib. x. 30.
Sidenote: Ib. xvi. 15.
Sidenote: Ib. 16.
32. But in the Church I know one image, that is, the image of the
invisible God, of which God said, _Let us make man in Our image, after
Our likeness_, that image of which it is written, that Christ is _the
brightness of His glory, the express image of His substance_. In this
image I behold the Father, as the Lord Jesus Himself said, _He that
hath seen Me hath seen the Father also_. For this Image is not divided
from the Father, for He hath taught me the unity of the Trinity, saying,
_I and the Father are One_, and below, _All things that the Father hath
are Mine_. And of the Holy Spirit, saying, that He is the Spirit of
Christ, and hath received from Christ, as it is written, _He shall take
of Mine, and shall declare it unto you_.
Sidenote: Prov. xix. 17.
33. In what respect then have we not answered with humility? If he
ask for tribute we deny it not. The Church lands pay tribute; if the
Emperor desire to possess these lands he has the power to claim them;
none of us will interfere. The contributions of the people will more
than suffice for the poor; let them excite no ill-will on account of
the lands, let them take them if it please the Emperor; I give them
not, but I do not refuse them. They ask for gold, but I can say, Silver
and gold I seek not. But this disbursement of gold they make a cause
of offence: this offence I dread not. I have stipendiaries, it is true:
my stipendiaries[119] are the poor of Christ, this is a treasure which
I am well used to collect. May this offence of bestowing gold on the
poor ever be charged upon me! And if they accuse me of defending myself
by their means, I deny not, nay I even court the charge; a defence I
have, but it is in the prayers of the poor. Blind they are ♦and lame,
weak and old, yet are they stronger than the stoutest warriors. Lastly,
gifts to the poor make God our debtor, for it is written, _He that
giveth to the poor, lendeth to the Lord_. The guards of warriors often
gain not Divine grace.
34. Moreover they assert that the people have been beguiled by the
strains of my hymns[120]. I deny not this either. It is a lofty strain,
than which nothing is more powerful. For what can be more powerful than
the confession of the Trinity, which is daily celebrated by the mouth
of the whole people? All zealously desire to make profession of their
faith, they know how to confess in verse the Father and the Son and the
Holy Spirit. Thus all are become teachers who were scarcely able to be
disciples.
Sidenote: Phil. iii. 7.
Sidenote: Rom. v. 19.
35. But what can be more lowly than for us to follow the example of
Christ, Who _being found in fashion as a man humbled himself being made
obedient unto death_. And again, by obedience He delivered all: _For
as by the disobedience of one man many were made sinners, so by the
obedience of one Man shall many be made righteous_. If then He was
obedient let them learn from Him the lesson of obedience, to which we
adhere, saying to them who raise odium against us, on the Emperor’s
account, _We render to Cæsar the things that are Cæsar’s, and to God
the things that are God’s_. To Cæsar tribute is due, we deny it not;
the Church is God’s, and must not be given up to Cæsar, because the
Temple of God cannot by right be Cæsar’s.
Sidenote: Ps. lxiv. 7. vulg.
36. That this is said with due honour to the Emperor no one can deny.
For what can be more honourable for the Emperor than to be styled a
son of the Church? In saying this we are loyal to him without sinning
against God. For the Emperor is _within_ the Church, not _over_ the
Church; a good Emperor seeks the aid of the Church, he does not reject
it, we say this humbly, but we assert it firmly. Some men threaten
us with fire, sword and banishment. We, the servants of Christ, have
learned not to fear. To them that fear not nothing is a cause of alarm.
And it is thus written, _arrows of infants are their blows become_.
Sidenote: S. Luke xx. 4.
Sidenote: Is. ix. 6.
Sidenote: Eph. iv. 5.
37. It would seem now that we have made a sufficient answer to what was
proposed to us. Now I ask them the same question as did the Saviour,
_The baptism of John was it from heaven or of men?_ And the Jews could
not answer Him. If the Jews did not annul the baptism of John, shall
Auxentius annul the Baptism of Christ? For that Baptism is not from
men but from Christ which the _Angel of mighty Counsel_ brought down to
us, that we might be justified before God. Why then does Auxentius hold
that the faithful, those baptized in the name of the Trinity are to be
re-baptized, when the Apostle says, _One faith, one baptism_; why does
he say that he is the adversary of men, not of Christ, seeing that he
spurns the counsel of God, and contemns that Baptism which Christ gave
us for the redemption of our sins.
LETTER XXII.
A.D. 386.
S. AMBROSE here recounts to his sister the discovery of the
relics of S. S. Gervasius and Protasius, which occurred during
the time of trial referred to in the last letter, and seems, by
the pitch of excitement to which it raised the people of Milan,
to have alarmed the court-party, and so to have caused the
persecution to be dropped. The simple narrative needs no further
introduction. It is strikingly told, and the question of the
miracles discussed, in the ‘Church of the Fathers’ ch. iii. S.
Augustine gives a brief account of the event in his Confessions,
(ix. 7.) fully corroborating S. Ambrose’s statements, and also
speaks of it in De Civ. Dei xxii. 8, 2, and in Serm. de Divers.
cclxxvi. 5.
TO THE LADY HIS SISTER WHOM HE LOVES MORE THAN HIS LIFE
AND EYES AMBROSE HER BROTHER SENDS GREETING.
♦1. AS I am wont to keep your holiness informed of all that goes on
here in your absence, I would have you know that we have found the
bodies of some holy martyrs. After the consecration of a Church[121],
many began to interrupt me crying with one voice; Consecrate this as
you did the Roman Basilica. ‘I will do so,’ I replied, ‘if I find any
relics of Martyrs:’ and immediately my heart burned within me as if
prophetically.
2. In short the Lord lent us aid[122], though even the very clergy
were alarmed. I caused the ground to be opened before the rails of the
Church of S.S. Felix and Nabor. I found the suitable tokens; and when
some persons were brought for us to lay our hands upon, the power of
the holy martyrs became so manifest that before I began to speak, one
of them, a woman[123], was ♦seized[124] by an evil spirit and thrown
down upon the ground in the place where the martyrs lay. We found two
men of stupendous size, such as belonged to ancient days. All their
bones were entire, and there was much blood. The people flocked thither
in crowds throughout the whole of those two days. We arranged all the
bones in order, and carried them when evening set in, to the Basilica
of Fausta[125]; where we kept vigils throughout the night, and some
possessed persons received imposition of hands. The following day we
transferred them to the Basilica which they call Ambrosian. During
their transportation a blind man was healed[126]. My discourse to
the people was as follows. When I considered in what overflowing and
unprecedented numbers you were met together, and thought on the gifts
of Divine Grace which shone forth in the holy Martyrs, I felt myself,
I confess, unequal to this task, and thought it impossible that I could
find language to express that which we can hardly conceive in mind
or endure with our eyes. But when the reading of the regular Lessons
of Holy Scripture began, the Holy Spirit, Who spoke by the Prophets,
granted us grace to speak somewhat worthy of this great and expectant
concourse, and of the merits of the holy Martyrs.
Sidenote: Ps. xix. 1.
♦4. _The heavens_, the Psalmist says, _declare the glory of God_.
On reading this Psalm the thought arises that it is not so much the
material elements as the heavenly merits that seem to offer praise
worthy of God. But by the coincidence of the Lesson being read to-day
it is made plain what are the _heavens_ which _tell of the glory of
God_. Behold on my right hand and on my left the holy relics, behold
men of heavenly conversation, behold the trophies of a lofty mind.
These are the _heavens_ which _declare the glory of God_; these are
_the works of His hands_ which _are told by the firmament_. For it
was not worldly snares, but the favour of the Divine operation, which
raised them to the firmament of the most sacred Passion, and long
beforehand by the evidence of their conversation and virtues bore this
testimony of them, that they remained stedfast against the slippery
wiles of this world.
Sidenote: Phil. iii. 20.
Sidenote: S. Mark iii. 17.
Sidenote: S. John i. 1.
Sidenote: Ib. 18.
Sidenote: Job xxxiii. 4.
5. Paul was an heaven, when he says, _Our conversation is in heaven_.
James and John were heavens; they are called _sons of thunder_; and
therefore being as it were, an heaven, John saw _the Word with God_.
The Lord Jesus Christ Himself was an heaven of perpetual light, when He
told forth the glory of God, that glory which no man had before beheld.
And therefore He said, _No man hath seen God at any time, but the
Only-Begotten Son, Who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared
Him_. Moreover, if you look for the handiwork of God, hear what Job
says, _The Spirit of God hath made me_. And so, strengthened against
the temptations of the devil, he preserved his steps stedfast and
without stumbling. But let us proceed to what follows.
Sidenote: Ps. xix. 2.
6. _Day unto day_, the Psalm says, _uttereth speech_. These are the
true _days_, which no shades of night obscure; these are the true
_days_, full of light and eternal radiance, who have _uttered the word_
of God not by any mere transient utterance but from their inmost heart,
continuing constant in their confession, persevering in their testimony.
Sidenote: Ps. cxiii. 5, 6.
Sidenote: Ps. cxiii. 7, 8.
Sidenote: Ib. 9.
7. Another Psalm we read saith, _Who is like unto the Lord our God,
that hath His dwelling so high, and yet regardeth the lowly things
that are in heaven and earth_. Truly God hath _regarded the lowly_, Who
hath discovered the relics of the martyrs of His Church as they lay hid
under the unnoted sod, of those whose souls are in heaven, while their
bodies are in the earth, _taking up the simple out of the dust and
lifting the poor out of the mire_, even those whom ye see, _to set them
with the princes of His people_. For whom but the holy martyrs shall
we deem to be _princes of the people_? In their number Protasius and
Gervasius heretofore long unknown are enrolled, they who have caused
the Church of Milan, once _barren_ of martyrs, but now _the mother of
many children_, to exult both in the honors and examples of her own
sufferings?
Sidenote: 1 Cor. xv. 41.
8. Nor let this be considered alien from the true Faith: _Day unto
day uttereth speech_, soul to soul, life to life, resurrection to
resurrection. _And night unto night uttereth knowledge_, that is, flesh
to flesh, the flesh whose sufferings have declared to all the true
knowledge of faith. Bright and fair nights, full of stars: _For one
star differeth from another star in glory, so also is the resurrection
of the dead_.
9. But many not improperly call this the resurrection of the martyrs;
whether they have risen for themselves is another question, for us
beyond a doubt they are risen. Ye have heard, nay, yourselves have seen,
many cleansed from evil spirits; many also, after touching with their
hands the garments of the saints, delivered from the infirmities under
which they suffered: ye have seen the miracles of old time renewed,
when through the coming of the Lord Jesus, a fuller Grace descended
upon the earth; ye see many healed by the shadow, as it were, of the
holy bodies. How many napkins are passed to and fro? How many garments
placed on these holy relics, and endowed by the mere contact with the
power of healing are reclaimed by their owners. All think themselves
happy in touching even the outer-most thread, and whoever touches them
will be made whole.
Sidenote: Ps. xx. 7.
10. Thanks be to Thee, Lord Jesus, that at this time, when Thy Church
requires greater guardianship, Thou hast raised up for us the spirits
of the holy martyrs. Let all be well aware what kind of champions I
desire, such as are wont to be protectors not assailants. Such are
they, O holy people, whom I have obtained for you, a benefit to all,
and a hurt to none. These are the defenders whom I desire, these are
my soldiers, not the world’s soldiers, but Christ’s. I fear no odium on
account of these; their patronage is safe in proportion to its power.
Nay, I desire their protection for the very men who grudge them to
me. Let them come then and see my body-guard: I deny not that I am
surrounded by such weapons as these; _Some put their trust in chariots
and some in horses, but we will magnify ourselves in the Name of the
Lord our God_.
Sidenote: 2 Kings vi. 16 sqq.
Sidenote: 2 Cor. iii. 18.
11. The Lesson from Holy Scripture relates how Elisha, when surrounded
by the army of the Syrians, told his trembling servant not to fear,
_for they_, said he, _that are for us are more than they which are
against us_; and in order to convince Gehazi of this, he prayed that
his eyes might be opened, and when this was done he saw a countless
host of Angels present with the prophet. And we, though we see them
not, yet are conscious of their presence. Our eyes were held, as long
as the bodies of the saints lay hid in their graves. Now God has opened
our eyes, and we have seen the aids which had so often succoured us.
Before, we saw them not, although we possessed them. And so, as though
the Lord said to our trembling hearts, ‘Behold what great martyrs I
have given you;’ even so _with opened eyes we behold the glory of the
Lord_, which as to the passion of the martyrs is past, as to their
operation is present. We have escaped, my brethren, no light load of
shame; we had patrons and we knew it not. This one thing we have found,
wherein we seem to excel our ancestors; they lost the knowledge of the
holy martyrs, and we have gained it.
12. These noble relics are dug out of an ignoble sepulchre; these
trophies are displayed in the face of day. The tomb is moist with blood,
the tokens of a triumphant death are displayed, the uninjured relics
are found in their proper place and order, the head separated from the
body. Old men now relate that they have formerly heard the names of
these martyrs, and read their titles. The city which had seized on the
martyrs of other places had lost her own. This is the gift of God, and
yet the favour which the Lord Jesus has conferred in the time of my
episcopate I cannot deny, and since I myself am not counted worthy to
be a martyr, I have gained these martyrs for you.
13. Bring these victorious victims to the spot where Christ is the
sacrifice. But He, Who suffered for all, upon the Altar, they, who have
been redeemed by His passion, under the Altar. This spot I had destined
for myself, for it is fitting that the priest should rest where he hath
been wont to offer, but I give up the right side to the sacred victims:
that spot was due to the martyrs. Wherefore let us bury the hallowed
relics, placing them in a worthy home, and let us employ the whole day
in faithful devotion.
14. The people loudly requested that the deposition of the martyrs
should be deferred until the Lord’s Day; but at length I prevailed that
it should take place on the following day. On that day I delivered a
second sermon to the people to the following effect.
Sidenote: Ps. xix. 2.
15. Yesterday I discoursed upon the verse, _Day unto day uttereth
speech_, speaking according to my capacity: to-day Holy Scripture
seems to me to have prophecied, not only before, but now. For seeing
that this your devout celebration has continued night and day, the
oracles of prophetic song have declared that these, even yesterday
and to-day, are the days of which it is most opportunely said _day
unto day uttereth speech_, and these the nights to which the saying is
appropriate that _night unto night uttereth knowledge_. For what else
have ye done during these two days but utter the word of God with deep
emotion, and prove yourselves to have the knowledge of faith?
Sidenote: S. Matt. viii. 29.
16. This your celebration some, as is their wont, are envious of. And
since their envious minds cannot endure it, they also hate its cause,
and proceed to such a pitch of folly as to deny the merits of the
martyrs, whose power the very devils confess. But this is not strange;
for such is the faithlessness of unbelievers that the confession of the
devil himself is often less intolerable. For the devil said, _Jesus,
Thou Son of the living God, art Thou come to torment us before the
time?_ And yet when the Jews heard this they even then denied the Son
of God. And now ye have heard the devils crying out, and owning to the
martyrs that they cannot bear their tortures, and saying ‘Why are ye
come to torment us so grievously?’ And the Arians say, ‘These are not
martyrs, nor can they torment the devil nor dispossess any one:’ while
yet their own words are evidence of the torments of the evil spirits,
and the benefits of the martyrs are shewn by the recovery of the healed,
and the manifest proof of those that were dispossessed.
17. They deny that the blind man received his sight, but he denies
not his own cure. He says, ‘I who was blind now see.’ He says, ‘My
blindness has left me;’ he evidences it by the fact. They deny the
benefit, though they cannot deny the fact. The man is well known:
when in health he was employed in public trade, his name is Severus,
a butcher by business. When his affliction befell him he laid down his
employment. He calls as his witnesses those men by whose charities he
was supported; he summons as witnesses of his present visitation the
very men who bore testimony to his blindness. He declares that when he
touched the border of the garment with which the martyrs’ bodies were
clothed, his sight was restored to him.
Sidenote: S. John ix. 25.
18. Is not this like what we read in the Gospel? For the power which
we admire proceeds from one and the same Author; nor does it signify
whether it is a work or a gift, seeing that He confers gifts in His
works and works by His gifts. For what He has enabled some themselves
to perform, this in the work of others His Name effects. Thus we read
in the Gospel that the Jews, when they saw that the blind man had
received his sight, required the testimony of his parents. They asked,
‘How has your son received his sight?’ That blind man said, _Whereas I
was blind now I see_, and so too our blind man says, ‘I was blind, and
now I see.’ Enquire of others, if ye believe me not; question strangers,
if you suspect his parents of being in collusion with me. The obstinacy
of these men is more detestable than that of the Jews, for the latter
inquired of the man’s parents to solve their doubts; they secretly
inquire but openly deny, no longer refusing credit to the miracle but
to its Author.
Sidenote: S. John xiv. 12.
19 and 20. But I would fain ask, what it is they will not believe;
is it that any one can be relieved by the martyrs? But this is not to
believe in Christ, for He hath said, _And greater things than these
shall ye do_. Or only by those martyrs, whose merits have long been
efficacious, and whose bodies have long been discovered? Here I ask
whether it is of myself or of the holy martyrs that they are jealous?
If of me, have I wrought any miracles by my own means, in my own name?
Why then do they envy me that which is not mine? But if of the martyrs
(for if not of me it must be of them they are envious) they show that
their Creed is different from that of the martyrs. For they would not
envy their works unless they deemed the faith which was in them to be
that which they themselves have not. This is that Faith sealed by the
tradition of our ancestors, which the devils themselves cannot deny,
though the Arians do.
21. We have heard to-day those on whom hands were laid, profess
that no man can be saved who does not believe in the Father, Son,
and Holy Ghost: that he was dead and buried who denied the Holy Ghost,
who believed not the Almighty power of the Trinity. This the devil
confesses, but the Arians will not own it. The devil says, Let him who
denies the divinity of the Holy Spirit be tormented as he himself was
tormented by the Martyrs.
Sidenote: S. Mark i. 24.
Sidenote: S. John ix. 29.
22. What I accept from the devil is not his testimony, but his
confession. He spoke unwillingly, compelled and tortured. That which
wickedness suppressed, force extorted. The devil yields to blows,
but as yet the Arians have not learned to yield. How much have they
suffered, and like ♦Pharaoh, they are hardened by their calamities! The
devil said, as we find it written, _I know Thee Who Thou art, the Son
of the Living God_. The Jews said, _We know not who He is_. Yesterday,
and the preceding night and day the devils said, ‘We know that ye are
martyrs,’ while the Arians said, ‘We know not, we will not understand
nor believe.’ The devils say to the martyrs, ‘Ye are come to destroy
us,’ the Arians say, ‘These torments of the devil are not true torments
but pretended and counterfeit.’ I have heard of many counterfeits, but
no man could ever feign himself a devil. Again, what is the meaning of
the agony we see in them, when the hand is laid on them? What room is
here for fraud and what suspicion of imposture?
Sidenote: Gen. iv. 10.
23. But I will not call the words of devils as a testimony to the
martyrs: let the sacred sufferings of the martyrs be established
by their own supernatural acts; judges indeed they have, namely,
those that have been cleansed, witnesses, namely those that have
been dispossessed. Better than that of devils is their voice who came
diseased and are now healed, better is that voice which the martyrs
blood sends forth, for blood has a loud voice which reaches from earth
to heaven. Ye have read those words of God, _Thy brother’s blood crieth
unto Me!_ This blood cries by its purple stains, it cries by its signal
efficacy, it cries by its triumphant suffering.
We have granted your request and have put off till to-day the burial of
the relics which should have taken place yesterday.
LETTER XXIII.
A.D. 386.
THIS letter is addressed to the Bishops of the province of
Æmilia, which, as forming part of the political diocese of Italy,
was under the ecclesiastical superintendence of the Bishop of
Milan, who exercised the powers, if he had not the title, of
Exarch. (See Bingham Antiq. ix. 1, § 6, 8.) The Bishops apply to
him for his decision as to the proper day for observing Easter
in the following year, A.D. 387, in which the first day of
the week fell on the fourteenth day of the moon, or, as it is
called here, the ‘fourteenth moon.’ This was a question which
for long troubled the Church, and divided the East and West,
and much importance was attached to it. The whole question is
fully discussed in Dict. of Christ. Antiq. under ‘Easter,’ in a
learned article by the Rev. L. Hensley. Some interesting remarks
on it, in connection with disputes in England, may be seen in
Prof. Bright’s Early English Ch. Hist. pp. 76–79, and 193–200.
Mr. Hensley has kindly drawn up the following table, which
exhibits at a glance the points on which S. Ambrose enters in
this letter.