1. ALTHOUGH in my previous letter I have resolved the question which
you proposed to me, I will not refuse your request, my son, that I
would somewhat more fully state and express my meaning.
2. Much agitated has ever been the question, and very famous this
acquittal of that woman who in the Gospel according to John was brought
to Christ accused of adultery. The stratagem which the equivocating
Jews devised was this, that in case of the Lord Jesus acquitting
her contrary to the Law, His sentence might be convicted of being at
variance with the Law, but if she were to be condemned according to
the Law, the Grace of Christ might seem to be made void.
3. And still more warm has the discussion become, since the time that
bishops[152] have begun to accuse those guilty of the most heinous
crimes before the public tribunals, and some even to urge them to the
use of the sword and of capital punishment, while others again approve
of such kind of accusations and of blood-stained triumphs of the
priesthood. For those men say just the same as did the Jews, that the
guilty ought to be punished by the public laws, and therefore that they
ought also to be accused by the priests before the public tribunals,
who, they assert, ought to be punished according to the laws. The case
is the same, though the number is less, that is to say, the question
as to judgment is similar, the odium of the punishment is dissimilar.
Christ would not permit one woman to be punished according to the Law;
they assert that too small a number has been punished.
Sidenote: S. John x. 30.
Sidenote: Ib. vii. 16.
Sidenote: Ib. viii. 20.
Sidenote: S. Luke xxi. 2.
4. But in what place does Christ give this decision? For He generally
vouchsafed to adapt His discourses to the character of the place
wherein He was teaching His disciples[153]. For instance while walking
in the porch of Solomon, that is, of the Wise man, He said, _I and
My Father are One_; and in God’s Temple He said, _My doctrine is not
Mine, but His that sent Me_. It was in the Temple also that He gave the
sentence of which we now speak, for in the verse following it is thus
written, _These words spake Jesus in the treasury, as He taught in the
Temple, and no man laid hands on Him_. What is the Treasury? It is the
place of offering for the faithful, the bank of the poor, the refuge of
the needy, near which Christ sat, when, according to Luke, He declared
that the widow’s two mites were to be preferred to the gifts of the
rich, thus bearing Divine testimony to a zealous and cordial charity as
preferable to the offerings of an affluent munificence.
Sidenote: Ib. x. 35.
5. Now let us consider what He Who passed such a judgment as this
contributed when sitting near the Treasury, for not without a purpose
did He prefer the woman who threw in two mites. Precious was her
poverty, and rich in the mystery of faith. These are the same two
pieces of money which the Samaritan in the Gospel left with the host
in order to cure the wounds of the man who had fallen among thieves.
So too this woman, outwardly a widow, but mystically representing the
Church, thought it right to cast into the sacred Treasury this gift
whereby the wounds of the poor might be healed and the hunger of the
strangers satisfied.
Sidenote: Ps. xi. 7.
6. Now then it behoves you spiritually to consider what Christ bestows;
for He distributed among the people silver tried by the fire of the
heavenly oracles, and to the desires of the people He told out money
stamped with the Royal image. No one could give more than He Who gave
all. He satisfied the hungry, He replenished the needy, He enlightened
the blind, He redeemed the captives, He raised the palsied, He restored
the dead, nay, what is more, He gave absolution to the guilty and
forgave their sins. These are the two pence which the Church cast in,
after having received them from Christ. And what are the two pence but
the price of the New and Old Testament? The price of the Scripture is
our faith, for it is according to the intelligence and will of each
that what we read therein is valued. So then the remission of sins is
the price of both Testaments, and is announced in type by the Lamb, and
accomplished in verity by Christ.
Sidenote: Exod. xii. 3.
Lev. xii. 2.
Sidenote: S. Luke xxiv. 7.
Sidenote: S. Matt. iii. 11.
7. You understand therefore that the purification of seven days brought
with it also the purification of three days. The purification of
seven days is according to the Law, which, under the semblance of the
sabbath that now is, announced a spiritual sabbath; the purification
of three days is according to Grace, and is sealed by the witness of
the Gospel, for the Lord rose on the third day. Where a penalty for
sin is prescribed there also must penitence be, where remission of sins
is accorded there follows Grace. Penitence precedes, Grace follows. So
that there can neither be penitence without Grace, nor Grace without
penitence, for penitence must first condemn sin, that Grace may abolish
it. Wherefore John, fulfilling the type of the Law, baptized unto
repentance, Christ unto Grace.
Sidenote: Eccles. xi. 2.
Sidenote: Hosea i. 2.
8. Now the seventh day denotes the mystery of the Law, the eighth that
of the Resurrection, as you have in Ecclesiastes, _Give a portion to
seven and also to eight_. In the prophet Hosea also you have read that
it was said to him, _Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms for fifteen
pieces of silver_, seeing that by the double price of the Old and New
Testament, that is, by the full price of faith, that woman is hired who
was attended by a vagrant and licentious train of ♦sojourners.
Sidenote: Ib. iii. 2.
Sidenote: S. Matt. v. 17.
9. _And I bought her to me_, saith the prophet, _for fifteen pieces of
silver, and for an homer of barley, and an half homer of barley and a
measure[154] of wine[155]_. By barley is signified that the imperfect
are called to the Faith that they may be made perfect, by the homer is
understood a full measure, by the half homer a half measure. The full
measure is the Gospel, the half measure is the Law, the fulfilment of
which is the New Testament. Thus the Lord Himself saith, _I am not come
to destroy the Law, but to fulfil_.
Sidenote: Isa. xxxviii. 8.
Sidenote: Mal. iv. 2.
Sidenote: Gal. i. 18.
10. Nor is it without meaning that we read in the Psalms of David
of fifteen degrees, and that the sun had risen fifteen degrees, when
Hezekiah the righteous king received a new supply of life. Hereby
was signified the coming of the Sun of Righteousness, Who was about
to enlighten by His presence these fifteen steps of the Old and New
Testament whereby our faith mounts up to life eternal. And this leads
me to believe that what was read this day from the Apostle of his
remaining fifteen days with Peter has a mystical meaning; for it
appears that while the holy Apostles held various discourses among
themselves upon the interpretation of the Divine Scriptures a full and
bright light fell upon them, and the shades of ignorance were dispersed.
But now let us come to the absolution of the woman taken in adultery.
Sidenote: S. John viii. 15.
Sidenote: Ib. 4, 5.
Lev. xx. 8.
11. A woman accused of adultery was brought by the Scribes and
Pharisees to the Lord Jesus with the malicious intent, that, if He
was to acquit her, He might seem to annul the Law, if He condemned
her, that He might seem to have changed the purpose of His coming,
since He came to remit the sins of all men. To the same purport He
said above[156], _I judge no man_. So when they brought her they said,
_This woman was taken in adultery, in the very act; now Moses in the
Law commanded us that such should be stoned, but what sayest Thou?_
Sidenote: v. 7.
12. While they were saying this, Jesus stooped down and wrote with His
finger on the ground. And as they waited for His answer, He lifted up
His head and said, _He that is without sin among you, let him first
cast a stone at her_. What can be more Divine than this sentence, that
he should punish sins who is himself free from sin? For how can we
endure one who takes vengeance on guilt in another and excuses it in
himself? When a man ♦condemns in another what he commits himself, does
he not rather pronounce his own condemnation?
Sidenote: S. Matt. vii. 3.
13. Thus He spake, and wrote upon the ground. What then did He write?
This, _Thou beholdest the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but
considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye_. For lust is like a
mote, it is quickly kindled, quickly consumed; the sacrilegious perfidy
which led the Jews to deny the Author of their salvation declared the
magnitude of their crime.
Sidenote: Jer. xvii. 13.
Sidenote: S. Luke x. 20.
14. He wrote upon the ground with the finger with which He had written
the Law. Sinners’ names are written in the earth, those of the just in
heaven, as He said to His disciples, _Rejoice, because your names are
written in heaven_. And He wrote a second time, that you may know that
the Jews were condemned by both Testaments.
15. When they heard these words they went out one after another,
beginning at the eldest, and sat down thinking upon themselves. _And
Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst._ It is well
said that they went out who chose not to be with Christ. Without is
the letter, within are the mysteries. For in the Divine lessons they
sought, as it were, after the leaves of trees, and not after the fruit;
they lived in the shadow of the Law, and could not discern the Sun of
Righteousness.
Sidenote: S. John xvi. 32.
Sidenote: Ib. i. 29.
16. Finally, when they departed Jesus was left alone, and the woman
standing in the midst. Jesus about to remit sin remains alone, as He
says Himself, _Behold the hour cometh, yea is now come, that ye shall
be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave Me alone_; for
it was no messenger, no herald, but the Lord Himself Who saved His
people. He remains alone, because in the remission of sins no man can
participate with Christ. This is the gift of Christ alone, Who _took
away the sins of the world_. The woman too was counted worthy to be
absolved, seeing that, on the departure of the Jews, she remained alone
with Jesus.
Sidenote: Ib. viii. 10.
17. Then Jesus lifted up His head, and said to the woman, _Where are
those thine accusers, hath no man condemned thee? She said, No man,
Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee, go, and
sin no more._ See, O reader, these Divine mysteries, and the mercy of
Christ. When the woman is accused, Christ stoops His head, but when the
accusers retire He lifts it up again; thus we see that He would have no
man condemned, but all absolved.
Sidenote: S. Matt. xx. 23.
18. By the words, _Hath no man condemned thee?_ He briefly overthrows
all the quibbles of heretics, who say that Christ knows not the day
of judgment. He Who says, _But to sit on My right hand and on My left
is not Mine to give_, says also in this place, _Hath no man condemned
thee?_ How is it that He asks concerning that which He saw? It is for
our sakes that He asks, that we might know the woman was not condemned.
And such is the wont of the human mind, often to enquire concerning
that which we know. The woman too answered, _No man, Lord_, that is to
say, Who can condemn when Thou dost not condemn? Who can punish another
under such a condition as Thou hast attached to his sentence?
19. The Lord answered her, _Neither do I condemn thee_. Observe how
He has modified His own sentence; that the Jews might have no ground
of allegation against Him for the absolution of the woman, but by
complaining only draw down a charge upon themselves; for the woman
is dismissed not absolved; and this because there was no accuser, not
because her innocence was established. How then could they complain,
who were the first to abandon the prosecution of the crime, and the
execution of the punishment?
20. Then He said to her who had gone astray, _Go, and sin no more_. He
reformed the criminal, He did not absolve the sin. Faults are condemned
by a severer sentence, whenever a man hates his own sin, and begins the
condemnation of it in himself. When the criminal is put to death, it is
the person rather than the ♦transgression which is punished, but when
the transgression is forsaken, the absolution of the person becomes
the punishment of the sin. What is the meaning then of, _Go, and sin
no more_? It is this; Since Christ hath redeemed thee, suffer thyself
to be corrected by Grace; punishment would not reform but only afflict
thee. Farewell, my son, and love me as a son, for I on my part love you
as a parent.
LETTER XXVII.
A.D. 387.
WHO Irenæus was to whom the series of letters from xxvii. to
xxxiii. are addressed is not ascertained. From the affectionate
and parental way in which S. Ambrose addresses him, and from
Irenæus’ applying to him for elucidation of his difficulties
in the study of Holy Scripture, it is probable that he was one
who had been trained, perhaps converted by him. The Benedictine
Editors think that he must have been one of his Milan Clergy.
All the letters are occupied in expounding passages of the Old
Testament, or in solving questions connected with it; they are
specimens of his method of mystical interpretation, in which he
took great delight.
In this Letter he begins a reply to a question on Exodus viii.
26. and then goes off into a mystical interpretation of Rachel
and Leah, making them an allegory, as S. Paul does Hagar and
Sarah.