Sidenote: Joel i. 8.
Sidenote: Hosea ii. 19.
1. YOU have wisely thought it a subject of inquiry, whether there be
any difference in God’s love towards those who have believed from their
childhood, and those who have believed in the course of their youth
or more advanced age; for this also has not been past over nor left
unnoticed in the sacred Scriptures. For it is not without meaning that
the Lord our God says to the Prophet Joel, _Lament to me for the spouse
girded with sackcloth and for the husband of her youth_, expressing
his grief for the Synagogue, who, before, in her virginity, had been
espoused to the Word of God, or, it may be, for a soul which had
fallen from her good deeds, that by the heinousness of her sins she had
incurred hatred, and through the defilement of impiety and the stains
of unbelief had become miserable and despised, and far removed from the
grace of that Spouse which had before been counted worthy to be told,
_I will betroth thee unto Me in righteousness and in judgment and in
lovingkindness and in mercies_.
Sidenote: Mal. iv. 2.
Sidenote: S. Matt. ix. 15.
2. Not without reason is she considered miserable, who has lost gifts
of so great a price, and suffered so grievous a loss of her dowry of
virtues as to be deprived of the Spouse of her virginity. For according
to our merits the Word of God either lives or dies in us; for if our
desires and works are good, the Word of God lives and acts in us: if
our thoughts and actions are darksome, the Sun of righteousness sets
within us. And therefore He bids lamentation to be made for such a soul.
For as they have cause of congratulation and feasting with whom the
Bridegroom dwells, so that soul is to be mourned for, from whom the
Spouse has been taken, as it is written of the Apostles in the Gospel;
for _when the Bridegroom shall be taken away from them, then shall they
fast in those days_.
Sidenote: Ps. civ. 15.
3. Thus too this soul, in former times when she possessed the Virgin
Word, had joy and gladness. And therefore she fasted not, because it
was the season of feasting and refreshment; the Bridegroom was present
bestowing by His presence the riches of plenty, stores of heavenly food,
and dropping _wine, whereby the hearts of men are made glad_. But after
she lost the Bridegroom by her acts, she is commanded to do penance in
sackcloth for her sins, and to bewail herself, because Christ, Who is
the Virgin Word, died and was crucified for her.
Sidenote: Ecclus. xv. 2.
4. If this soul was espoused from early age, and never bore any other
yoke, but from the beginning dedicated the maiden flower of her faith
to Christ and as a virgin was united to Him in early days in the
mysteries of piety, received a training in holiness as a heifer does
the yoke; she is the very soul of the ancient Jewish stock from the
family of the patriarchs, who, had she kept her course of faith without
stumbling, would have been counted worthy of great things, the Spouse
of the Virginal Word, as she who lays hold of Wisdom, _and as a mother
shall she meet him, and receive him as a wife married of a virgin_.
Sidenote: 1 Sam. xxv. 39.
5. The other likewise is procured from the Gentiles, and both are the
Spouse of the One Word, which is a great mystery. And this is set forth
to you in the book of Kings; since David had two wives, Ahinoam the
Jezreelitess and Abigail whom he obtained afterwards; the first more
severe, the latter full of mercy and grace, an hospitable and liberal
soul, who saw the Father with open face, having beheld His glory; she
who received the divine dew of paternal Grace, as the interpretation
of the name signifies. Now what is the dew of the Father, but the Word
of God, Who has filled the hearts of all with the moisture of faith and
justice?
Sidenote: Ib. 32.
Sidenote: Ib. 35.
Sidenote: Cant. ii. 14.
6. Well therefore does the true David say to this soul what was said to
Abigail, _Blessed is the Lord God of Israel which sent thee this day to
meet me_. And again he says to her, _Go up in peace to thine house; see,
I have hearkened to thy voice, and have accepted thy person_. Lastly in
the Song of Solomon these are the words of the Bridegroom to the Bride,
_Let me see thy countenance; let me hear thy voice_.
7. And at the time she was dismissed, for she had another husband who
in Hebrew was called Nabal, which in Latin means foolish, a man harsh,
inhospitable, uncourteous, ungrateful, who knew not how to repay good
offices; but after his death, she was _set free from the law of her
husband_, and the prophet David took her to wife. By this marriage the
mystery of the Church which was to be called from among the Gentiles
is signified, for she, having lost the husband to whom she had been
married, became converted to Christ, bringing with her a dowry of piety,
of humility and faith, enriched also with the patrimony of mercy.
Sidenote: Ps. xliv. 15.
Sidenote: Mic. iv. 4.
8. But in this place it is not this wife, but that Ahinoam, who was
evilly disposed towards her brother, wherefore her brother was made a
trouble to her, and in their person it is said, _thou makest us to be
a bye-word among the heathen, and that the people shake their heads
at us_. The devil, finding her off her guard, fell upon her as a lion,
and deprived her of her charms, rooted up _her vine and fig-tree_ under
which she used to repose, and caused her fruit to wither.
Sidenote: Joel i. 8.
Sidenote: Hosea iv. 6.
9. But now God, having compassion on them, thus dried up and withered
by drought, saith to the prophet, _Lament to Me for virgin girded
with sackcloth and for the husband of her youth_, that is to say,
over the dead husband of this soul or of the Synagogue. And with her
He expostulates in another place, forasmuch as she had forgotten her
resolution, forgotten His grace, had wandered from discipline, and had
lost her former affections as a wife. Lastly therefore He reproves her
with His words, calling to mind and repeating her tenderness and her
expressions of affection: ‘Didst Thou not call me one of Thy household,
the parent and guide of Thy virginity.’
Sidenote: 1 Cor. xi. 14.
Sidenote: Eph. iv. 13.
10. Wherefore for this soul, to whom through her infidelity the Word of
God is dead, and this Virgin Word is dead also, He appoints grief and
brings in an Intercessor, that so she may be called to penitence, and
may thereby earn compassion. But she who is of prudent understanding
and very beautiful to look upon, was gained for him, like Abigail,
in battle; her adversaries were conquered, and her husband, he who,
surrounded by spiritual wickedness, struggled and fought not to lose
his beautiful wife, being dead. On her, her victorious and loving
Spouse confers sweetness and grace, cleansing her from all that
might obscure her beauty, and taking off from her the garments of her
captivity, that so, laying aside all the hairs of her head, that is,
the curls of sins, which seem to be superfluous parts of our person
(for _if a man have long hair it is a shame unto him_), she may strive
to come _in the unity of the faith, unto a perfect man, unto the
measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ_, that she may lay
aside all trouble of mind, and founded in love may grow up in the Lord
Jesus, and make increase of the whole body.
Sidenote: Deut. xxi. 12.
Sidenote: Ib. 12.
Sidenote: Eccles. ii. 14.
Sidenote: Deut. xxi. 13.
Sidenote: Jer. xvii. 12. Vulg.
11. This is that soul whom the Law shews to thee under the figure of
a beautiful woman, and _if thou seest her among the captives, and hast
a desire unto her, that thou wouldest have her to thy wife_, it says
to thee, _thou shalt bring her home to thine house_, that thou mayest
commit to her the whole interior of thy house, the possession of all
thy secrets, that thou mayest take away her superfluities, and cut
off her transgressions; and with a razor not too sharp, lest it come
to evil, may cut off the slough of thy passions, and thy idle senses.
Wherefore it is said, _she shall shave her head_, that so the _wise
man’s eyes_ that _are in his head_ may meet with no hindrance. And _she
shall remain_, it is said, _in thine house a full month_, bewailing
the sins of her nativity, and the lies of her wicked father the devil,
who would fain _gather what he hath not laid_, that so, cleansed by the
purification of this mystic number, she may obtain the keys of marriage.
Sidenote: Deut. xxi. 13.
Sidenote: Wisd. viii. 19.
Sidenote: Cant. iii. 4.
12. And it is well said, _After that thou shalt go in unto her_,
bidding thee to enter wholly into thy soul, and collect thyself within
her, and so dwell in her that thou mayest be not in the flesh but in
the spirit, and purpose to associate her to thyself in the commerce of
life, knowing that she will communicate to thee of her goods, and that
filled with her grace thou mayest say, _I was a witty child, and had
a good spirit_; and she may answer thee, _I will take thee, and bring
thee into my mother’s house, and unto the chamber of her that conceived
me. A good mother of souls in that Jerusalem which is in heaven._
Sidenote: Deut. xxi. 14.
13. She then shall be thy life, she shall find thee and kiss thee. _And
it shall be, if thou hast no delight in her_, because she chastiseth
her body, and bringeth it into slavery, thou shalt not suffer her to
be a slave, that is, to the lusts of the body, nor subject her to the
flesh, but suffer her to remain free; thou shalt not alienate her,
for this were to sell her, nor shalt thou despise her, but shalt allow
her to serve God in the chastity of faith and sobriety of good works.
Farewell: love me, for I love you.
LETTER XXXII.
A.D. 387.
S. AMBROSE in this Letter applies the words of Jeremiah about
the partridge (Jer. xvii. 11.) to Satan, and from it sets forth
the way in which Jesus Christ has overcome him, and rescued man
from his power.