1. OUR letters are so linked together that we seem to be holding actual
conversation with one another, so well do you with your question and I
with my explanations supply subject matter for our correspondence.
Sidenote: Rom. viii. 26.
Sidenote: Ps. xxvii. 9.
2. You have intimated your doubt of what spirit it is said that he
_maketh intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered_. Let
us then refer to what has gone before, that the passage may make plain
what we are seeking. _Likewise_, it is said, _the Spirit helpeth our
infirmities_. Does it not seem to you that this is the Holy Spirit, for
He is our Helper, as He to Whom it is said, _Thou hast been my succour,
leave me not neither forsake me, O God of my salvation_?
Sidenote: S. Luke xi. 1.
Sidenote: 1 Cor. xiv. 15.
Sidenote: Ps. cxliii. 10.
Sidenote: 1 Cor. xii. 7.
Sidenote: S. Matt. vi. 33.
3. For what other Spirit could teach Paul how to pray? The Spirit of
Christ, like Christ Himself, teaches His disciples to pray, for who
could teach us, after Christ, but His Spirit, Whom He sent to teach
us, and to direct our prayers, _for we pray with the Spirit and we pray
with the understanding also_. That the understanding may pray well,
the Spirit goes before and _leads it forth into the right way_, so
as to prevent carnal things, or what either falls below or exceeds
its strength, from secretly stealing over it. _For the manifestation
of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal._ It is written
also, Seek great things, and small things shall be added unto you; seek
heavenly things, and earthly things shall be added unto you.
Sidenote: 1 Cor. xii. 11.
Sidenote: S. Matt. xxvi. 41.
4. Wherefore He wishes us to seek greater things, not to linger upon
earth. And He knows what to bestow upon us, _dividing unto every man
severally as He will_. Sometimes, knowing our capacity, which we are
ignorant of, He says to us, _Ye cannot receive it now_. I ask for
myself the sufferings of martyrdom, _the_ Holy _Spirit is willing_,
but sees the weakness of my flesh, and lest, while I seek for greater
things I should lose what is less, says to me, ‘Thou canst not bear
this.’ What opportunities have I not had and yet when near the goal
I have been held back[183]. The good ♦physician knows what food is
suitable to each disease, and to each season, for the benefit of health.
Sometimes food seasonably taken restores health; but if a man eat food
unseasonably or of an improper kind, it is dangerous to him.
Sidenote: Jer. iv. 19.
Sidenote: Ps. xxxviii. 9.
Sidenote: 1 Chron. xxi. 17.
5. Therefore since we know not what to pray for, nor how to pray, the
Holy Spirit prays for us; for He is the Spirit of Jesus our Advocate,
and He prays with groans unutterable, for Christ also mourns for us.
And God the Father says, _My bowels, My bowels, I am pained at the very
heart_. We often read too of Him as being indignant and grieved. He
groans to take away our sins, and to teach us to do penance. For there
are pious groans, and of prevailing power with God, whereof the Prophet
speaks, _And my groaning is not hid from Thee_. For he did not hide
himself, like Adam, but said, Behold I am the shepherd, _but these
sheep, what have they done? it is I that have sinned, let Thine hand
be on me_.
Sidenote: 2 Cor. xii. 4.
Sidenote: Rom. viii. 27.
Sidenote: Ib.
6. Hence then cometh the groaning of the Spirit of God, and those
groans of the Prophet[184], truly unutterable because they are divine.
So those words which Paul heard in heaven are _unspeakable, which it
is not lawful for a man to utter_, but what is hidden from man is known
to God. Now He Who is the Searcher of hearts knows all things, but the
things which He searches are those which the Spirit hath cleansed. God
therefore knoweth what the Spirit prays for, and what is the wisdom of
the Spirit Which intercedes for the saints, as it is written, _For the
Spirit maketh intercession for us_. For those for whom Christ suffered,
and whom He cleansed by His Blood, for them the Spirit also intercedes.
Farewell: love me as a Son, for I too love you.
LETTER XXXVII.
A.D. 387.
SIMPLICIAN, to whom this and the following Letters, and several
later ones, are addressed, seems, from what little we know of
him, to have been a very learned and yet simple-minded man.
He was older than S. Ambrose, who speaks in this Letter of his
‘fatherly love’ towards himself, and was probably his adviser
in the early days of his episcopate, and possibly, as the
Benedictine Editors, (note on Letter lxv,) suggest, his ‘father
in the faith,’ as having prepared him for his ordination,
or even taught him as a catechumen at Rome in earlier days.
Paulinus tells us that when S. Ambrose was on his death-bed he
overheard some of his Clergy discussing the probabilities as
to his successor, and when they mentioned Simplician’s name,
he said “as if he were taking part in the convention, ‘Trahitur
autem sapientia de occultis.’” Certainly Simplician was
unanimously chosen his successor.
In this Letter he dwells in detail upon the theme that goodness
is true freedom and sin slavery, which he illustrates at great
length and with much rarity of argument. It is one of the most
interesting of his expository Letters.