Sidenote: Gen. i. 16.
1. YOU have intimated to me your surprise at finding in my Treatise
on the Six days of Creation, that, while you found both the Sacred
Narrative and the tenor of my discourse assigning greater gifts to man
than to any other creature in the earth, still that the land and the
waters brought forth all flying and creeping things and things in the
waters before him for whose sake they were all created: and you ask me
the reason of this, which Moses was silent about, and I did not venture
to touch upon.
2. And perhaps that spokesman of the Divine Oracles purposely kept
silence, lest he should seem to render himself the judge and counsellor
of the Divine ordinances; for to give utterance to that with which he
was inspired by the Spirit of God is one thing, to interpret the will
of God is another. I am of opinion however that we, not as speaking
in God’s Name, but as gathering up scattered principles of reason from
human usage, may be able, from the way in which God has disposed other
things for man’s use, to come to the conclusion that it was fitting for
man to be the last work of creation.
Sidenote: S. Luke xiv. 16.
Sidenote: S. Matt. xxii. 12.
3. For he who sets out a banquet, like that rich man in the Gospel,
(for we must compare Divine things with each other the better to
draw our conclusion,) prepares every thing first, kills his oxen and
fatlings, and then bids his friends to supper. The more trivial things
therefore are prepared in the first place, and then he who is worthy of
honour is invited. Hence the Lord also first provided for the food of
man all other animals, and then invited to the feast man himself, as
His friend: and truly His friend, seeing that he was partaker of the
Divine Charity and heir of His Glory. To man himself it is that He says:
_Friend, how camest thou in hither?_ So then all things that precede
are to minister to the need of the friend, and it is the friend who is
invited last.
Sidenote: Rev. ii. 10.
Sidenote: 2 Tim. iv. 7.
Sidenote: Ib. ii. 5.
4. Take another instance. What is the world but a sort of arena of
continual strife? Wherefore also in the Apocalypse the Lord says, _To
him that overcometh will I give a crown of life_; and Paul says, _I
have fought a good fight_; and in another place, _No man is crowned
except he strive lawfully_. He who institutes this combat is Almighty
God. Now he who in this world offers a combat, does he not first
provide all things which are necessary thereto, and prepare the
chaplets of victory before he summons the athletics to contend for the
prize; and all this that the conqueror may not suffer delay, but retire
from the contest crowned with his reward? Now the rewards of man are
the fruits of the earth and the lights of heaven; the former for the
use of this present life, the latter for the hope of life eternal.
Sidenote: Rom. viii. 20.
Sidenote: Dan. xii. 3.
Sidenote: 1 Cor. ix. 26.
5. As a wrestler therefore he enters the lists last of all; he raises
his eyes to heaven, he sees that even the heavenly _creation was
made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath
subjected the same in hope_. He sees that _the whole creation groaneth
in pain together, waiting for redemption_. He sees that labour awaits
us all. He raises his eyes, he sees the circlets of lights, he surveys
the orbs of the moon and stars: _For the just, who overcome, shall
be as the stars in heaven_. And he chastises his body, that it may
not be his enemy in the combat, he anoints it with the oil of mercy,
he exercises it with daily trials of virtue, he smears himself with
dust, he _runs_ to the goal of the course but _not as uncertainly_, he
aims his blows, he darts forth his arms, but not into empty space, he
strikes the adversary whom he sees not, for he has respect to Him alone
to Whom all enemies give way, even those who are invisible, in Whose
Name the powers of the air were turned aside. It is he therefore who
poises the blow, but it is Christ Who strikes, it is he who lifts up
his heel, but Christ Who directs it to the ground. Lastly, although
Paul saw not those whom he struck, he was not _as one that beateth the
air_, because by the preaching of Christ he wounded those evil spirits
which assaulted him. Rightly therefore did man, for whom a race was
prepared, enter the course last, that he might be preceded by heaven
which was to be, as it were, his reward.
Sidenote: Eph. vi. 12.
Sidenote: Gen. ix. 21.
Sidenote: 2 Cor. xi. 26.
Sidenote: Acts xvi. 22.
6. But we wrestle not only _against spiritualities of wickedness in
high places_, but also _against flesh and blood_. We wrestle with
satiety, with the very fruits of the earth, with wine, by which even
a righteous man was made drunk, and the whole people of the Jews
overthrown; we wrestle with wild animals, with the fowls of the air;
for our flesh, if pampered by these, cannot be brought to subjection;
we wrestle _with perils of the way, with perils of waters_, as Paul
says; we wrestle with rods of the wood, those rods with which the
Apostles were beaten. You see how severe are our combats. Thus the
earth is man’s trial-ground, heaven is his crown; and fitting therefore
it was that as a friend, what was to minister to his wants should
precede him, as a combatant, his reward.
Sidenote: 1 Cor. xv. 49.
Gen. i. 27.
7. Take another illustration. In all things the beginning and the
ending are most excellent. If you look upon a house, it is the
foundation and the roof which are more considerable than the other
parts, if you look upon a field it is the sowing and the harvest,
the planting and the vintage. How sweet are the grafts of trees, how
pleasant are the fruits! In the same manner also was the heaven created
first, and man last, as a kind of heavenly creature upon earth. For
although in body he is compared with the beasts, in mind he is numbered
among the inhabitants of heaven; for _as we have borne the image of
the earthy; we shall also bear the image of the heavenly_. How should
he not be heavenly, who is made after the image and likeness of God?
Sidenote: Is. lxvi. 1.
Sidenote: S. John xiv. 23.
8. Rightly therefore in the creation of the world the heaven is both
first and last, wherein is that which is beyond heaven, even the God of
heaven. And of man is rather to be understood the text, _Heaven is my
throne_, for God does not sit above the element, but in the heart of
man. Wherefore the Lord also says, _We will come unto Him, and make our
abode with Him_. Heaven therefore is the first work in the creation of
the world, and man the last.
Sidenote: Ps. cii. 25.
Sidenote: Ib. cxix. 73.
Sidenote: Ps. xix. 1.
Sidenote: S. Matt. v. 16.
Sidenote: Ib. xvi. 18.
Sidenote: Deut. xxxii. 13.
Sidenote: 1 Cor. x. 4.
9. Heaven is of the world, man above the world; for the former is a
portion of the world, the latter is an inhabitant of Paradise, and the
possession of Christ. Heaven is thought to be undecaying, yet it passes
away; man is deemed to be incorruptible, yet he puts on incorruption;
the fashion of the first perishes, the latter rises again as being
immortal; yet the hands of the Lord, according to the authority of
Scripture, formed them both. For as we read of the heavens, _And the
heavens are the work of Thy hands_; so also man says, _Thy hands have
made me and fashioned me_; and again, _The heavens declare the glory
of God_. And as the heaven is resplendent with stars, so are men bright
with the light of good works, for their works shine before their Father
Which is in heaven. The former is the firmament of heaven which is on
high, and the latter firmament is not unlike to it, whereof it is said,
_Upon this rock will I build My Church_; the one is the firmament of
the elements, the other of virtues, and the last is more excellent;
_they sucked honey out of the firm rock_, for _the Rock_ is the flesh
_of Christ_, which redeemed the heaven and the whole world.
Sidenote: 2 S. Pet. i. 4.
Sidenote: Acts xvii. 27, 28.
10. Why should I add further, carrying you, as it were, through the
whole course, that God made man _partaker of the Divine nature_, as we
read in the Epistle of Peter? Whence one says not improperly, _We also
are His offspring_, for He made us akin to Himself, and we are of a
rational nature, that we might seek for that Godhead _Which is not far
from each one of us, in Whom we live and move and have our being_.
Sidenote: Gen. i. 28.
11. Having therefore conferred on man that which is the greatest of
graces, He granted to him as to that creature who was dearest and very
nearest to Him, all the things which are in this world, that he might
want for nothing which is necessary either for life or for a good life,
some of which things were to be supplied by the abundance of earthly
plenty to minister pleasure, others again by the knowledge of heavenly
secrets, to arouse man’s mind by the love and desire of that discipline
which should enable us to reach the summit of the Divine mysteries.
Both these therefore are most excellent gifts, both to have all the
riches of the world subject to him, all flying and creeping things and
fishes, and, as being lord of the elements, the use of the sea, and
without toil or want, after the model and likeness of his adorable
Creator, to abound in all things, living in the greatest plenty, and
also to open paths for himself, and make progress, so as to ascend to
the royal abode of heaven.
12. You will easily discover that the traveller along this arduous
path is the man, who has been so fashioned in purpose of heart and
will, as to be, as far as possible, estranged from his body, as not to
enter into any fellowship with vice, nor suffer himself to be smoothed
down by the words of flatterers: one who does not, when riding on the
chariot of prosperity, despise the humble, shun sorrow, discard and
disparage the praises of the holy, nor, by desire of glory or of wealth,
grasped at too prematurely, exhaust all the ardour of hope; one whose
mind is not bowed down by sadness nor broken by injury, which is not
♦harassed by suspicion, nor excited by lust, whom the passions of
the body do not overcome, whom no desire of vanities or charms of
pleasure disquiet and disturb. Add to all this the virtues of chastity,
soberness and temperance; let him be able easily to curb the irregular
sallies of light passion, set bounds to his pleasures and desires,
clear up ambiguity by an equitable judgment, by tranquillity of mind
settle what is doubtful, and with all the strifes of the mind and body
reconciled, so to speak, preserve in a just balance the concord of the
exterior and interior man unimpaired, stilling them as they lie within
his own breast, while, should he be called to it, no evil counsellor
is able to turn him away from the crown of suffering, such a man surely
will be adopted not only as a friend but a son by the Father, that he
may obtain the riches of His glory and inheritance.
Sidenote: Rom. x. 4.
Sidenote: Ps. lxxiii. 21.
Sidenote: Ps. lxxxix. 9.
13. Rightly therefore did he come last, being, as it were, the end of
nature, formed to righteousness, and the arbiter of right among other
creatures. And, if we may employ the illustration, as among men _Christ
is the end of the Law for righteousness to every one that believeth_,
so are we as beasts in the sight of the Lord, for thus says the Prophet,
_I became as a beast before Thee_. Yet what comparison is there between
the two, when He has redeemed those who were ready to perish, and we
put them to death, He calls slaves to liberty and we inflict bondage
on the free? _But who is like God?_
14. Man however came forth the last of all created things, in form
comely, in mind lofty, to be admired by all creatures, having in him,
after the image of the eternal God, an invisible intelligence[217]
clothed in human form. This is that intelligence or power of the
soul which claims to itself, as the ruling principle, authority over
the soul and body. This it is that all other living creatures dread
although they see it not, just as we fear God Whom we see not, and fear
Him only the more because we see Him not.
Sidenote: Gen. i. 26.
Sidenote: Jer. xxiii. 24.
Sidenote: S. John i. 18.
Sidenote: Jer. xx. 9.
Sidenote: Ps. xvii. 2.
15. For, if we may presume to speak of ourselves _after His image and
likeness_, as Scripture says, in the same way as He is established in
the fulness of His Majesty, and sees all things, heaven, air, earth
and sea, embracing the universe and penetrating each part, so that
nothing escapes Him, and there is nothing which does not consist in
Him and depend on Him, and which is not full of Him, as He Himself
says, _I fill heaven and earth, saith the Lord_, so likewise the mind
of man sees all things and is not seen, but maintains its own essence
invisible. By means of discipline forethought and perception she
apprehends hidden things, dives into the secret of the deep, and those
lurking-places which are spread throughout all lands, scrutinizing the
nature of both elements, after the likeness of the great God Whom she
imitates and follows, Whose image in minute portions is represented in
each individual. She raises herself likewise into the air, and rising
above the cloudy region, soars, in zeal for knowledge and thirst for
wisdom, to the height of heaven, and resting there awhile, rapt in
wonder at the heavenly constellations and charmed with their brightness,
looks down upon the things of earth. Then she approaches also to
Hesperus and Arcturus and those other stars which although Planets
err not, and sees that they keep their course without stumbling, that
course along which, in order the better to visit all regions, they
seem to circuit and to wander. And thus with greater ardour she raises
herself to the very bosom of the Father, wherein is the Only-Begotten
Son of God Who declares the secrets of God, which in the time to come
are to be revealed face to face. But even now He discloses them partly
and in a figure to those whom He deems worthy, and at the same time
sheds forth from the Spirit and from His own countenance floods of
resplendent light, so that he who is illuminated thereby may say, _But
it was as a fire blazing in my bones and I am melted on all sides, and
cannot stay_. And David says, _Let my sentence come forth from Thy
presence!_
16. By this vigour of mind, therefore, to return to the point from
whence I have digressed, whereby she subjects to herself things
external, comprehends in her view things distant and separate from
each other, and subdues the more powerful animals, she has inspired
the rest with such reverence for herself, that they emulously obey her
as their king, and pay ready attention to her voice. Nay, although they
are irrational they still acknowledge reason, and fix within themselves
that discipline which nature has not given them. Furthermore wild
beasts, seeing man’s gentleness, grow gentle under his rule. Often have
they closed their jaws, recalled by the sound of the human voice. We
see hares caught without injury by the harmless fangs of dogs, and even
lions, if they hear man’s voice, letting their prey escape: leopards
also and bears urged on and recalled by the sound of his voice: the
horses stimulated by the applause of man, and slackening their speed
at his silence: nay, often, untouched by the lash they outstrip others
that are scourged on, so much more powerfully does the scourge of the
tongue incite them.
17. But what shall I say of the creatures’ services to man? In order to
please him the ram nourishes his fleece, and is plunged in the stream
to enhance its beauty; sheep also crop the best herbage to distend with
sweeter juice of milk their teeming udders; and, that they may offer to
man their gifts, suffer the pangs of travail; bulls groan all day under
the plough pressed down in the furrows; camels, besides the service
of bearing burthens, suffer themselves to be shorn like rams, so that
each animal contributes to man, as to a king, its service, and pays its
annual tribute. The horse, exulting in such a rider, prances proudly,
and curving his neck when his master mounts, gives his back to afford
him a seat. And if you are still at a loss why man was made last, let
the same animal teach us that this is to be deemed an honour not a
slight. For he bears one who came after him, not despising but fearing
him, and bearing him with pain to himself from place to place. In
a moment of time man reaches far distant places and traverses long
distances, transported sometimes on single horses, sometimes in
triumphal chariots[218].
Sidenote: 2 Kings ii. 11.
Sidenote: S. Matt. viii. 24;
S. Mark iv. 38.
Sidenote: 1 Cor. xv. 45, 46.
Sidenote: Ib. 47.
18. And since I have mentioned triumphal chariots it is needful that I
should add thereto the chariot of Elijah which carried him through the
air, and those of elephants, whereon man sits as conqueror, and governs
although he be last and they precede him. And thus the steersman of a
ship sits in the stern, and yet guides the whole ship. Whence I deem
it not without a purpose that we are told in the Gospel that the Lord
Jesus was asleep in the stern of the ship; and that when awakened He
commanded the wind and the sea, and laid the storm, shewing thereby
that He came last because He came as the Pilot. Wherefore the Apostle
says, _The first man Adam was made a living soul, the last Adam was
made a quickening Spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual,
but that which is natural, and afterwards that which is spiritual_; and
then he adds, _The first man is of the earth, earthy, the second man is
from heaven, heavenly_.
Sidenote: Rom. viii. 17.
19. Rightly therefore is man the last, being as it were the
consummation of the whole work, the cause of the world, for whose sake
all things were made; the habitant, as it were, of all the elements,
he lives among beasts, swims with fishes, soars above birds, converses
with Angels, dwells upon the earth, and has his warfare in heaven,
ploughs the sea, feeds upon air, tills the soil, is a voyager over the
deep, a fisher in the floods, a fowler in the air, in heaven an heir
even joint-heir with Christ. These things he does by his diligence.
Sidenote: Exod. xiv. 29.
Sidenote: S. John xxi. 7.
Sidenote: Bel and the Dragon 36.
20. Hear also things above man’s natural power. Moses walked along the
bottom of the sea, the Apostles upon the surface, Habbacuc flew without
wings, Elijah conquered upon earth, and triumphed in heaven.
Farewell, my son; love me for I also love you.
LETTER XLIV.
A.D. 389.
S. AMBROSE here first dwells on the distinction between God and
the Universe which is His work. He then speaks of the six days
of Creation, and of the mystical meaning of the numbers seven
and eight, applying various passages of Scripture in which they
occur, and bringing forward analogies from nature.