Sidenote: 2 Cor. iv. 18.
1. YOU have done well to mark the prophet’s distinction between the
Creator and His works, or rather, God’s own distinction; for Moses
wrote not of himself, but by inspiration and revelation, particularly
in what relates to the formation of the world. For the One being
impassible, the other liable to suffering, he has referred that which
was impassible to God the Creator, but the passible part, without life
or motion of its own, but receiving life and motion and form from its
Creator, he has assigned to the world; and as this world, after its
creation, ought not to be left without a ruler, or unprotected by any
father, he therefore plainly describes the invisible God as the Ruler
and Governor of this visible world. _For the things which are seen are
temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal._
Sidenote: Ps. cxlviii. 5.
Sidenote: Ps. civ. 24.
2. He therefore states the creation of the world to have taken place
in six days, not that God required time to form it in, for He can do in
a moment what He wills, for _He spake the word, and they were created_,
but because things which are made, need some certain order, and order
requires both time and number. And especially for the purpose of giving
us a model for our works has He observed a certain number of days and
certain seasons; for we also require time wherein to do aught perfectly,
so as not to be precipitate in our counsels and works; nor to neglect
their proper order. For when we read that God, as Scripture tells us,
has _made all things in wisdom_, and by a certain counsel disposition
and order, it is agreeable to reason that He should first have made the
heavens which are the most beautiful; it is fitting also that we should
first raise our eyes thither and conceive that it behoves us to aim at
♦arriving thither, and that we should consider that it is to be
preferred to all earthly habitations.
Sidenote: Gen. ii. 2.
Sidenote: Is. xi. 2.
3. Wherefore in six days He created the world, on the seventh day
He rested from His works. The number seven is good, and we treat it
not according to the manner of Pythagoras and other philosophers, but
according to the form and divisions of spiritual grace, for the prophet
Isaiah has set forth the seven principal virtues of the Holy Spirit.
This sacred seven, like the venerable Trinity of the Father Son and
Holy Ghost, knows neither time nor order, and is the origin of number,
not bound by any of its laws. Wherefore as the heaven the earth and the
sea were formed in honour of the eternal Trinity, and also the sun moon
and stars, so in like manner we observe that it is according to this
sevenfold circle of spiritual virtues, and this swiftly revolving orbit
of Divine operation, that a certain sevenfold ministry of planets,
whereby this world is illuminated, has been created. And their service
is said to agree with the number of these stars, which are fixed, or,
as they are called in Greek, ἀπλανεῖς[219]. The North has likewise
received its Latin name (Septemtrio) from being irradiated by seven
stars, upon the brightness of which as their guide pilots are said
specially to fix their gaze.
4. And this peculiar property has come down from heaven to earth; for
not to speak of the sevenfold fashion of the head, in the two eyes,
the two ears and nostrils, and the mouth whereby we enjoy the taste of
great sweetness, how wonderful is it that in the seventh month most men
are conceived, and he that is afterwards born receives at that time the
commencement of his vital course. But in the eighth month we perceive
that by a natural law the season of bringing forth is suspended, and if
some fatal compulsion has opened the barriers of the womb, the danger
both of the mother and her offspring is nigh at hand.
5. But he who is born on the seventh day, although he be born well, is
born to labour, but he who on the eighth day, obtains the mysteries of
regeneration, is consecrated by grace, and called to the inheritance of
the celestial kingdom. Great in the virtues of the Spirit is the grace
of the holy number seven, but the same grace answers to the number
seven, and consecrates the number eight. In the first we have the name,
but in the latter the fruit, and therefore the grace of the Spirit,
conferred on the eighth day, restored to Paradise those whom their own
fault had banished.
Sidenote: Eccles. xi. 2.
Sidenote: Ps. cxviii. 24.
Sidenote: Mal. iv. 2.
6. The Old Testament too knew this number eight which in Latin we call
the Octave, for the preacher says, _give a portion to seven and also to
eight_. The number seven belongs to the Old Testament, the number eight
to the New, for then Christ rose, and the day of new salvation shone
upon all. This is the day whereof the Prophet says, _This is the day
which the Lord hath made, let us rejoice and be glad in it_: for on
that day the brightness of full and perfect circumcision was infused
into the hearts of men. On this account the Old Testament also gave a
part to eight in the solemnity of circumcision. But this still lay in
darkness: then came _the Sun of righteousness_, and by the consummation
of His passion revealed His rays of light; these He unfolded to all,
and opened the brightness of eternal life.
Sidenote: Hosea iii. 2.
7. These then are that seven and eight whereof Hosea says that by that
number he purchased to himself, and acquired the fulness of faith, for
thus it is written, _So I bought her to me for fifteen pieces of silver,
and for an homer of barley, and an half homer of barley, and a measure
of wine_[220]. But in the former verses God had commanded him to hire
to himself an harlot, and it is manifest that he did so, in that he
has mentioned the price of her hiring. Now the fifteen pieces of silver
are made up of the numbers seven and eight, wherefore they represent
these numbers. And by the price of the two Testaments, that is, of
perfect faith, the prophecy hath received the consummation of its faith
and the Church her fulness. For by the first Testament the people of
Israel were gained, by the second the heathen and Gentiles. And so by
a perfect faith the harlot is hired, seeking herself a consort either
among the Gentiles, or from the adulterous people of the Jews, who had
deserted their Lord, the Author of their virgin faith, and spread their
congregations over the breadth of the whole world.
Sidenote: S. Matt. v. 17.
Sidenote: Micah v. 5.
8. With regard to the words, _an homer of barley, and half an homer
of barley_, in the homer we have a full measure, in the half homer the
measure is but partly full; fulness in the Gospel, half-fulness in the
Law, as we read in our Lord’s own words, _I am not come to destroy the
law, but to fulfil the law_. And in another place the Lord says by the
prophet Micah, _Then shall there be peace in the land of Israel, when
the Assyrian shall come into his land; and there arose against him
seven shepherds, and eight bites[221] of men_. For the faithful people
will then enjoy perfect peace and be freed from all temptations and
vanities, when peace and grace shall have shut out the vanity of this
world from our hearts, the peace, that is, of the Old, the grace of the
New Testament.
Sidenote: Rom. x. 10.
Sidenote: Isa. xxv. 8.
Sidenote: 1 Cor. xv. 54, 55.
9. The _seven shepherds_ are the precepts of the law, whereby the flock
not yet endued with reason are led through the wilderness by the rod
of Moses, and governed. The _eight bites of man_ are the commandments
of the Gospel, and the words of the Lord’s mouth. _For with the heart
man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made
unto salvation._ Those _bites_ are good whereby we have tasted the gift
of eternal life, and in the Body of Christ have received the remission
of sins. In the Old Testament the bite of death is bitter, wherefore
it is said, _Prevailing death has devoured_[222]. In the New Testament
sweet is the taste of life, which has swallowed up death, wherefore the
Apostle says, _Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy
sting, O grave, where is thy victory?_
Sidenote: Heb. iv. 4.
Sidenote: Ib. 3.
Sidenote: Ps. xcv. 8.
Sidenote: Heb. xiii. 8.
Sidenote: S. Luke xxiii. 43.
10. Moreover, to use the testimony of the Apostles, when God made man,
_He rested from all His works on the seventh day_. But when the Jews
wilfully disobeyed the commands of their God, the Lord said, _If they
shall enter into My rest_. And therefore the Lord appointed another
day, whereof He says, _To-day if ye will hear My voice_. For in general
Scripture speaks of two days, yesterday and to-day, of which it is said,
_Jesus Christ the same, yesterday to-day and for ever_. On the first
day the promise is made, on the second it is fulfilled. But since on
the former day neither Moses nor Joshua brought the people into their
rest, Christ, to Whom the Father said, _This day have I begotten Thee_,
has brought them in to-day, for by His Resurrection Jesus has obtained
peace for His people. The Lord Jesus is our rest; Who says, _To-day
shalt thou be with Me in Paradise_. For rest is in heaven, not on earth.
Sidenote: Rev. xxii. 16.
11. Why then need I watch the rising and setting of the stars, at
whose rising the fallows should be ploughed up and pierced by the hard
plough-shares, and at whose setting the fruitful crop should be cut
down by the sickle? One star suffices for me in the place of all others,
_the bright and morning Star_, at Whose rising was sown the seed not of
corn but of martyrs; when Rachel wept for her children, and offered in
the stead of Christ her children washed in her own tears. The setting
of this Star raised from the tomb not the senseless relics of the
funeral pile, but the triumphant bands of the re-animated dead.
12. Let then this number seven be observed by us, seeing that the
life of man passes through seven stages to old age, as Hippocrates the
teacher of medicine has explained in his writings. The first age is
infancy, the second boyhood, the third youth, the fourth adult age, the
fifth manhood, the sixth fulness of years, the seventh old age. Thus we
have the infant, the boy, the youth, the young man, the man, the elder,
the aged.
13. Solon however made ten periods of life, each of seven years;
so that the first period, or infancy, should extend to the growth
of the teeth, to chew its food, and utter articulate words so as to
seem intelligible; boyhood again extends to the time of puberty and
of carnal temptation; youth to the growth of the beard; adult age
lasts until virtue has attained its perfection; the fifth is the
age of manhood, fitted, during its whole course, for marriage; the
sixth belongs also to manhood, in that it is adapted to the combat of
prudence, and is strenuous in action; the seventh and eighth period
also exhibit man ripe in years, ♦vigorous in faculties, and his
discourse endowed with a grace of utterance not unpleasing; the ninth
period has still some strength remaining, and ♦in speech and wisdom are
of a chastened kind; the tenth period fills up the measure, and he who
has strength to reach it, will after a full period of years knock late
at the gate of death.
Sidenote: Eph. iv. 18.
14. Thus Hippocrates and Solon recognized either seven ages, or
periods of age consisting of seven years. In this then let the number
seven prevail; but the octave introduces one uninterrupted period
during which we grow up into a perfect man, in the knowledge of God,
in the fulness of faith, wherein the measure of a legitimate period of
life is completed.
15. In our inward parts also the virtue of the seventh number is
manifested; for it is said that we have within us seven organs,
the stomach, heart, lungs, spleen, liver, and the two kidneys, and
outwardly seven also, the head, the hinder parts, the belly, two hands
and two feet.
Sidenote: Phil. i. 21.
Sidenote: Gal. ii. 20.
Sidenote: 1 S. John ii. 18.
Sidenote: 2 Cor. v. 15.
16. Very excellent are these members, but subject to pain. Who then can
doubt that the office of the Octave, which has renewed the whole man,
so as not to be susceptible of pain, is more exalted? Wherefore the
seventh age of the world being completed, the grace of the Octave has
shone upon us, that grace which has made man to be no longer of this
world, but above the world. But now we live not according to our own
life but to that of Christ. For to us _to live is Christ, and to die is
gain, and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith
of the Son of God_. So says the Apostle, whence we gather that the day
of the world is come to a close. Again, at the last hour the Lord Jesus
came, and died for us, _and we are all dead in Him, that we may live
to God_. It is not then our former selves that now live, _but Christ
liveth in us_.
Sidenote: Jer. xxxi. 31, 32;
Heb. viii. 8, 9.
Sidenote: Ib. 9.
17. The number seven is passed away, the octave is arrived. Yesterday
is gone, to-day is come, that promised day wherein we are admonished
to hear and follow the word of God. That day of the Old Testament
is passed away, that new day is come, wherein the New Testament is
perfected, whereof it is said, _Behold, the days come, saith the Lord,
when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the
house of Judah; not according to the covenant that I made with their
fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the
land of Egypt_. He adds too the reason why the Testament was changed,
_Because they continued not in My covenant, and I regarded them not,
saith the Lord_.
Sidenote: Heb. iv. 14.
Sidenote: Ib. vii. 16.
Sidenote: Ib. 17.
Ps. cx. 4.
18. The priests of the Law, the tribunals of the Law have passed away;
let us draw nigh to _our new High Priest, to the throne of grace_, to
the guest of our souls, to the Priest, _Who is not made after the law
of the carnal commandment, but_ elected _after the power of an endless
life_[223]. For _He took not this honour to himself_, but was chosen by
the Father, as the Father Himself saith, _Thou art a Priest for ever,
after the order of Melchisedech_. Other priests offered for themselves
and for their people; this Man, not having sin, that He should offer
for Himself, offered Himself for the whole world, and by His own blood
entered into the Sanctuary.
Sidenote: Heb. x. 7.
19. He then is the new Priest and the new Victim, not of the law but
above the law, the universal Mediator, the Light of the world, Who said,
_Lo I come_, and came. To Him then let us draw near in the fulness of
faith, adoring and beseeching and hoping in Him, Whom with our eyes
we see not, but Whom we embrace with our hearts, to Whom be glory and
honour for ever. Farewell, my son; love me, for I love you.
LETTER XLV.
A.D. 385.
S. AMBROSE replies to the inquiry of Sabinus whether he had
written concerning Paradise, and what was his opinion concerning
it. Having first touched on the historical description of the
place, he proceeds to the mystical explanation of it. And having
shewn that Paradise is situate in the principal region of the
soul, he teaches what is signified by the several parts thereof,
and what men should imitate in the serpent. Lastly, having
declared the greatness of human weakness and what great love
God has shewn us from the beginning, he exhorts men to fly the
pleasures of the senses.