Letters XXX-XXXIX

AMBROSE to Irenaeus, greeting.

1. Whether Belief from Childhood Differs in Merit

You have thought it prudent to inquire whether there is any difference of charity before God, between those who have believed from childhood, and those who have come to belief in the course of youth or of a later age; for this too the divine Scripture has not passed over, nor left untouched. For indeed the Lord our God said to the prophet Joel not without purpose: Lament unto me over the Bride girded with sackcloth for her virginal husband, grieving over the Synagogue, which before had been betrothed by her virginity to the Word of God, or certainly over the soul which had fallen from good merits; so that it had stumbled upon the offence of sins, that it had incurred hatred, and, defiled with the stain of impiety, and worn out with the filth of faithlessness, was an object of miserable contempt, far changed from the grace of that Bride, who before had deserved to hear: I will espouse you to me in faith and justice and mercy (Hosea II, 19).

2. The Word of God Living or Dying Within Us

Nor without reason is she pronounced lamentable, who had lost the value of such great gifts, and had suffered so grave a loss of the virtues that were her dowry, that the virginal Bridegroom was snatched away from her. For by our own merits the Word of God either lives or dies for us; for if our pursuits and works be good, the Word of God lives and works in us; but if our thoughts and works be darkened, the sun of righteousness sets for us (Malachi 4:2). And therefore he bids that lament be made for that soul. For just as those with whom the Bridegroom is present ought to rejoice and feast, so that soul from whom the Bridegroom has been taken must mourn, as it is written of the apostles in the Gospel: that when the Bridegroom shall be taken from them, then they shall fast in those days.

3. Feasting and Fasting with the Bridegroom

Therefore this soul too formerly had joy and exultation, when it possessed the παρθενικὸν λόγον (virginal word). And therefore it did not fast, because these were days of feasting and refreshment; when the Bridegroom was present, bringing to those with whom he was present abundance of fruitfulness, plenty of heavenly food, watered with wine, by which the hearts of men are gladdened: but after she lost the Bridegroom by her own deeds, she is bidden to do penance for her sins in sackcloth, and to weep for herself; because Christ died and was crucified for her, who is the παρθενικὸς λόγος (virginal word).

4. A Soul Betrothed to Christ from Childhood

If this fits from her earliest age, and this soul seems not to have known union with another; but from the beginning dedicated the virginal flower of her faith to Christ, and, betrothed from the start to His mysteries of devotion, received as a young maiden the sacred rites; she is that Israelite soul of the ancient stock, of the race of the patriarchs, who, if she had kept the course of her faith unhindered, would be a Bride of great merit of the virginal Word, like her who lays hold of righteousness, and shall meet him as a mother, and shall receive him as a wife from her virginity.

5. David's Two Wives as Figures of the Church

There is also another, acquired from the Gentiles, and both are Brides of the one Word, which is a great mystery. And this is shown to you in the Book of Kings; for David had two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail, acquired afterward: the former more rigid, the latter full of mercy and grace, a hospitable and generous soul, who with unveiled face saw the Father, beholding his glory; who received that divine dew of the paternal grace, as the interpretation of her name has it. But what is the dew of the Father, but the Word of God, which poured into the hearts of all with the moisture of faith and righteousness?

6. David's Greeting to Abigail Applied to the Bride

Beautifully, then, does the true David say to this soul what was said to that Abigail: Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, who sent you here today to meet me, and blessed be your manner of life. And again he says to her: Go up in peace to your house. See, I have already heard your voice, and have had regard for your face. Finally, in the Song of Songs these too are the words of the Bridegroom to the Bride: Show me your face, and let me hear your voice.

7. Nabal's Death and the Church of the Gentiles

And at that time indeed she was sent away, because she had another husband, who in Hebrew was called Nabal, in Latin "foolish," hard, inhospitable, inhuman, ungrateful, one who knew not how to return kindnesses: but after her husband died, released from the husband's law, the prophet David took her to himself as wife. Through this union are signified the mysteries of the Church that was to believe from among the Gentiles, which, having lost the husband to whom she had before been joined, passed over to Christ, rich in pious wealth, in humility and faith, endowed also with the patrimony of mercy.

8. Ahinoam Torn Down by the Adversary

But in this passage it is not she who is lamented, but that Ahinoam, who was ill-strong against her brother; and therefore her brother became to her a cause of commotion. Whence it is said in their person: You have made us a byword among the Gentiles, a shaking of the head among the peoples. Finding her wavering, the devil, like a lion, tore her down, and took away her gladness (Micah 4:4): he overturned her vine and fig tree, under which she used before to rest, and made her fruits wither.

9. God's Reproach to the Unfaithful Soul

Taking pity on these withered ones, blanched with excessive dryness, God says to the prophet: Lament to me over the Bride girded with sackcloth, and over the husband of her virginity, that is, over the dead husband of such a soul, or of the Synagogue. In another place, expostulating with her, he says (Hosea 4:6), because, forgetful of her purpose, forgetful of charity, unmindful of grace, straying from discipline, she has lost the higher affection of a wife. And he justly reproaches her with his own words, recalling and unfolding again her former endearments, and the names of devotion: Did you not call me as one of the household, and father, and the initiator of your virginity?

10. Abigail Won in Battle and Cleansed

Therefore for this soul, for whom by her own intemperance the Word of God has died, and that παρθενικὸς λόγος has been slain, he brings mourning, he applies an intercessor; that she may be called to repentance, whereby she may be able to merit mercy.

But she who is good in understanding, and very comely in appearance, like Abigail, was acquired for him in battle; the adversaries being overcome, and the husband dead, who, fortified by spiritual wickednesses, fought and resisted, lest the beautiful wife be taken from him: the Bridegroom, as a victor and a loving one, bestows gladness and grace, cleansing her from all the hindrances of her beauty, and stripping off the garments of captivity; so that, having laid aside all the hair of her head, that is, the little locks of sins, which seem superfluous upon our body: For if a man nurture his hair, it is a shame to him; she may strive, in the unity of faith, to come to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; that she may lay aside all disturbance of soul, and, founded in charity, may grow in the Lord Jesus, and win increase for the whole body.

11. The Law of the Captive Woman Taken as Wife

This is that soul which the Law shows you under the figure of a good woman, whom, if you see among the captives, and desire to take to yourself as wife: You shall bring her, it says, into your house; that you may entrust to her the whole of the inner parts of your house, the possession of all your inward things, that you may take away her superfluous things, cut off her lapses; and with a razor not too sharp, lest it work harm, cut away the spoils of your passions and empty senses. Therefore he says: You shall shave her head; so that no obstacles may afflict the eyes of the wise man, which are in her head. And she shall sit, it says, thirty days in your house, lamenting the sins of her own birth, and the devices of her most wicked father the devil, who wishes to gather what he did not beget; that, cleansed by the purification of this mystical number, she may obtain the keys of marriage.

12. Entering into the Soul as a Bridegroom

And beautifully he says: Afterward you shall go in to her; that you may enter wholly into your own soul, and gather yourself within it, and dwell in it, remain with it, that your whole manner of life may be in it; that you may be not in the flesh but in the spirit, and may purpose to join it to yourself for the fellowship of life, knowing that it will share good things with you; and, having enjoyed her grace, you may say: But I was a witty child, and I obtained a good soul. And let her answer you: I will take you, and bring you into the house of my mother, and into the chamber of her that conceived me. Good is the mother of souls, that Jerusalem which is in heaven.

13. The Freedom of the Faithful Soul

She shall therefore be your wife, and finding you she will kiss you. And if afterward she should displease you; should she chasten her body and bring it into servitude, you shall not suffer her to be a slave, that is, to the pleasures of the body, nor shall you subject her to the flesh, but you shall let her remain free: nor shall you alienate her, for that is to sell her: nor shall you despise her, but you shall permit her to serve her God in chastity of faith, and in the sobriety of good works. Farewell, and love us; for we love you.

AMBROSE to Irenaeus, greeting.

1. The Cry of the Partridge

The partridge has cried out, she has gathered what she did not bring forth. For it is permitted me to borrow, for the beginning of the following letter, the ending of the previous one. It is a most celebrated question; and therefore, that we may be able to resolve it, let us consider what natural history has to say concerning this bird. For to consider this too is a matter of no mean prudence, since even Solomon knew the natures of animals, and spoke of cattle, and fowls, and creeping things, and fishes.

2. The Partridge's Cunning Deception of the Hunter

This bird, then, is said to be full of guile, fraud, and deceit, which is skilled in the ways of deceiving the hunter, and knows the arts of turning him away from her chicks; and omits none of the trials of her cunning, whereby she may be able to lead the hunter away from the nest and her dwelling-place. Certainly, if she perceives him pressing on, she plays this trick for as long as it takes to give her brood the signal and opportunity to flee. When she perceives that they have escaped, then she too withdraws herself, and leaves the deceived pursuer entangled by her slippery art.

3. The Partridge as a Figure of the Adversary

It is also said to be given to indiscriminate mating, so that males rush upon females with the utmost contention, and burn with wandering lust. Whence this impure, malevolent, and fraudulent animal is thought fit to be compared to the adversary and circumventor of the human race, most deceitful, and author of impurity. The partridge, then, has cried out—she who takes her name from "perdition" (perdendo)—that Satan, who in Latin is called "the Adversary" (Contrarius). He cried out first in Eve, he cried out in Cain, he cried out in Pharaoh, Dathan, Abiram, Korah. He cried out among the Jews, when they demanded gods be made for them, while Moses was receiving the Law. He cried out again, when they said of the Savior: Crucify him, crucify him; and: His blood be upon us, and upon our children. He cried out, when they demanded a king be made for them; that they might depart from the Lord God their king. He cried out in every vain and faithless person.

4. Ill-Gotten Gains Contrasted with Christ's Judgment

By these cries he gathered to himself peoples whom he had not created; for God made man to his own image and likeness, and the devil, by the deceit of his own voice, had joined man to himself. He gathered to himself the peoples of the nations, making riches not with judgment. Whence it is a proverb concerning the greedy rich man, that this partridge gathers riches not with judgment. But my Jesus, as a good judge, does all things with judgment, who came, as it is written, saying: I speak righteousness and the judgment of salvation.

5. Christ's Cry Plunders the Deceiver's Gains

By that grace, then, he plundered that partridge, the devil, took from him the riches of the multitude ill-gathered, called back from error the souls of the Gentiles, and the minds of the straying nations. And because he knew they had been deceived by the devil's voice, and he too, that he might loose the chains and bonds of the old error, cried out first in Abel, whose blood's voice cried out. He cried out in Moses, to whom he said: Why do you cry to me? He cried out in Joshua, son of Nun. He cried out in David, who says: I cried to you, save me. He cried out also in all the prophets. Whence to Isaiah he says: Cry out; and he says: What shall I cry? He cried out in Solomon, wisdom summoning with the loftiest proclamation: Come, eat of my bread, and drink the wine which I have mingled for you. He cried out also in his own body, like a beetle in wood.

He cried out to deceive and outwit the schemer, saying: God, my God, why have you forsaken me? He cried out to despoil him, answering the thief: Amen, amen, I say to you, today you shall be with me in paradise. And so, when Jesus cried out, straightway that partridge was abandoned in the midst of his days by those he had gathered.

6. The Partridge's Stolen Eggs and the True Parent's Call

Whence certain men have thought that this too should be fitted to the nature of the partridge, in that she steals the eggs of others, and warms them with her own body, and by this her fraud strives to acquire the offspring of others. But (as the saying goes, "even the crow has an eye"; for birds too have their arts) when the bird whose eggs have either been stolen one by one, or whose nest has been invaded, or whose brood has been led astray by the error of similarity, deceived by the pretense of appearance, though weaker in strength, arms and equips herself with cunning; and when all the labor spent in nurturing has exhausted the one raising them, and the chicks have begun to grow up, then she utters a cry, and with a certain trumpet of natural affection calls back her offspring. The chicks, roused by a certain instinctive hearing, recognize their true parent, and forsake the pretender.

Thus, when she wishes to gather what she has not brought forth, she loses those she thought to have raised.

7. Christ's Voice Recalls the Deceived Nations

Not without purpose, then, did Jesus also cry out; that because the people of the whole world, deceived by the partridge's voice, blandishments, cunning, and appearance, had strayed from their proper author, following slippery arts, being called back by the voice of the true parent, they might forsake the deceiver, and desert the fraudulent one in the midst of his days, that is, before the end of this age, from which the Lord Jesus rescued us, and called us to eternal life. And so now, dead to the world, we live to God.

8. God's Choice of the Foolish to Confound the Wise

When therefore this partridge shall have been utterly forsaken by its false offspring, then that one whom God has chosen shall be safe, that foolish one who has confounded the wise; for God has chosen the foolish things of the world. And therefore if anyone seems to be wise in this age, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. Farewell, my son, and love us, as you do; for we love you.

AMBROSE to Irenaeus, greeting.

1. The Allegory of Two Wives and One Soul

In the former letter we wrote that our soul must be freed from adversaries, and that with it an indissoluble partnership of life must be entered upon. And since this discourse took its example for its assertion from Deuteronomy, in which passage there is set forth the case of a man who had two wives, one hated, the other beloved, you seemed not lightly moved, lest perhaps someone should understand that this man had taken to himself two souls: which can by no means be.

2. The Soul's Beloved and Stern Aspects

But you yourself are not ignorant that Scripture, when it speaks in allegory, sometimes refers one thing to the type of the Synagogue, another to that of the Church; one thing to the soul, another to the mystery of the Word, another to the diverse species and qualities of souls: which he discerns who judges by the spirit. Whence in this following chapter of the Law I think not two souls, but the diverse qualities of one soul are comprehended. For there is a beloved aspect of the soul, which desires pleasures, which flees labor, avoids compunction, neglects the judgment of God. It is beloved because it seems sweet and pleasant for a time, which does not afflict the mind, but delights it.

But that other, sterner aspect, which is consumed with zeal for God, like a strict wife will not have her partner play the harlot, will not suffer it, will not permit it, will grant nothing to the body, will relax nothing to pleasure and delight, will renounce the hidden things of shame, will pursue the hard things of labors, the heavy things of dangers.

3. The Birthright of the Firstborn Explained

If therefore both have borne him children, he will not be able, it says, in the settling of the inheritance to prefer the firstborn son of the beloved before the firstborn son of the hated, since he knows the son of the hated to be the firstborn. In which I think is signified not simply a preference, as it were between two firstborn, but merely an expression that the firstborn son of the hated alone has the prerogative. For "firstborn" is the first-begotten; but the saints are the first-begotten, because every male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord. Yet not every firstborn is holy; for Esau was not holy, who was certainly the firstborn.

4. The Levites Taken in Place of the Firstborn

The saints, however, are the first-begotten; indeed you have it in Numbers: Behold, I have taken the Levites from the midst of the children of Israel in place of every firstborn that opens the womb, from the children of Israel. For to me, on the day that I struck every firstborn of Egypt, I sanctified every firstborn of Israel. Therefore he took the Levites in place of the firstborn, as though holy; for we know the firstborn to be holy from the epistle written to the Hebrews, in which we have: But you have come to Mount Sion, and to the city of Jerusalem, and to ten thousand angels; and to the Church of the firstborn. Therefore as the firstborn of the Church are holy, so also the Levites; since they too were the firstborn. For they are holy not by the order of birth, but by the gift of sanctification; for Levi was the third son of Leah, certainly not the first.

5. The Womb of the True Mother and Her Sons

But he who is sanctified, it is he who opens the womb. What womb? Hear him saying: Sinners have gone astray from the womb. Since you have understood the firstborn to be him who opens the womb, understand the womb of the good mother, from which the saints do not go astray, but sinners. But the Levites are taken away from the midst of Israel, because they have nothing in common with the people, whose worldly firstborn are destroyed. For the firstborn of the age belong to another mother, from whose womb Paul was separated when he was called to the grace of God. And therefore, separated from the midst of the people, he received the Word, which is in the midst of our heart. Whence also it is said: In the midst of you stands one whom you do not know.

6. Joseph's Gift and the Portion of the Lesser Son

Not idle, therefore, was our digression from the Law into the Law, that we might teach that the firstborn is not the son of that beloved one, that is, of the more indulgent and pleasure-loving woman; although the words of the passage in question express this, Scripture saying: He shall not be able to prefer the firstborn son of the beloved, since he knows the son of the hated to be the firstborn. He is truly firstborn who is the holy offspring of a holy mother; just as she is the true mother, from whose womb the true sons do not go astray, but sinners.

Therefore he who is not the son of the true mother is not the true firstborn, but is helped, as it were, being a quasi-firstborn, with a portion, lest he be in want; he is not honored so as to be rich: but this one has received a double portion out of everything, that he may abound; just as also in Genesis you have the patriarchs, each given by their brother Joseph the gift of a double robe, when they were sent back to their father, that they might signify to their father that Joseph had been found, whom the father had believed to be dead.

7. Isaac's Inheritance and the Bondwoman's Son Cast Out

The firstborn, therefore, has received the prerogative of the inheritance, Scripture saying: This is the beginning of his sons, and to him belong the rights of the firstborn. From the firstborn Son of God, then, are the holy first-begotten, and from that beginning (since he himself is the beginning and the end) the holy one is called "beginning," the son "beginning," to whom the prerogative of the firstfruits is owed, according to what was said to Abraham: Cast out the bondwoman and her son; for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with my son Isaac.

8. The Inheritance of Holiness in Isaac

That this pertains rather to the inheritance of virtues than of money is taught by the divine oracle, the Lord saying: Whatever Sarah has said to you, hear her voice; for in Isaac shall your seed be called. What else was there in Isaac, but the inheritance of holiness, which would ennoble the father? And indeed the son of the handmaid he set over nations, bestowing as it were a single portion of the inheritance; but to the son of Sarah he gave a double portion, to whom were bestowed not only temporal things, but also things heavenly and everlasting. Farewell, and love us; for we love you.

AMBROSE to Horontianus, greeting.

1. Philosophers' Theories on the Soul's Substance

You have asked me whether the soul seems to be of heavenly substance; for you do not think the soul to be either blood, or fire, or a harmony of sinews, as the common run of philosophers interprets it; nor, as that certain patrician lineage of theirs, Plato, argues, that it is that which moves itself and is not moved by another—does the soul seem so to you; nor certainly, as Aristotle, with his keen intellect, introduced a certain fifth kind of element, which you have approved, that is, ἐντελέχεια, out of which you might compose and, as it were, fashion the substance of the soul.

2. Esdras on the Soul's Higher Substance

Concerning which I urge you to read the book of Esdras, who both despised those trifles of the philosophers, and by a more hidden wisdom, which he had gathered from revelation, briefly touched upon this, that souls are of a higher substance.

3. Paul's Teaching on the Soul's Excellent Nature

The Apostle too, though not expressly, yet has left it for us to understand, like a good teacher and a spiritual farmer, stirring up the minds of his disciples with hidden seeds of doctrine, that our souls are of a more excellent creation, and of a certain most outstanding nature. For when he says that the creature was subjected to vanity, not of its own will, but on account of him who subjected it, in hope; because the creature itself also shall be freed from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the sons of God, he shows that the grace of souls is no mean thing, by whose vigor and virtue the human race rises up into the adoption of the sons of God, having in itself that which has been bestowed upon it in the likeness and image of God.

For souls are neither grasped by any touch, nor seen by bodily sight; and therefore they display a likeness to that incorporeal and invisible nature, and by their own substance transcend corporeal and sensible quality. For the things that are seen are temporal, signify temporal things, and are glued to temporal things; but those things which are not seen cleave to that eternal and highest good, and live, and are, and are moved in it; nor, if they consult their own good, do they allow themselves to be separated and divided from it.

4. The Soul's Longing to Be Free of the Body

Every soul therefore, seeing itself shut up in this bodily hut, which nevertheless has not degenerated by association with this earthly dwelling, groans, weighed down by the conjunction of this body; because the corruptible body weighs down the soul, and the earthly habitation bows down the mind full of many thoughts; and at the same time, knowing that it walks by faith, not by sight, it wishes to be away from the body, and to be present with the Lord.

5. The Soul's Judgment According to the Body's Deeds

Let us consider therefore how the creature was made subject to vanity, not of its own will, but by divine decree, whereby it was ordained that souls must be joined to bodies on account of their hope; that while they hope for good things, they may show themselves worthy of heavenly reward: For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each may receive the things proper to the body. Therefore let the soul of each foresee the merits of its own manner of life that must be repaid to it. And he well says, "the things proper to the body", that is, what it took upon itself to govern; so that if it governed well, it receives a reward, on account of which it was subjected in hope; and if badly, punishment; because it did not hope in God, nor strive after that adoption of sons, and toward the glory of true liberty.

6. Man's Vanity and the Soul's Obedient Subjection

The Apostle therefore taught that the creature of the human race is subject to vanity. For what is so much man as his soul? Of its associates he says: While we are in this body, we groan, being burdened. But David too says: Man is become like vanity; and: Every man living is altogether vanity. The life of man in this age, then, is vanity. To this vanity the soul is subjected. And so the holy soul, when it does the things of the body, does not do them of its own will, willingly, but on account of him who subjected it in hope; it does so in order to obey him. From this example of the soul, then, let us proceed to the rest of creation.

7. Sun, Moon, and Stars as Creatures in Hope

Consider the sun, moon, and stars, which, though they blaze as the lights of heaven with brilliant splendor, are nonetheless creatures, and for their daily service either produce or undergo change, serving the disposition of the eternal creator, ministering the splendor with which they are clothed, and shining forth day and night. How often is this sun overspread with clouds, how often is it hidden from the earth by an interposing body, or when the ray of its light has been reflected back from opposite it, eclipses arise; and, as Scripture says, The moon knows her settings. She knows when she shines with her full orb, when emptied.

The stars too, overspread with mists, fade away, which sustain the uses of this worldly service, not indeed of their own will, but in hope; because they too hope for the grace of this labor from him who subjected them. And therefore they endure for his sake, that is, on account of his will.

8. The Heavens' Hope Through Christ's Humility

Nor is it strange that they endure patiently, since they know that their Lord and the creator of all things, whether in heaven or on earth, took upon himself the frailty of our body, the servitude of our condition. Why then should they not patiently endure the servitude of their own corruption, when the Lord of all humbled himself for the whole world even unto death, took upon himself the form of a servant, was made the sin of the world, even a curse for us? Imitating his goodness, therefore, the heavenly creatures, although they groan because they are subjected to the vanity of this world, nonetheless console themselves that they will be freed from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of glory, when the adoption of the sons of God shall come, which is the redemption of all: For when the fullness of the Gentiles shall have come in, then all Israel shall be saved.

For to what people will he not show mercy, who shows mercy even to that persecutor of his who said: Crucify him, crucify him; and: His blood be upon us and upon our children? But because the heavenly creature also is subjected to vanity, though this be in hope, the piety of truth and the redemption of the universe will allow even their faithlessness and drunkenness, fallen through the vanity of this world, to attain to pardon.

9. The Passing Away and Renewal of the Heavenly Lights

Therefore, to conclude, both that sun so great and of such a kind, and that moon whom the darkness of night does not cover, and those stars which are the ornaments of heaven, now endure the servitude of corruption; because every body is corruptible: since indeed the heavens shall perish, and heaven and earth shall pass away. Afterward, however, both sun and moon and the rest of the lights of the stars shall rest in the glory of the sons of God; when God shall be all in all: who may he be both in you and in us, through his own fullness and mercy.

10. The Angels' Grief in Ministries of Judgment

Do we not believe that even the angels themselves, who sustain various ministries in the labors of this world, as we read in the Apocalypse of John, do not groan, when they are employed as ministers of punishments and destructions? For they, having a blessed life, would certainly prefer that it flow on in that higher state of their tranquility, rather than be interrupted by the avenging punishments of our sins. For indeed they who rejoice at the redemption of one sinner, surely groan at the miseries of so many sins.

11. Consolation in Hope Amid Present Suffering

If therefore even the heavenly creatures and Powers sustain the servitude of corruption, but in hope, that afterward they may rejoice for us and with us; let us also console ourselves for the sufferings of this present time by the hope and expectation of future glory. Farewell, my son, and love us; for we love you.

Ambrose to Horontianus.

1. Clarifying Paul's Words on the Groaning Creation

The previous letter answered your inquiry; this is a portion of my reply, which does not undo, but fills out the former. For while I review what follows, I confess I was struck, because he added: For we know that every creature groans; whereas in the preceding clause he had said without addition: Because the creature was made subject to vanity. For he did not say every creature, but the creature subjected. And again he says: Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the servitude of corruption. But in the third place he added that every creature groans together.

2. Every Creature's Shared Groaning for Redemption

What then does this addition mean; unless perhaps that not every creature is subjected to vanity: and because not every creature is subjected to vanity, not every creature will be delivered from the servitude of corruption? For what would be delivered, which is without part or share in the subjection to vanity and the servitude of its corruption? But every creature groans together, not in its own, but in our labor, and perhaps travails together with that spirit of salvation, the spirit of joy, awaiting the adoption of the sons of God; that it may attain a common gladness and exultation from the redemption of the human race. Either, therefore, on account of its own affection every creature groans over our labor, or on account of the member of its own body, whose head is Christ. But whether it be as we have said, or whether he simply said that every subjected creature groans together and travails together, understand it as you will.

3. The Firstfruits of the Spirit and Adoption of Sons

Now let us consider what he added: And not only it, but ourselves also, having the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, awaiting the adoption of sons, the redemption of our body. What the adoption of sons is, the preceding page teaches; and therefore, for the sake of explaining the sense, we must go back to the preceding page.

4. The Spirit's Testimony to Our Adoption as Sons

He who by the Spirit, he says, puts to death the deeds of the flesh, shall live. Nor is it a wonder if he lives, since he becomes a Son of God, who has the Spirit of God. He is so much a Son of God that he does not receive the spirit of servitude, but the spirit of adoption of sons; to such a degree that the Holy Spirit renders testimony to our spirit that we are sons of God. And this is the testimony of the Holy Spirit, that it is he himself who cries in our hearts: Abba, Father, as is written to the Galatians. But there is also this great testimony, that we are sons of God; because we are heirs of God, and joint-heirs of Christ: and he is a joint-heir of Christ who is glorified together with him; but he is glorified together with him, who by suffering for him, suffers with him.

5. The Sufferings of This Time Compared to Future Glory

And that he might exhort us to suffering, he adds that all things we suffer are lesser and unworthy of the reward of so many future good things that shall be repaid for our labors, which shall be revealed in us; when, reformed to the image of God, we shall have deserved to behold his glory face to face.

6. Creation's Groaning in Hope of Deliverance

And that he might extol the greatness of the future revelation, he added that even creation awaits this revelation of the sons of God, which is now subjected to vanity not of its own will, but in hope; because it hopes for grace from Christ for its own ministry: or because it too shall be delivered from the servitude of corruption; that it may be taken up into the liberty of the glory of the sons of God, so that there may be one liberty of the creature and of the sons of God, when their glory shall have been revealed. But now, while the revelation is delayed, every creature groans together, awaiting the glory of our adoption and redemption, already travailing with that spirit of salvation, and wishing to be freed from the servitude of vanity.

7. The Saints Groan with the Suffering Church

To this the Apostle joined also the groaning of the saints, who have the first-fruits of the Spirit; for they too groan. For although they are secure as to their own merit, yet because the redemption of the whole body of the Church is still to come, they suffer together with it. For since the members of its body still suffer, how do not the other members, though superior, suffer together with the members of one body that are laboring?

8. Christ's Subjection in the Weakness of Believers

Whence I think the Apostle said, that then the Son himself also shall be subjected, who subjected all things to him: for those who still labor are not yet subjected, in whom perhaps Christ still thirsts, still hungers, in whom he is still naked; because they do not fulfill the word of God, do not put on Christ, who is the garment of believers, the covering of the faithful. But also those in whom he is sick still need medicine; and therefore are not yet subjected; for that subjection belongs to strength, not to weakness: in short, in the strong and in those who do the commandment of God, the Son of God is subjected. But now he labors more in those who do not come to the aid of the laboring, than in those who ask that aid be given to them.

This is the pious and true interpretation of the subjection of the Lord Jesus, who will subject himself for this end, that God may be all in all.

9. First-Fruits and Tithes in the Law

We have run through the Apostolic sense: now let us consider who they are that have the first-fruits of the Spirit. And so let us ask the Law what it has declared under the name of first-fruits or beginning. The beginnings, it says, of your threshing-floor and your winepress you shall not delay to offer; and below: You shall bring the beginnings of your first-fruits into the house of the Lord your God. Some things are first-fruits, others are tithes: the first-fruits belong to a greater grace, to the most careful sanctification. Abel was pleasing for this reason, that he did not delay his offering, offering as he did of the firstlings of his sheep.

Although some wish there to be a distinction between first-fruits and firstborn, that is, those things which are born first; because, when the seeds have been gathered, the beginnings are offered as it were from the whole threshing-floor: yet, as for what is taken first from the harvest, that is offered to the Lord—but of this elsewhere. The whole harvest of the threshing-floor seems to be sanctified by the gift of the first-fruits, but the first-fruits themselves are the holier.

10. The Apostles and Other First-Fruits of Faith

Likewise the saints are the first-fruits of the Lord, especially the apostles; for God set apostles first in the Church, who also prophesied of many things, and preached the gospel of the Lord Jesus; because they were first to receive him. Simeon the prophet received him, Zacharias the prophet, John his son, Nathanael, in whom there was no guile; and therefore he was resting under the fig tree: Joseph, who was called just, who buried him. These are the first-fruits of our faith; yet the same is the nature of the other seeds as of the first-fruits, though in some the grace is less: for God is able of stones to raise up children to Abraham.

11. Christ as Firstborn and First-Fruits of the Resurrection

Behold, here is an example from the Lord Jesus himself. In the resurrection of the dead he is called the firstborn from the dead. The same the Apostle signified as first-fruits, saying: In Christ all shall be made alive, each in his own order: the first-fruits Christ, then they who are Christ's, who have believed in his coming. The same truth of body is in him as in us: but yet he is also called the firstborn from the dead, because he rose first; and the first-fruits, because he is holier than all the fruits, having also sanctified the other fruits of his fellowship. He is also the beginning of those who are made after the image, as it were the image of the invisible God, in whom, according to his divinity, there is nothing corporeal, nothing temporal; because he is the brightness of the Father's glory, and the image of his substance. We have prolonged our epistolary discourse, while wishing to signify what the first-fruits are.

12. The Apostles' Groaning Likened to Waves on the Shore

Our first-fruits, then, are the apostles, chosen from among all the fruits, namely, of that time then present, to whom it was said: And greater things than these shall you do; for the grace of God poured itself out upon them. These, I say, were groaning, awaiting the redemption of the whole body, and they still groan; because it is the labor of many, who still are tossed by waves. As if someone should stand upon the higher part of the shore and still be struck by the waves as far as the middle of his body, he groans and travails together, until he wholly escapes. He indeed groans, who still says to us: Who is weak, and I am not weak?

13. Adoption of Sons and Salvation by Hope

Let it not, then, move us that it is written thus: Who, having the first-fruits of the Spirit, we ourselves groan within ourselves, awaiting the adoption of sons, the redemption of our body; for the sense is clear, namely that those who have the first-fruits of the Spirit groan, awaiting the adoption of sons: which adoption of sons is the redemption of the whole body, when, face to face, as it were a son of God through adoption, he shall see that divine and eternal good; for there is an adoption of sons in the Church of the Lord, when the Spirit cries, Abba, Father; as you have it in Galatians. But that will be perfect, when all shall rise in incorruption, in honor, in glory, who deserve to see the face of God; for then indeed the human condition will judge itself truly redeemed. Whence the Apostle glories, saying: For we are saved by hope. For hope saves, as also faith, of which it is said: Your faith has made you whole.

14. Hope as the Expectation of Things Unseen

Therefore the creature, which was subjected to vanity not of its own will, but in hope, is saved by hope, just as Paul also, when he knew that to die was gain for him, that he might be dissolved from the body and be with Christ, remained in the flesh for the sake of those whom he might win for Christ. But what is hope, but the expectation of things to come? Whence he says: But hope that is seen, is not hope. For it is not the things that are seen, but the things that are not seen, that are eternal: for what a man sees, why does he hope for it? For we seem to hold what we see: how then do we hope for what we hold? Therefore nothing of what is hoped for is seen: for eye has not seen, nor ear heard, what God has prepared for those who love him.

15. Waiting Patiently for What Is Hoped For

Therefore, if what is seen cannot be hoped for, some do not read this well: For what a man sees, why does he also hope for it? Unless perhaps thus: For what a man sees, why does he also hope for it, or wait for it? Because this is true, that we hope for what we do not see; and therefore, although it seems to be absent from us, we await it through patience: For waiting I have waited for the Lord, and he has regarded me. Therefore we wait patiently, because the Lord is good to those who wait for him. And it seems fitting, because he rendered it through patience: We await what we hope for, and do not see. For he does much, who hopes for and awaits things that are not seen; and for this reason, because he directs his mind to that whole which is, he endures.

16. Hope Fixed on the Unseen Lord Above Worldly Power

Beautifully, however, it is said: But hope that is seen is not hope; concerning the powers of this age, the dignities, the riches. You see someone made preeminent by the fasces and by chariots—there is no hope in the chariots that are seen. Nor is there hope in the very element of the sky, but in the Lord of the sky. Nor does the Chaldean have hope in the stars, which he observes; nor the rich man in his possessions, nor the miser in his usuries: but he has hope, who places his hope in him whom he does not see, that is, in the Lord Jesus, who stands in the midst of us, and is not seen. In short, eye has not seen, nor ear heard, what the Lord has prepared for those who love him.

Ambrose to Horontianus.

1. An Exchange of Letters as a Continuing Conversation

Our letters are linked to one another, so that we seem, as it were, to be conversing among ourselves in person: thus I furnish material for letter-writing out of your inquiry, and you out of my explanation.

2. The Spirit's Help in the Weakness of Prayer

You indicated that you were troubled as to of what spirit it is said: Because he asks for us with unspeakable groanings. Let us then repeat what precedes; so that the reading may make plain what we seek: Likewise, he says, the Spirit also helps the weakness of our prayer. Does it not seem to you that the Holy Spirit, because he is a helper to us, is like him to whom it is said: You are my helper, do not forsake me, nor despise me, O God my savior?

3. The Spirit Teaches Us What to Pray For

For what other spirit could teach Paul what he should pray for? But the Spirit of Christ teaches, just as Christ also taught his disciples to pray. Who indeed would teach after Christ, if not his Spirit, whom he himself sent to teach and to direct our prayers: for we pray with the Spirit, and we pray with the mind also. That the mind may be able to pray well, the Spirit goes before, and leads it into the right way; lest carnal things creep in, lest things too small, or even things too great for our strength: for to each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for profit. Finally it is written: Seek great things, and small things shall be added unto you. Seek heavenly things, and earthly things shall be added.

4. The Spirit Grants According to Our Strength

Therefore he wishes us to seek greater things, not to linger over earthly ones. But he knows what to grant, dividing to each one, as he wills. For he says at times, knowing the measure which we do not know: You cannot bear these things now. I ask for myself the passion of martyrdom; the Holy Spirit is willing: but seeing the weakness of my flesh, lest while I desire greater things I lose the lesser, he says: You cannot bear these things. What occasions have I had, and been recalled almost at the very end? For the good physician knows what food is suited to which infirmity, and to which time, for the advancement of health. Sometimes the timeliness of food restores health; but if one receives it inopportunely, or unsuited, he is entangled in danger.

5. The Spirit's Intercession and Christ's Groaning for Sinners

Therefore, because we do not know what we should pray for, and how it behooves us, the Holy Spirit intercedes for us; for he is the Spirit of our advocate Jesus: and he intercedes with unspeakable groanings; for Christ also grieves for us. And God the Father says: I grieve in my womb. And frequently we read of him as indignant and grieving. But he groans, that he may take away our sins, that he may teach us to do penance. For it is a pious groaning, and full of authority, of which the Prophet says: And my groaning is not hidden from thee. For it was not hidden as with Adam, but he said: Behold, I am the shepherd, and this flock, what has it done wrong? I have sinned; avenge it upon me.

6. The Heavenly and Unspeakable Groaning of the Spirit

From this then comes the groaning of the Spirit of God; and that groaning of the Prophet, well called unspeakable, because it is heavenly. For the things which Paul heard in heaven, he heard unspeakable things; so that men ought not to utter them: but the things hidden from men are known to God. For he who searches the heart knows all things: but he searches those things which the Spirit has cleansed. God therefore knows what the Spirit asks, and what the wisdom of the Spirit is; which pleads for the saints, as you have it: For the Spirit also makes intercession for us; for those for whom Christ suffered, and whom he cleansed with his own blood, for these the Spirit also intercedes. Farewell, and love us as a son; for we love you.

AMBROSE greets SIMPLICIAN.

1. A Request to Expound the Apostle Paul's Writings

Recently, when familiar conversation was cut short between us according to our old habit of affection, you hinted to me that you were pleased when I took up something from the writings of the apostle Paul to discuss before the people; because his depth in counsels is scarcely comprehended, and in sentences lifts up the hearer with sublimity, and kindles the disputant: also because in very many places he so explains himself in his own words, that he who handles the passage finds nothing of his own to add; and if he wishes to say anything, he fulfills the office of a grammarian rather than of a disputant.

2. Agreeing to Take Up the Task Requested

Yet in this, since I recognize both the affection of old friendship, and, what is more, the love of paternal favor (for age has something that can be shared with many, but paternal love does not), and since you have thought that what you ask I have already done not without fruit, I will obey your will, admonished especially, and provoked by my own example, which is not very difficult for me; since I shall imitate no great person, but myself, when I return to my own not-so-great practices.

3. The Counsels and the Image of the Blessed Life

And concerning the counsels indeed, when the image and likeness of the blessed life was expressed in our discourse, we think that embrace was made such that, perhaps to many others, certainly to you who love us, we are not disapproved; although it is more difficult, by your judgment, than not to displease the many: but you lighten the weight of judgment with affection, and thereby flatter me the more.

4. Paul on True Liberty Through Wisdom

But this letter, since it reached you in absence, concerns the sayings of the apostle Paul, who calls us from servitude into liberty, saying: You were bought with a price, do not become slaves of men, showing that our liberty consists in the knowledge of wisdom. This opinion has been much tossed and agitated by the great effort of disputation among the philosophers, who say that every wise man is free, but every foolish man is a slave.

5. The Wise Man Unmoved by Fortune's Changes

But long before this the son of David said, who declares: The fool is changed like the moon. For the wise man is not broken by fear, is not changed by power, is not lifted up by prosperity, nor sunk by sorrows; for where there is wisdom, there is strength of soul, there is constancy and fortitude. The wise man therefore remains the same in soul, is not diminished nor increased by changes of circumstance; nor, like a little child, is he tossed about so as to be carried around by every wind of doctrine, but he remains perfect in Christ, founded in charity, rooted in faith. The wise man therefore knows no failing of things, and does not know the varying accidents of the soul: but he shall shine like the sun of righteousness, which shines in the kingdom of his Father.

6. Noah's Curse on Ham and the Origin of Servitude

Whence then Philosophy has drawn this more fully, let us consider, from what discipline and wisdom of the Fathers it comes. Did not Noah first, when he perceived that his son Ham had foolishly laughed at his father's nakedness, curse him, saying: Cursed be Ham, he shall be a servant of the household to his brothers; and did he not set his brothers over him as lords, who wisely thought that their father's old age should be honored?

7. Isaac's Blessing of Grace to Jacob and Mercy to Esau

Did not also that fountain of all disciplines, Jacob, pour the abundance of this discourse into the breasts of all men, who was preferred to his elder brother by merit of wisdom? Finally, the pious father, who contended between two sons with a father's affection, but differed in judgment (for affection is guided by natural relationship, but judgments are formed by merits), when he divided grace to one, mercy to the other: grace to the wise one, mercy to the foolish one; because the latter could not by his own strength raise himself to virtue, nor lift up his step of his own accord, he blessed him to serve his brother, and to be his servant, showing that folly is so much worse than servitude, that servitude is a remedy for it; because the fool cannot govern himself, and unless he has a guide, he is hurled headlong by his own desires.

8. Wisdom Rules Folly Through Necessity and Voluntary Servitude

The careful and considerate father therefore made him the servant of his brother, that he might be governed by his counsel. For this reason wise men are appointed as rulers over unadvised peoples, that they may govern plebeian folly by their own vigor; that they may rule under the appearance of power, whereby, even against their will, they may subject them by the authority of power to obey the more prudent, and to comply with the laws. He therefore laid a yoke upon the foolish one, as upon an untamed creature, and to one to whom he had said he must live by his own sword, he denied liberty; lest he should fall through rashness, he set his brother over him, by whose authority and moderation, being subjected, he might advance toward conversion.

And because servitude admits of distinction (for it is weaker when of necessity, stronger when of will; because that good is more beautiful which is done not from necessity, but from will), therefore he first placed on him the yoke of necessity, and afterward bestowed on him the blessing of voluntary subjection.

9. Folly Not Nature Makes a Slave: Joseph's Example

It is not nature, then, that makes a slave, but folly: nor manumission that makes a free man, but discipline. For instance, Esau was born free, and became a slave: Joseph was sold into slavery, and was chosen for power; so that he commanded his own buyers. Yet he did not disdain the service of diligence, but held the summit of virtue, preserved the liberty of innocence, the authority of integrity. Whence the psalmist beautifully says: Joseph was sold for a servant: they humbled his feet in fetters. He was sold, he says, for a servant, he was not made a servant. They humbled his feet, not his soul.

10. Joseph's Soul Unbent Amid Slavery and Temptation

For how was the soul humbled, of which it is said: Iron passed through his soul? For while sin passes through the souls of others (for iron is sin, which is penetrating), the soul of holy Joseph was so unopened to sin, that rather it itself penetrated sin. Finally, he was not bent by the enticement of his mistress's blandishment, nor undeservedly did he fail to feel the flames of lust, because he burned with the greater ardor of divine grace.

Whence it is also beautifully said of him: Because the word of the Lord burned him; by which he quenched the fiery darts of the devil.

11. Joseph's Rule Over Egypt Despite His Slavery

How was this a slave, who instructed the princes of the people in that distribution of grain, that they might take counsel for and provide against the future want? Or how a slave, who acquired the whole land, and reduced the entire people of the Egyptians into servitude? Not that he might impose the condition of ignoble slavery, but that he might establish a tribute, excepting nevertheless the priestly possession, which he kept immune from tribute; so that even among the Egyptians priestly religion might be held inviolable.

12. Joseph's Sale Contrasted with Darius Enslaved by Apeme

The sale therefore did not make him a slave; for he was indeed sold to merchants: but if you look to the price, you will find many who have bought for themselves girls of more elegant beauty, captivated by love of whom, they gave themselves over to base servitude. Apeme, the concubine of King Darius, was seen sitting at his right hand, taking the diadem from his head and placing it on her own, striking his face with her left hand, palm open; whom the king gazed upon with open mouth, rejoicing whenever the woman smiled upon him: but if she were displeased, he thought himself wretched and afflicted; so that, his power laid low, he cloaked it with flatteries, and begged to be reconciled to her.

13. Money and Contracts Do Not Change One's Nature

But why do we allege these things with such great circuit? Do we not see that oftentimes parents, brought under the power of pirates or of monstrous barbarians, are redeemed by their children with money? Are the laws of money more powerful than the laws of nature? Is filial devotion summoned by servitude? Many are buyers of lions, and yet do not lord it over lions: but rather, by a reverse turn, they are so subjected that if they see the beasts, provoked, shaking the muscles of their necks, they flee and hide. Money therefore prejudges nothing, which oftentimes buys masters for itself: the tablets of auction prejudge nothing, by which the buyer is frequently adjudged and made over as if a possession himself. A contract does not change one's kind, nor does it take away the liberty of wisdom. Finally, as it is written, many freemen serve a wise servant: and there is an intelligent servant who governs foolish masters.

14. Wisdom Alone Is Free

Whom then do you judge more free? Wisdom alone is free, which sets the poor over the rich, and which makes servants lend usury to their own masters: to lend, not money, but understanding: to lend the talent of that Lord's eternal treasure, which is never corrupted, whose interest also is precious: to lend that intelligible silver of the heavenly sayings, of which the Law says: You shall lend to the nations, but you shall not borrow. What the Hebrew lent to the nations, he himself received no teaching from the peoples, but delivered it: to whom the Lord opened his treasure, that he might make the nations moist with the rain of his word, and become a prince of the nations, while he himself had no prince above himself.

15. Bought with the Price of the Divine Word

Free therefore is he who is wise, bought with the price of heavenly oracles, with that gold, that silver of the divine word: bought with the price of blood (for it is no small thing to acknowledge one's buyer), bought with the price of grace, who has heard and understood him saying: You who thirst, go to the water; and whoever have no silver, go, buy, and drink, and eat.

16. The Captive Woman Taken as a Free Wife

Free is he who, going forth to war, if he sees a woman goodly to look upon, and, having despoiled the wealth of his enemies, found her there and desired her, having removed what is superfluous, and stripped off the garment of captivity, joins her to himself as wife, now no longer a slave, but free; for he understands that prudence and discipline are not subject to servitude. And so the Law says: She shall not be sold for money; for nothing precious is worthy of her. And Job says: Draw wisdom into the inward parts. The topaz of Ethiopia shall not be compared to her, which is held more precious than gold and silver.

17. Free by the Law of Nature

But not only is he free who has not endured a master's bidder, or has not seen the raised finger of the auctioneer, but he is free rather who is free within himself, who is free by the laws of nature, knowing that the law of nature is prescribed to conduct, not to conditions; and that the measure of duties is consonant not with man's arbitrary will, but with the disciplines of nature. Does this man, then, seem free to you alone, or does he seem also a certain censor and overseer of morals? Whence Scripture truly says that the poor are set over the rich, and private persons over those who administer.

18. True Liberty Is Virtue, Not a Gift of Others

Or does he seem free to you, who buys support for himself with money? Who requires the applause of the people rather than the judgment of the prudent? Is he then free, who is moved by popular breezes; is he free, who dreads the hiss of the crowd? But that is not the freedom which one who has been manumitted receives, and which one acquires when given the lictor's palm. For I judge that liberty is not a munificence, but a virtue: which is not conferred by others' votes, but is claimed and possessed by one's own greatness of soul. For the wise man is always free, always honored, always one who presides over the laws.

In short, the law is not laid down for the just man, but for the unjust; for the just man is a law unto himself, having no need to fetch the form of virtue from afar, since he bears it enclosed in his heart, having the work of the law written on the tablets of his heart, to whom it is said: Drink water from your own vessels, and from the springs of your own wells. For what is so near to us as the word of God? This is the word in our heart and in our mouth, which we do not see and yet hold.

19. The Wise Man Wills and Does What Is Good

The wise man therefore is free, since he who does what he wills is free. But not every will is good, but it belongs to the wise man to will all things that are good; for he hates evil, because he chooses what is good. Therefore if he chooses what is good, he is arbiter of his choice, and, choosing, is free in his action; because he does what he wills: the wise man therefore is free. The wise man does all things well, whatever he does. But he who does all things well, does all things rightly: but he who does all things rightly, certainly does all things without offense, and irreproachably, and without harm or disturbance to himself. To whomsoever, therefore, this belongs, that he does all things without offense, does them irreproachably, does them without disturbance to himself, without harm; he does nothing foolishly, but all things wisely. But he who acts wisely has nothing to fear; for fear is in sin.

But where there is no dread, there is liberty: where there is liberty, there is the power of doing what one wills: therefore the wise man alone is free.

20. The Wise Man Cannot Be Compelled or Forbidden

For indeed he who can neither be compelled nor forbidden is by no means a slave: but it belongs to the wise man neither to be compelled nor forbidden: the wise man therefore is not a slave. For he is forbidden who is not permitted the things he desires; but what does the wise man desire, except the things of virtue and discipline, without which he cannot exist? For these are in him, and are not torn away from him. But if they were torn away, he would no longer be wise, being without the exercise of virtue and discipline, of which he would cheat himself, if he were not a voluntary interpreter of virtue. But if he is compelled, it is manifest that he acts unwillingly. Now in all deeds there are either corrections coming from virtue, or lapses coming from malice, or things intermediate, or things indifferent. The wise man is the executor of virtue, not compelled but voluntary; since he does all things that are pleasing, fleeing malice, and does not even admit its dream.

As for things indifferent, he is so unmoved by them that he is not inclined this way or that at every moment like the common run of men, but his mind hangs balanced as on a scale with equal poise; so that he neither leans toward pleasurable things, nor inclines his zeal even slightly toward things that ought to be shunned, but remains unmoved in feeling. Whence it is clear that the wise man does nothing unwillingly, nor is he compelled; because if he were a slave, he would be compelled: the wise man therefore is free.

21. Paul's Refusal to Yield to False Brethren

The Apostle also thus defines, saying: Am I not free, am I not an apostle? But so free was he, that when certain men had crept in to tempt his liberty, not even for an hour, as he himself says (Gal.), did he yield to subjection, that the truth of the Gospel might be preached. He therefore who did not yield, preached willingly. Where there is will, there is the reward of will: where there is necessity, there is the compliance of necessity. Better therefore is will than necessity. To will, then, belongs to the wise man; to obey and serve, to the foolish man.

22. Liberty in the Gospel, Servitude in the Law

This too is the Apostle's definition, when he says: For if I do this willingly, I have a reward: but if unwillingly, a dispensation is entrusted to me. To the wise man, therefore, a reward is given, but the wise man acts from will: the wise man, therefore, according to the Apostle, is free. Whence he himself also cries out: For you have been called into liberty, only do not give liberty as an occasion to the flesh. He separates the Christian from the Law, lest he seem to submit to the Law unwillingly: he calls him into the Gospel, which men both preach and perform willingly. The Jew is under the Law, the Christian through the Gospel: in the Law there is servitude, in the Gospel liberty, where there is the knowledge of wisdom. Everyone therefore who receives Christ is wise: but he who is wise is free: therefore every Christian is both free and wise.

23. Christ's Servanthood and the Liberty of Charity

Yet the Apostle taught me that there is something beyond liberty itself, so that to serve is liberty: When I was free, he says, I made myself the servant of all, that I might gain the more. What is beyond liberty, except to have the Spirit of grace, to have charity? For liberty makes a man free before men, charity makes him a friend of God. Whence Christ says: But I have called you friends. Good is charity, of which it is said: By charity of the Spirit, serve one another. Christ also served, that he might make all men free. His hands served in the basket: he who thought it not robbery to be equal with God, took the form of a servant; and became all things to all men, that he might bring salvation to all.

Paul, his imitator, was both as though under the Law and as though living without the Law, for the profit of those whom he desired to gain: and to the weak he willingly became weak, that he might strengthen them: and he ran, that he might lay hold: and he chastised his body, that he might triumph over the powers of the air in Christ.

24. For the Fool, Even Rule Is Servitude

To the wise man, therefore, even to serve is liberty. Whence it is gathered that for the fool even to rule is servitude; and, what is worse, though he governs fewer, he serves more and heavier masters. For he serves his own passions, he serves his own desires, whose dominion he can escape neither by night nor by day; because he has masters within himself, he suffers an intolerable servitude within himself. For there is a twofold servitude, the one of the body, the other of souls: but the masters of the body indeed are men, while the masters of souls are malice and the passions, from which the freedom of the mind alone rescues the wise man; so that it is granted him to depart from servitude.

25. Job's Free Appeal Before God

Let us seek, therefore, that man truly wise, truly free, who, although he lives under the dominion of very many, freely says: Who is he that will contend with me in judgment? Only withhold your hand from me, from whose sight I shall not be able to hide myself; and let not your terror overwhelm me.

26. David's Freedom Under God Alone

Following him, King David says: Against you alone have I sinned. For, supported by royal eminence, as though a lord of the laws, he was not liable to the laws, but was held bound only to God, who is the Lord of powers.

27. Judged by the Lord Alone, Not by Man

Hear another free man: But to me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you, or by man's day: but neither do I judge myself; for I am conscious of nothing to myself; but he who judges me is the Lord. True is the liberty of the spiritual man, because he judges all things, but he himself is judged by no one, nor by any partaker of created being, but he knows himself subject only to God, who alone is without sin, of whom Job says: The Lord lives, who so judges me; for he alone can judge justly, in whose sight the heaven is not clean, nor the pure and clear lights of the stars.

28. Job and David Precede the Sophoclean Saying

Who is there who can bring forward the Sophoclean saying—Ambrose seems to have borrowed from many others besides—among the verses which say: Jupiter is over me, but no man is? How much more ancient is Job, how much older is David? Let them acknowledge, then, that whatever more excellent things they have said, they have from our own.

29. The Wise Man as Heir of Divine Secrets

Who then is wise, except him who has arrived at the very secrets of divinity, and has come to know the hidden things of wisdom made manifest to him? Therefore he alone is wise who, with God as his guide, has attained to the knowledge of the chambers of truth, and, mortal man, has been made through grace an heir and successor of the immortal God, and is made a partaker of a certain gladness, as it is written: Therefore God, your God, has anointed you with the oil of gladness above your fellows.

30. The Wise Man's Triumph Over the Passions

If, then, anyone examines more closely the affairs of these matters, he will recognize how great are the aids to the wise man, and how great in these same things are the hindrances to the fool; that to the one liberty is an aid, to the other servitude is an impediment. For the wise man rises up as a victor, having subdued and triumphed over lust, fear, cowardice, sadness, and the other vices; until he expels them from the possession of his mind, and drives and bars them from all his boundaries and borders: since a more cunning leader knows how to guard against the incursions of marauders, and certain thefts of war, which the most iniquitous adversaries of our soul often assay with fiery darts; for there are for us certain battles even in peace, and peace even in war. Whence that man says: Without were fightings, within were fears. But in all these things we are more than conquerors because of him who loved us.

He says that he is terrified neither by distress, nor persecutions, nor famine, danger, or death.

31. Fear of Death Marks the Slave to Sin

But he who fears these things, who dreads death, how is he not a slave? He truly serves, and a wretched slavery indeed; for nothing so casts down the soul into every servitude as the dread of death. For how can a mind, abject and vile and ignoble, sunk in every abyss of infirmity by the desire of this life, raise itself up? See how much a slave he is: I will hide myself, he says, and I shall be groaning and trembling upon the earth; and it shall be, that whosoever finds me shall slay me. And so, like a slave, he received a mark, yet even so could not escape death. The sinner, then, is a slave to dread, a slave also to desire, a slave to avarice, a slave to lust, a slave to malice, a slave to wrath, and he seems free to himself in such a state: but he is more a slave than if he were placed under tyrants.

32. The Law of Nature Written on the Heart

But those are free who live by laws. Now the true law is right reason, the true law is not engraved on tablets, nor cut into bronze, but impressed upon minds and fixed within the senses; since the wise man is not under the law, but is himself a law unto himself, containing the work of the law in his heart, formed for himself by a natural stylus and a certain inscription. Is it then such great blindness that we do not see the manifest expressions of things, and the images of the virtues? And how unworthy it is, that whole peoples obey human laws, that they may be partakers of liberty: while the wise neglect and abandon the true law of nature expressed to the image of God, and the true standard-bearing reason of liberty; when in this there is such liberty, that as little children we know not how to serve vices, we are strangers to wrath, free from avarice, ignorant of lust! How wretched, then, that we who are born in liberty should die in servitude!

33. Moses, the Daughter of Judah, and Jephthah's Daughter

But this happens through the levity of the mind and the weakness of morals; because we turn over vain cares, and labor at superfluous things: but it befits the heart of the wise man, and his act and work, to be rooted and unmoved. This Moses taught, when his hands grew heavier, so that Joshua the son of Nun could scarcely support them. And so the people conquered, when the works performed were not perfunctory, but full of weight and virtue, not of a wavering mind, nor faltering in feeling, but by the stability of a well-founded mind. The wise man, therefore, extends his hands, but the fool draws them in, as it is written: For the fool folds his hands together, and eats up his own flesh, thinking more of carnal things than of spiritual. But not so the daughter of Judah, who, spreading out her hands, cried out to the Lord: You know that they bear false witness against me.

She judged it better not to sin, but even to fall into the calumnies of her accusers, than to undergo sin under the veil of impunity. She, therefore, by contempt of death, preserved her innocence. Nor was the daughter of Jephthah otherwise, who confirmed her father's vow concerning her own immolation by her own assenting and encouraging assent (Judges 11, 36).

34. Calanus, Alexander, and the Christian Contempt of Death

For I do not draw this contempt of death from the books of philosophers, nor from the gymnosophists of the Indians, whose reply of Calanus is praised above others, when Alexander commanded him to follow: With what praise, he says, do you demand that I go to Greece, if I can be compelled to do what I do not wish? And truly this is a speech full of authority, but the mind was even fuller of liberty. And indeed he even wrote a letter. "Calanus to Alexander. 35. "Friends persuade you to bring the hand and compulsion upon the philosophers of the Indians, not even in dreams seeing our works. For you will transfer bodies from place to place: souls you will not force to do what they do not wish, no more than stones and wood to utter a voice. The greatest fire brands living bodies with pain, and produces corruption: above this we stand; for we are burned while living. There is no king, no prince, who can wrest from us to do what we have not proposed.

Nor are we like the philosophers of Greece, who have meditated words instead of deeds for the celebrity of opinion: with us deeds are joined to words, and words to deeds: deeds are swift, and speech is brief: in virtue our freedom is blessed." and. Splendid words, but words: splendid constancy, but of a man: splendid letter, but of a philosopher. Among us, however, even maidens by their desire for death have raised the steps of virtue sublimely up to heaven. What shall I say of Thecla, of Agnes, of Pelagia, who, sprouting like noble young vine-shoots, hastened to death as if to immortality? Amid lions the virgin exulted, and beheld the roaring beasts unafraid.

And that we may compare our own with the gymnosophists of the Indians, what that man boasted in words, holy Lawrence proved by deeds; so that, being burned alive, and outliving the flames, he said: "Turn me over, eat." No degenerate of the sons of Abraham, and of the contest of the Maccabean boys, of whom some sang above the flames: others, while being burned, did not ask to be spared, but railed, that the persecutor might be inflamed the more. The wise man, therefore, is free.

38. Pelagia's Free Choice of Death Over Violation

What indeed is more sublime than holy Pelagia, who, surrounded by persecutors, before she even came into their sight, said: "I die willingly; no one shall touch me with his hand, no one with a shameless eye shall violate a virgin; with me I bear my modesty, with me my unharmed reserve: the plunderers shall gain no reward for their insolence. Pelagia will follow Christ; no one will take away her freedom, no one will see a captive of her free faith, and her distinguished chastity, and her lineage of prudence. What is servile will remain here, owed to no uses." Great, therefore, is the freedom of holy virginity, which, hemmed in by bands of persecutors, amid the greatest dangers to integrity and to life, was by no means bent.

39. Slavery to Anger, Avarice, and Ambition

But not free is he over whom anger rules, for he is subjected to the yoke of sin; the wrathful man also digs up sin: "But he who commits sin is the slave of sin". Nor is he free who is enslaved to avarice; for he cannot possess his own vessel. Nor is he free who, being a slave to desires and pleasures, floats in wandering error. Nor is he free who is bent by ambition; for he serves another's command. But he is free who can say: "All things are lawful to me, but not all things are profitable to me; all things are lawful to me, but I will not be brought under any man's power. Food is for the belly, and the belly for food". He is free who says: "For why is my liberty judged by another man's conscience"?

40. Freedom in a Fool's Hands Brings Ruin

Freedom, therefore, befits the wise man, not the fool; since he who binds a stone in a sling is like one who gives glory to an imprudent man: he wounds himself, and rather, while he hurls the missile, brings danger to himself. Certainly, just as the harm is made worse by the sling, and the evil is doubled by the fall of the stone, so the ruin of a fool in freedom is more violent. Power, therefore, must be cut back for the fool, not freedom added; for servitude befits him. And so he added: "Thorns spring up in the hand of the drunkard, but servitude in the hand of the imprudent"; because just as the one is wounded by his own cups, so the fool by his own deeds. The one, by drinking, entangles himself in sin; the other, by acting, adjudges himself to guilt, and is drawn by his own deeds into servitude.

Paul saw himself being drawn into captivity by the law of sin; and therefore, that he might be freed, he took refuge in the grace of liberty.

41. Fools Restrained Like the Horse and Mule

Fools, therefore, are not free, to whom it is said: "Be ye not like the horse and the mule, which have no understanding. With bit and bridle bind fast their jaws, lest they come near unto thee. Many are the scourges of sinners"; because many scourges are needed, that their imprudence may be restrained. Discipline requires this, not harshness. Finally, "he who spares his rod hates his son": at the same time because each one is more heavily scourged by his own sins. For grave are the weights of offenses, grave the blows of crimes, as a burden they weigh heavy, and inflict scars upon the soul, and make the sores of the mind fester.

42. Pruning Luxury and Bringing the Body into Subjection

Let us, therefore, lay down so heavy a burden of servitude, let us renounce luxury and delights, which bind us with certain knots of desires, and tie us with chains. For delights profit the fool nothing: and whoever has given himself to delights from boyhood will remain in servitude, so that while living he is dead. Let luxury, therefore, be cut back, let delights be pruned away: and if anyone has been given to luxury, let him bid farewell to former things. For a pruned vine bears fruit, one half-pruned puts forth leaves, one neglected runs wild. And so it is written: "Like the tillage of an imprudent man, and like the vineyard of a man lacking sense; if thou leavest it, it shall be deserted". Let us, therefore, cultivate this body of ours, let us chastise it, let us bring it into servitude, not despise it.

43. The Body's Members as Weapons of Sin

For our members are weapons of righteousness, and they are also weapons of sin. If they are lifted up, they are weapons of righteousness, so that sin may not rule in them: if our body has died to sin, guilt will not reign in it, and our members will be free from sin. Let us not, therefore, obey its desires, nor present our members as weapons of iniquity to sin.

If you have looked upon a woman so as to desire her, your members are weapons of sin. If you have spoken to entice her, your tongue and your mouth are members of sin. If you have removed boundaries set by the fathers, your members are weapons of sin. If you have hastened with swifter feet to shed innocent blood, your members are weapons of iniquity.

44. The Body's Members as Weapons of Righteousness

On the contrary, if you have seen the needy, and brought him into your house, your members are weapons of righteousness. If you have rescued one suffering injury, or one who was being led to death, if you have torn up the debtor's bond, your members are weapons of righteousness. If you have confessed Christ (for the weapons of understanding are the lips of wisdom), your lips are members of righteousness. He who can say: "I was an eye to the blind, a foot to the lame, a father to the weak", his members are members of righteousness.

45. Confession of Sin Brings True Freedom

Therefore, freed from sin, bought as it were with the price of Christ's blood, let us not be subjected to the servitude of men or of passions. Let us not be ashamed to confess our sin. See how free he was who could say: "I did not fear the multitude of the people, so as not to declare my sin in the sight of all". For he who confesses to the Lord is stripped of servitude; for "the just man is his own accuser at the beginning of his speech". Not only free, but also just: but righteousness is in freedom, and freedom is in confession; for as soon as one has confessed, he is absolved. Finally: "I said, I will confess against myself my injustice to the Lord, and thou hast forgiven the impiety of my heart". The delay of absolution, therefore, lies in confessing; confession is followed by the remission of sins. Wise, therefore, is he who confesses: free is he whose sin has been forgiven, contracting no further debt of sin.

Farewell, and love us, as you do; for I too love you.

AMBROSE greets SIMPLICIAN.

1. Every Wise Man Is Also Rich

We seemed lately to have fallen into disputations of philosophy, when, taking our beginning from the Apostle Paul's letter, we treated the theme that every wise man is free. But afterward, when I was reading the letter of the Apostle Peter, I noticed that every wise man is also rich: nor did he except the female sex, who wrote that women have all their adornment not in precious ornaments, but in good morals: "For not," he says, "the outward plaiting of hair, or the putting on of gold, or the wearing of garments is adornment, but the hidden man of the heart".

2. The Hidden Man of the Heart

There are, therefore, two things: that there be a man within the man, and that he be rich, who requires for himself no use of riches. Beautifully did he speak of the man of the heart, in that he is wholly hidden in wisdom, just as wisdom itself, which is not seen, but understood. No one before Peter used such an expression, to speak of the man of the heart; for the outward man has in himself very many members: but the inward man of the heart is wholly full of wisdom, full of grace, full of comeliness.

3. A Quiet Spirit Rich Before God

"In the incorruptibility," he says, "of a quiet and modest spirit, which is rich before God". And truly rich, who in the sight of God can appear rich, in whose sight the earth is small, the world itself narrow: but God alone knows him to be rich who is rich in eternity, who stores up not the fruits of wealth, but of virtues. But who is rich before God, except a quiet and modest spirit, which is never corrupted? Does he not seem rich to you, who has peace of mind, the tranquility of quiet; so that he desires nothing, is stirred by no storms of cravings, does not disdain old things and seek new ones, and by always desiring, becomes poor amid the greatest riches?

4. Peace, Modesty, Faith, and Simplicity as Riches

That is truly rich peace, which surpasses all understanding. Rich is peace, rich is modesty, rich is faith; for to the faithful the whole world is a possession: rich is simplicity; for there are also riches of simplicity, which examines nothing, thinks nothing contrived, nothing suspect, or deceitful, but pours itself out with pure affection.

5. Goodness and the Blessing of Correction

Rich is goodness, which if anyone keeps, he is fed amid the riches of a heavenly inheritance; and to use more ancient examples of Scripture: "Blessed," he says, "is the man whom the Lord reproves. But do not refuse the admonition of God. In famine he will deliver you from death, in war from the hand of the sword he will deliver you, and he will hide you from the scourge of the tongue. The wild beasts will be at peace with you, and you shall know that your house will be at peace". For when the vices of this flesh and the passions, which are wont to war against the soul, have been softened, your tents will be without disturbance, your house without offense, your seed without failure, your posterity like the scent of a full field, your burial like the harvest. For when others reckon their loss, then the heap of your wheat, ripened, is brought into the granaries above.

6. The Just Man Lends, the Fool Wants

Deservedly the just man always lends, the unjust man is in want. He lends acts of righteousness, he lends the commandment of God to the poor and needy: but the foolish man, even what he thinks he has, does not possess at all. Or do you think that man possesses, who, brooding over his treasure day and night, is tormented by greedy and wretched anxiety? He indeed is in want, and even if he seems rich to others, to himself he is poor; because he does not use what he has, who still snatches other things, desires other things: for where there is no limit to craving, what is the fruit of riches? No one is rich, who cannot carry away with him from here what he has: for what is left here is not ours, but another's.

7. Enoch and Elijah as Truly Rich

Rich was Enoch, who carried with him what he had, and brought that whole account of his goodness into the heavenly storehouses: who was for this reason taken up, lest malice change his heart (Wisdom 4:11). Rich was Elijah, who, exalted, carried the treasures of his virtues on a fiery chariot into the ethereal seats. And yet he left no small riches to his heir, riches which he himself did not lose. Who would call him poor even then, when, in need of daily sustenance, he was sent to a widow, that he might be fed by her; when at his voice heaven was shut and opened, when at his word the jar of flour and the jug of oil did not fail for three years, but abounded: nor was diminished by use, but was replenished? Who would call him poor, at whose will fire descended (4 Kings:), whom rivers, impassable for others, did not hem in, but ran back to their source; so that the prophet crossed with dry foot?

8. Ahab and Naboth Compared

Ancient history describes two neighbors, King Ahab and poor Naboth; which of these do we believe to be poorer, which richer? The one, endowed with the royal support of riches, insatiable and unfillable in his wealth, desired the poor man's small vineyard: the other, despising in his mind the gold-laden fortunes of kings and imperial treasures, was content with his own vine-branch. Does not this one seem the richer, this one more the king, who was sufficient unto himself, who ruled his own desires; so that he coveted nothing belonging to another? While that one was most needy, to whom his own gold seemed cheap, and another's vine-branch seemed most precious? But learn by what reasoning he was most needy: because riches unjustly gathered are vomited up; but the root of the just remains, and flourishes like the palm tree.

9. The Rich Who Pass Like a Shadow

Or is not that man more needy than a poor man, who passes by like a shadow? Today the wicked man is exalted, tomorrow he shall not be, nor shall any place of his be found. What then is it to be rich, but to abound? But who abounds, who is more contracted in spirit? And who is more contracted in spirit is assuredly more straitened; what abundance then can there be in straits? He therefore is not rich who does not abound. Whence David well says: The rich, saith he, have been in want, and have hungered; because although they had the treasures of the heavenly Scriptures, they who understood not were in want, and they who tasted no food of spiritual grace hungered.

10. The Kingdom of God Belongs to the Poor

Nothing therefore is richer than the disposition of the wise man, nothing more needy than that of the fool. For since the kingdom of God is of the poor, what can be more wealthy? And therefore the Apostle excellently says: O the depth, saith he, of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! Excellently too David, who delighted in the way of the heavenly testimonies as in all riches. Expressly Moses, who says: Nephthalim, the fullness of them that receive. By Nephthalim is signified, in the Latin interpretation, abundance, or enlargement. There, then, is abundance, where there is fullness: but where there is hunger of desires, where there is insatiable craving, there assuredly is poverty. But because scarcely any desire for money or for this world has satiety, therefore he added: And he shall be filled with blessing.

11. The True Adornment of Women

In accordance with these things the apostle Peter declared that adornment consists not in gold and silver and the apparel of women, but in the hidden man of the heart, that which is concealed; wherefore let no woman strip herself of the adorning of piety, the ornament of grace, the inheritance of eternal life. Farewell, and love us; for we love you.

AMBROSE greets FAUSTINUS.

1. Grief for a Sister's Death

I was not ignorant that you would grieve with bitter sorrow at the death of your sister; yet not so that you should banish yourself from us, but that you should restore yourself to us: for even if consolations are less agreeable to mourners, yet sometimes they are necessary. But you have gone off into the secret places of the mountains, and dwell amid the dens of wild beasts, having renounced all use of human society, and, what is more grievous, by your own judgment.

2. A Mother's Legacy to Her Grandchildren

Has your sister so deserved ill of you, that on her account—she through whom the human condition ought rather to have excelled in your regard, she who bore so distinguished a woman—the human condition should hold a lesser prerogative with you? She indeed, departing this life, soothed herself with this consolation, that she would leave you behind as a survivor to her own—a parent to her grandchildren, a guardian to her little ones, a helper to those left destitute: you so deny yourself both to your grandchildren and to us, that we do not feel the fruit of that consolation of hers. Those dear pledges call you not to mourning, but to consolation; that when they see you, they may not believe their mother to have died: that in you they may recognize her, in you hold her presence, in you think her life remains to them.

3. The Ruin of Cities as Common Grief

But you grieve that one so lately most flourishing has suddenly perished. Yet this is common to us not only with men, but even with cities, and with lands themselves. Surely, coming from the city of Bononia, you left behind you Claterna, Bononia itself, Mutina, Rhegium; on the right hand was Brixillum, in front Placentia met your view, still sounding its ancient nobility in its very name; on the left you gazed with pity upon the untilled wastes of the Apennines, and considered the strongholds of peoples once most flourishing, and retraced them with sorrowing affection. Do not, then, so many corpses of half-ruined cities, and the funerals of lands laid open under the same view, admonish you that the passing of one holy and admirable woman, though it be so, ought to be held the more consolable; especially since those have been laid low and destroyed for ever, whereas she, though for a time taken from us, is leading a better life there?

4. Prayers Rather Than Mourning

And so I think she is not so much to be bewailed, as to be attended with prayers: nor to be saddened with your tears, but rather I think her soul should be commended to the Lord with offerings.

5. Knowing No One After the Flesh

But perhaps you will assert that you are secure concerning her merits and her faith; yet that you cannot bear the longing, in that you no longer see her according to the flesh, and that this is your greatest grief. Nor does that saying of the Apostle move you, who says: Because we have known no one henceforth according to the flesh. And if we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know him so no more? For our flesh cannot be perpetual and lasting; it must needs perish, that it may rise again: it must needs be dissolved, that it may rest, that there may be a certain end of sin. And therefore we have known many according to the flesh, but now we know them so no more. The Lord Jesus himself we have known, says the Apostle, according to the flesh: but now we know him so no more.

For already he had put off the spoils of the flesh, already he was not seen in the appearance of man, already he had died for all, and all had died in him; but that being renewed through him, and made alive in spirit, they might now live not for themselves, but for Christ. Whence also elsewhere the same Apostle says: I live, now not I, but Christ liveth in me.

6. Christ Known No Longer According to the Flesh

And rightly he who had before known Christ according to the flesh, now recognizing his operations invisibly, now searching not his flesh but his power, he who before, as a persecutor, harassed with hostile hatreds the disciples of the man and the followers of his flesh, afterward made teacher of the nations, had begun to instruct and form the worshippers of his majesty for the preaching of the Gospel. And therefore he added: If any man be in Christ, a new creature, that is, he who is perfect in Christ is a new creature; since he who is flesh is imperfect. Finally the Lord himself says: My spirit shall not remain in these men, because they are flesh. He therefore who is in Christ is not carnal: but if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature, formed not by newness of nature, but of grace. The old things therefore which were according to the flesh have passed away: all things are made new.

What are these, but what the Scribe instructed in the kingdom of heaven knows, like that householder who brings forth from his treasure things new and old, neither old things without new, nor new without old? Wherefore the Church too says, because new and old have I kept for thee. But the old things have passed away, that is, the hidden mysteries of the Law; in Christ all things have been made new.

7. The New Creature in Christ

This is the new creature, of which the Apostle says to the Galatians: For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision: but a new creature, through which the flesh now renewed flourishes, and finds the fruit of grace, which before had the thorns of inveterate sin. What is it then that we should mourn, if already it is said to the soul: Thy youth shall be renewed like the eagle's? What is it that we should groan for the dead, since already the reconciliation of the world has been made with God the Father through the Lord Jesus?

8. The Irrevocable Gifts of Christ

Since therefore we hold the benefits of Christ, we discharge an embassy for Christ both with all men and with you; that you may know that his gifts are irrevocable, that you may believe what you have always believed; and may not, through excessive grief, bring your conviction into doubt; because for this the Lord Jesus was made sin, that he might take away the sin of the world; and that we might be in him all the righteousness of God: now no longer liable to guilt, but secure in the recompense of righteousness. Farewell, and love us; for we love you.