1 Paulinus, who had been in constant attendance on St.Ambrose, and was with him at his death, wrote this life a few years after that event, at the request of St. Augustine.
5 De Sp. S. I. 79, 80; De Fide, V. 91.
7 For the force of the word transfigurantur in early ecclesiastical Latin, compare Tertullian, adv. Praxeam, c. 27: "Transfiguratio interremptio est pristini. Omne enim, quoacunque transfiguratur in aliud desinit esse quod fuerat, et incipit esse quod non erat."
10 Ep. 22 De ob. Theod. 41-51; De Viduis., 55.
13 Ep. 63-78, De Parad. II. 7.
17 The exact date depends upon whether the passage "barbaracis motibus et bellorum procellis," etc., Ep. lix., 12-3, refers to the war against Maximus, a.d. 387, or to that against Eugenius, a.d. 393-4; so that the birth year of St. Ambrose might be 333 or 340. The latter date is, however, most generally accepted.
18 Of the 116 provinces of the empire 37 were governed by magistrates with the title of consular.
19 De Exc. Sat. I. 25, 49, 58.
20 Auxentius, a Cappadocian, was ordained priest by Gregory, usurper of St. Athanasius, see of Alexandria. He was much esteemed by the Arians; and when after a synod at Milan, a.d. 355, the Catholic Bishop Dionysins was banished with many others, Auxentius was intruded in his stead, and, as St. Athanasius remarked, a Latin Church received as its pastor one who was ignorant of the Latin tongue, St. Hilary and others endeavoured to remove him, but in vain, and in 369 Auxentius was excommunicated in a synod at Rome, but succeeded in maintaining his post.
24 Scriptorum veterum nova Collectio, Vol. X.
3 Paulinus, in his Life of St. Ambrose, relates various, expedients that he tried, to enable him to avoid the office to which he had been called; e.g. how he caused torture to be applied to prisoners, contrary to his usual practice, in the hope that this might lead to his rejection. More than once, also, he endeavoured to escape the honour by flight.
6 St. Ambrose, at the time of his election to the episcopate, was a consular magistrate, and was not even baptized. The infula was a flock of red and white wool formed into a fillet, and worn on the head; from which ribands hung down on either side. It was a mark of religious consecration, and so worn by the priests and vestal virgins. In later times it was adopted also by the emperors and magistrates as a sign of their semi-sacred character.
7 The following is found in many mss., but not, in the Benedictine edition "Et quantumlibet quisque profecerit nemo est qui dacere non egeat dum vivit."
21 Ecclus. xxviii. 24, Ecclus. xxviii. 25.
26 Symmachus, said to have been an Ebionite, lived c. 193-211. He translated the Old Testament into Greek. This was one of the versions Origen made use of in his Hexapla edition of the Bible.
29 2 Sam. [2 Kings] xvi. 6 ff.
30 This psalm in the Hebrew is inscribed to Jeduthun, one of the three leading musicians in the temple services.
31 A Stoic philosopher who lived and taught at Athens, c. b.c. 120. His chief work was a treatise peri tou kaqhkoutoz, which Cicero himself afterward used as the groundwork of his own book de Officiis.
33 Luke i. 23. The Vulgate has officii; the Greek text reads: thj leitonrgiaj.
34 In this section it is impossible to give the point in a translation, but the passage does not affect the argument. The text runs as follows: "Nec ratio ipsa abhorret, quandoquidem officium ab efficiendo dictum putamus, quasi efficium: sed propter decorera sermonis una immutata litera, officium. nuncupari, vel certe, ut ea agas quoe nulli officiant, prosin omnibus."
45 S. Matt. xix. 17, Matt. xix. 18, Matt. xix. 19.
46 S. Matt. xix. 20, Matt. xix. 21.
49 Job xxix. 15, Job xxix. 16.
51 Job xxi. 2-4, differing, however, widely from both the Hebrew and Greek text.
56 Job xxi. Very freely used all through this section.
59 It is only fair to state that the character of Epicurus is mainly known in modern times from opponents or persons who did not understand him. See the account in Dict. of Gr. and Rom. Biography.
60 Arist. Metaph. i. 2. An allusion to Aristotle's saying that "the poets lie much."
68 Job xxiv. 14, Job xxiv. 15.
72 2 Tim. iv. 7, 2 Tim. iv. 8.
82 Thus the Benedictine edition reads; most others have: "accressent simul studia bonorum actuum."
91 S. Luke xviii. 13, Luke xviii. 14.
100 "modestia. quam a modo scientioe, quid deceret, appellarant arbitror."
102 1 Cor. xii. 22, 1 Cor. xii. 23.
103 Ambr. de Noe et Arca. cap. viii.
106 Ex. xxviii. 42, Ex. xxviii. 43.
112 Ps. xxxiv. [xxxiii.] 13, Ps. xxxiv. [xxxiii.] 14.
115 lived c. b.c. 400. A noted philosopher, and also general.
132 Gen. xv. 4; Gen. xvii. 15.
134 Gen. xxv. 34. St. Ambrose at times gets carried away by his his subject and says more than is warranted by the words of the Bible. Cf. also II. §101; II. §154; III. §64.
142 Manes, the founder of Manicheism, living about a.d. 250. He taught that there were two original principles absolutely opposed one to the other. On the one side God, from Whom nothing but good can go forth; on the other original evil-the author of all matter-which therefore is evil too. Man was formed by this evil spirit. For, whilst man's soul is an emanation from the good God, man's body in which the soul is imprisoned was framed of material elements. Hence the Manichaean is here represented addressing the devil as his father, the author of his earthly existence.
143 The father of Arianism, born a.d. 256, was condemned at the Council of Nicaea a.d. 325. He denied that Christ was "of one substance with the Father;" but held Him to be a kind of secondary God, created out of nothing before the world. But he considered Him to be the creator of the world.
144 Marcion flourished between the years a.d. 140-190. He also taught the existence of more than one Principle, and held that man was created by an inferior Being.
145 Eunomius was the leader of the extreme Arian party, flourishing c. a.d. 360. He maintained the absolute unlikeness of the Son to the Father not only in substance but even in will. Hence his party were called Anomoeans (anomoioj, unlike). In baptizing they also applied no water to the lower part of the body, asserting that it was created by an evil spirit, thus with Marcion recognizing the dual Principle. Theodoret, who is the authority for this latter and some other charges against the Eunomians, says, however. that he is speaking from hearsay, not of his own knowledge. Hoer. Fab. IV. 3.
150 Gen. xxxii. 29, Gen. xxxii. 30.
159 Some mss. have "injustitioe," others "pecunioe," which seems to be a correction to bring it into harmony with the LXX: "inati uphrce xrhmata afroni."
162 Summa Theol. II. 2, q. 101. St. Thomas Aquinas agrees in making piety a part of justice, and a gift of the Holy Spirit, but places parents before instead of after our country.
194 S. Luke xxi. 3, Luke xxi. 4.
197 "Et se juste facere putant." These words are omitted in many mss.
203 St. Ambrose, allowing clergy to retain some of their patrimony so as not to burden the Church, is less strict than St. Augustine, who would have them give up everything and live in common. Serm. 355.
211 Allusion is made to Ecclus. iii. 31.
212 S. Luke vi. 37, Luke vi. 38.
219 1 Sam. [1 Kings] xx. 11 ff.
236 1 Sam. [1 Kings] xvii. 39 ff.
244 Job xxix. 12, Job xxix. 13.
245 Cf. Job i. 12, w. Job i. 22, and Job ii. 6, w. Job ii. 10.
246 Job xl. 2, Job xl. 5, Job xl. 6 [LXX.].
254 Col. ii. 20, Col. ii. 21, Col. ii. 22.
269 There is a considerable variation of text here. The original of the translation is: "iracundiam velut quibusdam propulset armis, quoe tollat consilium, et tanquam oegritudinem vitet." Cod. Dresd. reads: "iracundiam ...propulset arietibus armisque tollat et convicia tanquam oegritudinem vitet."
277 The Latin text has: "utraque manu interficiebat, donec pervenit ad bestiam." Cod. Dresd., ed. Med. have: "utraque manu interficiebat bestiam, atque intravit sab eam."
278 Ed. Bened. here has: "ita ut ab ortu solis per singulas bestias velut montes quidam splendor armorum corusco, tanquam lampadibus ardentibus." Cod. Dresd. and Goth.: "ita ut ...quidam armorum coruscorum ...refulgerent." Other ancient editions: "ita ut ...quidam armorum corusco ...refulgerent."
284 "Consecrationem." So all mss. Ed. Rom. alone has "dispensationem."
285 Consecration seems a strange expression in the mouth of a deacon, but it may be explained either by the intimate connection between the celebrant and his deacon, as at the present day in the Liturgy of the Eastern Church; or it may refer to the hallowing of the faithful in the partaking of the Sacrament. The word consecratio is not always restrained to the consecration properly so called, as may be seen by the prayer in the Roman missal said by the priest when he drops a consecrated particle into the chalice which has also been already consecrated;-"Hoec commixtio et consecratio Corporis et Sansguinis ...fiat nobis in vitam oeternam."
291 It has been supposed that St. Ambrose in this passage by "father" means "spiritual father," in whose hands the teaching and guidance of the young was put. But there is no reason why the word should not be taken in its ordinary sense. If so, however, the father must have been in one of the inferior orders only, or else his children must have been born before he was admitted to the priesthood. For elsewhere (I. 258), as here, St. Ambrose clearly shows that absolute continence is required of priests, after entering on their sacred office.
295 The words decorum and honestum being used in different senses, it is not possible to give the points in a translation as in the original.
299 1 Tim. ii. 9, 1 Tim. ii. 10.
301 1 Cor. xi. 13, 1 Cor. xi. 14.
302 Prov. viii 30, Prov. viii 31 [LXX.].
305 "inequitat." Ed. Med. has "inquietat."
311 2 Sam. [2 Kings] xvi. 11, 2 Sam. [2 Kings] xvi. 12.
315 Cf. St. Amb. Enarr. in Ps. xxxix. [xxxviii.].
325 The question kept coming up from time to time: Did Baptism annul all previous impedimenta ordinationis? Even in the fifth century, as Pope Innocent I. (Ep. XXIX.) shows some maintained that as Baptism puts away all sins committed previous to its reception, so also it removes all impediments to ordination. This same idea St. Ambrose combats here.
327 Num. iii. 12, Num. iii. 13.
331 Prov. ix. 10, and Ps. cxi. [cx.] 10 .
339 Deut. xxxiii. 8, Deut. xxxiii. 9.
4 Hieronymus, often mentioned by Cicero. Cf. Cic. de Finib. II. 3.-He lived about b.c. 300, at Rhodes. He held that the nighest good consisted in freedom from pain and trouble.
5 Herillus. Cf. Cic. de Finib. V. 25. Of Carthage; a Stoic. The chief good, according to him, consisted in knowledge.
6 Aristotle, the famous philosopher and writer. Born b.c. 384. Taught chiefly at Athens, where Theophrastus was his pupil.
7 Theophrastus of Eresus in Lesbos, also a voluminous writer: He is mentioned by Cicero thus: "Soepe ab Aristotele, a Theophrasto mirabiliter caudatur scientia, hoc una captus Herillus scientiam summum bonum esse defendit." (de Fin. V. 25.)
8 Epicurus. Cf. Cic. Tuscul. V. 30. Born b.c. 342 in Samos. The founder of the Epicurean School of Philosophy. With him pleasure constituted the highest happiness, but probably not sensual pleasures. Cf. note on I. 50.
9 Callipho. Cic. Acad. II. 42: A disciple of Epicurus. The chief good of man he said consisted in the union of a virtuous life with bodily pleasure, or, as Cicero puts it, in the union of the man with the beast. (Cic. de Off. III. 33.)
10 Diodorus living about b.c. 110, at Tyre. His view was as stated above by St. Ambrose, whereby an attempt was made to reconcile the Stoics and Epicureans.
11 Zeno of Citium, the founder of the Stoic School.
17 Ps. cxii. [cxi.] 5, Ps. cxii. [cxi.] 6 .
19 See St. Augustine, De Civit. Dei. XIX. 1.
22 S. Matt. v. 11, Matt. v. 12.
27 Phil. iii. 7, Phil. iii. 8.
32 S. Luke vi. 20, Luke vi. 21.
33 S. Luke vi. 24, Luke vi. 25.
41 2 Sam. [2 Kings] xii. 16; 2 Sam. [2 Kings] xiii. 31; 2 Sam. [2 Kings] xviii. 33.
67 2 Sam. [2 Kings] v. 1, 2 Sam. [2 Kings] v. 2.
74 1 Cor. xiii. 7, 1 Cor. xiii. 8.
90 1 [3] Kings x. 2, 1 [3] Kings x. 3.
105 Vide Virg. Aen. IV. 13: "degeneres animos timor arguit."
106 Wisd. vii. 29, Wisd. vii. 30.
107 Wisd. vii. 22, Wisd. vii. 23.
112 This was in the year 378. These provinces were invaded by the Goths, who after the defeat and death of Valens at Hadrianople ravaged the whole country, and carried away with them a vast number of captives and afterwards sold them into slavery. St Ambrose busied himself in redeeming all he could. He tells us himself how his efforts were met by the Arian party.
128 Gen. xlix. 22, Gen. xlix. 25, Gen. xlix. 26.
129 Deut. xxxiii. 16, Deut. xxxiii. 17.
132 "propter me." Cod. Dresd., Ed. Med. have "proeter me."
133 Gen. xxxix. 8, Gen. xxxix. 9.
134 "humilitatis, quia domino deferebat; honorificentioe, quia referebat gratiam." Others read: "humilitatis ...deferebat honorificentiam, quia," etc.
154 Ex. xiv. 21. Cf. also Josh. x. 12.
179 Hushai is probably meant by this, who advised Absalom to delay his attack on the king.
180 2 Sam. [2 Kings] xviii. 5.
183 S. Luke xiv. 12, Luke xiv. 13.
187 "linguam auream." Other readings are: "lineam auream," or "regulam auream."
193 Judg. xv. 14, Judg. xv. 15.
203 This was attempted by the Emperor Valentinian II., who was induced to act in this way by his mother Justina. She being an Arian was only too ready to harass in every possible way a Catholic bishop such as Ambrose of Ticinum was.
207 S. John ii. 17. St. John, however, only says: "The disciples remembered that it was written."
5 Cic. de Off. III. 1. Scipio, born b.c. 234. He was the greatest Roman of his time, a famous general and the conqueror of Hannibal. His exploits in Africa won him the surname of Africanus. Owing to jealous intrigues he in b.c. 185 left Rome and retired to his estate, where he passed the rest of his days in peaceful employments. Cicero (de Off. III. 1) relates on Cato's authority that he used to say: "Nunquam se minus otiosum esse quam cum otiosus, nec minsolum quam cum solus esset."
23 Rom. viii. 35, Rom. viii. 38.
25 "utile." Some read "inutile."
34 1 [3] Kings iv. 29, 1 [3] Kings iv. 30.
36 1 Cor. x. 23, 1 Cor. x. 24.
41 The text here runs as follows: "Considera, O homo, unde nomen sumseris; ab humo utique."
61 1 Sam. [1 Kings] xxvi. 8-10.
66 Ps. lxxi. 15 [LXX.]. "Sanctus in negotiationem introisse se negat," says St. Ambrose, from Ps. lxxi. 15. According to the Septuagint, "ouk egnwn pragmateia," which in the old Latin versions became "quoniam non cognovi negotiationes" (the Vulgate has "literaturam" for "negotiationes").
69 Prov. xi. 26. St. Ambrose cites the same verse each time, but the first time according to LXX. The second time he varies the commencement.
71 It is not certain to what date the famine mentioned by St. Ambrose is to be referred, nor is the name of the prefect of the city certainly known. The Praefectus Urbis was at this time the highest officer of the city, directly representing the emperor, and except to the latter there was no appeal from his decisions. Amongst other duties he exercised a supervision over the importation, exportation, and prices of provisions. As St. Ambrose, §48, calls him "sanctissimus senex," he was probably a Christian.
73 tua curia. Ed. Med. has "tua cura."
74 Num. xiii. 27, Num. xiii. 28.
86 This hardly agrees with 1 [3] Kings xxi. 16.
96 Cic. de Off. III. 14. This story is related by Cicero as a clear example of downright fraud, against which in his time there was no remedy at law.
103 Cic. de Off. III. 24, §93.
112 Cic. de Off. III. 10, §45.
117 Cic. de Off. III. 11, §49.
120 This affair happened in the war which Pyrrhus waged against the Roman people. Caius Fabricius was the general who refused to take advantage of the base offer.
152 S. John vii. 37, John vii. 38.
169 2 [4] Kings vii. 1, 2 [4] Kings vii. 2.
170 2 [4] Kings vii. 6, 2 [4] Kings vii. 7.
171 2 [4] Kings vii. 3, 2 [4] Kings vii. 4.
172 2 [4] Kings vii. 8, 2 [4] Kings vii. 9.
176 Esther vii. 9, Esther vii. 10.
177 Cic. de Off. III. 10, §43.
179 1 Sam. [1 Kings] xxii. 17.
193 Cic. de Off. III. 10, §44.
203 Ps. liv. [lv.] 13, Ps. liv. [lv.] 14.
206 This is really in excess of the number which are now to be considered as fixed in date.
207 De doct. Christ. IV. c. 21.
22 S. John xiii. 13, John xiii. 14.
24 Whence this statement is derived cannot be ascertained. Possibly it is merely an assumption of St. Ambrose founded on his estimate of Gideon's character.
28 "Alia est iniquitas nostra, alia calcanei nostri, in quo Adam dente serpentis est vulneratus et obnoxiam hereditatem successionis humanoe suo vulnere dereliquit, ut omnes illo vulnere claudticemus." St. Aug. Exp. Psal. xlviii. 6, and St. Ambrose, Enar. in Ps. xlviii. 9: "Unde reor uniquitatem calcanei magis lubricum deliquendi quam reatum aliquem nostri esse delicti." This lubricum delinquendi, the wound of Adam's heel, seems to have been understood of concupiscence, which has the nature of sin, and is called sin by St. Paul.
33 Athanaricus, king or judex of the West Goths in Dacia, defeated in 369 by the Emperor Valens. Subsequently, in 380, being defeated by the Huns and some Gothic chiefs, he was forced to take refuge in Constantinople, when he was received with all the honour due to his rank. He died the next year.
34 Damasus of Rome, Peter of Alexandria, Gregory of Constantinople, and St. Ambrose himself. Peter had died by this time, but the fact was probably not yet known at Milan.
49 S. Matt. iii. 11; S. Luke iv. 16; S. John i. 26, John i. 27.
50 This passage has given rise to the question whether St. Ambrose taught, as some others certainly did (probably on his authority), that baptism in the Name of Christ alone, without mention of the other Persons, is valid. But it is difficult to believe that St. Ambrose meant more than to refer to the passage in the Acts as implying Christian baptism. He says just below that baptism is not complete unless one confess the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, which would seem to imply the full formula, and he would hardly dissent from St. Basil, who distinctly asserts [De Sp. Sanct. XII.] that baptism without mention of the Three Persons is invalid; and St. Augustine [De Bapt. lib. vi. c. xxv. 47] says that it is more easy to find heretics who reject baptism altogether, than such as omit the fight form. Compare also St. Ambrose on St. Luke vi. 67; De Mysteriis, IV. 20; De Sacramentis, II. 5 and 7, especially the latter when he says: In uno nomine ...hoc est in nomine Patris et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti.
70 Gen. xviii. 22, Gen. xviii. 23.
81 S. John xiv. 16, John xiv. 17.
86 S. Luke xii. 11, Luke xii. 12.
89 Rom. viii. 19, Rom. viii. 21.
145 Zech. iii. 2, Zech. iii. 3.
181 The Sabellians, anxious to maintain the Unity of God, denied the distinction of Persons, identifying the Father and the Son. See D. Chr. B. III. 568, and Blunt, Dict. of Sects, etc., sub voc.
203 In these words St. Ambrose appears plainly to set forth the procession of the Holy Spirit from the Son, though he admits that some consider the Father to be the Fount of Life, but he argues even in this case the Son was with Him.
207 John vii. 38, John vii. 39.
16 Judg. xvi. 7, Judg. xvi. 11, Judg. xvi. 19.
38 S. John xvii. 14, John xvii. 15.
41 Ps. civ. [ciii.] 29, Ps. civ. [ciii.] 30.
42 Manes, or Manicheus, born about a.d. 240, seems to have desired to blend Christianity and Zoroastrianism. The fundamental point of his teaching was the recognition of a good and an evil creator. For a full account, see art. "Manicheans," in Dict. Ch. Biog.
55 1 Cor. viii. 6. The argument from the exact force of prepositions is often urged by the Fathers, as by St. Athanasius and St. Basil among the Greeks. The Latins also use it, as St. Ambrose here, but occasionally the same Greek prepositions are variously rendered, which destroys the force of the argument. With regard to the two prepositions ex and de St. Augustine gives a very good explanation, De Natura Bon, c. 27: "Ex ipso [of Him] does not always mean the same as de ipso [from Him]. That which is from Him can be said to be of Him, but not everything which is of Him is rightly said to be from Him. Of Him are the heavens and the earth, for He made them, but not from Him, because not of His substance." But neither the Vulgate nor even St. Ambrose himself is quite consistent in this matter.
58 Phil. iii. 2, Phil. iii. 3.
60 Spiritus is Latin for wind and spirit. See note on §63 of this book.
65 St. Ambrose would seem to be alluding to a certain party amongst the Sabellians, who, to avoid the charge of being Patripassians, maintained that Christ before His Incarnation was one with the Father, from Whom He then emanated, in Whom after His Passion He was again reabsorbed. Cf. De Fide, V. 162.
69 It has been generally held that our Lord's Soul was from the first endowed with all the fulness of which a human soul is capable, having, for instance, perfect knowledge of all things past, present, and to come: the only limit being that a finite nature cannot possess the infinite attributes of the Godhead.
81 S. John i. 12, S. John i. 13.
82 It has been thought well in translating this verse to keep the words "spirit" and "breath" as suiting the argument of St. Ambrose. But there can be little doubt that the ordinary translation is the correct one. Bp. Westcott has the following note: "In Hebrew, Syriac, and Latin the words [for spirit and wind] are identical, and Wiclif and the Rhemish version keep "spirit" in both cases, after the Latin. But at present the retention of one word in both places could only create confusion, since the separation between the material emblem and the power which it was used to describe is complete. The use of the correlative verb (pnei, ch. vi. 18; Rev. vii. 1; Matt. vii. 25, Matt. vii. 27; Luke xii. 55; Acts xxvii. 40) and of the word sound (voice) is quite decisive for the literal use of the noun (pneuma), and still at the same time the whole of the phraseology is inspired by the higher meaning. Perhaps also the unusual word (pneuma, 1 Kings xviii. 45; 1 Kings xix. 11; 2 Kings iii. 17) is employed to suggest this. The comparison lies between the obvious physical properties of the wind and the mysterious action of that spiritual influence to which the name "spirit," "wind," was instinctively applied. The laws of both are practically unknown, both are unseen, the presence of both is revealed in their effects."-Westcott on S. John iii. 8.
86 Job xxvii. 2, Job xxvii. 3.
101 Ps. lxxxix. [lxxxviii.] 16.
115 See St. Basil, De Sp. Sancto, III. 29.
116 Rom. viii. 16, Rom. viii. 17.
117 Rom. viii. 16, Rom. viii. 17.
118 2 Tim. ii. 11, 2 Tim ii. 12.
126 Ps. cxlv. [cxliv.] 15, Ps. cxlv. [cxliv.] 16.
154 The "mysteries" are the sacrament of baptism, and the "three-fold question" those which preceded baptism, viz.: Dost thou believe in Cod the Father Almighty? Dost thou believe in our Lord Jesus Christ, and in His cross? and Dost thou believe in the Holy Spirit? with the answer, "I believe," to each, as mentioned by the author of De Sacramentis, II. 7 (written probably in the 5th or 6th century).
169 Ebedmelech means "servant of the king."
173 There is some little difficulty in ascertaining exactly what were the tenets of Photinus, but it would appear that St. Ambrose considered that he held our Lord to be mere man, and so was worse than the Arians. See Dict. Chr. Biog. art. "Photinus," and Blunt, Dict. of Sects and Heresies, art. "Photinians."
174 S. John xvi. 14, S. John xvi. 15.
175 Zech. xiv. 5, Zech. xiv. 6, Zech. xiv. 7 [LXX.].
176 1 Cor. ii. 9, 1 Cor. ii. 10.
185 1 Cor. ii. 12 1 Cor. ii. 13.
194 Sabellianism denied the doctrine of the Trinity, maintaining that God is One Person only, manifesting Himself in three characters. See Dict. Chr. Biog. art. "Sabellius," and Blunt, Dict of Sects, etc.
196 Either S. John v. 17 modified, or a reminiscence of v. 19.
202 1 Cor. xii. 4, 1 Cor. xii. 5, 1 Cor. xii. 6.
207 1 Cor. xii. 8, 1 Cor xii. 9, 1 Cor. xii. 10.
220 1 Cor. xii. 8, 1Cor. xii. 9.
19 Isa. xlii. 6, Isa. xlii. 7.
27 1 Cor. ii. 13, 1 Cor. ii. 14.
28 1 Cor. ii. 13, 1 Cor. ii. 14.
33 1 Cor. x. 1, 1 Cor. x. 2, 1 Cor. x. 3, 1 Cor. x. 4.
48 S. John xvi. 7, John xvi. 8.
50 Wisd. vii. 22, Wisd. vii. 23.
53 Hist. Sus. [Dan. iii.], 44, 45.
65 Ps. lxxviii. [lxvii.] 17, Ps. lxxviii. [lxvii.] 18.
69 Isa. lxiii. 13, Isa. lxiii. 14.
77 S. John iii. 6. See below §63, n. 4.
78 "The charge is an admirable illustration of the groundlessness of such accusations of wilful corruption of Scripture. The words in question have no Greek authority at all, and are obviously a comment." Westcott on S. John v. 6.
79 Auxentius, a Cappadocian, was ordained priest a.d. 343 by Gregory, the violent opponent of St. Athanasius. After the synod of Milan a.d. 355, when the bishop of that see, Dionysius, having refused to renounce Athanasius andthe Nicene faith, was banished, Auxentius was forcibly intruded as bishop, and, in spite of the efforts of St. Hilary of Poitiers and other Catholics, maintained his position till his death in 374.
80 The reference must be to the synods of Sirmium. In one held a.d. 351, against Photinus, there was a great attempt to make the semi-Arians appear orthodox, and St. Hilary accepted, while St. Athanasius rejected, their formula. Another synod was held a.d. 357, when the aged Hosius was tormented into accepting a formula, called by St. Hilary the "Sirmian blasphemy." Another, no less injurious to the faith, was held in 358, by the desire of Constantius. During this time-but forgeries and the loss of some patristic writings make the history of the whole period somewhat uncertain-dates the weakness of Liberius, so that St. Ambrose may well speak of nutantibus sacerdotibus. See Hefele, Conc. Geschichte, I. on the Sirmian synods; Athanasius, Vol. IV. in this series, p. 464 ff.; Dict. Chr. Biog. III. 171, art. "Hosius;" Socrates, H. E., in this series, Vol. II. pp. 56, 57, 58.
84 S. John iii. 6. This is the full reading of the passage according to St. Ambrose, referred to above in §59.
85 S. John iii. 7, John iii. 8.
90 1 John v. 6, 1 John v. 7, 1 John v. 8.
92 S. John iv. 23, John iv. 24.
99 S. John xx. 17 John xx. 18.
104 St. Ambrose here argues against Apollinarianism, who separated the two natures in Christ and taught that He should not be adored except in His Godhead, giving to the orthodox the nickname of anqrwpolatrai. The Apollinarians held that Christ was Qeoj sarkoforoj, as Nestortans made Him anqrwpoj Qeoforoj, instead of the proper Qeanqrwpoj. Apollinaris said Christ is oute anqrwpoj aploj, oute Qeoj, alla Qeou kai anqrwpou micij. He denied the complete human nature of our Lord, saying that the Logos supplied the place of the anima rationalis. This stunted humanity could not be accepted by the Church, as it would involve a merely partial redemption. Christ must be a perfect man, in order to be a perfect Redeemer.
The heresy was opposed by St. Athanasius, St. Basil, and others, condemned in synods at Alexandria 362, Rome 373 and probably 382, Antioch 378 or 379, and decisively at Constantinople in the second oecumenical council. See Dict. Chr. Biog.; Blunt, Dict. of Sects, etc.; Hefele on Council of Constantinople; St. Gregory of Nazianzus' Letters on the Apollinarian controversy in this series, p. 437 ff.
108 There can be no doubt that St. Ambrose held what is known as the Real Presence in the Sacrament of the Eucharist, and is here asserting the custom of his day, viz., that Christ was worshipped as indivisibly God and Man in that Sacrament. Similar expressions are to be found in other Fathers, and in St. Ambrose elsewhere; e.g. De Fide, V. 10; De Mysteriis, §§52-54, 58. Bishop Andrewes, formerly of Winchester (ob. a.d. 1626), refers to St. Ambrose as follows: "Nos vero et in Mysteriis Carnem Christi adaramus cunt Ambrosio, et non id, sed eum qui super altare colitur. Nec Carnero manducamus quin adoremus prius cum Augustino. ...El Sacramentum tamen nulli adaremus." Resp. ad Bellarmin, p. 195.
129 1 Thess. iii. 12, 1 Thess. iii. 13.
134 S. John xvi. 12, John xvi. 13.
138 2 Cor. iii. 17, 2 Cor. iii. 18.
146 S. Matt. xxii. 43, S. Matt. xxii. 45.
149 This is, of course, to be understood as in the Athanasian Creed. The attributes of eternity, omnipotence, etc., are ascribed to each of the Three Persons, and we are then told that there are not three Eternals, etc. Each Person of the Holy Trinity possesses each attribute, but the attributes are all one and cannot be divided any more than the Godhead. Each Person is holy, but thoro are not, so to say, three separate Holinesses.
152 S. S. John x. 29, John x. 30.
163 Ps. cxix. [cxviii.] 72, Ps. cxix. [cxviii.] 73.
169 St. Ambrose is not quite accurate here in his proportions, though the point is in itself immaterial. The denarius, or "penny," was worth about ninepence, and was the day wage of a labourer; the shekel or "piece of silver," was worth more, being of the value of four denarii. Thirty shekels was the price of a slave.
184 Ps. civ. [ciii.] 29, Ps. civ. [ciii.] 30.
201 Ezek. xxxvii. 9, Ezek. xxxvii. 10.
202 Ezek. xxxvii. 13, Ezek. xxxvii. 14.
204 Rev. xxii. 1, Rev. xxii. 2.
205 S. John vii. 37, John vii. 38.
210 2 Tim. ii. 11, 2 Tim. ii. 12.
211 Acts xxviii. 25, Acts xxviii. 26.
5 As in many other passages, a play upon words cannot be translated. The Latin is: Lacrymoe ergo pietatis indices, non illices sunt doloris.
9 On the subject of vows to the martyrs, comp. Exhort. Virg. III. 15; also see, De Viduis, ix. 55.
10 Probably the Basilica built at Milan by St. Ambrose.
15 Symmachus is called parens of Satyrus here and elsewhere by St. Ambrose. The title does not imply blood relationship, but friendship and patronage.
18 At this time there was no doubt concerning the faith of the Roman Church, as there would have been later under Liberius and Honorius. Consequently Satyrus instances it, as being the chief and best known see.
19 Lucifer was Bishop of Cagliari in Sardinia. At the synod of Aries, a.d. 353, he had strenuously resisted the condemnation of St. Athanasius, though it was urged by the Emperor Constantius, maintaining that the Nicene faith was opposed in the person of Athanasius. Against the synod of Milan, a.d. 355, he was equally resolute in defence of the belief of Nicaea, for which the emperor banished him to Syria. But when the synod of Alexandria, a.d. 362, determined on the restoration of certain Arians after repentance, he withdrew from Catholic Communion.
20 It is plain from various passages that Satyrus, when he undertook his voyage to Africa, was only a catechumen, i.e. not yet baptized. Many holy men postponed baptism, not out of contempt or carelessness, but through fear, in all the dangers of the period, of losing baptismal grace, sin after baptism and grace received being then estimated at its true awfulness. Satyrus having been, as he believed, saved from death by the Holy Eucharist, determined to be at once baptized, so soon as he could find a Catholic bishop. It must be noted that the Fathers condemn nothing more severely than postponing baptism, in order to continue in sin.
25 Ps. xxiv. [xxiii.] 4, Ps. xxiv. [xxiii.] 6.
26 Ps. xv. [xiv.] 2, Ps. xv. [xiv.] 3.
27 2 [4] Esdr. x. 6. In the Vulgate, as in the older Latin Version used by St. Ambrose, there are four books of Esdras, the first and second answering respectively to the Anlican books of Ezra and Nehemiah. Esdras iii. and iv. are counted apocryphal, but are quoted as canonical by St. Ambrose, St. Augustine, and the third Council of Carthage.
30 2 [4] Esdr. x. 15, 2 [4] Esdr. x. 16.
1 Not only the Martyrs and Saints, but ordinary Christians, are meant here, for these used to be commemorated with special prayers and offerings of the Holy Eucharist on their behalf, especially on the anniversaries of their deaths.
5 S. Aug. De Pec. Orig. c. 41.
14 St. Ambrose has index meus in matutinum; some mss. vindex; the Roman Psalter, judex; the Vulgate, nearer the Hebrew, Castigatio; LXX. elegxoj.
17 S. Luke xxii. 60, Luke xxii. 61.
18 "Atque haud dubie pro nobis tentatus est Petrus, ut in fortiore non esset tentamenti periculum." A difficult passage, and the meaning of it seems to be, that had a stronger than St. Peter been tried, and had overcome, we should net have had the warning against presumption, and the help of the example of one like ourselves.
19 2 Sam. [2 Kings] xviii. 33 [LXX.].
23 Wisd. vii. 7, Wisd. vii. 17 ff.
27 Ps. xxxix. [xxxviii.] 5 [LXX.].
31 Cf. S. Ambr. de Bono Mortis, c. 9, and In Luc. vii. 35.
40 Rom. vii. 24, Rom. vii. 25.
44 The reference of course is to the sign of the Cross, which, as we know from various authorities, the early Christians constantly used, at rising, lying down, going in or out, at prayers, etc., etc.
46 1 Thess. iv. 16, 1 Thess. iv. 17.
50 Scripturarum. It is impossible to suppose that St. Ambrose here means Holy Scripture, but is referring to such writers as Herodotus, Tacitus, and Pliny. Other Fathers, Tertullian St. Cyril of Jerusalem, St. Basil, with several more, refer also to the fable of the Phoenix in speaking of the Resurrection.
51 St. Ambrose may have believed that the world would end with a.d. 1000, or possibly a thousand is simply taken as a number signifying completeness, as St. Augustine (De Civ. Dei, XX. 7) explains the thousand years of Rev. xx. 1.
57 The immortality of the soul may be believed by those who deny the resurrection of the body, and was taught by many philosophers amongst the heathen. The resurrection of the body is a matter of divine revelation, and the very highest and be st amongst the heathen seem not to have admitted it even as a speculation.
58 Dan. xii. 1, Dan. xii. 2, Dan. xii. 3.
59 Job xix. 26. Somewhat loosely from the LXX.
74 inseparabili gressu, separabilique progressu. A literal version is impossible. His feet were bound, yet he as it were walked, the usual mode of progress when the limbs are free.
75 agebatur prius quam parabatur incessus.
76 S. Luke xiv. 7, Luke xiv. 8.
78 2 [4] Kings iv. 34; 2 [4] Kings xiii. 21.
85 Prov. viii. 27, Prov. viii. 30.
121 Ps. lxxxviii. [lxxxvii.] 4, Ps. lxxxviii. [lxxxvii.] 5.
136 Lev. xxiii. 24, Lev. xxiii. 25.
138 St. Ambrose translates the Septuagint as usual, but there are some variations. Probably Libanus is a copyist's mistake for Liba [Liba] the W.S.W. wind. So, too, Boream perhaps should be mare [paraqalassan]. In ch. 115, St. Ambrose in explaining the third trumpet speaks of the sea. The third and fourth trumpets are not mentioned except in the Septuagint, and it may be noticed that St. Ambrose changes the description of the positions of the camps [paremballousai], consttuta, into a direction, constituentur.
150 Ps. xlii. [xli.] 4 [LXX.].
155 S. Matt. xii. 28, Matt. xii. 29.
165 Cicero, Tusc. Disp. I.; Plato, Phoeado.
166 From the Egyptians this opinion seems to have passed on to Pythagoras and Plato.
3 "By santification is meant the grace of regeneration, which com prises virtues inspired, including both the habit of faith and the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Now these support especially the innocent soul, so that with pious affection it nurses the doctrine revealed to it, is inclined thereto, loves it, takes it to itself, and advances in it."-Hurter ad loc. The Emperor's constant zeal in defence of the Faith against the Arians is to be regarded as due to his habit of faith and to the gifts of the Spirit. The citation is from Jeremiah i. 5.
5 The original form of the Cross was that of the letter T. The numerical value of the sign T (Tau), in Greek arithmetic was 300. Eighteen was represented by ih, the first two letters of the name 'Ihsouj, Jesus. To St. Ambrose, therefore, it seemed that there was some mysterious power in the number 318, represented by the sign of the Cross and the first two letters of the Saviour's name, thus -TIH.
9 See the note 2 on §3. St. Ambrose is here speaking of the Oecumenical Council held at Nicaea in Bithynia, a.d. 325. Different accounts are given of the numbers present. Eusebius says there were 250 bishops in the Council; Athanasius and Socrates, "more than 300;" Sozomen "about 320." The number 318, however, is also given by Athanasius as well as by Theodoret and Epiphanius. See Robertson's History of the Church, Bk. II. ch. i. The victory over the infidel is, of course, the victory of the orthodox Catholics over Arius, and the Nicene Symbol may be regarded as the "trophy" commemorating the victory, the reality of which lay in getting the clause "of one substance with the Father" (omoousion tw Parri) subscribed to. The original Nicene Creed, it may be useful to observe, was not exactly the same in form as the sym bol which now is generally known by that name, and which is part of the Eucharistic office of the English Church. This latter is an enlargement of the original, and it appears to have been in use for a considerable time (not less than seventy years) before it was produced at the Council of Chalcedon in 451. It obtained general acceptance by the middle of the sixth century. Towards the end of that century (589 a.d.) an additional clause, proclaiming the proces sion of the Holy Ghost from the Son as well as the Father, was in serted at the Council of Toledo. This insertion was repudiated by the Church in the East, and became one of the causes of the separation of Eastern from Western Christendom.
10 Or "Gentiles." The Christians regarded themselves as placed in the world much as the Hebrews had been planted in the midst of the "nations round about."
11 The Latin word is natura, which, at first sight, seems less ab struse and metaphysical than the Greek ousia, or upostasij, or the Latin essentia and substantia, though it is not really so. A man's natura, nature, is what he is at and from the beginning; "change of nature" means not an absolute change, but a reformation, a new guidance and treatment of tendencies, passions, powers-some receiving a precedence denied them before, others being suppressed and put in subjection. So God's "nature" is what He is from and to all eternity, in Himself, unchangingly and unchangeably.
12 Lit. "the nations"-gentes, ta eqnh. The Romans of the Republic used to speak of foreign peoples-especially if subject to kings-as gentes exteroe, in contradistinction to the Populus Romanus. St. Ambrose of course means those who still clung to the ancient religions, who were foreigners to the commonwealth (res publica) of the Church.
13 The original is ante tempora-"before the ages"-"before time was.' Cf. 1 Cor. viii. 6; Phil. ii. 6-8; Col. i. 15 (prwtotokoj pashj ktisewj-"first-born of all creation," which Justin Martyr interprets as meaning pro pantwn twn ktismatwn-"before all created things.") Hebrews i 1-12; Rev. i. 8, Rev. i. 18; John i. 1-3. Justin Martyr, Apology, II. 6; Dialogue with Tryphon, 61. Tempora answers to the Greek aiwnej, rendered "worlds" in Heb. i. 2.
14 Sabellius was a presbyter in the Libyan Pentapolis (Barca), who came to Rome and there ventilated his heretical teaching, early in the third century, a.d. (about 210). He appears to have maintained that there was no real distinction of Persons in the Godhead. God, he said, was one individual Person: when different divine Persons were spoken of, no more was meant than different aspects of, or the assumption of different parts by, the same subject. Sabellius thus started from the ordinary usages of the term proswron as denoting (1) a mask, (2) a character or part in a drama. The Latin persona was used in the same way. Sabellianism never counted many adherents; its professors were called Patripassians, because their doctrine was tantamount to asserting that God the Father was crucified.
15 Photinus was a Galatian, who became Bishop of Sirmium (Mitrovitz in Slavonia) in the fourth century. He taught that Jesus Christ did not exist before His mother Mary, but was begotten of her by Joseph. The man Jesus, of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting, was enlightened and guided by the influence of the Logos, or Divine Reason, whereby He became the Son of God, preeminent over all other prophets and teachers.
16 Arius was a presbyter of Alexandria; the origin of his heresy, however, is, as Cardinal Newman has shown, to be sought in Syria rather than in Egypt, in the sophistic method of the Antiochene schools more than in the mysticism of the Alexandrian. It was in the year 319 that Arius began to attract attention by his heterodox teaching, which led eventually to his excommunication. He found favour, however, with men of considerable importance in the Church, such as Eusebius of Caesarea in Palestine, Eusebius of Nicomedia, Athanasius of Anazarbus, and others. The question was finally discussed in a synod of bishops convened, on the summons of the Emperor Constantine, at Nicaea in Bithynia. The acts of that Council condemned Arianism-notwithstanding which, the heresy prevailed in the East till the reign of Theodosius the Great (379-395 a.d.); and having won the acceptance of the Goths, it was predominant in Gaul and Italy during the fifth century, and in Spain till the Council of Toledo (589 a.d.), and its influence affected Christian thought for centuries afterwards-possibly it is not even yet dead.
Arius urged the following dilemma: "Either the Son is an original Divine Essence; if so we must acknowledge two Gods. Or He was created, formed, begotten; if so, He is not God in the same sense as the Father is God." Arius himself chose the latter alternative, which St. Ambrose regarded as a lapse into paganism, with its "gods many and lords many," dii majores and dii minores, and divinities begotten of gods and goddesses.
Arius's errors are summarized in the anathema appended to the original Nicene Creed. "But those who say that there was a time when the Son of God was not, or that He had no existence before He was begotten, or that He was formed of things non-existent, or who assert that the Son of God is of a different substance or essence, or is created, mutable, or variable, these men the Catholic and Apostolic Church of God holds accursed."
17 Compare Eph. i. 21; Col. i. 16. Hierarchies of "Thrones, Dominations, Princedoms, Virtues, Powers," were characteristic features of the Gnostic systems of the second century. The Gnostics generally thought that the world had been created by an inferior, secondary, limitary power, identified with the God of the Old Testament, whom they distinguished from the true Supreme God.
18 The A.V. of 1611 runs thus: "Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God is one Lord" (Jahveh our God is one Jahveh).
20 "Ego Dominus; hoe est nomen meum."- Vulg., Is. xlii. 8. "I am the Lord, that is My name."-A.V. 1611, ibid.
21 The word Qeoj, "God," is derived by most authorities from qeasqai, which means "to look upon." Here we have another derivation suggested, viz., from deoj, "fear," on this ground that God inspires fear.-H. Neither derivation is correct. The best perhaps is given by Herodotus (II. 52), viz., from the verb tiqhmi, to place, set, array, the idea being that God is the principal of all order and law.
23 A similar argument in Gal. iii. 16.
26 Athanasian Creed, clause 4.
27 Or "perfect fulness of Divinity, and perfect unity of power."
28 S. Matt. xii. 25; Ps. cii. 25-27; Dan. iv. 3.
30 Ps. lxix. 9. Cf. S. John ii. 17.
31 S. John xv. 16; S. Luke xi. 9, Luke xi. 10.
32 S. John xvi. 23, John xvi. 24, and John xiv. 14; S. Matt. vii. 7, Matt. vii. 8; S. Mark xi. 24.
35 Vide, e.g., Ps. xxv. 8; Jer. x. 10; James i. 17, James i. 18; Dan. ix. 9, Dan ix. 10; S. Luke i. 37.
37 See James i. 13; S. Luke xviii. 27; Ps. xc. 2-4; Ps. lxxxix. 6.
38 S. John i. 1, John i. 14; John xx. 31; Rom. i. 4; S. Matt. xxviii. 18; 1 Cor. i. 24; Col. ii. 3.
39 Begetter and begotten must be personally distinct.
43 Gen. ii. 24; S. Matt. x. 8.
44 Acts xvii. 26; Gal. iii. 28.
45 Rom. iii. 2; Acts vii. 38. The Hebrew word translated "burden" in the A.V.-e.g. Isa. xiii. 1-may be rendered "oracle." The "oracles" of the Hebrew prophets were of a different order from those of Delphi or Lebadeia, which are rather comparable to the "oracles" of such persons as the witch of Endor.
46 Or "the Lord of Hosts." Cf. Isa. vi. 3, and the Te Deum, verse 5 (the Trisagion).
47 Isa. xlv. 14. St. Ambrose's version differs somewhat from the A.V.
50 Latin proprietas, Greek oikeiothj.
51 Isa. xlv. 18; 1 Cor. viii. 4, 1Cor. viii. 6.
59 Ps. xlv. in Bible and Prayer-book.
62 S. John x. 38; John xiv. 11.
63 Cor. viii. 6. The Greek runs: "eie qe o sopathr, ec ou ta panta kai hmeij sij auton." Vulg.-"Nobis tamen unus Deus Pater, ex quo omnia et nos in illum.
65 The original is "non est Deus proeter te-per proprietatem substantioe." It must be remembered St. Ambrose was a civil magistrate before he was made bishop. His mind would be disposed therefore to regard things under a legal aspect.
66 1 Cor. i. 27. The "peasant" is Jeremiah. See Jer. xxiv., but the prophet is not there spoken of as planting figs. The quotation in §28 is Baruch iii. 36-38.
67 "In Jewry is God known."-Ps. lxxvi. 1. Yet they deny the Son, and therefore know not the Father.-Matt. xi. 27. Cf. S. John i. 18.
68 The Spirit here spoken of is, according to Hurter's interpretation, not the Third Person of the Trinity, but the Triune God, Who is a Spirit (John iv. 24; 2 Cor. iii. 17).
69 Hymns A. and M. 76, stanza 4.
71 Rev. i. 16; xxii. 16: S. Matt. ii. Cf. Num. xxiv. 17.
77 Dan. iv. 25. In the number of the three children was shadowed forth the number of Persons in the Trinity, whilst in the Angel, who was one, was.shown the Unity of power or nature. In another way, too, St. Ambrose points out, was the Trinity typified in that event, inasmuch as God was praised, the Angel of God was present, and the Spirit, or the Grace of God spake in the children.-H.
78 In the original Catholic, i.e. "Catholics." Heresies might become widespread-the Arian heresy, indeed, counted numerous adherents in the fourth, fifth, and sixth centuries-but they took their rise in some member or other of the ecclesiastical body, in some one of the many local churches which together made up the one oecumenical church. On the other hand, the primitive teaching, received from the apostolic age, had been delivered without difference in every place to which it had penetrated. It was acknowledged and established before sects and heresies; its original was divine, theirs only human; it rested on the rock of Christ's authority, speaking through His apostles, whilst they were built on the sands of preeminence in sophistry and captious interpretation; it was for all times and places, therefore, but they were only for a season. In this belief those who clave to the teaching of the apostles claimed for themselves the name of "Catholics," and for the oecumenical church of which they were members that of "Catholic and Apostolic." To avoid any misunderstanding, I have used the term "orthodox," which will stand very well for "Catholic," inasmuch as "the right faith" is for all, without difference, to hold-in a word, universal, or, as it is in Greek, kaq olou (whence kaqolikoj, Catholicus, Catholic).
79 It would constitute an insult, as suggesting that the man was a bastard, or supposititious.
80 Thus the Arians were anathematized by the Nicene Council as "those who say that there was a time when the Son of God was not."
81 The original was: "Cum conditor ipse sit temporum," which, rendered more closely word for word, is, "whereas He Himself is the ordainer of times," or "ages." The Latin tempora is the equivalent of the Greek aiwnej, which is commonly rendered "worlds" in the A.V. of the New Testament, e.g. Heb. i. 2; Rom. xii. 2; 1 Cor. i. 20; 1 Cor. ii. 6; 2 Cor. iv. 4; Gal. i. 4; 2 Tim. iv. 10. But aiwn also means "age"-"for ever and ever" is the rendering of eij aiwnaj aiwnwn ("unto ages of ages") or eij ton aiwna. The term denotes the world as a complex, the parts of which are presented to us in succession of time, from which notion is derived its use to denote a selection of the parts so presented, collectively termed an "age" or "time." Another word rendered "world" in the N.T. is kosmoj, which frequently occurs in St. John; and St. Paul also has it, in conjunction with aiwn in Eph. ii. 2. "According to the course (aiwna) of this world (kosmou)." Kosmoj means the world as an ordered whole, as opposed to a chaos. The use of "world" to translate both kosmoj and aiwn may be justified on the ground that we cannot think of time void of objects and events, whilst, on the other hand, we know not-at least, have never observed-any objects and events not in time. For us "time" is a necessary form of thought.
82 The Arians asserted that the Son had no existence before He was begotten and that He was "formed out of nothing" or "out of things non-existent;" i.e. that He owed His existence to the Father's absolute fiat, just as much as the light (Gen. i. 3). Furthermore, the Son's will was mutable; He might have fallen like Satan. The Father, foreseeing that the Son would not fall, bestowed on Him the titles of "Son" and "Logos."
83 Arius' arguments against believing in Christ as the Almighty Power of God were based on the N.T. records of Christ's agony and prayer in view of death, which he thought must imply, not only changeableness of will, but also limitation of power. Had Christ been omnipotent, like the Father, He would bare had no fears for Himself, but would rather have imparted strength to others.
84 Arius' teaching on this head appears to be fairly enough represented by Athanasius: "When God, being purposed to establish created Nature, saw that it could not bear the immediate touch of the Father's hand, and His operation, He in the first place made and created a single Being only, and called Him `Son 0' and `Logos 0' to the end that by His intermediate ministry all things might henceforth be brought into existence." Contra Arianos, Oratio II. §24.
85 Christ, according to the Arians, was not truly God, though He was called God. Again, He was only so called in virtue of communication of grace from the Father. Thus He obtained His title and dignity, though the name of God was used, in speaking of Him in a transference, such as we find in Ps. lxxxii. 6; though Christ's claim to such a title far transcended any other.
88 It would, I think, be unfair to construe this passage into an absolute condemnation of all the results of human activity, arrived at without any conscious dependence on what we mean by revelation. We must remember, too, what "philosophy" was in the world into which St. Paul was born. It was no longer the golden age of philosophic activity-with the exception of Stoicism, there was hardly a school which exerted any elevating moral influence. Besides, the "philosophy" of which St. Paul was especially thinking when he wrote tile passage cited (Col. iii. 8, 9) was hardly worthy of the name. It was one of the earliest forms of Gnosticism, and among other practices inculcated worship of angels i.e. of created beings-"Thrones, Dominations, Princedoms, Virtues, Powers." See Col. i. 16-18; Eph. i. 20-22. Such "philosophies," falsely so-called, would tend to bring philosophy in general into disfavour with the teachers of the Church. Yet we find Eusebius, in the fourth century, calling the Faith "the true philosophy" (H. E. IV. 8). The adoption of the term to denote what St. Luke called "the way" (Acts xix. 23) appears to have been due to the action of apologists like Justin Martyr, who set themselves to meet the wise of this world with their own weapons, on their own ground.
89 The original conception of Dialectic, as exhibited, for instance, in Plato's Republic, hardly answers to this. According to Plato, the aim of Dialectic, so far from being destructive, was distinctly edifying. The Dialectic method, as its name implies, was one which took the external form of question and answer. It had a definite, positive object, viz., tile attainment by force of pure reason to the clear vision of the Absolute Good, the ultimate cause of knowledge and existence. The sphere of Dialectic was pure reason, then, and its object the ultimate truth of things. (Republic, VII. p. 532.) The method which St. Ambrose here calls "Dialectic" would have been more correctly entitled "Elenchus."
90 1 Cor. iv. 20. Cf.1 Cor. ii. 4, 1 Cor. ii. 5.
91 Eunomius, at one time Bishop of Cyzicus, came into prominence about 355 a.d. Like Arius, he taught that the Son was a creature, though the first and most perfect of God's creatures; His office being to guide other creatures to knowledge of the source of their existence. Religion then in his view consisted in a right and complete intellectual apprehension of a metaphysical principle, and no more. The generation of the Son he regarded as an event in time, not supra-temporal. The point where Eunomius went beyond Arius was the assertion of the comprehensibility for the human mind of the Divine Essence. Those, he said, who declared God to be in His Essence incomprehensible, who taught that He could only know in part and by token, preached an unknown God, and denied all possible knowledge of God, and therefore, since without knowledge of God there could be no Christianity, did not even deserve the name of Christians.
92 Aëtius was Eunomius' teacher. He became Bishop of Antioch, the see of which was secured for him by the Arian Eudoxius, who obtained Cyzicus for Eunomius. Aetius and Eunomius were, however, deposed about a.d. 360.
93 Demophilus was Bishop of Constantinople under Valens (d. 378 a.d.), but on the accession of Theodosius the Great lie was compelled to resign the see, which was given to Gregory of Nazianzus.
95 Hercules found it impossible to slay the Hydro (a monster water snake) of the Lernean marshes by merely striking off its head, inasmuch as whenever one was cut off, two immediately grew in its place. He was compelled to sear the wound with fire. One of the heads was immortal, and Hercules could only dispose of it by crushing it under a huge rock.
96 For Scylla and Charybdis, see Homer, Odyss. XI.; Virgil, Aen. III. 424 f. The strait, bestrewed with wreckage of the faith (1 Tim. i. 19) corresponds to the strait between the rock of Scylla and the whirlpool Charybdis. In order to avoid the latter, mariners were compelled to pass close under the former, whereupon the monster darted out and seized them, dragging them out of a ship as an angler whips a fish out of water (Odyss. XI. 251-255). The language of this passage shows plainly that St. Ambrose, in writing it, drew freely upon Virgil.
99 Tit. iii. 10, Tit. iii. 11.
100 Virgil, Aen. III. 692 f. (Aeneas' coast-voyage routed Sicily).
101 i. e., of His Sonship. St. Ambrose refers to Col. i. 15.
106 The brightness or effulgence of a body lasts as long as that body exists; seeing, then, that the Father is eternal, the Son, Who is His brightness, must be eternal also (H.).
108 Or "He who beholds the Father in the Son, beholds Him in a portrait."
109 Christ the Truth: S. John xiv. 6. Righteousness: Jer. xxxiii. 16; Jer. xxiii. 6; 1 Cor. i. 30. Power of God: 1 Cor. i. 24.
110 Christ the Word: S. John i. 1-18. Wisdom: 1 Cor. i. 24, 30. Lift and Resurrection: S. John xi. 25.
116 This holds good also of human fatherhood and sonship. The terms of a relation involve each the existence of the other-no father, no son, and equally, no son, no father.
117 S. John i. 1 f. St. Ambrose notices especially the quadruple "was" as unmistakably signifying the Son's eternity. We may also notice the climax "The Word was in the beginning. ...was with God . ...was God."
119 Hurter cites similar passages from the Fathers of the Church, proving the Son's pre-existence and eternity. "What is the force of those words `In the beginning 0'? Centuries are o'erleaped, ages are swallowed up. Take any beginning you will, yet you cannot include it in time, for that, whence time is reckoned, already was."-Hilary.
"Although the word `was 0' contains the notion of time past, frequently with a beginning, here it must be understood without the thought of a beginning, inasmuch as the text runs `was in the beginning. 0'"-Victorinus.
If we render the Greek en arxh and the Latin in principio by "at the beginning," in place of the phrase used in the A. V. "in the beginning," we shall perhaps better apprehend its full force and understand these Patristic interpretations.
Other passages cited by Hurter are:
"Thought cannot escape the dominion of the word `was, 0' nor can the imagination pass beyond the `beginning, 0' for however far back you press in thought, you find no point where the `was 0' ceases to hold away, and however diligently you set yourself to see what is beyond the Son, you will not any the more be able to get to aught above the beginning."-Basil.
"For this which was, without any beginning of existence, was truly at the beginning, for if it had begun to be, it would not have been `at the beginning, 0' whereas that in which absolute existence without beginning is essential, is truly spoken of as existing `at the beginning. 0' And so the Evangelist in saying `In the beginning was the Word 0' said much the same as if he had said `The Word was in eternity. 0'"-Fulgentius.
"If the Word Was, the Word was not made: if the Word was made, He was not" [absolutely existent]. "But since He `was 0' He was not made: for whatsoever already is and subsists and so is `in the beginning 0' cannot be said to become or to have been made."-Cyril.
"Nothing before a beginning, so the beginning be one really and truly, for of a beginning there can in no way be any beginning, and if anything else before it is supposed or arises, it ceases to be a true beginning.
"If the Word was `in the beginning, 0' what mind, I would ask, can prevail against the power of that verb `was 0'? When, indeed, will that verb find its limit, and there, as it were, come to a halt, seeing that it even eludes the pursuit of thought and outstrips the fleetness of the mind."-Cyril.
120 The Arian teaching concerning the Son was-hn pote ote ouk hn.'' "There was a time when He was not." This, St. Ambrose says, is irreconcilable with St. John's en arxh hn o logoj. "The Word was `in 0' or `at the beginning. 0'"
121 Sabellianism reduced the distinction of three Persons in the Godhead to a distinction of several aspects of the same Person. They did not "divide the substance," but they "confounded the Persons."
122 Non in prolatione sermonis hoc Verbum est. That is to say, the Divine Word or Logos was not such in the sense of logoj proforikoj-i.e. uttered spoken word, and so a creature, but rather in the sense of logoj endiaqetoj-the inherent eternal object of the Divine Consciousness.
Cf. Eunomius (v. s. §44), was a leading Arian teacher. The argument levelled against him here would also have been fitly directed against Arius himself.
123 The heresy of Manes or Maul made its first appearance in Persia, in the reign of Shapur I. (240-272 a.d.). According to the Persian historian Mirkhond, Mani was a member of an ancient priestly house which had preserved the holy fire and the religion of Zoroaster during the dark age of Parthian domination. He attracted the notice of Shapur by pretensions to visions and prophetic powers, and sought to establish himself as another Daniel at the Persian Court. When the king, however, discovered Mani's hostility to the established Zoroastrianism and the Magian hierarchy, the prophet was obliged to flee. Northern India appears to have been Mani's refuge for a season, and thence, after some years of retirement, he reappeared, with an illustrated edition of his doctrines, composed and executed, as he said, by divine hands. Shapur was now dead and his successor Hormuz (272-274) was favourably disposed to Mani. But Hormuz only reigned two years, and was succeeded by a king who was a sworn foe to the new doctrine. Mani was challenged to a public disputation by the Magi. The king presided, so that Mani doubtless knew from the first what the issue would be. He was rayed alive, but he left numerous converts, and his death, which cast a certain halo of martyrdom around him, and their sufferings in persecution, really proved-as in the case of Christianity-conducive to the spread of Manichaean doctrine. The fundamental principle of Mani's system was Dualism-the opposition of mind and matter, and the hypothesis of two co-eternal co-existent powers of good and of evil. In opposition to the Divine Essence, the Good Principle, was placed uncreated Evil, and thus the problem of sin and evil was solved. The purposes of creation and redemption were, in the Manichaean view, entirely self-seeking on the part of the Deity. The world was created by God, not out of free love, but out of the wish to protect Himself against evil, embodied in matter, which in its essence is chaotic. Redemption was the rescue of particles of the ethereal Light, buried amidst the gross darkness of matter, and yet leavening and informing it. Christ was identified with the Divine Principle and the sufferings of His members, the particles of divine Light buried in matter, were the Crucifixion, thus represented as an age-long agony. Jesus Christ was "crucified in the whole world." Mani adopted the story of Eden, but he represented the eating of the fruit of the tree of knowledge not as the cause of Man's fall, but as the first step in redemption, for Jehovah, the God of the Old Testament, was not the true God, but the evil Demon, from whose tyranny man had to be rescued. In order to attain salvation, the body, material and therefore essentially evil, must be mortified and starved. Man really fell when Eve tempted him to indulge fleshly lust, not when he ate the forbidden fruit. The stricter sort of the Manichaeans practised a severe asceticism, abstaining from flesh meat and marriage. They would not even grind corn or make bread, for in grain there was life-i.e. an emanation of the Divine Light-though they would eat bread, quieting their conscience, however, by saying before they took it, "It was not I who reaped or ground the corn to make this bread." At the end of time they held the world was to be destroyed by fire, but matter being, on the Manichaean hypothesis, eternal, the proper inference appears to be that the conflict of Light and Chaotic Darkness would recommence, and proceed usque ad infinitum. The Manichaean system was a strange eclectic farrago, embodying, in chimerical monstrosity, features of Zoroastrianism, Judaism (in so far as the story of Eden was taken over), Gnosticism (appearing in the theory that Jehovah was the Demon and that the eating of forbidden fruit did not cause the Fall), Christianity, and Pantheism (the last, doubtless, an importation from Hindostan). The disciples of the school made their way into the Roman Empire, and we find them, 150 years after the death of Mani, opposed by Augustine of Hippo, who indeed had at one time actually numbered himself amongst them.
124 Time. We should take this term in its fullest meaning, as signifying all that exists in time-the created universe, and all that therein has been, and is, and is to come.
125 The Arians fell into the popular error of supposing that a father, as a father, existed before his son. They also required men to apply to Divine Persons, what only holds good of human beings-to impose on the Being of God those limits to which human existences (as objective facts) are subjected. The existence of the Divine Father and the Divine Son is without, beyond, above time-with the Godhead there is neither past nor future, but an everlasting present. But with man, time-categories are necessary forms of thought-everything is seen as past, present, or to come-and to the human consciousness all objects are presented in time, though the spiritual principle in man which perceives objects as related in succession, is itself supra-temporal, beholding succession, but not itself in succession.
Now it can hardly be denied with any show of reason that a man is not a father until his son begins to exist, is born, though the father, as a person distinct from his son, is in existence before the latter. Again, father and son must be of the same nature-they must both possess the elementary, essential attributes of humanity. Otherwise there is no fatherhood no sonship, properly speaking.
God has revealed Himself as a Father-even in the pagan mythologies we see the idea of Fatherhood implicit in Godhead. If the gods of the heathen did not beget after their kind, they begat heroes and demigods. But created existences cannot claim to be the first and proper object of the Divine Father's love. They are for a time only, and with them Eternal Love could not be satisfied. If God be a true Father, then, He must beget His Like-His Son must be equal to Him in nature, that is, what is true of the Father, what is essential in the Father, as God, must be true or essential in the Son also. Therefore the son must be divine, eternal. But the generation (gennhsij) of the Son is not an event in time. It is a fact, a truth, out of, beyond time, belonging to the divine and eternal and spiritual, not to the temporal and created, order. "To whom amongst the angels does He ever say, Thou art My Son; this day have I begotten Thee? and again, I will be a Father to Him, and He shall be a Son to Me? when, again, He brings His first-be-gotten into the world" (i.e., reveals Him to the created universe as its King), He says: "And let all God's angels worship Him" (Heb. i. 5-6). Since the Divine Son, then, is eternal, even as the Divine Father, the one cannot be before or after the other; the two Persons are co-existent, co-eternal, co-equal. And the mysterious genesis, also, is not an event that happened once, taking place in a series of events, it is ever happening, it is always and for ever.
126 i.e., how do you deal with such Scriptures as "Thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail."-"I am the Lord: I change not, therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed."-"The Father of lights, with Whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning."
128 Rom. i. 20-"His eternal power and Godhead." 1 Cor. i. 23-24-"We preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling-block and to the Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are called, and to none other, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God."
131 S. Matt. xvii. 5; S. Mark ix. 7; S. Luke ix. 35.
134 Phil. iv. 7. The better-known version "The peace of God" is supported by stronger ms. authority.
135 Cf. Is. vi. 2; Exod. iii 6. But perhaps the reference is to Job xxxi. 26-28-"If I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness, and my heart hath been secretly enticed, and my mouth hath kissed my hand, this also were an iniquity to be punished by the judge, for I should have denied the God that is above." Another passage to which reference may be made is Job xl. 4-"Behold, I am vile, what shall I answer thee? I will lay my hand on my mouth."
137 The analogy, as made by the Arians, certainly was open to St. Ambrose's censure. We should remember, however, that a man is not properly a father until his child is born.
138 St. Ambrose perhaps thought that the curse laid upon human conception and birth (Gen. iii. 16) displayed itself as well in the initial as in the final stages.
139 Questionum tormenta. The use of racks and such-like machines (tormenta, fr. torqueo-wist) was resorted to, in the old Roman practice, in the examination (quoestio) of slaves.
140 The ref. is perhaps to Is. xlix. 5.
141 1 Sam xiii. 14; 2 Sam. vii. 21.
144 Without suffering any change in Himself.
146 S. Matt. iii. 17; S. Mark i. 11; S. Luke iii. 22.
147 S. John v. 22, John v. 23; John iii. 35; John xvii. 1, John xvii. 2, John xvii. 5.
148 S. Luke xxiii. 36, Luke xxiii. 37
149 Ps. lxxxi. 9, Ps. lxxxi. 10
151 i.e. a priori determinations respecting any matter cannot be maintained if they are traversed by the statements of eye-witnesses and participators in the affair.
152 St. Ambrose here uses causa in the sense of causa efficiens-arxh thj kinhsewj.
156 Ps. cxlviii. 5. Cf. Ps. xxxiii. 6, Ps. xxxiii. 9.
167 i.e., the pagans worship false gods, but they at least have the decency to regard them as a higher order than human creatures, and not to wilfully depreciate them.
168 proesens. Cf. Acts. vii. 38-"lively oracles."
179 S. John xx. 17. The "grace" of which St. Ambrose speaks is the grace of adoption. Jesus Christ is the Son of God fusei, we are sons uioqesia "by adoption."
180 Ps. xxii. 1. Cf. S. Matt. xxvii. 46; S. Mark xv. 24.
182 Gal. iv. 4. See Note p. 217.
183 Acts ii. 36. Cf. 1 John iv. 3.
184 Prov. viii. 22. See Note below.
185 The 22d in the Prayer-Book and Bible. See Ps. xxii. 13-compare S. Matt. xxvii. 36; S. Luke xxiii. 35.
186 Ps. xxii. 19. Cf. S. Matt. xxvii. 35; S. Mark xv. 24; S. Luke xxiii. 34; S. John xix. 23-24.
187 Is. xlv. 11. A.V.-"Ask me of things to come." Vulgate, l.c.-Ventura interrogate me.
Note on Gal. iv 4, cited in §94.-St. Ambrose has factum where St. Paul originally wrote genomenon, rendered "born" in the A.V. St. Paul designedly, perhaps, wrote genomenon, not gegennhqenta, the more usual word for "born." For gignesqai is used to denote other modes of beginning to exist, besides that in which animals are brought into life; it is used of inanimate, as well as animate existence-e.g., Mark iv. 37: "There ariseth (ginetai) a great storm of wind;" and thus we get the impersonal egeneto, "it came to pass," simply signifying an order of events. The import, then, of the words factum ex muliere, genomenon ekgnnaikoj, is that Christ, in being born in human form, "in the likeness of men," subjected Himself to the limits of human existence, "came into being," that is, in the sensual world. This was his self-emptying (Phil. ii. 7). Jesus, the man, the human person was made-"made man" (Nicene Creed)-was made "man of the substance of His mother" (Atlantas. Creed); but by this "making," St. Ambrose points out, we must understand no more than the taking on of fleshly form. The Son, on the other hand, Who is God, never began to exist, as He will never cease; and even if He had not existed from eternity, He must have been pre-existent, in order to assume a fleshly form so that, in any case, birth of the Virgin does not affect His pre-existence as Son of God, whilst to say that He was ever "made" is to confound that birth with the Son's generation of the Father, eternity with time, the divine with the human order, the self-existent with the created.
Note on Prov. viii. 22, cited in §96.-The A.V. is "The Lord possessed me," and the Vulgate likewise Dominus possedit me. The Greek versions of the passage appear to have presented two readings.which might exhibit little difference to the eye in a closely-written ms., though the difference in meaning was by no, means small. The two readings were: (1) ektise me and (2) ekthsato me: the former meaning "founded," "established," or "created" me, the latter "acquired me." The strict Greek equivalent of possedit (Vulgate) or "possessed" (A.V.) would be ekekthto.
190 or "of the name of Father," i.e., of all the consequences of that Name.
193 Ps. xxxiii. 9; Ps. cxlviii. 5.
194 Num. xiv. 21; Ps. lxxii. 19; Is. vi. 3; Zech. xiv. 9.
205 S. John v. 19, John v. 21.
211 Fucus, the word used by St. Ambrose, denoted face-paint in general, but it seems to have also had the especial meaning of a red pigment, or rouge for the cheeks. The custom of face-painting was known of old in the East (2 Kings ix. 30; Ezek. xxiii. 40), whence, most probably, it passed into Greece-it was known, in Ionia at least, when the Odyssey was written (say 900 b.c.)-and thence to Rome. See Dict. Antiq. art. "Fucus."
212 An allusion to the practice of the nota censoria. The censors, under the Republic, were vested with the power of appointing properly qualified citizens to vacancies in the Senate, and it was their duty to make up the roll of senators for each lustrum, or period of five years. Exclusion from the Senate was simply effected by omitting a senator's name from the new list, and senators so "unseated" were called proeteriti, since their names had been passed over and not read out with the rest. The decrees of the Fathers of the Church laid down, as it were, the qualification for membership: all who came under the description established by these decrees were regarded as admitted-whilst those who, like the Arians, did not were tacitly excluded. Or we might say that the Anathema, appended to the Nicene symbol, excluded the Arians, not by name, but by description. In either way, the exclusion was tacit, like the censorial, in so far as no names were mentioned. In the case of exclusion from the Senate by the censors, it was understood that the reason for exclusion was grave immorality.
213 St. Ambrose has here rendered into Latin the anathema appended to the original Nicene Creed of 325 a.d. Notice "substance or o/sia." The original is substantia vel o/sia. The closer Greek equivalent of substantia is upostasiz (found in Heb. i. 3, and translated "person" in A.V.), whilst the Latin for o/sia is essentia ("essence"). St. Ambrose appears to regard o/sia as a proper equivalent of substantia, whence we may perhaps infer that he also identified o/sia and upostasij in meaning. But some distinguished the two, using the term o/sia in the sense of "essence" or "substance" (i.e., the Godhead) and upostasij in that of "person"-so that, according to them, there would be three "hypostases" in the unity of the Godhead.
216 The Council of Ariminum (Rimini on the Adriatic coast of Italy) was held in 359 a.d., Constantius being Emperor. "The Bishops who attended the Council of Ariminum," observes Hurter, "to the number of more than 400, informed the Emperor that they had resolved to allow no change in what had been determined upon at Nicaea. This is the `first confession. 0' That great confession, however, was not maintained for long. Partly overawed by the Emperor partly deceived by the Arians, the Bishops agreed to strike out the words `substance 0' and `consubstantial. 0' After this came the `correction, 0' which Ambrose calls the `second, 0' being made either by those Bishops who, recognizing their error, withdrew the decrees of the Council held at riminum, or by the Councils that followed-namely, the Councils of Alexandria (presided over by Athanasius), of Paris (362 a.d.), and of Rome (held under Pope Damasus, in a.d. 369)."
218 Acts i. 18. Arius seems to have been carried off by a terrible attack of cholera or some kindred malady. See Newman, Arians of the Fourth Century, Ch. 3. §2, and Robertson, History of the Christian Church, vol 1. pp. 301-2, ed. 1875.
219 (1) "the word spoken," etc.-Ps. xlv. 1. Eructavit cor meum verbum bonum.-Vulg. echreucato h kardia mou logon agaqon.-LXX. (2) "sons by adoption."-Gal. iv. 4, 5.
221 St. Ambrose' version differs in expression from the Vulg.-Ego enim Dominus et non mutor (Mal. iii. 6)-but not in substance, for Ego sum Dominus and "I am the Lord" both mean "I am He who is"-(o wn)-which is very well represented by Ego sum, Ego sum-"I am, I am."-Cf. Ex. iii. 14.
222 Is. vi. 5. Contrast the Vulgate-Vae mihi, quia tacui, quia vir pollutus labiis ego sum, et in media papuli polluta labia habentis ego habito, et regem, Dominum exercituum vidi oculis meis; and the LXX.-w talaz egw oti katanenugmai (compuncto corde sum) oti anqrwpoz wn kai akaqarta xeilh exwn ...k. t. l. . ...kai ton basilea kurion sabawq cido/ toiz ofqalmoiz mou." A.V. 1611-"Woe is me, for I am undone. ...and mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of Hosts.
223 Ps. xxxix. 1, Ps. xxxix. 2; Ps. cxli. 3, Ps. cxli. 4.
224 St. Ambrose contrasts the appearance of the Seraph to Isaiah in a vision with our Lord's appearance to men in everyday life, in the flesh, see Is. vi. 6, 7, and 1 Tim. iii. I6.
225 Ps. lxxi. 22, Ps. lxxi. 23.
227 i.e., not of the old Dispensation-not provided for in the Mosaic ritual; also, not belonging to the old Creation, but a pledge and premonition of the new (Rev. xxi. 5).
228 Cf. S. John vi. 32, John vi. 50-51.
230 St. Ambrose seems to refer to the phenomena of narcosis rather than those of alcoholic inebriation.
231 Cf. 1 Tim. v. 22: mhde koinwnei amartiaiz allotriaij.
1 or "that God's Son is true God." "very God."
2 S. John i. 14, John i. 18; Heb. i. 5; Rom. ix. 5; Rom. i. 3-4; S. John i. 1-3, John i. 14.
3 Heb. i. 3; S. John xiv. 9; Col. i. 15.
4 1 Cor. i. 24; S. John xiv. 6; John xi. 25.
5 i.e., o wn. Ex. iii. 14 (LXX.)-kai eipen o eoj proz Mwushn, legwn Egw eimi o Wn. Cf. S. John viii. 58; John xviii. 6; Rev. i. 4 and 8; Rev. iv. 8.
6 S. John viii. 42; John xvi. 27-8.
7 Heb i. 3. apangasma thj dochj kai xarakthr thj urostasewj auton. 'ipostasij is rendered "person" in the A.V. The R.V. 1881 has "effulgence of His glory and very image of His substance," and in the margin "the impress of His substance." The Son does not reproduce the person of the Father-otherwise there would be no distinction, but confusion, of Persons, but He does reproduce or represent the substance, or essence, of the Father-i.e., the logoj thj ousiaj is the same for both Persons.
8 "speculum Dei"-lit. "mirror of God."
9 Jer. x. 10; S. John xiv. 6; John xvii. 3; 1 John v. 20.
10 Deut. v. 26; Rom. xiv. 11; S. John xi. 25; John v. 26; 1 John i. 2; 1 John v. 20.
11 See Ex. xxviii. 15-21. The precious stones set in the breastplate are named as follows:
12 Aaron the type of Christ the Priest. See Heb. iv. 15; Heb. v. 1-5; Heb. vii. 28; Heb. viii. 7.
14 sc. to the name and title of God.
15 See Heb. i. 3. "Splendor" is St. Ambrose's rendering of apaugasma. Theodoret says: "The radiance" (or "effulgence") "of a fire comes from it and accompanies it. The fire causes the radiance, but the radiance is inseparable from the fire. Also the radiance of the fire is of the same nature with it; so also is the Son of the same nature with the Father." Theophylact-"The sun is never seen without his radiance, and we cannot think of a father without his child." Delitzsch-"It is no nimbus around God that is here called His "glory." but God's own inconceivable. spiritual fire and brightness (die ubersinnliche geistige Feuer und Lichtnatur Gottes selber), which He, in order to reveal Himself to Himself, makes an object to Himself" (aus sich heraussetzt).
16 "The act of knowing and comprehending all things necessarily includes the expression of mind-work or wisdom, that is, the Word, and without this it cannot even be conceived of. Rightly, then, did the Fathers deduce the eternity of the Word from the eternity of the Father."-Hurter, ad loc.
17 St. Ambrose's rendering of this passage (Job xxxviii. 36) agrees with the LXX.-tij de edwke gunaicin ufasmotoj sofian, h poikiltikhn elisthmhn. The A.V. 1611 has: "Who hath put wisdom in the inward parts? or who hath given nnderstanding to the heart?" R.V. has "dark clouds" and "meteor" as marginal substitutes for "inward parts" and "heart." Vulgate-Quis posuit in visceribus hominis sapientiant? vel quis dedit gallo intelligentiam?
18 Ex. xxxv. 27. kai oi arxontej hnegkan touj liqouj thj smaragdou kai touj liqouj thj plhrwsewj eij thn epwmida kai to logeion.- LXX. Lapides onycninos et gemmas ad superhumerale et rationale.-Vulg. "Stones to be set."-A.V. & R.V. The LXX. gives the closest rendering of the Hebrew.
19 Proverbs xxxi. 21 (22). St Ambrose appears to follow the LXX., whose rendering of the passage is different from the Vulgate, with which our English versions agree. With what follows in the text, cf. Ex. xxviii. 33, 34, also Ex. xxviii. 5, 6.
20 Ps. xii. 6 (Ps. xi. 6 Vulg.), Ps. xii. 7 (Ps. xi. 7 Vulg.). Cf. Prov. xxx. 5.
21 These colours entered into the fashioning of the High Priest's Ephod (Ex. xxviii. 5, 6) and the Vail of the Tabernacle. Probably a little symbolism was attached to the ornaments of Ahasuerus' palace of Susa, "where were white, green, and blue" (or violet) "hangings fastened with cords of fine linen and purple to silver rings and pillars of marble: the beds were of gold and silver upon a pavement of red and blue and white and black marble." White and green might represent the earth, blue the air, purple the sea and water generally, in the curtains: whilst in the variegated marble pavement, red would naturally symbolize fire, blue the air, white water (as colourless when pure), black earth (the soil). Notice "the air we breathe," etc.-"Aëris quem spiramus et cujus carpimus flatum." Compare Virgil, Aeen. I. 387, 388.
22 This was supposed by some of the Ionic philosophers to be the explanation of perception. We perceived earth, they supposed, by reason of the earthly constituent of our organism.
24 i.e. if it is possible for Him to ascend to a higher plane of existence.
25 i.e. He is a son "by adoption," as one of ourselves.
26 i.e. He may not have as yet actually sinned, but it is within the range of possibility for Him-He is, as Hurter expresses it in his note, "auctor malitioe si non actu, saltem potentia."
28 "Sensus in crimine." The "sense of a passage" is not something in the passage itself so much as our understanding of it. In other words, the genitive after "sense" is objective, not possessive.
29 Lat.-"non quod singularitatis, sed quod unitatis est, proedicatur." The Son is "in the nature of God" inasmuch as the eternal Fatherhood of God implies an Eternal Son-His eternal Love an eternal object of that Love.
31 "Hath shown me good things."-Ps. xiii. 6. For the passage of the Red Sea, vide Ex. xiv.
32 Ex. xvii. 6: Num. xx. 8, Num. xx. 11.
34 Ex. xvi. 12 ff.; Deut. viii. 3, Deut. viii. 4; Deut. xxix. 5; Ps. lxxviii. 24, Ps. lxxviii. 25; Ps. cv. 40; S. John vi. 31; 1 Cor. x. 3.
35 Cf. S. Matt. xiii. 43; Dan. xii. 3. The radiance of these heavenly choirs is the reflection of Him Who is the Light of the World, the True Light.-S. John i. 9; John viii. 12; John xii. 46; Rev. xxi. 23; Rev. xxii. 5.
36 S. John x. 11, John x. 17, John x. 18.
37 S. Matt. xx. 15 (the rendering in the Bible is slightly different).
38 1 Cor. ii. 9; Isa. lxiv. 4.
40 Ps. cxviii. 1; Ps. cxxxvi. 1; Ps. cvi. 1; Ps. cvii. 1.
41 St. Ambrose's syllogism appears to be: The Judge is the righteous God, the Son of God is the Judge; therefore, the Son of God is the righteous God.
44 The reff. in §§30 and 31 are to S. John vii. 12 and i. 29.
48 S. John xvii. 22, John xvii. 23.
50 No doubts, because (1) the meaning of the passage is plain; (2) it is taken from an inspired Book.
52 The quotation is from Zech. ii. 8-"after His glory." Lat.-"Post honorem." LXX.-opisw dochj. Vulg.-"Post gloriam." A.V.-" After the glory."
53 Isa. lii. 6. The Vulg. agrees with St. Ambrose. The A. V. has-"They shall know in that day that I am He that doth speak: behold, it is I." R.V. margin-"here I am."
57 Job xxxviii. 4-6; Isa. xl. 12-17.
58 Cf. the Collect for the Feast of St. Michael and all Angels.
60 S. Matt. xxvi. 39 ff.; S. Matt. xiv. 35 ff.; S. Luke xxii. 41 ff.
61 i.e. human nature. Cf. "Athanasian" Creed, clause 31.
62 S. Matt. xxvi. 39; S. Mark xiv. 35.
66 The principle common to these and other like heretics (who ignored or misconstrued many passages of Scripture which plainly declare the completeness and truth of our Lord's humanity) was that matter is inherently and by its very nature evil. Mani, there fore, and the rest were easily led to think shame of attributing to Christ a real, tangible, visible body. For the doctrines of Mani, see note on I. 57. Valentinus was a Gnostic, who lived at Rome (whither he came from Alexandria) between 140 and 160 a.d. Marcion became known as a heresiarch in the papacy of Eleuthe rius (177-190 a.d.). For the doctrines of Valentinus and Marcion, see Robertson's Church History, Bk. I. ch. iv.
69 S. John iii. 8. The same word in Greek at least, serves to denote "wind" and "spirit"-the invisible and yet sensible and real air, wind, or breath being taken as the best emblem of the spirit, which is known and its presence realized only by its effects Spiritus, "spirit," primarily means "breath."
79 It is a very beautiful doctrine of the Fathers that Christ submitted to the condition* and experiences of our life in order to restore and sanctify and endue them with the virtue of His merit. Hence Thomassini, after the Fathers, thus discourses in his treatise on the Incarnation: "The Fathers have been careful to attribute to the Word of God" (incarnate) "not only the physical parts-body and soul-out even the smallest and most particular things: grief, fear, tears; and all the emotions: conception, birth, babyhood; all the stages of life and growth: hunger, thirst, fatigue, and sadness, in order that a remedy might be applied at every place where sin had crept in, and that, as death had corrupted all, so upon all might the water of life be sprinkled." Gregory of Nazianzus strikingly ob serves (Or. 37): "Perchance indeed He sleeps, in order to bless sleep: perchance, again, He is weary, in order to sanctify weariness: and perchance weeps, to give dignity to tears?" Hurter ad loc., who also cites Cyril of Alexandria on S. John xii. 27-" You will find each and every human experience duly represented in Christ, and that the affections of the flesh were called out into energy, not that, as in us, they might gain the upper hand, but that, by the might of the Word dwelling in flesh, they might be tamed and kept within bounds, and our nature transformed into a better state."
80 Such as Aristotle enumerates in the Ethics, II. ch. 4 (5).
81 Ps. xxii. 1; S. Matt. xxviii. 46; S. Mark xv. 34.
82 Gal. v. 24. (St. Ambrose has made a curious use of this text).
99 For if that were so, God might cease to be God.
101 "In respect of age only does a father take precedence of his son amongst men, for in regard to generic nature the father is on a level with the son, and in other respects the son may even excel his father. But where the Persons are eternal, there is no difference constituted by age. Still, as St. Ambrose acutely remarks, the names `Father 0' and `Son 0' indicate indeed a distinction of Persons and mutual relations of those Persons, yet not diversity of nature-rather, in fact, suppose equality and unity of nature."-Hurter in loc.
105 Phil. ii. 6. Here and in §62 I have rendered "rapinam" in accordance with Lightfoot's rendering of the original "arpagmoj."
106 "Surely it is clear that the Son, in respect of His Godhead, is not inferior to the Father, for there is, in the Father and the Son, one and the same Godhead. Still, the Greek Fathers allow that the Father is not only greater than the Son in respect of the latter's human nature, but also in regard to personal properties, or a certain `personal dignity 0'-(ac wma upostatikon)."-Hurter in loc. Canon Mason, in his Faith of the Gospel, remarks that whilst it is quite right to speak of "God and His Son" or "God's Son," the converse language, "God and His Father," "God's Father," is not right. Yet S. Ambrose says, "Dubitat de Patre Deus." See §43.
109 1 John iii. 2, John iii. 3; Gen. xviii. 4.
112 That is to say, it does not follow, from the fact that the Son was sent, that He is inferior in nature.
114 Isa. lxi. 1. "Since the Holy Scriptures frequently, in plain words, teach the equality of the Son with the Father, and the Son's actual deeds likewise testify thereto, it is not permissible to call that truth in question on the strength of a single phrase, which we are compelled to make use of, in speaking of God, by reason of the limitations of human language. For in speaking of God, and the things of God, we make use of terms which we employ in treating of created natures, and which on that account convey the notion of imperfection which is found only in such natures."-Hurter in loc.
116 Isa. xlvii. 13. "Mine hand also hath laid the foundation of the earth, and My right hand hath spanned the heavens."-A.V.
117 Isa. xlviii. 15, Isa. xlviii. 16.
124 S. Luke iv. 18; Isa. lxi. 1.
126 "regarding Him as man." In the original "secundum homi nem," lit. "after the way, or manner, of man." If the Jews had accepted Jesus Christ's teachings as divine, they would not have questioned it. But they acted as though they were confronted with one who was no more than man, and whose authority therefore was properly liable to be called in question.
129 "In these words attention is called to the Unity of Nature (or Substance) in distinct Persons, for in the very act of speaking arid teaching, the Son shows that He is a Person, but He Who speaks not of Himself, but as the Father hath taught Him, shows that He is distinct from the Father, and yet He has, with the Father, one and the same doctrine, and therefore one and the same nature; for, in God. being and knowing are one and the same."-Hurter.
131 Phil. ii. 11 (another instance of adaptation).
137 The act of direction is one and, correspondingly, the verb "direct" is, in the Latin and the Greek, put in the singular number
138 2 Thess. ii. 15, 2 Thess. ii. 16.
140 Ps. xcv. 6. St. Ambrose follows the LXX.
141 2 Cor. v. 21; Gal. iii. 13.
142 S. John i. 29, John i. 36; John xv. 1; 1 Cor. x. 4.
143 S. Mark x. 45; S. John xiii. 4, John xiii. 5; Ps. lxxxvi. 16; Ps. cxvi. 14; S. Luke i. 38.
144 S. Matt. xxiv. 36. On this place Hurter observes: "We must certainly believe that Christ, as man, knew, through His human understanding, the day and the hour of judgment-though not by virtue of the natural power of that human understanding. Accordingly, unless we are without sufficient reason to charge the holy Doctor with erroneous views, these words must be explained as meaning that Christ behaved Himself as though He knew not the day of judgment, and as though He were a servant, though in reality He was not a servant but the Son of God. And truly Christ did `for my sake 0'-i.e. in order to set me an example-conceal many titles and powers which He really possessed: thus, for thirty years He did no miracle." Cf. Bk. V. §53. "He feigns ignorance, that He may make the ignorant wise."
145 See S. Matt. xxiv. 22 and 29; Ps. xcvi. 13; Ps. xcviii. 10.
146 Deut. xxi. 23; Gal. iii. 13.
147 This it is that has constituted the "offence of the Cross."-Gal. v. 11; 1 Cor. i. 22.
148 i.e. the sorrows met with duriug our passage through the world, by reason of human unkindness. Or perhaps the possessive adjective may be taken as equivalent to a subj. genitive, and we should render by "the wrong that thou hast done."
149 2 Cor. xii. 9; 2 Cor. xiii. 4; 1 Pet. ii. 24; 1 Pet. iv. 13.
152 S. John xx. 11, John xx. 12.
154 S. John viii. 29; John xiv. 12.
159 i.e. to the risen Christ. Eph. i. 20.
160 St. Ambrose's words are: "In hoc sum natus." It is possible that St. Ambrose understands "in hoc" as meaning "wde," "here;" sc. "at God's right hand."
163 This prerogative-viz. of sitting at the right hand of the Father-in itself is sufficient to exclude any dishonourable suspicion that the Son is a subject and servant. (Hurter.)
167 Ps. xiv. 1; Ps. liii. 1. These words mean, not so much that a man says "There is no God" because he is a fool, because he is want ing in intelligence, but rather that when a man has left off to be have himself wisely and to do good-i.e. does foolishly, that is to say, wickedly-it is because he has said in his heart, "There is no God."
168 The "fool" (i.e. wicked man) has only said in his heart, secretly, "No God"-he has not ventilated his atheism.
169 Ps. lxxxii. 6; S. John x. 34 ff.
171 S. John viii. 16; John xvi. 32.
181 S. John xvi. 15; John xvii. 10.
183 S. Matt. xvi. 16: Mark viii. 30. Cf. Peter's other confession, S. John vi. 69, and Martha's confession in S. John xi. 27.
184 "Without division or diminution," i.e. the generation of the Son entails no division or partition of the Godhead, still less any diminution of it. The Father is none the less God. His Godhead loses nothing by His begetting His Eternal Son. Some manuscripts have "demutatam" instead of "deminutam" here-i.e. "changed" for "diminished." Certainly the begetting of the Son can make no change whatever in the Being of the Father, for the Divine Generation is "from everlasting to everlasting," and is necessarily implied in the very Fatherhood, the personal essence of the Father. Hurter quotes St. Hilary, De Trin. 6, 10. "The Church knows of no apportionment made to the Son, but knows Him as perfect God of perfect God, as One begotten of One, not shorn off from Him, but born: she knows the Nativity to entail no diminution of Him Who begets, nor weakness in Him Who is born." The fact is a spiritual relation, metaphysical in the highest sense, transcending our intelligence, and only to be apprehended by faith, simply as a fact-as the arxh, or principle, which is sufficient for us. The "how" we must wait to have revealed to us hereafter, if we shall ever be able to receive it.
195 The disasters here alluded to are the rout of the Roman army, in 378 a.d., at Hadrianople, and the miserable death of the Emperor Valens, who took refuge in a hut, which was surrounded and fired by the Goths, the emperor perishing in the flames. This reverse was regarded by the orthodox as a judgment upon the Arianism of Valens and others in high places.
198 The success of the Goths at Hadrianople encouraged the northern barbarians to fresh invasions of the empire, within which they from now began to form permanent lodgments, and it correspond ingly discouraged the subjects of the empire, and sapped the old belief-a legacy from paganism-in the fortune of Rome.
199 Orthodox bishops and priests were expelled from their sees and offices to make room for "betrayers of the faith," i.e. men who had apostatized to Arianism. The mingled tumult of blasphemy and foreign onslaughts is a description of the condition of the eastern provinces of the empire, where Arianism was rampant, and all was overrun by the Goths. The latter was regarded by some as the result of the former. Thus St. Jerome: "Our sins are the strength of the barbarians, our vices bring defeat upon the arms of Rome."-H. The provinces here mentioned lay along the right bank of the Danube, and took in what is now Lower Hungary, Servia, and Bulgaria. The result of the disaster of Hadrianople was to put all these countries in the power of the Goths.
200 The Goths had been driven in upon the Roman frontiers by the inroads of the Huns, who expelled them from their former habitations in S. & S. W. Russia. A treaty had been made between them and the Emperor Valens, who agreed to take them under his protection, but the bad faith with which the Goths soon found themselves treated led to hostilities, and so to the great overthrow at Hadrianople in 378.
201 No auguries-which were taken by observing the flight of birds, as omens were by noting their voices. These observances of course disappeared from the Roman army as soon as the empire became Christian. In saying that the Name of the Saviour leads the troops to war, St. Ambrose probably alludes to the Labarum or banner emblazoned with the monogram which is composed of the two first letters of the Name Xriostoj.
1 Lat. "In procinctu," which is primarily a military phrase, procinctus meaning "girding up" or "girdle," the expression having reference to the girding on of armour for the battle. "Testamen tum facere in procinctu" means "to make one's will on the eve of battle." The expression passed into a proverb for readiness in general. E.g. "clementiam in procinctu habere," "to be ready to show mercy." Here, however, St. Ambrose uses the phrase more in its original sense, with reference to the impending conflict of the Goths and Romans, in which Gratian was expecting to take part, though, as a matter of fact, the battle of Hadrianople had been fought, and Valens was dead, before he arrived on the scene of action.
3 Meaning that Paul, gifted with a prophet's insight into divine truth, recognized in these words of the heathen poet a testimony to God, and therefore had no scruples about citing them to this Athenian audience.
4 The Anakim, or "sons of Anak." Cf. Deut. ix. 2; Josh. xi. 21-22.
5 The Valley of Rephaim. 2 Sam. v. 18.
6 Isa. xiii. 22-a passage referring to the desolation of Babylon In this verse of Isaiah the LXX. has "onokentaupoi" and "exinoi" (onocentaurs and hedgehogs), the "sirens" (seirhnej) coming in ver. 21b, in combination with "demons" (daimonia). The Vulgate has in 22 "ululoe" (screechowls) and "sirenes," with "struthiones" (ostriches) and "pilosi" (hairy men) in 21b. A.V. has in 22 "wild beasts of the islands" and "dragons;" in 21b, "owls" (marg. "ostriches," the Hebrew meaning "daughters of the owl") and "satyrs." R.V. in 22, "wolves" and "jackals;" in 21b, "ostriches" and "satyrs" (marg. "he-goats"). The "sirens" then appear to be jackals-though the ground of the comparison is hard to find-the "daughters of sparrows" are ostriches (the Greek name for which means, literally, "sparrow-camel."
7 Jer. l. 39.-The LXX. (Jer. xxvii. 39) has "fugatepej seirhnwn;" the Vulg. "struthiones;" A.V. "owls." For the sirens, see Odyssey, XII. 39-54, 165-200.
8 Odyssey, XII. 178-180, 192-197.
9 Rom. xiii. 14-"Make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof."-A.V.
11 Isa. liii. 4. Cf. S. Matt. viii. 17.
12 Ps. lxxxvii. 5. The R. V. renders "Yea of Zion it shall be said. This one and that one was born in her." The verse is rather prophetic of the universality of Christ's Church than of the Incarnation.
13 He could not "be made" God if we use the Name "God" in its proper sense, but St. Ambrose probably had in his mind the sense which the Arians attached to the name, as applicable to the Son. According to them, it was a sort of "courtesy-title."
15 Cf. Anselm. "Cur Deus Homo?" I. 5; II. 6.
16 The Incarnation was a sacrament, being the outward visible sign of the divine love.
17 Ps. xviii. 7, Ps. xviii. 14.
23 "Body"-in the orig. "templum." Cf. 1 Cor. vi. 19.
28 That is, in respect of substance or natures though the Persons must be distinguished.
31 That is to say, God and Christ Jesus are united in the work of quickening.
39 "That is to say, immortality is not of the essential nature of an angel as it is of the essential Nature of God. For God's existence is such that He necessarily exists, He cannot but exist; His existence is not derived from another, but is from the power of His essential Nature, or rather is that very Nature. Not so with the angel, whose existence is a gift of God, and so the angel's existence is no part of the idea of an angel, but is a property which is, so to speak, added on from without and accessory to the conception of such a being. Hence, in so far as an angel's existence issues not of the mere force of his essential properties, but only of the Creator's Will, we may say that by virtue of the said Will, not by force of his own nature, he continues in existence, and so far is immortal, although in another sense immortality may be called a natural property of an angel, inasmuch as there is no created power whereby he may be destroyed, and nothing in him that renders him liable to be destroyed by God-nay rather, everything about him demands that, once he is created, he should be for ever preserved in being."-H.
40 Hurter observes that St. Ambrose understands mortality in a wide sense, as including the capacity of any and every sort of change. Immortality, then, in accordance with this definition, would connote perfect absence of change. Hurter cites St. Bernard, §81 in Cant.: "Omnis mutatio quoedam mortis imitatio ...Si tot mortes quot mutationes, ubi immortalitas?" and Plutarch, in Eusebius, Proepar. Ev. XI. 12. Plutarch's view perhaps owed something to study of the reliques of Herachtus. Many fathers expounded 1 Tim. vi. 16 on this definition of immortality as=immutability. This definition would exclude angels, who are naturally fallible (as the rebellion of Lucifer and the third part of the host of heaven proved)-or if they are now no longer fallible, they owe it not to their own natural constitution but to grace. In so far then as angels are mutable, whether for better or worse, they are not immortal.
41 Angels being by nature mutable, either for better or for worse, that is, capable of good or evil, and so of death, are de facto sinless, and hence need not, are not meet to be placed under, penal discipline. Or the meaning may be that the angelic nature was not created to be gradually taught in the way of holiness as human nature was.
42 Eccl. xii. 14. Hurter observes that Goal would not judge rational creatures, were they not capable of advance or retrogression, of becoming better or falling into degradation, and had, as a matter of fact, advanced or fallen back.
43 The Arians regarded the Son as immortal de gratia; the Orthodox esteem Him immortal de jure, with true, absolute immortality.
44 i.e. Is Christ God in the true sense of the Name, or not?
47 S. John i. I; John xvii. 5, John xvii. 21.
53 Greek echghsato, "explained," "expounded." The Incarnation has taught us something about God and about man that we never knew before and never could have known by ourselves.
54 Phil. ii. 7; Gal. iv. 4; S. John i. 1, John i. 2 cpd. with 14.
55 Ps. lxxxviii. 4. See the R.V.
56 "Due" by His own and the Father's Will. Some reference also, perhaps, to the preaching to the spirits in Hades, a necessary part of our Lord's work and ministry. 1 Pet. iii. 19.
57 Ps. lxxxix. 20. See ch. ii. p. 243.
58 1 Pet. iii. 19; Acts ii. 24.
61 Rom. viii. 3. Note "in the likeness of sinful flesh," not "in sinful flesh." Cf. Phil. ii. 7; for the miracle referred to, see 2 Kings xiii. 21.
63 See S. Mark xvi. 17, Mark xvi. 18.
68 S. Mark i. 13. Cf. Eph. i. 21.
70 i.e. we are not to infer from the fact that the Word became flesh, that the Word is a created being. For that which becomes is already existing-that which is created did not exist before it was made.
71 Ps. xc. i. The R.V. runs: "Lord, thou hast been our refuge" (hast been, and still art).
72 Ps. cxviii. 14. The "becoming" is rather in us. It is we who have come into being, to find a refuge and salvation in the Lord.
73 Lat. "conversus and salutem."
75 Note that it is Christ Himself Who is our justification, etc., not a certain course of life; in other words the saving power is not so much in the mere example of Christ's life on earth, but primarily and necessarily in Himself, now seated in heaven at the Father's right hand, interceding for us, and communicating His grace, especially through the sacraments.
76 Cf. 1 Pet. i. 19-21; Eph. i. 4; Col. i. 26, Col. i. 27.
83 Because generation is quite distinct from absolute creation.
87 S. John i. 4. Observe that St. Ambrose follows a different punctuation to that of our Bible. St. Ambrose's stopping is the same as that adopted by Westcott (Commentary on S. John) and by Westcott and Hort in their edition of the Creek text of the N.T.
89 Latin "substantia," which here seems to be used in the sense of the Greek "upostasij" The distinction of Persons without division of the Godhead is evidently what St. Ambrose here has in view.
93 Or, "which are done in," i.e. "in accordance with, under the impulse of, the Will of God."
97 A thing may be said to be "created" relatively, as well as absolutely-i.e. it may be "created" when newly appointed for a certain purpose, as when men were "created" consuls, which did not mean that before the convening of the centuries they were absolutely non-existent.
101 S. John ix. 4. "In him" is, in our Bible, attached to the preceding verse.
104 S. John viii. 25. St. Ambrose's words: "Principium quod et looquor vobis."
106 Cf. Eph. iv. 15, Eph. iv. 16.
108 "secundum incarnationem," "as a result of the Incarnation."
111 Cf. the "Te Deum," ver. 17.
114 Cf. 1 Cor. vii. 29 and 1 Cor. vii. 34. It seems unwarrantable to suppose a reference to 2 Cor. xi 2.
116 1 Pet. ii. 23; Phil. ii. 7.
117 Isa. ix. 6. St. Ambrose' version is "Filius datus est nobis, cujus principium super humeros ejus."
120 This is the right rendering. See Driver's Life and Times of Isaiah, p. 30, note 2.
125 1 Pet. i. 21; Heb. i. 1, Heb. i. 2; Gal. iv. 4.
132 Cf. Athanasius, Third Oration Against the Arians, §35-"But should any man, noticing the divinity revealed in the action of the Word, deny the reality of the body, or marking the things peculiar to the body, deny the presence of the Word in flesh or judging from His human experiences and behaviour, conceive a low esteem of the Word, such a person, like the Jew vintner, mixing water with his wine, will hold the Cross a scandal, and, like a heathen philosopher, regard the preaching as folly-which is just the state of the ungodly followers of Arius." Horace, Sat. I. v. 3, 4-"inde Forum Appî, Differetum nautis, cauponibus atque malignis."
134 The explanation of St. John Baptist's words in the Fourth Gospel is to be found, indeed, in the same Gospel (i. 27) and in the other three Gospels. See Matt. iii. 11 S. Mark i. 7; S. Luke iii. 16. In S. John i. 30, the Baptist says of Jesus Christ not merely "proteroj mouhn" but "prwtoj"-i.e. "first in relation to me" (and every other human being), "the principle of my very being." The Arians understood the phrase as if the ordinary comparative, suitable for expressing the ordinary priority of human beings to each other, had been used.
135 Or the meaning may be understood by reference to the fact that in the Man Christ Jesus there was seen, and felt, grace, authority, and power such as was more than earthly, more than human. "Full of grace are Thy lips, because God hath blessed thee for ever." So it was that He spake as never man spake, teaching with authority, and not as the scribes.
136 Deut. xxv. 5-10; Ruth iv. 5-7.
145 Or, as E.V.-"Thine Anointed" (xristoj from xriw=anoint).
146 Ps. lxxxix. 37 and Ps. lxxxix. 40.
151 Heb. vii. 26, Heb. vii. 27.
155 Viz.: the complete section Heb. ii. 14-Heb. iii. 1, Heb. iii. 2.
157 Particeps noster-our partner, companion, sharing all our labours (and taking the lion's share, too). Isa. liii. 4.
158 1 Cor. xv. 54, 1 Cor. xv. 55.
160 "Priestly nation."-Ex. xix. 5; 1 Pet. ii. 9. We must not understand especial reference to the priestly tribe of Levi only, but to the whole people of Israel. Cf. Heb. vii.
163 Orig. "typum gerens Domini"-"bearing the stamp of our Lord," marked with His mark, as a coin is stamped with the image and superscription of the king or other authority who issues it.
171 Orig. "conservator." This title must have reference to the present work of Christ.
172 1 Pet. ii. 10, 1 Pet. ii. 11.
178 S. Luke xxiii. 42, Luke xxiii. 43.
183 Col. ii. 9. "Bodily," i.e. manifested in bodily form, in human flesh and blood.
186 The majesty of the Universal Judge cannot take its rise in or be derived from any human or any created source-it must transcend all created existences, even angels and archangels, cherubim and seraphim-it must be eternal, divine.
189 i.e. no such gradation as will lead without a break from angels to the Father through the Son, ignoring the difference of creature and Creator.
191 Latin, "subsistunt" subsists persist, last through changes. Even the ephemeris thus persists, subsists, or endures, for its few hours of life.
192 "Non est occultatum os meum quod fecisti in abscondito, et substantia mea in inferioribus terroe." The Prayer-book version runs: "My bones are not hid from Thee, though I be made secretly, and fashioned beneath in the earth."-Ps. cxxxix. 14. "My bones were not hid from Thee, when I was made in secret, [when] I was curiously wrought [as] in the lower parts of the earth."-Perowne.
194 Ps. cxxxix. 7. See R.V. "Hell" is "Sheol," a word also rendered "grave." It means the "place of darkness," the gloomy underworld, where the spirits of the departed were believed to abide. It is the place from which Samuel's spirit was called up by the witch of Endor.-1 Sam. xxviii.
196 Nahum ii. 6.-The LXX. shows-"pulai twn polewn dihnoxqhsan kai ta basileia diepese. kai h upostasij apekalufuh." The Vulg.-"Portoe fluviorum apertoe sunt, et templum ad solum dirutum. Et miles captivus adductus est." R.V.-"The gates of the rivers are opened and the palace is dissolved, and Huzzab is uncovered, and it is decreed; she is uncovered, she is carried away," etc.
199 Regnum is used in Latin to denote a domain as well as in the general sense of "kingdom." Virg., Ecl. I. 70; S. Matt. xii. 26.
202 Jer. li. 25. The "mount of corruption" is Babylon.
203 i.e. those cities and nations and persons who have exalted themselves, lifted themselves up as high mountains, challenging, as it were, the majesty of heaven. Cf. Ps. lxviii. 16, R.V.
205 Jer. ix. 10. St. Ambrose follows the text of the LXX. with one or two variations in the punctuation. What St. Ambrose renders as "vox substantioe" ("word of substance" or "voice of substance") appears in the LXX. as "fwnh uparxew"" (which vox substantioe represents verbatim), and in Vulg. as "vox possidentis" ("the voice of the possessor"-i.e. landowner); in the A.V. and R. V. as "the voice of the cattle."-uparcij and substantia should be taken in the concrete sense (as they clearly represent a concrete term), like our "substance," or "possessions." Now in primitive society-like, e.g., that of the nomad Tartars-possessions consist mainly in horses and cattle. Cf. the evollution of the term pecunia=money.
207 The text will then be prophetic of the Agony in the Garden and upon the Cross.
208 Ps. lxxxix. 37, Ps. lxxxix. 38.
209 Or, "thine Anointed." Cf. Ps. xxii. 1; S. Matt. xxvii. 46.
210 "Holiness." E. V.-"crown."
212 St. Ambrose's "substantia" is, in the LXX., uposthma-"standing-ground." R.V. "council."-Jer. xxiii. 18-22.
213 i.e. how can they say there is no Divine Substance, that the use of the term "substance" is illegitimate?
214 Or to be the true Son of God, Son by nature, not by adoption.
217 The Sabellians reduced the distinction of Persons in the Trinity to a distinction of three different self-manifestations of one and the same Person, appearing at different times in different aspects or characters, as "one man in his time plays many parts." They, therefore, would mean, if they said that the Son was omoousioj with the Father, that He was identical with Him. Another perverse use of the term supervened upon the argument that if the Father and the Son were omoo/sioi there must be some ousia, identical with neither, but in which both, so to speak, had a share, by virtue of participation in which they existed and were what they were-a theory which adapted the Platonic doctrine of Universal Ideas to expound the mysteries of the Godhead. It was the perverse use of the term by such persons as Paul of Samosata (condemned by the Synod of Antioch, 269 a.d.) that caused it to be received at first with suspicion even by the orthodox at the Nicene Synod in 325 a.d. The true doctrine would be to this effect, that in relation to the Persons, the Godhead is not a separate, more comprehensive entity, existingin-dependently, and the fount of existence to each and all of the Persons-not as the Platonic autanurwpoj (ideal or archetypal man), for example, to the polloia anurwpoi (sundry individuals), but is in each of the Persons fully and completely, yet without destruction of its unity. The Godhead is a prwth, a single, individual substance. So also is each One of the Three Persons-but their inter-relation is such that neither is the Godhead anything apart from them, nor they anything apart from the Godhead or from each other. It is the Three together that constitute the One Ousia or Essence, it is the definition of this Essence that applies to Each of them equally, without difference, whilst Each Person retains His Personal characteristics and Personal (not natural or substantial) "differentia." Speaking logically, the Three Persons are "of one definition;" speaking metaphysically, they are "of one Essence" Now both "of one definition" and "of one essence" may be rendered by omoousioi.
218 S. Matt. vi. 11. epiousioj="required for our subsistence, proper for our sustenance." See Alford in loc.
220 The derivation is philologically incorrect, for ousia is formed upon the fem. of the pres. part. of einai, but for all that it embodies a certain truth, inasmuch as ousia in its abstract use denotes simple existence, without reference to conditions.
221 Ps. civ. 15. The term epiousioj has a spiritual import, inasmuch as the life of the body, supported by bread, is not all but should be subordinate to the spiritual life-the healthy body to be the instrument and vehicle of the healthy soul for man's real life (though he is not apt to think it such) is not dependent on bread alone-his whole existence is not material, though one side of it is. St. Ambrose, however, seems rather disposed to overlook the physical material bread (which we are certainly taught to pray for) for the sake of the supra.sensible Bread of Heaven and Food of Angels.
223 A reference to the Synod of Ariminum. See Bk. I. xiii. 122.
226 Col. iii. 9, Col. iii. 10.
2 St. Ambrose perhaps meant that John Baptist had, for a space, lost the prophetic Light, when he doubted, and sent disciples to enquire of Jesus. The darkness of the dungeon had drawn a cloud over the prisoner's soul, and for a time he was in the state described by Isaiah ix. 1, walking in darkness and the shadow of death, the state of the people of Israel (represented by the synagogue) at the time of our Lord's Advent. See S. Matt. iv. 12-16.
5 Ps. xxiv. 7. St. Ambrose follows the LXX.
21 S. John xv. 22, John xv. 23.
22 Orig. "derogare." Derogare was a Roman law-term, meaning to repeal a law in part, to restrict or modify it-hence it came to be used generally of diminishing or taking away from anything already established.
24 "After" somewhat as in "Neither reward us after our iniquities"-i.e. (1) according to, and so (2) "by virtue of." Here the second stage of the metaphorical usage seems to be arrived at.
25 Referring to Christ's sinlessness.
29 The citation is from 1 Cor. iii. 8. Paul and Apollos are omoousioi, "of one substance, nature, essence," in so far as the definition of man can be applied to each. But the presence of Paul does not carry with it the presence of Apollos, and the existence of Paul is not bound up, save accidentally, with that of Apollos. Paul could not say, "He that hath seen me hath seen Apollos." No human being can say that of another, even though the other be a twin and closely resembling him in appearance. The root of the difference is in the difference between the Creator and the creature, the Eternal, knowing neither beginning of life nor end of days, existing from everlasting to everlasting, and that which lives under conditions and limits of time and space.
33 i.e. that the Father is not a Spirit (S. John iv. 24) but exists in bodily shape.
38 Namely, the error of postulating two mutually exclusive infinites.
39 S. John ii. 4. For the walking on the sea, vide S. Mark vi. 48.
40 As a matter of fact, gnats and insects generally are far from being the least wonderful of God's works. In them as much as, if not more than, in anything we may recognize His eternal power and wisdom and Godhead. Cf. Prov. vi. 6-8.
41 S. John i. 3; Ps. xxxiii. 6.
43 Cf. Aristotle, Eth. Nic. I. viii. 15.
44 Cf. Aristotle, Eth. Nic. I. viii. 15.
45 1 Pet. ii. 7, from Isa. xxviii. 16.
56 i.e. we are not to suppose that in S. John v. 19 Jesus refers to any sort of physical impossibility, to any external restraint or limitation.
58 S. John xv. 14, John xv. 15.
60 1 Tim. i. 4; 1 Tim. vi. 20, 1 Tim. vi. 21.
61 Our Lord did not simply assert that He and His Father are One, without revealing to those, at least, who had faith to perceive it, what is one great bond of that Unity, showing men, so far as man can comprehend the matter, what that Unity consists in, viz., absolute and perfect harmony of will.
62 Lat. "consiliarius." Cf. Prov. viii. 29, Prov. viii. 30.
64 Or "what sort of thing He made it to be." How could the Son ask such a question, being Himself the true Light? S. John i. 9.
67 Heb. x. 10-12; S John iii. 16, John iii. 17; John i. 29.
69 Lat. "ex personoe hominis incarnati susceptione." St. Ambrose does not mean that there were two Persons in Christ-the Divine Logos or Word and the man Jesus. "Persona" is here used in its dramatic rather than its strict theological sense.
73 i.e. The Father begets quâ Father, not quâa Almighty (o Pantokratwr).
80 The word "womb" is used metaphorically in the original, from which St. Ambrose (though inaccurately) quotes. See Ps. cx. in the R.V.
81 Or "to show the distinctive character of true" or "perfect generation"-as an absolute act, unconditioned of time or space.
85 i.e. without plurality of substance or essential nature. There is one Godhead of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost-not three Godheads.
90 Or "engage in discussions of this kind." Lat.-serunt hujusmodi quoestiones.
91 Cf. Heb. i. 3, where Christ is called the Radianec of the Father's Glory (ataugasmtahj dochj).
92 St. Ambrose exhibits the argument as a reductio ad absurdum.
95 Col. i. 19; Col. ii. 9; Col. iii. 4; S. John i. 4; John v. 26; John xi. 25; John xiv. 6; Rev. i. 18.
96 Ps. cxv. 3, which, however, in the English, runs: "He hath done whatsoever pleased Him."-Prayer-book.
97 Rev. i. 8, Rev. i. 17; Rev. ii. 8; Rev. iii. 14; Rev. xxii. 13; Isa. xli. 4; Isa. xliv. 6; Isa. xlviii. 12.
98 "And," we may add; "already was."-St. Ambrose refers to St. John viii. 25, but the reference is only justifiable by means of a defective rendering of the Greek; unless we suppose our Saviour to be alluding to what the prophets had said of Himself as well as to His own statements. Cf. Bk. III. vii. 49.
99 On the analogy of which, indeed, Arianism endeavoured to conceive of the Nature and Activities of God.
100 Or "a shining body"-lumen, not lux, as in other places of this passage. St. Ambrose probably was unaware that "radiance" or "effulgence" from an incandescent or otherwise shining body is clue to the presence of the atmosphere, so that his analogy requires modification when bodies shining in vacuo come into the account. But with regard to these it may be urged that the shining of the body may be taken as the sole object of consideration, whilst it is fully admitted that the brightness and the body, though separated for purposes of mental treatment and thought, are not so in fact and actual reality. In the Book of Wisdom, vii. 26, the Divine Wisdom is called "the brightness of everlasting Light" (ataugasma fwtoj aidiou)-These texts would naturally suggest the `Light of Light 0' (fwj ek fwtoj,) of the Nicene Creed. The analogy of light and radiance is employed by many of the Fathers in maintaining the doctrine of the Church, see Alford's note on Heb. i. 3.
102 Or "before all worlds." Cf. Heb. i. 2, in the Greek, Latin, and English.
105 Or "by the Spirit," i.e. by the help, power of the Spirit, working indeed with his spirit.
108 i.e. that "such as the Father is, such is the Son."
117 1 Cor. xi. 26. St. Ambrose's term for "are transformed" is "transfigurantur."
121 Or "is discovered to be a certain unity, etc."
122 i.e. in respect of His Body of flesh and blood.
127 1 Cor. xv. 40. On this place H. observes: "As the Son, by reason of a nature numerically identical with the Father's, lives together with Him the same Divine Life, so we by virtue of a manhood specifically the same as Christ's have power to live the life which the Man Christ lives; which life indeed resides in its greatest fulness in Him as its Head and Fountain, and from His Person overflows into us, His members-yet not without a certain difference, for the comparison is incomplete, by reason, namely, of the reservation of prerogatives attaching to the Divine Nature or to the Lord's Incarnation. The Godhead is numerically One, the Life of the Father and the Life of the Son is numerically one, but Christ's Life and ours are not so. Moreover, this (Divine) Life subsistent in the Son is united to His Manhood in and by the unity of His Person, but is not communicated to us in so close an alliance, overflowing rather into us only by a certain participation. ...But perhaps the sainted Doctor's meaning here is that we live and abide in Christ by a corporal unity, because, Christ having Manhood specifically the same as ours, whatsoever is fittingly predicted of manhood as existing in Christ is applicable to all His fellow-men. The first construction, howevers explains St. Ambrose's analogy more fully."
128 St. Ambrose quotes the words from St. John vi. 58, thus: "propter Patrem." This seeming expression of dependence, he says, does not in the dleast disturb his belief in the co-eternity and co equality of the Son with the Father; which belief would indeded remain unshaken even though Christ's words had been still more expressive, to all appearance, of dependence and inferiority.
131 S. John xiii. 31, John xiii. 32.
137 Or "consist;" Lat.-constant; Greek-ta panta en autw sunesthken.
139 Lat.-familia. Cf. the expression "house of Israel."-Ps. cxv. 9.
140 Rom. ix. 5; cf. Rom. i. 3.
145 "You think, perhaps," St. Ambrose might have said to his Arian opponents, "that this text speaks of God the Father only, as it begins with `of Him. 0' Very good. But whilst, in dealing with 1 Cor. viii. 6, you acknowledge that the Father is Omnipotent because `all things are of Him, 0' you deny that the Son is Omnipotent, on the strength of the statement that all things are `through 0' Hint Now here (Rom. xi. 36) we find that all things are said to be `through 0' as well as `of 0' One and the same Person-the Father. On your own showing, then, you must conclude that the Father is both Omnipotent (all things being `of 0' Him) and not Omnipotent (all things being only `through 0' Him) at the same time and in the same respect. Which is absurd and impossible. Clearly, then, the inference you want to draw from the difference of the expressions `of Him 0' and `by Him 0' will not stand, if you make Rom. xi. 36 a declaration regarding the Father only. But if you make it a declaration concerning the Son, or even including the Son in its reference, you upset your own position."
146 Rom. xi. 33-36. St. Ambrose's quotation of the passage in extenso shows us how texts ought to be used in argument-namely, not rent from their context, not as unrelated apophthegms.
148 "Approaching"-Lat. accedentem. An "accidentem" potius sit legendum?-ut Sapientia non sit accidens, sed proprium, Substantioe Divinoe.
151 Potest hic manus incuriose transcribentis deprehendi, cum "Pauli" pro "Patris" nomen potius legendum esse videatur. Nec tamen prohibemur quin sic verba intelligamus, ut Pater Ipse in hoc Epistoloe Romanoe loco, per calamum A postoli sit locutus.
153 See §140, and comparison of Ps. cxix. 91, with St. John i. 3; Col. i. 17, and Ps. viii. 8, with Heb. ii. 8.
154 Or "into fellowship with His Son." "Fellowship" in the orig. is communio (koinwnia). 1 Cor. i. 9.
158 2 Cor. xiii. 13. "Fellowship" in the Latin of St. Ambrose is (in this citation and that of 1 John i. 3, in §152) communicatio; Greek koinwnia.
162 Or "intending an emblem" or "token (orig. sacramentum) of His Incarnation."
168 sc. is all. See Alford in loc. 1 Cor. iii. 7.
172 i.e. the Incarnate Son of God, not the Pre-existent Logos, is the Vine.
1 S. Matt. xxiv. 45, Matt. xxiv. 46.
12 S. Matt. xxv. 26, Matt. xxv. 27.
15 1 Cor. iii. 5, 1 Cor. iii. 6.
26 i.e. Either `used to their own earthly advantage 0' or `explained in a carnal earthly sense. 0'
38 Acts xiii. 32, Acts xiii. 33.
45 Heb. i. 10. Cf. also Ps. cii. 25.
61 Prov. xxx. 18, Prov. xxx. 19.
70 1 Cor. viii. 4, 1 Cor. viii. 6.
83 S. Matt. xx. 22, Matt. xx. 23.
90 S. John xiv. 12, John xiv. 13.
137 Ebion recognnized our Lord absolutely as man and no more.
141 His error was much the same as that of Ebion. except that he asserted that the Word descended from heaven and dwelt in Jesus.
148 Isa. xlix. 5, Isa. xlix. 6.
150 Ps. xxxi. 3, Ps. xxxi. 11, Ps. xxxi. 16.
154 Ps. cxvi. 13, Ps. cxvi. 17.
159 Ez. xxxiv. 23, Ez. xxxiv. 24.
171 It would seem that the form of words was sometimes changed by Arians, in which case there would be of course no valid baptism.
189 S. John viii. 14, John viii. 15.
224 1 Cor. xv. 19, 1 Cor. xv. 20.
245 Col. iii. 9, Col. iii. 10.
247 S. Matt. xxv. 36, Matt. xxv. 40.
254 Phil. iii. 20, Phil. iii. 21.
261 Rom. viii. 38, Rom. viii. 39.
265 Ps. lxxii. 8, Ps. lxxii. 9.
324 2 Cor. xiii. 3, 2 Cor. xiii. 4.
1 It must be borne in mind that the name Mysteries was that by which the sacraments were commonly known in the Early Church, as it is at the present day in the Greek Church the equivalent of our word sacraments. Of course the word has also its usual wider signification.
2 This "opening" was a symbolical act, as is explained in the next section. The celebrant moistened his finger with spittle, wherewith he then touched the ear of the catechumen, saying, "Epphatha."
4 "Holy of holies," a figurative name given to the baptistery. Comp. St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Cat. Lect. XIX. 11; and with this whole treatise the last four Catechetical Lectures of St. Cyril of Jerusalem in this series, Vol. VII. p. 144 ff.
40 S. John xiii. 9, John xiii. 10.
46 Ps. xxiv. [xxiii.] 8, Ps. xxiv. [xxiii.] 9.
51 Cant. vii. 6, Cant. vii. 7.
52 Cant. viii. 1, Cant. viii. 2.
56 This passage evidently refers to confirmation, and to the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit received therein. In the Early Church as in the Eastern Church to the present day, confirmation was administered immediately after baptism.
58 Ps. xxiii. [xxii.] 1-5. After being baptized and confirmed in the baptistery, which was detached from the church, the newly "enlightened" were led in solemn procession into the church to be present at the celebration of the Mysteries, and to receive their first communion.
61 Ps. lxxxviii. [lxxxvii.] 25.
4 In order to distinguish themselves from Catholics the Novatians assumed the name kaqaroi "pure."
7 It is necessary to vary the translation of the word poenitentia in this place, as it bears the meaning both of "penance," the temporal punishment inflicted on the sinner, and also of "repentance."
9 i.e. the penalty of the one sin of denying the faith should be extended to all sins.
10 S. John xx. 22, John xx. 23.
11 This is not a denial of the validity of Novatian ordinations, which were admitted by the 8th Canon of the Council of Nicaea, but of their lawful jurisdiction.
12 S. John xx. 22, John xx. 23.
13 Binding and loosing here refer rather to the infliction of open penance, the outward sign of repentance, than to absolution.
17 Rom. viii. 3, Rom. viii. 4.
25 S. Matt. x. 32, Matt. x. 33.
27 S. Luke xii. 8, Luke xii. 9.
28 Ps. lxxvii. [lxxvi.] 7. In the Psalm this passage is a question of the Psalmist in his bitter troubles, "Will God cast off?" St. Ambrose, in arguing against Novatian, not only modifies the text, but somewhat modifies its meaning.
29 Ps. lxxvii. [lxxvi.] 8, Ps. lxxvii. [lxxvi.] 9.
34 Lam. iii. 31, Lam. iii. 32.
47 S. John xiv. 12; S. Matt. x. 8.
52 S. Mark xvi. 17, Mark xvi. 18.
58 S. Matt. iii. 14, Matt. iii. 15.
73 Rev. ii. 14, Rev. ii. 15, Rev. ii. 16.
80 The Samaritans took their name from the territory which they inhabited. But they called themselves Hebrew [Shomrim], Guardians, that is, of the Law. This idea is referred to here by St. Ambrowse as elsewhere by others of the Fathers.
85 S. John xii. 47 [not exact].
92 Ps. lxxxix. [lxxxviii.] 31, Ps. lxxxix. [lxxxviii.] 32.
93 S. Luke xii. 47, Luke xii. 48.
104 Job xli. 1, Job xli. 5, Job xli. 8 [LXX.].
105 Isa. xi. 6, Isa. xi. 8, Isa. xi. 9.
108 1 Cor. vii. 9; Prov. vi. 27.
110 Possibly from Prov. v. condensed.
114 Prov. vi. 2 [LXX.] very loosely.
126 There is probably here a reference to a generous custom of antiquity, whereby if any one were visited by calamity and loss of goods, his friends contributed according to their power to present him with a gift which should help to re-establish him. St. Ambrose seems to apply this to the bearing one another's burdens by mourning, fasting, and praying with the penitent, that God might be moved by the entreaties of all, offered with great energy, and forgive what might be lacking in the individual. It is an instructive commentary on the doctrine of the communion of saints.
131 S. Luke ix. 55, Luke ix. 56.
2 S. Luke xiii. 8, Luke xiii. 9.
8 1 Cor. iv. 12, 1 Cor. iv. 13.
9 Heb. vi. 4-6. The use made by the Montanists and Novatians of this passage in support of their heresy seems to have been one of the reasons why the Epistle to the Hebrews was so late in being received as canonical. This is stated by one authority in so many words: "Epistola ad Hebroeos non legitur propter Navatianos." Philastrius, de Hoer. 41.
24 Penitentiam agere must here and elsewhere be translated thus, for it implies not mere repentance, but the undergoing outward discipline. The word penitentia means both repentance and penance.
29 S. Matt. xii. 31, Matt. xii. 32.
37 Isa. xliii. 25 [LXX.]. St. Ambrose, taking the Septuagint reading, makes the contrast to be between man's remembering and God's forgetting. But the contrast in the Hebrew is different: God will do away sins of His pure mercy and challenges Israel to bring forward any merits which can plead for pardon. God shows that His mercy is even greater than His justice. St. Ambrose, as is shown more clearly in chap. vi., is merely using a verbal antithesis.
38 S. Matt. viii. 19, Matt. viii. 20.
39 Jer. xxvi. 2, Jer. xxvi. 3.
41 Hom. Il. III. 408. St. Ambrose is hardly right in assuming that Homer used taxa with the sense of "perchance," though this is common in later Greek. In Homer it means quickly.
44 Ps. xxxii. [xxxi.] 1, Ps. xxxii. [xxxi.] 2.
49 Jer. xxxi. 19 [very loosely].
51 Jer. xxxi. 25, Jer. xxxi. 26.
53 Phil. ii. 13, Phil. ii. 14.
79 S. Matt. ix. 11, Matt. ix. 12.
85 S. Matt. vii. 4, Matt. vii. 5.
86 Mic. vii. 8, Mic. vii. 9, Mic. vii. 10.
91 A good deal of controversy has arisen about this passage, which certainly appears, prima facie, to contrast confession to God and to a man obviously priest or bishop. The Benedictine editors insist much upon the use of the singular number, homini, a man. But the word might conceivably be used in a general sense. There is no real doubt as to the practice of the Early Church. See note at the end of this treatise.
97 Col. ii. 21. We have here an instance of a very extreme kind, of the way in which St. Ambrose and other writers occasionally quote the words of holy Scripture without reference to their context or real meaning. The words suit the argument of St. Ambrose and he uses them. But they mean almost the very opposite in the original. They are part of the argument which St. Paul is opposing, not his argument.
99 Gen. iii. 21, Gen. iii. 24.
102 2 Sam. [2 Kings] xviii. 33.
105 Gen. iv. 7 [LXX.]. These words occur in the Septuagint only, and would seem to be taken here by St. Ambrose as a warning from God to Cain, not to sacrifice whilst in sin, and so be applied to those sinners whom he enjoins not to communicate before they repent.
106 Ps. cxxxvii. [cxxxvi.] 2, Ps. cxxxvii. [ cxxxvi.] 4.
107 I do not feel sure of the meaning of this passage, but it appears to be as above, that a person going through the outward exercises of penance without inward repentance, gains no benefit, and as sinners were not admitted to a second course of penance, does away with his chance for the future. [Ed.]
109 Ps. cxxxvii. [cxxxvi.] 8 [LXX.].
110 This passage is another instance of the way in which St. Ambrose, like many other early writers, lost sight of the original meaning of the text in drawing allegorical lessons from it. The "daughter of Babylon," i.e. the people, had never been a "daughter of God," nor was the dashing of the children against the rock ever intended to bear the beautiful interpretation given to it by our author.
11 i.e. raise her arms in the form of a cross.
12 Cant. i. 2, Cant. i. 3; S. Mark xii. 25.
19 S. Luke ii. 13, Luke ii. 14.
20 Jer. xviii. 13 (very freely).
23 1 Cor. vii. 32, 1 Cor. vii. 34.
31 From this passage it is clear that in the days of St. Ambrose it was not yet the rule at Milan, though it was in other places, for the consecrated virgins to live together, but the older custom still continued.
35 Ps. xlv. [xliv.] 9, Ps. xlv. [xliv.] 10, Ps. xlv. [xliv.] 11.
42 Ps. cxiii. 5, Ps. cxiii. 6.
47 Cant. iii. 4, Cant. iii. 16.
58 Cant. iii. 7, Cant. iii. 8.
61 Gen. xix. 32, Gen. xix. 33.
63 It was very unusual for women to live together alone at this period.
64 S. Luke xviii. 29, Luke xviii. 30.
6 Mary is the same name as the Hebrew Miriam.
23 The soldier who remained in the place of the virgin is spoken of as being her "surety."
1 This is Liberius, Bishop of Rome a.d. 352-366, who temporized with Arianism. [St. Hil. Pict. Fragm. VI.; St. Athan. Apol. C. Arian. 89; Hist. Arian. 41; St. Jerome, De Vir. Ill. 97, etc.] He subsequently returned to the Catholic teaching and atoned by later acts for his temporary weakness.
2 Evidently a public profession with receiving the veil, etc.
28 It is doubtful whether incense was burnt as an adjunct of Christian worship so early as the time of St. Ambrose, and the reference here may be to the offering at evening in the Jewish temple. He speaks again of incense in Expos. Ev. sec. Lucam. §28, but again there is no conclusive proof. It was certainly used as a perfume.
42 S. Mark vi. 22, Mark vi. 23.
45 Cf. Ep. XXXVII. 38. St. Ambrose, being asked by his sister for his opinion concerning such virgins as had committed suicide rather than suffer themselves to be violated, would seem to say that in some cases this was allowable. St. Augustine [de Civ. Dei, I. 19] speaks with some hesitation on the same subject. There is some doubt as to who this St. Pelagia mentioned below may be. St. Chrysostom says she committed suicide by throwing herself from the roof; see Pelagia (1) in Dict. Chr. Biog.
46 This is really in excess of the number which are now to be considered as fixed in date.
2 1 Cor. vii. 39, 1 Cor. vii. 40.
13 The rule of St. Paul as to age was not always strictly observed after early days, though probably so in the experience of St. Ambrose, though the Benedictine Editors think that he did not uphold the restriction, but it is spoken of in the Exhort. Virginitatis, §25, where Juliana of Bononia speaks of herself as "adhuc immaturam viduitatis stipendiis," not yet old enough to receive widow's pay. See Dict. Chr Antiq., art. Widows.
19 Ps. cxxxii. [cxxxi.] 15 [LXX.].
31 S. Luke ii. 36, Luke ii. 37.
51 St. Jerome agrees with St. Ambrose in believing that Deborah literally was a judge, as indeed seems conclusive from the Scriptural account, but doubts whether she was a widow and mother of Barak, and is probably right in the latter case. Whether Lapidoth, however, was still alive is not so clear. St. Jerome, Ep. ad Furiam, §17.
53 The word Barak signifies lightning. It is probably the same as the Punic Barca, the surname of Hamilcar, father of Hannibal, or possibly was a family name.
85 S. Matt. xxv. 11, Matt. xxv. 12.
86 There would seem to be a passage lost here.
101 The reference would seem to be to the "Lex Julia et Papia Poppoea," but the object of this law was not, as St. Ambrose seems to imply, to check celibacy, but to meet the growing licentiousness of the age, which avoided the obligations of married life while indulging in every kind of impure abominations.
107 This is really in excess of the number which are now to be considered as fixed in date.
5 The play upon the words nomen (name) and numen (divinity) cannot be reproduced in English.
6 The evil omen resulting from destroying the image and altar of Victory.
1 This is the legation to Gratian referred to in §10 of the preceding letter; Symmachus fared ill, being ordered from the imperial presence, and forbidden to come within a hundred miles of Rome.
6 The play upon the words nomen (name) and numen (divinity) cannot be reproduced in English.
7 The evil omen resulting from destroying the image and altar of Victory.
9 Valentinian I., who, as Symmachus said above, did not destroy idol worhip, though he did not practise it, so that St. Ambrose says in his funeral oration on Valentinian II.: "Quod patri defuerat adjunxit; quod frater constituit, custodivit."
1 Perhaps by a rhetorical exaggeration reference is made to Galba, Otho, and Vitellius, who reigned less than three years between them; or else to Pertinax and his successor Julian, each of whom was murdered under three months.
2 These emperors were Valerian, taken prisoner by Sapor and treated with great indignity by the Persians, a.d. 260; and his son Gallienus, under whom a number of generals, nicknamed the "Thirty Tyrants," claimed and exercised independent authority. "Gallienus made but feeble and desultory attempts to put any of them down, turning into wretched jests each new humiliation, and taking refuge in sensuality from the hopeless task of state reorganization."-Dict. Chr. Biog. s. voc.
4 The law of Valentinian, de Episcopis, of which St. Jerome says [Ep. LII. ad Nepotianum, vol. 6, p. 92, of this series]: "I do not complain of the law, but I grieve that we have deserved a statute so harsh" ..."yet even so," he adds, "rapacity goes on unchecked." With the conversion of Constantine the world entered into the Church, and bishops becoming great personages, ambition and worldly passions gained a hold on many, and the scandals and evil of succeeding centuries seem likely to last, till the world once more turns against the Church of God. (Comp. Fr. Puller, Primitive Saints and the See of Rome, chap. iv.)
5 Exemption had been granted to the clergy from municipal offices by Constantine, but in consequence of abuse the privilege had been restrained. (See note on Ep. XL. §29.)
6 See Sosomen, Eccl. Hist. V. 5; Theodoret, Eccl. Hist. III. 8.
7 Cf. de Off. Min. II. 78, 137, 138.
8 Gratian, murdered a.d. 383. St. Ambrose on Ps. lxii. [lxi.] §23, gives some details mentioned by no other writer. The Emperor was noted for his great conscientiousness, and especially for purity.
9 Tomyris, queen of the Massagetae.-Herodot. I. 214.
11 Sozomen, H. E. VI. 1. Cf. St. Aug. de Civ. Dei, IV. 29; V. 21.
1 The Praecorian Prefect, one of the four great officers of the Empire, their power extending over all departments of state, except the army. See Dict. Gr. and Rom. Ant.
2 The Competentes, those of the Catechumens who having requested to be baptized were admitted to be instructed in the Creed and the Lord's Prayer in preparation. This was usually done in Lent.
3 Officials probably of the same kind as lictors.
4 The officials were fixing outside the basilica certain vela or hangings, the effect of which was to mark the building as Imperial property.
5 Missam facere. This is the earliest extant instance of the use of this subsequently almost universal name for the Holy Eucharist, the meaning of which is uncertain.
6 The Book of Job is still read in the evenings of Holy Week in the Eastern Church.
13 St. Ambrose is here repeating in plain words what he has also said before, that the secular power has no authority over the Church, and what belongs to God.
16 The Goths were mostly Arians, and so worse than heathen.
17 Ps. lxxvi. [lxxv.] 2, Ps. lxxvi. [lxxv.] 3. E. V.-Salem, which means "peace."
21 The first legation, a.d. 383 or 384.
22 Read now in the West on Holy Saturday.
1 "When Valentinian was journeying from Constantinople to Rome ...some bishops despatched Hypatian ...to request permission to assemble themselves together for deliberation on questions of doctrine. ...Valentinian made the following reply: 'I am but one of the laity, and have therefore no right to interfere in these transactions; let the priests, to whom such matters appertain, assemble where they please." Sozomen, Eccl. Hist. VI. 7 [Vol. II. of this series]. The law referred to is not extant.
2 Allusion is here made to a celebrated act of Valentinian, when attending on the Emperor Julian at the temple of Fortune. One of the attendants sprinkled him with lustral water, and Valentinian struck him with his fist, saying that this water defiled rather than purified those whom it touched. Comp. Sozomen, Hist. Eccl. VI. 6.
3 St. Ambrose is alluding to the circumstances of his own election.
4 A law in favour of the Arians, allowing them to meet together freely, passed through the influence of Justina. See Sozomen, Hist. Eccl. VII. 13.
5 This refers modestly to the legations undertaken by St. Ambrose on two separate occasions to Maximus, when the Empress Justina feared for the safety of herself and Valentinian. In his first mission, a.d. 383, he had at great personal risk induced Maximus not to invade Italy, but to leave Valentinian in peaceful possession of a share of the empire. In his second embassy, a.d. 387, he was less successful, as Maximus had determined on invading Italy; so that Justina and Valentinian escaped to the East, seeking the protection of Theodosius, who took their part, and defeated Maximus and put him to death at Aquileia, a.d. 388.
8 The words amisit (lost) and custodiam (guard) are repeated by St. Ambrose from the earlier part of the sentence. Such play upon words is not uncommon in his writings.
15 The story is related at length by Paulinus in his Life of St. Ambrose, ch. 12. He tells us that whilst many tried to drive the saint into exile, one named Euterymius went the greatest lengths to accomplish this purpose. He hired a house near the church and kept a carriage there, so as to be able the more readily to carry off St. Ambrose into exile, if he could once but seize him. But that very day year he was himself put into the same carriage, and from the same house was carried into exile. For "his wickedness fell on his own pate." (Ps. vii. 7.) He adds also that the bishop did much to comfort him, and gave him money and other things he needed.
36 1 Cor. vi. 1, 1 Cor. vi. 2.
50 St. Augustine speaks of this introduction of hymns into the services of the Church at Milan (Confess. IX. 7): "Then was it first instituted that after the manner of the Eastern Churches, hymns and psalms should be sung, lest the people should wax faint through the tediousness of sorrow."-Eng. Trans. Such a hymn as "The eternal gifts of Christ the king," etc., written by St. Ambrose, was perhaps first sung there.
1 This was probably the church now known as Sant Ambrogio, at Milan, where St. Ambrose and his brother, together with SS. Gervasius and Protasius, now rest. Of course the church has been rebuilt, though in ancient times. The church of SS. Nabor and Felix is that now called San Francisco.
2 This laying on of hands was not confirmation, but for the exorcising of those possessed of evil spirits, the energameni. See Dict. Chr. Ant. s.v. "Exorcism."
3 [Urna.] But it would seem, though all ms. authority supports this reading, as though una, "a woman," must be the true one. For from the context it would seem plain that one of those brought in was thrown prostrate, and there is no connection in which an "urn" could be brought into the narrative. See Fleury, XVIII. 47.
4 Now SS. Vitalis and Agricola.
5 This statement is corroborated by St. Augustine, Conf. IX. 7; De Civ. Dei. XXII. 8, 2; and Sermo de Diversis, CCLXXVI. 5.
13 Ps. cxiii. [cxii.] 5, Ps. cxiii. [cxii.] 6.
18 3 This would seem to refer to the persecution stirred up by Justina, in order to gain one of the churches for Arian use. The following sentence: "Tales ego ambio defensores," was inscribed by St. Charles Borromeo on a banner of SS. Gervasius and Protasius, which he caused to be made and carried in procession through Milan at the time of the great plague.
23 The truth of this miracle, of which, unless it took place, St. Ambrose could not have spoken in a public address, is also supported by St. Augustine, who was at this time in Milan, and if not himself on the spot, as he may well have been, would at least know whether such an event had taken place. See St. Augustine, De Civ. Dei. XXII. 8, and specially, Sermo in natali Martyrum Gervasii et Protasii.
2 Ezek. iii. 17, Ezek. iii. 20, Ezek. iii. 21.
7 Proevaricator, in a civil case, one who acts collusively with the defendant, and betrays the other side. Hence in ecclesiastical Latin the word came to mean Apostate.
8 A Canon [60] of the Council of Elvira, a.d. 305 or 6, lays down that if any one is killed for breaking idols, he is not to be reckoned as a martyr, but perhaps St. Ambrose here considers the burning of the synagogue as a retaliation for the destruction of churches.
9 The miracles of this nature which prevented the rebuilding of the Jewish Temple are mentioned by the usual ecclesiastical historians, and confirmed by the heathen Ammianus Marcellinus, XXIII. I.
12 Referring to the fleet under Andragathius, which Maximus had prepared expecting that Theodosius would come by sea.
15 Judg. vi. 31, very loosely.
19 It is possible that keeping an oath may be contrary to duty. Cf. Off. Min. I. 264.
20 In the year before this the people of Antioch enraged at new taxation, rose and destroyed the statues of the Emperor and Empress. This was the occasion on which St. Chrysostom preachedthe Homilies on the Statues. Theodosius, at first greatly enraged, subsequently pardoned the people. Cf. St. Chrys. Hom. 20 ad Antioch.