Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series • VOLUME 10
Ambrose — Selected Works and Letters
SECTION 121
77. The means of consolation, then, are wanting since excuses abound. For thou canst not forbid that which thou teachest, especially when sh
77. The means of consolation, then, are wanting since excuses abound. For thou canst not forbid that which thou teachest, especially when she attributes her tears to devotion, not to sorrow, and conceals the course of the common grief for fear of shame. Console her, therefore, thou who canst approach her soul, and penetrate her …
971 wordsSECTION 122Book II.
Book II. On the Belief in the Resurrection. 1. In the former book I indulged my longing to some extent, lest too sharp remedies applied to a burning wound might rather increase than assuage the pain. And as at the same time I often addressed my brother, and had him before my eyes, it was not out of place to let natural feeling…
2,228 wordsSECTION 12317. But if one cannot mitigate one's grief, does it not seem unbecoming to wish that because of our longing the whole course of things shoul
17. But if one cannot mitigate one's grief, does it not seem unbecoming to wish that because of our longing the whole course of things should be upset? The longings of lovers are certainly more intense, and yet they are tempered by regard to what is necessary; and though they grieve at being forsaken they are not wont to mourn, …
2,254 wordsSECTION 12434. Jeremiah also bewails his birth in these words: "Woe is me, my mother! Why hast thou borne me a man of contention in all the earth? I ha
34. Jeremiah also bewails his birth in these words: "Woe is me, my mother! Why hast thou borne me a man of contention in all the earth? I have not benefited others, nor has any one benefited me, my strength hath failed." [1514] If, then, holy men shrink from life whose life, though profitable to us, is esteemed unprofitable to t…
2,279 wordsSECTION 12550. The heathen mostly console themselves with the thought, either of the common misery, or of the law of nature, or of the immortality of t
50. The heathen mostly console themselves with the thought, either of the common misery, or of the law of nature, or of the immortality of the soul. And would that their utterances were consistent, and that they did not transmit the wretched soul into a number of ludicrous monstrosities and figures! But what ought we to do, whos…
2,283 wordsSECTION 12663. So then we have both a reason and a time for the resurrection: a reason because nature in all its produce remains consistent with itself
63. So then we have both a reason and a time for the resurrection: a reason because nature in all its produce remains consistent with itself, and does not fail in the generation of men alone; a time because all things are produced at the end of the year. For the seasons of the world consist of one year. What wonder if the year b…
2,383 wordsSECTION 12778. So, then, the dead man heard, and came forth from the tomb, bound hand and foot with grave cloths, and his face was bound with a napkin.
78. So, then, the dead man heard, and came forth from the tomb, bound hand and foot with grave cloths, and his face was bound with a napkin. Conceive, if thou canst, how he makes his way with closed eyes, directs his steps with bound feet, and moves as though free with fastened limbs. [1559] The bands remained on him but did not…
2,304 wordsSECTION 12894. Paul certainly is dead, and by his honourable passion exchanged the life of the body for everlasting glory; did he then deceive himself
94. Paul certainly is dead, and by his honourable passion exchanged the life of the body for everlasting glory; did he then deceive himself when he wrote that he should be caught up alive in the clouds to meet Christ? We read the same too of Enoch [1588] and of Elijah, [1589] and thou too shalt be caught up in the Spirit. Lo the…
2,611 wordsSECTION 129108. What then? shall we esteem festival days by eating and drinking? But let no man judge us in respect of eating; "for we know that the La
108. What then? shall we esteem festival days by eating and drinking? But let no man judge us in respect of eating; "for we know that the Law is spiritual." [1624] "Let no man therefore judge us in any meats or in drink, or in respect of a feast day or new moons, or a sabbath day, which are a shadow of the things to come, but th…
2,275 wordsSECTION 130123. Compare now, if you will, and contrast this life with that; and choose, if you then can, unending bodily existence in toil, and in the
123. Compare now, if you will, and contrast this life with that; and choose, if you then can, unending bodily existence in toil, and in the wretched misery of such changes as we endure, in satiety when we have our wishes, in that disgust which attends our pleasures. If God were willing to let these last for ever, would you choos…
2,201 wordsSECTION 131[1532] S. John xxi. 23.
[1532] S. John xxi. 23. [1533] 1 Cor. xv. 53. [1534] 1 Cor. xv. 36. [1535] 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 …
869 wordsSECTION 132Preface.
Preface. On the eve of setting out for the East, to aid his uncle Valens in repelling a Gothic invasion, Gratian, the Emperor of the West, requested St. Ambrose to write him a treatise in proof of the Divinity of Jesus Christ. Gratian's object in making this request was to secure some sort of preservative against the corrupting…
1,586 wordsSECTION 133Chapter I.
Chapter I. The author distinguishes the faith from the errors of Pagans, [1670] Jews, and Heretics, and after explaining the significance of the names "God" and "Lord," shows clearly the difference of Persons in Unity of Essence. [1671] In dividing the Essence, the Arians not only bring in the doctrine of three Gods, but even o…
1,586 wordsSECTION 134Chapter II.
Chapter II. The Emperor is exhorted to display zeal in the Faith. Christ's perfect Godhead is shown from the unity of will and working which He has with the Father. The attributes of Divinity are shown to be proper to Christ, Whose various titles prove His essential unity, with distinction of Person. In no other way can the uni…
961 wordsSECTION 135Chapter III.
Chapter III. By evidence gathered from Scripture the unity of Father and Son is proved, and firstly, a passage, taken from the Book of Isaiah, is compared with others and expounded in such sort as to show that in the Son there is no diversity from the Father's nature, save only as regards the flesh; whence it follows that the G…
1,420 wordsSECTION 136Chapter IV.
Chapter IV. The Unity of God is necessarily implied in the order of Nature, in the Faith, and in Baptism. The gifts of the Magi declare (1) the Unity of the Godhead; (2) Christ's Godhead and Manhood. The truth of the doctrine of the Trinity in Unity is shown in the Angel walking in the midst of the furnace with Shadrach, Meshac…
2,175 wordsSECTION 137Chapter VI.
Chapter VI. By way of leading up to his proof that Christ is not different from the Father, St. Ambrose cites the more famous leaders of the Arian party, and explains how little their witness agrees, and shows what defence the Scriptures provide against them. 43. The Arians, then, say that Christ is unlike the Father; we deny …
1,018 wordsSECTION 138Chapter VII.
Chapter VII. The likeness of Christ to the Father is asserted on the authority of St. Paul, the prophets, and the Gospel, and especially in reliance upon the creation of man in God's image. 48. The Apostle saith that Christ is the image of the Father--for he calls Him the image of the invisible God, the first-begotten of all c…
857 wordsSECTION 139Chapter VIII.
Chapter VIII. The likeness of the Son to the Father being proved, it is not hard to prove the Son's eternity, though, indeed, this may be established on the authority of the Prophet Isaiah and St. John the Evangelist, by which authority the heretical leaders are shown to be refuted. 54. It is plain, therefore, that the Son is …
1,969 wordsSECTION 140Chapter IX.
Chapter IX. St. Ambrose questions the heretics and exhibits their answer, which is, that the Son existed, indeed, before all time, yet was not co-eternal with the Father, whereat the Saint shows that they represent the Godhead as changeable, and further, that each Person must be believed to be eternal. 58. Tell me, thou hereti…
1,069 wordsSECTION 141Chapter X.
Chapter X. Christ's eternity being proved from the Apostle's teaching, St. Ambrose admonishes us that the Divine Generation is not to be thought of after the fashion of human procreation, nor to be too curiously pried into. With the difficulties thence arising he refuses to deal, saying that whatsoever terms, taken from our kno…
1,164 wordsSECTION 142Chapter XI.
Chapter XI. It cannot be proved from Scripture that the Father existed before the Son, nor yet can arguments taken from human reproduction avail to this end, since they bring in absurdities without end. To dare to affirm that Christ began to exist in the course of time is the height of blasphemy. 68. You ask me whether it is p…
865 wordsSECTION 143Chapter XII.
Chapter XII. Further objections to the Godhead of the Son are met by the same answer--to wit, that they may equally be urged against the Father also. The Father, then, being in no way confined by time, place, or anything else created, no such limitation is to be imposed upon the Son, Whose marvellous generation is not only of t…
911 wordsSECTION 144Chapter XIII.
Chapter XIII. Discussion of the Divine Generation is continued. St. Ambrose illustrates its method by the same example as that employed by the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews. The duty of believing what is revealed is shown by the example of Nebuchadnezzar and St. Peter. By the vision granted to St. Peter was shown the Son…
1,017 wordsSECTION 145Chapter XIV.
Chapter XIV. That the Son of God is not a created being is proved by the following arguments: (1) That He commanded not that the Gospel should be preached to Himself; (2) that a created being is given over unto vanity; (3) that the Son has created all things; (4) that we read of Him as begotten; and (5) that the difference of g…
1,402 wordsSECTION 146Chapter XV.
Chapter XV. An explanation of Acts ii. 36 and Proverbs viii. 22, which are shown to refer properly to Christ's manhood alone. 95. To no purpose, then, is the heretics' customary citation of the Scripture, that "God made Him both Lord and Christ." Let these ignorant persons read the whole passage, and understand it. For thus it…
737 wordsSECTION 147Chapter XVI.
Chapter XVI. The Arians blaspheme Christ, if by the words "created" and "begotten" they mean and understand one and the same thing. If, however, they regard the words as distinct in meaning, they must not speak of Him, of Whom they have read that He was begotten, as if He were a created being. This rule is upheld by the witness…
932 wordsSECTION 148Chapter XVII.
Chapter XVII. That Christ is very God is proved from the fact that He is God's own Son, also from His having been begotten and having come forth from God, and further, from the unity of will and operation subsisting in Father and Son. The witness of the apostles and of the centurion--which St. Ambrose sets over against the Aria…
1,249 wordsSECTION 149Chapter XVIII.
Chapter XVIII. The errors of the Arians are mentioned in the Nicene Definition of the Faith, to prevent their deceiving anybody. These errors are recited, together with the anathema pronounced against them, which is said to have been not only pronounced at Nicæa, but also twice renewed at Ariminum. 118. Christ, therefore, is "…
957 wordsSECTION 150Chapter XIX.
Chapter XIX. Arius is charged with the first of the above-mentioned errors, and refuted by the testimony of St. John. The miserable death of the Heresiarch is described, and the rest of his blasphemous errors are one by one examined and disproved. 123. Arius, then, says: "There was a time when the Son of God existed not," but …
983 wordsSECTION 151Chapter XX.
Chapter XX. St. Ambrose declares his desire that some angel would fly to him to purify him, as once the Seraph did to Isaiah--nay more, that Christ Himself would come to him, to the Emperor, and to his readers, and finally prays that Gratian and the rest of the faithful may be exalted by the power and spell of the Lord's Cup, w…
908 wordsSECTION 152Book II.
Book II. Introduction. Twelve names of the Son of God are recounted, being distributed into three classes. These names are so many proofs of the eternity not only of the Son, but of the Father also. Furthermore, they are compared with the twelve stones in the High Priest's breastplate, and their inseparability is shown by a ne…
2,225 wordsSECTION 153Chapter I.
[1909] "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. [1910] St. Ambrose's rendering …
1,012 wordsSECTION 154Chapter II.
Chapter II. The goodness of the Son of God is proved from His works, namely, His benefits that He showed towards the people of Israel under the Old Covenant, and to Christians under the New. It is to one's own interest to believe in the goodness of Him Who is one's Lord and Judge. The Father's testimony to the Son. No small num…
1,245 wordsSECTION 155Chapter III.
Chapter III. Forasmuch as God is One, the Son of God is God, good and true. 33. Yet what think ye, who deny the goodness and true Godhead of the Son of God, though it is written that there is no God but One? [1940] For although there be gods so-called, would you reckon Christ amongst them which are called gods, but are not, se…
702 wordsSECTION 156Chapter V.
Chapter V. Certain passages from Scripture, urged against the Omnipotence of Christ, are resolved; the writer is also at especial pains to show that Christ not seldom spoke in accordance with the affections of human nature. 39. Although it is written concerning God, "Blessed and only Potentate," [1948] yet I have no misgiving …
854 wordsSECTION 157Chapter VI.
Chapter VI. The passages of Scripture above cited are taken as an occasion for a digression, wherein our Lord's freedom of action is proved from the ascription to the Spirit of such freedom, and from places where it is attributed to the Son. 47. Let us now, for the present, explain more fully why our Lord said, "If it be possi…
729 wordsSECTION 158Chapter VII.
Chapter VII. The resolution of the difficulty set forth for consideration is again taken in hand. Christ truly and really took upon Him a human will and affections, the source of whatsoever was not in agreement with His Godhead, and which must be therefore referred to the fact that He was at the same time both God and man. 52.…
1,028 wordsSECTION 159Chapter VIII.
Chapter VIII. Christ's saying, "The Father is greater than I," is explained in accordance with the principle just established. Other like sayings are expounded in like fashion. Our Lord cannot, as touching His Godhead, be called inferior to the Father. 59. It was due to His humanity, therefore, that our Lord doubted and was so…
2,098 wordsSECTION 160Chapter IX.
Chapter IX. The objection that the Son, being sent by the Father, is, in that regard at least, inferior, is met by the answer that He was also sent by the Spirit, Who is yet not considered greater than the Son. Furthermore, the Spirit, in His turn, is sent by the Father to the Son, in order that Their unity in action might be s…
1,733 wordsSource & rights
Historical text source: Christian Classics Ethereal Library. The downloaded text itself records Public Domain.