11. Now being about to raise from the dead holy Zerubbabel He says, Hag. ii. 6. Yet once, it is a little while, I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land. Once before he had shaken these things when He delivered his people from Egypt, Exod. xiii. 21. when there was in heaven a pillar of fire, dry land among the waves, a wall in the sea, a path in the waters, when in the desert a daily supply of heavenly food was produced, Ib. xiv. 22. and the rock was melted into streams of water. But He shook them also afterwards in the Passion of the Lord Jesus, S. Luke xxiii. 44. when the heaven was covered with darkness, the sun withdrew his light, the rocks were rent, the tombs opened, the dead raised, the Dragon, vanquished on his own waves, saw the fishers of men not only sailing, but even walking on the sea without danger.
12. The dry land was also shaken when the barren Gentile nations began to ripen with the harvest of devotion andfaith, and the desert and the Gentiles were so much shaken, that the preaching of the Apostles, whom He sent to call the Gentiles, was so loud and vehement, that Ps. xix. 4. their sound went out into all lands, and their words unto the ends of the world. So greatly, indeed, was the desert shaken that Is. liv. 1. more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, and Ib. xxxv. 1. the desert blossomed as a rose, the elect of the Gentiles entered in to the remnant of the people, that the Rom. xi. 5. remnant might be saved according to the election of grace.
13. Hag. ii. 7, 8. And I will fill, it is said, this house with My silver and gold, with the heavenly oracles, which are as Ps. xii. 7. silver tried in the fire, and in the brightness of the true light, glistening like spiritual gold in the secret hearts of the saints. These riches He confers on His Church, riches whereby spiritual treasures are increased, and the glory of the house is exalted above the former glory which the elect people enjoyed.
14. For peace and tranquillity of the soul is above all glory of any house; for Phil. iv. 7. peace passeth all understanding. This is that peace above all peace which shall be granted after the third shaking of the heaven, the sea, the earth and the dry land, when He shall destroy all Principalities and Powers. For S. Matt. xxiv. 35. heaven and earth shall pass away, and all the fashion of this world; and every man shall rise up against his brother with the sword, that is, with the word Heb. iv. 12. piercing the marrow of the soul, that whatever opposes itself, the Zech. ix. 10. chariot from Ephraim and the horse from Jerusalem may be cut off, as Zechariah says. And thus there will be peace over all, the passions of the body offering no resistance, and the unbelieving mind no obstacle, that Christ may be all in all, offering in subjection to the Father the hearts of all men.
15. Wherefore to Him alone is it mystically said, Hagg. ii. 23. I will take thee, O Zerubbabel, and will make thee as a signet, for I have chosen thee. When our mind shall have become peaceful so that it may be said to her, Cant. vi. 13. Return, return, o Shulamite, which signifies ‘peaceful,’ or, to use your ownname, Irenice, then shall she receive Christ like a signet on herself, that is, the Image of God, that she may be according to that Image, for 1 Cor. xv. 48. as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And it behoves us Ib. 49. to bear the image of the heavenly, that is, peace.
16. And that we may know the truth of this, it is said in the Canticles to the soul now fully perfect, that which may the Lord Jesus say to you also, Cant. viii. 6. Set me as a seal upon thine arm; that peace may shine in your heart and Christ in your works, and that wisdom and righteousness and redemption may be formed in you. Farewell, my son: love me for I love you.
LETTER XXXI.
IRENÆUS had asked S. Ambrose whether God had greater love for those who had believed from their early years than for those who had been converted later in life. In answering this question, S. Ambrose enters into the history of the Jewish and Christian Churches, which he considers as set forth under the figures of David’s two wives.
AMBROSE TO IRENÆUS, GREETING.