The Letters of S. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan

by Bishop of Milan Saint Ambrose

2. Yet although it is tossed on the sea, it rides upon the floods; and perhaps chiefly on those floods of which it is said, Ps. xciii. 4. The floods have lift up their voice. For there are S. John vii. 38. rivers, which shall flow out of his belly, who has received to drink from Christ, and partaken of the Spirit of God. These rivers then, when they overflow with spiritual grace, lift up their voice. There is a river too, which runs down upon His saints like a torrent. And there are Isa. lxvi. 12. the rivers of theflood, which Ps. xlvi. 4. make glad the peaceful and tranquil soul. He that receives, as did John the Evangelist, as did Peter and Paul, the fulness of this stream, lifts up his voice; and like as the Apostles loudly heralded forth to the farthest limits of the globe the Evangelic message, so he also begins to preach the Lord Jesus. Receive to drink therefore of Christ, that your sound may also go forth.

3. The Divine Scripture is a sea, containing in it deep meanings, and an abyss of prophetic mysteries; and into this sea enter many rivers.There are sweet and transparent streams, cool[3] fountains too there are, springing up into life eternal, and Prov. xvi. 24. pleasant words as an honey-comb. Agreeable sentences too there are, refreshing the minds of the hearers, if I may say so, with spiritual drink, and soothing them with the sweetness of their moral precepts. Various then are the streams of the sacred Scriptures. There is in them a first draught for you, a second, and a last.

4. Gather the water of Christ, that which Ps. cxlviii. 5. praises the Lord. Gather from many sources that water which the prophetic Eccles. xi. 3. clouds pour forth. He that gathers water from the hills and draws it to himself from the fountains, he also drops down dew like the clouds. Fill then the bosom of your mind, that your ground may be moistened and watered by domestic springs. He who needs and apprehends much is filled, he who hath been filled waters others, and therefore Scripture saith, Ib. If the clouds be full of rain, they empty themselves upon the earth.

5. Let your discourses then be flowing, let them be clear and lucid; pour the sweetness of your moral arguments into the ears of the people, and sooth them with the charm of your words, that so they may willingly follow your guidance. But if there be any contumacy or transgression in the people or individuals, let your sermons be of such a character as shall move your audience, and prick the evil conscience, for Ib. xii. 11. the words of the wise are as goads. The Lord Jesus too pricked Saul, when he was a persecutor. And think how salutary the goad was which from a persecutormade him an Apostle, by simply saying, Acts ix. 5. It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.

6. There are discourses too like milk, such as Paul fed the Corinthians with; 1 Cor. iii. 2. for they who cannot digest stronger food, must have their infant minds nourished with the juice of milk.

7. Let your addresses be full of understanding.As Solomon says, Prov. xv. 7. The[4] lips of the wise are the weapons of the understanding, and in another place, Let your lips be bound up with sense, that is, let your discourses be clear and bright, let them flash with intelligence like lightning: let not your address or arguments stand in need of enforcement from without, but let your discourse defend itself, so to speak, with its own weapons, and let no vain or unmeaning word issue out of your mouth. For there is a bandage to bind up the wounds of the soul, and if any one cast it aside, he shews that his recovery is desperate. Wherefore to those who are afflicted with a grievous ulcer administer the oil of your discourse to soften the hardness of their heart, apply an emollient, bind on the ligature of salutary precepts; beware lest by any means you suffer men who are unstable and vacillating in faith or in the observance of discipline, to perish with minds unbraced and vigour relaxed.

8. Wherefore admonish and entreat the people of God that they abound in good works, that they renounce iniquity, that they kindle not the fires of lust, (I say not on the Sabbath only, but never,) lest they set on fire their own bodies; Eph. v. 3. that there be no fornication or uncleanness in the servants of God, for we serve the immaculate Son of God. Let every man know himself, 1 Thess. iv. 4. and possess his own vessel, that, having, so to say, broken up the fallow ground of his body, he may expect fruit in due season, and it may not Gen. iii. 18. bring forth thorns and thistles, but he too may say, Ps. lxxxv. 13. Our land hath given her increase; and on this once wild thicket of the passions a graft of virtue may flourish.

9. Teach moreover and train the people to do what isgood and that no one fail to perform works which shall be approved, whether he be seen of many, or be without witness, for the conscience is a witness abundantly sufficient unto itself.

10. And let them avoid shameful deeds, even though they believe they cannot be detected. For though a man be shut up within walls, and covered with darkness, without witness and without accomplice, still he has a Judge of his acts, Whom nothing ever deceives, and to Whom all things cry aloud. To Him the voice of Gen. iv. 10. blood cried from the ground. Every man has in himself and his own conscience a strict judge, an avenger of his wickedness and of his crimes. Cain wandered about in fear and trembling, suffering the punishment of his unnatural deed; so that death was to him a refuge, relieving the wandering outcast from that terror of death which he felt at every moment. Let no man then either alone or in company commit any shameful or wicked act. Though he be alone, let him be abashed before himself more than before others, for to himself is his greatest reverence due.

11. Nor let him covet many things, for even few things are to him as many; for poverty and wealth are words implying want and sufficiency. He is not rich who needs any thing, nor he poor who needs not. And let no man despise a widow, circumvent a ward, defraud his neighbour. Hab. ii. 9–12. Woe unto him, whose substance has been collected by guile, and who buildeth a town, that is his own soul, with blood. For this it is, which Ps. cxxii. 3. is built as a city; and this city avarice builds not but destroys, lust builds not but sets on fire and consumes. Wouldest thou build this city well? Prov. xv. 16. Better is little with the fear of the Lord, than great treasure without that fear. A man’s riches ought to avail to the ransom of his soul, not to its destruction. And a treasure is a ransom, if a man use it well; on the other hand it is a snare, if a man know not how to use it. What is a man’s money to him but a provision for his journey? Much is a burthen, a little is useful. We are wayfarers in this life; many walk, but it is needful that we walk aright, for then is the Lord Jesus with us, as we read, Isa. xliii. 2. When thou passest through the waters I will be with thee, and throughthe rivers, they shall not overflow thee; when thou walkest through the fire thou shalt not be burned. But if a man take fire in his bosom, the fire of lust, the fire of immoderate desire he Prov. vi. 27. walketh not through, but burns this clothing of his soul. Ib. xxii. 1. A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches, and loving favour than silver and gold! Faith is sufficient for itself, and in its own possession is rich enough. And to the wise man nothing is foreign, but what is contrary to virtue; wherever he goes, he finds all things to be his own. All the world is his possession, for he uses it all if it were his own.