Chapter 20.—Ambrose on God’s Control Over Men’s Thoughts.

And when Ambrose said this, he was speaking in that treatise which he wrote concerning Flight from the World, wherein he taught that this world was to be fled not by the body, but by the heart, which he argued could not be done except by God’s help. For he says: “We hear frequent discourse concerning fleeing from this world, and I would that the mind was as careful and solicitous as the discourse is easy; but what is worse, the enticement of earthly lusts constantly creeps in, and the pouring out of vanities takes possession of the mind; so that what you desire to avoid, this you think of and consider in your mind. And this is difficult for a man to beware of, but impossible to get rid of. Finally, the prophet bears witness that it is a matter of wish rather than of accomplishment, when he says, ‘Incline my heart to Thy testimonies, and not to covetousness.’40    Ps. cxix. 36. For our heart and our thoughts are not in our own power, and these, poured forth unexpectedly, confuse our mind and soul, and draw them in a different direction from that which you have proposed to yourself; they recall you to worldly things, they interpose things of time, they suggest voluptuous things, they inweave enticing things, and in the very moment when we are seeking to elevate our mind, we are for the most part filled with vain thoughts and cast down to earthly things.”41    Ambrose, On Flight from the World, ch. 1. Therefore it is not in the power of men, but in that of God, that men have power to become sons of God.42    John i. 12. Because they receive it from Him who gives pious thoughts to the human heart, by which it has faith, which worketh by love;43    Gal. v. 6. for the receiving and keeping of which benefit, and for carrying it on perseveringly unto the end, we are not sufficient to think anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God,44    2 Cor. iii. 5. in whose power is our heart and our thoughts.

20. Hoc autem Ambrosius ut diceret, in eo libro 1004 loquebatur quem de Fuga saeculi scripsit, docens, hoc saeculum non corpore, sed corde fugiendum: quod nisi auxilio Dei fieri non posse disseruit. Ait enim: Frequens nobis de fugiendo saeculo isto sermo; atque utinam quam facilis sermo, tam cautus et sollicitus affectus: sed, quod pejus est, frequenter irrepit terrenarum illecebra cupiditatum, et vanitatum offusio mentem occupat; ut quod studeas vitare, hoc cogites animoque volvas. Quod cavere difficile est homini, exuere autem impossibile. Denique voti magis eam esse rem quam effectus, testatur propheta dicendo, «Declina cor meum in testimonia tua, et non in avaritiam» (Psal. CXVIII, 36). Non enim in potestate nostra cor nostrum et cogitationes nostrae, quae improviso offusae mentem animumque confundunt, atque alio trahunt quam tu proposueris: ad saecularia revocant, mundana inserunt, voluptuaria ingerunt , illecebrosa intexunt , ipsoque in tempore quo elevare mentem paramus, inserti inanibus cogitationibus ad terrena plerumque dejicimur (De Fuga saeculi, cap. 1). Non itaque in hominum, sed in Dei est potestate, ut habeant homines potestatem filii Dei fieri (Joan. I, 12). Ab ipso quippe accipiunt eam, qui dat cordi humano cogitationes pias, per quas habeat fidem, quae operetur per dilectionem (Galat. V, 6): ad quod bonum sumendum et tenendum, et in eo perseveranter usque in finem proficiendum, non sumus idonei cogitare aliquid quasi ex nobismetipsis, sed sufficientia nostra ex Deo est; in cujus est potestate cor nostrum et cogitationes nostrae.