Chapter I.

St. Ambrose gives additional rules concerning repentance, and shows that it must not be delayed.

1. Although in the former book we have written many things which may tend to the more perfect practice of repentance, yet inasmuch as a great deal more may be added, we will continue the repast so as not to seem to have relinquished the provisions of our teaching only half consumed.

2. For repentance must be taken in hand not only anxiously, but also quickly, lest perchance that father of the house in the Gospel who planted a fig-tree in his vineyard should come and seek fruit on it, and finding none, say to the vine-dresser: “Cut it down, why doth it cumber the ground?”140    Prævaricatio.    S. Luke xiii. 7. And unless the vine-dresser should intercede and say: “Lord, let it alone this year also, until I dig about it and dung it, and if it bear fruit—well; but if not let it be cut down.”141    i.e. the penalty of the one sin of denying the faith should be extended to all sins.    S. Luke xiii. 8, 9.

3. Let us then dung this field which we possess, and imitate those hard-working farmers, who are not ashamed to satiate the land with rich dung and to scatter the grimy ashes over the field, that they may gather more abundant crops.

4. And the Apostle teaches us how to dung it, saying: “I count all things but dung, that I may gain Christ,”142    S. John xx. 22, 23.    Phil. iii. 8. and he, through evil report and good report, attained to pleasing Christ. For he had read that Abraham, when confessing himself to be but dust and ashes,143    This is not a denial of the validity of Novatian ordinations, which were admitted by the 8th Canon of the Council of Nicæa, but of their lawful jurisdiction.    Gen. xviii. 27. in his deep humility found favour with God. He had read how Job, sitting among the ashes,144    S. John xx. 22, 23.    Job ii. 8. regained all that he had lost.145    Job xlii. 10. He had heard in the utterance of David, how God “raiseth the poor out of the dust, and lifteth the needy out of the dunghill.”146    Ps. cxiii. [cxii.] 7.

5. Let us then not be ashamed to confess our sins unto the Lord. Shame indeed there is when each makes known his sins, but that shame, as it were, ploughs his land, removes the ever-recurring brambles, prunes the thorns, and gives life to the fruits which he believed were dead. Follow him who, by diligently ploughing his field, sought for eternal fruit: “Being reviled we bless, being persecuted we endure, being defamed we entreat, we are made as the offscouring of the world.”147    1 Cor. iv. 12, 13. If you plough after this fashion you will sow spiritual seed. Plough that you may get rid of sin and gain fruit. He ploughed so as to destroy in himself the last tendency to persecution. What more could Christ give to lead us on to the pursuit of perfection, than to convert and then give us for a teacher one who was a persecutor?

415 CAPUT PRIMUM.

0495C

Ambrosius libri superioris praeceptis nova subtexurus, necessitatem mature agendi poenitentiam allegorice insinuat, quam et suadet agendam: deinde illius forma in Apostolo imitationi proposita, varios ejusdem fructus strictim proponit.

0495D 1. Etsi non pauca quae ad cohortationem poenitentiae proficiant, scripta sint in libro superiore; tamen cum adjici possint complura, ne velut semesas verborum nostrorum epulas reliquisse videamur, inceptum persequamur convivium.

2. Agenda est enim poenitentia non solum sollicite, sed etiam mature: ne forte Evangelicus ille paterfamilias qui arborem ficum plantavit in vinea sua, veniat; et quaerens fructum in ea, si non invenerit, dicat cultori vineae: Succide illam. Ut quid etiam terram occupat (Luc. XIII, 7)? Et nisi cultor vineae interveniat dicens: Domine, remitte illam et hoc anno, usque dum fodiam circa illam; et mittam cophinum stercoris: et si 416 quidem fecerit fructum; sin autem, excidatur ficulnea (Ibid., 8, 9).

3. Stercoremus ergo et nos agrum hunc quem 0496D possidemus, et imitemur laboriosos agricolas, quos non pudet fimo pingui satiare terram, et immundo cinere agrum aspergere, ut fructus uberiores colligant.

4. Et quemadmodum stercoremus, docet Apostolus dicens: Et aestimo omnia ut stercora, ut Christum lucrifaciam (Philip. III, 8); qui per infamiam et bonam famam meruit Christo placere. Legerat enim quod Abraham dum se stercus et cinerem fatetur, 0497A summa humilitate invenit Dei gratiam (Gen. XVIII, 3). Legerat quod Job in stercore sedens omnia quae amiserat, recuperavit (Job. XXIV). Legerat prophetante David, quod Deus de terra suscitat inopem, et de stercore erigit pauperem (Psal. CXII, 7).

5. Et nos ergo non erubescamus fateri Domino peccata nostra? Pudor est ut unusquisque crimina sua prodat: sed ille pudor agrum suum arat, spinas tollit perpetuas, sentes amputat, fructus adolet, quos inter mortuos 417 esse credebat. Sequere illum qui bene arando agrum suum, fructus quaesivit aeternos. Maledicimur, inquit, et benedicimus: persecutionem patimur, et sustinemus: blasphemamur, et obsecramus: tamquam purgamenta hujus mundi facti sumus (I Cor. IV, 12, 13). Si et tu sic araveris, seminabis 0497B spiritalia. Ara, ut peccatum auferas, fructum acquiras. Ille aravit, ut persecutoris in se eradicaret affectum. Quid plus potuit nobis conferre Christus ad studium correctionis, quam ut converteret, et daret nobis ex persecutore doctorem?