Chapter V.

As to the words of St. Peter to Simon Magus, from which the Novatians infer that there was no forgiveness for the latter, it is pointed out that St. Peter, knowing his evil heart, might well use words of doubt, and then by some Old Testament instances it is pointed out that “perchance” does not exclude forgiveness. The apostles transmitted to us that penitence, the fruits of which are shown in the case of David. St. Ambrose then adduces the example of the Ephraimites, whose penitence must be followed in order to gain the divine mercy and the sacraments.

29. The Novatians bring up a question from the words of the Apostle Peter. Because he said, “if perchance,” they think that he did not imply that forgiveness would be granted on repentance. But let them consider concerning whom the words were spoken: of Simon, who did not believe through faith, but was meditating trickery. So too the Lord to him who said, “Lord, I will follow Thee withersoever Thou goest,” replied, “Foxes have holes.”177    S. Matt. x. 28.    S. Matt. viii. 19, 20. For He knew that the man’s sincerity was not wholly perfect. If, then, the Lord refused to him who was not baptized permission to follow Him, because He saw that he was not sincere, do you wonder that the Apostle did not absolve him who after baptism was guilty of deceit, and whom he declared to be still in the bond of iniquity?

30. But let this be my answer to them. As to myself, I say that Peter did not doubt, and I do not think that so great a question can be burked by the questionable interpretation of a single word. For if they think that Peter doubted, did God doubt, Who said to the prophet Jeremiah: “Stand in the court of the Lord’s house, and thou shalt give an answer to all Judah, to those who come to worship in the Lord’s house, even all the words which I have appointed for thee to answer them. Keep not back a word, perchance they will hearken and be converted.”178    S. Matt. x. 32, 33.    Jer. xxvi. 2, 3. Let them say, then, that God also knew not what would happen.

31. But ignorance is not implied in that word, but the common custom of holy Scripture is observed, in order to simplicity of utterance. Inasmuch as the Lord says also to Ezekiel: “Son of man, I will send thee unto the house of Israel, to those who have angered Me, both themselves and their fathers, unto this day, and thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord, if perchance they will hear and be afraid.”179    Omnis.    Ezek. ii. 4, 5. Did He not know that they could or could not be converted? So, then, that expression is not always a proof of doubt.

32. Lastly, the wise men of this world, who stake all their reputation on expressions and words, do not everywhere use the Latin word forte, “perchance,” or its Greek equivalent τάχα, as an expression of doubt. And so they say that their earliest poet used the words,

…ἦ ῾ τάχα χήρη

…ἔσομαι,

which is, “I shall soon be a widow;” and the passage goes on:

… τάχα γάρ σε κατακνέουσιν ᾽Αχαιοὶ

πάντες εφορμηθέντες.180    S. Luke xii. 8, 9.    Hom. Il. III. 408. St. Ambrose is hardly right in assuming that Homer used τάχα with the sense of “perchance,” though this is common in later Greek. In Homer it means quickly.

But he had no doubt that when all were Joining in the attack one might well be laid low by all.

33. But let us use our own instances rather than foreign ones. You find in the Gospel that the Son Himself says of the Father (when He had sent His servants to His vineyard, and they had been slain), that the Father said, “I will send My well-beloved Son, perchance they will reverence Him.”181    Ps. lxxvii. [lxxvi.] 7. In the Psalm this passage is a question of the Psalmist in his bitter troubles, “Will God cast off?” St. Ambrose, in arguing against Novatian, not only modifies the text, but somewhat modifies its meaning.    S. Matt. xxi. 37. And in another place the Son says of Himself: “Ye know neither Me nor My Father; for if ye knew Me, ye would perchance know My Father also.”182    Ps. lxxvii. [lxxvi.] 8, 9.    S. John viii. 19.

34. If, then, Peter used those words which were used by God without any prejudice to His knowledge, why should we not assume that Peter also used them without prejudice to his belief? For he could not doubt concerning the gift of Christ, Who had given him the power of forgiving sins; especially since he was bound not to leave any place for the craftiness of heretics who desire to deprive men of hope, in order the more easily to insinuate into the despairing their opinion as to the reiteration of baptism.

35. But the apostles, having this baptism according to the direction of Christ, taught repentance, promised forgiveness, and remitted guilt, as David taught when he said: “Blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, and whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the Lord hath not imputed sin.”183    Ps. xxxii. [xxxi.] 1, 2. He calls each blessed, both him whose sins are remitted by the font, and him whose sin is covered by good works. For he who repents ought not only to wash away his sin by his tears, but also to cover and hide his former transgressions by amended deeds, that sin may not be imputed to him.

36. Let us, then, cover our falls by our subsequent acts; let us purify ourselves by tears, that the Lord our God may hear us when we lament, as He heard Ephraim when weeping, as it is written: “I have surely heard Ephraim weeping.”184    Jer. xxxi. 18. And He expressly repeats the very words of Ephraim: “Thou hast chastised me and I was chastised, like a calf I was not trained.”185    Jer. xxxi. 18. For a calf disports itself, and leaves its stall, and so Ephraim was untrained like a calf far away from the stall; because he had forsaken the stall of the Lord, followed Jeroboam,186    Ecclus. xlvii. 23. and worshipped the calves, which future event was prophetically indicated through Aaron,187    Ex. xxxi. namely, that the people of the Jews would fall after this manner. And so repenting, Ephraim says: “Turn Thou me, and I shall be turned, for Thou art the Lord my God. Surely in the end of my captivity I repented, and after I learned I mourned over the days of confusion, and subjected myself to Thee because I received reproach and made Thee known.”188    Jer. xxxi. 19 [very loosely].

37. We see how to repent, with what words and with what acts, that the days of sin are called “days of confusion;” for there is confusion when Christ is denied.

38. Let us, then, submit ourselves to God, and not be subject to sin, and when we ponder the remembrance of our offences, let us blush as though at some disgrace, and not speak of them as a glory to us, as some boast of overcoming modesty, or putting down the feeling of justice. Let our conversion be such, that we who did not know God may now ourselves declare Him to others, that the Lord, moved by such a conversion on our part, may answer to us: “Ephraim is from youth a dear son, a pleasant child, for since My words are concerning him, I will verily remember him, therefore have I hastened to be over him; I will surely have mercy on him, saith the Lord.”189    Jer. xxxi. [LXX.] 20.

39. And what mercy He promises us, the Lord also shows, when He says further on: “I have satiated every thirsty soul, and have satisfied every hungry soul. Therefore, I awaked and beheld, and My sleep was sweet unto Me.”190    Jer. xxxi. 25, 26. We observe that the Lord promises His sacraments to those who sin. Let us, then, all be converted to the Lord.

423 CAPUT V.

Quod Simoni mago veniam a Petro affirmate promissam negant, refertur primo eum apostolum propter cognitam magi illius perfidiam dubia locutione uti potuisse: secundo autem apte ad causam per adverbium forte affirmationem etiam significari ex pluribus veteris Testamenti locis, ex profanorum auctorum usu, denique ex ipsis evangelistis confirmatur. Deinde addit apostolos poenitentiam cujus a Davide fructus ostenduntur, ad nos transmisisse. Postremo exemplum adducit Ephraemitarum, ad quorum instar poenitentiam nostram agendam tradit, ut ei divina misericordia et sacramenta concedantur.

0504C 29. Referunt tamen quaestionem de verbis apostoli Petri. Quia dixit: Ne forte (Act. VIII, 22), putant non confirmasse Petrum, ut agenti poenitentiam peccatum remitteretur. Sed considerent de quo loquatur, hoc est, de Simone, qui non ex fide crederet, sed dolum cogitaret. Denique et Dominus dicenti ei, cujus non plenam sinceritatem videret: Sequar te, ait: Vulpes foveas habent (Matth. VIII, 20). Quem ergo Dominus ante baptismum prohibuit sequi, quoniam fraudulentum videbat; miraris si post baptismum praevaricantem non absolvit apostolus, quem in obligatione iniquitatis manere pronuntiavit?

30. Sed hoc illis responsum sit. Ego autem nec Petrum dubitasse dico, nec verbi unius praejudicio 0504D tantam causam strangulandam arbitror. Nam si putant dubitasse Petrum, numquid et Deus dubitavit? qui ait ad Jeremiam Prophetam: Sta in atrio domus Domini, et responsum dabis omni Judae, iis qui veniunt adorare in domo Domini, omnia verba quae constitui tibi respondere illis, noli auferre verbum: forsitan audient, et avertentur (Jerem. XXVI, 2, 3). Dicant ergo et Deum ignorasse quid esset futurum.

0505A 31. Sed non ignorantia eo verbo exprimitur, sed in Scripturis divinis frequens hujusmodi consuetudo advertitur; eo quod simplex sit elocutio. Siquidem et ad Ezechielem dicit Dominus: Fili hominis, mittam ego te ad domum Israel, ad eos qui me exacerbaverunt ipsi, et patres eorum usque in hodiernum, et dices ad eos: Haec dicit Dominus, si forte audient et terrebuntur (Ezech. II, 4, 5). Nesciebat ergo eos posse aut non posse converti? Non ergo semper dubitantis ista est elocutio.

32. Denique ipsi sapientes saeculi, qui omnem 424 gloriam suam statuunt in expressione verborum, quod Latine forte dicimus, Graece τάχα non ubique pro dubitatione posuerunt. Aiunt itaque dixisse primum suorum poetam Ἦ τάχα χήρα ἔσομαι, quod est: 0505B Cito vidua ero. Et alibi: τάχα γάρ σε κατακτανέουσιν Ἀχαιοὶ πάντες ἐφορμηθέντες (Homer. lib. III Iliad.). Non enim dubitaret in omnibus simul insurgentibus, unum facile ab universis posse prosterni.

33. Sed nos nostris magis quam alienis utamur. Denique habes in Evangelio quia ipse Filius de Patre ait (cum misisset servos ad vineam suam, et occidissent). dixisse Patrem: Mittam Filium meum dilectissimum, forsitan ipsum verebuntur (Matth. XXI, 37). Et alibi ex sua persona Filius ait: Neque me scitis, neque Patrem meum. Si enim me sciretis, et Patrem meum forsitan sciretis (Joan. VIII, 19).

34. Si ergo his verbis usus est Petrus, quibus Deus usus est sine praejudicio scientiae suae; cur non accipiamus et Petrum his usum sermonibus sine suae fidei praejudicio? Neque enim poterat dubitare de Christi munere, qui sibi solvendorum peccatorum dederat potestatem (Matth. XVI, 19); praesertim cum versutiis haereticorum locum non deberet relinquere, qui ideo volunt spem hominum destituere, ut iterandi baptismatis apud desperantes facilius inducant persuasionem.

35. Sed apostoli hoc habentes, secundum Christi magisterium poenitentiam docuerunt; spoponderunt veniam, culpam relaxaverunt, sicut et docuit David 0506A dicens: Beati quorum remissae sunt iniquitates, et quorum tecta sunt peccata. Beatus vir cui non imputavit Dominus peccatum (Psal. XXXI, 1, 2). Utrumque enim beatum dixit, et cujus iniquitas remittitur per lavacrum, et cujus peccatum tegitur operibus bonis. Qui enim agit poenitentiam, non solum diluere lacrymis debet peccatum suum, sed etiam emendatioribus factis operire et tegere delicta superiora, ut non ei imputetur peccatum (De Poenit., dist. I, c. Iis potestatis, § Qui agit).

36. Ergo tegamus lapsus nostros posterioribus factis, mundemus fletibus; ut audiat nos Dominus Deus noster ingemiscentes, sicut audivit lacrymantem Ephraem, quemadmodum scriptum est, dicente Deo: Audiens audivi Ephraem lacrymantem (Jerem. 0506B XXXI, 18). Et ipsa verba Ephraem lamentantis expressit dicens: Castigasti me, et castigatus sum, sicut vitulus non sum edoctus (Ibid.). Vitulus enim ludit, et praesepia deserit; et ideo Ephraem sicut vitulus non est edoctus, longe positus a praesepi, quia praesepe Domini deseruit, 425 et Jeroboam secutus, vitulos adoravit (Tob. I, 5), quod prophetia futurum per Aaron indicaverat, sic lapsurum populum Judaeorum. Ideoque agens poenitentiam dicit: Converte me, et convertar; quia tu es Dominus Deus meus. Quia in novissimo captivitatis meae poenitentiam egi: et postquam cognovi, ingemui super dies confusionis, et subjectus sum tibi; quia accepi opprobrium, et demonstravi te (Jerem. XXXI, 19).

37. [Alias cap. VI.] Advertimus quomodo agenda sit poenitentia, quibus sermonibus, quibus fletibus; 0506C ut peccati dies, dies confusionis appelletur; confusio est enim, quando Christus negatur.

38. Et ideo subjiciamus nos Deo, et non subditi simus peccato: et delictorum nostrorum memoriam recensentes, tamquam opprobrium crubescamus; non velut quamdam gloriam praedicemus, sicut quidam expugnata pudicitia, et oppressa justitia gloriantur: et tanta fiat conversio, ut qui Deum non agnoscebamus, ipsi eum jam aliis demonstremus: motus autem Dominus tali conversione nostra, respondeat: 0507A A juventute mea dilectus mihi est filius Ephraem, puer in deliciis; quoniam eo quod sermones mei in ipso sunt, memoria memor ero ejus; propterea festinavi super illum, misericordia miserebor ejus, dicit Dominus (Jerem. XXXI, 20).

39. Quam autem misericordiam nobis polliceatur, infra ostendit dicens: Inebriavi omnem animam sitientem, et omnem animam esurientem satiavi. Ideo exsurrexi, et vidi, et somnus meus mihi dulcis est (Ibid., 25, 26). Advertimus quod peccantibus Dominus sacramenta promittat sua; et ideo omnes convertamur ad Dominum.