LETTER LXXXI. 

In this letter S. Ambrose seeks to comfort some of his clergy, who were in despondency on account of their labours and difficulties, and sets before their eyes both the reward they may expect, and also the ready aid they will receive from Christ. He then presses upon them passages of Scripture applicable to their case, and exhorts them not to suffer themselves to be separated from Jesus their Saviour.

AMBROSE TO CERTAIN OF THE CLERGY.

1. It is a fault which frequently besets the human mind, that, if things do not at once fall out according to their wishes, they lightly take offence, and desist from their duty. In other classes of men this is tolerable, but in those who are devoted to the Divine service it is a frequent cause of sorrow.

2. There are certain persons in the clerical function, into whose minds the Enemy, if he cannot otherwise deceive them, thus seeks to creep, that he may instil evil thoughts of the following kind; 'What does it avail me to remain among the clergy, to suffer injuries, to bear toil, as if my own farm could not support me, or, if I have no farm, as if I could not otherwise obtain support?' It is by such thoughts as these that even good dispositions are withdrawn from their duty, as if provision for his own sustenance was the only function of a cleric, and not rather to purchase for himself the Divine assistance after death. Whereas he only shall be rich after death, who on earth has had strength to contend unharmed against the wiles of his numerous adversaries.

3. It is said therefore in Ecclesiastes,  Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their labour, For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow. Where are the two that are better than one, but where Christ is, and he whom Christ defends? For if he who is with the Lord Jesus falls, Jesus raises him up.

4. But in what sense is it said,  for their labour? Is Christ then weary  ^l  ?  Yes truly, for He says, I  am weary of crying. He labours, but it is on us. Moreover after His toil He sat down wearied on the well; but what is the mode of His labours? The Apostle by his own humbler example has taught us in the words,  Who is weak, and I am not weak? Our Lord Himself has also taught us in the words, I  was sick, and ye visited Me not, naked and ye clothed Me not. He labours, in order to raise me in my falls.

5. Hence in Elisha also our Lord is prefigured, for he stretched himself upon the dead child that he might raise him to life, and in this we have a symbol that Christ died with us, that He might rise again for us. Thus Christ placed Himself on the level even of our frailty, that He might raise us again. He did not fall, but of His own will cast Himself down, and in rising raised up His fellow. For He has taken us into fellowship with Himself, being anointed, as it is written,  with the oil of gladness above His fellows. 

6. Well says the Preacher,  If they fall, the One, not being Himself lifted up,  will lift up his fellow; for Christ needed not the assistance and aid of another to raise Him, but rose by His own power. Again,  Destroy, He says,  this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. But this He said of the Temple of His Body. And it is well that he who has not fallen should not be raised by another, for he who has been so raised must have fallen, and he who has fallen needs assistance that he  may be raised. This is taught also by the words of Scripture which follows,  Woe to him that is alone when he falleth, for he hath not another to lift him up. Again,  if two lie together, then they have heat. For  we are dead with Christ, and therefore we also live with Him. And Christ has thus died that He might give us warmth, as He has said, I  am come to send fire upon the earth. 

7. I was dead, but because in Baptism I died together with Christ, I received the light of life from Christ. And he who dies in Christ, being warmed by Christ, receives the breath of life and resurrection. The boy was cold, Elisha warmed him with his breath, and imparted to him the warmth of life. He slept together with him that being thus buried with him in a figure the warmth of his rest might raise him up. He is cold then who dies not in Christ; he cannot be warmed to whom no burning fire is applied; he who has not Christ with him cannot grow warm by being near another.

8. And that you may understand it to be said as a mystery and not in reference to the bare number that  two are better than one, he adds a mystical saying,  A threefold cord is not quickly broken. For that which is threefold and un-compounded cannot be broken. Thus the Trinity, being of an uncompounded nature, cannot be dissolved; for God is, whatever He is, one and simple and uncompounded; and what He is that He continues to be, and is not brought into subjection.

9. It is a good thing therefore to adhere closely to that other One, and to put your neck into His chain, and to bow down your shoulder and bear Him, and be not grieved with His bonds; because He went forth from the house of bondmen to assume His kingdom, that  Child who is better than an older and foolish king. Wherefore they who follow Him are also bound with chains. Paul too is  the prisoner of Jesus Christ. And Jesus Himself  led captivity captive. He thought it not enough to destroy that captivity which the devil had imposed, so that he might not again assault those who were wandering at large. But to dwell in subjection to Christ, putting your feet into the fetters of wisdom, and becoming His captive that you may be free from the adversary, this is what He accounted perfect liberty.

10. Rightly is He called a  Child, for  unto us a Child is bom, and truly a good Child to Whom it has been said by God the Father,  It is a light thing that Thou shouldst be My Servant; wise also, as the gospel teaches us, for He  increased in wisdom and stature; and properly called poor, for,  though He was rich, for our sakes He became poor, that toe through His poverty might be rich. Wherefore in His kingdom He does not despise the poor man, but listens to him and frees him from all straits and troubles.

11. Let us then live in obedience to Him, that that  old and foolish king may have no power over us. For he, desiring to reign and be supreme after his own will, and not to be under subjection to the Lord Jesus, grows old in sin, and falls into the deformity of folly. For what can be more foolish than for a man to relinquish heavenly and apply himself to earthly things, for him to neglect what is eternal, and to choose the frail and perishing?

12. Let no one then say,  We have no portion in Jacob nor inheritance in Israel. Let no one say, I am not among the Clergy, for it is written,  Give unto Levi his lots  ¹  ; and again David says that he who  lieth in the midst among the lots ascends to heaven with spiritual wings. Say not of your God,  He is grievous to us, nor of your place, it  is not for our turn, since Scripture says,  Leave not thy place: For the adversary would fain deprive thee of it, he would fain drive thee away, for he envies thee thy hopes and thy function.

13. But thou that art in the lot of the Lord, His portion and possession, depart not therefrom, that thou mayest say to Him,  For Thou hast possessed my reins, Thou hast covered me in my mother's womb; and that He may say to thee, as to a good servant,  Go, and sit down to meat. 

Farewell, my sons: serve the Lord, for the Lord is good.

EPISTOLA LXXXI.

 Quosdam clericos propter laborem ac difficultatem animo despondentes, verbis erigit, eisque non modo futuram mercedem ponit ob oculos, sed etiam paratum Christi praesidium. Eam ob rem explicatis aliquot Scripturae locis, admonet ne se divelli ab illo patiantur. 

AMBROSIUS clericis.

 1273B 

1. Plerumque humanis obrepit mentibus, ut aliqua levi praestricti offensione, si non illis cedant pro studio voluntaria, officio desistant: quod in alio genere hominum tolerabile, in iis vero qui rei divinae intendunt, plenum doloris.

2. Sunt enim aliqui in clericorum munere, quibus inimicus obrepere studet, si alias eos non potuerit circumvenire, ut laesis hujusmodi 1098 inserat cogitationes. Quid mihi prodest in clero manere, subire injurias, labores perpeti, quasi non possit ager meus me pascere, aut si ager desit, quasi aliter exercere sumptum non queam? Itaque hujusmodi cogitationibus etiam boni mores ab officio retrahuntur:  1273C quasi vero hoc solum sit in clerico, ut sumptum expediat suum, et non ut divinum sibi post mortem potius subsidium locet; quamquam ille post mortem abundet, qui tutus hic potuerit decernere adversum tot inimicorum insidias.

3. Unde Ecclesiastes ait:  Optimi duo super unum, quibus est merces bona in labore ipsorum; quoniam   si ceciderit, unus erigit socium suum (Eccles. IV, 9, 10). Ubi sunt  duo optimi super unum, nisi ubi Christus est, et is quem Christus tuetur? Quia si ceciderit, qui cum Domino est Jesu, erigit eum Jesus.

4. Sed qua ratione dixit:  In labore ipsorum? Ergo et Christus laborat? Utique laborat, qui ait:  Laboravi clamans (Psal. LVIII, 4). Laborat, sed in nobis: denique ad puteum fatigatus sedebat (Joan. IV, 6). Sed  1273D quomodo laboret, docuit nos Apostolus minore exemplo, dicens:  Quis infirmatur, et ego non infirmor (II Cor. XI, 29)? Docuit et ipse Dominus sua voce:  Aeger eram, et non visitastis me: nudus eram,   1274A   et non operuistis me (Matth. XXV, 43). Laborat, ut me jacentem erigat.

5. Unde et in Elisaeo figura Domini praecessit, qui projecit se, ut mortuum erigeret (IV Reg. IV, 34): in quo symbolum est, quod nobis Christus commortuus sit, ut nobis resurgeret. Projecit itaque se usque ad nostram Christus fragilitatem, ut nos erigeret. Projecit se, non cecidit, sed erexit consortem. Ipse enim consortes nos sibi fecit, ut scriptum est, quia  unctus est   oleo justitiae prae consortibus suis (Psal. XLIV, 8).

6. Unde pulchre ait Ecclesiastes:  Quoniam qui ceciderit, erigit socium suum (Eccles. IV, 10), non ipse erigitur; Christus enim non alterius auxilio, atque ope erectus est, sed ipse se resuscitavit. Denique  1274B   solvite, inquit,  hoc templum, et in triduo illud resuscitabo. Hoc autem dixit de templo corporis sui (Joan. II, 19). Nec immerito erectus non est ab alio, qui non cedidit; nam et ille qui a secundo erigitur, cecidit: et qui cecidit, indiget auxilio, ut erigatur. Quod et subjecta docent, dicente Scriptura:  Vae illi uni, cum ceciderit, et non est secundus qui eum erigat! quia et si dormierint duo, est calor illis (Eccl. IV, 10, 11). Commortui enim sumus Christo, et ideo convivimus (Rom. VI, 8). Christus nobis commortuus est, ut nos calefaceret, qui ait:  Ignem veni mittere in terram (Luc. XII, 49).

7. Mortuus eram, sed quia in baptismate commortuus Christo sum, accepi lumen vitae a Christo. Et qui in Christo moritur, per Christum calefactus vitae et  1274C resurrectionis vaporem accipit. 1099 Frigidus erat puer, calefecit eum Elisaeus spiritu suo, dedit ei vitae calorem (IV Reg. IV, 34). Condormivit ei, ut eum calor quietis ejus, qui in symbolo consepultus ei fuerat, excitaret. Frigidus itaque est, qui non moritur in Christo: calefieri non potest, cui ignis ardens non appropinquat: incalescere non potest alteri, qui secum non habet Christum.

8. Et ut cognoscas secundum mysterium dictum, non secundum numerum; quia  optimi duo quam unus, subjecit mysticum:  Et spartum triplex;   non corrumpetur. Tria enim, quae non sunt composita, non corrumpuntur: Trinitas itaque incompositae naturae corrumpi non potest; quia Deus unum et simplex, et incompositum est, quidquid est: quod  1274D autem est, permanet, non subjicitur.

10. Bonum est itaque adhaerere alteri, et inserere collum in torques ejus, et subjicere humerum, et portare illum, nec taediare ad vincula; quia de domo  1275A alligatorum exivit, qui regnet, puer ille qui super regem seniorem et stultum est. Ideoque qui eum sequuntur, alligati vinculis sunt. Denique Paulus vinctus Jesu Christi (Ephes. III, 1). Unde et ipse Jesus captivam duxit captivitatem (Ephes. IV, 8). Non satis visum est ei solvere captivitatem, quam diabolus imposuerat; ne iterum liberos vagantesque invaderet: sed perfecta absolutio aestimata est sub Christo degere, et injicere pedes in compedes sapientiae, ipsius captivum esse, ut sis liber ab adversario.

11. Recte puer, quoniam  puer natus est nobis (Esai. IX, 6); et vere optimus puer, cui dictum est a Patre Deo:  Magnum tibi est vocari puerum meum (Esai. XLIX, 5). Sapiens quoque, ut Evangelium docet;  1275B quia  proficiebat aetate et sapientia (Luc. II, 52). Convenienter etiam pauper:  quia cum dives esset, pauper factus est; ut nos sua inopia ditaret (II Cor. VIII, 9). Et ideo non fastidit in regno suo pauperem, sed exaudit eum, et liberat ex omnibus augustiis et molestiis.

12. Sub hoc ergo vivamus, ut rex ille senior et stultus, nullam habeat potestatem supra nos. Qui dum vult regnare quasi voluntatis suae dominus, nec sub vinculis esse Domini Jesu, inveteratus in peccatis, stultitiae incidit deformitatem. Quid enim stultius quam, relictis coelestibus, ad terrena intendisse, et posthabitis perpetuis, elegisse ea quae caduca sunt et fragilia?

13. Nemo ergo dicat: Non est nobis portio in  1275C Jacob, neque haereditas in Israel (III Reg. XII, 16). Nemo dicat: Non sum in clero; quia scriptum est:  Date Levi cleros ejus (Deut. XXXIII, 8). Et iterum David ait: Quia is qui inter cleros duos medius requiescit, ipse ad superna alis evolat spiritalibus (Psal. LXVII, 14). Non dicas de Deo tuo:  Gravis mihi est (Sap. II, 12); nec de loco tuo:  Inutilis est mihi; quia scriptum est:  Locum tuum noli relinquere (Eccles. X, 4). Vult enim auferre eum adversarius, vult te abducere; quia invidet spei tuae, invidet muneri.

14. Sed tu quicumque in clero es Domini, 1100 portio ejus et possessio, noli recedere de Domini possessione, ut dicas Domino:  Possedisti renes meos: suscepisti me ex utero matris meae (Psal. CXXXVIII,  1275D 23); et ille tibi quasi bono servo dicat:  Transi, recumbe (Luc. XVII, 7). Valete, filii, et servite Domino; quia bonus Dominus.