The Letters of S. Ambrose, Bishop of MilanAmbrose, Saint, Bishop of Milan
Religion
The Letters of S. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan
Ambrose, Saint, Bishop of Milan
Ambrose, Saint, Bishop of Milan, -397 -- Correspondence
5. Again, how pious, how admirable that expression, that you fear
no jealousy in God! From the Father you anticipate a recompense for
your love of the Son, yet you acknowledge that your praise of the Son
can add nothing to Him, only you wish by praising the Son to commend
yourself to the Father also. This He alone hath taught you, Who hath
said, _He that loveth Me, shall be loved of My Father_.
6. You go on to say that you, weak and frail as you are, do not suppose
yourself such an eulogist as that you can exalt His divinity by your
words, but that you preach Him according to your power, not according
to His Majesty. This weakness is mighty in Christ, as the Apostle
has said, _When I am weak, then I am strong_. This humility excludes
frailty.
7. Certainly I will come, and that speedily, as you command, that I may
be present with you and hear and read these things, as they are newly
spoken by you. But I have sent two small volumes, for which, approved
as they have been by your grace, I shall have no fears; I must plead
for time to write on the Spirit, knowing as I do what a judge I shall
have of my treatise.
8. Meanwhile however your sentiments and belief concerning our Lord
and Saviour, transferred from the Son, form an abundant assertion to
express our faith in the everlasting Godhead of the Holy Spirit, in
that you cavil not at that created nature in Him which you find in
yourself, and suppose not that God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
can be jealous of His own Spirit. For that which is separated from
communion with the creature is divine.
9. If the Lord will, I will in this also comply with your Majesty’s
wishes; that as you have received the grace of the Holy Spirit, so also
you may know that He, holding so high a place in the Divine glory, has
in His own Name a right to our veneration.
10. May Almighty God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, vouchsafe, my
Lord the Emperor, chosen by Divine providence, most glorious Sovereign,
may He vouchsafe to keep your majesty in all happiness and prosperity
to an advanced age, and establish your kingdom in perfect glory and in
perpetual peace.
LETTER II.
A.D. 379.
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