Ambrose, coming to Bologna to those by whom he had been invited, relates that he had brought presents for him, namely, the remains of the martyrs Agricola and Vitalis. Although one of these has been master, the other a slave, yet a comparison is made; and when the latter led him before him to martyrdom, it is known from this that with Christ there was no impediment to slavery. Then the struggle between them is described; which the Holy Prophet illustrates from the presage of each name . Then, commemorating the burial which they had received in the tombs of the Jews, he relates with how much joy they were discovered and brought out.
Those who are invited to a great banquet are wont to bring back presents for themselves. I was invited to the banquet of Bologna, where the translation of the holy martyr was celebrated, and I reserved presents for you full of holiness and grace. Apophoreta, however, are wont to have the triumphs of princes; and these presents are triumphal; For the triumphs of Christ our prince are the palms of the martyrs. Nor, indeed, did I direct my journey hither; but, as I was requested by you, I was obliged to convey to me the things which were being planned by others, lest I should come to you less; so that whatever is less in me than was anticipated, more might be found in the martyr.
2. The martyr's name is Agricola, to whom Vitalis was a slave before, now a partner and colleague of the martyr. The servant went before to provide the place; The master followed, assured that he would find that he was already prepared by the faith of the servant. We do not praise others; for the passion of the master's servant is discipline. The latter instituted, the other fulfilled. Nothing is stripped of him. For how can that which Christ has given be diminished? By serving a noble man, he learned how he pleased Christ; yet he gained double praise, in him for his teaching, and in him for his martyrdom. They strove, however, with one another for favors, after they had deserved to be equal. The latter sent him before him to martyrdom, the other sent for him.
Therefore no condition of man offers an impediment to his commendation; nor does the dignity of the family bring merit, but faith. Whether slave or free, we are all one in Christ, and whatever good will he receive from the Lord (Eph. 6, 8). Nor does slavery detract from it, nor does freedom help. Look at that thing that is important in any condition. The servant, says he, were you called? Don't worry … for he who was called by the Lord a servant is the freedman of the Lord. In like manner also he who was called free is the servant of Christ (1 Cor. 7:21, 22). See, I say, the power of the Apostle. He is thought to have given more to him who was a slave than to him who was called free; for from a slave he becomes a freedman of Christ, a slave from a free man. But he gave more to none, but divided them both by equal measure. For with Christ slavery and liberty are weighed on an equal scale, and the merits of good service and liberty are not divided by any distinction; because there is no greater dignity than to serve Christ. Finally, Paul is the servant of Jesus Christ (Rom 1:1); for this is the most glorious service, in which the Apostle also glories. Is it not the highest glory, when we are valued at such a price that we might be redeemed by the blood of the Lord? But let us now proceed to the rest.
4. And when St. Vitalis was compelled by his persecutors to deny Christ, and that he should no longer profess to be the Lord Jesus Christ, exercising all kinds of torments against him, that there should be no place in his body without a wound, he prayed to the Lord, saying: Lord Jesus Christ, my Saviour. and my God, command my spirit to be taken up; because I long to receive the crown which your holy angel has revealed to me. And when he had finished his speech, he gave up his spirit.
5. The saint Agricola was considered milder in character, so that he was loved even by his enemies. And so his passions differed. But this honor of the persecutors was more bitter than any savagery, because he envied martyrdom. Finally, when the holy Agricola did not listen, he was crucified; so that we may notice that their flattery was not of sincerity, but of deceit. By punishment, the slaves wanted to scare their master. Christ turned this into grace, so that the master of the servant imitated the martyrdom.
6. The name of both is apt for martyrdom; so that they might be seen by the very names of those designated for martyrdom. The former is called Vitalis, as if by contempt of this life he had acquired for himself that true eternal life; the latter Farmer, who sowed the good fruits of spiritual grace, and by the shedding of sacred blood, watered the plants of his merits and all the virtues.
And they were buried in the ground of the Jews, among their sepulchres. The Jews sought to share in the burial place with the servants, of whom they denied the Lord. Thus Balaam also once said, "Let my soul die in the minds of the just" (Num 23:10). however, he did not share in their works, while he was alive, in whose minds he desired to die. And those whom they persecuted while alive, they honored the dead. There, therefore, we were looking for the remains of the martyr, as if reading a rose among thorns.
8. We were surrounded by the Jews, when the sacred relics might be raised up: the people of the church were present with applause and gladness. The Jews said: The flowers were seen on the earth (Cant. II, 12) when they saw the martyrs. The Christians said: The time of cutting is here (Ibid.). Already the one who reaps receives wages (Jn. 4, 36). All others sow, and we reap the fruit of the martyrs. Again the Jews, hearing the voices of the applauding church, said among themselves, The voice of the turtle-dove is heard in our land (Cant. II, 12). Whence it is well read: The day of the day utters the word, and the night indicates knowledge to the night. Day of day (Psalm 18:3) Christian Christian: night is night Jew Jew The Jews therefore assured me that they had the knowledge of the martyrs, but not the knowledge of the Word; that is, not according to that knowledge of good alone, and knowledge of truth alone: for, being ignorant of the justice of God, and desiring to justify themselves, they did not receive the justice of God (Rom. 10:3).
First he increases the price of relics, and then asserts that the widow Juliana, who was to be given to them, is worthy; for this was to be honored by the Apostle, and also to be proclaimed so that he grieved more for the loss of the Church than for his own.
9. Therefore I brought to you the gifts which I have read with my hands, that is, the trophies of the cross, whose grace you acknowledge in your works. Certainly the demons themselves confess. Let others build their gold and silver, and deliver them from the hidden veins; let them read their precious garlands of jewels; That is a temporary treasure, and often dangerous to those who have it: we read of the martyr's nails, and indeed that there were many more wounds than the limbs. To call yourself a martyr to the Jewish people, with the stakes will gather: Put your hand on my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believe (Jn. 20, 27). We collect the triumphal blood and the wood of the cross.
10. We could not deny the request of the holy widow. Accept therefore the gifts of salvation which are now stored up under the sacred altars. That widow, therefore, is holy Juliana, who prepared and offered this temple to the Lord, which we dedicate today: worthy of such an offer, which in her offspring she has already consecrated temples to the Lord of chastity and integrity. While I wish to speak Juliana, I have spoken of Judea. The tongue did not go astray, but defined it; For Judea is the soul which confesses Christ. Finally, God is known in Judea (Psalm 75:2); that is, where it was acknowledged, not where it was denied. There is, therefore, in the spirit of Judaea, where the greater portion is, the more genuine understanding; Because salvation is of the Jews (John 4:23). The error of the tongue, therefore, finds evidence of holiness.
11. Let us then honor this widow, because it is written, "Honor widows who are truly widows" (1 Tim. 5:3). Although he does not solicit the honor of our words, which leveled the commandment of the Apostle, having a testimony in good works, he who educated his children well, did better.
12. Who did not lament that she was destitute and miserable when she lost her husband? But that minister snatched from the sacred altars groaned more than his wife, or father to his children. For even if the widowed husband had the protection and consolation; however, in the pious mind the cause of the Church was outweighed.
Juliana's exhortation to the children. There at the beginning he warns that his son is not rashly called Lawrence, but that he was conceived by the patronage of the martyr's surname, and was promised to him. Therefore let him pay the wishes of his parents. There is nothing in him that is retarded; since the divine service is more excellent than the rest, and the life of men is most miserable; yet the issue of its evils is open, provided they choose chastity, to which the bondage of marriage is here opposed.
13. And so he girt in the bowels of his mind, and beholding himself surrounded by the number of three daughters, and one son, by whom the others are wont to be frightened, the latter becoming stronger, he agrees with such a speech as sons: Sons, you have lost your father, you have your mother. That exchange would have been better if the father were alive, and the mother would have been wanting. However, although weak and desolate, I show you, if you will, follow me, by which you may think that your father had not departed for you; for you have a better parent from heaven. He is the one who supported these fathers. For what else now remains of hope? Your father was rich in grace, not in money; wealthy in ministry, not in patrimony; whose inheritance is faith, rich in God, but poor in the world. He left you rich enough, if you were to follow his plan. Faith alone is indistinguishable from both sexes, the assessments of men and the dowry of virgins.
14. And you, indeed, son, a little nearer to your father, acknowledge what you owe to your mother, because you have given your name to the house. Age excuses you, but inheritance calls you. Be merry, son, father and mother in you (Prov. 23:25). Do not despise your mother as imprudent. The admonition of the king, he says, which his mother instructed. What is the son who obeys the words of God? To the first-born, I say to thee, son: What is the son of my belly? what was born of my prayers? Give not your honesty to a woman (Prov. 31:1 and seq.). Hear what the wise man says, what the Scripture asserts.
Consider who has helped you to be born: you are a son of my vows rather than of my pains. Consider what gift your father has designated by such a name, who called Lorenzo. There we have deposited our vows, from which we have assumed the name. After following the vows, render to the martyr what you owe to the martyr. He sued you for us, you restore what we promised you by the name of this name.
16. And what else, son, do you think we ought to choose, but the God of your fathers? For he himself makes the poor and the rich, the lowly and the lofty; he raises the poor from the earth, and raises the needy from the dunghill, and makes him sit with the powerful in the seat of honor and inheritance. He gives a vow to the one who prays, and blesses the years of the just. What is this, son, more excellent? or what is the life of a man on this earth but a light runner? Lo, we passed, and we saw nothing. And would we imitate this courier (Job 9:25) that we might see nothing, and bear no burdens! but what is more important, the course is empty and the burdens empty. They are vain indeed, but not trivial, nor void of offense; because the interest of sin is grave. Whence the holy Job exclaims: Is not the life of man on earth temptation, or his life as the daily hirelings? And like a servant who fears his master, who finds a shadow, and like an hireling waiting for his reward; so I waited in vain, but nights of sorrows were given to me. If I sleep, I say, When is the day? When I shall get up, again: When is evening? I am full of pain from evening to morning. But my life is lighter than ashes. The meal was a false hope (Joh. 7, 1 et seq.). There is no man, then, but you, Lord, turn your attention to him, and make his visitation until morning, and lead him into rest. If a tree is cut down, it will reappear and bloom by the smell of water.
17. Therefore, if you will, children, to avoid this temptation of such needs, the integrity of the body is to be sought for you (32, q. 1, c. Integrity) : which I recommend for counsel, not for command. For it is only virginity which can be persuaded, and cannot be ruled. It is a matter of a vow rather than of a precept. For that which is of grace is not commanded, but is desired: it is more of choice than of service. Whence also the Apostle says, "I have no precept of the Lord concerning virgins, but I give counsel, as though he had obtained mercy from the Lord" (1 Cor. 7:25). For he had read that the Lord had spoken to the eunuchs, "Whoever will keep my commandments, and will choose the things that I will, and will embrace my covenant; I will give them in my house, and on my wall a name, a better place for sons and daughters: I will give them an everlasting name, and they shall not fail (Isa. 56:4,5). He says, "I will give you a better place," he says to the eunuchs; to wit, those who had been cut off, and cut off the genital parts. They, therefore, are those who have in heaven rewards more excellent than the others.
18. The Son of God preaches these in his Gospel, for when he says to the apostles, "If it is the case of a man that it is not lawful for him to divorce his wife, it is not expedient to marry except for the cause of fornication; The Lord answered: All do not receive this word, but to whom it was given (Matt. 19:10, 11), that is, the weakness of the human condition does not contain this, that it may be open to all; that they may be able to castrate themselves, in order that they may acquire the kingdom of heaven.
He expresses briefly the dignity of his integrity, which he proposes to return to his daughters from the loss of his marriage; and in order to encourage them to shun them, he brings forward the opinion and example of the Apostle. Hence after mentioning both those whom he bore in marriage and the miseries he had to endure in widowhood, he affirms that it would be so that all these women should be restored to their virginity, and that henceforth she would not need any protection.
19. You have heard, sons, how great the reward of integrity is. The kingdom is acquired, and the heavenly kingdom presents the life of the angels. I recommend this to you, in which nothing is more beautiful; so that among men you may be angels, who are not bound by any marriage bond (Matt. 22:30). Because those who do not marry, and those who do not marry, are like angels on earth; so that they may not experience the tribulation of the flesh, they may be ignorant of slavery; so that, as if stripped of the infirmity of the body, they should think not of the things of man, but of the things of God.
20. Consider, daughters, if you are willing to get married, how much is wanting to you, whom your father lacks. This rich dowry is missing; which, however, if you had increased, you would buy slavery at a great price. But now who will not despise his destitute father? whither will you flee? Whence will you ask for help against the injuries of men? how great are the disadvantages in marriages themselves! How serious are the insults generally? what great bonds!
21. First of all, the marriage itself is the bond by which the married man is tied to a married man and is bound to him in subjection. It is indeed a good bond of charity, but yet the bond of which, when he wishes to get rid of the bride, he cannot and does not have free will. Finally, the Apostle says, "The woman has not power over her own body, but the husband" (1 Cor. 7:4). And what a wonderful thing about a woman since the husband does not have power over his own body, but the woman? If he who is stronger has no power over himself, how much less is he weaker! The common bondage, therefore, does not absolve the woman, but binds her more severely.
22. See, then, what the Scripture says, what the Apostle suggests. Who can give you better advice than that vessel of the Lord's choice? Give ear to what he says with your ears, "But I want all men to be like myself" (Cor. 7:7). And again he says of the unmarried and widows: It is good for them, if they so abide, as I also (Ibid., 8). I want you to be imitators of so many apostles, that you should follow the life of him who shrinks from the bond of marriage in order to be a prisoner of Jesus Christ. He would not have been able to reach so much the grace of his apostolate if he had been bound by the intimacy of marriage.
23. But if he who was both excellent in teaching and had only the gift of Christ, he judged that it was so important that he should abstain from the practice of conjugal union; and that it was not always lawful to attend to prayer, nor ever attend to the divine commandments, which the care of marriage might bring back, in order that it might be necessary to please a wife; since she who marries is sold to slavery for her own money? Slaves are acquired in a better condition than marriages: in the former the merit of slavery is bought, in the latter the price is added to the servitude. The bride is weighed down with gold for sale, and is valued as gold.
24. I have experienced, sons, the labors of the union, the indignity of marriage, and under the good wife, yet have I not been free under a good husband: I served the husband, and I labored to please him. The Lord had compassion, and made the minister of the altar, and was immediately taken up both by me and you; and perhaps, by the Lord's mercy, that he might not be called a husband.
25. You see, you children, a mother aged in agony and still untimely in the wages of widowhood. You see all the lost protection and decoration. I have neither the help of a man nor the grace of virginity. And a slight concern for me: I grieve, I consider you. The burdens of marriage remained for me, and the appliances were gone. How much more I would prefer never to have used them!
26. Can you, however, excuse the father, get rid of the mother? if that which was lost in us is represented in you. We will not repent of this marriage alone, if our labor has progressed to you. I will consider my neighbor to be the mother of virgins, as if I should hold her virginity. Consider, you children, whom the Lord Jesus chose as his mother when he came into these countries. He came to give salvation to the world through a virgin, and the fall of a woman dissolves after the birth of a virgin; your integrity also looses my errors.
27. Consider what good virginity is. I am certain that I was destitute, and in need of protection; but if you will remain thus, I will seek no man's help, the crown of your integrity will abound to me for every help. Who will not say that I am happy, which I now think miserable? Who will not honor the mother of so many virgins? Who will not venerate the court of chastity?
In both leagues the palm of public safety was bestowed upon the virgins, and the various praises of the mystic virgins were celebrated; likewise the virginity designated by the figure of the garden and the vineyard, not just as the marriage of herbs; whence he admonishes his sons, that, having rejected Ahab and Jezebel, they may embrace the spiritual truth of Naboth that he was accused and slain on our behalf. Wherefore he was predicted to have come upon a light cloud, and why did he even commend his mother to John? How at length here, who, as the mystic of Levi, had nothing, is said to have received it in his own?
28. The divine Scripture has brought many women to light, yet it has given virgins the palm of public safety only. In the Old Testament the Jewish people to the land and the sea close to the virgin Mary led feet (Ex. 15, 20), in the Gospel Creator and redeemer of the world and give birth (Lk. 1, 27). The virgin is the Church (2 Cor. 11:2), which the Apostle strove to assign to Christ as a chaste virgin: a virgin is the daughter of Zion (Isa. 37:22). That city Jerusalem is a virgin (Rev. 21, 27), which is in heaven, into which nothing common and unclean enters. It is a virgin and that which Jesus calls, to whom he said: You are here from Lebanon, Bride, you are here from Lebanon. through and through by the principle of faith '(Cant. 4, 8). The virgin not only passed away, but also passed away: she who hastens to the Bridegroom, passes the world, passes on to Christ; or because the things which he said to Christ, when passing through heavenly things, he passes through earthly things. For the Bridegroom himself comes to his Bride to leap over the mountains and leap over the hills (Cant. II, 8).
29. He adds further to the praise of virginity: A garden closed up, my sister Bride, a garden closed up, a sealed fountain (Cant. IV, 12); in order that the enclosures of virginity may bring forth more fruit than the cloister of chastity, in which the seals of chastity remain untouched. Keep this garden for your soul, this fountain of pure fluid, so that no one disturbs him among you; Let no man take away your vines and sow cheap vegetables. For a vine is a virginal fruit: marriages are like plants of herbs, in which there is frequent frost; and therefore just as the herbs of the herbs fall and wither quickly, unless old age imposes an end, or continence may reach to perfection.
Let not then Ahab come among you, who desire to destroy and extinguish your vineyard, nor let Jezebel come among you, that vain and secular issue; for this is signified by the word 'empty and empty overflow': but let Nebuchadnezzar come, who comes from the father, as the interpretation of his name indicates, who defends the vineyard with his own blood, and offers his death for it. This is the stone for us that we have for our appetite with false witnesses who came here poor, with the rich, that we will be enriched by poverty (3 Kgs. 12, 2 et seq.). This is the vine, which has filled the whole world with the fruitful fruits of its grace. Here he may remain deep in your breasts, fixed in the root; that both your fruit might teem with you, and the fires of the vapor of the body may be tempered with the liquid of spiritual spiritual grace.
This is he who comes in a light cloud, as the prophet said: Behold the Lord sits on a light cloud, and he will come into Egypt (Isa. 19:1); signifying that he came upon a virgin into Egypt, that is, into the affliction of this world. He said, therefore, that Mary was a cloud, because he bore flesh; slight, because she was a virgin, burdened by no obligations of marriage. It is the rod that springs forth a flower, because virginity is pure and free-hearted, directed to the Lord, which is reflected in no bends of the world in this world (Num. XVII:8).
32. Therefore the Lord delivered it from the cross to His most beloved disciple, St. John (Jn. 19:27), who said to his father and mother, "I do not know you" (Deut. 33:9). Finally, having been called by Christ, he left his father (Matt. 4:21), followed the word. To him is handed down a virgin who does not know his own: to him is handed a virgin, who draws wisdom from the breast of Christ; And therefore the Law blesses him: Give his true Levi, give Levi his lot (Deut. 33:8).
33. Whence also he himself received the mother of the Lord; for we have it written, that from that hour the disciple received her in his own (John 19:27). What is in his own, when he left father and mother and followed Christ? Or how in his own, when the apostles themselves shall say, "Behold, we have left all things and followed you" (Matt. 19, 27)? What had John of his own, who had not worldly and worldly things, who also was not of the world? What then had he of his own, but those things which he had received from Christ? A good possessor of word and wisdom, a good receiver of grace. Hear what the apostles received from Christ: Receive, he says, the Holy Spirit; whose sins you will forgive, they will be forgiven; and of whom you retain, they will be withheld (John 20:22, 23). For the mother of the Lord Jesus did not depart except to the possessor of grace, where Christ had the dwelling-place.
He shows his children what has been said above, and teaches by what means they can be smooth clouds through virginity; and to give his true Levi, if they continue to be such as were the first parents before sin. He compares the sons of those who were begotten out of Paradise; and on the occasion of the former he exhorts his sons, that they should not seek for the worldly possessions which the daughters of Salphaad had solicited. What is signified by this, and what lots we are commanded to give to Levi? What is the difference between the Sunday and the Mosaic lottery? One of these is signified by the marriage, the other by virginity, which follows behind the liberty of the ministers of Christ.
34 Give therefore you also, my sons, and to him his true Levi. Be clouds, but only light. You will certainly be, if virginity relieves the burdens of her condition and enlightens the darkness of this slimy flesh. Therefore she says: I am black and beautiful, the daughter of Jerusalem (Cant. I, 4). black by flesh, beautiful by virginity. There are therefore clouds, and heavy clouds, which they may marry; for I think that the word of the marrying women has been drawn from the clouds. Finally, they are covered as clouds when they receive the veils of marriage. And truly heavy clouds that bear the burden of marriage. For they are also said to be weighed down by the womb when they receive the seeds of conception.
35. Give therefore to his true Levi . What is so true, as the undefiled virginity, which by birth guards the seal of chastity and the barrier of integrity? On the other hand, when a mere child is violated by the practice of marriage, he loses what is his own when he has intercourse with another man. For that truth which we are born into, not into which we are changed: what we received from the Creator, not that which we have assumed of companionship. Give, then, to Levi, to that high priest, and Aaron, and Melchisedech, to the true character of the man he founded, and not of what the uses of this world are. so that he may recognize his work among you and that genital seal intact and unscathed.
36. Give him, present him Adam who was before sin, that Eve which was before he drew the slick serpent's poison, before his snares were supplanted; For indeed now, although good marriages, they still have that married couples blush for one another. Be of this character, therefore, sons, such as Adam and Eve were in paradise (Gen. 4:2). Of whom it is written, that after Adam was cast out of paradise, he knew Eve as his wife; and she conceived and bore a son, whom he called Cain; and again she conceived and bore a son, whose name was Abel. Better, then, than the second fruit; for he is undefiled, he is spotted. The one clinging to God, and all from the Lord, the other worldly and earthly possession. Finally, in this world the redemption of the world is announced, and from him the destruction of the world is announced. In this the sacrifice of Christ, in the other the murder of the devil. There is nothing then for you, sons, since you think that you have inherited the possession of the world, and that you have obtained any claim to the possession of earthly and Jewish possessions.
37. We read indeed that Moses, that is, the Law, decided that lands acquired by war and slaughter should be distributed by lot to the people of the Hebrews (Num. XXVI, 53), whose possessions the daughters of Salpha demanded for themselves, because they were the daughters of Salpha (Num. XXVII, 1 and seq.).. However, the same Moses did not divide the earth among the Levites (Deut. 18:1 and seq.), of whom he was not earthly, but a superior sojourner; but he assigned to them the salaries of the sacred ministry without any earthly toil. And the daughters of Salpha, what are they that seek the earth, but, as interpretation teaches, the shadow of the mouth? Which of course is in those who have no word in their mouth, nor truth in their speech (Psalm 5:10). as among the people of the Jews, who refuse to confess Jesus Christ as God the Son of God. Such, therefore, seek the land, and of such a demand a possession, in which they sweat all the age of their life, and reap the thorns of worries and anxieties as their fruits.
38. Flee, then, daughters, the shadow of the mouth, you who believe in the eternal light, which enlightens every man: you confess not Christ as in a shadow, but in the light. The people that sat in the shadow of death, a light has risen for them (Isa. 9:2). We were then in the shadow, but now we are no longer those who confess Christ. And would that it would have been possible for me also to say, who profess to Christ! And yet let us profess, I widowhood, you virginity. Let confession be made in our mouth for salvation.
39 Give therefore to him Levi, our savior, his lot. The lot of him is the Levitical, his lot is virginity, the lot of him is widowhood; because not only the virgin, but also the unmarried woman thinks the things of the Lord. Whence also the Apostle said, In whom also we are placed by lot (Eph. 1:11). For just as in the Old Testament the earth was divided by lot (Joshua 18:10), so in the Gospel we are counted to the Lord by a certain lot. Whence also it is written of the evangelists, "They divided my garments for themselves, and cast lots upon my garments" (John 19:24). And the apostles, since he was to be chosen as the twelfth apostle in the place of Judas, thought that the gift of the apostolate should be conferred by lot. Therefore, after making a prayer, that the Lord should choose whom of the two he would choose, the lot fell on Matthias (Acts 1:26).
40. The former, then, is the old earthly lottery, the other the spiritual. In the former is the assessment of the material world, in the latter the personal responsibility: there is the possession of cares, here the division of graces; Whence also St. David says, "You have possessed my reins" (Psalm 138:13). Let this, sons, possess your reins to remain in them the seeds of chastity, the incentives of the virtues. Therefore speak yourselves to Christ, and confess to him, that you may say: The Lord is my portion (Ps. 118:5). He cannot say that this is unmarried, but unmarried; for the married man seeks to please his husband, but unmarried to Christ. The former is the possession of the world, the latter the possession of Christ.
41. The possession of Christ has been levied, who claims to himself nothing of earthly things. He who seeks a wife can not say: The Lord is my portion; Finally, the minister of Christ, what does he say? I have no silver or gold; but I give you what I have: in the name of Jesus of Nazareth, arise and walk (Acts 3:6). for he had received this, because he desired not gold. Finally, he was sent without a stick, without a bag, without money (Luke 9:3). And therefore he gloried, because he had not what he had not received; for he was not ashamed of the poverty which the poor had redeemed. And therefore he said, Arise and walk, because he had read: This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him (Psalm 33:7).
The barrenness of virgins is more important than the fertility of the other, since it imitates the abundant births of the Church, which are produced by lot, that is, by grace and not by works. Lots are therefore to be given to Christ, who pays a reward on labor; With how many and how many temptations will it be challenged! But when we have learned from the Apostle that chastity is good, the holy widow indicates that we must recourse to the remedy; which means that the graceful allegory of that old Mary was situated in the mortification of the flesh and the merit of the Lord's Passion, by which we are brought to victory. Afterwards we must seek in the wisdom of the heavens, and be drawn into the innermost parts, so that we may live.
42. Let the Lord therefore be your portion, the Lord, who makes the barren and the woman giving birth. Makes both, but the second in painful birth, the other the sterilization glad to whom it is glad, barren not: break out and cry, do not give birth (Isa. 4, 15). For she has children without pain. Whence it is said of the Church: Who has heard, if the earth has travailed in one day, and a nation was born at the same time (Isa. 66:8)? But in one day the earth does not travail, but grace gives birth. Easter is the day when the sacraments of baptism are celebrated throughout the world, and the sacred virgins are veiled. In one day, therefore, the Church is wont to bring forth many sons and daughters without any pain. And therefore it is beautifully said: And a nation was born together, of a consecrated people.
43. You see mysteries, you see the grace of Christ, the grace of the Holy Spirit, who is bestowed as it were by a certain lot; because not every man is justified by works, but by faith. For just as the event of a lot is not in our power, but the event which it brought about; Thus the grace of the Lord is bestowed not as if from the merit of reward, but as from the will. Whence also the Apostle speaks of the divisions of graces, which are bestowed on the servants of God in a different way; but one and the same Spirit works all these things, dividing them to each one as he wills. As he wills, he says, not as much as is due (1 Cor. 12:11). Finally, he said, the harvest reward for their work requested and received the same complaints as those who arrived later on, if you have a good eye is why eye (Matt. 20, 15)?
44. Therefore, sons, give your lots to him who is wont to give a recompense to his work beyond the merit of his labors. Give the truth of it to the holy man (Deut. 33:8), that is, integrity; for it is the integrity of him who arrives without blemish. So virginity is truth, corruption is a lie. Stand therefore in your heart, as a good vine in its seed.
45. There are many temptations; and therefore the Scripture says, They tempted him by the temptation, and Kadesh cursed him by the water of contradiction (Deut. 32:51). Virginity is tempted by most candidates; and when a virgin wishes to persevere, there are those who oppose it. The claimant contradicts, and when refuted, he curses. In disgrace he seems to be unmarried, a virgin, or a widow. For Cades is unmarried, who is holy in body and spirit, and dedicated herself to the Lord, who left her parents, and does not do the will of those who are wont to say: You owe us, daughter, grandsons. You will surely know that she has children. But if that riches of the world prefers the reproach of Christ, then it must needs be that he who seeks to please Christ must undergo it; how much more do you, whom the father appeals to integrity, urge your mother to follow that which is appropriate!
Therefore virginity is good. Finally, he who has judged, he says, to keep his virgin in his heart, does well. Therefore he who marries his virgin does well; and he who does not join them does better (1 Cor. 7:37, 38). He does well for the sake of a snare, the latter does better for the sake of profit. The former for a remedy, the other for a reward. Blessed is he who stays thus, according to my advice. I think that the spirit of God (Ibid., 40). Follow, then, sons, the apostle's advice, the gift of the Holy Spirit.
47. Take, then, you also, as Mary the sister of Moses and Aaron took a timbrel in your hands, and go out saying, Let us sing to the Lord; for he was gloriously honored , he cast the horse and the rider into the sea (Exod. 15:20). Put to death your limbs by the way of the timbrel: in them no wantonness of the flesh will burn, and all the senses of the body may be scorched. Don't let the pleasures of the body result in them unless you are dead only to the spirit. For if you die to sin, you will live to God, and you will live if no lust reigns in your dead body.
48. Turn in your hands the cross of the Lord Jesus, and lifting it up in your works, tread down the depth of this world, and pass through. Let him, like a horse ne'er into lust, find no place among you; and whoever is pursuing you will be drowned. There shall be a wall of water on your right and left, so that the vapor of the whole body may be tempered; until the divine condescension guide you to those twelve intelligible fountains and the seventy palm trees, to that great rest of the Sabbath, and deign to deign to plant them on the mountain of their heritage, where St. Mary leads the choirs.
49 Put on, then, sons, the Lord Jesus; Seek the true wisdom, of which Job says: But whence was wisdom found, which place of discipline?… The deep said: It is not in me. Sea said, not me (Joh. 28, 12 et seq.). Well said the abyss: It is not in me, because it has been raised; for he does not have whom he could not hold. Finally, you have in the Gospel, that the angels said to the women who were coming to the sepulchre , you seek Jesus who was crucified: he is not here, but is risen (Matt. 28:5, 6). What is, he is not here? that is, it is not in the tomb, it is not in the hells, but is in the heavenly places. The sea also, that is, the world, says; this world says, It is not with me; because he is above the world, which the fallen and the allure of human life did not change; because he did not sin, nor was guile found in his mouth (1 Pet. 2:22). The Abyss therefore said: It is not in me; the sea said: It is not with me. But he did not say that the heaven is not with him, whom he had received from his rising. Paradise did not say: There is not in me whom he had discovered to reign in himself, even when the robber was acquitted; as the Lord himself said, "Today you will be with me in paradise" (Luke 23:43).
50. Children, draw wisdom into the inner chambers of your heart, because it is more precious than all gold and silver, which death does not know; for the dead will not praise you, O Lord, but the living. And you, therefore, that you may live, praise the Lord, and praise him day and night (Ps. 113:17, 18). But you will praise him if no covetousness of marriage and the care of the world avert you from him; since those who receive a marriage are solicited by the affairs of this world.
In order that he might more vigorously press his child, which was promised to God by his parents, he brings back obedience to the daughter of Jephth in fulfilling his father's wishes; then, turning to his son, he recalls to him the memory of how he had obtained prayers from God; Having said this, the holy woman is poured out in thanksgiving for the pious enthusiasm of her offspring: Ambrose narrates the procession to the church, where he finds the gift of the reader's son.
51. Consider, my children, what you ought to do with the wishes of your parents. We have opened our mouths to God: the vow is the will of our parents. We cheer you loose. The daughter of Jephthe the Gileadite ought to teach you how great the power is in the wishes of her parents, who, lest she should be deceived by her father's offering, offered even her own death. For while he, solicitous for the danger of war, vowed that if the outcome of the battle were more prosperous, he would sacrifice to God that which should first occur to him when he returns to his home; When he gained the victory, he met his daughter, who was more than happy with the joy of the victory and the kindness of the others. The father sighed, not remembering his affections, but remembering his vow. The daughter inquired the reason: he answered what he had promised to the Lord. Then she exhorted them to fulfill the gift promised to God. Accordingly, he loosed his father's unwary offering by his own blood (Judges 11:31 and seq.).
52. These things are common to you. But you, son, whom the true Helcana gave to me (1 Kings 1, 1 and seq.), that is, the possession of God has given me, my postulated, my requested (for from this he also received the name of Samuel); You, I say, have my request, and my vows, who somehow come into my womb, I do not know (for I had already despaired of the offspring of the male sex), whom my vows formed for me, not any secret gatherings. please help me. He formed your mouths, he distinguished your limbs, he received my prayers, in whose temple I consecrated you before you were born. You were not born to your parents, not to yourself, but to God; of whom before you came forth from your mother's womb you began to be. And indeed we are all his, but yet you are specially promised, you shall be returned to your Lord; because it is written, "Vow and deliver to the Lord your God" (Psalm 75:12 ). I wretched, I unworthy, and yet, as Anna, I have promised that you depart not from the sight of the Lord for all the days and nights of your life: I have promised that you will perform it;
53. This is also another pious mother, who, after she saw the affection of her children becoming weaned from the breasts of spiritual grace, led her into the temple of the Lord, turned to prayer, and said, " My heart is confirmed in the Lord; my horn is exalted in my God." My mouth is enlarged over my enemies, let him rejoice in thy salvation; for there is no other saint like the Lord; And not just how God, and there is no saint in addition to (1 Reg. 2, 1, 2).
54. The mother, therefore, spoke these things to her children, who at the same time brought home to her the titles of widowhood and of integrity among her children, as if certain women were the principalities. An excellent woman, who left nothing to herself, offered to God all that she had; whose life is the institution of discipline, and a certain form of chastity with a good purpose and a better teaching. The example of widowhood and virginity is the teaching.
55. He goes into the church enclosure with the accompaniment of the daughters of virgins, conveying a domestic charm: and he finds in the church what he says is his son, resounding with the oracles of sacred lessons; so that the sisters seem to learn from each other at home when a brother is heard. The mother also enjoys making progress in imitating the heavenly example of her son;
As the holy prelate fills her with a maternal exhortation, she stirs up those virgins in the divine Scriptures to seek Christ. But when he is asked, by asserting that he is already present, he teaches that one must inquire where he remains in the midday, that is, in the light of the Father; to be asked also in the light of good works, and in the prayers of the night; when he is delighted to be frequently asked to raise grace, and to wound the soul with charity: of which indeed the wounds are such as he proves by the various examples of the saints.
56. But although nothing is missing from our mother's exhortations, I will also speak to you, sons, or in a few words. Look for the Lord Jesus, who invites us to seek the kingdom of God, and everything, you are on hand to you (Matt. 6, 33). But I prefer to bring you before merit, and thus exact a reward. A good reward, but the divine dispenser of reward and the creator of the gift. In the kingdom there is reward, in Christ the power of reward. Seek it in the divine Scriptures where Christ is found, and say, just as she said, Tell me whom my soul loves (Cant. I,6). But the synagogue also sought whom he had lost; you seek him whom you do not lose. But why, Synagogue, do you say whom I love, and do you not say whom I love? Therefore you do not hold fast, because you say that you loved yourself;
57. But let us leave it alone. You, virgin, are at hand when you begin to search; for it is not possible for him to be wanting to those who seek him, who has been made openly to those who do not seek him, and has been found by those who do not ask him (Isa. 65:1). While you are discussing and thinking about it, it is available. Learn to ask when he comes, where to feed, where to stay; as she said: Where do you feed, where do you stay at noon (Cant. I, 6)? For where does Christ remain, but where the midday of justice shines? And this is taught by the testimony of Sacred Scripture, which says, "He placed his tabernacle in the sun" (Ps. 18:6). Whence also the same Prophet says elsewhere: In thy light we shall see the light (Ps. 35:10). The Son is the Light, the Light and the Father who is seen in the Son; for the Son is the brightness of the glory of the Father, and is the image of his substance (Heb. 1:3).
58 But also, in your light, O virgin, seek Christ in good thoughts and good works, which may shine before your Father who is in heaven. Look out in the nights, find out in your bedroom; for he comes even by night and knocks at your door. He wants you to watch over every moment, he wants to find the door open for you. There is also that door which he wants to open, so that your mouth may be opened and resound with the praise of the Lord, the grace of the Bridegroom, the confession of the cross. When you review the symbol, you sing the psalms in your room. Therefore, when he comes, let him find you watching, that you may be ready. Let your flesh sleep, let faith watch: let the enticements of the body sleep, let the prudence of the heart watch: your members may smell of Christ's cross and the smell of burial; so that no sleep can impart to them the heat, and may stir up no motions. It is the soul itself which opens itself to Christ, which the vapors of the flesh torment no one.
59. When she finds a husband, pass your mind that will follow him leave his room, comes out on his word as it is written, he came into my life with your word (Cant. 5, 6), that is absent from the body, so God be there because, when he is in the body, he sojourns with Christ. Whence also the Apostle says: We dare, therefore, and consent the more to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord. Therefore we endeavor, whether absent or present, to please him. All he must appear before Christ, to receive his body as he did, whether good or bad (1 Cor. 5, 8 et seq.). How quickly he has proved the cause by which the body will rise again! For it is necessary for the flesh to rise again, to obtain the reward of its deeds; that we may receive in the body what we have done in the body.
60. means, the more often he sought to separate, running to get a favor, which will have to be raised, even as we have written to Timothy: Because I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying of my hands (2 Tim. 1:6). But the one who raises up the grace becomes the wound of charity, as she said, "I am the wound of charity, if you raise and stir up charity" (Cant. V,8). We will be able to understand what this is, if we repeat that the arrow is the Lord Jesus, to whom the Father says, I have made you like a chosen arrow (Isa. XLIX,2). And as it is charity itself, they are, of course, the arrows of charity, by which they seek to wound themselves. Finally, they follow him, and being bound with chains; because he binds whom he wounds. Therefore, they are also the bonds of love which is bound Paul, who said a prisoner of Jesus Christ (Philem. 1).
61. Job teaches that there are wounds of charity, by which no one loved Christ more, because he loved even in the tortures of his own body. Whence he said: But the arrows of the Lord are in my body, whose fury drinks my blood; When I begin to speak, they prick me (Job 6:4). There are therefore wounds of charity, and good wounds: in short , the wounds of a friend are better than the voluntary kisses of an enemy (Prov. 27:6). Jeremiah also was burning, and could not bear the fire of charity by which he was inflamed for the duty of prophesying (Jer. 20:9). Finally, they were submerged in a lake (Jer. 38:6). because he announced to the Jews the future destruction, and he could not be silent. Stephen was stoned to death (Acts 7:58 ), and he received those wounds for Christ, as it were, wounds of charity with pious affection. The apostles were beating and congratulating themselves (Acts 5:40). How good is the Lord, for whom injuries are sweet and death is pleasing! And well pleasing, who acquires immortality.
Ecclesiastes apply to virginity the place of clothes ; since interior ornaments are required chiefly among us, and the simplicity of innocence is the riches of the poor. How does the synagogue of the church say: Where do you feed, etc.? let him receive those words of Christ: Unless you know yourself, etc.? Hence it is signified that the divine image resides in our soul, and therefore that the greatest care must be done. Therefore he advises the young man to take pleasure in the innocence of the heart; but virgins, that they avoid the eyes of men by the example of Mary, and turn aside every occasion of fables.
62. At all times, he says, let your clothes be white (Eccles. IX, 8). What is whiter than virginity? Good conjugal chastity and widowhood's chastity: pure chastity, but perhaps not all white, or not white at all times (1 Cor. 7:4,5). Not white, when one has no control over his body, when speech is set aside for a time. Of virginity, therefore, it is beautifully said, "At all times let your garments be white and oil on your head" (Eccles. 9:8). that your torches may always shine, and not be extinguished when that heavenly Bridegroom begins to come (Matt. 25:6 and seq.).
63. But for what reason Ecclesiastes said in your head, we will gather from the proverbs; because the eyes of a man are in his head (Eccles. II, 14), that is, the sense of your wisdom. Perhaps that is why the evangelical woman is praised who wiped the feet of the Lord with her hair (Luke 7:38 and seq.) because she humbled herself by faith; he seemed to care lest, by the wisdom of the flesh, in a loud, rather than the true secrets hidden in the interpreter of Paul, denied of a subject to the Law (Rom. 8: 7), subject to the fact that it befitted Christ.
64. And we can understand this beautifully, even physically, since if in the prophetic writings the daughters of Zion are rebuked, that they would go on high with their necks, with the eyelids, and by the way of their feet, dragging their tunics together, and playing with their feet (Isa. III, 16 and seq.); and therefore the Lord says that he would take away the glory of their clothing and their ornaments, their hair and locks: that woman rightly scattered her hair (Luke 7:38). that evangelical discipline would break the severest of knots. Hence St. Paul, said they are not involved with hair like Peter taught (1 Pet. 3: 3), not with braided hair, gold, pearls, or costly, as Paul claimed that (1 Tim. 2, 9), but rather the inner the ornaments of a man to be sought for by the women; because that man, who is poor in the world, is rich in God.
65. You have heard, sons, who think you are poor. But who is a rich man, when he is in need of many, but he who has no grave sin in conscience? It is a good: for, said he, him that hath no sin in his conscience (Eccl. 13, 30). You have heard, I say, in which you may be wealthy with God; that there may be in you an incorruptible and modest spirit (1 Pet. 3:4). For the good are the riches of innocence and simplicity, to whom sin is not imputed, because in them there is no deceit and cunning; for every simple man does not know how to belittle him, he does not know how to begrudge him: he is content with his own, he does not seek another; even if he needs it, he seems to himself rich, if enough food is available. Finally, a good time of the Apostle Paul and profound, he said, poverty welled up in rich generosity (2 Cor. 8: 2).
66. And because the Church was adorned with fitting ornaments, and the light received from Christ shone; That place may also be taken in this way, because the synagogue says to the church: Where do you feed, where do you stay in the midday? No chance I set upon thy companions (Cant. 1, 6). He desires to be a hireling, who previously claimed dominion over him. How hurtful is unbelief!
67. But because they are unbelieving, merciless, and sacrilegious; Therefore Christ separates it from the flocks of his Church, saying, "Unless you know you, oh beautiful women," (Ibid., 7), that is, first know who you are, and then ask that you come near to my flocks. And it is well said that the synagogue is beautiful among women, not among virgins; because he followed Eve the woman through whom the fall came; but the church is beautiful among virgins, because she is a virgin without wrinkle.
68. He ought, therefore, to know, whether man or woman, that he is in the image and likeness of God; that it may follow the beauty of the soul, not of the body. For where are we? The substance of the soul and the vigor of the mind. This is our whole share. Finally, David says, "I will hope in God, I will not be afraid of what the flesh will do to me" (Psalm 55:5). We are not, therefore, flesh, but spirit. But of the Jews it is said, "My spirit will not remain in them, because they are flesh" (Gen. 6:3). We are not gold, nor money, nor wealth; for she is ours. And therefore Moses says to you: Pay attention to yourself (Deut. 15:9), that is, to your soul; lest you perish, lest you become carnal. Look to yourself, that is, to the image which you received from Christ, to the likeness to which you were made. Observe the image which Christ painted in you in his works, as he himself says to Jerusalem, that is, to the peace-loving soul: Behold, I, Jerusalem, have painted your walls (Isa. XLIX, 16).
69. Pay attention, then, and especially you, son, attend to yourself, so that you may rejoice in your youth; to whom the Scripture says: Rejoice, young man, in your youth (Eccl. XI, 9). No one says your age period. There is, as it were, a flower of life, and the age of good works, of which it is written: Thy youth shall be renewed like an eagle's (Ps. 102:5). The pleasure, you have your heart in your youth, and walk in the ways of your heart without a blemish in sight of thine eyes, not daring of your (Eccl. 11: 9); in the spiritual aspect, not in the daring of the secular. And know that over all these things God will bring you into judgment. The drive from your heart, and put away the evil from your body (Eccles. 12, 14).
70. Take heed to you, virgin, and you, that you may press on in prayer, and your face may become pale by continual supplication. But prepare your soul before prayer (Eccl. 18:23), so that you may not appear to tempt God when you pray; that what you pray, your manners speak, your faith may help, your works commend. Pay attention to what I tell you to every girl. For your pious teacher is not lacking in instruction.
71. Pay attention, I say, to the virgin of the sacred profession, and beware of any irreverent eyes. And if he has passed away for a time, as a traveler, he still opens his mouth, and will drink of all the water nearest to you , to make you drunk (Eccl. XXVI, 14 et seq.). Let no one be your motherless process, who is the anxious guardian of chastity. Development of the church itself is also rarer for adolescents. Consider how great Mary was, and yet nowhere else, unless it is found in the bedroom, when it is asked (Luke I,28). She'll teach you what to follow. He saw an angel in the form of a man, and was astonished at the sight. Whence the angel says to her, "Fear not, Mary." Loneliness teaches shame, and the exercise of chastity is secret.
72. What do you need or can easily get close to? For the foot of a fool is easy to the neighbor's house: but he who is wise is ashamed (Eccl. XXI, 25). From this arise fables, of which you are beautifully admonished to beware, when a wise man says to you: Who will give a guard to my discipline, and a fixed seal upon my lips? lest I fall by them, and my tongue lose me (Eccl. XXII, 33). If the male sex is commanded to be silent in the eyes of the elders (Eccl. 11:8), how unseemly it is for virgins to speak and speak different words!
73. Be quiet so that you can rule over yourself, can you rule over others that you don't listen? A man can sometimes put a bridle on his mouth, and a balance for words: he can not listen. For to speak is in us, to hear depends on the power of another; for we often hear what we do not want.
He joins in new admonitions to the former, that they may avoid the ease of swearing, and prefer the tears of joy: they should abstain from the laughter through which the synagogue has perished;
74. Then let us consider what else Scripture reminds us. We should not take an oath easily (Eccl. 23:9), because many cases occur so that we cannot fulfill what we have sworn. But he who does not swear, certainly does not commit perjury; but he who swears must at some point fall into perjury; because every man is a liar (Psal. 115:11). Do not then swear, lest you begin to commit perjury.
75. It is not even fitting that joy itself should be more free in virgins. And if they have no reason to weep, let them weep for the world, let the fallen sinners weep; for whoever wept over the fall of others will beware of his own people. Let them weep at length even in that contemplation, so that here weeping, there they may receive consolation; lest as the rich man who has made a living here is declared to suffer severe punishments there by the oracle of the Lord, and you hear: "You have received good things in your life" (Luke 16:25 and seq.). How much happier is Lazarus, who here wept and rejoices there: here he was hungry, and there he feasts! If you wish, then, that you also follow good joy, the book of Ecclesiastes shows you what you ought to follow, who says, Come, eat your bread with joy; because your deeds have already pleased God (Eccles. 9:7).
76. Now let us consider what the same Ecclesiastes warned us all about laughing too much. Just as the voice of thorns , he says, is under the pot, so is the laughter of fools (Eccles. 7:7). Of course, when the thorns are burning, they sound, and are quickly burned out; so that there is no effect of heat. Whence also it is said of the Jews, They burned like fire among thorns (Psalm 117:12). For they were burned by their laughter, and burned in the passion of the Lord, when they were joking in the fire of their soul, saying: He trusted in the Lord, let him deliver him; let him save him, because he wills him (Ps. 21:9). And they laughed at him, and smote him on the head with a reed, and because they crowned him with thorns, and offered him vinegar to drink; That laughter kindles the synagogue forever (Mark 15, 17 and seq.). So then is the laughter of fools, who sounds without grace, and burns the pot of their body. Sarah rightly denied that she had laughed (Gen. 18:15), lest by laughing she would seem to have doubted the effect of the heavenly promises; and yet that smile had been full of gravity and shame, which no other witness, except God alone, knew, whom secret things do not deceive.
77. How beautiful and beautiful! Make haste not to be angry in your spirit; because anger rests in the bosom of the fools (Eccl. 7:10), that is, although there is a reason to stir up anger, let not revenge be haste; lest the unbridled heat of fury boils. He cannot, therefore, take away what is a natural movement, but introduces a delay, so that the medicine of counsel may temper his anger. For thus David had already said before: Be angry, and sin not (Psal. IV,5); not because he commanded anger, but because he could not take away that which was of nature; and, as it were, a good physician gave a remedy, so that the anger itself did not injure him.
78. Finally, even if a man had stumbled into his heart, since anger does not know how to maintain moderation; he urges them to be pricked on their beds, and each one condemns his own error. For thus it is written, "What you say in your hearts, and be pricked in your beds" (Ibid.). He wished therefore that all men should be censors of their own faults; so that he who is not held by public testimony should be ashamed of himself as the judge who has fallen in secret, and may restrain himself from the sharpness of bitterness and embarrassment.
He passes to parsimony, by which the body is worn out: he orders a good reputation to be prepared; but above all he requires sobriety in a virgin; To them is opposed the example of St. Sotheris, who did not cultivate her form so much that she willingly offered to defile her face with the butcher's fists. A comparison of him with an Etruscan young man, whom they say had dishonored his face by stigmata.
79. What shall I speak of parsimony, when the wise man says, "Take away from me the lust of the belly, and the sexual desire lest it overtake me" (Eccles. XXIII, 6)? Nor do you dread weakness from fasting and abstinence; for a grave infirmity makes the soul sober.
80. How to teach proverbs of Solomon's good reputation study, saying Preferably name is better than great riches (Prov. 22: 1)? For what is patrimony, unless those goods and operation govern it? Whence holy Job says: The blessing of the dying come upon me, and the widow's mouth bless me. Eye was blind, the lame, invalid father (Joh. 29, 13 et seq.). If I saw a naked man pass by, and I did not clothe him; my hands on his shoulders, and out of the wool of his sheep that have not blessed me, if you will not be poor, yet making calefeci: If I have covered my transgressions, in time past, that they have done or of the will of the imprudent will not: the door is the cause of the poor to come out of my bosom of the void, if at any time I did, (Joh. 31, 19, and following verses).? For to them a good name is prepared.
81. Above all else, however, the pursuit of sobriety excels in a virgin. I mean soberness, not abstinence from wine, but bodily lasciviousness and secular ostentation, by which we are drunk more heavily than wine; for he gives the cup of fall, and the cup of wrath. Whence also the Lord says to Jerusalem: Hear, you that are humbled and drunken, not from wine. Behold, I have received out of your hand the cup of destruction and the cup of wrath (Isai. 51:17). But the Synagogue has emptied this chalice, and the daughters of the Church do not drink. For Jews it is daughters decked out, as the round like a temple (Ps. 143: 12) : You are God's temple and his daughter who does not appear as angels of light, but the truth is that the light from the light. Therefore in you there is no likeness, but truth. While many profess a desire for chastity, they strive for the aids of beauty; so that they may come out with a brighter countenance than the sacred rites of the Lord, to which I reply with that apostolic discourse: What things are you dead with Christ from the elements of this world, why do you decree as yet alive, concerning this world? You shall not touch, he says, you shall not touch, lest you shall taste all things which are for corruption (Col. II, 20 and seq.).
82. But not holy Sotheris, to bring forward the example of a pious parent (for we have our priests, our nobility to be preferred to prefects and consulates; we have, I say, the dignities of the faith, which they know not to perish); but he did not, as I have said, take care of Sotherus' countenance; and, though he was a very handsome face, and a noble virgin of the family of our ancestors, the consulship and prefectures of our parents, he renounced the sacred faith, and refused to obey his orders; so that the tender virgin would give way to pain or to shame. But when she heard this voice, she opened her face, only to be veiled and uncovered by martyrdom. that the sacrifice of martyrdom might be made there, where there is usually an temptation of chastity. for he rejoiced that at the cost of his beauty the danger of his integrity was taken away. But they could indeed write down the countenance of his bruises from the bruises of his wounds, yet they could by no means inscribe the face of his valor and the grace of inward beauty.
83. The old legends say that a young Etruscan, when he burned women into love on account of the admirable beauty of his own mouth, and with stigmas pricked his face, so that he could not love him. I shall see whether his mind was chaste; an affection, however, not innocent, on account of which he himself observed in himself. He, however, only received his wounds, lest he should injure him: these he brought back the scars of his triumphal martyrdom, in order that he might reserve the image of God which he had received.
He admonishes virgins to be kept in themselves in the divine image; so that those who are learned by God himself should not fear the scourge of another language. This is how and to what extent it is not to be feared; and by what reason should one take precautions against one's own tongue? In this place are related examples of Susanna, Joseph, Daniel, and Job.
84. Preserve this image too, daughters, observe the precepts of the divine Scripture; That every bone, he says, may be stopped (Rom. 3:19). It is written: Blessed is the man you discipline, O, and the law will teach him (Ps. 93, 12). The good Lord instructs and teaches, and often argues; but also he whom he argues makes happy; for blessed is the man whom the Lord rebukes (Ps. 93:12). And therefore do not shrink from his reproof, because they belong to charity and grace; for he himself strikes, and because he is a good physician, he heals by his own hands (Deut. 32:39). Seven times he delivers you from distress, but in the seventh, no evil will happen to you. In famine he rescues you from death, but in battle he strips you from the hand of iron ; he hides you from the scourge of the tongue (Job 5:19 and seq.). For if you think no derogatory should be taken, you will not be afraid of the scourges of another language.
85. The words of slanderers are wonderfully expressed by speaking of the scourge of the tongue, whose sound is reflected far and wide. The Apostle Peter, desiring to separate us from him, warns us not to return evil for evil, and curse for railing (1 Pet. 3:9) : but rather, when he is cursed, let us return the grace of blessing. And so he says, "Check your tongue from evil" (Psalm 33:14), like the scourge of the tongue; and do not fear the sound of words, if your conscience is clean. It is good indeed, to give no place, if possible, to motives; but because most men derogate not from vices, but from virtues; let them find fault with what is of praise, let them not find what is error.
86. But what is worse, we are not only scourged by our own language, but also by our own. And these are the more grievous lashes, when we incur sin through much talk. And therefore, O virgin, keep your ways; that you may not offend in your tongue (Psalm 38:2). And speaking of good things is usually a crime against a girl. But what do you wonder about the virgin, when the woman is commanded to learn in silence (1 Tim. II, 11)? Good is the shame which silences entrust.
87. Susanna was in danger, and was silent (Dan. XIII, 35); that he might speak better with silent shame. Finally, modesty finds a defender to defend chastity. Of which it is well said that the Lord hid it from the scourge of the tongue.
88. What do we say about women? The accused Joseph kept silent (Gen. XXXIX, 20), so that he could better defend him with innocence than with tongues. Daniel held his peace wiser than all, and closed the mouths of the lions (Dan. 14, 29 and seq.). Whence St. David says beautifully, "I have set a watch, he says, in my mouth, while the sinner lies against me" (Psalm 38:2).
89. For what do you want to say? You are afraid lest, while you say nothing, objects are believed. But hear the good master saying holy Job: Behold, I laugh at reproaches, and I speak not: I will cry, and there is no judgment (Job 19:7), that is, any detractor casts reproaches You have something to laugh at if your conscience does not recognize the crime. How do you compare words to words? There is not yet a judgment: and if you cry, it draws near. There are due to you many contests in this world.
90. Saint Job had overcome the pain of loss: he had overcome, indeed he had excluded the bitterness of mourning in the loss of his children, he had overcome the roughness of the wounds: bruises of the body are used as tests of a woman, and she did not perceive him. The punishments of his friends are still reserved for him in the final contest. He had struggled with his ancestral affection (Job 1:18), he had wrestled with physical pain and sickness (Job 2:7); it was necessary for him to undergo even the temptations of the words.
From the disadvantages of the world we ought not to judge of any man's merit, since this is the place of battle, and not of the crown. that Paul had asserted that this was reserved to him and to those who love the coming of Christ; but to be numbered with them, that widow, which she had consecrated to God to all the sons whom she had established, offered the sacrifice of her twin widow and virginity of sons. Ambrose crowns them with a very pious prayer.
91. Therefore, when you see a widow suffering from some losses, or from the inconvenience of her children, she is either just by death or by injuries; do not weigh his merits from the disadvantages of this age, or be surprised that he was left by the Lord. Here indeed we struggle, but in another we are crowned. I have spoken not only of myself, but of all men in general. For whence is my merit so great, to whom is indulgence as a crown? Here is wrestling, there is prize: here is warfare, there is pay. Therefore while I am in this world, I still struggle, I still decree, I am still impelled to fall down; but the Lord is powerful, to receive the impulse, to set up the falling, to raise up the nodding. Why are you surprised that someone is working hard? As long as there is in this life, there will not be a struggle, there will be no crown. No one is proven, but he who perseveres to the end; that he who has striven lawfully may afterwards be crowned.
92. Who is stronger than Paul, who is happier? That vessel, however, did not claim the crown of the Lord's election before it could complete the entire contest. And therefore he says, I have fought a good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith: that the rest is laid up for me with the crown of justice (2 Tim. IV, 7, 8); which he says that the coming of the Lord must be rendered not only to him, but also to all who love him. He said beautifully, to those who love the coming of Christ; for no one hastens to judgment, except he who is secure from innocence, or who presumes on labor, to whom either the grace of the Lord, or the pious struggles for Christ's sake, are supported.
93. What prerogative will she have both that widow who has brought up her children well, and will rejoice in her children, and most of all she has given to the Lord all whom she has accepted. Hence also that Evangelical widow is preferred to the rich (Luke 21:3, 4). for not only because he had all that he had, he sent for the livelihood of the poor; but also that which he gave two airs is praised by the Lord's voice, that is, full faith. Finally, for the health of the man, the Samaritan also gave two items of brass to the host, with which to cure his sores wounded by robbers (Luke 10:35). Therefore, because, according to the Old Testament, he imitated the virginity of Mary sister of Aaron (Exod. 15, 20), and according to the new integrity of St. Mary, the mother of the Lord (Matt. 1:23) in the pursuit of his offspring, he will obtain the reward of the faith by divine judgment; she reserved nothing to herself for the support of the age, but devoted the whole gift to her pious offspring to the Lord.
94. Now, O Lord, I beseech you to be above this house, above these altars which are dedicated today, and above these spiritual stones, on which the sensible object is consecrated to you in every temple; daily, O bishop, pay attention to the prayers of your servants, which are laid out in this place, and receive with your divine mercy. Let every sacrifice which is offered in this temple, with pious diligence, be made to you as an odor of holiness. And when you look to that wholesome sacrifice by which the sin of this world is abolished; regard also to these pious sacrifices of chastity, and take care of them by your long-continued help; that it may become acceptable to you as a sweet-smelling sacrifice, pleasing to the Lord Christ, and that you may vouchsafe to keep their spirit, and soul, and body blameless, until the day of our Lord Jesus Christ your son.