There can be but little doubt that this is the work, and St. Ambrose the author, bitterly attacked by St. Jerome; the whole passage may be read in the Apology of Rufinus, p. Ambrose is compared to a daw decked in another bird's plumage, and charged with writing "bad things in Latin taken from good things in Greek," and St. Jerome even took the trouble to translate a work of St.
Didymus on the Holy Spirit from the preface to which the above extracts are taken , in order that those who did not know Greek might, St. Jerome hoped, recognize the plagiarisms. Rufinus vigorously defends St. Ambrose, and, pointing out many inconsistencies in his opponent, says: Ambrose being a good Greek scholar, and having undertaken to write on the Holy Spirit, studied what others had written before him, and made use of what had been urged by SS. Basil, Didymus, and other. The opinion of the great St.
Augustine concerning this treatise may be set against that of St. Ambrose when treating of the deep subject of the Holy Spirit, and showing that He is equal with the Father and the Son, yet makes use of a simple style of discourse; inasmuch as his subject required no the embellishments of language, but proofs to move the minds of his readers. The Power of Jesus' Last Words: Is My Thought Life a Problem? Association of Biblical Counselors. A Prayer for the Lost Debbie Przybylski. For in the water is the representation of death, in the Spirit is the pledge of life, that the body of sin may die through the water, which encloses the body as it were in a kind of tomb, that we, by the power of the Spirit , may be renewed from the death of sin , being born again in God.
And so these three witnesses are one, as John said: The water, the blood, and the Spirit. The water, then, is a witness of burial, the blood is a witness of death, the Spirit is a witness of life. If, then, there be any grace in the water, it is not from the nature of water, but from the presence of the Holy Spirit.
Do we live in the water or in the Spirit? Are we sealed in the water or in the Spirit.
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For in Him we live and He Himself is the earnest of our inheritance, as the Apostle says, writing to the Ephesians: In Whom believing you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, Who is an earnest of our inheritance. He Who anointed us is God , Who also sealed us, and gave the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts. We were then sealed with the Spirit by God. For as we die in Christ , in order to be born again, so, too, we are sealed with the Spirit , that we may possess His brightness and image and grace , which is undoubtedly our spiritual seal.
For although we were visibly sealed in our bodies, we are in truth sealed in our hearts, that the Holy Spirit may portray in us the likeness of the heavenly image. Who, then, can dare to say that the Holy Spirit is separated from the Father and the Son , since through Him we attain to the image and likeness of God , and through Him, as the Apostle Peter says, are partakers of the divine nature?
In which there is certainly not the inheritance of carnal succession, but the spiritual connection of the grace of adoption. And in order that we may know that this seal is rather on our hearts than on our bodies, the prophet says: The light of Your countenance has been impressed upon us, O Lord, You have put gladness in my heart. The Holy Spirit is not a creature, seeing that He is infinite , and was shed upon the apostles dispersed through all countries, and moreover sanctifies the Angels also, to whom He makes us equal.
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Mary was full of the same likewise, so too, Christ the Lord, and so far all things high and low. And all benediction has its origin from His operation, as was signified in the moving of the water at Bethesda. Since then, every creature is confined within certain limits of its own nature, and inasmuch as those invisible operations, which cannot be circumscribed by place and bounds, yet are closed in by the property of their own substance; how can any one dare to call the Holy Spirit a creature, Who has not a limited and circumscribed power?
Because He is always in all things and everywhere, which assuredly is the property of Divinity and Lordship, for: The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. And so, when the Lord appointed His servants the apostles , that we might recognize that the creature was one thing and the grace of the Spirit another, He appointed them to different places, because all could not be everywhere at once. But He gave the Holy Spirit to all, to shed upon the apostles though separated the gift of indivisible grace. The persons , then, were different, but the accomplishment of the working was in all one, because the Holy Spirit is one of Whom it is said: You shall receive power, even the Holy Spirit coming upon you, and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria , and unto the ends of the earth.
The Holy Spirit , then, is uncircumscribed and infinite , Who infused Himself into the minds of the disciples throughout the separate divisions of distant regions, and the remote bounds of the whole world, Whom nothing is able to escape or to deceive. And therefore holy David says: Of what Angel does the Scripture say this?
Of what Angel do we find the power diffused over many? For Angels were sent to few, but the Holy Spirit was poured upon whole peoples. Who, then, can doubt that that is divine which is shed upon many at once and is not seen; but that that is corporeal which is seen and held by individuals? But in like manner as the Spirit sanctifying the apostles is not a partaker of human nature ; so, too, He sanctifying Angels, Dominions, and Powers, has no partnership with creatures.
But if any think that the holiness of the Angels is not spiritual, but some other kind of grace belonging to the property of their nature, they will forsooth judge Angels to be inferior to men. For since themselves also confess that they would not dare to compare Angels to the Holy Spirit , and they cannot deny that the Holy Spirit is shed upon men; but the sanctification of the Spirit is a divine gift and favour, men who possess a better kind of sanctification will certainly be found to be preferred to the Angels.
But since Angels come down to men to assist them, it must be understood that the nature of Angels is higher as it receives more of the grace of the Spirit , and that the favour awarded to us and to them comes from the same author. But how great is that grace which makes even the lower nature of the lot of men equal to the gifts received by Angels, as the Lord Himself promised, saying: You shall be as the Angels in heaven.
Nor is it difficult, for He Who made those Angels in the Spirit will by the same grace make men also equal to the Angels. But of what creature can it be said that it fills all things, as is written of the Holy Spirit: I will pour My Spirit upon all flesh. Lastly, Gabriel himself, when sent to Mary, said: For it is of the Lord to fill all things, Who says: I fill heaven and earth. But Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit , departed from Jordan.
But lest they should object that this was said according to the flesh, though He alone from Whose flesh went forth virtue to heal all, was more than all; yet, as the Lord fills all things, so, too, we read of the Spirit: For the Spirit of the Lord filled the whole world. The Holy Spirit shall come on you. You read, too, in the Gospel that the Angel descended at the appointed time into the pool and troubled the water, and he who first went down into the pool was made whole. That Angel, then, was a herald of the Holy Spirit , inasmuch as by means of the grace of the Spirit medicine was to be applied to our infirmities of soul and mind.
The Spirit, then, has the same ministers as God the Father and Christ. He fills all things, possesses all things, works all and in all in the same manner as God the Father and the Son work. What, then, is more divine than the working of the Holy Spirit , since God Himself testifies that the Holy Spirit presides over His blessings, saying: I will put My Spirit upon your seed and My blessings upon your children. Wherefore, too, the Apostle found nothing better to wish us than this, as He himself said: We cease not to pray and make request for you that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will , in all wisdom and spiritual understanding walking worthily of God.
Therefore if he who has the Holy Spirit is filled with the will of God , there is certainly no difference of will between the Father and the Son. The Holy Spirit is given by God alone, yet not wholly to each person, since there is no one besides Christ capable of receiving Him wholly.
Charity is shed abroad by the Holy Spirit , Who, prefigured by the mystical ointment, is shown to have nothing common with creatures; and He, inasmuch as He is said to proceed from the mouth of God , must not be classed with creatures, nor with things divisible, seeing He is eternal. Observe at the same time that God gives the Holy Spirit. For this is no work of man , nor gift of man; but He Who is invoked by the priest is given by God , wherein is the gift of God and the ministry of the priest. So the Apostle uttered this wish in prayer , and did not claim a right by any authority of his own; he desired to obtain, he did not presume to command.
Peter, too, says that he is not capable of compelling or restraining the Holy Spirit. For he spoke thus: Wherefore if God has granted them the same grace as to us, who was I that I could resist God? But perchance they would not be moved by the example of apostles , and so let us use divine utterances; for it is written: Who, then, can dare to say that the substance of the Holy Spirit is created, at Whose shining in our hearts we behold the beauty of divine truth , and the distance between the creature and the Godhead, that the work may be distinguished from its Author?
Or of what creature has God so spoken as to say: I will pour out of My Spirit? There was therefore a pouring out upon us of the Spirit , but upon the Lord Jesus , when He was in the form of man , the Spirit abode, as it is written: He shed forth then what He deemed to be sufficient for us, and what was shed forth is not separated nor divided; but He has a unity of fullness wherewith He may enlighten the sight of our hearts according to what our strength is capable of. Lastly, we receive so much as the advancing of our mind acquires, for the fullness of the grace of the Spirit is indivisible, but is shared in by us according to the capacity of our own nature.
God , then, sheds forth of the Spirit , and the love of God is also shed abroad through the Spirit ; in which point we ought to recognize the unity of the operation and of the grace. In like manner that you may believe that that which is shed abroad cannot be common to the creatures but peculiar to the Godhead, the name of the Son is also poured forth, as you read: Your Name is as ointment poured forth. For as ointment closed up in a vase keeps in its perfume, so long as it is confined in the narrow space of that vase, though it cannot reach many, it yet preserves its strength.
But when the ointment has been poured out of that vase wherein it was enclosed, it spreads far and wide; so, too, the Name of Christ before His coming among the people of Israel was enclosed in the minds of the Jews as in some vase. For God is known in Judah, His Name is great in Israel ; that is, the Name which the vases of the Jews held confined in their narrow limits. Even then that Name was indeed great, when it remained in the narrow limits of the weak and few, but it had not yet poured forth its greatness throughout the hearts of the Gentiles , and to the ends of the whole world.
But after that He by His coming had shone throughout the whole world, He spread abroad that divine Name of His throughout all creatures, not filled up by any addition for fullness admits not of increase , but filling up the empty spaces, that His Name might be wonderful in all the world. The pouring forth, then, of His Name signifies a kind of abundant exuberance of graces and copiousness of heavenly goods, for whatever is poured forth flows over from abundance.
So as wisdom which proceeds from the mouth of God cannot be said to be created, nor the Word Which is uttered from His heart, nor the power in which is the fullness of the eternal Majesty; so, too, the Spirit which is poured forth from the mouth of God cannot be considered to be created, since God Himself has shown their unity to be such that He speaks of His pouring forth of His Spirit. By which we understand that the grace of God the Father is the same as that of the Holy Spirit , and that without any division or loss it is divided to the hearts of each.
That, then, which is shed abroad of the Holy Spirit is neither severed, nor comprehended in any corporeal parts, nor divided. For how can it be credible that the Spirit should be divided by any parcelling out? John says of God: Hereby know we that He abides in us by the Spirit which He has given us. And so the Holy Spirit is eternal , but the creature is liable to fault, and therefore subject to change. But that which is subject to change cannot be eternal , and there cannot therefore be anything in common between the Spirit and the creature, because the Spirit is eternal , but every creature is temporal.
But the Apostle also shows that the Holy Spirit is eternal , for: If the blood of bulls and of goats, and the sprinkling the ashes of an heifer sanctifies to the purifying of the flesh, how much more the blood of Christ , Who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God? The Holy Spirit is rightly called the ointment of Christ , and the oil of gladness ; and why Christ Himself is not the ointment, since He was anointed with the Holy Spirit. It is not strange that the Spirit should be called Ointment, since the Father and the Son are also called Spirit.
And there is no confusion between them, since Christ alone suffered death, Whose saving cross is then spoken of. Now many have thought that the Holy Spirit is the ointment of Christ. And well it is said ointment, because He is called the oil of gladness , the joining together of many graces giving a sweet fragrance. But God the Almighty Father anointed Him the Prince of priests , Who was, not like others anointed in a type under the Law, but was both according to the Law anointed in the body, and in truth was full with the virtue of the Holy Spirit from the Father above the Law.
This is the oil of gladness , of which the prophet says: God , even Your God , has anointed You with the oil of gladness above Your fellows. Lastly, Peter says that Jesus was anointed with the Spirit , as you read: You know that word which went through all Judea beginning from Galilee after the baptism which John preached, even Jesus of Nazareth , how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit. And well did he say oil of gladness , lest you should think Him a creature; for it is the nature of this sort of oil that it will by no means mingle with moisture of another kind.
On the Holy Spirit (Book I)
Gladness, too, does not anoint the body, but brightens the inmost heart, as the prophet said: You have put gladness in my heart. So as he loses his pains who wishes to mix oil with moister matter, because since the nature of oil is lighter than others, when the others settle, it rises and is separated.
How do those wretched pedlars think that the oil of gladness can by their tricks be mingled with other creatures, since of a truth corporeal things cannot be mingled with in corporeal, nor things created with uncreated? And well is that called oil of gladness wherewith Christ was anointed; for neither was usual nor common oil to be sought for Him, wherewith either wounds are dressed or heat assuaged; since the salvation of the world did not seek alleviation for His wounds, nor the eternal might of His wearied Body demand refreshment.
Nor is it wonderful if He have the oil of gladness , Who made those about to die rejoice , put off sadness from the world, destroyed the odour of sorrowful death. And so the Apostle says: But when the Son of God Himself says: Therefore the Spirit is the ointment of Christ. Or since the Name of Jesus is as ointment poured out, if they wish to understand Christ Himself, and not the Spirit of Christ to be expressed under the name of ointment, certainly when the Apostle Peter says that the Lord Jesus was anointed with the Holy Spirit , it is without doubt plain that the Spirit also is called ointment.
But what wonder, since both the Father and the Son are said to be Spirit. Of which we shall speak more fully when we begin to speak of the Unity of the Name. The Spirit before our face, Christ the Lord. So, then, both the Father is Spirit and Christ is Spirit, for that which is not a created body is spirit, but the Holy Spirit is not commingled with the Father and the Son , but is distinct from the Father and from the Son.
For the Holy Spirit did not die, Who could not die because He had not taken flesh upon Him, and the eternal Godhead was incapable of dying, but Christ died according to the flesh. For of a truth He died in that which He took of the Virgin, not in that which He had of the Father , for Christ died in that nature in which He was crucified. But the Holy Spirit could not be crucified, Who had not flesh and bones, but the Son of God was crucified, Who took flesh and bones, that on that cross the temptations of our flesh might die.
For He took on Him that which He was not that He might hide that which He was; He hid that which He was that He might be tempted in it, and that which He was not might be redeemed, in order that He might call us by means of that which He was not to that which He was. O the divine mystery of that cross, on which weakness hangs, might is free, vices are nailed, and triumphal trophies raised.
So that a certain saint said: Pierce my flesh with nails for fear of You; he says not with nails of iron, but of fear and faith. For the bonds of virtue are stronger than those of punishment. Lastly, his faith bound Peter, when he had followed the Lord as far as the hall of the high priest , whom no one had bound, and punishment loosened not him, whom faith bound.
Again, when he was bound by the Jews , prayer loosed him, punishment did not hold him, because he had not gone back from Christ. Therefore do you also crucify sin , that you may die to sin ; he who dies to sin lives to God ; do you live to Him Who spared not His own Son, that in His body He might crucify our passions.
For Christ died for us, that we might live in His revived Body. Therefore not our life but our guilt died in Him, Who, it is said, bare our sins in His own Body on the tree; that being set free from our sins we might live in righteousness, by the wound of Whose stripes we are healed. That wood of the cross is, then, as it were a kind of ship of our salvation , our passage, not a punishment, for there is no other salvation but the passage of eternal salvation. Whilst expecting death I do not feel it; while thinking little of punishment I do not suffer; while careless of fear I know it not.
Introduction
Who, then, is He by the wound of Whose stripes we are healed but Christ the Lord? Who knew no sin , but was made sin for us. For what wonder would it be if the Godhead alone sinned not, seeing It had no incentives to sin? But if God alone is free from sin , certainly every creature by its own nature can be, as we have said, liable to sin.
Tell me, then, whoever you are who deny the Godhead of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit could not be liable to sin , Who rather forgives sin. Does an Angel forgive? Certainly not, but the Father alone, the Son alone, and the Holy Spirit alone. Now no one is unable to avoid that which he has power to forgive. But perhaps some one will say that the Seraph said to Isaiah: Behold, this has touched your lips, and shall take away your iniquities, and purge away your sins. For what else can we piously understand to be on the altar of God but the grace of the Spirit?
Certainly not the wood of the forests, nor the soot and coals. Or what is so in accordance with piety as to understand according to the mystery that it was revealed by the mouth of Isaiah that all men should be cleansed by the passion of Christ , Who as a coal according to the flesh burnt up our sins , as you read in Zechariah: Is not this a brand cast forth from the fire? And that was Joshua clothed in filthy garments. Lastly, that we may know that this mystery of the common redemption was most clearly revealed by the prophets , you have also in this place: Lo, it has taken away your sins ; not that Christ put aside His sins Who did no sin , but that in the flesh of Christ the whole human race should be loosed from their sins.
But even if the Seraph had taken away sin , it would have been as one of the ministers of God appointed to this mystery. For thus said Isaiah: For one of the Seraphim was sent to me. The Spirit is sent to all, and passes not from place to place, for He is not limited either by time or space. He comes also after the same manner as the Father Himself, from Whom He can by no means be separated. The Spirit, also, is indeed said to be sent, but the Seraph to one, the Spirit to all.
The Seraph is sent to minister, the Spirit works a mystery. The Seraph performs what is commanded, the Spirit divides as He wills. The Seraph passes from place to place, for he does not fill all things, but is himself filled by the Spirit. The Seraph comes down with a certain mode of passage according to his nature, but we cannot think this of the Spirit , of Whom the Son of God says: For if the Spirit proceeds from a place and passes to a place, both the Father Himself will be found in a place, and the Son likewise.
If He goes forth from a place, Whom the Father or the Son sends, certainly the Spirit passing from a place, and making progress, seems to leave, according to those impious interpretations, both the Father and the Son like some material body. I am saying this with reference to those who say that the Spirit comes down by movement.
But neither the Father , Who is above all not only of corporeal nature, but also of the invisible creation, is circumscribed in any place; nor is the Son , Who, as the Worker of all creation, is above every creature, enclosed by the places or times of His own works; nor is the Spirit of Truth as being the Spirit of God , circumscribed by any corporeal limits, Who since He is incorporeal is far above the whole rational creation through the ineffable fullness of His Godhead, having over all things the power of breathing where He wills, and of inspiring as He wills. The Spirit is not, then, sent as it were from a place, nor does He proceed as from a place, when He proceeds from the Son , as the Son Himself, when He says, I came forth from the Father , and have come into the world, destroys all fancies, which can be reckoned as from place to place.
In like manner, also, when we read that God is within or without, we certainly do not either enclose God within anybody or separate Him from anybody, but weighing these things in a deep and ineffable estimation, we comprehend the hiddenness of the divine nature. I am in the Father and the Father is in Me. But neither when He goes forth from the Father does He retire from a place, nor is He separated as a body from a body; nor when He is in the Father is He as if a body enclosed as it were in a body.
Which is certainly both a proof of His eternity , and expresses the Unity of this Godhead. He exists then, and abides always, Who is the Spirit of His mouth, but He seems to come down when we receive Him, that He may dwell in us, that we may not be alien from His grace. To us He seems to come down, not that He does come down, but that our mind ascends to Him. Of which we would speak more fully did we not remember that in the former treatise there was set forth that the Father said: The Spirit, then, so comes as does the Father , for where the Father is there is also the Son , and where the Son is there is the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit , therefore, is not to be supposed to come separately. But He comes not from place to place, but from the disposition of the order to the safety of redemption , from the grace of giving life to that of sanctification, to translate us from earth to heaven, from wretchedness to glory , from slavery to a kingdom. The Spirit comes, then, as the Father comes.
But who can separate the Spirit from the Father and the Son , since we cannot even name the Father and the Son without the Spirit? For no one says Lord Jesus, except in the Holy Spirit? But if the Angels also proclaim Jesus to be Lord, Whom no one can proclaim except in the Spirit , then in them also the office of the Holy Spirit operates. We have proved , then, that the presence and the grace of the Father , the Son , and the Holy Spirit are one, which is so heavenly and divine that the Son gives thanks therefore to the Father , saying, I give thanks to You, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent , and hast revealed them unto babes.
The peace and grace of the Father , the Son , and the Holy Spirit are one, so also is Their charity one, which showed itself chiefly in the redemption of man. Their communion with man is also one. Therefore since the calling is one, the grace is also one. Lastly, it is written: But the fruit of the Spirit is love , joy , peace, patience. Repent and be baptized every one of you in the Name of the Lord Jesus Christ for the remission of sins , and you shall receive the grace of the Holy Spirit.
For how can there be grace without the Spirit , since all divine grace is in the Spirit? Nor do we read only of the peace and grace of the Father , the Son , and the Holy Spirit , but also, faithful Emperor, of the love and communion. For of love it has been said: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ , and the love of God.
The same love which is the Father's is also the Son's. For He Himself said: He that loves Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him. God so loved the world, that He gave His Only-begotten Son. So, then, the Father gave the Son , and the Son gave Himself. Love is preserved and due affection is not wronged, for affection is not wronged where there is no distress in the giving up. If you enquire into the merit of the deed, enquire into the description of the affection.
The vessel of election shows plainly the unity of this divine love , because both the Father gave the Son and the Son gave Himself. Who gave Himself for me. If it be of grace , what do I find fault with. If it be that He suffered wrong, I owe the more. Then was Jesus led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. So, too, the loving Spirit gave the Son of God. For as the love of the Father and the Son is one, so, too, we have shown that this love of God is shed abroad by the Holy Spirit , and is the fruit of the Holy Spirit , because the fruit of the Spirit is love , joy , peace, patience.
And that there is communion between the Father and the Son is plain, for it is written: The communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. For, if so, how could the grace of the same working agree? Who, then, would dare to deny the oneness of Name, when he sees the oneness of the working. But why should I maintain the unity of the Name by arguments, when there is the plain testimony of the Divine Voice that the Name of the Father , the Son , and the Holy Spirit is one?
So, then, the Name of the Father is not one, that of the Son another, and that of the Holy Spirit another, for God is one; the Names are not more than one, for there are not two Gods, or three Gods. I have come in My Father's Name, and you did not receive Me, if another shall come in his own name you will receive him. And Scripture makes clear that that which is the Father's Name, the same is also that of the Son , for the Lord said in Exodus: The Lord, then, is the Name of the Father and of the Son. For there is no other Name given under heaven wherein we must be saved.
At the same time He showed that the oneness of the Divine Name must be taught, not the difference, since Christ came in the oneness of the Name, but Antichrist will come in his own name, as it is written: I have come in My Father's Name, and you did not receive Me, if another shall come in his own name, you will receive him. We are, then, clearly taught by these passages that there is no difference of Name in the Father , the Son , and the Holy Spirit ; and that that which is the Name of the Father is also the Name of the Son , and likewise that which is the Name of the Son is also that of the Holy Spirit , when the Son also is called Paraclete, as is the Holy Spirit.
And therefore does the Lord Jesus say in the Gospel: For as the Lord says in this place that the Spirit will be forever with the faithful , so, too, does He elsewhere show that He will Himself be forever with the apostles , saying: Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world. But as we show that the Son is called the Paraclete, so, too, do we show that the Spirit is called the Truth.
Christ is the Truth, the Spirit is the Truth, for you find in John's epistle: For the Spirit is Truth. I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Each Person of the Trinity is said in the sacred writings to be Light. The Spirit is designated Fire by Isaiah , a figure of which Fire was seen in the bush by Moses , in the tongues of fire, and in Gideon's pitchers. And the Godhead of the same Spirit cannot be denied, since His operation is the same as that of the Father and of the Son , and He is also called the light and fire of the Lord's countenance.
But why should I argue that as the Father is light, so, too, the Son is light, and the Holy Spirit is light? Which certainly pertains to the power of God.
For God is Light, as John said: For God is Light, and in Him is no darkness. But the Son , too, is Light, because the Life was the Light of men. He was not light, but [was sent] to be a witness of the Light. That was the true Light, which lights every man that comes into this world. And you find elsewhere that the Son of God is Light: The people that sat in darkness and in the shadow of death have seen a great light. As the Lord Himself shows, saying: Virtue went out from Him.
For of Whom but of the Father is the Son the Brightness, Who both is always with the Father , and always shines, not with unlike but with the same radiance. And the light of Israel shall be for a fire. For our God is a consuming Fire, as Moses said. For he himself saw the fire in the bush, and had heard God when the voice from the flame of fire came to him saying: For the bush was burning but was not consumed, because in that mystery the Lord was showing that He would come to illuminate the thorns of our body, and not to consume those who were in misery, but to alleviate their misery; Who would baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire, that He might give grace and destroy sin.
In the Acts of the Apostles, also, when the Holy Spirit had descended upon the faithful , the appearance of fire was seen, for you read thus: And suddenly there was a sound from heaven, as though the Spirit were borne with great vehemence, and it filled all the house where they were sitting, and there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire.
For the same reason was it that when Gideon was about to overcome the Midianites, he commanded three hundred men to take pitchers, and to hold lighted torches inside the pitchers, and trumpets in their right hands. Our predecessors have preserved the explanation received from the apostles , that the pitchers are our bodies, fashioned of clay, which know not fear if they burn with the fervour of the grace of the Spirit , and bear witness to the passion of the Lord Jesus with a loud confession of the Voice. Who, then, can doubt of the Godhead of the Holy Spirit , since where the grace of the Spirit is, there the manifestation of the Godhead appears.
By which evidence we infer not a diversity but the unity of the divine power. For how can there be a severance of power, where the effect of the working in all is one? What, then, is that fire? Not certainly one made up of common twigs, or roaring with the burning of the reeds of the woods, but that fire which improves good deeds like gold, and consumes sins like stubble. This is undoubtedly the Holy Spirit , Who is called both the fire and light of the countenance of God ; light as we said above: The light of Your countenance has been sealed upon us, O Lord.
What is, then, the light that is sealed, but that of the seal of the Spirit , believing in Whom, you were sealed, he says, with the Holy Spirit of promise. And as there is a light of the divine countenance, so, too, does fire shine forth from the countenance of God , for it is written: A fire shall burn in His sight. For the grace of the day of judgment shines beforehand, that forgiveness may follow to reward the service of the saints.
O the great fullness of the Scriptures , which no one can comprehend with human genius! O greatest proof of the Divine Unity! For how many things are pointed out in these two verses! That which was from the beginning, that which we have heard, and which we have seen, and have beheld with our eyes, and our hands have handled concerning the Word of Life; and the Life appeared, and we saw and testify, and declare to you of that Life which was with the Father. For what is the Word of Life but the Word of God?
And by this phrase both God and the Word of God are shown to be Life. And as it is said the Word of Life, so, too, the Spirit of Life. Many, however, consider that in this passage the Father only is signified by the Fount. Let them, however, notice what the Scripture relates: With You is the Well of Life.
But whether in this place one understands the Fount to be the Father or the Son , we certainly do not understand a fount of that water which is created, but the Fount of that divine grace , that is, of the Holy Spirit , for He is the living water. Wherefore the Lord said: If you know the gift of God , and Who He is that says to you, Give me to drink, you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water. This was the water for which the soul of David thirsted. The hart desires the fountain of these waters, not thirsting for the poison of serpents. For the water of the grace of the Spirit is living, that it may purify the inner parts of the mind , and wash away every sin of the soul , and purify the transgression of hidden faults.
The Holy Spirit is that large river by which the mystical Jerusalem is watered. It is equal to its Fount, that is, the Father and the Son , as is signified in holy Scripture. Ambrose himself thirsts for that water, and warns us that in order to preserve it within us, we must avoid the devil , lust , and heresy , since our vessels are frail, and that broken cisterns must be forsaken, that after the example of the Samaritan woman and of the patriarchs we may find the water of the Lord.
But lest perchance any one should speak against as it were the littleness of the Spirit , and from this should endeavour to establish a difference in greatness, arguing that water seems to be but a small part of a Fount, although examples taken from creatures seem by no means suitable for application to the Godhead; yet lest they should judge anything injuriously from this comparison taken from creatures, let them learn that not only is the Holy Spirit called Water, but also a River, as we read: From his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
But this He said of the Spirit , Whom they were beginning to receive, who were about to believe in Him. So, then, the Holy Spirit is the River, and the abundant River, which according to the Hebrews flowed from Jesus in the lands, as we have received it prophesied by the mouth of Isaiah. And not only a river, but also one of copious stream and overflowing greatness, as also David said: The stream of the river makes glad the city of God. For neither is that city, the heavenly Jerusalem, watered by the channel of any earthly river, but that Holy Spirit , proceeding from the Fount of Life, by a short draught of Whom we are satiated, seems to flow more abundantly among those celestial Thrones, Dominions and Powers, Angels and Archangels, rushing in the full course of the seven virtues of the Spirit.
For if a river rising above its banks overflows, how much more does the Spirit , rising above every creature, when He touches the as it were low-lying fields of our minds, make glad that heavenly nature of the creatures with the larger fertility of His sanctification. One, then, is the River, but many the channels of the gifts of the Spirit. This River, then, goes forth from the Fount of Life.
And here, again, you must not turn aside your thoughts to lower things, because there seems to be some difference between a Fount and a River, and yet the divine Scripture has provided that the weakness of human understanding should not be injured by the lowliness of the language.
Set before yourself any river, it springs from its fount, but is of one nature, of one brightness and beauty. And do you assert rightly that the Holy Spirit is of one substance, brightness, and glory with the Son of God and with God the Father. I will sum up all in the oneness of the qualities, and shall not be afraid of any question as to difference of greatness.
For in this point also Scripture has provided for us; for the Son of God says: He that shall drink of the water which I will give him, it shall become in him a well of water springing up unto everlasting life. The Holy Spirit , then, is also the Fount of eternal life. You observe, then, from His words that the unity of the divine greatness is pointed out, and that Christ cannot be denied to be a Fount even by heretics , since the Spirit , too, is called a Fount.
And as the Spirit is called a river, so, too, the Father said: Behold, I come down upon you like a river of peace, and like a stream overflowing the glory of the Gentiles. Good, then, is this water, even the grace of the Spirit. Who will give this Fount to my breast? Let it spring up in me, let that which gives eternal life flow upon me.
Let that Fount overflow upon us, and not flow away. Drink water out of your own vessels, and from the founts of your own wells, and let your waters flow abroad in your streets. How shall I preserve my vessel, lest any crack of sin penetrating it, should let the water of eternal life exude? Teach us, Lord Jesus, teach us as You taught Your apostles , saying: Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the earth, where rust and moth destroy, and where thieves break through and steal.
For He intimates that the thief is the unclean spirit, who cannot find entrance into those who walk in the light of good works, but if he has caught any one in the darkness of earthly desires, and in the midst of the enjoyment of earthly pleasures, he spoils them of all the flower of eternal virtue. And therefore the Lord says: Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither rust nor moth destroy, and where thieves do not break through and steal.
For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Our rust is wantonness, our rust is lust , our rust is luxury, which dim the keen vision of the mind with the filth of vices. Again, our moth is Arius , our moth is Photinus, who rend the holy vesture of the Church with their impiety, and desiring to separate the indivisible unity of the divine power, gnaw the precious veil of faith with sacrilegious tooth.
St. Ambrose: Procession of the Holy Spirit
The water is spilled if Arius has imprinted his tooth, it flows away if Photinus has planted his sting in any one's vessel. We are but of common clay, we quickly feel vices. But no one says to the potter, Why have You made me thus? He has opened a pool and dug it, and is fallen into the pit which he made. If you seek Jesus, forsake the broken cisterns, for Christ was wont to sit not by a pool but by a well. Although you ought to have come in early morning, nevertheless if you come later, even at the sixth hour, you will find Jesus wearied with His journey. He is weary, but it is through you, because He has long sought you, your unbelief has long wearied Him.
Yet He is not offended if you only come, He asks to drink Who is about to give. But He drinks not the water of a stream flowing by, but your salvation ; He drinks your good dispositions, He drinks the cup, that is, the Passion which atoned for your sins , that you drinking of His sacred blood might quench the thirst of this world. So Abraham gained God after he had dug the well. Faithful he was at the well, unfaithful at the pool. Lastly, too, Rebecca, as we read, found him who sought her at the well, and the harlots washed themselves in the blood in the pool of Jezebel.
Edited by Philip Schaff and Henry Wace. Christian Literature Publishing Co. Revised and edited for New Advent by Kevin Knight.