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| Examples of the Various Styles, Drawn from the Teachers of the Church, Especially Ambrose and Cyprian.
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Chapter 21.—Examples of the
Various Styles, Drawn from the Teachers of the Church, Especially
Ambrose and Cyprian.
45. But these writings of the
apostles, though clear, are yet profound, and are so written that
one who is not content with a superficial acquaintance, but desires
to know them thoroughly, must not only read and hear them, but must
have an expositor. Let us, then, study these various modes of
speech as they are exemplified in the writings of men who, by
reading the Scriptures, have attained to the knowledge of divine
and saving truth, and have ministered it to the Church. Cyprian
of blessed memory writes in the subdued style in his treatise on
the sacrament of the cup. In this book he resolves the question,
whether the cup of the Lord ought to contain water only, or water
mingled with wine. But we must quote a passage by way of
illustration. After the customary introduction, he proceeds to
the discussion of the point in question. “Observe” he says,
“that we are instructed, in presenting the cup, to maintain the
custom handed down to us from the Lord, and to do nothing that our
Lord has not first done for us: so that the cup which is offered
in remembrance of Him should be mixed with wine. For, as Christ
says, ‘I am the true vine,’1989
it follows that the blood of
Christ is wine, not water; and the cup cannot appear to contain His
blood by which we are redeemed and quickened, if the wine be
absent; for by the wine is the blood of Christ typified, that blood
which is foreshadowed and proclaimed in all the types and
declarations of Scripture. For we find that in the book of
Genesis this very circumstance in regard to the sacrament is
foreshadowed, and our Lord’s sufferings typically set forth, in
the case of Noah, when he drank wine, and was drunken, and was
uncovered within his tent, and his nakedness was exposed by his
second son, and was carefully hidden by his elder and his younger
sons.1990
It is
not necessary to mention the other circumstances in detail, as it
is only necessary to observe this point, that Noah, foreshadowing
the future reality, drank, not water, but wine, and thus showed
forth our Lord’s passion. In the same way we see the sacrament
of the Lord’s supper prefigured in the case of Melchizedek the
priest, according to the testimony of the Holy Scriptures, where it
says: ‘And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and
wine: and he was the priest of the most high God. And he
blessed Abraham.’1991
Now, that Melchizedek was a type
of Christ, the Holy Spirit declares in the Psalms, where the Father
addressing the Son says, ‘Thou art a priest for ever after the
order of Melchizedek.’1992
”1993
| 1993 Ad. Cæcilium, Ep. 63, 1, 2. | In this passage, and in all of
the letter that follows, the subdued style is maintained, as the
reader may easily satisfy himself.
46. St. Ambrose also, though
dealing with a question of very great importance, the equality of
the Holy Spirit with the Father and the
Son, employs the subdued
style, because the object he has in view demands, not beauty of
diction, nor the swaying of the mind by the stir of emotion, but
facts and proofs. Accordingly, in the introduction to his work,
we find the following passage among others: “When Gideon was
startled by the message he had heard from God, that, though
thousands of the people failed, yet through one man God would
deliver His people from their enemies, he brought forth a kid of
the goats, and by direction of the angel laid it with unleavened
cakes upon a rock, and poured the broth over it; and as soon as the
angel of God touched it with the end of the staff that was in his
hand, there rose up fire out of the rock and consumed the
offering.1994
Now this
sign seems to indicate that the rock was a type of the body of
Christ, for it is written, ‘They drank of that spiritual rock
that followed them, and that rock was Christ;’1995
this, of course, referring not to
Christ’s divine nature but to His flesh, whose ever-flowing
fountain of blood has ever satisfied the hearts of His thirsting
people. And so it was at that time declared in a mystery that the
Lord Jesus, when crucified, should abolish in His flesh the sins of
the whole world, and not their guilty acts merely, but the evil
lusts of their hearts. For the kid’s flesh refers to the guilt
of the outward act, the broth to the allurement of lust within, as
it is written, ‘And the mixed multitude that was among them fell
a lusting; and the children of Israel also wept again and again and
said, Who shall give us flesh to eat?’1996
When the angel, then, stretched
out his staff and touched the rock, and fire rose out of it, this
was a sign that our Lord’s flesh, filled with the Spirit of God,
should burn up all the sins of the human race. Whence also the
Lord says ‘I am come to send fire on the earth.’”1997
And in
the same style he pursues the subject, devoting himself chiefly to
proving and enforcing his point.1998
| 1998 De Spiritu
Sancto, lib. i. Prol. |
47. An example of the
temperate style is the celebrated encomium on virginity from
Cyprian: “Now our discourse addresses itself to the virgins,
who, as they are the objects of higher honor, are also the objects
of greater care. These are the flowers on the tree of the Church,
the glory and ornament of spiritual grace, the joy of honor and
praise, a work unbroken and unblemished, the image of God answering
to the holiness of the Lord, the brighter portion of the flock of
Christ. The glorious fruitfulness of their mother the Church
rejoices in them, and in them flourishes more abundantly; and in
proportion as bright virginity adds to her numbers, in the same
proportion does the mother’s joy increase.1999
| 1999 De habitu
Virginum, chap. vii. | And at another place in the end
of the epistle, ‘As we have borne,’ he says, ‘the image of
the earthly, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.’2000
Virginity bears this image, integrity bears it, holiness and truth
bear it; they bear it who are mindful of the chastening of the
Lord, who observe justice and piety, who are strong in faith,
humble in fear, steadfast in the endurance of suffering, meek in
the endurance of injury, ready to pity, of one mind and of one
heart in brotherly peace. And every one of these things ought ye,
holy virgins, to observe, to cherish, and fulfill, who having
hearts at leisure for God and for Christ, and having chosen the
greater and better part, lead and point the way to the Lord, to
whom you have pledged your vows. Ye who are advanced in age,
exercise control over the younger. Ye who are younger, wait upon
the elders, and encourage your equals; stir up one another by
mutual exhortations; provoke one another to glory by emulous
examples of virtue; endure bravely, advance in spirituality, finish
your course with joy; only be mindful of us when your virginity
shall begin to reap its reward of honor.”2001
| 2001 De habitu
Virginum, chap. xviii. |
48. Ambrose also uses the
temperate and ornamented style when he is holding up before virgins
who have made their profession a model for their imitation, and
says: “She was a virgin not in body only, but also in mind; not
mingling the purity of her affection with any dross of hypocrisy;
serious in speech; prudent in disposition; sparing of words;
delighting in study; not placing her confidence in uncertain
riches, but in the prayer of the poor; diligent in labor; reverent
in word; accustomed to look to God, not man, as the guide of her
conscience; injuring no one, wishing well to all; dutiful to her
elders, not envious of her equals; avoiding boastfulness, following
reason, loving virtue. When did she wound her parents even by a
look? When did she quarrel with her neighbors? When did she
spurn the humble, laugh at the weak, or shun the indigent? She is
accustomed to visit only those haunts of men that pity would not
blush for, nor modesty pass by. There is nothing haughty in her
eyes, nothing bold in her words, nothing wanton in her gestures:
her bearing is not voluptuous, nor her gait too free, nor her voice
petulant; so that her outward appearance is an image of her mind,
and a picture of purity. For a good house ought to be known for
such at the very thres
hold, and show at the very
entrance that there is no dark recess within, as the light of a
lamp set inside sheds its radiance on the outside. Why need I
detail her sparingness in food, her superabundance in duty,—the
one falling beneath the demands of nature, the other rising above
its powers? The latter has no intervals of intermission, the
former doubles the days by fasting; and when the desire for
refreshment does arise, it is satisfied with food such as will
support life, but not minister to appetite.”2002
| 2002 De Virginibus, lib. ii. chap. i. | Now I have cited these latter
passages as examples of the temperate style, because their purpose
is not to induce those who have not yet devoted themselves to take
the vows of virginity, but to show of what character those who have
taken vows ought to be. To prevail on any one to take a step of
such a nature and of so great importance, requires that the mind
should be excited and set on fire by the majestic style. Cyprian
the martyr, however, did not write about the duty of taking up the
profession of virginity, but about the dress and deportment of
virgins. Yet that great bishop urges them to their duty even in
these respects by the power of a majestic eloquence.
49. But I shall select examples
of the majestic style from their treatment of a subject which both
of them have touched. Both have denounced the women who color, or
rather discolor, their faces with paint. And the first, in
dealing with this topic, says: “Suppose a painter should depict
in colors that rival nature’s the features and form and
complexion of some man, and that, when the portrait had been
finished with consummate art, another painter should put his hand
over it, as if to improve by his superior skill the painting
already completed; surely the first artist would feel deeply
insulted, and his indignation would be justly roused. Dost thou,
then, think that thou wilt carry off with impunity so audacious an
act of wickedness, such an insult to God the great artificer?
For, granting that thou art not immodest in thy behavior towards
men, and that thou art not polluted in mind by these meretricious
deceits, yet, in corrupting and violating what is God’s, thou
provest thyself worse than an adulteress. The fact that thou
considerest thyself adorned and beautified by such arts is an
impeachment of God’s handiwork, and a violation of truth.
Listen to the warning voice of the apostle: ‘Purge out the old
leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even
Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us: therefore let us keep
the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice
and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and
truth.’2003
Now can
sincerity and truth continue to exist when what is sincere is
polluted, and what is true is changed by meretricious coloring and
the deceptions of quackery into a lie? Thy Lord says, ‘Thou
canst not make one hair white or black;’2004
and dost thou wish to have greater
power so as to bring to nought the words of thy Lord? With rash
and sacrilegious hand thou wouldst fain change the color of thy
hair: I would that, with a prophetic look to the future, thou
shouldst dye it the color of flame.”2005
| 2005 Cyprian, de habitu
Virginum, chap. xii. | It would be too long to quote
all that follows.
50. Ambrose again, inveighing
against such practices, says: “Hence arise these incentives to
vice, that women, in their fear that they may not prove attractive
to men, paint their faces with carefully-chosen colors, and then
from stains on their features go on to stains on their chastity.
What folly it is to change the features of nature into those of
painting, and from fear of incurring their husband’s disapproval,
to proclaim openly that they have incurred their own! For the
woman who desires to alter her natural appearance pronounces
condemnation on herself; and her eager endeavors to please another
prove that she has first been displeasing to herself. And what
testimony to thine ugliness can we find, O woman, that is more
unquestionable than thine own, when thou art afraid to show
thyself? If thou art comely why dost thou hide thy comeliness?
If thou art plain, why dost thou lyingly pretend to be beautiful,
when thou canst not enjoy the pleasure of the lie either in thine
own consciousness or in that of another? For he loves another
woman, thou desirest to please another man; and thou art angry if
he love another, though he is taught adultery in thee. Thou art
the evil promptress of thine own injury. For even the woman who
has been the victim of a pander shrinks from acting the pander’s
part, and though she be vile, it is herself she sins against and
not another. The crime of adultery is almost more tolerable than
thine; for adultery tampers with modesty, but thou with
nature.”2006
| 2006 Ambrose, de Virginibus,
lib. ii. | It is
sufficiently clear, I think, that this eloquence calls passionately
upon women to avoid tampering with their appearance by deceitful
arts, and to cultivate modesty and fear. Accordingly, we notice
that the style is neither subdued nor temperate, but majestic
throughout. Now in these two authors whom
I have
selected as specimens of the rest, and in other ecclesiastical
writers who both speak the truth and speak it well,—speak it,
that is, judiciously, pointedly, and with beauty and power of
expression,—many examples may be found of the three styles of
speech, scattered through their various writings and discourses;
and the diligent student may by assiduous reading, intermingled
with practice on his own part, become thoroughly imbued with them
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