Bad Advertisement?
Are you a Christian?
Online Store:Visit Our Store
| Chapter XVI. 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. St. 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.
PREVIOUS SECTION - NEXT SECTION - HELP 
Chapter XVI.
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. St.
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.
176. 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.”989
177. 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.990
This is the great River which flows
always and never fails. 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.”991
178. 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.
179. And let it not trouble you that either
here it is said “rivers,”992
or elsewhere
“seven Spirits,”993
for by the
sanctification of these seven gifts of the Spirit, as Isaiah
said,994
is signified the fulness of all virtue;
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and
strength, the Spirit of knowledge and godliness, and the Spirit of the
fear of God. 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.
180. 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.”995
This
well is clearly the grace of the Spirit, a stream proceeding from the
living Fount. The Holy Spirit, then, is also the Fount of eternal
life.
181. 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.”996
And who can
doubt that the Son of God is the River of life, from Whom the streams
of eternal life flowed forth?
182. 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. For
Wisdom says: “Drink water out of thine own vessels, and
from the founts of thine own wells, and let thy waters flow abroad in
thy streets.”997
How shall I
keep this water that it flow not forth, that it glide not away?
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 Thou didst teach Thine apostles, saying: “Lay
not up for yourselves treasures upon the earth, where rust and moth
destroy, and where thieves break through and steal.”998
182. 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 thy treasure
is, there will thy heart be also.”
183. 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. The
water is spilt 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 hast Thou made me thus?”999
For though our vessel be but common,
yet one is in honour, another in dishonour.1000
Do not then lay open thy pool, dig not with vices and crimes, lest any
one say: “He hath opened a pool and digged it, and is
fallen into the pit which he made.”1001
184. If you seek Jesus, forsake the broken
cisterns, for Christ was wont to sit not by a pool but by a well.
There that Samaritan woman1002
found Him, she who
believed, she who wished to draw water. 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 thee, because He has long sought thee,
thy
unbelief has long
wearied Him. Yet He is not offended if thou only comest, He asks
to drink Who is about to give. But He drinks not the water of a
stream flowing by, but thy salvation; He drinks thy good dispositions,
He drinks the cup, that is, the Passion which atoned for thy sins, that
thou drinking of His sacred blood mightest quench the thirst of this
world.
185. So Abraham gained God after he had dug
the well.1003
So Isaac,
while walking by the well, received that wife1004
who
was coming to him as a type of the Church. 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.1005
E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
|
