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| Prologue.
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Prologue.
The author praises Gratian’s zeal for instruction
in the Faith, and speaks lowly of his own merits. Taught of God
Himself, the Emperor stands in no need of human instruction; yet this
his devoutness prepares the way to victory. The task appointed to
the author is difficult: in the accomplishment whereof he will be
guided not so much by reason and argument as by authority, especially
that of the Nicene Council.
1. The Queen of the
South, as we read in the Book of the Kings, came to hear the wisdom of
Solomon.1661
Likewise
King Hiram sent to Solomon that he might prove him.1662
So also your sacred Majesty,
following these examples of old time, has decreed to hear my confession
of faith. But I am no Solomon, that you should wonder at my
wisdom, and your Majesty is not the sovereign of a single people; it is
the Augustus, ruler of the whole world, that has commanded the setting
forth of the Faith in a book, not for your instruction, but for your
approval.
2. For why, august Emperor, should your
Majesty learn that Faith which, from your earliest childhood, you have
ever devoutly and lovingly kept? “Before I formed thee in
thy mother’s belly I knew thee,” saith the Scripture,
“and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified
thee.”1663
Sanctification, therefore, cometh not of tradition, but of inspiration;
therefore keep watch over the gifts of God. For that which no man
hath taught you, God hath surely given and inspired.
3. Your sacred Majesty, being about to go
forth to war, requires of me a book, expounding the Faith, since your
Majesty knows that victories are gained more by faith in the commander,
than by valour in the soldiers. For Abraham led into battle three
hundred and eighteen men,1664
and brought home
the spoils of countless foes; and having, by the power of that which
was the sign of our Lord’s Cross and Name,1665
| 1665 The original form of
the Cross was that of the letter T. The numerical value of the
sign T (Tau), in Greek arithmetic was 300. Eighteen was
represented by ιη, the
first two letters of the name ᾽Ιησοὐς, Jesus. To
St. Ambrose, therefore, it seemed that there was some mysterious power
in the number 318, represented by the sign of the Cross and the first
two letters of the Saviour’s name, thus—TIH. | overcome the might of five kings and
conquering hosts, he both avenged his neighbour and gained victory and
the ransom of his brother’s son. So also Joshua the son of
Nun, when he could not prevail against the enemy with the might of all
his army,1666
overcame by
sound of seven sacred trumpets, in the place where he saw and knew the
Captain of the heavenly host.1667
For
victory, then, your Majesty makes ready, being Christ’s loyal
servant and defender of the Faith, which you would have me set forth in
writing.
4. Truly, I would rather take upon me the
duty of exhortation to keep the Faith, than that of disputing thereon;
for the former means devout confession, whereas the latter is liable to
rash presumption. Howbeit, forasmuch as your Majesty has no need
of exhortation, whilst I may not pray to be excused from the duty of
loyalty, I will take in hand a bold enterprise, yet modestly withal,
not so much reasoning and disputing concerning the Faith as gathering
together a multitude of witness.1668
5. Of the Acts of Councils, I shall let that
one be my chief guide which three hundred and eighteen priests,
appointed, as it were, after the judgment of Abraham,1669
| 1669 See the note
2 on § 3. St. Ambrose is here speaking of the
Œcumenical Council held at Nicæa in Bithynia, a.d. 325. Different accounts are given of the
numbers present. Eusebius says there were 250 bishops in
the Council; Athanasius and Socrates, “more than
300;” Sozomen “about 320.” The number
318, however, is also given by Athanasius as well as by Theodoret and
Epiphanius. See Robertson’s History of the Church,
Bk. II. ch. i. The victory over the infidel is, of course, the
victory of the orthodox Catholics over Arius, and the Nicene Symbol may
be regarded as the “trophy” commemorating the victory, the
reality of which lay in getting the clause “of one substance with
the Father” (ὁμοούσιον τῷ
Πατρί) subscribed to. The
original Nicene Creed, it may be useful to observe, was not exactly the
same in form as the symbol which now is generally known by that name,
and which is part of the Eucharistic office of the English
Church. This latter is an enlargement of the original, and it
appears to have been in use for a considerable time (not less than
seventy years) before it was produced at the Council of Chalcedon in
451. It obtained general acceptance by the middle of the sixth
century. Towards the end of that century (589 a.d.) an additional clause, proclaiming the procession of
the Holy Ghost from the Son as well as the Father, was inserted at the
Council of Toledo. This insertion was repudiated by the Church in
the East, and became one of the causes of the separation of Eastern
from Western Christendom. | made (so
to speak) a trophy raised to proclaim their
victory over the infidel throughout the world, prevailing by that
courage of the Faith, wherein all agreed. Verily, as it seems to
me, one may herein see the hand of God, forasmuch as the same number is
our authority in the Councils of the Faith, and an example of loyalty
in the records of old.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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