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| Chapter XI. The possibility of repentance is a reason why baptism should not be deferred to old age, a practice which is against the will of God in holy Scripture. But it is of no use to practise penance whilst still serving lusts. These must be first subdued.
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Chapter XI.
The possibility of repentance is a reason why baptism
should not be deferred to old age, a practice which is against the will
of God in holy Scripture. But it is of no use to practise penance
whilst still serving lusts. These must be first subdued.
98. Good, then, is
penitence, and if there were no place for it, every one would defer the
grace of cleansing by baptism to old age. And a sufficient reason
is that it is better, to have a robe to mend, than none to put on; but
as that which has been repaired once is restored, so that which is
frequently mended is destroyed.
99. And the Lord has given a sufficient
warning to those who put off repentance, when He says:
“Repent ye, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”3146
We know not at what hour the thief
will come, we know not whether our soul may be required of us this next
night. God cast Adam out of Paradise immediately after his fault;
there was no delay. At once the fallen were severed from all
their enjoyments that they might do penance; at once God clothed them
with garments of skins, not of silk.3147
100. And what reason is there for putting
off? Is it that you may
sin yet more? Then because God is good you are evil, and
“despise the riches of His goodness and
long-suffering.”3148
But the
goodness of the Lord ought rather to draw you to repentance.
Wherefore holy David says to all: “Come, let us worship and
fall down before Him, and mourn before our Lord Who made
us.”3149
But for a
sinner who has died without repentance, because nothing remains but to
mourn grievously and to weep, you find him groaning and saying:
“O my son Absalom! my son Absalom!”3150
For him who is wholly dead mourning
is without alleviation.
101. But of those who as exiles and banished
from their ancestral homes, which the holy law of Moses had assigned
them, will be entangled in the errors of the world, you hear him
saying: “By the waters of Babylon we sat down and wept,
when we remembered Zion.”3151
He
sets forth the wailings of those who have fallen, and shows that they
who are living in this condition of passing time and changing
circumstances ought to repent, after the example of those who, as a
reward for sin, had been led into miserable captivity.
102. But nothing causes such exceeding grief as
when any one, lying under the captivity of sin, calls to mind whence he
has fallen, because he turned aside to carnal and earthly things,
instead of directing his mind in the beautiful ways of the knowledge of
God.
103. So you find Adam concealing himself,
when he knew that God was present, and wishing to be hidden when called
by God with that voice which wounded the soul of him who was
hiding: “Adam, where art thou?”3152
That is to say, Wherefore hidest
thou thyself? Why art thou concealed? Why dost thou avoid
Him, Whom thou once didst long to see? A guilty conscience is so
burdensome that it punishes itself without a judge, and wishes for
covering, and yet is bare before God.
104. And so no one in a state of sin ought
to claim a right to or the use of the sacraments, for it is
written: “Thou hast sinned, be still.”3153
| 3153 Gen. iv. 7 [LXX.]. These words occur in the
Septuagint only, and would seem to be taken here by St. Ambrose as a
warning from God to Cain, not to sacrifice whilst in sin, and so be
applied to those sinners whom he enjoins not to communicate before they
repent. | As David says in the Psalm lately
quoted: “We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst
thereof;” and again: “How shall we sing the
Lord’s song in a strange land?”3154
For if the flesh wars against the
mind, and is not subject to the guidance of the Spirit, that is a
strange land which is not subdued by the toil of the cultivator, and so
cannot produce the fruits of charity, patience, and peace. It is
better, then, to be still when you cannot practise the works of
repentance, lest in the very acts of repentance there be that which
afterward will need further repentance. For if it be once entered
upon and not rightly carried out, it obtains not the result of a first
repentance and takes away the use of a later one.3155
| 3155 I do not feel
sure of the meaning of this passage, but it appears to be as above,
that a person going through the outward exercises of penance without
inward repentance, gains no benefit, and as sinners were not admitted
to a second course of penance, does away with his chance for the
future. [Ed.] |
105. When, then, the flesh resists, the soul
must be intent upon God, and if results do not follow, let not faith
fail. And if the enticements of the flesh come upon us, or the
powers of the enemy attack us, let the soul keep in submission to
God. For we are then specially oppressed when the flesh
yields. And some there are who trouble heavily the wretched soul,
seeking to deprive it of all protection. To which case the words
apply: “Rase it, rase it, even to the
foundations.”3156
106. And David, pitying her, says:
“O wretched daughter of Babylon.”3157
Wretched indeed, as being the
daughter of Babylon, when she ceased to be the daughter of
Jerusalem.3158
| 3158 This
passage is another instance of the way in which St. Ambrose, like many
other early writers, lost sight of the original meaning of the text in
drawing allegorical lessons from it. The “daughter of
Babylon,” i.e. the people, had never been a
“daughter of God,” nor was the dashing of the children
against the rock ever intended to bear the beautiful interpretation
given to it by our author. | And yet
he calls for a healer for her, and says: “Blessed is he who
shall take thy little ones and dash them against the
rock.”3159
That is to
say, shall dash all corrupt and filthy thoughts against Christ, Who by
His fear and His rebuke will break down all motions against reason, so
as, if any one is seized by an adulterous love, to extinguish the fire,
that he may by his zeal put away the love of a harlot, and deny himself
that he may gain Christ.
107. We have then learned that we must do
penance, and this at a time when the heat of luxury and sin is giving
way; and that we, when under the dominion of sin, must show ourselves
Godfearing by refraining, rather than allowing ourselves in evil
practices. For if it is said to Moses when he was desiring to
draw nearer: “Put off thy shoes from off thy
feet,”3160
how much
more must we free the feet of our
soul from the bonds of the body, and clear our steps from all
connection with this world.
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