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| Chapter XXV. He shows that Ambrose agrees with S. Hilary.
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Chapter XXV.
He shows that Ambrose agrees with S. Hilary.
Ambrose, that illustrious
priest of God, who never leaving the Lord’s hand, ever shone like
a jewel upon the finger of God, thus speaks in his book to the Virgins:
“My brother is white and ruddy.2664
White because He is the glory of the
Father: ruddy because He was born of the Virgin. But remember that in
Him the tokens of Divinity are of longer standing than the mysteries of
the body. For He did not
begin to exist from the Virgin, but He
who was already in existence, came into the Virgin.”2665
| 2665 S. Ambrose. De
Virg. Lib. i. xlvi. | Again on Christmas Day: “See the
miracle of the mother of the Lord: A Virgin conceived, a Virgin brought
forth. She was a Virgin when she conceived, a Virgin when with child, a
Virgin after the birth. As is said in Ezekiel: “And the gate was
shut and not opened, because the Lord passed through
it.”2666
A splendid
Virginity, and wondrous fruitfulness! The Lord of the world is born:
and there are no cries from her who brought Him forth. The womb is left
empty, and a true child is born, and yet the Virginity is not
destroyed. It was right that when God was born the power of chastity
should become greater, and that her purity should not be violated by
the going forth of Him who had come to heal what was
corrupt.”2667
| 2667 These words are
not found in any extant writings of S. Ambrose, but something very like
them occurs in S. Augustine’s Sixth Sermon in Natali Domini. | Again in his
exposition of the gospel according to Luke he says that “one was
especially chosen, to bring forth God, who was espoused to an
husband.”2668
He certainly
declares that God was born of the Virgin. He calls Mary the mother of
God. And where is that awful and execrable utterance of yours asking
how can she be the mother of one of a different nature from her own.
But if she is called mother by them, it is the human nature which was
born not the Godhead. So, that illustrious teacher of the faith says
both that she who bare Him was human, and that He who was born is God:
and yet that this is no reason for unbelief, but only a miracle of
faith.E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
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