Theological and Dogmatic Works

Book II

THE HOLY SPIRIT BOOK Two Prologue IJLTHOUGH IN THE FIRST BOOK of the ancient history ~. it has been made clear from reading both that the grace of the sevenfold Spirit was reflected in the judges themselves of the ancient Jews and that the mysteries of the heavenly sacraments were revealed through the Holy Spirit, whom Moses was not unaware of as eternal, accordingly at the beginning of the world-rather, before the beginning -he joined Him with God, whom he knew to be eternal before the beginning of the world. For, if anyone notices carefully, he will recognize in the beginning the Father and the Son and the Spirit. For of the Father it is written: 'In the beginning God created heaven and earth.' Of the Spirit it is said: 'The Spirit was moved over the waters.'l And in the beginning of creation the figure of baptism is well indicated, 1 Gen. 1.1.2. 97 98 SAINT AMBROSE through which the creature had to be cleansed. It is also read of the Son that it is He who made a separation of the light and the darkness; for there is one God the Father who speaks, and one Lord Jesus who acts. (2) But, again, lest you think that there was either arrogant power on the part of Him who spoke or base compliance on the part of Him who acted, the Father confesses the Son as equal to Himself in the oneness of the work, saying: 'Let us make man to our image and likeness.'2 For what else do image and working and common likeness signify than the oneness of the same majesty? (3) Yet, that you may recognize more fully the equality of the Father and of the Son, just as the Father spoke and the Son did, so, too, the Father works and the Son speaks. The Father works, as it is written: 'My Father worketh until now.'3 You have it said to the Son: 'Say the word, and he shall be healed.'4 And the Son says to the Father: 'I will that where 1 am, they also may be with me.'5 The Father did what the Son said. (4) But Abraham was not ignorant of the Holy Spirit. And thereupon he saw three, and adored one,6 because there is one God, one Lord, and one Spirit. And so there is oneness of honor, because there is oneness of power. (5) And what shall I $ay of each one? Samson, born by the divine promise, had the Spirit with him, for so we read: 'The Lord blessed him, and the Spirit of the Lord began to be with him in the camp.'7 And thus foreseeing the future 2 Gen. 1.26. 3 John 5.17. 4 Cf. Matt. 8.8. 5 Cf. John 17.24. 6 Gen. 18.2-3. 7 Judges 13.25. THE HOLY SPIRIT 99 mystery, he demanded a wife from the foreigners, which his father and mother did not know, as it is written, because it is from the Lord. And righdy was he held stronger than the rest, for the Spirit of the Lord directed him, under whose guidance, he alone now put to flight the peoples of tIre foreigners, now tore the lion asunder with his hands, inaccessible to its bite, invincible in his strength.s Would that he had been as careful to preserve grace as he was strong to overcome the beast! (6) Perhaps this was not only a marvel of courage, but also a mystery of wisdom, an oracle of prophecy. For it does not seem to be without meaning that when he was on his way to the sacrament of marriage, a roaring lion met him, whom he tore apart with his hands, in whose body, as he was on the point of gaining the desired wedlock, he finds a swarm of bees, and from whose mouth he took honey, which he gave to his father and mother to eat.9 The people of the Gentiles, who believed, had honey; the people who before belonged to savagery is now of Christ. (7) The riddle is not without mystery, which he proposed to his companions, saying: 'Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness.'lO Then it was mysterious to the point that its solution was sought within three days, which...