The Online Library of Liberty

A project of Liberty Fund, Inc.

• Prefatory Note
• Introduction
• I.: On Catechetical Instruction
• II.: Character, Authorship, and Date of the Treatise “on the Mysteries” (de Mysteriis)
• III.: Character, Authorship, and Date of the Treatise “on the Sacraments” (de Sacramentis)
• IV.: The Rites of Baptism and Confirmation
• V.: The Lessons From the Scriptures
• VI.: The Liturgy
• VII.: Eucharistic Doctrine
• VIII.: The Biblical Text
• IX.: Editions
• Concerning the Mysteries
• Concerning the Sacraments

CONCERNING THE MYSTERIES

CHAPTER I

1. On questions of right conduct we discoursed daily at the time when the lives of the patriarchs or the precepts of the Proverbs were being read,1 in order that, trained and instructed thereby, you might become accustomed to walk in the paths of our elders and to tread in their steps, and to obey the divine oracles; to the end that you might, after being renewed by baptism, continue to practise the life which befitted the regenerate.

2. Now the season reminds us to speak about the mysteries, and to give a reasoned account of the sacraments; for if we had thought that such an account should be propounded before baptism to the uninitiated, we should be esteemed traitors rather than teachers; further, because it were better that the light of the mysteries should reveal itself unasked and unexpected than preceded by some discourse.2

3. Open, therefore, your ears, and draw in the sweet savour1of eternal life breathed on you by the office of the sacraments: which we indicated to you when in performing the mystery of the “opening”2 we said, Ephpheta, which is, Be opened, that each one who is coming to grace might know what he is asked, should be bound to remember what he answered.

4. This mystery Christ performed in the Gospel, as we read, when he cured a deaf and dumb man.3 But he touched his mouth, because he was curing one who was dumb and also a man: on the one hand, that he might open his mouth by the sound of the voice bestowed on him, on the other hand, because to touch the mouth was proper in the case of a man, but was not proper in the case of a woman.

CHAPTER II

5. After this the Holy of holies4 was unbarred to thee, thou didst enter the shrine of regeneration; remember what thou wast asked, recollect what thou didst answer. Thou didst renounce the devil and his works, the world and its luxury and pleasures.5 Thy answer is kept, not in the tomb of the dead, but in the book of the living.

6. Thou sawest there a levite, thou sawest a priest, thou sawest the high priest.1 Do not consider the bodily forms, but the grace of the mysteries. Thou didst speak in the presence of the angels, as it is written that the priest’s lips keep knowledge, and they seek the law at his mouth: for he is the angel of the Lord Almighty.2 There is no room here for deceit or denial; he is the “angel” who announces the kingdom of Christ and eternal life. He shall be to thee as one not to be valued for his outward appearance, but for his office. What he has delivered to you, consider; ponder its use, recognize its character.

7. Thou didst enter, therefore, to discern thine adversary, and, by way of renouncing him, to spit in his face;3 thou dost turn to the east. For he who renounces the devil, turns to Christ, looks at him with direct gaze.

CHAPTER III

8. What sawest thou? Water, to be sure, but not water only; levites ministering there, the high priest questioning1 and consecrating. First of all, the Apostle has taught thee that we must not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.2 For elsewhere too thou readest that the invisible things of God from the creation of the world are comprehended by the things which are made; his eternal power and divinity also are understood from his works.3 Whence also the Lord himself says, If ye believe not me, believe at least the works.4 Believe, therefore, that the presence of the Divinity is there. Thou believest the working, dost not thou believe the presence? Whence would ensue the working, did not the presence precede?

9. But consider how old the mystery is, prefigured in the beginning of the world itself. In the very beginning, when God made heaven and earth, the Spirit, it says, moved upon the waters.5 He who moved upon the waters, did he not work upon the waters? But why do I say “work”? As regards presence,6 he moved. Did not he who moved work? Admit that he was working in the creation of the world, when the prophet says to thee,7By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, and all the host of them by the Spirit of his mouth. Each rests upon prophetic testimony, both that he moved, and that he worked. That he moved, Moses says: that he worked, David testifies.

10. Take another testimony. All flesh was corrupt from its sins. My Spirit, said God, shall not abide inmen, for they are flesh.1 Whereby God shows that by carnal uncleanness and the stain of more serious sin spiritual grace is alienated. Whence God, wishing to repair what was wanting, made a flood, and bade righteous Noah go up into the ark.2 He, as the flood abated, sent forth first a raven, which did not return; then he sent forth a dove which, we read, returned with an olive branch.3 Thou seest the water, thou seest the wood, thou beholdest the dove, and dost thou doubt the mystery?

11. So the water is that in which the flesh is plunged, to wash away every sin of the flesh; every wrong act is buried there. The wood is that whereon the Lord Jesus was nailed when he suffered for us. The dove is that in whose shape the Holy Ghost descended, as thou hast learned in the New Testament,4 who breathes into thee peace of soul, calm of mind. The raven is a figure of sin, which goes forth and does not return, if thou art careful to guard and conform to righteousness.

12. There is also a third testimony, as the Apostle teaches thee, that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and were all baptized in Moses in the cloud and in the sea.5 Thus, Moses himself also says in his Song, Thou didst send thy Spirit, and the sea covered them.6 Thou observest that even then was holy baptism prefigured in that passing through of the Hebrews, in which the Egyptian perished and the Hebrew escaped. For what else are we taught in this sacrament daily, but that guilt is drowned and error destroyed, while goodness and innocence remained safe to the end?

13. Thou hearest that our fathers were under the cloud; and a good cloud which cooled the fires of carnal passions. The good cloud overshadows those whom the Holy Spirit visits; so he came upon the virgin Mary and the power of the Highest overshadowed her,1 when she bare redemption for the human race. And that miracle was wrought by Moses in a figure.2 If, then, the Spirit was present in the figure, is he not present in the reality, since the Scripture says to thee, For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ?3

14. The font of Marah was most bitter; Moses cast wood into it, and it was made sweet.4 For water without the proclamation of the Lord’s cross serves no purpose of future salvation; but when it has been consecrated by the mystery of the saving cross,5 then it is fitted for the use of the spiritual laver and the cup of salvation. As, therefore, Moses, that is, the prophet, cast wood into that font, so also the priest casts the proclamation of the Lord’s cross into this font, and the water becomes sweet unto grace.

15. Do not, therefore, trust only the eyes of thy body; that which is not seen is more truly seen. For the one is temporal; in the other the eternal is seen, which is not apprehended by the eyes but is discerned by the intellect and mind.

16. Thus again, let the lesson from the Kings6 that has been read teach thee. Naaman was a Syrian, and a leper, nor could he be cleansed by any one. Then said a maid, who was of the captives, that there was a prophet in Israel who could cleanse him from the taint of leprosy. Taking gold and silver, it says, he went his way to the king of Israel. He, learning the cause of his arrival, rent his clothes, saying that it was really a plot against him, since demands were made of him which were beyond royal power. But Elisha bade the king send the Syrian to him, that he might know that there was a God in Israel.1 And when he came, he commanded him to dip seven times in the river Jordan.

17. Then he began to think within himself that he had the better waters of his own country, in which he had often dipped without being cleansed from leprosy, and drawn away by this thought, he was minded to disobey the prophet’s commands; but he yielded to the advice and solicitations of his servants, and dipped; and he was straightway cleansed, and understood that it was due not to water, but to grace, that each one was cleansed.

18. Learn now who that young captive maiden is. Of a truth she is the congregation from the Gentiles, that is, the Church of the Lord once sunk in the captivity of sin, when she did not as yet possess the liberty of grace; by whose counsel the vain people of the nations heard the prophetic word. And this at first and for long they doubted; afterwards, however, they believed that it should be obeyed, and were washed from all taint of faults. Now they doubted2 before they were healed; thou art already healed, and therefore oughtest not to doubt.

CHAPTER IV

19. For this cause wast thou forewarned not to believe merely what thou sawest, lest perchance thou too shouldest say, “Is this that great mystery which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither has it entered into the heart of man?1 I see water which I used to see daily; can that cleanse me into which I have often descended without ever being cleansed?” Hence know that water does not cleanse without the Spirit.

20. And for this very reason thou hast read that the three witnesses in baptism are one, the water, the blood, and the Spirit,2 because, if thou takest away one of these the sacrament of baptism no longer remains. For what is water without the Cross of Christ? A common element without any sacramental effect. Nor again is there any mystery of regeneration without water, for except a man be born anew of water and of the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.3 But even a catechumen believes in the Cross of the Lord Jesus, wherewith he also is signed;4 but unless he is baptized in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,5 he cannot receive the remission of sins nor imbibe the gift of spiritual grace.

21. So the Syrian dipped seven times1 under the Law. But thou wast baptized in the name of the Trinity, thou didst confess the Father—remember what thou didst—thou didst confess the Son, thou didst confess the Holy Spirit. Do not forget the order of things in this faith. Thou didst die to the world, and didst rise to God. And as if buried together in this element of the world, thou art dead to sin,2 and raised to eternal life. Believe, therefore, that the water is not without power.

22. Therefore it was told thee how that an angel of the Lord went down at a certain season into the pool, and the water was troubled: and whosoever first after the troubling of the water descended into the pool was made whole of whatsoever disease he had.3 This pool was in Jerusalem, and in it one person a year was cured; but no one was healed before the angel had descended. For a sign that the angel had descended, the water was troubled because of the unbelieving. For them the sign, for thee faith; for them an angel descended, for thee the Holy Spirit; for them the created element was troubled, for thee Christ acts, the very Lord of creation.

23. Then one was healed, now all are made whole; or, to be exact, one only—the Christian people; for in the case of some even the water is deceitful.4 The baptism of the unbelievers does not heal, does not cleanse, but defiles. The Jew baptizes pots and cups, as if inanimate things were capable of sin or grace. Baptize thou this animate cup of thine, in which thy good works may shine, in which the splendour of thy grace may glow. Therefore also that pool was as a figure, that thou mayest believe that the divine power descends into this font.

24. Thus again, the sick of the palsy was waiting for a man.1 Who was that but the Lord Jesus, born of the Virgin? At whose coming no longer would the shadow heal men one at a time, but the truth would heal all. He, therefore, it is who was expected to descend, of whom God the Father said to John the Baptist, upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descending from heaven, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the Holy Ghost.2 Of whom John bare witness, saying, I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove and remaining on him.3 And why did the Spirit descend here like a dove, but that thou mightest see, but that thou mightest recognize that that dove too which righteous Noah sent out of the ark was a likeness of this dove, that thou mightest recognize a type of the sacrament.

25. And perhaps thou mayest say, “Since that was a real dove which was sent forth, here only as it were a dove descended, how do we say that the likeness was there, the reality here?”4 For according to the Greeks it is written that the Spirit descended in the likeness of a dove. But what is so real as the divinity which abideth for ever?1 The created thing, however, cannot be the reality, but only a likeness, which is readily dissolved and changed. At the same time because in those who are baptized there should be innocence, not in appearance, but in reality (whence the Lord also says, Be ye wise as serpents, and innocent as doves),2 rightly, therefore, did he descend like a dove, to remind us that we ought to have the innocence of a dove. But that the word “likeness” is to be taken also as meaning reality is shown by what we read both of Christ, And he was found in likeness as a man,3 and of God the Father. Nor have you seen his likeness.4

CHAPTER V

26. Is there still any reason why thou shouldst doubt, when the Father clearly calls to thee in the Gospel and says, This is my Son, in whom I am well pleased;5 when the Son calls, on whom the Holy Spirit showed himself as a dove: when the Holy Spirit also calls, who descended as a dove: when David calls, The voice of the Lord is upon the waters: the God of majesty has thundered: the Lord is upon many waters:6 when the Scripture witnesses to thee that at the prayers of Jerubbaal fire descended from heaven,1 and again, on Elijah praying, fire was sent which consecrated the sacrifice?2

27. Do not consider the merits of persons, but the office of priests. And if thou lookest at merits, consider the priest as Elijah; look at the merits of Peter, too, or of Paul,3 who received this mystery from the Lord Jesus, and handed it on to us. Visible fire was sent to them, that they might believe; for us, who believe, one who is invisible acts: to them for a figure, to us for admonition. Believe, therefore, that invoked by the prayers of the priests the Lord Jesus is present who says, Where there are two or three, there am I also;4 how much more where the Church is, where his mysteries are, does he deign to bestow his presence!

28. Thou didst descend, then; remember what thou didst answer, that thou believest in the Father, thou believest in the Son, thou believest in the Holy Spirit.5 It is not a case of, I believe in a greater and a less and a least;6 but thou art bound by the same pledge of thine own voice to believe in the Son exactly as thou believest in the Father, to believe in the Holy Spirit exactly as thou believest in the Son; with this one exception, that thou confessest the necessity of belief in the Cross7 of the Lord Jesus alone.

CHAPTER VI

29. After all this thou didst go up to the priest.1 Consider what followed, was it not that which David said, It is like the ointment upon the head, that ran down unto the beard, even unto Aaron’s beard?2 This is the ointment of which Solomon also says, Thy name is as ointment poured forth, therefore did the maidens love thee and draw thee.3 How many souls regenerated to-day have loved thee, Lord Jesus, saying, Draw us after thee, we run to the odour of thy garments,4 that they may drink in the odour of the resurrection?

30. Understand why this is done, because the wise man’s eyes are in his head.5 It flowed down unto the beard—that is, unto the grace of youth—even unto Aaron’s beard, for this purpose, that thou mayest become a chosen generation, priestly, precious6 ; for we are all anointed with spiritual grace unto the kingdom of God and the priesthood.

31. Thou didst go up from the font. Remember the Gospel lesson.1 For our Lord Jesus in the Gospel washed the feet of his disciples. When he came to Simon Peter, Peter said, Thou shalt never wash my feet. He did not perceive the mystery, and therefore he refused the ministry; because he thought that it was an offence against the humility of a servant, if he should patiently allow the Lord’s service to himself. To whom the Lord answered, If I do not wash thy feet, thou wilt have no part with Me.2 Hearing this, Peter said, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. The Lord answered, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit.3

32. Peter was clean, but he needed to wash his feet; for he still had sin by derivation from the first man, when the serpent tripped him and led him into trespass.4 His foot is washed that hereditary sins may be removed; for our own sins are remitted by baptism.5

33. At the same time recognize that there is a mystical meaning in the actual ministry of humility; for He says, If I, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, how much more ought ye also to wash one another’s feet?1 For since the Author of salvation2 Himself redeemed us through obedience, how much more ought we, his poor servants, to display the service of humility and obedience?

CHAPTER VII

34. Thou receivedst after this white raiment3 for a sign that thou hast put off the covering of sins, thou hast put on the chaste garments of innocence, whereof the Prophet said, Thou shalt sprinkle me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: thou shalt wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow.4 For he who is baptized is plainly cleansed both according to the Law and according to the Gospel; according to the Law, because Moses with a bunch of hyssop5 sprinkled the blood of the lamb: according to the Gospel, because Christ’s raiment was white as snow, when he showed the glory of his resurrection in the Gospel.6 He, then, is made whiter than snow whose guilt is forgiven. Whence also the Lord saith by Isaiah, If your sins be as scarlet, I will make them as white as snow.7

35. The Church, having received these garments by the laver of regeneration,1 says in the Canticles, I am black and comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem:2 —black through the frailty of her human condition, comely through grace; black, because consisting of sinners, comely by the sacrament of faith. Seeing these garments the daughters of Jerusalem say in amazement, Who is this that cometh up made white?3 She was black; whence is she now suddenly white?

36. The angels also doubted when Christ rose,4 the powers of the heavens doubted seeing that flesh ascended into heaven. So they said, Who is the King of glory? And when some said, Lift up the gates of your Prince, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting gates, and the King of glory shall come in; then others doubted saying, Who is this King of glory?5 In Isaiah too thou readest that the powers of the heavens doubting said, Who is this that cometh up from Edom, the crimson of his garments is from Bozrah, beauteous in white apparel?6

37. But Christ seeing his Church in white garments—the Church for whom he had put on filthy garments, as thou readest in the book of the prophet Zechariah7 —or seeing, it may be, the soul1 clean and washed by the laver of regeneration, saith, Behold, thou art fair, my neighbour; behold, thou art fair; thine eyes are as a dove’s2 —in whose likeness the Holy Spirit descended from heaven.3 Beautiful eyes as of a dove—because in the likeness thereof the Holy Spirit descended from heaven.

38. And further on, Thy teeth are like a flock of the shorn, which have come up from the laver; which all bear twins, and none is barren among them. Thy lips are like a thread of scarlet.4 No slight praise is this. First, in the pleasant comparison with the shorn. For we know that goats both feed on high places without danger and get food on steep ascents securely5 ; then when they are shorn, they are relieved of what is superfluous. With a flock of these the Church is compared, having in herself the many virtues of the souls who through the laver lay down superfluous sins, who offer to Christ mystic faith and the grace of right conduct, who tell of the cross of the Lord Jesus.

39. In these the Church is beautiful. Whence God the Word says to her, Thou art all fair, my love; there is no fault in thee—because guilt is sunk in the waters. Come hither from Lebanon, my spouse, come hither from Lebanon; thou shalt pass, and pass over from the beginning of faith6 —because, in renouncing the world, she has passed this life, she has passed over to Christ. And again God the Word says to her, How fair and pleasant thou art become, O love, in thy delights! Thy stature has become like to a palm tree, and thy breasts to clusters of grapes.1

40. To whom the Church replies, Who will give thee to me, my brother, that didst suck the breasts of my mother? Finding thee without I will kiss thee; and indeed they will not despise me. I will take thee, and bring thee into my mother’s house and into the chamber of her who conceived me. Thou shalt teach me.2 Dost thou see how she is delighted with the gift of graces, and desires to enter into the inner mysteries and consecrate all her senses to Christ? Still she seeks, still she stirs up love, and asks that it may be stirred up for her by the daughters of Jerusalem, by the grace of whom, that is, by the grace of faithful souls, she desires that the Bridegroom be roused to fuller love for her.

41. Whence the Lord Jesus himself also attracted by the zeal of such love, by the beauty of comeliness and grace (since there is no longer the foulness of sins in those who are washed), says to the Church, Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a signet upon thine arm,3 that is, thou art comely, my neighbour, thou art all fair, thou lackest nothing. Set me as a seal upon thine heart, that thy faith may shine with the fulness of the sacrament. Let thy works also shine and display the image of God, in whose image thou wast made. Let no persecution impair thy love, which much water cannot shut out, floods cannot overflow.1

42. Wherefore recollect that thou hast received the spiritual seal,2the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and strength, the spirit of knowledge and godliness, the spirit of holy fear,3 and preserve what thou hast received. God the Father hath sealed thee, Christ the Lord hath confirmed thee, and hath given the earnest of the Spirit in thy heart, as thou hast learned from the apostolic lesson.4

CHAPTER VIII

43. Rich with these adornments the cleansed people hastens to the altar of Christ, saying, And I will go unto the altar of God, even unto the God that maketh glad myyouth;1 for, putting off the slough of long-standing sin, renewed in the youth of the eagle,2 she hastens to approach that heavenly banquet. She comes, therefore, and seeing the holy altar duly ordered, cries and says, Thou hast prepared a table before me.3 She it is whom David represents as the speaker, in the words,4The Lord is my shepherd, and I shall not want. In a place of pasture there he hath placed me; by the water of rest he hath tended me. And below, For though I walk in the midst of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for thou art with me: Thy rod and thy staff, they have comforted me. Thou hast prepared a table before me against them that trouble me: Thou hast anointed my head with oil; and Thy inebriating cup, how glorious it is!

44. Now let us consider the following point, lest perchance any one, seeing the visible things (for those that are invisible are not seen, nor can they be apprehended by human eyes) may say perchance, “For the Jews God rained manna,5 rained quails; for the beloved Church are these things which he has prepared, of which it has been said, That which eye hath not seen nor ear heard, and which hath not entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.”6

Therefore, that no one may say this, we wish with all earnestness to prove that the sacraments of the Church are both older than those of the synagogue and more excellent than manna is.

45. That they are older is taught by the lesson from Genesis which has been read. For the synagogue derived its origin from the law of Moses. But Abraham is far earlier; who, when he had won the victory, defeating the enemy and recovering his own nephew, was then met by Melchizedek who brought forth the gifts which Abraham received with reverence.1 It was not Abraham that brought them forth, but Melchizedek, who is represented as being without father, without mother, having neither beginning of days nor end, but like unto the Son of God; of whom Paul says in the Epistle to the Hebrews that he abideth a priest continually,2 who in the Latin version is called King of righteousness, King of peace.3

46. Do you not recognize who this is? Can a man be King of righteousness, when he is hardly righteous himself? Can he be King of peace when he can hardly be peaceable? It is he who is without mother, as touching his Godhead, because he was begotten of his Father who is God, being of one substance with the Father; without father, as touching his incarnation, for he was born of the Virgin; not having beginning, and end, because he is the beginning and the end4 of all, the firstand the last.1 Therefore the sacrament which thou hast received is not a human but a divine gift, brought forth2 by him who blessed the father of faith, Abraham, whose grace and actions thou admirest.

47. It has been proved that the sacraments of the Church are older; now learn that they are better. It is indeed a wonderful thing that God should have rained manna3 for the fathers, and they were fed on daily food from heaven. Whence it was said, Man did eat angels’ bread.4 But yet all who did eat that bread died in the wilderness;5 this meat however, which thou receivest, is the living bread which came down from heaven,6 and furnisheth the substance of eternal life; and whosoever eateth this, shall never die:7 and it is the body of Christ.

48. Consider now whether the bread of angels or the flesh of Christ (which is indeed the body of life) is the more excellent. That manna was from heaven, this is above heaven; that was of heaven, this is of the Lord of the heavens; that was liable to corruption, if it was kept for a second day;8 this is far removed from all corruption, which whosoever shall taste devoutly, cannot feel corruption. For them water flowed from the rock,9 for thee blood from Christ;10 the water satisfied them for a season, the blood cleanses thee for ever. The Jews drank, and thirsted; thou when thou hast drunk, canst not thirst. And that was in shadow, this is in reality.

49. If that which excites thy wonder is a shadow, how great is that, the very shadow of which excites thy wonder? Hear how that the things which happened unto the fathers are a shadow; they drank, it says, of the Rock that followed them; and that Rock was Christ. But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things happened as a figure of us.1 Thou hast learnt that they are more excellent. For the light is better than the shadow, the reality is better than the figure, the body of the Author and Giver is better than manna from heaven.

CHAPTER IX

50. Perchance thou mayest say, “I see something different; how dost thou claim that it is the body of Christ which I receive?” It still remains for us to prove this also. What precedents, then, shall we employ? Let us prove that this is not what nature formed but what the blessing consecrated, and that there is greater force in a blessing than in nature, because by a blessing even nature itself is changed.

51. Moses held a rod, he cast it down, and it became a serpent; again he took hold of the tail of the serpent, and it returned to its natural state of a rod.2 Dost thou, then, see that both the serpent and the rod twice underwent a change of nature by prophetic grace? The rivers of Egypt ran with a pure flood of water; suddenly blood began to well out from the veins of their sources, and there was naught that men could drink in the rivers. Again at the prophet’s prayer the blood in the rivers ceased, the natural state of the waters came back.1 The people of the Hebrews was everywhere surrounded, on one side walled in by the Egyptians, on the other shut in by the sea; Moses lifted his rod, the water divided and assumed the character of solid walls,2 and a footway appeared amid the waves. The Jordan turned backward contrary to nature and returned to the source of its stream.3 It is not clear that the natural state both of the waves of the sea and of the course of the river was changed? The people of the fathers was thirsty, Moses touched the rock, and water flowed from the rock.4 Did not grace act contrary to nature, so that the rock poured forth water which it had not by nature. Marah was a most bitter stream, so that the thirsty people could not drink. Moses cast wood into the water, and the nature of the water lost its bitterness which was tempered by a sudden infusion of grace.5 In the time of Elisha the prophet one of the sons of the prophets had the iron knocked off his axe, and straightway it sank. He who had lost the axehead besought Elisha; Elisha also cast wood into the water, and the iron did swim.6 Certainly we know that this also took place contrary to nature; for iron is a heavier kind of thing than liquid water.7

52. We observe, therefore, that grace is of greater power than nature; and yet it is only the grace of a prophet’s blessing of which we are so far taking account. But if a human blessing was powerful enough to change nature, what do we say of the divine consecration itself where the very words of the Lord and Saviour act?1 For the sacrament which thou receivest, is consecrated2 by the word of Christ. But if the word of Elijah was powerful enough to bring down fire from heaven,3 will not the word of Christ be powerful enough to change the characters of the elements?4 Thou hast read of the works of the whole creation that he spake the word, and they were made; he commanded and they were created.5 The word of Christ could make out of nothing that which was not; cannot it then change the things which are into that which they were not? For to give new natures to things is quite as wonderful as to change their natures.6

53. But why do we employ arguments? Let us employ the proper examples,1 and by the example of the incarnation let us prove the truth of the mystery. Did the usage of nature precede when the Lord Jesus was born of Mary? If we look to the order of generation, it usually results from the union of a woman with a man. It is clear, therefore, that the Virgin gave birth contrary to the order of nature. And this body which we consecrate is from the Virgin; why do you seek the natural order here in the case of the body of Christ, when the Lord Jesus himself was born of the Virgin contrary to nature? It was certainly the true flesh of Christ which was crucified, which was buried; truly, therefore, the sacrament is a sacrament of that flesh.

54. The Lord2 Jesus himself cries, This is my body.3 Before the blessing of the heavenly words another kind of thing is named,4 after consecration it is designated “body.” He himself speaks of his blood. Before consecration it is spoken of as something else, after consecration it is named “blood.” And thou sayest, “Amen,”5 that is, it is true. What the mouth speaks let the mind within confess; what the speech utters let the affections feel.

55. With these sacraments, therefore, Christ feeds his Church; by them the soul’s very being is strengthened. And, seeing her continuous growth in grace, he rightly saith to her, How fair are thy breasts become, my sister, my spouse! how fair are they become from wine! and the smell of thy garments is better than all spices. Thy lips, O my spouse, are a dropping honeycomb; milk and honey are under thy tongue; and the smell of thy garments is like the smell of Lebanon. A garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse; a garden enclosed, a fountain sealed.1 Whereby he signifies that the mystery should remain sealed with thee, that it be not profaned by the works of an evil life and the betrayal of chastity, that it be not divulged to those for whom it is not meet, that it be not spread among the unbelieving by babbling loquacity. Thou oughtest, therefore, to keep a good watch over thy faith, that an unblemished perfection of life and silence may be maintained.

56. Whence also the Church, guarding the deep and heavenly mysteries, repels the fiercer storms of wind and invites the sweetness of vernal grace; and knowing that her garden cannot displease Christ, she calls the Spouse himself, saying, Arise, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, and let my unguents flow down. Let my brother come down into his garden, and eat the fruit of his fruit-trees.2 For it hath good and fruitful trees, which have wet their roots with the stream of the sacred font, and have burst out into good fruit from the bud of a new fertility, so that they are no longer cut down with the axe of which the prophet spake,1 but are fertilized with the richness of the Gospel.

57. Thus, too, the Lord, rejoiced by their fruitfulness answers, I have come into my garden, my sister, my spouse; I have gathered my myrrh with my unguents; I have eaten my food with my honey; I have drunk my drink with my milk.2 Why he speaks of food and drink, understand, O believer. Nay, this is not doubtful. Thou hast read that he tells us that in us he is in prison: even so in us does he eat and drink.3

58. Whence also the Church seeing so great grace, bids her sons, bids her neighbours come together to the sacraments, saying, Eat, O my neighbours; and drink and be inebriated, my brethren.4 What we are to eat, what we are to drink, the Holy Spirit hath made clear to thee elsewhere by the Prophet, saying, Taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.5 Christ is in that sacrament, because it is the body of Christ; therefore it is not bodily food, but spiritual. Whence also the Apostle says of the type of it that our fathers ate spiritual meat, and drank spiritual drink.6 For the body of God is a spiritual body; the body of Christ is the body of a divine Spirit, because Christ is Spirit7 as we read, The spirit before our face is Christ the Lord.8 And in the Epistle of Peter we have, Christ died for us.1 Thus this meat strengthens our heart, and this drink maketh glad the heart of man,2 as the Prophet has declared.

59. Wherefore, having obtained all things, let us recognize that we are regenerate. Nor let us say, “How are we regenerate? Have we entered into our mother’s womb, and been born again?3 I do not perceive the usage of nature.” But there is nothing of the natural order here, where there is the excellency of grace. Accordingly it is not always the usage of nature that produces birth; we confess that Christ the Lord was born of a Virgin, and we deny the order of nature. For Mary did not conceive from a man; but she was with child of the Holy Ghost, as Matthew says that she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.4 If, then, the Holy Ghost, coming upon5 the Virgin effected conception, and fulfilled the work of generation, surely we must not doubt that, coming upon the font or upon those on whom baptism is conferred, he effects the reality of regeneration.

[1 ]Ambrose is referring to the lessons from Genesis and Proverbs which at Milan were read in Lent at the missae catechumenorum attended by the competentes or candidates for baptism. We have an example of the kind of instruction given in the sermons of Ambrose, On Abraham, which deal with “right conduct” and which were addressed to candidates for baptism. See Introd. p. xvi.

[2 ]On this practice of withholding instruction on the Sacraments till after the Easter Communion, see Introd. p. xiii.

[1 ]2 Cor. ii. 16.

[2 ]The ceremony of the Effeta, to which at Milan the name “opening of the ears” was given, was performed on Easter Eve. See Introd. p. xxi.

[3 ]Mark vii. 34, from which the ceremony takes its name. It is more fully described in de Sacram. i. 1. 2.

[4 ]Heb. ix. 3. Here it refers to the baptistery.

[5 ]For a fuller description see de Sacramentis, i. 1. 5.

[1 ]The words are: levita, sacerdos, summus sacerdos. See note on de Sacram. i. 1. 2. Here sacerdos (‘priest’) is used in the same sense as presbyter in de Sacram., though elsewhere in this book, as in de Sacramentis, it denotes the bishop, who is here referred to as summus sacerdos, “high priest,” by way of distinguishing him from the presbyter.

[2 ]Malachi ii. 7. On the Biblical text of Ambrose see Introd. pp. xl ff.

[3 ]The text translated is an emendation proposed by Dom G. Morin (Revue bénédictine, xvi. (1899), pp. 414 f.). For the reading of the MSS. “cui renuntiandum in os putares” [v.ll. “putaris,” “sputaris”] he suggests “cui renuntiando in os sputares.” The spitting finds a parallel in the Greek and Armenian rites. These parallels, however, belong to a later period, and there is no mention of the practice elsewhere in the writings of Ambrose.

[1 ]In de Sacram. i. 2. 5 the questions are apparently put by the presbyter, here by the bishop.

[2 ]2 Cor. iv. 18.

[3 ]Rom. i. 20.

[4 ]Jn. x. 38.

[5 ]Gen. i. 2.

[6 ]“quod ad praesentiam spectat.” The meaning is: “All that was certainly visible was the moving.”

[7 ]Ps. xxxiii. 6 (Vulg. xxxii. 6).

[1 ]Gen. vi. 3.

[2 ]Gen. vii. 1 sq.

[3 ]Gen. viii. 7 f.

[4 ]Lk. iii. 22.

[5 ]1 Cor. x. 1, 2 (Vulgate).

[6 ]Ex. xv. 10 (following LXX).

[1 ]Lk. i. 35.

[2 ]Ex. xiv. 21 sq.

[3 ]Jn. i. 17.

[4 ]Ex. xv. 23 sq.

[5 ]An allusion to the signing of the water with the Cross at the consecration of the font. Cp. iv. 20.

[6 ]2 Kings v. 1 sq.

[1 ]2 Kings v. 8. Ambrose, by a slip of memory, substitutes “a God in Israel” for “a prophet in Israel.”

[2 ]ille quidem dubitavit. This probably refers to populus rather than Naaman.

[1 ]1 Cor. ii. 9 (Vulgate).

[2 ]1 Jn. v. 7. The same order, “water,” “blood,” “Spirit,” is found in the reference to this passage in Ambrose, Expos. in Lucam x. 48, where the passage is similarly applied.

[3 ]Jn. iii. 5. A free quotation.

[4 ]This signing of the catechumen with the Cross is here distinguished from the rite of baptism. It probably took place at the beginning of the catechumenate. It is not mentioned in de Sacramentis, but is found in the Gelasian Sacramentary in the Ordo ad catechumenum ex pagano faciendum (Wilson, p. 113).

[5 ]Mt. xxviii. 19.

[1 ]2 Kings v. 14.

[2 ]Col. ii. 12, 13; Rom. vi. 4.

[3 ]Jn. v. 4. The passage is an early interpolation, and was known to Tertullian (de Bapt. 5).

[4 ]A ref. to Jer. xv. 18 (R. V. “wilt thou be unto me as a deceitful brook, as waters that fail?”). The Vulgate reads, facta est mihi quasi mendacium aquarum infidelium. Ambrose, combining this with the statement about the “baptism” of cups and pots in Mk. vii. 4, sees in it a condemnation of unbelievers’ baptism. He is thinking of the baptisms practised by heathen and Jews. See de Sacram. ii. 1. 2.

[1 ]Jn. v. 7.

[2 ]Jn. i. 33.

[3 ]Jn. i. 32.

[4 ]This section is very confused. The thought seems to be as follows. Since in Lk. iii. 22 the Spirit descends in “bodily form” (Gk. ε{Editor: illegible character]δος, the regular equivalent of species), it may seem perverse to ascribe species to the dove of Gen. viii. rather than to the divine dove. Still, in the ordinary sense, the word species, which implies mutability, is properly used of the created and not of the divine, though there is another sense in which it may be predicated even of the divine. The argument is further confused by the interpolation of the suggestion that the reason why the Spirit took the form of a dove was to be a type of the simplicity of the true Christian. The sense is more clearly indicated if, as has been done in the translation, we remove the full stops after simplicitas and columbae.

[1 ]Jn. viii. 35.

[2 ]Mt. x. 16.

[3 ]Phil. ii. 7.

[4 ]Jn. v. 37 (Vulgate).

[5 ]Mt. iii. 17 (freely quoted).

[6 ]Ps. xxix. (Vulg. xxviii.) 3.

[1 ]A reference to Gideon (Judges vi. 21). The name Jerubbaal is found in Judges vi. 32.

[2 ]1 Kings xviii. 38.

[3 ]The meaning is: if we allow the thought of merit to enter into our thought of the priest, it must be the merit of those whom he succeeds and represents, Elijah, Peter, Paul.

[4 ]Mt. xviii. 20 (freely quoted).

[5 ]The interrogatory Creed at Milan is quoted more fully in de Sacram. ii. 7. 20.

[6 ]Ambrose has in view the Arians, who denied the co-equality of the Persons of the Trinity.

[7 ]Cp. de Sacram. ii. 7. 20, where the formula runs: “Dost thou believe in our Lord Jesus Christ and in His Cross?”

[1 ]Ambrose is referring to the unction of the head after baptism. The word sacerdos (translated “priest”) here refers to the bishop (see note on ii. 6). The prayer accompanying the unction is given in de Sacram. ii. 7. 24. See Introd. p. xxiv.

[2 ]Ps. cxxxiii. (cxxxii. Vulg.) 2.

[3 ]Cant. i. 2. The quotation agrees with the LXX in reading exinanitum and attraxerunt te. On the mystical interpretation of the Song of Songs, see Introd. pp. xiv ff.

[4 ]Cant. i. 3. The words “to the odour of thy ointments” are found in the LXX and Vulgate. Ambrose substitutes “garments” for “ointments,” possibly because he has in mind Gen. xxvii. 27.

[5 ]Eccl. ii. 14. The same passage is referred to in de Sacram. iii. 1. 1, where the author has “the senses of a wise man,” a reading also found in Ambrose, Exp. in Psalm cxviii. 20. 1. The meaning of Ambrose is brought out more clearly if we render: “Understand why this is done. It is because the wise man’s eyes are in his head.” The head is anointed because it is the seat of intelligence. So it is explained in de Sacram.

[6 ]1 Pet. ii. 9. The word “precious” does not occur in the passage, but was possibly suggested by the context (v. 6), or by the words “a people for God’s own possession.” On this association of the post-baptismal unction with the priesthood of the whole body of the Church see T. Thompson, Offices of Baptism and Confirmation, p. 222.

[1 ]Jn. xiii. 4 f. Apparently the Gospel lesson was read at the time of the washing of the feet of the newly-baptized. The earliest reference to the later custom of bishops washing the feet of their subordinates on Maundy Thursday comes from Spain, and is found in the third canon of the Seventeenth Council of Toledo (694 a.d.).

[2 ]Jn. xiii. 8

[3 ]Jn. xiii. 10.

[4 ]A ref. to Gen. iii. 1 f.

[5 ]Ambrose here connects baptism with the removal of personal or actual sin. But he also suggests that the “washing of the feet” has a similar sacramental efficacy with regard to transmitted (or hereditary) sin. This is one of the passages which led Daillé and others to contest the ascription of the treatise to Ambrose. But the same teaching is found elsewhere in Ambrose’s writings, e. g. Exp. in Psalm xlviii. 8. 9; and a passage from a lost commentary on Isaiah quoted by Augustine, c. duas epistolas Pelag. iv. 11. Cf. also de Spir. sancto, i. prol. 16. The author of de Sacramentis (iii. 1. 7) silently corrects this teaching, by explaining that, while every fault is washed away in baptism, the washing of the feet supplies an increase of sanctifying power at the point where the serpent made his treacherous attack. On the ceremony of the washing of the feet, see Introd. p. xxiv.

[1 ]Jn. xiii. 14.

[2 ]Heb. ii. 10.

[3 ]See Introd. pp. xxiv ff.

[4 ]Ps. li. 7 (Vulg. l. 9).

[5 ]Ex. xii. 22.

[6 ]Mt. xxviii. 3.

[7 ]Is. i. 18. The quotation agrees with the LXX, and is found in a corresponding form in Cyprian.

[1 ]Tit. iii. 5.

[2 ]Cant. i. 4. The passage is similarly applied in de Spir. sancto, ii. 10. 112, which closely resembles the present passage.

[3 ]Cant. viii. 5 (following the LXX).

[4 ]This interpretation of Psalm xxiv. (possibly suggested by such passages as Eph. iii. 10, 1 Pet. i. 13) is found also in Ambrose, de Inst. Virginis, v. 9. Cp. de Fide, iv. 1. 5. In the former of these passages, as here, Ambrose also refers to Is. lxiii. 1.

[5 ]Ps. xxiv. (Vulg. xxiii.) 8, 9. The quotation differs from both LXX and Vulgate. The text may be corrupt, and perhaps we should read with the Vulgate tollite portas, principes, vestras (“Lift up your gates, ye princes”). The reading vestras is found in some MSS. of de Myst.

[6 ]Is. lxiii. 1. The rendering given follows the LXX in the earlier part of the quotation. Jerome once quotes the concluding words in the form in stola candida.

[7 ]Zech. iii. 3. The name of Joshua in that passage is represented by “Jesus” in the LXX and Latin versions; hence the application which Ambrose makes of the narrative.

[1 ]Similarly in de Sacram. v. 2. 7 f. it is suggested that the imagery of Canticles may be applied either to the Church as a whole or to the individual soul. This twofold application goes back to Origen’s Commentary on Canticles, part of which is extant in the Latin translation of Rufinus.

[2 ]Cant. iv. 1. The reading proxima (‘neighbour’) follows the LXX. The passage is similarly applied in de Inst. Virg. i. 4.

[3 ]Lk. iii. 22.

[4 ]Cant. iv. 2, 3.

[5 ]The reference to “goats feeding securely on steep ascents” is suggested by the context of the preceding quotation. In Cant. iv. 1 Mount Gilead is referred to as the abode of the goats.

[6 ]Cant. iv. 7, 8 (following the LXX). The passage is quoted in the same form in Ambrose, de Isaac, v. 47.

[1 ]Cant. vii. 6, 7.

[2 ]Cant. viii. 1, 2. The words “into the chamber of her who conceived me” are found in the LXX, but are not in the Hebrew or Vulgate. The passage is quoted with these words in de Inst. Virg. i. 5, where the application closely resembles that found here. On the other hand, the words “thou shalt teach me” are absent from the LXX, but are found in the Vulgate, and are quoted by Ambrose, Exp. in Ps. cxviii. 19. 25. See Introd. p. xliii.

[3 ]Cant. viii. 6. The passage is similarly applied in de Inst. Virg. xvii. 113.

[1 ]Cant. viii. 7. For a closely parallel application see de Inst. Virg. xvii. 113.

[2 ]For the “spiritual seal,” cf. de Sacram. iii. 2. 8, where the rite referred to is called “the perfecting” (perfectio). It seems to have consisted of a “signing” (whether with or without unction we are not told), and is connected both here and in de Sacram. iii. 2. 8-10; vi. 2. 6 with the sevenfold gifts of the Spirit. It is referred to in similar terms in Ambrose, de Spir. sancto, i. 6. 72. See further Introd. pp. xxv ff.

[3 ]Is. xi. 2. The passage suggests that the “spiritual seal” may have been accompanied with a prayer for the sevenfold gifts, such as we find mentioned in Spanish writers. There is a similar prayer in the Gelasian Sacramentary (Wilson, p. 87), familiar to us from its use in the Confirmation Service of the Book of Common Prayer. The reading virtutis (“strength”) for Vulg. fortitudinis is found in Novatian, de Trin. 29.

[4 ]2 Cor. i. 21, 22, where the words confirmat, signavit are found in the Latin version. For a similar application see de Spir. sancto, i. 6. 72.

[1 ]Ps. xliii. (xlii. Vulg.) 4. This psalm is often mentioned by Ambrose in connexion with the Eucharist, though the Introit of the Roman and Ambrosian rites belongs to a later date.

[2 ]Ps. ciii. (cii. Vulg.) 5.

[3 ]Ps. xxiii. (xxii. Vulg.) 5.

[4 ]Ps. xxiii. (xxii. Vulg.) 1-5. The rendering in verse 5 (“thy inebriating cup . . .”) follows the LXX. There is a v.l. “my cup” in this passage, with which the text of de Sacram. v. 3. 13, is in accord.

[5 ]Ps. lxxviii. (lxxvii. Vulg.) 24; cf. Ex. xvi. 4 f. For the quails see Ex. xvi. 13.

[6 ]1 Cor. ii. 9. The reading diligentibus is Old Latin (Vulg. qui diligunt). Cf. de Sacram. iv. 2. 25.

[1 ]Gen. xiv. 17 f. The sacrifice of Melchizedek is constantly referred to as a type of the Eucharist in Church writers from the time of Cyprian onwards, and finds a place in the prayers of the Canon of the Mass quoted in de Sacram. iv. 6. 27. The incident is also dealt with in de Sacram. iv. 3. 10, 12. Cf. also Ambrose, de Fide, iii. 11. 87 f.

[2 ]Heb. vii. 3. The attribution of the Epistle to St. Paul, which first appears in Clement of Alexandria, became common in the East in the fourth century, and thence it spread into the West, though doubts as to the authorship continued to be expressed by Western writers.

[3 ]Heb. vii. 2.

[4 ]Rev. xxi. 6.

[1 ]Rev. xxii. 13.

[2 ]An allusion to Gen. xiv. 18.

[3 ]Ps. lxxviii. (lxxvii. Vulg.) 24; cf. Ex. xvi. 4.

[4 ]Ps. lxxviii. (lxxvii. Vulg.) 25.

[5 ]Jn. vi. 49.

[6 ]Jn. vi. 51.

[7 ]Jn. vi. 50, 51.

[8 ]Cf. Ex. xvi. 20.

[9 ]Ex. xvii. 6.

[10 ]Jn. xix. 34.

[1 ]1 Cor. x. 4-6.

[2 ]Ex. iv. 3, 4.

[1 ]Ex. vii. 20. The withdrawal of the plague is not recounted in Exodus, but is added by Ambrose on the analogy of Ex. viii. 12, 30.

[2 ]“in murorum specie congelavit.” On species see note on ix. 52. The passage referred to is Ex. xiv. 22. Ambrose makes a similar allusion to the incident in de Spir. sancto, iii. 4. 22.

[3 ]Josh. iii. 16.

[4 ]Ex. xvii. 6.

[5 ]Ex. xv. 23-25.

[6 ]2 Kings vi. 4-6.

[7 ]“gravior est enim ferri species quam aquarum liquor.”

[1 ]According to Ambrose and the author of de Sacramentis, the consecration of the elements in the Eucharist is effected by the recital of the words of institution. See Introd. p. xxxviii, and cf. de Sacram. iv. 4. 14-19.

[2 ]“Christi sermone conficitur.” The word conficere is used in classical Latin of the “celebration” of sacred rites. In Latin Church writers of the fourth century it is often used as a synonym of consecrare. Strictly speaking, it is the elements which are “consecrated,” but by a proleptic use that which the elements become is made the object of the verb “to consecrate,” and so Ambrose speaks of “consecrating the body” of Christ (ix. 53, hoc quod conficimus corpus ex virgine est).

[3 ]1 Kings xix. 38.

[4 ]“ut species mutet elementorum.” The word species denotes the particular, special nature by which one kind of thing is distinguished from another. Cf. ix. 51, “in murorum specie congelavit,” “assumed the character of solid walls”; ibid., “gravior est enim ferri species quam aquarum liquor,” “iron is a heavier kind of thing than liquid water”; ix. 54, “alia species nominatur,” “another kind of thing is named.” Ambrose probably intends the words to represent the Greek term ε[Editor: illegible character]δος, which is used in connexion with the change of the elements in the consecration of the Eucharist by Gregory of Nyssa, Catechetical Oration, ch. 37. Elsewhere in this treatise species is used in the less technical sense of “form” or “appearance,” see iv. 25, where Ambrose discusses the application of the word to the dove at the Baptism; and cf. de Sacram. iv. 4. 20, “speciem sanguinis non video,” where species probably means “the appearance” of blood.

[5 ]Ps. xxxiii. (xxxii. Vulg.) 9.

[6 ]The argument, as in de Sacram. iv. 4. 15, is that if it is possible for God to make something out of nothing, à fortiori it is possible for Him to make something into something else. By a “new nature” then is meant one which does not succeed a former or older nature, but is the first of its kind to exist.

[1 ]“suis utamur exemplis.” Lit., “examples belonging to itself,” or “examples belonging to the nature of the case.” The idea is that the mysteries of the Incarnation and the Sacrament belong to the same order and are essentially the same.

[2 ]The word “Lord” (dominus) before “Jesus” reflects the Milanese practice of prefixing that title whenever the name of Jesus was read in the Gospel. The same practice prevailed in the Gallican rite and still exists in the Ambrosian rite at Milan.

[3 ]Mt. xxvi. 26; Mk. xiv. 22.

[4 ]“alia species nominatur.” See note on ix. 52 for species.

[5 ]This response was probably made at the close of the Eucharistic prayer (or Canon). Ambrose is writing at a time when the Canon was recited aloud, and not silently, as was the later practice. In de Sacram. iv. 5. 25 the Amen is that of the communicants on reception of the sacrament.

[1 ]Cant. iv. 10. Some MSS. read favum distillant; others, as in the text translated above, favus distillans. The latter is the Vulgate rendering, to which the reading in the present passage may have been assimilated.

[2 ]Cant. iv. 16, v. 1 (Vulg.).

[1 ]Probably Ambrose has in mind Mt. iii. 10.

[2 ]Cant. v. 1. The LXX. and Vulg. have “wine” for “drink.”

[3 ]Mt. xxv. 36.

[4 ]Cant. v. 1 (following LXX).

[5 ]Ps. xxxiv. 8 (xxxiii. 9 Vulg.).

[6 ]1 Cor. x. 3, 4.

[7 ]In these words Ambrose wishes to guard against any materialistic interpretation of the teaching given in the previous chapters. He has in view such passages as Jn. vi. 63, 1 Cor. xv. 44, 2 Cor. iii. 17. Athanasius, Ep. ad Serap. iv. 19, uses similar language.

[8 ]Lamentations iv. 20, which in the LXX (here followed by the Latin Versions) runs: “The Spirit of our face, Christ the Lord, was taken in their destructions.” The passage is frequently quoted in early writers as Messianic. See Justin, Ap. i. 55; Iren., adv. Haer. iii. 10. 2; Tertullian, adv. Marc. iii. 6; adv. Prax. 14.

[1 ]1 Pet. ii. 21, with “died” for “suffered.” The link between this quotation and the preceding passage from Lamentations is supplied by the reference to the Messiah being “taken in their destructions” in that passage. This leads on to the thought of the Passion.

[2 ]Ps. civ. (ciii. Vulg.) 15.

[3 ]Jn. iii. 4.

[4 ]Mt. i. 18.

[5 ]Lk. i. 35.