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. So also Joshua the son of Nun, when he could not prevail against the enemy with the might of all his army,ġ673 overcame by sound of seven sacred trumpets, in the place where he saw and knew the Captain of the heavenly host.ġ674 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.Ĥ. 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. 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. For Abraham led into battle three hundred and eighteen men,ġ671 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,ġ672, the first two letters of the name ᾽Ιησοὐς, Jesus. 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 that which no man hath taught you, God hath surely given and inspired.ģ. 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.”ġ670 Sanctification, therefore, cometh not of tradition, but of inspiration therefore keep watch over the gifts of God. 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.Ģ. The Queen of the South, as we read in the Book of the Kings, came to hear the wisdom of Solomon.ġ668 Likewise King Hiram sent to Solomon that he might prove him.ġ669 So also your sacred Majesty, following these examples of old time, has decreed to hear my confession of faith. This the author does by constant appeal to the Scriptures, both of the Old and of the New Testament, which the Arians had in many cases forced into the mould of false interpretation to make them fit their doctrine.īesides the title of De Fide, that of De Trinitate was one by which this treatise was largely known in after ages it is certain, though, that the former was that assigned by St. The object of the Exposition is, as has already been indicated, to prove the Divinity of Jesus Christ, and His co-eternity, co-equality, and consubstantiality, as God the Son, with God the Father. Ambrose’s Exposition was brought into its present form. Ambrose in 379, but the additional Books dealt, not with the Divinity of the Holy Spirit, but rather with new objections raised by the Arian teachers, and points which had either been passed over or not fully discussed already. The original treatise was, indeed, enlarged by St. Ambrose, begging for a fresh copy of the treatise, and further, for its enlargement by the addition of a discourse on the Divinity of the Holy Spirit. With this work the Emperor was so much pleased that on his return from the East, after the death of Valens at Hadrianople, he wrote to St.
In compliance with Gratian’s wish, the Bishop of Milan composed a treatise, which now forms the first two Books of the De Fide. 378) had gained the upper hand of Orthodoxy in the Eastern provinces of the Empire, owing to its establishment at the Imperial Court. Gratian’s object in making this request was to secure some sort of preservative against the corrupting influence of Arianism, which at that time (a.d. Ambrose to write him a treatise in proof of the Divinity of Jesus Christ.
On the eve of setting out for the East, to aid his uncle Valens in repelling a Gothic invasion, Gratian, the Emperor of the West, requested St.
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