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45. But these writings of the apostles, though dear, are yet
profound, and are so written that one who is not content with a
superficial acquaintance, but desires to know them thoroughly, must
not only read and hear them, but must have an expositor. Let us,
then, study these various modes of speech as they are exemplified in
the writings of men who, by reading the Scriptures, have attained to
the knowledge of divine and saving truth, and have ministered it to the
Church. Cyprian of blessed memory writes in the subdued style in his
treatise on the sacrament of the cup. In this book he resolves the
question, whether the cup of the Lord ought to contain water only, or
water mingled with wine. But we must quote a passage by way of
illustration. After the customary introduction, he proceeds to the
discussion of the point in question.
"Observe" he says, "that we are instructed, in presenting the
cup, to maintain the custom handed down to us from the Lord, and to
do nothing that our Lord has not first done for us: so that the cup
which is offered m remembrance of Him should be mixed with wine.
For, as Christ says, 'I am the true vine,' it follows that the
blood of Christ is wine, not water; and the cup cannot appear to
contain His blood by which we are redeemed and quickened, if the wine
be absent; for by the wine is the blood of Christ typified, that
blood which is foreshadowed and proclaimed in all the types and
declarations of Scripture. For we find that in the book of Genesis
this very circumstance in regard to the sacrament is foreshadowed, and
our Lord's sufferings typically set forth, in the case of Noah,
when he drank wine, and was drunken, and was uncovered within his
tent, and his nakedness was exposed by his second son, and was
carefully hidden by his elder and his younger sons. It is not
necessary to mention the other circumstances in detail, as it is only
necessary to observe this point, that Noah, foreshadowing the future
reality, drank, not water, but wine, and thus showed forth our
Lord's passion. In the same way we see the sacrament of the Lord's
supper prefigured in the case of Melchizedek the priest, according to
the testimony of the Holy Scriptures, where it says: ' And
Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was
the priest of the most high God. And he blessed Abraham.' Now,
that Melchizedek was a type of Christ, the Holy Spirit declares in
the Psalms, where the Father addressing the Son says, 'Thou art a
priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.'" In this passage,
and in all of the letter that follows, the subdued style is
maintained, as the reader may easily satisfy himself.
46. St. Ambrose also, though dealing with a question of very
great importance, the equality of the Holy Spirit with the Father
and the Son, employs the subdued style, because the object he has in
view demands, not beauty of diction, nor the swaying of the mind by
the stir of emotion, but facts and proofs. Accordingly, in the
introduction to his work, we find the following passage among others:
"When Gideon was startled by the message he had heard from God,
that, though thousands of the people failed, yet through one man God
would driver His people from their enemies, he brought forth a kid of
the goats, and by direction of the angel laid it with unleavened cakes
upon a rock, and poured the broth over it; and as soon as the angel of
God touched it with the end of the staff that was in his hand, there
rose up fire out of the rock and consumed the offering.I Now this
sign seems to indicate that the rock was a type of the body of Christ,
for it is written, 'They: drank of that spiritual rock that followed
them, and that rock was Christ;' this, of course, referring not to
Christ's divine nature but to His flesh, whose ever-flowing
fountain of blood has ever satisfied the hearts of His thirsting
people. And so it was at that time declared in a mystery that the
Lord Jesus, when crucified, should abolish in His flesh the sins of
the whole world, and not their guilty acts merely, but the evil lusts
of their hearts. For the kid's flesh refers to the guilt of the
outward act, the broth to the allurement of lust within, as it is
written, 'And the mixed multitude that was among them fell a
lusting; the angel, then, stretched out his staff and with the
Spirit of God, should burn up all the sins of the human race.
Whence also the lord says 'I am coe to send fire on the earth."
And in the same style he pursues the subject, devoting himself chiefly
to proving and enforcing his point.
47. An example of the temperate style is the celebrated encomium on
virginity from Cyprian: "Now our discourse addresses itself to the
(virgins, who, as they are the objects of higher honor, are also the
objects of greater care. These are the flowers on the tree of the
Church, the glory and ornament of spiritual grace, the joy of honor
and praise, a work unbroken and unblemished, the image of God
answering to the holiness of the Lord, the brighter portion of the
flock of Christ. The glorious fruitfulness of their mother the
Church rejoices in them, and in them flourishes more abundantly; and
in proportion as bright virginity adds to her numbers, in the same
proportion does the mother's joy increase. And at another place in
the end of the epistle 'As we have borne,' he says, ' the image of
the earthly, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.'
Virginity bears this image, integrity bears it, holiness and truth
bear it; they bear it who are mindful of the chastening of the Lord,
who observe justice and piety, who are strong in faith, humble in
fear, steadfast in the endurance of suffering, meek in the endurance
of injury, ready to pity, of one mind and of one heart in brotherly
peace. and every one of these things ought ye, holy virgins, to
observe, to cherish, and fulfill, who having hearts at leisure for
God and for Christ, and having chosen the greater and better part,
lead and point the way to the Lord, to whom you have pledged are
younger, wait upon the eiders, and encourage your equals; stir up one
another by mutual exhortations; provoke one another to glory by emulous
examples of virtue; endure bravely, advance in spirituality, finish
your course with joy; only be mindful of us when your virginity shall
begin to reap its reward of honor."
48. Ambrose also uses the temperate and ornamented style when he is
holding up before virgins who have made their profession a model for
their imitation, and says: "She was a virgin not in body only, but
also in mind; not mingling the purity of her affection with any dross
of hypocrisy; serious in speech; uncertain riches, but in the prayer
of the poor; diligent in labor; reverent in word; accustomed to look
to God, not man, as the guide of her conscience; injuring no one,
wishing well to all; dutiful to her elders, not envious of her
equals; avoiding boastfulness, following reason, loving virtue.
When did she wound her parents even by a look? When did she quarrel
with her neighbors? When did she spurn the humble, laugh at the
weak, or shun the indigent? She is accustomed to visit only those
haunts of men that pity would not blush for, nor modesty pass by.
There is nothing haughty in her eyes, nothing bold in her words,
nothing wanton in her gestures: her bearing is not voluptuous, nor her
gait mo free, nor her voice petulant; so that her outward appearance
is an image of her mind, and a picture of purity. For a good house
ought to be known for Such at the very thres hold, and show at the
very entrance that there is no dark recess within, as the light of a
lamp set inside sheds its radiance on the outside. Why need I detail
her sparingness in food, her superabundance in duty, the one falling
beneath the demands of nature, the other rising above its powers? The
latter has no intervals of intermission, the former doubles the days by
fasting; and when the desire for refreshment does arise, it is
satisfied with food such as will support life, but not minister to
appetite." I Now I have died these latter passages as examples of
the temperate style, because their purpose is not to induce those who
have not yet devoted themselves to take the vows of virginity, but to
show of what character those who have taken vows ought to be. To
prevail on any one to take a step of such a nature and of so great
importance, requires that the mind should be excited and set on fire by
the majestic style. Cyprian the martyr, however, did not write about
the duty of taking up the profession of virginity, but about the dress
and deportment of virgins. Yet that great bishop urges them to their
duty even in these respects by the power of a majestic eloquence.
49. But I shah select examples of the majestic style from their
treatment of a subject which both of them have touched. Both have
denounced the women who color, or rather discolor, their faces with
paint. And the first, in dealing with this topic, says: "Suppose
a painter should depict in colors that arrival nature's the features
and form and complexion of some man, and that, when the portrait had
been finished with consummate art, another painter should put his hand
over it, as if to improve by his superior skill the painting already
completed; surely the first artist would feel deeply insulted, and his
indignation would be justly roused. Dost thou, then, think that thou
wilt carry off with impunity so audacious an act of wickedness, such an
insult to God the great artificer? For, granting that thou art not
immodest in thy behavior towards men, and that thou art not polluted in
mind by these meretricious deceits, yet, in corrupting and violating
what is God's, thou provest thyself worse than an adulteress. The
fact that thou considerest thyself adorned and beautified by such arts
is an impeachment of God's handiwork, and a violation of truth.
Listen to the warning leavened. For even Christ our passover is
sacrificed for us: therefore let us keep the feast, not with old
leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the
unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.'2 Now can sincerity and
truth continue to exist when what is sincere is polluted, and what is
true is changed by meretricious coloring and the deceptions of quackery
into a lie? Thy Lord says, ' Thou canst not make one hair white or
black;' and dost thou wish to have greater power so as to bring to
nought the words of thy Lord? With rash and sacrilegious hand thou
wouldst fain change the color of thy hair: I would that, with a
prophetic look to the future, thou shouldst dye it the color of
flame." It would be too long to quote all that follows.
50. Ambrose again, inveighing against such practices, says:
"Hence arise these incentives to vice, that women, in their fear
that they may not prove attractive to men, paint their faces with
carefully-chosen colors, and then from stains on their features go on
to stains on their chastity. What folly it is to change the features
of nature into those of painting, and from fear of incurring their
husband's disapproval, to proclaim openly that they have incurred
their own! For the woman who desires to alter her natural appearance
pronounces condemnation on herself; and her eager endeavors to please
another prove that she has first been displeasing to herself. And what
testimony to thine ugliness can we find, O woman, that is more
unquestionable than thine own, when thou art afraid to show thyself?
If thou art comely why dost thou hide thy comeliness? If thou art
plain, why dost thou lyingly pretend to be beautiful, when thou canst
not enjoy the pleasure of the lie either in thine own consciousness or
in that of another? For he loves another woman, thou desirest to
please another man; and thou art angry if he love another, though he
is taught adultery in thee. Thou art the evil promptress of thine own
injury. For even the woman who has been the victim of a pander shrinks
from acting the pander's part, and though she be vile, it is herself
she sins against and not another. The crime of adultery is almost more
tolerable than thine; for adultery tampers with modesty, but thou with
nature." It is sufficiently clear, I think, that this eloquence
calls passionately upon women to avoid tampering with their appearance
by deceitful arts, and to cultivate modesty and fear. Accordingly,
we notice that the style is neither subdued nor temperate, but majestic
throughout Now in these two authors whom I have selected as specimens
of the rest, and in other ecclesiastical writers who both speak the
truth and speak it well, speak it, that is, judiciously, pointedly,
and with beauty and power of expression, many examples may be found of
the three styles of speech, scattered through their various writings
and discourses; and the diligent student may by assiduous reading,
intermingled with practice on his own part, become thoroughly imbued
with them all.
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