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On the Sacraments

St Ambrose of Milan, tr. Thompson, 1919

Book 3, The “spiritual seal” and the Sevenfold Gifts of the Spirit. The Effect of Baptism…

There follows the spiritual seal,¹ which you have heard mentioned in the lesson to-day. For after the font it remains for the “perfecting”² to take place, when, at the invocation of the priest, the Holy Spirit is bestowed, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and strength, the spirit of knowledge and godliness, the spirit of holy fear,³ as it were seven virtues of the Spirit.

And, indeed, all virtues belong to the Spirit; but these are as it were cardinal, as it were principal.⁴ For what is so principal, as godliness? What is so principal, as the knowledge of God? What is so principal, as strength? What is so principal, as the counsel of God? What is so principal, as the fear of God? As the fear of the world is weakness, so the fear of God is great power.

These are the seven virtues, when thou art sealed;⁵ for, as the holy Apostle saith, The wisdom of our God is manifold.⁶ And, as the wisdom of God is manifold, so is the Holy Ghost manifold, who hath divers and various virtues. Whence also we speak of the God of hosts;⁷ which can be applied to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. But that belongs to another discourse, another time.

After this what follows? Thou hast to come to the altar,⁸ whither thou hast not come before; thou hast to see the things which thou didst not see before, that is, the mystery which thou hast read in the Gospel;⁹ if, however, thou hast not read it, thou hast certainly heard it. A blind man presented himself to the Saviour to be healed. And he, who healed others merely by a word and utterance, and brought back the light of the eyes by a command, yet in the book of the Gospel which is entitled “according to John,” — who truly beyond the others saw great mysteries, and described, and declared them: — he wished to prefigure this mystery¹⁰ in that miracle. All the Evangelists, indeed, were holy, all the Apostles, except the traitor — all were holy; yet Saint John, who wrote his Gospel last, having been sought and chosen by Christ to be in a sense his kinsman,¹¹ uttered eternal mysteries with a louder trumpet. Whatever he spoke is a mystery. Another Evangelist told of the cure of a blind man; Matthew did, Luke did, Mark did. What does John alone say? — He took clay, and anointed his eyes, and said unto him, “Go to Siloam.” And rising he went, and washed, and came seeing.¹²

Consider thou also the eyes of thine heart. Formerly thou sawest only the things that are bodily, with bodily eyes; but the things which pertain to the sacraments thou wast not yet able to see with the eyes of the heart. Therefore, when thou gavest thy name,¹³ he took clay, and anointed thine eyes. What does it mean? It means that thou shouldst confess thy sin, recognize thy guilt, repent of thy trespasses, that is, acknowledge the lot of human birth. For although he who comes to baptism does not confess his sin,¹⁴ yet he makes a complete confession of all sins by the very fact that he asks to be baptized, that he may be justified, that is, pass from guilt to grace.

Do not think it superfluous. There are some¹⁵ —I know for certain there was one who said so; when we said to him, “At thy time of life thou shouldest certainly be baptized,” he objected, “Why should I be baptized? I have no sin. Have I contracted sin?” He had no clay, because Christ had not washed,¹⁶ that is, had not opened, his eyes; for no man is without sin.

Therefore, he who takes refuge in the baptism of Christ acknowledges himself a man. So on thee also he has put clay, that is, modesty, prudence, reflection upon thy weakness, and he has said to thee, “Go to Siloam.” What is Siloam? Which is, it says, by interpretation, Sent. That is, Go to that fount¹⁷ wherein the Cross of the Lord is proclaimed;¹⁸ go to that fount wherein Christ redeemed the faults of all men.

Thou didst go, thou didst wash, thou camest to the altar. Thou didst begin to see what thou hadst not seen before; that is, through the font of the Lord and the preaching of the Lord’s passion thine eyes were then opened. Thou who seemedst before to be blinded in heart, didst begin to see the light of the sacraments. Therefore, dearly beloved brethren, we have arrived at the altar, to a richer theme. And for the reason that the time is advanced, we cannot begin a fresh subject; since it is a lengthier theme, let what has been said to-day suffice; and to-morrow, if it please the Lord, we will treat of those sacraments.

Notes

Cf. de Myst. vii. 41, 42.
“Perfectio” is almost a technical term for the rite following baptism, i. e. confirmation (T.).
Is. xi. 2. Cf. de Myst. vii. 42 (note).
The words principales virtutes recall Ambrose, de Off. i. 24. 115. The term cardinales virtutes is found in Ambrose, Exp. in Luc. v. 49.
consignaris.
Eph. iii. 10.
Deus virtutum, as often in the Latin Psalter.
Cf. de Myst. 43 (init.).
Jn. ix. 1 f.
The word mysterium in this passage, as elsewhere, is used in various senses. It is a “sacrament,” “a passage of Scripture with an inner meaning,” and “a divine purpose” (T.).
Possibly a reference to Jn. xix. 26, 27.
Jn. ix. 6. This particular incident is not found in the other Evangelists, but similar cures of blind men are recorded in Mt. ix. 27 f.; xii. 22; xx. 30 f.; Mk. viii. 22 f.; x. 46 f.; Lk. xviii. 35 f.
i. e. as a candidate for baptism (T.). See Introd. p. xi.
Ambrose, Exp. in Luc. vi. 3, speaks of a “confession of sin” in connexion with baptism, and some commentators see in the present passage a further indication that de Sacramentis is not the work of Ambrose, as the writer suggests that this confession may be omitted, and that the very fact of seeking baptism is in itself a “confession” of sin. But the language of Ambrose, in the passage cited above, is too vague and general to warrant the deduction drawn from it.
In this passage it has been thought that the writer has in view the Pelagian denial of original sin. If so, the passage is a further indication that the work is later than Ambrose. See Cabrol, Dict. d’archéologie et de lit. chrét. I. 1386, art. “Ambrosien (rit).”
laverat. The Rom. edition and one MS. read liniverat. Possibly leverat, the reading of several MSS. is correct: i. e. “had not anointed.”
The word here, fontem, can mean either a “spring” or a baptismal font; the writer plays on the double meaning (T.).
Cf. de Myst. iii, 14 (note).