Section CXXXVIII

That account of it must especially be taken Ambrose declares¹ when, on the words² of the Psalm, “Thy mercies are exceedingly many, O Lord,” he writes:

Although salvation is far from sinners, nevertheless let no one despair, because the mercies of the Lord are many. For those who perish by their own sin are delivered by the mercy of the Lord. “I shall have mercy,” he says³, “on whom I shall have had mercy.” He appeared openly to those not seeking him; he called those fleeing; he gathered the ignorant; he offered himself to the Passion for all. Is he not, therefore, greatly merciful? For the mercy of man is toward his neighbor; the mercy of the Lord is toward all flesh, so that all flesh, endowed with that mercy of the Lord, might ascend to the Lord.

He explains the incredible benignity of this mercy much more illustriously⁴ when, bringing together the testimonies⁵, “For the Lord will not reject his people,” and, “But now thou hast rejected and confounded us,” he proceeds:

Since God is one who draws near, not one who is far away, as the Scripture of the Old Testament has it⁶, certainly he who draws near does not reject. For it belongs to divine mercy to be the cause of death to no one and to judge all to be redeemed. But see lest he be rejected who removes himself far from the Lord, as David says⁷: “For behold, those who remove themselves far from thee shall perish; thou hast destroyed all who fornicate away from thee.” What is it to fornicate away from thee? That through the mockeries of their turpitude they abandon thee and withdraw from thee and stray from thy commandments. Finally, elsewhere⁸ you have it written: “But God judges adulterers,” dispersing them away from himself. “Thou hast rejected,” therefore, that is, by alienating them from thee thou hast destroyed them. Therefore, he who separates himself from the Lord is himself separated from the Lord; and he who does not know the Lord is not known by the Lord; and he who is ignorant is ignored,—

—as the Lord himself⁹ said: “Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity; I know you not.” For he does not deign to know the ministers of injustice and the authors of iniquity. The sinner, therefore, is not rejected, because he rejects himself. In this manner, therefore, he says¹⁰: “But now thou hast rejected and confounded us.”

So far is God from being the cause of death to anyone or from rejecting anyone from himself that Ambrose, inquiring¹¹ into the force and judgment of the words of God¹² to the first parent, “Adam, where art thou?” first writes:

Certainly he seeks him as though absent, for he would not say, “Where art thou?” if he knew him to remain in himself.

Then immediately he adds:

But let us hear who made him absent. “They both hid themselves,” he says¹³, “from the face of the Lord.” Christ sees all; but he who hides himself is hidden, because he who is ignorant is ignored. For the Lord knows those who are his. He wills all whom he founded and created to be his own. Would that thou, O man, wouldst not flee and wouldst not hide thyself from Christ. He seeks even those who flee and does not will the hidden to perish; but he cries, saying: “Adam, where art thou?” That is, “Man, where art thou? I placed thee in light; thou hast sought darkness.”

For among the divine endowments none shines more splendidly than that by which¹⁴ God is called one who draws near, not a rejecter of those who draw near.

For he wills to be to all the cause of salvation, not of death. Finally, he rejects no one except one who has judged that he must be sequestered from his sight.

For in this manner¹⁵,

the heavenly prerogative of clemency is preserved, because he rejects no one; but whoever are unwilling to confess their own sins themselves withdraw from the Lord our God.

Unless they withdraw, he will always be benignly present to them. For, says¹⁶ Ambrose:

Since we cannot doubt concerning the sun—

—that as the day advances it diffuses its rays throughout the whole world and pours light upon all, which even those who cannot see nevertheless perceive to be present by the warmth of the air itself—for where is its heat lacking? Whither do its rays not arrive when, after the darkness of night or clouds has been dispelled, it illuminates the earth? It shines in heaven, glitters in the sea, burns on the earth. Since, therefore, we cannot doubt concerning the sun that it shines everywhere, shall we doubt concerning God that the splendor of his glory and the image of his substance shines everywhere? What does the Word of God not penetrate, the eternal splendor which illuminates even the hidden things of the mind which this sun cannot penetrate?… Therefore, he penetrates the soul and illuminates it as the brightness of the eternal light. But although he is diffused through all, and in all, and above all powers, because he has arisen from the Virgin for all, both good and evil—as he also commands his sun to rise upon the good and evil—he nevertheless warms him who draws near to himself. For just as he who has closed the windows of his house and chosen a dark place in which to abide excludes the brightness of the sun from himself, so he who turns himself away from the sun of justice cannot behold his splendor: he walks in darkness, and in the light of all he is himself the cause of blindness to himself. Therefore, open thy windows to him, that thy whole house may shine with the brightness of the true sun. Open thine eyes, that thou mayest see the sun of justice rising for thee… If someone closes the doors of his house, is it perhaps the fault of the sun that it does not illuminate his house? Therefore, if anyone judges that his own mind is to be barred by the bolts of his sins, and foolishly turns away from himself the splendor of the Word and brings upon himself the blindness of foolishness, will he be able to complain that the sun of justice was unwilling to enter, or to accuse the weakness of the heavenly light? The Word of God knocks at thy door. “If anyone opens to me,” he says¹⁷, “I shall enter.” Therefore, if anyone does not open, is it perhaps the fault of the one not entering, and not rather of the one not opening?