Pseudo-Ambrose

In his own words on Wisdom of Solomon

• Wisdom of Solomon 1:11

  It is not lawful to deceive anyone, either by clever reasoning or with simple words, because whoever lies in any way, sins. In fact, it is written, "A lying mouth destroys the soul." And it adds, "The burning pool of fire and sulphur is reserved for all liars. This is the second death."

  THE CONTEST BETWEEN VICES AND VIRTUE 19

• Wisdom of Solomon 2:24

  From envy comes hatred, grumbling, disparagement, joy over the difficulties of one's neighbor and affliction over his prosperity. O perverse progeny, which, if it penetrates the soul and begins to dominate it, destroys every bud of holiness. One who envies or hates kills no one before he kills himself. One who murmurs and disparages tears out his own roots before those of others. The one who exults in his neighbor's difficulties and is tormented by his success strikes himself first with a foreign sword. This second branch of pride was first born when the one about whom it is written, "Death entered the world through the devil's envy," convinced Cain to shed his brother's blood, moved by the hatred brought about by envy. But certainly Cain, through his envy, killed his own soul before he killed the other's flesh. Indeed, it is written, "Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him."

  PRAYER 2:4

• Wisdom of Solomon 2:24

  Envy says, "In what way are you inferior to this one or that one? Why then aren't you equal or superior to them? How many things are you capable of that they aren't? So, they can be neither superior nor even equal to you." Fraternal love, however, responds, "O mortal, if you think yourself better than others because of your virtues, you would be more secure in the lowest place than in the highest. The worst ruin always comes from the highest place. If, as you say, some are superior and others equal to you, what harm is it to you? How does it hurt you? As you envy the lofty position of others, be careful rather that you do not imitate him of whom it is written, 'Death entered the world through the devil's envy. Those who belong to his party imitate him.' "

  THE CONTEST BETWEEN VICES AND VIRTUE 6

• Wisdom of Solomon 2:24

  Death is the sword of the devil. "Death entered the world through the devil's envy." This is the sword with which he killed the first man, and then the human race, until it was redeemed by Christ. When we sin, we fall under this sword. Christ, however, did not have this sword, because "he committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth." He was not subject to original sin, because he was not born of sexual intercourse involving a man—a man who necessarily could not be without sin.

  ON THE BOOK OF REVELATION 6:7

• Wisdom of Solomon 2:24

  The man, who was formed by the initiative of divine action, was made lord of this earthly creation, so that in observance of the divine order he would respect only the will of him who, from nothing, had made him lord of all things. And from the beginning—not out of ignorance but corrupted by envy and wanting the creature to surpass what had been granted by God—he lost what nature had not given him, that is, grace, which had been granted him by the benevolence of the Creator. From then on, the transgressor, having received the sentence of death through the jealousy of the devil's deception, passed this sentence on to the descendents who would originate from him in the future.

  SERMON 35:3

• Wisdom of Solomon 6:6

  Tell me: Where are the kings? Where are the princes? Where are the rich? Where is their gold and their splendor? "All has passed like a shadow." Their gold, their silver and their pomp have remained in the world, while they are endlessly tormented in hell, where their worm will never die and their fire will never go out, since it is written, "The powerful will be severely tormented." Down there they will live forever in darkness, in a dwelling without light. Down there the miserable will be with the miserable, the proud with the proud, murderers with murderers, adulterers with adulterers, the impious with the impious, liars with liars, those who commit sacrilege with others like them—all will be tormented together, forever, in hell.

  SERMON 24:5

• Wisdom of Solomon 7:7

  Beloved brothers and sisters, how is it that Solomon, though possessing wisdom in such great abundance and knowing all those things hidden in the secrets of mysterious providence, says that some things are impossible to know? He clearly received wisdom from God. He knew the beginnings of the ordering of the world and about the heavens that all see, suspended at an unreachable height. He knew how the world is surrounded and covered by air, balanced in equilibrium in its midst and attracted downward by its inert weight. He knew the reasons why the eager course of the waves of the liquid element roils within the limits fixed by the shores. He knew the principles and ends of things and the relationship between the two. Nor were the divisions and changes of times unknown to him. He understood how the years succeed one another, as the world completes its cycle, and why the stars followed their course, sometimes unexpectedly going ahead or remaining behind, as well as the place of their rising and setting. And he knew many other things, because he was told them by wisdom. It is surprising that he would say that some things were beyond his reach or that he could not know or see them. But, because everything collected in the divine books by the proclamation of the prophets had its preordained time, it is right that Solomon could not know, prior to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, about the flight of an eagle, or a serpent on the rock, or a boat that ploughs the waves or the way of a young man in his youth. It was not yet the time in which the reality would emerge from shadows or the truth from the image. To us, however, our Lord Jesus Christ has shown that everything concerning him was written in the Law and that, for us, nothing is hidden that will not be revealed. And after that book sealed with seven seals, which no one could open except Christ, it was permitted and granted to us to see. We know all things, as the Lord says, "I bless you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you kept these things hidden to the wise and have revealed them to the simple." Furthermore, "To you it has been given to know this mystery." And I have said all this, not as a reproach to Solomon because he did not know things that he could not have known but to indicate that it was not yet the time to know them.

  SERMON 42:2

• Wisdom of Solomon 7:22

  As light does not admit darkness, so the Holy Spirit is by nature incapable of all that is sordid. He departs from thoughts that are without God. He infuses himself into holy souls, transforming them into servants of God and prophets. Therefore, if someone does not have the Holy Spirit, neither the Father nor the Son—from whom he is, and with whom he is one God—will come to him to make their dwelling in him. This is the spirit of wisdom, who is consequently called manifold, since he has many things in himself and is what he has—and in everything he is still one. The things he does do not change him in any way, like the image of a ring left in wax, without leaving the ring.

  ON THE TRINITY 7