out of the devils, if they had but grace to see his beauty.”^110 This statement is
significant for two reasons. First, it reiterates that the devil cannot be ravished
because it cannot possess any awareness of Christ’s beauty. Secondly, it reveals
ravishment is a gift from God, dependent upon grace.
In his meditation on the soul’s love to Jesus he begins by confessing, “[t]hese,
O these were the blessed words, which his Spirit from his Gospel spake unto me, till
he made me cast my self at his feet, yea into his armes, and to cry out, my Saviour and
my Lord; And now, O my soul rouze up, can thy heart be cold when thou thinkest of
this? What? are thou not yet transported, and ravished with love? is it possible that
thy heart should hold, when it remembers these boundlesse compassions?”^111 The
same dynamic interaction between the intellect and affection is at work when
Ambrose speaks of the penitent thief from the cross. Reflecting on his experience of
gazing upon Jesus he declares, “I deny not but the other joyes in Heaven are
transcendent and ravishing, but they are all no better than accessories to this principal,
drops to this Ocean, glimpses to this Sun. If you ask, how can our souls enjoy this
Godhead? I answer, two ways; first, by the understanding; secondly, by the will.”^112
These are representative of Ambrose’s balanced usage of the interaction of affections
and intellect.
However, that does not diminish the reality that in some situations the intellect
is dominant while in other occasions the affection takes the primary role. The former
is reflected by Ambrose’s declaration of Christ’s resurrection, “[o]n these things may
110
111 Ambrose, Looking Unto Jesus, 481.^
112 Ambrose, Ambrose, MediaUltima (1657), 231. in Prima, Media, Ultima^ (1654), 212.