Page:A new and general biographical dictionary; containing an historical and critical account of the lives and writings of the most eminent persons in every nation v1.djvu/231

 A M B R O S I'.. <c noxious to mortality, and that we arc derived from duff, " and muft nectfiarily be refolved into tluft again. JJe not " deceived fo far with the fplendor of the purple which in- " which it covers. They ate men or the lame nature with " govern ; tor there is one Lord and Sovereign of all, he " who cieated the tiniveriV. With what oyi- will you, there- " flretch out thofe hands, which have been deHled with fo " of our Lord in fuch polluted hands, or touch with your " mouth his precious blood, when you have commanded in " your pafiion the blood of" fo many perform to be unjuftly 4< Ihed ? deparr, therefore, and do not nir^ravate your foimer " himfelt, the Lord of all nature, approves and recommends, " for it has a falutary power in it." The emperor, ftrucklbid. c.ivlii. with thefe words, returned to his palace in great uneafmefs of mind; faying he was extremely unhappy, that when the church was open to the loweft orders of men, it fhould be' fhut to him. About a year afterwards however he was ad- mitted into the church by Ambrofe, but not till afrer he had made atonement for his cruelty, and given marks of a lincere repentance. In 392, Valenu'nian the emperor being affaffinated by the contrivance of Argobafius, and Eugenius ufurping the em- pire, Anibrofe wab obliged to leave Milan, but returned the year following, when tugenius w^s defeated. He died at Milan the 4th of April, 39- ; and was buried in the great church at Milan. He wrote leveral work?, the moft con- iiderable of which is that*' De cfficiis" [B]. He is concife and fententious in his manner of writing, and full of turns of wit; his terms are well chofen, and h:s expreffions noble; he diverfines his fubjeit hy an admirable cnpioufnefs of thought and language. He is very ingenious in giving an [B] This is a difcrurfe divided in'o of Cicero's oiere " De -.fTiciis." He three books, upon tiie duties of the confi ms, (j'. s Mr. l>j Fin, tr.e tooi clergy. It Appears to have been written maxims v, hich th.it or:!o' t-.is arl- feveral years after hs hal L-"en billi >?, vmce. 1, he corrects thole which are and very probably about the year 390 or inverfctr, he r--:'i t shch are 391, when peace was reilured to iha t.l'c;, and ad .' iv. -i a 'ifrs church, atier the death of the tyrant which are rr, t. .. i ele Maximus. He has imitated, in ihefe vited. Bibl. dts Auttuu E^ three books, the dciign and ilifpolition O 2 cafy
 * vefts you, as not to confuler the infirmity of the body
 * ' youtlelf, nay they arc your fellow-lervants, whom you
 * fore, view the temple of our common Sovereign, and with
 * c what Uet will you tread the facred floor ? How can you
 * ' much innocent hlood ? how can you receive the holy body
 * c guilt by new provocations: receive the bond which God