But in the church I only know of one image, that is the image of the unseen God, of which God has said: “Let us make man in our image and our likeness;” that image of which it is written, that Christ is the brightness of his glory and the image of his person. In that image I perceive the Father, as the Lord Jesus himself has said: “He that sees me sees the Father.” For this image is not separated from the Father, which indeed has taught me the unity of the Trinity, saying: “I and my Father are one,” and again: “All things that the Father has are mine.” Also of the Holy Spirit, saying that the Spirit is Christ’s, and has received of Christ, as it is written: “He shall receive of mine, and shall declare it unto you.”
They declare also that the people have been led astray by the strains of my hymns. I certainly do not deny it. That is a lofty strain, and there is nothing more powerful than it. For what has more power than the confession of the Trinity which is daily celebrated by the mouth of the whole people? All eagerly vie one with the other in confessing the faith, and know how to praise in verse the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. So they all have become teachers, who scarcely could be disciples.
They declare also that the people have been led astray by the strains of my hymns. I certainly do not deny it. That is a lofty strain, and there is nothing more powerful than it. For what has more power than the confession of the Trinity which is daily celebrated by the mouth of the whole people? All eagerly vie one with the other in confessing the faith, and know how to praise in verse the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. So they all have become teachers, who scarcely could be disciples.
Ambrose, On the Giving Up of the Basilicas 32, 34
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