Freedom And Service

Docuit me tamen Apostolus quod ultra ipsam libertatem sit, ut servire libertas sit: Cum liber, inquit, essem omnium me servum feci; ut plures lucrifacerem. Quid est ultra libertatem, nisi habere Spiritum gratiae, habere charitatem? Libertas enim liberum facit hominibus, charitas amicum Deo. Unde ait Christus: Vos autem dixi amicos. Bona charitas, de qua dicitur: Per charitatem Spiritus servite invicem. Servivit et Christus, ut omnes liberos faceret. Manus ejus in cophino servierunt: qui non rapinam est arbitratus esse se aequalem Deo, formam servi accepit; et omnia omnibus factus est, ut omnibus salutem afferret. Cujus imitator Paulus, et quasi sub Lege erat, et quasi sine Lege vivebat pro eorum utilitate, quos cupiebat lucrari: et infirmis volens fiebat infirmus, ut eos confirmaret: et currebat, ut comprehenderet: et corpus suum castigabat, ut potestates aereas in Christo triumpharet. Est ergo sapienti et servire libertas. Unde colligitur quia stulto et imperare servitus est; et quod pejus est, cum paucioribus praesit, pluribus dominis et gravioribus servit. Servit enim propriis passionibus, servit cupiditatibus suis, quarum dominatum nec nocte potest fugere, nec die; quia intra se dominos habet, intra se servitium patitur intolerabile, Gemina enim servitus est, altera corporis, animarum altera: domini autem corporis quidem homines, animarum autem malitiae et passiones, a quibus sola animi libertas sapientem vindicat; ut servitio ei liceat exire. Quaeramus igitur illum vere sapientem, vere liberum, qui quamvis sub plurimorum dominatu degat, libere dicit. Quis est, qui mecum judicio contendat? Tu solus manum tuam a me abstine, a cujus conspectu non potero me abscondere; et timor tuus non me percellat. Quem secutus David rex ait: Tibi soli peccavi. Regali enim subnixus fastigio, quasi legum dominus legibus reus non erat, soli Deo obnoxius tenebatur, qui dominus est potestatum. Alium audi liberum: Mihi autem pro minimo est, ut a vobis dijudicer, aut ab humano die: sed neque me ipsum dijudico; nihil enim mihi sum conscius . . . . qui autem dijudicat me, Dominus est. Vera libertas hominis spiritalis, quia dijudicat omnia, ipse autem a nemine dijudicatur, nec a quocumque creaturae participe, sed soli Deo se subditum novit, qui solus sine peccato est, de quo dicit Job: Vivit Dominus, qui sic me judicat; solus enim ille potest judicare justum, cujus in conspectu coelum non est mundum, nec stellarum pura et clara lumina. Sanctus Ambrosius Mediolanensis, Epistula XXXVII, Simpliciano Source: Migne PL 16.1089b-d

But the Apostle has taught me what is beyond freedom itself, that to serve is freedom, 'When free,' he says, 'I made myself a servant to all, that I might gain more.' 1 What is beyond freedom unless to have the Spirit of grace, and to have love? Freedom makes one free from men, but love makes one a friend of God. Whence Christ says, 'But I have called you friends.' 2 Love is good, and thus it is said, 'Serve one another through the love of the Spirit.' 3 Christ also became a servant that He might make all free. His hands served in the baskets, 4 and He who thought it not robbery to be equal with God, took on Himself the form of a servant, 5 and was made all things to all men, that He might bring salvation to all. 6 Of whom Paul was an imitator, as one under the Law, and living without the Law, for the good of those who he wished to gain. To the weak he willingly became weak, so that he might strengthen them, and he ran so that he might achieve, and he disciplined his body, so that he might be victorious in Christ over the powers of the air. 7 Therefore even service is freedom to the wise man. Whence it is understood that for a fool to have power is servitude, and what is worse, while he rules over a few, he serves more masters and more severe ones. For he serves his own passions, his own lusts, the tyranny of which he cannot escape night or day, for he carries these lords within himself, and within himself he suffers an intolerable slavery. For there is a double bondage, one of the body, another of the soul; the lords of the body are men, but the lords of the soul are evil inclinations and passions, from which only the liberty of the mind sets free the wise man and enables him to depart from servitude. Therefore let us seek that truly wise man, that truly free man, who although he may live under the dominion of many, says freely, 'Who is the one who will contend with me in judgement? You alone take your hand from me, from whose sight I shall not be able to hide, and do not daunt me with your fear.' 8 Whom following King David said, 'Against you alone have I sinned.' 9 For elevated by the royal height, and as lord of the laws, he was not guilty to them, but accountable to God alone, who is the Lord of hosts. Hear another free man: 'But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you, or by any man, but I do not judge myself, for I am not aware of anything against myself, .... but He who judges me is the Lord.' 10 True freedom belongs to the spiritual man, because he judges all things, yet he is not judged by any man, nor anything that partakes of created things. He knows himself to be subject to God alone, He who alone is without sin, 11 of whom Job says, 'The Lord lives, He has judged me so.' 12 For only He can judge the righteous man, in whose sight the heavens are not clean, nor the light of the stars pure and bright. Saint Ambrose, from Letter 37, to Simplicianus 1 1 Cor 9.19 2 Jn 15.15 3 Galat 5.13 4 Ps 80.7 5 Phil 2.6 6 1 Cor 9.22 7 Ephes 2.2 8 Job 13.19 9 Ps 50.6 10 1 Cor 4.3-4 11 1 Cor 2.15 12 Job 27.2