LITERARY BLUNDERS. 53


your principle, Theodosius, the subject of this oration,
was suffering in this fiery torment, paying the last
farthing due to God’s justice, for sins committed in
the body. You quote him as follows:

“ Lately we deplored together his death, and now, while
Prince Honorius is present before our altars, we celebrate
the fortieth day. Some observe the third and the thirtieth,
others the seventh and fortieth_—Give, O Lord, rest to
Thy servant Theodosius, that rest which Thou hast pre-
pared for Thy saints. May his soul thither tend whence
it came, where it cannot feel the sting of death; where
it will learn that death is the termination, not of nature,
but of sin. I loved him, therefore will I follow him to
the land of the living; I will not leave him, till, by my
prayers and lamentation, he shall be admitted to the holy
mount of the Lord, to which his deserts call him.”

Your reference is “De Obitu Theodosu, tom. 11.
pp. 1197-8, 1207-8.” This reference corresponds with
the Benedictine Paris edition, 1686-90, from which
edition I shall also quote.! !

In the above passage there is only one indication,
that the quotation is not continuous. After the word
“ fortieth,” there is a—, but the fact is, the extract is
a putting together of disjointed fragments, dispersed
over ten or twelve pages, and which would lead an
unsuspicious reader to believe that Ambrose was pray-
ing for a departed person, who was then suffering
some punishment due to his sins, in Purgatory itself.
By supplying the omitted passages, however, it will be
seen at once, how very far was the doctrine of Pur-
gatory from the mind of Ambrose when he delivered
the oration in question.
