# Lehre und Wehre_St. Louis Missouri_December 1857_S374
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

374 The Lutheran-Theological Pastor's Library.

this was the constant theme of the theatrical poems. The contests in the circus were no longer designed for good bodily exercise, but only to satisfy vanity and for soulless gaping. And the cruel butchery of the gladiatorial games could not but blunt the mind against all Christian impressions. Augustine's more serious disposition preserved him from an inclination toward these seductive entertainments, and Nebridius was much like him in this. The mother too had followed her son from Africa, since he now seemed to have found a lasting residence in Milan. Here he at last found the man who was to win him for the Lord. Nine years earlier Ambrose had become bishop of Milan out of the first rank of statesmen; he had overcome the powerful sects by the power of the divine Word and by the prudence of his administration, and was the object of the deepest love of his congregation. He received the newcomer kindly, rejoiced especially over his pious mother, and won Augustine's attention and respect by his sermons. Augustine now separated himself, after a thirteen-year association, from the partner of his sin and became engaged, to the joy of his mother, who hoped to win him for the Lord through the married estate. (Sixth book.)“

„He was still to take a detour on the way to truth; he came upon Neoplatonic writings, which spoke to him much of an eternal Word of God, but nothing of a Redeemer of men, and did not satisfy him. Of his inclination to astrology too he was now thoroughly cured. The sermons of Ambrose broke down one doubt after another, and at last he became able to read the Bible believingly, where especially the letters of Paul helped him to clarity. The Lord pleased him, but not the humble, pure following in His way; and anew he was again bound by his accustomed sensual pleasure. (Seventh book.)“

„His unrest increased; he longed for freedom, for he had recognized too deeply the ruinous character of his earlier ways, he had seen their ugliness in the light of faith; only the strength to forsake them was lacking to him. The much-occupied Ambrose was not to be spoken with as he would have needed in order to pour out his troubled heart; therefore he turned to the old presbyter Simplicianus, who since the year 374 had been living in Milan, whither the bishop of Rome had released him to Ambrose at the latter's request, in order to support the new shepherd with his tried experience. Simplicianus struck his young admirer's heart above all with the account of the conversion of the famous Roman orator Victorinus, his friend, whom he held up to our Augustine for imitation. His longing grew, but doubt, the pull of the world, and the sense of his unworthiness before God still held him back. Another friend, Pontitianus, brought him a step nearer. He told him and his friends of people who, often won by a single hour of emotion, renounced the world and gave themselves wholly to the Lord. We need not wonder that such