Although the Maurists write that they find in this homily no trace of St. Ambrose, they nevertheless place it as no. 43 among his sermons in the Paris edition of 1690; whereas we ascribe it to St. Maximus, on the authority of the codices of St. Gall no. 21 and of Holy Cross in Jerusalem no. 88, which bear the title 'A Rebuke to the People.' We follow, however, the reading of the aforesaid edition of the works of St. Ambrose. I ought, brethren, after these many days, to preach something more richly, and, returning from so great an assembly of priests, to refresh you with a sweet discourse. Well have I said 'an assembly of priests'; for just as bees fashion sweet honey from the little flowers of the divine Scriptures, and by the art of their mouth compose whatever pertains to the medicine of souls;
rightly are priests compared to bees; for just as bees display chastity of body, offer the food of heavenly life, and wield the sting of the law—being pure for sanctification, sweet for refreshment, severe for punishment. They are indeed to be compared to bees, who are contained, as in a certain hive, by the grace of Mother Church, in which, arranging the little cells of diverse merits by their most sweet preaching, they bring forth from the one swarm of the Savior many swarms of Christians. Since I have never ceased, brethren, to correct you with fatherly affection, I marvel that you have profited nothing by my admonitions, and I grieve that my frequent preaching does not amend you unto any advance of salvation, but rather binds you fast under a certain penalty of testimony against you.
For a priest's preaching to the people is a correction to those who are to be saved, and a testimony against those who are to be judged; for we give testimony beforehand to those before the judgment, of what awaits them in the judgment itself; so that then, every excuse being removed, they may both be guilty of their sins and answerable for their contempt. Whence I too would sometimes wish to be silent, sparing you: but I would rather that you render account for your obstinacy, than that I bear the judgment of negligence. For I have learned, brethren, that during my absence so very few of you come to church, so very few indeed come forward, as though, when I set out, you had come along together with me, and as though, when I am dragged off by necessities, the same necessity had drawn you along with me. Together we are absent from the house of God;
but this is the difference, that necessity makes me absent, while your own will makes you absent. Do you not know that, even if I am absent from the church, Christ, who is everywhere, is not absent from His Church? You come, brother, to church; do you not find there the Savior, the Bishop of bishops? For the Christian who then only comes forward to church when the bishop is present, seems to have come forward not so much for God's sake as for man's; nor to have fulfilled the office of a Christian who fears God, but to have paid the deference of a friend obliging another. Why then do I reproach you, when you could refute me with a single word? For I am refuted, since in this matter I see the clergy more negligent than you. For how can I correct the sons, when I cannot amend the brethren?
Or with what confidence should I be angry with the laity, when out of shame I fall silent before those who share my modesty? But I, brethren, do not speak of all. Certainly some are devout, and others negligent: I name no one; let each man's own conscience convict him.