Theodosius was at Milan; and St. Ambrose thought it
right to shut him out from the congregation while he was so deeply
stained with blood. The emperor came to the church door and begged to
be admitted; but the Bishop met him sternly, and turned him back.
Theodosius pleaded that David had sinned, and had been forgiven. "If you
have been like him in sin, be like him in repentance!" said the Bishop;
and this great prince turned humbly away, and went weeping home. Easter
was the regular time for reconciling penitents; and at Christmas the
emperor stayed praying and weeping in his palace till a courtier advised
him to try whether the Bishop would relent. He came to the church, but
Ambrose told him that he could not transgress the laws in his behalf.
At last, however, when he saw the emperor so truly contrite and
broken-hearted, he gave him leave to come in again; and there the first
thing Theodosius did was to fall down on his face, weeping bitterly,
and crying out in David's words, "My soul cleaveth to the dust, quicken
Thou me according to Thy word!" He lay thus humbly through all the
service; nor did he once wear his crown and purple robes till after
several months of patient penitence he was admitted to the blessed Feast
of Pardon.
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