SERMON II.
OF THE INCARNATION OF CHRIST, WHICH WAS ANNOUNCED BY THE PATRIARCHS AND PROPHETS, AND ARDENTLY EXPECTED BY THEM.
* Let Him kiss me with the kisses of His mouth.1 — Cant. i. I.
THINK very often of the deep earnestness and ardour with which the ancient Fathers desired the presence of Christ in the Flesh, and I am touched with a feeling of extreme grief and shame in myself, I am scarcely able even now to restrain my tears, so much am I ashamed of the coldness and insensibility of the unhappy times in which we live. Who is there among us that feels joy as great at the actual showing forth of this wonder of grace, as the desire and longing wherewith the ancient saints were fired at the promise only of so great a thing? How many there are who will rejoice at that Festival of His Birth, which we are soon about to celebrate! But would that their rejoicings were, not on account of vain things, but really on account of His Birth! This verse seems, then, to me to breathe the ardent desire and pious impatience of those great men.
THE INCARNATION OF CHRIST
The little band of those who then were animated by the Holy Spirit felt in advance how great would be the grace which would be diffused upon those Divine Lips. Therefore it was that speaking in the ardour of that desire, wherewith their heart was fired, they said these words, passionately wishing not to be deprived of happiness so great.
2. For each of these saintly souls would, as it were, say: To what end do these wordy1 utterances from the mouths of the prophets come to me? Let Him rather who is fair beyond the sons of men, let Him come to me with the touch of His Lips. Not now do I listen to Moses: he has become slow of speech to me, and of a slow tongue (Exod. iv. 10). The lips of Isaiah are impure (Is. vi. 5). Jeremiah knows not how to speak, for he is a child (Jer. i. 6); yea, all the prophets are speechless. Let Him of whom they bear witness, let Him speak Himself to me. Let Him speak to me no longer in them or by their means, for their words are as a darkening cloud in the air of heaven; but let Him whose presence is full of grace, whose teaching shall become in me a fountain of water springing up into eternal life (John iv. 14), let Him come to me with the touch of His Lips. Shall not He whom the Father hath anointed with the oil of gladness above His fellows (Ps. xlv. 8), pour upon me from His fulness a more abounding grace, if He shall indeed deign to do this? He it is whose speech, living and powerful, is to me as a kiss, and that not the mere meeting of the lips, which ofttimes is but a deceptive sign of peace in the heart, but rather the imparting of joys, the revealing of things hidden, and a certain wonderful, intimate, and wholly ineffable mingling of the heavenly light which enlightens the soul, and the soul which is illuminated by it For he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit (1 Cor. vi. 17). Rightly, then, do I receive neither visions nor dreams; I turn away from parables and metaphors; even angelic glories themselves I hold in disdain. For even these Jesus, who is mine, by His fairness and His attractiveness to my soul, far surpasses. Of no other, then, whether angel nor man, but of Him alone do I make his entreaty. Yet I have not the presumption to require to be kissed with His mouth. That is the unique privilege and incommunicable felicity of the Man whom the Word has assumed to Himself in the incarnation. My petition is more humble: and this is a privilege common to all who are able to say, Of His fulness have we all received (John i. 16).
3. Observe: It is the Word becoming Incarnate, who is the Mouth who gives the kiss. It is the Human Nature which is assumed which receives it. The kiss, which is perfected equally by Him who gives and Him who receives it, is that Person constituted of each nature, the Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ
Jesus. On this account none of the saints presume to say, * Let Him kiss me with His mouth/ but only ' With the kiss of His mouth.' They reverently respected the sole prerogative of that [Nature] on which the adorable Mouth of the Word was impressed once for all, when the Fulness of the Godhead was united corporeally with it. Happy the sign, wonderful and stupendous the condescension, in which, not lip is pressed to lip, but God is united to Man. There, indeed, the pressure of the lip does signify the union of souls, but here a union of Natures joins that which is Divine and that which is Human, and reconciles those things which are on earth and those in heaven. For He is our Peace, who hath made both one (Eph. ii. 14). It was, then, for this that every saint of the old time longed, because they felt the assurance beforehand that upon Him joy and gladness were abundantly poured, and in Him were hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Col. ii. 3); and they earnestly desired to have part with Him and in His fulness.
4. I feel that what has been said meets with your assent; but listen to still another sense of the words. It was not hidden from holy souls, even before the coming of the Saviour, that God was meditating designs of peace towards the race of mortals (Jer. xxix. 11). Nor did He speak as regarding the earth without revealing His purpose to His servants the prophets (Amos iii. 7). Yet this saying was hid from many (Luke xviii. 34), for in that time faith was rare upon the earth, and hope faint among most of those who waited for the redemption of Israel. But those who had foreknowledge, predicted that Christ should come in the Flesh, and that with Him should come peace. Thus one of them says: Peace shall be in our land when He shall have come (Micah v. 5). Nay, more, they confidently predicted what they had learned from above, that men through Him should recover the favour [gratiam] of God. And this John, the Forerunner of the Lord, recognized to have been fulfilled in his time, and declared: Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ (John i. 17), an assertion of the truth of which the whole Christian people has experience at this day.
5. But though they foretold peace, yet, as the Author of peace delayed to come, the faith of the people was weak and tottering, there being none to redeem or to save. That brought men to complain of the delay, because the Prince of Peace, so oft announced, had not yet come, as He had for so many ages promised by the mouth of His holy prophets; and holding these promises, as it were, in suspicion, they eagerly demanded the sign of the reconciliation, that is to say, the Incarnation. As if one of the people should reply to the messengers of peace, * How long do you hold our minds in suspense? You have long been foretelling peace, and it does not come; you promise every kind of good, yet behold trouble and misery. Behold, how many times and in what divers manners have angels announced this very thing to our fathers, and our fathers have handed it down to us, crying Peace, peace, yet there is no peace (Jer. vi. 14). If God desires that I should be convinced of the determination of His good pleasure, which He so frequently promised by His messengers, but does not as yet make manifest, let Him come to me with the touch of His Lips, and the sign of peace shall be for me an assured pledge of peace. How can I put my trust any longer in words? It is instead needful to strengthen words by action. Let God approve His messengers, if, indeed, they be His, as men of truth, and let Him follow them Himself, as they have so often promised; for without Him they can do nothing (John xv. 5). He has sent a servant, and by the servant His staff; but there is neither voice nor breath thereby (2 Kings iv. 29-31). I rise not, I am not lifted up nor brought out of the dust, I do not breathe the free air of hope, unless the Prophet Himself shall come down, unless He shall come to me with the sign of peace.
6. It is farther to be added, that He who declares Himself our Mediator before God, is the Son of God, is Himself God (1 Tim. ii. 5). And what is man that He takes knowledge of him, or the son of man, that He has consideration for him? What ground of confidence have I, that I should dare to trust myself to majesty so great? Wherefore, I repeat, should I, who am but dust and ashes, presume to think that God would take care for me? Between Him and His Father is indeed love; but He has no need of me, nor of my goods. How, then, shall it be made clear to me that He who is my Mediator is impartial? Yet if God has truly determined, as you say, to have mercy upon me, and still meditates greater acts of favour on my behalf, let Him establish a covenant of peace, let Him make a perpetual alliance with me by this sign. In order that the words which proceed out of His Lips be not made of no avail, let Him empty Himself, let Him humble Himself, let Him stoop from His high heaven, and kiss me with the kiss of His Mouth. Let the Son of God, if He will be a Mediator acceptable to both parties, and suspected by neither, become Man, become Son of Man, and establish my trust on a sure ground by this. With assured confidence shall I take the Son of God as Mediator when I perceive that He is also a son of my own human race. I can no longer retain any suspicion of Him, since He is my brother and my flesh. For I hope that He will then not be able to despise me, when He is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh.
7. It was thus, then, that the ancient plaint of humanity earnestly begged for that Kiss sacrosanct, that is, the mystery of the Incarnation of the Word; while faith failed, being exhausted with long and weary expectation, and the unbelieving people, abandoning itself to discouragement, murmured against the promises of God. This is not an invention of mine; you will find it for yourselves in the Scriptures. Thence arise those sayings mingled with complaint and blame: Precept upon precept^ line upon line, here a little and there a little (Is. xxviii. 10). Thence those prayers also, coming from hearts anxious and troubled, yet loyal: Recompense^ O Lord, them that wait for Thee, and let Thy prophets be found faithful and true. And again, Accomplish, O Lord, the predictions of Thy ancient prophets.1
From thence also those promises so sweet and full of consolation: The Lord shall appear, and shall not lie: if He tarry, wait for Him; for He shall surely come, He shall not tarry (Habak. ii. 3). And again: His time is near to come, and His days shall not be prolonged (Is. xiii. 22). And again, in the person of Him who is promised: Behold I will extend peace to her as a river, and the glory of the nations as a flowing stream (Is. lxvi. 12). In which words are sufficiently apparent both the persevering constancy of the preachers, and the distrust of the peoples. Thus it was that the mass of men murmured, that faith was tottering, and that, according to the foreboding of Isaiah, The angels of peace themselves wept bitterly (Is. xxxiii. 7). Therefore that the whole human race, while Christ so long delayed His coming, might not perish from mere despair, suspecting its feeble and helpless mortality to be contemned and scorned, and distrusting its reconciliation with God by grace, so often promised; the saints, who had been kept firm in faith by the Spirit which animated them, desired earnestly the confirmation of their faith by His presence in the flesh, and urged eagerly, on account of those who were weak and incredulous, the sign of peace to be regained.
8. O Root of Jesse, who standest for an ensign of the peoples, how many prophets and kings have desired to see Thee, yet have not seen! Surely of all the most happy was Simeon, whose old age was rich in mercy! He rejoiced that he saw the sign so greatly desired: he saw it, and was glad: and having received the kiss of peace, departed in peace; yet not before he had declared that Jesus was born, to be a sign; but a sign which should be spoken against (Luke ii. 25-35). And thus indeed it was. Opposition arose to the sign of peace, from the time that k appeared; but from those who hate peace. For it was peace to men of good will; but to the evil disposed a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence (Rom. ix. 33). Herod was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him (Matt. ii. 3), so it was that the Ix>rd came unto His own, and His own received Him not (John i. n). Happy were those shepherds in their watch by night, who were deemed worthy to behold that sign in a vision. Even then He was hiding Himself from the wise and prudent, and revealing Himself unto babes. Even Herod wished to behold Him, but he was not found worthy, for his motive was not pure. For this was the sign of peace, and was given only to men of good will; but to Herod, and to those like him shall be given only the sign of Jonas the prophet (Luke xi. 29). To the shepherds, on the contrary, the angel said, 4 This shall be a sign unto you,9 you who are humble, who are obedient, who do not exercise yourselves in high things; you who are watchful, who meditate day and night in the law of the Lord, to you, He says, this shall be the sign. What sign? The sign which the angels promised, which the peoples asked for, which the prophets had predicted, this sign the Lord has now brought to pass, and shows it to you; so that in it the unbelieving may obtain faith, those who are fearful hope, and they who are perfect entire security. This then, he says, shall be to you a sign. Of what is it the sign? Of pardon, of grace, of peace; and of that peace which has no end. This is the sign: Ye shall find a Babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. Yet in Him is God reconciling the world unto Himself (2 Cor. v. 19). He shall die for your sins, and rise again for your justification; so that being justified by faith, you may have peace with God (Rom. v. 1). This sign of peace a prophet formerly proposed to King Ahaz, that he should ask it of the Lord his God, either in the heaven above, or in the depth beneath. But the impious king refused (Is. vii. 11, 12), not believing, unhappy man that he was, that in this sign the highest and the lowest should be joined in fellowship and peace: inasmuch as the dwellers in the very depths of the grave should receive the sign of peace, when the Lord descending thither, should salute them with this holy kiss; and the celestial spirits also should share in it, and that with joy everlasting when He should return to heaven.
9. This sermon must be brought to a close. But to sum up in a few words what has been treated of in it. It appears that this holy kiss was necessarily accorded to the world for two reasons: that it might produce faith in the weak, and satisfy the longing desire for it in the perfect, since by this kiss is meant no other than the Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit liveth and reigneth, God, for ever and ever. Amen.