Sermons on the Song of Songs

" / "HE King hath brought me into His storerooms (Cant. i. 3, / Douay). Lo, here is the source of fragrance; here is the point towards which we run. The Bride had said that we must press forward, and in what strength; but whither our course was to be directed, she had not said. Now, then, she declares that it is towards the Lord's storerooms, and in the strength of the fragrance which is exhaled from them. This she presses with her characteristic eagerness, and desires to be introduced into His fulness. But, in the first place, what is to be understood by these storehouses? Let us, to begin with, imagine that in the dwelling of the Bridegroom

there are chambers fragrant with perfumes, and filled with all kinds of delights. It is in these that, as in a treasury,1 is stored and kept in reserve whatever is most rare and valuable of the products of garden and of field. Hither, then, do all those who run direct their steps; but who are they that run? These are the souls who are fervent in the Spirit, the Bride, the maidens in her train; but she whose love is most ardent runs more swiftly, and arrives sooner. When she arrives, she suffers no repulse, and not even any delay. Forthwith the portals are opened to her, as to an inmate of the house, as to one greatly beloved, who is specially dear and welcome. But what as to her maidens? They follow afar off; they are still weak; they cannot press forward with devotion equal to that of the Bride; they cannot experience fervour and earnest desire such as hers; therefore they arrive later, and they remain without. But the charity of the Bride does not rest, nor does she pride herself, as is frequently the case, upon her happy successes so as to be forgetful of them. On the contrary, she consoles them the more assiduously, and exhorts them to endure patiently and calmly the repulse they have received, and her absence. Then she declares to them the joy which she has attained, and that for the very reason that they may rejoice with her, in the hope of one day attaining to a share in the graces and blessings of their mother. For she does not so pursue her own [spiritual] advantage as to neglect the care of them, nor desires that her benefit should be hurtful or prejudicial to them. However far removed from them she is by superior merits, it is of necessity that her charity and tender care for them keep her with them always. It is her duty, moreover, to follow the example of her Bridegroom, both, on the one hand, in seeking the heavens, and, on the other, in promising to be ever upon earth with His people, even to the consummation of all things. So also the Bride, whatever progress she may make, and whatever advancement she may attain, is prevented by her care, her deep interest and affection for those whom she has begotten in the Gospel, from ever leaving them or forgetting them in the depths of her heart.

2. Let her say, then, to them: Take courage and rejoice. The King has brought me into His storerooms: regard yourselves as having been thereby brought in also. I alone seem to have entered in, but the advantage is not to me alone. Every advancement of mine is virtually yours; it is for you that I make profit; and I share with you the graces which more than you I have deserved. Do you wish for an unquestionable proof that her words are to be taken in this sense and intention? Then listen to the reply which they make: We will be glad and rejoice in thee; we do not deserve to do so in ourselves, but in thee. And they add: We are mindful of thy bosom (Cant. i. 4); that is, we shall endure patiently until thou come, knowing that thou wilt return to us with thy bosom filled with graces. We confidently hope, then, to rejoice and be glad; meanwhile we are mindful of thee. The words which he adds, more than wine, signify that they are still touched with the remembrance of the desires of the flesh, which are spoken of as wine, and that, nevertheless, those desires are overcome by the thought of that abounding sweetness which, as they have experienced, flows from her. I should speak of this now, if I did not remember that I have done so above.1 But now you see what confidence they have with regard to their mother, how they look upon all her advantages and all her joys as belonging to themselves, and console themselves for their own repulse by her admission. They would not have so great confidence, if they did not recognise her as their mother. Let prelates, who like better to make themselves feared by those committed to their charge, than to be useful to them, take this to heart. Be ye learned, O ye that are judges of the earth. Learn from this that you ought to be as mothers, not masters, to your subjects; study to make yourselves loved rather than feared; and if there be need sometimes of severity, let it be that of a father, not of a tyrant. Show yourselves mothers in affection, fathers in reproof. Be gentle, not harsh; be not forward to inflict stripes; let the view of the maternal bosom promise indulgence; let the hearts [of those under you] grow fat with milk, not swell with anger. Why do you lay your heavy yoke upon those whose burden it is rather your duty to bear? Why does the young son, who has been bitten by a serpent, avoid displaying his wound to the priest, to whom he ought rather to resort as to the bosom of a mother? If ye are spiritual* restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself lest thou also be tempted (Gal. vi. i). For otherwise lie shall die in his sin... but his blood tvill I require at thine hand (Ezek. iii. 20). But of this at another season.

3. Now, since the context is clear by what I have said above, let us see what is the mystical meaning of 1 the storehouse.' Later on mention is made of the garden also and the chamber, and I take these three for the subject of our present discussion; for when treated together, they throw light mutually on each other. Let us seek, then, if you please, these three words in the Holy Scriptures: the storehouse, the garden, and the chamber. For a soul that is athirst for God willingly occupies itself with, and lingers in, these* knowing that in them it will assuredly find Him whom it thirsts for. l^et, then, the garden represent the plain and simple historical sense of the Scripture; the storehouse the moral sense of it; and the chamber the secret and mystical truth, reached by Divine contemplation.

4. In the first place, I think that the historic sense is not unfitly referred to the garden, because in the history are found men of many virtues, as it were fruitful trees in the garden of the Bridegroom and in the Paradise of God; and from their conduct and their actions you may take examples, as from a tree you gather fruit. Who can question that a good man is, as it were, a plant of God? Hear what holy David sings concerning a good man: He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of wafer, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither (Ps. i. 3). Jeremiah also expresses himself to the same effect, and in almost the same words: He shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh; but her leaf shall be green (Jer. xvii. 8). And the Psalmist: The righteous shall flourish like the palm-tree; he shall gr&iv like a cedar in Lebanon (Ps. xcii. 12). And of himself he says: / am like a green olive-tree tn the house of God (Ps. lii. 8). History is, then, as it were, a garden, and it is threefold; for it contains the creation, the reconciliation, and the reparation of heaven and of earth. Creation, that is like the sowing or planting of a garden. Reconciliation is, as it were, the germination of that which is sown or planted. For at the due timethe heavens have distilled dew from above, the clouds have poured down righteousness, the earth has opened and brought forth the Saviour (Is. xlv. 8), by whom was brought about the reconciliation of heaven and earth. For He is our peace, who hath made both one (Eph. ii. 14), reconciling by His blood all things, whether in earth or heaven (Col. i. 20). Reparation, again, is to come to pass at the ending of the dispensation. For there shall be a new heaven and a new earth; the good shall be gathered from among the evil, to be set in safety in the storehouse of God, as fruits from a garden. In that day, it is said, shall the branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely (Is. iv. 2). In this garden of the historic sense, then, you have three periods included.

5. In the Moral sense, secondly, you have a threefold discipline: three cells, as it were, in one storehouse. Therefore it is, perhaps, that they are spoken of in the plural as 1 storerooms 1 (cellaria), in contemplation of this number of cells. A little farther on, the Bride felicitates herself on having been brought into * the cellar of wine ' (ii. 4, ' banqueting house,' A. V.). We, then, because we read, ' Give an occasion to a wise man, and he will be wiser' (Prov. ix. 9), take occasion from this name, which the Holy Spirit has thought fit to give to this cell, to give it also to the two others; to call one the cell of perfumes, the other that of unguents. We shall explain presently the reasons for these names. But in the meantime notice that all which surrounds the Bridegroom is sweet, as all is salutary— wine, perfumes, and unguents. Wine, the Scripture declares, maketh glad the heart of man (Ps. civ. 15). We read also that oil maketh his face cheerful {Ibid., Douay), and it is with oil and medicinal powders that ointments or unguents are compounded. Lastly, perfumes are not only agreeable by their odour, but are useful because of their medicinal virtue. It is, then, with good reason that the Bride rejoices at having been brought into a spot where graces are so great and so abundant.

6. But I have other names also for them, for which, as I consider, a still greater probability may be shown. To name them in their order, I take the first cell to be that of discipline, the second that of nature, the last that of grace. In the first you learn, following the rule of Christian ethics, to be the last of all; but in the second to be equal to all, and in the last to be superior to all; that is to say, you learn how to act as an inferior, how to act as an equal, and how to act as a superior; or, again, to be below, to be beside, to be above others.1 In the first you learn to be a disciple, in the second to be a companion, in the third to be a master. Nature has, indeed, made all men equal f but that natural order having been corrupted by pride, men have become impatient of that equality, desirous to elevate themselves above others, and full of efforts to do so; greedy of vainglory, envying and provoking one another. Thus, first of all, insolence of character requires to be restrained by the yoke of discipline, until the stubborn3 will, worn down by observance of the severe and constantly repeated rules of the elders, may be humbled and cured, and regain by its obedience that good of nature which it had lost by the indulgence of pride, until the man shall have learned to possess his soul in patience, and to live peacefully and kindly, as far as in him lies, with his fellow creatures; that is to say, with all men; and that not by fear of punishment, but by the spontaneous impulse of the will. Then he will pass on into the cell of nature, and will make proof of that which is written: Behold hoiv good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unify I It is like the precious ointment upon the head (Ps. cxxxiii. i, 2). For characters thus disciplined, are, as it were, sweet spices pounded together, from which is composed the oil of joy, which is the good of nature, and a sweet and excellent unguent is produced from it. The man who is, so to speak, anointed with this becomes peaceful and amiable; one who provokes no quarrel, who deceives no one, who attacks no one, who offends no one; who does not set himself above others, or prefer himself to everyone else, but, on the contrary, maintains with those around him a continual interchange of kindnesses given and received.

7. I think that if you have clearly understood the leading characteristics of the two former cells, you will be of opinion that I have not unfitly named the one that of perfumes, the other that of unguents. For in the former, as the forcible pounding of a pestle forces forth and extracts the strength and fragrance of spices, so the pressure of the rule and the rigour of discipline expresses, so to speak, and draws