Sermons on the Song of Songs

/Fthou know not, O thou fairest among women, go thy way forth by the footsteps of the flock, and feed thy kids beside the shepherds* tents (i. 8). Once holy Moses, presuming much on the grace and familiarity into which he had entered by the goodness of God, ventured to aspire to a certain great vision, so as to say to God: If I have found grace in Thy sight, show me Thy glory (Exod. xxxiii. 13-

23). But in place of that vision which he had desired he obtained one of a far lower kind, by means of which, nevertheless, he might one day reach that which he wished for. The sons of Zebedee also, walking in the simplicity of their hearts, dared also to ask a great thing, but were, notwithstanding, relegated to a lower step, from which their course upwards must be made (Matt. xx. 21-23). So it is also here with the Bride. She seems to be asking for some great thing, and is repressed with a reply austere indeed, but faithful and helpful. For it behoves one who aspires to things lofty to have lowly thoughts of himself, lest while he exalts himself above his measure he fall below himself, not being steadied and rendered firm by sincere humility. And because very great graces are not to be obtained except with the merit of humility, it is essential that he who is to receive them should be humbled by reproof, that he may deserve them by humility. Do you, then, when you see yourself humbled, take it as a sign, and even as a certain proof, that some grace from God is drawing near to thee. For as pride goes before destruction (Prov. xvi. 18), so before honour comes humility. Each of these truths is expressed in that which you read, that God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble (James iv. 6). And, lastly, did He not think fit to recompense with abundant blessing His servant Job, after the great victory which he won over the demon, and after the eminent trial of his remarkable patience? But note that He took care previously to humble him by many and severe trials, and so to prepare the way for that blessing.

2. But it is little that we endure willingly the humiliation which God of His own accord sends to us, if we do not welcome with a similar willingness that which He puts upon us by the agency of some other person. Wherefore receive a remarkable instance of this from holy David. He was once reviled, and that by one of his servants, but he did not even feel the insults which were heaped upon him, because his mind was preoccupied by Divine grace. What have I to do ivith you, he said, ye sons of Zeruiah? (2 Sam. xvi. 10). O man truly 'after God's own Heart/ who thought that it behoved him to be angry rather with him who would have avenged the repeated insults, than with him who offered them! Hence he could say with a quiet conscience: If 1 have rendered to them that repaid me evils, let me deservedly fall empty before my enemies (Ps. vii. 5, Douay). He forbade, then, [his servants] to hinder the man who was attacking him with insolence, regarding his curses as a gain. And he added: // is the Lord that hath said unto him, Curse David. Truly he was a man • after God's own Heart/ since he knew so well the intention in the Heart of God. The tongue of an evil speaker was raging against him, but his concern was only to divine the secret purpose of God in permitting it The voice of the reviler was in his ears; but his heart was preparing itself in humility for the Divine benediction. Was God, then, in the mouth of the blasphemer? By no means. But God used it for the humbling of David. Nor was that hidden from the Psalmist, for God had made known to him the hidden secrets of

His wisdom; therefore he says: // is good for me that Thou hast humbled me, that I may learn Thy justifications (Ps. cxix. 71, Douay).

3. Do you see that humility justifies us? I say humility, not humiliation. How many are humiliated who are not humble? Some are bitter and grudging because they are humiliated; others bear it with patience; some even with willingness. The first are blameworthy; the second blameless; but the last righteous. Although innocence is a part of righteousness, yet its perfection is to the humble. He who is able to say: // is good for me that Thou hast humbled me, is the truly humble. He who bears humiliation unwillingly cannot say this, much less he who murmurs at it. To neither of these do we promise grace merely because he is humiliated; although indeed the two differ widely from each other, since while the one possesses his soul in patience, the other perishes in his murmuring. But although only one of these is deserving of anger, to neither is there a promise of grace, since it is not to those who are humiliated, but to the humble that God giveth grace (James iv. 6). He, therefore, is humble who turns humiliation into humility of soul, and it is he who says to God: // is good for me that 1'hou hast humbled me. To no one at all is that good which is endured merely with patience, for we know that God loveth a cheerful giver (2 Cor. ix. 7). Wherefore also when we fast we are bidden to anoint our head with oil, and to wash the face (Matt vi. 17), so that our good work may be seasoned, as it were, with spiritual joy, and our burntoffering be fat and without blemish. For it is a perfect and joyful humility which alone deserves the grace of God, of which it is a sign beforehand. That which is constrained or forced, such as he feds who possesses his soul in patience, although it obtains life because of the patience, yet will not have grace,1 on account of the sorrow and regret mingled with it For such a person does not answer to the description given in this saying of Scripture: Let the brother of low degree* rejoice in that he is exalted (James i. 9), because his humiliation is not endured willingly or gladly.

4. But do you wish to look upon one who glories in the right way, and is truly worthy of glory? Most gladly \ says the Apostle, will Iglor* in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me (2 Cor. xii. 9). He does not say that he patiently endures his infirmities, but that he even glories, and that most gladly, in them, and thus he shows that it was good for him that he was humbled; nor was it sufficient for him to possess his soul in patience when humiliated, unless be could accept it, as it were, by his own will, and thereby receive grace Listen to that which is the general rule upon this question: He that humbleth himself shall be exalted (Luke xiv. 11). The Lord here signifies that not every kind of humility shall be exalted, but that only which is willingly accepted, not of necessity, nor with sorrow and reluctance. So, also, on the other hand, it is not everyone who is exalted that shall be abased; but those only who exalt themselves of their own accord and through vanity. Thus, then, it is not he who merely is humiliated that shall be exalted, but he who willingly and cheerfully accepts humiliation, and that because his willingness is a merit. For grant that the material part of humility is supplied to you by another person, for example, by reproaches, losses, or sufferings, yet a person cannot be rightly said to be rendered humble by another in the same sense in which he is rendered humble by himself, when he is resolved to suffer all these things quietly and with a joyful mind, because it is the will of God that he should undergo them.

5. But whither am I being borne? Very patiently, as I feel, are you enduring the excessive length of this discourse, though it be of humility and patience; but let us return to the point whence we have digressed. For all this was suggested to us by the reply made by the Bridegroom to the Bride, who needed to be cautioned and repressed when aspiring to great things. For Him to do this was not to offer her reproaches, but to afford her an opportunity for a greater and more complete degree of humility, and to render her more capable and worthy of those loftier privileges and attainments which she sought. But since we are only, as it were, at the portals of the present chapter, we will resume the consideration of the subject, if you please, at the beginning of another discourse; especially lest the words of the Bridegroom should be treated of with strength exhausted, or should fall on weary ears. Which may He avert from His servants, who is Jesus Christ our Lord; above all, God blessed for

OF THE SHARP REPROOF WHICH THE BRIDEGROOM GIVES TO THE BRIDE, AND OF TWO KINDS OF IGNORANCE WHICH ARE ESPECIALLY TO BE FEARED AND AVOIDED.

/F thou knowest not, He says, go forth. This is a harsh and severe reproof; since He says, go forth. This is the phrase which servants are wont to hear from their lords when displeased and angry* or maidens from their mistresses, whom they may have deeply offended. 'Go forth/ they say, 'leave me, depart out of my sight and out of this house.' With this speech, severe and bitter, and having so sharp an edge of blame, it is that the Bridegroom addresses His beloved; but all the blame is under the express condition ' if thou knowest not.' He could say nothing stronger or more effectual to affright her, than to threaten her that she shall b6 sent away from Him. This you may easily realize, if you take notice whence she is bidden to go, and whither. What is she to leave, do you think, and for what exchange? Is it not to go from the Spirit to the flesh, from the blessings of the soul to worldly desires, from the inward rest, in which the mind is at peace, to the din and bustle of the world, and the inquietude of outward cares? All of these are things in which is nothing but labour, sorrow, and distress of spirit. For the soul which has once learned of the Lord, and received from Him the power to enter into itself, and in its inmost depths to sigh for the Presence of God, and at all times to seek His Face; for God is a Spirit, and those who seek Him must walk in the Spirit, not in the flesh, to walk after the flesh; such a soul, I say, would think it less horrible and less insupportable to endure for a time even hell itself, than, after having once experienced the sweetness of that spiritual life, to go forth from it and leave it, in order to be exposed to the enticements, or rather to the troublous claims of the flesh, to be cast again upon the insatiable desire (curiositalem) of the senses, of which it is said in Ecclesiastes: The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing (Eccles. i. 8). Listen to a man who had experienced that of which I speak: The Lord is good unto than that wait for Him, to the soul that seeketh Him (Lam. iii. 25). If anyone should try to turn away from this supreme happiness that holy soul, I verily believe that it would feel as if torn away from Paradise, and from the portal of glory. Listen, again, to another and a similar soul: My heart said unto Thee, Thy Face, Lord, will I seek (Ps. xxvii. 8). Wherefore it was his wont to say: It is good for me [i.e., it is for me the highest good] to draw near to God (Ps. lxxiii. 28); and again, speaking to his soul, he declares: Return unto thy rest, O my soul: for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee (Ps. cxvi. 7). I say, then, to you: There is nothing which he who has once received this blessing so greatly fears, as that he should be abandoned by grace, and find himself obliged to go forth to the consolations, or rather the desolations, of the flesh, and to support again the tumultuous assaults of the carnal senses.

2. Terrible, then, and greatly to be feared, is that threatening command: Go forth, and pasture thy kids. For it is as if He said: ' Know yourself to be unworthy of that sweet and familiar contemplation of things heavenly, intellectual, and Divine, which you now enjoy. Wherefore go forth from My sanctuary, which is your heart, in which you were accustomed to drink with pleasure such deep draughts of the hidden and sacred meanings of truth and wisdom; be as one of those in the world; entangle yourself again with the delights of the flesh, and feed upon them.' These are what He speaks of as 'kids1 (these signify sins, and are said to be collected, in the Last Judgment, on the left hand of the Judge), the wandering and wanton senses and desires of the flesh, by which, as by windows, death has entered into the soul. To these well apply the words which follow in the text: beside the shepherds1 tents. For kids are pastured, not as lambs, above the tents of the shepherds, but beside them. Now, those shepherds (pastores) who are true pastors, although they have tabernacles corn-