Sermons on the Song of Songs

HOW FROM IGNORANCE OF GOD COMES DESPAIR: AND HOW THE BRIDE IS CALLED THE FAIREST AMONG WOMEN.

HAT, then, comes from ignorance of God? For, as you remember, it was at this point we left off yesterday, and we have to take up our subject here. What, then, comes of it? Despair, as I have already said; but in what manner we have now to consider. A man perhaps, returning to a right frame of mind,1 and sincerely condemning himself for all the evil actions which he has done, proposes to reform, and to retire from the evil road on which he is, and from his sensual thoughts and actions. But if he is ignorant how good and merciful God is, how gentle and favourable to the penitent, and how willing to forgive, will not his carnal reason accuse him, and say: ' What are you doing? do you wish to lose this life as well as the future life? Your sins are too many and too great If you were even to cut the skin off your bones,2 you could not make satisfaction for offences so numerous and aggravated. Your constitution is delicate; you have lived in comfort, and you will not easily alter the habits of a life.' And the unhappy man, rendered desperate by these and similar arguments, returns to his former errors, not knowing how easily the Almighty Goodness, who willeth not that any should perish, would break through all those obstacles [for him]. Then follows [a settled state of] impenitence, which is the worst of all crimes, and is indeed that blasphemy which cannot be forgiven (Matt, xii. 31). He is deeply agitated, and swallowed up by excessive sadness, and by a profound melancholy, so that he refuses to emerge from it, or to receive any consolation. It is with him as it is said in

Scripture: The wicked man, when he is come into the depth of sins, contemns [them] (Prov. xviii. 3). Or, at least, he shuts his eyes to.his miserable state, and, flattering himself with some plausible reasoning, throws himself again, and irrevocably, into the business and the pleasure of the world, to enjoy and to profit by all its good things to the utmost of his power. But when he [and those like him] shall say, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, like travail upon a woman with child: and they shall not escape (1 Thess. v. 3). Thus it is that from ignorance of God comes the consummation of all evil, which is despair.

2. The Apostle says that some have not the knowledge of God (1 Cor. xv. 31); but I say that all those who are unwilling to be converted to God are without the knowledge of Him. For, doubtless, they are not reluctant to do so for any other reason except that they imagine Him to be rigorous and* severe who is good and kind; hard and implacable, who is full of mercy; cruel and terrible, who is most to be loved — and iniquity deceives itself, imagining an idol in place of that which He really is. O ye of little faith, wherefore do ye fear? Because you think He is unwilling to forgive your sins? But when His Hands were nailed to the Cross He nailed your sins to it also with them. Because you are delicate, and nursed in habits o( luxury? But He knoweth the clay of which we are made. Because you are accustomed to evil, and bound by habits of sinning as by iron chains? But the Lord looseth them that are fettered (Ps. cxlvi. 7). Are you perhaps afraid that He is enraged because of the number and greatness of your crimes, and will be slow to extend to you a helping Hand? But you have the assurance that where sin abounded, there grace did much more abound (Rom. v. 20). Are you careful and anxious about food and clothing, and other things necessary for your body, and on that account are reluctant to give up your property? Your Heavenly Father knoiveth that ye have need of all these things (Matt. vi. 32). What more can you wish? or what still holds you back from salvation? But this is the very thing I say: you are ignorant of God, and you are not willing to believe that which I tell you of Him. I could wish that you would believe those at all events who tell you what they have themselves experienced; for unless you believe you will not have true understanding. But that faith is not given to all.

3. May God grant us never to suffer from such ignorance as this, that is to say, respecting God, which the Bride is warned to avoid; she on whom has been bestowed, not merely knowledge, but friendship and familiarity with Him who is as well her Bridegroom as her God, to whom is the favour of continual communion and conversation with Him, and who asks here with fearless directness: Tell me where Thou feedest, where Thou makest Thy flock to rest at noon. In which she asks to be shown to her, not Himself, but the place where His glory dwelleth; although, in truth, His place and His glory are no other than Himself. But He thinks fit to reprove her for pre-

sumption, and warns her to know her own self, and to consider by what limitations she is restrained, since she has regarded herself as fit for so great a Vision, whether because the excess [of her love] hindered her from considering that she was still in the body, or that she hoped, but fruitlessly, to be able to attain, even while remaining in the body, to that Brightness which is inaccessible. Therefore she is forthwith recalled to herself, is convicted of ignorance, and corrected for presumption. If thou know not, go forth. The Bridegroom thunders terribly against His beloved, not as Bridegroom, but as Master; not as being angry, but because He desires to purify her by terror, so that being purified she may be rendered fit for that Vision to which she aspires. For that Vision is reserved for the pure in heart.

4. It is with great beauty that, instead of calling her simply ' beautiful, ' He styles her fairest among women; that is to say, beautiful, with a qualification, and in this way to humble her still more, that she may learn in what she is deficient. For I think that in this passage, under the name of * women,' He speaks of carnal and worldly souls, which have in them no manly force, displaying nothing constant or generous in their actions, but of which the whole life and character is soft, remiss, and, in a word, womanish. Now, although the soul that is spiritually minded is already beautiful, inasmuch as it walks, not according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit, yet, because it is still in a mortal body, it still falls short of perfect beauty. Thus, it is not beautiful absolutely, but beautiful 1 among women that is, among worldly souls, which are not spiritually minded as she; but not among Angelic Beatitudes, not among Virtues, Powers, and Dominations. For as among the Patriarchs one was formerly said to be just in his generation (Gen. vi. 9), that is, beyond all of his time and his generation; and as Tamar was asserted to be righteous by Judah, that is to say, beyond 'Judah (Gen. xxxviii. 26); and as in the Gospel the Publican is declared to have gone down to his house justified, indeed, but justified rather than the Pharisee (Luke xviii. 14); and as that great Saint John [the Baptist] was once commended as having no superior, yet only ' among those who are born of women ' (Luke vii. 28), not among the choirs of the blessed and heavenly spirits, so also is it here said of the Bride that she is fairest, but only among women, not among the blessed spirits of heaven.

5. Let the soul, then, desist henceforth, as long as she is on the earth, from searching out with too eager a curiosity the things which are in heaven, lest in seeking to view too nearly the majesty [of God], she should be overwhelmed by His glory. Let her desist, I say, as long as her lot is cast among women, from inquiring into the events which take place among those Powers which are on high, which are intelligible to them alone, and with which, because they are heavenly, it is lawful to heavenly beings alone to concern themselves. i That Vision,' He declares, * which you ask, O My Bride, to be permitted to behold, is far above your powers; nor are you now capable of sustaining the blinding splendour of that Glory, as of the noonday sun, in which I dwell. For you have said: Tell me where Thou feedest, where Thou makest Thy flock to rest at noon. But to be borne upon the clouds, to penetrate into the fulness of Light, to burst into the abysses of Glory, to dwell in the Light which none can approach unto, for this the present is not the time, nor is your mortal body capable of sustaining it That felicity is reserved for you at the last, when I shall have caused you to appear before Me in a condition full of glory, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing. Do you not know that as long as you remain in your present body, you are exiled from the Light? How can you, who have not yet attained the full beauty of heaven, suppose yourself capable of beholding the Source of all beauty? How, finally, can you, who do not yet know yourself; seek to know Me in My Glory? For if you had known yourself more fully, you would be aware that your corruptible body is not capable of lifting its eyes to that blinding Splendour upon which the Angels desire to look, much less of fixing them upon it. The time will come when I shall appear [to judge], and then you shall be wholly fair, even as I am now; then you shall be like Me, inasmuch as you shall see Me as I am (1 John iii. 2). Then you shall hear the words: Thou art all fairf my love: there is no spot in thee (Cant. iv. 7). But now, though you are like unto Me in part, yet in part you are still unlike; therefore be content to know [Me] only in part Have regard to your own powers; seek not things too high for you, nor try to penetrate those that are too hard (Ecclus. iii. 21). Otherwise,^ thou knowest not [thyself], O thou fairest among women; for I do not call you simply 'fairest/ but 'fairest among women/ that is, in part; but when that which is perfect shall have come, then that which is in part shall be done away (1 Cor. xiii. 10). If, then, thou knmvest not thyself; but the words which follow have been noted, and it is not needful that they should be repeated. I had promised myself to say something that might be useful respecting the two kinds of ignorance; if, nevertheless, I seem not to have fulfilled this promise, forgive me; it has not been for want of goodwill. For to will is present with me; but how to perform I find not, except in so far as Our Lord Jesus Christ shall of His goodness deign to bestow upon me [grace] for your edification. He is the Bridegroom of the Church, over all things, God blessed for ever. Amen.

OF THE CHARIOTS OF PHARAOH, THAT IS, THE DEVIL; AND OF THE CHIEFS OF HIS ARMY, WHO ARE MALICE, SENSUALITY, AND AVARICE.

/HA VE compared thee, O my love, to my company of horsemen among Pharaoh's chariots (i. 9). In the first place we recognise willingly in these words that the Church has been prefigured in the Patriarchs of the ancient Law, and that the mysteries of our salvation have been foreshown [in them]. In the Exodus of Israel out of Egypt, in that twofold wonder at the Red Sea, the giving passage to the people of God, while at the same time vengeance was executed upon their enemies, the grace of Baptism is clearly typified, inasmuch as it saves men and submerges offences. All our fathers^ says the Apostle, were under the cloud, and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea (1 Cor. x. 1, 2). But it is needful to notice, according to our custom, the succession of words [in our text], and to show the connection between the former ones and those which follow them, and so to draw, if we can, some sweet and profitable lesson from them to bear upon our practice. So, then [the Lord], after having repressed the presumption of the Bride with grave and severe reproof, not wishing that she should remain in too great dejection, recalls to her memory some of the blessings which she has already received, and promises to her others which have not yet beer granted; He also gives testimony that she is beautiful, and even calls her ' love.' 1 If 1/ says the Bridegroom, * have spoken to thee harshly and severely, O my love, do not suppose that it was from mistrust of thee, from hatred, or bitterness of feeling. For the gifts which I have lavished upon thee are unmistakable proofs of my affection. Nor is it in my mind to take away from thee these honours and adornments, but rather to add more and greater ones/ Or the words may be thus understood: * Do not take it ill, O my love, that you do not receive instantly all that you ask, for you have already received very great gifts from Me, and shall receive still greater if you walk in My precepts, and persevere in My love.' Thus much with respect to the connection of the words.

2. Now let us see of what nature are the gifts which He mentions that He has given. First of all is this, that He has rendered her like unto His army among the chariots of Pharaoh, in freeing her from the yoke of sin by the destruction of all the works of the flesh, in like manner as the people of Israel was freed from slavery to Egypt, and the chariots of Pharaoh were overturned and submerged in the Red Sea (Exod. xiv. 28). That was indeed a very great mercy, and I shall not be wrong if I desire to glory in having received it. It is a great truth that I declare. I confess, and will confess, that.

unless the Lord had been my helper, my soul had almost dwelt in hell (Ps. xciii. 17, Douay). I am not ungrateful; I am not forgetful; / will sing of the mercies of the Lord for ever (Ps. lxxxix. 1). Let us leave there the resemblance which the Bride bears to my soul. For the rest, after she has been liberated by that unexampled condescension and goodness, she is taken by Him to be His dear friend, endued with glory and beauty as the Bride of the Lord; but as yet her ornaments are only upon neck and cheeks. For there are promised to her jewelled necklaces for adornment, and golden earrings of price inlaid with silver for an added beauty. Who will not be pleased with the order itself of these gifts? First, she is mercifully freed; then condescendingly loved; thirdly, with kindness cleansed and purified; lastly, she receives the promise of ornaments the richest and most precious.

3. I do not doubt that there are some among you who feel already in themselves the truth of what has been said, and, indeed, anticipate it, because they are forewarned by their own experience. But it is for me to be mindful of that verse of a Psalm: The entrance of Thy words giveth light: it giveth understanding unto the simple (Ps. cxix. 1 30). And for their sakes it is that I think it advisable to explain these things at greater length, for loving is the Spirit of wisdom (Wisd.i.6). And it pleases Him that a teacher should be loving and diligent, and that, while desirous to satisfy the intelligent and learned, he should so proceed as to make allowance for those who are of slower comprehension. Wisdom herself says: They that explain me shall have life everlasting (Ecclus. xxiv. 31, Douay), and I should be unwilling to be deprived of that recompense. Furthermore, even in those things which appear plain there are often hidden meanings, and those of such a character that it is not superfluous to explain them with great care, even to those of the most capacious and swiftly-apprehensive minds.

4. But consider the comparison drawn from Pharaoh and his army and from the horsemen of the Lord. The comparison is not of the two armies between themselves, but of each with a third thing. For what concord hath light with darkness? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? (2 Cor. vi. 15). The Bridegroom compares, no doubt, the holy and spiritual soul to the horsemen of the Lord; and, again, Pharaoh to the devil, and the army of the one to the army of the other. You will not wonder that one soul is likened unto horsemen, who are a multitude, if you consider the array [as it were an army] of virtues which are found in that single soul which is holy. What order and regularity in its affections, what discipline in the use of all its faculties, what an armoury of strength in its prayers, what unshrinking resolution in its actions, how formidable is its zeal, what constancy in the combats it sustains with the enemy of souls himself, and how numerous the triumphs it obtains over him! There fore, it is that we read of it in a later verse: Terriole as an army with banners (Cant. vi. 4). And, again: What will ye see in the Shulamitet