THE TWOFOLD BEAUTY OF THE SOUL
and be glad. They are in each other's presence, they are conversing together; let us, too, pause and listen; let no care of this world, no allurement of the flesh, withdraw us from that sacred colloquy.
3. Behold, thou art fair, My love; behold, thou art fair. Behold expresses admiration, the rest praise. It is with reason that she is admired, because she has not adopted humility after the loss of holiness, and on account of it, but has retained it while remaining holy. And rightly, too, is she twice over called beautiful, since neither kind of beauty is wanting to her. It is a rare being (avis) upon the earth who has not lost innocence, or in whom sanctity, if retained, does not exclude humility; and therefore happy is she who has retained both the one and the other. That she has done so is proved, inasmuch as though conscious of no fault, she does not reject the reproof of the Bridegroom. We, even when we have committed great faults, scarcely suffer ourselves to be reproved; but she, even when she has done no wrong, listens meekly to bitter words addressed to her. For if she desires to behold the glory of her Bridegroom, that is no fault, but rather a ground for praise. And yet when she is blamed she repents, and says: A bundle of myrrh is my Beloved unto me; He shall lie between my breasts, which is as if she said: * That is sufficient for me: I desire to know none but Jesus, and Him crucified.' How great is this humility! Though innocent in every act, she takes upon her the feeling of the penitent, and though she has nothing to repent of, yet she is able to repent. ' Why, then/ you ask, ' is she chidden, if she has done no wrong?' But now listen to the prudence of the Bridegroom, and the dispensation of His grace. For as formerly the obedience of Abraham was tried and made proof of, so now is it with the humility of the Bride. And just as he, when his obedience was complete, heard these words spoken to him: Now I knmv that thou fearest God (Gen. xxii. 12), so in like manner, though in other words, it is said to the Bride, ' I know now that thou art humble for that is the significance of what He says: Behold, thou art fair. And He repeats the commendation, to show that the beauty of humility is added to the glory of holiness. * Now I know that thou art fair, not only by the love which I feel for thee, but also by thy humility. I say not now that thou art fairest among women, I praise not thy beauty of cheeks or of neck, as I did aforetime \ but I say simply, not in comparison of others, not in part, or with a qualification, but simply that thou art fair'
4. And He adds: Thou hast the eyes of doves. Plainly He is still continuing the praise of humility. For He sees that, being blamed and checked for placing so high her researches, she at once, and without delay, lowers them to things simpler, so as to say: A bundle of myrrh is my Beloved unto me. There is no doubt a great difference between a Countenance full of glory and a bundle of myrrh, and therefore it is a great mark of humility to suffer the being recalled from the one and to the other. Thus, to say: Thou hast the eyes of doves signifies: * No longer dost thou hold converse with great matters, nor inquire into subjects too high for thee; but, like that gentle and artless bird, art content with simpler matters, making thy nest in the hollows of the rock (that is to say), abiding in My wounds, and contemplating of thy own free will, as it were with dove-like gaze, the things only which relate to Me Incarnate, and to My Passion.'
5. Or it may be that, because the Holy Spirit appeared in the form of a dove (Matt. iii. 16), it is rather a spiritual vision than a simplicity of vision that is here commended under the term * dovelike/ If you approve of this supposition, it will be necessary to refer the verse before us to that which was spoken before by the companions of the Bridegroom, when they promised to her pendants of gold, with no intention, as I warned you at the time, of adorning the ears of the body, but rather of developing and training the spiritual hearing.1 And by this means it follows that, having the heart more completely purified by faith, which cometh by hearing, she is rendered more capable of discerning that which before was beyond her powers. And as by the receiving of these (symbolical) pendants she has obviously obtained an increased power of vision for the discerning of spiritual things, so she has also become pleasing to the Bridegroom, whose preference it is always (as far as relates to Himself) to be contemplated in a spiritual manner. Therefore He numbers this among her praises, and declares: Thy eyes are those of doves. Now thou regardest Me, He says, in the spirit, since Christ the Lord is as a spirit before thy face (Lam. iv. 20). Thou art able to do this, because thou hast dove's eyes. Before thou hadst not this power, and so incurred rebuke; now thou mayst behold me as thou wilt, because thou hast a spiritual vision, the eyes of the Dove. This, indeed, is not the grace for which thou madest petition, for not even now art thou capable of that; but this shall suffice thee for the present. Behold Me now to the utmost of thy powers, and as these augment, thou shalt behold Me more clearly; for assuredly, thou shalt be led on from glory to glory (Ps. lxxxiv. 7).
6. I do not think, brethren— I repeat, I do not think— that this Vision, which alone belongs to the present, is either mediocre or common to all, though it be inferior to that which shall one day be enjoyed. This may be inferred from the words which follow, for she goes on to say: Behold thou art fairy my Belowd. Now, consider the greatness and high elevation of a soul which claims the right to call Him, who is the Lord of the whole world, her Beloved. For notice that she does not even say simply Beloved^ but my Beloved \ to show that she had a right to call Him hers. Assuredly this Vision of Christ must be august and privileged, which confers upon the soul such con-
• fidence and authority that it regards the Lord of all, not as her Lord, but as her Beloved. For I suppose that in this instance there is not at all presented to the soul any defined image of the bodily form of Christ, or of the likeness of our weak flesh, or even of His Cross, for in these respects, according to the prophet, He hath no form nor come- 1 See Serm. XLL, nn. 2-4.
liness (Is. liii. 2). But that she, beholding Him, now pronounces Him fair and comely, shows that He appeared to her by means of a nobler vision, for the Bridegroom speaks to the Bride face to face, as once He spake to Moses (Exod. xxxiii. 11), and she beholds God clearly, not by symbols and types. Thus, beholding Him in the spirit, by a vision sweet and sublime, she declares Him to be such as in her vision she sees Him to be. Her eyes have seen the King in His beauty; yet not as King, but as her Beloved. One prophet beheld Him upon His throne, high and lifted up (Isa. vi. 1), and of another it is testified that he saw God face to face, and his life was preserved (Gen. xxxii. 30); yet it seems to me that the Bride surpasses both, in that we read that the Lord was beheld by her, and that He was her Beloved. But He says: If I be the Lord, where is My fear? (Mai. i. 6). If, then, to them this revelation was attended with fear, for where the Lord is there fear must be [to those who behold Him], I certainly, if the choice were given to me, would prefer the vision of the Bride, and that with so much more willingness and gladness, as I perceive that it is the occasion of a nobler feeling, that is, love. For fear hath torment, but perfect love casteth out fear (1 John iv. 18). Great is the difference between [the Lord] appearing terrible in His doings toward the children of men (Ps. lxvi. 5) and His appearing fairer than the children of men (Ps. xlv. 2). Behold Thou art fair, my Beloved, yea, pleasant I These words express affection, not fear.
7. But perhaps thoughts arise in your heart, and you ask doubtfully: ' By what means can the words of the Word, spoken to the soul, and again those of the soul to the Word, be rendered audible, so that the soul should hear the Voice of Him that speaks to her, and praises her as fair, and should pour forth in turn her tribute to Him who has praised her? How can that take place? For it is not the word which speaks, but we speak by the word. Also the soul has no means of speech, except by the words which the bodily organs articulate for her for that purpose.' A very reasonable inquiry; but consider that it is the spirit which speaks, and that [the speaking as well as] the things spoken are to be spiritually understood. As often, then, as you hear or read that the Word and the soul behold each other or converse together, do not imagine that they behold visible bodily forms, or that audible words pass from one to the other. This is what you ought rather to think. The Word is Spirit; the soul is a spirit also; they have faculties [linguas] of their own for indicating their presence, and for communicating the one with the other. The tongue of the Word is the favour of His condescension j that of the soul is the fervour of its devotion. The soul which has no devotion is like an infant and speechless, and to such an one no discourse with the Word is possible. Therefore when the Word wishes to speak to the soul, and thus moves His tongue, the soul cannot but hear, for the Word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul atid spirit (Heb. iv. 12). And, again, when the soul thus addresses the Word, He cannot possibly be unconscious of it; not only because He is everywhere present, but still more and especially because the tongue of devotion is never stirred to speak, except by an impulse from Him.
8. Therefore for the Word to call a soul beloved, and say to it, thou art fair, is to pour upon it the grace which shall enable it to love, and to know itself loved. In like manner, when the soul in turn names the Word her Beloved and speaks of Him as full of beauty, it is that she ascribes to Him, without fiction or disguise, the grace that she has to love Him and to be loved by Him; it is that she admires His condescension, and wonders at the greatness of His grace. Indeed, His fairness consists in His love, and that is the greater because it was the earlier (praveniens). For this reason it is that she cries in the depths of her heart, and with all the powers of her strongest affections, that she is bound to love Him, and with so much stronger an affection, because He first loved her. Therefore the speech of the Word is an infusion of grace, and the response of the soul is the giving of thanks and glory. She loves so much the more ardently, because she feels that the affection of her Spouse surpasses her own, and her admiration is the greater, because that affection preceded hers. On that account it is that she is not content with saying once that He is full of beauty; she repeats her praise in order to heighten it by repetition.
9. Or perhaps that double phrase may be explained as applying to the two Natures in Christ — in the one the beauty of nature, in the other that of grace. How beautiful art Thou to Thy Angels, O Lord Jesus, in the Form of God, in Thy Eternal Nature, begotten before the morning star, in the splendour of Thy saints, who art Thyself the Form and Splendour of the Substance of the Father, in whom the glory and brightness of life eternal are resplendent from everlasting! How august art Thou to me also, O my Lord, when I contemplate Thee in that state of glory which is Thine! Even when Thou didst empty Thyself of Thy glory, when Thou layedst down the rays of splendour proper to that unfailing Light, even then Thy kindness shone the more brightly, Thy charity was more conspicuous, Thy grace the more radiant. O Star out of Jacob, how beautiful Thou art unto me in Thy rising (Num. xxiv. 17); O Branch springing out of the stem of Jesse (Is. xi. t), how bright is Thy Flower; O Dayspring from on High, in what joyful light hast Thou visited me, who sat in darkness! (Luke i. 78). What an object of admiration and wonder is He, even to the heavenly Virtues, in His Conception by the Holy Ghost, in His Birth of the Virgin Mary, in the spotless innocence of His Life, in the flowing streams of His doctrine, in the glistering brightness of His miracles, in the mysteries revealed by His Sacraments! In what blaze of glory dost Thou rise, O Sun of Righteousness, from the heart of the earth, after Thy setting [in death]! In what a resplendent vesture (Is. lxiii. 1), O King of glory, dost Thou enter again the highest heaven! At the sight of all these marvels, how can I do otherwise than cry, All my bones s/iall say, Lord, who is like unto thee f (Ps. xxxv. 10).