SERMON XLVIII.
OF THE PRAISES WHICH THE BRIDE AND THE BRIDEGROOM ADDRESS RECIPROCALLY TO EACH OTHER; AND HOW BY THE SHADOW OF CHRIST IS TO BE UNDERSTOOD HIS FLESH AND FAITH IN HIM.
* As the lily among thorns,1 so is my love among the daughters,1 — Cant. ii. 2.
THEY are not good daughters who, like thorns, pierce and trouble. Consider the evil race of plants which our earth produces, since it was cursed by sin. T/iorns and thistles, saith the Scripture, shall it bring forth to thee (Gen. iii. 1 8). As long as the soul is clothed in flesh, its course lies among thorns; nor can it avoid having to bear the inquietude of temptations, and the sharp piercing of troubles. If the Bride is a lily, according to the words of the Bridegroom, let her understand with what vigilance and care she ought to watch over her conduct, surrounded as she is on all sides with thorns, of which the sharp points encounter her everywhere. For the tender substance of a flower is unable to endure the slightest puncture of a thorn without injury. Do you feel, then, with how great need and propriety the Psalmist exhorts us to setve the Lord with fear (Ps. ii. 11); and the Apostle also, when he bids us ivork out your oum salvation with fear and trembling (Phil. ii. 12)? They had learned the truth of that saying by their own experience as friends of the Bridegroom, whose course was full of difficulty, and believed that it applied truly to their souls: As a lily among thorns, so is My lave among the daughters. One of them, in fact, says: I am turned in my anguish, while the thorn is fastened (Ps. xxxi. 4, Douay). And it was well that he was thus pierced, since by the anguish of the wound he was turned to repentance. The piercing of the thorns is good for you if it brings you to repent. Many correct their fault when they feel the penalty of it; and such may take these words for their own. A fault is a thorn, so also is its punishment; and in like manner a false brother, or an evil neighbour, may be considered as a thorn.
2. As a lily among thorns, so is My love among the daughters. O lily, bloom bright, shining and beautiful, but tender and delicate, doubters and subverters are all around thee! Among the thorns, what caution and circumspection you have need of! The world is full of thorns; they are on the earth and in the air, and even in your own flesh. To live among these thorns and
THE SHADOW OF CHRIST
not to be torn by them, is the effect of Divine power, not of any efforts of your own. But be of good cheer, said the Lord, I have overcome the world (John xvi. 33). Even though in looking forward you see troubles and trials, as it were the sharp points of thorns threatening you, yet let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid, remembering that tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope, and hope maketh not ashamed (Rom. v. 3). Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow and shine bravely even in the midst of thorns. If God so care-for the grass of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven (Matt vi. 28-30), how much more shall He care for her who is His very dear and cherished Bride! Assuredly the Lord preservetk all them that love Him (Ps. cxlv. 20). As a lily among thorns, so is My lo7'e among the daughters. It is no small proof of virtue to live a good life among the depraved, to preserve the pureness of innocence, and gentleness of character, among the evil-disposed; it is a still greater one to be peaceful with those who are hostile to peace, and to show yourself a friend to your enemies themselves. That will evidently constitute a special degree of likeness to the lily, which does not cease to adorn and beautify with its own fairness the very thorns which pierce it. Does it not seem to you that this is to become a lily in truth, to fulfil in a certain way the perfection taught in the Gospel, in which we are bidden to pray for those who despitefully use us, to do good to them which hate us? (Luke vi. 27, 28). Do you, then, do likewise, and your soul shall be dear to the Lord, and He shall praise you, and say of you: As a lily among thorns, so is My love among the daughters.
3. We read farther on: As the apple-tree among the trees of the woody so is my Beloved among the sons (ii. 3). To the commendations of the Bridegroom the Bride renders her praise in return; to praise Him is to acknowledge and to admire the Being who is truly worthy of all praise, and to be praised by Him is to be rendered deserving of the praises given. And as the Bridegroom has praised her under the figure of a flower of surpassing beauty, so she declares His unmatched glory and eminence by comparing Him to a tree of great excellence. Nevertheless, it seems to me that the tree named is not so beautiful as some others, so that it is not fully worthy to be employed as a comparison, not being able to set forth sufficiently all His praise. Nor, indeed, does the Bride seem to have estimated it very highly, inasmuch as she puts it in comparison only with the trees of the forest,1 which are sterile, or, at least, unable to produce fruits fit for human food. Why, then, are better and nobler trees omitted, and this of but moderate merit brought forward for the purpose of setting forth the praise of the Bridegroom? Ought He, who has not received the Spirit by measure (John iii. 34), to have this measured praise given to Him? It seems to me that He, who has no equal, is spoken of in the making of this similitude2 as if there might be a superior to Him. What shall we say to these things? I confess that the praise is small; but this is because He who receives it is not considered in His greatness. For He is not spoken of here as the Lord who is great, and greatly to be praised (Ps. cxlv. 3), but as He who, though He is the Lord, is a little Child, and is greatly to be loved. For unto us a Child is born (Is. ix. 6).
4. Therefore it is not His Majesty that is exalted here, but His Humility that is commended; and this is reasonable and right, because the weakness of God is stronger than men, and the foolishness of God is wiser than men (1 Cor. i. 25). Those [men] are as barren trees of the forest, inasmuch as, according to the Prophet, they are all gone aside, they are become unprofitable together; there is none that doeth good, no not one (Ps. xiii. 3, Douay). Alone among the trees of the forest the Lord Jesus is a tree bearing fruit — I mean with respect to His Manhood — and though set above the sons of men He is made a little lower than the Angels (Ps. viii. 5). For by a wonderful mystery He both, in becoming Flesh, made Himself to be a little lower than the Angels, and. remaining God, always retained the Angels in subjection to Him. Thou shalt see, says the Scripture, Angels ascending and descending upon the Son of Man (John i. 51), because that in one and the same Man, who is Christ Jesus, they both sustain the weakness and humbly adore the Majesty. But as the Bride finds greater sweetness in considering Him in His humility, she extols with greater willingness His* grace, she magnifies His mercy, she is lost in wonder at His condescension. Her delight is to admire [in Him] a Man among men, not God among the Angels; just as an apple-tree among the trees of the forest is indisputably superior, but not so evidently among the trees of a garden. Nor does she consider that His praises are diminished when the goodness and kindness of His actions are raised still more highly by the thought of His physical weakness. For if, on the one side, she retrenches somewhat from His praise, on the other she fully supplies it, and forbears to dilate upon the glory of His Greatness that she may extol still more the grace of His condescension. For as the Apostle says that the weakness of God is stronger, and the foolishness of God wiser, than men, but does not say 'than Angels'; and as the Psalmist declares of the Bridegroom: Thou art fairer than the children of men (Ps. xlv. 2), but does not say 'fairer than Angels/ so when the Bride speaks here, assuredly by the same Spirit, of the Man-God under the figure of a fruit-bearing tree as compared with forest trees, the intention plainly was to exalt Him above all the favour of men, but not above the excellence of Angels.
5. As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so is my Beloved among the sons. Most fitly is it said among the sons, because, being the Only-Begotten Son of His Father, He has made it His object, and without jealousy, to acquire for Him many sons, whom He is not ashamed to call His brothers, so that He may be the first-born among many brethren. But He, who is the Son by Nature, is of right preferred to all those adopted sons, who are children by grace. Just, also, is the simile, as the apple-tree, to Him who, like a fruitful tree, affords a refreshing shadow as well as valuable fruit. Is not that truly a fruit-bearing tree, whose flowers are the fruit of honour and riches? (Ecclus. xxiv. 17). Assuredly He is a tree of life to them that lay hold upon Him (Prov. iii. 18). All the trees of the forest, however fair and however great they be, shall not be compared unto Him; not even those who seem to be helpful by their prayers and their ministry, by their teaching or their holy example; for Christ alone, the Wisdom of God, is the Tree of Life (Rev. xxii. 2), the Living Bread which came down from heaven and giveth life unto the world (John vi. 41; 33).
6. Therefore it is that she goes on to say: I sat down under His s/iado7it with great delight, and His fruit was sweet to my taste. She might well long for the shadow of Him, from whom she has both grateful shelter, and will receive needful nourishment. Other trees of the forest afford, indeed, a shadow from the heat, but they have not the Bread of Life, the immortal fruits of salvation. For there is one Author of Life, and One Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus (1 Tim. ii. 5), and it is He who says to His Bride: 1 am thy salvation (Ps. xxxv. 3), and, Moses gave you not that Bread from Heaven, but My Father giveth you the True Bread from Heaven (John vi. 32). On this account, then, she had desired greatly the shadow of Christ, because it is He alone who shelters her from the hot breath of vices, and also fills her with the refreshment and joy of virtue. His Shadow is His Human Nature, and [that which brings me under the shelter of] His Shadow is faith. The Human Nature of Her Son it was which overshadowed Mary; it is faith in my Lord which overshadows me. I might, indeed, say that His Flesh overshadows me also, since it is eaten by me in a mystery. The Blessed Virgin also experienced that shadow of faith, as is shown by the words spoken of her: And blessed is she who believed (Luke i. 45). So a prophet says: The breath of our mouth, Christ the Lord... under His shadow we shall live among the Gentiles} Under His shadow among the Gentiles, but in His light among the Angels. We are in the shadow as long as we walk by faith, not by sight; and, therefore, the just, who lives by faith, is in the shadow. But he who lives by the understanding, happy is he, because he is not in the shadow but in the light. David was a righteous man, and he walked by faith when he addressed this prayer to God: Give me understanding, that I may learn Thy commandments, and I shall live (Ps. cxix. 73, 144). He knew that understanding shall succeed to faith, that the light of life and the life of light shall be revealed to the understand- ing. It is needful to come first to the shadow, and so to attain to that of which it is the shadow; since, as says the Prophet: If ye will not believe me, ye shall not understand (Is. vii. 9, and xliii. 10).
7. You see that faith is both life and the shadow of life. For the life which is spent in enjoyments, since it is not lived by faith, is but death and the shadow of death. For the widow, saith St. Paul, who liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth (1 Tim. v. 6). And to be carnally minded is death (Rom. viii. 6). It is also the shadow of death — of that death which torments everlastingly. We, too, have sometime been in the darkness and shadow of death, while we lived according to the flesh and not according to faith; we were, indeed, already dead to righteousness, and soon to be swallowed up by that which is the second death. For it is certain that our life, as it was then, has drawn as near to death as the shadow is near to the body which casts it, and each of us may say with the Psalmist: Unless the Lord had been my helper, my soul had almost dwelt in hell (Ps. xciv. 1 7, Douay). But now we have passed from the shadow of death to the shadow of life, or, rather, we have passed from death unto life ( 1 John iii. 14), and are living in the shadow of Christ; if, that is to say, we are of a truth living and not still dead. For I do hot think that a person who has been in the shadow lives in it forthwith, because it is plain that not everyone who has faith lives by faith. But faith without works is dead (James ii. 26), and that which itself has not life is incapable of imparting it. That is why,- after the Prophet had said: ' Christ the Lord is the Spirit before our face/ he goes on to say: ' under His shadow we shall live among the Gentiles ' (Lam. iv. 20). Do you, then, take care, according to the example of the Prophet, to live in His shadow, that hereafter you may reign in His light; for He has not only the shadow, He has also the light. Through the flesh He is the shadow of faith, through the spirit He is the light of knowledge. He is Flesh and He is Spirit. He is Flesh to those who remain in the flesh, and He is 4 the Spirit before our face ' — that is to say, in the future He shall be, provided that, forgetting those things which are behind and pressing forward to those things which are before, we attain to the experience of the truth in those words: // is the Spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing (John vi. 64). Nor do I forget that the Apostle, while still sojourning in the flesh, has said: Even though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet nott* henceforth know we Him no more (2 Cor. v. 16). But this was His peculiar privilege: we who have never been so highly favoured as to be caught up into Paradise and into the third heaven, we still are nourished by the Flesh of Christ, we venerate His sacred Mysteries, we order our lives by His example, we keep the faith, and, without question, we live in His shadow.
8. / sat down under His shadow with great delight Perhaps the Bride is here extolling herself as having a happier experience than the Prophet, inasmuch as she has sat under His shadow, not that she lives in it. For to be seated is to rest. It is more to rest in His shadow than to live in it, as it is more to live in it than simply to be in it. The Prophet predicates of himself that which is common to many: i We shall live;* but the Bride, who has a special privilege, states it with pride: * I sat down.' She does not say (as he has done) * we ' in the plural, but * 1/ to mark that this is peculiar to herself. Where, then, we live with labour, we who serve with fear, being conscious of our offences, there the Bride, loving and devoted, sweetly rests. Fear is followed by a penalty, but love by sweetness; wherefore she says: His fruit was sweet to my taste, signifying the heavenly charm of the contemplation which she had obtained when sweetly lifted up by love. Doubtless that is in the shadow, because it takes place, as it were, through a glass and darkly. But a time shall come when the light shall brighten to the dawn, the shadows shall wane until they wholly disappear: and then, in the place "of them, shall begin a vision as clear as it is constant; it shall be not only sweetness to the taste, but satisfaction, yet without surfeit, to the whole nature. Where the Bride makes pause, let us pause too; glorifying, for the portion given to us of spiritual dainties delightful to our taste, Him who is the Head of the whole family in heaven and earth (Eph. iii. 15), and the Bridegroom of the Church, Our Lord Jesus Christ, who is above all, God blessed for ever. Amen.
HOW CHARITY IS REGULATED BY DISCRETION, SO THAT ALL THE MEMBERS OF THE CHURCH, THAT IS, THE ELECT, ARE HELD TOGETHER BY MUTUAL BONDS.
' He brought me into the banqueting house, and His banner over me was love,1 — Cant. ii. 4.
A CCORDING to the obvious meaning of the text, the Bride, after an interview, as sweet as it was confidential, with her
^ Beloved, according to her prayer, returns, on His departure, to her maidens; to whom she appears so refreshed and excited in word and gesture, that it is as if she were inebriate. They are astonished at this novelty in her, and inquire the cause; to which she replies that it is not at all wonderful she should seem to be excited as if with wine, since she has entered into the banqueting house. So much as to the literal sense. Spiritually understood, she does not deny that she is inebriate, but declares that it is with love, not with wine, unless love be wine. As long as the Bridegroom is present, she direct? her discourse to Him. She calls Him her Bridegroom, her Beloved, or Him whom my soul loveth; but when speaking of Him to the maidens, she calls Him the King. Why is this? Because, as I think, it is more fitting for the Bride, who is loving and beloved, to