Sermons on the Song of Songs

THAT THE BRIDE, THAT IS TO SAY, THE CHURCH OF THE ELECT, WAS PREDESTINATED BY GOD BEFORE ALL AGES, AND PRE- VENTED BY HIS GRACE THAT SHE SHOULD SEEK HIM AND BE CONVERTED.

WE made a pause, if I remember rightly, at the word found, hearing with a kind of scruple the statement of the Bride that she was found by her preachers. We have stated the causes of our doubt and hesitation, and it seemed to us that here some hidden meaning was to be sought for; but this could not be done at the conclusion of a sermon, which point we had then reached. What remains, then, for us to do, but to fulfil now the promise which we made? In the exposition of this great mystery, which the Apostle of the Gentiles has interpreted as the holy and chaste union betwixt Christ and His Church (Eph. v. 32), and which is the very work of our salvation, three elements co-operate [and are to be taken into consideration]; God, the angelic race, and man. Why, indeed, should not God bring about, and take care for, these sacred nuptials of His Beloved Son? He does so in truth, and with entire willingness. He would assuredly be sufficient to accomplish it by Himself, and without the least help from these; nor could they, without Him, effect anything. That He, therefore, has associated them in the work of this ministry is not for the sake of assistance to Himself, but for good to them. For He has placed merit in works, as regards men, according to that saying: The labourer is worthy of his hire (Luke x. 7); and, Every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour (1 Cor. iii. 8), whether he who plants in faith, or he who waters that which has been already planted. Now, if God employs the ministry of Angels to conduce to the salvation of men, does He not do it that Angels may be loved by men? For, that Angels love men is plain, especially from this, that Angels are not unaware of the fact that it is by men the ancient losses of their state are to be repaired and made good. And assuredly it was becoming that the realm of charity should not be ruled by other laws than those of mutual love between those who together are to reign, and by the pure affections of each, both to each other and to God.

2. But there is considerable difference in the manner in which these three causes act, according to the nobleness and dignity of each worker. For God doeth that which He wills, by His volition only; without stir, without motion, without alteration of place or time, of cause, or person. For He is the Lord of Sabaoth, who orders all things with peaceful and unquestioned power. He is also Wisdom, who sweetly doth order all things (Wisd. xii. 18, and viii. 3). An Angel acts without stir or agitation, but not without change of time and place.1 But a man cannot act without stir and eagerness of mind, nor is free, in acting, from movement of body and mind. For he is bidden to work out his salvation with fear and trembling (Phil. ii. 12), and to eat bread in the sweat of his face (Gen. iiL iq).

3. These things being explained, consider now with me that, in the glorious work of our salvation, there are three things which God, who is the Author of them, reserves unto Himself, and in which He anticipates all those who are helpers and co-workers with Him; these are predestination, creation, inspiration. Of which predestination had its beginning, I do not say from the founding of the Church, or even from this time or that time, for it is before all time. Creation, again, is coeval with time; while inspiration takes place in time, when and where God wills. According to predestination, then, there never has been any time when there was not a Church of the elect before the consciousness of God. If the unbeliever wonders at this, let him hear something at which he will wonder still more: that it has always been acceptable to God, and has always been loved by Him. Why should I not speak out boldly that hidden wisdom which has been made known to me from the Heart of God by that revealer of His high designs? I mean St. Paul, who has not hesitated to make known this secret which he had drawn, as he had so many others, from the riches of the Divine goodness. He says: Who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as Be hath chosen us in Him before tlie foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love; and he adds: Having predestinated us unto t/ie adoption of children, by Jesus Christ, to himself, according to t/ie good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved (Eph. i. 3-6). And there is no doubt that these words are spoken with the voice and in the name of all the elect; and these are the Church. Who, then, even among the blessed spirits, could ever have been able to discover that Church in the deep bosom of the abyss of eternity, before the work of its creation was brought forth into the light of day, unless God, to whom is eternity itself, had chosen to reveal it?

4. But even when, at the command of its Creator, it had appeared, and was seen, under created forms and visible appearances, it was not at once recognised, either by men or Angels, because it was unfamiliar to them, being shadowed by the earthly likeness of man, and covered with the darkness of death. And not one of the sons of men hath entered into this life without this veil of universal confusion, One only excepted, He who enters it without stain of sin. He is Emmanuel, who, although He has taken from us, and put on for our sakes, the likeness of our sinful flesh, has not taken the reality of our sin. For the Apostle declares that He who appeared in the likeness of sinful

flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh (Rom. viii. 3). All the remainder, whether elect or reprobate, have entered this life in the same manner, for there is no distinction; all have sinned, and all bear the livery1 of the shame of sin. Because of this, therefore, although the Church was already called into being, and existed among created things, yet it could not be found or recognised by any creature, being marvellously hidden, for the time, both within the bosom of a blessed predestination, and within the mass of a miserable condemnation.

5. But [the Church] which Wisdom predestining had hidden from all eternity, and Creative Power had not produced when the world began,2 the Divine Grace, which visits the earth, has in its due time revealed, according to the operation of that which I have named above, inspiration, because it consists of an inbreathing of the Spirit of the Bridegroom into human spirits for a preparation of the Gospel of peace, that is, to prepare a way for the Lord, and for the glory of His Gospel, into the hearts of all those who were predestined unto life, as many as they might be. It would have been in vain that the watchmen had toiled in preaching the Word, if this grace had not gone before. But now, seeing that the Word of God * runneth very swiftly/ that the people of the nations are with ease turned unto the Lord, that their various tribes and languages concur in the unity of the faith, and that the ends of the earth are collected into the bosom of that one Church, Catholic and apostolic, which is the mother of us all, they have recognised the riches of that grace which was hidden from ages and from generations in the secret of an eternal predestination, and have rejoiced to have found her whom before all ages the Lord had chosen for Himself as His Bride.

6. Thus, then, as I think, it appears plainly not to have been without significance that the Bride declares that she was found by them; namely, as signifying that [the Church] was collected together, not [self] elected, and found before converted. For the conversion of each of the faithful ought to be attributed to Him, to whom it is necessary for all to say, as in the Psalm: Convert usy O God of out salvation (Ps. lxxxv. 4, Douay, partly). But I cannot, perhaps, apply the term of finding with such propriety to every soul, as the term of conversion. Or, rather, this is the state of the facts: The Lord cannot be said to find a soul, because He prevents (that is to say, is beforehand with) it; and prevention excludes finding (inventioncm). What is there for Him to find to whom nothing is at any time unknown? The Lord knoweth them that are His, saith one (2 Tim. ii. 19); and what does He say Himself? I know whom I have chosen? Plainly He refers to her whom from eternity He had foreknown: whom He chose, and loved, and formed; and therefore she could not be said to be found by Him. Yet I might safely say that she has been pre- pared by Him that she might be found. For he that saw bare record, and we know that his record is true (John xix. 35). This is what he says: / John saw the Holy City, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband (Rev. xxi. 2); and he was one of the watchmen who guard the city. And hear Him who is the Author and Preparer [of the Church] Himself, [and see Him] pointing her out, as it were, with His Finger to the watchmen, but under another metaphor. Lift up your eyes, He said, and look on the fields, for they are white already to harvest (John iv. 35). On this account the Lord of the Harvest invites His labourers to the work, when He has seen that all things were prepared, so that without much labour on their part they may be able to pride themselves on being labourers together with God (1 Cor. iii. 9). For what have they to do? They have to seek the Bride, and, when they have found her, to tell her of her Beloved. For they, because they are the friends of the Bridegroom, do not seek their own glory, but His. And they will not have to labour hard with regard to her, since she is already present, and is seeking Him with the devotion of her whole heart, inasmuch as her will has been prepared by the Lord.

7. Now, even while those watchmen have as yet said nothing to her, she anticipates her preachers, having been herself anticipated, and inquires of them: Saw ye Him whom my soul loveth f (iii. 3). Rightly, then, has she stated that she was found by those who guard the city, since she knows that she is already foreknown and anticipated by the Lord of the city, and that they find her such as she is, and do not make her so. Cornelius was thus found by Peter, and Paul by Ananias; but each of them had been previously found and prepared by the Lord. What preparation could be more complete than that of Saul, who had cried with submission, both of heart and voice: Lord, what ivilt Thou have me to do? (Acts ix. 6). Nor was that of Cornelius less, since, by his alms and prayers which the Lord had inspired him to make, he had merited to attain unto the faith (Acts x. 4). Philip also found Nathanael; but the Lord, who saw him when he was under the fig-tree, had first found him. What was that seeing of him by the Lord but a preparation? And in the same way it is related that Andrew found his brother Simon; but that he was both foreseen and it was foreknown by the Lord that he should be called Cephas, which signifies 1 Strong in faith ' (John i. 41, 42, 45, 48).

8. We read of Mary, too, that she was found when she had conceived by the Holy Ghost (Matt. i. 18). I believe that the Bride of the Lord resembles in some degree His Mother in this respect. For unless she also had been found filled with the Holy Ghost, she would not have questioned with such confidence those who found her, respecting Him, whose is the Spirit. She would not have endured that they should have declared to her to what end they had come, but she spake to them herself, and, indeed, out of the fulness of her heart: Saw ye Him whom my soul loveth f She knew that the eyes which had seen Him were blessed, and in her admiration for those who had had that blessing, she said: 1 Are you not they to whom it has been given to see Him, whom so many prophets and kings desired to see, and have not seen? Are you not they who have merited to behold Wisdom in the flesh, the Truth in bodily form, God in Man? Many there are who say, Lo, He is here, and Lo, He is there; but I think it safer for me to give credence to you, who have eaten and drank with Him, after He rose from the dead.' I believe what has been said will suffice respecting the inquiry made by the Bride, of the watchmen, but if not, it shall be supplied in another sermon. But even now, and from this, it has been made abundantly clear, that [the Church] has been prevented by the Holy Spirit, and found by them who guard the city, because it is she whom God has foreseen and predestined before all ages, and prepared to be an everlasting joy, throughout eternal ages, to His dear Son, that she may be holy and immaculate in His sight, growing as a lily, and flourishing for ever before the Lord and Father of my Lord Jesus Christ, the Uridegroom of the Church, who is above all, God blessed for evermore. Amen.

of the strong and indissoluble love wherewith the soul holds to its lord; also of the return of the bridegroom at the ending of the age, to save the synagogue of the jews.

not suffer anything else to be thought of, but, despising all things in comparison, art content with thyself! Thou confoundest ranks, takest no count of custom, ignorest all measure; thou dost triumph in thy own self over all the rules of opportuneness, of reason, of reticence, of prudence, or of judgment, and bringest them under control. Every thought and word of hers is full of thee, has regard to thee and to nothing else, so entirely hast thou taken possession of her, both in heart and tongue. She says: Saw ye Him whom my soul loveth? As if they knew what was the subject of her thoughts. ' Dost thou ask for news of Him whom thy soul loveth, and has He not a name? Who art thou; and He, who is He?' I speak thus, because of the strangeness of this address, and the singular disregard of names, in which this passage appears very different to other Scriptures. Whence, in this epithalamium, the words are not so much to be considered as the feelings which underlie and prompt them, because the sacred affection which is plainly the entire subject of this whole canticle is thus to be estimated, that is, not by word only, or by language, but in deed and in truth. Love speaks in it