Sermons on the Song of Songs

' Saw ye Him whom my soul loveth T — Cant. iii. 3.

everywhere, and if anyone desires to obtain a knowledge of those things which are read in it, a spirit of love is necessary to him that he may do so. In vain will one who is without love attempt to listen to or read this Song of Love; the cold heart cannot comprehend or appreciate its language, full of feeling and fire. Just as one who is unacquainted with Greek or with Latin cannot understand a person who speaks in either of those languages, and so with other things, so is it with the language of love; it is strange and barbarous to one who does not love, and to him will be but as sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal (i Cor. xiii. i). But as they (I mean the watchmen) have received from the Spirit the ability to love, they understand what the Spirit speaks, and are able to respond on the spot to the words of love addressed to them; and even to respond in the same language, that is, in feelings of affection and acts of kindness.

2. They do, indeed, instruct her so well concerning Him about whom she inquires, and that in a brief time, that she says: // was but a little that 1 passed from them, but I found Him whom my soul loveth. She says well a little, because their reply to her was brief and comprehensive; that is, they delivered to her the Creed, which is a concise statement of the Faith. And what follows is in similar terms. It was expedient indeed that the Bride should pass by them, through whom she should learn the truth, but also that she should pass beyond them. And if she had not passed beyond them she would not have found Him whom she sought. And you may be assured that they themselves urged this very thing upon her. For they did not preach themselves, but Christ Jesus their Lord, and He is assuredly both beyond them and above. Wherefore also He says: Come unto Me, all ye that be desirous of Me (Ecclus. xxiv. 19). Nor was it enough to pass to Him, but she is taught to pass through to Him. Because He whom she was seeking had also passed through. For not only did He pass from death unto life, but He passed through death unto glory. It was indispensable, then, that the Bride should likewise pass through unto Him, otherwise she could not succeed in reaching Him, not having followed His footsteps whithersoever He went.

3. And to explain more clearly what I say: if my Lord Jesus had risen indeed from the dead, but had not ascended into heaven, it could not be said of Him that He had passed through, but only that He had passed away; and consequently the Bride in seeking Him must pass away from others, but need not pass beyond them. But as, in ascending into heaven, He has passed beyond Resurrection, the Bride says with accuracy, not simply that she has passed, but that she has passed beyond, inasmuch as by faith and devotion she has followed Him even unto the heavens. Therefore to believe the Resurrection is a passing, but to believe the Ascension is a passing beyond. And perhaps she knew the one and did not know the other (which I remember that I said one day when I was treating the subject1). Therefore, having been instructed by them in that which

was wanting to her, namely, that He who had risen from the dead had also ascended into heaven, she also has thither ascended, that is, has passed beyond Tthis sphere of outward things], and has found Him (Heb. iv. 14, and compare Collect for Ascension Day in the Common Prayer Book of Church of England). How could she fail to do so, when arising in heart and mind1 unto the place where He is in body? // was but a little that I passed from them. Rightly does she say from them; for our Head has preceded and transcended in two respects both His apostles, and all other His members who are upon the earth; that is to say, by His Resurrection (as I have already mentioned) and by His Ascension. And yet in each case Christ is the first-fruits. He has gone before, and our faith has gone before also. Where has it not followed Him? If He has ascended into heaven, it is there; if He has gone down into hell, it is there also; and if He has taken wings with the morning, and dwelt in the utmost parts of the sea, even there, it declares to Him, shall Thy Hand lead me, and Thy Right Hand shall hold me (Ps. cxxxix. 8-10). And, finally, is it not according to this faith that He, the Father of the Bridegroom, He, who is supremely Powerful and supremely good, has raised us up, and made us to sit at His Right Hand?2 So far to explain what the Church has said: / passed beyond them: because she has passed beyond her own self in abiding, by her faith, in regions whither she has not as yet attained in fact. I think that it is now clear why she has said, ' I have passed beyond,' rather than said simply * I have passed.' Let us now go on to the words which follow.

4. / held Him, and would not let Him go, until I had brought Him into my mother's house, and into the chamber of her that conceived me. Thus it is that from that time and thenceforward, the people of Christ have never been without either faith upon the earth or charity within the Church. Floods have come, and winds have raged, and beat upon it, and it has not fallen, for it was founded upon a rock (Matt, vii. 25). That Rock is Christ. Therefore neither the wordy diatribes of philosophers, nor the cavils of heretics, nor the swords of persecutors, have ever been able, nor shall they ever be able, to separate it from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus (Rom. viii. 39), so strongly does the Church hold to Him whom her soul loveth, so firmly convinced is she that it is good to hold fast to God. * Good it is,' says the prophet Isaiah, 'for the soldering.'3 What is more tenacious than this solder, which is not dissolved by water, nor parted by winds, nor even severed by sword strokes? For many waters, we are told, cannot quench love (Cant. viii. 7). / held Him, and would not let Him go. And the holy Patriarch also said: / will not let Thee go, unless Thou bless me (Gen. xxxii. 26). She also will not let Him go, and perhaps her attachment is stronger than that of the Patriarch, for not even for the sake of a benediction can she consent to part with Him. ' I desire/ she says, c not even Thy benediction, but Thee.' Whom have I in heaven but Thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside Thee (Ps. lxxiii. 25). I will not let Thee go, even if Thou hast given me Thy blessing.

5. I held Him, and would not let Him go. Nor does He, perhaps, desire less to be held, for He says: My delights were with the sons of men (Prov. viii. 31), and in the Gospel He gives the promise: Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world (Matt xxviii. 20). What bond of union is stronger than that which is compacted by the perfect and earnest willingness of the two who are parties to it? / held Him, she declares. But, nevertheless, she is held fast in return by Him whom she holds, as in another place she says to Him: Thou hast holden me by my right hand (Ps. lxxiii. 24). And she who holds and is holden, how can she possibly fall? She holds to the Lord by the firmness of her faith, by the fervency of her devotion. But yet she could not long hold fast to Him, were she not also held by Him. It is the power and the mercy of the Lord by which she is held. J held Him, and would not let Him go, until I had brought Him into my mother's house, and into the chamber of her that conceived me. Great is the charity of the Church, inasmuch as she does not grudge her choicest delights even to her rival, which is the Synagogue. What goodness can be greater than to be prepared to communicate even to her enemy, Him whom her soul loves? And yet it is not wonderful, inasmuch as salvation is of the Jews (John iv. 22). To the place whence He came forth, let the Saviour return, that the remnant of Israel may be saved (Rom. ix. 27). Let not the branches be ungrateful to the root, nor the children to their mother. Let not the branches grudge to the root the sap which they themselves have derived from it, nor the children grudge to their mother the milk which they have drawn from her bosom. Let the Church hold firmly the salvation which Judaea has lost; let her hold it fast, until the fulness of the Gentiles become in, and so all Israel shall be saved (Rom. xi. 25, 26). She would wish to come in common to the common salvation, which is partaken by all, in such a manner, that no part is taken away from any. This she does, and more. What more? She chooses the name and the grace of His Bride. This is over and above the gift of salvation.

6. This degree of charity would be incredible, were it not that the words of the Bride, here recorded, compel us to believe it. For she has said, if you have noticed, that she wishes to bring Him to whom she holds so closely, not only into the house, but into the chamber, of her mother, which is the sign of a singular prerogative. It would be sufficient for salvation that He should enter the house; but that He enters into the secret of the chamber is a sign of special grace. This day, saith the Lord, is salvation come unto this house (Luke xix. 9). When the Saviour had entered the house, how could it be otherwise than that those of the house should be saved? But she that merits to receive Him in the chamber has for her part His secret gift

Salvation is for the whole house, but the higher and sweeter gifts are reserved for those, for whom they are prepared by the Father. Until I had brought Him into my motliers house, she says. Of what house does she speak, but of that of which the Lord had foretold to the Jews: Behold, your house is left unto you desolate? (Luke xiii. 35). He has done what He had said, according to His declaration made by a prophet: I have forsaken Mine house, I have left Mine heritage (Jer. xii. 7); and now the Bride promises to bring Him back to it, and to restore to her mothers house its lost salvation. And as if even this were a little thing, hear what a promise of good she adds thereto: And into the chamber of her that conceived me. He who enters into the marriage chamber is the Bridegroom. Great is the power of love! The Saviour had gone forth from His home and from His heritage with indignation and wrath; and now He is so far turned from the fierceness of His anger, so won to forgiveness and grace, as to return not only as a Saviour, but as a Bridegroom. O daughter [of this house], blessed art thou from the Lord, who dost quench the indignation, and restore the heritage. Blessed art thou of thy mother, for it is by thy good deed that the wrath of the Lord is turned away, that salvation is brought back to her; that He is brought back who says to her: / am thy Salvation (Ps. xxxv. 3). Nor is even this enough, for He adds: / will betroth thee unto Me for ever: yea, I will betroth thee unto Me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in loving kindness, and in mercies (Hos. ii. 19). But remember that she who wins these kindnesses for her mother is the Bride. How can she be willing to yield her Bridegroom, and such a Bridegroom, to another; nay, desire to do so? But it is not to be understood thus. It is as a good daughter that she desires this great good for her mother, yet not to give it up, but to communicate it. It is sufficient for both; and, indeed, they are not two, but one in Christ. For He is our Peace, who has made both one; that there may be one Bride, and one Bridegroom, Jesus Christ our Lord, who is above all, God blessed

AN ACUTE AND PROFOUND ARGUMENT RESPECTING THE IMAGE OR WORD OF GOD, AND THE SOUL, WHICH IS CREATED IN THAT IMAGE: AND CONCERNING THE ERROR OF GILBERT, BISHOP OF POICTIERS.1

SOME of you, as I have learned, find a reason for discontent, because, while I have for some days past taken pleasure in occupying you with the profound and wonderful mysteries contained in the words of the Bride, the discourses which I have delivered to you have been too little seasoned with moral reflections, or even altogether without them. That is indeed different from my usual custom. But permit me to return again to those subjects which I have already expounded. For I cannot proceed without taking a brief retrospect of these. Tell me, then, if you remember, from what part of the Scripture it was that I began to deprive you of this satisfaction that you desire, that so I may commence afresh from that point. It is my task to repair your loss, or, rather, I trust to the Lord, in dependence upon whom I do all things, that He will do so. From what point, then, shall I begin again? From this verse, if I do not mistake: On my bed I sought Htm whom my soul loveth. From that verse and henceforward my one endeavour was to disperse the dense cloud of mystery in which these allegories were enveloped, and to bring forth into the light of knowledge the sacred and mysterious joys of Christ and His Church. But now let us go back and seek out the moral senses of these words. That which may be for your benefit cannot be disagreeable to me. And this will be done with considerable fitness, if we apply what has been said of Christ and the Church in a similar way to the Word of God and the soul.

2. But someone will say to me: 'Why do you join these two together? What relation is there between the Word and the soul?' Much in every way. In the first place, there is so close an affinity between the nature of the One and that of the other, that the One is the Image and Likeness of God, the other made after that image. In the second place, the resemblance that is between them is a witness of that affinity. For the soul has been created, not only after the image, but in the likeness of it. Do you ask, In what respects is it like? Listen first, and hear in what respects it is in the Image of the Word. The Word is truth, and wisdom, and righteousness, and these constitute the image. Of what is it the image? Of [Him who is] Truth, and Wisdom, and Righteousness. He who is the Image is, then, Righteousness of Righteousness, Wisdom of Wisdom, Truth of Truth, yea, Light of Light, and in a word, God of God None of these can be predicated of the soul, because it is not [at the present] the Image of God. But it is capable of these excellences, and desirous of them, and, therefore, perhaps is shown to be in the image of the Word. It is of creatures the loftiest, since it is capable of that greatness, and the desire it feels for that is a mark of its uprightness. For we read that God made man upright (Eccles. vii. 29); and as for his greatness, his capacity, as has been said, is a conclusive proof of it. For it is of necessity that he who is in a certain image should be in conformity with that image, and not merely share in the empty name of the image; inasmuch as the archetypal Being Himself bears not His Name simply for the name's sake, but because it is expressive of His attributes. But you are told of Him who is the Image of that archetypal Being, that He was in the Form of God, and thought it not robbery to be equal with God (Phil. ii. 6). You see that His uprightness is shown by His being in the Form of God, and His greatness by His equality with Him; so