Sermons on the Song of Songs

But there is one resource : that if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged (1 Cor. xi. 31). Good for me is that judgment, which withdraws me and hides me from the Divine judgment, which is so terribly severe. I fear and tremble to think of falling into the hands of the living God ; I would be brought before the countenance of His anger already judged, and not for judgment. He who is spiritual judge th all things, yet he himself is judged of no man (1 Cor. ii. 15). I will judge, then, the evil which is in me, and I will judge also the good. 1 will take care to correct the evil by better actions, to wash it away by tears, to punish it by fasts and other actions of holy discipline.

I will think humbly of any good qualities I have, and, according to the precept of the Lord, will count myself an unprofitable servant, who has done only that which it was his duty to do (Luke xvii. 10). I will make it my endeavour not to offer Him tares for grain, nor yet chaff mingled with the grain. I will examine closely my ways and my purposes, so that He who will search Jerusalem with lanterns may find nothing in me unexamined or unsifted. For He will not judge the same thing twice over. 4. Who will give me grace to find out and search clearly all my defaults to their very lowest grounds, so that I may have no need to fear those keen eyes (caprece), nor to blush when the light of those lanterns is thrown upon me ? Now I am seen, but I do not see.

The eye of Him to whom all things are open and manifest is present, though He Himself is not visible. There will be a time when I shall know, even as also I am known ; but now I know only in part, though Digitized by Google 335 it is not in part, but wholly and entirely that I am known. I fear the sight of that Divine Observer who stands, as it were, behind a wall. For this is what the Scripture adds respecting Him whom, for the keenness of His sight, it has compared to a hart : Behold, He standeth behind our wall, He looketh forth at the windows, skewing Himself through the lattice (ii. 9). But we will explain that in its place. Him I fear, the hidden Observer of hidden things. But the Bride fears nothing, because she is conscious of no wrong. What has she, in fact, to fear, who is His beloved one, His dove, His undefiled ? (vi. 9). Also you read farther on : My Beloved spake unto me. He speaks, and that is why I fear to behold him, because I have not His testimony that I am His. But thou, O Bride, what is it that thou hearest Him say of thee? What to thee dost thy Beloved say?

Rise up, He says. My love, My fair one, and come away. But this we must defer to the beginning of another sermon, so as not to limit too much that which requires to be treated at length, lest perhaps I be found faulty in this matter, if you do not find that you are edified and built up in the knowledge and love of Him who is the Bridegroom of the Church, Jesus Christ our Lord, who is above all, God blessed for ever. Amen. that sins and vices are as walls interposing between god * Behold, He stattdeth behind our wall, He looketh forth at the windavs, shewing Himself through the lattice* — Cant. ii. 9.

CCORDING to the letter the Bride seems to say that He whom she descried from afar, approaching with leaps and bounds, has now drawn near to her dwelling, and stands behind the wall gazing earnestly through the windows and other openings, and modestly not presuming to enter. But, according to the Spirit, it is to be understood that He has indeed drawn near, but after another manner worthy to be adopted by that Heavenly Bridegroom, and to be described by the Holy Spirit. For the true and spiritual understanding will admit nothing which is not becoming to Him who is described as acting, or to Him who records what is done. The Bridegroom, then, has drawn near to the wall, because He has united Himself to human flesh. The wall is human nature, and the drawing near of the Bridegroom is the Incarnation of the Word. The windows and the lattices by which He is said to look out are as, I think, the senses of the flesh, and the human affections and feelings by which Christ gained an experimental knowledge of human necessities. For He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows (Is. liii. 4).

Digitized by Goo 336 He has, then, made use of the human feelings and bodily senses as windows and openings, so to speak, by which, being a man, He might know by personal experience the miseries of men, and so become compassionate. He no doubt knew them also before, but after another manner. Being the Lord of virtues, He well knew the virtue of obedience ; and yet, according to the statement of the Apostle, He learned obedience by the things which He suffered (Heb. v. 8). In this manner also He learned mercy, though the mercy of God is from all eternity. The Doctor of the Gentiles also teaches the same thing, when he asserts that the Saviour was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin, that He might be merciful (Heb. iv. 15). Do you see, then, how that was done which was already the fact, and how He learned that which He already knew ; how He sought out for Himself, as it were, windows and openings in our nature by which He might become more intimately acquainted with our troubles and miseries ? He has found as many gaps in the walls of our nature, ruinous and full of fissures as they are, as He has had experiences in His own person

[during His sojourn upon earth] of our infirmity and our corruption. 2. This, then, is how the Bridegroom, standing behind the wall, looks through the lattices and windows. Well is He represented as standing, since He alone who, being in the flesh, yielded in nothing to the sins of the flesh, can be said truly to have stood. We may also understand with confidence that, though He took upon Him the weakness of flesh, He stood firm in the power of His Divinity ; and we know that He Himself once said [of others] : The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak (Matt. xxvi. 41). I think, also, that this interpretation is supported by what holy David, who was a prophet of the Lord, said of this mystery, speaking prophetically and of the Lord, though the subject he mentioned was Moses. For He is the true Moses, who came indeed by water ; and not by water only, but by water and blood. For this is what that Psalmist says : He said that He would destroy them (he refers to God the Father) : had not Moses His chosen stood before Him in the breach, to turn aivay His wrath, lest He should destroy them (Ps. cvi. 23). But in what manner, let me ask, did

Moses stand in the breach ? and, similarly, how could he stand, if he were broken down? or, in the other alternative, how could he be broken down if he stood P1 But I will show you, if you will, who it was that truly stood in the breach. I know of no one who was able to do this except Jesus our Lord, who assuredly lived in death, who, though in Body broken (fractus) and shattered ; who in His Divinity stood erect with the Father, in the one supplicating, as being one with us ; in the other, propitiating, as being one with the Father.

He stood, then, behind the wall, since that in Him which was in [the likeness of] fallible flesh (jacebat) was manifested in the flesh, and that in Him which stood [and was not fallible], was hidden, as it ground of the argument not evident. — Ed. Digitized by Google 337 were, behind the flesh, so that one and the same Person was to the outward eye a Man, and though His Divinity was concealed, was the Almighty God. 3. To each of us, also, who desire His Coming, He is, as I believe, still standing ' behind the wall,' as long as our body, which is assuredly a body of sin, hides His Face from us, and hinders our perception of His Presence, for a while. And this was the experience of the Apostle : Whilst we are at home in the body, we are absetit from the Lord (2 Cor. v. 6). Not because we are in a body simply, but in this body — namely, a body which is from sin, and is not without sin. And that you may know that it is not our bodies, but our sins, which are the obstacle between God and ourselves, hear the Scripture : Your iniquities have separated between you and your God (Is. lix. 2).

And would to God that this one wall of the body were the only obstacle ; would that the sin which is in the flesh were the single barrier, and that many other walls and enclosures made by my vices did not also rise to shut me off from the Source of goodness. For I greatly fear lest, beside that obstacle which exists in my nature, I have added many others by my own iniquity, which have separated me only too far from the Bridegroom, so that, to speak the truth, I must confess that to me He stands behind many walls, and not behind one only. 4. But this I wish to state more plainly. The Bridegroom is indeed equally and indifferently present everywhere by the Omnipresence of His Divine Majesty, and by the Greatness of His Power.

Nevertheless He is said to be, by the showing forth or communication of His Grace, nearer to some among His reasonable creatures — that is to say, of Angels and men, and farther off from others. For Salvation is far from the wicked (Ps. cxix. 155). And yet holy David says : Why standest Thou afar off, O Lord? (Ps. x. 1 ). But with the Saints, though He sometimes makes Himself to be, in a sense, at a distance from them, it is only partially and for a time, and even then it is by the dispensation of His goodness. But from sinners, from those of whom it is said in a Psalm : The tumult of those that rise up against Thee increaseth continually (Ps. lxxiv. 23) ; and, again : Their ways are always grievous (Ps. x. 5), from them He is always far removed, and that in anger, not in mercy. Wherefore the Psalmist prays to God : Hide not Thy Face far from me ; put not Thy servant away in anger (Ps. xxvii. 9) ; knowing that the Lord was able to turn away also in mercy. Therefore the Lord is near to His saints and His -elect, even when He seems to be far from them ; nor does He draw near equally

to all, but to some more, to others less, according to the difference of their merits. For although the Lord is near to all them who call upon Him in truth, and is beside those who are of humble heart, yet perhaps He is not so near to all as to enable them to say with the Bride that He standeth behind tlu wall To her He is near indeed, for only a single wall separates them. Wherefore she desires to be dissolved, and the wall of division being thus broken through 22 Digitized by Google 338 in the midst, to be with Him, who, as she confidently believes, is behind it. 5. But as for me, because I am a sinner, I am far from desiring to be dissolved, but, on the contrary, fear and tremble, knowing that the death of the wicked is very evil (Ps. xxxiii. 22, Douay). How can that death be otherwise than very evil where the Life does not come to bring His succour ? I fear to go forth ; I tremble when at the very entrance of my wished-for harbour, as long as I have no confidence that I shall meet Jesus coming forth from it to receive and to help me. Can I in anywise go forth securely [from the body]

if the Lord do not guard my passing away ? Alas ! without His help to rescue and save me, I shall be intercepted by demons and made their sport. Nothing like this was to be feared by the soul of the Apostle Paul, between whom and the sight and embrace of the Beloved, one obstacle only interposed, namely, the law of sin, which he found in his members. This is the very concupiscence of the flesh, which he could not be altogether without, as long as he lived in the flesh. Yet it is certain that he did not wander far from the Lord, for this one wall only was interposed between them, wherefore he earnestly desired its removal, crying, Who shall deliver me from the body of this death f (Rom. vii. 24) knowing that by the short way of death he should come at once to life. By this one law, then, only, namely, that of concupiscence, St Paul confesses himself to be bound ; and this he was obliged to endure, however unwillingly, because it was rooted in his flesh; for the rest, he says, I know nothing by myself (1 Cor. iv. 4). 6. But who is like unto St. Paul ? who, that is to say, does not sometimes consent unto concupiscence, and obey

it, even unto sin ?

Let hini who has given the consent of his will to any sin know that in this unlawful and evil consent he has raised up another wall between God and himself. And a person in that condition cannot indulge in the happy thought that for him the Bridegroom standeth but behind the wall; since, not one wall only, but several, intervene between them. Much less can he think this, if the consent of his will has passed into sinful action ; for thus a third wall is raised against the approach of the Bridegroom, and that wall is the act of sin. What if repetition should even convert the sin into a habit, and the habit should root itself in defiance and contempt of the law ? as it is written : The wicked man, when he is come into the depth of sins, contemneth (Prov. xviii. 3, Douay). Is it not true, that if you shall come into that state, you will be devoured a thousand times by the roaring lions which await their prey, and not be able to attain unto the Bridegroom from whom you are cut off by so great a number of walls ? Of these the first is concupiscence ; the second, consent of the will ; the third, the actual fact ; the

fourth, the habit of sin ; the fifth, hardened indifference and contempt Be careful, then, to resist with all your might the first approach of concupiscence, so that it may not draw you into an inward consent, and then the whole fabric of evil will Digitized by Google 339 disappear ; nor is there anything to hinder the drawing near to you of the Lord, who is the Bridegroom, except only the barrier formed by your body, and you will be able to glory with the Bride, and to say of Him : Behold, He standeth behind our wall. 7. But this one thing you must look to also with all vigilance, that He may always rind open the windows, so to speak, and lattices of your nature — that is, your confessions of sins, so that by these He may look upon the secrets of your heart in His mercy and goodness, for the gaze of God is the advancement of your soul. For lattices {cancellos) are explained to be very narrow windows, such as those who are engaged in the writing of books are accustomed to make, so as to let the light fall upon the pages. For this reason it is, I suppose, that those whose charge it is to draw up official documents are called Chancellors,1

Since, then, there are two kinds of compunction, the one from sorrow for our faults, the other from joy for the Divine mercies bestowed upon us, it seems to me that as often as I feel the one, which cannot be without anguish of heart — that is to say, as often as I make confession of my sins, I throw open the lattice, that is, the narrower window of my heart. Nor is there any doubt that He, who is a kind and merciful Searcher of hearts, He who stands behind our wall, will look benignantly through that lattice; for a humble and contrite heart God will not despise (Ps. li. 17). And this He Himself bids us to do, saying by the Prophet : Declare thou [thy transgressions] that thou mayest be justified (Is. xliii. 25, 26).

But if my heart is sometimes expanded with love and gratitude at the consideration of the condescension and goodness of God, and I desire to pour forth my feelings in the voice of praise and of giving of thanks, then I open, as I think, no longer a narrow aperture, but a broad and ample window to the Bridegroom, who ' standeth behind our wall/ through which, I believe, He gazes with so much the more willingness and satisfaction, as He regards the sacrifice of praise as more to His honour. I have at hand passages out of the Scriptures, showing that He approves both one and the other kind of confession ; but I speak to those who are well instructed in those subjects, and you are not to be burdened with things unnecessary, since you have scarcely time for the investigation of those which are strictly needful. For very great indeed are the mysteries of this marriage song, and the proclamations of praise which are made in it to the honour of the Church, and of Him who is her Bridegroom, Jesus Christ our Lord, who is above all, God blessed for ever. Amen. scribes or notaries were so named because they usually sat behind cancelli, or latticed barriers. —Ed. Digitized by 34°

THAT THE VISITATIONS OF THE LORD ARE TO BE CAREFULLY AND EE the onward steps of grace, and mark the degrees of the Divine condescension. Notice the devotion and promptness of the Bride, with what a vigilant eye she observes the coming of her Spouse, and then notes very diligently even His smallest actions. He comes, He hastens, He draws near, He is present, He looks at, and then addresses, her; and none of all these actions escapes the notice, or wearies the attention, of the Bride. He comes in the Angels, He hastens in the Patriarchs, He draws near in the Prophets, He is present in the Flesh, He has regard to the Church in miracles, and addresses her in the Apostles. Or we may explain it thus: He comes by the pity which He feels and the desire that He has to show mercy, He hastens by His zeal to bring help, He draws near to us by humbling Himself, He is present to each generation as it is present upon the earth, He has regard to those which are to come, He speaks of the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God (Acts i. 3), teaching and persuading. Of such a nature, then, is the Coming of the Bridegroom. The blessings and the riches of salvation accompany Him ; all things which are from Him are full of delights, and abound assuredly in joyful and salutary mysteries (sacramentis). She who loves Him watches and observes all these things. And blessed is that servant whom the Lord shall find watching.

He shall not pass her by, He shall not pass away from her, He shall stay by her, and shall speak to her loving words, since He is, in truth, Her Beloved. And thus it is that you read here : My Beloved spake, and said to me. Well is He called her Beloved, who comes to speak to her, not words of blame, but of comfort and love. 2. For here the question is not of those who are deservedly blamed by the Lord ; who know not how to discern the face of the sky, nor know at all the time of His Coming (Matt. xvi. 3). For [the Bride] is so prudent and so full of foresight that she sees Him coming from afar, leaping, as it were, in His haste, and, passing over the proud to draw near to her in her humility, humbling Himself so to do. This she has observed with vigilant care ; and when at length He was at hand, yet concealed Himself, as it were, behind the wall, she, nevertheless, did not fail to recognise His Presence, and to discern that He looked in through the windows and lattices. Now, as a reward for her great devotion and religious care, she hears Him speaking ; for if He had looked upon her and not spoken, she would have ' My beloved spake, and said to me.1— Cant ii. 10.

Digitized by Google VISITATIONS OF THE LORD TO BE REVERENTLY OBSERVED 34 1 suspected that the look was one of indignation rather than of love.

It was thus that He looked upon Peter without speaking a word to him, and that was perhaps the reason why Peter went out and wept bitterly (Luke xxii. 61, 62), because the Lord had looked upon him in silence. But the Bride, who has deserved not only to behold Him but to hear His voice, is so far from weeping that she rejoices, and cries out in her joy : My Beloved spake, and said to me. You see that the look of the Lord, though in itself it remains always the same, is not always of the same effect, but varies according to the deservings of those upon whom He looks, so that, while it strikes some with fear, it imparts unto others consolation and security. On the one hand, He looks upon the earth, and it shaketh (Ps. lxxvii. 16-18); on the other, He looks upon Mary, and it is to pour grace upon her. He hath regarded, she says, the low estate of His handmaiden : for behold, from henceforth, all generations shall call me blessed (Luke i. 48). These are not the words of one who weeps or trembles, but of one who rejoices. Similarly He is described here as looking upon the Bride, and she trembles not nor weeps like Peter, because she was not attached to things earthly, as at that time he was ; but He filled her heart with joy, testifying by His words the affection with which He regarded her. 3. Listen to the words which He addresses to her — words, not of anger, but of affection : Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away.

Happy is the soul that may deserve to hear such words as these ! Is there anyone among us, do you think, who is so wakeful and observant of the time of his visitation, who watches so diligently for the coming of the Bridegroom, as, when He shall come and shall knock, to open the door of the heart unto Him at once? For those words do not so apply unto the whole Church, as that we, who together make up the Church, should not have our individual share in these blessings. All of us are, in fact, called, whether severally or together, to this very end, that we should possess blessings as an heritage. Wherefore also the Psalmist dared to say unto the Lord : Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever, for they are the rejoicing of my heart (Ps. cxix. n 1). He speaks, I think, of that heritage on account of which he claimed to be the son of his Father which is in Heaven. And if a son, then an heir — heir of God, and joint-heir with Christ. And in that heritage he glories that he has acquired a thing of great price — the testimonies of the Lord. Would to God that I might be found worthy to possess for myself one testimony only of the Lord ! Though he exults not in one only, but in many, and says again : / have rejoiced in the way of Thy testimonies as much as in all riches (Ps. cxix. 14). And, in truth, what is it that forms the riches of salvation, the delight of the heart, the true and safe security of the soul, except the testimonies which it has from the Lord ? For not he that commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth (2 Cor. x. 18). 4. Why, then, do we hitherto defraud ourselves of these Divine Digitized by Google 342 testimonies or commendations, and deprive ourselves of this our paternal heritage ? As if the Father had not at all begotten us of His own will with the Word of Truth (James i. 18), so we in no respect keep in remembrance the assurance that has been rendered to us of this, nor His testimonies concerning us. Where is that of which the Apostle says : The Spirit Itself beareth witness with our spirit that we arc the children of God (Rom. viii. 16). How are we children if we are without the heritage of children? Our poverty itself clearly convicts us of negligence and carelessness of our privileges.

For if any of us brings a heart pure and perfect, according to the word of the Wise Man, to seek at daybreak the Lord who created him, and will pray before the Most High (Ecclus. xxxix. 5), and studies in all his petitions to prepare the ways of the Lord— according to the word of the prophet Isaiah (xl. 3), to make straight a highway for our God ; in whose power it is to say with the Psalmist : Mine eyes are ever toivard the Lord (Ps. xxv. 15), and for this reason, that J have set the Lord always before me (Ps. xvi. 8), will not he receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation f (Ps. xxiv. 5).

He shall, without doubt, be frequently visited, nor shall he ever be ignorant of the time of his visitation, however secretly and noiselessly his spiritual visitor, in His modest reserve, may come. The soul, then, that is watchful and disengaged from other cares shall see Him coming from afar, and shall discern in due course all the incidents which, as we have said, the Bride has remarked with as much precision as skill in the coming of the Bridegroom, for He says : Those that seek Me early shall find Me (Prov. viii. 17). She will recognise the earnestness and rapid approach of her Bridegroom : she will know at once when He is drawing near, or when He is actually present ; when He looks upon her she will perceive with a happy eye that Divine gaze, as it were a ray of sunlight penetrating through the windows and the openings of her wall ; and at length will hear His accents of joy and of affection, calling her His beloved, His dove, His fair one. 5. Who is wise and will understand these things, so as to be able to distinguish them, to define them each in its turn, and to explain them worthily to make others understand them also ? If you hope for that from me,

I, for my part, would rather listen to someone who has experience, who is fully conversant with, and accustomed to, such subjects. But since such men as this frequently prefer to hide in a modest silence what they have in silence learned, and judge it the safer course to keep to themselves their secret lore, I, the duty of whose charge obliges me to speak, and to whom it is not permitted to be silent, will declare what I know of these matters, either from my own experience or that of others, keeping to truths which most people may easily verify for themselves, and leaving higher and deeper ones for such as are able to apprehend them. If, then, I have been warned, either from without by a man, or inwardly by the Spirit, to have regard to righteousness, and to observe equity, 1 must consider Digitized by Google VISITATIONS OF THE LORD TO BE REVERENTLY OBSERVED 343 that salutary counsel as a token of the speedy coming of the Bridegroom, and a kind of preparation for the worthy receiving of that heavenly Guest This is what I am taught by the Psalmist when he says that Righteousness shall go before Him (Ps. lxxxv. 14); and again, when addressing God : Justice and judgment are t)u preparation of Thy throne

(Ps. lxxxviii. 1 5, Douay). Nor will the same hope fail if the counsel that I hear be of humility, or of patience, or, again, of brotherly charity and obedience to those set over me, and especially if it be of following holiness and peace, and of seeking pureness of heart, because a Scripture saith : Holiness becometh the House of the Lord (Ps. xciii. 5) ; and again : His place is in peace (Ps. lxxv. 3, Douay) ; and : The pure in heart shall see God (Matt. v. 8). Therefore whatsoever shall be suggested to my mind of these or of other virtues shall be to me, as I have said, for an intimation that the Lord of virtues is about to visit my soul. 6. But if a righteous man shall reprove me in loving-kindness, and correct me, I shall draw the same inference, knowing that the zeal of the righteous, and his goodwill, make a way for Him who ascendeth upon the west (Ps. Ixvii. 5, Douay). Happy is that fall,1 since a man rises again, and stands by the correction of one who is righteous ; since it is his sin that falls, and the Lord ascends upon it, treading it under His feet, and crushing it so that it rises not again. The

reproof of the righteous is therefore not to be scorned ; it is the destruction of sin, health to the heart, and, as it were, the path of God towards the soul. Speaking generally, it is not safe to listen negligently to any discourse which tends to edification in piety, in virtues, in a good and holy character, since it is the way by which is shown the salvation of God (Ps. 1. 23). If a discourse which we hear be sweet and agreeable to us, if we listen to it without distaste and even with ardour, then we ought to believe, not only that the Bridegroom is coming to us, but that He is hastening— that is, is coming with eager wish [to be received in our soul]. For His wish produces yours, and that you hasten to receive His discourse comes from His eager haste to enter into your soul; for we did not first love Him, but, as St. John declares: He first loved us (t John iv. 10). If, then, you feel that His word is, as it were, a burning flame, and that your conscience is so touched by it as to burn within you at the remembrance of your sin, remember what the Scripture saith — that a fire goeth before Him (Ps. xcvii.

3) ; and do not doubt that He is near you. And, indeed, we know from another Psalm that the Lord is nigh unto them that are of a broken heart (Ps. xxxiv. 18). 7. But if you are not only touched with penitence by His Word, but also wholly converted to the Lord, so that you resolve and vow to keep the statutes of His righteousness, know, then, that He is Himself present, and especially if you feel yourself glowing with the love of Him. You meet in Scripture with each of these statements confall, or error. — Ed.

Digitized by 344 cerning Him — namely, that fire goeth before Him, and that He Himself is a fire. For Moses says of Him expressly that He is a consuming fire (Deut. iv. 24). But there is a difference between these two : for that fire which precedes the Lord has ardour, but not love ; it burns, but it does not dissolve ; it moves that which it touches, but does not carry it wholly away. It is sent before Him by God only to arouse and prepare you, and also to make you aware of what you are in yourself, so that you may taste with the greater pleasure what you shall be hereafter by the grace of God. But that Fire which is God Himself consumes indeed, but causes no pain ; it burns that which it takes possession of, but with a sweetness wonderful and indescribable; it destroys, and in destroying confers the supreme felicity. For it is truly a consuming fire ; but though as a fire it burns up vices, yet in the soul it acts as a healing unction. Recognise, then, the presence of the Lord in the virtue which changes your heart, and in the love which fires it. For the Right Hand of the Lord worketh virtue (Ps. cxviii. 16). But

this change worked by the Right Hand of the Most High takes place only in fervour of spirit, and in charity unfeigned, so that he who experiences it may say : My heart was hot within me, and ivhile I was thus musing the fire burned (Ps. xxxix. 3). 8. When, then, by this fire has been consumed every taint of sin and all the stains of past vices, when the conscience is purified and calmed,1 there follows a sudden and unusual extension of the mind, an infusion of light which illuminates the intellect either to the knowledge of the Scriptures, or to the comprehension of mysteries ; whereof the one is bestowed, I think, for our own satisfaction, the other for the edification of our neighbour ; that is, doubtless, the effect of the Divine Eye looking upon us, bringing forth thy righteousness as the lights and thy judgment as the noonday (Ps. xxxvii. 6), according to that prophecy of Isaiah : Then shall thy light break forth as the morning (Is. lviii. 8). But, in truth, that ray of brightness so great shall penetrate not as through open doors, but through small and narrow apertures, at least, as long as that ruinous and tottering wall, that is, thy body, shall endure. You mistake if you think that it

shall be otherwise, to whatever degree of purity of heart you may attain, since he who had meditated so deeply upon heavenly things says : Now we see through a glass , darkly : but then face to face (1 Cor. xi. 12). 9. After this Divine look, so full of condescension and goodness, comes a Voice, gently and sweetly presenting to the mind the Will of God ; and this is no other than Love itself, nor can it be without effect in soliciting and persuading to the fulfilment of those things which God requires. Thus the Bride hears that she is to arise and hasten, no doubt to work for the good of souls. This is indeed a property of true and pure contemplation that it sometimes fills the mind, which is warmed with Divine fire, with a fervent zeal and desire to gain for God those who are of a like mind in loving Him, and to that end it very willingly lays aside the calm and rest of Digitized by Google VISITATIONS OF THE LORD TO BE REVERENTLY OBSERVED 345 meditation for the labour of preaching; and again, when it has attained the object desired, to a certain extent, returns with increased eagerness to that contemplation, which it remembers that it laid aside for the purpose

of gaining more fruit. Then, when it has tasted again the delights of contemplation, it recurs with increased power, and with its accustomed willingness, to its labours for the good of souls. But the soul frequently hesitates between these continual changes, being profoundly anxious and fearful, lest when drawn to one or the other of these alternatives by the attractions and advantages which it discerns in each it should deviate ever so little from the Divine will. It was perhaps something of this kind that holy Job suffered, when he said : When J lie down, I say> when shall I arise ? and again, I shall look for the evening (Job vii. 4, Douay) ; that is to say, when I am in repose I accuse myself of having neglected some work; and when busied in work, of having disturbed my repose.

You see that even a holy man feels grave uncertainty between the claims of fruitful labour and of restful contemplation ; and although he is always occupied about good things, yet he always feels a sense of regret as if he had been doing that which is wrong, and from one moment to another intreats with tears and sighing to be shown the Will of God. In these uncertainties, the one and only remedy is prayer and frequent upliftings of the soul to God, that He would deign to make continually known to us what we ought to do, and when, how, and in what manner we should do it. You have, as I think, these three things pointed out and commended in these three words of the Bridegroom — namely, preaching, prayer, and contemplation.

For the Bride is fitly called My love, since she faithfully studies [to bring about] those objects which are dear to Him, by preaching, by advising, by ministering. Fitly also My dove, since she sighs and plains continually in prayer, entreating the Divine mercy without ceasing for her sins. And fitly, again, My fair one, since she is all bright and shining with heavenly desires, and devotes herself to celestial contemplation at all times that it is proper and opportune to do so ; thus she enfolds herself more and more in their glory and beauty. 10. Let us see, however, if these three words describing that threefold blessing, which may be attained by one and the same soul, can be set in relation with those three persons spoken of in the Gospel, who dwelt in the same house, who were friends, and indeed very intimate friends of the Saviour. I refer to Martha, Mary, and Lazarus. For Martha served, Mary remained quiescent in contemplation, and Lazarus groaned, as it were, under the weight of death and of the stone that shut close his grave, and earnestly begged for the grace of the Resurrection (Luke x. 38-42, and John xi.).

These things have been said on this account, because the Bride is described as being so watchful and so skilful in observing the paths of the Bridegroom that it cannot be concealed from her at what time, and with what degree of haste He will come to her. Whether He be Digitized by 346 afar off, or be drawing near, or be present, by no degree of suddenness can she be taken by surprise ; and on that account she has merited, not only to be looked upon with favour, but that her Spouse should deign to make her glad with accents of love, and to give her great joy because of His Voice. ii. I have added, somewhat boldly perhaps, to this that every soul (as, for example, among ourselves) which shall watch with the Bride, shall with her be saluted as well-beloved, consoled as dove, embraced as fair. Every man shall be counted as perfect in whose soul these three things shall be united with all fitness and propriety, so that he shall know how to repent for his own faults and failings, to rejoice in God, and at the same time to assist his neighbours with all his power ; and thus to show himself pleasing to God, circumspect with regard to himself, and useful to others.

But who is capable of uniting these three? Would that even after long years they might be found united among us ; I do not say all together in each of us, but at least each of them in some of us ! We have indeed among us a Martha, the friend, so to speak, of the Saviour, in those who faithfully administer our external affairs. We have a Lazarus (as it were), a mourning and plaining dove, in our novices, who, lately dead in trespasses and sins, labour and mourn under wounds yet recent, and from fear of the Divine judgment, and as those who, wounded unto the death, sleep in the tomb, and are out of the remembrance of all, as they themselves no longer believe that they are borne in mind, until at the bidding of Christ the fear which pressed them down as a heavy stone upon the mouth of a tomb is rolled away, and they are able to breathe in the hope of pardon. We have also a contemplative Mary in those who, in the course of a longer time, and by the co-operation of grace, have been able to attain unto a better and happier state, to presume already that the Divine pardon will be extended to them, and instead of anxiously reflecting

upon their offences, to meditate day and night with delight upon the law of God, and never to grow weary of it.

Sometimes, even, as they contemplate with ineffable joy the glory of the Lord the Bridegroom, they are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord (2 Cor. iii. 18). Now, to what purpose He bids the Bride to rise and come away, while but a little before He had forbidden that she should be aroused from her sleep, we must examine in another sermon. May He be present with us in the inquiry, and deign to reveal to us the reason of that mystery ; He, I mean, who is the Bridegroom of the Church, Jesus Christ our Lord, who is above all, God blessed for ever. Amen. Digitized by Google 347

HOW THE BRIDEGROOM BIDS THE BRIDE, THAT IS TO SAY, THOSE * Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away,' — Cant. ii. 10.

T T 7HO says this? Without doubt it is the Bridegroom. But X/V' is it not He who, a little time before, so strongly forbade * * that His beloved should be aroused? How, then, is it that now He bids her not only rise up, but 1 come away ?' Something like this comes into my mind from the Gospel. In the night on which Our Lord was betrayed, after having bidden His disciples who were with Him, and who were fatigued with long watchings, at length to sleep and take their rest, in the very same hour1 He said to them, Rise, let us be going; behold, he is at hand that dofh betray Me (Matt. xxvi. 46). Now, also, He similarly, almost at the same moment, forbids the Bride to be aroused, and arouses her. Rise up, He says, and come away. What, then, is the object of so sudden a change of will, or of plan ? Must we suppose that the Bridegroom acted with levity, and desired something at first, which immediately afterwards He desired not ? By no means. But recognise in this what I have said to you more than once, if you remember, about the two alternatives of sacred repose and of necessary action, and that there is not in this life space for lengthened contemplation, or prolonged repose, because the duties of office and the usefulness of work press upon us more urgently, and are more immediately necessary. The Bridegroom, therefore, as is His wont, when His beloved has been for a while reposing in sacred communion with Him, does not delay to summon her to duties which seem to be more needful. Not as if this were against her will, for what He forbade to be done by others (ii. 7) He would not Himself do; but for the Bride to know a wish of her Bridegroom is for her at once to feel the desire to be enabled to fulfil it (i. 4), the desire for good works, the desire to bear fruit to the honour and glory of Him ; since for her to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 2. And that desire is vehement ; it bids her not only rise, but rise in all haste, for we read : Rise up, and come aivay. Nor is it a small comfort and strength to her that she hears: Come, and not 'Go.' because she understands by this that she is not so much sent, as led, most MSS., and in the earliest editions. And, indeed, the text is smoother and more compact without them.

Digitized by 348 and that the Bridegroom will be with her. What task can she think difficult with such a companion ? Set me beside Thee, she says, and let any maris hand fight against me (Job xvii. 3, Douay). And again : Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me (Ps. xxiii. 4). She is not, then, aroused against her will, since her Lord bestows upon her previously the will to be aroused ; nor is this anything else than an ardent desire to grow and increase in all that is good. She is also animated and rendered more prompt to do that which is enjoined upon her, by the opportunity of the time. * It is now the time to act, O My Bride,' the Bridegroom seems to say, * for lo, the winter is past, during which no one was able to work. The rain, too, is over and gone ; the rain, which covered the earth with its floods, hindered the culture of the soil, and either destroyed the corn sown, or prevented the harvests being reaped; the rain, I say, has departed, it is over and gone ; the fioicers appear on the earth,' and this is a sign that the season of spring has come, that toil out of doors is safe and convenient, and that fruits and harvests are near. Then He adds, where this toil should begin, and to what end it should be directed : The time of pruning is come (ii. 12, Douay). She is then led to the cultivation of the vines, and in order that these may respond to the hope of the vine-dressers by an increased abundance of fruit, it is before all things necessary that the barren boughs should be cut out, the hurtful ones lopped, and those which are unnecessary pruned. This, then, is the literal sense. 3. Let us now see what is the spiritual meaning hidden, as it were, under this narrative of an historical kind. I have already said to you, and you took note of it, so that you do not need to hear it again, that vines signify souls, or Churches ; and I gave also at the same time the reason for this. The more perfect soul is then invited to examine these, to correct them, and to instruct them, to the end that they may be saved ; yet this ministry is allotted to it, not undertaken as a matter of ambition, but because called to it by God, as was Aaron.

Furthermore, what is this invitation but a certain inward movement of charity, leading us piously to care for the salvation of our brethren, for the beauty of the house of the Lord, for its increase in spiritual gains and in the fruits of righteousness, arid for the praise and glory of His Name ? As often, then, as one whose duty calls upon him to take the direction of souls, or to instruct them by the delivery of sermons, feels his inner man thus touched with religious sentiments towards God, so often he may understand certainly that the Bridegroom is present with him, and is inviting him to the care and culture of His vines. But to what end ? That he may root up and destroy, that he may plant and edify. 4. But since for this task, as for every task under heaven, not every time, or every kind of weather, is fit and suitable, so He who gives the invitation adds also ' the time of pruning is come.' He knew well that this time was come who said : Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation ; giving no offence in any iking, Digitized by Google 349 that the ministry be not blamed (2 Cor. vi. 2). His warning, without

doubt, was to prune, and even to cut off, everything faulty and superfluous and that was able to give even the least offence, and to hinder the fruit of salvation, because he knew that the time of pruning had come. That was why he said to the faithful cultivator of these vines, Reprove, rebuke, exhort (2 Tim. iv. 2), indicating by the first and second of these words the practice of pruning or even cutting off, and by the third that of planting. And this, indeed, is said by the Bridegroom through the mouth of St. Paul, as to the time of working. But listen to what He has Himself said as to the proper discrimination of times and seasons, to those souls which were, so to speak, new Brides, though this was spoken under another metaphor : Say not ye, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest ? behold, I say unto you, Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields ; for they are white already to harvest (John iv. 35) ; and again : The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that He will send forth labourers into His harvest (Matt. ix. 37). Just as then He pointed out that it was time

to reap the harvest of souls, so here He declares that it is the time to prune and to cultivate these spiritual vines, that is, souls or Churches, wishing, perhaps, by the difference of the names of which He makes use that we should understand by harvests, peoples, and by vines, societies of saints dwelling together. 5. Now, the time of winter, which He says has passed, seems to me to signify that period during which the Lord Jesus did not walk openly, because the Jews conspired against Him, and sought to kill Him.

Wherefore He said to certain of them, My time has not yet come ; but your time is always ready ; and again : I go not up yet unto this feast ; for My time is not yet full come (John vii. 6-8). Yet He afterwards went up, though not openly, but, as it were, in secret. The winter, then, endured from that time until the coming of the Holy Spirit, who aroused into warmth the torpid hearts of the faithful, and was, as it were, that fire which the Lord came to send upon the earth (Luke xii. 49) for this very end. Would you deny that it was then winter when Peter sat beside the fire of coals, being ice-cold in heart as well as in body ? The Scripture says expressly, // was cold (John xviii. 1 8).

Great, in truth, was the cold which lay at the heart of him who denied his Master, cramping its throbs with deadly grasp. Nor was this strange, since the fire hacl been taken away from it. A little time before he was aflame with fervent zeal, being then beside Him who is the Fire, so that, in order not to lose Him, he drew his sword and cut off a servant's ear. But that was not the time for pruning, and therefore the Saviour said, Put up thy sword into the sheath (John xviii. 11).

For that was the hour and the power of darkness ; and whosoever of His disciples had then lifted up the sword, whether of steel or of the Word, would either have perished by the sword, and thus have been of service to no one, and have borne no fruit, or at least have been constrained to apostasy by the fear of the sword, and thus to perish Digitized by 35° the more surely himself, according to the word of the Lord spoken immediately afterwards : All they that take the sword shall perish with the sword (Matt. xxvi. 51). For which of the others could have stood undismayed before the terrible image of death, when their prince himself, whom the great Leader of their salvation had forearmed with His puissant Voice, and forewarned to strengthen his brethren, when even he trembled and fled ? 6. But neither he nor they had as yet been filled with power from on high ; and for this reason it was not safe for them to go forth among the vines, to make use of the spiritual hoe and pruning-knife — that is, the inspired tongue and the sword of the Spirit — to prune the boughs and cut back the young shoots so that they may bear more fruit. And, lastly, the Lord Himself was silent during His Passion, and when interrogated about many things, answered not (Matt, xxvii. 12), being made, as says the Psalmist, as a man that heareth not, and in whose mouth are no reproofs (Ps. xxxviii. 14). And indeed He said : If I tell you, ye will not believe: and if I also answer you, ye will not answer Me (Luke xxii. 67, 68), knowing that the time of pruning had not yet come, and that His vine would not respond at all to labours bestowed upon it, that is to say, would not produce the fruit either of faith or of good works. Wherefore ? Because it was winter in the hearts of the perfidious, and the winter rains of malice and evil had overspread the earth, more calculated to drown than to foster the seeds of the Word that were sown ; and these would render profitless any labour that was undertaken for the culture of the vines. 7. Of what rains, do you think, am I now speaking ? Of those which we see that are carried hither and thither by strong winds, and which the clouds at length let fall upon the earth ? By no means.

I speak of those which men of a turbulent spirit cause to rise from the earth into the air, when they open their mouth against the heaven, and with their tongue go through the world ; and thus, like sour and bitter showers, make the earth marshy and barren, useless for cultivated plants, though not, indeed, for that wild herbage, visible and exuberant, which is bestowed by God for bodily uses, and of which He takes care only for the beasts of the field. For what plants, then, does God care ? For those assuredly which His Hand, and not that of man, has sown and planted, which can germinate and take root in faith and charity, and bring forth fruits unto salvation, if they be watered by good and seasonable rains.

They are, in fact, souls for which Christ died. Unhappy are the clouds which let fall upon these rains such as I have described, which cause only mud, and do not help on fertility. For as there are good trees which bear good fruits, and evil trees which bear erfl fruits, the difference in the fruits corresponding to that in the trees which bear them, so, as I think, there may be clouds which are good, and let fall benign showers, and others which are evil, and let fall injurious ones. Perhaps it may have been to indicate this Digitized by Google difference in the character of clouds, and of the showers they let fall, that a Prophet has these words as spoken by the Lord : / will command My clouds that they rain no rain upon it (that is, upon His vineyard) (Is. v. 6). For why, do you think, does He add so significantly My clouds, unless there were also evil clouds which are not His ?

Away with Him ! away with Him ! Crucify Him I cry the Jews (John xix. 15). O clouds full of violence and storm ! O rain laden with tempests ! O torrent of iniquity, fitter to ravage the earth than to make it fat ! Not less evil nor less bitter, though it did not fall with equal violence, was that which followed : He saved others ; Himself He cannot save. If He be the King of Israel, let Him now come down from tJu Cross, and we will believe Him (Matt, xxvii. 40). Nor was the windy loquacity of the philosophers a shower of good, for it brought barrenness, rather than fertility, upon the lands. Much, more are the evil doctrines of heretics evil rains, producing thorns and thistles instead of harvests of good grain. Evil rains also were the traditions of the Pharisees, which the Saviour condemned ; and they themselves were as injurious clouds. And do not suppose that I do injustice to Moses (who must himself be regarded as a beneficent cloud) when I say that not every shower that fell from him can be called good ; for, otherwise, I should contradict Him who says : / gave them also (that is, to the Jews) statutes that were not good, and judgments (and doubtless this refers to thpse given by Moses) whereby they should not live (Ezek. xx. 25). Such was, for example, that literal observance of the Sabbath which, though the word signifies rest, did not bring them rest ; the rigid system of offering sacrifices, the prohibition to eat the flesh of swine, and of other animals, which were similarly pronounced unclean by Moses ; all these were showers, so to speak, falling from the same cloud ; but I would not that they should fall upon any field or garden of mine. They were doubtless good in their time ; but that time having passed, I do not hold them to be good now. For every shower, however soft, or however gently it falls, is injurious if it be unseasonable. 8. Thus, as long as such harmful rains had flooded and occupied the land with their weight, the time favourable for the vine had not yet come, nor did it come to pass that the Bride was invited to the task of its culture. But when they had passed away, and the dry earth appeared with its carpet of flowers, this was the sign that the season of culture had come. When was this, do you inquire?

When, indeed, except in that season which saw the Flesh of Christ taking life again, and as it were reflowing, in the Resurrection. He is the first and chiefest Flower of the human race which has ever appeared on earth. For the Christ is called the first fruits of them that slept (1 Cor. xv. 20). Jesus, I say, is the Rose of Sharon, and the Lily of the valleys (ii. 1), He who was supposed the Son of Joseph, He who was Jesus of Nazareth, which itself means a flower [or branch]. He then appeared as the first Flower of the Resurrection ; but He did not appear alone. For many bodies of the saints who Digitized by 35* slept arose with Him, and appeared upon our earth as bright and shining flowers. They went, in truth, into the Holy City, and appeared unto many (Matt, xxvii. 52, 53). Those, too, who first believed from among the people, the firstfruits of the saints, they were flowers.

Their flowers were miracles which, like flowers, produced the fruits of faith. For after that rain of unbelief had a little passed, and had at least in part rolled away and ceased, then speedily followed that shower of grace (voluntaria) which the Lord reserved to His inheritance (Ps. lxviii. 9), and flowers began to appear. The Lord gave His blessing, and our earth yielded her flowers, so that in one day three thousand of the people believed* and in another they were five thousand (Acts ii. 41, and iv. 4) ; in so short a time did the number of flowers, that is, the multitude of believers, increase. Nor was the cold and frost able to prevail against the flowers which appeared, nor could it cause to perish, as is frequently the case, the fruit of life of which they gave promise. 9. For since all those who believed were filled with power from on high, there arose among them those who, strong in the faith, contemned the threats of men. They suffered, indeed, very many opposers ; but they yielded not, nor ceased from proclaiming, to the utmost of their power, the great works of God. It is that which is spoken of in a Psalm, if it may be spiritually interpreted : They sow the fields, and plant

vineyards, which may yield fruits of increase (Ps. cvii. 37). In course of time the tempest was stilled, and, peace being restored to the earth, vines grew, and were propagated, and increased and multiplied beyond number. And then at length the Bride is invited, not, indeed, to plant the vines, but to prune and cultivate those already planted. And that was in due season, for the task required a time of peace. How could it be performed in time of persecution ? How was it possible [for the saints] to take in their hands two-edged swords, to execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people, to bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron, to execute upon them the judgment written (Ps. cxlix. 6-9) — for all this is to be included in the task of pruning the vines ; all these things are scarcely to be performed in peace even in a time of peace. So much for this subject. 10. This discourse might come to a close here if, according to my custom, I had given to each of you some words of counsel and warning with regard to the care of his own vineyard. For who has cut away, even to the quick (ad ungucm\ all things in himself which are

superfluous, so as to have nothing which requires to be farther pruned ? Believe me, those [evil tendencies] which are cut down shoot up again ; those which have been driven away return ; the fires which have been extinguished are, in a while, rekindled ; and those desires which seemed fest asleep awake again. It is of little avail, therefore, to have pruned once; we must prune frequently, nay, if it were possible, always ; because if you are honest with yourself, you will always find something within requiring to be sternly repressed. Whatever spiritual progress you Digitized by Google 353 may make while you remain in this body, you err if you suppose that sins and vices are dead in you, because they are suppressed. Whether you are willing, or unwilling, the Jebusite dwells within your borders (Judg. i. 21); he may be subjugated, but cannot be exterminated. / know, says the Apostle, that in me dwellcth no good thing. But that is little in comparison with the confession which he goes on to make — that evil dwells in him. For he adds : The good1 that I would, I do not ; but the evil which I would not, that I do. Nmv, if I do that I would not, it is no more 1 that

do it, but sin that dwelleth in me (Rom. vii. 15-17). Either, then, prefer yourself to the Apostle (for he it is who speaks thus), or confess with him that you, too, are not without indwelling sins. Now, virtue maintains the mid-place between impulses which, if yielded to in excess, become wrong; and thus it is that you have need, not only of sedulous self-denial, but also of circumcision. Otherwise, it is to be feared that our vine, being closely enfolded, or rather gnawed, by the vices which surround it on every side, should languish little by little without our perceiving it, or, if they get the upper hand, should be altogether suffocated. In face of so great a peril, I have but one counsel to give — that you watch with the greatest care, and cut away with prompt severity the first shoots of reviving vices as soon as they shall make their appearance. Virtue cannot increase at the same time with vice ; and if the one flourish, it will not suffer the other to increase. Take away things superfluous, and those which conduce to salvation will have vigorous growth. Whatever you take away from things which minister only to pleasure, you add to those which minister to the soul's benefit. Let us give to selfdenial its perfect

work, and cut off the satisfaction of our desires and lusts that virtue may be strengthened thereby. 11. It is always, then, the time of pruning with us, my brethren, because there is always need of pruning ; and I trust that with us, too, the time of winter has now passed away. Do you know of what winter I speak ? Of that fear which is not joined with charity — which leads all to the beginning of wisdom, but perfects no one in it; inasmuch as advancing love casts out fear, as the spring banishes the winter. For the love of God is the spring of the soul, and if it has come to us, or, rather, because it has come to us (as it is just that I should consider is the case with you), all the winter rain must needs be dried : that is, all the anxious weeping which the bitter remembrance of past sin, and the fearful looking for of judgment, have drawn forth. Therefore (and I assert this without hesitation of most of you, if not of all) this winter rain has passed away, it is over and gone : and the flowers which are the signs of the milder and sweeter showers of spring begin to appear. For spring, too, has its

showers, best MSS., as he says ; the others admit the word, following, of course, the Vulgate, from which St. Bernard professedly quotes. It is obvious, also, that his argument requires the words *goodJ and 'evil/ and is incomplete without them.— Ed. 23 Digitized by 354 but these are sweet and fruitful. What is there more sweet and comforting than the tears of charity? The weeping of charity is inspired by love, and not by grief ; it comes of the very depth of longing, or of the sympathy felt with those who weep. I do not doubt that with such a gracious rain as this your acts of obedience are bedewed ; and I behold with joy that, far from being disfigured by murmuring, by sullenness and reluctance, they are accompanied by a spiritual gladness which renders them enlivening and happy.

They are as flowers that you bear always in your hands. if flowers have at length appeared on our earth, and the sweetness and gentleness of grace, as a spiritual spring, indicates that the time of pruning for the vine has come, what remains but that we should set ourselves-with all our strength to the doing of this work, so sacred and so necessary ? Let us, as says the prophet, search and try our ways (Lam. iii. 40), and our disposition, so that each of us may consider himself to have made progress, not in supposing that there is nothing in him to blame, but in blaming and correcting that which he has found. If you have learned that there is an ever fresh need to examine yourself, your self-examination will not be perfunctory and useless ; and as often as you shall have found that there is good reason for your scrutiny, so often will you feel that it ought to be repeated. If, then, you do this whenever there is need of it, you will do it always. Remember, in conclusion, that you have always need of help from on high, and of the mercy of Him who is the Bridegroom of the Church, Jesus Christ our Lord, who is, above all, God blessed for ever. Amen.

OF THE GROANS OF THE SOUL,. WHICH SIGHS FOR ITS HEAVENLY c The voice of the turtle is heard in our land,* — Cant ii. 12.

I AM obliged to allow that this is the second time that He who is of the heaven speaks of the earth ; and that He mentions it with as much intimate knowledge of it, as affection, as if He were one of its citizens. It is the Bridegroom who speaks ; and as, when He observed that the flowers had appeared, He did not say simply * on the earth/ but * on our earth,' so now He says : • The voice of the turtle is heard in our land.' What can, then, be the reason for a mode of speech so unusual, not to say so unworthy of God ? You will nowhere find, I think, that He has spoken thus of heaven, and that in no other place has He done so of earth. Observe, then, how kind Digitized by Google 355 and sweet it is of the God of heaven to say 6 our earth? Listen, sons of men and earth-born ones : The Lord hath done great things for us (Ps. cxxvi. 3). He has a close relation with the earth, and with the Bride, whom it has pleased Him to draw from the earth to associate closely with Himself. Thus it is that He says our land. This phrase is not one of

sovereignty, but of familiarity and of alliance. He speaks thus not as Lord, but as Bridegroom. What ? He is Creator, and yet regards Himself as companion ! It is Love that speaks, and love knows nothing of mastership. For this Song is a song of love, and it is appropriate to fill it with loving speeches only. Also this love is of God ; nor has He it from any other than Himself, because He is the Source of love. And it is so much the more powerful and vigorous, inasmuch as He and love are but one. But those whom He loves, He treats as friends, not as servants. From being the Master, He becomes the Friend ; for He would not call His disciples His friends, unless they were so in reality. 2. Do you perceive that even His Majesty yields to His Love ? It is so, indeed, brethren ; love looks up to no one, but neither does it look down upon any. It regards with an equal eye all who are united among themselves by a perfect bond of love ; it combines together in its own self the loftiest with the lowest ; nor does it merely make them to be equals, but makes them to be one. You think perhaps that God

is excepted from this rule of love ; but do you not know that he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit (1 Cor. vi. 17) ? Why do you wonder at this ? He is made to be, as it were, one of us ; and yet it is too little to say this, for He is made, not, as it were, one of us, but one of us in truth. It is too little for Him to be made equal to men ; He is Himself made a man. Thus it is that He claims our earth as His, not as a mere possession, but as His birthplace and fatherland. Why should He not so claim it? It is from thence that He takes His Bride ; thence is the substance of His Body ; thence does He become a Bridegroom ; and since He and His Bride are one flesh (Gen. ii. 4; Matt. xix. 5), why should they not have one fatherland also ? The heaven, even the heavens, are the Lords, saith the Psalmist ; but the earth hath He given to the children of men (Ps. cxv. 16). It is, then, as Son of Man that He inherits the earth, as being Lord He has it in His power, as Creator He

administers it, and as Bridegroom He shares it with His Bride. In saying, then, our land, He shows that He disclaims the possession of it in sole proprietorship, and does not disdain to share it with another. It is on this account that the Bridegroom so benignantly uses this phrase, and deigns to say our land. Now let us go on to consider other things. 3. The voice of the turtle is heard in our land. This is a sign that the winter has passed, a warning that the time of pruning and culture is at hand. That is according to the letter. Taking it in another sense, the voice of the turtle is not sweet in itself, but it announces things which are sweet. This is a little bird, and not of great cost to buy ; yet, if you consider the matter, it is of no small value. Its Digitized by 35^ voice resembles more a moan of pain than a song of gladness, and this recalls to us our state of pilgrimage. Willingly do I listen to the voice of a preacher who arouses, not applauses for himself, but grief and sorrow for sin, in me. If you teach others to mourn, you will show yourself truly like the turtle ; and if you desire to be

persuasive [to penitence], you must effect this, not by declamation, but by being unfeignedly penitent yourself. Example is especially in this matter, as in many others, far more effectual than precept. Your voice will be persuasive and powerful if it be known that you are persuaded yourself of that which you are endeavouring to enforce on others. Actions speak louder and more effectively than words. Practise yourself what you urge upon others, and you will not only correct more easily what is wrong in me, but will free yourself from a great responsibility. It will not, then, apply to you if any should say : They bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders : but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers (Matt, xxiii. 4). Nor need you fear that reproach : Thou, therefore, which teachest another, teachest thou not thyself 1 (Rom. ii. 21). 4. The voice of the turtle is heard in our land. As long as men^ have received their reward for the worship which they render unto God only in the earth, and that land which flows with milk and honey, they do not at all realize that they are strangers and pilgrims upon the earth, nor mourn as the turtle in sad remembrance of

their own country ; but on the contrary, misusing the place of their exile as if it were their country and home, they have set themselves to eat the fat things of it, and drink the sweet. Thus it is that so long a time passes without the voice of the turtle being heard in our land.

But when the promise of the kingdom of heaven has been made, when men have realized that they have not here a continuing city, and have begun to seek eagerly for that which is to come, then first the voice of the turtle is plainly heard sounding in the land. For when a holy soul sighs for the Presence of Christ, when it endures with pain to see the possession of His Kingdom deferred, when it hails from afar with sighs and groans the dear land it longs for, does it not seem to you that each soul which so bears itself on earth is as the chaste turtle which sits apart and utters its mournful note ? Then it is, and thenceforward, that the voice of the turtle is heard in our land. How can it be otherwise than that the absence of Christ should move me to frequent tears and daily groanings ? Lord, all my desire is before Thee : and my groaning is not hid from Thee (Ps. xxxviii. 9). Thou knowest, O Lord, I am weary with my groaning; but blessed is he who can say, like the Psalmist : All the night make I my bed to swim ; I water my couch with my tears (Ps. vL 6).

Nor is it only I in whom these groanings are found, but all those who love His appearing. For what does He Himself say? Can the children of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the Bridegroom is with them ? but the days will come when the Bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they (moum) (Matt. ix. 15) ; as if He had said : * Then shall the voice of the turtle be heard.' Digitized by Google 5. So it is, O dear Lord Jesus ; those days have come. For the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now, waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God (Rom. viii. 19-22). And not only they, but we ourselves also groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption of the sons of God, the redemption of our body ; knowing this, that whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord (2 Cor. v. 6). Nor are those groans fruitless to which a response so kind and merciful is made from heaven, inasmuch as we hear: For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now will I arise, saith the Lord (Ps. xii. 5).

That voice of groaning and complaint was heard in the time of the Fathers also, but seldom, since each of them retained his groans, as it were, within his own breast. Wherefore, also, one of them said : My secret to myself my secret to myself woe is me (Is. xxiv. 16, Douay). So, also, he who said : My groaning is not hid from Thee (Ps. xxxviii. 9), in declaring that from God alone was it not hidden, showed that it was hidden from others. And, therefore, it could not then be said, The voice of the turtle is heard in our land, since it was then a secret, known but to few, and not yet divulged to the multitude.

But when the proclamation has been openly made : Seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God (Coloss. iii. 1) ; that plaintive cry of longing, the lament, as it were, of the turtledove, begins to belong to all, and the reason for it to be the same for all, since all know the Lord, as we read in the prophet Jeremiah : They shall all know Me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord (Jer. xxxiL 34). 6. But if there are many who utter that plaintive cry, why does He speak of only one ? The voice of the turtle, He says. Why does He not say, 1 of the turtles ?' Perhaps the Apostle resolves this difficulty, where he says that the Spirit Himself maketh intercession for the saints with groanings that cannot be uttered (Rom. viii. 26). Thus, in fact, it is. He who arouses in others those aspirations which groans manifest outwardly, is brought before us as Himself groaning.

And however many there be whom you hear thus groan, it is one sound that the lips of all of them utter. Why should it not be, in fact, His voice, seeing that it is He who in the mouth of each forms the words of petition for the necessities that each feels ? For the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal (1 Cor. xii. 7); to each one His Voice declares Him present, and makes Him manifest. Learn from the Gospel that the Holy Spirit has a voice. The Spirit breatheth where He will, and thou hearest His voice, but thou knoioest not whence He cometh or whither He goeth (John iii. 8, Douay). But he, who was as a master who was himself dead,1 teaching the dead letter of the Law to those who were similarly dead, did not know this. Nevertheless we, who have been brought from death unto life by the life-giving Spirit, we know, by His gracious illumination, and through our assured and daily Digitized by 35» experience, that our vows and aspirations come from Him, and ascend to Him, and there find mercy before the eyes of God* For when has God ever rendered the voice of His Spirit ineffectual ? And He knows what His Spirit desires, inasmuch as He maketh intercession for the Saints according to the Will of God. 7. It is not only its plaintive cries which render the turtle acceptable, but also its chastity. For this merit it was judged a worthy offering for a Virgin Birth; and thus we read in the Scripture: A pair of turtle-doves, or two young pigeons (Luke ii. 24). And although the Holy Spirit is in other passages customarily spoken of under the figure of a pigeon or dove, yet that is a bird given to passion, and therefore not suitable to be offered in sacrifice to the Lord, except it were young and immature. But for the turtle-dove no age is prescribed, because its chastity at any age is recognised. It is content with one mate, and if he be lost does not take another, thus condemning a plurality of marriages among men. For although that is a remedy for incontinence, and therefore only a venial fault, yet that the incontinence itself should be so great is not creditable.

It is a cause for shame that reason should be unable to do in man, and that in a matter of honour and uprightness, what nature is able to do in a bird. The widowed turtle may, in fact, be seen to practise all the tasks belonging to holy widowhood diligently and without weariness. You see it everywhere solitary ; you hear it everywhere uttering its melancholy note ; nor is it ever to be found perched upon any green bough ; and from it you may learn to avoid as pestilential the ever green and vigorous shoots of pleasures. Add to this that it is most given to haunt mountain peaks and the loftiest summits of trees, and thus teaches us to despise earthly things and to love heavenly, a purpose especially appropriate to a state of chastity. 8. From all this it may be inferred that the note of the turtle is also a preaching of chastity. This utterance was not at first heard in the earth, but rather that other : Increase, and multiply, and replenish the earth (Gea i. 28). To no purpose would that call to chastity have sounded, when the country of the resurrection (Luke xx. 35, 36) had not as yet been revealed, in which men, far more happily, neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in Heaven. Or was it the time for that utterance to be heard when every barren woman in Israel was held to be under a reproach, when the Patriarchs themselves had many wives at once, when the Law required a man whose brother died without children to raise up seed unto his brother ? But when that commendation of eunuchs who had made themselves eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heaven's sake was heard from the mouth of the heavenly turtle (Matt. xix. 12), and when also the counsel of that other chaste turtle as regarding virgins was everywhere followed (1 Cor. vii. 25), then it might begin truly to be said that the voice of the turtle has been heard in our land. 9. Since both flowers, then, have appeared, and the voice of the turtle has been heard in our land, without doubt the Truth has been Digitized by Google 359 made known both to hearing and to sight. For a voice is heard and a flower seen. By flowers are meant miracles, as I have explained above, which, joined to the impression made by the voice [of him who preaches the truth of the Gospel], brings forth the fruit of faith.

For although faith cometh by hearing, the confirmation of the faith comes from sight. The voice has sounded, the flowers have shone, and truth has sprung up out of the earth by the confession of believing souls, word and sign thus concurring to the testimony of the faith. Those testimonies are rendered abundantly easy of belief when the flower attests the witness of the voice, the sight that of the hearing. The things that are heard confirm those that are seen, so that the testimony of two witnesses (I mean that of the ear and of the eye) establish the truth of that which they declare. Wherefore the Lord said : Go your way, and tell John (for He was addressing the disciples of that teacher) what things ye have seen and heard (Luke vii. 22). The certitude of faith could not have been expressed to them more briefly or more clearly. The same conviction was speedily brought about throughout the whole world, and by the same summary of argument.

What things, He said, ye have seen and heard, O saying of little length, yet strong and effectual ! I assert with assured belief that which I have perceived by the testimony of my own ears and my own eyes. The trumpet of salvation sounds, the miracles shine clear before the eyes of men, and the world believes. It is speedily persuaded of the truth of that which is asserted, when it is authenticated by actions so marvellous. Thus we read that the Apostles went forth, and preached everywhere, the Lord working with them, and confirming the Word with signs following (Mark xvi. 20). We read that He was transfigured on the mount in a cloud of wonderful brightness, and that nevertheless a Voice from Heaven bore witness to Him (Matt. xvii. 2-5). We read also of a Dove which similarly pointed Him out on the banks of Jordan, and of a Voice which bare witness to Him (Matt. iii. 16, 17). And thus it is that the mercy of God makes these two things, the voice and the outward sign, to concur everywhere to introduce the faith ; so making, by these two senses, as by two open windows, a wide opening for truth to reach the soul. 10. There follows, The fig-tree putteth forth her green figs. Of these we do not eat ; their immaturity makes them unfit for use. They have the appearance, but not the taste, of good figs ; and in this they are perhaps made to describe hypocrites. Yet we do not altogether reject them, for we may perhaps have need of them another time.

They will fall prematurely of their own accord, like grass growing upon the housetops, which withereth afore it groweth up (Ps. cxxix. 6), which, as I think, is spoken of hypocrites. Yet not without cause is mention made of them in this nuptial song. Doubtless they are of no use for food, but they may serve for another purpose ; for in a nuptial festival many other things beside viands are needed. I think that the subject ought not to be passed by altogether without mention ; but whatever be its significance I am unwilling to discuss it Digitized by Google 360 within the narrow limits left me at the end of this Sermon ; I defer it, therefore, to another time, which may be less occupied. I leave you to judge whether I am right in so doing ; do you only obtain for me from God, by your prayers, that I may be enabled to explain, so as to conduce to your edification, what I think ; and that all may be to the praise and glory of Him who is the Bridegroom of the Church, our Lord Jesus Christ, who is above all, God blessed for ever. Amen.

OF THE INCREDULITY OF THE JEWS, AND OF THEIR SLAYING CHRIST, BY WHICH THEY FILLED UP THE MEASURE OF THEIR HIS sentence depends on those which precede it. The speaker had said that the time for pruning and culture of the vine "** had come, and that this was shown as well by the appearance of flowers, as by the hearing of the note of the turtle-dove. He shows it by the production of green figs also, because the coming of spring is evidenced not only by the appearance of flowers and by the call of the turtle-dove, but by the fruits of the fig-tree. For the season is never more mild than when the fig-tree has produced its green fruit. The fig-tree has not flowers, but fruit, at the time when other trees flower. And as flowers appear and pass away, being useful only as a mark of, and a stage in the production of, the fruits which are to follow them, so is it with those fruits which appear for a time, but fall prematurely, and are themselves unfit to be eaten, but give place to others which attain ripeness. It is by this, as I have said, that the Bridegroom marks the advance of the season, and makes it the ground for earnestly urging the Bride not to be slothful in entering upon the work in the vineyard which has to be done, in its proper season, so that it be not lost So much for the literal sense. 2. But what of the spiritual meaning? It is plain that here we must regard, not the fig-tree as being spoken of, but the people which it represents, since God's care is for men, not trees. Truly, the people is (as it were) a fig-tree ; frail because of the flesh, of small sense and intelligence, of no high disposition, and whose earliest fruits (to carry on still the metaphor) are earthly and unripe. For it is not the object of popular desire to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness (Matt. vi. 33) ; but rather, as says the Apostle, to think of the things of this world, wherewith husbands may please their wives, and wives their husbands. Such shall have trouble in the flesh (1 Cor. vii. 28, 33), but we do not deny that at the last they

* The Jig-tree putteth forth her green figs.9— Cant. ii. 13.

Digitized by Google 361 shall attain the fruits of faith, if they repent sincerely of, and confess, their faults, and especially if they make amends for the works of the flesh by almsgiving. The first fruits, then, which such persons produce are not properly speaking the whole products of their lives, but are like the green and immature fruits of the fig-tree. If they shall afterwards bring forth fruits worthy of repentance (Matt. iii. 8), for that is not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural ( 1 Cor. xv. 46), it shall be said to them : What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed (Rom. vi. 21) ? 3. But yet I think that we are not at liberty to interpret this passage of all peoples indiscriminately, but that one people in particular is intended. For the Scripture does not speak of trees, but of one tree : The fig-tree putteth forth her green figs ; and, as I think, by that one is meant the nation of the Jews. In fact, how often does the Saviour seem to employ the same metaphor in the Gospel, in the parables which He delivered ? For example : A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard (Luke xiii. 6) ; and, again : Behold the fig treey and all the trees (xxi. 29) ; and to Nathanael it was said : When thou wast under the fig-tree, 1 saw thee (John i. 48). And again, it is a fig-tree upon which He pronounces a curse, because He has found upon it no fruit (Mark xi. 13, 14). Thus, that people is well compared to a fig-tree, which, although sprung from the root of the Patriarchs, which was good, was never willing to lift itself from the ground, or shoot upwards towards the sky ; never responded to the goodness of its root, either by the greatness of its branches, the beauty of its flowers, or the abundance of its fruit. O tree stunted, knotty, and twisted, nothing answering to thy root is seen in thee : for thy root was holy. What appears in thy branches which is worthy of it ? The fig-tree putteth forth her green figs, saith the Bridegroom.

O evil seed, it is not from thy noble root that thou hast derived these ! That which is in it is from the Holy Spirit, and all is refined and sweet which is produced by Him. Whence hast thou these figs crude and coarse ? And, in truth, what is there in that people which is not crude and coarse, whether we consider their actions, their inclinations, their understanding, or even the rites with which they worship God ? For their actions carried them [of old] into many wars, their inclinations are all devoted to the pursuit of gain, their intelligence stopped short in the thick husk of the letter of their Law, and their worship consists in shedding the blood of sheep and of cattle. 4. But someone says : Since that nation has never ceased to produce such crude fruit, then the time for pruning has been reached at an earlier period, since the two events are represented as contemporaneous.

But that is not the case. We say that women are mothers, not when they are in travail, but when they have brought forth. And, similarly, we say that trees have flowered, not when the flowers have begun to appear, but rather when they have fallen. So also is it said here that the fig-tree hath put forth 1 her green figs, not when it has Digitized by 362 produced a few, but when it has produced them all — that is, when the production of them has come to an end. If you ask me at what period this took place with that [Jewish] people, I reply, when it slew Jesus Christ For it was then that its malice was consummated, according as He Himself had foretold to them : Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers (Matt, xxiii. 32). Wherefore at the moment when He was about to yield up His spirit upon the Cross, He said : // is finished (John xix. 30). O what a consummation of its continual production of fruits crude and coarse did that fig-tree, so cursed and condemned to a perpetual sterility, at length reach ! O how much worse were the last than the former ones ! At first they were only useless, but the last came to be

hurtful and poisonous. O nature not merely crude, but touched with viperous venom, to hate that Man, who not only cures the bodies of men, but saves their souls ! O intelligence, coarse, dense, and, as it were, bovine, which did not recognise God even in His own works ! 5. Perhaps the Jew will complain, as of a deep injury, that I call his intelligence bovine. But let him read what is said by the prophet Isaiah, and he will find that it is even less than bovine. For he says : The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib ; but Israel doth not know. My people doth not consider (Is. i. 3). You see, O Jew, that I am milder than your own prophet. I have compared you to the brute beasts ; but he sets you below even these. Or, rather, it is not the Prophet who says this in his own name ; but he speaks in the Name of God, who declares Himself by the very works He does to be God. Though ye believe not Me, He says, believe the works ; and, If I do not the works of My Father, believe Me not (John x. 38, 37) ; and not even that aroused them to understand. Not the

flight of demons, not the obedience of the elements, nor life restored to the dead, was able to expel from their minds that stupidity bestial, and more than bestial, which caused them, by a blindness as marvellous as it was miserable, to rush headlong into that crime, so enormous and so horrible, of laying impious hands upon the Lord of Glory. From that time, therefore, it could justly be said of them : The fig-tree hath put forth Iter green figs, inasmuch as the institutions of the Jewish Law began to draw towards their end, and, according to the ancient prophecy, on the coming of the new, the old should be abandoned (Lev. xxvi. 10). Even so do the green figs fail, and give place to the good figs which succeed them. ' As long/ says the Bridegroom, ' as the fig-tree continued to put forth its green fruit, I did not call upon thee, O My Bride, knowing that it could not, at the same time, produce good fruit. But now that those earlier ones have been put forth, I invite thee now in the due time, since, in the place of those that were useless, good and salutary fruits are about to appear.' 6. The vines, He continues, in flower yield their sweet scent, and this is the

sign of fruit to come. This odour drives away serpents.

I I is said that when the vines are flowering every venomous reptile leaves the spot : they cannot endure the sweet scent of the flowers Digitized by Google in fresh bloom. Which I wish our novices to take particular notice of, and to act with corresponding trust and confidence, reflecting what manner of spirit they have received, that evil spirits cannot sustain even its first approaches. If their fervour is such at its beginning, what shall be its complete perfection ? Let the fruit be judged from the flower, and the excellence of the savour of the one be estimated from the strength of the perfume exhaled by the other. The vines in flower yield their sweet scent. And, indeed, in the beginning it was so.

Upon the preaching of the new grace of Jesus Christ followed newness of life in those who had believed, who had their conversation honest among the Gentiles (1 Pet. iL 12), and were a sweet odour of Christ in every place (2 Cor. ii. 1 5). That sweet odour was the good testimony which was rendered to them, and which arises from good works, as perfume from a flower. And since, in the first period of the rising faith, the souls of the faithful were like spiritual vines covered with flowers and exhaling a pleasant odour, having a good testimony from those who were without, I think that what is here said applies not unfitly to them — that the vines in flower yield their siveet scent. To what end was this ? It was that by this means even those who had not yet believed, reflecting on these good works, and being attracted by them to the faith, might themselves glorify God, and so to them also the odour of life might begin to be the means of life. It is then said of them, not undeservedly, that they sought not their own glory, but the salvation of others, by the good report which their actions obtained, and that they thus gave forth a sweet odour. For it would have been in their power to seek, after the example of certain others, to make a gain of godliness ; for example, by ostentation or avarice.

But that would have been not to give their good odour, but to sell it; and this they were careful not to do, because all their actions had charity for their sole motive. 7. But if the vines are believing souls ; if their flowers are good works, and the odour they exhale the estimation they produce in the minds of others, what is the fruit they produce ? It is martyrdom ; yes, the blood of the martyr is truly the fruit of the vine. When He shall give sleep to His beloved, says the Psalmist, behold the inheritance of the Lord are children, the reward, the fruit of the womb (Ps. cxxvi. 2, 3, Douay). I had almost said ' the fruit of the vine.1 Why should I not call the Blood of the Innocent and the Just the most pure blood of the Vine — that red and most precious and approved lifeblood of the Vine of Sorek,1 forced out by the winepress of suffering? For in the sight of the Lord the death of His saints is precious (Ps. cxvi. 15). xlix. 11 ; Is. v. 2; Jer. ii. 21. The Hebrew root signifies tawny or reddish, according to Gesenius. The name is used in modern Arabic for a certain purple grape, grown in Syria, and highly esteemed ; it is noted for its small berries and minute soft pips, and produces a red wine. The valley of Sorek, in the Philistine country (Judges xvi. 4), the home of Delilah, was perhaps so called from the growth of such vines (* Dictionary of the Bible,' s.v.). — Ed.

Digitized by Google j 3^4 So much as to that which is said : The vines in floiver yield their sweet scent 8. So, then, if we prefer to regard this passage as referring to the times of grace, this will be the meaning of it But if we rather refer it to the Fathers (for the house of Israel is the vineyard of the Lord of Sabaoth), it will be explained thus : The Prophets and Patriarchs discerned as an odour of sweetness the future Coming and sacrifice of Christ in the Flesh, but did not give forth that odour in themselves, because they did not show forth in the flesh that which they felt in the spirit by anticipation. They did not give forth the odour of it in themselves, nor divulge their secret, awaiting its revelation in due time. Who, in fact, had then any comprehension of the wisdom which was hidden in a mystery, and not shown forth in the body ?

Thus the vines, indeed, did not then yield their sweet scent. But they did so afterwards, when, in the succession of generations, they brought into the world Jesus Christ, born of them, according to the flesh, of a Virgin Mother. It was then, I say, that those spiritual vines yielded in truth their sweet scent, since the kindness and lave of God our Saviour towards man appeared (Tit. iii. 4), and the world began to have the presence of Him whom, while He was still absent, few had anticipated. That good man, for example, who, touching Jacob, had the feeling and anticipation of Christ, and said : See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the Lord hath blessed (Gen. xxvii. 27). When he said this, he had the delight of this anticipation for himself, but he did not communicate it to any other person. But when the fulness of that time came in which God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the Law, that He might redeem those which were under the Law (Gal. iv. 4), then, indeed, the sweet odour which was in Him diffused itself everywhere, so that the Church, perceiving it from the extremities of the earth, cried out : Thy Name is as ointment poured forth (Cant. i. 2), and souls, as young maidens, flocked towards its sweet perfume. Thus that vine yielded its sweet scent ; and at that time other vines also, in which was the same odour of life, similarly gave it forth. Wherefore should they, from whom Christ came according to the Flesh, not have done so ?

It was said, therefore, that the vines yielded their sweet scent, either because faithful souls shed forth everywhere around them the good opinion which they aroused, or because the oracles and revelations of the Fathers were made openly known to the world, and their sweet odour went forth throughout all the earth, as the Apostle declares : God was manifest in the Flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of Angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory (1 Tim. iii. 16). 9. But it would be wonderful if neither the fig-tree nor those vines had in them anything which would serve to our edification. I believe, then, that this passage has a moral sense also ; for, by the grace of God which is in us, we have also fig-trees and vines. The fig-trees are those whose characters are sweet and peaceable, and the Digitized by Google 365 vines those of a more ardent and fervent spirit. Everyone among us who acts in union and peace with others, who lives among his brethren, not only without giving ground of complaint to any, but approving himself kind and helpful to all, and fulfilling towards them every office of charity, why may I not speak of him very fitly as a figtree ? Yet if he have put forth crude and coarse fruits, it behoves him to cast them off ; as, for example, the fear of judgment, which perfect love casteth out ; and the bitterness of remorse for past sins, which is sure to yield to sincere confession, to abundant shedding of tears, and to the infusion of grace ; and also other similar things, which are as the green figs which go before the good and sweet fruit.

Such truths as these you are able by yourselves to reflect upon. 10. But that I may add here one more thought which occurs to me at the moment, may there not be counted among green figs such gifts as knowledge, prophecy, gifts of tongues, and the like? For these things must, like green figs, pass away, and give place to better, as the Apostle declares, asserting that prophecies shall fail, tongues cease, and knowledge vanish away (1 Cor. xiii. 8). The discernment of spiritual things shall exclude even faith in them, and the place of hope must of necessity be taken by sight. For that which a man sees why doth he yet hope for? Charity alone never faileth, but that charity only wherewith God is loved with all the heart, with all the soul, with all the strength, and with all the mind (Luke x. 27).

Therefore I do not reckon this at all in the number of crude figs ; I do not think that it is to be compared even to the fig tree, but to the vines. Now, those who are as vines show themselves severe rather than sweet ; they act in a spirit full of ardour, are zealous for discipline, prompt and severe in rebuking vice, and applying to themselves very fitly that saying of the Psalmist : Do not 1 hate them, O Lord, that hate Thee ? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against Thee f (Ps. cxxxix. 21). Also, the zeal of Thine House hath eaten me up (Ps. lxix. 9). The former seem to me to excel in love of their neighbour; the latter, in love of God. But let us make a pause under this vine and under this fig-tree, where the love of God and of our neighbour casts a delightful shade. Of each of these I am possessed when I love Thee, O dear Lord Jesus, who art my neighbour, because Thou art Man, and hast shown Thy love and mercy towards me, and who art, nevertheless, God over all, blessed for evermore. Amen. Digitized by Google 366

HOW THE CHURCH FINDS THE RICHES OF DIVINE MERCY IN THE HOLLOWS OF CHRIST'S OPEN WOUNDS : AND OF THE FORTITUDE ' Arise? my love, my fair one, and come away.' — Cant ii. 13. r I "HE Bridegroom manifests His great affection by repeating the words of affection. For repetition is a sign expressive of affection ; and that He again summons His Beloved to labour among the vines, shows how full of solicitude He is for the salvation of souls. That the vines denote souls, you have already heard ; nor need I repeat what has been said upon that subject Notice what follows. If I remember rightly, He has never yet clearly named the Bride in all this work except when He leads her to the vineyards, when He brings her near to the wine of charity. When she shall have come thither, when she shall have been perfected, He will make with her a spiritual marriage ; and they two shall be, not one flesh, but one spirit, according to the saying of the Apostle : He that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit (1 Cor. vi. 17). 2. Then follow the words : O My dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs, let Me

see thy countenance, let Me hear thy voice. He loves, and therefore goes on to speak words of love. He winningly calls her anew His dove ; He says that He is hers, and claims her as belonging wholly to Him ; it is no longer she who earnestly entreats that He will show Himself unto her, and speak to her ; it is now He who in turn begs for these graces. He acts as a bridegroom, but as one who is modest and diffident, who shrinks from exposing himself to public gaze, who determines to enjoy his happiness in retirement, or, as it were, in the clefts of the rock, or in the hollows of the walL Imagine, then, that the Bridegroom speaks thus to His Bride : c Do not fear, My beloved, that the labour upon the vines to which I call you will interfere with or interrupt the enjoyment of our love. There will even be in it some advantage.' This is a kind of trifling founded upon the literal sense of the words. But why do I call it trifling, seeing that there is nothing serious in the literal explanation ? The outward appearance of this passage is not worthy of our attention unless the Spirit shall help our infirmity to understand the inward

meaning of it Let us not, then, remain outside of this spiritual sense, lest it should seem (which God forbid!) that we desire to refer to what is impure and disones, nor the MSS.

Digitized by Google 367 honourable. Take heed that you bring chaste ears to this discourse of love; and when you think of these two who are its subject, remember always that not a man and a woman are to be thought of, but the Word of God and the devout soul. And if I shall speak of Christ and the Church, the sense is the same, except that under the name of the Church is specified not one soul only, but the unity, or rather the unanimity, of many souls. And do not think that by the clefts of the rock or the hollows of the wall are meant the hidingplaces of those who work iniquity ; reject from your minds every thought or suspicion of such works of darkness. 3. Another writer has thus expounded this passage, interpreting the clefts of the rock of the wounds of Christ. And rightly so, for that rock was Christ (1 Cor. x. 4). Precious are those clefts [to us], for they establish the faith of the Resurrection and the Divinity of Christ.

My Lord and My God, said an Apostle (John xx. 28). Whence came that assured conviction (praculum), if not from the clefts of the Rock ? In these the sparrow hath found an house, and the turtle a nest for herself where s/ie may lay tier young (Ps. lxxxiv. 3) ; in these the dove finds safety, and regards without fear the hawk that flies around. And therefore He says, My dove that art in the clefts of the rock. While the dove replies: He hath exalted me upon a rock (Ps. xxvii. 5), and again, He hath set my feet upon a rock (Ps. xl. 2).

The man who is wise builds his house upon a rock, because there he need fear neither the force of the winds, nor the beating of the waves (Matt. vii. 24). What good does he not find upon that rock? Raised upon it, I stand firmly, and am safe. I am safe from the enemy ; I am strong against accident ; and all because I am lifted above the earth ; for everything that is earthly is uncertain and perishable. Our conversation is in heaven, whence we need not fear ever to fall, nor ever to be cast down. Our rock, then, is in heaven ; in it is strength, and on it security. Is it not said that the rock is a refuge for the conies (Ps. civ., 18) ? And where, in truth, is there a firm and safe refuge for us who are weak, except in the Wounds of our Saviour ? There I dwell with safety so much the greater, as He is so powerful to save. The world rages around me, the body weighs upon me, the devil lays snares for me ; but I do not fall, for I am founded upon a firm Rock. Perhaps I have committed some great sin, my conscience is troubled, but I do not despair, because I

remember the Wounds of my Lord ; for He was wounded for our iniquities (Is. liii. 5). What sin is there so deadly that it may not be remitted through the Death of Christ ? If, then, I keep in remembrance a remedy so powerful and efficacious, I cannot be terrified by any disease, however virulent it be. 4. Thus it plainly appears how greatly that man erred who said, My iniquity is greater than I can bear (Gen. iv. 1 3). Except that he was not among the members of Christ, nor did the merits of Christ pertain to him, so that he could have a dependence upon them, or say, as a member asserting an interest in that which belongs to His Digitized by 368 Head, that they were His.1 But as for me, that which is wanting in myself I claim with undoubting confidence in the Heart of the Lord, from which all mercy flows ; nor is it without clefts through which that mercy flows forth. For [the soldiers] pierced His Hands, and His Feet, and His Side they pierced with a lance ; and by these openings it is permitted to me to suck honey from the rock, and oil from the hardest crag ; that is to say, to taste and see how sweet

the Lord is. He was meditating thoughts of peace, and I knew it not ; for who hath known the mind of the Lord ; or who hath been His counsellor ? But the nails wherewith He was pierced have become for me, as it were, master keys (clavis, clavus\ to open for me the treasury of the Lord's Will. How can I do otherwise than see with clear vision through a cleft so broad ? The nails cry aloud, and the wounds cry aloud, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself. The sword passed through His soul, and came near to His Heart, that He might so learn to have a fellow feeling with our infirmities.

Through the clefts of His Body the secret of His Heart is laid open, and that great mystery of goodness, the lovingkindness and mercy of our God, in which the Dayspring from on high hath visited us, is manifested to our thankful gaze. How can the Lord's wounds do other than exhibit His lovingkindness ? and how has it ever shone forth more wondrously, O Lord, sweet and gentle, and of great mercy, than in the cruel wounds which Thou didst endure for our sake? There is no greater proof of compassion and mercy than this, that one should lay down his life for those who were destined and condemned to death. 5. The pitying mercy of the Lord is, then, all my merit I am not altogether destitute of merits, as long as He deigns to have compassion upon me ; and they will be increased just in proportion to the greatness of His mercy. What if I feel myself guilty of many offences ? Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound (Rom. v. 20). And if the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting (Ps. ciii. 17), I also will sing of the mercies of the Lord for ever (Ps. lxxxix. 1). Shall it be my own righteousness that I celebrate?