Sermons on the Song of Songs

think that thou Digitized by Google art able to follow Him thither ? Hast thou the ability or the boldness to introduce thyself into a secret so sacred, into a sanctuary so secret, as to contemplate the Son in the Father and the Father in the Son ? Assuredly not. Where He is thou canst not follow Him now, but thou shalt follow Him hereafter. Yet do not cease to strive; seek Him, follow Him ; let not that supreme glory, that unapproachable elevation, deter thee from seeking, nor make thee despair of finding Him. If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that belie veth (Mack ix. 22). The word is nigh thee, it is said, in thy mouth, and in thy heart (Rom. x. 8). Believe, and thou hast found [Him]. Those who are faithful know that Christ dwells in their hearts by faith (Eph. iii. 17), and what is nearer than this? Seek, then, with confidence, seek with zeal. The Lord is good to the soul that seeketh Him (Lam. iii. 25). Seek Him by your prayers, seek Him by your actions, find Him by your faith. What is there that faith does not find ? It attains that which was not reached, it discovers what is hidden, it comprehends what is unlimited, it apprehends

the farthest depths ; it even contains, after a certain manner, in its comprehensive bosom, eternity itself. I say with confidence that the blessed and eternal Trinity, which I do not understand, I believe in, and thus hold by faith that which I do not grasp with the understanding. 7. But someone says: 'How shall she believe, without someone to instruct, since faith cometh by hearing, and hearing through the word of exhortation (Rom. x. 14, 17)?' For this God will provide.

And see how they are already at hand who present themselves to instruct that new Bride, that soul who is to be united to a heavenly Bridegroom, in the truths that she needs to know ; to deliver to her the faith, to teach her the form of piety and of true religion. For listen to what she goes on to say : TJie watchmen that go about the city found me. Who are these watchmen ? They are those whom the Saviour pronounces blessed if He, when He shall come, shall find them watching (Luke xii. 37). How good are the sentinels who watch while we sleep, as if to give an account of our souls ! How good the guardians who are wakeful in spirit, and pass the night in prayer ; who seek out wisely the devices of the enemies, forestall the designs of the evil-disposed, lay bare their snares, escape their entanglements, shatter their nets, frustrate their plots ! These are lovers of the brethren and of the people of Christ, who pray much for the people and for all the Holy City. These are they who, being careful and anxious for the sheep entrusted to them by the Lord, bear them on their heart at their waking, when the day breaks, to the Lord who

made them, and offer intercession for them in the presence of the Most High. And though they thus watch and thus intercede, they do it, as knowing their own insufficiency to keep the city safe, and being conscious that unless the Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain (Ps. cxxvii. 1). 8. In fact, when the Lord thus instructs us, Watch ye and pray% Digitized by Google 472 lest ye enter into temptation (Markxiv. 38), it is plain that without this twofold exercise [of vigilance and prayer] by the faithful, and of sympathetic care on the part of the watchers, the city cannot be kept in safety, nor the Bride, nor the sheep. Do you inquire what is the difference between these ? They are but one and the same ; a city because it is an assembly of the faithful, a Bride because beloved, and a flock of sheep because of the kindness and care shown to it. Why is this Bride said to be a city ? I saw (it is said) the Holy City, netv Jerusalem, coming down from God out of Heaven, prepared as a Bride adorned for fur husband (Rev. xxi. 2). It will plainly appear to you that the Bride is similarly called a flock, if you remember how earnestly the

Saviour warned that first pastor (I mean St. Peter) to tend it with love when the sheep of it were for the first time committed to his charge. This that wise bestower of the trust {creditor) would not have done with such great care if He had not felt, from the witness of His own inmost heart, that this was the Bride of which He was the Bridegroom. Take good heed of this, O friends of the Bridegroom, if you are in truth His friends. But I have said too little in calling you simply friends. For it behoves those upon whom is bestowed the privilege of such familiar intimacy to be the very closest and dearest of friends to Him. It was not without a significant purpose that, when confiding the care of His sheep to St. Peter, He repeated so frequently, Lovest thou Me? (John xxi. 15-17). And I think that the significance of it was as if Jesus had said : 4 If your conscience does not bear you witness that you love Me, that you love Me perfectly and entirely, that is to say, more than your own interests, more than your relatives, more even than your own self, so thai the number of this threefold repetition of Mine may be fulfilled, then by no means

do thou take upon thee this charge, nor in any wise presume to concern thyself with My sheep, for whom My Blood was poured forth. ' An address which is indeed terrible, and capable of shaking the hearts of tyrants, however hardened. 9. Wherefore be ye watchful, whosoever of you have been chosen and called to the work of this ministry ; take watchful heed, I say, to yourselves, and to the precious deposit which has been entrusted to you. It is a city ; watch, then, to maintain it in safety and concord.

It is a Bride ; study to present her to the Lord decked with the precious jewels of abundant virtues. It is a flock ; study diligently to give it needful pasture. And perhaps we may not unfitly explain by these three elements of pastoral duty the threefold question which the Lord addressed to St Peter. Now, that the watch and ward over the city may be effective, it must be of three kinds : against the violence of tyrants, against the deception from heretics, and against the temptations of evil spirits. Again, the ornaments of the Bride ought to be of three kinds : of good works, of a saintly character, of high and noble principles. And the needful nourishment of the sheep is ordinarily indeed in the good pastures of the Holy Scriptures as being the heritage of the Lord ; but there is a distinction in these.

Digitized by Google 473 For there are commandments which are imposed upon hard and carnal hearts, as a discipline and for the law of life ; and there are miscellaneous masses1 of dispensations, which are appointed on account of pity to those that are weak and of little courage ; and there are counsels strong and solid, which are proposed from the inmost recesses of wisdom to those who have health and strength, and senses trained to discern good from evil. For to those who are as children, or, so to speak, as little lambs, is given the milk of exhortation and encouragement, not strong meat To this end, good and careful pastors do not cease to feed their flock to fatness with salutary and encouraging examples, and preferably with their own rather than with those of others. For if they offer only those of other people, and not their own, this is to their shame, and, also, their flock do not profit. For if, to give an instance, I, who appear to bear the charge of pastor among you, should set before you the meekness of Moses, the patience of Job, the mercy of Samuel, the holiness of David, and other similar examples of various virtues, and be myself impatient and severe, unmerciful, and in no way holy, my

discourse would, I fear, be void of all force and unction, nor would you care to listen to it But this I leave to the Divine goodness, that it may supply what is wanting and correct what is amiss in my conduct towards you. The good pastor will also take care to have in himself that salt of which the Gospel speaks (Mark ix. 49), knowing that a discourse seasoned with salt is agreeable and also salutary. This is what1 have for the present to say regarding the safe keeping of the city, the adorning of the Bride, and the nourishment of the flock. 10. Yet I wish to set forth the same truths somewhat more in detail, and with respect to those who, while they thirst for' honours with excessive desire, and engage rashly to bear the burden of duties to which they are unequal, expose themselves thereby to very great peril, so that they may know what they are entering upon, according to the question that is asked in the Scripture : Friend, wherefore art thou cornel (Matt. xxvi. 50). If I do not mistake, for the safe keeping of the city only, it is absolutely necessary that a man should be strong, faithful, and spiritually minded. He must be strong to repulse the assaults of its enemies,

spiritually minded that he may discover their crafty devices, and faithful that he may not seek to advance his own interests. In the next place, for the elevation and training of souls (for this is what is signified and referred to in the adorning of the Bride), who does not at once perceive that a firm bond of discipline, as well as a sedulous diligence, is required ? On that account everyone who is engaged in this ministry needs to burn with fervent zeal. It was with this that Apostle was fired who was so jealous for the glory of the Bride of the Lord, for he said : I am jealous over you with godly jealousy, for I have espoused you to one husband that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ (2 Cor. xi. 2). And, lastly, [a pastor must not be ignorant], for how can one who is so conduct Digitized by Google 474 the Lord's flocks to the sweet pastures of the Divine oracles ? But if he be a learned man, indeed, but not a good man, then it is to be feared that he will not so much nourish his flock by the abundance of his doctrine, as he will starve them by the barrenness of his life.

Without having knowledge, then, and at the same time a good and praiseworthy life, it is mere rashness for anyone to take upon him the burden of this office. But see, I am obliged to come to an end, though I have not finished what T have to say upon this subject. We are called to another matter, to which it is an unworthy thing that this should give way.1 I am pressed on all sides, and I know not which I ought to suffer the more impatiently, to be dragged in one direction, and repressed on another, though to endure the two together is worse than either separately. O servitude ! O necessity ! not what I desire, but what I hate, that I do. Notice, however, where we leave off, so that as soon as it shall be free to us to return to the subject, we may take it up from this point ; in the Name of Him who is the Bridegroom of the Church, Jesus Christ our Lord, who is above all, God blessed for ever. Amen.

concerning the bad pastors of the church, also how the blessed in heaven, and the angels, come to the aid of the elect, who are still pilgrims upon the earth.

WE are ready for a new departure. I described in the sermon of yesterday the leaders whom we should desire to have while we journey through this world, but I did not describe those whom we, in fact, have. And we find these latter to be wholly unlike the former. Not all of those whom you see at the present day surrounding the Bride on all sides, and who appear to take up the post at her right hand (to use a common phrase) as their own,- are the friends of the Bridegroom. Very few indeed are there among them who do not seek their own interests. They have a love for gifts, but they have not an equal love for Christ, because they have joined hands with mammon. See how they go about adorned and trim, clad in many and bright colours, like unto a bride coming out of her chamber. If you suddenly beheld such a person coming from afar, would you not take it to be the Bride herself rather than one of her guardians? From whence, do you suppose, comes this great some signal for the ending of it was made — either the signal for the common meal, or for some other occupation, which St. Bernard thought of inferior importance to his subject. gives but a few instances of its use. It is properly written addexlerare. — Ed.

Digitized by Google abundance of all things to them, this magnificence in dress, this luxury at their tables, these masses of gold and silver vases, but from the property of the Bride ? Thence it is that [the Church] is left poor and naked and in want, uncared for, wasted, pale and bloodless with famine. Assuredly this is not to adorn the Bride, but to despoil her ; not to take care of her, but to destroy ; not to defend her, but to expose her to danger ; not to train her in good, but to abandon her to evil (instituere, prostituere) \ it is not to feed the flock, but to slaughter and devour it, and to such the Lord says : Who eat up My people as they eat bread (Ps. xiv. 4, and liii. 4) ; and in another Psalm : They have devoured Jacobs and laid waste his dwelling-place (lxxix. 7) ; and in a prophet : They eat up the sin of My people (Hosea iv. 8), as if He said : ' They exact the price of sins for their own profit, but for the sinners they do not take the care which is due.' Whom will you find among those who are set over the government of the Church who is not

far more intent upon emptying the purses of those under his authority than of rooting up their sins ? Or where will you find one who by his prayers turns away the Divine anger, and proclaims the acceptable year of the Lord ? But let us speak of lighter evils : a heavier judgment awaits graver offences. 2. But yet it is in vain that we even remonstrate with them, for they do not listen to us. And if what I say is set down in writing, they disdain to read it ; or, if they happen to read it, they inveigh against me, although they would with much more justice inveigh against themselves. Let us, then, leave those people, who are not finders of the Bride, but sellers, and let us rather inquire who are those by whom the Bride is found, as she herself states. Those of the present day, though they have indeed inherited the ministry in their place, have not inherited their zeal. All desire to be successors [of the Apostles], few to be imitators of them. Would that they were as watchful in the discharge of the functions of their offices as they are eager in soliciting some dignified appointment. Then they would carefully and watchfully keep her [the Church] who was found by them

and entrusted to their charge ; or rather they would be watchful for their own sakes, nor suffer it to be said of them : My lovers and my friends stand aloof from my sore, and my kinsmen stand afar off (Ps. xxxviii. 1 1). A complaint which is wholly just, and which applies to no period more justly than to our own. It is too little for our watchmen not to watch over us ; they cause us positive and great harm. For they are plunged in a deep slumber, and do not awake even at the thunders of the Divine threatening, nor are stricken with fear even for their own peril. Thence it is that, having no concern for themselves, they have no concern for those under their charge ; they allow them to perish, and perish with them. 3. But who are those watchmen by whom, as the Bride declares, she was found ? They are the Apostles and Apostolic men. These are they who in truth guard the city, that is, the Church in which they are found, and that with so much the greater vigilance as they Digitized by 476 see her struggling in these times against very grave perils of a domestic and internal kind, as it is written : A man's enemies are

the men of his own house (Micah vii. 6). For they do not abandon her, on whose behalf they have resisted even unto blood, or leave her deprived of their help, but protect and guard her by day and night, that is, in their life and even in their death. And if precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His Saints (Ps. cxvi. 1 5), I entertain no doubt that in death they do that with so much the greater ability, as in it their dignity and authority are so greatly strengthened. 4. * You assert these things/ objects someone, ' as if you had seen them with your eyes, but they are altogether beyond the reach of human sight.' To which I reply : If you confide in the witness of your own eyes as faithful, the witness of God is greater. And He says: / have set watchmen on thy watts, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night (Is. lxii, 6). But it is of the Angels, you rejoin, that this is spoken. I do not deny this ; they are all ministering spirits (Heb. i. 14). But who forbids me to think the same of those who in power are not unequal to the Angels themselves, while they are

perhaps as much more favourable to us by their sympathy and kindness as they are more nearly allied to us by nature ?

Add to this that they have endured the same sufferings and miseries in which we are now for a time involved. Will there not, then, be a profound compassion and interest for us aroused in those holy souls, since they doubtless remember that they themselves have passed through similar trials ? Is not that saying theirs in the Psalms : We went through fire and through water, but Thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place (Ps. lxvi. 12). What ? Will they, having passed through, leave us, their sons and their successors, in the midst of the fires and of the floods, nor even deign to stretch out a helping hand to us as we are struggling with dangers ? Not so. It is well with thee, O holy Church, our Mother, it is well with thee even in this place of thy pilgrimage, for help comes to thee both from heaven and from earth. Those who keep thee neither slumber nor sleep. Thy guardians are the holy Angels ; thy watchmen, the spirits and souls of the righteous.

They do not mistake who think that thou art found by each of these orders of spirits, and that by each thou art equally guarded. And to each order there is a special reason for this their care of thee : to the one, that without thee they shall not be made perfect ; to the other, that the fulness of their number will not be made up except from thee. For who does not know that when Satan and his accomplices fell from heaven, the number of the dwellers in heaven was diminished in no small degree ? From thee, then, all these await their consummation : the one order that of their number ; the other, that of their desires.

Understand, then, that the words of the Psalmist apply to thee : The just wait for me until Thou reward me (Ps. cxlii. 8, Douay). 5. Notice, also, that it is not said that she has found them, but rather that they have found her ; and that is, as I think, because that is the task to which they are called. For how shall they preach unless Digitized by Google they be sent? Now, in the Gospels we read that the Lord Himself said to the Apostles : Behold^ I send you forth (Luke x. 3) ; and again : Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature (Mark xvi. 15). Thus it was. She sought the Bridegroom, and to Him that was not unknown ; for it was He who aroused in her mind the desire to seek Him, who bestowed upon her the desire to accomplish the precepts of the law, which is for a training unto life, provided that there was someone to instruct her and to teach her the way of wisdom.

And He sent before her coming those who should plant and should water, that is to say, for her instruction and strengthening in every certitude of truth, and that they should bring her certain news of her Beloved, because He whom her soul truly loves, and whom she is seeking, is the Truth. And, in fact, who is the faithful and true love of the soul but He, in and through whom the soul is made to love the truth ? I am gifted with reason, I am capable of truth ; but it will avail me nothing if I am destitute of love for what is true. Of all these branches, of which the root is in me, He is the fruit. I am not in safety from the severing axe if I am found without Him. It is in Him, without doubt, that I am formed in the image and likeness of God, and am in this more excellent than all other living creatures.

Thence it is that my soul ventures to aspire to the sweet and pure embrace of truth, and thus to rest in the love of Him with the most complete security and perfect sweetness, if only it may find grace in the eyes of a Bridegroom so august, and be found worthy to attain to this great glory, or rather if He will present her to Himself not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing. To how great a judgment, think you, will a man render himself liable, and of how great a punishment will he be worthy, who shall show himself regardless of so precious a gift of God ? But of this let us speak at another time. 6. But now the Bride does not find Him whom she sought, and she herself has been found by those whom she sought not. Let those who do not fear to enter upon the ways of life without teacher or guide listen to this. They consider themselves to be equally disciples, and their own masters, in the spiritual art. Nor is even this enough for them ; blind leaders of the blind, they heap together disciples to themselves. How many have been found to have been thus most perilously drawn aside from the right path ! For as they were ignorant of the snares and devices of Satan, it has followed that those who had begun in the Spirit have finished their course in the flesh, and, being led away, have fallen into shameful and inexcusable excesses.

Let such take care to walk needfully; let them take an example from the Bride, who was unable to attain unto Him whom she longed for until she was met by those whose ministry she availed herself of to gain knowledge of her Beloved ; that is to say, to learn the fear of the Lord. He who hesitates to give his hand to his legitimate teacher gives it to a seducer. And he who sends away his sheep to their pastures without a guardian is a shepherd, not of the sheep, but of wolves.

Digitized by 478 7. But now let us see in what sense the Bride declares herself to have been ' found.' For it seems to me that the word is employed in an unusual meaning, and that she speaks as if the Church had come only from one place ; while, according to the word of the Lord, it came from the east and from the west (Matt. viii. 11), and from all the ends of the world. But neither has the Church been ever assembled unto one place where it might be found by the Apostles or by the Angels, to be directed or conducted unto Him, whom the soul of the Bride loveth. Could it have been found before it was collected? Evidently not, because it did not as yet exist Wherefore if she had said that it was collected, or congregated, or (to use a term more applicable to the Church) gathered together by the preachers [of the Gospel], I should have simply passed that over without making any remark upon it. For they are the co-workers of God, whom also they heard speaking thus : Ht that gathereth not with Me, scattereth abroad (Matt. xii. 30). Nor would it have seemed strange to me if one should say that it was founded or built up by

them. For they have done this in union with Him who says, as we read in the Gospels : Upon this rock I will build My Church (Matt. xvi. 18) ; and, It was founded upon a rock (Matt vii. 25). But now she says none of these things, but, speaking in an unusual manner, says that she has been found, which makes us delay a little, and suspect that there is here some hidden meaning, which we ought to examine with greater care. 8. I wished, I own, to pass it over, and not to engage in an inquiry to which I feel myself not to be equal. But when I remember in how many obscure and difficult passages I have felt myself to be aided, even beyond my hope, when you lifted up your hearts in prayer on my behalf, I am ashamed of my want of faith; and blaming my fear, I undertake, though by no means with confidence, that which I timidly shrunk from. The accustomed help from the Lord will, I trust, not be wanting to me ; and, in any case, the kindliness of my hearers will prevent what I have to say from being altogether without value. But with this the next sermon shall begin ; for the present it is time to

conclude. May He who is the Bridegroom of the Church, Jesus Christ our Lord, grant unto you not only to bear in mind the things which you have heard, but to love them ardently, and effectually to fulfil them in your actions. He is above all, God blessed for ever. Amen. Digitized by Google 479

THAT THE BRIDE, THAT IS TO SAY, THE CHURCH OF THE ELECT, VENTED BY HIS GRACE THAT SHE SHOULD SEEK HIM AND BE WE made a pause, if I remember rightly, at the word found, hearing with a kind of scruple the statement of the Bride that she was found by her preachers. We have stated the causes of our doubt and hesitation, and it seemed to us that here some hidden meaning was to be sought for; but this could not be done at the conclusion of a sermon, which point we had then reached. What remains, then, for us to do, but to fulfil now the promise which we made ? In the exposition of this great mystery, which the Apostle of the Gentiles has interpreted as the holy and chaste union betwixt Christ and His Church (Eph. v. 32), and which is the very work of our salvation, three elements co-operate [and are to be taken into consideration] ; God, the angelic race, and man. Why, indeed, should not God bring about, and take care for, these sacred nuptials of His Beloved Son ? He does so in truth, and with entire willingness.

He would assuredly be sufficient to accomplish it by Himself, and without the least help from these ; nor could they, without Him, effect anything. That He, therefore, has associated them in the work of this ministry is not for the sake of assistance to Himself, but for good to them. For He has placed merit in works, as regards men, according to that saying : The labourer is worthy of his hire (Luke x. 7) ; and, Every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour (1 Cor. iii. 8), whether he who plants in faith, or he who waters that which has been already planted. Now, if God employs the ministry of Angels to conduce to the salvation of men, does He not do it that Angels may be loved by men ? For, that Angels love men is plain, especially from this, that Angels are not unaware of the fact that it is by men the ancient losses of their state are to be repaired and made good. And assuredly it was becoming that the realm of charity should not be ruled by other laws than those of mutual love between those who together are to reign, and by the pure affections of each, both to each other and to God. 2. But there is considerable difference in the manner in which these three causes act, according to the nobleness and dignity of each worker. For God doeth that which He wills, by His volition only ; without stir, without motion, without alteration of place or time, of cause, or person. For He is the Lord of Sabaoth, who orders all things with peaceful and unquestioned power. He is also Wisdom, who sweetly doth order all things (Wisd. xii. 18, and viii. 3).

An Angel acts without stir or agitation, but not without change of Digitized by Google 480 time and place.1 But a man cannot act without stir and eagerness of mind, nor is free, in acting, from movement of body and mind.

For he is bidden to work out his salvation with fear and trembling (Phil. ii. 12), and to eat bread in the sweat of his face (Gen. iiL iq). 3. These things being explained, consider now with me that, in the glorious work of our salvation, there are three things which God, who is the Author of them, reserves unto Himself, and in which He anticipates all those who are helpers and co-workers with Him ; these are predestination, creation, inspiration. Of which predestination had its beginning, I do not say from the founding of the Church, or even from this time or that time, for it is before all time. Creation, again, is coeval with time ; while inspiration takes place in time, when and where God wills. According to predestination, then, there never has been any time when there was not a Church of the elect before the consciousness of God. If the unbeliever wonders at this, let him hear something at which he will wonder still more : that it has always been acceptable to God, and has always been loved by Him. Why should I not speak out boldly that hidden wisdom which has been made known to me from the Heart of God by that revealer of His high designs ? I mean St. Paul,

who has not hesitated to make known this secret which he had drawn, as he had so many others, from the riches of the Divine goodness. He says : Who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ, according as Be hath chosen us in Him before tlie foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love ; and he adds : Having predestinated us unto t/ie adoption of children, by Jesus Christ, to himself, according to t/ie good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved (Eph. i. 3-6). And there is no doubt that these words are spoken with the voice and in the name of all the elect ; and these are the Church. Who, then, even among the blessed spirits, could ever have been able to discover that Church in the deep bosom of the abyss of eternity, before the work of its creation was brought forth into the light of day, unless God, to whom is eternity itself, had chosen to reveal it? 4. But even when, at the command of its Creator, it had appeared, and was seen, under created forms and visible appearances, it was not at once

recognised, either by men or Angels, because it was unfamiliar to them, being shadowed by the earthly likeness of man, and covered with the darkness of death. And not one of the sons of men hath entered into this life without this veil of universal confusion, One only excepted, He who enters it without stain of sin. He is Emmanuel, who, although He has taken from us, and put on for our sakes, the likeness of our sinful flesh, has not taken the reality of our sin. For the Apostle declares that He who appeared in the likeness of sinful prefer temporali, as in the MS. of Citeaux, so as to answer more nearly to the preceding sentence, where it is said that God acts without alteration of place or time (Mabillon's Note).

Digitized by Google flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh (Rom. viii. 3). All the remainder, whether elect or reprobate, have entered this life in the same manner, for there is no distinction ; all have sinned, and all bear the livery1 of the shame of sin. Because of this, therefore, although the Church was already called into being, and existed among created things, yet it could not be found or recognised by any creature, being marvellously hidden, for the time, both within the bosom of a blessed predestination, and within the mass of a miserable condemnation. 5. But [the Church] which Wisdom predestining had hidden from all eternity, and Creative Power had not produced when the world began,2 the Divine Grace, which visits the earth, has in its due time revealed, according to the operation of that which I have named above, inspiration, because it consists of an inbreathing of the Spirit of the Bridegroom into human spirits for a preparation of the Gospel of peace, that is, to prepare a way for the Lord, and for the glory of His Gospel, into the hearts of all those who were predestined unto life, as many as they might be. It would have been in vain that the watchmen had toiled in preaching the Word, if this grace

had not gone before. But now, seeing that the Word of God * runneth very swiftly/ that the people of the nations are with ease turned unto the Lord, that their various tribes and languages concur in the unity of the faith, and that the ends of the earth are collected into the bosom of that one Church, Catholic and apostolic, which is the mother of us all, they have recognised the riches of that grace which was hidden from ages and from generations in the secret of an eternal predestination, and have rejoiced to have found her whom before all ages the Lord had chosen for Himself as His Bride. 6. Thus, then, as I think, it appears plainly not to have been without significance that the Bride declares that she was found by them ; namely, as signifying that [the Church] was collected together, not [self] elected, and found before converted. For the conversion of each of the faithful ought to be attributed to Him, to whom it is necessary for all to say, as in the Psalm : Convert usy O God of out salvation (Ps. lxxxv. 4, Douay, partly). But I cannot, perhaps, apply the term of finding with such propriety to every soul, as the term of conversion. Or, rather, this is the state of

the facts : The Lord cannot be said to find a soul, because He prevents (that is to say, is beforehand with) it ; and prevention excludes finding (inventioncm). What is there for Him to find to whom nothing is at any time unknown ?

The Lord knoweth them that are His, saith one (2 Tim. ii. 19) ; and what does He say Himself? I know whom I have chosen? Plainly He refers to her whom from eternity He had foreknown : whom He chose, and loved, and formed ; and therefore she could not be said to be found by Him. Yet I might safely say that she has been prefesto eduxerat. The sense is the same. 31 f Digitized by Google 482 pared by Him that she might be found. For he that saw bare record, and we know that his record is true (John xix. 35). This is what he says : / John saw the Holy City, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband (Rev. xxi. 2) ; and he was one of the watchmen who guard the city. And hear Him who is the Author and Preparer [of the Church] Himself, [and see Him] pointing her out, as it were, with His Finger to the watchmen, but under another metaphor. Lift up your eyes, He said, and look on the fields, for they are white already to harvest (John iv. 35).

On this account the Lord of the Harvest invites His labourers to the work, when He has seen that all things were prepared, so that without much labour on their part they may be able to pride themselves on being labourers together with God (1 Cor. iii. 9). For what have they to do ? They have to seek the Bride, and, when they have found her, to tell her of her Beloved. For they, because they are the friends of the Bridegroom, do not seek their own glory, but His. And they will not have to labour hard with regard to her, since she is already present, and is seeking Him with the devotion of her whole heart, inasmuch as her will has been prepared by the Lord. 7. Now, even while those watchmen have as yet said nothing to her, she anticipates her preachers, having been herself anticipated, and inquires of them : Saw ye Him whom my soul loveth f (iii. 3).

Rightly, then, has she stated that she was found by those who guard the city, since she knows that she is already foreknown and anticipated by the Lord of the city, and that they find her such as she is, and do not make her so. Cornelius was thus found by Peter, and Paul by Ananias ; but each of them had been previously found and prepared by the Lord. What preparation could be more complete than that of Saul, who had cried with submission, both of heart and voice : Lord, what ivilt Thou have me to do? (Acts ix. 6). Nor was that of Cornelius less, since, by his alms and prayers which the Lord had inspired him to make, he had merited to attain unto the faith (Acts x. 4). Philip also found Nathanael ; but the Lord, who saw him when he was under the fig-tree, had first found him. What was that seeing of him by the Lord but a preparation ? And in the same way it is related that Andrew found his brother Simon ; but that he was both foreseen and it was foreknown by the Lord that he should be called Cephas, which signifies 1 Strong in faith ' (John i. 41, 42, 45, 48). 8. We read of Mary, too, that she was found when she had conceived by the Holy Ghost (Matt. i. 18). I believe that the Bride of the Lord resembles in some degree His Mother in this respect. For unless she also had been found filled with the Holy Ghost, she would not have questioned with such confidence those who found her, respecting Him, whose is the Spirit. She would not have endured that they should have declared to her to what end they had come, but she spake to them herself, and, indeed, out of the fulness of her heart : Saw ye Him whom my soul loveth f She knew that the eyes which had seen Him were blessed, and in her admiration for those Digitized by Google 483 who had had that blessing, she said : 1 Are you not they to whom it has been given to see Him, whom so many prophets and kings desired to see, and have not seen ? Are you not they who have merited to behold Wisdom in the flesh, the Truth in bodily form, God in Man ?

Many there are who say, Lo, He is here, and Lo, He is there ; but I think it safer for me to give credence to you, who have eaten and drank with Him, after He rose from the dead.' I believe what has been said will suffice respecting the inquiry made by the Bride, of the watchmen, but if not, it shall be supplied in another sermon. But even now, and from this, it has been made abundantly clear, that [the Church] has been prevented by the Holy Spirit, and found by them who guard the city, because it is she whom God has foreseen and predestined before all ages, and prepared to be an everlasting joy, throughout eternal ages, to His dear Son, that she may be holy and immaculate in His sight, growing as a lily, and flourishing for ever before the Lord and Father of my Lord Jesus Christ, the Uridegroom of the Church, who is above all, God blessed for evermore. Amen. of the strong and indissoluble love wherewith the soul holds to its lord; also of the return of the bridegroom at the ending of the age, to save the synagogue of the jews.

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

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

Digitized by Google 484 everywhere, and if anyone desires to obtain a knowledge of those things which are read in it, a spirit of love is necessary to him that he may do so. In vain will one who is without love attempt to listen to or read this Song of Love ; the cold heart cannot comprehend or appreciate its language, full of feeling and fire. Just as one who is unacquainted with Greek or with Latin cannot understand a person who speaks in either of those languages, and so with other things, so is it with the language of love ; it is strange and barbarous to one who does not love, and to him will be but as sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal (i Cor. xiii. i). But as they (I mean the watchmen) have received from the Spirit the ability to love, they understand what the Spirit speaks, and are able to respond on the spot to the words of love addressed to them ; and even to respond in the same language, that is, in feelings of affection and acts of kindness. 2. They do, indeed, instruct her so well concerning Him about whom she inquires, and that in a brief time, that she says : // was but a little that 1 passed from them, but I found Him whom my soul loveth.

She says well a little, because their reply to her was brief and comprehensive ; that is, they delivered to her the Creed, which is a concise statement of the Faith. And what follows is in similar terms. It was expedient indeed that the Bride should pass by them, through whom she should learn the truth, but also that she should pass beyond them. And if she had not passed beyond them she would not have found Him whom she sought. And you may be assured that they themselves urged this very thing upon her. For they did not preach themselves, but Christ Jesus their Lord, and He is assuredly both beyond them and above. Wherefore also He says : Come unto Me, all ye that be desirous of Me (Ecclus. xxiv. 19). Nor was it enough to pass to Him, but she is taught to pass through to Him. Because He whom she was seeking had also passed through.

For not only did He pass from death unto life, but He passed through death unto glory. It was indispensable, then, that the Bride should likewise pass through unto Him, otherwise she could not succeed in reaching Him, not having followed His footsteps whithersoever He went. 3. And to explain more clearly what I say : if my Lord Jesus had risen indeed from the dead, but had not ascended into heaven, it could not be said of Him that He had passed through, but only that He had passed away ; and consequently the Bride in seeking Him must pass away from others, but need not pass beyond them. But as, in ascending into heaven, He has passed beyond Resurrection, the Bride says with accuracy, not simply that she has passed, but that she has passed beyond, inasmuch as by faith and devotion she has followed Him even unto the heavens. Therefore to believe the Resurrection is a passing, but to believe the Ascension is a passing beyond. And perhaps she knew the one and did not know the other (which I remember that I said one day when I was treating the subject1). Therefore, having been instructed by them in that which Digitized by Google 485 was wanting to her, namely, that He who had risen from the dead had also ascended into heaven, she also has thither ascended, that is, has passed beyond Tthis sphere of outward things], and has found Him (Heb. iv. 14, and compare Collect for Ascension Day in the Common Prayer Book of Church of England). How could she fail to do so, when arising in heart and mind1 unto the place where He is in body ? // was but a little that I passed from them. Rightly does she say from them ; for our Head has preceded and transcended in two respects both His apostles, and all other His members who are upon the earth ; that is to say, by His Resurrection (as I have already mentioned) and by His Ascension. And yet in each case Christ is the first-fruits. He has gone before, and our faith has gone before also. Where has it not followed Him ? If He has ascended into heaven, it is there ; if He has gone down into hell, it is there also ; and if He has taken wings with the morning, and dwelt in the utmost parts of the sea, even there, it declares to Him, shall Thy Hand lead me, and Thy Right Hand shall hold me (Ps. cxxxix. 8-10).

And, finally, is it not according to this faith that He, the Father of the Bridegroom, He, who is supremely Powerful and supremely good, has raised us up, and made us to sit at His Right Hand?2 So far to explain what the Church has said : / passed beyond them : because she has passed beyond her own self in abiding, by her faith, in regions whither she has not as yet attained in fact. I think that it is now clear why she has said, ' I have passed beyond,' rather than said simply * I have passed.' Let us now go on to the words which follow. 4. / held Him, and would not let Him go, until I had brought Him into my mother's house, and into the chamber of her that conceived me.

Thus it is that from that time and thenceforward, the people of Christ have never been without either faith upon the earth or charity within the Church. Floods have come, and winds have raged, and beat upon it, and it has not fallen, for it was founded upon a rock (Matt, vii. 25). That Rock is Christ. Therefore neither the wordy diatribes of philosophers, nor the cavils of heretics, nor the swords of persecutors, have ever been able, nor shall they ever be able, to separate it from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus (Rom. viii. 39), so strongly does the Church hold to Him whom her soul loveth, so firmly convinced is she that it is good to hold fast to God. * Good it is,' says the prophet Isaiah, 'for the soldering.'3 What is more tenacious than this solder, which is not dissolved by water, nor parted by winds, nor even severed by sword strokes ? For many waters, we are told, cannot quench love (Cant. viii. 7). / held Him, and would not let Him go. And the holy Patriarch also said : / will not let Thee go, unless Thou bless me (Gen. xxxii. 26). She also will not let Him go, and perhaps her attachment is stronger than that of the Patriarch, for not even for the sake of a benediction can she consent * Is. xli. 7, not used in a literal sense.

Digitized by Google d 486 to part with Him. ' I desire/ she says, c not even Thy benediction, but Thee.' Whom have I in heaven but Thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside Thee (Ps. lxxiii. 25). I will not let Thee go, even if Thou hast given me Thy blessing. 5. I held Him, and would not let Him go. Nor does He, perhaps, desire less to be held, for He says : My delights were with the sons of men (Prov. viii. 31), and in the Gospel He gives the promise: Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world (Matt xxviii. 20).

What bond of union is stronger than that which is compacted by the perfect and earnest willingness of the two who are parties to it ? / held Him, she declares. But, nevertheless, she is held fast in return by Him whom she holds, as in another place she says to Him : Thou hast holden me by my right hand (Ps. lxxiii. 24). And she who holds and is holden, how can she possibly fall ? She holds to the Lord by the firmness of her faith, by the fervency of her devotion. But yet she could not long hold fast to Him, were she not also held by Him.

It is the power and the mercy of the Lord by which she is held. J held Him, and would not let Him go, until I had brought Him into my mother's house, and into the chamber of her that conceived me. Great is the charity of the Church, inasmuch as she does not grudge her choicest delights even to her rival, which is the Synagogue. What goodness can be greater than to be prepared to communicate even to her enemy, Him whom her soul loves ? And yet it is not wonderful, inasmuch as salvation is of the Jews (John iv. 22). To the place whence He came forth, let the Saviour return, that the remnant of Israel may be saved (Rom. ix. 27). Let not the branches be ungrateful to the root, nor the children to their mother. Let not the branches grudge to the root the sap which they themselves have derived from it, nor the children grudge to their mother the milk which they have drawn from her bosom. Let the Church hold firmly the salvation which Judaea has lost ; let her hold it fast, until the fulness of the Gentiles become in, and so all Israel shall be saved (Rom. xi. 25, 26).

She would wish to come in common to the common salvation, which is partaken by all, in such a manner, that no part is taken away from any. This she does, and more. What more ? She chooses the name and the grace of His Bride. This is over and above the gift of salvation. 6. This degree of charity would be incredible, were it not that the words of the Bride, here recorded, compel us to believe it. For she has said, if you have noticed, that she wishes to bring Him to whom she holds so closely, not only into the house, but into the chamber, of her mother, which is the sign of a singular prerogative. It would be sufficient for salvation that He should enter the house ; but that He enters into the secret of the chamber is a sign of special grace. This day, saith the Lord, is salvation come unto this house (Luke xix. 9).

When the Saviour had entered the house, how could it be otherwise than that those of the house should be saved ? But she that merits to receive Him in the chamber has for her part His secret gift Digitized by Google 487 Salvation is for the whole house, but the higher and sweeter gifts are reserved for those, for whom they are prepared by the Father. Until I had brought Him into my motliers house, she says. Of what house does she speak, but of that of which the Lord had foretold to the Jews : Behold, your house is left unto you desolate ? (Luke xiii. 35). He has done what He had said, according to His declaration made by a prophet : I have forsaken Mine house, I have left Mine heritage (Jer. xii. 7); and now the Bride promises to bring Him back to it, and to restore to her mothers house its lost salvation. And as if even this were a little thing, hear what a promise of good she adds thereto : And into the chamber of her that conceived me. He who enters into the marriage chamber is the Bridegroom. Great is the power of love ! The Saviour had gone forth from His home and from His heritage with indignation and wrath

; and now He is so far turned from the fierceness of His anger, so won to forgiveness and grace, as to return not only as a Saviour, but as a Bridegroom. O daughter [of this house], blessed art thou from the Lord, who dost quench the indignation, and restore the heritage. Blessed art thou of thy mother, for it is by thy good deed that the wrath of the Lord is turned away, that salvation is brought back to her ; that He is brought back who says to her : / am thy Salvation (Ps. xxxv. 3). Nor is even this enough, for He adds : / will betroth thee unto Me for ever: yea, I will betroth thee unto Me in righteousness , and in judgment, and in loving kindness, and in mercies (Hos. ii. 19). But remember that she who wins these kindnesses for her mother is the Bride. How can she be willing to yield her Bridegroom, and such a Bridegroom, to another; nay, desire to do so ? But it is not to be understood thus. It is as a good daughter that she desires this great good for her mother, yet not to give it up, but to communicate it. It is sufficient for both ; and, indeed, they are not two, but

one in Christ. For He is our Peace, who has made both one ; that there may be one Bride, and one Bridegroom, Jesus Christ our Lord, who is above all, God blessed for ever. Amen.

AN ACUTE AND PROFOUND ARGUMENT RESPECTING THE IMAGE OR WORD OF GOD, AND THE SOUL, WHICH IS CREATED IN THAT IMAGE : AND CONCERNING THE ERROR OF GILBERT, BISHOP OF SOME of you, as I have learned, find a reason for discontent, because, while I have for some days past taken pleasure in occupying you with the profound and wonderful mysteries contained in the words of the Bride, the discourses which I have delivered to you have been too little seasoned with moral reflections, in which Gilbert was condemned. Digitized by Google M 488 or even altogether without them. That is indeed different from my usual custom. But permit me to return again to those subjects which I have already expounded. For I cannot proceed without taking a brief retrospect of these. Tell me, then, if you remember, from what part of the Scripture it was that I began to deprive you of this satisfaction that you desire, that so I may commence afresh from that point.

It is my task to repair your loss, or, rather, I trust to the Lord, in dependence upon whom I do all things, that He will do so. From what point, then, shall I begin again ? From this verse, if I do not mistake : On my bed I sought Htm whom my soul loveth. From that verse and henceforward my one endeavour was to disperse the dense cloud of mystery in which these allegories were enveloped, and to bring forth into the light of knowledge the sacred and mysterious joys of Christ and His Church. But now let us go back and seek out the moral senses of these words. That which may be for your benefit cannot be disagreeable to me. And this will be done with considerable fitness, if we apply what has been said of Christ and the Church in a similar way to the Word of God and the soul. 2. But someone will say to me: 'Why do you join these two together ? What relation is there between the Word and the soul ?' Much in every way. In the first place, there is so close an affinity between the nature of the One and that of the other, that the One is the Image and Likeness of God, the other made after that image.

In the second place, the resemblance that is between them is a witness of that affinity. For the soul has been created, not only after the image, but in the likeness of it. Do you ask, In what respects is it like ? Listen first, and hear in what respects it is in the Image of the Word. The Word is truth, and wisdom, and righteousness, and these constitute the image. Of what is it the image ? Of [Him who is] Truth, and Wisdom, and Righteousness. He who is the Image is, then, Righteousness of Righteousness, Wisdom of Wisdom, Truth of Truth, yea, Light of Light, and in a word, God of God None of these can be predicated of the soul, because it is not [at the present] the Image of God. But it is capable of these excellences, and desirous of them, and, therefore, perhaps is shown to be in the image of the Word. It is of creatures the loftiest, since it is capable of that greatness, and the desire it feels for that is a mark of its uprightness. For we read that God made man upright (Eccles. vii. 29) ; and as for his greatness, his capacity, as has been said, is a conclusive proof of it. For it is of necessity that he

who is in a certain image should be in conformity with that image, and not merely share in the empty name of the image ; inasmuch as the archetypal Being Himself bears not His Name simply for the name's sake, but because it is expressive of His attributes. But you are told of Him who is the Image of that archetypal Being, that He was in the Form of God, and thought it not robbery to be equal with God (Phil. ii. 6). You see that His uprightness is shown by His being in the Form of God, and His greatness by His equality with Him ; so Digitized by Google 489 that uprightness being compared with uprightness, and greatness with greatness, it becomes manifest that the Image, and that which is made in that image [i.e., the soul], correspond in one of these respects ; while the Image, and that Being of whom He is the Image, correspond in both. For it is He of whom you have heard holy David sing in a Psalm : Great is our Lord, and of great power (Ps. cxlvii. 5) ; and again, The Lord is upright . . . and there is no unrighteousness in Him (Ps. xcii. 15). Of that great and righteous God He is the Image, so that

He is great, and He is righteous ; and it is from Him that the soul, that is made in His image, has its likeness. 3. But I inquire : Has He who is the Image of God nothing more than the soul which is made in His likeness, for we ascribe to it also to be great and to be righteous ? Assuredly, there is a very great difference. The one has received those qualities in a measure : the other has them according to His equality [with the Father]. Is there not still another difference ? There is this : Upon the one either creation or condescending goodness has conferred them : but they belong to the other by His generation. And there is no doubt that this is a sign of far higher dignity. No one can fail to see that the one receives these qualities only by the bounty of God ; but the Other has from God His very Nature and Substance, which is a condition far more exalted. For the Image of God is consubstantial with Him ; and all that He appears to communicate to the same Image of Him is Essential to Both, not accidental. Notice also still another particular in which He who is the Image of God is immeasurably superior.

To be great and to be righteous ; who does not know that those two qualities are distinct in their nature ? Yet in Him they are but one. And even more : they are one with Him. Not only is it with Him the same thing to be righteous and to be great, but His greatness and His righteousness are no other than His Being. It is not thus with the soul. Its greatness and its righteousness are both distinct from itself and distinct from each other. For if, as I have said above, the soul is great because it is capable of things eternal, and righteous because it yearns for the goodness everlasting, then the soul which does not desire nor seek for the things which are above, but those which are upon the earth, is not upright, but is bent downwards, and so ceases to be always great, though it remains always capable of eternal existence. For even if the soul should never receive it, it will always retain this capability ; and thus the saying of the Scripture is realized, Surely man passeth as an image (Ps. xxxviii. 7, Douay), yet only in part, so that the immeasurable superiority of the Word, as possessing these qualities in their completeness, may clearly appear. For how is it

possible that the Word should fall from being righteous and great, since He is Himself greatness and righteousness?

Man, on the contrary, possesses these qualities in part, lest if he were wholly deprived of them, no hope of salvation should remain to him.

For if [the soul] should cease to be great, it would cease also to be 49o capable of salvation, inasmuch as it is from this capacity, as I have said, that its greatness is derived. How, then, could it possibly hope for that which it was not capable of receiving ? 4. It is, then, by the greatness which it still retains, even after having lost its righteousness, that man passes through this world in the image [of the Word] ; only he limps (so to speak) on one foot as he walks, and he has become an alienated son. For of such it was, I think, that these words were spoken : The children that are strangers have lied unto me, strange children have faded away, and have halted from their paths (Ps. xviii. 46, Douay). With great fitness are they styled strange children ; for they are children, because they have re tained that which made them great ; and yet they are strange, because of the loss of their original righteousness. Nor would he have said have halted^ but 'have fallen/ or something like that, if they had divested themselves entirely of the image in which men were made.

So then, now, man passes through the world in the image of the Word so far as relates to greatness ; but as relates to righteousness, he, so to speak, halts ; he is troubled and despoiled of that image ; and the Scripture speaks thus of him : Every man walketh in a vain shew ; surely they are disquieted in vain. Altogether in vain, for it goes on to say : He heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them (Ps. xxxix. 6). And why is he ignorant, except that he bends down towards things low and earthly, and treasures up for himself nothing but earth ? He does not know in the least for whom he is gathering those things which he confides to the earth, whether for the moths to devour, or for thieves to break through and steal, for robbers to pillage, or for fire to destroy. And therefore it is in the person of that unhappy man who contorts himself towards the ground, and broods over none but earthly things, that the melancholy declaration is made in the Psalms : I am troubled ; J am bmved down greatly ; I go mourning all the day long (Ps. xxxviii. 6). He has experience in himself of the truth in that saying of the Wise Man : God hath made man upright ; but they have sought out many inventions (Eccles. vii. 29).

And at once the voice of ridicule is addressed to him : Ban* down, that we may go over (Is. li. 23). 5. But how have we arrived at this point ? Was it not thus, that we wished to show that greatness and righteousness (which are the two excellences that we had determined to be in the Image of God) are not one in the soul and with the soul, as we have shown it to be of faith that they are one in the Word and with the Word. And as to righteousness, it is quite plain from what has been said, that it is distinct both from the soul itself and from the greatness of the soul, since even when it no longer exists, the soul endures, and is still great. But in what way shall it be shown that the greatness of the soul is distinct from the soul itself? For this cannot be done in the same manner in which the distinction between the soul and its righteousness was demonstrated ; the soul cannot be deprived of its greatness as it may be of its righteousness. Yet the greatness of the Digitized by Google soul is not the soul itself ; for although the soul is not found without its greatness, yet the greatness itself is found also without (extra, beyond) the soul. Do you ask where? In the Angels. For the Angels are great in the same manner as the soul, namely, by the capacity they have for things eternal. It has been shown clearly that the soul is distinct from its righteousness, because it may be deprived of that righteousness ; why, then, should it not be distinct from its greatness, which it cannot claim to be exclusively its own ? If, then, the one of these qualities is not in every soul, and the other is not found in the soul alone, it is plain that both the one and the other is distinct from the soul. Also, no form is that of which it is the form.

Now, the greatness of the soul is its form. For it cannot be said not to be the form of the soul because it is inseparable from it. All differences of substance are of this nature, not only those which are so proper to one thing that they cannot belong to any other, but also certain others which are common to many natures. The soul, then, is not [the same as] its greatness, even as the blackness of a crow is not the crow, nor the whiteness of snow the snow, nor the faculty of reason or of risibility is the man who possesses them ; and yet you will never find a crow without blackness, snow without whiteness, nor a man without the faculty of reason or of risibility. Thus also the soul and the greatness of the soul, although inseparable, are distinct from each other. How can they be otherwise than distinct, when the one is in the subject [in which it inheres], and the other is the subject and the substance ? The only Nature which is supreme and uncreate, that is, God the Holy Trinity, possesses for Itself alone this pure, and unique simplicity of Essence, that there is not found in it one thing and another thing, here and there, one time and another time.

For it abides in its own Self, It is all that It has, and what It is ; It exists always, and in a manner unchanging and unchanged. All that in other natures is separated or different, is in it united and rendered alike, so that in It, number does not cause plurality, nor diversity change. It contains all places, and not being contained in any, sets in due order all things, each in its place. Beneath it pass all times ; it is not subject to them. The future it does not await ; it does not hold anything in remembrance as past, nor experience any as being present. 6. Let us withdraw ourselves, beloved, let us withdraw ourselves from those teachers of novelties, not dialecticians, but heretics, who, in their extreme impiety, argue that the greatness in which God is great, the goodness in which He is good, the wisdom in which He is wise, and the righteousness in which He is righteous, and lastly, the Divinity in which He is God, is not God. ' He is God/ they say, condescend to be God, because it is so great that it makes God to be what He is.' But if It is not God, what is It? For either It is God, or something which is not

God, or It is nothing at all. Now, you do not allow that It is God ; you do not pretend, I suppose, that It is Digitized by 492 nothing ; then you confess that It is so necessary to God, that without It He could not be God, but that by It He is [that which He is].

If, then, there be something which is not God, either it will be less than He, or greater than He, or equal. But how can it be less than He, seeing that it is by it He is God ? It remains, then, that you should allow it to be either greater than He, or equal. But if it be greater, then It and not God is the Supreme Good ; while if it be equal, there are two, each of which is the Supreme Good ; and either conclusion is contrary to the Catholic Faith. We are of the same opinion respecting the greatness, the goodness, the righteousness, the wisdom of God, as respecting His Divinity, and I hold that they are all one in God and with God. For He is good from no other source or reason than that which makes Him great ; nor is He otherwise righteous and wise than He is great and good ; nor, in fact, is there any other source or reason for any of His attributes than there is for His Divinity. He is in His own Self the Source of all. 7. But the heretic says : 'What? Do you deny that He is God by His Divinity ?' No ; but I maintain that the same Divinity by

which He is God is God Himself, that I may not be obliged to allow that there is anything more excellent than God. For I say also that He is great by greatness, but is Himself that greatness, that I may not rank anything as greater than God. And I confess that He is good by goodness, but that this goodness is no other than Himself, that I may not seem to recognise anything as better than He ; and so with all other attributes. It is with gladness and confidence that I am going onward in the path of truth, that I adopt the conclusion of him who said : 4 God is great with no other greatness than that which He Himself is ; for otherwise that greatness would be greater than God.' This was Augustine, the strongest hammer who has ever crushed heretics.1 If, then, any such thing may be properly said of God, it may more fitly and correctly be asserted that God is greatness, goodness, righteousness, wisdom, than to say God is great, good, righteous, or wise. 8. For this reason it was that in the Council lately held at Rheims by Pope Eugenius, that exposition made by Gilbert, Bishop of Poictiers, in his comment upon the words of Boethius' De Trinitate, which are themselves

perfectly sound and orthodox, was deservedly adjudged by the Pope and the other Bishops to be perverse and altogether suspicious. For the Bishop commented upon them thus : He is true ; the Holy Ghost is Truth, that is, He is true. And these Three together are not three truths, but one Truth ; that is to say, One Being who is true/ O explanation obscure and perverse ! How much more appropriate and true it would be to say, on the contrary : ' The Father is true, that is, He is Truth ; the Son is true, that is, He is Truth ; the Holy Ghost is true, that is, He is Truth. And these Three are One Being who is true, that is, They are One Truth.1 Digitized by Google 493 Which, indeed, he would have done had he deigned to imitate holy Fulgentius, who says : 1 One only Truth of One God, or rather one Truth which is One God, does not allow the service and the worship which is due to the Creator to be rendered to a creature* {Lib. de Fide Orthod. ad Donate cap. 5). He was a good defender of the faith who spoke so truly of the Truth, who had opinions so pious and Catholic respecting the true and pure

simplicity of the Divine Substance, in which there can be nothing which is not Itself, and Itself is God. That book of the Bishop beforenamed contained other passages which differed from the rectitude of the faith, one of which I will quote as an example. For where his author (Boethius) says : commentator adds : ' Not what the Substance is, but by what It is/ But God forbid that the Church Catholic should assent to that proposition that there is any substance or anything at all by which God is, and which is not God. 9. But it is not against him personally that I say these things, since he, in the same Council, acquiescing humbly in the opinion of the other Bishops, has condemned with his own mouth both these and other statements which were found worthy of blame; but on account of those persons who are said to be still perusing and transcribing that book, against the apostolical prohibition promulgated at the same place, and who persist obstinately in following that Bishop in opinions which he has himself abandoned, preferring to have him for a master in his error, rather than in the correction of it And we have spoken not only for them, but on your account I have thought it desirable to make this digression,

taking occasion from our having to consider the difference between the Image [of the Word] and the soul which has been made in that Image, so that those who perhaps may at some time have drunk of those stolen waters, and have thought them pleasant (Prov. ix. 17), may reject them by the taking of this antidote, and, being purged in the stomach of their soul, may listen to that which remains to be said, according to my promise, of the resemblance of the soul to the Word. Thus they shall draw with joy from purer fountains ; not mine, but those of the Saviour, the Bridegroom of the Church, Jesus Christ our Lord, who is above all, God blessed for ever. Amen. Digitized by 494

OF THE SIMILARITY AND LIKENESS OF THE SOUL TO THE WORD, IN RESPECT OF ITS IDENTITY OF ESSENCE, ITS IMMORTALITY OF IT was not without good reason that the inquiry was made in the last discourse, what affinity there was between the human soul and the Word. For what can there be in common between a Majesty so great and a poverty so extreme, that a greatness which is so exalted and a lowliness so humble should be said to be associated, as if upon an equality, in the manner and with the love of a pair who are espoused to each other ? For if we assert this with truth, then great is the reason for rejoicing and confidence ; but if falsely, then ours is an audacity to be greatly punished. And therefore it was necessary to inquire what was the affinity between these two, which, indeed, we have already ascertained in many respects, but not altogether.

For who is so undiscerning as not to see the correspondence between the image and that which is formed after the pattern of that image ? We have shown in the sermon of yesterday, if you remember, both that the Word is the Image of God and that the soul is made in that image. And we have proved in that also the close relation between the soul and that Image of God, since not only is it made in that image, but also after the likeness of it. But we have not yet declared in every particular that in which this likeness principally consists. Let us now address ourselves to this task, so that the soul, recognising more fully what its origin is, may be filled with a noble shame to degenerate from it by an unworthy manner of living, or, rather, that it may study with earnest care what it shall recognise as being corrupted in itself by sin, and thus ruling itself by the help of God in a manner worthy of its origin, may be enabled to draw near with modest confidence to communion with the ^ ord. 2. Let it recognise, then, that from this original Divine likeness it draws a natural simplicity of substance, by which to be is to it the same as

to live, although not always to live well or happily ; and in this it has a likeness to the Image of the Word, though not an equality with It. This is a degree of relationship, but only a degree. That to live should be synonymous with living in perfect goodness and happiness is the supreme height of moral greatness, and to this height it does not attain. If, then, the Word, because of His greatness, has this unique prerogative, and the soul, because of its likeness to the Word, has the attribute that for it to exist is to have life, though it does not attain to the lofty perfectness of the Word, yet the affinity of natures, and the privilege of the soul, are manifest herein. To express this more clearly : It is in God alone that * to live ' is the same as * to live in perfect goodness and happiness,' and He is the Essence Digitized by Google THE SIMILARITY AND LIKENESS OF THE SOUL TO THE WORD 495 absolutely pure and absolutely Eternal. The second degree is that in which 'to exist is to have life'; this is the condition of the soul, and this is to be like unto God. From that degree, though a lower one, it is possible to ascend,

not only to the life of goodness, but also to that of happiness ; not that, even for the soul that has attained to it, existence and goodness are one and the same, because, although the Word glorifies it by His likeness, the disparity that ever exists between Him and it obliges it to say : Lord, who is like unto Thee ? (Ps. xxxv. 10). Yet it is for the soul a promotion of extreme value, because from it, and from it alone, is it possible to ascend unto the life of blessedness. 3. There are two classes of beings which have life : those who are conscious of it, and those who are not conscious. The former rank above the latter, and above both the one and the other are those in whom life and thought are the same. Life, and that which lives, are not in the same degree ; much less are life, and those which live not.

Life is, indeed, the soul which is living ; but it lives not other whence than from itself, and on this account we speak of it with propriety, not so much as living as being itself life. Thus it follows that the soul, when infused into a body, gives life to it ; but that body does not, by the presence of life in it, become itself life, but living. From whence it clearly .appears that it is not the same thing even to a living body to exist and to live, since it may exist and yet not live. Much less shall those things which are without life rise into this rank. It does not even follow that everything which is said to have life, or which has it in fact, will be able forthwith to attain to this point There is a life of the lower animals, and a life of trees ; the former has consciousness, the latter is without it. Yet in neither is it the same thing to exist and to live, since, according to the opinion of many persons,1 their life has been in the elements before it was in the limbs of the one class, or the branches of the other. And, according to this view, when their life ceases to animate them, they cease to live, but they do not cease to exist. They are equally unloosed and dissolved, as if they were not merely bound together, but intertwined.2 For the life of these things is not simple in its nature, but compounded out of many elements. And therefore it is not reduced to nothingness, but separated into parts, of which each returns to that whence it had its origin ; for example, that which is of an airy nature to the air, that of a fiery nature to the fire, and the rest in like manner. To this kind of life, then, it is by no means the same thing to exist and to live, since when it does not live, it still exists. 4. Now, none of these things in which that is the case, can ever progress or rise into that higher life of goodness and blessedness, since they have not been able to attain even that grade which is below it. The soul of man alone can reach that higher life, inasmuch as it is not quite clear. — Ed.

Digitized by 496 is seen to have been constituted as life by Him who is the Life, simple [in its nature], by Him who is simple in His Essence, as He is Infinite, and immortal by Him who is Immortal ; so that it is not far from the supreme degree in which existence is identical with perfect happiness, in which He dwells for ever who alone is infinitely Blessed and infinitely Powerful, who is King of kings and Lord of lords. The soul, then, has received, by the condition in which it is, the power of attaining blessedness, though it is not now blessed ; and to that supreme grade it is advancing as much as it is able to do, yet without reaching it. For, as we have already said, even when it shall attain blessedness, yet that blessedness will not be to it the same thing as its life. We allow to it a resemblance ; we deny to it equality. For example, God is Life ; the soul also is life ; it is, then, like unto God, but it is not equal to Him. It is like unto Him, because it is life ; and its life is in itself, because it is not only living, but also lifegiving (vivens, vknficans\ as also He is Himself all these things. But yet to Him it is unequal, inasmuch as a creature is unequal to its Creator. It is wholly unequal, inasmuch as neither would it have existed if it had not been created by Him, nor would it live unless He bestowed life upon it.

It would not live, I say ; that is, in the spiritual life, not the natural. For it lives immortally in the natural life, and that necessarily, even though spiritually it does not live. But of what kind is that life, in which it would be better not to have been born, than not to have the power to die ? It is rather death than life, and that a death the more cruel, as it is the effect of sin, not of nature. For the death of the wicked is very evil (Ps. xxxiv. 22, Douay). The soul, then, which lives according to the flesh is dead while it lives, since it were good for it not to live at all rather than to live in such a manner. And, indeed, from that living death it can have no resurrection ever, except through the word of life ; or, rather, through Him who is the Word, who is the Life, and bestows life. 5. But, farther, the soul is immortal ; and in this respect also it is like unto the Word, but not equal to Him. For the immortality of the Divine Nature is so far above, and surpassing every other, that the Apostle says of God : Who only hath immortality (1 Tim. vi. 16).

Which is spoken of Him, as I think, because He alone is unchangeable in and by His Nature who says \ I am the Lord ; J change not (Mai. iii. 6). For the immortality which is true and perfect is no more susceptible of change than it is of ending, since every change is a likeness of death, and an anticipation of it. Everything which changes, in passing from one state to another, necessarily dies, so to speak, to that which it is, in order to begin to be that which it is not If, then, there are as many deaths as there are changes, where is the immortality ? And to this vanity everything created is made subject, not willingly, but by reason of Him who hath subjected the same in hope (Rom. viii. 20). And yet the soul is immortal, because its life is in itself, and as it cannot fall away from itself, so it cannot fall away from its life. But since it is plain that in thoughts and Digitized by Google THE SIMILARITY AND LIKENESS OF THE SOUL TO THE WORD 497 feelings it is subject to change, while it recognises in its immortality its likeness to God, it ought also to recognise how far, indeed, it falls short in comparison with Him to

whom alone complete and perfect immortality belongs, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning (James i. 17). Yet the present discussion has shown that the dignity of 'the soul is by no means small, since it appears to draw near to the nature of the Word in two respects : in the simplicity of its essence, and the endlessness of its life. 6. But there is still another resemblance which occurs to me, and which I will by no means pass over, for it contributes no less than the other particulars to the greatness of the soul, and perhaps renders it even more like unto the Word. This is Freedom of the Will, a quality plainly Divine, and which shines forth in the soul like a jewel set in gold. It is by this that there is in the soul the power of distinguishing and the freedom of choosing between good and evil, that is, between life and death, between light and darkness, and other things similarly opposed, which present themselves before the consciousness of the soul. That eye of the soul is a close discerner and authoritative judge between opposed alternatives ; as a clear-sighted observer it discerns, as a free and independent judge it decides. On this account its decision is said to be free, because

it is open to be influenced by the determination of the will, and can carry out the decision when made, into action. Thence also is man capable of merit. For every action done by you, and which you were free to do or to leave undone, is rightly imputed to you for merit or demerit, according as it is good or evil. And as a person is rightly praised, both he who, having it in his power to do evil, has not done it, and he who, being free not to do good, has, nevertheless, done it ; so also a person is justly blamed who, being able not to do evil actions, has done them, or to do good ones, has not done them. For where there is no liberty of action there is no merit. On this account it is that animals, which are without reason, have likewise no merit, because they are wanting both in freedom [of will] and in the power of deliberation and judgment. They are directed by the leadings of their senses, carried away by their impulses, and are under l\ dominion of their appetites. For they have not the power of judgment, by which to reflect upon their actions or control them ; nor, indeed, have they the faculty of forming a judgment,

that is, reason ; and they are not judged, because they are not capable of forming a judgment. How can creatures who have not received the gift of reason be reasonably called to account for their actions ? 7. Man alone is not put under a constraint by his nature, and therefore man alone among living beings is free. And yet he also, by the intervention of sin, suffers a kind of violent constraint ; but this arises not from his nature, but from his own will, and he is not thereby deprived of the liberty which is natural to him. For that which is done voluntarily is done freely. And, indeed, it is by sin if is brought about that the corruptible body weighs upon the soul ; but 32 Digitized by Google 498 this is not by its own weight, but by its love for that which is amiss.

For that the soul which was capable of falling by its own action is not capable of rising again by its own action is the fault of the will, which, being weakened and prostrated by the corrupted and vicious affections of the corrupt body, is no longer capable of an equal love for righteousness. And thus, I know not how, it happens that the will, having fallen by sin into a state so changed and miserable, imposes upon itself a strange and sad necessity, and that of such a kind, that being voluntary, it forms no excuse for the will, while the will, being led away by the false good which attracts it, has no power of resisting the necessity, a voluntary necessity, if it may be so called.

For there is a pleasing violence, which overcomes by flattering, and flatters while overcoming ; and then the will, become a traitor to itself, and having once consented to that which is evil, is no longer able to free itself by its own strength, yet can found no reasonable excuse upon its own weakness. From thence comes that complaint of one who groaned under the yoke of that necessity : O Lord^ I am oppressed : undertake for me (Is. xxxviii. 14). But knowing, on the other hand, that he could not justly make complaint against the Lord, when it was his own will that was in fault, take notice of what he adds : What shall I say, or what shall He answer for me, when I myself have done it P1 He was weighed down by a heavy yoke, but it was the yoke of a voluntary servitude ; and that servitude excited pity, but the assent of his will to it rendered it inexcusable. For it was the will which, when it was free, made itself the slave of sin by consenting to sin, and it was also the will which, by submitting itself to sin, made the servitude a willing one. 8. Some one, perhaps, will thus reply to me : 4 Take heed of what you say. Do you call that voluntary, which it is plain to all the world is done under constraint ? It is true that the will has rendered itself subject, but it does not remain in that state of subjection willingly ; it is held captive in spite of itself.' Very good ; you allow at least that it is held captive. But consider that it is the will of which you say this. Do you assert, then, that the will is not willing ?

But the will is not constrained against itself. It is not will at all unless it wills. The word expresses the action of one who exercises a power of determining, not of one who has no such power to exercise. If the will is constrained willingly it constrains itself. What, then, shall it answer, or what excuse shall it make to God, since its action is its own ? What has it done ? It has made itself a servant. Wherefore it is said : Whosoever eommitteth sin is the servant of sin (John viii. 34). On this account, when it has sinned (and it has sinned when it has determined to obey a sinful impulse) it has made itself a servant of sin. But it becomes free if it no longer does the bidding of sin. But while it chooses to abide in the same servitude it goes on following the temptation to sin. Yet it is not retained in of each of these varieties of reading in Sermon de £Hversisl iiL, nn. 5, 6.

Digitized by Google THE SIMILARITY AND LIKENESS OF THE SOUL TO THE WORD 499 bondage unwillingly, from the very fact that it is the will. If, then, it has made itself a slave voluntarily, it is also voluntarily that it remains in its bondage. What, then, shall it reply in excuse for itself, since its servitude (and this is always to be borne in mind) has been, and is, its own doing. 9. ' But you will not make me disbelieve ' (says an objector) ' in the necessity under which I labour, which I experience in my own self, and against which I continually struggle.' Where, then, I ask, do you feel this constraint ? Is it not in your will ? You do ndt, then, will with too little strength what you will of necessity. You will strongly what you are unable not to will, whatever strength of resistance you exert. Now, where there is the power to will, there is liberty. And in saying this I refer to the liberty which is by nature, not that which is spiritual and by grace ; namely, that liberty wherewith, as says the Apostle, Christ hath made us free (Gal. v. i). And the same Apostle, speaking of that liberty, says : Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there

is liberty (2 Cor. iii. 17). It is thus that the soul is at the same time free, and enslaved by this necessity which, as unhappily as strangely, is voluntarily incurred ; free, by the possession of the power of will, and enslaved, by the pressure of necessity. And farther, which is at once stranger and more deplorable, it is guilty because it is free, and a slave because it is guilty ; and thus by a strange paradox is a slave because it is free. Unhappy man that I am, who shall deliver me from this servitude so shameful ? Unhappy I am indeed ; but I am free. Free, because I am a man ; unhappy, because a slave. Free, because I am in the likeness of God ; unhappy, because I am contrary to Him. O Thou Preserver of men! why hast Thou set me as a mark against Thee ? (Job vii. 20). For indeed Thou hast in a sense done that, the doing of which Thou hast not hindered. But, in other respects, it is I who have set myself where I am, so that I am a burden to myself {Ibid,). It is indeed most just and right that he who is Thy enemy should be mine also, and that he who opposes Thee

should oppose me too. In truth, I have become contrary to Thee and to my own self also, and I find in my members a revolt against my own soul and against Thy law.

Who shall set me free from my own hands ? That which I would, that do I not ; and it is not another person, but my own self, who hinders me. So also that which I hate, that do I ; and it is no other person, but my own self, who obliges me to do it. I would that this prevention on the one hand, and this compulsion on the other, were so violent that my actions ceased to be voluntary, for then perhaps I might be excused ; or that it were so far voluntary that it was not violent, for so perhaps I might be corrected. But now no opening for escape appears on either side for me unhappy, whom, on the one hand, the assent of my will renders, as I have said, inexcusable ; and on the other, necessity renders incapable of being corrected. Who shall deliver me from the hands of a sinner, from the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man ? (Ps. lxxi. 4). Digitized by Google i a Someone asks me, perhaps, * Of whom am I complaining?7 Of myself It is I who am that sinner, that man unrighteous and cruel.

A sinner I am, for I have, in fact, sinned ; and unrighteous, because I persist voluntarily in violating the law of righteousness. For my will itself is as a law in my members warring against the Divine Law.

And because the Law of the Lord is of right a law unto my soul, as it is written : The Law of his God is in his heart (Ps. xxxvii. 31), for that very reason it is that my will is found in opposition to my own self, which is the height of iniquity. For to whom am I not unjust, when I am unjust to myself ? ' He that is evil to himself,' it is said, 'to whom will he be good? (Ecclus. xiv. 5). I am not good, I confess, [even to myself], for in me is no good thing. Yet I am consoled for this, because even a saint said : / know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelUth no good thing (Rom. vii. 18). Nevertheless he makes a distinction when he says, in himself, and explains that he means, ' in his flesh/ because of the law of contradiction [to the Law of God], which is in it. For that better law is also in the soul. Is not the Law of God good ? If, then, he is evil, because of the law of evil which is in him, why is he not good by reason of the law of good which is in him likewise ? Will you say

that the law of evil is his own because it is in his flesh, and that therefore he is evil because his law is evil, and not also that he is good because of a law which is good ? That cannot be the case. The Law of God is in his soul, and so in his soul as to be the law of his soul. He is a witness of this, who says : / see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind (Rom. vii. 23). Is that his which is in his flesh, and not that which is in his soul ? I say that it is his even more. Why should I not say what the same master of the spiritual life says : With the mind (that is, following the impulse of the spirit which is myself) / myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin (vii. 25). He shows very clearly by those words, which law he regards as being his own, since he considers the evil which is in his flesh as being alien to him, for he says : // is no more I that do it [the evil], but sin that dtvelleth in me (vii. 20). And it is perhaps for

that very reason that he has declared expressly that he found another law in his members, because he regarded it as foreign to him, and coming from without. Therefore I venture (yet not, I think, rashly) to add something more, that St. Paul was not a sinner on account of the evil which he had in his flesh ; but rather good on account of the good which he had in his soul. Is he not good who consents unto the law of God, that it is good ? For although he confesses that he is in captivity to the law of sin, this he does in the flesh, not in the soul. For with the mind he senses the law of God, though with the flesh the law of sin, and which of these two ought the rather to be attributed to St. Paul, you can easily judge. For my part, I confess that I have no difficulty in coming to the conclusion that that which was of the spirit was more truly his than that which was of the flesh ; and this is not my belief alone, but it was that of St Paul himself, as Digitized by Google THE SIMILARITY AND LIKENESS OF THE SOUL TO THE WORD 501 is shown by what he has said,

which I have quoted above : If I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me, 11. This will suffice respecting liberty. In the treatise which I have written on Grace and Free Will you will perhaps find other points discussed, in which the soul is made after the image and likeness of God ; but nothing, 1 think, contrary to what is said here.

That treatise you have read, and what has just now been said you have heard ; which of the two you rather approve I leave to your judgment, and if there is anything in either which approves itself to you, in this I rejoice and will rejoice. However that may be, you will bear in mind that we have remarked upon three great qualities as distinguishing the nature of the soul : its simplicity of substance, its immortality, and its liberty of will. And I think that it will appear very clear to you that the soul, by these three points of resemblance in the qualities which are its birthright and are natural to it, has no small affinity to the Word, the Bridegroom of the Church, Jesus Christ our Lord, who is above all, God blessed for ever. Amen.

HOW THE SOUL, WHILE STILL REMAINING LIKE UNTO GOD, LOSES BY SIN A PORTION OF ITS LIKENESS TO HIM IN ITS SIMPLICITY, WHAT think you, my brethren ? Does it appear to you that we can go back and take up again the order of exposition from which we have digressed, since the affinity of the soul with the Word, to establish which was the object of the digression, must be now quite clear to you ? We might do so, as it seems to me, only for one thing; that there still remains, as I feel, some little obscurity in the various parts of the expositions which have been given. I do not wish to steal anything from you. I do not willingly pass over anything that I think would be useful to you. How could I dare to do so, especially of those truths which I receive only in order that I may communicate them to you ? I know a man who once, in the course of an address that he was making, held back some part of what the Holy Spirit suggested to him, not unfaithfully, but perhaps with a want of reliance on His aid for the future, with the purpose of reserving it for another occasion, that he might have something to say when treating on the same subject again ; and that man seemed to hear a voice, which said to him : * As long as you shall withhold this you shall receive nothing else.'1 What if he had kept back this thought, not for the supply of and speaking of himself. This is declared by Coesar of Heisterbach, who, in his sermon for the Octave of Christmas, speaks thus : 1 One day he was treating upon Digitized by Google 502 his own need, but from a feeling of jealousy that his brethren should be advanced by it ? Would it not have been just that the very knowledge which he seemed to have should be taken away from him?

May God keep such a feeling far from him who is your servant, as He has always done as yet ! May that inexhaustible fountain of saving wisdom deign to impart itself unto me as constantly and abundantly, as it is true that I have always, without grudging, shared with you what I have received, and have poured forth again upon you whatever He in His goodness has so far showered upon me. If I should fail to bestow liberally upon you, how could I hope that God would bestow liberally upon me ? 2. There is, then, among the various observations that have been made, something which may, I fear, be a stumbling-block to you, unless it be made very clear. And, if I do not mistake, there are some standing here to whom what I wish to say may be the occasion of some scruple. That threefold likeness to the Word, which we have assigned to the soul, or, rather, have observed that it was impressed upon the soul, do you remember that it appeared to us to inhere in it inseparably ? Now, does not that seem to conflict with some statements of Scripture, as, for example, with this out of the Psalms : Man that is in honour and understandeth not is like the beasts t/iat perish (Ps. xlix. 12, 20) ; and this : They changed their glory into the similitude of an ox that eateth grass (Ps. cvi. 20) ; and this, which is plainly stated in the Person of God : Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself (Ps. L 21); and many others, which seem to assert with one voice that, after the commission of sin, the likeness to God in man was altogether effaced ? What, then, shall we say to these statements ? That these three qualities are not in God, and that therefore we must seek for others, in which consist the resemblance that the soul has to Him ? or that they are indeed in God, but are not in the soul, so that in these respects it has no resemblance to God ? or that, though they are in the soul, they are not in it necessarily, and therefore are not inseparable from it ? God forbid that either of these alternatives should be the fact. These qualities are in God ; they are also in the soul, and are in it always.

Nor have we any reason to repent of what has been stated upon these points, since it is founded on certain and indubitable truth. But when the Scripture speaks of the unlikeness of man to God which has been brought about, it does so, not because that likeness which previously existed was effaced, but because another has been laid over it. The soul has plainly not put off its original form, but has put on over it one which is foreign to it. The latter is added, but the former is some subject, and a thought came to him which, though it would have been in lace at the time, he proposed to himself to reserve till the end, where he thought e should be in want of matter, and he heard a voice saying to him, " If you keep back this, nothing else shall be given to you." ' 1 So truly was it,' says Manrique, xviii., n. 2.