Sermons on the Song of Songs

It is that which has aroused their love for the Spouse ; they have taken of that grace, and therefore do they love Him. When the Bride has received that gift of infused grace, they who cannot be far from their mother's side have speedily discerned the fragrance of it, and, being filled with its sweetness, say : The Love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us (Rom. v. 5). Then the Bride, taking notice with joy of their devotion, says : ' Thou seest, O my Spouse, the fruit of Thy Name poured forth ; for because of it the virgins love Thee/ They feel it when poured forth, though they were not capable of receiving it wholly ; therefore they have loved Thee. Thus the effusion of that Name renders it capable of being received, and when received it cannot but be lovable ; but this applies to virgins only. Those who are of greater capacity rejoice in it as a whole, nor do they need the effusion of it. 2. The angelic race behold in fixed contemplation the profound abyss of the judgments of God. They take supreme pleasure, and experience an unspeakable happiness, in the exalted righteousness of these, and, furthermore, regard it as their glory that it is by their ministry these are carried into execution and are made known, and because of this they deservedly love the Lord Jesus Christ. Are they not a//, it is said, ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation f (Heb. i. 14). I believe that Archangels (for we must, doubtless, consider them as differing in some respect from those who are simply Angels) delight in a wonderful manner, because they are admitted more nearly into the counsels of the Eternal Wisdom, and that the same counsels are also carried out by them with the greatest wisdom and judgment as to time and place.

And this is the cause why they, too, love the Lord Jesus. There are other blessed spirits, which are called Virtues ; perhaps for this reason, that they are ordained by God to examine with a happy curiosity, and, at the same time, to admire, the secret and permanent causes of miracles and wonders, and that they cause these signs of power to take place in the world when and where they please, having command over all the elements; and on this account they, too, most justly have an ardent love for the Lord of all power, and for Christ who is the Power of God. For it is an employment full of sweetness and grace to contemplate the hidden and uncertain truths of wisdom in Wisdom itself, and it is none the less full of honour and glory that God deigns to make use of their ministry in order that the effects, of which the causes are hidden in His Word, may be known and admired by men. 3. There are other spirits, who are named Powers, since they delight in beholding and magnifying the Almighty power of our Crucified Lord, which extends everywhere with invincible force; and they receive power to defeat and to put to flight the opposing powers of demons and of men, for the good of those who are to be heirs of salvation.

Digitized by Google And have not these, too, a most well-founded cause for loving the Lord Jesus ? Above these, again, are Principalities, who, beholding Him from a position more elevated, and discerning clearly that He is the Firstbegotten of all Creation, and the Principle of existence to the whole universe, receive a degree of dignity so great and exalted that it extends over the whole earth ; and that from the lofty and sublime eminence on which they are, they are able to change and vary kingdoms and dignities at their will — to dispose of men and of things, making the last to be first, and the first last ; putting down the mighty from their seat, and exalting the humble and meek. And this is to them a reason for loving the Lord Christ. But the Dominations also love Him. Wherefore ? Because they are led by a certain praiseworthy presumption to trace out and find something, I know not what, that is deeper and more sublime in the Dominion of Christ, which is bounded by no limit, and can be checked by no resistance. They consider that He fills all the world, not only by His power, but also by His Presence — that all things, from the height of heaven to the depth of the

abyss, are obedient to His righteous and holy Will, which directs, and that in an admirable order, the revolutions of the seasons, the movements of bodies, and even the impulses and ideas of minds ; and that He does all this with a care and vigilance so exact that not one of all these things is able to fail in performing its functions even by (as the phrase is) one point or one iota, and yet with a facility so great that He who governs all feels no inquietude or anxiety whatever. These Angels, then, seeing that the Lord of Sabaoth judges all things with a tranquillity so complete, are, as it were, transported out of themselves, in their trance of sweet and intense contemplation, and rapt into that vast ocean (so to speak) of the Divine splendour ; they come to themselves again in a calm so wonderful and pervading, and in which they enjoy so great peace and security, that in their quiescence all the other spirits seem to serve and to defend them, as if, by a singular prerogative, they were, in truth; Dominations. 4. Upon the Thrones God is seated. And I suppose that this order of spirits have a cause more just, and reason more abundant, for loving, than have all the others who have

For even if you enter the palace of some human king, do you not find his royal seat in a place of high honour — among the benches, chairs, and seats of various kinds with which it is filled ? Nor is it necessary to inquire where the king is accustomed to sit, since his royal seat or throne presents itself at once to the eye, and is more lofty and more richly adorned than others. So, also, are we to understand that those spirits whom the Divine Majesty, by a singular and astonishing favour, has deigned to select for the Throne on which to sit, surpass all others in beauty and magnificence. To be seated (sessio) signifies authority ; and I think that He, who in heaven and in earth is our only Master and Teacher, Christ the WTisdom of God, though He indeed reaches everywhere because of His perfect purity, Digitized by Google enlightens particularly and principally, by His presence, those blessed spirits as being His throne, and that from thence, as from a solemn auditorium. He teaches knowledge to angels and to men. Thence it is that the Angels derive their knowledge of the Divine judgments, and the Archangels theirs of the Divine counsels ; there the Virtues hear when and where they are to work signs,

and of what nature these are to be. There, in short, all the Angels, whether Powers, or Principalities, or Dominations, learn what are the duties of the offices they bear, and what are their honours and dignities ; and especially how (which is the caution given to all) they should use the power bestowed upon them without abusing it, either by acting according to their own will, or for the sake of their own glory. 5. As for those heavenly bands which are called Cherubin, I am inclined to think, following even the signification of the word, that they have nothing which they derive either from, or by means of, the Thrones, since it is permitted them to drink to the full from the Fountain itself, the Lord Jesus, who deigns Himself, and by Himself, to introduce them into all the fulness of truth, and to reveal to them abundantly all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge which are hidden in Him. Neither do those who are called Seraphin [require to learn from the Thrones], since God, who is Himself Love, has so drawn them to, and absorbed them in, Him, and raised them to the same ardour of holy affection, that they appear to be of one Spirit with Him, just as the fire which enkindles air, and impresses

upon it heat and colour like its own, so that it is manifestly not merely ignited, but itself become fire. They love, then, above all things, to contemplate in God, the former, that knowledge which is in Him without measure or limit ; the latter, the love which is never absent from Him.

It is from this that they have obtained names which express that which in each is pre-eminent. For the word Cherubin signifies fulness of knowledge ; and Seraphin, inflaming or inflamed. 6. God is, then, loved by the Angels because of the supreme righteousness of His judgments ; by the Archangels because of the supreme wisdom of His purposes ; by the Virtues on account of the most blessed showing forth of miracles and wonders by which He deigns to draw the unbelieving to faith ; but by the Powers on account of that power, equally just and prevailing, by which He is wont to defeat the cruelty of the wicked, and to defend the good against them ; by the Principalities on account of that eternal and primordial power which bestows the principle of existence, and existence itself, upon every creature, whether of higher rank or lower, spiritual and corporeal, extending with prevailing strength from one extremity of the universe to the other ; by the Dominations, also, because of the calm and untroubled Will which, though it everywhere dominates with irresistible strength, disposes all things with sweetness according to the goodness belonging to its nature, and with a tranquillity which nothing can disturb. He is loved also by the Thrones because of the benevolence of His supreme Wisdom, which communicates itself without Digitized by envy, and of the unction of grace, which teaches all things freely.

Furthermore, He is loved by the Cherubin because He is God, the Lord of all knowledge, and as He knows what each has need of for salvation, so He distributes His gifts with judgment and providence, according to the necessity of the individual, to those who worthily make request for them ; and, lastly, by the Seraphin, inasmuch as He is Himself Love, that He hateth nothing that He has made, and wills that all men should come to the knowledge of the Truth and be saved. 7. All these spirits, then, love God according to the degree of knowledge they have of Him. But there are souls which are childlike (adolescentulce = young girls), which, as they know less, so they comprehend less, and are not adequate to these sublime heights of attainment ; and these are little children in Christ, to be nourished with milk and with oil. These it is who have need to draw from the bosom of the Spouse the nourishment for their love. The Spouse hath oil poured forth ; and from the fragrance which it exhales they are aroused to taste and know how gracious the Lord is. And when she sees and feels their ardent love she turns to her Lord, and saith : Thy Name is as oil poured forth^ therefore have young maidens loved Thee beyond measure (nimis, Vulg.). What is * beyond measure'?

Greatly, vehemently, ardently. Or, rather, this spiritual discourse is addressed indirectly to you who have but lately come hither ; and it reproves that indiscreet fervour and immoderate zeal which you follow with too great obstinacy, and which we have so frequently endeavoured to repress. You are not willing to be contented with the common life.

The appointed fasts, the solemn vigils, the ordinary Rule, the measure fixed as to food and to dress, in which we all share, does not suffice for you. You prefer your own private rules to those which are common to all. You who have once entrusted to me the care of your souls, why do you again interfere with it ? See, then, you have for a guide not me, but your own will once more, which, as you know, has so often caused you to offend against God.1 It is that which teaches you not to show any forbearance towards your nature, not to listen to reason, not to yield to the advice or example of your seniors, not to obey me. Do you not know that obedience is better than sacrifice (1 Sam. xv. 22) ? Have you not read in your Rule, that whatsoever is done without the will or consent of your spiritual father, shall be imputed to vainglory, and not as deserving any recompense (Rule of S. Benedict, c. 49). Have you not read in the Gospel that Jesus, when a Boy, left to holy youth a pattern how to obey ? For when He had remained in Jerusalem, though He had said that it behoved Him to be about His Father's business, yet as

His parents did not acquiesce in His words He did not disdain to follow them to Nazareth : the Master to follow His disciples, the Son of God to follow human beings, the Divine Word and Wisdom to follow a carpenter and his wife ! What does the sacred history even add ? And He was subject unto them (Luke ii. 43-51). How long will ye be wise Digitized by Google IO9 in your own eyes ? God entrusts Himself and submits Himself to mortal men, and will you still walk in your own ways ? You had received a good intention, but you do not carry it out wisely. I fear lest, instead of a good spirit, you have harboured one who, under an appearance of good, will overthrow you, and that you who have begun in the Spirit, will complete your course in the flesh. Do you not know that Satan himself is often transformed into an angel of light (2 Cor. xi. 14)? God is Wisdom, and He desires to be loved, not only to our own delight, but also wisely. Wherefore the Apostle says : Yours is a reasonable service (Rom xii. 1). Otherwise, if you neglect knowledge, the spirit of error will with great ease lead you astray by means of your zeal; nor has

our cunning enemy any device more effectual in eliminating love from the heart than that of inducing us, if he can, to act without due prudence and caution. Wherefore I intend to give you certain rules, which it is necessary for those who love God to observe. But as it is time for me to bring my sermon to a close, I will endeavour to explain them to you to-morrow, if God shall continue to me life and the leisure to address you. For then we shall assemble in new vigour after the repose of the night, and (which is the chief thing) shall be rendered more willing and ardent by the preceding prayers to hear the discourse respecting love ; in dependence on the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

ET this sermon take for a beginning the words of a master in the spiritual life : If anyone love not the Lord Jesus Christy — ' let him be Anathema (1 Cor. xvi. 22). Without doubt He is altogether to be loved by whom I have my very existence, my life, and my reason ; and I cannot be ungrateful without being unworthy of all these. He is plainly worthy of death who refuses to live for Thee, O Lord Jesus ; and he is, in fact, dead, as he who does not devote his reason to Thy service is unreasonable, and he who cares to be anything except for Thee is good for nothing, and is nothing.

Indeed, what is man, except that Thou hast taken knowledge of him (Ps. cxliv. 3)? It is for Thine own self, O my God, that Thou hast created all things ; and he who desires to exist for himself, and not for Thee, begins to be as nothing among all things that are. What is it that the wise man says : Fear God^ and keep His commandments; for this is the whole [duty of] man (Eccles. xii. 13). If, then, this is the whole man, without this man is nothing. Incline towards Thyself, O my God, what Thou hast deigned to enable me to be, humble as

Digitized by Google no it is ; take wholly to Thyself, I entreat, the brief remainder of the years which pertain to my poor life ; and for all the years which I have lost, because I have occupied them in losing myself, despise not, I entreat, an humble and contrite heart My days have declined as a shadow, they have perished without fruit. It is impossible for me to recall them ; make me, in Thy goodness, at least to meditate upon them before Thee in the bitterness of my soul. Thou seest that wisdom is the whole desire and purpose of my heart : if there were any in me it is in Thy service 1 would employ it. But, O God, Thou knowest my simpleness ; unless it be perhaps a beginning of wisdom to recognise my ignorance ; and, indeed, this is by Thy gift. Augment it in me, I pray ; I shall not be ungrateful for the least of Thy gifts, but shall strive to supply that which is lacking in me. It is, then, for these Thy benefits that I love Thee with all my feeble powers. 2. But there is a fact which moves, and excites, and fires me much more than this. Above all things, it is the cup which Thou

didst drink, O Jesu, merciful and kind, the great task of our redemption undertaken by Thee, which is a stronger motive than any other for love to Thee. It is this which easily draws to itself all the love I have to give,, which attracts my affection more sweetly, which requires it more justly, which retains it by closer ties and a more vehement force. To this end the Saviour endured many and great things, nor in the making of the whole world did its Creator take upon Himself a task so laborious. For in that earlier work He spake, and it was done : He commanded, and it stood fast (Ps. xxxiii. 9). But in the later one He had to bear with men who contradicted His words, met His actions with ill-natured criticism, insulted His sufferings and even revived His Death. Behold, then, how He loved us ! Add to this that He loved us thus of His free gift, not to make return for any love which we had for H im. For who hath first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again (Rom. xi. 35) ? And St. John Evangelist says expressly : Not that we loved God, but that He [previously] loved us (2 John iv. 10). Indeed, He loved us

while as yet we did not exist ; He did even more, for He loved us when we were opposed to, and were resisting, Him, as St. Paul testifies : When we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son (Rom. v. 10). In other words, if He had not loved us when enemies, He would not now have us for friends \ just as, if He had not loved those who did not as yet exist, they would not be existing now for Him to love. 3. In the next place, His love is tender, wise, and strong. I say that it is tender, since He has taken upon Him our flesh ; wise, since He has held H imself free of all sin ; and strong, since it reached to the point of enduring death. For those whom He visited in the flesh yet He loved not in the flesh, but in the foreseeing wisdom of the Spirit. For the Lord Christ is a Spirit who hath made Himself visible to us1 (Lam. iv. 10), being moved towards us with a zeal of God, not Christus Dominus captus est/— Ed.

Digitized by Google of man, and with a love wiser assuredly than the first Adam felt for his Eve. Therefore those whom He sought out in the flesh He loved in the spirit, and redeemed in His power and courage. It is a thing full of ineffable sweetness to behold the Creator of man as a Man.

But while by His wisdom He separated [human] nature from sin, by His power He banished death from [that] nature. In taking flesh He condescended to me ; in separating it from all stain of sin He consulted His own dignity ; in submitting to death He made satisfaction to His Father, and thus showed Himself at once the kindest of Friends, a prudent Counsellor, and a powerful Helper. In Him with full confidence I trust, who was willing to save me, who knew the means, who had the power to carry them out. The soul whom He sought out, whom He also called by His grace, will He cast out when it comes to Him ? But I do not fear that any violence or fraud will have the power to pluck me out of His Hand ; for in vanquishing death He vanquished all enemies, and in deluding the old Serpent, the seducer of the world, by an artifice more holy than that he had employed, He was at once wiser than the one and more powerful than the other. He took upon Him human flesh in truth, but only the likeness of sin ; in the former giving sweet consolation to weak and ailing man, and in the latter prudently concealing from the devil the snare by which he was deceived Furthermore, that He might reconcile us with His Father, He bravely underwent death and overcame it, pouring forth His Blood as the price of our Redemption.

If, then, that Sovereign Majesty had not tenderly loved me, He would not have sought for me in my prison. But to this affection He joined wisdom to circumvent our tyrant, and patience to placate the just wrath of God His Father. These are the ways of loving which I promised to give you, but I have set them before you first as shown forth in Christ, that you might hold them in greater esteem. 4. Learn, O Christian, from the example of Christ the manner in which you ought to love Christ. Learn to love Him tenderly, to love Him wisely, to love Him with a mighty love. Tenderly, that you be not enticed away from Him ; wisely, that you be not deceived and so drawn away ; and strongly, that you be not separated from Him by any force. Delight yourself in Christ, who is Wisdom, beyond all else, in order that worldly glory or fleshly pleasures may not withdraw you from Him ; and let Christ, who is the Truth, enlighten you, so that you may not be led away by the spirit of falsehood and error.

That you may not be overcome by adversities, let Christ, who is the Power of God, strengthen you. Let charity render your zeal ardent, wisdom rule and direct it ; let constancy make it enduring. Let it be free from lukewarmness, not timid, nor wanting in discretion. Are not those the three things prescribed to thee in the Law, when God said : Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy strength (Deut. vi. 5) ? It seems to me, if no other sense occurs to you better to give to that threefold distinction, that the love of the heart answers to the earnestness of affection ; Digitized by Google 112 the love of the soul to the purpose or judgment of the reason ; and love with the strength to the constancy and vigour of the mind.

Love, then, the Lord thy God with the entire and full affection of the heart ; love Him with all the vigilance and all the foresight of the reason ; love Him with the full strength and vigour of the soul, so that for His love you would not fear even to die ; as it is written in a later verse of this Canticle : Lore is strong as death, jealousy as hard as hell (Cant. viii. 6, Vulg. and Douay). Let the Lord Jesus be to your heart sweet and pleasant, so as to destroy the false attractiveness of the carnal life ; let His sweetness overcome the other, as one nail drives out another. To your understanding and your reason let Him be a wise leader and a guiding light, not only to enable you to avoid the snares of heretical fraud, and to preserve the purity of your faith from their cunning devices, but also to make you cautious to avoid excessive or indiscreet vehemence in your conduct. Let your love be intrepid and constant, neither yielding to fear nor exhausted by sufferings.

Finally, let us love tenderly, wisely, ardently, knowing that the love of the heart, which we call tender, is indeed sweet, but easily led astray1 — at least, if it be not accompanied by the love of the soul ; while the latter, again, though it be rational, yet is apt to be weak, unless courage and ardour go with it to strengthen it 5. And recognise in clear examples that what I say is true. When the disciples had heard with dismay their Master, shortly before His Ascension, speaking of His departure from them, they heard from Him : If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said I go unto the Father (John xiv. 28). What then? Did they not love Him for whose departure they were grieving ? In a certain sense they loved Him, and yet they did not really love Him. That is, they loved Him tenderly, but not wisely ; they loved in a carnal way, not reasonably ; finally, they loved with all their heart, but not with all their soul.

Their love was against the interests of their salvation ; wherefore He said to them also, It is expedient for you that I go away (John xvi. 7), blaming their deficiency in wisdom, not in affection. When, again, He was speaking of His coming death, Peter, as you remember, who loved Him, and desired to retain Him, replied, endeavouring to hinder Him ; to whom He made answer, so reproving him as to show that it was his want of prudence only that He blamed. For what is the force of the words following, Thou savourest not the things which be of God (Mark viii. 33), but, Thou lovest not wisely, as following the impulse of human affection against the design of God ? And He even called him Satan, inasmuch as in seeking to hinder the Saviour from dying he was an adversary of salvation, though unknowingly. And, therefore, having been thus corrected, he no longer opposed himself to the Saviour's death when the sad prophecy of it was again made by Him, but declared that he would die with Him. But that promise He did Latin : it is not to be found in Forcellini's Lexicon, or Du Cange's Glossary, I. q. seduetllis. See ' Confessions of St. Augustine,' Bk. ii., c. 3. — Ed.

Digitized by Google not fulfil, because he had not yet attained to the third degree of love, which consists in loving God with all our strength. He had learned to love [God] with all his soul, but he was still weak ; he knew well what he ought to do, but was without the help which would enable him to perform it; he was not ignorant of the mystery [of salvation] but he shrank from martyrdom. That love was plainly not strong as death, which yielded to [the fear of] death ; but afterwards it became so, when being, according to the promise of Jesus Christ, endued with power from on high, he began to love with courage so great that, having been forbidden in the council of the Jews to preach the adorable Name of Jesus, he replied firmly to those who forbade him, We ought to obey God rather than men (Acts v. 29). Then, indeed, he loved God at length with all his power, since he did not spare his own life for that love. For greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends (John xv. 13) ; and he laid down his life at that time, though he did not actually give it up. To be not

drawn away by flattery, nor seduced by artifices, nor violently removed from it by injuries and outrages, that is to love God with all the mind, with all the soul, and with all the strength. 6. And notice, that that love of the heart is in a manner carnal, with which the heart of man is affected towards Christ according to the flesh, and towards the actions which He did or commanded while in the flesh, A person who is filled with that love is easily touched with any discourse which dwells on that subject. There is nothing he listens to more willingly, reads more attentively, recalls oftener to memory, meditates upon with greater enjoyment. His sacrifices of prayer receive from it a new perfection, and resemble, as it were, victims as fat as they are beautiful. As often as he prays, the image of the God Man arises before him, either in His Birth or His Infancy7, either in His teaching or His Death, His Resurrection, or His Ascension ; and all these, or similar images, necessarily animate the soul to the love of holiness, drive away fleshly vices, put to flight temptations, and calm desires. I consider that a principal cause why God, who is invisible, willed to render Himself visible in the Flesh, and to dwell as

a Man among men, was to draw, in the first place, to the salutary love of His sacred Flesh all the affections of carnal men who were unable to love otherwise than in a carnal manner, and so by degrees to draw them to a pure and spiritual affection. Were not those, for instance, who said to Jesus, Behold, we have left all and followed Thee (Matt. xix. 27), still in this [first] degree of love ? They had left all things for the sole love of the bodily Presence of Jesus, so that they were not able even to listen with equanimity to the announcement of His salutary Passion and Death as near at hand, and even afterwards it touched them with a profound sadness to look up to1 the glory of His Ascension. For this reason it was that He said to them : Because I have said these things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart (John xvi. 6). Thus in Digitized by Google U4 the meantime He had drawn them away, and kept them, from every carnal affection by the grace of His personal Presence in the Flesh. 7. But He afterwards pointed out to them a higher degree of love, when He said: // is the Spirit that quickene/h, the flesh profiteth nothing (John vi.

64). I think that he who said, Though we have known Christ after the Fleshy yet now heficeforth know we Him no more (2 Cor. v. 16), and perhaps the Prophet also, notwithstanding [that he lived before Christ], when he said, The Spirit before our face was Christ the Zord,1 stood upon this higher ground ; for that which he adds, Under Thy shadmv shall we live among the Gentiles^ it seems that he speaks in the name of those who are beginning to rest at least in the shadow, since they do not feel themselves to be capable of sustaining the heat of the sun ; and being nourished with the sweetness of the flesh, are not as yet capable of perceiving the things which are of the Spirit of God. By the shadow of Christ I suppose to be meant His Flesh, with which Mary was overshadowed- (Luke i. 35), so that it was to her as a veil to temper the heat and light of the Spirit. Let him be consoled then, with the devotion of the flesh who has not as yet the life-giving Spirit, or, at least, who has Him not in the manner of those who say : The Spirit before our face was Christ the Lord^ and, Though 7ve have known Christ after

the Fleshy yet now henceforth know we Him no more. For it is assuredly not without the Spirit that Christ is loved, even in the Flesh, though He be not loved in His fulness [thus]. And of this devotion the measure is this, that the sweetness of it occupies the whole heart ; draws it entirely to itself from all love of the flesh or of carnal things, and frees it from their temptations ; this it is to love with all the heart. Otherwise, if I prefer to the Flesh of my Lord any ties of relationship, or any pleasure that I may receive — I mean in such a waxas to be able to perform fewer of those good works which He has taught me by word and by example while He abode in the Flesh — does it not plainly appear that I do not love Him with all my heart, since it is divided, and I seem to have given a part to the love of Him, and a part to the love of myself? For He Himself says : He that loveth father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me ; and he that loveth son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me (Matt. x. 37). Therefore, to express

it briefly, to love Jesus with the whole heart is to prefer the love of His most sacred Flesh to all things which engage our affections or our vanity, either in our own self, or that of another ; in which I equally comprehend the glory of the world also, because it is essentially carnal ; and those who delight in it are, without doubt, carnally minded. 8. But yet such devotion towards the Flesh of Christ is a gift of the Holy Spirit, and a great gift ; yet I must call such love carnal, at least in comparison with that other affection, which has regard, not so much to the Word as Flesh, as to the Word as Wisdom, as Digitized by Google "5 Righteousness, as Truth, as Holiness, Goodness, Virtue, and all other Perfections of whatever kind. For Christ is all these, inasmuch as by God He is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption (i Cor. i. 30). Does it appear to you that two persons have equal and similar love towards Christ, of whom the one sympathizes indeed piously with His sufferings, is moved to a lively sorrow by them, and easily softened by the memory of all that He endured : who feeds upon the sweetness of that devotion, and is

strengthened thereby to all salutary, honourable, and pious actions ; while the other, being always fired by a zeal for righteousness, having everywhere an ardent passion for truth, and earnestly desiring wisdom, prefers above all things sanctity of life, and a perfectly disciplined character ; who is ashamed of ostentation, abhors detraction, knows not what it is to be envious, detests pride, and not only avoids, but dislikes and despises every kind of worldly glory ; who vehemently hates and perseveres in destroying in himself every impurity of the heart and of the flesh ; and lastly, who rejects, as if it were naturally, all that is evil, and embraces all that is good? If you compare these two types of affection, does it not appear to you that the second is plainly the superior? and that in comparison with it the former is in a manner carnal ? 9. Yet that love, by which a carnal life is shut out, and the world is contemned and overcome, is good, though it be carnal. In that type of affection it becomes rational as it makes progress, and it is perfected when it becomes spiritual. It is called rational when in all the sentiments cherished regarding Christ the proportion of the faith (ratio fidei) is so carefully observed that no deviation

is made from the pure doctrine of the Church by any apparent similarity to truth, nor by any snare of heretical or diabolical deception. As also in our personal conduct this caution must be observed, that the bounds of discretion be not exceeded through the influence of superstition, or of levity, or of the zeal of an unregulated disposition. And this it is to love God with all the soul, as I have already said. If to this be added force so great, and an assistance so powerful, as that of the Holy Spirit, so that neither troubles nor sufferings, however violent, nor even the fear of death, can ever cause the desertion of righteousness, then God is loved with all the strength, and that is spiritual love. And I think this name peculiarly suitable to such love, because of the fulness of the Spirit which so particularly distinguishes it. But I think that these observations may suffice with regard to that saying of the Bride : Therefore have the virgins loved Thee beyond measure. May our Lord Jesus Christ, who is our Guardian, deign to open to us the treasures of His mercy, that we may be able to expound the words which follow/ Who liveth and reigneth with the Father, in the Unity of the Holy Spirit, one

God for ever and ever. Amen. Digitized by Google n6

IN WHAT MANNER THE BRIDE, THAT IS, THE CHURCH, ASKS THAT SHE MAY BE DRAWN TO FOLLOW AFTER HER SPOUSE, WHO IS CHRIST. 7~^\ RA W me afler Thee : we will run in tlie odour of Thy perJ J fumes.1 What ? is it needful that the Bride should be drawn to follow, and to follow after such a Spouse, as if she followed Him unwillingly, and not of her own impulse and wish ? But not everyone who is caused by force to move is thus moved against his will. For example, one who is infirm* or weak, and is not able to walk alone, is not otherwise than glad to be drawn to the bath or to the table, though a criminal doubtless is reluctant to be brought to the judgment or to the place of punishment. Now, she who here speaks desires and entreats to be drawn ; but she would not do this if she were able to follow her beloved by her own strength, according to her wish. But wherefore is she unable?

Must we allow that the Spouse, too, is weak and infirm ? If it were one of her maidens who declared herself so, and entreated to be helped forward, we should in nowise wonder. But of the Spouse, who seemed to be able even to help others forward, so strong and perfect was she ; who is there who does not find it strange, that she needs to be drawn forward herself, as if she were weak or languishing ? Of what soul shall we feel any confidence, that it is strong and healthful, if we shall consent for her to be called weak, who for her singular perfection, and more excellent virtue, is named the Spouse of the Lord ? Is it the Church, perhaps, who spake thus, when she beheld her Beloved ascending up on high, and earnestly desired to follow Him, and be assumed with Him into glory ? For, to whatever degree of perfection a soul may have attained, as long as it groans under the body of this death, and is held captive in the prison of this evil world, as long as it is constrained by necessities, tortured by faults and wrong doings, it arises of necessity more slowly and sluggishly than it wouM desire to the contemplation of heavenly things, nor is it altogether free to follow the Bridegroom [who is the I^amb, Rev. xiv. 4] whithersoever He goeth. It was this which drew that lamentable cry from him who said : O miserable man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death ? (Rom. vii. 24).

It was this which inspired the suppliant entreaty : Bring my soul out the odour ' of Thy perfumes, as we have elsewhere observed. Thus we run ' aroused by that odour* (nn. 4, 9, 11) and not in the confidence of our own merits.' And again a little further on : 'As for Thee, O my Spouse, Thou wilt run in the unction itself, but I in the fragrance which it exhales. Thou in the fulness of the perfume : but I in its fragrance ' (;*. 11). Digitized by Google THE BRIDE FOLLOWS AFTER HER SPOUSE, WHO IS CHRIST 117 of prison (Ps. cxlii. 7). And so also the Bride says, and says as it were with a groan, Draw me, and I will run after Thee : because the corruptible body presseth down the soul, and the earthly tabernacle weigheth down the mind, that museth upon many things (Wisd. ix. 15).

Or perhaps she speaks thus in her desire to depart and be with Christ ; especially when she sees those souls, on account of which it seemed needful that she should remain in the flesh, making good progress, already having love for the Bridegroom, and remaining in the safe refuge of charity. This, indeed, she had referred to before : Wherefore the maidens have loved Thee exceedingly. Now, it seems as if she would say : * Lo the maidens have loved Thee, and by that love are firmly united to Thee ; they have no need of me any longer ; there is no reason for my delaying still in this life ; therefore, Draio me, and J will run after Thee. 2. This I should have considered to be her thought, if she had said, ' Draw me to Thee.' But as she says, ' after Thee,' that phrase seems to me rather to make request that she might have grace to follow the footsteps of His life, to be able to emulate His virtue, to hold fast, and by, His rule of life, to attain the perfection of His character. In these especially [the soul] has the greatest need of assistance, to be enabled to deny herself, to take up her cross, and thus to follow after Christ. In order to attain this, the Bride has great need to be drawn onward ; and by none other than He who says : Without Me ye can do nothing (John xv. 5). i I know well,' she says, 'that I am not able to reach Thee, except by following after Thee ; nor can I follow after Thee, except I am helped by Thee to do so : and, therefore, I pray that Thou wouldest draw me after Thee.' In truth, Blessed is the man whose help is from Thee : in his heart he hath set steps in the valley of tears (Ps. lxxxiv. 5) in order one day to reach Thee upon the mountains of everlasting joy. How few there are, O Lord Jesus, who are willing to follow after Thee ! and yet there is no one who does not wish to reach Thy Presence, since it is known to all that at Thy Right Hand there are pleasures for evermore (Ps. xvi. 11). On that account, all desire to obtain happiness from Thee, but they have not a similar desire to imitate Thee ; they wish to reign with Thee, but not to suffer with Thee.

Such was he who said : Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last end be like his (Num. xxiii. 10); he desired that the closing of his life might be similar to that of the righteous, but not that its beginnings might be so. Even carnal men desire for themselves the death of men who are spiritual, and yet shudder at the idea of leading their life. For they know that precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints ; since, when He giveth to His beloved sleep, lo I the heritage of the Lord (Ps. cxxvii. 2, 3), and because Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord (Rev. xiv. 13) ; while, on the contrary, according to the declaration of the prophet, The death of the wicked is very evil (Ps. xxxiii. 22, Vulg. and Douay). They do not care to seek Him, whom they yet desire to find ; they wish to reach Digitized by Him, but to do so without following Him. Not such were they, of whom He said : Ye are they which have continued with Me in My temptations (Luke xxii. 28). Blessed are they who were found worthy to receive such a testimony from Thee, O good Jesus ! They did

in truth come after Thee, both with their feet, and in the affections of their hearts. Thou hast made known to them the ways of life, in calling them after Thee, who art the Way, and the Life ; Thou sayest unto them, Follaiv Me> I will make you fishers of men (Matt. iv. 19); and again, If any man seme Me, let him follow me : and w lie re I am, there shall also My servant be (John xii. 26). Therefore they congratulated themselves, saying : Behold, we have forsaken all and followed Thee (Matt. xix. 27). 3. It is thus, then, that Thy Beloved, leaving all things for Thy sake, desires always to follow after Thee, to walk closely in Thy footsteps always, and to follow Thee whithersoever Thou goest, knowing that Thy ways are ways of blessedness, and all Thy paths are peace, and that therefore he who followeth Thee walks not in darkness. If she prays that she may be drawn onward, it is because Thy righteousness is as the mountains of God, and that in her own strength she is not able to attain unto it. She prays, as she is wont, that she may be drawn onward, because no man can come to Thee unless Thy Father shall have drawn him (John vi.

44) ; and those whom The Father draweth, Thou dost draw also; for the works which the Father doeth, those also doeth the Son likewise. But the suppliant is more familiar with the Son, and makes this request to be drawn of Him, as of her own Bridegroom,1 whom the Father hath sent to be her Leader and her Guide, to go before her in the way of righteousness, to prepare for her the path of virtues, to train her up even as His own self, to teach her the way of wisdom, to bestow upon her the law of life and of discipline ; and to bring her to such perfection that He may justly take pleasure in her beauty. 4. Draw me after Thee : we will run in the fragrance of Thy perfumes.

I have need to be drawn for this reason, because the fire of Thy love has grown somewhat cold in us ; nor are we, on account of that coldness, able to run as we did yesterday and in former days. But we shall run when Thou shalt have restored to us the joy of Thy salvation, when the warmth of grace shall have returned to us, when the Sun of Righteousness shall have warmed us anew, and the cloud of temptation shall have passed away, which at this moment hides Him from us ; and at the gentle breath of a softer breeze, the perfumes have begun to dissolve and flow, and give forth their fragrance. Then, and in that fragrance, shall we run [on the way of righteousness].

We shall run, I say, when the perfumes are breathed upon us, for the torpor in which we now are shall be dissipated, and devotion shall be reawakened in us, so that we shall have no need to be drawn on, but under the influence of that sweet fragrance shall advance of our own accord. But now, and until that happy change, Digitized by Google THE BRIDE FOLLOWS AFTER HER SPOUSE, WHO IS CHRIST 119 draw me, and I will run after Thee. Do you perceive that he who walks in the Spirit does not remain always in one state, nor make progress always with the same ease, because the way of man, as the Scripture declares, is not in his own power ; but that he forgets the things which are behind, and presses forward to those which are before, now with more energy, and now with less, according as the Holy Spirit, who is the Dispenser of all graces, bestows them upon him with greater or less liberality ? I believe that if you well examine your own selves, you will find what I have said confirmed by your own inward experience. 5. When, therefore, you feel yourself affected with torpor, hikewarmness, and weariness, do not on that account give way to unbelief, nor desist from spiritual exercises,

but seek the Hand of Him who is able to help, and, after the example of the Bride, entreat that you may be drawn after Him, until you are reawakened and reanimated by grace, and thus you become more cheerful and vigorous ; you are enabled to run [the race that is set before you], and you say, / have run the way of Thy Commandments, since Thou hast set my heart at liberty (Ps. cxix. 32). But though you should rejoice in the grace of God, as long as it is present, do not, nevertheless, count upon that gift as if you held it by a right of inheritance, and be as secure of it as if you could not possibly lose it, lest suddenly God should draw back His Hand and withdraw His grace, and you should fall into excessive discouragement and sorrow. Do not ever say in your abundance, I shall never be moved (Ps. xxx. 6), for fear lest you should also be obliged to make use with grief of the words which follow : Thou didst hide Thy Face, and I was troubled. You will be cured rather, if you are wise, by following the counsel of the Wise — to be not unmindful of good things in the day of evil, nor of evil

things in the day of good (Ecclus. xi. 25). 6. Do not, then, in your day of strength, suffer yourself to feel secure, but lift up your voice towards God with the prophet, and say : Forsake me not when my strength faileth me (Ps. lxxi. 9). On the other hand, be consoled in time of temptation, and say with the Bride : Draw me, and I will run after Thee : we will run in the fragrance of Thy perfumes. Thus hope will not desert you in the evil day, nor Providence be wanting to you in the day of prosperity ; you will retain, among the changeableness of earthly conditions, [which are] at one time prosperous, at another adverse, as it were an image of eternity; I mean to say that you will maintain this equableness of spirit, and a constancy not to be shaken by any event ; you will at all times bless God, and will thus make good for yourself a position, so to speak, of immovable stability among the changing events and certain disappointments of this inconstant world, until you shall begin to be renewed, and to take upon you once more that ancient and glorious likeness of God, who is eternal, with whom is no changeableness, neither shadow of turning (James i. 17).

Thus as He is so shalt thou be, even in this world ; neither cast down in adversity nor in prosperity Digitized by Google 120 made careless. It is in this, I say, that man, that creature so noble, made in the image and likeness of God who created him, indicates that he is even now on the point of regaining the dignity of his ancient honour, when he regards it as unworthy of him to be conformed to this perishing world ; and chooses rather, according to the precept of St. Paul, to be transformed by the renewing of his mind (Rom. xii. 2) into that likeness in which he knows that he was first created. And in this way he even compels the things of this world, which were, in fact, created on his account, to conform themselves to him, as it is becoming they should do ; and thus all things begin to work together for good, and to regain, as it were, the form which is theirs, and natural to them, rejecting that [present one] which is degraded, and recognising their Lord, for whose service they were created; 7. On this account I think that the saying which the Only Begotten Son of God uttered of Himself, that He, if He were lifted up from the

earth would draw all things unto Him (John xii. 32), may be applied also to all His brethren — that is, to those whom the Father has foreknown and predestinated to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the Firstborn among many brethren. I, then, even I, my brethren, am able boldly to say, ' If I be lifted up from the earth, I will draw all things unto me.' Nor is it a rash thing of me to make use of the words of Him of whom J put on the likeness.

If it be thus, then the rich of this world ought not to think that the brethren of Christ, because they hear Christ saying, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is tilt kingdom of heaven (Matt. v. 3), possess heavenly things alone, because those only seem to be mentioned in the promise. They possess earthly things also ; and having indeed nothing, yet possess all things. They do not beg for them, as those who are poor and miserable, but possess them as masters ; and are so much the more the masters of them as they are less desirous to obtain them. For the whole world is a store of riches to the man who has faith. Evidently the whole world ; for whether he be in prosperity or in adversity, all things serve him equally, and work together for his good 8. Thus, then, the man who is avaricious hungers for the things of this world like a beggar, while he who has faith despises them as their lord. The one, while he possesses them, is their servant ; the other, while despising them, uses them for good Ask some one of those who pant with an insatiable heart for earthly riches, what is his opinion of those who sold all their goods and gave to the poor, and whether they did wisely or no. Doubtless he will reply that they did wisely.

Ask him again why he does not himself practise what he approves in others. ' I cannot,' he will reply. Wherefore ? Plainly because avarice is the mistress of his heart, and will not permit him ; because he is not free ; because the things which he seems to possess are not his ; nor is he himself his own master. If they are truly yours, try to put them to profitable use ; and in exchange for earthly possessions obtain heavenly. If you are not able to do this, then confess that Digitized by Google THE BRIDE FOLLOWS AFTER HER SPOUSE, WHO IS CHRIST 12 1 you are not the master but the servant of your money — only the keeper of it, not the possessor. In short, you suit yourself to your purse as a slave to his mistress ; and just as such an one is obliged of necessity to be glad or to be sorrowful according to the mood of his mistress, so you : when your pouch is swelling with gain, your spirits rise ; and they fall similarly when it shrinks. For you are stricken with sorrow when that is exhausted, and when it is replenished are filled with joy, or, rather, puffed up with pride. Such is the man who is avaricious.

But as for us, let us strive to imitate the freedom and the constancy of the Bride, who, being well instructed in all things, and preserving in her heart the teaching of Wisdom, knows how to endure both abundance and penury. When she entreats that she may be drawn onward, she shows that what she needs is, not money, but spiritual strength ; and, on the other hand, when she consoles herself with the hope of the return of grace, she proves that even in privations she holds fast her faith. 9. She says then : Draw me, we will run after Thee : we will run in the fragrance of Thy perfumes. And what wonder is it that she needs to be drawn onward when she is following the footsteps of a giant ? Who is able to come up with Him who strides upon the mountains, who leaps over the hills ? His Word, saith the Psalmist, runneth very swiftly (Ps. cxlvii. 15). She is not capable of keeping pace with, or of rivalling the speed of, one who rejoiceth as a giant to run His course (Ps. xix. 5) ; that is not possible to her powers, and therefore it is that she prays to be drawn onward. * I am weary/ she says ; 1 1

am sinking from fatigue ; desert me not, but draw me after Thee, that I may not begin to wander after other companions, or to run hither and thither, as in uncertainty. Draw me after Thee ; for ic were better for me that Thou shouldest keep me close to Thee, even by the use of a measure of violence, by making me afraid with Thy threatenings, or causing me to smart with chastisements, than that Thou shouldest spare me in my evil and slothful security, and leave me to myself. Draw me after Thee, even if it be in some sort against my will, that Thou mayst make me willing ; draw me, even in my sloth and slowness, that Thou mayst make me ready and swift. A time may come when I shall no longer need one to draw me onward, since we shall run voluntarily and with all willingness. But now I am not able to run alone, though alone I make my petition to be helped forward ; let the maidens also run with me. Let us run together, let us run with equal pace; I, aroused by the fragrance of Thy perfumes ; they by my example and my exhortation : and thus let us all run in the fragrance of Thy perfumes.' The Bride

has her imitators, as she herself is the imitator of Jesus Christ. And, therefore, she does not say, as of one person only, * I will run/ but * We will run.' 10. But the question arises, wherefore the Bride, in imploring to be drawn onward, does not similarly join the maidens with herself, but says, Draw me, and not ' Draw us/ What then ? Does the Bride need to be drawn, and the maidens, do they not need ? O thou Digitized by 122 who art beautiful, and happy, and blessed, explain to me the reason for this distinction. Wherefore dost thou say Draw me, and not us i Ts it that thou enviest them this honour ? God forbid. Nor wouldst thou (if that were the case) have added that they with thee would follow after the Bridegroom if thou hadst wished to follow Him alone.

Why, then, shouldst thou have added in the plural, 'we will run/ when thy request was in the singular, 'draw me'? Charity, she replies, would have it thus. Learn from me by this word to hope for a twofold blessing from on high in spiritual exercises ; that is, for correction and consolation. The one has its sphere of action without, the other visits us within. The former represses presumption, the latter raises up the heart and bestows confidence ; the one workcth humility, the other consoles in discouragement; the one gives prudence, the other devotion. The former teaches the fear of the Lord ; the latter tempers that very fear with an infusion of salutary joy, as it is written : Let my heart rejoice, that it may fear Thy Name (Ps. lxxxv. ii, Vulg. and Douay). And again : Serve the Lord wWi fear, and rejoice with trembling (Ps. ii. n). tribulations ; but we run forward when we are visited with inward consolations and secret inspirations, and breathe, as it were, an atmosphere of perfume and fragrance. That, then, which appears hard and austere I reserve for myself, as to one who is strong, and healthy, and perfect ; and I say, speaking for myself alone, Draw me. That which is sweet and pleasant I share with you, as with one who is weak, and I say, We will run, I know that young souls (adolcscentulas) are tender and delicate, and unfitted to sustain temptations, and, therefore, I desire that they should run with me, but not that they should be drawn with me ; I wish to have them for companions of my consolation, not of my labour and trouble. Wherefore ? Because they are weak, and I fear lest they should fail and fall by the way.

But as for me, O my Spouse, take me, train me, try me, draw me after Thee, for I am prepared to suffer all chastisements, and I am strong to endure them. But as for the rest, let us run together ; alone I will be drawn onward, but together let us run. Yea, let us run, but in the fragrance of thy perfumes, not in any confidence of our own merits. We have not the presumption to believe that we can run in the greatness of our own strength, but we trust in the multitude of Thy mercies. For if ever we have run, and have been able to will voluntarily to do so, yet it was not of man that willeth, nor of man that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy (Rom. ix. 16). Let that mercy be turned towards us and we shall run. Thou, indeed, O Lord, dost run in the greatness of Thy strength, rejoicing in it as a giant ; but we cannot run at all unless we derive strength from the breathing of Thy perfumes. Thou, whom the Father has anointed with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows (Ps. xlv. 7), dost run in [the strength of] that unction itself, but we only in the fragrance which it exhales. Thine is the fulness of it, but ours its fragrance. This Digitized by Google THE BRIDE FOLLOWS AFTER HER SPOUSE, WHO IS CHRIST 1 23 would be the time to discharge the promise which I remeiriber to have made long ago, to speak to you of the perfumes of the Bridegroom, if the length to which this sermon has already extended did not forbid it. I will defer that, then, to another time, for the importance of the subject does not allow it to be confined within inadequate limits.

Pray the Lord of Divine unction that He will deign to render acceptable the freewill offering of my lips, and that I may be able, at your desire, to recall to your minds the remembrance of the sweetness of His abundant grace ; of the grace, I say, which is in Him who is the Bridegroom of His Church, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

OF THE FOUR PERFUMES OF THE BRIDEGROOM, AND OF THE FOUR IF the perfumes of the Bride are so precious and so distinguished as they were found to be when they were treated of in your hearing, of what value must be those of the Bridegroom ? And if I am not capable of expounding these in a manner worthy of their great excellence, yet that their virtue is surpassingly great, and their grace efficacious, is shown, without doubt, by this fact alone, that their fragrance arouses not the young maidens alone, but the Bride herself, to run [in the way of righteousness]. If you take notice, you will see that she does not venture to promise anything of this kind, as to follow from her own perfumes. She does indeed re joice in thinking that they are most excellent, yet she does not say that in them she has run, or would run ; this she only promises to do in the perfumes of the Bridegroom. What would she have said, had she felt the outpouring upon her of that unction itself, of which even the fragrance alone, however slight it were, had such influence UDon her as to cause her to run forward [in the way of godliness] ?

It would be wonderful if she did not even fly. But someone, perhaps, says in himself: * Cease your commendations; it will sufficiently appear what they are when you have begun to define them.' But no. I do not at all promise that. Believe me when I confess that I do not as yet know whether those ideas which are presented to my mind are well founded. I suppose that the Bridegroom has not a few kinds of perfumes and balms, that these are different in nature, that some of these are more a delight to the Bride than others, as being nearer and in closer relation to Him, and that they delight her only ; but that there are others which reach as far as the maidens, and some which find their way even to those who are most distant and most entirely strangers to Him, so that there are none hid from his life-giving heat. But although the Lord is good and Digitized by 124 kind to all, He is most markedly so to those of His own house ; and the more nearly anyone draws to Him by the influence of a pure mind and holy life, the more also, as I believe, He perceives the fragrance of newer perfumes and of a sweeter anointing. 2. But these things the intelligence does not comprehend any farther than it is led by experience. That is why I would not rashly arrogate to myself a prerogative which is given only to the Bride.

The Bridegroom alone knows the delights which it is given to His Beloved to taste by the Holy Spirit, by what inspirations He marvellously revives her spiritual senses, and by what odours He soothes them. Let her be for thee, then, a fountain proper to Him alone, in which no stranger shares, nor does any unworthy drink thereof ; that is to say, a spring shut up, a fountain sealed (Cant. iv. 12); but thence do streams flow into the streets. These, I confess, are at my disposal, provided that no one finds fault or is ungrateful if I drink of them and draw from them for the good of all. For, that I may commend a little my ministry in this respect, it is not without some labour and fatigue that I go forth day by day to draw from the open streams of the Scriptures, in order to distribute to each one according to his need ; so that without his own labour every one of you may have a supply of the spiritual waters for his various necessities; as, for example, to drink, and for cleansing, as for cooking his food. For the Divine Word is the saving water of wisdom, not only to drink, but also for cleansing, as the Lord hath said : Now ye

are dean through the word which I have spoken unto you (John xv. 2). The Divine Word cooks, so to speak, over the fire which the Holy Spirit kindles, the crude reflections of the carnal mind, and turns them into spiritual teachings, which are nourishment for the soul, so that you may say : My heart was hot within me, and while I was musing the fire burned (Ps. xxxix. 3). 3. Those who, being of a spirit perfectly pure, are capable of apprehending by their own selves truths more lofty than those which have been brought forward by me, I congratulate upon the fact, and I do not dispute their right ; but at the same time, they must allow me to bring forward simpler truths for simpler people. Would that it might be granted unto me that all might exercise the gift of teaching (prophetent), and that it might not be needful for me to occupy myself in it ! Would that this care might fall upon some other, or at least, which I would prefer, that there were no one among you who had need of it ; and that you were also open to the teachings of God Himself, that I might be able to remain in a profound repose, and contemplate the Bridegroom, who is

God ! For now it is the case (and I do not say it without tears), that it is not permitted to me, I do not say to contemplate, but even to seek after the King in His glory, sitting upon the Cherubfn, sitting upon His Throne, high and lifted up, in that Form in which He was begotten, Equal to His Father, in the splendour of His Saints, before the morning star [was created], in which also the Angels always desire to behold Him, God Digitized by Google of God. That which remains to me, who am but a man, is to speak of Him to men as Man, and in that Form in which, that He might in His exceeding condescension and love manifest Himself unto men, He was made a little lower than the angels, He who hath set in the sun His tabernacle, whence He cometh forth as a bridegroom out of His chamber (Ps. xix. 5). I speak of Him to you rather in His sweetness, than in His loftiness ; as the Anointed One, rather than the High and Lofty One, who inhabiteth Eternity ; of Him, that is, whom the Spirit of the Lord hath anointed, and sent forth to preach the Gospel to the poor, to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim

liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound, to proclaim t/te acceptable year of the Lord (Is. lxi. 1, 2). 4. Leaving, then, to each individual whatever of more sublime and profound truth it has been granted to him by God's special grace to feel and experience regarding the perfumes of the Bridegroom, I offer for the common good what I have drawn from a source common to all. For He is the fountain of life, a Fountain sealed, springing forth from a walled garden, by the mouth of St. Paul, who made of himself a canal for that precious stream. He is truly that Wisdom which, according to the expression of holy Job, is drazun from secret places (Job xxviii. 21); which divides itself into four streams, and flows into the open ways of men ; in which the Apostle declares to us the great truth that God hath made Him to be to us tvisdom, and righteousness, and sanctifcation, and redemption (1 Cor. i. 30). From these four streams, then, as it were of most precious perfumes — for it matters little whether we consider them as of water or of precious perfume, of water which cleanses, or of oil which perfumes — from these four, I say, as from precious

ointments, composed of celestial balms upon the mountains of sweet spices, so great a sweetness and fragrance has filled the nostrils of the Church, that, being drawn from the four quarters of the earth by that perfume, [her people] hastened to the heavenly Bridegroom, as that queen of the East came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, being attracted by the good odour of his reputation (1 Kings x. 1-7). 5. Now, the Church was before not able to run towards the odour of her Solomon, until He, who was from all eternity Wisdom from the Father, was made by the Father to be for her benefit Wisdom also in time ; for it was from that time that she began to perceive the Divine odour which proceeded forth from Him. Thus He was made for her in the same way righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption, so that she might be able to follow after the odour of these also, which were in Him before the beginning of all things. For in the Beginning was the Word (John i. 1); but the shepherds made haste to come to see Him, only then at length when His Birth was announced to them. Then it was that they said the one to the other : Let

us now go even to Bethlehem and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known to us (Luke ii. 15, 16).

And, it goes on, they came with haste. Before, when the Word was Digitized by Google 126 with God, they did not stir ; but when it came to pass that the Word was made [Flesh] and shown unto men, then they came with haste — they ran. Just as the Word was in the beginning, but the Word was with God ; and yet the Word was made [Flesh] when He began to be among men also ; so He was Wisdom in the beginning, He was righteousness, He was sanctification and redemption. But to the angels, and in order that He might be these to men also, the Father has made Him all these things, and He has done so because He is the Father. For, says the Apostle, of God He is made unto us wisdom.

He does not say simply is made, but is made unto us ; since that which He was unto the angels He is made unto us also. 6. But I do not perceive, you will say, how He was Redemption unto the Angels, f or in no passage of the Scriptures does it appear that they were ever captives of sin, or subject unto death, so that they had need of redemption ; those only excepted, who, failing by the irremediable lapse of pride, have never deserved to be redeemed. If, then, the Angels have never been redeemed, some having no need to be, and others not deserving it ; the one class, because they have not fallen ; the other, because their fall was irrevocable : for what reason do you say that the Lord Jesus Christ has been to them redemption ? Listen, while I briefly declare it. He who has raised up man who had fallen granted to the Angel, who was upright, the grace not to fall ; thus, as He delivered the one from his bondage, so He protected the other from becoming subject to that bondage. And in this manner He was Redemption equally to each class, delivering the one from its fall, and preserving the other from falling.

It appears, then, clearly that the Lord Christ was to the holy Angels redemption, as He was righteousness, wisdom, and sanctification ; and that, nevertheless, He was made to be these four blessings on account of men, who are able to behold the invisible things of God only by the beholding of the things that are made (Rom. i. 20). So, then, all that He was unto the Angels, He was made to be unto us ; that is to say, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption — wisdom in preaching, righteousness in the remission of sins, sanctification in the close relation which He had with sinners by His Life ; and redemption by His Passion, which He endured on behalf of sinners. It is then when He was made by God to be all these things ; that the Church has perceived His fragrance, and has followed, nay, has run, after Him. 7. Recognise, then, this fourfold anointing ; recognise the abundant and inestimable sweetness of Him, whom the Father hath anointed with the oil of gladness above His fellows (Ps. xlv. 7). Thou, .O man, wast sitting in the gloomy1 shadows of death through ignorance of the truth ; thou wast sitting bound by the chains of thy sins. He descended to thee in thy prison, not to torment thee, but to deliver thee from the power of darkness. In the first place, that Teacher of truth dissipated by His wisdom the darkness of thy ignorance.

Digitized by Google 127 Then, by the righteousness which is of faith, He broke the bonds of thy sins, freely justifying the sinner. By that twofold benefit, He accomplished that word of the holy David : The Lord looseth the prisoners ; the Lord giveth sight to the blind (Ps. cxlvi. 7, 8). More than this He did, by living a holy life among sinners, and so provided for thee a pattern of life, as a road whereby thou mightest return to thy own fatherland. Lastly, as it were to heap upon thee His goodness, He gave over His soul to death, and drew from His own side the price of thy redemption, and thus rendered satisfaction to the Father. In all this He plainly realized the verse : With the Lord there is mercy, and with Him is plenteous redemption (Ps. cxxx. 7). Truly it was plenteous: for it was not a drop, but a flood that poured forth plenteously, of His Precious Blood, from five parts of His Body. 8. What ought He to have done for thee, that He has not done ?

He has restored sight to one blind, broken the chains of a captive, led back a wanderer, reconciled the guilty. Who will not run with ardour, with rapidity, after Him who delivers from error, and forgives offences ; who by His Life bestows merits, and by His Death acquires [for thee] rewards ? What excuse can there be for him who does not eagerly run in the fragrance of these perfumes, except perchance that their sweetness has not reached him ? But the odour of life has gone forth into the whole world ; for the whole earth is full of the mercy of the Lord, and His goodness is over all His works. Therefore he who has no perception of that fragrance, sweet, life giving, and everywhere diffused, and because of this%does not run after Christ, is either dead, or he is corrupt.1 That fragrance is the renown of His Name. The fragrance of faith in Him extends2 everywhere; it • arouses to run the Christian course ; it brings to trial of His anointing, to the vision of Him for reward. All who attain it chant with one accord : Like us we have heard, so have we seen, in the city of the Lord of Hosts, in the city of our God (Ps. xlviii. 8). We follow after Thee, O Lord Jesus, because of the goodness and kindness which we are fully assured of finding in Thee ; because we learn that Thou dost not despise the poor, nor abhor the sinner. Thou didst not abhor the thief when he confessed, the sinful woman who wept tears of penitence, the Canaanite mother who came to Thee with her supplication, nor her who was taken in adultery, nor him who sat at the receipt of custom, nor the publican who implored pardon, nor the disciple who denied Thee, the persecutor of Thy disciples, nor Thy very crucifiers themselves. In the fragrance of these Divine virtues we run. Again, we perceive the fragrance of Thy wisdom from that word which we have heard, that if any lack wisdom, let him ask it of Thee, and Thou wilt give it to him ; for Thou givest to all liberally, and upbraidest not (James i. 5). And the great fragrance of Thy righteousness is spread abroad upon every side, inasmuch as Thou art not only Righteous, but also Righteousness itself — yea, a Digitized by Google 128 Righteousness which renders righteous him who is unrighteous.

And as powerful as Thou art to justify, so bountiful art Thou also to forgive. Wherefore, let whosoever is touched with a sincere sorrow for his sins, who hungers and thirsts after righteousness, believe without hesitation in Thee, who justifiest the ungodly ; and being justified by faith alone, he shall have peace with God. Of Thy holiness, also, the fragrance most sweet and full is spread abroad by Thy Conception, as by Thy Life. Sin, therefore, Thou hast neither committed nor contracted. Let those, then, who have been justified from their sins, who desire and propose to follow after holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord, let them attend to Thy voice : Be ye holy for I am holy (Lev. xix. 2). Let them consider Thy ways and learn from Thee, for Thou art righteous in all Thy ways, and holy in all Thy works (Ps. cxlv. 17). And the fragrance of Thy Redemption, what numbers does it arouse to follow Thee ! When Thou wert lifted up from the earth, Thou didst draw all men unto Thee. Thy Passion is the last refuge for men, and their only remedy. When wisdom is wanting, righteousness proves insufficient, and the merits of sanctity fail, Thy Passion comes to the rescue.

For who can have the presumption to think his own wisdom, righteousness, or holiness sufficient for his salvation ? As says the Apostle : Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves ; but our sufficiency is of God (2 Cor. iii. 5). Therefore, when my own strength shall have failed me, I am not troubled, I do not lose heart. I know what I have to do : I will take the cup of salvation and call upon the.

Name of the Lord (Ps. cxvi. 13). Enlighten mine eyes, O Lord, that I may know what is accepted before Thee at all times (Wisd. ix. 10) ; and thus I am wise. Remember not the sins of my youth, nor my transgressions (Ps. xxv. 7) ; and [thus] I am righteous. Teach me Thy way, O Lord (Ps. lxxxvi. 11); and I [thus] am holy. But yet, unless Thy Blood interpose for me, I am not saved. It is to obtain all these graces that we follow — nay, we run after Thee ; send us away [satisfied], for we cry after Thee. 9. But we do not all run with equal attraction towards all these perfumes, for you will see that some are more ardently affected by the love of wisdom ; others are more carried towards penitence by the hope of obtaining pardon ; others, again, are more animated to the practice of virtues by the example of His life and conversation ; and others, still, are more fired with ardour for piety by the remembrance of His Passion. I think that we may be able to find examples of each of these classes. Those who had been sent by the Pharisees, for instance, were attracted by the fragrance of His 7eisdom, when they returned and said : Never man spake like this man (John vii. 46), for they admired His teaching, and confessed His wisdom. The holy Nicodemus did the same, when he came to Jesus by night (iii. 2), drawn by the great light of His wisdom, and returned, enlightened and instructed in many things. But Mary Magdalene came attracted by the fragrance of His righteousness; she, to whom Digitized by Google many sins were forgiven, for she loved much (Luke vii. 47). Doubtless, she was no longer a sinner, as the Pharisee reproached her with being, but righteous and holy ; he knew not that righteousness and holiness are the gift of God, not the work of man ; and that he to whom the Lord will not impute sin, is not only righteous, but also blessed.

Had he forgotten the manner in which [the Lord] in touching his [the Pharisee's] own bodily leprosy, or that of some other sufferer, had not contracted it Himself, but had cured it? Thus that Righteous One, being touched by the woman who was a sinner, imparted righteousness, and did not part with it ; nor was He defiled with the stain of sin, of which He cleansed her. The Publican also followed after Christ, who, when he humbly implored pardon for his sins, went down to his house, as He who was Himself Justice declared, justified (Luke xviii. 14). Peter followed [Christ], he who wept bitterly for his fall (xxii. 62), so as to wash away his sin and regain righteousness.

And David, who, acknowledging and confessing his crime, was found deserving to hear : The Lord also hath put away thy sin (2 Sam. xii. 13). Then again Paul bears witness that he followed Christ, when he boasts that he was His follower, and says to his disciples : Be ye followers of me, as I also am of Christ ( 1 Cor. xi. 1 ). They also did so who said: Behold, we have left all and followed Thee (Matt. xix. 27). That is, they had left all things for the desire to follow Christ. This precept exhorts all people in general to follow after the same fragrance : He that saith he abideth in Christ ought himself also so to walk, even as He walked (1 John ii. 6). If you wish to hear who they are who have run in the fragrance of the Passion of Christ, I will tell you : they are all the martyrs. You have, then, four kinds of odours : the first of wisdom, the second of righteousness, the third of sanctification, the fourth of redemption. Keep them in memory, avail yourself of the good of them, and do not institute any inquiry as to how they are composed, of what materials, or how mingled. For these things are not so easily to be ascertained with respect to the perfumes of the Bridegroom, as with regard to those of the Bride, which were previously considered. For in Christ all things are with a fulness which has neither measure nor limit.

For His wisdom is infinite (Ps. cxlvii. 5) ; His righteousness is like the great mountains (Ps. xxxvi. 6), the mountains of God ; His holiness so great as to be unequalled by any other, and His redemption is a mystery that cannot be discovered. 10. This also must be said, that it is to no purpose that the wise men of this world have disputed at such great length concerning the four great virtues, which they are in no wise able to attain, since they knew not Him, who of God is made unto us wisdom to teach us prudence, righteousness to remit offences, sanctification to give an example of living temperately and chastely, and redemption for a perfect pattern of patience in His Death bravely endured. Someone will perhaps say : The other qualities are very fitting for the virtues named ; but sanctification seems to have no proper relation to 9 Digitized by Google temperance. To which I reply, first, that temperance is the same as continence ; for it is usual in the Scriptures for continence or purity to be spoken of as sanctification. In fact, what did those sanctifications so frequent under the Law of Moses consist of but certain purifications of those who abstained from food, from drink, from indulgence, and such-like? But notice especially the Apostle himself, who commonly uses, or adapts, the word * sanctification ' to, or in, this sense. This is, he says, the will of God, even your sanctification . . . that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour ; not in the lust of concupiscence. And, again For God hath not called us to uncleanness, but unto holiness (1 Thess. *v- 3-7)- It is plain that in such passages he puts sanctification for temperance. 11. After having made clear what seemed a little obscure, I return to the point whence I digressed. What have you to do with virtues who know not the power (virttttem) of God, which is Jesus Christ ?

Where, I ask you, is true prudence, if not in the teaching of Christ ? or true righteousness, if not in His mercy ? Where is true temperance, if not in the Life of Christ? or true fortitude, if not in the Passion of Christ ? Those only, therefore, who are imbued with His teaching are to be called prudent ; those alone to be regarded as righteous who from His mercy have attained the pardon of their sins ; those alone as temperate who study to imitate His Life ; and those alone as courageous who in adversities follow with constancy the r example of His patience. That man labours in vain to acquire virtues who looks elsewhere than to the Lord in the hope of obtaining them ; for it is His teaching which is the seed-plot of prudence ; His mercy is a work of righteousness ; His Life a mirror of temperance ; and His Death a glorious pattern of courage. To Him be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

OF THREE WAYS OF CONTEMPLATING GOD, REPRESENTED UNDER THE " / "HE King hath brought me into His storerooms (Cant. i. 3, / Douay). Lo, here is the source of fragrance ; here is the point towards which we run. The Bride had said that we must press forward, and in what strength ; but whither our course was to be directed, she had not said. Now, then, she declares that it is towards the Lord's storerooms, and in the strength of the fragrance which is exhaled from them. This she presses with her characteristic eagerness, and desires to be introduced into His fulness. But, in the first place, what is to be understood by these storehouses ? Let us, to begin with, imagine that in the dwelling of the Bridegroom Digitized by Google there are chambers fragrant with perfumes, and filled with all kinds of delights. It is in these that, as in a treasury,1 is stored and kept in reserve whatever is most rare and valuable of the products of garden and of field. Hither, then, do all those who run direct their steps ; but who are they that run ? These are the souls who are fervent in the Spirit, the Bride, the maidens in her train ; but she whose love is most ardent runs

more swiftly, and arrives sooner. When she arrives, she suffers no repulse, and not even any delay. Forthwith the portals are opened to her, as to an inmate of the house, as to one greatly beloved, who is specially dear and welcome. But what as to her maidens ? They follow afar off ; they are still weak ; they cannot press forward with devotion equal to that of the Bride ; they cannot experience fervour and earnest desire such as hers ; therefore they arrive later, and they remain without. But the charity of the Bride does not rest, nor does she pride herself, as is frequently the case, upon her happy successes so as to be forgetful of them. On the contrary, she consoles them the more assiduously, and exhorts them to endure patiently and calmly the repulse they have received, and her absence. Then she declares to them the joy which she has attained, and that for the very reason that they may rejoice with her, in the hope of one day attaining to a share in the graces and blessings of their mother. For she does not so pursue her own [spiritual] advantage as to neglect the care of them, nor desires that her benefit should be hurtful or prejudicial to them. However far removed from

them she is by superior merits, it is of necessity that her charity and tender care for them keep her with them always. It is her duty, moreover, to follow the example of her Bridegroom, both, on the one hand, in seeking the heavens, and, on the other, in promising to be ever upon earth with His people, even to the consummation of all things. So also the Bride, whatever progress she may make, and whatever advancement she may attain, is prevented by her care, her deep interest and affection for those whom she has begotten in the Gospel, from ever leaving them or forgetting them in the depths of her heart. 2. Let her say, then, to them : Take courage and rejoice. The King has brought me into His storerooms: regard yourselves as having been thereby brought in also. I alone seem to have entered in, but the advantage is not to me alone. Every advancement of mine is virtually yours ; it is for you that I make profit ; and I share with you the graces which more than you I have deserved. Do you wish for an unquestionable proof that her words are to be taken in this sense and intention ? Then listen to the reply which they make : We will be glad

and rejoice in thee ; we do not deserve to do so in ourselves, but in thee. And they add : We are mindful of thy bosom (Cant. i. 4) ; that is, we shall endure patiently until ' Deniquc Cellar 10 cunctisque similibus Monasterii officinis laicales pr&fecit personasf etc. * Ratpertus Monachus de Casibus St. Galli,' cap. 6, ap., Du Cange. — Ed.

Digitized by Google < 132 thou come, knowing that thou wilt return to us with thy bosom filled with graces. We confidently hope, then, to rejoice and be glad; meanwhile we are mindful of thee. The words which he adds, more than wine, signify that they are still touched with the remembrance of the desires of the flesh, which are spoken of as wine, and that, nevertheless, those desires are overcome by the thought of that abounding sweetness which, as they have experienced, flows from her. I should speak of this now, if I did not remember that I have done so above.1 But now you see what confidence they have with regard to their mother, how they look upon all her advantages and all her joys as belonging to themselves, and console themselves for their own repulse by her admission. They would not have so great confidence, if they did not recognise her as their mother.

Let prelates, who like better to make themselves feared by those committed to their charge, than to be useful to them, take this to heart. Be ye learned, O ye that are judges of the earth. Learn from this that you ought to be as mothers, not masters, to your subjects ; study to make yourselves loved rather than feared ; and if there be need sometimes of severity, let it be that of a father, not of a tyrant. Show yourselves mothers in affection, fathers in reproof.

Be gentle, not harsh ; be not forward to inflict stripes; let the view of the maternal bosom promise indulgence ; let the hearts [of those under you] grow fat with milk, not swell with anger. Why do you lay your heavy yoke upon those whose burden it is rather your duty to bear? Why does the young son, who has been bitten by a serpent, avoid displaying his wound to the priest, to whom he ought rather to resort as to the bosom of a mother ? If ye are spiritual* restore such an one in the spirit of meekness ; considering thyself lest thou also be tempted (Gal. vi. i). For otherwise lie shall die in his sin . . . but his blood tvill I require at thine hand (Ezek. iii. 20).

But of this at another season. 3. Now, since the context is clear by what I have said above, let us see what is the mystical meaning of 1 the storehouse.' Later on mention is made of the garden also and the chamber, and I take these three for the subject of our present discussion; for when treated together, they throw light mutually on each other. Let us seek, then, if you please, these three words in the Holy Scriptures : the storehouse, the garden, and the chamber. For a soul that is athirst for God willingly occupies itself with, and lingers in, these* knowing that in them it will assuredly find Him whom it thirsts for. l^et, then, the garden represent the plain and simple historical sense of the Scripture ; the storehouse the moral sense of it ; and the chamber the secret and mystical truth, reached by Divine contemplation. 4. In the first place, I think that the historic sense is not unfitly referred to the garden, because in the history are found men of many virtues, as it were fruitful trees in the garden of the Bridegroom and Digitized by Google in the Paradise of God ; and from their conduct and their actions you may take examples, as from a tree you gather fruit. Who

can question that a good man is, as it were, a plant of God ? Hear what holy David sings concerning a good man : He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of wafer, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither (Ps. i. 3). Jeremiah also expresses himself to the same effect, and in almost the same words : He shall be as a tree planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh ; but her leaf shall be green (Jer. xvii. 8). And the Psalmist : The righteous shall flourish like the palm-tree ; he shall gr&iv like a cedar in Lebanon (Ps. xcii. 12). And of himself he says: / am like a green olive-tree tn the house of God (Ps. lii. 8). History is, then, as it were, a garden, and it is threefold; for it contains the creation, the reconciliation, and the reparation of heaven and of earth. Creation, that is like the sowing or planting of a garden. Reconciliation is, as it were, the germination of that which is sown or planted. For at the due timethe heavens have distilled dew from above, the clouds have poured down righteousness, the earth has opened

and brought forth the Saviour (Is. xlv. 8), by whom was brought about the reconciliation of heaven and earth. For He is our peace, who hath made both one (Eph. ii. 14), reconciling by His blood all things, whether in earth or heaven (Col. i. 20). Reparation, again, is to come to pass at the ending of the dispensation. For there shall be a new heaven and a new earth ; the good shall be gathered from among the evil, to be set in safety in the storehouse of God, as fruits from a garden. In that day, it is said, shall the branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely (Is. iv. 2). In this garden of the historic sense, then, you have three periods included. 5. In the Moral sense, secondly, you have a threefold discipline : three cells, as it were, in one storehouse. Therefore it is, perhaps, that they are spoken of in the plural as 1 storerooms 1 (cellaria), in contemplation of this number of cells. A little farther on, the Bride felicitates herself on having been brought into * the cellar of wine ' (ii. 4, ' banqueting house,' A.

V.). We, then, because we read, ' Give an occasion to a wise man, and he will be wiser' (Prov. ix. 9), take occasion from this name, which the Holy Spirit has thought fit to give to this cell, to give it also to the two others ; to call one the cell of perfumes, the other that of unguents. We shall explain presently the reasons for these names. But in the meantime notice that all which surrounds the Bridegroom is sweet, as all is salutary— wine, perfumes, and unguents. Wine, the Scripture declares, maketh glad the heart of man (Ps. civ. 15). We read also that oil maketh his face cheerful {Ibid., Douay), and it is with oil and medicinal powders that ointments or unguents are compounded. Lastly, perfumes are not only agreeable by their odour, but are useful because of their medicinal virtue. It is, then, with good reason that the Bride Digitized by G00gle ' 134 rejoices at having been brought into a spot where graces are so great and so abundant. 6. But I have other names also for them, for which, as I consider, a still greater probability may be shown. To name them in their order, I take the first cell to be that of discipline, the second that of nature, the last that

of grace. In the first you learn, following the rule of Christian ethics, to be the last of all ; but in the second to be equal to all, and in the last to be superior to all ; that is to say, you learn how to act as an inferior, how to act as an equal, and how to act as a superior ; or, again, to be below, to be beside, to be above others.1 In the first you learn to be a disciple, in the second to be a companion, in the third to be a master. Nature has, indeed, made all men equal f but that natural order having been corrupted by pride, men have become impatient of that equality, desirous to elevate themselves above others, and full of efforts to do so ; greedy of vainglory, envying and provoking one another. Thus, first of all, insolence of character requires to be restrained by the yoke of discipline, until the stubborn3 will, worn down by observance of the severe and constantly repeated rules of the elders, may be humbled and cured, and regain by its obedience that good of nature which it had lost by the indulgence of pride, until the man shall have learned to possess his soul in patience, and to live peacefully and

kindly, as far as in him lies, with his fellow creatures ; that is to say, with all men ; and that not by fear of punishment, but by the spontaneous impulse of the will. Then he will pass on into the cell of nature, and will make proof of that which is written : Behold hoiv good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unify I It is like the precious ointment upon the head (Ps. cxxxiii. i, 2). For characters thus disciplined, are, as it were, sweet spices pounded together, from which is composed the oil of joy, which is the good of nature, and a sweet and excellent unguent is produced from it. The man who is, so to speak, anointed with this becomes peaceful and amiable ; one who provokes no quarrel, who deceives no one, who attacks no one, who offends no one ; who does not set himself above others, or prefer himself to everyone else, but, on the contrary, maintains with those around him a continual interchange of kindnesses given and received. 7. I think that if you have clearly understood the leading characteristics of the two former cells, you will be of opinion that I have not unfitly named the one that of perfumes, the other that of

For in the former, as the forcible pounding of a pestle forces forth and extracts the strength and fragrance of spices, so the pressure of the rule and the rigour of discipline expresses, so to speak, and draws hardly equalled. — Ed. ' Declaration of Independence' [of the United States], written in 1776, employed totidem verbis more than six hundred years earlier. — Ed. * Cervicosa ; not a common word. — Ed. Digitized by Google forth the natural force of the characters of those who are ruled.

And in the latter the agreeable sweetness of a voluntary and, so to speak, innate affection runs eagerly of its own accord, like, as it were, the fragrant oil which is upon the head, and which at the slightest touch of warmth rolls downward and is diffused over the whole body. Thus in the cell of discipline are enclosed, as it were, the simple materials of perfumes in a dry state, and thus I have thought it ought to be called ' of perfume/ But in that which is said to be of nature, the unguents compounded of these are found and are stored, and therefore it is called * of unguents.' As for the wine-cellar, I suppose that the reason for the name is no other than that in it is stored the wine of a zeal fervent with charity. One who has not as yet deserved to be brought into this cell should assuredly not be set in authority over others. For it is essential that one who has the direction of others should be fervent with this wine, in like manner as was the great Doctor of the Gentiles, when he said : Who is weak, and J am not weak ? Who is offended, and I burn not? (2 Cor. xi. 29). Otherwise, it is altogether

wrong that you should aspire to rule over those to whom you have no desire to be of service, and should claim for yourself, with excessive ambition, the subjection of those whose salvation you are not earnestly desirous to forward. This cell I have named that of grace, not because it is possible to obtain even the two others without grace, but because of the fulness of grace which is reached in this alone. For love is the fulfilling of the law, and He that loveth another hath fulfilled the law (Rom. xiii. 10, 8). 8. You have seen the reason of the names, see now the different characters of the cells ; for it is one thing to repress by fear, and by the rigid rule of discipline, the wanton and wandering senses and the irregular appetites of the flesh, and another to preserve a kindly agreement with brethren by a spontaneous disposition to do so. These differ in difficulty, and, indeed, in the faculties which effect them ; and so also to live a regulated life under the authority of another, and to do so with our own will for the only constraining influence, are altogether distinct things. In the same way, no one will declare the living in peace and on good terms with others, and the

ruling over them for their benefit to be actions of equal merit and requiring the same powers. How many are there who live in peace under the direction of an intelligent guide, whom, if they were set free from the obligation to obey, you would speedily perceive not to be able to remain even peaceful and harmless to their neighbours ?

And similarly there are very many who are seen to conduct themselves simply and without offence among their brethren who, if they were set over them, would behave themselves so as to be not only useless, but even unwise and harmful. Such persons ought to content themselves within the bounds of a mediocrity which is advan tageous to them, following the measure of the grace which God has bestowed upon them ; not having, indeed, any great need of a master, but yet being unfitted to be masters themselves. These, Digitized by Google l36 indeed, are of a more excellent character than the former class ; but such as know how to govern well are superior both to the one 'and to the other. Those, too, who are faithful and wise in ruling over the Lord's household have it in promise from Him that He will make them rulers over all His goods (Matt. xxiv. 48). But as there are few who rule wholly to the advantage of others, so there are fewer still who do so with humility. Yet both the one and the other duty are easily fulfilled by him who has attained perfect discretion, the mother of all the virtues, and has drunk of the wine of charity to the point of contemning his own glory, and of entire forgetfulness of himself, so that he seeketh not his own ; and this state is reached only in the cell called of wine, and under the wonderful guidance of the Holy Spirit. The virtue of discretion lies prone and helpless without the fervour of charity, while the vehement fervour of charity without the moderating influence of discretion hurries on to the precipice. Therefore he is to be praised to whom neither is wanting, insomuch that fervour animates his discretion, and discretion regulates his fervour.

So it behoves him to be constituted who rules over others. But I should regard him as the highest in character, and as having learned perfectly the sum of this discipline, upon whom has been bestowed the power to pass through and around all these cellars without stumbling ; who in no respect whatever either resists his superiors, envies his equals, or towards his inferiors commits either the error of being wanting in care for them, or ruling them in pride ; who is obedient to those who are above him, to his companions obliging, to those under him kindly condescending for their good ; which high degree of perfection, indeed, I have no hesitation in attributing to the Bride. This is intimated in the statement she has made, that The King hath brought me into His storehouses, since she mentions not some one only, but speaks in the plural, 1 His storehouses.'1 9. Now let us pass to the bedchamber. What is that chamber ?

Have I the presumption to think that I know what it is ? By no means do I arrogate to myself any experience of so exalted a subject, nor do I boast of a prerogative, which is reserved to the happy Bride alone, being careful, according to that proverb of the Greeks, to * know myself,'1 and to know, as did the Psalmist [in a similar case], that such knowledge is too wonderful for me ; it is high, I cannot attain unto it (Ps. cxxxix. 6). If I had no knowledge whatever, I should say nothing. What little I do know I will not enviously keep back from you \ what I do not know, may He, w/10 teacheth man over the portico of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi. It was attributed to Thales, one of the Seven Wise Men of Greece ; and indeed to Pythagoras, Chilo, Cleobulus, Bias, and Socrates, as well as to Phemonoe, a (mythical) Greek poetess of the anteHomeric period, said to have been the daughter of Apollo. Juvenal (Sat. XL, verse 27), says : E caelo descendit yvu>9i acavrbv. See also Cicero, * Tusculan. Disputat.,' I., I, 22, 52. — Ed.

Digitized by Google 137 knowledge (Ps. xciv. 10), vouchsafe to impart to you. I have already said, and I dare say that you remember, that the chamber of the King is to be sought in the secret and mystical truth reached by Divine contemplation.1 But, as in speaking of perfumes, I said that the Bridegroom has many, and of different kinds, and that all of these are not bestowed upon everyone, but that each has part in them, according to the various character of his discernings, so I think of the chamber of the King also, that it is not one, but many. Nor has He one queen also, but assuredly very many ; He has many woman friends,2 and of maidens the number is uncounted. Each of these has her secret confidence with the Bridegroom, and says : My secret is for myself my secret is for myself (Is. xxiv. 16). It is not granted to all to enjoy in the same degree the dear and secret Presence of the Bridegroom, but it is given to whomsoever it has been prepared by the Father. For we have not chosen Him, but He has chosen us, and established us in our place ; and wheresoever any soul has been placed by Him, there is He with that soul. One woman, moved with penitence, found her place at the Feet of the Lord Jesus (Luke vii. 38) ; another, if it were really another,3 found the fruit of her devotion at the Head of Jesus (Matt. xxvi. 7). St.

Thomas attained the grace of that secret [favour] at His Side ; St.

I c- 3. a There is apparently a reminiscence of 1 Kings xi. 3. s St. Augustine expresses himself in a similar manner (in Joannem Tract, ix. n. 3) Whether Mary, who anointed our Lord, as we read in several passages of the Gospel, and Mary, the sister of Martha, were the same, or different persons, has been a subject of much controversy among old writers. Jansenius Gandavensis (' ConcordLe Evang.,' c. 48) treats the question with his usual solidity. There are some writers, especially among the Greeks, for example, Origen and Theophylact, who think that there were three distinct women named Mary mentioned in the Gospels. The first was the * woman who was a sinner,' mentioned, but not named, by St. Luke (vii. 37). The second is also mentioned, but not named, by St. Matthew (xxvi. 7), and St. Mark (xiv. 3). The third was the sister of Martha (John xii. 3). St. John Chrysostom, on the contrary (Horn. 81), thinks that there were only two Marys — one who poured the perfume on the Head of Jesus, and that on two different occasions ; the other the sister of Martha. St. Jerome again (in Matt, xxvi.) would identify her who poured the perfume on the Head of Jesus with the sister of Martha; and regards her who

poured perfume on His feet, in the house of a Pharisee, as a different person ; St. Ambrose, in his Commentary on St. Luke, seems of the same opinion. St. Gregory the Great admits only one Mary, and many writers are of his opinion. St. Ambrose {/oc. **/.), though he is not unwilling to believe that these were different persons, writes sometimes as if they appeared to him to be the same, * who was changed through change of time and of character,' so that she who began by being the 'sinner' of the Gospel, in the end became holy. * For although,' he says, 1 the Church does not change the person, as for the soul, it changes as it makes progress towards good.' However that may be, St. Bernard expresses the same doubt in his Sermon XII. in Cantica^ but in Sermon III. in Assumptiotte, n. 2, he asserts, and that at much length, that she who is referred to in Luke vii. is the same with her of whom mention is made in Matt, xxvi., Mark xiv., and John xii. He speaks thus : * See the prerogative of Mary, and what an advocate she has in every circumstance. If the Pharisee is indignant (Luke vii.), if her sister complains (John xii.), if even the disciples murmur

(Matt, xxvi., Mark xiv.), in every case Mary keeps silence, and Christ speaks for her/ Digitized by John leaning upon His Breast ; St. Peter in the Bosom of the Father ; and St. Paul in the third heaven. 10. Who of us can worthily distinguish between these varieties of merits, or rather of rewards? Nevertheless, that I may not seem to pass over in silence that which is within our knowledge, notice that the former of the women mentioned sought her safety under the shelter of humility; the latter in the seat of hope ; St. Thomas in firmness of faith ; St. John in breadth of charity ; St. Paul in the depth of wisdom ; St. Peter in the light of truth. If, then, in the [home of the] Bridegroom there are many mansions, each, whether Queen, or friend, and even she who is only of the number of the maidens, finds place and lodgment there proportioned to her merits, and is permitted to remain there until she passes beyond it by inspiring contemplation, enters into the joy of her Lord, and of the sweet secrets of the Bridegroom explores the utmost depths. This I will endeavour to make more clear in its place, as far as the Lord shall vouchsafe to enable me. But now it