Sermons on the Song of Songs

“Let Him kiss me with the kiss of His Mouth.”

Yesterday, my brethren, if you recollect, I treated of the three stages, so to speak, of the soul’s journey towards perfection, under the figure of three kisses. The same subject shall occupy me in to-day’s discourse, according as God, in His sweetness, shall deign to provide for my poverty. I observed, as you will remember, that those three kisses are given in due order—to the Feet, to the Hand, and to the Mouth of the Bridegroom. By the first we consecrate the beginnings of our conversion, the second is the privilege of proficients, whilst only the few who attain perfection can experience the third. It is from this, which is last in order, that the inspired Book, which I have undertaken to expound, takes its commencement. The two other kisses I have merely introduced on its account, viz., to make its meaning and dignity more clearly intelligible. Whether their introduction is really necessary to this end, it will be for you, my brethren, to judge. To me it seems that the very language of the text invites us to the consideration of these prerequisite embraces. And I shall be surprised if you also do not see that there must be some other kiss or kisses from which that of the mouth is meant to be distinguished by her who said, “Let Him kiss me with the kiss of His Mouth.” Otherwise, when it would have sufficed to say, “let Him kiss me,” why did she add distinctly and explicitly and against the common custom and usage in speech, “with the kiss of His Mouth”? The only explanation is that thereby she intended to signify that the kiss she asked for, though supreme, was not solitary. In human society the expressions, “kiss me,” or “give me a kiss,” are familiar enough. But no one ever thinks of adding “with your mouth,” or “with the kiss of your mouth.” Why? Because when persons embrace in this manner they present their lips to each other, as a matter of course, and without its being expressly asked. For instance, the Evangelist, in narrating how the Traitor was permitted to salute the Lord, simply says, “And he kissed Him,” and does not add, “with his mouth” or “with the kiss of his mouth.” And such is the custom of all writers and speakers. The threefold distinction of kisses, therefore, corresponds to three states of the soul, or three stages of her progress, fully known and understood only by those who have learned them by experience. And this experience is had when our sins are pardoned, or grace given for practising virtue, or when our merciful and benevolent God unveils His Face to our contemplation, so far as, in this mortal life, our weakness can endure that vision of glory.

I will explain more clearly why I call the first and second of those favours by the name of kisses. We all know that a kiss is a sign of peace. Now, as Holy Scripture says, “our sins separate us from God.” If, then, We break down this wall of separation there shall be peace. Hence, when we remove, by penance, the obstruction of sin and arc reconciled, how can I more suitably describe the forgiveness we obtain than by naming it the kiss of peace? Yet it is only the Feet we should now presume to kiss. That is to say, our penance ought to be humble and shy, as making reparation for the pride of our former transgressions. But when, later on, we have been admitted to a certain sweet familiarity by a more abundant infusion of grace, whereby We are enabled to live more purely and to converse more worthily with God, then we may lift up our heads with greater confidence, in order to kiss the Hand of our Benefactor, as is the custom amongst men. Yet we do this then only when we seek in the grace bestowed, not our own glory, but the glory of the Giver, ascribing to His bounty, rather than to any merit of our own, all that we receive. For if you glory not in Him but in yourselves, what is that but kissing your own hand rather than the Hand of the Lord? And this, according to holy Job, is “a very great iniquity and a denial against the Most High God.” Now, if, as Holy Scripture testifies, to seek one’s own glory is to kiss one’s own hand, it follows that he who seeks the glory of God may rightly be said to kiss His Hand. What I have said is paralleled even in human customs. Thus, servants, when begging pardon of their offended masters, are wont to kiss their feet, whereas the poor kiss the hand of the rich whenever they receive an alms.

However, as God is a Spirit, a simple Substance with no distinction of corporeal members, there may be some who will raise objections to what I have been saying. I may be challenged to show that the Deity has and Feet which can be kissed in the way I have described. But what if I, in my turn, ask such critics to explain to me how the words of Scripture concerning this kiss of the Mouth are to be understood of God? For in whatever sense He may be said to possess a Mouth, in the same I may speak of Him as having Hands and Feet. And, contrariwise, in so far as He lacks the latter members, He lacks the former, too. But, in truth, God has a Mouth by which He “teaches men knowledge,” and He has Hands by which He gives “food to all flesh,” and He has Feet whereof the “earth is the footstool”—which signifies that sinners of the earth turn to these Feet, and prostrating themselves there, make due satisfaction. All such members and faculties, I say, God possesses, not formally or materially, but spiritually and virtually. Assuredly, no one will deny that humble contrition finds in Him something answering to feet, before which it may cast itself down; that fervent devotion finds something answering to hands, which strengthens it by renewing its vigour; that joyous contemplation, too, finds something corresponding to a mouth, which, as by a kiss, gives content and rest to its rapturous love. He is all things to all Who governs all, and yet is not properly any of all. For, as He is in Himself, “He dwelleth in light inaccessible,” and His “peace surpasseth all understanding,” and “of His wisdom there is no number,” and “of His greatness there is no end.” Neither can any “man see Him and live.” Not, indeed, that He is far from any of His creatures, for He is, in a sense, the Being of all, without Whom all are nothing; but because—and this will increase your astonishment—just as there is nothing more intimate to us than He, so is there nothing more incomprehensible. What, I ask, is more intimate to each than his being? Yet what more incomprehensible than the Being of all things? Of course, I am speaking of God as the Being of all His creatures, not in the sense that they are what He is, but because “from Him, and by Him, and in Him are all.” The Creator, then, is the Being of all that He has made, but efficiently, not formally. It is thus that the Divine Majesty condescends to be to His creatures, the Being of all that are, the Life of all that live, the Light of all that think, the Virtue of all who use that Light well, and the Crown of all who conquer. And in creating, governing, administering, moving, predetermining, renewing, establishing these various orders of things, He has need of no corporeal instruments, Who, with a single word, created all things, material and immaterial. Human souls require bodies and bodily senses in order to know and to act upon each other. Not so the Almighty. From His own Will exclusively He derives the energy required for producing creatures and ordering them as He pleases. His power reaches to whatsoever He wills, and as He wills, without need or use for corporeal members. Or do you suppose that He depends on the service of a bodily sense to contemplate the things which His Hands have made? No! He is the Light omnipresent which nothing can ever escape, yet He needs not the ministry of sensitive faculties to put Him in possession of knowledge. And not alone does He know all things without a bodily medium, but also, without a bodily medium He reveals Himself to the clean of heart. I will enlarge upon this in order to make it plainer. But as the time that remains is too short to allow me to say all I have to say, it will be wiser to reserve the rest until to-morrow.