Sermons on the Song of Songs

My merit, therefore, is nothing but the mercy of the Lord. Hence I cannot be poor in merit so long as He is rich in compassion. And if “the mercies of the Lord are many,” many too must my merits be. I may be “conscious to myself” of a multitude of sins, but what of that? For “where sin abounded, grace did more abound.” And if “the mercies of the Lord are from eternity and unto eternity,” “the mercies of the Lord I will sing for ever” also. But shall I sing my own justice? “O Lord, I will be mindful of Thy justice alone.” For Thy justice is also my justice, because Thou art made unto me “justice of God,” as the Apostle declares. But is there any reason to be afraid lest the one justice should not suffice for us both? Surely not, because it is not a “short covering” which, as the Prophet Isaias says, “cannot cover two.” In the words of the Psalmist, “Thy justice is justice for ever.” And what is longer than eternity? Oh, yes, an eternal justice is wide enough and long enough to cover fully both Thee and me. In me it shall cover “a multitude of sins”; but in Thee, what save the treasures of piety and the riches of goodness? These treasures and riches are laid up for me in the clefts of the Rock. “Oh, how great is the multitude of Thy sweetness which Thou hast” covered therein! But covered only from “them that perish.” For why should pearls be cast before swine? Why should that which is holy be given to dogs? “But to us God hath revealed them by His Spirit,” hath even brought us into the sanctuary through the open clefts of the Rock. And what a “multitude of sweetness” have we discovered there, what a plenitude of grace, what a consummation of all virtue!

As for me, my brethren, I will go to these store-rooms thus replenished with good things. Following the Prophet’s advice, I will “leave the cities and dwell in the Rock.” I will “be like the dove that maketh her nest in the mouth of the hole in the highest place,” so that, like Moses, “set in the hole of the Rock,” when the glory of the Lord shall have passed by, I may be able to see at least “His back parts.” For who can gaze upon His Face whilst He stands? That is to say, who can behold the Brightness of the Unchangeable, except one that has been already admitted not only into the sanctuary, but even into the holy of holies? Nor ought we to regard as mean or contemptible the vision which shows us the “hinder parts” of God. Let Herod despise Him thus beheld; but the more despicable He shows Himself to Herod the less shall He be despised by me. Even the “hinder parts” of the Lord have wherewith to delight the beholder. And “who knoweth but He will turn around and forgive, and leave a blessing behind Him?” The time will come when He will “shew us His Face and we shall be saved.” But meanwhile let Him deign to “prevent us with the blessings of sweetness,” with those, namely, which He is wont to leave after Him. Let Him now show us the humility of His “back parts” in condescension, as He will show us hereafter the Majesty of His Face in glory. In heaven He displays His magnificence; on the cross He manifested His sweetness. With the latter vision He prevents me; with the former He will fill me, according to the words of holy David, “Thou shalt fill me with joy with Thy Countenance.” Salutary are both visions, and both are sweet. But in the one the Lord appears in loftiness, in the other, in lowliness. The one is all resplendent, paleness characterises the other.

Hence, my brethren, it is said in the psalm, “And the hinder parts of (His) back in the paleness of gold.” And surely He must have grown pallid in death. But better is pale gold than glittering brass; and “the foolishness of God is wiser than men.” The Word of God is gold, gold too is the Wisdom of God. This Divine Gold discoloured Itself, concealing the Form of God, and exposing to view the form of a servant. It also discoloured the Church, since she says, “Do not consider that I am brown, because the Sun hath altered my colour.” Therefore to the Church likewise can be applied the words, “And the hinder parts of her back in the paleness of gold.” For she has not been ashamed of the ignominy of the cross, she has not been scandalised at the infamy of the Passion, she has not shrunk from the unsightliness of the Wounds. Nay, she even takes her pleasure in these things and desires that her own “last end shall be like to them.” Therefore she hears it said to her, “My dove in the clefts of the Rock”; because she is always devoutly pondering on the Wounds of Christ, and abides therein by her constant meditations. It is from these Wounds she derives the fortitude exhibited by her martyrs; thence also proceeds her invincible trust in the Most High. There is no reason why the martyr should be afraid to lift up his pallid and livid face to Him in Whose bruises he has been healed, to present to Him a glorious image of His own bitter death, “in the paleness of gold.” Why should he fear, since the Lord even asks him to do this, saying, “Shew Me thy face”? But wherefore such a request from the Bridegroom? As it appears to me, my brethren, He is rather expressing here a desire to show Himself. So indeed it is. He wants to be seen, not to see. For what is there which He does not see? He has no need that anyone should show himself, from Whose all-seeing Eye nothing can escape, nothing be concealed. He therefore wills to be seen. The gracious Captain wants the devoted soldier to lift up his face and his eyes in order to contemplate his Leader’s Wounds, and to draw from that contemplation and that example fresh courage and strength for the conflict. For the servant shall not feel his own wounds whilst gazing on the Wounds of his Master.