Sermons on the Song of Songs

“My Beloved to me, and I to Him.”

“My Beloved to me, and I to Him.” In the preceding discourse, my brethren, I regarded these words as belonging to the universal Church, on account of the promises which God has made to her, both of the life which now is and of that which is to come. To-day we have to examine the question as to whether they may not also be assigned to the particular soul. The reason for doubting is that the individual, as it seems, cannot justly appropriate what it is lawful for the community to lay claim to, and no one member of the Church has apparently the right to represent in any way the whole. If such be the case, then it becomes necessary to refer the words of our text so exclusively to the Church that they shall in no sense be applicable to individuals; and not these words alone, but also all similar expressions which appear to contain great and special privileges, for example, “With expectation I have waited for the Lord, and He hath attended to me,” and the other passages which I spoke of in my last sermon. But should anyone maintain that the member is entitled to a participation in the privileges of the body, I shall not contradict him. Yet it will be necessary to make distinctions. For not all the children of the Spouse share in their mother’s prerogatives. The Church of God has certainly her spiritual sons, who not only live faithfully but also “deal confidently in her,” who converse with the Lord as with a a friend, their own conscience bearing them witness that they are always seeking His glory. Who are these favoured souls? That is God’s secret. But hear now from me what kind you yourselves ought to become if you desire to be numbered amongst the special friends of God. And I shall speak not as one who has already enjoyed, but only as one longing to enjoy, the experience of the things I am discussing. Give me a man who loves nothing except God and whatever is for God’s sake deserving of love; a man for whom “to live is Christ” and has been for a long time; who, whether at work or repose, equally endeavours to “set the Lord always in his sight”; whose dominant desire, yea, rather, whose single desire, is to walk ever cautiously with the Lord his God, and whose grace is adequate to the accomplishment of this desire—give me, I say, such a soul, and I, at all events, will not pronounce her to be unworthy of the heavenly Bridegroom’s attention, of the regard of the Divine Majesty, of the favour of the Supreme Lord, of the Sovereign Ruler’s solicitous care. And should she, like St. Paul, “have a mind to glory” on account of these things, she certainly “shall not be foolish.” “But he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord” only. In this way, therefore, the individual member may appropriate to himself the same privileges which the whole body lays claim to. Nevertheless, there are not the same grounds for the presumption of one as for the presumption of all.

The Church, as a holy society, bases her confidence upon the reasons given above, that of the faithful soul rests on the two following considerations. First, her Bridegroom, in the absolute simplicity of His Divine Nature, has the power to regard many as if they were but one, and one again as if many. His attention is not multiplied according to the multiplicity of its objects, nor confined by solicitude for a few. It is neither divided by diversity, nor engrossed by singularity, nor disquieted by cares, nor perturbed or agitated by solicitude. For it is given to each without being restricted, and given to all without being distracted. The second motive of the soul’s confidence is a certain consolation, the experience of which is exceedingly delightful but also exceedingly rare. So great is the condescension of the Word, so great is the benevolence of the Father towards a rightly affected, well-ordered soul—although such dispositions are themselves but the Father’s gift and the Word’s creation—that after preventing and preparing her with Their graces and blessings, They even deign to honour her with Their presence. Yea, not only do They come to her, but They condescend so far as to make Their abode with her. For it is not enough for Their love that They make Themselves known, unless They also give themselves to be enjoyed unreservedly. But what are we to understand by the Word’s coming to the soul? He comes, no doubt, by instructing her in wisdom. And by the Father’s coming? The soul may be assured that she has the Father for her Guest when she feels herself excited to such a love of wisdom as shall enable her to say with truth, “I have become a lover of her beauty.” Love belongs to the Father; and, therefore, the infusion of love is a proof of the Father’s presence in the soul. What would be the effect of instruction without love? It could only inflate us. And what could love do without instruction? It would simply lead us astray. They certainly had been led astray of whom the Apostle testified, “I bear them witness that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.” It is not becoming that the Bride of the Word and of the Wisdom of God should be herself without wisdom; whilst the Father would not endure her if He found her puffed up. For “the Father loveth the Son,” “and every height that exalteth itself against the knowledge of” the Word He is prepared to cast down and destroy immediately, whether by the zeal which He infuses, or by that wherewith He chastises, of which the former proceeds from His mercy and the latter from His justice. Would to God that I were taught to renounce pride, but rather in the school of grace than in that of judgment! “O Lord, rebuke me not in Thy fury,” as of old Thou didst rebuke the angel who inflated himself in heaven; “nor chastise me in Thy wrath,” as Thou didst chastise the first man in paradise. Both alike “meditated iniquity,” both alike aimed at supereminence, the former ambitioning supereminence of power, the latter desiring supereminence of knowledge. Eve, in her folly, gave credit to the serpent who came to seduce her with the promise, “You shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” Already he had seduced himself, for he had persuaded himself that he should be “like the Most High.” Now “if anyone think himself to be something, whereas he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.”