Sermons on the Song of Songs

“My Beloved to me, and I to Him Who feedeth among the lilies, till the day break and the shadows retire.”

“My Beloved to me, and I to Him Who feedeth among the lilies, till the day break and the shadows retire.” Only the two last clauses of this text remain to be discussed. But at the very outset I find myself confronted with a difficulty regarding them. With which of the foregoing are they to be connected? For they can make sense in two different relations. I may either treat the relative clause, “Who feedeth among the lilies,” as a parenthesis, and read, “My Beloved to Me, and I to Him, till the day break and the shadows retire”; or I may consider the temporal clauses as depending on the relative, so that the sentence will run, “My Beloved to me, and I to Him, Who feedeth among the lilies till the day break and the shadows retire.” Taken in either way, the words yield an intelligible and an appropriate meaning. There is this difference, however: in the first connexion, the word “till” has to be understood in an inclusive sense; in the second, in an exclusive. For even though the Bridegroom should cease to feed among the lilies when the day breaks, surely He will not likewise cease to attend to His Bride nor His Bride to Him. God forbid. Throughout eternity they will continue to regard each other only with greater delight, because with greater intensity and with greater intensity because with greater perfection of liberty. Therefore, according to the first way of construing, the word “till” must here be taken in the same signification in which St. Matthew employs it, where he says that “he (Joseph) knew her (Mary) not, till she brought forth her first-born Son”—which, as is clear, cannot be understood in an exclusive sense. We find the same word used with the same meaning in one of the psalms, “Our eyes are unto the Lord our God, until He have mercy on us.” Surely the Psalmist does not intend to imply that we shall turn our eyes away from the Lord as soon as He begins to show mercy. The Saviour Himself also makes use of a similar expression in the same inclusive sense, when He says to His apostles, “Behold I am with you all days even to the consummation of the world.” For He does not mean that He will thereafter be no longer with them. Thus, I say, the word “till” has to be taken if we choose to connect it immediately with the first part of the verse, “My Beloved to me, and I to Him.” But it must be understood exclusively if we would rather refer it to the relative clause, “Who feedeth among the lilies.” Yet even in this case it may well appear no easy task to explain how the Beloved will cease to feed among the lilies when the day breaks. For if the day here in question is the day of the general resurrection, does it not seem as if He would then take all the greater delight in feeding among the lilies, for the reason that He would find them in much greater abundance? These remarks are enough on the subject of the literal sequence.

Observe now, my brethren, that after the resurrection, although His whole kingdom shall then shine with lilies, and although the Bridegroom Himself will dwell and take His delight among them, nevertheless it cannot be said with truth that He will any longer feed among them, as He was wont to do in the aforetime. For where then shall you find the sinners whom Christ may incorporate and assimilate to Himself, grinding and masticating them with the teeth of sharp discipline (if I may be allowed the expression), that is to say, by affliction of the flesh and compunction of heart? Neither will He, Who is the Word of God and the Bridegroom of souls, seek nourishment for Himself there in the acts and the works of obedience, where nothing shall be found but universal repose, uninterrupted love and contemplation. His food indeed is to do the will of His Father. But this is true only of the present life, not also of the future. Wherefore should He do what has already been accomplished? Now it is certain that the will of God shall then have been accomplished and made perfect. For then it shall be the joy of all the saints to “prove what is the good, and the acceptable, and the perfect will of God.” And surely after perfection has been reached, nothing more can remain to be done. Thenceforward the will of God shall be a source of enjoyment, not a duty to be fulfilled; a delight to be experienced, not a task to be accomplished; a fountain of life, not a rule of conduct. Is not this the will which, taught by Christ Himself, we ask with most earnest entreaty should “be done on earth as it is in heaven,” where even now its fruits give enjoyment and its fulfilment no fatigue? Therefore the Word and Bridegroom can there find no works to feed on, where all work must necessarily cease, and where wisdom is more abundantly communicated to all. For it is written, “He that is less in action shall receive wisdom.”

But now let us see if what I have been saying, namely, that the Bridegroom will no longer feed among the lilies after the general resurrection, can also be maintained consistently with the view of those according to whom to feed among the lilies means to take delight in the beauty of the virtues. I have referred to this interpretation amongst others in the preceding sermon. Are we therefore to suppose that then there shall be no virtues at all? Or that the Bridegroom will take no pleasure in them? It would be the height of absurdity to entertain either belief. But consider whether His future mode of delighting in the virtues may not be different from His present. That He will truly delight in them cannot be doubted; but perhaps it will be in some way more analogous to drinking than to eating. Certainly in this life and in this body, no human virtue can be found so thoroughly defecated, none so sweet and pure, as to be fit for the Bridegroom to drink. But He “Who will have all men to be saved,” overlooks many imperfections, and the virtue which He cannot as yet swallow down with ease, so to speak, and as it were by the act of drinking, He grinds and chews with method and labour, if even thus He may obtain from it some little relish. A time will come when that virtue shall be perfectly purified, when it shall not require to be pressed between the teeth and laboriously masticated, when it shall not give Him Who partakes of it the trouble of grinding it, but shall rather delight without wearying Him; because He shall drink it as liquid, not eat it like solid food. Indeed He Himself tells us this in the Gospel, when He says, “I will not drink from henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when I shall drink it with you new in the kingdom of My Father.” Observe how He makes no mention of eating in that kingdom. The Psalmist also refers to His drinking, comparing Him to “a mighty man that hath been surfeited with wine.” But neither does he say anything about His eating. The Spouse, therefore, conscious of this mystery, after discovering and proclaiming that her Beloved feeds among the lilies, appoints, or rather acknowledges and announces as already appointed, the limit of the period during which He will vouchsafe so to feed, in the words, “until the day break and the shadows retire.” That is to say, she is well aware that thereafter her Beloved will delight in the virtues rather by drinking than by eating them. This is likewise the custom with men who are wont to take drink after solid food. Therefore the Bridegroom, Who feeds on our virtues as on edibles in the present life, will drink of them in the life to come, and with the greater delight, because with greater security. He will then be able to swallow down with facility what He cannot take now without first dissolving it by a process of diligent and toilsome manducation.