Sermons on the Song of Songs

Both these things are necessary for me: truth, from which I cannot conceal myself; and grace, from which I am unwilling to hide. No divine visitation can be perfect if it brings either of them without the other. For truth, unaccompanied by grace, is capable of depressing the soul with its severity; whilst grace, dissociated from truth, has a tendency to relax by unduly elating her. The former is bitter unless it be seasoned with the latter, and the latter, if not restrained by the former, grows light and extravagant and not seldom over-bold. For how many has it been of no advantage to have received grace, because they did not receive with it the steadying ballast of truth! The consequence was that they began to take more complacency than was expedient in the grace bestowed upon them, whilst they lost the wholesome fear of the eyes of truth; and, paying no further attention to the roe’s mature gravity, gave themselves up unreservedly to the giddiness and sprightliness of the young hart. Hence it came to pass that they were deprived altogether of the grace in which they wished to rejoice solely. To such as these it may be said, even though it be too late, “Go then and learn what this meaneth, ‘Serve ye the Lord with fear, and rejoice unto Him with trembling.’” Thus, a certain holy soul in her “abundance said, ‘I shall never be moved.’” But suddenly she perceived that the Word had turned away His Face from her, and then she became not only moved, but even “troubled.” And so she was taught by affliction that the gift of devotion suffices her not, unless it be accompanied by the counterpoise of truth. Therefore, my brethren, the fulness of grace does not consist of grace alone, nor does it consist of truth alone. For what does it avail us to know what we ought to do, if we are not also given the good will to act according to our knowledge? Or of what advantage is it to have the good will, if the power of accomplishment be lacking? How many have I known whom the knowledge of the truth rendered sadder than ever, and that for the reason that it was no longer in their power to plead ignorance as an excuse for their sins! For they were now as men who knew, yet refused to accomplish what truth demanded of them.

From what I have said it ought to be evident that grace without truth is insufficient, as also truth without grace. But this is saying too little. Not only is it not enough to possess one of these gifts without the other, but it is even inexpedient. What proof have I of this? “To him, therefore, who knoweth to do good and doth it not, to him it is sin.” So speaks St. James. And Christ tells us in the Gospel that “the servant who knew the will of his Lord and did not according to His will, shall be beaten with many stripes.” These testimonies demonstrate the inexpediency of truth without grace. But what of grace without truth? We read in St. John, “And after the morsel, Satan entered into him.” The Evangelist is speaking of Judas, who although he had received the gift of grace, did not walk in truth with the Master of truth, or rather with the Master Who is Truth, and thus made room in himself for the devil. Listen now to the Psalmist, “He fed them with the fat of wheat, and filled them with honey out of the rock.” Who are these so fed and filled? We are told in the preceding verse, “The enemies of the Lord have lied to Him.” Therefore those whom He fed with fat and with honey, they lied to Him, because the gift of truth was not united in them with the gift of grace. Of the same persons we find in another place, “The children that are strangers have lied to me, strange children have faded away, and have halted from their paths.” How indeed could they have helped halting since they were content to possess the one foot of grace without adding thereto the second of truth? Therefore it is written of the “enemies of the Lord” who “have lied to Him” that “their time (of punishment) shall be for ever”; just as the time of their leader, who “stood not in truth” but was a liar from the beginning, so that he deserved to hear it said to him, “Thou hast lost thy wisdom in thy beauty.” For my part, I want no such beauty as would deprive me of wisdom.

Dost thou ask me, my brother, what is that beauty, so evil and so pernicious? It is thine own. But perchance thou art still without understanding? Then I will speak more plainly. It is the beauty which thou makest private and proper to thyself. I do not find fault with the gift of beauty but with thy abuse of it. Thou mayst perhaps have noticed how the devil is said to have lost his wisdom not simply in beauty, but in his own beauty. Now, unless I mistake, the beauty of an angel and of a soul is the same. For apart from wisdom, what is one or the other but a thing without shape or form? It was wisdom consequently that gave to Satan form and beauty. But he lost that wisdom when he made it his own. Hence it is the same thing to say “Thou hast lost thy wisdom in thy beauty” and “thou hast lost thy wisdom in thy wisdom.” The cause of the loss was propriety. Because he was wise for himself, because he did not give glory to God, because he did not return thanks for favours bestowed, because he walked not according to truth in the grace he received, but neglecting the purpose for which it was given, used it for the satisfaction of his own will,—here is the reason why he was deprived of his wisdom. I should rather say, here is the cause which directly and of itself brought about the loss of his wisdom. For to possess wisdom in such manner is the same thing as to lose it. “If Abraham were justified by works,” writes St. Paul, “he hath whereof to glory, but not before God.” But I say that I can have nothing whereof to glory outside of God. I have lost whatever I do not possess before God. What can be so lost as that which is separated from Him? What is death but the privation of life? And so the only real loss consists in a separation from God. “Woe to you,” exclaims the Prophet Isaias, “that are wise in your own eyes, and prudent in your own conceits.” Of the same it is written, “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; and the prudence of the prudent I will reject.” They have lost true wisdom, because their own wisdom deprived them of it. How could they have retained anything since they themselves were lost? Or shall it be said that they are not lost whom God ignores?