Sermons on the Song of Songs

Now those foolish virgins mentioned in the Gospel, whose foolishness, as I think, had no other cause than their boasting of wisdom, by which wisdom is lost—those, I say, shall hear from God the sentence of reprobation, “I know you not.” They also, who use the grace of miracles as a means to their own glorification, they shall have addressed to them the words, “I never knew you.” From this it is clear and manifest that grace profits nothing, but is rather a source of danger, if the purity of truth be not found in the intention. It is from the Bridegroom that both these gifts must be sought. For St. John Baptist declares that “grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” If ever, therefore, the Lord Jesus Christ (Who is the Word of God and the Bridegroom of souls) shall knock at my door, bringing with Him either truth without grace or grace without truth, I shall know that He comes not as a Bridegroom but as a Judge. God forbid that this should ever happen me! Let Him “enter not into judgment” with His servant. Let Him come in with peace, let Him come in with cheerfulness and gladness; but let His coming be also attended with gravity and sobriety, to the end that by fixing upon me the severe glance of truth He may repress my forwardness and chasten my joy. Let Him enter my soul as a bounding hart and at the same time as a watchful roe, so that He may, by dissembling, skip over my faults, and out of compassion have regard to the pains which I suffer. Let Him come into me as if descending from “the mountains of Bethel,” all radiant and blissful; or as proceeding from the Father, in sweetness and mildness. For thus He will not disdain to be called and to become the Bridegroom of the soul that seeks Him, although He is over all things, God blessed for ever. Amen.