Sermons on the Song of Songs

“Have you seen Him Whom my soul loveth? When I had a little passed beyond them I found Him Whom my soul loveth. I held Him and will not let Him go till I bring Him into my mother’s house and into the chamber of her that bore me.”

“Have you seen Him Whom my soul loveth?” O love, so precipitate, so violent, so ardent, so impetuous, suffering the mind to entertain no thought but of thyself, spurning everything, despising everything which is not thyself, content with thyself alone! Thou disturbest all order, disregardest all usage, ignorest all measure. Thou dost triumph over in thyself and reduce to captivity whatever appears to belong to fittingness, to reason, to decorum, to prudence or counsel. Thus every thought which this Spouse thinks and every word which she utters savours of thee and sounds of thee and of nothing but thee, so completely hast thou monopolised both her heart and her tongue. She says to the watchmen, “Have you seen Him Whom my soul loveth?” As if she expected them to know what she is thinking of. Dost thou enquire concerning Him Whom thy soul loveth? And has He no other name except this? But who art thou thyself and who is He? Such questions, my brethren, I should be inclined to ask on account of the strangeness of language and the remarkable disregard for the proprieties of speech which appear to distinguish this part of Holy Scripture from every other. Therefore it seems to me that in examining this nuptial song we ought to attend more to the affection than to the verbal expression. And the reason is, because holy love, which is manifestly the sole, exclusive theme of the entire composition, can be measured “not in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.” It is love that is speaking everywhere. And should any of you desire to attain to an understanding of the things which he reads, let him love. For it is useless for him who loves not to attempt to read or to listen to this Canticle of love, because the “ignited word” can obtain no lodgment in a heart that is cold and frozen. Just as he who knows not Greek cannot understand one speaking Greek, just as one who knows not Latin cannot understand one speaking Latin, and so on with all other tongues: in the same way to him who knows not love the language of love is barbarous and becomes as “sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal.” But these, I mean the watchmen who keep the city, having themselves also received from the Spirit the gift of love, are able to comprehend what the same Spirit speaketh; and as the language of holy love is perfectly familiar to them, they can answer immediately in the same tongue, that is, by loving affections and offices of piety.

Accordingly, she obtains from them in brief so much information concerning Him Whom she loves that she proceeds to tell us, “When I had a little passed beyond them I found Him Whom my soul loveth.” Well does she say “a little,” because they replied to her question with an “abbreviated word,” by delivering to her the symbol of the faith. The words which follow are equally well-chosen. It was necessary indeed that the Spouse should pass (transire) to them from whom she was to learn the truth. But it was no less necessary that she should pass beyond them (pertransire). For had she not passed beyond even these watchmen, she would never have found Him Whom she was seeking. And let it not be supposed that they left her in ignorance of this. For they preached not themselves but the Lord Jesus, Who without doubt is above them and beyond them. Therefore also He says, “Pass over to Me all ye that desire Me.” Neither was it sufficient for her to pass simply, but she is also instructed to pass over or beyond; because He in Whose steps she was walking, had Himself passed beyond. For not only had He passed from death to life, but He had passed beyond to glory. How, then, could it have been otherwise than necessary for her too to pass beyond? For unless she did so, she could not have overtaken her Beloved Whose footprints she had not faithfully followed whithersoever He had gone.

To express my meaning more plainly, if my Lord Jesus had arisen from the dead, but had not ascended to heaven, it could not be said of Him that He had passed beyond, but only that He had passed from death to life; and thus for the Spouse also in seeking Him it would have been necessary merely to pass, without passing beyond. But now that He has not alone passed from death to life by rising from the tomb, but has also passed beyond by ascending into heaven, there was good reason for her to announce that she, on her side, has not been content to pass to the watchmen, but has passed beyond them, inasmuch as she has followed her Bridegroom to heaven by her faith and devotion. We may say consequently that to believe in the resurrection is to pass, but to believe in the ascension is to pass beyond. And perhaps before she was found by the watchmen, the Spouse had already a knowledge of the resurrection but not of the ascension, as I remember to have remarked on a previous occasion when discussing the former mystery. Therefore, having been instructed by them in that which was still wanting to her, in the truth, namely, that He Who had arisen from the dead had also ascended into heaven, she likewise ascended, that is to say, she passed beyond the watchmen and so found her Beloved. How, indeed, could she have failed to find Him, seeing that, whither He has ascended in body, she has attained in mind? “When I had a little passed beyond them.” Rightly also does she say “beyond them,” that is, the watchmen or the preachers of the Gospel. For these, as well as His other mystical “members which are upon the earth,” our divine Head has passed beyond and transcended by two of His mysteries, namely, by His resurrection, and I have before explained, and also by His ascension. For “Christ is the first-fruits of them that sleep.” But if He has passed beyond, so too has our faith, which follows Him whithersoever He goes. If He ascends into heaven, it is there; if He descends into hell, it is present; if He takes His wings in the morning early and dwells in the uttermost parts of the sea, still our faith can say to Him, in the words of the psalm, “Even there also shall Thy Hand lead me and Thy Right Hand shall hold me.” For has not the infinitely good and powerful Father of the Bridegroom “raised us up together” with Him “and hath made us to sit” with Him at His own Right Hand “in the heavenly places”? Thus far I have been occupied in explaining the words of the Church, “When I had a little passed beyond them,” and showing how she has even passed beyond herself, since she dwells by faith where she has not yet arrived in fact. I have also, as I hope, made plain to you the reason why she chose to say “when I had passed beyond” rather than “when I had passed.” And now let us likewise pass on to the discussion of what remains of our text.