Sermons on the Song of Songs

And it is a matter worthy of note, my brethren, that it is not the Spouse who is represented as finding the watchmen, but rather the watchmen as finding the Spouse. It appears to me that they were specially charged with this duty. For “how could they preach unless they were sent?” Hence we have the command of the Lord where He says in the Gospel, “Go: Behold I send you,” and, “Go ye into the whole world and preach the Gospel to every creature.” So indeed it was. The Bride sought her Bridegroom, and the Bridegroom did not conceal Himself from her. For, in fact, it was He Who aroused in her the very desire to seek Him and gave her a heart well disposed to obey His precepts and the law of life and discipline, provided she had some one to instruct her in the faith and to teach her the way of prudence. And He sent to meet her those whose office it was to plant and to water, that is to say, who were to foster her and to confirm her in all certitude of truth, to give her knowledge and assurance concerning her Beloved. For it is truth which she seeks and which her soul sincerely loves. And indeed is there any love of the soul faithful and true except that whereby truth itself is loved? I am endowed with the faculty of reason; I am capable of knowing the truth; but God grant that I may cease to exist if ever I have the misfortune to lose the love of truth! This love is the fruit, whereas the other gifts are the branches and I am myself the root. I have no security from the axe, if I am found to be without this fruit. For there can be no doubt that the love of the truth is the one endowment of human nature which most clearly manifests the glory of that divine image whereby man is distinguished and exalted amongst all the other mortal creatures. It is by reason of this that my soul ventures to raise herself to the sweet and pure embraces of Him Who is the subsisting Truth, and to rest in the love of Him with all delight and confidence: provided only that she has found such favour in the eyes of so great a Bridegroom that He esteems her worthy of being elevated to so glorious a privilege, or rather that He “presents her to Himself not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing.” Yet, on the other hand, how fearful a thing must we not suppose it to be and deserving of how awful a punishment to hold in one’s possession so great a gift of God without making proper use of it! But of this elsewhere.

Nevertheless the Spouse did not find Him Whom she sought, but was herself found by some whom she was not seeking. Here is a lesson for those who have no fear of entering upon the ways of life without the assistance of a guide to direct them, who in the spiritual art desire to be their own disciples and their own masters. Nor are they satisfied with this. They must also gather together a multitude of followers and make themselves blind leaders of the blind. How many has not such ambition drawn away from the right path and caused to fall into most dangerous errors! For they were ignorant of the deceits and devices of Satan; and so it came to pass that having begun in the spirit they ended in the flesh, and after being shamefully deceived fell into scandalous disorders. Let those therefore, who are inclined to be thus presumptuous, learn how to walk with caution; let them receive a lesson from the example of the Spouse who could by no means attain to Him Whom she desired until she was met by the watchmen and submitted to be instructed by them in the knowledge of her Beloved, and this that she might learn the fear of the Lord. He that refuses to follow his spiritual director commits himself to the guidance of the seducer. And he that sends his flock to pasture unguarded is more a shepherd to the wolves than to the sheep.

Let us turn now, my brethren, to the Spouse and see in what sense she proclaims that she has been found. For to me this seems a very strange expression to use. It suggests the idea that the Church has come from but one single place; whereas she has been drawn, according to the testimony of Christ, from the east and from the west and from all the ends of the earth. But neither has she been at any time assembled in any one place where she might have been found by the apostles or by the angels, and by them led or directed to Him Whom her soul loveth. Perhaps she had been found before she was collected? No, that could not be, because she did not exist at all until she was collected. Wherefore, had she said that she was collected, or assembled, or—to employ an expression still more appropriate to the Church—called together, by the preachers of the Gospel, I should have simply passed on, seeing no reason for delay. For these preachers were the “coadjutors of God,” Whom they had even heard saying to them, “He that gathereth not with Me, scattereth.” Nor should I feel surprised if some one were to speak of the Church as having been founded or built by the preachers, since they in truth co-operated in this work with Him Who declares in the Gospel, “And upon this rock I will build my Church,” and “It fell not because it was founded on a rock.” But the Spouse makes use of none of these very suitable expressions, preferring to say, in language less intelligible, that she has been found. This causes me to hesitate and excites in my mind the suspicion that there is something here concealed which requires to be more diligently investigated.

It was my intention, I confess, to make no pause at this place, and to save myself the trouble of an enquiry to which I recognise that my powers are inadequate. But now, remembering how often in dealing with other passages, equally obscure and difficult, I have been assisted beyond all hope when you lifted up your hearts to intercede for me with God, I feel ashamed of such diffidence; and condemning my cowardice, I am willing, yet without presumption, to proceed to the task which before I would have timidly avoided. The Holy Spirit, I make no doubt, will not be wanting with His customary help. But in any case, I have an assurance in the good will of my present hearers that whatever I may find to say shall not be unproductive of some fruit. However, the discussion in question must be reserved for another occasion, as this sermon has to be concluded here. May it be granted you not only to retain the memory of what has been said to-day, but also to cherish it with affection and to carry it out in practice—may this, I pray, be granted you by the Bridegroom of the Church, Jesus Christ Our Lord, Who is over all things, God blessed for ever. Amen.