Sermons on the Song of Songs

Moving evenly, therefore, on these two spiritual Feet, under the guidance of the Divinity as Head, the invisible Emmanuel, “born of a woman, made under the law,” revealed Himself on earth and conversed amongst men. With these same Feet He is still, though spiritually now and invisibly, “going about doing good and healing all that are oppressed by the devil.” With these, I say, He walks through living souls, constantly illuminating them, and searching the “hearts and reins” of the faithful. But, see, lest perchance these should be the Legs of the Bridegroom, which, in a following verse, the Bride praises so magnificently, comparing them, if I remember aright, to “pillars of marble, set upon bases of gold.” This description is extremely beautiful, because “mercy and truth,” that is to say, justice, signified by the Legs, “have met” in the Incarnate Wisdom of God, and gold is the symbol of wisdom. Furthermore, “All the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth.”

Happy the man, my brethren, in whose soul the Lord Jesus sets both these Feet of His! By two signs you may recognise him, for one so privileged must of necessity bear upon him the impress of the divine footsteps. These footprints are hope and fear; the latter impressed by justice, the former by mercy. Truly “the Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear Him, and in them that hope in His mercy,” because “fear is the beginning of wisdom,” as hope is its development. As for the consummation of wisdom, We must pronounce that to be charity. Such being the case, you will understand that there is no small advantage in this first kiss, which is given to the Feet. Only you have to make sure of kissing both, omitting neither. When you feel a sincere sorrow for your sins, and a fear of the divine judgment, you have pressed your lips to the Foot of truth and justice. And if you moderate your terror and grief by the consideration of the divine goodness and by the hope of obtaining pardon, be assured that you have also kissed the Foot of mercy. But to kiss one without the other is not expedient. The thought of justice alone will cast you into the gulf of despair, whilst a deceptive reliance on mercy will engender a most dangerous sense of security.

Even to me, miserable as I am, it has sometimes been given to sit at the Feet of the Lord Jesus, and to embrace, with all devotion, now one, now the other, in so far as His gracious mercy deigned to permit. But whenever, under the sting of my conscience, I lost sight of the divine mercy, and clung a little too long to the Foot of justice, immediately I became oppressed with an indescribable terror and a miserable confusion, and, enveloped in a most horrible darkness, I could only cry tremblingly “from out of the depths,” “Who knoweth the power of Thy anger, and for Thy fear can number Thy wrath?” Yet if, leaving the Foot of justice, I should chance to lay hold on that of mercy, such carelessness and negligence took instant possession of me, that I straightway grew more tepid at prayer, more slothful at work, more ready for laughter, more imprudent in speech—in short, my whole being, body and soul, showed evidence of greater inconstancy. Therefore, taught by experience, no longer judgment alone or mercy alone, but both “mercy and judgment I will sing to Thee, O Lord.” “Thy justifications I will never forget.” Both these, Thy mercy and Thy justice, shall be “the subjects of my song in the place of my pilgrimage,” until, mercy having been exalted over justice, misery “shall shut her mouth,” so that thenceforward only “my glory may sing to Thee and I shall not regret.”