Sermons on the Song of Songs

“Let Him kiss me with the kiss of His Mouth.”

I have brought trouble upon myself, my brethren, by needlessly exciting your pious curiosity. Because, in connexion with the first kiss, I was at pains to explain, and at unnecessary length, the spiritual Feet of the Lord, with their special names and significations, you are now anxious for an explanation of the Hand which, as I have said, must be kissed in the second place. Well, I am not unwilling to gratify your wishes. Nay, I will speak not of one Hand, but of two, and will give to each its proper name. Let the one be called Liberality, the other Fortitude. With the former God gives abundantly, with the latter He protects what He has bestowed. If we are not to be reputed ingrates, we shall kiss both, by acknowledging and proclaiming Him, not only as the Author of all good, but as the Preserver of the same. Let this suffice for the first and the second kiss. We must now proceed to the consideration of the third.

“Let Him kiss me,” she says, “with the kiss of His Mouth.” Who is she that makes the request? It is the Spouse. But who is this Spouse? The Spouse here, my brethren, is the soul that thirsts after God. I will now run over the various species and manifestations of human affection or disposition, in order that you may the more clearly perceive which one appertains to the Spouse. If thou be a slave, thou dost fear the face of thy lord; if thou be a mercenary, thou dost hope to receive thine hire at his hands; if thou be a disciple, thou dost attend to the instructions of thy master; if thou be a son, thou dost honour him who is thy father; but if thou be a lover, thou wilt ask thy beloved for a kiss. Amongst the natural emotions of the human soul, this affection of love holds the first place, especially when it reverts to its first Principle, which is God. No words can be found sweet enough to convey an idea of the tenderness of the mutual affection of the Divine Word and the soul, except the names Bridegroom and Bride. For persons so related have all things in common. Nothing can be either appropriated to the one or sequestered from the other. They must have one and the same inheritance, one and the same hearth and home, one and the same table, in a word, they are one and the same flesh. So it is written, “For this cause shall a man leave father and mother and shall cleave to his wife, for they shall be two in one flesh.” And the Bride, on her side, is commanded to “forget her people and her father’s house,” in order that the Bridegroom may “desire her beauty.” Since, therefore, love belongs especially and chiefly to persons espoused, the name of Spouse or Bride may justly be given to the soul that loves God. Now, the soul that asks a kiss is the soul that loves. She petitions not for liberty, not for a reward, not for an inheritance, not even for knowledge, but only for a kiss. And this request she makes after the manner of a most chaste spouse, burning with a most holy love, and altogether powerless to conceal the flame which consumes her. See with what impatient abruptness she begins her speech. Although she is about to solicit a great privilege from a great Personage, she does not, as others are wont to do in similar circumstances, make use of the arts of blandishments; she does not approach her object by any winding ways or circumlocutions. There is no preface, no attempt to conciliate favour. From the abundance of her heart, without shame or shyness, she breaks out with the eager request, “Let Him kiss me with the kiss of His Mouth.” Does she not seem to you to say clearly, “What have I in heaven and besides Thee, what do I desire upon earth?” Assuredly, she loves with a pure love, who seeks nothing of Him Whom she loves, but only Himself. She loves with a holy love, because her love springs not from the passions of the flesh, but from the purity of the Spirit. She loves with an ardent love who is so inebriated with love as to lose sight of the Majesty of her Beloved. What! “He looketh upon the earth and maketh it tremble,” and she dares to ask that He should kiss her! Is she not manifestly intoxicated? No doubt of it. And perchance when she cried out thus impetuously she had just come forth from the “wine-cellar,” into which, namely, she afterwards boasts of having been introduced. So David, speaking of certain souls, said to God, “They shall be inebriated with the plenty of Thy house, and Thou shalt make them drink of the torrent of Thy pleasure.” Oh, how mighty is the power of Love! How great confidence in liberty of spirit! What can be plainer than that perfect love “casteth out fear”?

Yet from modesty she addresses her request, not to the Spouse Himself, but to others, as it were, in His absence. “Let Him kiss me,” she exclaims, “with the kiss of His Mouth.” An extraordinary petition, to be sure, and one needing the companionship of modesty to commend the petitioner. Consequently she seeks through domestics and familiars for admission to the sanctuary, and access to the Object of her love. But who, my brethren, are these domestics and familiars? We believe that the holy angels stand near us when we pray and offer to God our petitions and desires. But only when they see us lifting up pure hands to heaven, without any feelings of anger or dissension in our hearts. This is evident from the words of the Angel to Tobias: “When thou didst pray with tears, and didst bury the dead, and didst leave thy dinner, and hide the dead by day in thy house and bury them by night, I offered thy prayer to the Lord.” The same, as I think, can be also sufficiently established by other passages from Scripture. Thus, that the angels, by condescension, are even wont to associate themselves with us when we are singing psalms to the Lord, is clearly indicated by the Prophet, where he says, “Princes went before joined with singers, in the midst of young damsels playing on timbrels.” Hence also his words, “In the sight of the angels I will sing to Thee.” It is, therefore, a cause of grief to me that some of you allow yourselves to be oppressed with a heavy drowsiness during the holy vigils, and so fail in reverence for these citizens of heaven, appearing as dead men in the presence of the princes. Whenever they are attracted by your fervent alacrity, they take great pleasure in assisting at our solemnities. But I fear, lest, disgusted at your sloth, they may sometimes retire in anger, and then, all too late, each of you should begin to say to God with tears, “Thou hast put away my acquaintance far from me: they have set me an abomination to themselves.” Also, “Friend and neighbour Thou hast put far from me, and my acquaintance, because of my misery.” Likewise, “My friends and my neighbours have drawn near and stood against me, and they that were near me stood afar off, and they that sought my soul used violence.” For if the good angels withdraw from us, who will be able to resist the assaults of the malignant? I say, therefore, to him who thus yields to sloth, “cursed be he that doth the work of God negligently.” And it is not I but the Lord Who says, “I would thou wert cold or hot, but because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of My Mouth.” Be attentive, then, my brethren, to these angelic princes, when you are engaged in prayer or psalmody; comport yourselves with reverence and modesty, and glory in the knowledge that your angels daily “see the Face of your Father.” Being “sent to minister for them that shall receive the inheritance of salvation,” they ascend to God to offer Him our devotions, and return to us laden with His graces. Let us profit by the ministrations of those celestial spirits who honour us with their company, so that praise may be “perfected out of the mouths of infants and sucklings.” Let us say to them, “Sing praises to our God, sing ye,” and let us hear them, in turn, answering, “Sing praises to our King, sing ye.”