Sermons on the Song of Songs

But, my brethren, who can comprehend “how great is the multitude of sweetness” which is hidden in this short word, “and God shall be all in all”! Not to speak of the body, I discern in the soul three faculties, to wit, reason, will, and memory. And these, I say, are not so much powers of the soul, as the soul herself. How much is wanting to the integrity and perfection of each of the three in this present life is well known to every man that walks according to the spirit. Why should this be so, unless because of the fact that God is not yet “all in all”? Hence it is that the reason is so very often deceived in its judgments, that the will is agitated by a fourfold perturbation, that the memory is overclouded by a manifold oblivion. To these three kinds of “vanity” the noble “creature is made subject, not willingly, but in hope.” For He “Who satisfieth” the soul’s “desire with good things,” will Himself become to the reason a Plenitude of Light, to the will an Immensity of Peace, and to the memory an ever abiding Eternity. O Truth! O Love! O Eternity! O Blessed and Beatifying Trinity! After Thee this miserable trinity of mine (viz., the soul herself, as endowed with her three faculties) miserably yearns, because it can nowhere find content so long as it remains an exile from Thee. By departing from Thee in what errors has it not involved itself! in what sorrows! in what terrors! Woe, woe is me! For what kind of trinity have I exchanged Thee, O Blessed and Divine Trinity! “My heart is troubled,” and hence my sorrows. “My strength hath left me,” and hence my terrors. “And the light of my eyes itself is not with me,” and hence my errors. Behold, O trinity of my soul, how different a trinity from the Divine thou hast fallen upon in thy exile!

Yet, “why art thou sad, O my soul, and why dost thou trouble me? Hope in God, for I will still give praise to Him,” that is, when errors shall have been banished from my reason, sorrows from my will, and terrors from my memory, and when, according to my hope, there shall succeed to them admirable tranquillity, perfect sweetness, and eternal security. The first of these I shall find in God as He is Truth, the second in God as He is Love, the third in God as He is Almighty Power. Thus shall God be all in all, communicating Himself to my reason as everlasting Light, to my will as imperturbable Peace, and to my memory as an unfailing, eternally flowing Fountain of Truth. I leave it to you, my brethren, to decide whether I should be right if I attributed the first grace to the Son, the second to the Holy Spirit, and the last to the Father. Yet this must not be understood in such a way as really to exclude either the Father, or the Son, or the Holy Ghost from any one of the three communications. For we should be on our guard lest we admit in the Three Divine Persons any such distinction as would detract from the plenitude of perfection common to All, or, on the other hand, any such plenitude of perfection as would be incompatible with the Personal Distinctions. At the same time, take notice that in the same way as the just derive tranquillity, sweetness, and security from the Divine Trinity, the earthly-minded experience a corresponding threefold influence from the trinity of evil, viz., the allurements of the flesh, the empty pageants of the world, and the pomps of the devil; and it is by this noxious influence alone that the present life succeeds in deluding its wretched lovers. Hence, St. John tells us “all that is in the world is concupiscence of the flesh, and concupiscence of the eyes, and the pride of life.” So much for the fruit of Redemption.

In the mode of Redemption, which, if you remember, I described as an emptying of Himself on the part of God, there are also three things to which I would particularly invite your attention. For that emptying was not imperfect or partial. “He emptied Himself” even to the extent of taking flesh, of enduring death, even the death of the cross. Who can conceive the humility, the loving-kindness, the condescension manifested by the Lord of Majesty in assuming our nature, in bearing the pains of death, in submitting to the shame of crucifixion? But it may be asked, “Could not the Creator have repaired the work of His hands without all this trouble?” Most certainly He could. Yet He preferred to do so at such cost to Himself in order to take from man every shadow of excuse for that most detestable and hateful vice of ingratitude. If, then, He endured so much hardship it was with the view to make man His debtor for so much love, and that at least the difficulty of Redemption might remind us of the obligation of thanksgiving, in whom creation, because of its easiness, had failed to awaken any feeling of devotion or gratitude. For how does this ungrateful human creature look upon the benefit of Creation? “I have been created, indeed,” he says, “without merit of my own, yet also without inconvenience or trouble on the part of my Maker. He simply spoke and I was made, in common with everything else. What great thing is it whatever thou bestowest, when the gift costs thyself nothing more than a word?” Thus, the impiety of man, depreciating the benefit of Creation, found an occasion for ingratitude there precisely where it should have discovered only motives for love, and that “to make excuses for sins.” But now “the mouth is stopped of them that speak wicked things.” Now, O man, it is as clear as daylight what sacrifice of Himself the Creator made for thee. From Lord He became a servant; from rich He became poor; from the Word Divine He was made flesh; and from the Son of God He did not disdain to become the Son of man. Remember, then, that, if created from nothing, thou hast not been redeemed for nothing. In six days God created all things, thyself included. But for the space of thirty-three whole years “He wrought salvation in the midst of the earth.” Oh, what labours He endured! Did He not, by the ignominy of His cross, add bitterness for Himself to the necessities of the flesh and the temptations of the enemy, and crown them all with the horror of His death? And indeed it was needful for us that He should do so. Thus, O Lord! thus “men and beasts Thou hast saved. Oh, how Thou hast multiplied Thy mercy, O God!”

“Meditate on these things,” my brethren; live in them. With their perfume refresh your hearts, long dried up within you by the pungent odours of your sins. So shall you abound in those unguents which are both sweet and salutary. Nevertheless, do not imagine you possess, as yet, the “best ointments,” so highly commended in the breasts of the Spouse. But my limits will not permit that I should speak of these now. What I have said about the other two, keep fresh in your memory and prove its truth by the test of experience. And with respect to the third and most excellent ointment, assist me by your prayers that my discourse thereon may be worthy, both in matter and manner, of that delightful supplement to the attractions of the Bride, and may animate your souls to the love of the Bridegroom, Who is Our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.