Sermons on the Song of Songs

“Therefore young maidens have loved Thee.”

The loving Spouse continues still to speak; still she continues to proclaim the praises of her Beloved. And she appeals for further grace, pointing out that that which she has already received “hath not been void” in her. For listen to her now. “Therefore,” she proceeds to say, “young maidens have loved Thee.” As if she should affirm, “not in vain, not without fruit has Thy name been poured out, O my Beloved, not in vain has it been poured out and spread abroad on my breast. Therefore young maidens have loved thee exceedingly.” Wherefore? On account of Thy name poured out, on account of the breasts perfumed therewith. This it is which excites them to the love of the Bridegroom. This is the cause of their affection for Him. The Spouse receives an infusion of ointment, and immediately the “young maidens,” who can never be found far from their mother, inhale the pleasant odour; and, filled with its sweetness, they exclaim, “The charity of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost Who is given to us.” Consequently the Spouse, commending their devotion, says, “This, O my Beloved, this is the fruit of the pouring out of Thy name, that therefore young maidens have loved Thee. They experience the sweetness of Thy name only when poured out, not having capacity to contain it entire, and hence have they loved Thee. For the pouring out makes Thy name capable of being contained, and irresistibly amiable; yet only for “young maidens.” They who are endowed with a greater capacity do not need this pouring out, inasmuch as they can relish Thy name undissolved and entire. Such are the choirs of angels.

The simple Angel, the lowest celestial creature, contemplates with undazzled eye the profound abyss of the divine judgments. Their sovereign equity ravishes him with delight. It is his glory, besides, that they are executed and promulgated by his own ministry. And therefore he has reason to love Christ the Lord. “Are they not all ministering spirits,” writes St. Paul, “sent to minister for them who shall receive the inheritance of salvation”? As we must attribute to the Archangels something more excellent than what belongs to the inferior angelic order, I believe that they enjoy the high prerogative of being admitted more familiarly to the counsels of Eternal Wisdom, and that they are commissioned to superintend, with full authority, the execution of the same, each in its proper place and time, which privileges are to them a source of joy ineffable. This is their motive for loving Christ the Lord. Then, there are those blessed spirits named Virtues, so called, perhaps, for the reason that they have been divinely ordained to examine with blissful curiosity and to admire the constant and hidden causes of signs and wonders, and to employ with power all the elements in displaying on earth what prodigies they please and when they please. These, too, discover in their proper function a special reason for loving the “God of Virtues,” and for loving Christ Who is the “Virtue of God.” For they find the fulness of delight and felicity in contemplating the “uncertain and hidden things of Wisdom” in Wisdom Itself. They also find the fulness of honour and glory in the consciousness that the operations and effects of the causes, concealed in the Divine Word, are exhibited by their own agency to the contemplation and admiration of the inhabitants of the earth.

Next in order come the celestial creatures, known under the name of Powers. These take particular delight in viewing and magnifying the divine omnipotence of the Crucified, which “reacheth from end to end mightily.” They are invested with power to beat off and vanquish all opposing powers, whether human or diabolical, in defence of those who have received “the inheritance of salvation.” And have they not herein most ample cause for loving the Lord Jesus? Immediately above the Powers are the Principalities, who, contemplating the Word from a loftier level, recognise clearly that He is the First Principle of all being, and the “First Begotten of every creature,” and they are endowed with such dignity and principality, that from the apex, so to speak, of the world where they sit enthroned, they exercise authority throughout the universe, with power to change and regulate kingdoms, principalities, and dignities of every kind, at their sole will and pleasure. They are also empowered to make the first last and the last first, according to the merits of each, to put down the mighty from their seat, and to exalt the humble. And this is the motive of their love for Christ. The Dominations also love the Lord Jesus. Why? Because a praiseworthy kind of presumption leads them to the discovery of certain inconceivably subtle and sublime truths relating to His interminable and irresistible dominion. They marvel to see Him everywhere throughout the universe, not only by His power, but also by His presence, and compelling everything, high and low, the revolution of the seasons, the motions of bodies, the thoughts and emotions of created minds, in the most beautiful order, to submit to the ruling of His most holy Will. And all this He does with so much vigilance that no creature in the whole universe can subtract the least jot or tittle, as the saying is, from its bounden service; and yet, with such ease, that His universal government never causes Him the slightest disquiet or agitation. When, therefore, they, the Dominations, behold the Lord of Sabbath judging all things with such tranquillity, they are transported out of themselves by an extraordinary but fully conscious stupor of contemplation, infinitely intense and unspeakably blissful, into the limitless ocean of Light Divine. There they seem to withdraw to a most secret recess of imperturbable peace, where they enjoy such calm and quiet, that, whilst they are in repose, all the other celestial creatures appear to unite in their service and in defence of their leisure, out of reverence for their prerogative, and as for true holders of dominion.

God Himself sits upon the Thrones. In my opinion, this choir has greater reason and more numerous motives for loving Christ the Lord than any of those already mentioned. If you enter the palace of an earthly king, amongst the various seats to be seen there, accommodated to various dignities, you will notice the royal throne occupying the place of preeminence. You do not need to inquire where the monarch is accustomed to sit, for his will be the first seat that attracts your attention, being more elevated and ornate than any of the others. Understand from this that the choir of Thrones surpass all the rest in every kind of spiritual adornment, because it is on them that, by a special favour of amazing condescension, the Divine Majesty has elected to sit. But this sitting may be taken to signify the office of teacher. In that case, I should suppose that Christ, the Wisdom of the Father, Who is our only Master in heaven and on earth, although reaching everywhere by reason of His purity, yet specially and principally illuminates by His presence this hierarchical order, and thence, as from a solemn lecture-hall, He “teacheth men knowledge,” and not only men, but the inferior choirs of angels also. For it is thence He communicates to the lowest angelic choir the knowledge of His judgments, and to the Archangels the understanding of His counsels. It is there the Virtues learn what wonders they are to work, at what time, and in what place. There, in a word, all the other choirs referred to, Powers, Principalities, and Dominations, are told their duties and what honours and privileges they may claim, as belonging to their rank, but above all, they are cautioned, every one of them, that the powers, which have been entrusted to them for advancing the glory of God, must not be employed for the satisfaction of their own wills, or the procuring of their own glory.