Sermons on the Song of Songs

“As a lily among thorns, so is My love among the daughters.

“As the apple-tree among the trees of the wood, so is my Beloved among the sons. I sat down under His shadow, Whom I desired, and His fruit was sweet to my palate.”

“As a lily among thorns, so is My love among the daughters.” No dutiful daughters these, if they wound like thorns. But take notice, my brethren, that the daughters mentioned here represent the most pernicious progeny of this earth of ours, which has lain from the beginning under the heavy curse of its own Creator, “When thou shalt till it,” thus spoke He to Adam, “thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee.” As long, therefore, as the soul abides in the body, so long shall she be encompassed with thorns. That is to say, she must always inevitably suffer the miseries of temptation, and the bitter pangs of tribulation. Now, if she be really what her Bridegroom calls her, a lily, consider how watchful and anxious a guard she is obliged to keep over herself, hedged in as she is with thorns, whose sharp points threaten her on every side. So tender a flower can in nowise resist even the slightest attack, and the very least pressure from a thorn is enough to pierce it through. Do you not now see the reason and the necessity of the Psalmist’s exhortation to us to “serve the Lord in fear”; and of the Apostle’s injunction that we should “work out our salvation with fear and trembling”? Both these inspired writers had doubtless learned from their own experience the value of what they recommend to us; for, as friends of the Bridegroom, they could have had no hesitation at all about applying to their own souls what He says here, “As a lily among thorns, so is My love among the daughters.” Thus the same Prophet says of himself in another place, “I am turned in my anguish while the thorn is fastened.” Truly that was a wholesome fastening which resulted in turning him to a holier life! It is a good thing to suffer a puncture that leads to compunction. There are many whom the severity of their chastisement induce to renounce their sins. Such as they can say with the Psalmist, “I am turned in my anguish while the thorn is fastened.” Spiritual thorns are manifold. Sin is a thorn, and its penalty is a thorn; a false brother is a thorn, and an evil companion a thorn.

“As a lily among thorns, so is My love among the daughters” O snow-white lily! O most tender and delicate flower! Thou art surrounded by unbelievers and enemies, ever plotting thy ruin. See, then, with what circumspection it behoves thee to walk amidst so many thorns. The whole world is bristling with them. They menace thee on the earth and in the air. They lie concealed in thy very flesh. It is only by the power of God, not through thine own strength, that thou canst live thus encompassed with thorns and never receive a wound. “But have confidence,” the Bridegroom whispers to thee, “I have overcome the world.” Therefore, “let not thy heart be troubled, nor let it be afraid,” even though thou seest tribulations besetting thy path on all sides, as if they were so many thorns waiting to wound thee. For thou oughtest to know that tribulation “worketh patience, and patience trial, and trial hope, and hope confoundeth not.” “Consider the lilies of the field, how they” flourish and bloom in the midst of the thorns. “And if the grass of the field which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, God doth so” protect, “how much more” thee, His own most dear and tenderly loved Spouse? Is it not written that “The Lord keepeth all them that love Him”? “As a lily among thorns, so is My love among the daughters.” It is a proof of no ordinary degree of virtue to live a good life in the midst of the wicked, and amongst the malignant to preserve sweetness of disposition and the spotlessness of innocence. But it is of greater merit still to be “peaceful with them that hate peace,” and to show oneself a friend even towards one’s enemies. O Spouse of Christ, if thou hast deserved to be thus compared, by singular and exclusive right, to a lily among thorns, it is surely because of this charity of thine, whereby thou dost not cease to communicate the lustre and the beauty of thy native splendour even to the thorns that wound thee. My brethren, do you not see that one has to make himself such a lily in order to practise perfectly the teaching of the Gospel, which commands us to pray for them that calumniate us and to do good to them that persecute and hate us? Therefore to each of you I say, “Go and do thou in like manner,” and thy soul shall be the spouse of the Lord, and He will commend thee for thy beauty, saying, “As a lily among thorns, so is My love among the daughters.”

But the Bride makes answer, “As the apple-tree among the trees of the wood, so is my Beloved among the sons.” So does she return the eulogy addressed to her by the Bridegroom, by Whom to be praised is to be made worthy of praise, and Whom to praise is to have understanding and admiration of His praiseworthiness. Just as He used the symbols of the lily’s tallness and beauty to describe the excellence of His Bride, so she in her turn designates His singular glory and greatness under the figure of a noble tree. Yet concerning the aptness of this image some doubt may arise. For the apple-tree is surpassed in excellence by several other trees; and consequently, so it should seem, is unworthy of being selected to represent the Bridegroom, as incapable of symbolising the supereminence of His glory. “As the apple-tree among the trees of the wood, so is my Beloved among the sons.” It is evident from these very words that the Spouse herself has no great esteem for the apple-tree, since she is careful to prefer it only to the “trees of the wood,” that is, to trees which yield no fruit at all, or none fit for the use of man. Why, then, does she make choice of this mediocre tree from amongst so many others that are better and nobler, and employ it to typify the perfection of her Beloved? Shall we say that He ought to receive glory in measure to Whom is given the Spirit without measure? For the similitude of the apple-tree seems to indicate that the Bridegroom has a superior, whereas He is without even an equal. How shall we solve the difficulty? I grant at once that the praise is little, because it is meant for One Who has made Himself little. In this place the announcement is not: “Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised,” but rather, “Little is the Lord and exceedingly to be loved.” He is regarded here as the Little One Who “is born for us.” Here, consequently, the Spouse is concerned not with the glorification of His majesty, but with the commendation of His humility.