Sermons on the Song of Songs

In this, that is, in the name of Christ, I recognise the name which we read of in the Prophet Isaias, “He shall call His servants by another name, in which he, that is blest upon the earth, shall be blessed in God, amen.” O name of benediction! O oil everywhere poured out! Do you ask how widely it has been poured out? From heaven it overflowed to Judæa, and from Judæa through the world at large, so that from the whole earth the Church sends up the wondering cry, “Thy name is as oil poured out.” “Poured out” in truth, since not only has it overrun heaven and earth but even the dwellers beneath the earth have been sprinkled therewith, “that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those that are in heaven, on earth and under the earth and that every tongue should confess” and should say, “Thy name is as oil poured out.” Behold the name of Christ! Behold the name of Jesus! Both were infused into the angels. Both were effused upon men, upon those men, who like beasts, “had rotted in their filth,” and they, these holy names, “saved men and beasts, as God hath multiplied His mercy.” How precious this name, this oil! Yet how cheap, too. How cheap, and yet how salutary! Were it not cheap, it would not be poured out for one like me. Were it not salutary, it could not have saved me. I participate in the name; I participate also in the inheritance. I am a Christian; I am, therefore, the brother of Christ. If I am really what I am called, I am “the heir of God and a co-heir with Christ.” And what wonder is it that the name of the Bridegroom is thus poured out, since He has poured out even Himself? For, “He emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant.” And the Psalmist says, speaking in His name, “I am poured out as water.” The fulness of the Divinity, whilst dwelling corporally on earth, was poured out, so that all of us, who live in the flesh, might receive of that fulness, and, recreated with its life-giving odour, might exclaim, “Thy name is as oil poured out.” You now understand what name has been poured out, and how, and to what extent.

But wherefore is it compared to oil? This I have not yet explained. I was beginning to do so in the preceding discourse, when something suddenly occurred to me which I thought necessary to premise. The digression has been more lengthy than I anticipated, for no other reason, as I think, than because Wisdom, “the valiant woman, hath put out her hand” to the distaff, “and her fingers have taken hold of the spindle.” Well she knew how to draw out into a long thread my scanty stock of wool or flax, and to stretch it to the breadth of the loom, so that “all her domestics might be clothed with double garments.” There is, doubtless, a striking analogy between oil and the name of the Beloved, nor is the comparison made by the Holy Spirit quite an arbitrary one. Unless you can suggest something better, I will say that the name of Jesus bears resemblance to oil in the threefold use to which the latter lends itself, namely, for lighting, for food, and for healing. It feeds the flame, it nourishes the flesh, it soothes pain. It is light, and food, and medicine. Consider now how the same properties belong to the Bridegroom’s name. When preached, it gives light; when meditated, it nourishes; when invoked, it soothes and softens. But let us examine each point in detail.

Whence, think you, that great light of faith, and as sudden as great, throughout the whole world, except from the preaching of the name of Jesus? Was it not by the refulgence of this name that God called us “into His marvellous light,” to whom thus illuminated, and contemplating the Light by this light, St. Paul truly says, “You were heretofore darkness, but now light in the Lord”? This is the name which the same Apostle was charged to “carry before the gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel.” He bore this name about as a lamp. With it he illuminated his native land, crying out everywhere, “The night is passed, and the day is at hand. Let us, therefore, cast off the works of darkness, and put on the armour of light. Let us walk honestly as in the day.” And he directed the gaze of all to the Candle on the Candlestick, by everywhere preaching “Jesus and Him crucified.” Oh, with what splendour this light shone forth and dazzled the eyes of all beholders, when, flashing like the lightning flame from Peter’s mouth, it strengthened the corporeal “feet and soles” of one person physically lame, and enlightened the eyes of many others, who were spiritually blind! Surely it glittered with fiery scintillations when the same Peter pronounced the words, “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, arise and walk.”

But the name of Jesus is not merely light. It is food as well. Do you not, my brethren, experience an increase of strength as often as you recall it? What can so enrich the soul that reflects upon it? What can so reinvigorate the weary mind, fortify the virtues, engender good and honourable dispositions, foster holy affections? Dry is every kind of spiritual food, which this oil does not moisten. Insipid, whatever this salt does not season. If thou writest, thy composition has no charms for me, unless I read there the name of Jesus. If thou disputest or conversest, I find no pleasure in thy words, unless I hear there the name of Jesus. Jesus is honey in the mouth, melody in the ear, jubilation in the heart.

Yet not alone is that name light and food. It is also medicine. Is any amongst you sad? Let the name of Jesus enter his heart; let it leap thence to his mouth; and lo! the light that radiates from that name shall scatter every cloud and restore tranquillity. Has some one perpetrated a crime, and, moreover, abandoning hope, is rushing in desperation towards “the snare of death”? Let him but invoke this vivifying name, and straightway he shall experience a renewal of courage, and a revival of confidence. What hardness of heart, common as it is with some, what torpidity of sloth, what rancour of spirit, what weariness of disgust has ever been able to resist the potent influence of this all-saving name? What exhausted fountain of devotional tears has not, at the invocation of the name of Jesus, sent forth a fuller and a sweeter flood? Who ever, when trembling with terror in the presence of danger, has not immediately felt his spirits revive and his fears departing as soon as he called upon this name of power? Who ever, agitated and buffeted by the billows of doubt, has not perceived his mind to be suddenly illuminated with the clear light of certitude, the moment he invoked this illustrious name? Who ever, overwhelmed by misfortune, and already on the point of succumbing, has not been strengthened in mind by an infusion of fortitude when he pronounced this helpful name? For this name is the sovereign remedy for all those various maladies and languors of the soul. By using it thus we may test the truth of the promise, “Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorify Me.” There is nothing so efficacious as the name of Jesus for restraining the violence of anger, depressing the swellings of pride, healing the smarting wound of envy, curbing the passions of the flesh, extinguishing the fire of concupiscence, tempering the thirst of avarice, and banishing every unlawful desire. For when I name the name Jesus, I call to mind a Man Who is “meek and humble of Heart,” Who is kind, sober, chaste, and merciful, and perfect in all goodness and sanctity, and Who is, at the same time, the great Almighty God, Who restores me to health by His example, and strengthens me by His help. All this sounds in my ear whenever I hear the name of Jesus. I find models for my imitation in His Humanity, and assistance to copy them in His Omnipotence. The examples of His mortal life I use as medicinal herbs which I prepare with the assistance of His divine power, and so make for myself an efficacious restorative such as no human physician can compound.