Sermons on the Song of Songs

Such an electuary, O my soul, thou canst find stored up in the little vessel of the name Jesus. So salutary is it, that it shall never prove ineffectual against any spiritual ailment whatsoever. Keep it always in thy bosom, keep it ever in thy hand, so that every thought and act of thine may be directed to Jesus. He Himself invites thee to this in the words, “Put Me as a seal upon thy heart, as a seal upon thy arm.” But of this later. Now I merely indicate where thou canst discover a medicine for thy arm and a medicine for thy heart. Thou hast, I say, in the name of Jesus, the means of correcting thy evil actions and of making perfect such as are deficient in goodness. Therein, also, shalt thou find the means of preserving thy affections incorrupt, or of purifying them from defilement already contracted.

Amongst the children of Judæa there have been several others called Jesus, and she glories in the empty name. For, as belonging to these, that name is empty, since it yields neither light, nor food, nor medicine. Therefore does the Synagogue abide in darkness, even till now, oppressed with hunger and infirmity. And so must she remain without healing or satiety, until she shall acknowledge that it is this my Jesus “Who ruleth Jacob and all the ends of the earth,” and until her sons “shall return at evening, and shall suffer hunger like dogs, and shall go round about the city.” Those other Jews who bore the name of Jesus were sent on before, as of old the staff preceded the Prophet Eliseus to the corpse of the child of the Sunamitess. Hence, in their case, the name was nothing more than a shadow, for it was not interpreted by their lives. The staff was laid on the body, but produced neither life nor feeling, because it was only a staff. Then He came down Who had sent the staff, and immediately saved His people from their sins, thus deserving that it should be said of Him, “Who is this that also forgiveth sins?” For He is the Same Who said, “I am the salvation of the people.” Now there is life, now there is feeling. So it is manifest that this Jesus of ours does not bear an empty name as did His types. There is a feeling of health infused, and the favour is not concealed in silence. Within is the awakening of life, without the voice of acknowledgment. I feel contrition, I confess my sins, and confession is evidence of life in me, since “Confession perisheth from the dead as nothing.” Behold life and feeling! I am completely resuscitated, my resurrection is perfect. What is the death of the body but the privation of life and feeling? Sin, which is the death of the soul, had left me neither the feeling of compunction nor the voice of confession, and hence I was dead. Then came He Who forgives sins, restoring both life and feeling, and saying to my soul, “I am thy salvation.” What wonder that death should yield place where Life enters? Now “with the heart we believe unto justice, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” Already the “child gapes,” and he “gapes seven times,” and he says, “Seven times a day I have given praise to Thee,” O Lord. Mark well this number seven, for it is a sacred number, and here is not without its significance. But it is better to postpone this to another day when, not fastidious, but with keen appetites, we shall take our places at a good table, at the invitation of the Bridegroom of the Church, Our Lord Jesus Christ, Who is over all things, God, blessed for ever. Amen.