Sermons on the Song of Songs

What, then, of the first place I have mentioned? It only disposes to wisdom. There you are prepared for that wisdom of which you here obtain possession. This preparation consists in acquiring a knowledge of truth. But such knowledge most readily excites the swelling of vanity, unless it is repressed by fear, of which, therefore, it is truly said that “the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom,” for it is the first to oppose itself to the pest of folly. In the first place, then, we are put on the road to wisdom, in the second we are introduced to it. Yet in neither does the contemplative find perfect repose, because in the one God appears as if distracted with cares, and in the other as if enraged against sinners. Seek not, therefore, the King’s bedchamber in either place, not in the former, which is rather the Teacher’s lecture-hall, nor in the latter, which bears a closer resemblance to the Judge’s tribunal. But there is a third place, where the Lord appears truly tranquil and at rest. It is the place neither of the Judge nor of the Teacher, but of the Bridegroom, and which becomes for me, at least (whether for others, also, I know not), a real bedchamber, whenever it is granted me to enter there. But all too rare that privilege, alas! and all too short-lived. There we can plainly see that “the mercy of the Lord is from eternity and unto eternity upon them that fear Him.” And happy he who can say, “I am a partaker with all them that fear Thee, and that keep Thy commandments.” The purpose of God stands fixed, as well as His decree of mercy “upon them that fear Him,” overlooking what is evil in them and rewarding what is good, and with admirable wisdom bringing it about that not alone what is good, but even what is evil shall “co-operate unto good for them.” Oh, truly and alone “blessed is the man to whom the Lord hath not imputed sin.” For there is no one without sin, “because all have sinned and do need the glory of God.” Yet “who shall accuse against the elect of God?” It suffices me unto all justice, that He alone be propitious to me against Whom alone I have sinned. Whatever He wills not to impute to me, is as if it never had been. God’s righteousness is freedom from sin, but the righteousness of man is the forgiveness of God. Such things I saw in this third place, and I then understood the truth of the words, “Whosoever is born of God committeth not sin; for His seed abideth in him, and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.” That is to say, his heavenly generation preserves him. This heavenly generation is nothing else but eternal predestination, whereby God has loved His elect and made them pleasing in His sight in His own Beloved Son, before the foundation of the world, and so “they in the sanctuary have appeared before Him, to see His power and His glory,” in order that they might be made participators in the inheritance of Him, to Whose image they have shown themselves conformed. I have therefore observed that these are as if they had never sinned, because whatever faults they may seem to have committed in time, none at all shall appear in eternity, for the Father’s “charity covereth a multitude of sins.” David called those blessed also “whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered.” At the thought of this, I, even I, have suddenly experienced such an infusion of confidence and joy as altogether exceeded the earlier emotion of fear, felt in the place of horrors, that is, in the place of the second vision. For it seemed to me that I was of the number of these blessed ones. Would to God that my happiness had been lasting! Again, O Lord, again, “visit me with Thy salvation, that I may see the good of Thy chosen, that I may rejoice in the joy of Thy nation.”

O place of true rest, and, in my opinion, well deserving to be called a bedchamber! For we do not here behold God either, as it were, excited with anger, or as if distracted with care; but His will is proved to be “good and acceptable and perfect.” This vision soothes instead of terrifying. It lulls to rest, instead of arousing, our unquiet curiosity. It calms the mind instead of fatiguing it. Here is found perfect repose. The tranquillity of God tranquillises all about Him, and the contemplation of His rest is rest to the soul. Here we behold Him as a King, Who, after spending the day in hearing and judging causes in His tribunal, now, in the evening quiet, dismisses the multitudes, and laying aside all disturbing cares, retires to His royal residence for the night, and enters His bedchamber with a few friends, whom He condescends to honour with this privilege of special familiarity. Here we may see Him taking His rest with equal security and privacy. Here we behold Him looking all the more serene because He perceives around Him only the faces of those whom He loves. If, my brethren, it should ever be the lot of any of you to be so transported for a time into this secret sanctuary of God, and there so rapt and absorbed as to be distracted or disturbed by no necessity of the body, no importunity of care, no stinging of conscience, or, what is more difficult to avoid, no inrush of corporeal images from the senses or the imagination, such a one can truly say, “The King hath brought me into His bedchamber.” But I would not rashly affirm that this is the bedchamber whereof the Spouse boasts. Still it is a bedchamber, and a bedchamber of the King, because of the three places, to which I have assigned the three visions, only this “place is in peace.” For, as I have shown, very little rest is enjoyed in the first, where the Lord, by showing Himself admirable, exercises our curiosity in the labour of inquiry; and none at all in the second, because He here appears so terrible as to overpower with fear our mortal infirmity. But in this third place, He deigns to reveal Himself not so terrible, not so admirable, as amiable, as serene, as tranquil, as “sweet and mild and plenteous in mercy to all that” gaze upon Him.

Now, to facilitate the retention of all that I have said in this lengthy discourse, I will repeat it in brief summary. Remember, then, the three times, the three merits, and the three rewards. Observe the times in connexion with the garden, the merits in the storeroom, and the rewards in the threefold contemplation of him who seeks the King’s bedchamber. I have already said quite enough about the storeroom. As concerning the garden and the bedchamber, if anything occurs to me that ought to be added or to be presented in a different way, you shall have it in its proper place. Otherwise you must be satisfied with what you have heard now, for I will not make any repetition, lest, which God forbid, that should engender weariness, which is spoken solely to the praise and glory of the Bridegroom of the Church, Our Lord Jesus Christ, Who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.