Sermons on the Song of Songs

But this glory of God he “changed into the likeness of a calf that eateth grass.” Therefore it was that the Bread of angels became Grass, and was laid in the manger, and placed before us, who were now nothing better than brute animals. For “the Word was made Flesh,” and according to the Prophet, “All flesh is grass.” Yet this Grass has by no means become withered, neither has Its flower fallen off, since the Spirit of the Lord rested upon It, as Isaias predicted. And the reason why all flesh was once destroyed was because the Spirit of life had withdrawn from it. For it is written, “My Spirit shall not remain in man for ever, because he is flesh.” You must understand that it is the vices of human nature which are here called flesh, not human nature itself; because the Spirit is expelled, not by what is natural in us, but by what is vicious and sinful. It is, therefore, on account of its corruption by sin that the Prophet says, “All flesh is grass, and all the glory thereof as the flower of the field. The grass is withered and the flower is fallen.” But this does not apply to that Flower Which came forth from and rose up out of the root and the rod of Jesse, because on It rested the Spirit of the Lord. Nor does it apply to that Grass or Flesh Which the Word was made, since the Prophet goes on to say, “But the Word of the Lord endureth for ever.” For if the Word is Grass, and the Word endureth for ever, the Grass also must endure for ever. How otherwise, unless It endures for ever, can It communicate eternal life? And yet we read of It, “If any man eat of this Bread, he shall live for ever.” What Bread is meant we have clearly explained for us in the words that follow, “And the Bread That I will give is My Flesh for the life of the world.” How, then, can That which is the Principle of eternal life to others, be Itself otherwise than eternal?

But recall now with me, my brethren, the words addressed to the Father by His Son, where He speaks in the psalm. “Thou wilt not give Thy Holy One,” He says, “to see corruption.” Doubtless, He is here speaking of His Body, Which lay lifeless in the tomb. For This was also called holy by the Angel Gabriel, who announced the Incarnation to Mary in the words, “The Holy That shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.” Surely, then, that holy Grass, Which sprung up in the pastures, verdant with a perennial freshness, of the Virgin’s spotless womb, Which the angels contemplate with eager love and ever-new delight—surely, that Divine Grass can never see corruption. If, indeed, Mary, in becoming a mother, had lost her virginal bloom, in that case the Grass also would lose Its greenness. Hence the Food of man converted Itself into the Food of beasts, when man became as a beast. Oh, what a sad and mournful change! That man, the dweller in paradise, the lord of the earth, the citizen of heaven, the domestic of the Lord of Sabaoth, the brother of the blessed spirits, and the co-heir with the celestial powers—that such a one should find himself by a sudden transformation, lying down in a stable from weakness, needing grass, like the beast whose image he had assumed, and because of his ungovernable ferocity bound to the manger, as it is written, “With bit and bridle bind fast their jaws, who come not nigh to Thee!” Yet, even now, O ox, recognise thy Owner, and thou, O ass, thy Master’s crib, that the prophets of the Lord may be found faithful, who foretold these wonders of God! Know even in thy present bestial condition Him Whom as a man thou didst not know. Adore in the stable the God Whom in paradise thou didst flee from. Honour the manger of Him Whose divine authority thou hast despised. Eat Him now as Grass, Whom as Bread and the Bread of angels thou didst disdain.

But, you will ask, my brethren, what could be the cause of such degeneration? It is unquestionably the fact that “man, when he was in honour, did not understand.” What is it that he did not understand? The Prophet does not explain; but let me attempt to do so. Being placed in honour, and elated in spirit at the greatness of his glory, he failed to understand that he was but the slime of the earth. And immediately he experienced in himself what, long ages afterwards, one of the heirs of his captivity prudently observed and faithfully proclaimed, when he said, “If any man think himself to be something, whereas he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.” Alas for our miserable first parent, that there was none to say to him, “O earth and ashes, why art thou proud?” Hence it was that the noble rational creature became associated with the dumb beasts; hence the divine image was exchanged for the brutish; hence the society of holy angels gave place to that of irrational animals. Do you perceive now, my brethren, how much to be avoided is this kind of ignorance, which has been the source of such innumerable evils to the whole human race? For the Prophet declares that the reason why man is compared to the mindless brute is that he “did not understand.” Consequently, we must guard against this ignorance by every means in our power, lest, haply, if still found without understanding, even after our chastisement, we should have to endure evils much more numerous and terrible than the former; and lest it be said of us, “We would have cured Babylon, but she is not healed.” And very justly so, since not even correction brought “understanding to our hearing.”

And consider, my brethren, if this be not the reason why the Bridegroom, when warning His beloved in so terrifying a manner against ignorance, did not say to her “go forth with the flocks,” or “go forth to the flocks,” but “go forth and follow after the steps of the flocks.” For why should He speak thus, unless to point out that we ought to be more afraid and ashamed of the second ignorance, i.e., the ignorance after correction, than of the first, since, if the first placed man on a level with the brutes, the second places him after, that is, beneath them. Beneath the brutes I say, because men, ignored and reprobated by God on account of their ignorance of Him, shall stand before His dreadful tribunal and be consigned to everlasting flames, but not so the brutes. No doubt, the condition of those human beings who shall receive such a judgment will be worse than the state of absolute nothingness. “It were better for him,” said Christ, speaking of one destined for this doom, “if that man had not been born.” He did not mean to say “if he had not been born at all,” but “if he had not been born a man,” but a beast, for instance, or some other kind of irrational creature, which, as not possessing the faculty of judgment, would never have been called to judgment, nor, consequently, have been liable to eternal punishment. Therefore, let the reasoning animal, who blushes for his former ignorance, know that although he has the brute beasts as his partners in the enjoyment of the good things of this earth, he shall not likewise have their company in the endurance of the torments of hell—the penalty of the second ignorance; that in the end he shall be expelled with ignominy from the society of the flocks and herds of his fellow-beasts; and that he shall no longer be allowed to go forth even with them, but only after them. For whereas death extinguishes in them all capacity for pain, he shall find himself a prey to every kind of evil, from which he is never to obtain deliverance. And all this because of his having added the second ignorance to the first. Therefore, man goes forth, and goes forth solitary, to “follow after the steps of the flock,” when he is precipitated into the hell of the damned. Does not he, think you, occupy a place lower than the brutes, who, with his hands and feet bound, is “cast into the exterior darkness”? And truly “the last state of that man is made worse than the first,” since from an equality with the beasts he is reduced to inferiority.