Sermons on the Song of Songs

Even in the present life, if you consider the matter carefully, you will perceive, as I think, that man follows after the brute. For does it not seem to you that one who, whilst gifted with reason, does not live according to reason, is in some sense more beastly than the beasts themselves? The beasts indeed do not govern themselves by reason. But they have an excuse in the poverty of their nature, to which that faculty has been altogether denied. For man there is no such excuse, of whose nature the power of intelligence is a special prerogative. Justly, then, is man considered to go forth and to take rank after the flocks and herds, inasmuch as he is the only animal that by a degenerate life transgresses the laws of his nature, and, though gifted with reason, in his habits and affections imitates the unreasoning brutes. Thus I have shown you that he follows “after the footsteps of the flocks,” in this life by the corruption of his nature, and shall do so in the life to come by the extremity of his chastisement.

Behold, my brethren, thus shall the man be cursed who shall be found without knowledge of God. But is it “without knowledge of God” I should say, or rather “without knowledge of himself”? Undoubtedly, I should say both. Both kinds of ignorance are criminal, and either, by itself, suffices for damnation. Do you wish to be assured of the truth of what I say? Well, in the first place, you certainly cannot doubt that ignorance of God leads to eternal death, since, as you know, eternal life is nothing else than the knowledge of the “Father, the only true God,” and of “Jesus Christ Whom He hath sent.” Listen, therefore, to the words of the Bridegroom, wherein He clearly and unmistakably condemns the Spouse’s ignorance even of herself. For what does He say? Not “if thou know not God,” but “if thou know not thyself, go forth and follow after the flocks.” Thus it is evident that, as the Apostle declares, “If any man know not, he shall not be known,” whether his ignorance be of God or of himself. These two species of ignorance shall furnish us with matter for a very useful discussion, if yet the Lord withholds not His assistance. However, I do not intend to open that subject now, lest through weariness and the omission of the customary prayers for light, either I should treat a most important question with insufficient diligence, or you should listen languidly to what ought to be received with eager appetite. For, as the food of the body, when eaten without relish or hunger, rather injures than benefits, so, and much more so, with the food of the soul. If taken with disrelish or disgust, instead of enlightening the mind, it will torment the conscience. From which may the Divine Spouse of the Church protect us, Jesus Christ Our Lord, Who is over all things, God blessed for ever. Amen.