Sermons on the Song of Songs

“If thou know not thyself, go forth.”

I do not think, my brethren, that there is any necessity to warn you to-day against yielding to sleep, since, doubtless, the words of charitable reproof which I addressed to you so late as yesterday are still fresh in your memory, and have made you determined to keep wide awake. You recollect, then, that I obtained your assent to the proposition that no one is saved without self-knowledge. For it is, in fact, to this knowledge that we owe the virtue of humility—the mother of salvation—and also the fear of the Lord, which is the beginning of salvation quite as much as it is the beginning of wisdom. But when I say that there can be no salvation without self-knowledge, I mean, of course, for those who are of the age and have the capacity for acquiring it. This limitation is necessary on account of infants and idiots whose case is completely different. But what if one has no knowledge of God? Can such ignorance consist with the hope of salvation? Surely not. For we can neither love God without the knowledge of Him, nor possess Him without the love of Him. Therefore, let us know ourselves that we may fear God, and let us know God that we may also love Him. The first of these virtues introduces us to wisdom, the second brings us to its perfection, because “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom,” and “love is the fulfilling of the law.” Consequently, it is as necessary to avoid ignorance of God and ignorance of self as it is certain that without the fear and the love of God we cannot save our souls. As regards the knowledge of other objects, that is a matter of indifference; we shall not be condemned for the want of it any more than its possession will save us.

I am far from saying, however, that the knowledge of letters is to be despised or neglected. Such learning furnishes and adorns the mind, and enables us to instruct others. But it is expedient and necessary to acquire, first of all, that twofold knowledge of God and self, in which, as I have already shown, our salvation essentially consists. And see if the Prophet had not this order of knowing in mind, and did not recommend it to us when he said, “Sow for yourselves unto justice, and reap the hope of life,” after which he added, “and light for yourselves the lamp of knowledge.” He put the knowledge of letters in the last place, because, like a picture, it must rest upon something solid; and for this reason he would have it superimposed upon the knowledge of God and self as upon its proper basis and support. Securely may I apply myself to the acquisition of learning, if, through the grace of hope, I have first been rendered secure of the possession of life. Therefore, my brethren, you have sown “for yourselves unto justice,” if by a true knowledge of yourselves you have been awakened to the fear of God, if you have humbled yourselves, poured out tears of contrition, given abundant alms, and devoted yourselves to all the other exercises of piety; if you have afflicted your bodies with fastings and watchings; if you have beaten your breasts with penitential blows and wearied heaven with your cries for mercy. This is what is meant by sowing “for yourselves unto justice.” The seeds to be sown are good works, virtuous pursuits, holy tears. “Going they went and wept,” says the Psalmist, “casting their seeds.” But then shall they always weep? Certainly not. For, as the Prophet goes on to say, “coming they shall come with joyfulness, carrying their sheaves.” Rightly does he represent them as coming “with joyfulness,” since they carry the “sheaves” of immortal glory. But it may be objected that this joy is reserved for the Last Day, and that the wait is too long. Do not let such a thought discourage you; do not lose heart through “pusillanimity of spirit.” You have meantime of the first-fruits of the Holy Ghost that which you may now reap “with joyfulness.” “Sow for yourselves unto justice,” urges the Prophet, “reap the hope of life.” Mind, he does not tell us to wait until the Last Day, when we shall come into actual possession of what we now possess in hope. But he speaks of the present. The entrance into eternal life will assuredly fill us with immense happiness and a joy exceeding great. But is not the very hope of such a joy a joy in itself? “Rejoicing in hope,” says the Apostle. And notice how David does not tell us that he will rejoice, but that he has rejoiced in the hope of entering into the house of the Lord. He was not yet in actual enjoyment of life everlasting, but the hope of it he had already reaped. And he experienced in himself the truth of the words of Holy Scripture, where it is written that not alone the reward itself, but the mere “expectation of the just is joy.” This joy is engendered in the heart of him who sows for himself unto justice, by the assurance of his pardon; provided, however, that such assurance is confirmed by the efficacy of the grace received in enabling him to live thereafter more holily. Everyone of you, my brethren, who is conscious of these operations in his interior, knows what the Spirit speaks, for His words and His works are ever in harmony. We therefore understand what is said, because what the ear hears exteriorly the heart feels within. For He Who speaks in us also works within us, “the same Spirit dividing to everyone according as He will,” communicating to some the gift of speech, to others the grace of well-doing.

Every one of you, therefore, who, after passing beyond the first stage of his conversion, usually so painful and sorrowful, rejoices in the renewal of hope and in his elevation on the wings of grace to the more tranquil state of heavenly consolation—every such soul, I say, is in truth already reaping, enjoying the temporal fruit of her tears, She has both seen God and heard His voice saying to her, “Give her of the fruit of her hands.” For how can it be doubted that she has seen God, since she has even tasted and seen “that the Lord is sweet”? Oh, how sweet and savoury dost thou taste to him, Lord Jesus, who has obtained from Thee not only the pardon of his sins, but even the grace of sanctity, and not that alone, but, to crown Thy favours, the promise of eternal life as well! Happy he who has reaped so rich a harvest, having here his “fruit unto sanctification, and the end life everlasting”! Justly has he, who wept on discovering himself, rejoiced, like the apostles, on beholding the Lord, at the sight of Whose tender compassion he has already gathered such abundant sheaves, pardon, sanctification, and the hope of heaven. Oh, how true are those words which we read in the Psalmist, “They that sow in tears shall reap in joy”! Herein we find included both the knowledge of self and the knowledge of God, the former sowing in tears, and the latter reaping in joy.