Sermons on the Song of Songs35 Sermon XXXV. Of the sharp reproof which the Bridegroom gives to the Bride, and of two kinds of ignorance which are especially to be feared and avoided
Sermon XXXV. Of the sharp reproof which the Bridegroom gives to the Bride, and of two kinds of ignorance which are especially to be feared and avoided
/F thou knowest not, He says, go forth. This is a harsh and severe reproof; since He says, go forth. This is the phrase which servants are wont to hear from their lords when displeased and angry* or maidens from their mistresses, whom they may have deeply offended. 'Go forth/ they say, 'leave me, depart out of my sight and out of this house.' With this speech, severe and bitter, and having so sharp an edge of blame, it is that the Bridegroom addresses His beloved; but all the blame is under the express condition ' if thou knowest not.' He could say nothing stronger or more effectual to affright her, than to threaten her that she shall sent away from Him. This you may easily realize, if you take notice whence she is bidden to go, and whither. What is she to leave, do 2. Terrible, then, and greatly to be feared, is that threatening command: Go forth, and pasture thy kids. For it is as if He said: ' Know yourself to be unworthy of that sweet and familiar contemplation of things heavenly, intellectual, and Divine, which you now enjoy. Wherefore go forth from My sanctuary, which is your heart, in which you were accustomed to drink with pleasure such deep draughts of the hidden and sacred meanings of truth and wisdom; be as one of those in the world; entangle yourself again with the delights of the flesh, and feed upon them.' These are what He speaks of as ‘kids' (these signify sins, and are said to be collected, in the Last Judgment, on the left hand of the Judge), the wandering and wanton senses and desires of the flesh, by which, as by windows, death has entered into the soul. To these well apply the words which follow in the text: beside the shepherds' tents. For kids are pastured, not as lambs, above the tents of the shepherds, but beside them. Now, those shepherds (pastores) who are true pastors, although they have tabernacles corn- 3. A sad and shocking change of pursuits! After having made it his endeavour to nourish the soul during the time of its exile and wandering here with holy meditations, as it were with food from heaven, to seek out the good pleasure of God and the mysteries of His will, to reach up to heaven by the fervency of his devotion, after having saluted Patriarchs and Apostles, and the choirs of Prophets, marked with admiration the triumphs of Martyrs, and viewed with wonder the glorious ranks of the Angels, now, to lay all these occupations aside, to subject himself in disgraceful servitude to the body, unto obedience to the flesh, to become a slave to gluttony or intemperance, and to seek throughout the world for means to satisfy, in some degree, or at least to soothe their imperious, yet insatiable, desires, by the resources of this world which passes away! My eyes let fall a torrent of tears over such a soul as that, which, after being brought up in scarlet, embraces dunghills (Lam. iv. 5). He evil entreateth the barren which beareth not, and doeth not good to the widow (Job xxiv. 21). For notice, it is not merely said, Go forth, but go forth by the flocks of thy companions, and feed thy kids, in which, as it seems to me, a warning is given to us of no small importance. What is it? Alas! that a creature so fair, once made a member of the [Lord's flock, but now rushing miserably to destruction, is not permitted even to remain among the flocks, but is bidden to fall behind them. How is that, do you ask? It is in that manner of which we read in the Psalms: Man, when lie was in honour, did not understand; he hath been compared unto senseless beasts, and is become like unto them (Ps. xlviii. 13, Douay). See how this creature, so beautiful," came to belong unto the general body of the animals. And I think that these would say, if they were able to speak: Behold, Adam is become as one of us (Gen. iii. 22, Douay). Says the Psalmist: When he was in honour. If you ask, In what honour? he dwelt in Paradise; his life was passed in a place of entire pleasure; he suffered no manner of pain or of privation; his steps were among trees loaded with fragrant fruits; he reposed upon a bed of flowers; he was crowned with glory and honour, and set over all the works which the Hands of His Creator had made; but above all, he excelled in glory, because he bore the Divine image and likeness; he ranked with, and enjoyed the society of, the Angels, and all the powers of the army of heaven.
4. But he changed that glory of God into the similitude of a calf 5. But recall now with me, if you please, the declaration of the Son to the Father in the Psalm: Thou wilt not suffer Thy Holy One to see corruption (Ps. xvi. 10). Doubtless, He refers here only to His Body, which lay for a time dead in the sepulchre. This is that Holy Thing of which the Angel declared to the Virgin: That Holy Thin$ which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God (Luke i. 35). How, then, could that holy Flesh (grass, fenum) see corruption which was born of a pure womb, as it were of meadows ever flourishing in perpetual greenness, and which draws upon it without ceasing the gaze of the Angels, who regard it with never-failing delight? It would surely lose its greenness if Mary lost her virginity. The food of man has, then, been changed into that of beasts, since man has changed into a beast. O sad and lamentable transmutation that man, the dweller in Paradise, the lord of earth, a citizen of heaven, and one of the household of the Lord of Sabaoth, the brother of blessed spirits, and co-heir of celestial Virtues, should have found himself, by a sudden transformation, and through his own weakness, lying in a stable, clamouring for food such as is the lot of beasts, because of his resemblance to their nature, and still more, bound fast to the manger, on account of his savage unruliness, like as those of whom it is written: With bit and bridle bind fast their jaws, who come not near to thee (Ps. xxxi. 9, Douay). Yet know, O ox, thy owner, and thou, 0 ass, thy master's crib, that the Prophets of God may be found faithful 6. But what is the cause, you would ask, of such an abasement? It is certainly no other than that man when he was in honour, did not understand. What did he not understand? The Psalmist does not explain; but let me explain. He was placed in honour, and took such pleasure in the loftiness of his elevation, that he failed to remember that he was but clay and he soon experienced in himself the truth of what one of the sons of his captivity, at a period far later, both wisely observed and truly recorded, that * if a man think himself to be something, when lie is nothing, he deceiveth himself (Gal. vi. 3). Woe to that unhappy one, who was not then in existence when it was said of him: Why is earth and ashes proud? (Ecclus. x. 9). Hence it is that a creature so beautiful is confounded with the herd; hence it is that its likeness to God is changed into the likeness of the brute creation; and in place of the companionship of Angels a fellowship with beasts of burden entered upon. Do you see, then, how great reason we have for fleeing from that ignorance which has been the cause of so many hosts of evils to all our race? For the Psalmist declares that man became like unto the beasts that perish, and are devoid of reason, because he did not understand. Ignorance, then, must at any cost be avoided by us; lest, perhaps, if we are found to be still without understanding, after having been so severely disciplined and punished, evils greater and heavier than the former should find us out, and it be said of us: We would have healed Babylon, but she is not healed (Jer. li. 9). And rightly so, since chastening has not enabled us to understand and take heed of what we have heard.
7. Is it not perhaps for this reason also that the Bridegroom, in order to turn His beloved from her ignorance by the thunder of His reprimand, said to her, not * Go forth with the flocks or, ' Go forth to the flocks,' but Go forth by [or after the footsteps of the flocks, Why is this? Without doubt to show that a second ignorance is more shameful and more to be feared than the first, because it has rendered man equal to the beasts, or even inferior to them. For men justly deprived of the light of God's countenance (ignorati), that is reprobate, because of this ignorance of theirs, both have to endure His terrible judgment, and to be given over to the everlasting fire—a punishment to which beasts are not liable. Without doubt, then, the condition of those who will be in that state is worse than that of those who will not be liable to it at all. // were 1 The Bride, i.e., the human soul; or sometimes the word is used in the sense of the Church, which is the aggregate of regenerate souls.—Ed.
8. I think, farther, that if you examine the matter closely, you will conclude that even in this life [such a man takes a place lower than the beasts of the field. Does it not seem to you that the man who is gifted with reason, and does not act according to reason, is in some sense more beastlike than the beasts themselves, which are without reason? For if the beasts of the field do not govern themselves by reason, they have an excuse in their very nature, since the gift of reason has been denied to them; but man, on whom it has been bestowed as his special endowment and prerogative, has no such excuse. Justly, therefore, on this account, ought man to be separated from other living creatures, and ranked after them all, since he alone has degenerated from his condition and violated the laws of his nature; he alone, though gifted with reason, feels and acts similarly to those who are without it. It is shown, then, that man [if in a state of sin is inferior to all the tribes of the brute creation, both in the present life, by the depraving of his nature, and in the future life, by the extremity of punishment which awaits him.
9. See, then, in what a miserable and accursed condition a man is who is found in ignorance of God. Ignorance of God, or of his own self, ought I to say? Unquestionably both the one and the other-each kind of ignorance is fatal, and each suffices to bring about everlasting perdition. Would you know how this is the case? As regards ignorance of God, you will, I think, have no doubt, if yon believe without question that this only is eternal life, to know the true God, and Jesus Christ whom He has sent (John xvii. 3). Listen,]
1. Si te, inquit, ignoras, egredere. Dura et aspera increpatio, quod dicit, egredere. Hoc quippe verbum servi audire solent a valde irascentibus et indignantibus dominis, vel ancillae a dominabus suis, cum graviter illas offenderint: Exi hinc, exi a me, egredere a conspectu meo et a domo ista. Hoc ergo verbo aspero et amaro satis, nimiumque increpatorio utitur modo sponsus contra dilectam, sub conditione tamen, si se ipsam ignoraverit. Nil quippe validius efficaciusve ad terrendum potuit in eam intendere, quam ut egredi minaretur. Quod et tu advertere potes, si bene attendas unde quo egredi jubeatur. Unde enim, quo putas, nisi de spiritu ad carnem, de bonis animi ad saecularia desideria, de interna requie mentis ad mundi strepitum, et inquietudinem curarum exteriorum? In quibus omnibus non est nisi labor et dolor, atque afflictio spiritus. Quae enim anima semel a Domino didicit et accepit intrare ad se ipsam, et in intimis suis Dei praesentiam suspirare, et quaerere faciem ejus semper: spiritus est enim Deus; et qui quaerunt eum, oportet eos in spiritu ambulare, et non in carne, ut secundum carnem vivant: talis, inquam, anima nescio an vel ipsam gehennam ad tempus experiri horribilius poenaliusve ducat, quam post spiritualis studii hujus gustatam semel suavitatem exire denuo ad illecebras, vel potius ad molestias carnis, sensuumque inexplebilem repetere curiositatem, dicente Ecclesiaste: Oculus non impletur visu, nec auris auditu. Audi enim hominem expertum quae loquimur: Bonus es, inquit, Domine, sperantibus in te, animae quaerenti te. Ab hoc bono si quis avertere sanctam illam animam conaretur, puto haud secus accepisset, quam si se de paradiso, et ab ipso introitu gloriae conspiceret deturbari. Audi adhuc et alium similem huic: Tibi dixit cor meum, ait, exquisivit te facies mea; faciem tuam, Domine, requiram. Unde et dicebat: Mihi autem adhaerere Deo bonum est; et item loquens ad animam suam dicit: Convertere, anima mea, in requiem tuam, quia Dominus beneficit tibi. Dico ergo vobis: Nihil est quod in tantum formidet, quisquis hoc beneficium semel accepit, quam ne gratia derelictus, necesse habeat denuo egredi ad carnis consolationes, imo desolationes; rursumque carnalium sensuum sustinere tumultus.
2. Terribilis proinde et nimis formidolosa comminatio: Egredere, et pasce haedos tuos. Quod est: Indignam te noveris illa tua familiari et suavi rerum contemplatione coelestium, intelligibilium, divinarum. Quamobrem egredere de sanctuario meo, corde tuo, ubi secretos sacrosque veritatis ac sapientiae sensus dulciter haurire solebas; et magis tanquam una de saecularibus, pascendis et oblectandis tuae carnis sensibus intricare. Haedos quippe (qui peccatum significant, et in judicio collocandi sunt a sinistris) dicit vagos et petulantes corporis sensus, per quos peccatum, tanquam mors per fenestras, intravit ad animam. Cui et bene congruit quod sequitur in Scriptura: Juxta tabernacula pastorum. Non enim supra, sicut agni, sed juxta tabernacula pastorum haedi pascuntur. Pastores siquidem, qui veri pastores sunt, licet tabernacula habeant de terra et in terra, corpora videlicet sua, in diebus quibus nunc militant; non tamen de terra, sed de coelestibus pascuis greges Dominicos pascere consueverunt: neque enim suam eis, sed Domini praedicant voluntatem. At haedi, qui sunt corporis sensus, coelestia non requirunt; sed juxta tabernacula pastorum, in omnibus videlicet bonis sensibilibus hujus mundi, quae est regio corporum, sumunt, unde sua desideria non tam satient quam irritent.
3. Turpis mutatio studiorum! ut cui ante studii fuerat, peregrinantem et exsulem animam suam sacris meditationibus, tanquam coelestibus pascere bonis, Dei beneplacitum et mysteria voluntatis ejus inquirere, penetrare devotione coelos, et mente supernas circuire mansiones, salutare patres atque apostolos et choros prophetarum, martyrumque admirari triumphos, ac stupere pulcherrimos ordines angelorum: nunc omnibus his omissis, turpi se mancipet corporis servituti ad obediendum carni, ad satisfaciendum ventri et gulae, ad mendicandum in universa terra, unde ex ea quae praeterit mundi hujus figura, suam semper famelicam curiositatem aliquatenus consoletur. Exitus aquarum deducant oculi mei super hujusmodi animam, quae cum nutriretur in croceis, demum amplexatur stercora. Pavit enim, juxta beati viri sententiam, sterilem quae non habebat filios, et viduae non benefecit. Et vide, quia non simpliciter, egredere; sed, egredere, inquit, et abi post greges sodalium tuorum, et pasce haedos tuos. In quo, ut mihi videtur, magnae cujusdam rei nos admonet. Quid istud? Heu! quod egregia creatura, jam olim facta de grege, et nunc in pejus miserabiliter proruens, non saltem inter greges remanere permittitur, sed post abire jubetur. Quomodo, inquis? Quomodo legis: Homo cum in honore esset, non intellexit; comparatus est jumentis insipientibus, et similis factus est illis. Ecce quomodo de grege facta est egregia creatura. Puto, dicerent jumenta, si loqui fas esset: Ecce Adam factus est quasi unus ex nobis. Cum in honore esset, inquit. In quo honore, quaeris? Habitabat in paradiso, et in loco voluptatis conversatio ejus. Nihil molestiae, nihil indigentiae sentiebat, odoriferis stipatus malis, fulcitus floribus, gloria et honore coronatus, et constitutus super opera manuum Plasmatoris; magis autem ob insigne divinae similitudinis praecellebat; et erat illi sors et societas cum plebe angelorum, et cum omni militia coelestis exercitus.
4. Sed mutavit istam gloriam Dei in similitudinem vituli comedentis fenum. Inde est quod panis angelorum factus est fenum positum in praesepio, appositum nobis tanquam jumentis. Verbum quippe caro factum est, et juxta prophetam: Omnis caro fenum. At fenum istud minime desiccatum est, nec ex eo cecidit flos, quia requievit super ipsum Spiritus Domini. Propter hoc namque aliquando finis venit universae carnis, quia spiritus recesserat vitae. Denique ait: Non permanebit spiritus meus in homine in aeternum, quia caro est. Carnis nomine hoc loco vitium designari intellige, non naturam: nec enim spiritum natura expungit, sed vitium. Propter vitium ergo omnis caro fenum, et omnis gloria ejus tanquam flos feni. Exsiccatum est, inquit, fenum, et cecidit flos; sed non ille flos qui de virga et radice Jesse ascendit, eo quod requievit super eum Spiritus Domini; nec illud fenum quod Verbum factum est, pro eo quod sequitur in propheta, Verbum autem Domini manet in aeternum. Si enim fenum Verbum, et Verbum in aeternum manet, fenum quoque necesse est maneat in aeternum. Alioquin quomodo vitam praebet aeternam, si ipsum minime manet in aeternum? Ait enim: Si quis manducaverit ex hoc pane, vivet in aeternum. Et quem panem dicat, aperit cum subjungit: Et panis quem ego dabo, caro mea est pro mundi vita. Quomodo ergo aeternum non est, quo aeternaliter vivitur?
5. Sed recole nunc mecum vocem Filii ad Patrem loquentis in psalmo: Non dabis, inquit, Sanctum tuum videre corruptionem. Haud dubium quin de corpore dicat, quod in sepulcro jacebat exanime. Hoc enim sanctum et angelus qui nuntiavit Virgini, locutus est dicens: Et quod nascetur ex te Sanctum, vocabitur Filius Dei. Quo ergo pacto sanctum fenum poterat videre corruptionem, quod de incorrupti uteri perpetuo virore vernantibus pascuis ortum, etiam avidos angelorum in se figere possit obtutus, insatiabiliter oblectandos? Perdat sane fenum viriditatem, si Maria virginitatem amiserit. Ergo cibus hominis mutavit se in pabulum pecoris, homine mutato in pecus. Heu tristis et lacrymosa mutatio! ut homo paradisi accola, terrae dominus, coeli civis, domesticus Domini sabaoth, frater beatorum spirituum, et coelestium cohaeres virtutum, repentina se conversione invenerit et propter infirmitatem jacentem in stabulo, et propter similitudinem pecorinam indigentem feno, et propter indomitam feritatem alligatum praesepio, sicut scriptum est: In camo et freno maxillas eorum constringe, qui non approximant ad te. Agnosce tamen, o bos, possessorem tuum; et tu, asine, praesepe domini tui; ut prophetae Dei fideles inveniantur, qui ista sunt Dei mirabilia praelocuti. Cognosce, pecus, quem non cognovisti homo; adora in stabulo quem fugiebas in paradiso; honora praesepium cujus contempsisti imperium; comede fenum, quem panem, et panem angelicum fastidisti.
6. Sed quaenam causa, inquis, tantae dejectionis? Profecto quod homo cum in honore esset, non intellexit. Quid non intellexit? Non dicit: Nos dicamus. Positus in honore non intellexit quod limus esset, honoris fastigio delectatus; et continuo in se expertus est, quod tanto post tempore homo de filiis captivitatis et prudenter advertit, et veraciter protulit, dicens: Qui se putat aliquid esse, cum nihil sit, ipse se seducit. Vae misero, quod non fuit qui jam tunc diceret ei: Quid superbis, terra et cinis? Hinc egregia creatura gregi admista est, hinc bestiali similitudine Dei similitudo mutata est, hinc societas cum jumentis pro consortio angelorum inita est. Vides quam sit fugienda nobis haec ignorantia, de qua tot millia malorum universo nostro generi provenerunt? Ait enim propterea hominem jumentis insipientibus comparatum, quia non intellexit. Cavenda proinde omnimodis ignorantia, ne forte, si adhuc sine intellectu, et post vexationem, inventi fuerimus, multo plura et graviora prioribus mala inveniant nos, dicaturque de nobis: Curavimus Babylonem, et non est sanata. Merito quidem, quod nec vexatio dederit intellectum auditui.
7. Et vide ne forte etiam hinc sponsus, cum dilectam ab ignorantia tanto increpationis tonitruo deterreret, propterea minime dixerit: Egredere cum gregibus; aut: Egredere ad greges; sed: Egredere, ait, post greges sodalium tuorum. Utquid hoc? Sane ut secundam proinde ignorantiam priore magis pavendam pudendamque ostenderet, quod illa hominem bestiis parem fecisset, ista et posteriorem. Nam homines quidem merito ignorantiae ignorati, id est reprobati, et ad tremendum illud judicium stare, et igni perpetuo tradi habent, non autem et pecudes. Nec dubium fore deterius his qui sic erunt, quam his qui omnino non erunt. Melius ei fuerat, inquit, si natus non fuisset homo ille. Non utique si natus non fuisset omnino, sed si natus non fuisset homo; sed, verbi gratia, aut pecus, aut alia quaepiam creatura: quae quoniam judicium non haberet, ad judicium non veniret, ac per hoc nec ad supplicium. Sciat ergo anima rationalis, quae se ob priorem ignorantiam erubescit, pecudes habere sodales in perfruendis utique bonis terrae; non etiam similiter socias habituram in perferendis tormentis gehennae; et tum demum etiam ab ipsis gregibus suorum sodalium jumentorum cum dedecore exturbandum; nec jam vel cum ipsis ituram, sed plane post, quando illis nihil mali sentientibus, ipsa malis omnibus exponetur: a quibus non liberabitur in aeternum, siquidem secundo ignorare adjecerit. Egreditur itaque homo, et solitarius abit post greges sodalium suorum, cum solus in inferno inferiori retruditur. Annon tibi posteriorem videtur tenere locum, qui ligatis manibus et pedibus projicitur in tenebras exteriores? Et erunt profecto novissima hominis illius pejora prioribus, quando qui prius bestiis aequabatur, nunc et postponitur.
8. Puto quod et in praesenti vita, si bene advertas, posteriorem ire pecoribus hominem judicabis. An non siquidem tibi videtur ipsis bestiis quodam modo bestialior esse homo ratione vigens, et ratione non vivens? Nam pecus quidem si se ratione non regat, excusationem habet a natura, a qua hoc ei penitus munus negatum est; non habet homo, cui ab ipsa speciali praerogativa donatum est. Merito proinde eo ipso censetur homo egredi, et post ire gregalibus animantibus, quod solum hoc animal conversatione degeneri jura naturae transgrediens, rationis compos rationis expertia moribus et affectibus imitatur. Convincitur ergo ire post greges homo, et nunc quidem depravatione naturae, postmodum autem et extremitate poenae.
9. Ecce sic maledicetur homo qui ignorantiam Dei habere inventus fuerit. Dei dicam, an sui? Utrumque sine dubio: utraque ignorantia damnabilis est, utralibet sufficit ad perditionem. Vis scire quia ita est? Sed de Dei minime dubitas, si tamen constat tibi non aliam vitam esse aeternam, quam ut Patrem cognoscas Deum verum, et quem misit Jesum Christum. Audi ergo sponsum liquido et aperte in anima etiam animae ignorantiam condemnantem. Quid enim dicit? Non utique si Deum, sed: Si ignoras te, inquit, etc. Patet ergo quia ignorans ignorabitur, sive se, sive Deum ignorare contingat. De qua utraque ignorantia erit nobis, si tamen Deus manum apponit, utilis admodum disputatio. Non modo tamen; ne fatigati, et non praemissa ex more oratione, aut ego minus diligenter rem necessariam prosequar, aut vos minus attente, quae nonnisi magno suscipienda sunt desiderio, audiatis. Etenim si corporis cibus, cum absque appetitu et satiatus illum sumis, non modo non prodest, sed et nocet plurimum; multo magis panis animae cum fastidio sumptus, non scientiae nutrimentum, sed magis tormentum conscientiae importabit. Quod a nobis avertat sponsus Ecclesiae Jesus Christus Dominus noster, qui est super omnia Deus benedictus in saecula. Amen.