Sermons on the Song of Songs56 Sermon LVI

Goo He has, then, made use of the human feelings and bodily senses as windows and openings, so to speak, by which, being a man, He might know by personal experience the miseries of men, and so become compassionate. He no doubt knew them also before, but after another manner. Being the Lord of virtues, He well knew the virtue of obedience; and yet, according to the statement of the Apostle, He learned obedience by the things which He suffered (Heb. v. 8). In this manner also He learned mercy, though the mercy of God is from all eternity. The Doctor of the Gentiles also teaches the same thing, when he asserts that the Saviour was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin, that He might be merciful (Heb. iv. 15). Do you see, then, how that was done which was already the fact, and how He learned that which He already knew; how He sought out for Himself, as it were, windows and openings in our nature by which He might become more intimately acquainted with our troubles and miseries? He has found as many gaps in the walls of our nature, ruinous and full of fissures as they are, as He has had experiences in His own person [during His sojourn upon earth of our infirmity and our corruption.

2. This, then, is how the Bridegroom, standing behind the wall, looks through the lattices and windows. Well is He represented as standing, since He alone who, being in the flesh, yielded in nothing to the sins of the flesh, can be said truly to have stood. We may also understand with confidence that, though He took upon Him the weakness of flesh, He stood firm in the power of His Divinity; and we know that He Himself once said [of others]: The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak (Matt. xxvi. 41). I think, also, that this interpretation is supported by what holy David, who was a prophet of the Lord, said of this mystery, speaking prophetically and of the Lord, though the subject he mentioned was Moses. For He is the true Moses, who came indeed by water; and not by water only, but by water and blood. For this is what that Psalmist says: He said that He would destroy them (he refers to God the Father): had not Moses His chosen stood before Him in the breach, to turn aivay His wrath, lest He should destroy them (Ps. cvi. 23). But in what manner, let me ask, did Moses stand in the breach? and, similarly, how could he stand, if he were broken down? or, in the other alternative, how could he be broken down if he stood But I will show you, if you will, who it was that truly stood in the breach. I know of no one who was able to do this except Jesus our Lord, who assuredly lived in death, who, though in Body broken (fractus) and shattered; who in His Divinity stood erect with the Father, in the one supplicating, as being one with us; in the other, propitiating, as being one with the Father. He stood, then, behind the wall, since that in Him which was in [the likeness of fallible flesh (jacebat) was manifested in the flesh, and that in Him which stood [and was not fallible], was hidden, as it 1 In confractiont... steiit. The passage is not clear; or, at all events, the ground of the argument not evident.—Ed.

Sins AND VICES ARE AS WALLS were, behind the flesh, so that one and the same Person was to the outward eye a Man, and though His Divinity was concealed, was the Almighty God.

3. To each of us, also, who desire His Coming, He is, as I believe, still standing ' behind the wall,' as long as our body, which is assuredly a body of sin, hides His Face from us, and hinders our perception of His Presence, for a while. And this was the experience of the Apostle: Whilst we are at home in the body, we are absetit from the Lord (2 Cor. v. 6). Not because we are in a body simply, but in this body—namely, a body which is from sin, and is not without sin. And that you may know that it is not our bodies, but our sins, which are the obstacle between God and ourselves, hear the Scripture: Your iniquities have separated between you and your God (Is. lix. 2). And would to God that this one wall of the body were the only obstacle; would that the sin which is in the flesh were the single barrier, and that many other walls and enclosures made by my vices did not also rise to shut me off from the Source of goodness. For I greatly fear lest, beside that obstacle which exists in my nature, I have added many others by my own iniquity, which have separated me only too far from the Bridegroom, so that, to speak the truth, I must confess that to me He stands behind many walls, and not behind one only.

4. But this I wish to state more plainly. The Bridegroom is indeed equally and indifferently present everywhere by the Omnipresence of His Divine Majesty, and by the Greatness of His Power. Nevertheless He is said to be, by the showing forth or communication of His Grace, nearer to some among His reasonable creatures—that is to say, of Angels and men, and farther off from others. For Salvation is far from the wicked (Ps. cxix. 155). And yet holy David says: Why standest Thou afar off, O Lord? (Ps. x. 1). But with the Saints, though He sometimes makes Himself to be, in a sense, at a distance from them, it is only partially and for a time, and even then it is by the dispensation of His goodness. But from sinners, from those of whom it is said in a Psalm: The tumult of those that rise up against Thee increaseth continually (Ps. lxxiv. 23); and, again: Their ways are always grievous (Ps. x. 5), from them He is always far removed, and that in anger, not in mercy. Wherefore the Psalmist prays to God: Hide not Thy Face far from me; put not Thy servant away in anger (Ps. xxvii. 9); knowing that the Lord was able to turn away also in mercy. Therefore the Lord is near to His saints and His elect, even when He seems to be far from them; nor does He draw near equally to all, but to some more, to others less, according to the difference of their merits. For although the Lord is near to all them who call upon Him in truth, and is beside those who are of humble heart, yet perhaps He is not so near to all as to enable them to say with the Bride that He standeth behind tlu wall To her He is near indeed, for only a single wall separates them. Wherefore she desires to be dissolved, and the wall of division being thus broken through 5. But as for me, because I am a sinner, I am far from desiring to be dissolved, but, on the contrary, fear and tremble, knowing that the death of the wicked is very evil (Ps. xxxiii. 22, Douay). How can that death be otherwise than very evil where the Life does not come to bring His succour? I fear to go forth; I tremble when at the very entrance of my wished-for harbour, as long as I have no confidence that I shall meet Jesus coming forth from it to receive and to help me. Can I in anywise go forth securely [from the body if the Lord do not guard my passing away? Alas without His help to rescue and save me, I shall be intercepted by demons and made their sport. Nothing like this was to be feared by the soul of the Apostle Paul, between whom and the sight and embrace of the Beloved, one obstacle only interposed, namely, the law of sin, which he found in his members. This is the very concupiscence of the flesh, which he could not be altogether without, as long as he lived in the flesh. Yet it is certain that he did not wander far from the Lord, for this one wall only was interposed between them, wherefore he earnestly desired its removal, crying, Who shall deliver me from the body of this death f (Rom. vii. 24) knowing that by the short way of death he should come at once to life. By this one law, then, only, namely, that of concupiscence, St Paul confesses himself to be bound; and this he was obliged to endure, however unwillingly, because it was rooted in his flesh; for the rest, he says, I know nothing by myself (1 Cor. iv. 4).

6. But who is like unto St. Paul? who, that is to say, does not sometimes consent unto concupiscence, and obey it, even unto sin? Let him who has given the consent of his will to any sin know that in this unlawful and evil consent he has raised up another wall between God and himself. And a person in that condition cannot indulge in the happy thought that for him the Bridegroom standeth but behind the wall; since, not one wall only, but several, intervene between them. Much less can he think this, if the consent of his will has passed into sinful action; for thus a third wall is raised against the approach of the Bridegroom, and that wall is the act of sin. What if repetition should even convert the sin into a habit, and the habit should root itself in defiance and contempt of the law? as it is written: The wicked man, when he is come into the depth of sins, contemneth (Prov. xviii. 3, Douay). Is it not true, that if you shall come into that state, you will be devoured a thousand times by the roaring lions which await their prey, and not be able to attain unto the Bridegroom from whom you are cut off by so great a number of walls? Of these the first is concupiscence; the second, consent of the will; the third, the actual fact; the fourth, the habit of sin; the fifth, hardened indifference and contempt Be careful, then, to resist with all your might the first approach of concupiscence, so that it may not draw you into an inward consent, and then the whole fabric of evil will SINS AND VICES ARE AS WALLS disappear; nor is there anything to hinder the drawing near to you of the Lord, who is the Bridegroom, except only the barrier formed by your body, and you will be able to glory with the Bride, and to say of Him: Behold, He standeth behind our wall.

7. But this one thing you must look to also with all vigilance, that He may always rind open the windows, so to speak, and lattices of your nature—that is, your confessions of sins, so that by these He may look upon the secrets of your heart in His mercy and goodness, for the gaze of God is the advancement of your soul. For lattices {cancellos) are explained to be very narrow windows, such as those who are engaged in the writing of books are accustomed to make, so as to let the light fall upon the pages. For this reason it is, I suppose, that those whose charge it is to draw up official documents are called Chancellors, Since, then, there are two kinds of compunction, the one from sorrow for our faults, the other from joy for the Divine mercies bestowed upon us, it seems to me that as often as I feel the one, which cannot be without anguish of heart—that is to say, as often as I make confession of my sins, I throw open the lattice, that is, the narrower window of my heart. Nor is there any doubt that He, who is a kind and merciful Searcher of hearts, He who stands behind our wall, will look benignantly through that lattice; for a humble and contrite heart God will not despise (Ps. li. 17). And this He Himself bids us to do, saying by the Prophet: Declare thou [thy transgressions that thou mayest be justified (Is. xliii. 25, 26). But if my heart is sometimes expanded with love and gratitude at the consideration of the condescension and goodness of God, and I desire to pour forth my feelings in the voice of praise and of giving of thanks, then I open, as I think, no longer a narrow aperture, but a broad and ample window to the Bridegroom, who ' standeth behind our wall/ through which, I believe, He gazes with so much the more willingness and satisfaction, as He regards the sacrifice of praise as more to His honour. I have at hand passages out of the Scriptures, showing that He approves both one and the other kind of confession; but I speak to those who are well instructed in those subjects, and you are not to be burdened with things unnecessary, since you have scarcely time for the investigation of those which are strictly needful. For very great indeed are the mysteries of this marriage song, and the proclamations of praise which are made in it to the honour of the Church, and of Him who is her Bridegroom, Jesus Christ our Lord, who is above all, God blessed for ever. Amen.

1 This derivation is to be noted; and it seems to be correct, that the official scribes or notaries were so named because they usually sat behind cancelli, or latticed barriers.—Ed.