Sermons on the Song of Songs60 Sermon LX

* The Jig-tree putteth forth her green figs.9—Cant. ii. 13.

Google THE INCREDULITY OF THE JEWS shall attain the fruits of faith, if they repent sincerely of, and confess, their faults, and especially if they make amends for the works of the flesh by almsgiving. The first fruits, then, which such persons produce are not properly speaking the whole products of their lives, but are like the green and immature fruits of the fig-tree. If they shall afterwards bring forth fruits worthy of repentance (Matt. iii. 8), for that is not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural (1 Cor. xv. 46), it shall be said to them: What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed (Rom. vi. 21)?

3. But yet I think that we are not at liberty to interpret this passage of all peoples indiscriminately, but that one people in particular is intended. For the Scripture does not speak of trees, but of one tree: The fig-tree putteth forth her green figs; and, as I think, by that one is meant the nation of the Jews. In fact, how often does the Saviour seem to employ the same metaphor in the Gospel, in the parables which He delivered? For example: A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard (Luke xiii. 6); and, again: Behold the fig treey and all the trees (xxi. 29); and to Nathanael it was said:

When thou wast under the fig-tree, 1 saw thee (John i. 48). And again, it is a fig-tree upon which He pronounces a curse, because He has found upon it no fruit (Mark xi. 13, 14). Thus, that people is well compared to a fig-tree, which, although sprung from the root of the Patriarchs, which was good, was never willing to lift itself from the ground, or shoot upwards towards the sky; never responded to the goodness of its root, either by the greatness of its branches, the beauty of its flowers, or the abundance of its fruit. O tree stunted, knotty, and twisted, nothing answering to thy root is seen in thee: for thy root was holy. What appears in thy branches which is worthy of it? The fig-tree putteth forth her green figs, saith the Bridegroom. O evil seed, it is not from thy noble root that thou hast derived these! That which is in it is from the Holy Spirit, and all is refined and sweet which is produced by Him. Whence hast thou these figs crude and coarse? And, in truth, what is there in that people which is not crude and coarse, whether we consider their actions, their inclinations, their understanding, or even the rites with which they worship God? For their actions carried them [of old into many wars, their inclinations are all devoted to the pursuit of gain, their intelligence stopped short in the thick husk of the letter of their Law, and their worship consists in shedding the blood of sheep and of cattle.

4. But someone says: Since that nation has never ceased to produce such crude fruit, then the time for pruning has been reached at an earlier period, since the two events are represented as contemporaneous. But that is not the case. We say that women are mothers, not when they are in travail, but when they have brought forth. And, similarly, we say that trees have flowered, not when the flowers have begun to appear, but rather when they have fallen. So also is it said here that the fig-tree hath put forth her green figs, not when it has 1 Protulit (Vulgate).

5. Perhaps the Jew will complain, as of a deep injury, that I call his intelligence bovine. But let him read what is said by the prophet Isaiah, and he will find that it is even less than bovine. For he says: The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib; but Israel doth not know. My people doth not consider (Is. i. 3). You see, O Jew, that I am milder than your own prophet. I have compared you to the brute beasts; but he sets you below even these. Or, rather, it is not the Prophet who says this in his own name; but he speaks in the Name of God, who declares Himself by the very works He does to be God. Though ye believe not Me, He says, believe the works; and, If I do not the works of My Father, believe Me not (John x. 38, 37); and not even that aroused them to understand. Not the flight of demons, not the obedience of the elements, nor life restored to the dead, was able to expel from their minds that stupidity bestial, and more than bestial, which caused them, by a blindness as marvellous as it was miserable, to rush headlong into that crime, so enormous and so horrible, of laying impious hands upon the Lord of Glory. From that time, therefore, it could justly be said of them: The fig-tree hath put forth Iter green figs, inasmuch as the institutions of the Jewish Law began to draw towards their end, and, according to the ancient prophecy, on the coming of the new, the old should be abandoned (Lev. xxvi. 10). Even so do the green figs fail, and give place to the good figs which succeed them. ' As long/ says the Bridegroom, ' as the fig-tree continued to put forth its green fruit, I did not call upon thee, O My Bride, knowing that it could not, at the same time, produce good fruit. But now that those earlier ones have been put forth, I invite thee now in the due time, since, in the place of those that were useless, good and salutary fruits are about to appear.' 6. The vines, He continues, in flower yield their sweet scent, and this is the sign of fruit to come. This odour drives away serpents.

Ii is said that when the vines are flowering every venomous reptile leaves the spot: they cannot endure the sweet scent of the flowers THE INCREDULITY OF THE JEWS in fresh bloom. Which I wish our novices to take particular notice of, and to act with corresponding trust and confidence, reflecting what manner of spirit they have received, that evil spirits cannot sustain even its first approaches. If their fervour is such at its beginning, what shall be its complete perfection? Let the fruit be judged from the flower, and the excellence of the savour of the one be estimated from the strength of the perfume exhaled by the other. The vines in flower yield their sweet scent. And, indeed, in the beginning it was so. Upon the preaching of the new grace of Jesus Christ followed newness of life in those who had believed, who had their conversation honest among the Gentiles (1 Pet. iL 12), and were a sweet odour of Christ in every place (2 Cor. ii. 15). That sweet odour was the good testimony which was rendered to them, and which arises from good works, as perfume from a flower. And since, in the first period of the rising faith, the souls of the faithful were like spiritual vines covered with flowers and exhaling a pleasant odour, having a good testimony from those who were without, I think that what is here said applies not unfitly to them—that the vines in flower yield their sweet scent. To what end was this? It was that by this means even those who had not yet believed, reflecting on these good works, and being attracted by them to the faith, might themselves glorify God, and so to them also the odour of life might begin to be the means of life. It is then said of them, not undeservedly, that they sought not their own glory, but the salvation of others, by the good report which their actions obtained, and that they thus gave forth a sweet odour. For it would have been in their power to seek, after the example of certain others, to make a gain of godliness; for example, by ostentation or avarice. But that would have been not to give their good odour, but to sell it; and this they were careful not to do, because all their actions had charity for their sole motive.

7. But if the vines are believing souls; if their flowers are good works, and the odour they exhale the estimation they produce in the minds of others, what is the fruit they produce? It is martyrdom; yes, the blood of the martyr is truly the fruit of the vine. When He shall give sleep to His beloved, says the Psalmist, behold the inheritance of the Lord are children, the reward, the fruit of the womb (Ps. cxxvi. 2, 3, Douay). I had almost said ' the fruit of the vine. Why should I not call the Blood of the Innocent and the Just the most pure blood of the Vine—that red and most precious and approved lifeblood of the Vine of Sorek, forced out by the winepress of suffering? For in the sight of the Lord the death of His saints is precious (Ps. cxvi. 15).

1 Sorech or Soreth. The name is found three times only in Scripture—Gen. xlix. 11; Is. v. 2; Jer. ii. 21. The Hebrew root signifies tawny or reddish, according to Gesenius. The name is used in modern Arabic for a certain purple grape, grown in Syria, and highly esteemed; it is noted for its small berries and minute soft pips, and produces a red wine. The valley of Sorek, in the Philistine country (Judges xvi. 4), the home of Delilah, was perhaps so called from the growth of such vines (* Dictionary of the Bible,' s.v.).—Ed.

So much as to that which is said: The vines in flower yield their sweet scent 8. So, then, if we prefer to regard this passage as referring to the times of grace, this will be the meaning of it But if we rather refer it to the Fathers (for the house of Israel is the vineyard of the Lord of Sabaoth), it will be explained thus: The Prophets and Patriarchs discerned as an odour of sweetness the future Coming and sacrifice of Christ in the Flesh, but did not give forth that odour in themselves, because they did not show forth in the flesh that which they felt in the spirit by anticipation. They did not give forth the odour of it in themselves, nor divulge their secret, awaiting its revelation in due time. Who, in fact, had then any comprehension of the wisdom which was hidden in a mystery, and not shown forth in the body? Thus the vines, indeed, did not then yield their sweet scent. But they did so afterwards, when, in the succession of generations, they brought into the world Jesus Christ, born of them, according to the flesh, of a Virgin Mother. It was then, I say, that those spiritual vines yielded in truth their sweet scent, since the kindness and lave of God our Saviour towards man appeared (Tit. iii. 4), and the world began to have the presence of Him whom, while He was still absent, few had anticipated. That good man, for example, who, touching Jacob, had the feeling and anticipation of Christ, and said: See, the smell of my son is as the smell of a field which the Lord hath blessed (Gen. xxvii. 27). When he said this, he had the delight of this anticipation for himself, but he did not communicate it to any other person. But when the fulness of that time came in which God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the Law, that He might redeem those which were under the Law (Gal. iv. 4), then, indeed, the sweet odour which was in Him diffused itself everywhere, so that the Church, perceiving it from the extremities of the earth, cried out: Thy Name is as ointment poured forth (Cant. i. 2), and souls, as young maidens, flocked towards its sweet perfume. Thus that vine yielded its sweet scent; and at that time other vines also, in which was the same odour of life, similarly gave it forth. Wherefore should they, from whom Christ came according to the Flesh, not have done so? It was said, therefore, that the vines yielded their sweet scent, either because faithful souls shed forth everywhere around them the good opinion which they aroused, or because the oracles and revelations of the Fathers were made openly known to the world, and their sweet odour went forth throughout all the earth, as the Apostle declares: God was manifest in the Flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of Angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory (1 Tim. iii. 16).

9. But it would be wonderful if neither the fig-tree nor those vines had in them anything which would serve to our edification. I believe, then, that this passage has a moral sense also; for, by the grace of God which is in us, we have also fig-trees and vines. The fig-trees are those whose characters are sweet and peaceable, and the THE INCREDULITY OF THE JEWS vines those of a more ardent and fervent spirit. Everyone among us who acts in union and peace with others, who lives among his brethren, not only without giving ground of complaint to any, but approving himself kind and helpful to all, and fulfilling towards them every office of charity, why may I not speak of him very fitly as a fig-tree? Yet if he have put forth crude and coarse fruits, it behoves him to cast them off; as, for example, the fear of judgment, which perfect love casteth out; and the bitterness of remorse for past sins, which is sure to yield to sincere confession, to abundant shedding of tears, and to the infusion of grace; and also other similar things, which are as the green figs which go before the good and sweet fruit. Such truths as these you are able by yourselves to reflect upon.

10. But that I may add here one more thought which occurs to me at the moment, may there not be counted among green figs such gifts as knowledge, prophecy, gifts of tongues, and the like? For these things must, like green figs, pass away, and give place to better, as the Apostle declares, asserting that prophecies shall fail, tongues cease, and knowledge vanish away (1 Cor. xiii. 8). The discernment of spiritual things shall exclude even faith in them, and the place of hope must of necessity be taken by sight. For that which a man sees why doth he yet hope for? Charity alone never faileth, but that charity only wherewith God is loved with all the heart, with all the soul, with all the strength, and with all the mind (Luke x. 27). Therefore I do not reckon this at all in the number of crude figs; I do not think that it is to be compared even to the fig tree, but to the vines. Now, those who are as vines show themselves severe rather than sweet; they act in a spirit full of ardour, are zealous for discipline, prompt and severe in rebuking vice, and applying to themselves very fitly that saying of the Psalmist: Do not hate them, O Lord, that hate Thee? and am not I grieved with those that rise up against Thee f (Ps. cxxxix. 21). Also, the zeal of Thine House hath eaten me up (Ps. lxix. 9). The former seem to me to excel in love of their neighbour; the latter, in love of God. But let us make a pause under this vine and under this fig-tree, where the love of God and of our neighbour casts a delightful shade. Of each of these I am possessed when I love Thee, O dear Lord Jesus, who art my neighbour, because Thou art Man, and hast shown Thy love and mercy towards me, and who art, nevertheless, God over all, blessed for evermore. Amen.