Bernard Song of Songs 38
38
To what then does ignorance of God lead? We must begin here, for this is where, as you will recall, we finished yesterday. What does it lead to? I have already told you: despair. Now I shall explain how. Imagine a man who decides to take stock of his way of life, who, unhappy in his sinful conduct, wants to reform and abandon his evil and carnal ways. If he does not know how good God is, how kind and gentle, how willing to pardon, will not his sensually-inspired reason argue with him and say: "What are you doing? Do you want to lose this life and the next? Your sins are too grave and too many; nothing that you do, even to stripping the skin from your flesh, can make satisfaction for them. Your constitution is delicate, you have lived softly, a lifetime's habits are not easily conquered." Dismayed by these and similar arguments, the unhappy man quits the struggle, not knowing how easily God's omnipotent goodness could overthrow all these obstacles, since he wills that no man should perish. Instead there is final impenitence, the greatest crime of all, an unforgivable blasphemy. In his agitation he is either swallowed up by excessive sadness and lost in a deep depression from which he will never have the consolation of emerging, in accord with scripture's saying that the wicked man shows only contempt when caught in the midst of evils; or he will dissimulate, flatter himself with false reasonings and, as far as in him lies, surrender irrevocably to the world, to find his pleasure and delight in what advantages it offers. But just when he believes that he has peace and security, misfortunes of all kinds will overwhelm him and he will not escape. Thus despair, the greatest evil of all, follows on ignorance of God.
2. The Apostle says that there are some who have no knowledge of God. My opinion is that all those who lack knowledge of God are those who refuse to turn to him. I am certain that they refuse because they imagine this kindly disposed God to be harsh and severe, this merciful God to be callous and inflexible, this lovable God to be cruel and oppressive. So it is that wickedness plays false to itself, setting up for itself an image that does not represent him. What are you afraid of, you men of little faith? That he will not pardon your sins? But with his own hands he has nailed them to the cross. That you are used to soft living and your tastes are fastidious? But he is aware of our weakness. That a prolonged habit of sinning binds you like a chain? But the Lord loosens the shackles of prisoners. Or perhaps angered by the enormity and frequency of your sins he is slow to extend a helping hand? But where sin abounded, grace became superabundant. Are you worried about clothing and food and other bodily necessities so that you hesitate to give up your possessions? But he knows that you need all these things. What more can you wish? What else is there to hold you back from the way of salvation? This is what I say: you do not know God, yet you will not believe what we have heard. I should like you to believe those whom experience has taught, for "if you do not believe you will not understand." Not everyone however, has faith.
3. God forbid that we should think the bride has been admonished on the grounds of ignorance of God, for she has been gifted not merely with great knowledge of him who is both her Bridegroom and God, but with his friendship and familiar intercourse. She has enjoyed his frequent colloquys and kisses, and with a daring born of this intimacy can say to him: "Tell me where you pasture your flock, where you make it lie down at noon". It is not he that she demands to be shown, but the place where his glory dwells, although his domicile and his glory are no other than himself. But he thinks fit to reprove her on account of her presumption, and hints that she lacks self-knowledge by judging herself ready for a vision so great: in her excitement she may have overlooked that she was still living on this earth, or hoped against hope that even while still in this earthly body she could draw near to his inaccessible brightness. Hence he at once recalls her to her senses, proves her ignorance to her, and reprimands her boldness: "If you do not know yourself," he told her, “go forth.” Here the Bridegroom speaks to his beloved not as a bridegroom, but with the awesome tones of a master. He is not venting his anger; his intention is to inspire the fear that purifies, that by this purification she may be made ready for the vision she longs for. It is a vision reserved for the pure of heart.
4. How aptly he describes her as beautiful, not in every sense, but beautiful among women; a qualification meant to restrain her, to enable her to know her limitations. I believe that by women he means people who are sensual and worldly, people devoid of manliness, whose conduct lacks both fortitude and constancy, people who are entirely superficial, soft and effeminate in their lives and behavior. But the person who is spiritual, although enjoying a beauty that comes from following the ways of the Spirit rather than the ways of the flesh, will still fall short of perfect beauty by the fact of living in the body. Hence the bride is not beautiful from every aspect, but beautiful among women, among people whose ideals are worldly, people who, unlike herself, are not spiritual; but not among the angels in their bliss, not among the Virtues, the Powers, the Dominations. And just as one of the Fathers was said to be a man of integrity among his contemporaries, surpassing all of his time and generation, and Tamar is shown to be righteous when compared with Judah, that is, more righteous than he, and the tax collector in the Gospel is said to have gone down from the temple at rights with God rather than the Pharisee, and even as the great John was once magnificently acclaimed as having no rival for greatness, but only among those born of women, not among the blessed choirs of heavenly spirits, so the bride is declared beautiful now, but, for the time being, among women, and not among the blessed spirits of heaven.
5. Therefore as long as she is on earth she must cease from searching too curiously into the nature of the things of heaven, lest by intruding on God's majesty she be overwhelmed by glory. As long as she lives among women she must refrain from prying into the truths that are proper to the citizens of heaven, truths that are visible to them alone, lawful for them alone; heaven's realities are for its citizens. "The vision that you ask for, Bride of mine, is above your capacity, you are as yet unable to gaze upon that sublime noontide brightness that is my dwelling place. You have asked where I pasture my flocks, the place where I rest at noon. But to be drawn up through the clouds, to penetrate to where light is total, to plunge through seas of splendor and make your home where light is unapproachable, that is beyond the scope of an earthly life or an earthly body. That is reserved for you at the end of all things, when I shall take you, all glorious, to myself, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. Do you not know that as long as you live in the body you are exiled from the light? With your beauty still incomplete how can you consider yourself fit to gaze on beauty in its totality? And why should you want to see me in my splendor, while you still do not know yourself? Because if you had a better knowledge of yourself you would know that, burdened with a perishable body, you cannot possibly lift up your eyes and fix them on this radiant light that the angels long to contemplate. The time will come when I shall reveal myself, and your beauty will be complete, just as my beauty is complete; you will be so like me that you will see me as I am. Then you will be told: "You are all fair my love, there is no flaw in you." But for now, though there is some resemblance, there is also some want of resemblance, and you must be content with an imperfect knowledge. Be aware of what you are, do not hanker after truths that are too high for you, nor for experiences beyond your power to bear. Otherwise, you do not know yourself, O beautiful among women - for ever I give you the title beautiful, but beautiful among women, with a beauty that is imperfect. When the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away. Therefore, "If you do not know yourself...." But the words that follow have been dealt with, and there is no need to deal with them again. I promised to put some helpful thoughts before you about the two kinds of ignorance; if I have failed to satisfy you fully, give me credit for my good-will. For I certainly have the will to do it, but the means to accomplish it I do not have, except in so far as the Church's Bridegroom, the Lord Jesus Christ, enables me by his kindness to work for your well-being. May he be blessed for ever. Amen.
39
“To my company of horsemen amid Pharaoh's chariots have I likened you, O my love.” For a start we are free to infer from these words that the Fathers prefigured the Church, and that the mysteries of our salvation were foreshown to them. The grace of baptism that both saves men and washes sins away, is clearly expressed in the exodus of Israel from Egypt, when the sea performed that twofold marvel of service in providing a passage for the people and taking vengeance on their enemies. "Our fathers were all under the cloud," said St Paul, "and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea." But as usual I must show the sequence of the words, the connection between the present text and those we have already dealt with, and draw from them as well as I can some consoling doctrine to improve our lives. So when the bride is harshly rebuked for her presumption, lest she succumb to sadness, she is reminded of the favors she has already received and promised that others are to come. He even acknowledges again her beauty and calls her his love. "My love," he says, "if I have spoken to you harshly, do not suspect me of hating you or of being spiteful, for the very gifts with which I have honored and adorned you are clear signs of my love for you. Far from intending to withdraw them I shall add still more."
Or he could say it this way: "My love, do not be disappointed that your request is not being answered now; you have already received quite a lot from me, and even greater favors will be yours if you follow my directions and persevere in my love." The text may thus be linked up with the previous ones.
2. Now let us see what those gifts are that he says he has bestowed on her. The first is that he has compared her to his horsemen amid Pharaoh's chariots: by putting to death all the flesh's sinful tendencies he has freed her from the bondage of sin, just as his people were freed from the slavery of Egypt when the chariots of Pharaoh were overturned and swallowed up in the sea. That is surely a very great mercy, and I shall not be foolish if I wish to glory in having received it. I speak only the truth. I declare and will go on declaring: "If the Lord had not been my help, my soul would soon have found its dwelling in hell." I am neither ungrateful nor forgetful, I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever. But this is as far as I compare myself with the bride. As for the rest, by a unique privilege after her deliverance she has been accepted as his beloved and adorned with a splendor befitting the Lord's own bride, but for the present time only on the cheeks and neck. She has been promised necklaces for ornamentation, made of costly gold, inlaid with beautiful silver. Can anyone not be entirely pleased with such an endowment? Firstly his mercy sets her free, secondly he favors her with his love, thirdly he makes her clean and pure, and finally he promises to enrich her with gems of rarest quality.
3. I have no doubt that some of you understand what I am saying from your own experience, which enables you even to anticipate my words. But running through my mind is the verse: "The unfolding of your words gives light; it imparts understanding to the simple," and because of these I feel that a little more extensive treatment is justified. For wisdom is a kindly spirit that is pleased with a teacher who is kind and diligent, who, despite his anxiety to gratify his intelligent students, does not hesitate to adapt himself to the backward ones. Wisdom herself says that they who explain her shall have life everlasting, a reward I would by no means be deprived of. For even those matters whose meaning seems obvious have certain aspects that can be obscure, and time is not wasted in discussing them in more detail with capacious and quick-witted minds.
4. But now let us take a look at the comparison drawn from Pharaoh and his army and the horsemen of the Lord. The comparison is not between the two armies, they are merely the basis of it. For light and darkness have nothing in common, the faithful no partnership with the unfaithful. But there is a clear comparison between the person who is holy and spiritual and the horsemen of the Lord, and between Pharaoh and the devil and both their armies. And do not be surprised that one person is compared to a company of horsemen, for if that one person is holy an army of virtues is at hand: well-ordered affections, disciplined habits, prayers like burnished weapons, actions charged with energy, awesome zeal, and finally unrelenting conflicts with the enemy and repeated victories. Hence in later texts we read: "Terrible as an army set in array," and "What shall you see in the Shulamite but the companies of the camps?" If this explanation fails to satisfy you, then recall that the spiritual person is never without a company of angels who display a divine jealousy in guarding her for her husband, to present her to Christ as a pure bride. And do not say to yourself: "Where are they? Who has seen them?" The prophet Elisha saw them and obtained by his prayers that Gehazi should see them, too. You do not see them because you are neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet. The patriarch Jacob saw them and exclaimed: "This is God's camp." The Teacher of the Nations saw them and said: "Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to serve for the sake of those who are to obtain salvation? "
5. The bride therefore, progressing on her course with the support of ministering angels, with the aid of the heavenly host, does resemble the horsemen of the Lord that by a stupendous miracle of divine power once triumphed over the chariots of Pharaoh. If you pay careful attention, the wonder aroused in you by the magnificent achievements in the Red Sea can still be aroused by the achievements of today. Rather her victories today are even more magnificent, for the physical exploits of that occasion find spiritual fulfillment now. Surely you see that greater courage is shown and greater glory achieved in overthrowing the devil rather than Pharaoh, in conquering spiritual powers rather than Pharaoh's chariots? There the battle was waged against flesh and blood; here it is waged against sovereignties and powers, against the forces that control this world's darkness, the spiritual army of evil in the heavens. Let us examine together the details of this comparison. There you have a people rescued from Egypt, here man is rescued from the world; there Pharaoh is vanquished, here the devil; there Pharaoh's chariots are overturned, here the passions of the flesh that attack the soul are being undermined; there it was the waves that triumphed, here our tears; the former with the sea's might, the latter in bitterness. If the demons encounter a soul of this quality I can hear them now crying out: "Let us flee from before Israel, for the Lord is fighting for him."
Would you wish me to designate some of Pharaoh's captain's by their proper names, and describe his chariots for you, so that you may discover for yourselves if there be any others like them: One mighty captain of the spiritual and invisible king of Egypt is Malice, another is Sensuality, another Avarice. Each of them possesses, under his king, the territory assigned to him. Malice therefore is in command wherever the wicked commit their crimes, Sensuality presides over shameful rites of lust, while thievery and fraud are within the domain of Avarice.
6. And now let us look at the chariots prepared by Pharaoh for his princes to persecute the people of God. Malice has a chariot with four wheels named Cruelty, Impatience, Recklessness and Impudence. This chariot's swift sorties mean the shedding of blood, nor can it be stopped by innocence, nor delayed by patience, nor checked by fear nor inhibited by shame. It is drawn by two vicious horses ready to destroy as they go, earthly Power and worldly Pomp. They are the source of its dazzling speed, for Power gallops where evil beckons, and Pomp courts popular favor in pursuit of dishonest ends. Hence the Psalmist says that the sinner is praised for his evil desires and the dishonest man gets a blessing; hence, too, the other words: "This is your hour and the power of darkness." And these two horses are driven by two coachmen called Arrogance and Envy; Arrogance drives Pomp, Envy urges on Power. The former is borne rapidly along by a diabolical love of vain display that fills his heart. But the man with genuine self-possession, who is prudently circumspect, seriously concerned about modesty, firmly established in humility, wholesomely chaste, will never be lightly carried away by this empty wind. In like manner the beast of earthly Power is driven by Envy, urged on by jealousy's spurs, by worry about possible failure and the fear of being surpassed. One spur is the haunting fear of being supplanted, the other the fear of a rival. These are the goads by which earthly Power is ever disquieted. This is what one finds in the chariot of Malice.
7. The chariot of Sensuality also rolls along with four vices for wheels: Gluttony, Lust, Seductive Dress and Enervation, that is, the offspring of sloth and inertia. And it is drawn by two horses, Prosperous Life and Abundance of Goods. The two coachmen are Lazy Languor and False Security, for wealth is the ruin of the slothful and Scripture says that the prosperity of fools destroys them, not because they are successful but because it gives them false security. "When people say, 'there is peace and security,' then sudden destruction will come upon them." These coachmen have neither spurs nor whips nor any instrument of this kind; instead they carry a canopy for shade and a fan to freshen the air. The canopy's name is Dissimulation, and its purpose to provide a shade to ward off the heat of human cares. A person used to soft, effeminate ways will dissemble even when faced with necessary cares, and rather than experience life's perplexing troubles he will conceal himself in the thickets of dissimulation. The fan is Permissiveness, that stirs up flattery like a breeze. For voluptuaries have liberal hands and buy with their gold the flattery of the sycophant. I shall say no more on this subject.
8. Avarice, too, has vices for its four wheels: Pusillanimity, Inhumanity, Contempt of God, Forgetfulness of Death. The beasts to which it is yoked are Obstinacy and Rapacity, and one coachman drives them whose name is Greed for Gain. Avarice is a solitary vice that cannot endure many retainers; one servant suffices. But he is a prompt and tireless executor of the task in hand, lashing his horses onward with cruel whips called Craving to Acquire and Fear of Loss.
9. The ruler of Egypt has still other captains whose chariots are used in their lord's service, for example Pride, who is one of the more important captains, along with that enemy of the faith, Impiety, whose position is so influential in Pharaoh's palace and kingdom. Besides these, Pharaoh's army contains many officers and nobles of inferior rank whose number is almost countless. What their names are and their duties, their armor and equipment, I leave to you yourselves to pursue as a project of study. But trusting in the prowess of these captains and their chariots, the invisible Pharaoh rushes to and fro, inspired by a tyrannical rage, as he directs his attacks with all the power he can muster against the entire family of God. Even in these very days he is persecuting the people of Israel as they escape from Egypt. And these, neither supported by chariots nor clad in armor, but strengthened solely by the hand of God, sing out with confidence: "I will sing to the Lord for he has gloriously triumphed; horse and rider he has thrown into the sea." "Some boast of chariots and some of horses, but we boast of the name of the Lord our God." Now you have heard what I wished to say on the suggested comparison between the horsemen of the Lord and the chariots of Pharaoh.
10. In this text he calls her his love. He was her lover even before she was freed from sin, for if he had not loved her he would not have set her free; it was through this gift of freedom that she was won over to become his love. St John's words explain it: "It was not that we loved him, but first he loved us." Recall the story of Moses and the Ethiopian woman and see that even then there was a foreshadowing of the union between the Word and the sinner. Try to identify too if you can, what you savor most in pondering on this sweetest of mysteries: the most benign gesture of the Word, or the unfathomable glory of the soul, or the unpredictable confidence of the sinner. Moses could not change the color of his Ethiopian wife, but Christ could. For the text continues: "Your cheeks are beautiful as the turtle dove's." But this must wait for another sermon, so that always eagerly partaking of the food provided for us on the Bridegroom's table, we may continue to praise and glorify him, Jesus Christ our Lord, who is God blessed for ever. Amen.
40
“Your cheeks are beautiful as the turtle dove's.” The bride's modesty is a delicate thing; and I feel that at the Bridegroom's reproof a warm flush suffused her face, so heightening her beauty that she immediately was greeted with: "Your cheeks are beautiful as the turtle dove's." You must not give an earthbound meaning to this coloring of the corruptible flesh, to this gathering of blood-red liquid that spreads evenly beneath the surface of her pearly skin, quietly mingling with it to enhance her physical beauty by the pink and white loveliness of her cheeks. For the substance of the soul is incorporeal and invisible, possessing neither bodily limbs not any visible coloring. Try then as best you can to grasp the nature of this spiritual entity by means of a spiritual insight; and to conserve the fittingness of the proposed comparison take note that the mind's intention is the soul's face. The quality of work is evaluated from the intention, just as the body's beauty from the face. We may see in this flush on the cheek an unassuming disposition in which virtue and beauty thrive and grace increases. "Your cheeks then are beautiful as the turtle dove's" When describing her beauty he referred as is customary to her face, for when a person's beauty is praised the normal thing to say is that she has a beautiful or comely face; though I cannot see what was the purpose of speaking of cheeks in the plural except that it cannot have been without a purpose. For the one who speaks is the Spirit of Wisdom, who performs no action, not even the smallest, in vain, nor speaks except according to his nature. Whatever it be, there is a reason why he prefers to speak of cheeks in the plural than of face in the singular. And unless you can offer something better, I shall give you my view of the reason.
2. The intention which we have referred to as the face of the soul must have two elements: matter and purpose, what you intend and why. It is from these two that we judge the beauty or deformity of the soul, and hence the person in whom they are found correct and pure may justly and truly be told: "Your cheeks are beautiful as the turtle dove's." But she who lacks one of these cannot be complimented that her cheeks are beautiful as the turtle dove's, because of her partial deformity. Much less can it be suitably said to one who possesses neither of these qualities. But all this will become more clear by giving examples. If, for instance, a person makes up his mind to pursue the truth, and that solely from a love of truth, is it not obvious that for him both matter and motive are equally correct and that he had achieved the right to be told that his cheeks are beautiful as the turtle dove's, since on neither cheek does an unbecoming blemish appear? But if his reason for pursuing the truth is self-glorification or the attainment of some worldly advantage, then even though one of his cheeks should seem perfectly formed, I feel you would not hesitate to consider him partially deformed because of the baseness of the motive that disfigures the other cheek. But if you discover a man who has no good motives, who is entangled in the net of sensual desire, a glutton and voluptuary like those whose god is the belly, who glory in their shame, whose minds are set on earthly things: what of him? If his intention is vitiated both in matter and motive will you not judge him to be totally repellent?
3. Therefore to direct one's mind completely to worldly pursuits rather than toward God is the sign of a worldly person whose cheeks are totally devoid of beauty. To direct one's mind as it were toward God but not for the sake of God, betrays the attitude of the hypocrite, one of whose cheeks may seem attractive because of a vaunted concern for God, but whose presence nullifies every form of attractiveness and contaminates the whole with its ugliness. Again, if one directs one's mind to God solely or chiefly because of the necessities of the present life, I cannot say that it stinks with the dregs of hypocrisy, but it is so befogged by pettiness of spirit that it cannot merit acceptance. On the contrary, to give one's attention to something other than God, although for God's sake, means to embark on Martha's busy life rather than Mary's way of contemplation. I do not say that this soul is deformed, but it has not attained to perfect beauty, for it worries and frets about so many things, and is bound to be stained to some degree with the grime of worldly affairs. This however is quickly and easily cleansed at the hour of a death made holy by the grace of a pure intention and a good conscience. And therefore, to seek God for his own sake alone, this is to possess two cheeks made most beautiful by the two elements of intention. This is the bride's own special gift, the source of that unique prerogative by which she may be told with all propriety: "Your cheeks are beautiful as the turtle dove's. "
4. But why as the turtle dove's? This is a chaste little bird that leads a retired life, content to live with one mate; if it loses this mate it does not seek another but lives alone thence forward. In order that you who hear me may not hear in vain the doctrines that were written for your sake, that now for your sake are being examined and discussed: you I say who are moved by the urgings of the Holy Spirit and long to perform all that is required of one who would be the bride of God, strive to ensure that both elements of your intention are like two beautiful cheeks; then, in imitation of that most chaste of birds, and following the advice of the Prophet, abide in solitude because you have raised yourself above yourself. You are well above yourself when espoused to the Lord of angels; surely you are above yourself when joined to the Lord and become one spirit with him? Live alone therefore like the turtle dove. Avoid the crowds, avoid the places where men assemble; forget even your people and your father's house and the king will desire your beauty. O holy soul, remain alone, so that you might keep yourself for him alone whom you have chosen for yourself out of all that exist. Avoid going abroad, avoid even the members of your household; withdraw from friends and those you love, not excepting the man who provides for your needs. Can you not see how shy your Love is, that he will never come to you when others are present? Therefore you must withdraw, mentally rather than physically, in your intention, in your devotion, in your spirit. For Christ the Lord is a spirit before your face, and he demands solitude of the spirit more than of the body, although physical withdrawal can be of benefit when the opportunity offers, especially in time of prayer. To do this is to follow the advice and example of the Bridegroom, that when you want to pray you should go into your room, shut the door and then pray. And what he said he did. He spent nights alone in prayer, not merely hiding from the crowds but even from his disciples and familiar friends. He did indeed take three of his friends with him when the hour of his death was approaching; but the urge to pray drew him apart even from them. You too must act like this when you wish to pray.
5. Apart from that the only solitude prescribed for you is that of the mind and spirit. You enjoy this solitude if you refuse to share in the common gossip, if you shun involvement in the problems of the hour and set no store by the fancies that attract the masses; if you reject what everybody covets, avoid disputes, make light of losses, and pay no heed to injuries. Otherwise you are not alone even when alone. Do you not see that you can be alone when in company and in company when alone? However great the crowds that surround you, you can enjoy the benefits of solitude if you refrain from curiosity about other people's conduct and shun rash judgment. Even if you should see your neighbor doing what is wrong, refuse to pass judgment on him, excuse him instead. Excuse his intention even if you cannot excuse the act, which may be the fruit of ignorance or surprise or chance. Even if you are so certain that to dissemble is impossible, you must still endeavor to convince yourself by saying: "It was an overwhelming temptation; what should become of me if it attacked me with the same force?" Remember too that all this time I have been speaking to the bride, not to the friend of the Bridegroom, who has another reason for keeping careful watch to prevent his charge from sinning, to examine if sin has been committed, and to administer correction when it has. The bride is free from this kind of obligation, she lives alone for the love of him who is her Bridegroom and Lord, who is God blessed for ever. Amen.
41
"Your neck as jewels." Normally the neck is adorned with jewels, not compared to them. For Those who wear jewelry have no beauty of their own, and must go to another source to beg its outward show that they might make it deceptively their own. But the neck of the bride is so beautiful in itself, so exquisitely formed by nature, that any external adornment is superfluous. Why load it with a pretentious coloring of strange baubles when its own native loveliness is so complete, more than equal to the splendor of any jewels that could be found to enrich it? This is what the Bridegroom wished to convey, for he did not say, as one would expect, that the jewels were suspended round her neck, but that it was "as jewels." Here we must call upon the Holy Spirit, that just as his love enabled us to discover the spiritual cheeks of the bride, so it may also reveal to us the spiritual mystery of the neck. And to my mind, for I can only say what I think, nothing seems more credible or probable than that the word neck signifies the soul's intellect. I feel that you too will support this interpretation when you examine the reason for the comparison. Do you not see that the function of the neck somehow resembles that of the intellect, by which your soul receives its vital spiritual nourishment, and communicates it to the inward faculties of the will and the affections? And so when this neck of the bride, understood as the pure and simple intellect, is radiant through and through with the clear and naked truth, it has no need of embellishment; on the contrary it is itself a precious jewel that becomingly adorns the soul, which is why it is portrayed as resembling jewels. The truth is a jewel of great excellence, so are purity and candor, and especially the power to make a sober estimate of oneself. The intellect of rationalists and heretics is not endowed with this radiance of purity and truth; hence they spend time and energy in primping and festooning it with the tinsel of words and tricks of sophistry, lest it be seen for what it is, and the shame of its falseness be revealed as well.
2. The text continues: "We will make you ornaments of gold, studded with silver." If it were "I will make" in the singular and not "we will make" in the plural I should declare unconditionally and unhesitatingly that the Bridegroom was the speaker here too. But perhaps it would be more appropriate to assign it to his companions, who try to console the bride with the promise that until she can see in the beatific vision him for whom she longs so ardently, they will make her beautiful and costly pendants for her ears. The reason for this I think is that faith comes by hearing: as long as she walks by faith and not by sight she must put more reliance on the ear than on the eye. It is pointless for her to strain toward this vision with eyes that the faith has not yet purified, since it has been promised as a reward to those alone who are clean of heart. It is written "By faith he cleanses men's hearts." Therefore, since faith comes by hearing, and through faith the power of vision is clarified, it is but right to concentrate on adorning her ears, because reason here tells us that hearing is a preparation for seeing. They say: "You long, O bride, to gaze on the glory of your Beloved; but that belongs to another time. For now we suspend these pendants from your ears, to console you while you wait and even to prepare you for that vision to which you lay claim." Their words echo the Psalmist's: "Hear, O daughter, and see." "You long for the power to see, but you must first listen. To listen is to move toward vision. Listen then, bow down you ear for the pendants we are making for you, that by obedient listening you may come to the splendor of the vision. We will make your listening a thing of joy and gladness. We cannot enable you to see the vision that will be the fullness of your joy and the fulfillment of your desire: to bestow that is the privilege of the person you love." To complete your happiness he will show you himself, he will fill you with gladness by letting you see his face. But for the moment, for your consolation, take these pendants that we offer you; the delights that he holds in his right hand will remain for ever."
3. We should take note of the kind of pendants they offer her: they are made of gold and studded with silver. Gold signifies the splendor of the divine nature, the wisdom that comes from above. The heavenly goldsmiths to whom this work is committed, promise that they will fashion resplendent tokens of the truth and insert them in the soul's inward ears. I cannot see what this may mean if not the construction of certain spiritual images in order to bring the purest intuitions of divine wisdom before the eyes of the soul that contemplates, to enable it to perceive, as though puzzling reflections in a mirror, what it cannot possibly gaze on as yet face to face. The things we speak of are divine, totally unknown except to those who have experienced them. While still in this mortal body, while still living by faith, while the content of the clear interior light is still not made clear, we can, in part, still contemplate the pure truth. Any one of us who has been given this gift from above may make his own the words of St Paul: "Now I know in part;" and: "We know in part and in part we prophesy." But when the spirit is ravished out of itself and granted a vision of God that suddenly shines into the mind with the swiftness of a lightning-flash, immediately, but whence I know not, images of earthly things fill the imagination, either as an aid to understanding or to temper the intensity of the divine light. So well-adapted are they to the divinely illumined senses, that in their shadow the utterly pure and brilliant radiance of the truth is rendered more bearable to the mind and more capable of being communicated to others. My opinion is that they are formed in our imaginations by the inspirations of the holy angels, just as on the other hand there is no doubt that evil suggestions of an opposite nature are forced upon us by the bad angels.
4. Perhaps, too, we have here those puzzling reflections seen by the Apostle in the mirror and fashioned, as I have said, by angelic hands from pure and beautiful images, which I feel bring us in contact somehow with the being of God, that in its pure state is perceived without any shadow of corporeal substances. The elegance of the imagery that so worthily clothes and reveals it I attribute to angelic skill. That this is so is more distinctly conveyed by another version: "We, the artificers, will make you images of gold, with silver decorations." "With silver decorations" and "studded with silver" mean the same thing. To me they seem to signify not merely that the angels produce these images within us, but that they also inspire the elegance of diction which so fittingly and gracefully embellishes with greater clarity and keener enjoyment our communication of them to the audience. And if you ask me what connection there is between speech and silver, I give you the Prophet's answer: "The words of the Lord are pure words: silver refined in a crucible." This is how these ministering spirits from heaven fashion ornaments of gold studded with silver for the bride to wear during her earthly pilgrimage.
5. Take note however that she yearns for one thing and receives another. In spite of her longing for the repose of contemplation she is burdened with the task of preaching; and despite her desire to bask in the Bridegroom's presence she is entrusted with the cares of begetting and rearing children. Nor is this the only time she has been so treated. Once before when she sighed for the Bridegroom's kisses and embraces she was told: "Your breasts are better than wine," to make her realize that she was a mother, that her duty was to suckle her babes, to provide food for her children. If indolence does not prevent you from trying, perhaps you too can discover further similar instances in other verses of this Song. Was it not prefigured long ago in the life of the holy Patriarch Jacob, when, instead of the long-awaited embraces of his desired Rachel, beautiful though barren, he was given, against his will and contrary to his plans, one who was fecund but blear-eyed? So now too, the bride, as she is eagerly enquiring to learn where her Beloved pastures his flock and rests at noon, is given instead ornaments of gold studded with silver, gifts of wisdom and eloquence, and committed to the work of preaching.
6. We learn from this that only too often we must interrupt the sweet kisses to feed the needy with the milk of doctrine. No one must live for himself but all must live for him who died for all. Woe to those who are gifted with the power to think and speak worthily of God if they imagine that godliness is a means for gain, if they make vain-glorious use of the talents given them for the winning of souls to God, if in their high-mindedness they refuse to associate with the lowly. Let them fear what the Lord said by the mouth of his Prophet: "I gave them my gold and my silver; but they have used my gold and my silver in the service of Baal." For your part, listen to the bride's reply when she receives on the one hand a reproof, on the other a promise. She is neither puffed up by promises nor angered by the rebuke, but exemplifies the scriptural saying: "Reprove a wise man and he will love you." With reference to gifts and promises we are also told: "The greater you are, the more you must humble yourself in all things." That she was faithful to these principles will be clear from her reply. But a discussion on this must be postponed, if you do not mind, to await another sermon, and for what has been said so far let us give glory to the Church's Bridegroom, our Lord Jesus Christ, who is God blessed for ever. Amen.
Bernard Song of Songs 38